DISCLAIMER: Rizzoli & Isles and its characters are the property of Tess Gerritsen, Janet Tamaro and TNT television network.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Something brief to read in the R&I universe. Thanks to Pandora007 for her help and for being my all. And thank you, readers, for reading. Where would we, the pickers and pounders of keyboards be without you?
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Family
By The Raven
Jane looked at the cell phone in her hand. It had been pre-programmed with a number that would dial to Maura's biological father. What a mind-fuck. Maura, her brilliant and beautiful friend was the daughter of a man whose claim to fame was being very good at killing people.
The Irish Mob.
Vince had said that the whole situation at its worse had been the stuff of nightmares and now it was threatening to boil over again. Unless something was done to put a stop to it but what?
The police did not have the resources to stop this from happening, organised crime was mostly well above the law, or it owned the law and this time it was personal. Maura was in danger and there was just not way that Jane was going to let anything happen to her. There was no way that Vince or Barry were going to let Maura be in any danger either. Whatever flaws the two men had, loyalty and commitment were not among them.
You did what you had to in order to protect your family.
Putting the phone down on her kitchen countertop Jane turned to Joe who was waiting patiently at her feet and knelt to pick the small canine up. "Hi buddy." She murmured and cuddled the small warm body of her best friend, or well, her best friend aside from Maura that is.
The soulful brown eyes of the dog looked back at her and not for the first time speculated that Joe understood more than she let on. Perhaps this was a delusion shared by all dog owners. She's have to ask Maura about it.
Maura.
Moving to her living area Jane sat down and put Joe down beside her and considered her options.
She had to protect Maura, it was an imperative that there was no escape from but how did she do this without violating the principles that Maura seemed to hold so dear. How did she do this?
Of course it was a no-brainer. Whatever Maura's personal feelings were, the fact remained that an assassin from the Irish Mob would be after the other woman, probably was already after her and no matter what Jane did, the chances of her actually succeeding in being a step ahead of the killer were remote.
"What do I do, Joe?" Jane asked the small dog who had curled up at her side.
There was no answer. Not an audible one anyway.
But Jane knew what she had to do.
There was no question that she had to protect Maura, but then there was duty and procedure to consider. The thing was that if the question was her own mother, there would be no question about what Jane would do. She'd go and execute the threat to her mother's life without question.
Was Maura family? Yes, she was.
Even Vince and Barry were of the same opinion, there was no question that the two men would walk through fire for Maura, or for Jane.
With her decision made, Jane stood up and walked to her kitchen. There was only one option after all and that option was to ensure that she did the right thing, for Maura, for herself; for everyone.
Who had made the call?
This was the question in Maura's mind as she made her way home from the crime scene where they had found her brother's assassin impaled by an ice pick only hours before.
Vince had said that there was a leak in the department but somehow she had a hard time envisioning exactly how that leak had gotten the needed information out to Patrick Doyle so quickly.
The only explanation was the cell phone, but Jane had been so nonchalant in her answer and somehow Maura found herself torn between wanting to believe that Jane had not committed a felony on her behalf, and wanting to believe that the other woman had in fact done that very thing.
How did she feel about that?
In essence, if Jane had done this it meant that the brunette had effectively killed for Maura. Sure, Jane might not have been wielding the ice pick, but the other woman had been guiding the hand that did wield it.
Deciding that sitting around with Bass was not going to answer these questions. Maura wanted to talk with Jane, hell, she wanted to be with Jane. Somehow even though they worked together, Maura could not get enough of Jane and when the detective was off-duty the pleasure was at least quadrupled, actually.
Gathering up her things, Maura made sure that Bass would be okay for the night and then she made her way out to her car. She needed to talk with Jane, it was just that simple and complicated all at the same time.
As she drove, Maura considered what she would do if she had been in Jane's situation. Or well, if Jane had been in danger and Maura had been given the option to do something to stop it, even if that thing would mean the death of another person.
Would she do that thing?
Was killing something that she would do to protect Jane?
Pulling up to Jane's apartment building, Maura turned off the ignition of the car and leaned back in her seat. This was it.
Only what was this?
Nothing was simple these days it seemed.
In a few minutes, Maura found herself standing outside of Jane's door with her hand poised to knock but before she could knock the door opened and there stood Jane. Her friend, her protector, her family. Her everything.
Maura was smart enough to realise that she loved Jane and it was not merely a platonic love, though it was also that. But no, Maura was in love with Jane and while Maura may have sometimes been slow on the uptake when it came to human emotion, she was certain that her feelings were not one sided.
So, now what?
Maura was thinking this as she watched Jane close the door and secure it. Suddenly she felt safe, calm and at peace. She was Maura Isles, friend to Jane Rizzoli and whoever her father was, there was no changing this fact.
The question remained though: Now what?
The End