A/N: Ahoy peeps, here's another chapter for you. I am not satisfied with its length, I wish it could be lengthier, but I felt like I was dragging with it and that is not what I want. Therefore, for the sake of maintaining an interesting story for you guys, here's another short chapter :)
Chapter Four –
"So Rizzoli," Lieutenant Cavanaugh's tone was cold, like he was holding back all of his anger and something Jane and Frost had done, "Care to explain why I just received a call from a friend of mine in Homeland security saying you're hacking secured files like a terrorist?" the Lieutenant was gathering steam and he was on the borderline for screaming, "A terrorist, Rizzoli!" he slammed his hand on his desk.
"Sir, I can explain," Jane tried to say calmly despite her heart beating erratically.
"You bet your ass you are, before I have to fire you both!" her boss' face was red and his breathing was heavy; he was not a happy man this morning, "And you!" he pointed at Frost, "You were helping her? How could you do this? Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Sir, those files were locked very recently. Like, five hours ago recently," Detective Frost started out, "They were available when Jane and I started our research. It's like someone was trying to prevent us from accessing the information."
"They were?" Jane asked, brows wrinkled, turning to her partner.
"Rizzoli," the growl was enough to make her turn back, "The explanation."
"Right," the brown-haired woman squared her shoulders and stoned her face, going into Detective mode, "As Frost said, sir, we were doing research."
"Research," Cavanaugh repeated, disbelieving, "And how is this remotely connected to any cases you have open right now? Did you know that this was an abuse of power? Do you know how much trouble you can get into because of it? Damn it, Rizzoli!"
Jane winced, but didn't showed, "It's not. It was… another kind of research."
"Another kind of research," her boss repeated again, "Rizzoli, don't make me drag you into an interview room and get a confession out of you!" he exclaimed angrily, "I want an explanation and I want it now before this get any more out of hand than it already is!"
"I need to know who those people are!" Jane yelled back, her own temper rising, "And I needed to do it here because I needed to run their names on LEIN and any other kind of database we have because I need to know if they were safe people!"
"And why is that?" the Lieutenant's eyes were hard and she met them with the same intensity, "Tell me."
"Because Maura needed me to," was the response.
"What does Dr. Isles has to do with any of this?" now the man was confused.
"Those people are her biological parents."
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"Robbins," the voice of Lieutenant General David Simmons, the ultimate boss at US Marine Corps Headquarter in Kabul, said as he approached the Sergeant Major, "My office, now."
Squaring his broad shoulders, the blond Marine followed his boss and waited until the door was closed to speak up, "Yes, sir?"
"I see you requested a couple of months of leave," Lieutenant Simmons said, sitting in his chair, but not making a sign for the younger man to do the same, "May I ask why?"
"Because I haven't taken leave for a year, sir, and I have some problems back the US that need attendance," Timothy asked with the upmost respect he could summon. He knew two-month leave was too much, but the problem he had was a big one.
"Something involving Homeland security, right?" his boss arched his eyebrow and fixed his hardest gaze on him, but the Marine didn't budged, despite his surprise, "You should have known we would have been alerted for something like this, Sergeant. I called you in to say you're free to go and anything you need, you ask," both men squared their shoulders, "We help our men wherever they are."
"Thank you, sir," the blond soldier said relaxing a bit, knowing he would have back up if needed.
"And don't worry about tickets," the Lieutenant continued, "We have a plain leaving in a day back to the US for supplies. You can ride in it," Timothy did a happy 30-second dance party internally at this, "It will land in Boston first, but it will leave for Washington the next day. That's where you want to go, right?" the younger man nodded, "You can either catch a flight in Logan right away or you can rest from the long trip and catch another ride the next morning. Are we clear?"
"Yes, sir, we're clear," Timothy nodded again.
"You're dismissed now, Robbins," the blond man saluted and made his way out of the room.
Boston… the word resonated in his mind. There's stuff I can do in Boston.
He pulled his phone out of his uniform pocket and started calling his sister on Skype, "Hey, Timmy," came the tired reply of his sister before the video even fully downloaded.
"Butterfly? Why are you so…" when he looked at his watch, he winced, "Shit, I'm sorry! It's 5 AM there, isn't it?"
"Yeah," the blonde-haired woman replied tiredly, her eyes barely opened as she shuffled through her apartment, leaving the bedroom and going to the living room, "Callie kept me up all night with her weird cravings and we just managed to go to sleep."
"I'm so, deeply sorry, Arizona," the Marine said miserably. He hated when he did these stuff.
"Okay," the blonde-haired woman was so tired she didn't even have the strength to fight with her big brother, "What's up, why are you calling?"
"I'm calling to let you know I'll be a few days late," he said, "My boss said I could leave in one of the planes that's going back to the US in a couple of days, but it's landing in Boston first for supplies, then it's going to Washington."
"You won't arrive Saturday. Okay," was all the woman could manage right now.
Timothy chuckled at his sister's lack of response, "I'll send an e-mail later so you won't forget it."
"Thanks. Bye Timmy, be safe, love you," she disconnected before he could say another thing.
The Marine couldn't help but chuckle again. His sister was freaking hilarious when high on tiredness.
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The stunned silence in Lieutenant Cavanaugh's office didn't last much.
"Those people are her biological parents? What the hell are you talking about, Rizzoli?" he asked, his face expressing his utter confusion.
"These pictures were the ones Maura's adoptive mother gave her before she died in the hospital," Jane said, her face contorted in a grimace, "It was the only thing she had on her biological parents."
"This still doesn't explain why you hacked into Homeland security's system to get access to the files," the Lieutenant pointed out.
"Not files, sir, just a file," Frost jumped in with an explanation, "Jane was running the man's information on my computer so she could get face recognition to work faster," he looked to his partner to ask if it was okay to continue and proceeded when she nodded, "We got a hit. Colonel Daniel Nicholas Robbins, US Marine Corps. The files were available when we got the hit, that's why I knew they were there. When I clicked, I found out they were recently blocked and I thought it might lead to something."
Sean Cavanaugh heaved a deep sigh. This was getting too personal and very out of hand for his liking.
In addition, of course, being the best pair of Detectives he had seen in years and one of them being a computer whiz, they wouldn't let a single, suspicious file keep them from getting their answers.
"Why did you went looking for the files in the first place, Detectives?" he asked the question that could either make it or break it one of the best Homicide teams he has seen in years.
"You do what you have to do to protect family, Cavanaugh; you know that," that look he was familiar with from one of his best Detectives – fierce loyalty, "I had to make sure those people were clean if Maura ever decided to meet them. Safe. I couldn't let another serial killer near her; it would have been a rookie mistake in my part."
The silence in the room was deafening; you could easily make out that Jane's loyalty was with Maura no matter what and by the way Frost was standing next to her, his shoulders squared and his face stoned in a way the Lieutenant had never seen before, it was easy to see where his loyalty laid too.
"So you were just trying to be sure Colonel Robbins and…" he looked at the other file that had been forward to his computer from Jane's, "Dr. Hope Martin were safe people for Dr. Isles to eventually meet if she so chose?"
Finally letting go the breath she had been holding for the entire meeting, Jane's shoulders slumped, "She has been through a lot, Sir. She just lost her mother just when she was about to get her. I cannot let it happen again. If I can prevent her from getting any more hurt, I will do it even if it gets in the way of Homeland security or the President," the edge on her tone wasn't missed by either man.
"Okay, okay, I believe you, Rizzoli," the Lieutenant was almost softened by then; he, just like everybody else in the force, was well aware of how loyal the detective was to someone who was family or that she considered so, especially doctor Isles, "Now I just have to figure out a way to get you guys out of this mess, so you won't have to deal with Homeland security or the president," he glared at her just for good measure, to retaliate the misbehavior, "any more than you have to."
The sigh of relief was matched by both detectives, glad for the fact that they now had back up. The Lieutenant gestured to know they were dismissed and, just as they were about to leave the room altogether, he called after them.
"Don't stop the investigation just on account of this small bump on the road. Finish your background check. We do keep family protected here in BPD, Detectives," the grateful nod he received back was enough for him to pick up the phone to call Colorado back.
It was time to go into protective-father mode.
Outside of the office, both detectives slumped into the wall, their fighting stance breaking.
"Whew," Frost slipped a hand through his forehead, whipping invisible sweat drops, "That was close."
"Yeah," Jane answered, but was not truly paying any attention. She started fidgeting with her phone, glancing towards it as if trying to make a decision.
"You know," her partner smirked, knowing exactly what she wanted to do, "You can take a break from all the searching. I'll avoid Homeland for now and start digging up the lady doctor."
Chocolate eyes focused on nearly black ones before she caved, "Thanks. I'll be up soon."
It didn't escape the younger detective the fact that the brunette had said she would be up soon. He knew exactly where she was going.