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.

Full disclaimers on Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Jane was pacing the airport hall irritated. Her flight the previous night had been cancelled due to a long delay of the incoming flight – a storm in Florida seemed to have been the reason. So she had to spend the night at an airport hotel, crowded by other unfortunate delayed travelers. And she couldn't wait to get on the plane to take her back home to Boston. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, since she had nothing else clean on her bag to wear, and the mere thought of flying six hours in one of her working suits sounded uncomfortable.

At least today she could see the incoming flight plane already at the gate, what increased tenfold her chances of leaving on time.

Her family had joked that she should take a couple of days off and enjoy sunny California, but California was not Jane's thing: it was hot, humid, a bit too free-spirited for her taste. She loved Boston. And she couldn't wait to be back there.

She decided to grab a cup of coffee, and looked around her to orient herself and find the closest coffee shop, when she spotted Maura.

The gorgeous ME was dressed more comfortably for a flight, but still looked like she was ready for a photoshoot. The long pants seemed tailored to her well proportionated body, and combined with the blouse accentuated every single one of all her very so feminine curves.

The doctor had not seen Jane yet, and Jane watched as she was distracted talking on her cell phone.

Jane loved the idea she would have a chance to talk to the beautiful doctor in a more relaxed environment other than at work. Jane had grasped the woman was a genius – from what the detectives had gossiped, and from Jane's few professional conversations with her – and that enticed Jane's curiosity and interest.

Jane took one step on Maura's direction, when a loud alarm sounded in the airport hall, making Jane jump.

Jane looked around, noticing people were moving with urgency, and in the noise of hushed words, she picked up "Earthquake."

Of course, one more reason to hate California, Jane thought, considering which direction to run to, when she noticed the floor shaking beneath her feet.

The alarm had sounded too late. It was already upon them, and there was no time to find shelter.

Jane was in the middle of the hall, so unless the ceiling collapsed, she thought she might be fine as long as she threw herself on the floor.

But before she could do so, Jane watched in horror as a piece of the wall closer to where Maura had been standing, and now was turning from because of the alarm, cracked from top to bottom, and began to waver.

Jane sprinted for the few steps separating Maura and her, pushing Maura with all her might as she reached her, aiming to get them both out of the path of the crashing wall.

Jane felt the weight of something crashing down on top of her, pain, and the darkness of a cloud of dust enveloping her, while the cries of people and the alarm continued to sound in her ears and then were suddenly muffled.

Maura had been on the phone with her mother. She had waited until her return to Boston was a done deal to inform her parents. They lived in different European properties of the family along the year, and it was normal for them to go months without a phone call. Her mother Constance sounded elated that she was going back to Boston, and was sharing her considerations of the neighborhood Maura was planning to buy a house on when the alarm started blaring.

"What is this horrible noise, darling?"

"Earthquake warning alarm. I gotta go."

"Mau...?" Constance started, but Maura turned off the phone immediately.

During the more than ten years she had spent in California, first studying and researching and then working, earthquakes were the one thing she would never get used to. She had the feeling earth was always shaking in California – what was not untrue given small low magnitude tremors were registered daily in different parts of the state. She had been lucky so far not to get any major earthquake, and it sounded very unlucky that in her last day there she would face a last one while in the airport, what could delay her flight and her moving back home.

She turned around to run for safety, realizing the floor was already shaking – the alarm had come too late. Typically the warning alarm would blare about two minutes once the quake was detected and before it hit, giving people some time to shelter, but this had not been the case.

Maura looked around and then felt herself pushed really hard by someone. She felt herself flying through the air, and the only thought in her head was on how to fall without getting hurt. She curled around herself and rolled through the rumbling floor, feeling the shock of the impact spreading somewhat evenly, and then the noise of the alarm was increased by the screams of people and the rumbling of shaking and breaking and cracking and falling debris. She felt the floor beneath her body shaking wildly, and realized this was a big quake, different from the ones she had faced so far.

Maura made herself as small as she could, covering her head with her hands, and waited for what was to come. She was not in any safe location, but there had been no time to get to a safe location. Whatever was to happen, would happen. Maura felt odd that from all thoughts going through her head, one of them was of relief that Jane Rizzoli, the tall lean haven-haired Boston Detective that had occupied so much of her mind in the past few days, had flown back home safely the previous night. But then the noises around her increased to deafening levels, the shaking increased to make her queasy despite being lying down, and a cloud of dust enveloped her as darkness settled down all around her.