Ask for a longer chapter, and you shall receive. And the Rizzoli Christmas that comes after is looking to be about double this...so..hold on to your hats. this chapter is NC17 for violence, language, and the fact that everybody in it loses their shit. If you have abuse triggers, go ahead and skip it. it won't be that much of a problem. Jury's back on Tommy...what do you think?
"You can't keep them in this shit hole, Angela. My boys deserve better than some crappy two room apartment on the corner of murder and crime spree."
"If you want to help support your children Frank, I'd be more than happy to move your children to a place that you find more suitable."
"Like I don't know what you're going to do with that Money, Angela."
"Like I don't know you're spending your child support on prostitutes, Frank."
He advances on her quickly, as though he's going to put his hands on her, and Jane reacts without thinking, leaving her spot on the stairs to put herself between her father and her mother, pushing against her father's chest with both her hands.
"Dad, stop."
Maura looks up to see Tommy entering the Morgue, and is momentarily surprised. He has Jane's long stride and she had looked up expecting Jane.
"Tommy," she says a little uncertainly, because he looks unsteady, and his expression is a little wild. "Jane's not down here; I think she and Detective Frost went to question the victim's sister."
"I didn't come to see Jane," Tommy says, leaning up against the sinks that line the wall. "I came to see you."
"Oh?" Maura has a slight sense of foreboding. "Well that's unexpected,"
Tommy raises his eyebrows. "And unwelcome?"
"No," Maura says quickly, trying to make herself believe it so that it doesn't sound like an obvious lie, "of course not. What can I do for you?"
"You think I'm just gonna let the women in my family do whatever they damn well please? You think I'm gonna send money so that my wife can buy herself clothes, and my daughter can buy herself a dick? If you think that, then you've got another thing coming. Then you don't fucking know me at all."
Jane wipes at her split lip with the back of her hand, ignoring the avalanche of emotions that is crashing down inside of her. Ignoring the fact that her brain still can't process that her father has…'
"You are a sick son of a bitch, and I hope you rot in hell. You come into my house and you put your hands on my child, and you have the nerve to come in here and insinuate-" Frank moves to strike her again, and again Jane lunges at her father, the screaming in her head and the taste of blood in her mouth forgotten. One thought only pounding through her body. No one is going to lay a hand on her mother.
"I came to talk to you about Jane." Tommy says, but doesn't continue.
Maura pulls her surgical gloves off, and picks up her cell phone. She moves slowly, trying not to make any sudden movements, working to keep her face calm and impassive. "Okay," she says, glancing at him, "What about Jane?"
Her fingers move quickly over the tiny keys of her phone.
Jane. Come back here. Now.
"You weren't around when I went inside. When did you come back?" His voice is causal, but his eyes are studying Maura in the same way that Jane's do sometimes, when she's looking for a truth that may not come out in words.
"I came back to Boston last May." She says. Tommy's frown deepens as though this is not the answer he wants to hear. "It was complicated," Maura says defensively, a little irritably. She does not want to defend herself to another Rizzoli. "But I never stopped caring about your sister."
Tommy smiles, but it's not a nice one. It's skeptical and harsh. "I care a lot about my sister too, Maura," he says, standing up straight and moving towards her. She takes one involuntary step backwards before getting control of her body. But it's enough for Tommy. He's observant enough to notice.
"You scared of me, Maura?"
Maura shakes her head in a manner she is sure means the opposite of the gesture. "N-no." she curses herself inwardly for stammering. "I'm just not sure where this conversation is going. Or why we have to have it at work."
"You should be," Tommy says, as if he hasn't heard her, "afraid of me. I know your secret." Tommy's smile turns into a sneer. "And I'm going to tell Jane."
"Ma, shut up!" Jane screams over her mother's torrent of insults, pushing with all her might against her father's back. She's long and naturally muscled, and the work outs at the Academy have strengthened her greatly. She has her father's arm twisted against his back and is forcing him to the door, but every time her mother lets go another string of obscenities, he fights against her, trying to reach his ex-wife.
He spins once, slamming her against the wall, trying to get her to let go, and her shoulder blade erupts with pain, white hot like lava. Stars dance in front of her eyes, but she doesn't let go, planting her feet and heaving once, nearly throwing her father towards the front door.
"MA. SHUT THE FUCK UP." In her pain and her terror, she doesn't know how to express that every time her mother baits Frank, she makes Jane's job ten times harder.
And it is her job. To protect the people she loves with everything she has.
Maura stares at Tommy blankly. "I don't have any secrets from your sister, Tommy," Maura says slowly, making sure to use the words, your sister, in hopes of reminding him where they stand. "We tell each other everything."
Tommy examines a tray of Maura's little silver tools, "Okay," he says without looking at her, "So she knows that you're boning Frost?"
Maura's mouth falls open. Of all the things that she's been expecting from Tommy… "I-I-I," she stutters, too completely caught off guard to even begin to respond properly.
Tommy looks at her shell shocked face, a look of triumph on his own, and Maura realizes that her stuttering has not done anything to prove her case. She takes a deep breath. "Tommy, I am not sleeping with Detective Frost. You are mistake-"
"I am not mistaken," Tommy says darkly, putting down the instrument he's been examining. "I see the way you look at him. The way you two hold hands, the way he helps you in and out of cars…"
Maura puts her hands out, "We are friends, Tommy. Detective Frost is one of my closest friends." It is as she says this out loud, that Maura realizes it is true. She doesn't know when it happened, but as Jane slid from best friend to lover, Frost slid from acquaintance to best friend.
Tommy makes an impatient noise, "I SAW you guys at The Garden, last weekend. Just the two of you? For lunch? And you're friends? That place costs more money than Frost makes in a month."
"We were discussing Christmas presents for your sister. I paid," Maura says, trying to keep her voice from trembling. "I think she wants a dog but I'm not sure if I'm reading the signals-"
"Shut up," Tommy says, "Maybe you haven't had enough time back to figure it out yet, but Jane's the greatest person there is. I'm not going to just sit by and let you double cross my sister. Especially when she's as in love with you as she is." He takes a couple steps towards her, and Maura feels her hands get sweaty.
"Tommy. You need to talk to Jane…you're jumping to conclusions. I am not-"
But Tommy turns over her instrument table, the delicate silver tools flying in every direction with a clatter.
Jane doesn't know when Frankie and Tommy get home. She sees her oldest brother's frame out of the corner of her eye and just has time to register his presence, before he's there beside her, in front of her, between her and her father, pushing him away too. At 16, he's still not taller than she is, but he's bulkier, Varsity football filling out his muscles.
More in Frankie's favor, however, is that as soon as he feels his son's hands on him, Frank Sr. stops fighting.
He backs away from his sons, and his exhausted daughter, chest heaving, and points at the hallway that leads to the bedrooms. "Boys, get your things," he says. "You're coming to stay with me at my house."
Both Tommy and Frankie stay still. A year ago, Tommy would have jumped into action, so desperate to hear those words.
"I'm not going anywhere with you, you fucking asshole," Frankie says angrily. "What the hell?" He moves towards Jane, "Are you okay, Janie?"
"Look, you two have about two minutes to get your stuff and meet me in the car. That's it," Frank says icily.
Tommy looks up at Jane, his eyes sliding over her face, wide and scared and…
begging.
Jane feels like an iron fist has punched her in the stomach. She waves Frankie away with the arm that doesn't feel like it's been stabbed by a hundred needles, and looks at her youngest brother. His brown eyes are a little watery, and although he doesn't speak, Jane knows. Jane knows who he's choosing. "You do what you want, T," she says quietly, trying to keep her voice from breaking. "I love you no matter what, buddy."
Her brother glances at his mother, but his eyes don't go high enough to meet hers. Then he slinks around them all and down the hall.
"No! Tommy, you're not going anywhere," Angela cries out, moving after her brother.
Several things happen at once. Frank lunges at Angela, and Jane, driven by adrenaline and that ever present fear, jumps towards her father.
But this time Frank is ready for her.
Jane has the sensation of flying. She's in the air, moving over the couch like a low flying plane. It's surreal, and she doesn't know how she got up here. And she has time to register the image of the sharp edge of the coffee table, hurtling towards her face.
And then nothing at all.
"Tommy, let me go. You don't know what you're doing," Maura puts her own hand over Tommy's on her upper arm, but doesn't try to pry his fingers away. It would be futile, and it would make him hold tighter, and this is already going to bruise.
"I don't know what I'm doing? You're the one crushing my sister."
"I'm not," Maura feels tears stinging her eyes. "God, Tommy, don't do this. Think about what Jane is going to-"
"Don't you talk about my sister like you know her feelings." Tommy yells, and he slams his hand down on the examination table. Maura closes her eyes, wondering how this situation can get any worse.
And then it does.
"Maura? You'd better be bleeding, because I just broke every speed limit by about 300miles per hour and used the siren the entire way. This text is-"
She hears Jane's voice stop dead.
She wakes up in the ER. There is one woman she knows, and two men that she doesn't, although she assumes they must be doctors, from the lab coats they are wearing.
"Hey, Jay. No, don't move a ton, you had dislocated shoulder and you've got six stitches at your hairline."
Jane groans a little. "ribs?"
"Two fractured."
"Shit."
Leah McCarthy, her best friend at the Academy sits down in the chair next to the bed.
One of the doctors gives the other a meaningful glance, "Ms. Rizzoli, your injuries are numerous, but not life threatening. I recommend that you stay overnight for-"
"Nope." Jane says, waving the doctors away. "Get me the Against Medical Advice sheets and I'll sign what you want, but I'm going home tonight."
Muttering as they leave, one doctor gives her a last reproachful look before sliding the curtain.
Leah takes her hand, "What the fuck happened Jane?"
Jane doesn't answer, "Where's Frankie? Ma?"
Leah considers her, obviously trying to decide whether or not to push her. "They're out in the hall. Your mother was…. Not conducive to your treatment when you were brought in. Jane-"
But Jane puts up a hand, Sitting up, wincing.
"Is Frankie okay?"
Leah sighs, "Yes. There's not one fucking scratch on him. Jesus Jane. What the-"
But Jane shakes her head. "Help me up."
Maura sees Jane's hands twitch automatically for her firearm, and then freeze as she realizes that the person who's holding Maura is her brother. Maura watches her flip through fear, anger, confusion, and then her face goes blank and impassive.
"What the hell?"
Tommy drops his hand immediately, giving Maura a scathing look, "Oh, very good, doctor," he says mockingly. "Call her to your rescue. Of course Tommy's the bad guy." He turns to Jane, his hands outstretched. "Look, Jane…It's not what it looks like, I just…"
But Jane's eyes are looking past Tommy, focused on Maura's bicep. And when the medical examiner looks down, she realizes she already has the beginnings of a hand print, red and angry.
"It looks," Jane says slowly, "Like you put your hands on my girlfriend."
"No. I mean. Yes. But she's not your girlfriend."
Jane's mask drops for a second as confusion flashes across her face. "What?"
"He thinks I'm cheating with-" Maura goes to move forward,
"YOU ARE." Tommy interrupts. He whirls back to face her, and his outstretched hands come within inches of her face. "You're banging Frost. I know you are. I saw them together at The Garden, Jane," He says turning back to his sister.
Jane glances at Maura, and the blonde watches her trying to connect the dots, to put things together. "I know, T," she says quietly. "Maura told me she was meeting him there."
Tommy scoffs, "he's always got his hands on her. Like she's his property or something."
Jane takes a couple steps towards her brother, one hand out to calm him. "Calm down, T. They're friends alright. Frost and Maura are-"
" It fucking figures you don't believe me. She leaves for an entire decade and you welcome her back with open arms, but I'm gone for a couple years, and because I was in prison it doesn't matter what I say?"
"Tommy-"
"You're my big sister Janie. You know what I did all day for the first five years I was in there? I fucking sat in my bunk and thought about all the times you protected me when I was a kid. From Pop, or from bullies…or myself. I'm fucking trying to protect you. Like you were always protecting me."
Jane's face softens a little. She moves towards her brother, "Honey, I don't need protecting from Maura."
Maura nods, "Tommy, I would never hurt Jane in that way."
Tommy's eyes flash and he moves towards Maura. "You don't get to fucking-"
He raises his hand, and Jane moves faster than Maura thought possible. In two moves she has him pinned to the examination table, her face grim and unreadable.
"Thomas," she says, holding him firmly as he struggles. "Stop. Stop it. I'm gonna let you up. And you need to leave. Go…anywhere, and cool off, okay? And when I get off work, I will call you."
Tommy stops moving and Jane lets him go, backing up.
Maura reads his body language, knowing what's going to happen before it does, "Jane!" But her cry only serves to make Jane look around at her, so that Tommy's punch hits her right in the eye.
When she gets home, she takes the box containing her clothes from their home under the coffee table, and carries them down the hall to the bedroom that Tommy and Frankie shared. She puts them on the end of the bed where her littlest brother used to sleep, not bothering to turn on the light.
"It won't be for long, okay?" she says quietly, sliding into bed with her jeans still on.
"I'll get a job and Find my own place. Leah and I can probably find something for pretty cheap and…"
"You can sleep in here as long as you want, Jane. Don't be stupid," Frankie says from the twin bed across the room.
"Thank you."
"I decided I'm gonna go into the Academy when I turn eighteen. Like you," Frankie says after a while.
"Oh, God, Frankie, Mom'd lose her shit…why would you want to do that?"
There is a silence that stretches long enough that Jane thinks her brother must have fallen asleep. She has just shut her eyes when Frankie's voice comes out of the darkness again.
"Tommy wants to be like Dad because he's our dad…I…" silence again.
"I just want to be like the person who raised me." He says quietly.
And Frankie is smart and caring and kind enough, that he pretends not to hear his sister crying.
"Jane." Maura puts her hand on the door handle of the bathroom. She can give Jane her space while she cries, but when the crying turns to the unmistakable sounds of vomiting, she can't let the detective be.
She pushes open the door, moving to pull Jane's hair out of her way, as she wretches again.
She rubs gentle patterns into the brunettes back, humming nonsensically, until she feels the body relax. Then she helps Jane to her feet and into the bedroom.
They don't talk as they slide into bed or as Maura wraps her arms around Jane and kisses the spot just below her ear.
Jane's done enough talking for the day, Maura thinks, the story of how Tommy went to live with her father tumbling out of her like a long, verbal roadmap of destruction.
"He's not your father." Maura whispers, as Jane clings to her. "He was trying to help you."
Jane sighs, and shakes her head tiredly, and Maura drops it willingly.
"I love you, Maura," Jane says, long after Maura believes she's fallen asleep.
"I love you too, pretty girl."
"Is it enough?"
"Of course."
Jane sighs. "Maura?"
"yes, baby."
"Double cream."
Maura smiles faintly, giving Jane a gentle squeeze.
"You got it."
Charliethecag. good to see you're still coming around! glad you liked it. You too, CCJLfan. skellagerardway you had every right to be worried, i tried not to cliffhanger it at all for you. tansikat, ximebeach, and adh850, how lovely to see your new handles around my fic! thanks for reviewing and i hope you'll keep reading!
Fergz and Ts, and Jobee...I'm guess i didn't do much for your sad feelings about Jane...sry about that. But Christmas is gonna pull everyone up...before we dip into remember me...yeah...
what's the good mean if you don't have some bad, though, right?
fallenaustin, I die. you are too kind to me.
happy reading
t.c.