What if Jane and Maura had met not when Jane was undercover as a prostitute, but in a case during Jane's earlier career in Homicide?
ALERT: if you have not watched the show yet, there might be spoilers – I use references to things that happened across all seasons.
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.
I am not a native English speaker, and I don't have a beta. So all mistakes are 100% mine.
Enough of disclaimers and warnings – read at your own risk. Reviews are always welcome.
Chapter 1
"Are you lost?"
Jane turned to the sound of a woman's voice, ready to reply sarcastically, but was stopped short by the stunning woman to whom the voice belonged to.
Perfectly coiffed amber hair cascaded in soft waves to her shoulders, a picture-perfect face covered by good taste make up seeming flawless. Her hazel eyes were light and intelligent. Beneath the open lab coat Jane could see a form fitting dress that was elegant and flattering without being vulgar. It looked like couture, and it stopped perfectly by the woman's knees, showing off well designed calves on top of impossibly high heels.
Jane had been hating her time in California, but there were some highlights, like the woman in front of her: Boston didn't have their fair share of gorgeous women. Must be the weather, Jane mused… Or maybe Jane was not in the right circles – or, more likely, working too much.
Noticing the brunette's distraction looking her up and down, the woman repeated, now with added mirth in her voice:
"Are you lost? Nobody ever comes down here..."
Jane cleared her throat, shaking her head lightly to refocus at the matter at hand.
"I apologize if it was not allowed, at reception they let me come down. I am looking for… hmmm…" Jane opened the folder on her hand. "Dr. Isles."
The report in Jane's hand only had M. Isles, and Jane had no idea of the ME's first name. But she knew there was gold in that report, and she needed to speak to that person. Immediately.
"And you are?"
Jane felt herself observed. She was well dressed, her better working suite and working boots that had not yet been scoffed in any persecution with suspects, and a button-down shirt. Her dark curly hair had been behaved earlier this morning, but by now Jane was sure it was already wild and unruly due to the humidity of the seaside Californian town.
"I am Homicide Detective Jane Rizzoli, from Boston PD."
"Aren't you a bit far from home?" a perfectly arched brow raised at her.
"I am, and I can't wait to get back home. But first I need to talk to Dr. Isles. Could you please point me in the right direction?"
"Why is a Detective down to the morgue?"
"You are kidding, right?" Jane tried to control her impulse to roll her eyes.
"I never joke, Detective. But the Detectives on this coast never bother to come down to the morgues."
"Probably they are too busy and distracted with the beach? I don't know. What I know is that I go the morgue back in Boston, and I am in the morgue here, and if it is not common, I can be out of your hair as soon as you tell me where I can find Dr. Isles."
After another moment of hesitation, Jane heard. "Very well, please follow me."
Jane followed the shorter woman walking ahead of her, mesmerized by the obvious movement of the calves and the purposeful sway of hips.
The woman paused in front of an open office door, with a plaque reading "Dr. M. Isles, ME", and held the door open for Jane.
Noticing the empty office, Jane asked as she entered, uncertain. "Is it okay if I wait for Dr. Isles here?"
"That will not be necessary." The woman replied, entering after Jane and closing the door behind her. "I am Dr. Isles."
"You are Dr. Isles, the ME?" Jane asked, incredulous.
"Dr. Maura Isles, the Medical Examiner." Maura confirmed.
"You really don't get many visitors down here, do you?" Jane teased.
"They call this the domain of the Queen of the Dead…"
Jane winced, because she had heard that derogatory tone before. Women, in a world of men.
"I am sorry."
"Don't be. They think I don't hear. I do. I just don't care. Now, you said you needed to speak to me."
"I do. I was reading through the autopsy report…"
"Did you actually read the autopsy report?" Maura asked, surprised.
"I did. Does it surprise you that I know how to read?" Jane asked, annoyed.
"No…" Maura exhaled. "I am sorry, I meant no offense. The Detectives on this coast barely pay attention to the verbal summary I deliver to them, translating the findings to laymen. I doubt any of them ever read through any of my reports."
"Well, they should. This is pure gold." Jane praised. "But there are a few things I need to ask."
"Before we continue, I just need to assert why exactly you have one of my autopsy reports…"
"Of course. We had two cases in Boston and in searching other states databases, we found a case that was too similar here. Signature details that were not published to the media made the department suspect a potential serial, and to avoid overlooking something, I was sent here. The cases in Boston are mine, and I have been working with the local PD for the past two days." Jane flashed her badge as she spoke.
"Very well, Detective Rizzoli. Go ahead."
Maura observed as Jane flipped the pages of the report precisely to where she wanted to talk about.
"Here you point out a very interesting detail." Jane's finger hovered over a paragraph. "I am sorry to tell you that the ME's we have in Boston are sub-par and never noticed this. But after I read your report, I called Dr. Pike and after some reluctance he re-assessed the bodies of our two victims and found exactly the same detail."
"Oh, you get Dr. Pike…"
"Or Dr. Popov. Hard to say which one is worse." Jane rolled her eyes. "Have you had the displeasure of meeting them?"
"Yes…" Maura replied, non-committal. She didn't know the Detective, and although the tall brunette had immediately triggered the doctor in more than one way, not all of them coherent with the professional work environment, she didn't feel they were close enough to share she herself was also from Boston and that she had the displeasure of meeting Pike and Popov as part of her interview process for a position to go back to Boston. She had spent too long in California following her PhD. It was more than time to go back home.
"So you have a good idea of what I mean. But back to this detail… Combined with the original signature that linked the three bodies, this seems to be the work of a serial… But there were also too many differences, and I wanted to discuss them. Maybe Pike missed or misinterpreted something… There were things on the two bodies in Boston that were deemed different explanations for each one of them, but that seem to have happened here as well, and your assessment was a third one. My bet is that yours is right, and that Pike not only missed it once, but twice, in my victims."
"Do you happen to have the autopsy reports of your Boston cases?" Maura asked.
Jane picked two stapled piles from the folder, handed them to Maura. "I do have copies of them."
Jane observed as Maura methodically flipped through the pages, noticing how her eyes were quickly scanning the paragraphs and images, while she jotted notes.
When she finished with the two piles, Maura raised furrowed brows at Jane.
"You are right, Detective." Maura proceeded to point out in the three reports not one, but many similarities that have been incorrectly assessed by Pike, but that matched exactly to what Maura had found in their California victim.
"Shit…"
"Language, Detective."
Jane looked surprised at the proper ME in front of her.
"Sorry, Doc. How do we fix this?"
"I will contact the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Medical Examiner's Office to discuss the findings and request amendments to the autopsy reports. Otherwise, you will never be able to use them in court in case you ever find the perpetrator."
"And I will take these findings to share with the local PD and Boston PD, so we can move forward." Jane stood up, and extended her hand. "Thank you very much for your help, Dr. Isles, it was a pleasure meeting you."
"The pleasure was mine." Maura found herself answering absentmindedly, shaken by the electrical current cursing through her body as her small hand was firmly shaken by Detective Jane Rizzoli.
(…)
"Dr. Isles?" Jane asked, rapping at the open door, and waiting for the woman who was concentrated on her computer screen to raise her eyes.
"Detective Rizzoli. Please come in. How can I help you today?"
It had been three days since Jane had been down to the morgue, and Maura had a few additional interactions with Jane after she had done the unpleasant work of getting Pike's work properly amended with notations in this record for obvious incompetence. Maura had been officially impressed by how brilliant the Detective was.
"I actually just came by to let you know that we got the perpetrator, and that your work was the key for that. If it was not for your report, I would never know how wrong our reports were, how deeply linked the three victims were, and we would not have made an arrest. He was arrested in Boston."
"I just did my job." Maura dismissed the praise, but obviously pleased.
"Well, you did it well, not something I can say about the ME's I work with. If you ever consider leaving the beach vibe behind, Boston could certainly use someone of your caliber." Jane smiled friendly at her.
"I will keep that in mind." Maura replied softly. Little Jane knew that Maura's belongings were in a container crossing the country as they spoke, and that Maura would be leaving the following morning to Boston, for good. "When are you leaving back home?"
"In a few hours, I just stopped by before heading to the airport."
"Safe travels, Detective." Maura offered friendly. She really hoped she would have a chance to work with Jane in Boston. And it was not only for how smart and dedicated the Detective really was.
"See you around, Doc." Jane shook Maura's hand again as she offered her thousand-megawatt smile, and left Maura's office.