Chapter 4

She's sixteen again and the two of them are at the playground, and they're both lying on the roundabout, head to head, with Jane at one side and Maura at the other, as if they've drawn the halfway line in the red object. And they're looking up at the stars with Maura discussing how she's always dreamed of exploring the universe and the depths behind it. They don't speak for a while, happy to just enjoy each other's presence. But then Jane being Jane, she sits up because she's never been able to sit still for long and before she knows it, she's being spun on the roundabout, and Maura shrieks with laughter telling her to stop. And she does. And when it stops, all Maura can see are stars rotating round and round, colliding with one another, making up one big supernova. So she closes her eyes, willing the momentum to stop, and when she opens them again, she sees Jane standing over her, peering at her with concern and suddenly, she realizes she doesn't need to go up to space to find out what it's like. She's got her universe right where she wants it, and it's in the form of the brunette watching her. And so she links her arms around her neck, pulling her down for a kiss, and as their lips touch and her eyes close, she sees stars, blinding and flashing all at the same time. And she needn't look any further. Because she's got her supernova.

Maura sits in the sanctuary of her own home, glass of wine in hand, as her mind wanders to the conversation she had with her old friend earlier in the day, and she doesn't know whether to feel relieved that the brunette's okay and is right in Boston where she wants her, or angry that she's never come forth. She realizes of course, that the latter is a ridiculous feeling to have. After all, how was Jane to know she was back? And she thinks back to the things Barry told her, what little about her he knew. But the part that strikes her over and over again is the fact that Jane's on medical leave and the horrendous things she had had done to her at the hands of Charles Hoyt. It pains her to think that she's had to go through this torture, and also re-live her own. Because she knows that Jane is never one to forget. And in a way, it explains the bandaged hands she witnessed that night, and she wants nothing more than to go back in time, to get out of her car amidst the torrential downpour and take those hands in hers. But as the past has taught her, one can never go back, one can never change time.

She swirls the wine in her glass thoughtfully, as she thinks back to the grounds upon which they parted.

"I want to see her."

Frost winced in the knowledge of two things. The first being that he was going to be so screwed if BPD ever found he had hacked into their personnel records in order to obtain Jane's address, and two, being that, not even Jane knew who her new partner was, and so to be faced with not one, but two blasts from your past was going to be anything but pleasant.

He'd heard the stories. Of course he had. There was no one within BPD who didn't know who Jane Rizzoli was. She was a force to be reckoned with. Driven, and determined, with a tongue and sarcasm that made even grown men cry (and apparently, some had witnessed it to be so), she had made her way up the ranks eventually breaking into homicide where she was not only the youngest person to ever make detective, nor the only female detective but she was also the only one with the highest closure rate in the whole of the department, outwitting even the most seasoned of detectives. Some welcomed her, some despised her, but all held a grudging respect for her. He'd be lying if he didn't say he was more than a bit nervous at the reaction he would receive despite her having gotten in contact with him.

Once.

Once, and that had been it.

One measly letter, telling him she was alright and she hoped he was doing okay, and perhaps, if fate would have it, they'd meet up again one day.

"Okay," he agreed, leaving her with a promise that he would at least find out where she lived and let her know.

And so, with that promise in hand, Maura was now left waiting...and wondering...

...if there were better things to come...