Okay, so, this was a one-shot that I wrote that is now blossoming into a full on fic. This first chapter is the exact same chapter from my One Shot Wonders fic entitled Letters but the following chapters should start being written soon!

After the shooting at headquarters, Jane writes Maura letters. Maura discovers them and then asks Jane to read them to her. This fic will follow those letters as Jane reads them to Maura and will show the changes in their relationship that happen.

It had been 27 days since a bullet had blasted its way through Jane's lower abdomen and, since that day, not much had happened. She left her apartment when required for a doctor's appointment or to walk with Jo to the corner grocery store. While the first week after the shooting was filled with visitors and get well cards, people had slowly learned that Jane was done answering her door or returning warm sentiments. She was sick of being called a hero, tired of her hovering mother, and bored to the point of snapping at anyone who crossed her.

It was because of those reasons that Maura stood outside of Jane's apartment building one Saturday afternoon, debating the pros and cons of reaching out to Jane after two weeks of silence between them. She fiddled with the take out from The Dirty Robber before squaring her shoulders and walking up the stairs, her heart growing louder in her chest as she drew closer to apartment number 12.

"Jane?" she said gently after knocking gently on the door, doing so just as she reached the apartment for fear of losing her nerve.

Silence.

"Jane, I know you're in there," Maura pointed out as she listened closely. "I just heard you snap your fingers to stop Jo from scratching at the door. Angela told me that you changed your locks without warning so I would like it if you came to the door. "

Silence.

"I brought you some lunch," the doctor said with a smile. "There is a kale salad but also a burger and fries. I'm not quite sure why I thought it would be appropriate to bring you lunch since it's been over two weeks since you've returned any of my attempts at contacting you. Actually, I do know why I've come here today but…Nevermind."

Silence.

"Okay, well, nice talking to you," Maura sighed. "I'll just leave the carry out right here in front of your door and then you can listen to my heels as I leave and then take the food once I've left. I hope you're healing well and that we can maybe hold a conversation another day," she continued as she knelt down to set the food outside of Jane's door. "I miss you," she said, hoping those words would pull Jane from her isolation.

"You were really gonna leave food on my doorstep?" Jane's gravelly voice greeted Maura as the detective opened her front door.

"I suppose I was," Maura realized as she stood back up, her eyes taking in Jane's jeans that appeared a bit too loose and black hoodie over a white t-shirt. "But, well, now that you're here it won't be left on your doorstep. I hope you enjoy your lunch," Maura said with a soft smile as she took a step back and prepared to leave.

"Do you wanna come in?" Jane asked quickly, not entirely sure what she and Maura would do but absolutely sure that she wanted to at least sit with the doctor.

"I…" Maura said, biting her bottom lip subtly. "Yes," she decided with a smile. "I would like to come in very much."

"Cool," Jane smiled. "But, uh, can you grab the food from the doorstep? Bending over still isn't the easiest with the scar and stuff."

"Oh, of course," Maura said as she grabbed the food from where she had set it. "I don't know why I didn't think of that."

"Do you want anything to drink?" Jane asked as she walked towards her kitchen, trusting that Maura would follow her and lock the door behind her. "I've got milk, orange juice, or water. Or we could start drinking just past noon," Jane offered.

"I'll have some juice," Maura smiled as she began to unpack the containers and set them on Jane's coffee table while making herself comfortable on the couch. "Thanks," she said when Jane set a glass of juice near her before gingerly sitting down near her.

"Thanks for the food," Jane shrugged.

"Are you still having pains?" Maura asked as she noticed the slow way that Jane lowered herself to the couch.

"Just a bit," Jane admitted. "But only when I move suddenly or Jo decided to leap onto me while sleeping."

"May I take a look?"

"I mean, the doctor said it was healing fine last week but if you wanna have a look, go for it," Jane shrugged.

Tentatively, Maura lifted the bottom of Jane's shirt up to reveal an angry and bright scar that caused a lump to form in her throat. She scanned it for any signs of improper healing before gingerly putting pressure around the wound, feeling for any internal abnormalities.

"Any pain?" Maura asked, looking up to check for signs of discomfort on the detective's face.

"No," Jane sighed as she felt the warmth of Maura's hands on her abdomen. "It's like there's this weird tightness but not actual pain."

"The tightness is to be expected," Maura explained as she took one last glance at the scar before pulling her hands away and allowing Jane's shirt to fall back down.

"Ma bought me this scar ointment stuff but it just made the thing itch like hell," Jane thought out loud. "I mean, I don't know what she was thinking since I'm pretty sure a bullet shot point blank is gonna scar no matter how much ointment I slather on it."

"There are certainly treatments you can look into once the appropriate amount of time has passed to have the scar treated," Maura offered. "They may not be able to remove it entirely but they could certainly minimize the appearance."

"Nah," Jane shrugged. "I'm not that worried about it. It can be my daily reminder of how much fun dealing with dirty cops can be."

"Or it could be a daily reminder of your dedication and selflessness," Maura suggested softly, deliberately avoiding the word hero.

"Can we not talk about this?" Jane asked as she ran a hand over her face. "Please?"

"Sure," Maura smiled. "We can talk about whatever you'd like or we can just sit here and watch a movie or I can leave. I'll leave the ball in your court."

"Can I eat the salad you brought while watching you eat the burger?" Jane asked with a smirk.

"Pardon?" Maura asked with a laugh. "You're asking if you can eat a salad?"

"No, I'm asking if I can eat a salad while you eat a burger," Jane clarified. "Come on," Jane teased as she watched Maura's eyes travel to the carryout container on the coffee table. "I've always wanted to see you eat a Robber burger."

"Jane, I got the burger for you," Maura tried to reason.

"Maura, if I'm brave enough to shoot myself in the gut then you're brave enough to eat a burger."

That line is what snapped something in Maura.

"It wasn't brave, Jane," Maura said angrily as she pulled the container into her lap and lifted the burger up. "It was stupid," she noted coldly before taking a bite of the burger perhaps a bit too forcefully. "It was dangerous," she continued after she had swallowed her first bite and quickly took another bite for emphasis. "And it was terrifying," she finished as she let the burger drop back to the container.

Jane sat silently as she watched her best friend clench her eyes shut, attempting to calm her emotions before she broke. Tentatively, Jane picked up the container from Maura's lap and placed it back to the coffee table.

"I'm sorry," Jane whispered as she watched Maura's face. "But Frankie…" Jane trailed off as she tried to forget the way it felt to see Frankie in such a fragile state. "He could have died."

"You could have died!" Maura snapped as her eyes flew open to look at Jane, the pain in them obvious. "There was so much blood, Jane! I couldn't cover both entrance and exit wound so the blood was just…Everywhere. My hands were covered in blood. Your blood, Jane! Do you have any idea how that felt? To know that my best friend was in incredible danger and I could do nothing? And then to have that best friend suddenly stop talking to me for two weeks? Do you know how that feels?" Maura asked, unable to stop her words from spilling out.

Jane opened her mouth to respond but Maura quickly stopped her.

"You don't, Jane," Maura stated. "Because if you really knew how that felt, you would know that saying sorry isn't enough!"

"Maura…" Jane trailed off, the outburst shocking her. Most of the people she had spoken to about the incident were calm, commending Jane for putting a stop to the siege. Jane knew Maura had been hurt by her actions yet seeing Maura's face a mixture of pain and anger was almost too much for Jane. "I don't know what to say other than I'm sorry," she admitted.

"How about you tell me why you became a recluse two weeks ago and stopped reaching out to me? Stopped returning any of my attempts at reaching out to you?"

"I didn't stop reaching out," Jane said softly.

"What?" Maura breathed, not understanding what Jane meant.

"Well, I kinda did but I also kinda didn't," Jane explained.

"I don't understand. What do you mean?" Maura asked.

"I wrote you letters. Almost every day, Maura. If I had a medical question or my scar was really bugging me or if I saw something on TV that made me think of you or anything else I wrote it down."

"I…I never got any letters," Maura stammered as she imagined the letters lost in the mail somewhere.

"I never sent them," Jane admitted. "In fact, there's a whole stack of them on the counter over there if you wanna read 'em," she said as she nodded to her small dining room table.

"Jane," Maura murmured as she rose to her feet and walked towards the table, glancing back at Jane when she saw that all the letters were in envelopes already addresses and stamped. "Why didn't you mail them?"

"Dunno," Jane shrugged as she grabbed a plastic fork from the bag and began to poke at the salad before taking a bite.

Maura gently began to sift through the letters, unable to process that there were nearly as many letters on the table as there way days since Jane shot herself. One of the envelopes even had the Mass Gen Hospital logo on it and Maura lifted it up, turning it over to notice a small '#1' on the back flap. Jane had written her one while still in the hospital. Lifting up several other envelopes, Maura noticed that Jane had numbered each envelope.

It was when Maura lifted up envelope #15 that she felt something other than a letter in the envelope. Looking over her shoulder to Jane, Maura saw that the detective had turned her attention to Jo and was dangling a piece of kale in front of the small dog. A smile on her face, Maura returned her attention to the envelope in her hand. She wanted to read the letters in the order Jane had written them but her curiosity got the best of her and she slid the envelope open, pulling out the folded piece of notebook paper and causing the object to fall to the counter.

It was the key to Jane's freshly changed locks.

Heart fluttering, Maura unfolded the piece of paper and couldn't stop the lump from returning in her throat when she read the three words on the paper in Jane's scribble.

Please come over.

"Jo and I really missed you," Jane said, having risen from the couch to stand a few paces behind Maura.

Hearing the detective's voice suddenly close to her, Maura spun around and quickly closed the gap between them to embrace Jane in a desperate embrace. She allowed herself to sink into Jane's arms as the detective wrapped her around Maura's waist to return the hug.

"Bass and I really miss you, too," Maura said, her voice barely intelligible as she buried her head into Jane's shoulder.

The two women stayed in a tight embrace, Jane rubbing a hand up and down Maura's spine as the medical examiner found herself replacing the feeling of attempting to stifle Jane's wounds with the feeling of being in Jane's arms.

"Come over," Maura stated.

"What?" Jane asked, pulling away slightly to look down at Maura.

"Come over," Maura repeated as she angled her head to look up at Jane. "I get the feeling you've barely left this place and we both know my couch is more comfortable. Bring Jo and she can catch up with Bass while we do the same. Unless you don't want to," Maura added the last part softly.

"No, I do," Jane said. "It's just that you're right about me barely leaving this place so the outside world isn't exactly the most comforting thing."

"Well, it's a good thing we aren't going into the outside world for very long. We're walking to my car, then driving to my house, walking from my car to my house, and then locking the door."

"Okay," Jane said with a small smile. "Should I, like, pack a change of clothes or something? Or is this invitation only for the day?"

"The invitation is for as long as you'd like, Jane," Maura smiled.

"Careful or I might move in and you'll share your house with two Rizzoli women," Jane laughed as she pressed a chaste kiss to Maura's hairline before pulling away to grab clothing.

"I'm not sure that's as terrible an idea as you think it is," Maura called as Jane walked to her bedroom.

"Well, most people would need to take me out at least once before asking me to move in with them but if you ask nicely maybe I'll let that standard slide," Jane laughed from her bedroom as she threw various clothing items into a small duffle bag.

"Well, maybe if I ask nicely I could take you out on that date," Maura whispered to herself as she walked to where Jane kept Jo's bag of food and scooped several servings into a large Ziploc bag in case the small dog was with her more than a day.

"What was that?" Jane asked as she reappeared in the living area.

"Nothing," Maura smiled as she turned to face Jane. "Are you ready to head out?"

"I think so, yeah," Jane replied as she lifted the bag in her hand. "Did you, uh, wanna keep the letters I wrote?" Jane asked as she looked over the shoulder to the counter.

"On one condition," Maura said after a few moments of thinking.

"What is it?"

"Read them to me."

"Say what now?" Jane asked.

"I'd like it if you read them to me," Maura said softly, looking away from Jane to look at Jo who was pacing next to the front door excitedly.

"Why?" Jane wondered.

"Why not?" Maura pressed.

"Well, I mean, you can read and some of the stuff in the letters is just random thoughts I had," Jane pointed out. "Nothing super poetic or anything."

"Are you embarrassed by what you wrote?" Maura asked gently.

"Kinda," Jane admitted. "But, ya know what? If you want me to read them out loud, I'll do that."

"Really?" Maura asked, her eyes brightening.

"Really," Jane confirmed. "Now go grab them and let's get our journey into the real world over with."

Look for chapter two soon!