Chapter Text
Chapter Four
When Angela Rizzoli woke up the next day, she was certain that it had been a dream to the point that she was crushed under the weight of a fresh wave of grief and guilt the second her eyes fluttered open.
It was this swirl of emotion that had fuelled her for the last month after Cavanaugh had delivered the news that her first baby had not only died but that she had been tortured to death.
She’d never felt perfect at any point in her life, but she had considered herself to be a decent to good mother, her children had turned out to be good people who cared for others. Two of them even went as far as to put their lives on the line on a daily basis to help other people.
As much as she worried every time they got a call, she was endlessly proud of them.
After the words ‘Jane died’ dropped onto her like a weight, she no longer considered herself to even be a decent mother.
What kind of mother could allow something so horrific to happen to their child?
She had said that it was nidicolous for her to stay with Jane while she was arguing with Maura, but what if she had moved out of the guest house as she had been asked to? At the very least, Jane would not have been alone when Paddy Doyle so viciously broke down the door to her apartment.
There admittedly would not have been much that she could have done against a mob boss, but at the very least, her daughter would not have died alone. That had to mean something, right?
It was these kinds of thoughts that kept her up at night, but not once had she actually thought to blame Maura Isles for any of it.
Anyone with eyes could see how the doctor felt about her daughter and Angela had long since resolved (under the insistence of Frankie) not to meddle in that particular situation. They could be best friends for as long as they needed to until they admitted the truth and then she could officially start bragging about having a doctor in the family.
This would have naturally led to insisting that she be given more grandbabies.
The fracturing of their friendship put a wrinkle in these plans, but Angela had no doubt in her mind that they would eventually make up and that things would be back on track with one of them admitting that they were deeply and irrevocably in love with the other.
Paddy Doyle had put an end to any hope for that happening and it was painfully obvious that Maura was now fully aware of her feelings for the ‘late’ detective.
Whenever Angela mustered the energy to go into the main house for basic sustenance, she would find Maura staring blankly at the ceiling, her face stained with tears.
The woman was exhausted in so many senses, a feeling that every Rizzoli understood to their core, making it impossible to be angry with a person who had loved her child so deeply, regardless of a little spate.
It was for this reason that she had asked Frankie to get her to do the eulogy and why she had spent so many nights joining Maura in the living room where they would inevitably talk about Jane. Every conversation solidified further for Angela the missed opportunity between the apparent best friends and it would make her yearn harder still to get her child back.
Asking Maura to accompany her to the trial had been the obvious choice, knowing that the doctor wouldn’t miss a chance to show her father how much she hated him now. Sitting with Jane Rizzoli’s mother would show this to the world and it gave her a hand to hold that made her feel as close to her daughter as she could.
It was everything that happened after they’d called their key witness that had to be a dream or a hallucination, though. She was certainly sleep-deprived enough for it to be the latter, which wouldn’t be helped by the in-depth descriptions of the crime that she had not been privy to before the trial.
There was no way that her prayers to see her daughter again had come true.
Logically, it made sense that they would want the only person capable of testifying against the mob boss in the safety of witness protection and telling her family that she was gone was an important part of the security of this lie. The federal government had no way of knowing that none of the Rizzolis would ever do anything to put Jane in danger, especially not when the matriarch still resided with the accused’s daughter.
As far as the media was concerned, Maura hated the detective after she shot her father. At least that was the latest that they had read before they collectively agreed that they would not be reading anything Paddy Doyle-related in the papers.
Angela broke this rule the morning after the trial as she rolled over and grabbed her phone, swiftly Googling the man in a mad dash to confirm her own mental stability.
Her heart stayed in her throat as it loaded but her entire body relaxed as it at last revealed an image of Maura Isles kissing the resurrected detective in the courthouse.
So it was real.
A grin plastered across her face as she threw her duvet aside, invigorated to start her day for the first time in weeks and she knew exactly what she was going to do.
After hours of crying and despair, she figured that she had the right to make breakfast for her daughter and her girlfriend.
She made short work of getting her dressing gown and slippers and navigating across to the main house to be greeted with the unusual sight of the couch empty.
Angela had never questioned Maura’s inability to sleep in her room considering that it wasn’t like she was a widow or had ever shared so much as a kiss with the supposed deceased. But this was because there was no doubt in her mind that the ‘best friends’ had platonically shared the bed on multiple occasions.
She could have just begun the process of cooking, sure that the smell would eventually draw them out, but curiosity got the better of her.
With Jane’s injuries, it was unlikely that she would be walking in on something untoward and she wanted to see if they were as compatible as everyone assumed they were.
The sight that met her as she crept open the master bedroom door caused an even bigger smile to grace her face if that was possible.
First of all, Jane was indeed there, her chest rising steadily with each wonderful breath that she took in but there was also a distinct upturn of her lips even in her sleep. This was undoubtedly due to the woman who had her face tucked into the crook of her neck and was holding her in as close to a koala grip as she could following the multiple surgeries that had been described the day before.
Ever the light sleeper though, Jane cracked her eyes open in response to the change in atmosphere brought on by the opening of the door and she visibly tightened her grip on her girlfriend who remained fast asleep. Understandable with all of the hours that Maura’s body had missed out on over four weeks of attempting to function through grief.
Jane groaned, the pressure probably inciting some pain, but she didn’t loosen her grip until her groggy gaze cleared to confirm that there was no threat to either of them.
“Ma?” Jane asked, her voice even deeper due to sleepiness, “Everything okay?”
Angela’s heart soared higher in response to the voice she’d missed so much but she managed to keep some modicum of cool as she replied, “Everything is perfect, sweetheart. I was just wondering whether you girls would like some breakfast?’
Jane absently ran her thumb down Maura’s face, but the ME remained blissfully asleep, so she shook her head, “Do you think we could sleep a little longer first? And then…could I get some bunny pancakes?”
“Of course,” Angela replied, beginning to retreat as she planned how to make the best pancakes of her life with her ample time, “You just tell me when you’re ready?”
“Thanks, ma,” Jane said contentedly, obviously being drawn back to sleep, but she managed to resist as she called back, “Hey, ma…I…” Angela turned back around to look at her expectantly as she fiddled nervously with the sleeping Maura’s hair, “I really am sorry…”
“You apologised yesterday, darling and I told you then…” Angela faux-admonished, still unable to fathom why she would apologise for being alive. It wasn’t like she was given much of a choice as to how the witness protection would work and by the sounds of it, she was pretty much unconscious for the majority of the time.
“Not about that,” Jane cut her off, “Well I am sorry about that…I just mean…I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about…you know?” she indicated the sleeping woman with her head, “I didn’t want you to find out so…publicly…”
“Oh Janie,” Angela sighed, fondly, “I’ve known for longer than either of you have.”
Jane blanched, “How…when…”
“The two of you have been a couple for a long time, it’s just that neither of you noticed,” Angela chuckled.
The detective continued to stare back but eventually nodded in agreement as she pulled her girlfriend yet closer to her, revelling in the clear acceptance that she was receiving.
“So…you approve?” Jane asked, sheepishly.
“You kidding?” Angela laughed, “I find out my baby is alive and I get a doctor in the family in one day? How could I not approve?”
Jane blushed but didn’t point out that Maura was not quite officially ‘in the family’ because she was well aware that it was only a matter of time at this point.
“Thanks, ma,” Jane said again, sharing a wide smile with the older woman who at last took a step away from the threshold to begin closing the door.
“You tell me when Sleeping Beauty wakes up and I’ll get started on those pancakes right away,” Angela promised and, just before closing the door, she added, “And Janie? I love you.”
“Love you too, ma,” Jane repeated, dropping her head fully back against the pillow to optimise the feeling of the face pressed against her neck.
As soon as the door closed, she felt a tickle against her neck though as Maura said, mistily, “That was so sweet…”
“You were awake?” Jane sighed, after calming down from the shock of being interrupted from enjoying her girlfriend’s weight against her.
Maura pushed herself up, her eyes obviously wet, as she replied, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you, but it seemed as though you were having a moment.”
Jane smiled fondly at her girlfriend and pulled her into a lingering morning kiss, between which, she murmured, “I would like to have a much less sweet moment with you..”
Maura hummed her agreement into her mouth but pulled back as a grunt of pain emitted from the detective following an attempt to lean in.
Despite the pain, Jane still chased her lips as she was lightly pushed back and Maura shook her head, “That ‘much less sweet moment’ as you put it will have to wait until you are physically capable, Jane.”
“There are so many things I am physically capable of, Maura…”
“While your mother is in the kitchen waiting to make us bunny pancakes?’ Maura shot back and Jane puffed out her cheeks.
“Okay, fine. You have succeeded in killing the mood, are you happy?”
Maura stared down so lovingly that Jane’s petulance evaporated, more so as the doctor cupped her cheek and said, reverently, “Yes, I am extremely happy.”
Jane covered her hand, her own eyes misting over, as she replied, “I am too, Maur. Do you think we could wait a while before we get that breakfast though?”
Maura hummed again and slotted back against her girlfriend, once again revelling in their proximity but making sure not to cause any pain from her many injuries.
“Absolutely,” she replied, fully prepared to stay in this position for as long as was physically possible.
She was at last looking forward to a future that she was positive was going to be amazing.