A/N: Formerly a one-shot story entitled 'The Boxer.' It is now combined with the one-shot 'The Date' so the story can continue as requested.
Jane Rizzoli was a boxer. She had been fighting since she was a young girl. She beat up older bullies that picked on her younger brothers. She had been suspended from school several times for fighting. The principal had told her parents if she got into one more fight, she would be expelled.
Jane managed to graduate without getting into another fight. She almost got into a fight the week before graduation but her cousin Arianna was able to stop her. She got a job working as a bagger at the local grocery store and until something else came along she would do this. She didn't want to go to college she wanted to be a police officer.
She was not able to go into the police academy yet so she took classes at the community college mainly to keep her parents off of her back and have a place to live. Since she had graduated from high school her parents told her to get a job or move out. They would not let her be a bum and just hang out all day. She had to either go to school or get a job. She had a part-time job but she was not working enough hours to get her own place. So, she enrolled at the community college.
She had applied to their criminal justice program and would complete her associate degree in criminal justice. That would at least help her when she applied to be a police officer. When she turned 19, she applied to take the civil service exam to become a police officer. She was making sure all her ducks were lined up. At 21 she could apply to the police academy.
She was boxing at a local gym. She was pretty good. The trainer didn't charge her for her lessons she just had to do some boxing for him to make up for the training time. She thought it was a good deal. Boxing helped her keep in shape and she needed to be in shape for the police academy so it was a win-win situation. She was getting really good at boxing and her trainer suggested she enter some of the competitions.
She lost her first fight but she was okay with that because the experience was valuable. After two weeks she fought again and won this time. The free training was intense but she felt herself getting stronger and more focused. She knew she didn't want to have a life as a boxer but the physical component was great for her. She needed to be physically fit for the police academy and her trainer was putting her through the paces getting her ready for the competitions. The gym was nice and she had free access to everything in the gym as part of her deal with the trainer.
At the end of her 11th fight Jane got punched hard in the nose and her nose broke. She finished the fight beating her opponent but had to go to the hospital as soon as the fight was over. Her trainer got her a bag of ice to put on her nose and took her to the emergency room. Jane was still in her boxing attire. She still had her gloves on as they rushed her to the emergency room. Her nose had been bleeding for a few minutes already before she knocked out her opponent. Jane was not going to give up on her fight she knew she was winning. She wasn't going to let a broken nose stop her from winning the fight. The trainer had to get home to his family. Jane said it was okay, she could handle things now that she was at the hospital so he left after undoing her gloves while she waited to see the doctor. He left the gloves with Jane. She would need to clean them up as they had blood all over them. The trainer left the towel with the gloves as he set them down on the seat next to Jane and left wishing her well and to let him know tomorrow what the doctor said.
Jane was called and taken to an examination room. After a few minutes the ER doctor walked in and was looking at the chart and had not made eye contact with Jane yet. She asked several questions and wrote down her answers on the chart. Then she looked up at Jane. Jane was just staring at the most beautiful hazel eyes she had ever seen. Jane could swear she saw golden flecks in the doctor's eyes.
"Miss Rizzoli hello, I am Dr. Isles. My you seem to have quite a bit of blood coming from your nose. Can you please explain to me what happened?" The doctor asked Jane as she checked to make sure her eyes were responsive. She ran the flashlight across her eyes to check the reaction of her pupils. The questions she asked were to gauge how well she responded and to make sure her speech and thought processes were not impaired.
"Hey doc, my name is Jane and I was punched in the nose during a boxing match." Jane said with a little bit of difficulty because talking with a broken nose is a little painful. She was having difficulty breathing.
"Well, let me take a closer look and I will get you all cleaned up and take care of your nose for you." The doctor stated.
"Thanks! You have very beautiful eyes." Jane said as she smiled at the doctor. "I hope you don't mind that I said that. When I see a beautiful woman, I like to tell her." Jane's smile deepen.
The doctor smiled back and said, "Thank you! No, I don't mind. You are not the first patient to let me know that you think I am beautiful and I am sure you will not be the last. You are going to have two black eyes soon based on the look of the damage I am seeing."
"Oh!" Jane replied, not knowing what else to say at the moment. Then after a moment of silence she said, "I guess that means the ladies won't find me that attractive." She wanted to put it out there that she was interested in women, just in case the doctor didn't get that from her last comment.
"Well aside from the broken nose and pending black eyes you seem to be quite attractive maybe they won't notice." The doctor gave a slight laugh.
"You're funny doc. I think it is going to be quite noticeable and sideline me from boxing for a few weeks."
Maura put her hands up to Jane's face and touched her nose. Jane squirmed a little. Maura said, "Well, it is not disfiguring. Hairline fracture. The nasal bone above the lateral nasal cartilage." The doctor stated matter-of-factly as Jane continued to stare at her.
"So, it is not broken?" Jane asked confused at her explanation.
"Yes, it is broken. A hairline fracture is a break. Many people don't know that the terms are interchangeable. Most doctors prefer to use the term fracture to keep their patients calm. Fracture is a term from the 15th century meaning 'a breaking of a bone.' As I said doctors use it to calm their patients as it sounds nicer than saying broken."
"Thanks for the mini history lesson of the word fracture, can you pop it out for me?" Jane asked with a huge smile as she tilted her head to one side and smirked hoping to convince the doctor to pop it out for her.
"Yes, although it might hurt a little." The doctor explained as she examined her nose further to get the correct position to pop it out, knowing very well that it will hurt a great deal.
"Okay, I'm ready." The doctor popped her nose out and Jane said, "OW! A little? That hurt more than a little doc."
"Put some ice on it for the next 24 hours so you don't look like Mike Tyson."
"Oh, funny doc with the boxing humor."
"What?" The doctor thought about it, "Oh, I didn't mean that to be funny but I guess it is appropriate for the situation."
"Ya, it is, whether you intended it or not, it was funny doc."
"Okay a few more minutes and I can get you out of here so you can return to your evening."
"I'm in no rush, doc, please take your time. You are the most beautiful human being I have seen tonight. Going back to that bunch of knuckleheads at the gym is not high on my list of things to do tonight. I would much rather sit and talk with you over a cup of coffee. Could I interest you in some coffee?"
The doctor smiled as she considered Jane's offer and said, "I'm on shift until 10 PM."
"I can wait so long as you tell me your first name doc?"
She smiled and said, "Maura, my first name is Maura."
"Well nice to meet you, Maura. I'm Jane Rizzoli as you probably know already from my chart." Jane extended her hand for Maura to shake. "You have a beautiful first name to go with the beautiful lady that you are."
"Jane Rizzoli, the boxer and flirt?" Maura smiled as she said it and shook Jane's hand.
"No, Jane Rizzoli, the flirt and future police officer and hopefully homicide detective one day." A smile appeared in response as Jane answered her. Jane liked that Maura acknowledged that she was flirting with her.
"That is a little safer than a boxer. You wouldn't be getting punched every night. Although recent studies have indicated that officers being shot in the line of duty have increased in recent years with the increase in crime." Maura added.
"Well, that is not a comforting thought doc. Aren't you suppose to make me feel better and not try to bring me down?" Jane stated a little scared that what Maura said might be the truth. She had seen an increase in police officers being shot in the line of duty over the last couple of years. That is why her mother was so worried about her wanting to become a police officer.
"I'm not trying to bring you down. I have a condition where I tend to spout off facts randomly during conversation." Maura explained.
"Is that because you are nervous because I just asked you out?"
"That might have something to do with it." Maura smiled as she responded quickly to Jane's question.
"Well, it is just coffee doc, I didn't ask you to marry me … yet." Jane laughed and Maura smiled at her.
It was 9:30 PM and Maura was due to be off shift in half an hour. "So would you like to join me for coffee when you get off of shift tonight doc?"
Maura looked at her watch and said, "Yes, I would like that, Jane. I can get your discharge papers for you and some more ice. Do you want to wait out front for me? There are some benches outside to the left that you can sit on. Let me get the discharge papers and ice and then you are free to go."
"That'll be great. Thanks doc."
Maura came back a few minutes later with an ice pack and her discharge paperwork. The ice would help keep the swelling down. It wouldn't do anything for the black eyes that would be forming. "Okay thanks doc. So, I will see you out front in just under half an hour?"
"Yes." Maura smiled at Jane as she replied.
A couple of minutes after 10 PM Maura walked out the front door of the hospital and turned to the left to see Jane sitting on the bench waiting for her. They smiled at each other and as Maura approached Jane, she rose to greet her. "Hello doc."
"You can call me Maura, we are outside of the hospital and you are no longer my patient."
"What if I want to still be your patient?" Jane smirked as she said it and then winked at Maura.
"I am off duty Jane."
"Once a doctor always a doctor Maur."
"Giving me nicknames already?"
"Oh sorry, do you not like it?"
"No, I like it, no one has ever called me Maur. I do like it, Jane."
"Great, now how about that coffee?"
"Yes, there is a nice little 24-hour coffee shop around the corner here." Jane and Maura walked side by side to the coffee shop. When they arrived, Jane held the door open so Maura could enter. The waitress acknowledged them and told them to take a seat wherever they wanted and she would be right with them.
Jane led them to a booth in the corner away from other patrons. She wanted to be able to talk to Maura and not hear other conversations going on. Jane let Maura pick which side of the booth she wanted to sit in. Jane sat across from Maura once she was seated. The waitress came over and took their drink order. Jane and Maura both said they didn't want anything to eat just their drink. The waitress left to start work on their drink order. Jane had ordered coffee, a plain black coffee and Maura ordered hot tea, it was too late for coffee for her.
Jane had a bandage over her nose and her eyes were starting to look bad, the bruising was starting to really show. It didn't bug Maura at all she saw people in this condition every day. Once their drink orders arrived Jane asked Maura, "So what made you want to become a doctor?"
"I wanted to help people and I have always been interested in science. I skipped a couple of grades in school and the other students always thought I was a little weird. I didn't have very many friends growing up. I went to boarding school in France. I graduated high school when I was 14 and started medical school in California. I finished med school a year early and finished all my residency requirements and moved back to Boston. I am presently working my ER rotation before going back into pediatrics. I am a pediatric cardiologist." Maura answered. "So how did you pick up boxing?"
"I needed to get physically fit to get in shape for the police academy and I was watching the boxers and the trainer came up to me and asked if I boxed. I said no and he said why not. I thought about it and didn't really have an answer for him. He suggested that I give it a try. That was two years ago. I have to wait another 8 months before I can apply to the police academy so I have been just working out and working on my associate degree in criminal justice at the community college."
"Sounds like you have a plan."
"I do, everything I do has been leading me to reaching my goal of becoming a police officer."
"It is nice to have goals and be able to obtain them."
"It is, so do you have any family in the area, you said back to Boston, are you from here?"
"No, I don't have any family in the area. My parents were killed in a car accident in France while I was in medical school in California. I do not have any brothers or sisters. I was born here in Boston and lived here until I was 10 when I went to boarding school. My parents maintained the house here in Boston so when they passed away, I told myself I would move back here."
"So sorry about your parents. That must have been difficult for you."
"I was sad, but they never really paid much attention to me. I was adopted and I felt as though they never really wanted kids. I was never sure why they adopted me. My records are closed so I have no idea who my birth parents are or were."
"Wow, that is a terrible way to grow up. Sometimes I wish I didn't have any brothers but my parents had two more children after me so I have two younger brothers. I am the only girl."
"I always wanted to have siblings."
"You can have mine. They drive me crazy, the only relative I really like is my cousin Arianna, she is like a sister to me. She lives here in Boston. She is going to BCU. I was supposed to go to BCU with her."
"I'm sure your brothers are not that bad. BCU is hard to get into."
"You haven't met them, if you did you might change your mind. I was accepted into BCU."
"If you got accepted to BCU, why didn't you go?"
"It is expensive. My pop is a plumber and didn't have the money to send me. Financial aid wasn't going to help out that much and I didn't want to go into debt. I don't need a degree to be a police officer. Wow, I can't believe I have told you all this stuff about me. I am normally reserved when it comes to talking about me."
"Well, I appreciate that you are talking to me. It would be rather boring if we were just sitting here watching our drinks cool down."
"Ya, that is true. I like you Maur, would you consider going on a date with me?"
"Yes, I would like that." Maura answered without hesitation.
"Great how does your schedule look tomorrow?"
"I am off duty, what time would you like to go?"
"How about 5?"
"That sounds great to me." Maura pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and wrote down some information and passed it to Jane. "Here is my cell number. Give me a call later and I can tell you where to pick me up at."
"Awesome, thank you." Jane's hand touched Maura's as she took the paper from her. Her hand tingled from the touch. Jane smiled. She walked Maura back to the hospital and said, "I will contact you tomorrow morning. Have a great rest of your evening Maur."
"Thank you, Jane. I look forward to hearing from you." Maura said as Jane walked away from her and the hospital. Now to figure out how she was going to get back to her car. She had a date to prepare for.