A/N: As you continue to be good to this story, it continues to flow. This chapter might jerk a few tears - if I'm doing this right. ;)
Jane returned her desk phone receiver to its cradle. "DA confirms Dominic has agreed to testify in court against Ruiz."
"That's good news!" Korsak said. "I think you made an impression on him."
"I think what he saw in that alley made an impression on him," Jane replied. She sighed heavily and propped elbow on desk, chin on fist.
"What was that for?" Korsak asked, hanging up his desk phone and looking up from his computer.
Jane groaned and rubbed at her face. "I'm bored!"
"And whose fault is that?"
She jammed an index finger down on the desk. "Maura and Cavanaugh have both made it very clear that I am not to leave this desk today. The only thing I'm missing is a ball and chain." She threw her hands up in exasperation.
Korsak chortled. "I gotta say, I'm in their corner on this one. You've had enough excitement in the past twelve hours. And it serves you right for scaring us as badly as you did yesterday."
Jane rolled her eyes. "Oh Korsak, you know me - adrenaline junkie that I am - I can never get enough excitement." She fidgeted for a moment, wiggling her mouse and drumming her fingers on her desk. "That's it. I gotta go get some coffee or something." She pushed away from her desk and stood.
Korsak lifted his receiver again and dialed another number. He cocked a suspicious eyebrow at her.
"Oh, come on, Vince! I just need some air is all."
He shrugged. "Open a window."
She stared indignantly at him. "Really?"
"I just know Maura will be none too pleased if she finds out you left your desk when you promised you wouldn't. Not to mention your mother. And the lieutenant."
Jane started for the elevator doors. "Well how are any of them gonna know unless you rat me out?" She hammered the "down" button with her finger. It replied promptly with a ding. "Besides, Maura said coffee breaks don't count." The doors slid open.
As if conjured by Jane's words, Maura - garbed in a fitted, black and red colorblock dress - stepped out holding two lidded to-go cups from the Division One Cafe.
Jane's jaw dropped. The sight of her best friend dealt a solid, one-two punch to her composure.
Maura, materializing like a genie, bringing her coffee just when she'd been threatening to go on a quest to get it herself.
Maura, with her color coordination and endearing smile...and her perfect body.
Recovering just enough to keep her head from spinning off her shoulders, Jane tamped down the sudden, intense wave of desire that had just assailed her every sense. "How did you...?" She backpedaled and looked at Korsak incredulously. The sergeant was just hanging up his desk phone, looking guilty.
Maura held out one of the cups to Jane, redirecting her attention. "I thought you might be wanting this right about now," she said sweetly. She cupped Jane's elbow and guided the still-reeling detective back to her desk.
"Traitor," Jane growled at Korsak over her shoulder. She went willingly back to her desk with Maura at her side, but she refused to sit down.
"How are things going?" Maura asked conspicuously. She smiled.
Jane glared at Korsak. "I should think you have a pretty good idea of how things are going, seeing as you've hired your own personal mole up here to keep an eye on me."
"May I remind you that I've been married three times; I am immune to passive aggressive." Korsak said.
"What did she promise you?" Jane demanded.
Maura laughed at them. "Jane, you know both Korsak and me better than that." She flashed a winning, conspiratorial grin at the sergeant. "No bribe was necessary; our mutual concern for your well-being was motivation enough." Then she took a tiny step closer to Jane, her expression sobering. "How are you feeling?" she asked in a low voice. Her hand returned to Jane's elbow and her gaze flickered downward to Jane's side for a nanosecond.
Jane sipped her coffee and shrugged. She wrapped both hands around the heat of the cup. "Not terrible enough to call it quits and go home. If that's what you're asking." Heat flashed through her when she registered Maura's thumb gently stroking her arm through the sleeve of her blazer. She made herself meet Maura's eyes. Folded her arms so her fingertips grazed Maura's at the crook of her elbow. "I'm okay. Really. Just..." she huffed a sigh, "antsy."
Maura smiled and stepped away. "Just a couple more hours until lunch," she said. "I'll let this escape attempt slide. If you can stay here until lunch, I'll come get you and we'll go someplace fun." She headed back to the elevator, her own coffee still in hand.
Jane looked doubtful, almost petulant.
"And then after that I should have some things for you to take a look at downstairs." She touched the down button once.
Jane brightened slightly at the prospect of new developments.
The elevators doors dinged open again. "In the meantime, enjoy your coffee. Oh! Excuse me." A uniformed officer escorted a woman out of the elevator just as Maura stepped inside.
"Thank you," Jane said as Maura gave her a little wave between the closing doors.
Korsak stood from his desk.
Camille Frost was now standing in the middle of the bullpen.
Jane stood transfixed for a moment, all thoughts of Maura and coffee forgotten. She was seeing so much of her fallen partner in the woman before them. She was seeing him the way he used to look after a long, hard case that had worn them all down to the barest threads of their fortitude. The softness around the eyes, the mouth drawn in at the corners, the tiniest of creases between the brows. The little furrows that would line his forehead.
The familiarity filled her with a longing so intense that her throat seemed to close around it. She tried to swallow. She was overwhelmed with the urge to throw her arms around this woman and tell her how sorry she was that nothing they could do would bring Barry back. But she couldn't speak.
"Mrs. Frost," Korsak said. "Thank you for coming in to see us."
"Please, call me Camille," she said. Her inflection even echoed the way her son spoke.
They both nodded.
"I wanted to come and thank you personally - face to face - for what you did for my son."
Here Jane realized that Camille was holding a beautiful bouquet of roses in all colors. She proffered them to the detective. "Please, Camille, I can't accept - I did what any of us would've done. Frost would," her voice caught, and she let out a shaky breath, "he would've done the exact same thing had it been one of us."
Camille's eyes were downcast. "I know you loved him like a brother. You never had to say it; I could just tell." She raised her eyes to meet Jane's. "And I know that you think that what you did was not enough." She looked at Korsak, too. "But as a mother, I can tell you that it most certainly was." She pressed the flowers into Jane's hands, and a tear escaped down the detective's cheek. "You made me a promise at Barry's funeral, Detective Rizzoli. You may not even remember. But you said - you promised - you would do everything you could to find who killed my son and make him pay. I never doubted that you meant what you said. And then you poured yourself - everything you had - into finding him. And you did. You finished the job." She took a deep breath. A smile dawned on her dark face. "So I wanted to come thank you. All of you, from the bottom of my heart. And I wanted to tell you, " she took Jane's hand, "you are enough. You are more than enough. And I'm so proud that Barry had people like you to call his friends."
Jane wiped her eyes with her free hand, smiling through her tears.
The elevator dinged again behind them. Another officer escorted another woman out of the elevator. She was carrying an armload of bouquets similar to Jane's. "My wife was kind enough to carry the rest of the flowers up," Camille said. She pointed them out - each designated with a personalized card - as her wife set them down on Korsak's desk. "There's a little something for each of you in the card. There's one for Detective Martinez; Sergeant Korsak, here's yours; one for Detective Frankie Rizzoli; and Detective," she held one more out to Jane, "this one is for your medical examiner, Dr. Isles? I understand you two are quite close and thought you could take these to her?"
"Oh thank you, she will love them so much but...would you like to take them to her in her office? I can show you..."
"We'd love to but we wouldn't want to intrude. I know you're all so busy and we've already taken up so much of your time. And I have an appointment after this, sadly. Please, give her my thanks and love - and my apologies for not being able to stop by."
Jane nodded. "I know she'll understand. Thank you so much for thinking of us."
"Yes, thank you," Korsak echoed, his voice subdued by emotion.
"No, detectives. Thank you. What you've done, what you've sacrificed, means the world to me." She stepped up to Korsak and hugged him. She said something in his ear and he nodded with a smile. Then she turned to Jane and embraced her. "I couldn't be more proud of you if you were my own daughter," she said so only Jane could hear.
Jane swallowed thickly as she watched them leave.
"You can see where he got his sensitivity from," Korsak remarked quietly.
"Yeah." Jane fingered the petals of a pale pink rose, deep in thought.
"If you want to run those down to Maura real quick, I can make an exception to the ball and chain clause. I'll dole out the ones up here."
Jane gave him a watery smile. "Thanks, Vince."
A/N: Some SERIOUS Rizzles incoming in the next chapter or two. I mean to reward your patience. Thank you, as always, for reading, and a special thank you to those who have been sticking with this for the long haul: polotiz, Fenway03, D3nsei, cjunited38, IsaBabisa, j9tigger,coolbyrne, rehellams, magrat70, Dare2speed, IncendioVerum...I see your reviews regularly in my inbox, and though I've been truly lousy with responding to you all, please know that I read what you have to say, I take your feedback into consideration, and I get a little giddy when I see you staying with my stuff for yet another chapter. I felt the need to give you all a shoutout. You mean the world to me. Truly.