*** Chapter two revised - please read again *** Special thanks to winegirl and Trekkie101 still stands though. :)
"What the hell happened out there, Janie?"
She looks up, seeing her flustered little brother's face. She waves her hand. "Leave it, Frankie." And attempts to walk off. Having just been grilled by Cavanagh for being aware of an FBI's most wanted without taking any official action has weakened her spirit further. She's been suspended, but all she can think about is Maura.
He grabs her arm, pulling her aside.
"I heard about Maura having a go and you shoving her for it…" His tone is gentle, sympathetic. "I don't get it… What the hell happened out there?"
She looks down and can't hide the pain from showing in her face.
"Just…" She lets him see her, distraught. "Not here, okay? I can't…" She exhales her tension but it's not enough. "Do me a favour and take me home?"
"Sure…"
He wants to hold her but he knows better. Now's not the time. Big sis needs to hold it together so she can fall apart in private. He only hopes she'll let him hang round and hold her upright when she does.
It's been a hellishly long day. Jane tried to explain things to Frankie but it was all too brief for his liking and part of it didn't make sense. He left still at a loss as to why Maura would be against Jane for shooting Doyle. Even knowing of the doctor's biological heritage it still didn't explain it. As far as they both knew Maura didn't have a relationship with this man. Everything they thought they knew about their treasured friend was caught into question.
Feeling restless, and knowing Korsak & Frost were probably still drowning in paperwork, she decides to phone in for an update.
"Sergeant Korsak."
"Hey, it's me."
"Hey, where'd the hell you get off to? Cavanagh's runnin' us into the ground here!"
"I'm home… I'm suspended… Listen, I took the fall so you guys are clean regarding Doyle, understood?"
"Janie…"
"Don't say another word, Korsak."
There's silence before she receives a verbal nod much like a grunt.
"Good… now onto other things, have you seen Maura?"
"Yeah, I've seen her… Frost had a go at her and she didn't fare much better with me."
"Shit, Korsak…"
"Oh, c'mon Jane, what do you expect? She crossed the line, took sides with the mob…"
"She didn't take sides with the mob, she sided with her father!" She sputters. "Her fuckin' sperm donor!"
"It doesn't change the fact that he had a gun in your face, and she barely noticed. He could'a lowered it, Janie. The minute Dean was disarmed but he didn't. You had to take the shot."
"He gun was empty, Korsak." She'd found out when she was getting her head chewed out by Cavanagh, and it sucked. No matter how hard she'd tried to protect Maura it'd backfired in the worst possible way.
"But you didn't know that."
She sighs heavily and they both take a breath.
"Look… we can't all fall apart over this. You guys need to lay off her, okay? I know I didn't exactly react well but… we need to remember that this is Maura… at least I'm tryin' to…" Heavily laden tears fall. "We can't expect her to understand so easily, you know? She's linked to him… she told me he'd been showin' up at the hospital tryin' to get under her skin…"
"He showed up there? Did her mother see him?"
"No… I don't think so…"
They take some time to think. Frost walks back to his desk, gesturing to Korsak who flicks him off. The young detective sits down with a grunt and continues writing up his report.
"I keep tryin' to figure out what went wrong..." Jane whispers.
"Doyle showed up that's the first thing…"
"Yeah, but if he hadn't, Maura could-a been killed. None of us reacted fast enough, but he did."
"So he took a risk. It's not the first he's done it, only this time it didn't work out for him."
"That's kinda harsh, Korsak."
"I got no sympathy for him."
"Okay, I get it. " She feels defeated. "We just… we gotta get through this without beatin' her up, okay?"
"I'll do what I can, Janie, but I can't guarantee the boys'll understand the same as you do. Her reaction's spreading through the whole precinct like wildfire. She was outta line, and besides, she was in just as much danger as you…"
"Doyle would never shoot Maura, and you know that!"
"So what? He still put her in danger by puttin' her in the cross fire."
"God... this is fucked…"
"You got that right."
And then the second point of interference came to mind. "Dean…" The name felt bitter on her tongue.
"You heard how he's doing? Think he made it through surgery okay, but that's all we got here in the pen."
She rubs her face. "No… but he won't be happy the next time he sees me, I can promise you that."
"You told him about Doyle's link to Maura, didn't you?"
It was so hard to admit it now, even though she'd confided in her best friend at the time.
"Yeah I did… but it was off the record. He wasn't meant to play cop with it… he crapped all over our agreement so here we are…" Her voice was shaking and she couldn't help it. "I thought he wouldn't… that he would just…"
"Keep it personal? Not be the job for a change?"
"Some fuckin' idiot I was… but when it comes down to it, I did it for her. I told him in order to protect her."
"You do what you gotta do to protect family."
"Yeah... well, let's hope she remembers that."
"You keep in touch Janie, okay?"
"Yep… and Korsak?"
"Hmm?"
"Stop calling me, Janie…!"
Leaving him staring at dead phone.
Two minutes later…
"I can't believe this…!" Frost grumbles from his desk.
"What?" Korsak's had just about enough of this fuckin' day.
"This!" Frost holds chucks his phone at him. The text, Korsak assumes, was from Jane. It read: 'Lay off Maura, Frost. Suck it up and be the good guy I know you can be. This is shit for all of us. J.'
"Janie, huh? I just spoke to her."
"Yeah, well, I don't get it…"
The Sergeant gets up, grabbing his jacket and throwing the phone back into Frost's capable hands. "Get up. It's time for something a little heavier than coffee. We need to talk."
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