Rizzoli & Isles:

Chapter 20

"Careful What You Wish For"

A/N: Whoa, it's been a long time. So sorry for the LONG DELAY. It was a really F-ed up month. Anyways on with the show...

INT. JANE'S APARTMENT – BEDROOM – SUNDAY MORNING

Both Jane and James are asleep in Jane's bed. Jane soon stirs awake when she hears her front door close. She has an inner panic attack, but is frozen in bed. She quickly looks over towards James, and sees he's still sleeping. Jane quickly looks over towards her kitchen, through the opened bedroom door, and sees Angela walk by.

Jane groans as she lies back down on the bed. Jane turns her head into her pillow.

JANE: (Into her pillow) "Why is my mother here, this early on a Sunday?"

Jane pulls back her covers, and tries to get out of bed as careful as possible, as not to wake James. She then exits her bedroom, and carefully closes her bedroom door behind her.

Jane enters her kitchen, still half asleep. While Angela is pulling out groceries out of her grocery bag.

JANE: (Voice laced with sleep) "Ma, what are you doing here?"

ANGELA: "Oh, hi sweetie. I came by to drop these off. I figured that you didn't have time to do some shopping, so I did it for you."

JANE: (Sighs) "Ma, I already did the shopping."

Angela goes over towards Jane's refrigerator and opens it. She looks around inside the somewhat empty refrigerator, wondering to herself what exactly did Jane buy.

ANGELA: "Did you just buy the Milk?"

JANE: "No. I bought some cereal too."

Jane motions towards her cereal boxes on the counter. Angela looks over, very concerned.

ANGELA: "What were you going to feed Jimmy for breakfast?"

JANE: "Some cereal."

ANGELA: "I'm afraid to ask what you'll feed him for lunch."

Jane rolls her eyes. Meanwhile, Angela starts putting groceries into Jane's empty fridge frustratingly. Jane flinches as she hears her mother open and close the compartments in the refrigerator with some force. Letting Jane know that she's upset.

JANE: "Ma." [Angela doesn't respond] "MA." [Angela still doesn't respond] "C'mon Ma. What did I do now?"

ANGELA: "Jane, you can't do a simple thing, like go shopping for food for your son? I mean it's bad enough that I have to worry about you being taken care of, now I have to worry about him too."

JANE: "Ma, you don't have to worry about him."

Angela scoffs.

JANE: "I'm serious, Ma." [Sad] "James is going to live with his mother, not me."

Angela stops dead in her tracks.

ANGELA: (Shocked) "You mean, Maura's not going to give you shared custody? Jane, he's your son."

JANE: "MA, I CAN'T TAKE CARE OF HIM. You said it yourself. I can't even give him a bed to sleep in. Instead he's sleeping in mine, with me no less. How is a judge going to grant me joint custody, if I can't take care of him for ONE weekend?"

ANGELA: "I'll help you. And I'll help you look for a new place to live." [Jane shakes her head] "One with an extra room, so that Jimmy can come over and stay with you."

JANE: (Uncertain) "I don't know. I-"

ANGELA: [Pleading] "Jane, please. I want James in our lives. He needs his family, and he needs you."

Jane sits down at one of the counter stools.

JANE: "I want that too. But I don't know what I'm doing. And I still don't know what Maura's plans are."

ANGELA: "Than you need to talk to her, and find out all the facts."

JANE: (Head down) "I'm scared to. I mean, what if she says that I can't have joint custody. And what if she marries Bill, and he wants custody."

ANGELA: (Confused) "Who's Bill?"

JANE: (Looks at Angela) "Maura's boyfriend."

ANGELA: "Oh." [Pauses] "Then we'll get a paternity test. And then we'll get a lawyer and file for joint custody."

JANE: (Sad chuckle) "I don't need a paternity test, he's mine."

ANGELA: "Jane, are you sure-"

JANE: (A beat) "He's mine, Ma."

Angela nods. Even though, Jane's not certain that it's a good idea to push this custody issue with Maura, but she still would like a solid idea of what role she'll have in his life.

Just then James makes an appearance at the kitchen doorway. With his hair messed up, and somewhat sleepy eyes.

ANGELA: (Lights up) "Hi Jimmy."

James looks at both of them before responding.

JAMES: (Softly) "Hi."

JANE: (Smiling at James) "Hey bud, did you sleep well?"

Jane is hoping that James didn't hear any of their conversation.

James just nods his answer.

ANGELA: "Are you hungry?"

James nods.

JANE: (To James) "Alright. Come up, Bud."

Jane motions towards her counter stools, and pats on one of the stools next to her. James goes over and sits down on one of the stools, next to Jane.

ANGELA: "How about I make you both some breakfast."

JANE: (To James) "What would you like to eat?"

James just shrugs warily. He's never been asked that before. He usually eats whatever breakfast is given to him.

ANGELA: (To James) "Would you like some bunny pancakes?"

Jane shoots Angela a confused look.

JANE: "He's 10 Ma, not 5."

Angela just shoots Jane a stern look back.

JANE: (Backs down) "Bunny pancakes is fine."

INT. JANE'S APARTMENT BUILD. – BASEMENT – AFTERNOON

Jane walks through the basement door, and takes a few steps down the concrete steps. She's carrying a big laundry basket filled with clothes, as James follows her closely behind.

JANE: "Okay."

Jane drops the basket down on the ground next to the washing machine, there's only two washing machines and 1 dryer there in the small crowded basement room.

Jane opens the washer and starts loading up the dirty clothes into it. She grabs the box of detergent and pours some in.

JANE: (Cont.) "Jamie, give me a dollar."

James hands Jane a dollar worth in quarters. As Jane closes the washer, and puts the change in, and starts it up.

JANE: "Come on, you can go sit on the counter there, while we wait."

James goes over and pulls himself up onto the small counter, that's usually used to fold the laundry. Meanwhile Jane just stands around, waiting. She looks over at James and sees he's reading a magazine in his hands.

JANE: "Whatcha reading?"

James tilts the magazine towards Jane, so she can see it. James is reading an article on the TV show, CSI.

JANE: "CSI, huh? Is that your favorite show?"

James nods excitedly.

JANE: "I'm surprised your mom will let you watch that."

JAMES: "She doesn't want me too. She says the show's not accurate. She says that real CSIs don't carry guns, and question suspects."

JANE: "Huh. It sounds like my job."

JAMES: (Excited) "Are you a CSI?"

JANE: (Thinks) "In a way, yes."

JAMES: "Cool. So you get to do fingerprinting, and DNA analysis, and ballistics…"

Jane is shocked by what James is saying, she can't believe that this is all coming from a 10 year old's mouth.

JAMES: (Cont.) "Is it hard to trace materials like plants and fibers, they always make it look so easy on the show, and I try to do it myself at home, but mom says you need special equipment for that.

JANE: "Uh, yeah. Yeah, there's special computer programs that do all that."

James just smiles back at Jane, eager to know more. Jane can't help but chuckle.

JAMES: "What?"

JANE: (Waves off) "Nothing. You just remind me of your mother, that's all. You both have that curiosity."

James' enthusiasm soon fades. And Jane senses that she said something wrong.

JANE: (Worried) "Hey, I didn't mean anything by that. I'm sorry if I offended you."

Jane can see that James has something on his mind, and is holding it back.

JANE: "Hey, you can tell me anything, you know that right?"

James nods.

JANE: "So…what's on your mind?"

James starts to clam up, showing signs that he's afraid to open up.

JANE: "I'm not going to be mad, James."

JAMES: (Whispers) "Are you my mom or my dad?"

Jane never did give that much thought. In scientific approach she'd be his dad, but Jane didn't feel that it would be an appropriate title for her. And would cause confusion in public situations with other people.

JANE: "I guess, I'm your mother too. So I'm comfortable with 'mom.' Okay?"

James nods, still wary about the whole subject.

JANE: "Do you have anything else you wanna ask me?"

James shakes his head no.

JANE: (Sincere) "It's okay, James. Ask away. Let's get it all out. There is no wrong questions."

JAMES: "Are you going to live with us?"

JANE: "You mean, with you and your mom?"

James nods.

JANE: "Uh, no. I'm not going to live with you guys." [She sees James face sadden] "But, I'm going to come and visit you, and we'll do some cool stuff together, okay?"

James puts on a forced smile. But he's still feeling down about Jane not moving in.

Jane senses his dwell, and hopes she can make it up to him, somehow.

INT. RIZZOLI HOUSE – DINNING ROOM – LATE AFTERNOON

Jane and James are seated next to each other at the dinner table, while Angela sits at the end of the table. They sit there waiting, when Frankie appears.

FRANKIE: (To everyone) "Hey, I'm here."

Angela rises to greet Frankie with a hug.

ANGELA: "Hello Frankie."

FRANKIE: "Hey Ma."

Frankie looks over towards Jane and James, who just mouth a hello to Frankie, as he sits at the opposite end of them.

ANGELA: "Alright, let's eat."

Jane and Frankie look at each other confused.

JANE: "Ma, what about Pop? Is he not joining us?"

ANGELA: (Brushes it off) "Oh, your father had a last minute job to do. Don't worry about it sweetheart."

Jane is still concerned. Frank never used to miss Sunday dinner, even when he was too sick to make it to the table. Even when he had a last minute job to do, he'd still make time to make it to dinner, even if it had to be postponed. So the fact that he was missing it, defiantly meant something. And she was hoping it had nothing to do with her.

In fact, Frank didn't even talk to Jane at all during yesterday's picnic. Nor did he make any attempts to acknowledge her either. Now Jane was really worried.

ANGELA: "So James what grade are you going in this year?"

JAMES: "Sixth."

ANGELA: "Wow, so where do you go to school?"

JAMES: "Bement."

JANE: "Where's that at?"

JAMES: "In Deerfield."

JANE: (Nearly chokes) "Deerfield? Massachusetts?"

James nods.

JANE: "That's nearly the other side of the state." [Thinks, then…] "Wait a minute, if you go to school there, where are you living?"

JAMES: "At the school."

JANE: "It's a boarding school?"

James nods.

Oh, now I really have to talk to Maura.

JANE: "So when do you have to go back?"

JAMES: "Next month."

JANE: (Forces a nod) "So in about two weeks."

Jane is now upset. She was hoping to build a connection with James, but now with this new found information, she felt like, she'd never get the chance now.

FRANKIE: (To James) "So, you board there all year long?"

JAMES: (Shakes his head) "No, I get to go home on the weekends. And during the holiday season and summer."

Jane's face lights up again. Hmm, maybe this can still work out. But, I still need to talk to Maura about this.

JANE: "So do you like it there, at your school?"

JAMES: (Shrugs) "Yeah. A little."

ANGELA: "You must have a lot of friends there, I bet."

JAMES: "Yeah, I guess."

JANE: "You must miss your mom when you're there though."

JAMES: (Sadly nods) "Yeah."

ANGELA: (Nods) "That's hard."

EXT. MAURA'S HOUSE – NIGHT

Jane is walking with James up the driveway towards the front door, when she sees Maura open the front door. Maura excitedly greets James with a huge smile and a hug, as he rushed up towards her.

MAURA: (Happily) "Hey buddy. Did you have fun this weekend? I sure did."

Maura looks up towards Jane, whose standing about a foot in front of them, holding James's overnight bag.

MAURA: "Hi Jane. Did everything go okay?"

JANE: "Yeah, we had fun." [To James] "Didn't we James?"

James just looks up towards his mother and happily nods.

JANE: (Awkwardly) "I—uh…"

MAURA: "Why don't we all go inside?"

Jane follows them inside.

INT. MAURA'S HOUSE – CONT.

Jane drops off James's overnight bag by the front door. She turns back and closes the door.

Maura turns around to address Jane.

MAURA: "Thank you, for taking care of him this weekend. I'm glad that the two of you got to spend some time together."

JANE: (Smiles) "It was my pleasure."

Jane really wanted to talk to Maura about the custody issue, but she figured now was not a good time to have that type of discussion. Maura had just gotten back from a long trip, and Jane knew that now was not a good time for it.

JANE: "I uh, look I'll let you get some rest, and I'll call you tomorrow?"

MAURA: (Nods) "Sure. And again thank you Jane."

JANE: "You don't have to thank me, Maur. He's our son, and I want to spend as much time with him, as I can. If anything, I should be thanking you."

Maura nods her understanding.

JANE: "Okay."

Jane opens the front door, and steps outside. She looks over towards Maura.

JANE: "Have a good evening."

MAURA: "You too, Jane."

Jane closes the door, and walks away.

INT. BPD DRUG UNIT – MORNING

Jane walks into the Drug Unit bullpen, as she does she notices the atmosphere is unusually quiet. She sees Crowe and Grant talking to some of the other detectives and colleagues over on the other side of the room. They're all bunched up and huddled together, all talking in hushed tones. As if they're gossiping about something.

As Jane arrives at her desk and sits down, they take notice of her, and start to disburse back to their designated areas. And it's business as usual.

Det. Crowe joyfully paces his way towards Jane's desk, looking as if he knows a dirty secret, he'd like to share.

CROWE: (Smirking) "So…did you have FUN this weekend?"

JANE: (Unenthused) "Yeah. It was alright."

Crowe looks around the room, seeing as everyone in the bullpen is looking at them, or more precisely they're looking at Jane.

CROWE: "I think it's good that you have a brother like Frankie. Someone that you can trust, to help you and Dr. Isles out."

Jane shoots Crowe a confusing look. And he just smirks right back.

CROWE: (Explaining further) "…you know with helping you two have a son."

Jane is even more confused.

CROWE: (Cont.) "Don't worry." [Places his hand on Jane's shoulder] "Your secret is safe with me."

Crowe smirks devilishly at Jane, as he pats her on the shoulder and heads off towards his desk.

Jane leans back in her chair and looks around the room, and sees everyone staring back at her. Without a beat later, they stop staring and go back about their business. Leaving Jane wondering what's going on with everyone.

Later that morning, Jane spotted Alicia Freeman, a Family Court attorney, who's in her 50s, carrying a small stack of case folders in her arm as she approaches her desk.

ALICIA FREEMAN: (Smiles) "Hello, Rizzoli. Detective Korsak told me that you have the Cassandra Wyatt file."

JANE: "Uh, yeah."

Jane looks through the stack of files on her desk, searching for that file in question. She finds it, and hands it over to Mrs. Freeman.

ALICIA FREEMAN: "Thank you."

Alicia drops her other files onto Jane's desk, and opens up the file that Jane gave her, and goes over it's contents.

JANE: "So, is Cassandra's going into Foster Care?"

ALICIA FREEMAN: (Not diverting her gaze) "With her mother doing heroin on the streets, and her father's whereabouts are unknown, it's looking that way."

JANE: (Leans in) "Uh, speaking of fathers…Uh, I have a friend… who just found out he's a father to a son he never knew about. And he was wondering what he should do. So…What should he do?"

ALICIA FREEMAN: "Does he pay child support?"

JANE: "Uh, no. He just found out about his son a few weeks ago, and he's already 10 and-"

ALICIA FREEMAN: "So the mother never told the father that he has a son?"

Jane shakes her head no.

ALICIA FREEMAN: "Okay. And the father wants joint custody?"

JANE: (Unsure) "Uh. I believe so. Yes."

Jane never really did give this much thought. But she'd like to know what different options she'd have.

ALICIA FREEMAN: "Well the first line of defense is to establish paternity. So once that's established, than the father can work on determining his custody status. Since, I'm guessing the father and mother don't live together?"

Jane nods.

ALICIA FREEMAN: (Cont.) "The father will need to petition a court to establish custody rights. If it's full or shared—"

JANE: "He'd want shared, defiantly."

ALICIA FREEMAN: "With the mother having FULL custody?"

Jane nods.

ALICIA FREEMAN: "Well, if the mother doesn't object, than he shouldn't have a hard time being granted joint custody."

Jane smiles.

ALICIA FREEMAN: "And your friend should know that regardless of custody, he's still responsible for paying child support. But I should warn, there might be a troubling loophole there in child support payments, which can hurt your friend's pockets."

Jane is all ears.

JANE: "What do you mean?"

ALICIA FREEMAN: "Have you ever heard of Retroactive Child Support?"

Jane shakes her head no.

ALICIA FREEMAN: (Leans in) "In cases in Massachusetts where a child is born out of wedlock, retroactive child support may be owed. If a parent has not been supporting their child and not living with the child, they may owe support all the way back to the child's birth."

Jane is shocked.

JANE: "What the—This law is real?"

ALICIA FREEMAN: (Nods) "In fact, a few years ago, a guy had to pay more than $10,000, after the mother took him to court for child support and retroactive child support for a 17 year old daughter he never knew about."

Jane has a shocked look on her face, she just can't believe that something like that even exists.

JANE: "And he has to pay that whole thing?"

ALICIA FREEMAN: "Yup. All at once too. So if your friend wants to pursue this, he should be careful what he wishes for."

JANE: (Shakes her head) "No kidding."

The attorney picks up her case folders off Jane's desk, and reaches into one the folders and pulls out a business card.

ALICIA FREEMAN: "Here." [Gives Jane her business card] "If he's thinking of pursuing it, tell your friend to give me a call."

JANE: (Smiles) "Will do."

The attorney leaves.

Jane leans back in her chair, wondering what she's going to do now.

INT. MEDICAL EXAMINER'S OFFICE – MAURA'S OFFICE – LATE AFTERNOON

Maura enters her office, wearing her scrubs, when she finds Jane in there waiting for her.

MAURA: "Hey Jane!"

Jane just puts on a smile as Maura walks over towards her desk and sits down.

MAURA: "What can I do for you?"

Jane stands awkwardly in front of Maura's desk, looking down at the piece of paper in her hands, fidgeting with it.

MAURA: (Worried) "Jane…"

JANE: (Unsure) "I uh." [Holds out the piece of paper towards Maura] "Here."

Maura worryingly takes it. We see it's a personal check of 1,000 dollars written out to Maura.

MAURA: (Confused) "And what is this for?"

JANE: (Off gaze) "Read it."

Maura reads the bottom of the check that says for: "Child Support."

Maura looks bewildered at Jane.

MAURA: "You're paying me child support?"

JANE: (Shrugs awkwardly) "Is it not enough? I'm not sure how much I'm supposed to pay—but I'll give you what is owed I promise."

MAURA: (Calmly) "Jane…I don't want this."

Jane fears that Maura wants more money from her. Possibly all 10 years worth.

JANE: (Snaps) "I knew it. You're going to sue me for the whole amount, aren't you?"

Now Maura's confused.

JANE: (Cont.) "…All 10 years! This is what I get for being stupid."

MAURA: "Jane, I don't want your money."

Jane takes a moment to examine the situation.

JANE: "Than what do you want? What is this? What are we doing?"

MAURA: "What do you mean?"

JANE: "What—" [Lets out a huge sigh] "What do you want from me?" [Pause] "I just want to know where I stand in all of this. Are you going to share custody with me? Or what? I want to know what your plans are."

MAURA: "I don't know Jane. I don't have a thought out plan for this. I thought that if I gave you some time with this, than you would tell me what your plans are, and what you wanted out of this. So I ask you, what do you want out of this Jane?"

JANE: (Frustrated) "I don't know, Maura. I—"

Jane plumps down in one of Maura's chairs, feeling her cortisol levels rising.

JANE: (Defeated) "Just tell me what you want Maura. Please."

MAURA: "You're already doing it Jane."

JANE: "Huh?"

MAURA: "You're spending time with James. You've introduced him to your family, which he tells me, they love and accept him. That's all I've ever dreamed for him." [Pause] "But if you want to go to court and make it legal, fine. I'll stand by you. But, just know that I don't expect anything from you. I'm not asking for child support or for you to legally be his parent. You can come and visit James whenever you like—"

JANE: "I get visitation?"

MAURA: (Nods) "Yes. Or if you want him to spend a night at your place, let me know."

JANE: (Laughs) "I don't think he likes it there very much."

MAURA: (Smiles) "Yeah, he told me about your sleeping arrangements."

They both laugh.

Jane's smiles fades as she remembers something else she wanted to talk to Maura about.

JANE: "James told me about his schooling situation."

Maura nods carefully.

MAURA: "Yes. James attends boarding school."

JANE: "In Deerfield?"

Maura can sense Jane's un-approval.

MAURA: "Yes. It was the closest boarding school I could find, that would let his age group board there. Which is what I needed to find."

JANE: "Why is he in a boarding school, why not just send him to a private school."

MAURA: "Like I said. I needed to find a place where he could stay at during the week."

JANE: "Yeah, but why?"

MAURA: "Because, I can't take care of him during the week."

Maura felt horrible for saying that. But she couldn't help it, it was true. She'd only been a medical examiner for a short while, and before that she was doing her M.E. internship, and before that she was doing her residency.

MAURA: "I couldn't raise him by myself. I couldn't be where I am today, and be his only parent too. When he was a baby it was easier, I'd just hire a nanny to take care of him. But when he got to school-age, I hired tutors for his homeschooling. And that became problematic. So I sent him to a boarding school, my mother had connections with them, and he got in."

JANE: "Maura, I'm so sorry. I guess I didn't think about any of that. But, you have me now. And I can take James to and from school. And I could have my ma watch him until you get off work."

MAURA: "No. Jane, no. He's fine where he is. I'm not going to put that burden on your family."

JANE: "What, are you kidding, my ma would LOVE that."

MAURA: "No, it's okay Jane. Really."

Why is Maura being so difficult about this? I'm giving her a way out. I'm giving her an option that would make everyone happy, especially James. Since he says that he misses his mother the most when he's gone.

JANE: "I don't understand why you're fighting this."

MAURA: "Because I don't want to break my son's heart. I cannot tell you how many times I've apologized to him for missing some event in his life, and for not being there when he needed me. All because I have to go to work. And...I worry about him. I'm scared that something bad might happen to him; either at school, or on his way to or from school."

Jane hangs her head down low, she knows what that's like. Her childhood was far from charmed.

MAURA: (Cont.) "But, when he's away at a boarding school, I don't have to worry about him. I know where he is at all times, I know he's being taken care of, I know what he's doing, for the most part. Most parents don't. And in this job, we can see what those results can be."

Jane nods her understanding.

JANE: (Disappointed) "Damn. I wish I could spend more time with him. I feel like I still don't know him."

MAURA: "He'll come home during the weekends. You could always spend time with him than. Or you could call him or skype with him during the week."

JANE: (Hopeful) "Yeah. I could do that."

Jane knew the truth, she'd heard it from other detectives time and time again. That this job takes up a lot of time away from home. And how some cases can drag you in. And she knew that James didn't deserve to have two absentee parents around. So for now this boarding school option would have to stick. But for how long, Jane didn't know. She just hoped it wasn't permanent.

JANE: "So, can I see James after work?"

MAURA: "Of course you can. In fact, I'll let you pick the dinner menu."

JANE: (Surprised) "Oh. What does James like?"

MAURA: "What every kid likes."

JANE & MAURA: (Together) "Pizza."

They both laugh.

As Jane rises from her seat, Maura grabs the personal check and hands it back to Jane.

MAURA: (smiles) "See you tonight."

Jane kindly takes the check back.

JANE: (Nods) "See ya later."

Jane leaves.

A/N: I know this chapter was a bit, 'Meh.' I know I'm really turtle-stepping with this story right now, but it will pick up dramatically in the next few chapters. I did like the idea that one reviewer posted, about Jane celebrating Maura's birthday when she arrives back. I couldn't do it in this chapter, but it will be in the next one. So suggestions are welcome, let me know. And thank you for sticking with me.