Friendly Fire Chapter 25
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A/N: I apologize for the delay in posting once again. I have had to deal with a few setbacks including an unexpected hospitalization. When you fight the war alone, sometimes it takes just a bit longer to win. I appreciate the comments, reviews and messages I've received over this story. Good and bad, it's all good. The final chapter is up. I thank you fanfic readers for giving me a chance. Sincerely, Solitarysoldier.
Melinda McDaniels could only smile. She knew she would come back, she'd knew it would only be a matter of time and she'd come back to her. Melinda focused on Jane's eyes as she fielded her former lover's voice. "You're too late. Show's over."
"Nah, not yet. I think Rizzoli's had enough." Vincent took a few steps closer only to stop when Melinda raised the knife so it rested tightly against Jane's carotid artery.
"I say when Rizzoli's had enough." Melinda stared at Jane without seeing her and it was obvious that she was watching Vincent through Jane's reaction.
Vincent's sudden movement forward caused Melinda to turn, pulling Jane in front of her. The knife slid into Jane's skin just as her elbow thrust back into Melinda's body. Jane used what strength she had left to spin around so that she was behind Melinda. She quickly had her cuffed hands against Melinda's throat knowing she couldn't possibly out power Melinda in her condition. She just had to hold on long enough for Vincent to get to them. Just a little longer until...the sound was loud. Familiar and loud and Jane could feel Melinda's weight on top of her as she felt her own body slam down onto the floor. Her body burned and she tried to hold her breath against the pain that forced her body still.
"Jane!" Maura was only a few feet from Jane when she was quickly pulled away. Jane looked toward her voice but her eyes closed before she could know if Jane knew she was there.
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"It is now day three and your mother and brother both have begged me to leave. Just for a hot shower and a short nap, but I refuse. I can't risk not being here when you wake." Maura spoke directly into Jane's ear, wanting and needing to be as close to her as possible. "I know you can hear me, Jane. There have been plenty of studies conducted on whether a comatose patient can hear or not. I know you can hear me, I have to believe that."
Maura stared at Jane's still form and the guilt that threatened to break her was once again very present. She reached for Jane's hand and almost pulled away when she realized how cold it was. Jane needed to be warm, she needed to be warmed and Maura hated that she was cold and uncomfortable. She held one of Jane's hands between both of hers.
"Jane, I should've listened to you. You warned me, but I didn't understand. You knew." Maura fought against the tears. "Now what have I done?"
Maura hoped but didn't expect any response from Jane. Instead she watched the slight movement of her chest as Jane seemed to be resting peacefully. She had been too peaceful for too many days. It was time to wake up. Time to come back to her. Time to tell Jane that it was indeed over now.
"Frankie is worried, Jane. Worried you will be angry with him, but you shouldn't be. I begged him to bring me there. I demanded he take me to you and I went in around back." Maura talked to Jane as if she were wide awake. She knew it was important. "I saw Melinda and I saw you, Jane and all I know is I couldn't let her kill you."
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There was no way of knowing what exactly happened first. No way of knowing so no way of accurately telling. Vincent stared at the men before her and she knew no matter how long she was questioned, her story wouldn't change. Everything happened so quickly that she had to decide just how it all did go down and stick to that story. She felt the contact from behind her and the scream that followed. Try as she may she had no idea who screamed. Her money was on Dr. Isles but she would never say so. She could not remember if she even tried to stop the good doctor or if her words were simply not heard. It was an instant, a simple second in time, but she knew she would never forget the look on her former lover's face. She was smiling while facing a certain death.
She felt the adrenaline rush her, grab her heart and shove it up into her throat. She was fairly certain Dr. Isles felt the same way as she loved Jane Rizzoli now as she had loved Melinda McDaniel's then. She heard the deafening blast of the gunshot, and smelled the acrid powder, tasted it as it burned the back of her throat. Then there was complete silence, all sound simply erased by the events. She remembered wanting to look at Dr. Isles but couldn't take her eyes from Melinda. Then she saw Jane Rizzoli and it was then that she closed her eyes in a futile attempt to erase the image before her.
Vincent felt the beat of her heart throbbing in her raw throat, pulsing to a crazy, offbeat rhythm and the ground beneath her seemed to shake. She opened her eyes and slowly the sound began to filter back in, the ringing from the gunshot mixing with the sirens as they got louder and louder. It was a warning, she knew, that there wasn't much time. Dr. Isles needed her to react, she needed to react to what had just happened. Melinda was always the one to push the envelope, color outside the lines when necessary, but she was not. Always by the book, always by the rules. Today was different, and today she would need to be as well.
She looked back at Dr. Isles, who seemed to be frozen in the moment as well. There were tears running down her bloodied face, her trembling mouth open slightly. Vincent knew she was in shock over what she had been through, what she had seen and what she had done. Eventually she would comprehend it all and it was going to hurt. Yeah, this would definitely leave a mark on the beautiful Dr. Isles. She reached out in an attempt to get the doctor's attention before placing her hands gently on the gun, pushing it down away from herself. Dr. Isles was traumatized and it would have been nothing to fire again.
Maura's grip was tight and Vincent could feel the way her hands shook along with the rest of her body. She gently pried Maura's fingers loose and took the gun from her. She quickly and efficiently wiped Dr. Isles prints from the gun with her shirt before securing the weapon tightly in her own hand. "Do not say anything. Do you understand, Dr.? Nothing."
Vincent was nervous, not for herself but for Dr. Isles. She quickly put herself in position to fire and waited. It would only be seconds before the Calvary showed. It only took seconds to see the damage she would claim responsibility for. Melinda McDaniel's wasn't moving. Jane Rizzoli wasn't moving, but Maura Isles was. She was nearly to Jane when she was hauled back by the officers that stormed the room. And then she heard the scream again and this time she was sure who it had come from. Dr. Isles just realized she had shot her friend and the woman she loved more than her own life.
She closed her eyes and tried to not think about what she had just done, the lines she had just crossed. She fired again, it was necessary. The offices screamed at her to drop the weapon. They had arrived not a second too soon. Then they screamed at her to get down. She hesitated to give Dr. Isles a chance to look her way and when she did the words they didn't speak were so very clear. Vincent would take responsibility in order to spare Dr. Isles any more pain than she would have to endure. Paramedics rushed in as well and Dr. Isles was taken from the room. Vincent couldn't hear exactly who they pronounced at the scene, but her guess was it was Melinda McDaniel's.
"Can you at least tell me if Detective Rizzoli is going to make it?" Vincent was tired, but still sat straight at the table surrounded by men in suits and multiplying Styrofoam coffee cups.
"Melinda McDaniel's did not survive her fatal gunshot wound. That much I can tell you." The large suit in charge was annoying but thorough, she had to give him that. "She probably would have survived her leg wound. Why shoot her twice, when your initial choice was to disable?"
Vincent thought about the question. She had plenty of reason to shoot Melinda. Plenty of reason to make sure she was more than disabled but she would never say why she shot twice. It just had to be as far as the suits needed to know. Vincent knew she would be tested for GSR on her hand and it would be there. The gunshot and then the sight of the gun in her hand aimed at Melinda would be enough for everybody to assume the shooting was her. They wouldn't look at Dr. Isles at all except maybe to look at her head injury. Vincent was glad for that for Dr. Isles had taken quite the beat down from Melinda back at her house; down in her basement.
Melinda was killed first, there really was no need to kill her again. Vincent would mourn what they shared later, right now she would do what she could to make things as right as possible for Dr. Isles and Detective Rizzoli. She knew eventually it would all come out and someone bucking for a promotion would put the pieces together, but then again unless Rizzoli died, it was over for everybody.
"Do you have anything else you want to say?" annoying man again.
"I'd like my lawyer now." Vincent relaxed now. Finally after being on the run from Melinda McDaniel's she could now finally relax.
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Maura studied Jane's face, both relieved and disappointed there was no sign of her waking. The doctors all confirmed that barring anything unforeseen, it would be up to Jane and her body when she would wake. She would heal, her wound serious, but not fatal. She had survived worse, at least medically speaking, but Maura would always argue that point. She had shot Jane and she both dreaded and welcomed the opportunity to tell her just how sorry she was.
"I don't know what came over me. I just saw the gun and grabbed it from Officer Vincent and fired. I didn't care if I killed her, I just wanted to her to stop hurting you." Maura carefully inspected the wounds that looked so angry on Jane's face, wanting to touch her, knowing not to. "I don't know how you will ever forgive me. I don't know how I will ever forgive myself."
Maura hadn't left the hospital, and only on occasion left Jane's side. That was only when her mother or brothers wanted to be with her and she used the time to find out all she could on Jane's injuries, Melinda's death and Vincent's fate. She had to talk to Jane about Vincent. She had to come clean. Maura Isles did not lie, yet she had to chose between sitting with Jane now or clearing her conscious for later. Dr. Isles worked with the dead, she certainly didn't cause it. Yet she had this time. She murdered Melinda McDaniel's and nearly killed Jane in the process. Jane would know what to do; how to fix this. Jane would find a way to clear Vincent. She would tell Jane the truth and trust that she would fix it for all of them. Maura had no doubt that Jane would make everything okay, but she just had to wake up first.
"Jane, I need you." Maura whispered directly into Jane's ear.
Jane had heard Maura talking to her and she had wanted to open her eyes, but simply couldn't. So she listened and she understood what had happened and she had wanted more than anything to help Maura. She listened to Maura's soft voice in her ear and willed herself to open her eyes. And when she did, the wordless conversation meant more than anything either of them could have said.
Jane looked up at the ceiling for a long few moments before looking back at Maura. "It will be okay. Vincent will be okay. Never say what happened. Please, Maura. Never say."
Maura didn't try to fight the tears as Jane's voice somehow made everything okay. "You don't hate me?"
Jane knew they would have so much to work through but right now all she wanted to do was stare at Maura. "Never. Friendly Fire happens all the time. It's over, Maur. It's over."