Before they even knocked, the door was opened. They were directed inside and made to sit at the table. Jane noticed the melancholy air immediately and was worried about the stoic look on her family's faces. Angela took a seat next to Tommy who was seated next to his father.
An expectant look crossed Jane's face and she directed it towards Angela, who just ignored it and waited for Tommy to start.
A few seconds later, he did.
"First of all I want to thank you for coming over. I know that you guys are busy an' I really appreciate it. Also, I want to apologize for all the hurt I caused this family. I know there are no excuses for what I've done but maybe after I say this you'll understand a little about why I did all those things. Not that it's any excuse." He took a shaky breath and then paused, continuing only after a comforting pat on the hand from his mother. "You see… when we were younger something happened. Do you guys remember Mr. Sage, me an' Frankie's cabin leader from camp?"
Jane and Frankie nodded their heads. He was one of their favorites. He always came up with the best ghost stories around the camp fire.
"Well a few days before camp ended he…." Tommy looked down, still ashamed of the truth. "He raped me."
A brief moment of disbelief passed over the three hearing it for the first time. Once it finally sunk in, Jane spoke up.
"I'll kill that son of a –"
"Jane!" Maura stopped her from getting up.
"No!" She wretched her arm from her grasp. "That bastard needs to pay for what he's done!"
"Jane!" Frankie stood up and tried to stop her. "Jane, wait!"
She was stopped by his hand grabbing her shoulder.
"We don't even know where he is. And if we find him we might not even be able to do anything about it. Trust me, I want to get him as much as you do but it was so long ago."
Jane shook her head. "I don't care. I'll find him if it kills me." She broke free of his grasp and left.
Frankie followed her, worried about what she might do.
Maura looked at the remaining occupants in the room with worry and concern. She had no idea what to do or what to say so she decided to just stay silent, even though facts were filling her mind, wanting to get out.
Hours passed and Jane still hadn't returned but Frankie had, not being able to follow her. Maura tried calling but to no avail. She was really starting to get worried.
"I should get going. She might have already gone home." Maura reasoned.
"Alright. Call me if you hear from her." Angela said.
She nodded, said a final goodbye to the others, and then left. On her way she tried Jane's phone again but it went straight to voicemail.
"Jane," she sighed. "Call me when you get this. I'm getting worried. I just want to know you're okay… I love you."
She made a stop off at the precinct to check if she was there.
"Hello, Dr. Isles. You're here late." The policeman who was normally on night duty nodded at her.
"Well, not for work. You haven't seen Detective Rizzoli tonight, have you?"
"Yeah… she was here for a few minutes. Is everything alright? She looked angry. Didn't even say hi like she normally does."
Maura sighed. "She's on some insane mission. Do you have any idea where she went?"
"No… I'm sorry."
"It's okay. She might have gone home… I'll check there."
"Good luck!"
"Thanks." She left and headed home only to find it vacant.
She slept alone that night, if you could call it sleep. She got maybe an hour of it while the rest of her night consisted of waiting by the door and tossing and turning in her big empty bed.
As soon as morning came, Maura headed to work. Maybe Jane had found him and brought him in. She had no such luck, but ran into Korsak.
"Hey, Maura. Where's Jane?"
"I was hoping you might know."
He shook his head. "Sorry. I don't have a clue."
"Okay. I guess she'll show up soon."
"Well… Frost might be able to find her location through her phone."
The offer was tempting. Normally, she wouldn't want to waste police resources but this was a special case.
Minutes later all they were able to determine was that her phone was off. The last known location was their home. Most likely, Maura figured, was that her phone died. Unless Maura reminded her, which she hadn't done in a while, it was a fifty-fifty chance she'd remember to plug it in.
Since it didn't seem like she was going to have much luck here, Maura thanked the two and then headed back to the Rizzoli's.
"Have you heard from her yet?" Angela asked.
She shook her head. "I was hoping you had."
She sighed. "She better get back soon. Your engagement party is this weekend."
Maura almost had forgotten about that. "We're probably going to have to cancel that."
Angela frowned. "Why?"
"Well… you know she's not coming back alone. And it would take some time for all this to be settled. You know Jane, she wouldn't be able to enjoy it when he's still out here."
"No." Tommy spoke up. "I don't want you guys to have all your plans ruined because of this."
"They won't be ruined. Just pushed back." Maura assured.
"No! You tell Jane it's still on for this weekend. I'm not going to call all those people and tell them differently." Angela protested.
"I would if I could get a hold of her..."
Angela sighed. "I swear, that girl is going to be the death of me."
Maura couldn't help but agree. But, then again, she could understand Jane's point of view on it as well. She just wished the detective didn't rush into things so heedlessly.
Tommy noticed the time and knew it was almost that time of day where he shouldn't start walking home, as he happens to go through a pretty bad neighborhood on the way. "Uh… I should probably go."
"You're free to stay here again tonight, Tommy." Angela said.
"No, I should go home."
"Here, I'll drive you." Maura offered, standing up.
"No… I can walk."
"Nonsense, it's on the way and I was planning to get going soon anyway."
He couldn't argue with that. They left not too long after and took the short drive to his place.
As soon as he entered the door he collapsed on the couch. He couldn't get it out of his head that he had basically sent his big sister to face that monster and the same thing would happen to her. No matter how long he laid in his bed, sleep wouldn't come. Eventually, though, his body was too tired to fight it.
"You're under arrest for raping my brother!" Jane burst through a door, holding up her gun and her badge.
"Jane Rizzoli! I haven't seen you since you were this little." He held up his hand to his waist to indicate her 10 year old self's height. "It's a shame you're still not that small but I'll take what I can get."
"What do you – ?"
As if using supernatural powers, he knocked the gun out of Jane's hands. He walked over to her and she was just frozen and couldn't move no matter how hard she tried.
She shrunk. Or was he just getting bigger? The room got darker and his eyes glowed red. He grabbed her and she tried to fight back but wasn't strong enough. The room started to spin and he heard her terror soaked screams. Everything got darker and darker and darker...
He awoke with a yell, drenched with sweat, heart racing, and breathing heavily. He looked around, confused, momentarily forgetting where he was. When his dream came back to him, his heart sunk. He sat there for a few minutes, trying to calm himself but wasn't really succeeding. He got up and went around the apartment, trying to find something to take his mind off it. Unfortunately for him, Jane had left a few bottles of wine in the kitchen and it didn't take too long for him to down it all.
He woke up the next morning in the bathtub hugging a couch cushion. His head felt like it was going to split open but that didn't compare to how bad he felt. Not only was his sister missing because of him but he also broke his sobriety.
Eventually he got himself up, erased the current number of days sober off his whiteboard, replaced it with a zero, and took a shower. After work and his meeting, which were almost impossible to get through with a hangover, he went to see his parents to see if there was anything new on Jane's whereabouts.
There wasn't. Instead, he found his parents, Frankie, and Maura in the middle of wedding chatter.
"You didn't get a lot of sleep." Maura pointed out when she saw him.
"Wha - how can you tell?" He downed more than a dozen cups of coffee to keep himself up. He didn't think anyone could tell.
"Your nasojugal folds are darker than normal."
"And that's doctor speak for…?"
"Dark circles under your eyes."
"Oh." He stated.
After about an hour of talking Angela finally spotted the new ring on her finger. "Maura… what's that?"
She looked down to where Angela was pointing."Oh! I had almost forgotten about that! Jane reproposed and gave me this. I got her one too."
"Aww, how sweet!" She clapped her hands together happily.
Maura smiled at her. She was very grateful to have such great people in her lives now and really started to feel like she found somewhere she belonged.
XXXXX
Later that day, Jane returned with Eric Sage in tow. He was sporting a wicked black eye, a still bleeding lip and, considering the way he was limping, a few broken bones. Given the situation, he was lucky to get away with only that.
"Rizzoli! Where have you been?" Korsak said when she spotted the angry-faced detective.
"Catchin' a monster." She said before yanking him over to an empty interrogation room.
"You have no right! I haven't done anything wrong!" He tried to struggle against Jane's grasp.
She slammed him against a wall before continuing on.
After telling Frost to contact Maura, Korsak followed Jane, worried about what she might do.
Several hours of interrogation later and all they managed to do was get the story leaked to the media. Jane was running out of patience and restraint.
"Why don't you just confess already?" Korsak said. "We all know you did it. And if you wait any longer more people are going to come forward, which only makes the outcome look worse for you." They had already received a few phone calls from adults claiming to have gone through the same thing Tommy did when they were kids.
"Okay, then… I want to make a deal."
"You wanna deal?" Jane asked incredulously. "Okay, how about this? You confess and I don't kill you! Sounds pretty good to me."
"Rizzoli!" Korsak protested. "You can't just threaten him! You're a cop!"
"He raped my brother… I'd say he'd be getting off easy." She turned back to him. "Look, we've already got ten people who have called in and said that you did the same to them. The number's only going to get bigger. There's no way you're walking out of this a free man so why don't you make it easy for everyone and just confess!"
He narrowed her eyes at her. "And how do I know you're not just bluffing?"
Jane slammed her hands on the table and stared him down. "I wasn't kidding about that deal. I will kill you if you don't end up in prison."
"Jane!" Korsak yelled. "That's it! You're done here!" He pushed her out where she then went into the room behind the one-way mirror.
"Jane…" Maura reached out. "It's okay, you'll get him."
Jane accepted the offered touch which easily turned into an embrace. "I lost it in there… I know I shouldn't say stuff like that."
"It's a tricky situation…" She reasoned. "You're just being protective."
"I should have just shot him when I first saw him. No one was there. Then we wouldn't have to go through all this crap."
"No, you would never do that. You're too good of a person to do that." She pulled away and tucked an errant piece of hair behind her ear.
"I love how you have that much faith in me… but you have no idea how much I wanted to put a bullet in his head."
"But you didn't. Do I need to remind you of how you almost lost your own life to stop someone? You're not like him, you're not like Hoyt. You're not like any of the hundreds of bad people you've put away. You're you and you're an amazing person." She leaned in for a kiss.
Jane pulled away. "I can't… I need to make sure he gets put away."
"Korsak will take care of it. And besides, you need to call your mother."
Jane's face twisted into one of slight fear. "Do I have to?"
"Yes. She's probably worried."
She sighed and pulled out her phone. "Fine." She noticed it was dead and sighed.
Maura offered hers.
"Thanks." She said and then left the room with the phone attached to her ear.
Maura watched her leave and then turned back to the scene in front of her with interest. Things seemed to be going in their favor. Eventually, Jane walked back in.
"We got a confession." She smiled.
"Really?"
"Yep. He was just taken away."
"How'd Korsak manage to get him to do that?"
"He made a deal."
"What!"
Maura nodded. "He gets twenty years for the confession to a couple of the charges."
"Twenty? That bastard should get the death penalty! Or at the very least life!" She definitely needed to have a word with her ex-partner about this.
"Calm down, Jane. He did what he could."
She knew that she was right but didn't like it. She nodded at Maura in acknowledgement.
"What did your mother say?"
"That our party is still on for tomorrow. And that next time I run off I better answer my phone."
"Remember to plug it in first."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
After making sure he was indeed convicted of the crime, Jane was dragged home by Maura.
XXXXX
"Ma! We brought you what you asked for!" Jane yelled out, walking into the Rizzoli household. It seemed to be almost completely decorated for tonight.
"Wow, you all have been busy." Maura noted. "Is there anything we can help with?"
"Yes. Maura, come help me in the kitchen. Jane, see if your father needs any help." Angela answered.
Jane nodded, gave her love a kiss, and then they parted ways.
It didn't take long for everything else to be set up and, soon, they were welcoming their first guests – Frost and Korsak – into the home.
An hour later, the house was filled. Some from the precinct and some from Jane's family. There were also a few unexpected visitors – from the Isles family.
"You must be Jane! I'm Stacey, it's great to meet you!" A short blonde woman grabbed Jane's hand and pumped it up and down excitedly.
"M-Maura!" Jane yelled, shocked at the sudden action. "Who is this person who's trying to rip my arm off?"
"Stacey!" Maura admonished, walking over there. "Sorry about that, Jane. This is Stacey, my cousin and my maid of honor."
"Oh. Hi." She said slowly, briefly recalling hearing that name before.
"Is my daughter causing trouble again?" A hearty laugh came from the man that was joining them.
"No, Daddy." She looked down at the floor as though she was ashamed of her actions, but she wasn't.
"Hi, I'm Richard and this is my wife Debbie." He said as a woman matching his age walked over.
"You're all part of Maura's family?" Jane was stunned. This was a huge contrast from the other meeting just a little less than two months earlier.
"Oh, you must have met my brother." Richard said. "He thinks he's better than everyone and that wife of his only helps to boost his ego."
"Yeah…" Jane responded. "Well I'm glad to know that not everyone in Maura's family is like that."
"They're the outcasts in the Isles family, trust me. In fact, I'm not sure if you heard yet, Maura, but your grandfather will be coming to the wedding. He just couldn't make it down here this weekend."
"Really?" She seemed shocked. Not a lot of her family was at this party so she figured it would be the same at the big event. But hearing that he would be there was very surprising, considering the fact that he wasn't that much unlike her father.
"Yeah. He said he's real happy for you." He smiled at her face, which was fighting to keep back tears of joy at the news. "A lot of the family's looking forward to it."
Jane jumped in, seeing that Maura wasn't really able to talk, she was just too touched by the unexpected support from her family. "That's great! Think we can find a flower girl somewhere in there?"
"Sure! Haven't you met little Lilly yet?"
"No."
"She's over there." He pointed to a little girl, complete with pink dress and pigtails, bouncing around and holding onto her mother's hand.
"And she'd be up to it?"
"She'd be delighted, I assure you."
"And who's that with her?"
"That's my cousin Tiffany and her husband Mark."
Maura furrowed her eyebrows at the unfamiliar names and faces. "So my first cousin once removed? Why is she here? I've never even met her before."
"Oh, but you have. Believe it or not there was a time when your father and I weren't fighting. You were about three when all that started and before then he used to have the family over all the time. Tiff used to love playing with you." He smiled at the fond memories.
"But I've kept in touch with Stacey all these years, how come she never told me any of this?"
He shrugged. "I doubt she really even knew about any of that. She was pretty young when it all happened."
Maura nodded. "That makes sense."
"And I would have told you sooner but I didn't know where you've been hiding all these years – all Stacey had was an email address. And god knows I couldn't ask your folks."
"Yeah." That made sense, and while she wished she previously had this knowledge, she was glad that she had it now. "Well thank you for telling me now."
"No problem, Maura." He smiled. "I'm just glad to see you're doing well."
"You as well." She responded with a grin.
Across the room, Jane stepped up next to her brother. "So who's this one?" She nodded her head towards a woman heading to the bathroom.
"Danielle." He smiled.
"And how sure are you that she's not another one of Hoyt's?" She hadn't heard from that monster in awhile and was starting to wonder why he was being so quiet.
"Pretty sure." He was cautious about even asking her here given his track record with women but he figured they had enough cops around if anything were to happen.
The two talked for a moment more about his date before being interrupted by a beautiful M.E.
"Hey Babe, Frankie." Maura said after kissing Jane on the cheek.
"Babe, really?" Jane looked over at her, amused.
"I was just trying something out." She scrunched up her nose, showing that it wasn't something she'd be calling her on a regular basis. "Am I interrupting something? Important Maid-of-Honor talk?"
"No… we're just talking about the girl Frankie invited here."
"Danielle? She's very nice. Smart too."
"You've talked to her?"
Maura nodded. "Sure. She's head chef at Marliave. We've been there before, remember?"
Jane nodded, recalling being dragged there not too long ago.
"So how'd you meet her?"
"The other day I was out for lunch. So was she. We were just drawn to each other." He smiled goofily.
Jane snorted. "Sure you were, Romeo."
He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. At least I don't propose to people I've never even dated." He teased.
Maura smiled at the two and then something caught her eye. She looked over and saw something absolutely amazing. Her family and Jane's family were talking, laughing, and getting along famously. It was something she never thought she'd see, especially since her father essentially disowned her.
Frank tapped on the side of his beer bottle with a spoon, effectively interrupting Maura's thoughts. "Can I have everyone's attention please?"
Everyone stopped their conversation and turned towards the normally soft-spoken plumber.
"First of all, I'd like to thank you all for coming today. I know the wedding's not too far off but it was nice to celebrate my daughter's engagement." He looked towards the guests of honor and smiled. "Maura, you've been a part of this family since Jane dragged you to your first gnocchi night and every chance we got to spend time with you only resulted in us falling in love with you more. Obviously Jane took that to a whole new level."
A few laughs emanated from the crowd.
"We're glad to officially welcome you into our family and we hope to spend many, many years getting to know you better. Jane, all I can say is that it's about damn time. We've been waiting years for you to find the one, and, even with your mother's nonstop nagging, you never seemed to. We're so glad you found Maura to share your life with. If everyone will please raise their glass." He raised his and everyone else followed suit. "To the happy couple." He took a drink of his champagne.
"To the happy couple!" Everyone toasted at varying speeds, before taking a sip of their drinks.
"Thanks, Pop." Jane smiled. "Thanks everyone!" She said, trying to cut the toasts off right then and there to be sure her mother didn't get a turn. She wanted to get out of here today, after all.
After a few more bouts of congratulations, people started to trickle out until the party was over.
"Hey, congrats again big Sis." Tommy said, raising his glass of apple cider and then taking a sip. The slip up the other night only made his conviction about his sobriety even stronger and he wasn't going to give up without a fight. "And I really can't thank you enough for helpin' me out. First with the place and then with… him. Even though I may have given you enough reasons not to before."
"We're family, don't forget that. And no need for thanks. That monster should have been put away a long time ago."
Tommy nodded. But he knew the fight against him wasn't over. While the physical bad guy may be in prison, the demons he left behind were still thriving in his mind.
"So I have to ask," Maura started, walking up to Angela. "How did you manage to find all these people from my family? I only gave you Stacy's contact information."
"That's all I needed. I had a little chat with your cousin and things went on from there."
Maura couldn't say she was surprised but she was overwhelmed. She never expected this. She never even thought it was possible.
After helping clean up a bit, Jane and Maura said their final thanks before heading back home for some much needed rest.