A/N: Hey all! Sorry for the delay in updating, I just got back from a vacation and had this partially complete, but I wanted it to get the time it deserves to be read through and edited properly. Thank you so much for your kind reviews and PMs; they really encourage and motivate to keep continuing with this story. Reviews are love, let me know what you think! I don't own anything, sadly. xx
Maura's fingers found the key ring, her eyes trained on the sinister looking vehicle, and tore her gaze down to the door handle of her own car, hands shaking as she tried to get the key in to unlock the blue vehicle. She was painfully aware of her heartbeat, which was now pounding in her ears, and finally she got her key in the car. Maura pulled the door open quickly, folding herself down and into the car. Reaching her hand out to pull the door shut and simultaneously putting the key in the ignition, Maura didn't notice the large hand that shot out to wrap around the car door.
"Maura, wait." The familiar male voice shocked Maura as she inhaled deeply, attempting to calm her erratic heartbeat.
"Agent Dean, I'm…well, I'm surprised to see you here. What can I do for you?" Maura asked, slightly wary of him, not knowing how long he had been parked outside.
He smiled sadly and pushed his hand through his dark hair before shoving it back in his pocket. "I'm sorry if I scared you Doc, but I just wanted to talk to you about Jane."
Maura stiffened in the driver's seat, her head telling her to be on her guard, but she pushed it to the side, attempting to remain calm. "Agent Dean, I hate to be rude, but I was on my way to work, and I really would prefer to be prompt-"
"It'll just take a second. I uh…well, I just wanted to tell you I know about you and Jane."
Maura tilted her head slightly. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."
Gabriel Dean chuckled softly, and leaned against the open car door. "I'm not blind, Doctor Isles."
Maura felt a sense of unease slowly creep back into her mind, unsure of his intentions and where the conversation was heading. She opened her mouth to deny any knowledge of what he was insinuating, but she shut it immediately, knowing that she couldn't speak untruthfully.
"Look, Maura," the FBI agent brought his tone down a notch, using her first name as a more informal way of speaking, "what happened between Jane and I…well a lot happened, but you should know she never stopped thinking about you. Jane and I were over before we even started. But you two, it was never over. I guess I just kept holding on, thinking that someday she would move on and settle for what was in front of her. But you and I know that that's not Jane." He chuckled again, in a sad defeat, and for a moment, Maura felt a slight wave of guilt for the grief this man was going through. "And then that day on the street, I saw everything all over again. Seeing you two together…anyway, it makes Jane happy. You make Jane happy, Maura. God, I think that was the first time she cracked a smile in months. She deserves that happiness, and that wasn't something I could give her."
Maura furrowed her brow, drawing a slight crease across her forehead as she processed his words. Was he…?
"I know you have to get to work, but I just wanted to tell you." Agent Dean tapped his hand on the door before carefully closing it. Maura opened the window, letting some air flow into the stuffy vehicle. She watched him walk across the street to the dark car, and she shifted into drive.
"Oh and Maura," Dean said from across the street, "don't walk away from her this time."
Maura nodded slightly, sending him a polite smile before pulling out from the curb and heading in the direction of her work. She smiled again, this time a wider grin than before. Her heart soared in her chest; the honey blonde couldn't wait to get to work because it would be that much closer to lunchtime and that much closer to Jane.
"Shit Frost, he's heading out the back!" Jane yelled, her long strides carrying her quickly across the small kitchen towards the back door of the split level house they had been investigating.
Frost spun quickly around and took off around the side of the house where he saw a glimpse of a red hoodie disappearing over the rickety wooden fence. "Jane, he's over the fence!" Frost gracefully leapt over the fence, his legs churning before he even hit the ground.
Spying Frost racing down the alleyway after their suspect, Jane changed direction, making a split second decision, turning hard on her ankle, and streaking along parallel to the alley, hoping to head him off. Her ankle throbbed painfully, but she pushed past it, justice heavy on her mind. As she came out by the graffiti clad cement warehouse, she heard Frost shouting down the alleyway. "POLICE, FREEZE!" The man in the red sweatshirt burst past the building and Jane lunged forward, tackling the suspect to the ground. He thrashed, an elbow flying up and catching the corner of Jane's eye socket. Blinking in shock and pain, Jane's arm flew out reflexively and latched her hand around his free arm before pulling the other arm behind his back.
"Get off me!" The man's rough voice spat out at her as she cuffed his wrists together.
"Yeah, yeah, is that what your ex girlfriend said when you beat her to death?" Jane yanked the man up by his elbow, and Frost came thundering up beside her.
"Got it Rizzoli?" Frost wheezed, doubled over after the efforts of his high speed pursuit.
"Yeah, Frost, I got this. Bring his ass in." Jane passed the man over to the arriving uniform and drug her arm across her brow, wincing as it brushed over her injured eye. Damn, that's gonna be a pretty one.
Jane slid into the driver's seat of her squad car and glanced at the clock. 2:45pm. "Aw, shit."
"Shit's right…damn Rizzoli, check out the beginnings of that shiner!" Frost chuckled at her, and Jane shot him a pointed glare that made him cough and suppress his grin. She looked up into the rearview mirror and the outer part of her eye was already swelling and turning an angry red color.
"Aw, fuck!" Jane gently rubbed at the mark, flinching at the dull pain that was throbbing behind her eye. She glanced down at her cell phone, after becoming convinced the mark wasn't coming off, and saw she had two missed calls. Maura. Dammit! She quickly typed out a text. Maur, sorry, caught a lead. Let me make it up, dinner this weekend?
Jane put the car in gear and headed off toward the station, silently hoping Maura wouldn't be upset. There was so much left unsaid between them, and she had hoped they could start moving forward.
"So…Doc Isles is back huh?" Frost inquired curiously, his attempts to mask the curious tone in his voice failing.
Jane flicked her eyes over to him, catching the look he gave her before dragging her eyes slowly back to the road, turning onto a one way street. "Uh…yeah, I guess." She could feel his eyes boring a hole through the side of her head, not satisfied with her answer. "Look, Frost, whatever you got to say, just say it."
"Hey! I was just wondering. Korsak saw her in Cavanaugh's office this morning, why didn't you tell me she was coming back to BPD?"
Jane whipped her head back to face him this time, her brow creased in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Taking Pike's place. He's retiring come the end of this month ya know, and I guess Cavanaugh asked her to come back first before looking for a replacement…you didn't know? Haven't you seen her?"
"We uh, well, yeah I've seen her, but we didn't exactly talk about work." Jane ran her free hand through her hair, propping her elbow up on the side of the door, resting her knuckles on her temple. Maura's coming back to work? Jane's stomach fluttered nervously, and she brought her thumb inside her fist, rubbing firmly over the raised flesh on her palm.
Frost chuckled. "Yeah, I'll bet."
Jane shook her head and pulled up out front of the precinct, slamming the car door shut and shoving her thumbs through her belt loops. "Did she say yes?"
Frost shrugged and climbed the stairs, and Jane pushed her swirling thoughts from her mind. They had a missing child to find. Maura was going to have to wait.
Maura's phone beeped twice, and snapping off her gloves she placed them in a metal container, moving away from the body she was working on. Picking up her cell, she saw the message from Jane. Sighing, she placed the phone back down. She had figured that Jane wouldn't stand her up if she could help it, but what she couldn't help was the twinge of rejection she had felt earlier when her calls went unanswered. Maura had been looking forward to their lunch date, but she knew the demands of Jane's job and that it was touch and go with her. She had pushed the feeling down, and getting the text from Jane reassured her. Putting her gloves back on, she returned to inspecting the stomach contents of the John Doe on her table. Maura couldn't help but drift back to when she was at BPD and Jane was by her side during the autopsies. Jane. Pushing her thoughts aside, she merged back into professional mode. Jane was going to have to wait.
"Get his ass in the chair." Their suspect, 22 year old Jason Perez was forcefully plopped down in the chair by a uniform, who quickly exited the room with raised eyebrows, to which Frost shot him a hard look as he shut the door.
Jane pulled the chair out from the opposite side of the table and turned it around, swinging one leg over and effectively straddling the metal chair. "Where is your son?"
"Look lady, I haven't seen him since Gloria's parents got custody. That bitch shouldn't have even been allowed to see him, she couldn't even stay off the streets long enough to get a fucking cheeseburger." The man leaned forward, snarling his last comment before returning to his slouch against the back of the chair.
"Don't play games with me kid, we got your fingerprints all over the crime scene." Frost said from his stance against the wall, before sidling up to the table and tossing a bagged crowbar on the table. It landed with a clang, none of the occupants flinching. "And on the crowbar you used to beat Gloria Walden to death. Her blood and your fingerprints are all over it."
"I don't know how they're on there, I didn't kill nobody."
"Always the hard way with these ones, huh Detective Frost?" Jane stood up, pushing the chair away, and leaned her hands on the table, looming over the suspect. "Tell us where your son is Jason, and we can work something out."
The man remained silent and Jane brought her fist down on the table. "WHERE IS YOUR SON? Or did you just get rid of him just like his mother?"
Jason Perez stood up and barked back. "I didn't kill nobody you fucking bitch!"
In a flash, Jane had his back up against the wall of the interrogation room, with her hand on his throat. "Bastards like you shouldn't be able to reproduce."
Frost launched himself towards the pair, pulling at Jane before she came out of her trance, shaking her head slightly. "Jane, hey, let it go. Go walk it off."
Jane turned on her heel and yanked open the heavy door before slamming it behind her. Striding over to her desk, she rested both hands on the edge of it and leaned forward, the weight of the situation weighing heavily on her shoulders. Early that morning a dead hooker showed up in a dumpster, beaten to death by a crowbar found kicked underneath. They ran her photo through the records and ID'd her as Gloria Walden, daughter of Richard and Carrie Walden, and the mother of 3 year old Samuel Walden. Richard and Carrie had been awarded custody of Samuel when the court ruled that Gloria, with her rap sheet of being arrested for heroin possession and prostitution, was unfit to be Samuel's legal guardian. The father, Jason Perez, hadn't even showed up to petition for visitation rights. Then, Gloria's body was found early this morning, and only mere hours later, Carrie Walden was shot in her home where she had been with Samuel, and the boy was missing. She was alive, the bullet hitting her in the left shoulder, and when Jane and Frost went to her hospital room, she told them Jason had come for his son, shooting her and taking Samuel with. Korsak had run the name through the database and pulled up his record. He had served 3 years for attempted robbery when he was 18 and his prints matched the ones on the crowbar found at the scene.
Jane hung her head, rolling her shoulders as she took a deep breath. How are people like this allowed to have children? And the ones that actually deserve a child…it's not fucking fair. Slamming her fist down on her desk again, Jane winced as her hand made a soft crack this time when it hit the hard wood of her desk.
"Damn Rizzoli, take a Midol." Detective Crowe's voice cut through the air as he walked past her, widening his eyes at Korsak, who was watching Jane intently from his desk.
Jane narrowed her eyes menacingly at him. "Shut the fuck up Crowe."
"Rizzoli, my office, now." Lieutenant Cavanaugh said from his now open office door across the room, and Jane swore under her breath as she trudged over, shutting the door behind her. "Take a seat."
Jane dropped down into a chair. "Look, I'm sorry, it's just, this case, we've got a missing 3 year old and-"
Cavanaugh cut her off. "It's a tough case, I know. But we need our best people on it, and they need to be at their best right now. I want you to go home Rizzoli, and I'll have Barry call you if they find any leads, but right now, I want you to go home and get some rest."
Jane scowled darkly. "That's bullshit and you know it."
"I just want you to take the evening off. We'll call you if we get anything more," the lieutenant stated in a no-nonsense tone, and Jane knew there was no point arguing. She sighed and stood, turning to leave when he spoke to her again.
"Look, Jane, I know this one hits close to home. But as soon as we find something, we'll call you."
Jane nodded tersely, and shut his door on the way out, grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair and left the station in a hurry, arriving at her apartment ten minutes later. Opening the door, she was greeted by Joe Friday, who began barking excitedly upon seeing her owner. Jane bent down to pet her head, and the sharp pain she had been ignoring in her ankle shot up her leg.
"Aw, shit!" Hobbling over to the freezer, Jane took out a bag of frozen peas and a beer and went and sat down in front of the tv. Placing the bag directly over her ankle, Jane tucked her other leg underneath her on the couch and twisted off the cap on her beer, letting the cold liquid rush through her body. Her phone beeped at her side, and she opened the message.
Of course Jane. Dinner this weekend sounds perfect. I'll look forward to it. Maura.
Jane settled back into the well worn couch cushions, her eyes fluttering open and shut before she allowed herself to succumb to the heaviness of sleep.
It seemed only moments had passed when her cell phone blared loudly, causing Jane to jump awake, the bag of peas that had long since defrosted falling onto the floor. Blinking hard a few times to clear her vision, Jane held her phone away from her face to get a good look at the screen. She got instantly to her feet and slung her jacket over her shoulder, heading for the door.
"What've you got for me Frost?"