A/N: Seriously, thank you for the continuous support, it makes me smile every time I see a new email in my inbox!
Here's the third chapter and as you'll see, the plot will be moving forward and new (exciting?) details will be revealed. I know that this isn't the best chapter I've ever written, but I still hope that you enjoy it, and of course I would like to hear what you think about it.
Disclaimer: As always, nothing belongs to me but the plot and the mistakes.
"Ma..! Mama!" The familiar voice made Jane look up from her phone and she turned her gaze on the crowd of chattering children that was rapidly approaching the school entrance. She immediately noticed a tiny, brown haired person that was eagerly trying to find a way through the hoard of moving backpacks. Chuckling, Jane saw how her daughter dodged and fought herself towards the fence she was leaning against, this distinctive fierceness reminding her so much of herself at that age, thirty years ago. The notion filled her chest with pride, not solely because of the truly endearing sight, but rather because of the unwavering certainty that this could only be her daughter, the wonderful being she had created.
Eventually Ava managed to reach her mother, breathing heavily yet grinning in victory. "Hi, Ma. You made it!" She smiled excitedly and motioned for Jane to pick her up, wanting to feel the comfort of her mothers arms. Jane readily took her daughter into an embrace and caressed her back while placing soft kisses on her hair.
"Yes, sweet girl, Mama finally managed.. So, how was school? Did you have any fun today?" Jane held Ava tightly to her chest, revelling in the wonderful and loving moment she had with her daughter since sadly, these moments were rare due to her irregular and tough working schedule.
It was the first time that Jane was able to pick up her daughter from school since, apart from now, the current case was claiming all her attention and time. Grenith was still on the run and his motive unclear, but luckily further examination of the found evidence had indicated that Grenith hadn't operated alone. Thus they had searched for an accomplice and had finally found her, Alicia Bogner, Grenith's latest girlfriend.
Bogner, however, couldn't tell them where to find her boyfriend, so the search team had to continue operating at full stretch. With everybody being needed at the station, this particular afternoon was another reason for Jane to cherish the time she had with her daughter since it had been very hard for her to take off at this short notice without being on call. Cavanaugh hadn't been happy with her at all when she appeared in his office, but she desperately fought for getting to pick up her daughter at least once in her first week of school. Luckily for her, the lieutenant had relented in the end, but only on the condition that this was going to be a one time thing.
She looked back down at her grinning daughter, whose delight filled eyes looked so similar to her own. "Yeah, Ma it was super duper fun! I drawed a dinosaur with yellow shoes in art class, and Miss Isles said it that was the nicest pair of shoes she'd ever seen."
Jane smiled at the sweet innocence and gullibility her daughter was still portraying. "Really? Your teacher must have really good taste, but seriously Ava, I'm so proud of you, little girl. You'll have to show me the painting sometime." Ava nodded her head eagerly in response and the adoring gesture made Jane pepper her daughters face with teasing yet sweet kisses.
This evoked high pitched giggles from her Ava, while she helplessly tried to escape her mother's endearing assault. "Stop it, Ma! Please stop, it tickles!" Laughing, Jane's kisses slowly came to a stop and she placed one final and long kiss on her daughters forehead before putting her down and taking her hand, heading for the exit.
"Let's go to the car now since Dad's already waiting for us at home. And by the way, there's a small surprise from Uncle Frost waiting for you in the car. He says hello to his favourite little girl, and made extra sure that I didn't forget to give you this present in celebration of completing the first week of school." Jane thought back to earlier this afternoon when Frost came running down to entrance of the station, bringing her a bag filled with a pink, strawberry glazed donut from across town for Ava, her daughter's absolute favourite. She was so grateful to her partner for wanting to play such an important and stabilising role in her daughters life, even more so since the family situation otherwise was so difficult.
Ava let out an excited cry at this news and pulled on her mothers lean hand, indicating for them to pick up their pace. "Hurry up, Ma! I want to see the surprise!" Jane let her energetic daughter lead them, already thinking about organising a renewed duel of paper toss at work next week in order to thank Frost for his present.
Just as they had passed the entrance, however, Jane suddenly caught a familiar seeming glimpse of blonde hair on the far side of the school grounds. Instantly, she turned her head towards it and saw a petit and well dressed blonde woman disappearing in the building across. Jane was hit by a sudden wave of intense yet unknown feelings as the image of another blonde stranger returned to the forefront of her mind. This woman right there had looked so much like the beautiful stranger from the pool last week, the figure and hair seemingly identical. But surely, it couldn't have been the enticing stranger because when the had conversed at the pool, she hadn't struck Jane as the school type. Her eyes must have been playing tricks on her mind.
Jane was pulled out of the uncomfortable train of thoughts by a fierce tugging on her left arm. "Ma.. what are you waiting for? Let's go, I want my surprise!" It was obvious to see that Ava was starting to become impatient and Jane knew from experience that a whining and unsatisfied daughter was a strenuous one and she really didn't want to endanger the general good mood by standing on the school grounds for no actual reason. So she quickly resumed walking towards the car, trying to ignore the light flutters deep down in her stomach.
Friday evening had been a wonderful and clearly needed escape from work. Casey had already finished dinner when she and Ava finally came home and the familiar smell of steaming pasta and rich tomatoes floated through the air as soon as Jane had entered the kitchen to greet him. To Jane's surprise her husband had made one of her all time favourite meals, Spaghetti Napoli. The gesture had been so sweet that she had given him an extra long kiss for being so considerate. It had been one of the few more intimate moments the couple had shared over the course of the week and Jane could feel how much relief and reassurance this act triggered in Casey's reciprocation.
Dinner had gone off without a hitch after that and Casey had thankfully laid low about Jane's insane amount of working hours the days before, and instead had asked questions about the progress of the case and the wellbeing of Korsak and Frost. It seemed like everybody tried to cherish this precious family time as much as possible, not wanting to ruin the harmonious atmosphere for once.
Afterwards they had all sat down together and watched Ava's favourite movie 'The Lion King' and even Jane was forced to wipe away a lone tear at the scene of Mufasa's death. Ava had fallen asleep towards the end of the movie and they decided to put her to bed together before heading to their own bed. They fell asleep in each others arms, like they had done so often in the past, and Jane was certain that she wouldn't ever let this terrible distance between them reappear again.
Unfortunately, the needed family time was put to an end when Jane's phone rang at two a.m. the next morning. The team had managed to track Grenith back down to south docks of the harbour, where he was hiding in an old and vacant building. Sadly, as they had moved in on hime, they had discovered another dead body of a dockworker with him there in the old place.
Jane had immediately raced down to the crime scene, just in time to see Grenith handcuffed and accompanied to one of the patrol cars. She went over to the guys and embraced both Korsak and Frost, so relieved that this was over and they had finally caught the man that was haunting their department for the past two weeks. Deep inside Jane was confident that the strong need to bring Grenith to justice would eventually be satisfied since the interrogation was her specialty and she knew that she was able to break him, to bring him to confess.
Only late Sunday afternoon, however, did they finally obtain his needed confession, the interrogation had turned out to be extremely difficult and very long lasting due to his meagre cooperation. It had frustrated Jane to no end, that he had seemingly no guilt or pity at all for what he had done. Afterwards though, the team had come together down at the Dirty Robber, trying to get past the gruesome images and celebrating the successful closure of this tiring and frustrating case.
They had made it once again.
Since the last case was finally closed and Jane had been lucky to be spared by dispatch so far this week, she found herself back in the locker room of the pool the following Tuesday night. She had briefly hesitated about coming tonight because she knew that she would come face to face with the mysterious blonde again, or at least she assumed it, but in the end the need for solitude offered in the water and the opportunity to clear her mind had overruled her slight apprehension towards the woman.
She had just opened her locker and placed her bag at the foot of the wooden bench when she suddenly became intensely aware of the presence of somebody else standing behind her.
"Hello stranger." The sweet voice caused light shivers to run down her back and she hesitantly turned towards the warm yet unnerving sound. In front of her stood the source of powerful yet feared thoughts, already dressed in the appealing swimming suit and wearing a teasing smile.
Jane couldn't stop her eyes from wandering over the lean form, pausing shortly at prominent breasts and full lips before settling on hazel eyes. "Hey.." She bit her lip as the woman returned the gesture and tiny, fiery sensations pricked her skin under the scrutinising gaze. When their eyes met again, Jane detected a slight enquiry in darkening eyes. The tangible tension between them increased the longer the wordless gaze lasted, and Jane was on the brink of reaching out to tuck away a stray curl of soft blonde hair that had fallen over hazel orbs, when the stranger suddenly dropped her eyes and the connection was lost.
"I didn't see you last week." The words indicated no accusation nor were they spoken with venom, but Jane couldn't ignore the light taste of insecurity that accompanied them. She tried not to dwell on it and resumed to get out her swimming outfit. The woman deflected and turned back to her locker to retrieve her googles and towel while Jane finished dressing.
"Yeah, sorry about that, but my daughter needed me, she's a bit clingy at the moment since she just started school last Monday." The explanation sounded somewhat weaker spoken out loud than in her mind moments, but how was she to explain the true reason behind her absence without digging in too deeply. Even more so since she didn't even know this woman.
"Your daughter? No problem, I was just a tad disappointed seeing that I didn't know anybody else here apart from you, but the others were friendly enough and obviously I was more than qualified to return." She winked at Jane, her eyes sparkling with mirth, and continued walking towards the showers, waiting for Jane to join her.
In the small cubicle Jane let the warm spray of water envelope her and wash away the stress of the previous week. She had missed this solitude, yet at the same time she was grateful for the time she had spent at home with her family instead. Ava's eyes lighting up when she picked her up from school, the kisses she received when she cooked her daughter's favourite meal on Monday evening, the calmness in her and Casey's communication. It almost felt like the slight crisis earlier this month had never happened, that they were perfectly happy like a married couple was expected to be.
However, something deep within Jane was still weary about this sudden reappearance of harmony, the return of tolerance. It had happened too fast, without any real confrontation or talk between Casey and her, they had just laid it aside and gone from there. Maybe it was her fault that she hadn't taken the initiative on this, but honestly, she just didn't have the energy for a big argument with work being as stressful as it had been these past months.
"Hello? Jane..?" Her eyes flew open at the mention of her name, bringing her back to the small shower cabin and the meanwhile cool spray of water.
"Yeah, what's the matter?" Cursing, she shut off the shower and stepped out onto slippery tiles, shivering. The woman across from her eyed her worriedly before handing Jane her towel.
"I asked you about your daughter, but you kind of spaced out and by the look on your face I can positively say that it wasn't dirty thoughts on your mind." What was it with this woman and her constant teasing? Jane ignored the remark, but blushed regardlessly, taking the soft towel and continued walking towards the pool door.
"What do you want to know about my daughter anyway?" She regretted her slight irritated tone immediately, not wanting to scare the blonde away as she had done nothing wrong.
The stranger faltered at the brusque tone and for the first time Jane detected open uncertainty. "Sorry, I didn't want to pry or get onto your nerves at all. I just wanted to know your daughter's name and which school she's visiting."
In some daunting way this woman was seriously adorable. The way she bit her lip and played with the fabric of her swimming suit made her look so small yet lovely, but Jane threw away the warm feeling before it could even solidify itself in her system. "Oh.. well my daughters name is Ava and she just started at Tynan Elementary School since my husband wanted her to go there." Jane didn't know why she added the part with Casey, but something in her mind told her to make things clear about herself, to keep a good distance to the blonde woman since her gut feeling surprisingly couldn't put a finger on this woman's character and mind yet.
"Oh, how nice. So you live in southern Boston?" The woman didn't even flinch at the mention of a husband, instead she graced Jane with a genuine seeming smile.
"Yeah, right. Born and raised there and never had the wish to leave." Jane returned the smile with one of her own, but before she could use the momentary silence to ask the blonde some questions in return, the door to the pool room opened and Coach Doyle barged in, clearly in search of them. "Shit." Jane knew that they were late, but it was never a good sign if the coach himself came looking for them.
"Rizzoli, what's taking you so long? I thought practice starts at 8 p.m. and not 8:20 p.m.? Now come on and get your asses into the swimming pool and warm up. We'll start with the match ups in ten minutes since we have a competition to win on Sunday!" Doyle was tense and Jane knew best that there was no room for arguing right now, so she nodded silently and looked over to the mysterious blonde.
The stranger seemed slightly horrified at the loud outburst and quickly excused herself before walking towards the pool without another word. Jane stayed back shortly to get her googles, and then, somewhat guiltily, enjoyed the view of swaying hips and butt in front of her before following the blonde woman to the pool.
Jane was finally back in her element as soon as the water surrounded her. She concentrated on the perfect alternation of breathing and gliding through the cool wet while trying to maintain a high speed. She knew that she had to pick up her game if she wanted to please her coach and finish the competition successfully next weekend.
She was just going into another lap when she heard her coach call her out. "Hey Rizzoli, warm up time is over! Get out now, so that we can match up the people." Jane swan to the edge of the pool and pushed herself up when she noticed that a certain blonde was watching her, or rather her cleavage, from the side of the pool. Jane caught her gaze and winked at her teasingly, the sheer exhilaration of being able to swim again making her unusually bold. The woman turned away, but still, it was amusing to see how ivory cheeks turned red and white teeth came out to bite a plump lip at the somewhat flirty gesture. Grinning slightly, she got out of the water completely and made her way to the group of swimmer, that was waiting for her.
"What's taking you so long, Rizzoli? Come on, now." Jane hated it when her coach was impatient and bossy. Normally, he was an decent person, whose strength definitely lay in the continuos and helpful motivation of swimmers, which she herself had needed often enough in tough situations during the last laps of some events. She respected him for always expecting the best of people without being unfair. But tonight he really was exceptionally tense and she just couldn't understand to what had triggered it, but she hoped that a good practise tonight would lighten him up.
"Palmer you'll swim against Corton, Piper you're up against Gilberti, Johnson you go against Fitch and Rizzoli, you're swimming against the newbie tonight. 10 laps each, the fastest wins a free drink at the celebratory dinner after next Sundays competition, okay? But I want you all to stay under 25 minutes, that is the least if you want to play a important part on Sunday. Am I making myself clear? I know that you're all good enough for that."
The swimmers all nodded in response, some even cheered. It was a funny group of women and Jane enjoyed swimming here with them because the one thing all of them had in common was their love to swim, to feel the element of water surrounding you. It united them and hence there was no serious competition between them since everybody was only trying to satisfy the impulse of becoming one with the water.
"Okay, let's get going. First pair takes lane one and two, second pair takes lane three and four and so on. Good luck and may the best swimmer win." With that the group broke up and the swimmers lined up at each lane, waiting for the whistle to be blown.
Jane took a deep breath before turning her gaze towards the blonde stranger one last time. The woman wasn't looking at her, instead her gaze was steadily fixed on the water in front of her, she did look beautiful, standing there, body tense with the anticipation for the crucial signal to come. Jane turned back, trying to focus on her own breathing and the steady beat of her heart.
Suddenly, a shrill sound resonated through the natatorium and they were off, jumping into the pool with powerful and elegant headers.
"Congratulations, newbie. I didn't think you'd have it in you to beat Rizzoli here since nobody's ever managed to beat her before. But what a race this was, you two were only apart by half a second and 19.47 minutes over all is a fantastic time. I'd say that I'm really looking forward to next Sunday now and 'Welcome to the team officially', you've earned it!" Everybody cheered and even Jane managed slight yet sincere grin at the woman since this was a big deal. It wasn't every day that someone was allowed to join the team.
Some started walking towards the showers, including the blonde, but Jane stayed at the pool, wanting to make sure that the coach was okay. "Hey Doyle, you alright?"
Her coach turned to her, confused but not unfriendly. "Yeah sure, Rizzoli. Why are you asking?" Jane noticed a short flicker of irritation and pain cross his eyes and she pondered her response. Should she indicate that she had noticed him being off tonight or should she just let it go and see how it would develop? She decided for the latter.
"Nah, no reason really. Just wanted to make sure since we all need to be in good shape for the competition on Sunday." Doyle looked relieved at her deflecting and slowly headed for the pool door.
"Yeah, I'm fine, seriously. I was just a bit nervous about you all making the time. But that clearly wasn't a problem, so everything's good. Goodnight, Rizzoli and greet that husband of yours. Tell him that I expect to see him on the weekend, cheering for us!"
Jane laughed at that comment, said goodnight and went to the showers. When she arrived back at the locker room she was alone, except for the blonde stranger, of course, who was reapplying her make up on the far side of the room. Funnily, it seemed as if the woman had been waiting for her especially to join her. Jane tried to dress as quickly as possible since she was aware of the intense but uncomfortable gaze the stranger was examining her with.
She tried to distract her, bringing up and voicing her close victory from before. "You really are a hell of swimmer. I was pretty impressed because as you know, nobody here has ever managed that before."
The woman met her eyes in the mirror. "Thank you, but, honestly, it didn't surprise me at all since I noticed you weren't focused before the start. It was those seconds that made me win the match up in the end. And on that note, just an advice for next time: How about keeping your eyes to yourself next time, mh? I promise you that you'll be the successful one if you manage that." She chuckled loudly and Jane just wanted to drop off the face of the earth at the comment, too embarrassed by being caught while openly staring at the beautiful blonde.
Still, she didn't want to leave without fighting her ground, so she brought up the moment before the swimming pairs were decided on. "Yeah, I'll keep that in mind, even if some certain blonde here should also know to keep her eyes away from cleavage that doesn't belong to her.."
The stranger laughed, clearly impressed by Jane's advance. "Okay, I pledge guilty, even if the sight wasn't as satisfying as it could have been."
Was this woman flirting with her? Was she maybe even gay? Jane's mind was flooded with countless questions due to the last remark, but there was only one that she needed to be answered tonight.
"Interesting, but by the way, I think its only fair to get to know your name since we're obviously going to see each other more often now, don't you think?" The question sounded somewhat teasing yet desperate at the same time, but at this point Jane didn't care about it anymore. She wanted to know the name of the woman who could evoke such reactions in her.
The blonde grinned at her impatience and retrieved her stuff before getting up to leave. "You're a funny one Jane, but I'll grant you this wish since you lost against me earlier." She walked towards the door and without turning back, she uttered the name that would never leave Jane again.
"My name is Maura Isles."
On another note, I just wanted to add that even if I can understand some people's dislike for Casey (I don't like him either), he does play an important role for both the plot and development of Jane's character, so I can tell you that he'll be sticking around for the next chapters.
While I do encourage every comment and opinion on this story, I will ask you to please express this opinion constructively and refrain from displaced and foul language. Otherwise, I will unfortunately have to consider removing your comment since I don't want my story to be a place where unreflected and disheartening comments can get the attention they so desperately want.
Sorry for the long note, but thank you for understanding.
Have a nice day,
A.