Episode 7: Gone Tonight

Maura let Angela get her into the living room and onto the couch. Angela went to the kitchen and got a glass of water and a washcloth. She wiped up Maura's face and handed her the glass of water. Maura sipped it slowly. There eyes met and Angela gave her a questioning look.

"What's going on, Maura?" she asked her.

"Jane left me."

"What? Why? What happened?" Angela fired off the questions so quickly that Maura couldn't answer for a few seconds.

"I broke her trust."

"How?"

"It isn't important."

"Sure it is," Angela told her. "Jane wouldn't do something this drastic unless it was something big. What happened, Maura? Does this have something to do with Paddy? You know that I don't like it when you two fight. I think of you both as my daughters, so tell me what happened."

"I was selfish and I did something without asking Jane about it," Maura told her in a round about way.

"Was it life threatening?"

"No."

"Did it hurt anyone?"

"Physically, no. Emotionally, yes," Maura answered.

"So no one got hurt, except for Jane. She'll get over it, Maura. Just don't let her go. Tell her how much you love her and keep reminding her of it."

"I don't know, Angela. I really didn't think this through. I don't know what to do."

"Talk to her. Email her if she won't answer your calls or texts. Don't give up. Be just as stubborn as she is. You did it once after she shot Paddy. I know that you can do it again," Angela told her.

"I'll do my best."

"Well, I was just coming over to tell you that we won't be having dinner this Sunday. There are just many things going on and all. Janie's talking about going to Florida. Ron is at a conference. Korsak and Kiki are on vacation this week. Plus, Frankie just caught a case that looks bad. So, you rest up. Keep on Janie, and I'll come by to check on you. Okay?"

"That sounds fine, Angela. Thank you for coming over to let me know. If you'll tell me the menu for next week, I'll go ahead and prepare for it."

"I'll text it to you later. Just get some rest. Eat something and call me later if you need to," Angela said.

"Thank you," Maura replied and nodded as Angela got up and left.

Maura grabbed her laptop off the table and began to write Jane an email. She thought about it and then hesitated before sending it. Instead she picked up her phone and called the Isles Foundation jet. She arranged for Jane to get to Florida. Then she went online and set up everything else that Jane would need, or she could think that Jane would need, in Florida. She rewrote the email and finally sent send. Now all she could do was wait and hope that Jane could forgive her.

Mike was sitting at home watching TV. She'd sent Kayla home for the evening. She was happy. She had to admit that Jane seemed like a nice person and would be someone that would help her out if she needed it. Sure they were sisters, but they didn't know each other. It would take time, but she hoped that they could have a good relationship.

She thought about Jane's proposal for coming to their weekly Sunday Family Dinner. She thought that it might be awkward, but it was a good idea. She didn't want to admit that she was lonely. She didn't have any real family anymore, but now, she suddenly did. She knew that Ana-Maria would have pushed her into it if she were still alive. She grabbed her cell and her laptop.

She figured that she wanted to be prepared if she went. Jane had obviously done some background checks on her, so she decided to do her own. Google, after all, is an amazing thing. She was learning about how heroic or stupid her sister could be, depending on how you thought about it. The more she read, the more she realized that she was like Jane. She'd just joined the Army instead of a police department. She was reading about Frankie when her phone rang. It was Jane.

"Can we talk?"

"Sure?"

"I'm sorry. I know it's late, but I need to talk to someone. You are family, but you aren't, you know? I need someone outside the situation," Jane told her.

"Sure. Do you want to come over? I don't want to wake up MJ."

"Yeah, that's fine. I'll be over soon. Thank you," Jane replied and hung up.

Mike looked around her small home. There was nothing for her to be upset about or hide. She turned off the TV and went into the kitchen to check her stock on beer. Seeing that she was running low, she put another six pack in the freezer. She'd move it down the fridge later.

Jane stood out in front of the small house just outside of the Charlestown Area near Cambridge. She recognized it as housing for the professors at BCU. She walked up the front steps and knocked on the door. Mike opened it and let her in.

"Sorry."

"Don't be. MJ is asleep, so we'll have to keep it down. It sounded like you needed someone to talk to and that you didn't have a lot of options. I guess I should feel honored that you called me of all people to talk to," Mike told her.

"Well, your family," Jane replied like it would make sense.

"Well, there's that, but I don't know and I don't know anyone else involved I am. Plus, I know how hard it is to go home after being away. Everything's changed and you're not happy about it. I get it. So, what brings you here to darken my door tonight?" Mike asked.

"I don't know if you know that Maura, Dr. Isles, and I are an item. We've been together for a while, but we made it official before I left for the FBI. I've been gone a little over a year and then I realized that I missed home. I wanted to come back home to her."

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"Well, I get here and I found out that she's pregnant."

"Okay, that's something I didn't see coming. If I can ask, do you want kids? I mean, had y'all talked about it?" Mike asked.

"We have...in the past, but it was never anything concrete, you know? Like it isn't something that we sat down and planned. She wasn't sure that she would be a good mother because of her upbringing and I'd lost my baby because of the job, so..."

"It was just an idea," Mike offered.

"Yeah. I want a big family. I do. I want a family of my own, but I was beginning to think that no one would want me because of brash and dedicated to the job I am. Then I got pregnant with Casey's baby. Then I lost it while I was protecting a witness...she was an innocent teenager just trying to get through high school without dying. I wanted to be so upset about it, but I realized that I didn't love Casey. We weren't going to raise the kid together, you know? I even asked Maura to be there for me. I wanted her to help me raise it and then I lost it," Jane told her.

"I'm sorry."

"Well, we just talked about it in passing after that. Like we weren't sure that we would ever have kids, or if we did, we'd adopt. We never planned it out as a couple, you know? Then I come home and she's pregnant with my brother's baby."

"Whoa. Wait a minute. She slept with one our brothers?"

"No, not like that. Frankie donated to her. He gave her the one thing that I never could. I feel so guilty about leaving her tonight, but I am so angry at the same time. I don't know what to do. Then, I thought about what you said at the diner earlier."

"Maura texted you or emailed you, didn't she?" Mike inquired.

"Yes."

"What do you want to do?"

'Whatcha mean?"

"What do you want to do, right now? Forget everything else, what do you want to do about the child? Do you want to be its mother? Do you want to love it?"

"Well, yeah, I do, because it is part of Maura."

"Then, your real hang up is the fact that your brother is the father?"

"I guess it's part of it. I just don't want to be like Pop, you know? I don't want to get into a relationship with her and then flake out down the road."

"Do you honestly think that you'll do that?"

"I left Boston to go to DC to teach at the FBI Academy," Jane deadpanned.

"Okay, but you came back. Maura still loves you. You still love her. Did Frankie agree to give up rights to the kid?"

"According to Maura, yes, he did. She even got him to sign a contract. He didn't even know that she was pregnant until I told him the other day. He's agreed to keep quiet until Maura decides to tell the family. But, this is something that he can lord over me. He can get her pregnant and I can't."

"Oh, get over yourself, Jane."

"Excuse me."

"You just admitted that your problem isn't that Maura is pregnant, but that your brother is the father. Grow the fuck up. Did she tell you why she chose him? Did she give you any reason?" Mike asked her.

"Yeah."

"And, that was?"

"So the baby would be a Rizzoli and look like me."

"There's your answer. She loves you. She wanted a baby with you. She used the closest thing to your DNA that she could. She made sure that Frankie wouldn't be able to take the baby from you. And, do you know why?"

"No."

"Probably because she wants you to adopt it. She wants you to be the child's other parent. She knows how much family means to you. She used your family to make sure that the baby would still be family, that it would still be a Rizzoli in more than name only. She is trying to share the gift of life and your are angry at your brother for helping her with that. Now, don't get me wrong, I'd be mad too, but you're punishing her for this. I am not saying that this is going to be easy, but you have to get over yourself and think about that child. If you still love Maura, are you going to be woman enough to be the child's other mother?"

Maura made her way up to bed. She was tired and sad. She was frustrated and hurt. She knew that Jane had a point. She should have discussed it with her before going to Frankie. She ran her hands over her abdomen. She felt bad about that, but she had her reasons. They were selfish, but she wanted a Rizzoli baby.

She lay back on her bed and looked at the ceiling. Jane was gone tonight, again. Maura was alone, like she had been most of her life. She sighed. At least she knew that Jane would be taken care of while she was in Florida. That was important to her. If Jane couldn't come home, she would find a way to be with Jane. She'd had too many nights with Jane. She didn't want anymore.

She called the hotel and found out that Jane had indeed checked in. She made up her mind. She was going to see Jane. They needed to have it out. They needed to talk. They needed to yell and they needed to do it on neutral ground. The hotel was the perfect place to do it. She didn't want another night with Jane gone. She was going to fight for her. She was going to fight for her family.