A/N: It has been WAY too long! I apologize for the delayed update. It won't happen again, I promise! I hope you all still have some interest in this story, I plan on wrapping it up pretty soon. Thank you for all the follows, reviews, and favorites! I'd love to see some more reviews. Anyway, the disclaimer still holds true, nothing belongs to me but the story-line and the Rizzoli children. Enjoy!
Detective Barry Frost entered through the large wooden door and into the Rizzoli household quietly. It was just after nine o'clock in the evening, laughter roared from the large, casual dining room situated in the back of the house. As his muscular form inched closer, footsteps falling lightly in an effort to not disturb, he listened to two distinct laughs and the absence of one he knew all too well. Frost stood in the entryway, shoulder against the doorframe and allowed himself to bask in the love that radiated from the small family.
The young detective was always grateful for Jane's presence in his life. At first he was honored to be partnered with such an accomplished, impressive, and talented detective. Next came the wonder he felt at the woman Jane Rizzoli is. The fire inside her, the love inside her heart. The fondness he felt quickly turned into a schoolboy crush and in the blink of an eye that became pure admiration. Jane was his family, he had become a fundamental part of the Rizzoli clan, and for that he continuously counted his blessings.
And then there was Maura. He wasn't sure how or when, but the woman who was once cold and connected to only the deceased became just as important to him as the fiery brunette. Maura and Jane became the yin and yang that kept his life balanced. He looked at the caramel blonde, dressed in black yoga pants and a large gray sweater, and his smile grew wider. She was laughing loudly at something her son had just mumbled, it was probably something laced with his beginners level Rizzoli sarcasm. Frost always knew Maura would make a great mother, he even reassured the doctor on several occasions, and his pride swelled at just how right he was.
The gentle detective stepped further into the room and his amber eyes locked with dark hazel, hazel that lit up the moment they locked on him. A warm smile spread across his face in response. He was here for work, he should be all business, but the loving feelings this family illicit would always show on his handsome face.
"Barry!" Maura smiled back at their guest. "I'm so glad you could make it. Care to join us?" She swept her hand in the direction of the cluttered wooden table. Several game boxes were stacked on the tabletop, a board was open and pieces were scattered about.
"Only if I get to play the next round." Frost looked to the little boy seated to Maura's left for permission. Dressed in a plain red T-shirt and Ironman pajama pants, Bradley was kneeling on his chair, elbows on the table as most of his body leaned on the surface.
"Uncle Frost is on my team." The little boy responded after he strategically considered whether Frost could help him win, even if their game didn't have teams.
"You got it, bud." Frost walked up behind the duo and ruffled Bradley's sandy curls, a split second of consideration was spent on deciding whether to do the same to Maura for a laugh, but Frost knew better. "I just have to talk to your mom first." His eyes shifted to Maura before he questioned her. "Where is Jane?"
"She's in the kitchen making me a cup of tea. Help yourself to anything you'd like. I just got this delicious bai hoa white tip oolong, it's quite relaxing." The ME beamed across the room, encouraging her friend to try it.
"I think I'll be ok with a beer, but thank you." Frost chuckled as he turned to the kitchen. Loosening his patterned, sapphire tie along the way.
Jane was leaning against the granite countertop, waiting for water to come to a boil. Her dark eyebrows were knit together closely, deep creases riddled her forehead and a flame was present in her dark eyes. Those brown eyes were trained on no particular spot, just in the direction of the floor.
"What's up, partner?" Frost approached carefully, taking a quick detour to the refrigerator for a beer.
Jane broke from her reverie to meet his concerned gaze. The look on her face never softened, never disappeared, she just turned her back to the man in the room and watched the steam rise up from the kettle.
"Jane? You ok?" A large hand splayed on a bony shoulder in comfort.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
"You don't seem fine." Frost knew his partner, he knew when something was wrong and he always knew to let her talk when she was ready. But tonight, as a detective he had to push. "What's wrong?"
The shoulder beneath his hand started to shake, causing him to prepare himself for an emotional Jane Rizzoli. She was such a strong woman, a woman that always kept her emotions in check, that always made him a little uncomfortable in her moments of weakness. Soon the brunette turned around to reveal a giant grin on her face and tears of laughter in her eyes.
"The kid's a shark." She managed the few words between fits of giggles.
"Excuse me?" Jane's partner was thoroughly confused.
"I even got a warning! 'Don't go easy on him.' My wife says. 'He'll never learn to lose gracefully if he always wins at home.' Great advice from the wise Dr. Rizzoli." Jane scoffed as her concentration returned to the boiling water, the whistling sound filling the room.
"And?" Frost was almost afraid to ask.
"AND? I just got my ass handed to me by a five year old in Chutes and Ladders!" Jane didn't even bother to try to hide her shame and embarrassment.
"Make sure the tea doesn't steep for longer than three minutes or else it'll turn bitter." Maura called from the other room.
"You got it, Sweetheart." Jane replied while her eyes were still on Frost's laughing form. She just shook her head, stole the opened beer from her partner's hand, took a swig, and carried both beverages into the dining room turned game room.
xxxxxxx
"That's another round that goes to Bradley." Maura announced and gave her son a high-five.
"This is unbelievable." Frost sat back and loosened his tie further. His normally pristine appearance was ruffled by the small boy across from him. The sleeves of his powder blue shirt were rolled up to his elbows and several buttons at his collar were unfastened.
"If he has the Isles brain and Rizzoli charm, we're in trouble." Jane leaned over and whispered in her fellow detective's ear. They both laughed at the truth in the statement.
"Can we play war next?" Bradley proposed.
"Yeah!" The deep, masculine voice boomed in the quiet atmosphere. "That's my game." Frost jumped up while clapping his hands to retrieve a deck of cards, unaware of the glance shared between the two women.
"What's war?" Jane questioned, brown eyes still locked on knowing hazel.
"You've never played war, Rizzoli?!" Frost's flabbergasted expression was erased from his handsome features the moment he noticed Jane's glare. She obviously knows something I don't know. He thought as he settled quietly.
"Tell us about the game, Bradley." Maura quietly urged her son to speak. She had been waiting for him to say something, anything about his time away from home. He had mentioned small details when they were alone but his normally loose lips stilled once his Mama entered the room. Adding Barry to the equation caused the sandy-haired boy to become more boisterous, but less forthcoming with important details. She silently hoped that this would somehow turn out to be significant.
"Um.." Bradley's light eyebrows knit in concentration as he tried to recall the game he only played a few times. "You wanna have a better card than the other person." His chubby hands started to turn over cards of various suits, his fingers so small that they barely controlled the thick paper. "Like, fours would obviously beat twos, anyone would know that."
"Of course." Jane smiled that sideways smile that she reserved for those who truly owned her heart.
"But..but if you have an ace? If you have an ace..." Bradley started to trip over his words and repeat himself as he grew more excited. "N-nothing beats an ace."
"My Pop taught me how to play war. Who taught you?" Frost worked his way into the juvenile interrogation smoothly.
"I used to play with Thomas all the time.." The small voice grew quiet at the mention of the other boy.
"Did Thomas teach you, Bradley?" Maura questioned and was answered by a blonde head shaking, telling her no.
"Who taught you?" Jane's voice grew firm and Bradley started to squirm due to the sudden shift in attitude. When his Mama spoke so seriously, he was usually in trouble.
"Sweetie, you did nothing wrong." The ME spoke up, trying to soothe the little boy. She wanted nothing more than to wrap him in her protective embrace, but she knew the next words from his mouth would be important.
"Why does Mama look mad?"
"Mama's not mad, that's just her face." Maura smiled in Jane's direction, instantly calming the detective and receiving a playful glare in return.
"Uncle Wally taught how to play war and a bunch of other games." It was obvious that Bradley's childhood innocence lead him to believe the man who took him was harmless and maybe even fun, but at the age of five his Rizzoli instincts were already blossoming. Bradley knew something was wrong. "He never hurt me." He said, barely above a whisper.
"I'll still hurt him, though." Jane mumbled under her breath.
Maura stood and walked over to where their son was seated. She lifted him into her arms and sat down again with him on her lap.
"Was Thomas already there when you got there?" Bradley seemed more responsive to Maura's gentle, smooth voice so she continued questioning him. Bradley just nodded, keeping his bright green eyes on the cards scattered before him. "Do you think Uncle Wally ever hurt Thomas?" The doctor's stomach twisted as she asked the question.
Bradley shrugged his shoulders before speaking again. "He was supposed to take us to his house by a lake to teach us to fish. But he only took Thomas." There was a hint of sadness in the boys voice. It was as if the neglect that saved his life hurt him anyway. As soon as the melancholy had settled it had just as quickly disappeared when Bradley spun on his mother's lap to face the dark-skinned detective. "Will YOU teach me to catch fishies, Uncle Frost?" The eagerness in his voice melted all three adults at the table.
"Think you can hook a worm without losing your lunch, Uncle Frost?" Jane mocked as she stood to clean the table. Removing the dishes used for their late night snack of cookies.
"Of course, little man! As soon as the weather starts to warm up I'll take you." A pink tongue made a quick appearance in Jane's direction before he gave a small hand a high five."It's late, I gotta go. Early morning tomorrow." Frost rose and shrugged into his suit jacket as he followed Jane into the kitchen, before he was fully through the doorway she was already rattling off commands.
"Look up every inch of property that pervert's family EVER owned. Anything near a pond, lake, the ocean, even so much as a goddamned puddle- I want the address and I want it searched! If it's not under his name look for every acronym, palindrome, anything! Scramble, unscramble, and re-scramble." She slammed an empty china dish onto the counter with enough force to cause the crumbs left behind to jump and scatter.
"Jane?" Maura inquired from the other room where she was packing up games after hearing the noise.
"It's ok, I just dropped a plate." She kept her heated eyes on her partner as she spoke.
"I'm going to tuck Bradley in. Come to bed when you're done."
Jane ran her long fingers through her unruly curls. A sure sign of how frustrated she was feeling, how helpless she felt.
"It'll be done, Rizzoli. Get some sleep." Frost made his way out of the house, not wanting the agitated woman to lose control or argue with him.
After locking up the house and double-checking each lock in turn, Jane made her way to her bedroom. She made two stops along the way to check on her sleeping children, getting lost in their peaceful virtue. The dreamy cooing noises coming from the bundle that was her daughter instantly calmed her and helped her focus on how lucky she really was. As soon as she stepped into the master bedroom she heard Maura drop her book on to her lap before seeing it. When their eyes met Jane's breath caught in her throat. No matter how many years passed by, Maura's simple beauty, the beauty only she got to see late at night or early in the morning made her world stand still.
"You're so beautiful." Jane whispered across the room before disappearing into the bathroom to brush her teeth and change. Maura simply smiled in response and waited patiently for her wife to join her, eyes back on the printed pages before her. When Jane emerged in nothing but a large T-shirt, Maura's now boring book was set aside. It was so easy to get lost at the sight of those long, tanned legs. The brunette grabbed a hair tie from her nightstand and piled her hair high atop her head, never looking away from the peaceful woman she was lucky enough to share a bed with each night. The lanky form slid beneath the covers and snuggled against the silk clad side of her wife. She sighed contently and tried to force her mind to slow down enough to get some rest.
"It's driving you crazy, isn't it?" Maura asked into the quiet room. The glow from her bedside lamp bathed their surroundings in an amber glow.
"What?" Brown eyes glistened with curiosity.
"Being here and not out there. Chasing bad guys until sunrise and living off coffee as you stare at a blank computer screen. Don't forget, Jane, I used to be there too." The amusement on the blonde's face directly contradicted the slightly agitated tone with which her words were delivered. Maura laid on her side, facing her smirking wife.
"You're right, as always. But just because I want to be out there searching doesn't mean I don't want to be here."
"You're not completely here-"
"Maur," Jane took a deep breath, her thoughts stumbling over one another in order to form the perfect response. "We made a promise to each other when we decided to have children and I will never forget or break that promise." Jane's left hand broke free from the plush comforter and started to caress Maura's cheek in a relaxing pattern. "I promised you I would be home with and for my family. I promised that you and our children would always come first." Her husky voice broke. "I promised that you would have all of me, not just a piece."
"And I promised to never keep any of our kids snacks in the dead fridge." A small chuckle escaped Maura's lips between newly fallen tears.
"Yes you did." Jane's brilliant smile was visible in the dimly lit room. "But you have to understand how personal this case is for me, for us." Chocolate eyes roamed the angelic face before them. A finely tuned, choreographed dance from eyes to lips, from lips to brow, and from brow to nose, only to do it all over again.
The couple was silent for a few moments, unspoken thoughts and feelings swam between them and it was if they were understood anyway. The ME snuggled closer to her Detective, pulling the thin body to her and holding her tightly. She listened to Jane's strong heart for ten beats, giving herself that time to come to terms with the truth her wife had just spoken. Manicured fingers made their way to the neckline of the baggy shirt and pulled down just enough to expose olive skin, taut across her sternum. Plump lips left a moist kiss just above the crucial organ before speaking again.
"Go. Do your job. You're the best there is and if you aren't there this case will remain unsolved a lot longer than it should." Jane kissed Maura quickly and was already changing back into her work clothes. "Call me before you go anywhere, ok? I love you."
"Of course. I love you, too." The brunette clipped her gun to her belt and adjusted her badge. "I'll make it up to you." A devious wiggle of perfectly sculpted, dark eyebrows sealed that promise as the detective turned to leave.
"Jane?" Maura stopped the determined woman just as she reached their bedroom door.
"Yeah?"
"Next time you're frustrated, try not to take it out on our china." Maura turned on her side and burrowed into the covers after turning off the light. Her eyes closed as she listened to Jane's hearty laugh move further and further away.