Epilogue: Where You Belong
It's not where you come from
It's where you belong
Nothin' I would trade
I wouldn't have it any other way
- Kari Kimmel, "Where You Belong" theme from ABC's The Fosters.
Dazzling rays of sunlight streamed through the full length windows that separated the Back Bay apartment from its balcony and the view of the Charles River, which served a calming and reflective purpose for the apartment's new owner. An apartment with a water view, an attentive and loving girlfriend, and a thriving career as a private investigator for the prestigious law firm Johnson, Sloane and Cooke were the thoughts that danced around the edges of Jane's consciousness.
The suns rays washed over Jane, who stood looking out over the river, legs braced slightly apart, her own hands interlocked behind her back, like a soldier standing at ease. She wore a stylish black pant suit and her trusty aviators, as she wanted to keep the sun out of her darkened eyes, while she took a moment to soak in her achievement. Her raven coloured locks were tied back in a pony tail, she only had a few minutes to revel in her new reality, before heading back out to chase up information on a sensitive case; but it was something she needed to do, on this day of all days.
It was one year since she had been released from prison and her parole was officially up. She was a completely free woman and contrary to the dark thoughts that had plagued her prior to leaving prison, she was in a good place. All the struggles from the previous year finally appeared to have been resolved or satisfactorily put on the back burner.
Together with Maura, Jane had testified at the attempted murder trial of Detective Valentina Rossi, and as expected there were no hiccups in the prosecution; her attacker was sentenced to the full extent of the law and shipped off to Framingham. Patrick Doyle remained at large though, and while this played on Jane's mind, she was satisfied that he hadn't interfered further in the life of his daughter and as such she had decided to put her desire to bring him to justice on the back burner. She was happy to let the police deal with him.
It had taken Maura to badger her into submission before Jane could forgive her mother for blaming her girlfriend for what had happened though. In the end Jane knew that her girlfriend knew best, as keeping her mother at arms length was both tedious and heartbreaking. If Maura could forgive the woman for her misinformed accusation then Jane had finally accepted she should too. For her part Angela had apologised profusely numerous times, admitting that frayed nerves from seeing her daughter in yet another life threatening position had taken over her common sense. Jane was happy to have her mother back in their life.
Jane's hand absently found its way to the inside pocket of her blazer and pulled out the black felt ring sized box that represented the last thing she felt she needed to complete her happiness. She was ready to commit herself wholly and fully to the woman who had owned her heart for ten years. Ten long years of dancing around each other, or being kept apart from one another, but not any longer. On what would be their one year anniversary as a couple in three weeks time, Jane had every intention of making her desire for commitment very clear. She would ask Maura Isles to marry her.
There was just one problem with her plan, during the emotional upheaval and drama of their coming together, Jane had forgotten to tell Maura one very important detail about her time in prison. Or rather she had forgotten to mention one important person; Catherine Etheridge.
Jane exhaled slowly and turned away from the suddenly angry warmth that probed her face unrelentingly. Walking across the polished floorboards that represented her living and dining areas Jane knelt down and entered the code to her gun safe, placing the felt box inside. She may have been exactly where she belonged, but she had an inadvertent secret that she feared if it ever came out, Maura just might not forgive her.
Jane then did what she always did when things became difficult emotionally; she stuffed those fears down in a box in her brain only to be dealt with if it ever became truly necessary. Grabbing her keys from the marble bench top that separated the open plan living and dining areas from the kitchen, she headed for the door. She had a job to do.
A/N: And there we have it, guess we will just have to wait for part three of the trilogy to find out what happens ;)
I just want to take this moment to thank all readers and reviewers, with special thanks to eve2faces, terri411, thegirlin404, arkhamknight83, femerlin and kryptochick for their feedback and support at different times. It is amazing how far just a few positive words can take a person.