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 3
"Jane…" Nina called compassionately when she closed the door behind her.
"Pop? Tommy?" Jane inquired, her voice barely a hoarse whisper, measuring her words, pain clear in her expression.
"Arrested. Cavannagh got them booked."
"Release… them… Not… pressing… charges…"
"Jane, they almost killed you!" Nina admonished.
"Nina. Please…"
Nina shook her head, and sighed. "I will try, but I will not promise anything."
Jane's phone began to ring, in the suit Nina had grabbed from the paramedics.
"It is Maura…" Nina looked at the screen.
Jane sighed, and nodded at Nina to answer. Nina did so on speaker.
"Jane?" Maura's voice sounded excited on the other side of the line, happy to catch up with her best friend, unaware of the nightmare developing in the east coast.
"It is Nina, Maura."
"Wha… Why do you have Jane's phone, Nina? Isn't Jane in DC?" Maura's excitement converted into worry in the blink of an eye. "Is everything okay? What happened?"
"Where are you, Maura?"
"Los Angeles Airport, my flight back to Boston will board shortly."
"We didn't want to distract you before… But Maura… Angela… She and Ron suffered a fatal car crash…"
"Oh my God…" Maura's gasp was audible on the phone, and Nina watched Jane wince in pain, knowing the pain was beyond physical.
"It happened two days ago. The funeral is going on as we speak, and the burial is tomorrow morning. When Jane learned your flight would be in time for the end of the funeral and the burial, she and Frankie decided to wait to tell you, so not to distract you from the case…"
"Could you please let me talk to Jane?" Maura's voice was strangled with tears.
"She is kind of unavailable now…" Nina tried.
"Please, Nina. It is really important…" Tears were now obvious, as was despair, in Maura's tone. "I need to talk to Jane."
Jane nodded from the bed, and Nina brought the phone closer to Jane.
"Maura…" Jane's voice was hoarse.
"Jane…" Maura sighed from the other end. "I am so, so sorry…"
"Thank… you…" Jane tried.
"Jane… Turn on your video, please?" Maura pleaded. Maura knew Jane would be devastated. But Jane's voice sounded worse than anything Maura could possibly imagine, and she was worried. Especially because she was still at least eight hours from getting to Boston, six hours in flight, plus all the airport transit, if there were no further delays.
Nina looked at Jane's desperate attempt to an answer.
"Maura…"
"Jane… Please?"
Jane sighed, and Nina turned on the video. Jane saw Maura's beautiful features washed in tears, before her eyes took in Jane's beaten-up appearance.
"Oh my Gosh, Jane… What happened to you?" Maura gasped.
"Not… important…" Jane mumbled.
"Who did this to you, Jane?" Maura was seething, she could see the pain in Jane's expression was beyond physical.
Jane just shook her head, wincing in pain.
"Nina? Are you still there?" Maura asked.
Nina picked up the phone, turning the camera to herself.
"Please tell me what happened. Who did this to Jane? How bad is it?"
"Frank Sr. and Tommy." Nina said, and saw Maura clenching her jaw and shaking her head.
"But, why? And how? Jane can take them both blindfolded."
Jane deviated her eyes. "They… they seem to blame Jane…"
"But it was a car accident! How could Jane have anything to do with it?" Maura's voice was high pitched.
"Because Angela didn't like road trips…" Nina sighed, and watched as the tears poured over Jane's face, that had it turned away.
Maura sighed. She didn't need Nina to say the rest… Jane had incentivized Angela. As she did with everything for everyone. But now… Now they were blaming her. Worse. Maura now understood why Jane was that hurt despite the fact she could easily take on her father and her younger brother. She had likely not even tried to defend herself. Because Jane was also self-blaming.
"How bad is it?"
"A bad concussion, fourteen stitches to the base of her skull where it hit the floor. Broken nose, broken jaw, broken wrist, six broken ribs, stitches inside her mouth, and bruising all over…"
The noise from the airport covered Maura's voice for a moment.
"My flight is boarding, and I have to go to arrive to Boston in time. I will keep you posted, Nina, and I will go directly there as soon as I land…"
"Safe travels, Maura."
"And Nina? Please don't let her out of your sight." Maura pleaded.
Nina just nodded, before the call got disconnected.
Jane was quiet, her eyes closed, but the tears free-flowing through her pale bruised face told Nina she was still awake.
"Jane…"
Jane opened sad chocolate brown eyes to look into Nina's.
"Alarm… 6AM… painkillers…" Jane tried.
Nina could see that the pain on her jaw and the stitches in her mouth were likely limiting her communication.
"Jane… Why do you need an alarm at 6AM?"
"Burial…"
"There is no way on earth you will leave the hospital at that time. They still need to run more tests to assess about brain and internal bleeding after you spend the night here."
"Only… for… burial… A. M. A."
"Against Medical Advice? Obviously it will be against medical advice…"
"Please?" Jane pleaded, desperation in her pained expression.
Nina sighed. "I will try."
She called for the nurses, and asked them to give Jane the painkillers, explaining they would not give her a second dose after that one without Jane's prior approval.
Jane nodded thankfully at Nina.
"Now you try to get some rest…" Nina insisted, and in no time Jane was under the effect of the powerful medicine.
Nina used that chance to call Frankie.
"There is no way I will ask Cavannagh to release Tommy and my father, Nina! They would have killed Jane if we had not interrupted them."
"I know, Frankie… I am not saying I agree with her ask. I am telling you what she has asked from me… I think that, the same way she wants to be there for the burial, she wants her father and her brother to be there too."
There was a pause on Frankie's end of the line.
"That I can try to arrange, for them to be able to attend the burial. But I will not get the charges dropped like she asked for, Nina. They just proved that, out of control, they could kill someone…"
"You know they would not have been able to hurt her if she had defended herself, Frankie. She let them do it." Nina sighed.
"I know. She is feeling guilty. And I have no idea how we can convince her otherwise… You said you spoke to Maura?"
"Yes, she called from LAX. I told her about Angela, and she also knows about Jane… She texted me after we spoke that her flight has been delayed to depart, but she will still land in time for the end of the funeral and for the burial."
"I hope she can convince Jane against leaving the hospital A.M.A… Jane is too hurt for it to be advisable…" Frankie sighed.
"You have not seen your sister, Frankie. I think not even Maura could stop her in this case…"
