Part one of two.
Read THE RIZZOLI REVELATION pt1
Disclaimer: I actually have no idea who Rizzoli & Isles belongs to, just that it is not me but I am still quite grateful for the episodes I’ve seen of it so far.
This story is set at the end of episode 6, season one: I kissed a girl.
The Rizzoli Revelation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
by Carola “Ryûchan” Eriksson
After several days of hard work, in her own personal opinion going above and beyond for the job, Jane Rizzoli had simply looked forward to an evening of mindlessly sitting on her couch, with her dog, leftover pizza and as many beers as she could down before falling asleep to something utterly mindless on TV. She knew it was not to be when she found Maura Isles waiting for her in the lobby, eyes wide and bright and her smile even brighter, a large bag in her hands.
She smiled wryly at her friend who bounced slightly in place at the sight of her, eager energy practically sloshing from her in waves. Jane already knew she’d cave, because for some reason it was just so hard for her to refuse when it came to Maura. Even on those rare occasions when they were truly fighting and the other woman had managed – always by accident and because Jane let her own insecurities have her misunderstand the literal minded and rather socially awkward woman – to get that famous Rizzoli temper flaring, Jane almost immediately wanted to cave. When it came to Maura Isles Jane was simply a pushover, and she truly hoped none of the guys realized it.
“I’m way too tired to go out tonight.” Was her greeting as Maura fell into step with her. “I was just going to veggie out in front of the TV with some beer and the last of the pizza in my fridge.”
Maura nodded happily, clearly not seeing any problem with that arrangement and in fact looking as if it was the best idea ever. Jane thought she was cute that way, always reacting as if the most mundane things Jane came up with were party material. “We could stop by and pick up a couple of pizzas on the way to your place,” Maura suggested as they made their way to Jane’s car. “and I brought Jorge’s chocolate, so we can have that for dessert.”
Jane made a weak attempt at an annoyed glare at Maura whom simply blinked a little in response, although in truth she wasn’t really angry at Maura for the Jorge fiasco. It was a sore spot, sure, and she was most definitely going to make the other woman help her get rid of this very unwanted suitor, but Jane couldn’t really blame anyone but herself. It was always the same old story, the good, or let’s face it, relatively normal guys fled her like the plague, while the weirdos flocked to her like flies. It was quite depressing really, no wonder she lived for her job.
Perhaps that was why it had turned out so strangely satisfying and flattering, the undercover job as a lesbian using an online dating service that she had just now finished. It had quite frankly shocked her how many women were interested in her, using no more than her photo and Maura’s surprisingly accurate – Jane was so ‘sporty’ and not ‘butch’, and she reminded herself that she was going to make the guys pay for that one later – profile of her. Attractive women at that, most of them, and of those that she had encountered on her little ‘speed date’ most had seemed fairly normal and at least in possession of half a brain, if a bit desperate perhaps. So the flirtatious bartender had turned out to be a murderer in the end, but for a while there Jane had felt attractive and desirable, and it had been both a heady and novel experience.
“I’ve got the day off tomorrow,” She gave it one last, albeit weak, attempt. “so I won’t be going in to work in the morning.”
“It’s my day off too.” Maura informed her as she fastened her seatbelt. “I don’t need to be anywhere early either.”
With that the case was closed, and Jane was actually quite happy about that. She enjoyed the other woman’s company and their little sleepovers, and Maura’s presence always chased Jane’s demons away, not that Jane had ever told her that. If she was honest with herself Jane knew that a few beers into the evening and she would have been on the phone with Maura anyway, because ever since the two of them had started socializing outside of work there had not been a single evening that they had not at least phoned each other. Jane had spent several evenings almost falling asleep to the warm sound of Maura’s voice over the phone, although she was careful not to think too much about why and if this was really normal behaviour.
Now instead she was treated to the quite remarkable pleasure of watching crap TV-shows with a too literal-minded genius whom, much like Jane herself, thought nothing of commenting out loud every little thing happening on the screen. It was hilarious fun, and Jane wondered idly if she dared to take Maura to the movies sometime, or if they’d get themselves thrown out.
Eventually they gave up on TV and moved over to the bed. Jane felt a bit ratty in her tank top and boxers compared to Maura’s perfect golden silk pyjamas, but shrugged it off as she watched with amusement how Maura carefully tucked Jane’s dog into the foot of the bed while asking it not to crawl up and kick her in her sleep. The dog, happy with the attention, wriggled her tail and snuggled in, and Maura, satisfied that she had gotten her message across, climbed up next to Jane and did the same.
They talked about silly things from their childhoods until they both drifted off to sleep. That the last thing that lingered in Jane’s mind was the image of Maura’s sweet smile and her up close and personal introduction to the other woman’s shockingly generous and rounded cleavage, well that was something that would not occur to her until quite some time into the next day.
The new day started with a phone ringing much too early for two sleepy women. Not awake enough to open her eyes Maura nonetheless reached out and blindly scrambled until she got hold of the phone.
“Mm, Maura here.” She husked with a very sleepy voice. “Who? Ah, Jorge. Yes, yes she is. Hold on.” Maura nudged the arms that were wrapped around her. “Jane, honey? It’s for you.”
Jane groaned, tightened her grip on the warm body in her arms and burrowed her face deeper into Maura’s neck before rumbling her reply. “Tell ‘em to go away. We’re sleeping.”
“Mmmm, that’s nice.” Maura hummed in somnolent pleasure. “Sorry, we’re sleeping.” She repeated obediently before hanging up, simply letting the phone slide out of her hand as she returned to deeper sleep.
Some time later their sleep was once again disturbed by the sound of the phone ringing. This time Jane, still plenty sleepy but also irritated, reached over Maura to grab the phone.
“What!” She barked into the receiver, causing Maura to grumble a little and turn around, tucking herself into Jane’s shoulder. “Frankie? Wha... wait, wait, what did you say? What do you...”
“Is something wrong?” Maura groaned a bit from the area just below Jane’s ear. Jane didn’t even think about how her instinctive response was to squeeze the other woman a little tighter to her.
“It’s Frankie.”
“Hi Frankie.” Maura said dutifully, sighing a little.
“Yes, that was Maura.” Jane growled at the phone. “Well she was sleeping! Now wait, back up... who saw what online?”
“No, but that’s... Frankie, no. I said no! Don’t be an ass.” Jane was getting even more agitated, and in response Maura started to gently rub soothing circles on her stomach. Strangely enough it seemed to help. “Look, the whole thing is job related and I’ll tell you about it when I see you, okay? Now get off the phone and let me wake up!”
As an afterthought, half screamed while she sat up, suddenly wide awake. “AND DON’T CALL MA!” The beeping of her phone told her she was too late, and with a mighty groan she threw herself back down. She was done for, she just knew it.
The slightly bleary but still very concerned eyes that met hers as the violently jostled Maura raised her head to face her made Jane smile a little despite everything. Just as Maura began to speak a loud rattle came from the apartment door, sending Jane from gosh-she’s-cute to WARNING!-INTRUDER! in one painfully thundering heartbeat.
By the time the loud clatter changed into the front door opening Jane had rolled out of bed, grabbed her gun and stalked forward, ready to take on whatever dared enter her apartment.
Except perhaps for her agitated mother who came loudly bustling in as if she didn’t even see the gun in her daughter’s hand, aimed quite clearly at Angela, with Jane’s father and brother shuffling in behind her. All the blood in Jane vacated to parts unknown as with a slightly trembling hand she lowered her gun.
“Jesus Christ, ma!” Jane gasped, shocked that she had drawn a gun on her mother. “Are you insane? You know you can’t just come barging in like that without warning, you damn well know that I’ll shoot whatever tries to force its way through my door without permission!” She sank down on the arm of her couch. “Shit.”
Angela Rizzoli halted in taking off her coat to frown a little deeper at her only daughter. “Jane, language!”
“Ma!” Hating the whine that came into her voice as she protested her mother’s admonishment and feeling no small bit surreal, Jane wondered if she just closed her eyes hard enough it would all have been a bad dream brought on by too much chocolate. “I mean it! I could have shot you!”
“Nonsense dear, would a burglar have used a key to get in? You would have realized it was me.” Angela dismissed her daughter’s concern to hang up her coat and urge her husband to do the same. Both of the Rizzoli men offered sheepishly apologetic looks in Jane’s direction, Frank Jr looking particularly guilty.
Jane sighed deeply. “It isn’t burglars I’m worried about, ma.”
To her surprise gentle hands wrapped her bathrobe over her shoulders and gingerly took her gun away. She blinked owlishly and felt something deep inside just subtly shift as she looked up at Maura, nary a wrinkle in her golden jammies and her bed-tousled hair no worse than what Jane’s hair looked like after a day at work, all calm and with a friendly smile towards Jane’s family.
“Good morning Angela, Frank.” Maura greeted them, giving no sign that she at all noticed the odd looks her best friend’s family was giving her. “Hello again, Frankie.” Carefully she put Jane’s gun on the coffee table, taking an extra moment to arrange it so that it was aimed well away from any of them and towards a wall while the Rizzoli family remained uncharacteristically quiet around her.
“I believe that having been personally made the target and at the mercy of a particularly vicious serial killer, it is only natural that even a detective of Jane’s calibre would react to a sudden and unannounced attempt to force entry into her home with fear and violence.” Maura proceeded to inform the room, missing the chagrined look followed by a shushing motion sent her way by Jane. “Especially when she’s not entirely awake.”
“Oh. Um, sorry sis.” Frankie muttered and scratched at the back of his neck. “I should’ve realized.”
Frank Sr nodded, his eyes troubled as they flitted over his daughter, while Angela looked utterly stricken. “Of course. I’m sorry sweetheart, your mother and I won’t do it again.”
“It’s alright dad.” Jane sighed and did her best to move the conversation away from what was for her quite a touchy subject. “It’s kind of my fault anyway, for letting ma keep a key to this place.” She pulled the robe closer around herself. “But what are you all doing here this early? Did you know it was my day off?”
“When your brother asked for you at work they said it was your day off, so he took an early lunch and called your father and me.” Angela got back into her stride, her voice taking on an increasingly noticeable mixture of reproach and indignation. “We rushed right over as soon as we heard.”
“Lunch?” A glance to the clock confirmed it, although it certainly would be an early one, lunch was definitely on the horizon. “Gosh Maura, we slept really late.”
“That’s alright, we stayed up really late too.” Maura patted her on the head as she passed her by on the way to the kitchen where she started the coffee machine. “I’ll just pop into the shower really quick, is that okay?”
For some reason that little pat on the head made Jane feel embarrassed, and the way her brother stared at her as if he knew something made it all the worse. To her own surprise Jane was actually blushing as Maura passed her by on the way back into the bedroom, but fortunately silence apparently meant approval as the other woman prepared for the shower, taking her spare clothes out of Jane’s closet where she had hung them the previous night.
“So it is true.” Frank Sr said slowly as Maura, ever the helpful one, laid out an outfit for Jane to wear as well before disappearing into the bathroom. His wife, having stared goggle-eyed at Maura until the door closed behind her, made several high-pitched squeaks at her daughter before finally managing a “Honey!” that was several octaves higher than it should.
Jane winced. She knew what this was about, and if she could only find him at some point where he was not at work or with their parents, she would beat the snot out of her brother for it.
“Is this why you’ve never dated any of those nice men I found for you? Is this why you insist on having such a dangerous job? Oh honey...” Angela sobbed a little, dabbing at her eyes.
“Look, ma, calm down. I don’t know what Frankie has told you and dad, but it is all just a misunderstanding...”
“Yeah, right.” Frankie snorted. “The female colleague of mine that told me about it this morning also showed me the website, sis. It has your picture on it and everything. Don’t see how we could misunderstand that.”
Just as Jane was about to explode at her brother, possibly also her mother for good measure, Frank Sr stepped in with a calm and disapproving hand on his son’s shoulder. “Quiet, son. Let your sister speak.”
Her anger deflating quite a bit at her father’s calm demeanour, Jane scratched a little at her head and sighed. “Look, ma, dad... I was undercover, alright? A member of that lesbian date site got murdered a couple of days ago, and because we realized that the victim and I look a lot alike, I had to put out an ad to try to find the killer.” She gave her brother an annoyed look. “And hey, guess what, I did. Case closed, although late last night so the fake profile hasn’t been shut down yet.”
“Quite simple really, and Frankie would have known about it if he’d spoken to Korsak or Frost before he decided to call in the cavalry.” Jane was feeling really hurt, and she didn’t even know why. “Or, you know, if he’d actually asked me and let me tell him before calling either of you!”
Silence followed her outburst for a long moment before Frank Sr cleared his throat. “So it was all just a disguise for work?” When Jane nodded he nodded as well, but the expression on his face did not exactly say that he was convinced. He looked past Jane’s shoulder and continued in a slow and thoughtful tone of voice. “Sweetheart, are you really sure about that?”
Following her father’s gaze Jane found Maura, freshly stepped out of the shower and so beautiful that it made something in Jane’s chest hurt, looking very awkward and uncomfortable with the tension in the air.
“Just a quick shower.” The smile on Maura’s lips was that small and fragile one that wasn’t really meant as a smile at all and that Jane rarely ever saw the other woman wear anymore. It made her want to hug Maura, which was another strange and awkward thought in itself. “I figured you might want me to take Jo Friday for her walk while you got dressed and talked to your parents, Jane?”
“That would be great, Maura. Thank you.” A bit uncomfortably aware of the warm and affectionate way her own voice sounded, Jane squirmed a bit but was unable to do anything to change the way she spoke to Maura. The dog, brought alive by the word ‘walk’, danced around Maura’s feet as she, with a wide and genuine smile this time, fetched the impossibly pink leash and headed for the door.
It was quiet for a moment as Jane watched the door even when Maura had already closed it behind her, the other Rizzoli family members exchanging glances and shifting uneasily in place.
“So... Maura is a very nice girl...” Angela started with for her an unusual amount of hesitation. “We all love her, you know we do.”
“I’m glad you do, ma, but Maura really doesn’t have anything to with all this. Or rather,” Jane amended “she does because she was undercover too and was the one that actually filled in my profile, but... you know what I mean.”
“So you’re admitting that there is an ‘all this’ then?” Jane’s mother wanted to know, taking on what Jane thought of as her I’ve-got-you-now face.
“I know you’re all determined to make it into something.” She regretted the sarcastic answer almost as soon as it left her lips. “Look, what is this really? An anti-lesbian intervention?”
“Of course not, sweetheart...” Frank Sr began but was immediately interrupted by his wife. “I just want to see you safe and happy, with someone that takes care of you! Is that so bad?”
“Ma, I’ve told you time and time again, I’m a cop. It is what I do and it is what I am. I’m not going to change and become a housewife or anything else, so please try to accept that. I also don’t need or want a guy to take care of me, and most of all I don’t want you, Frankie or anyone else to try to find me one.” She was tired of having the same argument with her mother, and definitely too tired to get angry. “I take care of myself, and if I end up with someone it will be because I love that person... not because I want someone to ‘take care of’ me.”
“Sis... you said ‘person’ and ‘someone’. Not ‘he’ or ‘him’...person. You know what that means, don’t you?”
“Dear God, you’re just not going to give up are you?” Jane groaned. “It was for going undercover! You can just go ask Korsak since you don’t believe me.”
“But you’ve got to admit it adds up. No husband, no kids...” Frankie started ticking things off his fingers but quickly stopped, letting the rest of his sentence peter out, as the evil glare his sister sent him reminded him that, yes, she could still easily kick his ass no matter how grown up he thought he was, and oh yeah, she would. Right now if he didn’t shut up.
“Honey, we’re not upset that you’re... gay...” The fact that Angela had some difficulty saying the word suggested something contrary to her words, but Jane chalked that up to needing to get used to the idea. “We’re upset that you didn’t come to us about it!”
“To have to find out through strangers...” Frankie nodded gravely, unable to resist and earning a swift kick to the shins from his sister.
“Sure, it will take some getting used to... but women like you can marry in this state, and when it comes to kids, well, your brother is a healthy young man...”
“Hey! Any kids of mine are going to be kids of mine, ma!”
“What he said!”
Angela paid no attention to the protests of her offspring, which she very rarely did anyway. “The point is that as long as you’re happy and safe, everything’s fine. But those lonely heart websites... they’re not safe! Are you really in such a desperate situation to find a date, dear? You know cousin Vinnie, his youngest daughter is like you. She is a nice and pretty girl, and I’m sure we could arrange a little get-together for the two of you.”
Jane was too busy trying to cough her tongue up from where she had swallowed it at the horrified realization that her mother wanted to set her up on a date with a woman to reply, which might have been just as well.
“What about Maura?” Jane’s father wondered. “She is a really nice and lovely girl.”
“Oh!” Angela’s face lit up with delighted realization. “And she’s a doctor too! Not to mention wealthy... I would never have to worry about you financially again!”
Ignoring his wife’s outburst Frank Sr continued with an approving hum. “She is a good one, and we all like her a lot. Maura would be welcome in our family.”
“And she already tends to take care of you, doesn’t she?” Angela continued undaunted by her husband’s interruption, or possibly simply unaware of it because she just didn’t listen to him. “I know she tries to make sure you eat well, and she can share your troubles from work... oh and she sure knows how to dress.” She made Jane jump as she suddenly clapped her hands with a little squeal. “She likes to shop! I could have a daughter-in-law to go shopping for clothes and shoes with! Oooh!”
Angela continued planning for all the things she could do with Maura once she had forced Jane to marry her, her family all taking a small step back from the older woman because of the nearly maniacal gleam her eyes had taken on.
Frankie cleared his throat and spoke over the small squeals and mutterings of his mother. “She’s stood by you through some pretty awful things already, sis. Clearly she cares about you. Do you really think its fair to her, what you’re doing?”
Her head spinning crazily from everything her various family members had just bombarded her with, Jane just couldn’t follow what he was saying and felt vaguely stupid for it. “Huh? What?”
“Your brother is talking about this looking to date other people business.” Her father said somewhat awkwardly but with a clear sense of disapproval. “I told him when he was a boy and I’m going to say the same to you now: that’s no way to treat a woman.”
Jane spluttered wordlessly, distantly wondering if her family had woken up today determined to kill her once and for all. “Hey wait just a minute here... I told you the dating ad was for work! Work! Besides, Maura was there undercover too!”
“The poor girl.” Angela sighed surprisingly mournfully. “Having to watch all that.”
“What about the poor me?” Jane protested. “I’m the one that was trying to get a date with a killer! Maura served drinks.” And looked gorgeous doing it, a treacherous part of her mind said, calling up the image of Maura’s cleavage once more. Jane mentally drop-kicked it into submission. “I ended up having to have a strange woman lick my...”
The horrified expressions that faced her, not to mention how her mother immediately clasped her hands over her son’s ears, had Jane all but whisper the last part of her ill-chosen sentence while gesturing weakly towards said part. “...neck.”
Feeling terribly embarrassed, tired and really just wanting to have a shower and get dressed, preferably before she started asking herself a bit too much why during all of this chaos she had yet to stand up and tell her family that she was not gay, Jane rubbed at her eyes.
“Look, I love you all, but this intervention thing is not necessary. The ad was just for work and will be gone in the morning, and if you really feel worried about it still, Frankie can have his friend keep an eye out for my name on those sites... I guarantee you it won’t appear on one again. I’m also not about to get married anytime soon, so you can all just relax.”
“For now I’d appreciate it if you’d leave though. I need a shower, to feed my dog and maybe go get something to eat myself, and I’m sure you all have places to be. Frankie needs to get back to work soon, anyway.”
“And what about Maura” Frankie mulishly wanted to know, not willing to leave without getting some kind of answer.
“It’s not what you think, Frankie. We’re friends, that’s all. And if we weren’t...” In trying to get him to leave Jane was a bit more plaintively honest than she had intended. “...do you really think that if I had a beautiful and wonderful woman like Maura interested in me, I’d ever have a reason to look anywhere else?”
The silence that followed pricked at the back of Jane’s neck. It seemed as if no one even breathed, until the scent of warm pastries reached Jane at about the same time as she heard the soft patter of her dog trotting across the floor.
Jane’s eyes snapped to the doorway where, much as she’d realized, Maura stood frozen, holding a paper bag aloft. The immediate thought that crossed her mind was that she had never seen Maura blush before.
Slowly, agonisingly slowly the shocked and frozen expression melted into a wide and brilliant smile, although the blush did not fade. Maura first looked down and then shyly at Jane. “Thank you.” She said softly. “And likewise.”
2 comments:
Hey , i really love your stories ,and this one is adorable ,but i have a question ,why you dont post this stories in fanfiction.net? i really cant find you in there.
Anonymous,
*grins* Well, you can’t find me on FF.net because I’m not on there. In fact, if you _were_ to find anything of mine there now, I’d appreciate being told about it, because that would mean that someone had posted my stuff without permission. ;)
I might get an account there one day and post my stories, I’ve thought about it before, it is just that each time I’m just about to go through with that, something happens and authors of lesbian stories flee the site for other venues. Really, it has happened every time.
And then it takes me forever to get back to the point where I might consider it again. ^^;;
But until I do post there (if I will), my stuff is available here, Passion & Perfection (anything that isn’t anime-related), Shoujo-ai (the anime stuff) and various other places. This site is pretty much the only place you can find _all_ my stuff though, and this is where stories and updates go first.
/Ryûchan
Post a Comment