Chapter 25
"Jane. We promised we wouldn't think about work." Maura sat down next to her wife at the small dinner table in the cabin, watching the Detective checking something on her phone.
"Hm." Jane hummed but kept reading the screen of her phone, her brow furrowed in concentration.
"Jane."
"Yeah-… Sorry, I…" Jane shook her head and sighed. "The guy we took in last week managed bail and got out."
"While he was convicted for murder?" Maura raised her eyebrows.
"No, we're still working on the evidence. We were holding him for a small theft. We're working on finding his partner, he's still out there somewhere."
Maura sighed and reached out to gently brush her hand through her wife's curls that were still damp from the shower she took. "Jane," she whispered. "Will you please take a break?"
"Hm?" She turned her head and looked at her wife. "Yeah, yeah. I'm sorry. I'm here." She got invested in this case. It sucked her in and she wasn't sure why. "I'm having trouble letting this one go," she said softly, smirking apologetically.
"He made it personal," Maura shrugged, her hand moving down from Jane's hair to her neck. "Don't let it get to you. He doesn't know any better."
"It's because I'm a woman." Jane shook her head and looked at her hands that were fumbling with her phone. "He doesn't take me seriously."
"It's not the first time a suspect is doing this. Why does it bother you so much with this one?"
Jane shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. He killed that young woman, I want him behind bars."
"We all do, Jane. And we will get him convicted, but right now your family needs you to be here."
Jane nodded, showing a small smile at her wife. "Where are the girls anyway?"
"Morgan and Anna are outside, Rachel is still sleeping and I hope Lily is finally taking a shower."
Jane hummed and turned in her seat to face her wife. "Doesn't sound like they need me at all." She smirked and tucked a strand of hair behind Maura's ear. "Who's needing me?"
"Maybe I do." Maura chuckled and leaned forward to softly press her lips against the brunette's for a soft, gentle kiss that made both women hum in pleasure. She broke apart and wrapped her arms around Jane's neck while moving to straddle her lap, squeezing the both of them in a tight embrace. "I love you, Jane," she whispered. "This will be a good year."
"Every year with you is a good year." Jane put her head into the crook of Maura's neck as her strong arms wrapped around the blonde's waist. "I love you." She sighed deeply, inhaling the lovely, flowery scent of her wife. She nuzzled herself against the soft skin of Maura's neck as she felt her wife's hands moving up her back to tangle themselves in her hair. She would never get tired of this. She moved her head to look at the gorgeous woman in her lap, watching how her eyes wrinkled with her loving smile, how her hair was getting grey at her temples because her last hairdresser appointment had been a while ago, but Jane loved it. She loved those little signs of growing older, because it meant she was growing old with the love of her life.
"What is it?" Maura whispered, noticing the brunette staring at her.
Jane shook her head. "You are beautiful."
"Please." Maura chuckled and captured her wife's lips in a loving kiss.
Jane hummed into the kiss and moved her hands up and down Maura's sides while they gently broke apart. "You are," she whispered. "Beautiful."
Maura smiled. "Thank you." She wrapped her arms around her wife's neck and pulled herself as close as possible against the taller woman.
"Mom?" Lily came walking downstairs, her hair wet from the shower. "The shower is cold." She shivered and pulled the sleeves of her sweater over her hands.
"Hm, I think we used up the hot water for this morning." Maura smiled and got off her wife's lap.
"Glad I already showered," Jane smirked, opening her arms for her youngest daughter. "Good morning, baby."
"Morning, Mama." Lily pulled herself against her mother.
"You slept like a baby, didn't you?" Jane kissed the side of Lily's head, thinking about the snoring little girl in their bed that night.
"I guess so, I was sleeping so I didn't notice." Lily smirked at her own joke, causing Jane to chuckle.
"Yeah, smart one." Jane shook her head and let go of her daughter. "Go eat breakfast, please. You can warm up some leftover pancakes if you want."
"Can I have them with blueberries?"
"Sure, they are in the fridge." Jane stood up from her seat and turned to see Morgan hurrying into the house. "Hey! Where's Anna?"
"I-… I don't know…" Morgan panted, leaning down to try and catch her breath. "I-… We were outside a-and she went ahead of m-me and-…"
Jane furrowed her brow. "You can't find her?"
Morgan shook her head. "I yelled really loud and all but I didn't find her."
Jane felt her stomach turning. Anna wasn't the type of girl that played games like this. She would know Morgan was worried and she would never let that happen to her sister. She turned around, pulled her coat from a chair and slipped on a pair of sneakers before hurrying outside. "ANNA!"
It was snowing and the wind was blowing like ice in her face while Jane searched around the house. The area was quiet and secluded. Something could easily happen to her girls without anyone noticing. Panic rose in Jane's chest the further she walked around the cabin. There was no sign of her. "ANNA!"
"Mama!" Morgan chased after her mother, her lips blue from the cold, her scarf high around her neck. "W-we went this way-…" she pointed at the left. "To get to the lake."
"The lake?"
"Yeah but we didn't get there!"
Jane nodded and increased her pace, walking in circles to search the entire area. She thought about how familiar this felt. How awfully familiar this felt to the time she searched for Morgan and Maura as they were stranded in that awful storm. She never wanted to feel that way again but here she was.
"JANE!" Maura's voice called out from behind her.
She turned around and saw her wife holding up something in the distance. "What is it?" she asked when she reached the blonde.
"Anna's phone." Maura panted, tears shimmering in her eyes. "It-… It's wet b-but it still works…"
Jane took the phone but she knew it was no use. This was a bad sign. Anna wouldn't be able to contact anyone without her phone. Jane took a deep breath and turned around to hide her tears. "ANNAAAAAA!" she yelled, her throat hurting, raw from the cold and screaming. "ANNA! ANNA!"
"Jane."
"ANNAAAA!" Jane put her hands around her mouth to hope and increase her volume even though she knew it wouldn't help. "ANNA!"
"Jane!" Maura put her hand on Jane's arm and looked at her, tears trickling down her cheeks.
"WHAT?!"
"Screaming doesn't help, Jane. We need to think."
Jane felt anger bubbling in her stomach. "Think?"
"I mean-…"
"No, you go think, Maura! You think while I go find our daughter, alright?"
"Jane…"
"Stop Jane-ing me!"
"I'm just saying it's no use to run around screaming for her, we need a plan!"
"Oh my God Maura! Every second we spend thinking about a plan, chances are getting smaller we will find her!"
"We will find her."
"Stop." Jane raised her hands and stepped back.
"Let's just think-…"
"Oh for fuck's sake, Maura." Jane shook her head and turned her back on her wife. She couldn't think. Why would she think? She had to find Anna. She had to look for her. Something bad could have happened. She could be in pain, freezing cold, deadly afraid… She needed to find Anna and that was it. "ANNA!" She ran away from the house towards the lake, looking through the trees to find any sign whatsoever of Anna's red coat and blond hair.
But there was no sign of her. The lake was empty. No sign of Anna. "ANNA!" Jane's raspy voice sounded across the lake, travelling through the forest without anyone hearing her. "ANNA!" Jane started spinning in circles, looking frantically around herself. "ANNA! Anna… Anna…" she kept saying her daughter's name as if it would calm her down, even though the opposite happened.
"Ma…" A quiet voice came from behind Jane but she didn't pay attention.
"Anna…"
"Mama."
Jane looked up and saw Morgan staring at her with tears in her eyes. "She's not here, Ma," Morgan said softly. "She would've heard us by now."
Jane shook her head.
"She would've come out by now." Morgan looked up at Jane, fear showing in her bright blue eyes. "She's not here."
"No-…" Jane whimpered and rubbed her forehead, but she knew Morgan was right.
"Come on," Morgan gently took Jane's hand in hers. "We have to go back inside."
"No. I have to keep looking." Jane shook her head and squeezed Morgan's hand. "You go inside, you're getting cold."
"But-…"
"Rizzoli." A deep, male voice pulled them out of their conversation.
Jane snapped her head up and saw a familiar man looking at them from in between a few trees.
"Looking for your daughter?" He stepped forward and Jane instinctively reached for her gun before realizing she didn't bring it.
"Where is she?"
He shrugged. "Not here." He smiled an evil smile. It was his partner. The partner of their prime suspect in their latest case. "My friend is taking good care of her, don't worry."
"WHERE IS SHE?"
"Calm down, Detective!" The man chuckled, coming closer but keeping a safe distance from Jane and Morgan. "She's just fine for now. Let me introduce myself first."
"I know who you are, you sick son of a bitch." Jane surprised herself by the dangerous tone in her voice. She was ready to strangle this man.
"You do?"
"Roger Thompson."
"Right!" The man smiled that awful smile again. "Now listen. You are working on our case, and I know you can do me a favor."
"Why would I?"
"That's a stupid question." Roger laughed and pointed at Morgan. "Isn't that a stupid question?" He looked back at Jane. "Because I got your kid, that's why. You can get her back, if you do me a favor."
Jane didn't reply. She knew this game.
"You can let us go, Rizzoli. I know you can."
Jane shook her head. "You're wrong."
"Come on, Rizzoli. It's not that hard to get rid of the jacket with the DNA."
"You're even stupider than I thought you were." Jane gritted her teeth and carefully stepped in front of Morgan, feeling the girl shaking behind her. "We know where you are, I can get the team here and you'll be in handcuffs in less than a minute. Don't make it harder on yourself, Roger."
Roger let out a huff of air. "You have no idea. For all you know he's taking apart your kid right now."
Jane's stomach turned.
"Listen. You go back to Boston, get rid of that evidence, and we'll deliver your little girl right on your doorstep. Alright?"
"You know that's not how it works."
"I know that's how it can work. It's not the first time." He leaned sideways against a tree and put his hand in his side. "Now, usually we work with money. But I know you're not interested in money. Your little wifey has enough money as it is."
"Shut up," Jane growled.
"But those kids right there," he pointed at Morgan, "that's your weak spot. So it's simple." He lifted himself up and looked into Jane's eyes. "Get rid of the evidence, and we won't get rid of your kid." He smiled again. "It would be a shame, really. Such a beautiful young girl. Truly, truly beautiful."
It was like hot fire raged through Jane's chest. She felt herself bolting forward towards the man, Morgan's scream in the back of her mind. Her hands were around his throat before she knew what was happening, but she felt a heavy foot in her stomach, taking all her breath away. A blinding pain shot through her abdomen and she crawled up from the ground, but it was too late. The man was gone.
"Ma! Mama…" Morgan was at her side immediately, kneeling in the snow next to her mother. "Why did you do that?"
Jane shook her head. She stood back up and started running. She had to follow this guy. She had to follow him towards Anna.
A part of her knew she wasn't thinking clearly and that she should take Morgan and get back to the cabin. But a bigger part of her was thinking about Anna. Her beautiful young daughter that was somewhere all alone with a murderer.
"Mama! MAMA!" Morgan ran after her, the girl was surprisingly fast and caught her by her arm. "STOP!"
"Morgan-…"
"NO STOP IT!" Morgan screamed. "YOU HAVE TO STOP IT!"
"Baby-…"
"YOU HAVE TO STOP, MAMA! You have to stop being so stupid! We gotta find Anna and you need to stop attacking stupid guys and running around like crazy!" The girl was yelling, tears streaming down her face. "Mom is crying inside and we're all so scared and we need you, Mama!"
Fresh tears trickled down Jane's cheeks while she looked at the young girl in front of her. "Okay," she whispered. "Okay. I'm sorry, come here baby," she opened her arms and wrapped Morgan up in a hug, kissing the top of her head. "I'm sorry. Let's go inside."
Morgan nodded. She wrapped her skinny arm around Jane's waist and followed her back to the house, where the rest of the family was close to panicking themselves. As soon as Jane saw the house, she heard Lily's voice calling out to her and saw the little girl running towards them as fast as she could.
"Mama!" Lily almost knocked Jane over as the brunette lifted her up in her arms, lifting her off the ground. "What's happening, Mama?" Lily asked softly, her voice laced with tears. "Where's Anna?"
"We don't know, baby." Jane sighed and pulled back to look at her youngest daughter. "But we're gonna find her. I know it."
Lily nodded and leaned forward to hide herself into the crook of Jane's neck. "I'm scared," she whispered, her small voice weak and vulnerable.
"I know, honey. We all are." Jane looked inside and saw Maura pacing through the living room, biting her thumb in fear. She sighed deeply and braced herself before putting Lily down and walking inside. "Maura."
Maura didn't pay attention. She was clutching her phone in her hand and didn't stop pacing.
"Maura, I'm sorry-…"
"Don't." Maura shook her head.
"I was-…"
"DON'T!" Maura pointed her finger at her wife, her eyes screaming anger. "Don't come in here and tell me you're sorry after treating me like that!"
"I-…" Jane sighed and looked down at her feet. "I don't know what to say, I was horrible."
"Don't-… Don't…" Maura shook her head and put her hand over her eyes to cover a fresh flood of tears. "Where is she, Jane?" she whispered. "Where's my little girl?"
Jane swallowed a lump in her throat and carefully stepped towards the blonde, reaching out her arms when she saw no reluctance in her wife. She pulled Maura into a tight hug. "We're gonna find her, Maur," she said softly. She pulled back and gently reached out to wipe a tear from Maura's cheek. "Listen," she sighed and proceed to tell Maura what happened in the forest, only raising the panic in her wife.
They contacted BPD and the team immediately sprung to action but Jane was scared. She was scared it was too late. Scared those men were too smart. She helped the team wherever she could but it was hard to think clearly. She could only feel concern and fear for her daughter. She wanted her back. Her Anna.