Chapter 9
"Maura are you awake?" Came the quiet voice from the bed.
Maura lifted her head as much as she could and looked at Jenny. "Yeah sweetie I'm awake. How are you?" Maura tried to move her arms to regain some of the circulation but there was no way to move them. They felt as if someone was poking needles into them everywhere and her wrists hurt from the rope chafing them.
"I'm fine Maura how are you? Does it hurt very bad? I don't like that man even if he does give me good music to listen to." Maura could hear the fear in her voice but was having problems looking at her because her eyes were swelling closed.
"It hurts a little bit but I'm ok. Don't worry about me, my friends will be here soon." She prayed she was right because unlike Jane she was not cut out for this. Jane could handle the pain but Maura had a very low tolerance for pain. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. After Jenny had gone to sleep he had come back in and burned her numerous times and had beaten her mercilessly and she didn't actually fall asleep, it was closer to losing consciousness from the beating. She was having a problem staying conscious now but she didn't want to scare Jenny.
"Did he hurt you bad. My Mommy says you shouldn't hurt people no matter what and that man hurt you for no reason." Jenny's voice was breaking with impending tears.
"Sounds like your Mommy is a very smart lady that loves you very much." Maura was hoping to get Jenny's mind off of that was happening here in this room. "What else does she tell you?"
"She tells me to always look both ways before I cross the road. Always chew with my mouth closed."
"That's very important. I have a friend who chews with her mouth open on occasion and she talks with her mouth full."
"Oh Mommy hates it when I talk with food in my mouth, she says I could choke on it. She tells me to say my prayers before I go to sleep every night I prayed for you last night. I hope it helped. She bought me a toothbrush that plays music while I brush and I have to keep brushing the whole time because that's how long you're supposed to brush but sometimes I forget and I stop to listen to the music. She says that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. She can't tell me why but I believe her anyway."
"Breakfast is important because it increases your metabolism and helps give you energy and controls your appetite until it's time for lunch."
"I guess that makes sense because I am always tired when I wake up and after I eat I always feel like I could play all day but I have to go to school and they say I have to sit still until it's time for recess. I really like school but I love recess."
Maura heard the footsteps in the hallway before Jenny did but she knew exactly when she heard them. Her attitude went from that of a child thinking about her mother and having fun in school to a child who has been kidnapped and didn't know what her future would be. "Don't worry sweetie he won't hurt you."
The door slammed open and the bright light went on and he stormed into the room. "I knew you'd made good of yourself but I didn't know how good. Did you know the whole of the Boston Police Department is looking for you? Oh well, as long as they can't find you I don't have a problem with that. I still have all the time in the world to do with you what I want. And being the pathologist that you are I'm sure you know exactly how long I spent with the other two women. So how long did you guess I had Dr. Isles?"
"I don't make guesses I come to conclusions based on scientific evidence and my evidence told me you kept the women for four days before you initiated the coup de grace and let them bleed out." Maura whispered the last part so Jenny would hear her.
"You're a doctor?" Jenny asked from behind the man. "I want to be a doctor too. What kind of doctor are you?"
The man turned back to the little girl. "She's a doctor that cuts open dead people. She figures out how people died. She also helps the police."
"So you weren't kidding when you said you had a friend that was looking for us?"
"That would be Detective Jane Rizzoli and she's working harder than anyone. She even went out to talk to your Mother and brought her to the police station with her. She looked really angry when she pounded on the front door but the anger was all gone when they came out together. Could it be your mother told her the truth that she wouldn't tell you the other night. The fact that you were sitting in Jenny's place 30 years ago and you watched the same thing she is watching right now."
"That can't be true I would have remembered it. I would have remembered you. Why would my mother keep something like that from me?"
"She was trying to avoid what all of the other girls went through. The media following them everywhere. They were outside their schools when they were going home every night. Some parents even allowed them to go on TV and tell their stories. Most of them had problems as they grew older, some made good but your mother kept you from all of that. Somehow she made it all go away. As did twp other parents. Guess that's what all that money can do for you. I don't know what she did or where she took you but when you came back you appeared to be the same little girl before I took you so whatever they did they did it good. So is any of this making sense to you yet?" He walked up and took her face roughly in one of his hands. "Give it time it will all come back to you." He held her face as she felt him beginning to raise his knee and she knew what was coming. She felt it make contact with her ribs and knew that it broke at least one rib maybe two. "So are you going to beg like the last two did or are you going to be tough and be quiet? So far you've made me proud. You've made the prerequisite noises so as not to upset Jenny but the pain has to be excruciating by about now and you have yet to scream as I know you want to." He turned to Jenny. "Hey Jenny would it be ok if Maura were to scream because she was hurting?"
"If that's what she wants to do. I cry when I get hurt and it makes me feel a little better and Mommy says it's ok to cry so if you want to cry Maura that's ok too." Maura heard the trembling in Jenny's voice and she had been trying very hard not to scream so as not to scare the little girl but she didn't think she could hold back much longer if he continued to get worse in his abuse of her body.
"Thank you sweetie I will remember that crying makes it feel better." Maura turned back to the man and almost hissed out through her teeth. "What kind of man are you to make a small child watch something like this? Have you no heart?"
"Of course I have a heart. I could be doing this to the little girl and making you watch." He smiled an evil smile and reared his arm back and put all of his weight behind his fist as it made contact with her left cheek then with her stomach. She tried to take shallow breaths but even that hurt like hell. She watched as he pulled a knife out of his back pocket and closed her eyes against the pain to come. "Open your eyes! Open them now or I cut the girl." Maura opened his eyes and tried to stare him down but failed miserably. She was beyond scared when she thought about what he was going to do with the knife. She felt it make contact with her upper thigh and thankfully lost consciousness shortly after he jabbed the knife in.
"So now this son of a bitch is going back and abducting the little girls he had originally abducted when they were kids. Do you think John Fielding knew his wife had been on the other side of this as a child? What about our second victim?" Jane asked as she paced around the bullpen. Every detective on the force was in the bullpen trying to figure out a way to find Maura and they were all watching her.
"Her name was Nancy Bingham and she was the second of the unknown girls and Maura is the third. That was some good work figuring that out Jane, now we at least have somewhere to look. We got a list of all of the girls that had been abducted and we are looking into all of them as we speak." Korsak said from behind his desk as he was watching his computer screen for results of his search. Each detective was given a name and their task was to find out everything they possibly could and then locate the woman.
Jane sat at her desk doing the same thing then picked up her phone and rifled through all of the files on her desk for one particular file then went into the Police Database. Once she found what she was looking for she dialed a number then walked out in the hallway to make the call. Frost and Korsak watched her carefully and wondered what she was up to. They watched her face light up then she turned and walked back into the bullpen. "Frost do that triangulating thingy you do with this number 617-534-2570." She watched as he did his thing and then snapped his head up at Jane.
"It's 923 E. 2nd St. in St. Brigids Parish."
"Let's go, that's where Maura is." Jane grabbed her jacket and headed out the door. She didn't wait to see if anyone was following because if she caught the bastard she wasn't sure if she wanted anyone to stop her from beating him to a pulp. As she got to her car she turned around and every cop available was running to their car prepared to follow Jane. Frost jumped in the passenger seat and hooked his seatbelt.
He looked at the slightly confused look on Jane's face as she looked around the parking lot. "Don't stand there with your mouth hanging open let's go get your girlfriend." Jane got behind the wheel and tore out of the parking lot. "So how did you come up with this phone number?"
"It belongs to a little girl that was kidnapped two days ago and they haven't called the mother yet. She hadn't heard from their daughter but they've tried the phone every day. It's still on but she doesn't answer."
"Are we even sure it's still in her possession?" Frost didn't want to ask but he had to.
"No but it's all we've got so we at least have to check it out don't we?" Jane asked with desperation in her voice. "I think it's a shot in the dark but the pieces fit."
"How did you figure it out?"
"I've been looking at missing person reports and this is the latest one and Jenny is about the right age and it fits the pattern of the guy not calling the parents right away. I called her mother and she gave me Jenny's cell phone number and you did your thing. So it has to be where Maura is. It has to be."
Frost could have sworn the wheels on his side of the car left the ground when Jane took a left turn at 70 miles per hour. "Jane it won't do us any good to know where she is if we don't make it there alive."
"Shut up Frost I'm trying to get there before the son of a bitch hurts Maura anymore. Shit we don't even know if she's still alive. All we've got to go by is his past pattern. What if he doesn't stick to the pattern and Maura's already dead? Hey I forgot, why don't you call and get an ambulance out here Maura will probably need one Jenny too. Give me 5 minutes alone with the bastard and he won't ever be able to stand again. Just 5 minutes."
"Hell I'll give you a whole day if that's what you want and I don't think any one of those cops behind us will stop you." Frost was holding on to the dash board for dear life but he trusted Jane with his life and he knew she wouldn't do anything to endanger them but damn she was getting close to killing them. "Now when we pull up to the house you are going to have to wait until everyone gets into position and Korsak is still waiting on the warrant. As soon as we hear from him then we can go in. Don't go in half cocked and screw this up and let him get off on a technicality. We have to do this by the book."
"God I hate this. Maybe we should stop a few blocks away and wait for the warrant and plan this out. As much as I want to go in there right now you're right I don't want to give him or his lawyer an out of any kind. Ok we're about a mile away, check your map and find me an open lot or somewhere we can talk without drawing too much attention." Jane's hands were tapping the steering wheel and she couldn't stay still. She felt amped up and couldn't wait to get to Maura. Frost directed her to a lot behind an abandoned warehouse and as soon as they pulled up Jane jumped out of the car and started pacing while she waited for all of the cars to pull in.
Jane was surprised when she saw Lieutenant Cavanaugh walk up beside her. "Hey Rizzoli, I know how much Doctor Isles means to you but we have to do this right the first time, because we won't get a second chance."
"I know Sir, Frost has been talking me out of going in and beating the crap out of this bastard." Jane smirked at her boss.
"Oh I'm not going to stop you from beating the crap out of him I just want to make sure the entry is on the up and up and there are no legal loopholes that will set this asshole free. I just don't want you to kill the son of a bitch because then you would be in trouble." He gave her a smirk of his own. "You're going to have a fight on your hands stopping these guys from getting to him first." He hooked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the cops standing behind him with sheer determination and anger notched on their faces. "As much as they like to pick on the Doc and don't understand her they know that without her we wouldn't have been able to close as many cases as we have. She's a part of the team."
Jane felt a bit choked up at the sentiment and she saw the looks on all the guy's faces and she knew she was going to make sure that Maura knew how they all felt about her. "Thanks Boss Maura will be glad to know that."
"I'm going to make sure she knows it. She deserves to know." He turned towards the team as Jane's phone rang.
Jane saw it was Korsak. "Do we have a warrant?"
"Yeah Frankie's on his way over with it. I wish I could be there but your Mom and Mrs. Isles are here in the office and I thought someone needed to stay here to keep them company." She heard the smile in his voice.
"Shit I completely forgot about Frankie. Hey, don't be hitting on my Ma." Jane smiled and realized it was the first real smile in the two days since Maura had been gone.
"Hey she's a good looking woman and she's in her prime." Korsak said but Jane could hear the smile in his voice.
"Eww Korsak that's my Ma you're talking about. You can't talk about her that way." Jane was laughing.
"Why not? What if I wanted to date her and we…?"
"La La La I can't hear you. Fingers in my ears I can't hear you. I don't want to know what you and my Ma might be doing behind closed doors. There are some things children do not need to know about their parents. Hey since when are you interested in my mother anyway? Never mind I can't think about that right now I have to figure out how we are going to rescue Maura and pray that she's still alive."
"Good luck kid." Korsak was still laughing from Jane's reaction.
"I'll call you when we've got her out of there." Jane hung up her phone and turned towards the group. "So what's the plan?"
"Frost has accessed the floor plans for the house on his computer and there are basement egress windows on all sides of the house so we plan on having someone at each one of those. Then we'll go in the front and back doors and all windows at the same time. John come up here and tell us what you saw."
"I drove by and used my infrared scope to check for heat signals and there are two downstairs and one in the living room. He's doing us a favor by having all of the curtains closed and there are numerous ways we can approach the house and get ready." He went to the floor plan and pointed as he talked. "He's here in the front room and Maura and the girl are here in the basement." He looked up and saw the worried look on Jane's face and he'd always admired her for her courage and commitment to the job and anyone with a pair of eyes knew how she felt about the Doc so he smiled at her. "Hey the good news is that I can see strong heat signals for all three people and you know what that means right?"
Jane looked up and he knew when it dawned on her, her face broke out in a bright smile. "She's still alive." She turned as she heard Frankie's squad car approach. He came running up and handed the warrant to Cavanaugh then turned to Jane and smiled up at her. "Hey Frankie, sorry I forgot to give you the heads up on this."
"Don't worry I know where your head was at. Korsak filled me in while we were waiting for the warrant and now let's go get your girlfriend." They both turned to Cavanaugh and knew from his smile he'd heard Frankie's comment but he smiled at the two of them and signaled for everyone to gather around him.
"Rizzoli 1 and 2, both of you, will take this egress window." He point to one of the windows on the floor plan and Jane noted it was the one that was closest to the heat signals and knew Cavanaugh was giving her the opportunity to be the one to get to Maura first. "Frost I want you and Crowe to take the front door. Just remember to save enough of him to give Rizzoli a couple of good hits." He heard a ripple of laughter through the crowd of cops.
"So Rizzoli do you want him conscious?" Crowe asked seriously.
"If it's possible, I want him to know who's hitting him and why." She was dead serious. She wanted this man to feel just one iota of what he probably put Maura through and she wanted to be the one to show him.
"We all know why." Once again there was laughter from the group but Jane realized it was good natured ribbing and not mean spirited.
"Ok my love life aside, there is a woman and child being held captive in there and I want one good swing at the son of a bitch responsible. So let's get this setup and go get 'em." Jane walked away with her arm around Frankie shoulder. "Let's get ready little brother, my future awaits." She handed him a piece of paper. "That's the phone number for Jenny's mother, call her as soon as we've got her out of there and let her know she can meet us at the hospital." They waited until everyone was ready then they all split up and stealthily walked through the neighborhood to take up their positions. Jane and Frankie heard the command in their headsets and Jane kicked the window in and threw herself through the window. When she stood up she almost fell back down because the sight of Maura hanging from the rafters threatened to buckle her knees. "Frankie get Jenny out of here. I don't want her to see this." Jane heard him pass her through the window to someone waiting outside. She walked up to Maura and spoke softly. "Maura honey can you hear me?" The tears started to fall as she tenderly lifted Maura's chin and saw all the cuts and bruises.
"Jane?" Maura voice was barely above a whisper. "I knew you'd come." She tried to smile and winced.
"I'm going to cut you down and it will probably hurt like hell. You ready?" Maura barely nodded her head. Jane wrapped her arm around Maura's waist and reached up and cut her wrists free then lifted her from her behind her knees and gently lowered her on to her lap as she sat down on the floor. Maura hissed from the pain then tried to open her eyes. "Love you Jane."
"God I love you too sweetie." She flinched when she heard a gunshot above her and instinctively covered Maura. She pulled her own gun when she heard the door at the top of the stairs open and pointed it towards the stairs.
"Rizzoli it's ok. It's over." She heard Cavanaugh say and she took her first deep breath since she crashed through the window.
"Get the medics down here, she's hurt bad." Jane looked down at Maura's and she couldn't hold back the tears. She felt Maura try to move and watched her wince in pain. "Sweetie don't move you'll just hurt yourself more."
"Jenny." Maura could hardly speak she was so weak.
"She's ok. Frankie got her out of here already. She's fine." She turned around and smiled at Frankie.
"Smart girl." Maura squeezed Jane's hand. "Told her you'd rescue us. My hero."
Jane squeezed back and smiled down at the woman who had become her reason for living and knew she was going to be ok. She gently pushed back the hair from her face and winced at all of the cuts and bruises she saw there. "Shhh honey it's going to be ok." Jane looked up as the medics came down the stair with a gurney and started to work on Maura. "Honey you're going to have to let go of my hand so these guys can make you more comfortable."
"Don't want to." Maura did her best imitation of Jane when she tries to wake her up in the morning and it made Jane smile. "They can work around it." One of the medics shrugged his shoulders and went to work inserting the IV and gave her some morphine for the pain and soon Maura was sporting a silly grin. "Jane I love you sooo much. Will you marry me?"
"Ask me again when you're not high on drugs and I'll say yes." Jane smiled down at her until she took a good look at her body then anger took over. She turned to one of the medics. "I'm riding back with you so don't leave without me."
"Wouldn't dream of it Detective." He smiled up at her.
"Maura sweetie I'll be right back."
"Okey Dokey, I'm not going anywhere." Jane smiled then turned and ran up the stairs and crashed through the door. She looked around the kitchen at all of the cops standing around. "Tell me he's dead. Tell me he'll never have the chance to do this to anyone ever again." She looked straight at Lieutenant Cavanaugh.
"Sorry I can't tell you that but if you want your pound of flesh he's in the living room. He resisted arrest and we had to restrain him."
Jane walked into the living room and looked around the crowded room and all of the guys looked to her. "We thought you'd want to take the first swing at him so we haven't touched him yet." Crowe walked up in front of her as he spoke. "Leave some for us to pick up ok?"
Jane walked over to the man that was kneeling on the floor looking up at her with pleading eyes. "You can't do this it's police brutality. Please don't hurt me." He was begging Jane.
"So tell me, when the women were begging you to not hurt them did you relent and leave them alone? Hell no, from the looks of Maura's face I think you got your rocks off when they begged. I take no pleasure in what I am about to do but as they say an eye for an eye and since Maura is lying downstairs I am going to exact revenge on her behalf. And just so you know, I don't hit like a girl so this is going to hurt you more than it hurts me." She pulled her hand back and swung with every ounce of strength she possessed and connected with his jaw and watched as he flew backwards. "I was wrong, that was very pleasing, and I did rather enjoy that and it did hurt but it was well worth it you son of a bitch."
"You can't do this and get away with it. I'll sue the whole Boston Police Department." He tried to stand up but with his hands tied behind his back it was hard to stand.
"Did you wonder why we tied you instead of cuffing you? It's a cop thing. Cuffs leave marks when you struggle but the cloth we used to tie you with will not leave any marks at all. And who is going to say anything to back up your claim of police brutality? As we were walking you out to the car somehow one of the husbands got wind of the bust and showed up and you tried to attack him to keep him quiet and he fought back in self defense." Frankie leaned down as he spoke. "Maura means a lot to me and that little girl that's on her way to the hospital is going to suffer for the rest of her life all because of you, you worthless piece of crap. Jane you want another shot at him?"
"I really hate to hit a man when he's down but for you I'll make an exception. You're lucky Maura's still alive or else you'd be leaving here in a body bag." Jane could barely contain her anger but she did.
"She's too good for you. You're just a dyke cop after a piece of ass."
That just about made Jane lose whatever control she had but she was stopped by Frost's hand on her shoulder. "Man are you a sadist or a masochist? I can never remember which is which Jane can you clear it up for me? Frost asked in a confused voice as he walked up to the man on the floor. Jane knew he knew the answer but he wanted to mess with the guys head.
"Well Frost in this situation he's a masochist because only a masochist would make a comment like that when he's the one on the floor at our mercy. And I guess that would make us the sadists." She landed a good kick in his ribcage but this time she didn't take any pleasure in what she did. The first one was for what he did to Maura but the second one was just because she wanted to teach him a lesson. "He's all yours guys, I'm going with Maura to the hospital." Jane turned as the medics were bringing the gurney up the stairs. She met them at the top of the stairs and took Maura's hand.
"Where were you Jane?" Maura looked up with glassy eyes. She looked beyond Jane and saw all of the cops looking at her and she turned back to Jane. "Why are there so many officers here?" She looked around Jane and waved to them and smiled a goofy smile. "Hi guys." A few of the cops smiled and waved back. She squeezed Jane's hand as they wheeled her out to the ambulance.
Jane stood back as they secured the gurney in the ambulance then pulled one of the medics back. "How bad is it?"
"So far the worst injury I can see is a broken tibia and the cigarette burns. Lacerations to the face and abdomen but there are probably some internal that we can't see. Let's get going ok?"
Jane climbed in behind the medic and waited for them to take their seats so she could take a seat that was not in their way. "Jane where are you." Maura was frantically looking around the ambulance until her eyes landed on Jane slightly behind her. "Oh, there you are." He face broke out in a smile that would light all of Boston with its wattage.
Jane reached out and reclaimed her hand. "I'm right here Maura and I will be until the pry my hand away from you."
"These are some nice drugs, I don't feel half of the pain I've been feeling over the last two days." Maura sobered for a moment and tears came to her eyes. "Are you sure Jenney is ok? She's a very smart little girl and I would hate it if she was injured." Jane nodded her head. "Jane it really hurt when he hit me and I kept thinking that I wasn't as strong as you and because of that I was going to die. I was so scared Jane." Jane watched as a tear rolled down her cheek.
Jane wiped the tear away. "It's ok sweetie. I'm just glad we found you in time." Jane brought Maura's hand to her lips and kissed it. She looked at the medic and he was smiling but quickly turned away as he went back to cleaning Maura's wounds as best as he could.
"How did you find me?"
Jane noticed that they were up to the hospital emergency entrance and she turned to Maura. "We're here now so I'm going to have to let you go but we'll talk about it later." Jane watched as a look of panic entered Maura's eyes and she squeezed her hand tighter. "I'll be there when you wake up ok?"
"Jane don't leave me. Bad things happen when you're not there. Don't leave me." The back of the ambulance opened and she watched as they pulled the gurney out and she grabbed Maura's hand again and walked beside the gurney. "Jane come with me please?"
"Maura you know they won't let me past the doors but I'll be by your side as soon as they let me. And I'll threaten the nurse so they'll tell me what's going on every minute. They'll probably knock you out anyway so you won't even know I'm not there. Look there's Jan and we all know she breaks the rules for us so she'll keep me updated."
Maura's friend Jan was the trauma nurse at Mass General and she had been there for both of them through all of their visits to the hospital. Jan looked down at Maura then back at Jane. "What the hell happened this time?" She looked at the worried look on Jane's face and the panic on Maura's and let Jane through the door even though she wasn't supposed to but the look on Maura's face was scaring her. She watched as Maura relaxed when she realized what had happened and knew she'd made the right decision.
Jane helped them transfer Maura to the table in the emergency room and gave Jan a grateful smile. "Not you two again. But it looks like you've changed places. It's usually Jane in the bed." Both women turned as Dr. Jacobson walked in the room looking at Maura's chart. "Jan can we get some x-rays of the left leg and a full facial and we may as well get the abdominal area too. First I see Jane in my emergency room with a gunshot and now this. Maybe I should open a private practice for just the two of you. I hope the other guy looks worse."
"Well Doc I can't say for sure but it might be a good bet that he does. I left him with the majority of the Boston Police Department and they'd all seen what he did to Maura and they weren't happy."
"Jane what are you saying? Are you saying they are going to exact revenge by beating the man?" Maura was seriously worried.
"Maura that guy…" Jane sputtered when she realized she was getting angry at Maura for worrying about the creep that did this to her.
"Come on Maura let's get you down to x-ray." Jan stepped between the two women before things got heated.
"I'm sorry Jane don't be mad. Are you coming with me?" Maura reached for Jane's hand in desperation.
"There's no need to say you're sorry. Why don't you go with Jan while I go out to see all the people waiting to hear how you are? I promise I'll be here when you get back ok?" Jane leaned down and gave her a kiss. "I'm not mad at you ok? I'm mad at the guy who did this to you." Jane whispered in Maura's ear. "I love you."
Maura smiled up at her with a pained look. "I think the drugs are wearing off it's starting to hurt again and I'm acting too clingy. Of course you need to check on the others." Maura turned her head away so Jane wouldn't see her cry.
"Maura if I could I would be with you every step of the way but those x-ray rooms are scary and you better make sure you wear that apron thingy they give you because I am not going to be the only one in this relationship pushing out babies for Ma." The joking did the trick and Maura smiled up at her. "I will be back before you get done I promise." She leaned down and kissed her again. "Behave for Jan ok?" She waited until Jan wheeled her out of the room before she headed for the waiting room.
She towards the waiting room and was surprised by the number of people milling around. She walked towards her mother and Constance and one of the guys stood up and gave her the chair next to Constance. "She's going to be ok. We got to her in time and the injuries are mostly minor but it's hard to tell what this will do to her mentally. She's heading to x-ray right now and they'll know more after that. It looks like a broken leg might be the worst of her injuries. She's not showing any sign of internal injuries but they are going to do a thorough exam after she gets back from x-ray. She's pretty beat up and I feel so helpless." Jane leaned her head down and rested it in her hands.
"Jane, you did what you said you'd do and you saved Maura and brought her back to me and for that I will forever be in your debt. And I promised I will be there for Maura through all of this. I almost lost her but thanks to you I have a second chance to be the mother I never was."
"Well you're going to have to put up with the Rizzoli's during her recovery because I will be there every day and I'm sure Ma will be by as often as she can, which will probably be every day too." Jane looked to her mother and gave her a tired smile. It was then that she realized it had been over 48 hours since she'd slept and she was dead tired.
"You can bet that I will be there to provide meals and support in any way I can. I can teach you to cook some of Maura's favorite foods. And we can help Maura together." Angela took Constance's hand when she saw how overwhelmed she looked. She loves chicken soup and I have a wonderful recipe that she really likes."
Jane hoped that she hadn't unleashed a beast. Ma alone was hard to handle but both mothers might be too much. "She's going to need as much rest as possible so don't mother her too much Ma." Jane signaled for Frankie, Korsak and Frost to join her in the hallway. She walked out the door and recognized a lot of the guys who had been at the house. "So how's our resident asshole holding up? You guys didn't beat him too bad did ya?"
"Did you know that myth about beating someone with a bag of oranges is true?" One of the big cops said from the back of the group. "He may be feeling some pain but you can't tell by looking at him. Next time a battered woman says she didn't have any bruises because he hit here with a bag of oranges I'm going to believe her. How's the Doc doing?" She heard some of the other cops seconding the question.
"She's doing pretty good considering what that bastard did to her. It looks like he broke her leg and she had quite a bit of bruising on her arms and he burned her quite a bit with his damn cigarette. She's got some pretty bad cuts and they are going to check for internal injuries when she's done in x-ray. I want to thank all you guys for backing me up and helping to get Maura back. Once she's off all the drugs and can remember what I say I'm going to make sure she knows what you guys did." Jane took a deep breath because she knew she couldn't lose it in front of these guys. "I'm going back in there to see what's going on. Thanks again guys."
"Hey no problem Rizzoli, she's part of the team and we got her back just like we got yours. It's what cops do for their own." She heard a lot of 'yeahs' coming from the other cops as she walked through the group back to Maura's room.
She was sitting in the chair when they brought Maura back in. She could tell Maura was in a lot of pain because she was breathing through clenched teeth. She tried to smile when she saw Jane but she could tell it was an effort. "Jan can she get something for the pain?"
"I was just going to do something about that. The doctor said I could give her some Demerol." Jane watched as Jan pulled out a syringe and injected the drug into Maura's IV.
Jane sat down and took Maura's hand. "Hey your Mother is here and she's making noises about wanting to take care of you after you leave here. I told her she was going to have to get in line behind me and Ma." Jane watched as the drug started to take effect. "So how ya feeling now?
"Much better. I'm glad you're here Jane." Maura smiled up at her with a very serious look on her face.
"I wouldn't be anywhere else. I was so scared when I found you were missing. I thought I'd lost you forever and I didn't know what I was going to do without you. I'm so glad I don't have to find out." She was not ashamed of the tears that slid down her cheeks. With Maura she didn't have to be strong all the time. Maura reached up and wiped a tear away and Jane was able to see the true extent of the bruising and burning on Maura's arm and she had to take a deep breath to keep from losing it. "I am so sorry Maura."
"What are you sorry for?" Maura looked at her face and instantly knew what was wrong. "This is not your fault. You could not have stopped it from happening. He wanted me and if he didn't take me when he did he would have found another way of getting me. You can't be with me 24 hours a day and still do your job as good as you do. By the way I was wondering how you did find me."
"It's the technology age Maura and I took a chance. I went through the missing children reports for the last few days and took a chance. I called Jenny's Mother and she gave me her cell phone number. I figured he'd take your cell but I was hoping he wouldn't think to check an 8 year old for a phone so we triangulated hers and found you. When I saw you hanging there I thought you were dead and I wanted to kill that son of a bitch with my bare hands. As it was I settled for one good punch."
"You hit him? Jane you could get in trouble for that, you could even lose your badge." Maura gave her a worried look.
"It would be worth it after what he did to you. I should have protected you, I should have been there for you. I did this to you." Jane laid her head on the side of the bed and wept until she felt Maura's hand on her head.
"Jane you did everything you could to prevent this from happening, as I already told you this is not your fault. You saved me so let's call it even ok?" Jane looked up at her and tried to smile but it didn't reach her eyes.
"Ok Maura I'm going to have to set your leg and I think you've had enough time for the pain meds to take over. Do you want more before we do this?" Maura gritted her teeth and shook her head quickly to Dr. Jacobson.
"Wait!" It was Jane who screamed. "You're going to do it right here with her fully conscious? You're not going to knock her out and do it in a sterile environment or something. This is going to hurt her right?" Jane gave Maura a pleading look. "Honey you can't do this without more drugs. Doc give her more drugs."
Maura actually laughed at the look of desperation on Jane's face. "My big tough cop who lets me reset her nose and stitch her up with no anesthesia is worried I can't handle this." She gave a barely perceptible nod to the doctor then took Jane's hand. "Be brave Jane." Maura let go of Jane's hand just as the doctor set her bones and she grabbed the sheets and grimaced through the pain and let out a quiet scream. Jane pried her hand from the sheets and held on for dear life. Her hand felt like it was going to break but she didn't say anything. The doctor carefully reinflated the blowup cast that had been on her leg and patted Maura's hand and smiled at her. Maura's deathlike grip finally relaxed and Jane started breathing again.
"A little warning would have helped Doc." She gave both Maura and Dr. Jacobson the patented Rizzoli glare.
"Jane quit fussing, anyone would think it was you on this bed and not me. As you can see I'm fine. Now we need to let the doctor do his job so we can get out of here and go home." Maura smiled up at the doctor and gave him the go ahead.
"We'll have someone bring you down to the casting room and cast that in a little while but first I want to check for any other bleeding or injuries." He lifted Maura's shirt and Jane gasped at the bruises that covered the majority of Maura's abdomen and chest with cigarette burns interspersed. She watched as Maura hissed when the doctor pushed on a particular spot. "Hurts there? The x-rays show you have two broken ribs here and there's a small amount of bleeding in the area as well. You're lucky it didn't puncture the lung, you would have been in big trouble."
Jane realized the amount of pain that Maura must be in and her opinion of her rose quite a few notches. She was tougher than she let on and Jane loved her all the more for it. Right now all she could do was hold her hand tighter and when she squeezed it Maura turned her head towards Jane and gave her a beautiful smile. Jane tried to smile back but she knew she failed, she hated to see what Maura had gone through and was still going through. "It's ok." She whispered to Jane.
"I think the best thing we can do for you is get you a room for the night and make you comfortable. I want to keep you for observation and we can reevaluate in the morning. You're going to need stitches in a few places." He turned to Jane. "We'll give her a local anesthetic before we start the stitching, just so you don't think we're completely barbaric around here." He smiled at the slight look of embarrassment that crossed Jane's face. "Jan can do the stitches if you'd like. She did a pretty good job on Jane."
"That would be fine if she's not too busy." Maura smiled up at him.
"We seem to be having somewhat of a quiet night so I think we can spare her. Good news is that the zygomatic bone isn't broken but your eye will be swollen shut for the next few hours. You look like you went 10 rounds with Mohammed Ali."
"Worse, Ali didn't wear steel toed boots or use cigarettes on his opponents." Maura looked as Jane released her hand and started pacing the room.
"Jane are you ok?" Doctor Jacobson asked with concern.
"She'll be fine, she's just walking off her anger. She didn't know he kicked me. We haven't really had time to discuss how I acquired these injuries. She wants to kill the man who did this to me but knows it's wrong so she's walking it off. Either that or she's surprised I know who Ali is."
"So she's ok?" The doctor smiled at Maura and she nodded.
"You two do realized I can hear you don't you? And she's right, I want to tear him apart with my bare hands and feed him to the vermin in the alleys of Boston. Look what he did to her." She lifted one of Maura's hands and gently caressed the chafing on her wrist from the ropes. "What would you do if this had been Lucas? How is he by the way?"
"He's fine, he's taking the bar exam next week and he's hell to live with right now but I think I would feel the same way if this were him lying on the table. I may not do it in the same way but I can understand your reasoning." He gave Jane a sympathetic look.
"Is anyone sane in this city?" Maura asked looking back and forth between the two of them. "The man will have to answer for his actions and he'll never see the light of day as a free man ever again. Isn't that enough?"
"No!" They both answered at the same time.
"But I guess it will have to be." Jane said reluctantly then she brightened. "Hey Maura there's something I want to tell you about the guys from the precinct."
"I'm going to send Jan in and then get you set up for the casting so I'll say good night and I'll see you in the morning."
"Thank you Craig, say hi to Lucas and tell him we'll celebrate when he passes the bar. Maybe you can come to our house and Jane can cook for us. She tells me she's a pretty good cook."
He patted Maura's shoulder and gave Jane a smile. "We'll look forward to it. Jane behave ok? Stay out of trouble."
"Sure Doc see ya tomorrow." She waved as he walked away.
"You were saying something about the guys. What did Barry and Vince do now?" She turned her head and gave Jane all of her attention.
"I'm not talking about Frost and Korsak. Remember how surprised you were when half the precinct showed up when I was shot?" Maura nodded. "Well the same guys are out there pacing the hallways now. They told me they were here because they watch out for their own. They're here because of you."
Jane watched the emotions flit across Maura's face. She knew how important it was for Maura to feel like a part of the team. "Really?" It was Jane's turn to nod. "I remember a number of them were at the house, why were there so many?"
"For the same reason, when they hear one of their own is in trouble we go all out to help. Even Crowe was there." She watched as Maura smiled. "Hey why aren't you asleep? The drugs they gave you should have knocked you out, not that I'm complaining."
"I don't react the same to most narcotics as most people do. They do cut the pain immensely but they only make me a bit drowsy. Unless they give me a large dose. Jan knows this about me and I asked her to just give me enough to cut the pain."
"Why would you do that? You're in pain and you don't have to be." Jane couldn't understand why anyone would do that when they have an option.
"Because then we wouldn't be having this conversation and I would have missed the caring and loving looks you've given me over the past few hours. I would have missed your witty repartee and I would have missed just spending the time with you."
Jane felt like a jerk for questioning Maura's motives. "What can I say to that? If I wasn't already in love with you I sure as hell would be now."
"Ok Maura let's get those cuts stitched up and get you a new cast." Jan said as she walked through the door. Then she stopped and looked between the two women and noticed they were staring at each other. "Did I interrupt something?"
"Yes but that's ok." Maura smiled at Jane before she turned to Jan. "So how bad is this going to scar?"
"Oh you're going to look like Frankenstein's Monster when all is said and done. You'll be hideous."
