Disclaimer - I do not own any of these lovely ladies or other R&I characters, but do love to play with them.
Jane and Frankie guided the struggling perp through the bull pen. As they rounded a corner, the perp jerked and tried to slam Jane into the wall. Jane anticipated the move, so shifted her already bruised body forcing the perp into the wall hard.
"Oh, oops!" Jane jerked him away from the wall as two uniforms came to help.
"Where do you want him, Detectives?"
"Take him to booking. We'll be there shortly." Jane looked down at herself. Her pants were torn at the knee due to tackling the perp. She checked out her stinging, scraped knee. She shrugged mentally, she had worse.
"Uh, Janie? You're lip is bleeding too." Frankie was pointing at a location of his own lip. Jane ran her tongue over her lip, wincing when she found the split. She looked over at Frankie and noticed he fared better. Frankie was only 5 seconds behind Jane when she tackled the perp, but that was enough time for the perp to throw a glancing blow to Jane's face with his elbow.
"Ok, give me 5 minutes to clean up a bit before we get down to business."
"I'll get the paperwork started." Frankie ambles off.
Jane goes to her locker to find that she forgot to bring in another "spare" pair of pants. She growls as she looks around the locker room for anything to help. She finds duct tape in the cabinet under the sink. She takes off her pants and turns them inside out and duct tapes the rip. She goes to the sink to wet a paper towel and dabs her bleeding knee. She leans in toward the mirror to clean her lip and notices some discoloration near her eyebrow.
"Maura is going to be pissed. Wish I had time to go down and let her clean this up, but gotta go book that asshole." Jane puts her patched pants on, gives a nod to her reflection and goes to meet Frankie.
A couple hours later, the perp is in a cell and Jane is filing the paperwork that they just finished.
"Think we got enough for them to put him away?" Frankie looks at his sister.
"With what we found at the scene, including his prints all over the place, and what Maura gives them from the vics, it should put him away for a loooong time. It's gonna be up to the suits to convince the jury."
"Want to go celebrate at The Robber? I know I'm thirsty."
Jane laughs. "Why not? A cold beer and a greasy burger is the perfect way to end the night. Let me go grab Maura. See if Korsak and Frost are coming."
Jane presses the down button when she enters the elevator. It's a quick trip to the basement, but it gives Jane time to think that it's been a long day without seeing her favorite ME. The doors open to Senior Criminologist Susie Chang waiting to get on.
"Hey, Susie. Is Dr. Isles in her office?"
Susie looks confused. Usually Dr. Isles informed Detective Rizzoli of her plans. "Good evening, Detective Rizzoli. Um, I believe Dr. Isles was, um, meeting someone tonight?"
Susie watches as thunderous look comes over the Detective's face. "Going up?"
Jane nods distractedly. She is wracking her brain. Did Maura mention she had a date this weekend? Wait. Didn't Maura say something about her mother wanting her to meet with someone? Was that a date or business? You never could tell with Constance.
The doors open and the three men are waiting for her. "Where's the doc?" Korsak asks.
"She's gone already. I think I'm going to call a rain check too, guys."
Frankie sees the mood his sister is now in and doesn't want her drinking home alone. He throws his arm around her shoulder. "No rain checks tonight, Janie. I think I heard Frost say he plans to whoop your butt at darts. You can't let him get away with that, can you?"
"C'mon, Janie."
"All right, all right. Let's go."
The group settles into their favorite booth at The Robber and Jane treats for the first found of beers.
"Hey, what about that burger?"
Jane takes another swig of her second beer. "Nah, I'm not that hungry right now." Jane looks at her phone. She turns it off in disgust and orders another beer.
Another hour passes with dart challenges and more beer. "Hey, Janie. Think maybe you've had enough?"
"What? This is only my fourth beer, Frankie."
"Yea, but you didn't eat."
Jane reaches over and grabs a couple of his fries. "See? I'm eating. Don't worry, I'll call a cab if I can't drive." Jane goes to bar for another beer.
Frankie feels his phone buzz.
Maura: Frankie, I am worried about your sister. I've been trying to reach Jane, but haven't had a response.
Frankie sends a text back.
Frankie: We're at The Robber. Rough day. She's in a bad space right now.
Maura: I'll be right there.
Frankie nods.
Jane sits at the bar peeling the label off her latest beer. She considers ordering one more, but feels unsteady. She senses someone sit on the stool next to her. She smells the shampoo. Her heart races, but she refuses to turn.
"Hello, Jane. Are you ready to go home?"
"Nope."
Maura sighs. She realizes this is not going to be easy.
"Will you look at me?"
"Nope."
"I tried calling you. I was worried when I couldn't reach you."
Jane whips around. She yanks her cell phone from her pocket and almost ends up throwing it. She waves it in Maura's face. "When? I got nothing from you as of…" Jane squints at her watch, "90 minutes ago."
"I apologize, Jane. I forgot my phone at home and didn't get it until after my…"
"Meeting? Your date? What exactly were you on tonight, Maura? Wait, it's none of my business. Do what you want. Or what your mother wants." Jane realizes that she is beginning to rant, but in her current state, doesn't care.
"Jane, please. Can we go back to my place and I'll make you some coffee."
Jane was beginning to feel tired, but still sulky. "Why not."
Maura waves goodbye to the guys. Frankie gives her a thumbs up. The ride to Maura's begins in silence, but that is short lived.
"We caught the bad guy, ya know."
Maura glances at Jane. "That's very good, Jane."
"You weren't there to celebrate with us."
"I'm sorry, Jane."
"I tackled him."
Maura pulls into her driveway. "Are you all right, Jane?"
"You weren't there to check on my boo boos." It didn't matter to Jane's mind that she didn't go to Maura at that time.
"Again, I'm sorry, Jane. Please allow me to look at your injuries when we are inside."
Maura unlocks the door. "Please, go make yourself at home on the sofa."
Maura goes into the kitchen to start some coffee. She pours a glass of water and makes a small plate of strawberries, crackers and cheese. She brings these into the living room and hands the water to Jane.
"Drink."
Jane makes a face. Maura begins to lose patience.
"Jane. You need to hydrate."
Jane pouts. "Are you going to fix my boo boos?"
Maura considers the correct response from the movies she has watched. "Would you like me to kiss your 'boo boos' and make them all better?"
Jane's mouth opens, then shuts. She arches an eyebrow.
"How was your date?"
Maura sighs. "I didn't consider it a date, Jane. Unfortunately, he did."
"I knew it!" Maura raises her eyebrow at the outburst.
"Mother told me she wanted me to meet a new lawyer she hired to discuss new possible recipients for Isles Foundation support. She told him I was a single, intelligent woman in need of an escort to various functions."
"Hrrrmph. And do YOU think he would be a good escort to various functions?"
Maura has lifted Jane's pant leg and is gently cleaning the nasty scrape. "Truthfully, Jane, I believe he would be a stuffy, boring escort. I have much more fun when you come with me."
"You mean when you drag me with you?"
"I greatly appreciate you coming with me, Jane."
Jane begins to look mollified. "You do?"
"Jane, we almost always have fun when we are together."
Maura sits close on the sofa to press the bruise on Jane's supraorbital ridge, causing Jane to wince. She leans in and presses a gentle kiss on the bruise. Jane's eyes go wide.
"Better?"
Jane nods.
Jane slowly raises her hand to point a finger at her split lip.
Maura smiles. She leans toward Jane to press her lips gently to Jane's.
Softly she asks, "Better?"
Jane shakes her head no. "Still hurts."
Maura grins. She tangles her hand in Jane's long curls to bring her in for slow, exploring kiss.
Hello all. I know! It has been a long time, too long in fact. Had a bit of a writers block. I see it this way. The lovely ladies are sitting in The Robber having beer and wine, but I am outside and can't hear them talking. They smile and wave at me, but kept me out. I have a chapter started for Holiday, but it's a little rambling. Patience please.
Hope everyone is well!
Hugs to all.
My love to Belgium!