The Anniversary to Remember Chapter Five
Maura was driving terrifyingly fast for her, but agonizing slow for Jane.
Maura looked over at Jane and could see that she was absorbed in her thoughts. The silence was becoming oppressive and weighing heavily on both of them, until finally Maura had to break through the dark cloud that was settling in.
"Jane you know I won't guess, but after speaking with Cailin I can say that I am cautiously optimistic. She said that she was able to speak with the neurologist who told her that it was an ischemic stroke and that the paramedics got her to the hospital in time for the Emergency Department doctors to administer tPA, which is a strong clotbusting drug that can reverse an ischemic stroke. So Jane it's serious, but I feel better about things than I did an hour ago."
Jane knew that Maura was trying to reassure her "Thanks, I just can't stand the fact that I'm not there with her, that she's alone."
Maura glanced over at Jane and noticed that she was staring at her mobile phone which she cradled in her lap. "Just call him!"
Jane looked over at Maura "Frankie said he'd call back as soon as he knew something..." Maura interjected "Jane, just call him, it's okay!"
Jane went to her contact list and dialed her brother's mobile "Frankie, it's me, Jane. We're on the interstate and just about ready to cross back into Massachusetts. Any more news on Ma?"
There was a long pause as Frankie updated Jane on Angela's condition "Maura, he said that they took her for a CT scan." Maura nodded "that's protocol."
"Okay Frankie please tell Ma that I love her! And that I will be there soon." Jane ended the call. "He had to go, they were bringing her back from the scan."
Silence returned to the car for a few long minutes. "Maura, after our wedding I really thought I lost my relationship with my mother. Yet, she took the initiative to repair the rift, and over the years she has tried really hard to overcome her own prejudices. I still have her in my life and that was her gift to me. I never thanked her, and I never apologized for the things I said to her, how I hurt her."
Maura smiled "Jane, she knows that you love her. Trust me, she moved past all that a long time ago."
There was a long pause as if Jane was waiting for Maura to say more. "How do you know?"
Maura thought for a moment before she continued "how much do you remember about the shooting?"
Seven years ago-
Sergeant Jane Rizzoli-Isles stood in the middle of the BPD crime lab intently listening to the report from the crime scene coming across her mobile phone. "Are you sure? So they brought in a pro, but there is nothing to identify him? Okay keep me posted, we're relocating the target to the safehouse now."
Jane hung up the phone and returned it to her belt. "Maura, we got to move, now! The itel from the raid confirmed what our informant told us, that the Mullen gang and the Charlestown mob have united to try to unseat Patty Doyle's control of the Winter Hill gang from prison, and thereby his control of the whole New England mob. Your name is at the top of the hit list!"
Maura continued to diligently focus on her samples "Jane I need another twenty minutes. Hopefully these samples can give us the name of our victim, and if we're lucky the FBI database then might be able to give us a link between the victim and the shooter leading to the name of the person who is coming to kill me."
Jane shot Maura a cross-eyed glanced "Okay, twenty minutes and then we got to go!" Maura worked on, unphased by Jane's warnings.
Jane's phone rang again "Rizzoli-Isles What? Are you absolutely certain? Okay have the other SUV's meet us according to protocol, we're moving right now!"
Jane dialed Frankie "We can't wait any longer he may already be in the building. I need two uniforms down here in the lab now, and make sure you know them! We'll be coming out the side entrance, so meet us with the SUV in the alley on the west side in five minutes."
Maura looked up "Jane I..." Jane interrupted "The hit man is in the building, we're leaving as soon as the uniforms get here."
Maura nodded "Well I never could have imagined we'd come back from our honeymoon to the middle of a mob war!"
The uniformed officers arrived and Jane gave them instructions. Jane took point as they moved down the hall to the west entrance, which was a service entrance for the morgue and crime lab that opened into an alley that served as a loading zone. Jane dialed Frankie "We're at the door and are coming out now."
Jane returned her phone to her belt and drew her pistol "Maura we move directly to the SUV, don't stop for anything, understood?" Maura nodded, and Jane went through the door into the alley. A uniform officer followed with Maura in tow and the other officer brought up the rear.
Frankie parked the black unmarked SUV at the end of the alley poised for a quick getaway. He saw Jane leading the party through the alleyway toward his position then he noticed Jane stop and look up towards her right.
Maura heard Jane scream "GUN!" and saw her pivot to throw herself on her.
The bullet had already struck Jane's body by the time Maura heard the rapport of the big-bore rifle. Jane's limp, seemingly lifeless body was thrown forward by the kinetic energy of the impact and into Maura who instinctively wrapped her arms around her to break Jane's fall.
The uniform officers began firing in the direction of where the shot apparently came from. One of the officers reached down and grabbed Maura by the shoulder in an effort to move her back toward the doorway "Leave her! She's dead!"
Frankie was frozen in horror at the scene that erupted in front of him. He saw his sister drop like a rag doll and watched as the officers returned fire at the rooftop of the building next to the police precinct. He exited the vehicle and immediately drew his pistol while at the same time dialing dispatch "Officer down! Repeat officer down! Alley adjacent to west entrance to police precinct. We need an ambulance and a tactical team stat!
Maura pushed off the officer who attempted to pull her away from Jane. She checked for vital signs "Oh no! Oh GOD, NO! Frankie she's not breathing!" Maura immediately began rescue breathing and chest compressions as she knelt over Jane in an ever widening pool of blood.
The ambulance sped through traffic. Maura rode in the back with Jane and a paramedic while Frankie sat up front with the driver. The paramedic continued to bag Jane as Maura performed chest compressions, finally they pulled into the trauma center. As they unloaded Jane from the ambulance a security guard and one of the paramedics lifted Maura up onto the stretcher so she could continue CPR as they wheeled Jane through the emergency department to the trauma bay.
There must have already been twenty people waiting for them in the trauma bay. Doctors, advanced practitioners, nurses, respiratory therapists, radiologists, even a social worker and the hospital chaplain they were all there and they all had a role to play in trying to save a life. The paramedic began giving report, yelling it out in a booming voice so everyone in the bay could hear what was known about the injury and the treatment given in the field. Two nurses pulled an exhausted Dr. Maura Isles from on top of Jane so another nurse could continue the chest compressions.
The senior attending trauma surgeon entered the bay while an overhead page was heard "Attention ED lockdown now in effect! Repeat, ED lockdown is now in effect!" He glanced at the monitor "What do we got?" One of the NP's responded GSW large caliber rifle, she's a police officer, she's been coding since she arrived."
The attending said "alright people listen up! I want all the trauma blood loaded into the rapid infuser, Charge, call a code crimson, we're going to need everything the blood bank can give us! Move it!" On the wall of the trauma bay is a direct phone to the operating room. Everyone could hear its distinct ring, a nurse answered the phone "Doctor? They want to know our ETA?"
The veteran trauma surgeon was already scrubbing "No time! Tell them I'm opening her up in the bay and to get their butts down here! Get me a sterile gown and gloves, rib spreaders and a surgical kit. Do we have some x-rays yet?"
Maura looked on in horror as the chaplain and social worker tried to get her out of the bay "OH MY GOD! NO, PLEASE NO!"
The surgeon looked over at Maura, "Who the Hell let the coroner in here! She's not ready for your slab yet. Now get the Hell out of my bay!"
Maura felt her legs go out from under her as she left the bay. The chaplain caught her before she fell and a nurse helped the chaplain ease her into a wheelchair. Frankie came running over from where he had been coordinating with the hospital supervisor and director of security, and knelt by Maura. "I'm here. Maura, I'm here." Looking at the nurse, "is my sister dead?" The nurse shook her head "No." Frankie held Maura's hand "I sent a car for Ma, she'll be here soon." They moved Maura to a private consultation room, and the well meaning chaplain brought her some coffee and a blanket, but all Maura wanted to do was cry, but she couldn't, she was to numb.
It felt like an eternity, the time she spent sitting there alone, only punctuated by the occasional inquiry of the good natured chaplain as to her well-being or the questions about Jane's medical history from the social worker. Maura answered the questions and sipped the bitter hospital coffee that grew as cold in the cup as Jane's skin had felt to the touch. Now she was alone.
The door to the consultation room opened and in silence in walked Angela. She looked at Maura, the woman who loved her daughter, drenched with her blood and ran across the room to her. Maura stood up and they embraced. The tears streamed down both their faces as the stood there hugging each other for a long, long while. Maura finally spoke "You, know I'm mad at you! Very, very, mad at you! For the things you said, and most of all for leaving both of us when we needed a mother!"
Angela placed her hands on Maura's cheeks "I'm sorry, I'm a fool. I love Jane, she's my daughter, and I'm proud of her for the woman she has become. And I love you Maura, and I know Jane loves you, and that the two of you are happy together. So it was hard for me, because I had to let go of so many dreams I had for Jane, but I have, and that has made room for new dreams I can have for both of you. If you'll let me."
Maura was silent and Angela took the silence for anger. "I know I deserve your anger. If it's okay, I am going to ask for an update on Jane's condition, and then I'll wait in the cafeteria until I can see her." Angela turned and began to walk towards the door "Maura, I hope you can forgive me, if not now, then sometime."
Maura reached out "WAIT! Don't go! I'm so scared." Angela turned back to Maura and put her arms around her as they both sat on the waiting room couch together. "I'm here for you Maura, and I'm here for Jane, both of you together are my daughters and I'm here to support you no matter what."
Maura looked at her mother in law who was just as scared as she was "I'm going to call our church and send for a priest." Angela nodded and began to cry. "I'm happy she found some joy in this life."
Present Day
"So Jane, Angela knows you love her, she's proud of you, and of everything you have accomplished, and while she may be bossy and overbearing at times, she cares about you. Most importantly she knows that you care about her."
Maura continued driving down the road until she saw the sign for the rest stop. "I'm pulling in for a few minutes, so we can stretch our legs."
Jane contemplated in silence, everything Maura had told her, "I can't loose her yet. Not now." Maura gave Jane a hug "something tells me Angela Rizzoli is to set in her ways to go anywhere she's not ready to go to! So I think we have plenty of time."
Jane smiled "Maura you remember that picture I have on my desk of me and Ma, from when I was in the hospital?" Maura nodded.
Jane thought about the picture "I was in the ICU and you had just given me this cross and you were crying because I guess they had given you more bad news, and then Angela came in and hugged me, and hugged you and then I knew that I still had a mom. That's when you took that picture of us together, and that's why it's on my desk. The day I got my Ma back."
Maura smiled "Jane, we should get back on the road and we're still several hours from Boston." Jane nodded "Thank you Maura, I couldn't do this without you."
