A nod to Tess Gerritsen and TNT: Thank you for creating these lovely characters that we love to play with at times.

I was there.

I saw it happen.

Has it really been over 4 days already? 96 hours. 5760 minutes.

It started as a typical day, well, as typical as can be in the BPD Homicide Division. I was performing an autopsy on a prostitute with bruise patterns similar to 2 other victims I performed autopsies on in the past two weeks. three weeks, three women. With this third murder, we had a serial killer to catch. Yes, I said we. Jane, Korsak and Frankie made me feel a part of their team, of their BPD family.

Jane was hovering as she always did when she needed work through her theories based on my findings.

"Maura, please tell me you have something that can help us nail this guy down."

"Jane, I expect the lab results back at any time. I asked to put a rush on it."

This victim differed from the other two by having skin under her fingernails, the other two did not. The MO for the other two victims included blunt trauma to the left side of their face, the bruise there showed the impression of a large human fist. Additional severe bruising along the torso of the victims and hand prints around their necks suggested cause of death due to suffocation caused by strangulation.

I leaned over the victim to point out the bruising on her head. "See here, Jane? This bruise on the other two victims was a clear impression of a fist, a direct hit. On this victim, the strike was not direct, it goes from the temple across the left side of the forehead."

"So, did he miscalculate? Maybe she ducked?"

I nod in agreement. I explain the comparisons the blood results and that this victim was clear of any drugs. I also point out the bruise located on the victim's wrist area. "Here is a clear hand print showing that she was grabbed, unlike the other two victims. Also, if you look at the bruising on the body? While it appears more extensive, they were postmortem."

"After she was dead?"

"Yes, Jane. Cause of Death is suffocation, due to strangulation same as the others, but before the beating in this instance."

Jane paces back and forth. "Even though this isn't exactly the same as the other two, I know it's the same guy. We have found each victim on Monday mornings, two weeks apart. Victim three is clean of any drugs, so does this mean she saw the perp, tried to avoid the first blow. This pisses off our perp, he grabs her, strangles her first, gets angrier because it's not going the way he wants it, so beats her body."

"That is a possible and plausible scenario, Jane. Victim three's reflexes could have been faster than the other two."

Kent interrupts us. "Dr. Isles, the lab has called to say that the results are in."

"Thank you, Kent." Jane and I go to the computer to pull up the results.

Jane punches the air with her fist when she sees there is a DNA match. She sits down at the computer to forward the results to Frankie. She pulls out her phone to call him.

"Frankie. Open your mail, we got a match. Find out where this guy is and let's go arrest this scumbag."

We read his convictions. In and out of prison since his teens, assault, aggravated assault, rape. Jane looks at me. "Wish us luck. Hopefully, we can get this creep off the streets today."

I try to give her a confident smile. "You'll bring him in, I have no doubts, just please be careful, Jane."

She gives me a lopsided grin. "Always." And she was gone.

I stayed busy with paperwork for the next few hours while the detectives researched where the perp now lived and worked since he was released from prison six months ago. Jane sent me a quick text to let me know she and Frankie, with a couple of patrolmen as backup, were headed to a car repair shop to find the perp. Vince sent me a text letting me know they were on the way back to headquarters with him in custody.

Vince: By the talk on the radio, Audet thought he was going to run out the back door, but bumped into two uniforms pointing their weapons at his face.

Me: Glad it went smoothly and they caught him. Thank you for letting me know.

For some reason, I felt more apprehensive than I normally did when Jane is out. My adrenal glands and other visceral sensations were flooding through my body. I'm sure Jane would tell me I was having a "gut feeling". I had decided to drop off some paperwork to Vince so I could be in the area when they came in.

I had perfect timing. I dropped off the report, Vince showed me a cute video of the antics of a kitten on a bed with two green apples. It did make me laugh. The doors opened and Jane and Frankie walked through followed by Audet and the two uniforms. Audet seemed complacent, so the two uniformed officers did not have tight grips on his arms, but I saw his eyes shift left and right when they went through the door frame. I opened my mouth to shout a warning, but everything happened so fast. Audet body slammed one officer into the wall, completely knocking the wind out of him. At the same time, he kicked out with his leg and connected with the other officer bringing him down. Audet turned to make a run out the door in the pandemonium he caused. Jane was slightly closer than Frankie, so tried to tackle Audet high to knock him over, but Audet was a solid man. He stumbled, but didn't fall. He tried to knock Jane off my slamming her into the door frame. Frankie made a flying tackle hitting Audet in the back of the knees finally taking him down. Other uniforms swarmed to help and took him away.

My heart beating fast, I rushed over with Vince to make sure Jane and Frankie were ok; they were giving each other high fives.

"Nice tackle, Frankie!"

Frankie grinned. "You hit 'em high, I'll hit them low."

I begin to examine Jane, but she tries to brush me off. "I'm fine, Maura."

I reach up to touch a swelling on her head. "Ouch!" She slaps my hands away.

"Jane, you really hit the doorframe hard with your head, I believe you should go to the hospital, you may have a concussion."

"Nah. I didn't hit that hard. I might get a headache." As she turned to walk away, she braced her hand against the wall.

"Jane! Are you alright?"

"Uh, I guess a little dizzy." She takes another step and slowly slides down the wall.

"Call 911!" I yell. I rush to Jane's side. Her eyes are open, but confused. She is trying to focus on me.

"Maur?" And she passes out.

I was there, and now I am here. In the hospital. By her bedside.

They rushed her in to perform MRI and CT scans on her head. The scans showed that she had some swelling of the brain, but luckily, no bleeding. The swelling was not severe enough to call for surgery. Jane would have been angry if her beautiful raven curls were shaved. The doctors decided to keep her in a medically induced coma for 2 days to give her brain time to heal itself.

The doctors stopped giving the medicine that is keeping her sedated and were now waiting for her to wake up. It has been 2 days. I check her charts if I ever leave the room, to make sure I haven't missed anything if I go home to shower or eat. I rarely leave her side. People must have noticed by now. My behavior is too devoted for even a best friend. I sit here every day, holding her hand, talking to her. If Angela and Frankie have not guessed the truth of my feelings by now, I would be amazed.

Frankie and Angela have just left for dinner. They will be back to say goodnight to you. I take my usual place and thread my fingers through yours and begin talking.

"Jane, you need to wake up. You need to wake up because I need to tell you how I feel about you. That I believe you feel the same way, but we've been doing a dance of avoidance for so long. Life is too short."

"You need to wake up because you have so much yet to accomplish. You are an excellent detective. You need to get back to work and get those 'scumbags' off our streets."

"You need to wake up because your family needs you."

"Jane, you need to wake up because I can't do this without you." I wipe a tear that trails down my cheek. I stand up to lean over to place a soft kiss on your lips before I sit back down as more tears leak from my eyes. I am about to let go of your hand to reach for a kleenix when I feel your hand squeeze mine. I look up to your face with excitement to see your eyes flicker open.

"Hey." Your voice is hoarse from dryness, but sounds like the finest music to my ears. I laugh with pure joy and wrap my arms around you.

"Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty!"

Hey everyone. What do you think? My first story that isn't happy fluff! This is based on a prompt that I found on Tumblr. Hope you enjoy it.

I have already tweaked a couple of items. Thank you to the ones to point out you should always brain check after spell check!