A/N: Yeah, the last chapter was a rough one and I didn't want to post without having at least the next one to go with it. The cliffhanger where Kate was shot by the sniper? Yeah that sucked. The one where Jane shot herself and Bobby, sucked worse. Great episodes, but I hated waiting for the next seasons. So here we go with Part Two. Z, MJ, M. I had a lot of mixed feelings and emotions on the last one and this one. Please let me know what you're thinking.
There were days that Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh hated her job. Tonight was no exception as she climbed out of the BPD cruiser assigned to her boyfriend Woody Hoyt. He looked at her over the roof and his eyes were warm and reassuring, telling her that he was right behind her.
She took a deep breath and steadied herself. She hated calls like this but as the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts she couldn't just back out of a call, and not when it came from her uncle, Lieutenant Sean Cavanaugh.
She spotted him standing near the fire trucks and two ambulances off to one side of the wreck as a man on a gurney was loaded into the back. She opened the back door of Woody's car and pulled out the medical bag Maura Isles had given her, again reminding her of the life that was taken. A life that her former boss had valued greatly.
She took a deep breath and headed over to the wrecked cruiser. She never made it to the car as another siren blared loudly from around the corner. The car came to a screaming halt in the snow and the siren was switched off. Two women jumped out of the car and rushed over to the Ambulance. Jordan could see the glint of Badges on their coats.
Before she made it to the car that still held the body of her friend the dark haired woman was running to the car.
"FROST!" She shouted. Jordan recognized her as Jane Rizzoli.
She held her hands out to stop the former detective and she was shoved to the side. Woody grabbed ahold of her as Jordan added herself to the restraining force.
"HE'S GONE, RIZZOLI!" Woody shouted.
"NOO!" she shoved him back.
"Jane!" Jordan shouted, "Listen to me!"
Jane stopped as she eyed the ME.
"You don't want to go over there." She said and her voice was shaking, "I know already, you don't want to see it Jane."
"He was my friend!" She shouted.
"He was mine too." Jordan said, and she couldn't keep it held any longer. She let loose the tears, "He was my friend too, Jane. He welcomed me when Maura fired Pike. He helped me step up after she left. He let me help him and Korsak solve cases and he was my friend too."
Jane stopped fighting woody as Korsak joined them but her eyes never left the sight of the wreck.
"Janie?" he said, "There getting ready to take Castle to Mass General. Beckett's going to ride with him. I think you should go talk to them before they go."
She broke eye contact with the car and looked to her old sergeant.
He nodded, "There's no reason to see it Jane. Best you remember him like he was."
A tear slid down her cheek as Woody and Jordan let her go. She nodded to him and headed toward the ambulance. She had just made it to the back when they heard gunshots in the distance. All eyes turned toward the park.
Cavanaugh looked out into the night, "Someone get me a radio!"
A uniform jogged up and as he unhooked his mike the dispatcher called out, "Shots fired, Officer down Beacon and Joy, Boston Commons. Shots fired officer down Beacon and Joy. Civilian caller, Alexis Castle."
"Alexis." Jane gasped.
She heard Castle call to Kate, "Go get her."
Kate jumped out of the EMS and ran as fast as she could to the Impala. Jane was already sliding into the driver's seat as several other officers ran to their cars. Cavanaugh shouted directions as he too ran for a car.
Jane spun the car around in reverse and floored it down Boylston towards Charles Street. Again the sirens wailed out into the night. Nearly half of the other BPD cruisers took off with them.
Jordan shouted to the second ambulance, "GO! GET OVER THERE! BEACON AND JOY! MOVE YOUR ASSES!"
The EMT's who were preparing to transport Frost to the morgue slammed doors shut and jumped in. They too followed the lights down Boylston.
Jane pulled the emergency break at Charles Street and the car slid sideways around the corner. Once she let it go, she floored it again and headed towards Beacon at a dangerous pace. She had been grateful Maura had sent her to Racing School a couple of years ago for her birthday but never as grateful as she was right now. She had a healthy lead over the other cruisers and as she came around the corner at Beacon she seen the SUV sitting sideways blocking the street.
Kate had a death grip on the door waiting for Jane to stop the car. Not because she was scared of Jane's driving, far from it. She was scared for Alexis. Officer down was not something she would say lightly. Something very wrong happened.
Jane slid the car sideways again as she came around the SUV to see Dean's Lincoln Jammed long ways between two trees. She shoved the Impala into park and they jumped out.
"HELP ME!" It was Alexis and she sounded in absolute pain. "HELP ME! SOMEBODY!"
A glance to her partner ant they both had their gun drawn and were running to the other side of the car and Kate gasped as she seen the carnage.
Alexis caught sight of them, "She's dying. HELP ME!" She was crying Jane caught sight of Maura and ran to her. She fell on to her knees and started screaming.
"Maura!" She held a hand to her neck and felt the light pulse as Alexis continued to wail. "Maura, baby?!"
Her skin was so cold. All of a sudden the night she had been forced to cut into Maura's leg came back to haunt her. She almost lost her that night on the way to the hospital. Jane pushed her hands around Alexis' and took over.
Alexis slid away and into Kate's arms. "I don't know what to do, Mom. Help her, please!"
BPD Cruisers came to a halt on the street and Kate called out, "Call an ambulance! Get a Medic here NOW! Code Blue!"
"Ambulance is on the way, he's at the end of the line!" He started shouting to the others, "Clear the way for the Med!"
The uniform called into his radio. "Get that ambulance up front, code blue. Beacon and Joy."
He shined a light on Maura, then Alexis then at Kate. "Where's the officer down?"
"He's in the car, DOA." She said quietly as she rocked Alexis in her arms. "He's FBI. This is Dr. Isles, your previous CME and she's bleeding out."
The ambulance arrived and the uniforms yanked the gurney out and hauled it over to the doc. The paramedics hot on their heels.
"Maura, baby, don't do this to me." Jane said her voice quivering, "You can't leave me here like this."
She leaned in to Maura, "I want to have a baby with you. I can't do that if you leave me."
The EMT's landed next to her and started their jobs.
"Ma'am. I need you to let go." One of them said.
"Compresses." She shouted.
"I have them right here just lift up one hand and I'll apply it." He said, Jane pulled her hand away and he jammed the pad over the wound. She lifted her other and he repeated the process.
"She's tacky as hell, we got to move her now." The other one said, his name tag identified him as Morgan.
"We need to stabilize." Jefferson said to Morgan.
"Move her now or she's gone." He shouted to the uniforms surrounding them.
They slid her onto a board and BPD picked her up while the EMT's worked. They started hauling her to the Ambulance. When Jefferson said, "We need to stabilize or no one can drive."
"This is Dr. Maura Isles!" Morgan shouted, "BPD can drive!"
Jane looked to Kate who still held Alexis tightly. "Go with her!"
Jane ran for the back of the ambulance. BPD shoved the gurney into the back and the EMT's climbed aboard. A young female officer ran to the front and jumped into the driver's seat. Jane climbed in and a cop slammed the doors shut. He shouted into his radio, "Go Charlie!"
Officer Charlotte Hansen put the ambulance into drive and flipped on the siren. Two BPD cruisers took up the lead and she headed to Mass General.
Kate held Alexis tight as she continued to bawl into her, "I'm sorry. Mom, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to be so awful to her, I'm sorry." Kate registered the words and knew Alexis was in shock. She needed to get her out of the cold.
"It's alright baby girl." She said. "I know you didn't mean it. She knows it too."
Cavanaugh came around the car and looked at Kate and the young Alexis Castle. He looked at the body and at Agent Dean.
He shouted at the officers, "Get some blankets over here now!"
As several officers ran over he directed them to cover the bodies and wrap two of them around the women. He knelt down in front of them.
"How is she?" he said softly.
Kate looked up, "She's in shock. I have to get her out of here, sir."
"Get her into the car, I'll take you over." He said more softly.
He signaled two uniforms to help them up.
"Baby girl?" Kate said softly, "We have to get up now. Can you walk?"
Alexis cried out more. Kate shook her head and adjusted her arms around Alexis. She tried to pick her up but started to stumble on the frozen ground. Cops grabbed her and Alexis and helped them up. Kate walked to Jane's car carrying Alexis. Officers held them both up and eased them into the back seat. Cavanaugh shut the door and headed around the car.
"You call Mass Gen and have them standing by to assist." He said as he slid into the car. He put the car in gear and headed to the hospital.
"Sean Cavanaugh." He said, "You must be Beckett."
She nodded as she crooned to Alexis.
He listened to the girl crying, "I killed him, Mom."
"Killed who sweetheart?" she said softly.
"The man who killed Dean, who shot Maura, I killed him. I'm sorry. Mom, I'm so sorry." She burst into tears again. "I killed someone."
"Shh," she said softly, "don't worry about that right now. Just don't worry about it. I've got you and you're going to be okay."
Cavanaugh made the turn off of Joy and onto Cambridge. Kate watched as he checked both sides of the street for any further attacks. He had deliberately left the police lights on to identify Jane's car as a police vehicle. Two blue and whites took up position behind him as he made his way to Grove Street. He kept his other eye on Kate and Alexis.
They made it to the hospital without incident and Cavanaugh handed the car off to an officer with instructions to park the car in the hospital police lot. He and another uniform helped Kate and Alexis ease out of the car and into the emergency room entrance.
Between his badge and Kate's the ER staff quickly got a doctor to administer a mild sedative to Alexis. Once finally asleep, Kate lowered her onto a hospital bed and a doctor checked her over. Kate pulled off her badge and clipped it onto the sleeping form of Alexis.
Cavanaugh stared at her. "What are you doing?"
"This will tell everyone here that she's a cop's kid."
"Is that how they do it in NYPD?" he asked.
"No." she said as the doctor carted her off, "We have special ones for family. I haven't gotten her one yet and now I'm wishing I had."
Cavanaugh lead her to the ER desk, "Richard Castle's location please." He said.
"No." she said to the receptionist. "I need to see my partner first."
He glanced at her but nodded, "Waiting area for Maura Isles."
The short Latina woman nodded and led the way. As they walked he couldn't help but ask, "Why Jane first? Your husband is here, too."
"Alexis is in shock but sedated. Rick isn't in danger of dying." She said and she took a deep breath, "Jane however, must be going insane and since she needs me the most right now that's where I need to be."
"I've known Jane a long time," he said, "I think I can handle her for a while if you want to see Rick."
"I know you're getting married to her mother, lieutenant. But believe me when I tell you that I'm the only other person besides Maura that's going to be of any comfort to her tonight."
"That's why she went to you in New York." He said.
"Jane lost some good people tonight and even if they can save Maura, it's going to shake Jane badly. She's really going to be on edge, sir and I'm the one you want nearby."
They came into the waiting room to find Jane pacing back and forth. She stopped as she caught sight of Kate. Two steps and Kate had her arms around her friend. Jane buried her face in the chestnut waves and let out a loud cry.
Kate stood still as Jane let out her worry, her fear, and her doubts. Cavanaugh had never seen Jane let go like that. He calmly headed to the nurses station to get some information about Maura.
After a few minutes Jane composed herself but the worry and fear were still there. "How's Alexis?"
"She was in shock but they have her sedated and she's resting now."
"And Rick?"
"His leg is broken in three places and he has a fractured rib." She smiled as she rubbed a tear from her partners face, "How are you?"
"Scared shitless." Jane sniffed, "she crashed in the ambulance and they got her going again but she crashed again when they took her back. I don't know anything else."
"Jane." She said softly. "There's nothing you or I could have done."
"Frost and Dean are dead, Kate!" she said sharply, turning her grief into anger. "They died over this case. Maura might not make it, and they tried to kill Alexis too."
"I know Jane!" she shouted her own guilt piling up in front of her. "I know, damn it. It's my fault. I couldn't leave my mother's death alone and it's gotten a lot of my friends killed too."
"Goddamn it that's not what I'm saying at all!" Jane shouted back, "I'd be doing the same fucking thing if it was my own mother! Don't you dare feel guilty about that!"
"Then what are you saying, Jane?" She fired back, "What do you think we should do about it?"
"Let's bring this mother fucker down!" she shouted, "Open it up, full bore. No more hiding. We dig and we dig until we have enough evidence to bring this son of a bitch to his fucking knees!"
Cavanaugh rushed back over to them and stuck two fingers in his mouth and blew a shrewd whistle. They turned to look at him.
"That's enough! Now I don't know exactly what you two are into but it stops right now. I lost a good cop today. I got a dead FBI agent in my town and a dead guy who killed him. A traumatized girl who made the bad guy dead and my former ME is in critical care from protecting said girl from said bad guy. Now I'm listening to you argue over a case that may have brought this shit to my town. I'd throw you both in lock up right now except that my future wife would call for my head on a platter and my nuts in a cup! Now shut up! Both of you! Or you can get your asses on a plane and GET THE HELL OUT OF MY TOWN!" His voice echoed throughout the room.
Nurses and Orderlies froze in place as he turned and walked back to the desk. A glare from them and sight of his gold badge got everyone moving again. Kate stared at him in disbelief as Jane turned away angry. She paced the floor again and Kate soon joined her. It was an hour before a nurse came out.
"Castle Family?" She said.
Kate and Jane immediately headed to her.
"Mr. Castle is out of surgery and is in a recovery room, I can bring you both back now." She said.
Kate nodded and Jane followed her.
Her senses slowly returned but her eyes felt so heavy and she tried hard to open them. They wouldn't move. She tried again and again until the faintest of light started to work its way into her vision. Again she forced herself to open her eyes and more light was revealed until it was too bright, her vision blurry.
She blinked and her vision started to clear so she blinked again and d finally she found chocolate eyes with sharp cheek bones, a huge grin with brilliant white teeth and small worry lines around those eyes.
"Hey." The woman said, her face familiar to her but the fog in her mind wouldn't allow her to recall the woman. "Are you feeling better?"
She blinked again and tried to clear her head. "What happened?" she managed to whisper.
"You scared us so much." Jane said.Her name is Jane.
"I feel like crap." She whispered.
"Well you give a minute for that shot to wear off and it'll go away." She said and her hand brushed a lock of red hair out of her vision.
"Alexis." Jane said, "You were so brave, kiddo. I'm so proud of you."
Proud of me? What did I do? She took a deep breath and the fog rolled away in her brain. Last night came back to her in a rush. The car ride the crash, the gunshots, Maura grabbing her nad then falling in the snow.
MAURA! Alexis jerked up and immediately regretted it as her stomach pitched. She held the bile down and gasped. "MAURA!"
Jane grabbed her by the shoulders and steadied her. "Whoa there, take it easy."
"Maura was shot!" She looked at her hands and didn't see the blood that had coated it earlier. "Was it a dream? Please tell me it was a dream."
Jane's smile faded, "No, baby girl, it wasn't a dream, I'm sorry."
"Where is she?" Alexis' voice rose in a panic, "I need to see her. I need to apologize."
"You can't, baby girl." Jane said and took her hand, "She can't hear you."
Her mind immediately jumped to the worst and guilt filled her, "no… No… Please Aunt Jane, tell me she's not dead. PLEASE!"
Jane pulled her into her arms tightly, "She's not dead, kiddo. She's not."
"Then where is she? Why can't she hear me?"
"She's in a coma." Jane said and Alexis watched Jane's grief fill her face, "She's in a bad way but she's strong. They put her in a medical induced coma."
"Take me to her." Alexis said as she swung her legs off the bed, "I need to see her."
"Alexis."
"NOW!" She shouted.
Jane stepped back to look at her niece. Alexis had a fire in her eyes that Jane had seen before. It was the same fire that Kate got when she wouldn't take no for an answer.
"I just came from there." Jane said, "You shouldn't see her like that."
Alexis stood up and started heading for the door, her bare backside barely covered under the open back of the hospital gown.
"Hey." She stopped to look at her Aunt. "If you're going to go anyway, put these on first." Jane tossed black hospital scrubs down on the bed and walked out.
Alexis looked at the blue hospital gown and at the scrubs. Jane was right of course but in her defense she just woke up in a hospital. As she took off the gown she heard a loud metal thud on the floor. She looked to see a detectives badge on the floor. Not just anyone's badge, it was Kate's.
She must have dropped it when she came to check on me.
She quickly changed and felt the cold seep into her feet. Where are all my clothes? She found a pair of blue crime scene booties siting on the chair Jane had been sitting in and slipped them on over her feet before retrieving the metal on the floor and walking out. She found Jane in the hall way and only then did she see that Jane was wearing the same outfit but with her badge hooked into the bottom of the v-neck line.
"Where are my clothes?" she asked.
"In evidence bags, the same as mine." She said. "Jordan Cavanaugh lent them to us."
"And this?" She held up the blue and gold shield and Jane took it out of hand. "Kate hooked that to you before the doctors took you away." She hooked the badge on the girl's shirt. "You can give it back to her when you see her."
Alexis stared open mouthed at the object as it hung on her. Kate didn't drop it or it fell off! She put it on me!
She gasped at what the gesture meant. Kate had very clearly declared that Alexis was family to an NYPD detective. Kate claimed her as her own child and that the hospital had better take care of her or face Kate's wrath. Again it was unusual but not unheard of. What was unheard of was that Alexis hadn't really been injured but Kate put her shield on her anyway.
She looked to Jane who waved her down the hall.
"C'mon." she said her voice devoid of emotion, "Let's go see your Dad first."
"Well look at this?" Rick said from a hospital bed identical the one Alexis had just left. "I leave you two alone for a couple of hours and you're dressing the same all over again."
"DAD!" Alexis ran to her father and grabbed him into a fierce hug.
"Hey!" he groaned, "Go easy there on the old man."
Alexis let him go and stared at the massive splint on his leg. "Are you all right?"
"More or less." He said nonchalantly as he looked over his wounds. "Leg's broke and some bruised ribs. The doctors said something about a concussion but I told them not to worry. Don't have much up there anyway."
"Dad." She said, "I was so worried about you."
"I know." He stroked her head, "I know but I'll be fine." His mind wandered to Maura. "I'll be fine," he repeated but more softly.
He looked to Jane and could see the worry all over her. She didn't even bother to hide it. Her eyes met his and he knew they were both thinking the same thing.
Jane quickly changed the subject, "Where's Kate?"
He smiled, welcoming the change, "She got called out by Cavanaugh. Not sure where they went but he was pretty insistent. They probably had to go call Gates."
Jane groaned loudly and she could just imagine what Captain Gates would be saying next time she came across her least favorite detective.
"Damn it Rizzoli. Trouble just follows you everywhere you go. I've got half a mind to yank your badge and toss your bony little ass out on the street. You're going to ruin your partner's reputation, my Homicide Squad's reputation, my precincts reputation, and the reputation of the whole NYPD. Now get the hell out of my sight."
Yep, the next conversation with Iron Gates was going to suck.
Jane grimaced as her mind drifted to the transfer paperwork in her desk.
"So what is this?" He asked as he fingered the badge on his daughter's shirt.
Alexis looked at him, "Aunt Jane said that Kate put it on me when the doctors took me away."
Rick smiled, "She loves you, Alexis."
"I know, Dad." She said as she hugged him, lighter this time, "I know."
As thoughts of Maura refilled her head, Jane forced a smile and quietly slipped out of the room and headed down the hallway. She couldn't stand it anymore and she began to run. Her booted feet slipped as she dashed around the corner and another short dash before she slid to a stop at the door to Maura's room.
She lay there deathly still and only the steady pace of the ventilator steady beep of the heart monitor proved that Maura was alive. She quietly shut the door and sat back down in the uncomfortable chair as she took her lovers hand into her own.
"I'm sorry I left you for so long, baby." She said to the sleeping form, "I had to check on Alexis and she's going to be okay, I think."
Jane tucked a lock of hair behind Maura's ear. "And now you have another reason to pull through this. She needs to talk to you, she wants to apologize." Her voice wavered, "So you don't worry about anything but getting better. I need you to get better, baby."
Jane stood up an eased herself onto the hospital bed with Maura. Careful not to knock anything lose and rested her head on Maura's pillow.
She kissed Maura's cheek and whispered into her ear, "I love you, Maura. I've loved you since the day I asked you out to lunch in the morgue and you've become such a part of my life that I can't live without you anymore." She squeezed Maura's hand, "Come back to me, baby, just come back."
A/N: Lee Thompson Young and Bruce McGill had a wonderful working chemistry and really brought the characters to life. I'll miss him on the show as much as all of you will. I really did think about keeping him going here but the truth is that things happen for reasons we never are certain of.LTY had his reasons too and no matter what anyone ever says about it, I won't judge him for it.But for the integrity of his character and the show that we love, I felt that it was an unfortunate landmark that couldn't be avoided. We are all slaves to our hearts and I must follow mine. Forgive me.
Rest in Peace Mr. Young with all of our hearts.
If this has in anyway offended anyone reading this, you have my sincerest apologies. It was certainly not my intention.
As far as agent Dean goes, After the Paddy deal, who hasn't wanted to pop this guy?
Okay that's not true at all. Dean was the best suited existing character to perform the task of the information, one of the few Jane could trust, and one who would die to protect the things Jane loves. I loved the Jane/Dean set up in the books and was hoping to see that in the show but since so many didn't like either the character on the show or Mr. Burke's portrayal of Gabriel Dean, which by the way was very similar to the Dean in Ms. Gerritsen's books, Ms. Tamaro shut him down.
So it goes to show that all you Rizzles supporters have a say, so start shipping Rizzles and push emails and Fill out the TNT surveys and all that stuff because they do listen from time to time. Here's hoping Ms. Nash gets the clue. Truth be told, I'd be just fine if they shot the Rizzles episode right now and sat on it for the Series Finale that inevitably must come. Such is the nature of TV.
Unless you're General Hospital. Unkh.
Since I haven't done this in a while, Liv, Paddy, and a new guy are coming in soon, the Transfer question is in the air but I'd love to hear thoughts, Boston or NYC. Plus as a tiny thing to offset all the bad I introduced Charlie Hansen as well, doesn't Frankie deserve some happiness too?
100K+ words, not bad for wanting to make a 5 shot. Oops. J