Chapter 3

Jane only had 1 day to get through before it was Sunday. But, pacing around in her apartment on Saturday Jane finally decided that she couldn't wait until Sunday to see Maura. Something was off with her friend and she needed to find out what it was. As Jane analyzed all of the activities from the week, she kept coming to the strange conclusion that Maura was avoiding her. The pieces all seemed to add up to that.

Maura was skipping Angela's morning coffee routine and was out of the house before 6 am. Maura never seemed to be in the office when Jane wandered down to get a report or a file. Twice Maura sent reports up with a lab tech when she normally brought them herself. Calls went to voicemail and Maura had been sleeping at the station. Ok, the last one was a stretch as Jane only knew of that one time but still. Keys in hand, Jane headed out to Maura's. Time to figure out what was going on.

Jane pulled up to Maura's and was immediately disappointed. Maura's Prius was not to be found. Where is she? Jane parked, got out of the car and went to see her mother.

Angela answered the door and was clearly happy Jane had stopped by. "It's not dinner until tomorrow. To what do I owe this visit?"

"Hey Ma. Any idea where Maura is?"

"No. I'm her house guest, not her keeper."

"No idea at all?"

Now Angela was getting nervous. "No…..why? What's the matter?"

"Nothing. I don't know. Something." Jane said in frustration. Angela waited for a better explanation from Jane. "I have a bad feeling something is wrong with Maura. I haven't seen her in over a week and I keep thinking she is avoiding me. I'm starting to worry that I did something wrong," Jane dropped her eyes at that last admission.

"Has she called you are all?"

"No but she keeps sending text messages."

"Do those sound like she is mad at you?"

"No. The texts make everything seem ok."

"Jane Rizzoli…."

"What?!" Jane hated it when her mother called her by her full name. At least this time she was spared the use of her middle name.

"Maura is an independent woman. She has a life outside of you, and me. You sound like you are a little jealous."

"Jealous? No. Although I do miss talking with her. I'm just worried. But I guess I'll see her tomorrow at dinner," Jane said slightly pouting.

"Come over early and give me a hand with dinner. That way you can maximize your time with your best friend whom you obviously miss, " Angela said with a smile.

"Sure Ma. I'll do just that."

Sunday came and Jane found herself staring at the clock. Why was she so unsettled? She packed up Jo Friday and headed over to Maura's. Jo loved playing with Maura's tortoise Bass and Jane sometimes felt like she had instituted a play date for her dog. When she gets to Maura's Jo jumps out of her arms and runs off to find Bass. Jane briefly wonders what Bass thinks of Jo and then laughs at herself for trying to analyze a dog and a turtle. Oh wait, a tortoise she corrected herself.

Jane called out for Maura and didn't get a response. She then called out for her mother. No answer either. Was she super early? She walked out the side door and over to the guesthouse. She let herself in hollering for her mother as she entered. She looked around and saw Angela was doing all the dinner cooking in the guesthouse instead of at the main house.

"She got called into work Jane."

Jane turned to find her mother. "Work?" Jane was clearly disappointed.

"Yes. She stopped by this morning and said that she had to go in for a while but I could use her kitchen to cook dinner. I was going to but decided to contain the clutter to the guesthouse instead. She said she should be home before the food gets served though."

Angela didn't miss the obvious look of disappointment on Jane's face. "Did she sound ok?" Jane asked.

"Yes Jane, I swear. She was just fine this morning. Said she wouldn't be long and expected to still eat with us."

"Fine," pouted Jane. Crossing her arms Jane looked around and finally asked her mother what she could do to help.

"Stir the sauce for me please." Jane wandered into the kitchen to man the spoon.

Within the hour, Frankie and Tommy made their way to the guesthouse.

"Why are we here and not at Maura's?" asked Tommy.

"She's working but should be joining us soon. I didn't want to mess up her house with our dinner. So we eat here, OK?"

"Sure thing Ma. Hey Janie- the Sox game is about to start, let's go."

Jane had forgotten about the game. Frankie, Tommy and Jane all plopped down on the couch and quickly got lost in the game.

"No, no. I don't need help or anything. Watch the game…." Angela muttered to herself.

Finally, dinner was served. But it was served without Maura. Angela watched all through dinner as Jane's attention went from half listening to half staring at the empty chair and place setting where Maura would have been if she had come over. Jane was growing more and more concerned and now Angela was starting to wonder too. Maura had seemed fine this morning. But she didn't make it before the start of dinner and Jane couldn't get through to Maura's cell phone. Just voicemail again. Maybe something was wrong.

About halfway through dinner Jane finally heard Maura's car pull into the driveway. Finally, thought Jane. She assumed Maura would come right over and Jane stared at the door for several minutes. But again, no Maura. Jane was now at a loss. She just wasn't coming over. Apparently Jane was in the dog house for something. What on Earth did I do?

After about 30 minutes, Jane got up and went into the kitchen. She grabbed an empty plate and proceeded to fix dinner for Maura. She was going to figure all of this out but decided not to go over empty handed. "I'll be right back Ma," Jane said as she carried the food over to Maura's.

She entered the house and was almost mauled by Jo Friday. "Smelled the food, huh?" Jane said to her dog. "Sorry my friend. This isn't for dogs."

She put down the food and looked around for Maura. Not finding her, she headed up towards the bedroom figuring Maura was in the shower. She got the bedroom and instead of hearing a shower going Jane heard the sound of a very asleep Maura. Jane was familiar with the deep, even breaths Maura took when she was sleeping. She peered into the bedroom and Maura was laying diagonally across the bed, still in her clothes, half off the side of the bed and asleep.

Jane was taken aback by how exhausted Maura looked. Her breathing suggested a deep sleep and past experiences, Maura could sleep through a bomb, lead Jane to feel confident she could re-adjust the sleeping doctor on the bed without waking her. Maura's legs were hanging off the side so Jane gently swung them onto the bed and covered her friend with a blanket. She stepped back and looked down at Maura.

"What is going on with you, Maura?" Jane whispered. Clearly she was exhausted but Jane also noted that as she slept she looked really, really sad. "What is it?" Jane stood up, leaned over and kissed Maura's forehead and walked out letting her friend continue with the sleep she needed.

As Jane walked downstairs, she almost tripped over Bass. Looking down, she lowered herself to the floor and stared at the tortoise. She sighed. "Bass, something's up with your Mom. I've given her a week to come talk to me about it but clearly that strategy isn't working." Jane started to stroke the tortoise's shell. "Time for Plan B. Your Mom is going to have to deal with me. Tomorrow."

Jane collected Jo Friday and headed back over to the guesthouse.