A/N: I am going to take a few weeks off from updating this story. Life is just busy at the moment. I am not giving up on this story, just getting my life in order.
Flameout Chapter 25
Jane was excited, the colonel had approved her request to have Maura go on an incentive flight. Due to the fact of the flight being short notice, she needed to tell Maura about the flight as soon as possible. She wondered if Maura would like the idea or if she would shy away from it.
Jane knew that her crash had tugged at Maura's heart, it was tough on her knowing that her son's actions had almost killed Jane. Jane wondered if Maura would want to go up into an F-16 with her. She felt it was worth a try and would ask Maura when she got home. She didn't want to ask her over the phone. Jane's crash had been more than eight months ago now and Jane was fine. Maura knew that Jane was an excellent pilot.
After they put the children to bed Wednesday night, Jane sat down with Maura on the couch. She was a little nervous but she turned to face Maura and asked her, "Maur, have you ever thought about having a ride in an F-16?"
Maura looked at her, "Is that even possible? I never really thought about it."
"Yes, and I have made arrangements for you to fly with me Friday afternoon, if you would like. Ace and I need to check in the new aircraft that are arriving and one of them is a two-seater. You would have to do some preflight training tomorrow." Jane was hoping Maura would say yes, she was giving her the best puppy dog eye look she could.
Maura smiled at Jane and started, "I …" Maura hesitated and after a few seconds continued, "I am supposed to take the children to the museum on Friday. Charlie and Bella are spending the day with their friends and I was going along to help chaperone all of the children."
"Cindy said she would take the children and that you should go for it and take the flight."
"She did, did she?" Maura said as she tilted her head to the side and gave Jane another big smile.
Jane returned Maura's smile and replied, "Yes, I talked with her myself. She is so excited for you. She had an incentive flight years ago before the boys were born and loved it."
"Well, how can I say no then if Cindy said I should go for it." Jane smiled and leaned in and kissed Maura. After a short make-out session Jane stood and took Maura's hand and led her upstairs to their bedroom.
In the morning, Jane and Maura took Charlie and Bella to Ace and Cindy's house. They would spend the night with them and they would all go out to dinner Friday night. The children loved Ace and his family. They were looking forward to spending Thursday with Cindy and the boys and then Friday with all of their friends.
The new two-seater aircraft arrived early Thursday afternoon. Ace volunteered to conduct the intake process, while Jane went with Maura to her flight suit and g suit fitting. Maura had already completed her medical evaluation and had been approved by the base's flight surgeon. Her last step was to go over the safety procedures such as evacuation procedures for land and in the air. Jane stayed with her during all of her training and Maura appreciated that.
Thursday night Jane received a call from Frost. He explained that he had discovered some discrepancies with some of the personnel and that Gen had authorized a full investigation. He was able to assign several detectives to the case and told her that he should have some answers soon. Jane was pleased with his progress and was looking forward to working on this matter with him when she got home. She had to keep the phone call short as she didn't want Maura to find out that she was having her staff investigated. After fifteen minutes she thanked Frost and ended the call.
Earlier that morning Frost had told Gen, "Ma'am, I found some discrepancies and it might involve a new hire in the HR department as well. This matter is bigger than Jane and I thought originally."
"Frost please add as many detectives as you need to get this matter under control. We do not need any damage to any personnel or property of BPD. This could interfere with cases that we are working on. Whatever you need, let me know immediately."
"Thank you, I will step things up immediately." Frost said as he left Gen's office.
Gen called her husband, "Honey, I am going to be working late for the next few days. Please let the children know. I will pop in before their bedtime tonight but I have to return to work after my visit."
"I will, is there anything I can do to help?" Steve always offered to help and Gen loved him for it. She wished she could allow him to help but she needed him to stay with the children. Even though their boys were old enough to take care of themselves she felt better knowing that Steve was there with them. She had several threats to her and her family in the past and she and Steve always said one of them would be with the children as much as possible.
"No sweetheart, it is just a personnel matter that I need to offer my assistance on. You know I like to help as much as I can. Every pair of eyes helps, however with this case the eyes have to be BPD personnel. Thank you, I love you and I will be home shortly before ten."
Steve replied, Okay, see you then." The call ended and Gen told her executive officer that she would be in Frost's office or the conference room until further notice.
Gen worked with Frost and the team until after two in the morning. She had left for a short break around nine thirty so that she could say good night to her sons and her husband and then came right back to work. Around ten thirty she returned with burgers, fries and sodas for everyone from the Dirty Robber. The team appreciated the food and worked hard on the personnel files to find out as much as they could as quickly as they could.
At three in the morning, Gen asked everyone, "Please go home and return with fresh eyes in the morning. Workout with your supervisors what time you will be in and just post it on the board. I appreciate you due diligence in this matter. We need to keep this matter under wraps until further notice so please do not share any details of what we are working on. I trust all of you but I had to remind everyone. See you all tomorrow."
Friday morning Maura woke up early, she was nervous. She had tossed and turned thinking about when she first had met Jane and the condition that she was in. She remembered seeing the wreckage and then finding out that Charlie and some of his friends were to blame for Jane's accident. Even though Jane had flown each day this week, taking off and safely returning each day, she still worried. She knew that Jane was an excellent pilot, she just couldn't help worrying.
Jane stirred sensing that Maura was awake. Jane immediately noticed that Maura's heart rate was elevated and she had a worried look on her face. "Maur, what's wrong honey?"
"I'm scared, Jane, what if something happens during our flight today?"
"Maur, Ace has assured me that the plane if fine. It is ready for this flight. You have had your required training and are ready for the flight. I have flown a two-seat F-16 multiple times. Please don't be scared." Jane pulled Maura into her and hugged her tightly. She placed reassuring kisses on the top of her head. Jane tried to put herself in Maura's shoes and feel how she must be feeling.
"I'm sorry, I tossed and turned last night thinking about your plane crash and how you could have died. I started worrying about the children if something happened to both of us."
Jane sat up and positioned Maura so that they could be face to face, "Maura, if something happened to both of us, you have already legally taken care of what would happen to the children. We have signed all of the documentation and have talked to the children already. Do you want to go to Ace's this morning and see the children before our flight? I think that would make you feel more comfortable. I will call Ace and let him know we are coming over."
"Thank you, Jane, I appreciate your understanding. Yes, I want to see the children." Maura had stopped referring to the children as hers, they were their children. Jane loved the children just as much as she did and Jane was on all of their school paperwork just like a parent. Maura had made provisions for Jane to legally be their parent if something should happen to her.
Maura wanted to talk to Jane soon about adopting the children. She thought it best to wait until the summer when she would have known Jane for at least one year. The relationship had progressed quickly and she wanted to make sure before she asked Jane about it. She was sure of her love for Jane and Jane's love for her, she just wanted the one-year mark to come before she proceeded with the adoption talk.
"Anytime, babe, I love you and I want you to enjoy this experience. I want to share this part of my life with you."
"I want to share this part of your life with you as well. I just was scared." Maura knew she wanted to share every part of Jane's life with her. She knew it would help her understand Jane. Jane was already experiencing autopsies and what Maura did in her job each day.
"Well, I appreciate your honesty and the fact that you told me. I don't want you to be scared, just know that I am there with you and I will do my absolute best to keep us both safe. Ace will be right beside us just like he has always been for me. You don't have to do this if you don't want to, I will not be upset if you change your mind."
"No, I want to do this with you. I am fine now, let's do this together." Maura did feel better, she loved how Jane was so understanding with her.
"Always, now let's get up and go see our kids." Maura kissed Jane and then got up and they took a quick shower together and got dressed. Maura felt a little funny dressing in the flight suit that she had been given. She almost cried when Jane reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a name patch for her. Maura's name patch said, 'DOC' in huge capital letters with Dr. Maura Isles inscribed below the large three letters.
"Thank you, Jane, I love it."
"Well, you can't wear a flight suit without a name patch. Well, we do at certain times but this isn't one of those times."
They drove to Ace's house and visited with the children for a few minutes before they all had to leave for their day's activities. Charlie and Bella had been surprised to see Jane and Maura and gave them extra hugs and kisses before everyone went their separate ways.
Jane and Maura performed the preflight checklist of the plane. They walked around the outside of the plane, checking to make sure everything is in working order. Once Jane was satisfied that the plane was ready for flight, she removed the 'Remove Before Flight' banner and handed it to her maintenance chief.
The maintenance chief stood by as Jane helped Maura into the backseat of the aircraft. Normally the maintenance chief would perform this action however Jane wanted to do this. Jane made sure that Maura was fastened into her seat. She showed her where the ejection seat pull handle was located and then looked around to make sure that no one was watching and gave her a quick kiss before moving the sun visor into place.
Jane made sure that all the cameras were turned on and then stepped down the ladder and moved it over so that she could climb into her seat. She buckled herself in and then her maintenance chief climbed up the ladder to make sure that they were both secure. Jane and her maintenance chief turned to Maura who gave them a thumbs up signal and then the maintenance chief climbed down the ladder and removed the ladder from the aircraft.
Jane pushed the button for the canopy to close and started the engine. Maura couldn't believe how loud the aircraft was. "Wow, this is loud." She told Jane through the mouthpiece in her helmet.
"The sound of freedom," Jane replied as she started moving the aircraft down the taxi way. Ace was in the F-16 right behind her. They would fly a designated pattern and perform some basic maneuvers and then return the aircraft to the base. Jane had reviewed some maneuvers with Maura and then added a few to surprise her.
Normally Jane would have had Maura go with her when she discussed the flight plans however, Jane wanted to surprise Maura with their destination so they had skipped that particular portion of the preflight preparations. Ace had turned in their flight plan on his own, having normally completed this task with Jane.
Jane reached the end of the taxi way and was now in position at the end of the runway. Jane then radioed, "Tower, this is Tiger 1, we are ready for takeoff." Jane had wondered if it might be bad luck to have the same callsign as she did the day of her crash. Her gut told her not to worry about it so she didn't. In the past she had used Tiger 1 or Tiger 2 and had not had any problems. They cycled through the alphabet with their call signs and this day just happened to be 'T' so Tiger it was. Tomorrow they would use 'United' and that would be her last flight for this month as they would leave Syracuse on Sunday morning as the children had to go back to school.
"Roger Tiger 1, you are cleared for takeoff."
"Here we go." Jane told Maura as she pulled back on the throttle and the F-16 flew down the runway gaining speed very quickly. A few seconds later they were in the air.