Notes: There is some language/derogatory remarks in this chapter that some may be sensitive to so I'm putting this warning here. Also, absolutely no offense is intended to the real Boston Dive Team, someone had to be the bad guys in this chapter and I chose them, any reference to the Dive Team having a negative character is entirely my own fabrication and is not based in reality.
CH 6: Bench Work*
"Maur…you ok?" Jane slurred groggily, her face still smashed into her pillow. The room was dark so it wasn't quite morning yet, but Maura had been in and out of the bed throughout the night. Though she clearly tried to daintily slip back under the covers, each exit and reentry to the bed jostled a highly perceptive Jane awake.
Maura sighed, "I'm sorry, these burn blisters are really bothering me. Have I kept you up all night."
Jane rolled over looked at the clock, 4:00 am and flipped on the bedside lamp, "Lemme see." She turned to face Maura who was lying topless with one arm flung over her face, trying to hide that she had been crying. Jane stroked Maura's forearm before guiding the arm down from across her face. Leaning in she placed a tender kiss on Maura's tear-stained check while lightly caressing the other cheek with the back of her hand.
"I'm sorry baby, that does look really uncomfortable. You been putting that aloe stuff on it?" Jane sniffed the air over Maura's glistening chest, "Yeah, I can smell it."
Jane sat up and propped the pillows up against the headboard, "Come here" she reached down and urged Maura to sit up and then positioned her in her arms so she was leaning back against Jane's chest. Maura relaxed her head back into the crook of Jane's neck as Jane soothingly ran her hands through her hair.
"We've got a couple of hours before we have to get ready for work…" Jane whispered, "…even if you can't sleep just try to relax a little." Jane let her hand trail down to Maura's neck to work on the tension there. After a few minutes Jane felt Maura's body go limp as she finally drifted back to sleep.
"Lookin' a little tired there Rizzoli, not still hungover from the party Friday night are ya?" Korsak said as he pulled a chair up to Jane's desk.
"And to think…your wives didn't find you charming?" Jane replied as she chucked a balled up piece of paper at her old partner. "Maura didn't feel well last night, she kept waking me up getting in and out of the bed."
"Rented the U-Haul yet Rizzoli?" Crowe teased from his desk.
Jane shot him a stern look, "You know Crowe, I haven't quite figured out the best place for this cactus you gave me, but keep yappin' your trap and I'm sure I can find somewhere creative to stick it…"
Korsak chuckled, "So, when you getting out from behind this desk?"
Jane tapped her pencil on the desk, "I have the two week follow up with the shrink next week and then I'll see the regular doctor, so hopefully I'll be cleared then."
"Ugh" Korsak shuddered, "Head doctors, the second wife insisted we go to a therapist, what a waste of time…and money…$150 an hour! Can you believe that! And for what, didn't make any difference, still got divorced."
Jane shook her head and stifled a small laugh, "Dr. Stevens isn't so bad, you know, for a shrink…"
"In any event, Police League bowling starts this week, saw Frankie earlier and he's game again, you going to join us?" Korsak looked expectantly at Jane. Bowling was the one league event he could hold his own in. When it came to softball unless he got a good crack on the ball his old knees just couldn't get him around the bases like they used to. But last season in the Police Bowling League Korsak had his redemption when he teamed up with Jane, Frost and Frankie to not only win the league but he had the highest individual average for the season as well.
"I'm not supposed to engage in any strenuous sporting activities until the doctor clears me" Jane said with an obvious tone of disappointment.
"It's bowling, not wrestling" Frost laughed.
"You know Maura takes Doctor's orders seriously, just, get a stand in for me until the doctor hopefully clears me next week."
"What about Maura?" Frost asked.
Korsak raised a skeptical eyebrow, "No offense but…I don't know if the Doc strikes me as a bowler."
"Nah man, think about, bowling's gotta be perfect for the Doc, it's all about consistency and mechanics and angles and cataloguing oil patterns' influence on how the ball breaks. It's a very scientific sport!" Frost leaned back crossing his arms across his chest, very pleased with the case he just made for having Maura on their team.
Korsak leaned in closer to Jane, "You know he's just hoping she'll show up in that spandex body suit like she did for softball last season."
"Oh believe me, there will be none of that" Jane assured them.
Maura was thoroughly engrossed in taking down some test results from the computer that she didn't even hear Jane come in the morgue. She jumped as Jane's hand reached to brush her hair back from her shoulder.
"I thought you might could use a cup of coffee" Jane placed the piping hot cup down on the desk. "How are you feeling?"
Maura let her hand hover over the cup, the steam licking at her fingers, "Somewhat better, most of the blisters have burst now so it should start to improve dramatically in the next couple of days."
"Yeah…lovely…" Jane smiled as her fingers danced abstract patterns along Maura's back, "…anyway, I gotta get back upstairs but since I'm not cleared for sports duty yet Korsak and Frost want to know if you'd like to be my stand in for our league bowling team until I can make my triumphant return."
A smile beamed across Maura's face, "I love bowling!"
Jane cocked her head, somewhat surprised, "Really?"
"Yes, bowling is a very mechanical sport, it's about repetition and discipline, angles and…"
"Wait a second, did Frost already call down here?"
Maura looked at Jane questioningly, a slight furrow in her brow, "No, why?"
Jane just shook her head, "We're going to have the nerdiest team in the league."
"You don't really expect me to wear that?" Maura stood in the middle of Jane's bedroom in only her bra and a pair of slim fit dark wash jeans, hands on her hips looking at Jane as if she had lost her mind.
"You ARE wearing it." Jane stood a few feet away holding a powder blue and brown bowling shirt out by the collar, "We wore these shirts in every game last season and we won the championship, they're our team shirts. I swear to God, Korsak will not let you bowl if you aren't wearing this shirt. I am not exaggerating."
Maura raised an eyebrow, sighed and reluctantly took the shirt, "Is it going to fit me? I'm…a little bustier than you are."
"It's a men's size, it'll fit."
Maura fingered the embroidery on the front that spelled out Rizzoli and smiled, "It is kind of sexy wearing your shirt."
Both of Jane's eyebrows arched, "Really now…"
Maura turned the shirt over to inspect the back, "Throwing Rocks? Your team name is Throwing Rocks?"
Jane laughed, "Yeah, it's a bowling term, something about getting a bunch of strikes with different balls…Korsak picked it."
"You know Doc, you didn't have to buy your own bowling shoes…they rent them out" Frost joked as he watched Maura lace up her shoes.
"Barry, do you know that roughly 15% of the population has athlete's foot or some other type of podiatric fungal infection?"
Frost and Frankie stopped lacing up their rentals and looked down and then back at Maura.
"All of a sudden I'm not really hungry for those cheese fries" Frankie replied.
Jane appeared with a pitcher of beer and 5 plastic cups, "So, who are the unfortunate opponents?"
Korsak grabbed the scorecard, "Dive Unit."
"Ugh, those guys are assholes" Frankie offered.
"Yeah and here comes the asshole patrol now" Frost pointed out.
"Well, well, lookie what we got here" Sgt Wilcox said as he rolled his bowling bag nearly over Frankie's foot, "Looks like you've got 1 victory today at least, you got Dr. Isles to wear the right shoes." Snickers went out among the Dive Unit team.
Maura got up and joined Jane at the table, Jane leaned in and whispered, "Maura are those the jerks that laughed when you fell?" Maura nodded as Jane wrapped her arm around her waist pulling her closer; she kissed Maura reassuringly on her temple, "The Dive Unit's always been a bunch of chauvinist jerks, they'll pipe down once we start wiping the floor with them." Maura looked up and tried to muster a small smile; Jane placed a soft kiss on her lips.
"Look guys, bowling comes with a fag show today" Officer Kearns lobbed.
Jane gritted her teeth, tightening her grip on the small of Maura's back, she started to move forward towards Kearns and Wilcox but Maura stopped her, "Jane…don't…" she pleaded.
Jane didn't need to move, Frankie and Frost were already standing toe to toe with the Dive team, "You need to watch your fucking mouth" Frankie spat, eliciting laughs and more mocking.
"Awww, wittle baby Rizzoli sticking up for his dykey big sister?" Kearns said.
"Rizzoli carpet munching ain't no surprise, but maybe Doc Isles just needs a couple of real men to show her what she's missing" Wilcox made a lewd gesture towards his crotch.
Maura's face flushed red at the taunting, "Jane, I'm going to the bathroom."
A few minutes later Jane joined Maura in the bathroom. Maura was sitting on the wash counter, her legs dangling and crossed at the ankles swinging slightly back and forth. Jane stopped as they made eye contact. She had managed not to cry this time but the look of hurt and embarrassment was plastered all over Maura's face. Jane walked up and separated Maura's knees so she could stand between her legs, she slipped her hands under Maura's shirt to lay them on her hips gently rubbing the soft skin there with her thumbs. Maura reached out and wrapped her arms around Jane's neck, leaning forward to rest her forehead against Jane's.
"You didn't punch them did you?" Maura asked, a slight smile crossing her lips.
"Didn't have the chance, Frankie, Korsak and Frost were on them like white on rice giving them a verbal tongue lashing like you've never heard."
Maura looked into the pair of soft brown eyes staring back at her and ran her hand down Jane's cheek finally cracking a little laugh before consuming Jane's mouth with her own.
Maura started to pull back but held on to Jane's lower lip as long as possible before letting it go. Jane smiled, "We can go home if you want, or we can go out there and show those jerks who they're messing with."
Maura smiled cupping Jane's face in her hands, "It hurts…more than I thought it would…the comments, but, I'll live. Let's strike them out."
"That's softball Maur" Jane said with a wink, grabbing Maura all the way around the waist and hoisting her off the counter.
When they got back to their lane, the Dive Unit was gone and Officer Cottrell who oversaw the bowling league was talking with Korsak, Frankie and Frost.
"What's up?" Jane questioned as she and Maura joined their team.
"Detective, Doctor" Cottrell nodded, "I DQ'd the Dive Unit for unsportsmanlike behavior, there's no place for that kind of bench work in my league. Dive is notorious for being assholes in the sport leagues but, there's good old-fashioned trash talk and then there's down right unacceptable. My moms were together for twenty years before they were finally able to get married in 2004, they were down at the courthouse on the first day gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts. So, maybe I'm biased but I won't have that kind of hate in this league as long as I'm running it."
"Thanks" Jane extended her hand for a shake.
"You guys can still bowl though to establish your handicaps and for your overall averages, make sure you give me your score cards when you're done." Cottrell gave everyone a nod and headed down the lanes to make sure all the teams were ready to go.
Korsak started pouring cups from the pitcher and passed them out, "To the start of another Championship Run! Throwing Rocks!"
"Throwing Rocks!" they all laughed as they toasted.
"Korsak, you take a toastmaster's course while I was out or something?" Jane laughed downing a swig of her beer.
Korsak chuckled, "Just naturally gifted Rizzoli, alright Frankie, let's see that lead off!"
Author's Footnote:* In case it's not obvious from its use in the story, "bench work" is the bowling terminology for trash talk intended to upset the other team and throw them off their game.