A/N: First fanfic! Be gentle, please! Based on "In A Week" by Hozier. I don't own the song, and I don't own Rizzoli & Isles. I'd have a lot more money if I did. This picks up after Maura is kidnapped in the summer finale.
xxx
I should have been faster. I should have told her I loved her sooner. She was missing for a total of 2 months and 17 days before I caught up to her. It ended with me chasing after her at 2:00 AM in the middle of the forest as she struggled to free herself from two men that held her at gunpoint. She had to know this would be the end, but I tried to make certain I could save her in time. I should have been faster.
At first, I tried to follow as silently as possible behind them, but it was so hard to see in the dark. My ears rang and I could hear the blood coursing through my body as I tried to match the cadence of their footsteps so I wouldn't draw attention to myself. As we got closer to the river, the sound of the water was able to drown out the sound of my feet crunching twigs and leaves as I tried to get closer to the men. I needed to be able to get a clean shot on at least one of them in order to save her.
With the river being so loud, it was difficult, but I managed to hear the three sets of footsteps stop about 15 yards ahead of me. I gripped my gun so tight - tightly - that my knuckles were white enough to glow in the dimly lit forest. I waited. I was able to hear the men's voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying. The next sound I heard made me nauseous. Maura's muffled scream. I swore she said my name. She knew I was there. She knew I finally found her.
My heart trumped my head as it always did with her, and my voice gave me away as I played right into their hand. I called for her, then everything went black as one of the men slammed part of a dead tree branch into the back of my skull. Her captors knew I was behind them the whole time. I'm not sure how long I was unconscious. The sound of Maura crying out for me a second time brought me out of the darkness. The next sound was a gunshot. Then silence. My stomach dropped. Again, I heard both men speaking. I assumed the worst.
After only a second of pause, my nausea turned to rage. I frantically searched for my gun in the leaves near where I fell ground after being knocked out. Once I found it and checked that it was still loaded, I ran towards the source of the gunshot with hot tears stinging my eyes. I found the three of them in a clearing next to the river. Time stopped. I took in the sight of my best friend who was, to my surprise very much alive. Her face was soaked with tears as her shoulders shook with every sob. The taller of the two men stood next to her, the barrel of his handgun pressed against her temple. The other began to raise his weapon in my direction.
This brought me out of my trance. I was always a faster shot. In the Academy, they always taught us to aim for the body. I fired a shot that landed perfectly between his eyes, just as I intended, and he slumped to the ground. The next bullet barely had time to enter the chamber of my gun as I pointed it towards the larger accomplice, who had pulled Maura up to act as his human shield. He didn't even give me time to negotiate before he placed his gun on Maura's back and fired.
She fell to the ground, her eyes wide. She couldn't believe it was going to end this way. Truthfully, neither could I. I was supposed to save her. I should have been sooner. I froze. The realization of how this night would end momentarily stopped me in my tracks. Her mouth formed a word that would have been my name had she been strong enough to say it aloud. Maybe if I was closer to her, it would have come out as a whisper. Again, I raised my weapon. I pointed it at the man who had just fired a bullet through Maura's right lung. I saw in his eyes that he, too, understood how this would end. I began walking towards him and fired all but one of my bullets into his chest. Once I reached his limp body that lay only a few feet from Maura's, I kicked him twice. Hard. Forcing what little air was left from his body.
I was at Maura's side immediately. She looked at me with hazel eyes that were calm. For anyone else, this would have been unusual. For Maura, it meant she had made peace with the situation she was in. Before that moment, I didn't think my heart could break anymore than it already had. In an unsteady breath, she thanked me for finding her. Thanked me. I couldn't believe it. She shouldn't have thanked me for this. Tears were streaming down both our faces. "I love you, Maura. I've always loved you. I'm so sorry I didn't get to you faster."
Our hands had been intertwined from the moment I knelt next to her, and in a weak effort, she brought mine towards her lips. She placed a soft kiss on my scar and smiled sweetly before she began to cough. It developed into more of a strangle. Blood spilled out of her mouth. "Oh Maura.." I began to sob more violently. We both knew she couldn't hold on much longer. I took off my jacket and wiped the blood from her chin and neck. She deserved to leave this world every bit as beautiful as she was in it.
"Jane... l-love you.. so m-much."
"I love you too, Maur. I'll always love you."
It became more difficult to see through the tears that pooled in my eyes, but I wiped them away quickly and often. I wanted to remember the weak, but big smile she gave me. It only lasted a few seconds before she relaxed for the last time. She was no longer gasping. No longer coughing, struggling to find a breath. I placed one last kiss to her lips, then one to her forehead. I lifted up her torso and sat down behind her, leaning myself against a log. I wrapped my arms around her smaller ones to pull her in close and bury my face in her honey blonde locks. After all this time, she still smelled the same. It was always my favorite smell.
The sun was beginning to come up. I knew I had been holding her for hours as she slowly lost her warmth. By this time, I had already apologized to Maura for not finding her sooner and not telling her that I loved her until it was too late. She understood. She always understood. I also told her about the first time I knew I was in love with her. I like to think that would have made her laugh and flash that only-for-me smile.
That morning's colors were the most vibrant I had ever seen. I shifted so that my right hand now held both of Maura's smaller hands within it. My left hand reached out to feel the cool steel of my gun. I picked it up and stared into the bright purples and oranges of the morning sky as my right thumb stroked the back of Maura's hand. "I'll be home with you, Maur."
xxx
They would find us in a week. A park ranger notified Korsak of the four bodies. He and Frankie had been searching seven days already. And, although it took him longer than it would have taken Maura, Pike eventually ruled the two kidnappers' deaths as a result of my shooting. Maura's was ruled a murder. Mine, a suicide.
"We lay here for years or for hours,
your hand in my hand,
so still and discreet.
So long we'd become the flowers
We'd feed well the land,
and worry the sheep.
And they'd find us in a week,
when the cattle'd show fear.
After the insects have made their claim,
after the foxes have known our taste,
I'd be home with you.
I'd be home with you."