Oops, I Did It Again – Chapter 23
Wednesday morning Jane and Maura felt very comfortable waking up in each other's arms. They were supposed to have spent the night at their house, as their first night of living together officially but they were too tired the night before. "Hey, so I know we were supposed to be spending our first night living together at the house, but we can count this as our last night of spending the night together in the apartment." Jane said as she nuzzled into Maura. Maura gladly held Jane tighter. She loved waking up with Jane in her arms or being in Jane's arms.
They quickly took a shower together, well, that was the plan. Jane wanted to make sure she made love to Maura one last time in the apartment before she turned the keys over to her brother and right then she felt it was the perfect opportunity. She liked to take her time making love to Maura, however, she knew she didn't have a lot of time, even though Maura had set the alarm for earlier that morning. They were almost late for work, but they were both in a great mood.
On the way to work Jane had brought up something that Maura had said that she wanted to clarify. "Maur, you said I could have a 'man cave' can we just call it my room. It doesn't offend me so to speak but I just do not feel comfortable calling my room a 'man cave.' I know some women refer to their special room as a 'she shed' and I am not comfortable with that term either. I don't know can we just call it my room?" Jane had thought about it and was a little uncomfortable bringing up the subject but she didn't want there to be any misunderstandings between them and she figured honesty was the best course of action.
"Jane, I didn't mean to offend you. I just didn't know what to call it. It will be your room to do with as you see fit. I do not want the fact that we are living together to change either of us, well, except maybe to make us more loving, if that is even possible." Maura reached over and squeezed Jane's hand. Jane squeezed back.
"Thanks, Maur. I just want us both to feel comfortable. Are you sure you want me to have the whole basement though? That is a huge room." Jane had been surprised when Maura had offered her the entire basement as her special room.
"Jane, I want you to have enough space to work out and maybe have a TV and sound system and such. There is so much you can do with that space." Maura offered.
"Thank you. I think once I put the few items I have down there, I would like to look at the room and maybe make part of it a place that we can share together. You share your yoga room and office with me. I want to share with you." Jane countered.
"That is sweet Jane, how about we look at the room after you have your items in there." Maura said as they pulled into the precinct parking lot.
"Okay, sounds like a plan. We better hurry up now." Jane said as they got out of the cruiser and headed inside.
They hurried into their respective offices with about a minute to spare. Maura didn't want to start her first day on the job as the Chief, Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by being late. The staff didn't know that they were getting a new boss as Maura didn't announce it to them yet. She figured she would wait until all the paperwork was filled out and turned in. She did want to tell Lt. Cavanaugh so she called him and let him know. He was happy to hear about her new job and that Dr. Pike would no longer be there.
The Governor's HR representative arrived at 10 AM with all the remaining paperwork that needed to be filled out. They sat in the office for about half an hour filling out all the paperwork. She needed to fill out her W-2 and I-9 paperwork as well as a brief job application. They then went to HR together to have her fingerprints taken for the fingerprint card. Maura saw the HR representative out and then went up to the bullpen to see if Jane was available. She was ready to take her lunch break. They informed Sgt. Korsak and Detective Frost of Maura's new job. They were both excited. First for Maura and second that Dr. Pike was finally gone from BPD.
Jane was indeed ready for lunch and grabbed her gun, blazer and keys and walked with Maura hand-in-hand to the café down the street. Jane and Maura both smiled throughout their entire lunch break. They were so happy. When they were sitting there talking about the case and their lack of evidence, Maura had a thought and when they got back to work, she ran the suspect's DNA against the DNA of all of the victims and the sample they had on file from the crime scene. They would have to wait until the next day to get the results back. Jane thought it was a great idea and hoped that it would give them some positive results. They had a suspect in holding and could only hold him for 72 hours.
At 1 PM, Maura received a phone call, "Hello, Dr. Isles, this is Gina from the Governor's office. The Governor would like to know if you have announced to the staff that you will be the new Chief, Medical Examiner."
"No, Gina, I have not. I was going to tell them at our 4 PM staff meeting today. I wanted to wait until I had signed all the paperwork." Maura informed Gina. This pleased Gina, Maura could tell by the sound of her voice.
"If it is okay with you, the Governor would like to make that announcement for you. It's not every day that he gets to announce a new Chief, Medical Examiner and he said he would enjoy it very much. Would that be okay with you?" Gina asked knowing that Maura would say yes. Very few people said no to the Governor.
"Yes, Gina that would be fine. I was only going to tell the individuals who I would be directly supervising here." Maura had only shared with Jane, Lt. Cavanaugh, Sgt. Korsak and Detective Frost.
"That is fine, he would still like to do that for you. Can you ask Lt. Cavanaugh and Detective Rizzoli to be present at your staff meeting?" Gina asked.
Maura immediately replied, "Yes, I will take care of that."
"Thank you. I will be attending also so it will be a pleasure to meet you." Gina informed Maura.
"I look forward to it, Gina, see you around 4 PM today." Maura was genuinely looking forward to the Governor's visit and letting him announce her as the new Chief, Medical Examiner. She knew the employees liked her but now she would be their boss.
Maura immediately went upstairs to see if Jane and the lieutenant were available. Lt. Cavanaugh was in his office so she asked if he had a few minutes, he said yes and she asked if it was okay if Jane join them in the Lieutenant's office. He called for Jane to come to his office. Once Jane arrived, Maura said, "Lt. Cavanaugh, the Governor will be attending my 4 PM staff meeting today to announce to my staff that I will be the new Chief, Medical Examiner. He would like for you and Detective Rizzoli to attend. Are you available?"
The Lieutenant said, "I will be. I have a meeting but I will rearrange it for the Governor. The Captain will understand, I kinda think the Governor out ranks the Captain." They all laughed, because they knew the Captain would agree with him.
Jane and Maura left the lieutenant's office and Jane walked with Maura back to her office. Once she delivered Maura to her office, she gave her a quick kiss and said she would be down before 4 PM. Maura smiled at her as Jane turned and went back to the bullpen to continue working on the case. She told Frost and Korsak that she had a 4 PM meeting with Cavanaugh and Maura and then she and Frost looked over the information from the suspect that they were still trying to verify.
They were able to verify some of the information but they still needed some evidence to place the suspect at the scene of the crime, any of the crimes. Jane was hoping that the new DNA tests that Maura was having the lab run would turn up some results that could be useful.
A few minutes before 4 PM the officer at the front desk called and notified Lieutenant Cavanaugh that the Governor had arrived. He and Jane made their way to the front desk and escorted the Governor and his entourage down to the morgue. Maura had all of her staff assembled and they were surprised to see the Governor. Maura had not told them that the Governor would be attending their staff meeting.
She started the meeting promptly at 4 PM by introducing the Governor to the staff. After the introductions were finished, she turned the meeting over to the Governor. He promptly announced that Maura would be the new Chief, Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was quite pleased to see the happy faces in the crowd. He was hoping the staff would be happy about his selection for the new Chief.
He thanked them all for their truthful evaluation of how the morgue and lab were being ran with Dr. Pike at the helm. He let them know that openness would continue, if they had any concerns, they could contact his office just like before. He was quite confident that he wouldn't hear of any such concerns as he knew that Maura would run a tight ship. They took a few minutes to discuss the new equipment that the Governor was ordering for them and then the meeting was concluded. Maura walked with the Governor as he left the building for the second time in two days.
Korsak had released Jane for the evening so she was ready to go home. Maura dismissed her staff and within half an hour they were on their way home to their house. Jane liked the sound of that 'their house.' She was enjoying her time with Maura and looking forward to spending so much more time with her. She never knew she could feel this much for a person. She was falling more in love with Maura every day.
When they got back to their house, Maura said, "We need to make some room in the walk-in closet for your clothes. Can you help me move some of my clothes to the guestroom closet?"
"Yes, I would be happy to," Jane said with a huge smile. Cohabitating, this was new for Jane. She had never lived with someone she was dating. She hoped they weren't moving too fast. She didn't want to slow down though. She was comfortable with the pace of their relationship. She knew she was in this relationship for the long haul. She couldn't imagine herself with anybody else. Maura was her person.
Maura took the time to identify what needed to move and Jane began to move the clothes. Maura had some clothes boxed up and Jane moved those as well. Maura had so many clothes compared to Jane and shoes, don't even get Jane started on the amount of shoes Maura had. She loved the way Maura looked every day and she realized it took this kind of wardrobe for Maura to look the way she did, so she was not complaining in the least.
Jane went downstairs and grabbed her clothes out of her car. She could almost carry all of her clothes that she brought in one load, almost. She brought enough clothes so she would have something to wear to work in the morning. She hung them up in the walk-in closet and then she took Maura's hand and they went downstairs to fix their dinner. After dinner they sat and watch some TV before going upstairs to go to bed together for the first time in their new status as living together.
Frank went to Mass Wednesday evening by himself. Angela refused to go, she felt conflicted. Since finding out about Jane and Maura's relationship she questioned her beliefs. She was upset with Frank, she didn't understand how he would choose the Church over his own daughter.
They hadn't talked much about Jane's relationship since dinner on Sunday. Frank avoided the subject at all costs. He was pleasant enough with Angela but not when the subject of Jane's relationship came up.
Angela decided to avoid the subject with Frank. She would see how Frank reacted when Jane and Maura came to dinner on Sunday. If Frank misbehaved Angela would address his behavior, once the girls left. If she had to make a choice, she knew she would always choose Jane. Jane was her baby, her only daughter. Given a choice between her daughter and her husband, she would still choose Jane.
Jane loved her unconditionally and that is how she loved Jane. That wouldn't change no matter what Frank did. If she had to leave Frank over this she would. She would always stand up for Jane, her beautiful, smart, loving, compassionate daughter. She would dig her feet in the ground and make her desires known. Watch out Frank Rizzoli, if you make the wrong decision, you don't want to mess with Angela Rizzoli and any of her children.
