Series title: Whumptober 2023

Chapters: 1/1

Characters: Maura Isles / Jane Rizzoli

Trigger warnings: Collapsed building, Blood

A/N: The characters and universe don't belong to me. All rights go to TNT, and everyone involved in the production of Rizzoli and Isles, as well as Tess Gerritsen. Everything else belongs to my twisted imagination.

A heavy cloud of dust was falling to the ground in the deafening silence that always followed catastrophes. Doctor Maura Isles coughed. Her airways were obstructed by the particles making it hard for her to breathe properly. She blinked her eyes open only to close them again because of the dust. What had happened? She remembered… What was the last thing she remembered? She couldn't focus, couldn't think straight. Her head was pounding and her mind was playing a blurry movie in fast motion. She couldn't pause it to have a look at the images that would help her to figure out what had happened. The silence around her was frightening and the air nearly unbreathable. It smelled like waste water and wet asphalt as if she was trapped in some sewers. Where was she? Why couldn't she remember?

She opened her eyes again to survey her surroundings. The dust had dispersed. She could see and breathe normally. It would be easier now to put all the little details together to form an appropriate conclusion to the situation. She was laying on her back among the debris of a collapsed building. The scent of gas, motor oil and exhaust smokes hit her nose. An underground parking lot considering the lack of light, of fresh air and the silence. What was she doing there? Was there a case? A body trapped in the heavy bits of broken concrete? No. She was already on a case. An actor killed by a prop gun. An actor that had been killed for his researches on a company. What was the name already? They were using recycled concrete which was weakening the structure of buildings. Their victim had found out that a building was more at risk than any other because of a mistake done to save money.

Memories were coming back to Maura. Jane had wanted to see that building by herself and take a few pictures before going out for lunch. The responsible of that rushed work had run on them and Jane was arguing with him when the building started trembling to finally collapse on them. She remembered Jane screaming her name before a piece of the ceiling hit her head and knocked her out. She had no idea what happened after that. The building had obviously collapsed and was unsafe. With how unstable it was on its foundations, the emergency services wouldn't take the risk to come in. They had to stabilise the building first and that could take hours. It could collapse on itself some more, trapping her here. But she wasn't alone. That man was there, somewhere, and Jane… where was Jane?

Maura couldn't stay still anymore. She moved carefully, trying to extract herself from the debris covering her. A sharp pain in her left leg stopped her. The incision Jane had done there was long healed but sometimes, especially after nightmares of that day, it would hurt again. Heavy fragments falling over her legs would do that too. Usually she had to wait a couple minutes for the pain to leave as fast as it came, but she didn't have that time right now. She had to find Jane. She was certainly in need of medical assistance and Maura was the only one who could help her. If her injuries were serious, she couldn't wait until the emergency services could pull them out of these debris. She had read about the victims of the World Trade Center, about all these people trapped under tons of concrete and metal without any hope to be rescued. That was her exact feeling at the moment.

"Jane?"

Maura forced her body to move. She had been relatively lucky in her misfortune. No large block of concrete had fallen on her. She removed the debris that were all over her. She was free of her movements. Jane hadn't answered. Where was she?

Maura sat up. All of her body protested at once. Her pain receptors were actively working. At least, her hypothalamus hadn't been damaged. She closed her eyes a moment for the dizziness to pass. She listened for any sign of life from her friend but couldn't hear anything.

She opened her eyes again and looked around her. A huge block of concrete had fallen on Jane's car and crushed it almost completely. Maura didn't remember having stepped so far from the vehicle when the man had shown up. She remembered stepping out to talk to Jane before she hit him, Jane screaming her name and… Her heart wrenched in her chest. Jane had run toward her. Jane had pushed her out of the way because a large block was falling on her. Jane had risked her own life again to protect hers and now her body was trapped under what used to be the ceiling. She could see her now. She could see her hand poking out of the debris.

Maura quickly crawled toward her friend and removed everything she could without hurting her more. Jane didn't make a sound and, although she wasn't a believer, Maura was praying every deity she knew of for her to be alive. Jane's right side was stuck under debris that were too heavy for her to remove. Her hand reached for Jane's neck and looked for a pulse. The seconds that followed seemed to last an eternity.

Maura let out a long sigh of relief when she felt the beats under her trembling fingers. It was weak, but it was there. Jane was still alive. She was holding on. She had to be evacuated from here quickly before her condition worsened. Maura couldn't see the damages the debris had done on Jane's right side. It could be just broken bones, but it could be worse. Internal damages were to fear.

The building trembled. Dust and rocks fell all over them. Maura placed herself over Jane to protect her body from further injuries. Oh, that Nelson guy was gonna hear from her if she was coming out of there alive. She was gonna sue him for building such fragile frames and endangering people's lives.

Underneath her, Jane coughed and groaned. She was waking up. Maura moved and was relieved to see Jane opening her eyes. Tears were falling down her cheeks, tracing a line in the dust covering her skin. She let the detective assess the situation and focus on her. The smile she gave her was heartbreaking.

"You're alright."

"Thanks to you."

"Good."

"Why did you do that?"

Jane didn't answer. She coughed again, grimaced in pain. Maura's heart dropped in her chest. Blood was colouring Jane's teeth and lips. It was a sure sign of internal damages, and the detective was aware that she had little chances to get out of here alive, even with Maura by her side. She was thanking her for all those years and reminding her of how amazing and brilliant she was. Maura was begging her not to do that, not to bid her farewell. Not now, not like that.

The building shook again. Soon enough Maura wouldn't have to worry anymore about Jane dying on her. Her sacrifice would have been vain if the building was collapsing on them both. Except the danger wasn't coming from above them but from under. A surge of hope burnt in her chest. They had been found.

"Do you hear that, Jane? They've found us. We're gonna get out of here. Just hold on."

But Jane was listening no more. Her eyes were staring at the collapsed ceiling without seeing it. Her pulse was weaker with every passing second. Maura was calling her name in hope that it would pull her out of the dangerous sleep she was sliding toward but Jane wasn't responding to any stimulus.

The scream Maura let out when she was torn away from her friend echoed a long time in the empty parking lot. She was evacuated first and forced to sit in the back of an ambulance to be checked out (by Hope, the mother who had rejected her of all people on site). Jane followed a few minutes later. She was loaded in the back of another ambulance that left immediately, all sirens on. But for Maura, all hopes of Jane surviving had collapsed with the building...