5 The Getaway

Day one: “Maura, can I get you anything?” or “How about trying this and maybe you will hurt less.”
Day two: “Maura, please try this. I don’t want to see you hurt yourself worse, sweetie.”
All this disintegrated by day eleven to “Maura, really? Where’s the cast? Why didn’t you ask me to help you with that? Can you say broken bone?”
Jane’s only reprieve was running and even it had become a chore without Maura at her side. The last straw was Maura on her feet, bent over changing the bed sheets. The cast and crutches were nowhere to be found. After the sheet incident, Jane prepared to run and locked Maura’s crutches in her car, stranding her on the couch.
“Jane, I won’t run off again, I promise. I am getting better, but I am stir crazy being this sedentary.
What if I have to pee?”
“Oh, hell, Maura, you are impossible!” Jane shouted, as she went back out to retrieve the crutches.
Maura fired right back with, “says the woman who started boxing practice with her abdomen gaping open from a gunshot wound.”
“Touché,” Jane bellowed on her way back in the door.
She sat down beside Maura on the couch and admitted softly, “I don’t want you hurt worse or permanently crippled over a stunt we pulled, so you could show off your legs and I could watch your ass.”
“Aw, Jane, you watched my ass?” Maura was absolutely giddy at Jane’s admission, but rather than taking the conversation where it needed to go, Jane deflected it.
“C’mon, Maura, you have most of the precinct in a sweat on any given day. Once or twice after you first started, the guys wouldn’t even come down to the lab and face you in those pencil skirts and heels. Especially the Choo’s. They always sent me as if I was immune to it.”
“Really?” Maura blushed, looking over the top of her reading glasses at Jane and slowly pulling them off her face.
“Jane, I need to tell you something. If you want to go for your run now, go ahead and we can chat this evening. I mean, you’re already dressed for it, or maybe you will need to run afterward and think about what I need to tell you.” Maura let out a deep sigh and Jane was instantly concerned. She had just admitted to checking out Maura’s ass. People say the damnedest things when they lose their tempers. Jane would have to make herself more cautious in the future.
“Well, is it something you need to say right this minute,” Jane asked tentatively.
“No, I can wait.” Maura swallowed hard and leaned back into the couch. She would wait. Not so patiently, but Maura would wait.
When Jane returned, she was a sweaty mess and barely spoke to Maura. She usually did that, and used the shower as her wind down. She had been gone longer than usual but Maura didn’t worry unless it was a couple hours after dark. God, Maura, thought, I am acting like a wife. We have got to talk about this now, sooner than later. Frustration was far from the only reason. Maura had taken a lot of time to consider her mother’s question that night. What was she so afraid of?
She and Jane had been through so many life threatening close calls due to their professions. Neither really had made next of kin arrangements. Neither had legacies or children. Maura knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, she never worked out with the men she dated, because they were not Jane.
Jane sat the table for them and pulled out a lasagna she had thawed earlier in the day. She grabbed a bottle of beer for herself, and a bottle of wine for Maura. She had a surprise for Maura and didn’t know quite how she would take it.
Pouring the wine, she called Maura to the table, but went over to help her to her feet and up onto the crutches.
“This is nice, Jane. Thank you,” Maura smiled. She still hadn’t forgotten the conversation looming overhead and was so worried Jane would not accept her proposition to announce themselves as a couple.
They talked about the possibility of rescheduling Block Island and whether or not there was some place Maura would prefer to go instead.
Jane pulled out a thick packet of papers and announced,
“I have another surprise to give you as well. I am not sure you will take it very well, but here goes. Until today when we were both brain damaged for a few minutes, I think we have been getting along okay here. I only have three days left til I go back to work. I beat myself silly trying to figure out how to make it work. We owe Korsak and Frost a round or two or three for this idea.”
Jane presented the papers to Maura and began with, “Dr. Maura Isles, you may be called as a witness in a Federal case involving both the DEA and FBI where you performed several autopsies. Therefore, the Attorney General’s office will provide 24-hour witness protection for you until such time as the case is heard in federal court. Detective Jane Rizzoli has volunteered for this duty until further notice.”
Maura’s jaw dropped, her eyes were glazed, “But how, how did you pull this off?”
“Friends in high places, and that is all I am telling you. The other part was fixed by the fellas in the squad room. You know Frost and his gadgets. We’re going to work cases by Skype. You can check on autopsies, the fellas can bring us or email us files and photos. Rizzoli and Isles are back on the beat. What do you think, Maura?”
“I…I, can’t believe it. Jane, you are amazing.” They toasted their drinks and Maura hobbled back to the couch while Jane loaded the dishwasher.
Two weeks down and four or five weeks to go. All Maura could think was that the next homicide investigation might be at her house. She had to do something to change the dynamics of their relationship.