Safest Harbor
By: Kayryn
Rating: G
Disclaimer: TNT's & Tess Gerritsen's. Not mine. Never was, never will be.
AN: Sort of a pre-ship story, I suppose… My first R&I. It's only been three episodes when I started this, so I'm worried about the characterization being a little off. I don't feel like I know Jane and Maura that well, yet, but the story refused to stay unwritten. A huge thank you goes to lysachan for the beta.

Maura Isles woke up to the sound of her cell phone ringing. In the darkness of her bedroom, she checked the time even as she was reaching for her cell phone. 2.16 am? What in the world? She wasn't on call this week. Who could it… Rizzoli?

"Jane?" Maura's voice was still scratchy from sleep as she struggled to pull her thoughts into something resembling of order.

"Maura, I'm sorry to wake you… I just…" Rizzoli's voice carried through the line, and even from those few words Maura could tell how upset Jane was and it worried her. Even if it the detective had called her about a new case, she wouldn't sound like that. Maura sat up in her bed, now alert, and fumbled to find the switch for the nightlight.

"It's fine, Jane. What happened?"

"I… You were the only one I could call…" Rizzoli's voice petered out.

"Jane, you're scaring me," Maura admitted when Jane didn't continue. "Are you hurt? What's going on?" This wasn't the Jane she knew. The Jane she saw on a daily basis didn't get upset easily and on those few occasions that she did, she didn't allow it to show.

"I had a nightmare… I went to my kitchen and Mathius was lying there in a pool of blood. Then he opened his eyes, and he had this weird looking purple flower in his hands and it was like he was offering it to me… It was like he was desperate for me to take it. That's when I woke up to the sound of glass breaking…" Rizzoli paused for a moment before forging ahead. "When I got to the kitchen the flowers I'd bought were on the floor, along with the shattered vase."

"There's someone in your apartment? You should've called the cops not me!" Now on her feet, Isles walked to her sitting room where she started pacing, wide awake and feeling the adrenalin rushing through her.

"Maura, I am the cops. Besides, there's no one here. It's no big deal. It's ridiculous, really. I got a little freaked out and..."

"Just sit tight, I'm on my way," Maura cut her off, refusing to listen to the litany of excuses her friend could come up with. Not wasting any time, Isles grabbed her purse and keys, barely taking time to shrug on a coat to protect her against cool the night air.

"No, there's no need," Jane tried once more. "I just wanted to hear your voice… I'm fine." If either of them caught the slip of the tongue, they didn't mention it.

Trying to balance her handbag, keys and phone, Maura closed her front door. "I'm already out the door. Sit tight, have a glass of water and I'll be there in less than fifteen minutes."

With that said, Maura closed the connection, cutting off any possible (and probable) objections from Rizzoli. As a Medical Examiner, Isles was used to getting calls at all hours of the day and the one good thing about being called to a crime scene in the middle of the night was that the streets were nearly empty of traffic. Same was true for now, and Maura felt grateful. The adrenalin was still coursing though her blood, even though she was certain Jane wasn't in any immediate danger. Concentrating on driving, she tried to consciously calm herself, breathing deeply - but it didn't lessen her worry.

Arriving to Rizzoli's place in a record time, Maura knocked on the door. Her friend answered almost immediately, looking a little frazzled but otherwise fine. The first thing she noticed as she walked in was that Jane had her computer open, displaying pictures from the autopsy she'd performed on young Mathius. Maura noted dryly to herself that though they were like night and day in many ways, both women found comfort in their work.

"It's in there," Jane said, pointing to the kitchen.

"There are almost always explanations for these phenomena," Maura assured her, shedding her coat and placing it on the couch along with her handbag.

"Almost?" asked Jane, to which Maura didn't really have an answer.

Reaching the kitchen, Maura took in the scene and tried to think of a logical answer to what had happened.

"Well, maybe the dog knocked the flowers over," she suggested, but the words sounded implausible even to her since, as Rizzoli was quick to point out, the counter was four feet off the floor and the dog in question was half the size of Bass.

Not being able to come up with an answer, Maura turned to Jane who, though much more in control than when she'd called her, was still rattled.

"Hey, you know, maybe ghosts are real. Maybe I could pick the winning lottery numbers today. Maybe I am losing my mind," Jane prattled on.

Isles knew her friend didn't really consider any of the above a real option, but in an effort to lighten the mood she offered to do a brain scan. The response was a ghost of a smile and a sarcastic 'thank you', which in turn made Maura smile. Jane was fast bouncing back to being herself.

"Can you run one more tox-panel?" Rizzoli asked, her focus back on the business.

"O-kay…," Isles acquiesced, knowing she would have run a dozen more had Jane asked for them. "What do you want me to look for?"

"I can't even believe I'm saying this, okay? Purple, poisonous plants?"

"Purple?"

"Yeah…"

Something about Jane's request triggered Isles' memory. She walked over to the laptop and searched through the autopsy photos for the picture she needed. Sure enough, she found what she was looking for. Could this be the break they were looking for?

"You said Mathius was holding purple flowers?"

"Yeah," Rizzoli verified.

"Monkshood. It's a purple flowering plant that grows in Boston."

"Is it poisonous?"

"Yeah, it works quickly and it's extremely hard to detect. But I can try," Maura promised, almost certain now that she was right.

After taking first a moment to think it over, Rizzoli seemed to be satisfied with the new lead. "Okay."

"Okay," Isles confirmed. By now she was quite certain the emergency was over and she reluctantly admitted to herself that she was no longer needed. "I guess I'll be going then. You should get some sleep before the morning."

"I'm not sleepy," Jane said, sounding stubborn.

"I have sleeping aids with me," Isles offered. "Take half a pill with a glass of water."

"No, I don't want to," the detective refused.

"It'll help you fall asleep but it's a small enough doze that you won't be groggy in the morning," Maura tried to reason.

The look Rizzoli gave her spoke volumes.

"Okay, no groggier than usual," the doctor amended.

"No, I hate drugs. I don't want to," Jane insisted.

Feeling a little uncertain as to what else she could do to help, Maura just stood there for a minute, looking somewhat at loss. The silence finally stretched enough to boarding on uncomfortable and Maura took a step towards the door, "Well…"

"Can you stay?"

Jane's question took Maura by surprise and robbed her of speech for a moment.

"I just…" Jane hated to admit to a weakness, but the fact was that the rest she'd gotten the night she'd spent over at Maura's during the Surgeon/Apprentice case, was one of the best she'd had in a long time - despite the fear that had driven her to Maura's door in the first place. Not wanting to think what it all meant, Jane took refuge in teasing Maura. "I mean, you're already wearing your pajamas…"

Maura looked down at herself, as if just realizing for the first time that she was not properly dressed, and blushed a deep shade of red. She'd been so worried about Jane, it hadn't even occurred to her to change before running out the door. She was slipping. She fought hard daily to keep her attraction to Jane at bay. Just earlier tonight, she'd called her 'gorgeous' and, instantly realizing her mistake, she'd tried to cover it with adding 'my friend' as an afterthought to the compliment. She wasn't sure if Jane had caught on then, but Maura knew she was in trouble. She went out with men, hoping futilely they'd take her mind off her friend… She was still trying to decide if she sabotaged the dates accidentally or if it was her subconscious trying to tell her to not waste time on something she ultimately wouldn't want anyway. The truly odd thing was that Maura always got some sort of a secret, twisted kick out of Jane giving her advice on what to do (or not to do) on dates. Considering all this, Maura knew that staying the night would be a mistake.

Knowing she'd been silent for far too long, Maura felt Jane's eyes on her, knew the woman I

was studying her reaction, and she was worried at what the detective might find. "I really should go… I can hardly go to work dressed like this…"

"You can borrow something of mine," Jane tried at first, but then realized that Maura in jeans and a top would most likely raise some eyebrows at the office. Not that she wouldn't look hot, Jane admitted to herself. "Alright, so we'll get up a little earlier and you can drive by your home before heading for the office."

Seeing that Maura was still going to object, Jane pulled out the big guns. "Please? For me?"

If there was one thing Maura Isles was unable to resist, it was the puppy eyes of Jane Rizzoli, and so the two were climbing into Jane's bed some ten minutes later.

"You do realize that this is becoming a habit," Maura pointed out.

"Want to leave a toothbrush?" Jane teased, completely unaware of the effect her words had on Maura.

The doctor swallowed, her mouth suddenly as dry as the Gobi. If only she could tell Jane how much she wanted to do just that and more, but she couldn't. She couldn't risk telling the truth about her feelings towards her friend, but she didn't want to lie either… Well, couldn't really. Maura had learned at a young age that lying in her case came with the unfortunate side-effect of hyperventilation. So instead of answering Jane's teasing question, she resolved to smile and change the subject.

"So other than taking you to Salem and scaring you with witches, what did you and your parents do on vacations?"

From the wistful grin on Rizzoli's face, Maura had succeeded in avoiding yet another pothole and she took a moment to congratulate herself, even as she listened to what Jane was saying, "… dad's relatives in Brooklyn. Every single year, I tell you. It was always crazy when we stayed with them. Usually we were all set up in one room, the four of us and after a week you can imagine how well that sat with us kids. But we played out on the streets a lot, and each year Mom took us to the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and this great pizza place, you know, one of those 'you have to know about it' places. What about you?"

"When I was young my parents would take me sailing. I loved it. The skyline of San Francisco, the wind, the ocean, the feeling of freedom… I would sit at the bow and sometimes I almost felt like the wind was going to pick me up and I was going to fly." Maura smiled at the memory. "But I have to admit that as much as I loved it all, I was always happy to get back to the harbor… The ocean was the adventure, but coming back felt safe."

"I guess that makes sense," Jane offered.

"There was something I didn't understand for years, though. My father always said that, of all the harbors he loved, ours was the best… that it was the safest. It wasn't until after he died that I realized what he meant; it wasn't that the other harbors were any less safe or that he didn't feel comfortable anywhere else. But it was home."

Jane hmmm'ed sleepily, causing Maura to glance at her and smile, pleased. Sleep would do Jane good. They'd get a confirmation about the monkshood in a few hours and things would clear up. It would all make sense again. Closing her eyes, Maura started to drift off when she felt Jane's fingers lightly brush against her own. The whispered words she heard, took an immediate and permanent residence in her heart:

"You're my safest harbor."

The end