Chapter 14: Visiting the FBI

A/N: I thought you all might enjoy the fact that I am now getting ads for luxury mattresses since I googled them for the last chapter.

Thursday

Jane's POV

"Ready?" Jane called out to Maura who was still in the bathroom. "We need to leave soon, and I know how you get when you don't eat breakfast."

Maura rolled her eyes as she walked out of the bathroom. "I think you have that backwards," she said. "You're the one who gets – what's the word you like to use? – hangry when you don't eat."

Jane shrugged. "Does that mean I can eat your breakfast?" she asked.

"No!" Maura said with a laugh. They sat together at the table, eating their breakfast in comfortable silence. "I'm looking forward to seeing you teach today and touring the FBI's morgue."

"I'm not even going to ask which one you are looking forward to more," Jane teased.

"I plead the fifth," Maura joked back.

"Let's go," Jane said, still laughing.

Traffic wasn't bad on their drive to the Academy, and they arrived with plenty of time to stop by Jane's office before her first class.

"Today, the recruits will be conducting practice interrogations ahead of their finals next week. They'll be grouped into teams of three and each person in the group will get a different card," Jane said holding up the pile of cards for Maura to see. "One will be the perp and the other two will be the interrogation team. They'll do three different interrogations lasting one hour each, rotating roles each time. That way, each recruit will get the same time to practice. There are 18 recruits in the morning session and 21 in the afternoon session. Honestly, I'm lucky both classes can be divided into groups of three"

"That sounds interesting. Can I read the cards?" Maura asked.

"Of course," Jane said, handing her one of the sets of cards as they walked into the classroom. "You're welcome to sit wherever you want to observe, but it might make sense to sit over there," Jane told her as she pointed to the back corner near the window. "You can hold onto that set of cards, but I'll need them back for the afternoon class."

Maura walked to the back of the room while recruits began arriving and taking their seats. Many of them greeted Jane with a "hello" or "good morning" as they walked in.

At exactly 8:30am, Jane started class by describing the interrogation practices for the day. She handed out the cards and started the first hour of interrogations at 8:45am. She walked between groups, listening to their interrogations.

When the hour was up, she called, "TIME!" The talking ceased immediately, and everyone's attention was again focused on Jane. "How did you all feel after that mock interrogation?"

One of the top recruits, John, raised his hand. Jane pointed to him. "The cases you set up were well thought out…"

"I sense a 'but' coming," Jane said with a smirk.

"I…yeah…there's a 'but,'" John said with a laugh. "The cases were good, but we need more of a challenge."

Jane raised an eyebrow, "What did you have in mind?"

"Let us interrogate you."

Jane was surprised by this idea. "Okay, but I didn't commit a crime," Jane said slowly.

"But I'm sure you have something we can try to get out of you," John challenged. He knew she would have a hard time ignoring the challenge.

"If I agree to this – and that's a big if – what do I get if you can't break me?" Jane replied.

"An ego boost?" John said, unable to come up with a better response.

Maura laughed in the back, causing Jane to glance up at her and a few heads to turn in her direction.

"I'm pretty sure Dr. Isles laugh implies she doesn't think my ego needs a boost, but I can't say I'm not intrigued by this." Jane paused for a few seconds, thinking through whether or not this would be a good idea. In the end, her pride won out and she couldn't back down from the challenge. "Alright, you're on, but I set the rules.

"We have a little over 2 hours left in the class period. We will start the interrogation at 10:30. You will stay in your groups and each group will have 10 minutes to interrogate me, meaning the full interrogation will last about an hour. You will be able to watch each other's interrogations, and you can talk within your interrogation group. However, groups cannot talk to each other. You can prepare within your groups until 10:30. There will not be breaks in between groups, and we will use the end of class to debrief.

"And…" Jane added, "I will up the stakes. If you successfully break me as a class, you will only have to answer one of the two essay questions on the written portion of the exam. So, your goal is to figure out what I did on the Friday after Thanksgiving last year."

"Who gets to decide which side wins?" Bella, another recruit, asked.

"I'm still the instructor, so I could make that decision myself, but I'll let Dr. Isles be the judge," Jane said, pointing to the back of the room.

Maura's eyes widened. Part of her didn't want to have that effect on the recruits final, but the other part of her wanted to participate. She nodded to Jane, confirming she would be the final judge.

"Okay, take the next 30 minutes to strategize in your groups. I'm going to talk to Dr. Isles to come up with a strategy of my own."

The recruits immediately started talking within their groups, and Jane walked back to where Maura was sitting, grabbing a chair to sit next to her.

"Are you okay with this?" she whispered to Maura.

Maura smiled, "I don't love being put on the spot, but I'm up for it. You're not going to go down easy, are you?"

"Of course not!" Jane said. "Had I known we were going to do this, I would have come up with a better 'confession,' but it's the best I could come up with on the spot. I didn't want something they could find on Google, so that cut out every non-confidential case from Boston."

Maura laughed, "True. How much do they have to figure out in order to win, as they put it?"

Jane shrugged, "Honestly, I trust your judgement. I also have a feeling that we will both know the minute they 'break' me." Jane made air quote when she said break me.

"As long as you don't get angry with me if they win," Maura said.

"I won't."

Maura and Jane chatted about other things until 10:25 when Jane went back to the front of the class. She wrote down 1-6 on pieces of paper and mixed them up. She then had each group pick a number before she took a seat at the make-shift interrogation table.

"Okay, you will go in order from 1 to 6 based on the number your group drew. You can ask me anything, but you cannot question Dr. Isles. Group 1," she called.

Three recruits came forward; Trish, a five-foot-two force of nature, took the seat opposite her. "Did you return to Boston for Thanksgiving weekend in November 2016?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jane said. She figured that wasn't worth lying about.

"Who did you celebrate Thanksgiving with?" Trish continued.

"Family."

"Be more specific," John said from behind Trish.

"My family," Jane said. She definitely wasn't going to go easily.

John walked forward and sat on the table. He was trying to use his large stature to intimidate her, but Jane wasn't that easily intimidated. "You mother, two brothers, and their families?" John asked.

Jane was impressed but unnerved that he knew her immediate family included her Ma, Frankie, and Tommy.

"Yeah," Jane confirmed.

"Anyone else?" John asked.

"A few friends," Jane said.

"Dr. Isles?" Trish asked.

"Yeah, she's family," Jane said without thinking. She internally cursed herself – never give more information than was asked. She saw that a couple of recruits in the room caught onto this slip.

The questioning continued much along these lines, asking about who she spent the holiday weekend with. One thing she noticed is that none of them had asked about whether she or Maura had a significant other there. By group 4, Jane was getting bored and she was beginning to wonder if this exercise was actually beneficial for anyone.

Bella sat down in front of Jane. Bella had constantly impressed Jane throughout the semester. She had short cropped black hair; she openly identified as a queer Latinx woman. She gave off an air of confidence even Jane envied. She was good at thinking outside the box.

"When I was 17, I came out as bisexual to my parents and my father kicked me out of the house," Bella said to Jane, once again catching her off guard. "My mother didn't care about my sexuality or my gender identity. She loved me no matter what, but she was also afraid of my father, so she refused to stand up to him. I found myself a homeless, underage, senior in high school in a rural, conservative town in Indiana. To be honest, I'm not sure why it was such a surprise to them. I mean look at me," Bella said, gesturing to herself. A few people in the class laughed, but Jane didn't. She knew the pain that hid underneath Bella's story. She may present as and identify as more feminine than Bella, but she had still spent most of her life running from the rumors about her 'masculine energy' and her sexuality. She was really wondering where Bella was going with this, but she recognized some of the techniques she had taught during the semester. If she wasn't nervous about what Bella might ask her, she would be impressed.

"Despite this, I still consider myself lucky. I had a few good friends, who had good understanding parents, so I was able to couch surf for a few months while I saved money until I turned 18. On my 18th birthday, I signed my first lease. Are you lucky enough to have friends like this in your life – people you can count on no matter what?"

"Yes," was all Jane said.

"Is Dr. Isles one of those people?" Bella asked.

Jane's eyes flew to Maura. She really hoped this wasn't making Maura uncomfortable. She would end this before she let that happen. "Yes, I trust Dr. Isles with my life."

"I'm guessing that also means you are protective of her," Bella said this as a definitive statement, not a question.

But Jane still answered, "Yes, you could say I'm protective of everyone I care about."

"I would also guess that this means you have been skeptical of the people that come in and out of your life," Bella continued.

"So?" Jane said.

"So…you're protective of her and skeptical of the people in her life…"

Jane cut her off, "I'm protective of all my family and friends."

Bella ignored her though, "You're protective of her and skeptical of the people in her life, including her significant others."

"I don't know where you are going with this," Jane said.

"Who else did you see in Boston when you went there for Thanksgiving weekend?" Bella asked.

"I already told you who I spent Thanksgiving weekend with," Jane said, confused about the change in topic.

"So you didn't see Dr. Isles' boyfriend?" Bella continued.

"I…yeah, he was there," Jane said.

"And you hated him?" Bella said, just as the timer went off indicating group 4's time was up.

Jane breathed a sigh of relief as group 5 came forward. She mentally ran through which recruits were in the last two groups, trying to figure out whether there was anyone good enough to get her to talk about that Friday. She didn't think group 5 would get far, but there were two great recruits in group 6.

Group 5 tried to continue where Bella left off, but they didn't have her mind. They asked whether Jane hated Maura's boyfriend, but they didn't know where to go from there.

Despite the recruits in group 6, Jane was feeling pretty confident they wouldn't break her. Overall, the class hadn't gotten very far in the first 50 minutes. Bella had made the most progress of anyone, by far.

Akhil, who was probably the second-best recruit after Bella, was the first to speak. "You spent the Friday after Thanksgiving with Dr. Isles."

Jane opened her mouth to deny this, but Vic, the other good recruit, cut her off. "Don't try to deny it. We're not asking; we already know you spent the day with her."

Jane glanced up at Tim, who was standing behind Akhil and Vic. He wasn't very assertive, so Jane worried how he would be in the field.

"The two of you enjoyed Boston together. It was basically a date, even though you weren't dating," Akhil said.

Jane's eyes widened, and she didn't say anything.

"I'm sure you are wondering how we know all this," Vic said.

"What the earlier groups failed to consider is that Dr. Isles boyfriend at the time," Akhil looked down at his notes before continuing, "a Dr. Ian Faulkner, disliked you as much as you disliked him."

Damn it, Jane thought to herself. They were good together, and if they continued down this path, they might actually break her. She would definitely let them win before she let them ask too many questions about Maura's personal life.

"Your point?" Jane asked.

"Dr. Faulkner's Facebook page is public, and he's had a few things to say about the two of you recently," Vic said.

Jane didn't know what Vic was talking about. She and Ian were never Facebook friends and she never looked at his profile. She glanced back at Maura, and she could instantly tell that this came as a surprise to her, as well. She wanted to ask what Ian had said, but she couldn't do that to Maura, not in front of a classroom full of recruits.

Jane threw up her hands. "We're not talking about him or his relationship with Dr. Isles, so what is it you actually want to know," Jane spit back at him angrily.

Ankhil answered her, "We want to know what you and Dr. Isles did together on the Friday after Thanksgiving."

Tim had a smug look on his face, which pissed Jane off even more. She wanted to fight back, but she couldn't so she conceded, "Shit, fine, you win. We went to Boston Common to ice skate and see the Christmas lights."

The class broke out into applause.

"Class dismissed," Jane called above the noise.

"Aren't we going to debrief?" Trish asked.

"No," Jane snapped. Everyone could tell they shouldn't press the issue, so they gathered their things and hurried out of the room.

Bella, however, stopped to talk to Jane, "I'm sorry if I crossed a line."

Jane softened at the statement. "No, I'm the idiot who agreed to this."

With everyone else gone, Maura had walked up to the pair. "Jane, you didn't divulge anything inappropriate," she said. Turning to Bella, she said, "Thank you for sharing your story. I'm sorry you had to endure that kind of rejection, especially from your own family."

"Thank you, Dr. Isles," Bella said. "I'm not ashamed of my story, and I've found that you never know when honesty might help someone else."

"That is quite admirable. And please call me Maura."

"Bella, and it's nice to meet you, Maura."

"Thanks Bella. You did good today," Jane said.

"Thank you, Agent Rizzoli," Bella said. "Have a good afternoon and see you tomorrow."

Jane turned to Maura once Bella had left, "I'm really sorry."

"Don't be," Maura said. "I agreed to the exercise. If I'd had any reservations, I know you would have said no, and as I said, you didn't reveal anything inappropriate. You didn't have to give in just to save me, though," Maura added with a smirk. She knew how much Jane hated losing. Maura's face fell as she continued, "However, we should probably look at what Ian is posting."

Jane sighed, "I know, but can we maybe wait until we get home? I have a feeling it might piss me off more and no one here needs to see that."

"Of course; that is probably a good idea," Maura said. "Let's go get lunch."

They headed outside to the lunch cart. Maura ordered a salad and Jane got a sandwich; they got chips to share. It was a beautiful day out, so they found a table in the shade to enjoy their lunch.

Jane calmed down as they sat together talking about the various recruits and other light topics. About 15 minutes before Maura was to meet Jeff to visit the morgue, Jane got up to throw away their trash. As she walked back to the table, she noticed Maura looking in the other direction, an annoyed look on her face. She followed Maura's gaze to see that she was looking at Cameron Davies, the guy Jane had slept with before taking the job and tried to date a few times after moving here.

"Maur," Jane called to her as she sat back down. "Maura…" Jane waved her hand in front of Maura's face to get her attention.

"Oh, sorry. I…"

"Saw Davies; I know," Jane said. "We're just friends. We haven't dated or slept together since the end of last summer, and I doubt I'll even stay in touch with him when I move back. You have no reason to worry."

Maura sighed and looked down at her hands as she fidgeted with her ring. "I know, but for a long time I blamed him for you leaving," Maura confessed quietly.

"Maura," Jane said.

"I know," Maura replied to the unsaid comment.

"No, I don't think you do," Jane said, causing Maura to look up. Jane reached out and took Maura's hands in her own. "He was an attempt at a distraction, but it didn't work because nothing could ever take my attention and love away from you."

Maura smiled and squeezed Jane's hands in a silent response. Deciding to change the subject, she said, "I should probably go meet Jeff. Are you going to let the afternoon class interrogate you, as well?"

"Absolutely not!" Jane said. "We're sticking to the lesson plan this time. I'll let them skip the essay question based on the morning class's win."

Maura laughed. She leaned across the table and gave Jane a light kiss before heading off in the direction of the morgue. Jane sighed before heading back to the classroom.

Later that evening

"Oh my god, how did I ever do 16 hour days?" Jane whined. "I'm exhausted."

"Actually, it has a lot to do with what your brain expects. You expected long hours as a detective, but now you anticipate more traditional hours," Maura explained. "Also, you get tired after you're frustrated," Maura teased.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah," she said. "Let's eat."

They sat at the table to eat the Chinese take-out they had picked up on the way home. After they changed into comfortable clothes, they sat on the couch, and Maura asked the question neither of them wanted to think about, "Should we look at what Ian posted?"

"Are you okay with that?" Jane asked her.

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life checking social media to see what he may or may not post about us, but I think we might need to know this time. Most people don't know about the break-up yet," she said.

"Okay," Jane responded.

Maura grabbed her phone and pulled up Ian's Facebook page. She scrolled back to the previous Friday to read his posts from the day they broke-up.

Friday, July 14, 2017 6:53pm Ian Posted: And just like that I'm single. AGAIN!

Various people had commented on his post offering condolences and asking what happened. Ian didn't respond to the comments, but he posted later again that night.

Friday, July 14, 2017 10:16pm Ian Posted: Since so many people are asking, just know that BITCH broke our engagement with no warning.

Saturday, July 15, 2017 1:52am Ian Posted: she lfet mee 4 a dyke…ben cheetin on me fr montths FUCK MARA ISLSES

"Oh, I think he was drunk," Maura whispered as they continued reading.

Saturday, July 15, 2017 2:24am Ian Posted: im gona gt heer back 4 tis

"Maura…" Jane started.

"Jane, it's not a threat. He's just looking for sympathy. He's angry and drunk," Maura said.

Jane sighed but didn't say anything. They scrolled through the rest of his posts from throughout the week, which were along the same lines as the initial posts. None of the other posts hinted to any threats though.

When Maura turned off her phone, Jane said, "Maura, I don't like this. What if he tries to come after you?"

"I had the locks changed. Your mother hasn't said anything about him coming back. He didn't directly threaten me, so I'm not sure what we can do," Maura told her.

"I don't know," Jane confessed. "Let's at least check with Ma to make sure there isn't anything she's not telling us.

"Okay, but if she doesn't have anything to say, please don't scare her unnecessarily. He's a narcissist, but he has no history of violence."

"Okay," Jane said, and she pulled out her phone to call her mom.

"Hello," Angela answered the phone.

"Hi, Ma," Jane said.

"Hello, Angela," Maura said.

"I wasn't expecting a call from the two of you tonight. To what do I owe the pleasure," Angela said.

Jane rolled her eyes at her mom trying to sound like she didn't want to be nosy.

"We're just checking in on you, and how everything is going back in Boston," Maura said.

"Everything is fine here," Angela answered. "I get to spend the day with TJ tomorrow, and we are planning to have Sunday Dinner in the main house this weekend."

"That's great, Ma. Has Ian stopped by at all since he moved out?" Jane asked, unable to hold it in any longer.

"No, he was gone by the time the locksmith came on Sunday. I haven't seen or heard from him since. Does he need something, or did he forget something? I can help," Angela said.

Maura thanked herself internally that Angela wasn't suspicious at the question. "No, thank you, Angela. I haven't heard from him, but I just wanted to make sure everything was taken care of."

"Yeah, everything has been calm here, uneventful," Angela said.

After that, the conversation turned to lighter topics. Angela gave them updates on everyone in Boston and Jane and Maura told her about what they have been doing over the past week. All three women hung up happy.

Maura and Jane spent the rest of the evening cuddling on the couch watching TV. Jane was still worried about Ian, but Maura was right, what could they do? She would keep a close eye on Maura and the house when they got home, but for now, she was going to have to try not to worry.