A/N: This chapter is rated M! You've been warned. Disclaimer: I do not own Rizzoli and Isles.
xxx
Maura and Jane found themselves in the M.E.'s office after their lunch with Frost. He returned to the precinct to try and make the connection between Alex and The Dealers henchmen after his epiphany.
Jane was stretched out on Maura's office couch with her arm lazily covering her eyes as she softly shook her head. She couldn't believe she had been that blind. Any other day, she would have immediately been able to see a connection that obvious. But she had loved Alex. It was difficult for her to see that her (at the time) fiancee would have been capable of such a thing.
Maura knew Jane needed a few moments alone with her thoughts to effectively process what they had just discovered. She pretended to read a medical journal on her computer, but as she browsed for a new pair of heels, she kept an eye on Jane. She saw her girlfriend stir and sit up and then focused her full attention on the brunette. Jane stood up from the couch and used her hands to rub her face, then wind through her curls.
She checked the time on her watch. "Guess I better head back up and help Frost." She started to turn and leave the office, but Maura stood up quickly from her desk.
"Jane, wait." The smaller woman was already making her way towards her girlfriend. When she reached her, she immediately wrapped her arms around her waist and buried her head in her chest. Jane responded promptly by wrapping her strong arms around Maura and allowing her head to bend slightly, inhaling the scene of honey blonde hair. "Jane, I know this case has been hard on you. But you will get through this. We will get through this. I promise." She removed her head from its place on Jane's chest to look into her eyes.
Jane squeezed Maura even tighter. "Thank you." Her voice was barely above a whisper and she placed a kiss on Maura's lips. "Thank you for always knowing what to say and when I need to hear it."
Maura returned a kiss of her own. "I love you, Jane."
"I love you too, Maura."
When Jane arrived back at her desk, she barely had time to place her jacket over her chair before Frost started talking. "So I spoke to Raffi from the drug unit. He gave me some files to look over. The name Paige keeps coming up." He typed something on the keyboard, and a recording began to play of a conversation The Dealer had with an undercover agent. Jane listened attentively.
"You don't have to worry if you get picked up. Paige will have you outta there in no time."
Frost fast-forwarded the recording.
"Yeah, Paige told me they're planning a bust for some time this week. She says she's got a feeling they'll have everything worked out by the 12th, so be on your toes this week. I need you and Marcus to be here at the warehouse."
"Frost, stop." Jane looked at her partner with wide eyes and her voice was tense. "Alexandra Paige was killed on December 12th. Marcus Mann was one of the guys they picked up for killing those officers during the bust. The other guy was named Calvin Shaw, but he was killed in a prison brawl not long after he was locked up. Marcus is still there though. You gotta take Raffi and go talk to them."
"On it." Frost stood and put his jacket on. As he was heading out of the precinct, Jane sat heavily in her desk chair and rubbed her temples with her index and middle fingers.
xxx
Meanwhile in the lab, Susie Chang was processing Alex's jeans. Always striving to be as thorough as her hero, Dr. Maura Isles, she decided to use a UV lamp to rule out any potential stains that may be crucial to the case. She turned off the fluorescent lights of the lab, and made her way to the pants with the UV lamp. She slowly scanned it over the clothing, taking her time to inspect every inch of denim. After she was unable to detect anything with the UV lamp, she made her way back towards the light switch. She caught a glimpse of a glow out of the corner of her right eye. When she turned to see where it was coming from, she was drawn to the baggie that had been brought in with the pants. Within the stamped logo of a white diamond with black outlines was a glowing purple "P".
This, of course, piqued her curiosity. She produced the baggies that had been scattered around the crime scene. All of them - except the copy cat's bag - had the same P embedded within the logo. She then compared those samples to the original baggies that were used by The Dealer. There, she found no P within the original.
Maura entered the lab at that time and started to turn on the lights before she saw Susie using the UV lamp. "Dr. Isles! I think you should take a look at this."
The Chief Medical Examiner was briefed by Susie on her recent discovery, and after seeing it for herself, she called Jane to deliver the news. From there, Jane texted Frost to make sure he asked Marcus if he had any knowledge regarding who was supposed to take over the coke business after The Dealer died. She knew it was in vain, but she still hoped Marcus would deny that it was "Paige."
It was nearly 5:00 before Jane finally received the long awaited phone call from Frost. "Rizzoli."
"Hey, Jane. Sorry it took so long. Criminals like to bargain before they talk. You know how it goes."
"Yeah, we'll get to that later though. What'd you find out?"
"You were right. Whoever Paige is, she's supposed to take over the business. After we agreed to let him have more visitation privileges for his daughters, he was more than happy to talk. Apparently there's some bad blood there. Paige promised to pull strings for him and Calvin after The Dealer was dead and she took over, but she didn't deliver. The only thing he's more loyal to than that coke business is his family. It really messed him up when he found out he was stuck in prison without being able to see them."
"Imagine that. Cop killer and family man." Jane scoffed. "So did he give you any info about who Paige is?"
"Even better. He identified her from a photo line up. It's definitely Alex." Jane was silent, so Frost continued explaining. "He said she started out by getting a little cash on the side for keeping The Dealer's boys out of jail or bouncing them after they were picked up. Then it escalated to losing evidence and planting it on his known competitors. With each step up the ladder, it meant more money for her. Eventually she was a full-blown informant for him. She was definitely the one that tipped them off about the bust."
Jane sighed, "So what happened after she was placed in witness?"
"That was all a ruse too. The two feds she was placed with during that month were dirty, as we suspected, and they let her continue communicating with The Dealer. She was able to give him guidance for how to handle our boys in the drug unit in order for him to have the upper hand. She was feeding him dirt on almost every detective in the unit. You should be glad you left when you did."
"Trust me. I am. How does this translate to her taking over the business? Maura found a UV stamp of the letter P on those new baggies we found. That was missing from the original design. She's marking her product."
"Well she's smart to hide it that way. From what Marcus could tell me, The Dealer saw her as more dedicated to the business than any other guy that worked for him. He made her his successor about a year after she went into witness. Marcus said she got greedy and that he wouldn't be surprised if she was the one that killed The Dealer. He said it was unlike him to be exposed to known threats. Marcus is even willing to testify to all of this."
Jane swallowed hard. She couldn't believe Frost was telling her that the woman she once loved and grieved might be a murderer and a drug lord in the making. She felt herself becoming sick. "Okay thanks, Frost." She quickly hung up the phone and headed for the restroom.
After emptying the contents of her stomach into the nearest toilet, Jane washed up at the sink and stared at herself in the mirror. The last time she stared at herself like this she realized she was in love with Maura. This time, it was entirely different.
Some detective you are. You couldn't even see that your fiancee was getting dirty money on the side from a drug dealer. A fucking drug dealer. When you worked the drug unit! Way to drop the ball on that one, Rizzoli. And you cried over this woman. You mourned her. And she played you for a fool. That's all you ever were to her. You're not a fool to Maura, but you might be if she knew how oblivious you were to Alex's side-business. But Maura probably still wouldn't think you were a fool for that. She's too good a person to think such a thing. She's too good for you.
"Jane?" Maura's voice brought her out of her thoughts. She turned to face the blonde, standing in the doorway. Maura began walking towards Jane, sensing something was wrong.
"Have you been vomiting?"
Jane couldn't help but laugh at her question. "How can you tell?"
"Well you look very pale, your hands feel clammy, and it smells like vomit." Maura giggled. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I am now." She wrapped her arms around Maura's waist as Maura's right hand came up to determine if she was feverish. "Don't worry, I'm not sick. Everything just hit me at once. It was a little too much to handle."
Maura's hands finally made their way around Jane's waist as she finished her examination. "I take it that means Frost confirmed your suspicions."
"Yeah," Jane's confirmation was barely audible. "She did it. I don't need to hear it from her to know she did it. We've got somebody that was tied to the dealer who's willing to testify against her. He knows the whole story. She'll be put away for a long time."
Maura looked up to meet Jane's gaze. "I'm sorry you're having to go through all this, love. I know it isn't easy on you. And I know you well enough to know that you're punching yourself for not recognizing it when it was happening."
Jane lips curved into a small smile. "It's kicking. I'm kicking myself, Maur." The two laughed softly. "But you're right.. I am."
"Imagine how long it would have taken Frost to crack this on his own. Even though you were technically banned from the case, you still made all the connections, and it only took you two days to do it. That's the finest display of detective work I've ever seen. Even from you, Jane Rizzoli."
xxx
Later that night, Maura was finishing up her nightly routine of brushing, flossing, removing her make-up and moisturizing her face. Jane was in Maura's bedroom, sitting on the side of the bed with her feet dangling off of it as she removed the magazine from her gun and began taking the entire thing apart. Her messy curls were pulled into an even messier bun. She moved to the floor and sat with her legs cross underneath her. She pulled her phone out and set the timer for zero. The pieces of her weapon were scattered around the floor, and she didn't notice Maura standing in the doorway of the adjoining bathroom. She hit start on the timer and with her eyes closed reassembled the weapon in a record time. She smiled proudly, pleased with herself for beating her previous record by a tenth of a second.
"Is this what you do in your spare time?" Maura laughed.
"No, this is what I do when I need to feel good about myself again." She said quietly, "If I can't shoot it, I take it apart and put it back together." Her voice sounded more confident at that. Maura moved closer to her and sat next to her in the floor with her back leaning against the side of the bed.
"You're good at other things too, Jane." Her voice was sultry, and it immediately grabbed Jane's attention.
"Is that right?" She moved so that she was on her hands and knees, situated so close to Maura that her lips hovered above Maura's.
Maura smiled before placing chaste kisses on Jane's lips between words. "Yes. It. Is."
Jane snaked her left arm around the small of Maura's back and slid her down so that she was lying on the floor. Jane then moved her left hand from Maura's back to the side of her face as she placed a passionate kiss on Maura's lips. She was thankful her hair was in a bun. She hated having to push it out of the way for her to fully taste Maura's lips. It didn't take long for Maura to deepen the kiss, gliding her tongue across Jane's lips before it slipped into her mouth. Jane moaned at the contact of Maura's tongue on hers.
"God, Maur. You're so fucking sexy." Jane began kissing her way down Maura's jawline, momentarily coming back up to nibble at her ear and flick the lobe with her tongue a couple of times before returning to trail kisses down Maura's neck.
When her lips met cotton, Jane realized that Maura was wearing one of her own oversized BPD shirts. She stopped kissing Maura and sat up so that she was straddling her lap. For a moment she just stared in awe at how beautiful her girlfriend was. No make-up, blonde hair in tousled curls, nothing on but an old ratty t-shirt that was three sizes too large. Maura Isles was perfection. There was no better sight in the world than this. She felt Maura's hands searching for their scarred partners, and met them so their fingers could intertwine. Both women held each other's gaze. Jane remained straddling Maura. She wanted to burn this sight into her memory.
"What are you thinking right now, Jane?" Maura was genuinely curious, and smiled sweetly as she asked the question.
"I'm thinking about how I don't ever want to live a day without you. I've never wanted anything so bad - badly! - in my life. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you as the first thing I see when I wake up and the last thing I see before I fall asleep." Maura shifted so that she was sitting on her knees in front of Jane as she continued to listen. Their hands remained interlocked. "I want us to build a life together, Maur-"
"Let's get married, Jane."
"Wha- Maur, are you sure? Wait - no. We can't. I don't have a ring for you or anything. You need a ring."
"No I don't, Jane. I just need you." Maura kissed Jane desperately, placing her hand on the back of Jane's neck and pulling them impossibly closer. Jane returned the kiss with the same amount of intensity, and stood them both up so that she could lay Maura onto the bed. She climbed on top of her girlfriend and began to remove Maura's t-shirt to reveal the delicate figure beneath it. Her lips traced every inch of Maura's milky white skin as Maura moaned and removed Jane's shirt. She allowed her fingers to trace every muscular groove of Jane's physique.
Neither woman could get enough of the other in that moment. Maura quickly hooked her fingers around the hem of Jane's boy shorts and slid them down slender legs. Jane kicked the shorts onto the floor before quickly flipping them around so that Maura was now on top of her. Jane raised up slightly so that she could capture Maura's breast with her mouth, causing Maura to moan loudly.
"Jane," she breathed, "I - I need.."
"I know, baby."
Jane moved her hand further down to meet the source of Maura's wetness. Maura moaned again and gripped Jane's shoulder tightly at the contact. She moved her own hand to do the same to Jane.
"Oh, M-Maura"
Jane slid two fingers between Maura's folds and used her palm to create extra stimulus for Maura's clit. She began to pump her fingers in and out at a faster and faster pace, and Maura mimicked the speed of the small circles her thumb traced over Jane's nub. Maura's hips began to buck, escalating the pleasure for both women. Jane's free hand made its way to Maura's breasts and began to tease her nipples.
"Jane.. s-so close"
"I got you, Maur. Let go, babe." Long, tanned fingers pumped even faster and Maura fell forward onto Jane as she began to climax. Jane could feel herself about to go over the edge, and finally did as Maura placed another hot kiss against her lips. They rode out their orgasms together as they each moaned into each other's mouths between kisses. As their trembling subsided, Jane wrapped her arms around the smaller woman who still lay on top of her. Maura motioned for Jane's hand, and intertwined their fingers once more.
"We're getting married, Jane." She looked up and gave Jane the biggest smile she had ever seen.
Jane returned the expression. "We're getting married, Maur!" She squeezed the smaller woman tightly and Maura laughed out loud. Jane rolled Maura so that they laid side by side, facing one another. "But I'm still getting you a ring!"
Maura knew it would do her no good to protest Jane's chivalrous traditions. Instead she snuggled closer to Jane and threw her arm across the slim waist. She buried her head in Jane's chest and quickly fell asleep as Jane stroked her hair.
Jane was wrapped up in thoughts of what Maura's perfect wedding ring probably looked like, but once she allowed herself to feel Maura's even breath against her chest, sleep found its way to her.
They both unknowingly dreamt of a life with each other.