A/N: Not sure if it's necessary to warn you, but please note that there is some violence ahead.
By the fourth call, Jane hit 70 mph. She flew through another red light, sirens blaring.
"Maura..." she begged into the phone. Pick up, pick up.
Jane let out another string of expletives. How could she have been so careless? And yet, did she have cause for concern? The prison guard said that Doyle had someone on the inside protecting Maura. So would Cavanaugh have any reason to hurt her?
The car screeched as Jane forced it into a sharp turn, cutting down a one way street. If she had nothing to worry about, then why hadn't Maura picked up the phone? Cavanaugh may have realized that Maura may be his only bargaining chip once he knew that Jane could connect him with Doyle.
"Fuck, Maura," she whispered, as the fifth call proved unsuccessful. "Just hold on. I'm coming, I'm coming."
As she pulled onto Maura's street, Jane immediately noticed that the unmarked car with the two uniforms was gone. She got out of the car, hand on her gun. She noticed another Crown Victoria parked three cars up. She removed the gun from her holster and slowly approached the car. She walked to it cautiously, peering inside the windows. The picture of Cavanaugh's wife and child confirmed it.
Fuck.
Maura had spent the morning tidying up around the kitchen. She expected to feel exhausted, but instead found herself wired and unsure of what to do with herself. She wanted to be back in the morgue. Nothing gave her more confidence and relaxation than beginning the Y incision. The feeling of the cool instruments against her fingers was like meditation. The cold air of the morgue made her feel at ease. She was in her element down there, and she craved feeling a sense of empowerment again.
Wiping down her spotless counter for the second time, Maura realized she needed to find something else to do. Knowing that she wasn't allowed to leave her house, she began to make her way upstairs to the yoga room. Perhaps the Savasana pose could help bring her the relaxation she so desperately needed.
Sitting atop her legs, Maura took a deep breath and attempted to clear her mind. She laughed at herself; attempting to avoid Jane only brought her to the forethought of her mind. Jane's warm smile appeared before her. Try as she might, she realized that she no longer could say that she cared solely for herself. Jane had woven her way through her heart. Maura cringed at the though of pushing Jane out so abruptly this morning. Jane had shown her nothing but kindness, and Maura paid her back by promptly shoving her out the door.
Right as Maura began to think of ways to make up for her poor behavior, she heard the doorbell ring. Maura froze. Surely the two policemen outside would have stopped anyone from getting to the door?
Maura's curiosity got the better of her. She quietly crept down the stairs and looked through the peephole. She let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding. It was only Lieutenant Cavanaugh.
"Lieutenant," she smiled, "won't you come in?"
"Thanks, Dr. Isles," Cavanaugh smiled back, "Glad to see you looking well." He stepped aside, letting Maura close and lock the door behind him. "Hope you don't mind, I let the two fellas outside take a little break while I was over here. I let them know you were in good hands."
"Oh I'm sure they were happy to take a break. May I fix you something to drink?"
"Oh no, Dr. Isles, I just wanted to check in to see how you were doing. I wanted to let you know that we've got Dr. Pike covering for you as long as you need."
Maura groaned inwardly, "How, um, nice. But no, I should be back as soon as all of this gets sorted out."
Maura bit her lip. Had Jane talked to Cavanaugh? Had she given away too much? From what she could hear from Jane's phone conversations, it sounded like they wanted to keep the whole thing quiet.
There was a pause. Maura was unsure how to proceed. She found it strange that Cavanaugh was here in the first place; she didn't take him for the kind of man who made home visits often. Couldn't all of this be done over the phone?
"On second thought," Cavanaugh said, breaking the silence, "I will take that drink, if you're still offering."
Maura smiled politely. "Of course. Coffee or tea?"
As she began to walk towards her kitchen, she heard her cellphone ring. A jolt of excitement shot through her. That must be Jane checking in!
She turned to find Cavanaugh holding her phone, a small smile on his face.
Maura gave him a curious look, and smiled as she extended her hand, expecting Cavanaugh to place the phone in it.
Cavanaugh didn't move.
"Lieutenant?" Maura asked hesitantly.
All of a sudden the room began to swirl. She invited Cavanaugh in, allowed him to send her backup home, and now stood defenseless in her own living room.
"Sean..." Maura felt her breath begin to quicken.
"I prefer we stick to our formal names. This is simply business, after all."
The phone had already started to ring again.
"That's - that's Jane. I know it is. And if I don't answer, she's going to know something's wrong."
"I'm fully aware of that Dr. Isles, which is why I'm hoping you'll come quietly."
Maura's mind began racing. The only thing she had was home court advantage. She began to think of what she could use in the living room as a weapon. She glanced sideways to the kitchen, trying to judge if she could make it from where she was. No, Cavanaugh has the advantage. He'd be able to block her, unless she could distract him somehow.
Working off of pure adrenaline, Maura picked up the lamp nearest to her, and threw it at him. Though she didn't make much impact, it was enough time to let her run into the kitchen and grab a knife.
"Dr. Isles, do we really need to go through all of this? I really don't think you want to mess up that pretty face of yours."
Maura held the knife out, her hands shaking. "Why are you doing this? If you're here to protect me, why aren't you letting me answer Jane?"
The phone was now beginning to ring for a third time. At this point, Maura was sure that Jane would have decided to check in on her. But the precinct was 15 minutes away. She needed to drag out her capture for as long as possible.
"For all Jane says about you, you really are a very simple girl," Cavanaugh said with a sick smile, "My allegiance is to my money. Doyle supplied it for many years. We had a pretty great partnership throughout the 80s. Doyle knows that he can trust me to get the job done, so long as I'm paid well for it. My rise in power at PBD helped us both."
"But Doyle's a worried man," Cavanaugh continued, slowly getting closer to Maura, "He insisted that I take further steps to watch over you when he was shot and news broke about your connection to him."
"Further steps?"
"I had to find reasons to stop by, so I started seeing that blathering woman to keep closer tabs on you," he said, inching closer.
Maura gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. "You... and Angela. None of it was real?"
Cavanaugh took Maura's stunned look at his opportunity to make a move. He lunged forward and grabbed one of her arms. In her panic, Maura attempted to swipe across with the knife while squirming to get away. She made a small cut on his left arm, but he was able to back her against the kitchen island. The force of the hit against the marble countertop caused Maura to drop the knife.
"Big mistake," he said, pushing Maura into the counter again and grabbing a fistful of her hair.
Maura's cell, now on the floor, began ringing again. The fourth time.
"Putting your faith is Rizzoli was a poor choice, Doctor. She assumed Doyle put security at the precinct when he was put in jail. Turns out she was completely wrong, wasn't she?" Cavanaugh laughed, "she was always a sorry excuse for a cop."
Maura winced from the pull Cavanaugh had on her hair.
"Get off of me!"
With her free arm, Maura threw out an elbow and hit Cavanaugh in the throat. She gasped at the pain from the bruises on her forearm, which were still tender from the night she was drugged. Cavanaugh let go of her arm as he choked for breath, and Maura broke away and scrambled for the phone. She felt Cavanaugh reach out for her again, but she was able to slip through. She rushed towards the door, grasping at the handle with panic, but felt Cavanaugh's arm around her waist. She screamed and kicked, but he was able to drag her back into the house and shut the door with his foot.
"You're worth about twice what I'm getting," he muttered, heaving her further back into the house. The phone began to ring for the fifth time, and it was clear that Cavanaugh realized his time was now running short. He stepped over to the phone and slammed it with his foot, shattering it into pieces.
Maura and Cavanaugh both froze for a second at the sound of sirens. They were faint. Right when Maura felt excitement begin to surge through her body, the sirens stopped. She strained to hear them again. But they were gone.
Cavanaugh laughed, "Told you, you're giving her too much credit."
His grin instantly faded when he heard a car come to a stop outside. Keeping a strong hold on Maura, Cavanaugh peered put the window. It was an unmarked police car.
"Damn it," he growled. He tugged Maura into the back of the house. "Make a sound, and it'll be the last thing you remember."
"You can't hurt me, if you're planning to send me to someone else," Maura said, still struggling against his grip.
"You are sorely mistaken, Doctor. Kill you, no, but there are many ways to cause pain without leaving a noticeable mark." He gave another sharp tug of her hair, "Now keep quiet."
Cavanaugh waited in the patio until her heard the front door open. He knew Jane would be armed, and he needed to put enough distance between them. He realized that reaching for his own gun would be difficult, given that Maura wouldn't cooperate as he had expected her to. He pulled Maura out the gate to the patio and quickly made his way towards the door, his hand around Maura's mouth, attempting to keep her screams quiet.
He opened up the trunk to his car, and shoved Maura inside. He heard her head bump the trunk as it came down.
Cavanaugh was glad enough that would keep her quiet for awhile. He heard a flurry of sirens and realized Jane must have called for back up. He smiled and put the key in the ignition, knowing that had just enough time to get out completely unseen.
"Looking for this?"
Cavanaugh jumped as he heard Jane Rizzoli's voice coming from the front of his car. She stood, gun raised steadily in one hand, the connecting hose to the car's engine in the other.
Hair swirling in the cool October breeze, Jane coolly removed the safety from her gun.
"Make the slightest move, and I'll shoot a bullet through your head."
A/N: I may or may not have been influenced by The Sound of Music during that last scene. :)
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