DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rizzoli & Isles nor any of the characters from the show. I am writing this purely for entertainment, not profit. Rizzoli and Isles are property of Tess Gerritsen and TNT.
Please find the full disclaimers in the beginning of Chapter 1.
Chapter 12
"You mentioned brothers… How many do you have, and what is the sequence of you?"
"Two brothers. I am the oldest, then Frankie is the middle one – he is a detective in Homicide in the Boston Police Department, married with Nina, another detective there, and they are the parents of the twins Enrico and Giovana, one and a half years old. And then the youngest is Tommy. He had a few issues with the law when he was younger – drinking and drugs – spent three years in prison after running over the priest of our church while under the influence, but then he turned his life around, assuming the plumbing business my dad owned. He was married for a while, and his son TJ lives with him."
"Hmmm… You talked about your mother, but not your father…" Liz started, unsure how to proceed, sensing that was a prickly subject.
"My dad left my mother eleven years ago. I don't have a lot of contact with him any longer… He did things that broke my heart and my brothers' hearts… And for sure he broke my mother's heart too."
Liz nodded, before turning to Maura. "What about you?"
"Hmmm… I had two half-siblings from my biological parents – one half-brother from my father's side, who was killed and was how I found out about who my biological father was. And one half-sister from my mother's side – she lives in London now, and she still believes I am dead. Both were much younger than me. I was adopted when I was a baby, my adoptive parents were university professors – my mother is an artist, and my father is an anthropologist. They didn't have other kids, even I was adopted when they were already considered old to become parents..."
Liz nodded her understanding.
Before she could ask more questions, Jane's phone rang with Dean's image on the screen.
She answered on speaker again.
"Hey… Are you up for a visit from me and my friends, say, in thirty minutes, so we can sort through paperwork?"
Jane exchanged a smiling glance with Maura and Liz, before replying.
"Sure, Dean, that was fast."
"I figured you would want to get things defined sooner rather than later, and they always prefer to wrap the package as soon as possible as well. We will be there in thirty."
"See you, Dean, and thank you again."
They disconnected.
"What does that mean?" Liz asked, confused, but sensing the excitement in Jane and Maura.
"It means that they are coming to help us formalize your decision, Liz. Time is of essence when it comes to security and protection, and the more they can be discreet and avoid lose ends, the better. We probably should change in less lounge clothes, you can dress as you prefer." Jane offered, knowing Maura would not feel comfortable to receive people in her yoga pants and lounge attire.
Maura and Jane quickly got changed, Jane on jeans and a button-down shirt and sensible sneakers, Maura on more formal pants and a charming blouse in low heels, and they moved with Liz to the living room. A certain undercurrent of expectation and anticipation was in the air.
When the doorbell rang, Jane stood to take it, not before squeezing Liz' thigh reassuringly. Liz slipped her hand into Maura's, and Maura could feel Liz was trembling lightly.
"Jane… These are Agent Trevis and Agent Lewis." Dean introduced after Jane closed the door. "They were handling the Gringer's case."
Jane shook hands with them.
"We are sorry for your loss, Liz." They offered the girl, since they had been by her house many times and seen her growing up.
"Do we know how they found the Gringer's?" Jane inquired. She was still bothered by the fact that even within WitSec they had been found.
"They followed breadcrumbs left online by Fred, without knowing. He researched a few things – using his new name – but online, trying to understand how hot things still were in the Midwest, where he and his wife were from and where they had witnessed what they shouldn't. He did that consistently over time. And that attracted attention to him, and the Midwest perps finally found him here in the Northeast."
"He was likely fed up with living in Witsec, it had been more than twelve years. It was hard for a brilliant scientist to work as an insurance agent."
Jane had to recognize the tone of the two agents was constricted, as if they were genuinely sorry for the entire situation. She felt satisfied to move on.
"So where do we go from here?"
"First, we need to ask Liz a few questions." They turned to her. "Can you tell us exactly what you remember from that night?"
Liz nodded, before beginning.
"We were playing Monopoly in the kitchen, it was late, past our regular time to go to bed – we were just finishing that one game. The doorbell rang, and mom and dad were not expecting anyone. They told me quietly to hide quickly, and I ran upstairs to get to the access to the attic, before they moved to the door. I heard loud voices, but I was not sure if they were from my parents or from whoever came through the door, and I could not make up what they were saying from where I was. Then I heard two muffled sounds that sounded like shots to me. And then I heard noise around the house – doors opening and banging, glass breaking. I heard the noises as close as in the room below the attic – drawers opening and closing, things thrown to the floor. Then, after a while, all went silent. I… I waited for mom or dad to come telling me it was okay to come down from the hiding spot… But nobody came. I waited for as long as I could, but hearing only silence, I opened the attic door. I called for mom, and for dad, as quietly as I could, but… nobody replied. I looked on the upstairs rooms, and everything was spread around, drawers on the floor, things broken. When… When I went downstairs… Mom and dad were laying sprawled on the floor, in a pool of blood, their eyes wide open…" Liz was stopped by her own strangled sob. Jane put a protective hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly to remind her she was not alone.
"I looked for their cell phones, to call you, but both were destroyed. I picked up the landline, but it was also disconnected. I tore the paper with your phone number from the recipe book where my mom hid it, and that was thrown careless in the kitchen floor, and ran away."
"So you didn't see any of the assailants?"
"No. I didn't see, I only heard the noise, not even their voices."
"You did good, Liz. And we are very sorry for what happened." They offered, again, with sympathy, before they turned to Jane and Maura.
"Agent Dean explained to us you are willing to adopt Liz."
"We are."
"And you are willing to stay with them?" they turned to Liz.
"I am."
They pulled a thick folder, turning to Jane and Maura first.
"For all effects, the adoption is by Jane Rizzoli and Dory Selsi. Given the low risk of both Dory and Liz, and the fact Liz' name is fairly common, we suggest we keep it, and remove completely the Gringer. And given that we know Selsi does not exist, we would suggest the adoption papers to be for Elizabeth Rizzoli."
Jane turned to Maura, unhappy about that suggestion, but Maura cut her.
"I am totally fine with it. If it would not have called so much attention, Jane, you recall I wanted to change my name to be Dory Rizzoli when we got married, completely dropping the Selsi. So it makes sense that Liz' papers begin already correct."
"Liz… Are you okay with it?"
Liz nodded.
"Go on." Jane turned again to the agents.
"What we are changing is mostly Liz' background story – that she was born in the West Coast instead of the Northeast, and who were her biological parents. She is getting a fake biological mother, and an unknown biological father. But we will not change her birth date. All your records from home schooling will be updated overnight accordingly, Liz, so nothing on your studies history is lost, and when classes resume in September you can go back in the same way as before. Here are the new credentials to be used for that." They pointed to a specific folder for school.
"We worked with PD to close the case of missing persons, transferred to Witsec. That was the last lose end."
"And you just need to sign the adoption papers here and here." They pointed out to Jane and Maura. "We will then provide the other documents – passport and identity card – tomorrow by end of day, or Tuesday the latest."
Jane and Maura read and signed the paper and handed it back.
"That is it, we are all set." The two agents stood to leave. "You will get Liz' updated documents to you tomorrow or Tuesday."
Jane walked them to the door.
"Thank you, all of you."
"Don't mention it."
Jane closed the door. Liz was sitting cuddled to Maura, and Jane came to sit on the other side, so Liz was in the middle of them both.
"I am so glad they kept your name, Liz… I love the sound of it." Maura offered, and Liz smiled at her.
"Me too… It must be hard to learn to use two names…" Liz replied gently, realizing how it felt for her parents and for Maura.
Maura nodded.
The doorbell rang again, and Jane jumped, looking at Maura and Liz with knotted eyebrows, and signaling them to keep quiet.
Jane looked through the peephole, exhaled and opened the door.
"Hey, Dean, you gave me a scare." Jane admitted.
"Will you give me a hand?" he asked, already placing a box in Jane's arms.
"Sure." She moved the box inside.
"Can you come downstairs with me? There are two more of those."
"Of course." Jane looked inside, speaking to Maura and Liz. "I will be back soon."
She walked outside with Dean.
"Will you tell me what is in the boxes?"
"You will see it soon…" he replied, cryptically.
Jane picked one box from the back of his car, and he picked the largest of them, and they walked back to the elevators and then to the apartment.
"These were heavy…" Jane mentioned, puffing, placing the last box on the floor.
"Now, will you tell us what these are?" Jane asked, seeing Maura's and Liz' curious stares.
"Liz?" Dean ignored Jane, and turned to Liz. "Can you come here, please?" he asked, crouching on the floor close to the boxes.
Liz stood, and got closer to him, shyly, and Jane and Maura stood as well, Jane hugging Maura to her side while they observed the scene.
"These boxes are yours. It is not a lot, but these were the things that were recovered from your house and that were in storage, because they were not part of evidence…"
Liz stood there, as if petrified, her eyes moving from box to box to box.
"Won't you go ahead and open them?" Dean asked, gently.
Liz turned to him, and jumped to hug him hard, almost knocking him to the floor.
Dean chuckled, taken by surprise, before hugging her back.
"Thank you…" she whispered.
"You are welcome, kid." He pushed her slightly away from him to look into her eyes, smiling. "You are always welcome."
He stood up.
"Coffee, Dean?"
"No, thank you. Still need to do a few things on this Sunday before the week begins."
"I don't know how to thank you, Dean." Jane admitted, walking with Maura and him to the door.
"Don't mention it. It was my pleasure. It is not every day there is a happy ending to a story like this." He smiled at them, before closing the door behind him.