Happy Sunday everyone! As I promised, I have a chapter for you today. I tried my hand at writing a longer chapter, and I know I said I'd work more on the case, it's only focused on a little bit in this chapter. So oops. I promise it'll get solved. I just had to flesh this domestic Rizzles stuff out.
I hope you all enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own R&I, but I do own Tim and Ashley and Meghan Reynolds.
Maura re-awoke later that morning, checking her clock, which read 7:30. She gingerly lifted her foot off the pillow that it had been resting on, and stood up. Instantly she knew why people used crutches on broken or fractured feet, ankles, and so on. It was hard for her to make the short trip to her crutches, but once she got them, the going wasn't as tough. Maura winced slightly as the not-so-soft pads hit her sore underarms. Yes, she thought, there are definitely acute bruises present. A raspy voice calling out her name startled her out her focus on not falling over Bass and not wincing in pain.
"Maur?" Jane called from the couch, "Where are you? You're not doing anything crazy like yoga or trying to make breakfast while hobbling around on your crutches, right?"
The ME stopped mid step-hop, "Um…no?"
"Hives, my dear," Jane said, catching up to Maura and standing in front of her. Maura gulped. Suddenly, her senses were completely awakened by the presence of her best friend, "Let me take care of you. What do you want for breakfast? Pancakes or waffles? Don't give me that look Maur, I'm making you breakfast the Jane Rizzoli style. Plus you just got in a crash for god's sake. I'm making you an 'unhealthy' breakfast. There's nothing you can do about it!" Jane made her way to the kitchen, opening cabinets and the fridge to get the supplies.
She looked expectantly at Maura, "Well, what'll it be?"
"Pancakes I guess," Maura said, "I'm going to go attempt to take a shower. Where are the plastic bags that I'm supposed to put over my cast while I shower?"
"In your purse," Jane responded, moving swiftly around the kitchen as she prepared the breakfast, "I put it on the side of the couch that I was sleeping on. It's on the floor," Jane paused as she watched Maura struggle to reach her bag, "Oh sweetie, let me help," The detective's voice soften and she put the measuring cup down and made her way over to Maura, who looked disgruntled.
"Thank you Jane. Now if you'll excuse me, while I have the rest of my dignity, I'm going to go take a shower," Maura took her bag from Jane and held it against the crutches as she made her way back to her bathroom.
Jane shook her head and went back to cooking. She noticed that Maura had shown signs of surprise when she had woken up and went to her friend that morning. Maura should know better than try to hide things from me, Jane thought, I'm a detective for God's sake. I notice small details. She wondered what had bothered her friend so much that she had to retreat. Maybe it was something that she had done…
"No Rizzoli, don't think that. Maura would tell you if you had done something to throw her off," Jane whispered to herself. The rest of the time it took her to cook, she stayed silent, concentrating on the food and not dwelling on emotions.
Maura on the other hand was trying to calm herself down. She got into the bathroom, and when she closed the door, she leaned her forehead against the smooth white wood and took several deep breaths in attempts to calm herself down.
She had had plenty of dreams like the one she had the previous night. As well as dreams of taking the next step with someone. Hadn't she been young once?
And Jane had made appearances in them. Most definitely. But none had shaken her up that badly. Not before that night. Maura supposed that she should've seen it coming, given the way that they behave around each other and the direction that her feelings were taking. A good shower should help. That was mostly why she had chosen to take a shower. Another fraction of her wanted to wash the residual blood off her face and body. She had to be somewhat presentable for work.
Maura opened her bag and pulled out one of the plastic covers that the hospital had given to her for when she took showers. She put the lid of her toilet down, rested her crutches against the counter and sat down and applied the cover to her cast. Then she stood up, grasping her crutches and made her way to the tub. She turned the tap and the water began to fall, heating up.
The next step would be difficult. She had to take her clothes off without falling over or messing up the cover.
"Oh why didn't I put the cover on after undressing?" Maura groaned, cursing her moment of silliness. She continued anyway.
She was glad that she had worn a dress to the date, because it made things a lot easier. After taking her clothing off, Maura leaned her crutches against the wall beside the tub, to facilitate an easier, and safer, time getting out of the shower. She stepped in with her non injured foot first, and then carefully lifted her other foot inside the tub, and pulled the curtains.
Maura looked down at her body to assess the bruises and cuts. There were small cuts up along her right arm, along with the larger gash at the top of her arm by her shoulder. The rest of the injuries were multiple small lacerations and contusions along her chest and stomach. There was a particularly nasty bruise on the side of her left knee, where, Maura assumed, her leg had met the side of her car with force.
The ME sighed and proceeded with her shower, being mindful of the bruises, and favoring her good leg. The shower drained her energy, and she desperately wanted to slump down in the shower and rest and let the warm water relax her sore muscles. She knew she shouldn't, but paired with the awful sleep from the previous night and the taxing shower, she sat down and put her head against the wall.
"Ow!" Maura winced. The jets of water were hitting her bruises, "Oh see I knew I shouldn't have done this. Why am I being so stupid?"
She tried to get up, only to find that she was having a hard time. She tried one last time and realized that all attempts were useless because putting weight on her newly fractured ankle didn't exactly aid in the process. So she sat down and drew her legs up to her chest, trying to cover herself as much as possible. If she was going to do this, she honestly wanted to minimize the awkwardness for Jane. She knew that her friend was uncomfortable with issues like this.
Maura took a deep breath and called, "Jane! I need help!" Loud enough, she hoped, that Jane could help.
Moments later, Jane burst through the door, hand over her eyes, "What's wrong? Are you okay? Did you fall?"
"I'm fine Jane, and I've pulled my knees up to cover my chest. You can remove your hand. I just can't get up. My ankle isn't strong enough yet to aid in getting up."
Jane reluctantly took her hand from her eyes. She saw Maura sitting in her tub, her head bowed over her knees. She leaned over under the stream of water and turned it off.
"Maur," Jane sighed, kneeling down beside her friend, "What happened?"
"I was tired from my shower and I wanted to sit down. I knew I shouldn't have, but I did it anyway because I'm tired and stupid and not thinking straight and I just-just please help me up Jane."
"Okay," Jane nodded, getting back up, "Okay. What do you want me to do?"
"Hold my hands as I get up and make sure I don't fall. And please don't make a fuss of seeing me naked, Jane. It won't take long."
Her friend nodded, "Okay. I'm ready."
Maura straightened her legs, and braced herself to get up. Jane blinked and took a deep breath. Don't stare Rizzoli… Don't do it. Don't, don't, don't… oh god. She took hold of Maura's hands and helped pull her up. Then she put a hand around her waist to help support her as she stepped out of the tub. Jane pulled a towel off the rack and handed it to Maura.
"Thank you," Maura said, pulling the towel around her, "I'll be right out to eat."
Jane nodded and walked out of the bathroom. As she made her way back to the kitchen, she ran a hand through her hair. She was shaken up. Not just from seeing her friend so vulnerable and being angry at the son of a bitch who had hurt her, but from seeing her in that state of undress. Jane couldn't get the sight of her friend fully exposed in front of her. God knows how many times she had dreamed a situation where that happened. But it had never occurred to her that the first time she saw her friend naked would be helping her out of the tub.
Her ears tuned in to the soft click of Maura's crutches and she composed herself quickly. Maura smiled and thanked Jane for making breakfast. They sat down and ate in relative silence. Then, a small argument in which Jane tried to convince Maura to stay home, but which Jane lost because she was no match for Maura. She would do anything for her friend.
They were off to work within the next ten minutes.
Jane pulled up in front of the BPD, killed the engine and got out of her car, going around to Maura's side and opening the door for her. She helped Maura up the stairs and when they reached the door Maura stopped Jane. She looked at her friend with worry.
"They won't make fun of me, will they? No one has ever seen me like this, and I don't want the pitying, and curious stares that I faced when I got arrested."
"No, they won't," Jane said, "And if they do, they'll have to answer to me. It'll be fine Maur, you can do this."
Maura nodded and Jane opened the door and they walked in. The ME kept her head down as she made her way to security, but Jane's hand resting lightly on the small of her back gave her reassurance to carry on in a dignified manner. She had thought ahead and clipped her badge to her blazer, so when they reached security, the officer checked the badge's validity and motioned her through, and soon, Jane was standing with her again and they were making their way to the elevators.
They ran into Korsak on the way, and he paused to talk to them.
"Hey Doc, you okay?" He looked worried, but kept his speech down so as not to draw too much attention to Maura.
"Yes Sargent," Maura nodded, "I'm fine. Thank you for asking."
"Hey Korsak," Jane started, "I'm gonna run Maura down to the morgue real quick to make sure she gets there and is comfortable. I'll be back up in a few."
Korsak nodded and made his way back to the bullpen. Jane pressed the button for the elevator and the two women waited silently for the elevator. It opened and they stepped in.
Ten minutes later, Jane re-entered the bullpen and sat down at her desk. Korsak looked over at Jane and said, "What happened?"
"She got in a crash after her date the other night. Her ankle is fractured and that's her worst injury, thank God. She's not coping well, I don't think. You know how she is, Vince. She prefers to be independent."
"Yeah, I know Jane," He responded.
"Oh that reminds me, I gotta run that plate number."
"She remembered the plate number?"
"Korsak, this is Maura we're talking about."
"Oh yeah. Makes sense," He nodded, "We got in touch with the vic's parents this morning. I was gonna go talk to them to find out anything else about Ashley. Want to come? If you get a hit on the plate we can pick the guy up on the way back here."
"That sounds like a good idea, thanks Korsak," Jane said.
"Anytime, Jane."
Jane smiled, and he smiled back. They got back to work for a little while, filling out leftover paperwork from the previous night. Jane also ran the plate number and got a name. Then they headed out to Ashley's parent's house. Korsak drove, and Jane was the one to knock on the door.
A small mousy looking woman opened the door, and she looked surprised to see them.
"Oh, why hello," She said in kind of a small voice, "How can I help you two?"
"Hello ma'am," Jane said, "Are you Mrs. Reynolds?"
The woman nodded, "Yes. Meghan Reynolds."
"I'm Detective Jane Rizzoli and this is Sargent Korsak. We're with the Boston Police, and I'm afraid we have some bad news," Jane waited a moment before asking, "Would you mind if we came inside? We will need to ask you a few questions."
"Y-yes, please do."
Meghan stepped aside to let the detectives in. She led them to the living room and they sat down on the couch across from Meghan, who took the armchair.
"What's wrong officers?" Meghan asked, a hint of apprehension and worry in her voice.
"We found your daughter Ashley yesterday. We're so sorry Mrs. Reynolds, but she's dead."
"Oh God," Meghan said, her hand flying up to her chest in shock. Tears sprang to her eyes and started to fall rapidly, "Oh God no, no. Not my baby! No!"
Korsak and Jane sat, staying respectfully silent, waiting for Meghan's tears to subside. When they did, Korsak pulled his notebook out and informed her that he needed to ask her questions.
He went through the usual questions, finding out if she had any possible enemies, getting the mother's alibi, asking about her father, who, it turns out, had passed two years previously.
"Ashley was never the same after that," Her mother had said.
When they were done questioning Meghan, they thanked her and then headed out.
"Okay, I'll run the name Dave Sunderland when we get back to the station," Korsak said, "But first, let's go pick up the guy who hit Maura's car. Who was it?"
"It was Tim," Jane gritted her teeth, "The dick who took her out on the date in the first place."
Korsak shook his head, "Why would he do that to Doctor Isles?"
"I don't know Korsak. Let's go find out."
Tim answered the door after Jane knocked twice. She smiled sweetly.
"Hi Tim. Jane Rizzoli, Boston Police. Where were you last night?"
"Uh, I was on a date with this woman named Maura," He said, "She's a doctor. Chief Medical Examiner of Massachusetts. Why do you want to know? Is she okay?
"Yes I'm well aware of that," Jane said, "She happens to work with me, and she happens to be my best friend. And I'm wondering because someone crashed into her car, and then drove off. I ran the license plate number, Maura is a genius so she remembered the plate even though she lost consciousness, and well, here I am. The car is registered to you. May I have a look at your vehicle?"
Tim nodded then went back inside to open the garage door. Jane stepped inside and looked at the car. It was dented badly in the front.
Jane clicked her tongue, shook her head and looked at Tim, "Looks pretty bad there, Tim. How'd this happen?"
"I got in a crash with another car yesterday night, okay? I didn't know it was Maura's car though, I swear! I panicked and I drove off."
"Well that hit and run gave my friend a fractured ankle, and multiple bruises and cuts, not to mention she's shaken up because she doesn't like depending on others to take care of her, which is what I am doing now because of your stupid stunt," Jane pointed her finger in Tim's face, "And it's Doctor Isles to you now. You do not deserve to call her Maura," She took hold of his arm, "You're under arrest for committing a hit and run."
Jane dragged him out of his garage, smirking at Korsak, who nodded and flashed a discreet thumbs up.
Sooooo what did you guys thiiiink?
Constructive criticism is welcome and, bien sur, encouraged.
Until next week Sunday!
-RMarie