4

"Hey". Jane opened the door wider and stepped aside. Without a word, the doctor stumbled inside, pulling off her coat and dropping it on the back of the sofa. Then she turned to face the tall detective, her face streaked with tears. Jane suddenly realized that Maura was drunk and immediately went to her and wrapped her arms around her. "What is it?"

"Tommy and I broke up."

Jane nodded and threaded her fingers gently through her friend's blonde hair, pushing it back behind her ears. "That didn't take long. What did he do?"

"Nothing. It's me!" Maura replied between sobs. She fished a Kleenex out of her pocket and blew her nose.

Jane took her hand and guided her to the couch, where they took a seat facing each other. "Maura, what happened?" she asked gently. "Wait… Oh my God, you're not pregnant, are you?"

"NO! God, no, we never even slept together! I… I… Jane… there's something… I need to…" Maura hiccupped and blew her nose again.

Jane moved closer to her friend and took her hand. "Maura, you know you can talk to me about anything. Really."

The blonde woman nodded and sidled even closer to the detective. She reached out a trembling hand and cupped Jane's cheek, stroking her skin with her thumb and meeting her eyes. For a long moment, Jane's face was filled with puzzlement but then her breathing stilled and she suddenly realized what was happening.

Maura's heart was thundering in her chest and, even through the haze of two bottles of wine, she felt terrified but if she didn't do it now, she didn't think she ever would. So she moved in and brushed her lips against Jane's, closing her eyes and savoring the moment. Her mind recorded every smell, every sound, down to the ticking wall clock, and the taste of the light lipstick her friend wore. The detective's lips were very soft and Maura felt no resistance so she kissed her again, this time feeling the response as her friend's hands cupped her cheeks. It only lasted a moment before Jane gently guided them apart. "Maura, no," she murmured as she pressed their foreheads together.

"No?" The doctor pulled back. "You're saying no?"

"Maura," Jane replied softly. "Not like this. Not when you're drunk."

Maura pulled completely away. "You don't want me," she stated, very flatly. She got up from the couch and put her coat on. "I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have told you. I completely misread the signals of the past few months."

The detective got up too and quickly moved to her. "No, it's not like that, Maura. I just… I'd feel like I was taking advantage of you."

But the doctor was too upset to hear what her friend was saying. "Forget it, Jane," she stated. "I'll see myself out. Goodnight."

"But… Maur… wait… I… I just wasn't expecting…" But the door was already slammed and her best friend was already gone. Jane threw her hands up in exasperation and ran to grab her keys and shoes but, by the time she got down to the street, Maura was getting into a taxi and being driven away. "UGGGGHHH! DAMMIT! WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?"

Standing, gazing out over the Charles River, Maura Isles remembered the night it all started to go to hell and wondered if she'd sent herself back there by coming to Boston with her daughter. Only time would tell.

..

"So, how's your Mom doing?" Jim asked his daughter. They'd taken a walk in the Boston Common and seen a movie in the nearby theater and now they were chatting over pizza. The sun was almost set and they were sitting outside the restaurant at a metal table under a large umbrella, enjoying the summer weather.

Cam, put her drink down and fiddled with the straw a bit. "She's doing great," she replied. "We both love living in Los Angeles and we've been having fun. Mom's book did really well and I did some traveling with her a few months ago."

Jim sat up straighter. "She wrote a book? When?"

The teenager sighed. "She worked on it for three years and finally had it published five months ago. "We spent three months traveling from city to city, doing signings and appearances. Everyone loved her, Daddy. She was so awesome!"

The older man nodded. "She was always awesome, Honey, and completely brilliant."Camille nodded and took his hand. "Then why did things not work out between you? Why did you never get married after I was born?"

Jim sighed and looked down, tracing the letters on his beer glass with his fingertip. "Honestly, Cam. Your Mom and I wouldn't have ever been really happy."

"But why, Dad?" Cam pressed. "I'd really like to know why."

For a long moment, Jim looked into his daughter's face and saw a person there who was no longer a child. She'd grown up and he'd missed it somehow.

"Because…" he sighed. "She was in love with someone else. I never really stood a chance."

Cam was completely shocked and she leaned back in her chair for a long moment, just absorbing the information her father had provided. "Who was she in love with?" she finally asked.

"That," Jim replied. "Is a question for your Mom."

..

It was getting late and still Cam wasn't back. Maura lay on her bed, her cell phone beside her as she contemplated whether she should call her daughter or not. She was so caught up in trying to make the decision that, when her phone rang, she almost dropped it, it scared her so much.

"Hey, Honey," she answered, trying to sound as normal as possible. "How are you?'

"I'm great, Mom. I'm just calling to let you know that we're almost back to the hotel. I didn't want to wake you or scare you coming in."

"That's fine, I wasn't asleep. I was just watching a movie on the holoviz. They have some old movie channels that are great." Maura shook her head at herself. "Did you have a nice time with your dad?"

"I had a great time." Cam's smile was audible in her voice. "But there I something I'd like to talk to you about."

Uh oh.

"Sure, Sweetheart," Maura replied, suddenly nervous. "We can talk about anything you want."

'Ok, thanks, Mom. I'll be there in ten."

"See you then, Cam."

..

"So, please tell me you have something. Captain Cavanaugh was here today asking me about progress."

Detective Marty Portman was the first of the group to speak. He was a twenty-year veteran of the force but his inability to think outside the box had kept him at that grade, all this time.

"We have a person of interest, Sir."

Jane sprang forward in her chair. "Really? Tell me."

Portman activated his tablet and the data on the suspect appeared, hovering over his portable holoviz. The dark woman quickly drank in the details.

"Joe Shoemaker, thirty-four, construction worker. He works with Maria Corbitt's husband at the moment. We cross referenced the two cases and found that he was also known to the husband of the previous victim, Joelle Lawson."

Lieutenant Rizzoli nodded. "Great work, Guys. Quietly bring him in for questioning. If Shoemaker is not our man, I don't want to drive our guy to kill again, just to make a point, ok?"

"Yes, Sir," the team replied as they got up and left the room to get a warrant. The suspect was viable. Now, with a bit of luck, Jane thought, he might just be the one.

She got up from her seat. Her body was aching from the tossing and turning and dreaming she'd been going through. It was almost quitting time so she grabbed her keys and headed out the door with a purpose in mind. A beer. A frosty-cold Sam Adams of some flavor would really do her the world of good, she reckoned, so she left headquarters and walked to her favorite bar, The Dirty Robber.

Jane grabbed a booth and slipped in, wincing as her hip protested. She was scheduled for some more tests shortly to see if the bullet lodged there had moved at all. The stiffness and pain seemed to be getting worse.

The lieutenant beckoned to the barman and he raised a hand in acknowledgement. He knew what she liked so Jane just relaxed and closed her eyes, thinking once again about that day.

"Jane?" The voice roused the detective and she slowly blinked her eyes, trying to clear the fogginess from them. "Janie?" She felt rough and a little sick to her stomach. She wasn't sure where she was either, except that she was lying down and stuff hurt.

"Mom," she rasped and her hand was immediately taken and held.

"It's me, Babe."

"Uggghhh… what happened?"

Her mother sucked in a breath. "You were shot, Jane. They said it was a perp who grabbed a patrolman's gun on the way into the headquarters. He fired over and over as he was turning and you and… and… Frankie… got in the way."

Jane's eyes suddenly widened. "Frankie!" she cried out. "Where is he? Where's Frankie." Then she noticed that her Mom's were red rimmed and swollen.

"Janie," she whispered. Tears poured down her face as she shook her head. "Frankie didn't make it."

"NOOOOO!" Jane screamed. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO! Frankie!" She dissolved into heavy sobs as her mother set on the edge of the bed and they held each other, crying together, united in grief over the loss of a brother and a son.

Even five years later, the pain of losing her brother was acute, but the beer helped some and she sipped the cold brew pensively, still lost in memory.

..

Cam got out of her Dad's EcoCar and then leaned one knee on the seat to stretch back over and give him a kiss.

"Seeya, Pop. I had a good time. Thank you."

Jim chuckled. "Me too. Say hi to your Mom for me. Oh hey, don't forget this." He picked up her bag from the passenger floor well and handed it over to her.

"Thanks. I'll tell her." She was about to turn away but her father caught her attention again.

"Hey, Cam? Go easy on your Mom, ok? She's had a hard time."

The teenager didn't quite understand but she shrugged lightly and smiled as she hitched her bag up onto her shoulder and tugged her shirt straight. "I will. Bye, Dad."

"Bye, Honey." Jim watched her until he saw her getting into the elevator and then pulled away, the electric hum of his vehicle not even nearly drowning out the sound of his thoughts.

Cam hit the button for her floor and rode the elevator up. Moments later, she was outside the suite she was sharing with her mother and she knocked on the door, waiting a moment for it to open.

"Hi, Kid," Maura smiled as she stepped back to let the teenager enter. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, it was good," Cam replied as she hung her bag on the coat rack near the door. "We saw a movie and talked about some stuff."

The doctor sat back down in her armchair and sipped from a glass of wine. "There's some soda in the refrigerator if you're thirsty. So, what did you guys talk about?"

"A lot of stuff," the younger woman replied. She grabbed a soda and took a seat next to her mother. "We talked a bit about you and him and why you didn't get married when I was born."

Maura nodded pensively. "What did your Dad say about that?"

"Well, I asked him why and he kinda said something strange." The doctor closed her eyes and waited. "He said it was because you were in love with someone else and when I asked who…" The teenager shrugged.

Maura's breath caught. "He said to ask me."

Cam nodded and sipped her soda again. "Right."

He respected my wishes. Thanks, Jim. "Good."

..