The drive back to Jane's house wasn't long. It was late on a Sunday evening, not much traffic existed. When the brunette pulled up in front of her apartment building she noticed someone sitting on the stoops. She didn't recognize them because of the dark, she put her keys between her fingers in case this person wasn't good.
But once she got closer, she stopped in her tracks. Eyes wide like a deer in headlights. There seated on the stairs that lead into the building for a man in a military uniform with his bags. With crutches resting to the side of him.
"Casey?" was all Jane could squawk out. She felt as if she was in a twilight zone.
"Hi Jane, I'm… I'm back."
"What are you doing here?" Jane asked, absolutely shocked. She hasn't moved from where she stopped, not knowing what to do. Her mind quickly sobering up from the night.
"I just finished a tour from Iraq" The tall man struggled to stand up but did so eventually, Jane staying exactly where she was. She hasn't seen or heard from her ex-boyfriend in months, or has it been over a year already?
"Your leg…" she motions towards the obvious cast, Casey shrugs and moves it around. "It's nothing too serious, minor fracture, only another week or so before the cast comes off." He smiles but then it goes away quickly when he sees that Jane hasn't moved from her spot.
"I finished the tour and all I could think about was wow I can't wait to get back home to Jane" She scoffs and goes to move around him to enter her building. But he's faster even though he's on crutches he sides step her.
"What do you want Casey, I haven't heard from you in god knows how long. Then you just show up on my doorstep out of the blue?! I've been telling everyone that I dumped you, that long distance was hard. But in actuality you've just been ignoring me" Jane curled her hand into fist, shock completely gone being taken over by anger and annoyance.
"Jane, I know this is all fucked up. But please- I… I love you." Jane looked at him with such confusion. "You what? How can you say that after all this time of radio silence, I had to move on with my life. Do you know how gut wrenching that was" She couldn't believe this was happening. What a turn this night was taking, it was such a nice Rizzoli Sunday. Her beautiful friend Maura quickly turning into her best friend had hugged her goodbye. Jane was just supposed to go home and sleep tonight to go to work and see her beautiful- .
"Just give me a chance, I need to tell you what happened over there in Iraq, it was challenging, it was…" Casey shook his head abruptly ending his sentence and pulling Jane out of her thoughts. He really said he loved her, does he mean it? Could she just maybe hear him out?
"Look Casey, I'm exhausted. It was a long day today and-" Jane was cut off by him. "That's right, it's Rizzoli Sunday. It was always so much fun hanging out with your brothers." He smiled softly, causing Jane to mirror him. All of their memories flooding back into her mind at once. The good, the bad, it was all becoming a mix in her head overwhelming her. So much unfinished history between them.
"Okay, you can come upstairs. But you'll be on the couch." She pointed at him and walked passed to open the door for him. Jane felt so conflicted with her feelings. But she couldn't just turn him away when she was unsure of what she was feeling. Casey dropped his head in relief then walked through the entrance Jane was keeping open for him.
They spend most of the night talking. Casey explains the hardships that go with being a soldier at war. He explains he thought he wasn't going to make it through his last tour, he didn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. He had gotten depressed and cut off all contact with his relatives and Jane. He just couldn't make sense of continuing his life outside of war when he didn't see an end to it.
Jane simply nods and offers him water, her best pillow and junk food. She felt many emotions, anger, frustration, annoyance and then finally sadness. "Casey, I don't know what to say. I can't just jump back into a relationship with you. I'm becoming a different person, I feel like I'm growing again. I just - you broke my heart Casey." She rubbed her face tiredly. It's been a long night, and she has to be at work in 3 hours.
"No, of course not. I'm just so grateful you let me in. That you listened. Maybe we can take things slow?" Casey asked hopefully. Jane sighed and stood up from the couch and patted his shoulder.
"Let's talk about this when I've gotten a few hours of sleep." She said tiredly and walked down the small hallway that led to her bedroom. Though once she finally stripped down and put on her pajamas she felt wide awake. She laid there in the dark, wide eyed at her ceiling.
"What the fuck" she whispered to herself. Jane closed her eyes, then threw her pillow over her face and screamed. With such utter frustration, she screamed. She screamed until she couldn't breathe anymore. Until she started to cry. Until she fell asleep in the mess of her tears and tissues.
The sun came up too fast. Shine brightly through Jane's thin curtains. The Italian groaned and searched for her phone that had just finished buzzing in alert of a text notification. Though before she was able to force her eyes open from them being dried shut from her previous tears. Her phone died.
"Shit" She moaned and rubbed her face harshly, tossing her phone somewhere onto her bed. She got up and walked with her eyes closed into her bathroom. Turning the shower to ice cold. She yelped and jumped around. Only lasting 30 seconds before she put the setting onto a lukewarm setting.
Jane's mind was empty. While all the memories of last night flooded back, she let the water run down her back. She was exhausted and now she had to face Casey. "What the hell am I going to do?" she said to herself then stepped out her shower. Wrapping herself tightly in the shower she went into the kitchen to make her instant coffee expecting the man on the couch to be fast asleep.
She rounds the corner and finds that her assumption was wrong. There was the tall blonde cooking eggs and bacon and already serving two cups of coffee into mugs.
"Morning!" Casey said brightly causing Jane to roll her eyes, but she still accepted the hot mug of coffee.
"I was thinking maybe I could tag along with you to work today. Teach your kids some drills." Jane took a long sip of her coffee and watched as he served the eggs and bacon on to two plates. It was all so… domestic.
" I don't know Casey, the moment you step into that building everyone will know you're back. They'll ask questions, they might even think we're back together." She rubbed her neck and closed her eyes.
"Well is that really a bad thing?" Casey asked while he took the first bite of his food. Jane rolled her eyes and put her mug down. "Well it's not a good thing because we aren't back together." Jane snatched bacon from her plate. They stood there eating in silence until Jo Friday woke up from their slumber from under the couch and started to scratch at the door.
"Alright, I gotta walk Jo." Jane took a deep breath in. "and as long as you're ready by the time we come back, I guess you can come. Give me a break from my kids." Casey clapped his hands in victory while Jane just rolled her eyes and quickly left to go get changed.
Jane walked into the building first with Casey trailing behind. "Morning Madrina" Jane greeted Donna before getting the guest sign in sheet out for Casey. Donna looked up and smiled at Jane because of how rare it is that her god daughter addresses her title in italian. Though that smile quickly faded when she saw Jane's shadow.
"Charles Jones" Donna says his name, venom dripping from her voice. Casey smiled weakly and offered a small wave. "Hey Donna, how are you?" Donna scoffed and got up from her desk, dropping Jane's attendance in front of her before leaving the main office.
Jane's shoulders slumped.
"Today is going to be a long ass fucking day." She motioned for Casey to follow her and they made their way down to the gym. As they entered the gymnasium Frost was just opening up new packages.
"Morning Frost, the new basketball nets come in?" Jane asked while she pulled out her keys to unlock the office door. "Yeah! I just sent you a text about it, you didn't get it?" The brunette went to check her back pocket for her phone when she realized it was empty.
"Ah shit, I forgot my phone at home." She pushed the door open and dropped her stuff on her desk. "Casey, what are you doing back?" Frost asked loudly, finally noticing his presence.
"I uh, just finished up with my tour." was all he could say. Frost looked at Jane who simply shrugged her shoulders and focused her attention back onto the computer. Frost just shook his head and walked back to the bleachers.
Most of the day went by fast. With Casey's help, Jane was able to rest up in her office drinking coffee and answering many emails. Casey had just dismissed the class before he limped his way back into the office sitting down. One of his crutches had pushed the door stopper causing the door to slam shut. Jane winced at the loud sound and looked up from her computer.
"Casey c'mon, you know I have a headache." She spat out in annoyance. She already knows that the entire family heard the news from Donna that Casey was back. At this point she's just thanking her lucky stars that she forgot her phone this morning.
"Well I have one thing that could help it." Casey leaned over her desk and went to give her a passionate kiss. But Jane reacted quickly pushing him away with force as the door opened with the same force.
"Hello Jane, I-" Maura stopped in her tracks. Frost right on her heels hitting his forehead with his hand. A man was just leaning over Jane's desk kissing her. The brunette pushed him away quickly "Hey Maur" Jane said while clearing her throat.
Author's Note;
Okay, thank you all for the fast responses to my crisis in the last chapter. I won't delete and I won't start over. Thank you lisgayle713 for the kind and encouraging words. Tingtorn78 you'll just have to sit tight because I may be throwing you in for a whirlwind. Hopefully the next update will be soon. As always please leave your honest reviews, I always look forward to reading them.