Daylight

Chapter 14

Pairing: Jane/Maura
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles do not belong to me.

A/N: I got behind last week so this is a few days later than I hoped, especially after announcing my intention to post on the weekends, but I hope you all enjoy it.

The following week, Maura and Jane sat together in a corner of the headquarters cafe eating lunch. After chatting for a while Maura said, "I can't stop thinking about Saturday night. Do you know how difficult it is to be around you right now and not be touching you or kissing you?"

Jane blushed, caught off guard by Maura's blunt statement even though she felt exactly the same. Sunday afternoon, watching the 49ers game with Maura and Billy and not being able to touch her at all or even allude to their previous night together, had been torture. And there was so much she wanted to say that she hadn't said that night, mostly about how wonderful and amazing Maura was. Then before the football game was over, Jane was called out to a crime scene. Maura had one of the district medical examiners covering her for the weekend and this lunch was the first they had really seen each other since then.

Jane recovered quickly, saying, "We could do something about that. You're the one with a totally private bathroom downstairs."

"Eew. I'm not having sex in a bathroom," Maura declared, wrinkling her nose at the thought.

"Did you just say 'eew?' I never thought I'd hear that coming out of your mouth."

"What did you expect?"

"A dissertation on bacteria or something like that. But fine, you have a private office too. We can lock the door and close the blinds," Jane suggested with a grin.

"That's highly unprofessional, Detective Rizzoli," Maura responded with mock seriousness. "But if we get really desperate, if just might come to that."

Jane smiled but looked down at her plate self-consciously. "I'm sure we'll be able to figure out something."

Maura cleared her throat, and changed the subject. "I didn't tell you—well, I wasn't sure if I should tell you— Will asked why you and I were going out on Saturday instead of you just coming over like you usually do."

"Um…okay," Jane said with a frown.

"I'm not sure if I handled it in the best way."

"Why?"

Maura shrugged. "I told him that we were going to be spending a lot of time together, and that sometimes all three of us would do things together and sometimes it will be just be the two of us. I wanted him to know that you would still be doing things with him too. But, I wonder if I should have been more explicit about our…relationship."

"Has he said anything else since then?" Jane asked.

"No."

"He's a smart kid and he's intuitive. Maybe you should just wait for him to ask you more questions when he's ready. Maybe there are things he's not ready to think about yet and there's no reason to rush it. I'm an adult and the idea of my parents dating other people freaks me out a little bit. Or a lot. Maybe he just needs to take this at his own speed."

"Maybe," Maura said, unconvinced.

"Let's all do something on Saturday afternoon," Jane suggested. "The three of us haven't done anything other than watch football together in a while. Does that work for you and Billy? I'm supposed to go to Frankie's to watch the Patriots game that night, but we can do something before then."

"I think so. What do you want to do?"

"Why don't we go to the aquarium? Billy wants to do that right?" Jane asked.

Maura nodded. "Yes, he does. That's a good idea."

"I should get back upstairs, but let's plan on that for Saturday after lunch."

On Saturday, Jane, Maura, and Billy took the T to the Aquarium on Boston's waterfront.

"I haven't been here in a really long time," Jane said as she and Maura followed Billy into the main hall. He immediately ran ahead to look at the penguins because they had arrived at penguin feeding time. Jane and Maura stood back from the crowd around the penguin habitat while he went up to the railing to watch.

"I was reading about the building," Maura said. "Did you know that the giant tank in the center is so big that it was built first and the rest of the aquarium was built around it?"

"No, I did not. Do you always study before going anywhere?" Jane was teasing but when she looked over Maura was looking down, blushing slightly. Jane put a hand on her hip for a moment as she said, "Hey, I was teasing."

"Sometimes I like to have things prepared to talk about," Maura explained.

"I like your facts," Jane said honestly. She leaned in to say softly in Maura's ear, "I like everything about you." Before Maura could respond, Jane walked away and joined Billy to watch the penguins.

After the penguin feeding was completed the crowd there dissipated and Maura joined them at the railing and said, "Are we going to watch penguins all day or should we see the rest of the aquarium?"

"Can we come back here at the end?" Billy asked.

"Of course," Jane answered. "Come on, let's go find the old sea turtle in the giant tank and see if she remembers me from when I was your age."

They walked around the aquarium for a while. Jane hung back a bit and watched Maura and Billy as they moved through the various exhibits. Maura seemed to know something about every species of fish and he seemed genuinely interested in what she was saying, adding his own commentary too.

When they were done their tour, and after watching the penguins for another fifteen minutes, they headed back to Maura's apartment for dinner. After dinner, Jane lingered, even though she was supposed to be on her way to Frankie's apartment to watch the Patriots game.

When it was time for Billy to go to bed, he said to his mother, "Can Jane read to me tonight?"

"Oh, um, well, it's up to her," Maura answered.

"Uh, okay," Jane said, looking from Maura to Billy. "Yeah, if you want me to, of course I can."

"Go change into your pajamas and get the book ready," Maura told him.

"What do I do?" Jane asked when he was out of the room.

"We're reading the Harry Potter books together. We're a few chapters into the third book. You just have to read a chapter, or two if the first one is short and you want to read more."

"That's it?"

Smiling, Maura gave Jane a quick kiss on the lips. "That's it. Don't be nervous. It's just reading a book."

"I guess I can do that," Jane responded, pulling Maura fully against her to kiss her again.

"Go," Maura said. "I'm sure he's ready now."

Jane went into Billy's room. He was already in bed and had the book in his hands. "Have you read Harry Potter?" he asked.

"Uh, no. I maybe saw part of a movie or something."

"We already read the first two books. You can borrow them if you want," he offered.

"Oh, yeah, maybe." Jane saw a chair near the bed and she pulled it over next to him and sat down.

Billy handed her the book and said, "The bookmark is where we stopped reading last night."

"Okay." Jane opened the book and Billy lay down under the covers as she read. At the end of the chapter, Jane realized she didn't know whether that would be considered a short or long chapter so she asked, "Want me to read another chapter?"

Instead of answering Jane's question, Billy said, "Do you like my mom?"

Jane chuckled at the question. "Of course I do. I like her a lot."

"Do you love her?" he asked, not missing a beat.

Jane immediately felt her heart speed up. She put the bookmark in place in the book and set the book down on the desk by the bed. "That's not an easy question to answer, buddy. Feelings are… complicated, especially when you're still getting to know someone and you're discovering how you feel about them. It's better not to rush into anything before you're ready. Or even if you think you're feeling something, sometimes it's better to wait until you're really sure before telling someone you love them. Does that make sense?"

Billy made a noncommittal sound.

Jane frowned. Talking around the issue like that was stupid. "I care about your mom and I care about you. I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but no matter what, I want us to be friends, both me and you and me and your mom. I would never do anything to intentionally hurt either of you and I know for sure that your mom would never do anything that would hurt you." After a pause in which Billy didn't say anything, Jane added, "You can always ask me anything you want to, okay?"

"Okay," he finally responded.

"Is there anything else you want to talk about tonight?" she asked.

"No."

Jane stood and said, "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Yeah. Thanks for going to the aquarium," he said.

"You got it. I think your mom wants to go to the Science Museum so maybe that should be our next trip."

"Okay."

"Goodnight, Billy."

Jane stepped out into the hallway and was surprised to see Maura standing in the dark, leaning against the hallway wall next Billy's bedroom door.

While Jane was in Will's room, Maura had cleaned up a little and then gone to her room to change into her pajamas. She was planning on climbing into bed after Jane left and reading a book until she fell asleep. Once she changed she realized that Jane was still in Will's room and she assumed Will had talked her into reading extra chapters. She went to relieve Jane, but stopped outside Will's door when she realized they were talking, not reading. She was going to go in when she heard him ask Jane if she loved her.

Maura was paralyzed. She couldn't decide if she should go in the room and make her presence known or walk away so she didn't intrude on their conversation. Instead she stayed in her spot in the hallway and listened. She was surprised by his question. It sounded so mature and she wasn't really sure if she wanted him to think he had to worry about her in this way, if that's what he was doing.

That was how it sounded, like he was being protective of her, but maybe he was actually worried about any number of other things, including losing Jane. Maura was fascinated by his relationship with Jane. He had lots of friends but she had never seen him connect with an adult like he did with Jane. There were teachers and nannies and babysitters but he never engaged with them the way he did with Jane.

Jane closed Billy's door and moved closer to Maura to whisper, "Are you okay?"

Maura nodded.

Jane pulled Maura down the hall towards her bedroom and away from Billy's door. "Did you hear our conversation?" she asked softly.

"You were in there for a long time. I thought he was asking to you continue reading and I was going to come and tell him it was time to go to sleep. But you were talking and I shouldn't have eavesdropped but when I heard what you were talking about I…I couldn't leave."

Jane shook her head as she moved closer to Maura, her hands settling at her waist against the silk fabric of Maura's pajamas. "Nothing I said was meant to be a secret from you. Was what I said…okay?"

Maura shook her head and laughed.

Jane made a face. "What? Was it terrible? Was it stupid?"

"Jane, it was perfect."

She took a deep breath. "I should go. I'm really late," she said but she made no move to leave.

Maura put her hands against Jane's chest, lightly grasping the fabric under her fingers. "Don't go quite yet. I want to say something and I need you to let me say it. You don't have to respond. Actually, you probably shouldn't respond right now. Just listen."

"Okay," Jane answered, furrowing her brow in concern and confusion.

"If we continue doing everything that we're doing," Maura said slowly, "I know that I'm…I'm going to fall in love with you. If you any have doubts about the future of our relationship I want you to tell me. I'm…if you break my heart, I can handle it. But I don't want you to break Will's. If you think there's any chance that if things don't work out between us that you won't still be a part of his life, then I would prefer that we just be friends."

Jane shook her head. "Maura-"

"Please, Jane, don't say anything right now. Just think about it."

Jane sighed but didn't say anything else.

Putting her hand against Jane's cheek, Maura said, "Go to your brother's. We'll talk more later."

Jane turned her head and kissed the palm of Maura's hand. She started to leave but Maura pulled her back and into a kiss before letting her go.

Jane smiled at her and before she left she said, "I really like those pajamas."

"Sorry I'm late," Jane said when Frankie let her into his apartment. "Where's Tommy?"

"With Pop."

"Seriously? So he's still in Boston, huh?"

"I guess so. Patriots are winning. You missed a pick-six and two rushing touchdowns. Want a beer?" Frankie asked.

"I'll get it," Jane said. When she sat down on the couch next to Frankie she said, "Do you think Tommy is drinking again?"

Frankie shook his head. "Not as far as I can tell, but I don't know for sure."

"Do you think we should be more like Tommy?" she asked.

Frankie gave Jane a disbelieving face.

"I mean with Pop. Should we be more forgiving like Tommy?"

"Tommy wasn't here when Pop split. He didn't see and hear everything that went between Ma and Pop. But I guess you weren't really here either."

"That's not fair," Jane argued.

"I know," Frankie conceded, "but you didn't have to witness the fights when you were in the hospital. Ma yelling at Pop about how he wasn't visiting you enough and how he was the one that let you be a cop and how it was all his fault that you were hurt. And the stuff he said back to her, I'm not even going to tell you because you would never even think about talking to him again."

"No, I didn't hear that stuff but you didn't have Ma sitting in a hospital room with you crying for hours on end and asking god why he was punishing her."

"Okay, it sucked for both of us. But you've forgiven Ma, right? Why not Pop?" Frankie asked.

"Because he left. You don't just walk out on nearly forty years of marriage." Jane sighed. "It wasn't always like that between them was it? I always thought they were happy, but were they always fighting like that and just hiding it from us?"

"I don't know."

After a few minutes of watching the game in silence, Jane said, "I thought we had a happy childhood. I mean, if you look back now, you'd say it was good, right?"

"I guess. Where is all this coming from?"

"I don't know. I've just been thinking."

"Are things getting serious with Maura?" Frankie prodded.

"Um, I guess I'm not sure."

"Is the kid thing freaking you out?"

"No, it's not. That's the weird thing. It actually feels totally normal when I'm spending time with both of them. Like today, we went to the aquarium and then had dinner. I even read him his bedtime story. It was…it felt really nice."

"So what's the problem?" Frankie asked.

"There isn't a problem," Jane answered honestly.

On Sunday, Jane and Maura avoided the topic of their conversation the previous night. Jane focused on watching the 49ers playoff game with Billy, and left after the game, saying she had errands to run.

On Monday, Jane and Frost were called early in the morning to a crime scene in South Boston. When they arrived, Korsak was already there. "They called you out too? What's the special occasion?" Jane asked him.

"A patrol officer called the murder in this morning when he came across the car parked here. I guess he mentioned what he thought the murder weapon looked like and once Cavanaugh heard the details from dispatch, he sent me over."

"Why?" Frost asked.

"I think he thought you two might not recognize the potential significance of the murder weapon."

"Our victim still in the car?" Jane asked.

"Yup," Korsak answered.

Jane and Frost walked over to the car and took a look at the body and the otherwise clean and empty car. Their victim was in the driver's seat of the car with some sort of knife or blade sticking out of his chest.

"What is it?" Frost said to Korsak after he and Jane finished their survey of the crime scene.

"Can't be certain until it comes out, but it appears to be an ice pick." Korsak responded.

"What's special about ice picks?" Frost asked.

"Remember Paddy Doyle?" Korsak responded.

"The Irish mob boss? He's been in hiding for at least a decade right?"

"Yup. But when he was active, his murder weapon of choice, at least for the murders we believe he was responsible for, was an ice pick."

"Do we know who the victim is?" Jane asked. "He looks like he can't be older than 25. He would have been just a kid when Doyle was last around."

"No wallet or ID on the victim or in the car," Korsak responded.

Frost pulled out his iPad. "I'll check the plates and car registration."

Maura arrived on the scene and greeted the detectives as she walked past them to begin her initial examination of the body.

"So do you think this was mob related?" Jane asked Korsak.

"The ice pick could just be coincidence or it could be to throw us off."

"Or it could be Paddy Doyle?"

"Anything's possible."

"So there's no wallet but this doesn't seem like a robbery. Stabbing someone like that is personal. And if it is an ice pick, no one just carries around an ice pick, right?"

Frost came back over and said, "Okay the car is registered to Mary O'Sullivan of South Boston. According to the DMV, Mary O'Sullivan died last year. The registration on the car is still good through this summer and no one updated it after she died."

Maura walked over to the detectives and said, "The time of death appears to be between midnight and 4am. I may be able to narrow that down once I perform the autopsy. "

"We don't have any identification so we're gonna need you to run his fingerprints too," Jane said.

"I'll do that first thing and send a blood sample for DNA analysis too," Maura said.

"As soon as you remove the weapon, will you let us know what it is?" Korsak asked.

"Sure. I'll have the body removed now and start on the autopsy this morning," Maura said. "I'll let you know as soon as I can about the weapon and if I get an identification."

"I'll have the car towed and go with it for processing," Korsak said. To Jane and Frost he said, "You two check out the buildings on this street. See if there are any cameras that may have captured anything. Then go to Mary O'Sullivan's address on the car registration and see if anyone there can shed any light on who our victim is. Let's check back in by noon."