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 3
It felt like eternity, but Maura was sure it had been likely less than a minute, tops two, when the floor stopped shaking.
The alarm was still blaring, and the waves of sound made her entire body vibrate.
She tried to inhale deeply, but there was so much dust that she ended up coughing. But that also made her realize she was not in pain. Calming herself down, she made a mental inventory of her limbs slowly, carefully moving or feeling for a body part, and everything felt in place.
She pushed herself to sit up, and groaned when a little cloud dust formed around her, falling from her hair. She dusted herself off as well as she could, and then her eyes adjusted to the destruction around her.
Her eyes were driven to the place where she had been standing up before – the decorated wall of the airport hall. She swallowed hard seeing a big chunk of wall had cracked down and was now lying in the middle of the hall. She would have been crushed under it had not been for the hard push that took her off her feet.
She had no idea how it had happened, but it had, and she was safe. She moved to stand, and despite feeling as if she had just gotten out of a boat for a moment, the next moment she could stand alright.
It felt as a relief when the alarm suddenly stopped. Maura was not sure if it was because the danger was gone or if it was because of some fault or power outage. But it allowed her brain to focus as she gathered her wits.
As the dust settled, she saw her carry-on bag with her bag clipped on the handles toppled down, very close to the edge of where she had been standing and to where now the border of the cracked wall was.
Maura walked there, thinking about retrieving her things before she could assess what was going on, finding if medical help would be needed, and hopefully getting out of this mess.
As she leaned forward to raise her bag, she noticed a dark-haired head and a lean arm extending out from underneath the wall, covered in dust.
Carry-on bag forgotten, Maura kneeled down. She was pretty sure she had been alone in that part of the hall, the reason why she had chosen it to keep her phone conversation with her mother private. Whoever this person was, it was likely the same person who had pushed Maura out of harm's way.
One hand automatically searched for a pulse on the wrist of the extended arm, the other trying to find the pulse on the neck. She sighed relieved the person seemed to be alive.
Next, Maura carefully tried to remove the layer of dust covering the person, mindful that the person could be hurt and Maura wanted to avoid anything hurting the person any more than absolutely needed.
Her heart skipped a beat when she found the dark head to be covered in unruly curls, that looked too much like the unruly curls she had observed in a certain detective in the previous few days. She dragged her bag closer to her, and fished a box of tissues from it, gently cleaning the face of the person, and there she was, the one and only Jane Rizzoli, who Maura thought should have been in Boston by now.
"Detective Rizzoli?" Maura tried, as she continued removing as much dust as she could from Jane's face. One side of her face was lying on the floor. "Jane?" Maura tried again, more urgently.
Her answer was a groan, eyes squeezed shut, and slowly opening under very furrowed brows.
"What the f…" Jane begun, but then her eyes focused on Maura kneeling by her. "Doc… I'm sorry." She panted, realizing breathing was difficult. "There was no time… I pushed you hard… Did I hurt you?"
"I am fine, Jane. I can't say the same about you." Maura responded, concerned by the short bursts in which Jane's speech was coming out.
"Yeah… feel like crap." Jane agreed, closing her eyes wearily.
"Are… you in pain?" Maura asked, hesitantly. She really hoped Jane was in pain. Not being in pain, in this case, would mean something much more ominous, that Maura didn't want to contemplate.
"Hell, yeah." Jane answered, her eyes still closed.
"Can you describe what hurts?" Maura tried, a little bit more hopeful. It was messed up enough that she felt hopeful because Jane was in pain.
"My head is throbbing. My shoulder is burning. It hurts when I breath."
"Okay…"
"Don't look so worried, Doc, I can feel my legs and wiggle my toes." Jane added for good measure.
"I am glad to hear that..." Maura breathed more relieved, realizing this was not likely Jane's first rodeo with a dangerous harrowing situation.
"How… how big is the piece of wall crushing me?" Jane asked, her eyes alert on Maura's.
Maura looked up to assess it.
"About fifty square feet." Maura replied, dejected.
"Are you the only one around?"
Maura finally changed her focus from Jane to their surroundings.
"No, there are a few other people beginning to stand up and walk around."
"Men?"
"A few, it seems…"
"How many men do you think it would take to lift this piece of wall just enough for one of them to yank me from underneath it?"
"I would say eight to ten strong men." Maura answered without missing a beat. "But yanking you out is not a good idea, you might be more hurt than you think..."
"Dr. Isles, I do understand it is far from ideal. But breathing is becoming increasingly difficult down here." Jane tried, her chocolate brown eyes conveying urgency to Maura.
"I will get some men here. Will you be okay while I'm gone?" Maura asked, as she got back to her feet.
"I will be right here, Doc, there is no way I will go anywhere while you are gone." Jane tried to joke.
Maura nodded, concern etched on her face, and moved away from Jane.
Jane thought she had lost consciousness for a few moments, because next thing she noticed were several male voices around her.
"You don't need to completely remove it…" Jane heard Maura explaining urgently. "You just need to raise it a couple inches, and hold it so for just long enough to create clearance to pull her from underneath it."
"I will help yanking her." Jane heard another male voice closer this time, and saw as a man crouched in front of her. "Are you okay, lady?"
"I will be better when you yank me out of underneath this thing." Jane tried to offer a smile, as he grabbed her hand and her forearm that was peaking from underneath the wall with his two hands.
"Are you all in place? Let's try it…" Maura ordered, observing their positioning. "Three, two, one…"
Maura observed anxiously as all twelve men concerted their efforts, and felt relieved when she saw the slabbing raising.
"Pull her, now!" she ordered as soon as she saw there was about two inches above where Jane was.
Maura felt sick to her stomach to hear Jane's yelp of pain, but it was necessary.
As soon as she saw both of Jane's feet out, Maura ordered.
"Release."
The slab fell down with a heavy thud, shaking the ground they were standing on and raising another cloud of dust.
"Thank you, thank you all very much." Maura offered around her as the men disbanded.
"Do you need anything else?" the man who had yanked Jane out offered Maura as he stood up.
"No, sir, I really appreciate your help. Get yourself and the others to safety. You know the aftershocks will likely make themselves felt sooner rather than later."
"What about you, and her?" he asked, concerned.
"We will be fine." Maura dismissed. She didn't want to move Jane any more than absolutely needed.