Z beta'd but all mistakes are still mine.

Detective Sergeant Olivia Benson stood outside of the US Court in lower Manhattan and sighed deeply to steady herself. She had just watched her division's latest conviction of a man who was kidnapping children out of Central Park and she was trying hard not to think about what he had done to them. He had been sentenced to life but all Liv could see was the battered and broken bodies out in the woods. More than anything else, she wanted to take out her pistol and put a hollow point right through his head.

She wasn't having a lot of success dealing with her emotions. The job had gotten to personal. When Jane had texted her this morning she all but jumped through the phone to get away from her responsibilities as the SVU Commander as she replied positively to sneaking away for a while. Liv was a dedicated workaholic and only Jane knew the significance of Liv skipping out for lunch.

Standing on the edge of Pearl Street Liv watched the black Chevy Impala as it lit up and crossed the street in a very illegal manor, cutting off two taxis and a limo to get to her.

She expected to see Jane behind the wheel but froze briefly as the window rolled down and Kate smiled. Jane opened the door and held it for her.

"C'mon babe," She said loudly. "We only have an hour and Dimitri's is packed."

Liv shook her head and bypassed the passenger seat Jane was offering in favor of the back.

Jane spun and opened the door, ever chivalrous. Once Liv was parked comfortably, Jane slammed the doors and Kate rocketed away from the curb. Liv looked back to see two of her detectives standing on the curb not far away.

Detective Nick Amaro had been running down the stairs to catch up with Benson when he saw her get into a black sedan and speed away. He made it to the curb and had his cell phone in hand when police lights came on and he watched the unmarked make a bad left against a red light. He hadn't recognized the car and was about to call the precinct when a massive hand caught his shoulder. He looked over to see his partner. Detective Odafin Tutuola stopped Amaro from making his call as he too had seen the car and watched Benson get in.

"Leave it be." He said, his deep voice echoing around the young man.

"If there's a call…" he defended but a look from Fin stopped him.

"There's no call," he said sternly. "She'll be back at the office in an hour or two."

Amaro looked at him and knew something was up; "You know something."

"Yeah, I do." He said as he started to walk away.

Amaro followed him to the car, "Care to enlighten me?"

Fin shook his head and got into the car. He waited for Amaro to join him before he spoke again, "The thing you need to learn about Benson is that she's a very private person, especially since Stabler quit. You know that she gets emotionally involved with the cases. It's part of what makes her good at her job. But even Sergeant Benson needs to unload once in a while."

"But I thought that ADA Barba was supposed to meet with us after court."

"It's going to take Barba a while to get back, too." He sighed, "And since I know you won't let this go until I give you something to chew on, Benson just took off with Beckett and Rizzoli from the 12th."

Sergeant Kate Beckett had made a name for herself for being one hell of a detective wo was moving up quickly. Rizzoli was a former Boston Detective who transferred to NYPD over a year ago and she was becoming legend, spurred from the rumors that she fought a mercenary on top of a high-rise overlooking Central Park who was hired to kill her. The legend was that she broke his neck and damn near severed his head with her bare hands.

Although most cops looked up the incident report and read what actually happened, one thing that stayed the same between the incident report and the legends. Rizzoli took out a highly trained mercenary in her home while unarmed and wounded. She had kicked him in the throat with devastating results. Even though the truth wasn't as spectacular as the stories, many cops regaled the tall tale because NYPD loved a hero, especially one who hadn't had to die in the line of duty.

Amaro stared at him, "Rizzoli? As in 'Painkiller Jane' Rizzoli?"

"The same; they've been friends for years and they probably ran out to blow off steam. You know, decompress after a hard case."

Amaro nodded, he too had that need but he usually waited for the end of the day. How odd that their commander would just ditch them in the middle of the day.

Fin hoped he'd given Amaro enough to think about without drawing attention to Liv's increasing need for distraction. He'd seen the job dragging his friend down. He would cover for her as long as he could. Fin hoped that Beckett and Rizzoli could shoulder some of that weight for her.

Forensic Science and Pathology Class

Icahn School of Medicine

The class room was as quiet as a morgue, the silence only broken by the occasional clacking of fingers on a keyboard. Maura looked up from her small argyle colored laptop to glance around at the students who were engrossed in the test she had presented to them. She carefully watched each student, looking for the usual signs of talking or note passing and, although she had yet to find any, cheating. It was just another responsibility as a professor at Icahn. Like her curriculum, which was laid out for her every term, so were the rules. How the curriculum was presented was entirely up to her, but the rules…

Well, rules are rules and she would enforce them as she would anywhere else. She turned her attention back to her research on what to expect for her first pregnancy. She had already started taking the Folic Acid tablets and changed her already healthy eating habits to a more pregnancy friendly diet to prepare her body for the upcoming event. Even though they hadn't selected a clinic in Boston or even talked much about pregnancy yet, Maura knew that her love would never break her word and Jane had promised.

She rolled her shoulder gently to alleviate the ache there from her still healing gunshot wounds sustained two days before Christmas. Bullets she had taken to protect Alexis. She sighed audibly and watched as Kaycee Linden, one of her best students looked up in concern.

Explaining her injury to her class had been a tricky task without revealing exactly why she had been shot and in the end Jane had been the one to explain it. It was the reason she had asked Jane to escort her to class that day.

"Dr. Isles was involved in a car accident while she was visiting friends and family in Boston. The driver of the other vehicle pulled a gun and got out. He shot Dr. Isles's driver and attempted to kill her and my niece. She took two bullets to the shoulder protecting my niece before the man was stopped. I'm asking you to please respect her privacy on this matter because it was a traumatic experience and one that she doesn't need to be reminded of. In addition, it's an open Homicide Case that we're involved in and she is required to remain quiet about her experience pending the outcome of that investigation."

There had been the expected people who asked anyway but a stern look from Jane, a visit from Kate and later, the rather impressive sight of Olivia, had deterred most from asking again. Ms. Linden hadn't asked about the event but routinely asked after her health. Maura shook off the pain slightly and nodded to the young girl. She promptly went back to her test.

Turning back to her computer she noted the website so she could show Jane some of the steps she needed to take as the donating mother. Although Jane didn't drink anymore, had a tendency to eat whatever Maura put in front of her even though she complained (which happened a lot), she knew that getting Jane to give up caffeine was going to be a serious challenge. Her lovingly grumpy lover was hopelessly addicted to coffee.

Several times she had tried to sneak caffeine free into her coffeemaker, but Jane had found it every time. Since it would be an uphill fight to get Jane off the drink for three months, Maura resided herself to the slow methodical battle of slow reduction but she wasn't alone. Kate had successfully changed out Jane's coffee at work twice before Jane had caught on and she was confident that she could find a healthy alternative that Jane would barely notice.

It was good to have friends.

Unable to resist, Maura switched websites to a prestigious baby catalogue. She smiled at the sight of the onesies of various colors and designs. She selected four that she thought were adorable. Two for boys, two for girls and forwarded them to both Jane and Kate.

It was interesting how things had changed so quickly. Two years ago, Jane and Maura were the best of friends. Kate was close to Jane and in some ways Maura couldn't understand, closer than she had ever been. Now, Jane had had her awakening, Kate was Jane's best friend and partner, and Jane was in love with the Doctor. Maura and Kate had bonded over the concept that they were "the girlfriends" and since had enjoyed a friendship not unlike what she had with Jane before the relationship, minus the sexual tension that had permeated everything the two women from Boston had done together. It was all so strange how it had all changed but Maura was immensely comfortable with how it ended up.

Again she marveled at the similarities between her girlfriend and her partner. They were the same height, the same shape, the same build; even their dress sizes were identical. Their attitudes were similar although Kate tended to approach things more rationally than her partner, who followed her intestines, but Jane was immensely intimidating with suspects where Kate was more devious. It was a well-balanced partnership and Maura could easily admit that they were amazing together.

But she held no jealousy or insecurity towards Kate because despite a running banter of innuendo, Kate had had every opportunity with Jane and had never once acted on it. Which unfortunately Olivia, Jane's other friend here in New York, couldn't say the same. Maura's heart ached and her blood began to boil at the thought of the older woman kissing her Jane. It was years ago, before Jane could accept that she was gay and Liv had clearly stated that Jane had thought she was Maura, that it was needed to bring her back from her PTSD episode but Maura still felt that twinge of jealousy and possessiveness every time she thought of it happening.

Liv had sent her the list of PTSD doctors a few days later. One of which Jane got help from. It all made perfect sense except for the mild hostility inside her.

She looked at the email she had sent and out of sheer spitefulness sent one to Liv.

Maura was flipping through another site when she received an email back from the woman.

Fm:OBenson

Re:FWD

OMG, Maura. Those are so cute. I hope you have a girl. That pink one is adorable. I can't wait to see if your baby is going to look like you or Jane or both. Doesn't matter because she's going to be so precious and spoiled. I have a link here for another site that has some pretty cool stuff too. Check it out.

As she read the words, Maura felt guilty for trying to rub it in that Jane was hers. That kind of behavior was so unlike her. She clicked on the link and immediately was taken to a website with specialty clothes and toys for infants. Prominently displayed was a boy wearing an NYPD Baby onesie and the caption below stated that it could be made for any department or agency. Several smaller pictures showed LAPD, FBI, and Army. She noted that the shopping cart had three items in it already. She clicked on it and revealed a black onesie with bold lettering that said "Property of a Boston Detective". The other one said "My Ma's a Cop & My Mom's a Coroner. Mess with me at your peril."

She laughed and stifled it quickly as her students focused on her. She looked at them and they went back to work. She clicked to the final one.

"I'm Irish and Italian. Just give it to me."

She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing again and closed her eyes.

Jane's phone vibrated, she looked at it and saw a 'text from Maura'. She pushed the button and…

Awe baby, that's adorable. I hope it's a girl. Kate says a boy. Liv don't care as long as she can spoil. Want anything from Dimitri's?

She sighed in irritation at Liv's name. She wanted to be offended, really wanted to be, but she knew Jane was just being Jane and Liv was just part of their group.

Liv doesn't care. Maura could just imagine the eye roll as she corrected her grammar. The thought was interrupted by the grumble of her stomach. How she would love to have some of the Philly cheese steak she knew Jane was enjoying.

She thought about the older brunette and her guilty conscience. I haven't seen Liv in a while so could we invite her over for dinner?

She waited for the vibration and, Can it be tonight? Alex is coming back tomorrow so Liv won't be around for a while.

It's an imposition, she replied, but I can manage if you could maybe bring me part of your Philly.

Deal, Liv says she misses you and will bring the Red.

Maura groaned at the thoughtfulness Liv displayed time and again and decided that it was a good idea to try to make peace with her jealousy. She texted an affirmative and glanced around the classroom. Ms. Linden was walking up to her.

She set aside the phone as the girl quietly approached.

"Dr. Isles. I'm confused about question forty three." She looked over at Maura's laptop and saw the baby stuff. She glanced back to her teacher. "Congratulations, by the way."

She shook her head and replied quietly. "I'm not pregnant yet. My…" She didn't want to say girlfriend to a student, "My hope is that I will be soon."

"So you're trying?" She asked nervously.

"Not yet. But we will be over the summer." She looked up at her student, "Question Forty Three?"

Kaycee took the hint and asked her initial question.

Jane came into Maura's classroom just as the last student was walking out. Ms. Linden smiled at the Detective as she bolted into the hallway. Maura smiled at the takeout bag her girlfriend was carrying. Jane smiled warmly and set the bag down on the desk and came around to kiss her.

Maura wrapped her arms around Jane's neck as she bent down. When their lips touched, it was like fire. Both felt the heat rising inside of each other and both forgot where they were for a moment until they heard a loud squeak from the door.

Kaycee blushed at the sound she had made when she caught her professor hungrily mouthing the Detective's lips. Maura hid behind the taller woman in abject embarrassment as Jane looked towards the door.

"A little amnesia would be greatly appreciated." She said with that smirk on her face.

Her hands covered her face, "I'm sorry. I… I didn't…" It was actually kind of cute the way she was stammering, "I just forgot to ask… It can wait."

"Ms. Linden." Maura stepped around Jane as she regained her voice, "I apologize for that display, usually Detective Rizzoli and I are far more discreet."

Kaycee dropped her hands, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"It's alright, Ms. Linden," she said in her calm teacher's voice. "Now what was it that you forgot?"

She was still flustered, "I… just forgot to ask about those anatomy notes that you offered."

Jane laughed. Of all the subjects she would be asking about anatomy when she had just caught her professor making out with her girlfriend.

Maura went to her file cabinet and rifled through a drawer before she pulled out a file. She calmly handed it to her student.

"Though it hardly bears mentioning," She said, "I do expect its returning condition to be the same as it is now."

She nodded before placing it in her school bag. Maura wanted to ease the girl's mind but couldn't think of anything to say. Jane had seen her mouth open and close so she jumped in.

"Hey, kid?" she said, "You okay?"

"Yes, ma'am," She said as she tried in vain to zip up the bag.

"No seriously," She said as she sat on the edge of Maura's desk. "It's got to be pretty weird catching your teacher kissing another woman."

She stopped to look up at her, "Kind of."

"How old are you again?" Jane said.

"Ttttwenttty," She stammered.

"Yeah," Jane took the bag from her and carefully zipped it closed, "Well, then I hope that Dr. Isles hasn't offended you."

"Oh no!" she said, "I just didn't think…"

"I know." She said as she handed the bag back, "Kinda tripped me out too when I found out."

"You were not as surprised as I was when I found out about you." Maura added.

They both laughed and Kaycee seemed to relax a bit.

Jane smiled at her, "Listen, this thing with Dr. Isles and I is something special and it's still pretty new. Although I couldn't care less who knows it, I'm sure Dr. Isles would appreciate it if you didn't mention this to anyone. Not that she's hiding it, but this is her work after all and I know she prides herself on her professionalism."

Kaycee glanced at Maura, "I'm sorry Dr. Isles; I didn't mean to put you in a bad position."

"You didn't, Ms. Linden." She said warmly, "As Detective Rizzoli said, we have something special."

Jane looked at the girl, "Remember your first love. I bet you had a hard time trying to stop kissing too."

Kaycee got a grin on her face, "Yes ma'am. I still do from time to time."

"Then I can count on you to forget about this?" she asked.

Kaycee nodded.

"Good. Then get outta here." She waved a hand at the door, "My lunch is getting cold."

She smiled and bolted out the door.

Jane frowned, "I bet you ten bucks that goes on twitter before she gets all the way down the hall."

"Ms. Linden is actually quite trustworthy." Maura said as she started pulling out the lunch containers. "Not many know that I lend her my notes."

Maura opened the door on a cold locker and pulled out a bottle of some exotic fruit juice and a second for Jane.

Jane stared at the bottle, "Okay, you can call me crazy but I thought we had a talk about feeding me things from the dead fridge."

"Jane," she said, "It's cold. Drink it.

"Maura that thing had a dead guy in it!" She whined.

"Not recently and I disinfected it before I put this in it." Maura sat down at her desk and opened her bottle. "Besides, yours is still sealed."

"It's okay, Maur." She said as she slipped her arms around her girlfriend. "I need to get going anyway. Kate's in the car and you know how grumpy she gets."

Maura pulled her in tight and winced as her shoulder ached.

Jane rubbed Maura's shoulder gently, her long fingers grazing the tender tissue there. "Does it still bother you?"

Maura sighed, "Sometimes but it fades quickly."

"Okay, then when I get home, I'll draw you a bath and I can rub it away for you."

"Aren't we expecting company tonight?" Maura teased. "I do believe it was your idea."

Jane leaned back to look at her, "Oh no, that was all your idea."

Maura reached over and picked up Jane's phone. "I think you should look at who sent the text."

Jane's mouth fell open, "I can't believe you just lied."

She immediately placed a hand to Maura's chest, in search of hives but to no avail. The only noticeable difference was that both women's breaths caught and their heartbeats sped up. Jane removed her hand and looked at Maura.

"I… I was joking." She said, "Sarcasm."

Jane clenched her fist, trying to relieve the tingling sensation that happened whenever she touched Maura. Maura tried hard not to concentrate on the warm hand or the sudden chill she got when it was removed. Jane's touch was scorching and she loved it. Judging by the change in Jane's breathing pattern and the way her pupils dilated, she knew her lover felt it too.

"A joke this morning and now sarcasm." Jane shook her head. "I'm a bad influence on you."

"Then I don't want to be good." Maura said as she pulled Jane into another kiss.

Drug Enforcement Agency

New England Headquarters, Boston.

Seven months in Columbia had done nothing to change her appearance. She still strode through the DEA HQ like she owned it. Strong, confident, and exuding a whatever-it-takes attitude from every pore of her tanned skin, she was one of the DEA's best weapons against the cartels. She had already brought down three with the intelligence she had gathered while undercover but she had been under too long according to procedure so the Director had pulled her for a one year respite.

Something she had animatedly protested, citing that her contacts would disappear and that she'd have to start from scratch when she went back under.

The director had conceded the point but put her in charge of a new taskforce. A new cartel had sprung up after Juarez Escalante had disappeared and his empire started to collapse, an Empire that was consumed by a new cartel that was making one hell of a name for itself. Even she had to admit that it was a good position to be in and it gave her the freedom to pass between Central and North America almost freely to keep an eye on her contacts and the cartels.

Special Agent Sera Beltran groaned as she sat down in her very comfortable chair. It was as comfortable as a recliner though it was purchased through seized drug money as was her car. Yep, the DEA had been very good to Sera because she had been very good to them. Flipping open the file on her desk, she noted the substantial lack of information on the new cartel from Bogota. They even lacked a name. Instead the cartel was referred to as the Ex-Escalante Cartel.

She shook her head at the idiots down south who couldn't do what she could. She sighed as she picked up her phone and started dialing.

A knock sounded at the door and she looked up to see her old friend and partner. Raul "Barricade" Barbosa leaned all 260 pounds of his six foot five inch frame against the door jamb.

"You got the taskforce." He said. "Got room for a second?"

"Not having you would be like going out on a bust without any ammo." She motioned for him to sit as she turned back to her phone.

"Dominic, It's Sera. I need a favor… Don't screw with me on this or I'll come down there personally and drag you to Federal Lockup at Gitmo and Cuba will not look good on you."

Barricade snickered as he sat down in the office chair.

"Just get me a name on who took over Escalante." She took out a notepad and wrote something in it. "Thank you, now go be a good boy and see if you can get me a name to go with this. Yeah right."

Hanging the phone up roughly, she stuffed the notepad in her jacket pocket and wrote on the file. "Cuervo Cartel."

He smiled, "As in José? I like Tequila."

"As in Crow or Raven," she chuckled, "Dominic didn't even flinch at giving something up on this."

"He's either trying to give bad intel or Cuervo rubbed him wrong already." He looked off thoughtfully, "or he really doesn't like Cuba."

"Probably two and three together. Either way, he turned too quickly so we shouldn't put a lot of faith in him."

He nodded, "So where do we start on this?" She looked up at his smooth Samoan features and his curly dark hair.

"Well, in addition to both of our contacts down south, we really don't have much to go on so let's start working from Columbia back here. We already know that Cuervo is taking over cartels and moving product but where is it going?"

"Usually when a cartel takes over, they start running down the old cartel's network for the business."

"Right, and the shippers usually know when a cartel falls so they're always in business so that means we start near the docks on this end."

"A flag in LEIN tagging what? Merchant Mariners, smugglers, cigarette boats in Miami?"

She nodded, "All of it."

He shook his head, "That's a lot of data to go through."

She smiled and leaned back in her luxurious chair. "Yes but now we have a taskforce's resources so since the Director wants us to make a splash with this one, let's get the pool filled up first before doing the cannonball."

He laughed, "Oh this is going to be fun."

Frankie put the final touches on the chicken tortellini and set it on the table at precisely seven. He complimented his own ingenuity and grinned. Two place settings on the small table with the tortellini, a small antipasto salad and freshly baked Italian bread. He thanked God that his Ma's cooking gene had been passed on to him. He quickly rinsed out the pot and placed it in the dishwasher, along with the other items he had used to prepare the meal. He pulled the stick lighter out of the junk drawer and lit the two candles on the table, returned it to the drawer and looked around his cozy condo.

He had finally managed to get the last of Jane's furniture out of here and over to Maura's Beacon Hill home. The last thing to go was that small TV stand she had. He ended up putting it in the guest house with Kieran's help. For supposedly being one of the bad guys, Kieran Connelly was actually a fun guy, but he was a killer at the poker table as Frankie had learned when the man camped out at Maura's hospital door. Owing a debt to Paddy Doyle for some years, Kieran had made good by watchdog duty. His instructions were clear, "Medical personnel only and you answer to Jane alone." Kieran had been released from his debt and had stuck around anyway.

Frankie heard a knock at the door and smiled as he looked over at a tortoise hanging out in the kitchen, "The guest of honor has arrived," he pointed a finger at the reptile, "You better be on your best behavior my friend."

He glared at the animal before he opened the door and grinned with that Rizzoli smile at the gorgeous blonde woman in the hallway. She wore a casual pair of jeans and a blue camisole that accented her eyes and showed off her figure which Frankie enjoyed thoroughly.

Officer Charlotte Hansen smiled warmly at him. "Hi, Frankie."

"Hi Charlie, Come on in." He ushered her in and waited for her to absorb the sight. The young blonde's face kept that smile as she surveyed his stylish home. But her eyes really lit up when they settled on the table.

"Oh, Frankie you didn't have to go through all this trouble for me."

He brushed it off, "Eh, it wasn't all that much." He said nonchalantly. "I hope you like it."

He gently pulled the chair out for her and she jumped with a screech.

"Omigod, What's that!" She pointed at the reptile that was meandering over to the table.

He looked over, "Oh, that's Tank." He said flippantly, "He's usually furniture but he's been active all day for some reason."

"You have a turtle running around your condo?" Her voice was pure disbelief.

"He actually belongs to my sister but he got too big for the tank. I've been meanin' to take him over to her but I had to wait for the weather to warm up first."

He held the chair for her and as she sat, he scooted it under her. Quickly pulling the ladle out of the pot he gently placed a scoop of the stuffed pasta on her plate before adding a slice of bread. She smiled at him and glanced wearily at the reptile that was making his way around her towards the living room.

"Really, you don't have to worry about him." Frankie said as he served himself, "But I can lock him in the bedroom if it'd make you feel better."

She looked over at Tank, "He's… big."

"You should see Maura's turtle." He chuckled, "Bass is as big as a coffee table. She's the one who gave Tank to Janie."

Charlie picked up her fork and sampled the pasta smothered in a pink sauce. "Mmmm, It's delicious."

"I'm glad you like it." He grinned as he ate, his eyes almost never leaving the young woman.

She smiled and blushed a little. Frankie figured out about a month ago that Charlie blushed whenever she thought he did something cute. His mission was to give her rosacea.

They ate and Frankie took Castle's advice and had Charlie sitting at the table with a glass of wine while he washed the dishes by hand. He'd have to thank Castle for that advice as he watched two pink shades appear on her cheeks. All the while, they talked about everything and nothing. Once the dishes were clean and in the washer, they sat together on the couch and watched a movie together that ended up with Frankie's arm around her and after a few more blushes, her laying on top of him, kissing him for all she was worth.

He stroked her back gently through the camisole and was just sliding his hands under the shirt to touch her bare skin when a knock at the door interrupted them.

Charlie rolled off of him onto the floor and almost on top of Tank in alarm. He groaned as he sat up and offered a hand to help her up. More pink cheeks and he kissed her lightly.

"Hold that thought." He said as he headed for the door, grumbling under his breath. He jerked the door open and almost fell over.

"Hey there Frankie," Frank Rizzoli Sr. said from the hallway. "Where's Janie?"

Frankie stuttered, before: "New York City. She's been there for over a year. Of course you would know that if you ever called us once in a while."

"What the hell is she doin' in New York City?" Frank barked.

Frankie leaned on the door frame, "She went to NYPD, Pop. She's workin' Homicide over there with Beckett. Remember her, the one you said acts just like Janie."

Frank sighed and tapped his foot on the carpet, "Okay, so you gonna invite the old man in or what?"

A sigh erupted from his son, "Pop, I got company over."

"What, are you ashamed of the old man or somethin'?"

"No Pop, but." He sighed as Charlie took his hand. He opened the door a little more to reveal the young woman. "Pop, this is Charlie." He slipped an arm over her but his voice held a tension that wasn't there a moment ago, "Charlie, this gentleman right here is my dad, Frank Senior."

She held her hand up, "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Rizzoli."

He grinned wide as he took her hand into both of his, "It's nice to meet you Charlie. I didn't realize my son has excellent taste in girlfriends."

Frankie's arm took a possessive edge to it. "She ain't Lydia, Pop."

There was something that passed between them and Charlie felt awkward about it. She knew that Frankie's mom and dad split up a few years ago and now Angela Rizzoli was with Lieutenant Cavanaugh. No one talked about the Rizzoli Father and Charlie couldn't help but wonder why.

"Okay, I can see this is a bad time." Frank said, "I went by Maura's house and no one looks like they're living there lately."

"That's because she's in New York with Jane." Frankie said with a huff. "Maura took a job as a teacher to be with Jane."

"That's kinda stupid." Frank scoffed, "Quit your job with the government so you can stay with your friend."

Frankie leaned into Charlie and spoke with a tender voice, "Honey, why don't you go inside and I'll be there in a minute."

She looked up at him and caught the plea in his eyes. She nodded and ducked inside.

Frankie shut the door and stood outside with his father, "Seriously. You don't know?"

His father shuffled as he stared at his son, "Know what?"

"Jane and Maura are going out, Pop." He regretted having to be the one to say it and it showed in his voice.

Frank lost that grin finally, "What, there a couple of pretty girls. They should go out."

He wasn't getting it, He looked up at the ceiling, Why me, lord. Why do I gotta tell him? He looked back to his father, "No, Pop. They're a couple, been together a while now."

Frank put his hand to his chest, "A couple as in…"

"As in…" Frankie sighed, "As in we're expecting wedding invitations soon."

"No. No." he gasped, "It's not true. My Janie isn't a lesbian; it's a sin!"

"It's not a sin!" Frankie barked, "Anyone who sees them together knows that they belong together!"

"Your sister is a good girl!" Frank yelled, "She's being used, turned, and damned by that… that… Isles woman!"

"I think it's time you left, pop." Frankie said in a controlled authoritative voice.

"She's my daughter!" He yelled, "I'm not gonna let his happen. I swear to god I won't."

Frankie stepped up on his father, "You should have thought of that before you left!"

He stopped ranting and looked at Frankie. "What!"

"You heard me!" He shouted, "You left us! All of us. The house was foreclosed on and Maura is the one who took Ma in!"

Several of his neighbors came out at the shouting but many knew that Jane had been a cop and more knew Frankie was one.

"But you weren't there for that! You weren't there when Jane had to shoot Maura's father! You weren't there when Kate was shot in the chest and Jane almost lost her job because her sister was in the hospital! You weren't there when TJ was born! You weren't there when Jane realized that she was gay, got in a fight with Maura's boyfriend and ran away to New York! You weren't there to see how devastated either of them were! You weren't there when I got promoted to Detective! You weren't there to see Jane's entire life change when she got with Maura! You weren't there when Ma got stuck with thousands of dollars of your back taxes! You weren't there when Tommy fell off the wagon! And you damn sure weren't there when Maura took two bullets protectin' Kate's daughter Alexis and almost died right here in the Commons! You! Weren't! There!"

Frankie finally stopped shouting at his father and looked around to see his neighbors. Sharp glare sent most of them back into their homes. He felt thin arms wrap around his waist as Charlie embraced him.

He sighed heavily and looked back at his father. The old man looked tired and worn out but Frankie was going to finish this, "Now I'm sorry that you left, Pop. I really am. But it was your choice. Janie and Maura made their choices too. Ma made hers and I've made mine." He held on to Charlie tightly then, "I'm sorry that it all went down the way it did but that was your choice. And in your absence we've all moved on with our lives because we couldn't wait for you to come back."

"I'm here now." His father said indignantly. "You think any of this was easy on me?"

Frankie held up a finger, "You were the one who left, Pop. At least when Janie did it, she called and made good on what she did."

"That's what I'm trying to do." He said, "That's why I came here to talk to Janie."

"Janie ain't the one you gotta apologize to, Pop. That would be Ma but I wouldn't hold your breath."

"Whaddaya mean?"

Frankie sighed heavily and Charlie squeezed him close again, "Ma's involved with someone. It's serious and you really ought to call Tommy for the details."

"Call Tommy?!" he shouted, "Why?!"

"Because Tommy is the one you used to talk to anyway." He said, "Where are you stayin' at?"

"I got a motel room up the street." He said as he leaned against the wall. "I wanna talk to Janie."

"I wouldn't." He said, "Janie's a lot different now, Pop. You go off all half-cocked on her or make Maura cry and she'll come unglued. There's nothing in the world Janie loves more than Maura."

"It's a sin what she's doin'. It goes against everything we believe in."

"No, just what the church believes in." He said. "The rest of us believe in them."

"Mr. Rizzoli?" Charlie said nicely, "I've seen Jane and Maura together over Christmas. You've never seen a happier couple or a couple more in love. Please don't try to mess that up. You'll just be hurting them."

Frank looked at the tiny blonde that held his son. "Young lady, you don't understand."

"No Mr. Rizzoli. You don't." She said, "I do, I was there when Maura was shot. I drove the ambulance to the hospital while the EMTs were fighting to save her. I saw Jane and I know that if Maura had died that night Jane would have too. I don't know you, sir but I have had the privilege of knowing them and they deserve to be happy. I hope that one day I can be half as in love as they are."

Frankie felt his chest swell with pride at his girlfriend's words. Charlie was amazing as she stood there next to him defending his sister. She wasn't pushing and she wasn't meekly backing down, she stood her ground and spoke calmly but passionately and he was grateful that she was here tonight.

Frank raised his hands and dropped them, "I guess I should call Tommy and see what I've missed."

"Yeah," Frankie said. "That'd be a good idea."

Frank Rizzoli turned away and sighed in resignation. He gently walked back down the stairs and Frankie was sad to see him go. His father looked old and defeated, the consequences of his choices weighed heavily on him and he had no choice but to bare it.

Frankie sighed. "I better call Tommy before Pop just shows up there."

Charlie patted his broad chest.

Cameo next chapter, another intro to a new original character and leather.