Title: A Rizzoli Milestone
Fandom: Rizzoli & Isles, Jane/Maura
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Written for a fanfic challenge on Tumblr. This challenge was 'Milestone'.
Notes 2: Note/warning, this is a kid-fic, lol. What is it about these two that make me get all domestic with them?!
Notes 3: Thank you all who have been loyal readers! I do appreciate it! Feedback feeds the muse!
A Rizzoli Milestone
Jane burst through the ER doors, trying her best to remain calm as she approached the front desk. She flashed her badge and asked the admitting nurse where Sarah Rizzoli was. After getting the information along with directions, she headed immediately past the front desk in search of the location the nurse had given her, her heart nearly pounding out of her chest by now….
And then breathed a huge sigh of relief when she saw her four year old daughter sitting up on the bed, contentedly playing with a stuffed animal. There was a bruise forming on one cheek and one of her arms was wrapped up, but other than that she appeared okay.
Oh, thank god.
"Mommy!" her child was the first to notice her and the young girl's happy cry and smile calmed Jane even further.
"Hey kiddo," Jane said tenderly and smiled at Sarah.
"Jane!" Maura's voice held a world of her own relief, as well as some lingering fear, as the doctor jumped up from her seat next to the bed and went to hug her wife.
"Hey sweetie," Jane said a little more quietly but just as tenderly as she wrapped her arms around Maura and kissed her on the side of the head, but only briefly. She quickly released Maura with a light squeeze of her shoulders and a look in the eye, a look that silently promised they'd talk in a minute but that the detective wanted to check on their daughter first. Maura nodded her understanding.
Jane turned towards the little girl in the bed, "Hey Wiggles, what happened?" she asked gently as she sat on the side of the bed.
"Mama said I not supposed to stand on the swings. Swings are for sitting," was the young Rizzoli-Isles earnest answer.
Jane almost laughed. Because, yes, she could imagine that was exactly what Maura had said. But Jane kept her amusement to herself and just gently patted Sarah's leg through the blanket covering it, "Is that what happened? Were you standing on the swings?"
Sarah looked a little guilty. She nodded.
"And you fell off?" Jane asked again.
Sarah again nodded but then added, as if trying to change the subject, "I got a boo boo, Mommy."
Jane went with it. "A booboo? Where?"
Sarah turned her head just slightly and pointed to her cheek, almost proudly.
And rightfully so, Jane thought, it looked like it was going to be quite a shiner. "That's a nice one," she murmured, hoping Maura wouldn't hear her as she leaned in and placed a light kiss on the young girl's cheek. "Where else did you get a boo boo, Wiggles?" she then asked.
"On my arm," Sarah responded, "Mama said they're going to take a picture inside it."
That got Jane's attention. She looked up a little more worriedly at Maura.
"They think she might have broken her ulna," the doctor explained to Jane, unable to keep the slight quiver from her voice, clearly still fairly shaken by this whole event.
Jane turned back to Sarah, trying not to show her own mild concern, not wanting the child to be scared, "I've had pictures taken inside of me before," she assured the youngster, "It doesn't hurt at all."
"Will you come with me?" she asked hopefully.
"Either Mama or I will, okay?" she smiled at her daughter then said, "Mama and I are going to talk for a minute. You play with your new friend, okay?" Jane picked up the stuffed animal and rubbed it gently against Sarah's face, making the child laugh. She then handed it to Sarah and stood.
She and Maura met a few paces away from the bed.
"She was standing on the swings again?" Jane started their conversation with the question.
"I obviously didn't see her in time," Maura began speaking fast, "I just heard this scream, god this scream, and I ran out and found her on the ground and your mother came out, too, and her wrist was already getting a little swollen and she didn't want me to see it and…"
"Maura, sweetie, first of all, it's not your fault. It's not your fault at all. And second, she's going to be fine, everything is going to be okay, okay?" Jane interrupted Maura before she could relive the entire traumatic thing.
"Jane, her arm might be broken!" Maura was keeping her voice down so as not to disturb Sarah (who seemed rather obliviously playing with her new stuffed animal anyway) but the doctor was obviously upset.
Jane wrapped her wife up in another hug, "Her arm might be broken, yes, but it will heal." Jane then pulled back so she could look Maura in the eye, "And if you haven't figured this out already, you're raising a Rizzoli."
Maura frowned slightly, "What do you mean?"
Jane gave Maura a crooked half-smile. "It means that while this might be the first trip to an ER you'll have with her, it's probably not the last."
Maura could see the humor in Jane's face at that last statement and she knew the detective was right. Still. "I was rather hoping nurture would overcome nature, in this case," Maura finally replied, though only half seriously. Because Jane really was right. And also because kids were resilient. Jane and her brothers had survived childhood. Sarah would, too. The only question was would *Maura* survive Sarah's childhood.
Jane chuckled and gave Maura a kiss before putting her arms around Maura one more time, "Maybe you'll luck out and Sam will be an ER-free kid," Jane said in reference to their one-year-old son.
"I doubt it," Maura mumbled resignedly but good naturedly against Jane's shoulder, beginning to feel better with Jane's assurances and Jane's physical presence and contact.
Jane laughed again and rubbed Maura's back, "Yeah, you're probably right," the detective conceded.
