Eye of the Tiger EN

Chapter 9

Rating: T

A/N: Less than 3 weeks till the season 5 premiere! Woo-hoo! :D
This chapter is more 'Romance' than 'Crime' (no Rizzles though... yet...)

As soon as the elevator doors opened on the first floor, Jane's eyes immediately went to the reception desk - or, more specifically, to the person standing next to it with their back to Jane. No army fatigues, so it's not Casey. And the hair's too long and too blond to be Tommy's. So who is that?

"Jane?"

"Huh?... Oh." The detective quickly exited the elevator before the doors closed again, still looking at the person next to the reception desk...

... when said person turned around. Jane froze for a second, muttering "Holy crap!", before almost running to the other woman and stopping just a foot in front of her. "Chris! What're you doin' in Boston?"

"What, I can't pay a surprise visit to an old friend?"

"Hey! I'm not old!"

Chris grinned. "I know. Um, I'd hug you, but from what I remember you're not much of a touch-feely type, so - Okay, seems like my memory was wrong." The Florida detective gave a small groan. "Uhm, Jane? Oxygen?"

"Sorry." Jane let go and looked her friend up and down (or the other way round). "You look good."

"Thanks. You too."

Jane felt her face grow warm and quickly changed topic: "It's almost lunch time, wanna go to the café?"

"Sure."

"Okay, but consider yourself warned - my mother works there. Oh, and I'd like to introduce you to someone first." Jane motioned for Maura to come closer, which the doctor did. "Detective Christina Miller, Orlando PD - Dr Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

"Call me Chris, no one but my Ma calls me by my full name."

"Only if you call me Maura."

"Deal." They shook hands, then Chris turned back to her fellow detective. "Jane Rizzoli, you're one lucky girl. Florida's Chief M.E. is a grey-haired, racist asshole who thinks women should stay at home cooking and takin' care of the kids."

Maura was about to launch into a speech on outdated patriarchal role models, but Jane beat her to it. "Let's go."

Right when Angela was done squealing in joy and hugging the air out of Chris' lungs, two patrol cops left the café, and Jane quickly occupied their now empty table, waiting for Maura and Chris to join her. Ever the detective, she noticed something sparkling on Chris' left hand and smirked when the other cop sat down opposite her. "Is that what I think it is?"

Chris returned the smirk. "What do you think it is, Detective Rizzoli?"

"Weeeellll..." Jane drawled, pretending to think really hard. "Maur, what did you call mine? A 'piece of colorless compressed carbon'?"

Maura raised an eyebrow. "You actually listened to me, Jane? I'm impressed."

"Yeah, sometimes I do."

"Only sometimes?"

"You're engaged, too?" Chris interjected.

"I was, but I sent the ring back to Casey. And I don't really wanna talk about it."

"Sorry." Chris' smile fell a little.

"You can tell me about your engagement anyway - I can see you're dyin' to do that."

The megawatt smile was back in an instant. "Jane, you may call me a hopeless romatic when I'm done tellin' you this, but it was just... perfect." Chris glanced down at her ring. "We had a picnic on the beach, and when it got dark and you could see the stars appearing, Frankie got down on one knee and asked me *that* question." She looked back up, her eyes suspicously moist. "I said yes, obviously."

"That sounds very romantic," Maura agreed.

"It does," Jane had to admit. Unlike Casey's 'proposal' which was more of an ultimatum... Ugh, don't think about that. "So your future husband's name is Frankie? Like my little brother?"

"Not really, and no."

Jane blinked. "Pardon?"

"Frankie's just a nickname - short for Francesca."

"Francesca?... Uhm... wow... I didn't know you were..."

"A lesbian. You can say the word, Jane, it won't kill you."

"Sorry. I just don't like that word 'cause people always assume I am one - a lesbian, that is. Y'know the clichés, a woman in a 'typical male' profession who likes sports and beer and doesn't really care about her clothes... I'm not homophobic or anything, but I know I'm straight and will never sleep with another woman."

"First, never say never. And second, you almost slept with me," Chris reminded her friend.

"Emphasis on 'almost', and I was drunk when I agreed to it," Jane countered.

"The next day, when we wanted to do it, you were sober again... but that's not the reason why I'm here. Frankie and I are thinkin' about moving to a town near New York City, Frankie's inherited a house from her grandparents there. This weekend, we're gonna take a look at it."

"If that house is located in New York, what exactly are you doing in Boston?" Maura piped up.

"Frankie had to step in for a sick coworker of hers, she's taking a direct flight to New York on Friday. I had so many unused vacation days-" ("Just like me," Jane muttered under her breath)- "that I decided to take the whole week off work and stop by in Boston."

"I see. Just... in case you two decide to move to New York, don't you dare become a Yankees fan. Otherwise I'd have to break off our friendship."

"Don't worry, neither Frankie nor I are really interested in sports... unless those 'sports' take place on a mattress, or on the couch, the kitchen counter, the-"

"Too much information!" Jane exlaimed, covering her ears with her hands, and Chris giggled. "Really, some things never change. You still blush from simply hearing the word sex, just like you did back in our academy days."

"I didn't blush!" Okay, maybe a little bit... cause I was imaginin' Maura and myself practicing 'sports' in bed or on that uncomfortable orange couch in her office...

"You totally did." A phone started ringing; Chris quickly grabbed her purse and stood from her chair. "That's my mother's ringtone. Uhm, it was nice meeting you, but I really have to take this call."

"It's okay, we have to get back to work anyway. Call me if you wanna join us at the Robber or somethin'."

"I will." Chris took the call, which Jane and Maura took as their cue to leave the café.

"I think they're going to move to New York," Maura stated on the way to the elevators.

"Yeah? And how do you know that, Doctor Smartypants?"

"They want to marry each other, something they aren't allowed to do in Florida."

Jane frowned. "How do you know the states in which lesbians can get married? And why're you interested in that topic anyway - you're straight?"

"I read newspapers, and I'm interested in it because... I'm interested in many things. That's at least one reason, so I won't get hives.

One of the elevators gave a "Ping" sound, signalling its arrival on the first floor. Maura stepped into the metal cabin and pressed the button for the basement. "I'll call you if I find anything new."

"Okay." Jane waited for the second elevator for what felt like ten minutes (actually it was just two minutes, but she was a very impatient person) before deciding to take the stairs. Early morning exercise. Haha.

A/N:

1. The next chapter will deal with the case again.

2. You're welcome to leave a review, I won't bite ;)