Chapter Ten

"Uh oh." Frost says under his breath as he watches Jane stalk into the bullpen. He knows his partner well enough to tell that she is pissed off. "That bad?"

"Worse!" Jane takes a seat her fury still driving her emotions.

"What happened?"

"Let's just say, I now know what my dream girl does for a living!" Jane throws the business card at Frost,

Frost looks at the card, then at Jane confused, "What about Lange?"

"Appendicitis!"

"So she's a defense attorney? Ain't that some shit!" Frost shakes his head.

"Claims she doesn't normally do cases like this. Said she is a pro bono lawyer. Had the nerve to say 'Google me'." Jane can't sit still, she pushes away from her desk. "I need coffee, want some?"

"No, thanks." Frost says absentmindedly as he begins his Maura Isles Google search.

.xxx.

Later that day as they are off to interview a potential witness Jane drives and Frost has his face buried in his iPad.

"What the hell is so interesting? That better be related to this case Frost, because so help me if you are playing a video game or tweeting or some such bullshit!"

He has been reading all about the illustrious career of Maura Isles and can't seem to tear himself away from his research. "Huh?"

Jane shakes her head, "I asked what the hell was so interesting?"

Frost isn't sure if he should confess or not. "Just doing some research."

"Is that code for porn?"

"No."

"Is it related to this case?"

"Not exactly." He knows he's busted.

"You couldn't help yourself could you? You Googled her, didn't you!?" She pulls over and parks at their destination.

"Jane listen, there is article after article about her. She's a bit of a superhero. Look at this, she's really really good at her job. And she sounds a lot like you."

Jane rolls her eyes at him and turns in her seat to face him. "Detective Frost, we have a job to do, so if you don't mind… I would like to get to the bottom of who killed Lauren Jablonski if it's not too much trouble."

Frost shakes his head at Jane's retreating figure. He hates it when she gets surly and starts taking it out on those around her. He gets out of the car, "I was just doing the leg work that I knew you were too pissed off and stubborn to do. I don't want you to waste precious time being mad for no reason." Jane shoots him a look, "I took the liberty of emailing you some links that you really should look at." They stop walking part way up the sidewalk, "You're my partner Jane and I don't want you to lose the best thing that's ever happened to you. I'd never seen you happier than since you met Maura." He starts walking, leaving Jane there processing for a minute.

.xxx.

Dressed in her favorite end-of-a-long-week outfit of sweats and her BPD t-shirt Jane is ready to let this week end. She's ordered pizza, cracked open a beer and turned on the game. She is officially ready to lose herself and try and forget today, at least for a couple of hours. The Universe has other plans though, the game is delayed due to rain and the pizza guy is late. At least her beer is cold and hitting the spot. She flips from channel to channel trying to kill time until the game starts but nothing is holding her interest.

The pizza finally arrives and much to Jane's dismay there is not a single piece of meat on it. Her sausage and pepperoni pizza has been replaced by a half cheese, half veggie pizza. "Come on! Seriously!" She growls depositing the box on her coffee table and flipping back to the game just in time to hear it is being called due to the rain. She looks up and gives God her best, "Really?" Taking a bite of her almost cold pizza. "Naturally! Today is not my day."

With her appetite lost she decides on her second favorite dinner, beer. After making ten rounds through all the cable channels with no luck Jane turns off her TV. She sits there for a minute trying to come up with something to do. Something that will get her mind off of Maura. She cannot stop thinking about her. She cannot stop the ache she feels. The loss. She wants so badly to be mad at her because she dared question her professionalism.

Grabbing her laptop off the coffee table she boots it up and checks her email.

.xxx.

Meanwhile over in the Beacon Hill area of Boston Maura Isles is glued to her laptop reading story after story about Detective Jane Rizzoli. For someone so young she has had a very impressive career. Maura understands better why Jane reacted the way she did. Her Police work is usually that of commendation and not called into question. As she reads about Hoyt, Maura is horrified. Jane has clearly survived something most people could never. She never asked about the scars on her hands and now she wonders if Jane would've told her.

Maura sips from her wine glass and picks up her phone debating over whether or not to call Jane. Call Jane? Text Jane? Tears fill her eyes over the fear of the backlash that might come from that. She looks down and sees Bass moseying by the couch, "Bass, what if she is gone from my life forever?"

This is it, she is back to where she was. A typical night at home; a glass of wine, talking to a tortoise, alone, doing research. This is how her life was meant to be, Jane was just a cruel joke played on her by The Fates. Maura should've known better, people don't stick around in her life for long. She thought there was a connection, something different, but in reality it was probably just a new type of sheer loneliness she was not familiar with that Jane snuck through making her feel alive for a moment.

Hot tears sting her cheeks as the overwhelming awareness of being alone forever settles in. People are only meant to pass through her world. No one is meant to settle there with her but Bass. She had accepted that a long time ago as a teenager, then Jane Rizzoli walked into her life and made her think things could be different.