A/N: This is the first fic I've published, so be gentle with me. Also, it's unbetaed. My apologies for any errors, they are mine, and mine alone.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, and gain no profit from this.

Jane's POV

I just want this fucking case to be over. I put Hoyt behind me and move on with my life and as soon as that happens I mean as soon as the nightmares stop, he pulls some shit and makes me see him in the flesh so they can start all over again. This is going to go down as the crappiest birthday ever.

"Jane?"

I glance over at Maura in the passenger seat. I know the line she fed me about figuring out what was the morphine was crap, but I also want her with me. I don't want to do this alone, but I'll be damned if I tell her that. "Yeah, Maura?"

"I want you to stay at my place tonight."

"Maura, I'm not going to let this bastard keep me out of my house. I will keep living my life."

"Fine, then I'm staying with you tonight."

I grin. "Oh, really? And what would Miss Manners say about you just inviting yourself over as an overnight guest?"

Maura fell silent. Part of me was afraid that I'd sarcasamed her one too many times and she was going to give in. But then she smiled, "I think, that given the extenuating circumstances of our situation, Emily Post would say that it is perfectly acceptable as long as I bring dinner and plenty of wine."

Despite the situation, I grinned and shook my head, that woman can always make me laugh and distract me from what scares me. "Okay, well, if dinner's on you, and you're willing to get me drunk, feel free to invite yourself over. I can't have Miss Manners holding more things against me than she already does."

We pulled up to the jail and after I got out of the car, I stared up at the prison. I felt Maura take my hands in hers and I looked up sharply. "Maura?"

"You were rubbing your scars, you don't realize you do it, do you?"

I shook my head slowly. Maura squeezed my hands gently and then let them go. I took a deep breath and we walked into the jail.

"Jail Administrator Asshat better not make us get pat downs again," I muttered to Maura.

She giggled but at the same time said "Jane, language."

We were, in fact, given pat downs again. And then we finally made our way down the hallway to the infirmary to see Hoyt.

I walked in the door first, Maura and Hoyt's guard followed me in. "Hoyt," I said sharply, ready to get this over with so I could go to my not really a surprise, surprise My Pretty Pony Party and then get drunk with Maura.

"He's been in and out of it," the guard explained.

Well fan fucking tastic, why did he call me down here then. I looked at the whimpering man on the bed and the quietness of the room. "It's not fair."

Maura touched my arm in sympathy, "Maybe he'll still be able to talk to you."

That Maura, always trying to solve the problem. I shook my head to show her she'd misunderstood. "It's not fair because how can a person who tortured so many people get to go out so peacefully?"

I watch as my own personal boogy man stirs and whispers, "Jane? Jane...Jane...come closer...have more bad things to tell you."

The last thing I want to do is get any closer to this monster. In fact, I want to run out the door dragging Maura with me, but the thought of being able to bring peace to even one more family strengthens me. I sigh and slowly move next to the bed, ready to get this over with. "I'm here."

Suddenly my world is shifting and I'm falling. I'm being tugged down to Hoyt. I can't believe what is happening at first, he's supposed to be at death's door and he's tugging me around. I look over to the guard, "Get him off me!"

The guard smirks at me and grabs Maura. She realizes what's happening and screams trying to get away, but he just holds her and laughs, "I think I'll watch."

Hoyt holds me down and the guard has put Maura in zip ties and the guard is holding the tazer against her. I am paralyzed. I don't want him to hurt Maura so I stop fighting Hoyt. I need to think. Come on, Janie, think of something.

Hoyt's hand is around my throat and he strokes my face, "Happy Birthday, Jane." I recoil from his touch and close my eyes. I wish Maura weren't here, I don't want her to die at the hands of my personal nightmare. She and I both know what he is capable of. Stop thinking about that, Jane. Find a way to save yourself and Maura.

"I was so hoping you were smart enough to put together my clues. Was it fun? LIke a murder treasure hunt," Hoyt hissed.

I can't let him know how afraid I am, he gets off on that. I take a deep breath. "I should have killed you when I had the chance," I spit back at him

"Yeah, you should've." Hoyt reaches back toward Mason with one hand, "The taser." Mason hops to like a puppy giving it to Hoyt and taking the scalpel. Hoyt puts the taser across my neck, not choking me yet, but wanting me to fear it. "I could turn it on if you like."
"NO!" I hear Maura scream from across the room. I look over at her quickly and hope I can tell her with my eyes how sorry I am that she has to go through this.

Hoyt is running the taser along my face, "I always finish what I start."

I look away from Maura's eyes which are so filled with fear it tears me up. The weak link here is Mason, to get us out of here alive, I have to turn him. "He played you, Mason. Just like he plays all his little apprentices."

Mason looks over at me smugly, "I'm not the one wearing zip ties, detective."

Maura's big brain has wrapped around my strategy, she nods once and looks over at him, "What was in it for you?"

Mason grinned, " It was fun. The kid was all proud of himself, you know going off to law school, big deal. Idiot was dropping of mystery books for a serial killer."

Hoyt muttered, "I love mysteries."

I kept my focus on Mason, trying to keep playing for time. "So you were the one that set up his bail."

"Yeah. All he had to do for the five k was swallow a balloon."

Hoyt pressed down on my neck, I think he'd figured out what I was trying to do with Mason. "It was too good to be true when litte Gram told me he was off to Boston College to be a double eagle. I knew he was the perfect envelope for my...letter to you. It's time." Mason ran forward again and handed the scalpel to his master and took the taser. I could feel the sharp blade against my neck. It was the feeling that woke me in the night. It was almost like a tickle, but I knew it meant I was going to die.

Marua was talking to Hoyt but I couldn't focus on the words, I was watching her, I wanted her to be the last thing I saw, not the face of the monster who was going to kill me, but the face of an angel. Hoyt's words entered my awareness again when his fingers tightened on me. " I'm dying, and I want company. I think I'm going to take you and dr. Isles with me." He cut into my neck, not enough to bleed me out, but I hissed at the pain.

"Why Maura, take me, fine you've wanted me for ages. But Hoyt, let her go, she's not a part of this."

I glanced over at Maura who was crying and looking away. She couldn't watch Hoyt kill me. Good, I don't want her to see it.

"Oh, Jane, Jane, Jane, you think I don't know? Just because she doesn't know doesn't mean I couldn't smell it. Really, Jane, I thought you knew me better than that. I've always known you were in love with her."

Maura looked over reflexively, her eyes widening and meeting mine. I looked at her, I had never even really been able to admit it to myself but in that moment, when my eyes locked with hers, I knew it was true. I answered her with my eyes and she started to cry harder.

Hoyt moved his body to block my view of her. "And now, I get to do one more of my favorite things. I get to do one more couple." He looks back at Mason, "Hold her down," he nods at me. Mason comes over and I realize what Hoyt means. He's going to rape and kill Maura in front of me, then kill me. I feel Mason's meat hooks holding me down and I thrash against him, I have to save Maura. I look at her, her eyes are following Hoyt's moves toward her, her eyes wide with fear. "NO," I yell.

"I win, Jane," Hoyt hisses with a smile.

"Hoyt, don't you touch her!"

Hoyt puts the taser to Marua and she falls backward. I watch as he brings the scalpel to her throat and begins to cut. When I see blood on her neck, I lose myself. "NO! STOP IT!"

Mason moves close to me to yell, "Shut Up!"

I realize how close he is and bellow as I throw myself forward with all my strength, all my rage and headbut Mason. He reels backward, unprepared for the blow. I have to get him down fast so I can get to Hoyt and save Maura. I knee him in the groin to keep him off balance and then quickly find the taser to incapacitate him. Hoyt turned away from Maura when he heard the guard fall back. Yeah, that's right asshole, keep your attention on me, leave her alone. I hit him across the face with the taser and he falls backward to the floor. I glance at the taser but it hasn't recharged yet. He's lost his scalpel and I scramble after it along the floor, trying to get it while Hoyt is doing the same thing. He grasps it but I have a hold of his hands. These damn zip ties are making it tough to keep a hold of him, but I can't let go. He's weak from his chemo and his exertions are less strong. I push his arm back and put my knee to his throat. Yeah, lets see how you like being the one by the throat for once. He tries to thrash me off him, but I kick him back and elbow him in the face. The blows make him drop the scalpel. I grab it and get on top of him. "I win," I growl and stab him in the heart with his own scalpel, "And you're going to Hell alone."

My first thought is Maura, I turn to check on her when I hear the high pitched sound of a charged taser. Crap, Mason is conscious. I turn to face Mason, scrabbling backward, looking for options. I have to stay conscious to protect Maura. Suddenly, the door bursts open, and I see Korsak, gun drawn and he shoots Mason before the guard can get to me with the taser. Korsak, Frost, and Asshat come into the infirmary. I realize it's over. Korsak helps me up and holds me, just like he did the first time with Hoyt. "You're okay, you're okay," he keeps saying, he cuts my zip ties and I look over at Maura, she's sitting up and Frost has her. I release a breath i didn't know I was holding, just glad she's safe-glad it is finally over.

Marua's POV

Jane is lost in thought while we drive. I couldn't let her go see Hoyt alone. She looks so broken, staring at the road, gripping the wheel. She's gripping it so tightly that her scars stand out prominently on her hands. I can't let her be alone during this. I love her. God, I love her so much and it kills me that this monster is coming after her again. That kills me more than the fact I can never tell her how I feel. I have to do what I can to help her.

I nudge her slightly, "Jane?"

She meets my eyes briefly. God her eyes look so haunted, "Yeah, Maura."

"I want you to stay at my place tonight." I speak with finality. I know she would never ask but she will not be alone with her nightmares.

"Maura, I'm not going to let this bastard keep me out of my house. I will keep living my life."

I will not be deterred by an argument as feeble as that. "Fine, then I'm staying with you tonight."

We're stopped at a red light and she looks over at me, her confident smirk in place and I glimpse some of the old Jane there. "Oh, really? And what would Miss Manners say about you just inviting yourself over as an overnight guest?"

I take a moment to relish this Jane, the cocky, confident, sexy Jane. The one that takes my breath away. I realize she's waiting for an answer and I see fear behind the swagger in her face. I sigh, acting a bit put out at her teasing, even though I love it. "I think, that given the extenuating circumstances of our situation, Emily Post would say that it is perfectly acceptable as long as I bring dinner and plenty of wine."

She grins and I melt a little inside. "Okay, well, if dinner's on you, and you're willing to get me drunk, feel free to invite yourself over. I can't have Miss Manners holding more things against me than she already does."

When we arrived at the jail, she was back in her head staring off in the distance and rubbing her scars. I just wish I knew how to help her more, besides being here. I grabbed her hands to still them.

She looked up at me, eyebrows arched. "Maura?"

I stroked the backs of her hand with my thumbs. "You were rubbing your scars, you don't realize you do it, do you?" I squeezed her hands in support and then headed into the jail.

"Jail Administrator Asshat better not make us get pat downs again," Jane growled. I giggled at the memory of Jane's indignation at them giving me a pat down, then I blushed as the tone of her voice washed over me. I needed to distract Jane. Ah, I knew what to do. "Jane, language."

I followed Jane and Hoyt's guard into the room.

"Hoyt," Jane barked, I knew she wanted to finish this quickly.

"He's been in and out of it," the guard explained.

Jane looked at him, her expression icy. "It's not fair."

I reached out to her, "Maybe he'll still be able to talk to you."

Jane shook her head tightly. "It's not fair because how can a person who tortured so many people get to go out so peacefully?"

Hoyt starts whispering, "Jane? Jane...Jane...come closer...have more bad things to tell you."

I watched as Jane walked toward him stiffly. I didn't want her to get any closer, but my brave Jane would never let her own fears stand in the way of saving someone else. I hear her voice, absent of any of the warmth it usually has. "I'm here."

I watched Hoyt carefully, waiting for signs of deceit in his microexpressions. I was so focused on his face, I didn't notice his body move at first but then I heard Jane cry out and I saw him grab her and yank her down onto his hospital bed.

I look over at the guard expecting to see him spurred to action. Instead he grabs me and drags me across the room, closing the door behind us. He laughed and bit back, "I think I'll watch."

I try to fight Mason off, but he puts me in zip ties, while Hoyt binds Jane.

My eyes are locked on Jane. I watch Hoyt holding her by the throat and hear his whispered birthday wish. Anger roils through me as he strokes her and tries to terrify her. He looks up at me for a moment and smirks. I quickly mask my expression. If he knows I'm in love with Jane, he'll use that to hurt both of us more. I have to keep my feelings inside, because I will not let my love for Jane be a tool for him to use to cause her more pain. I look at Jane, her eyes still show fear, but she's also trying to work things out, still trying to find an escape for us. I start to analyze our advantages, they are few. We are still alive, at the moment. Frost and Korsak know where we are. We are in a jail infirmary, there are long but not impossible odds, that someone will come in for medical supplies. Medical supplies, what could I get access to? I glance around the room but the options are pitifully bad, anything that could be useful would be locked up so it couldn't be used by prisoners. Ironic as now I wanted to use it against a prisoner. Think Maura, other advantages...

Mason's fingers dug into my shoulder and I looked up, Hoyt spoke to him, "The taser." Mason pushed me back and handed it to Hoyt. I watch as Hoyt caresses Jane with the taser. "I could turn it on if you like."

The thought of him hurting Jane rips my heart and I don't even realize that I'm crying and yelling, "NO!" Jane looks over with me and locks eyes with me. She's still trying to reassure me, to protect me. I have to protect her. Why can't I figure out a way to save her?

Hoyt hasn't used the taser yet, he is still running it along Jane's skin. He mutters something but the rage and the fear are overtaking me and I can't make out what he said.

I hear the rasp of Jane's voice and I look at her again, she is talking to Mason. Of course, Mason could be another advantage. He is a prison guard, not an apprentice of the usual intellectual aptitude that Hoyt would want. I focus on the words being said so I can help Jane. She's saying, "He played you, Mason. Just like he plays all his little apprentices."

The bastard is smug in his reply, "I'm not the one wearing zip ties, detective." I roil at his arrogance. That's it, his arrogance. Jane is trying to get him to try to step out of the place of apprentice, to turn he and Hoyt against each other.

I look over at him, playing for time and giving him a chance to gloat so he will anger Hoyt. "What was in it for you?"
The oaf grinned, " It was fun. The kid was all proud of himself, you know going off to law school, big deal. Idiot was dropping of mystery books for a serial killer."

Jane nodded once to show me I was taking the right track. "So you were the one that set up his bail."

Mason nodded dumbly. "Yeah. All he had to do for the five k was swallow a balloon."

Hoyt pulled focus back to him, and his crimes. I think this might be playing into our hand as it was dismissive to Mason. I needed to get him to insult Mason's abilities to get the guard off-footed. Mason had responded to something Hoyt said and ran forward with a scalpel for Hoyt. Mason was back quickly, holding the taser to me. I still needed to get Hoyt to insult Mason. I looked at the scalpel at Jane's neck. Come on, Maura, focus on what you need to do. I turned to Mason, "You killed him. That's why the edges of the stab wounds were so clean."

Hoyt took the bait. He moved his scalpel away from Jane and turned to me, "Very good, Dr. Isles. Though Rod here doesn't wield his scalpels with the same finesse, he did get Grahm, so I could be here with you." He turned back to Jane. Damnit, he's given a back handed compliment, that wasn't enough. He began to speak again, this time to Jane. "I'm dying, and I want company. I think I'm going to take you and Dr. Isles with me.".

I gasped, quietly. My plan had failed, not surprising really, but there were no cards left to play. Now I just had to will Jane not to ask the question I know that she'll ask because she is who she is.

Jane glared up at Hoyt. "Why Maura? Take me, fine you've wanted me for ages. But Hoyt, let her go, she's not a part of this." And there it was, in trying to save me she was going to have that last thread of security about us taken away by Hoyt. My love would be used to torture her. I looked away, crying at the indignity of it all.

I heard Hoyt's taunting voice. "Oh, Jane, Jane, Jane, you think I don't know? Just because she doesn't know doesn't mean I couldn't smell it. Really, Jane, I thought you knew me better than that. I've always known you were in love with her."

I must not have heard that correctly. My head swiveled at them and I couldn't believe Hoyt had misread the signs. I locked eyes with Jane. Part of me longed for it to be true. I had longed for it so long that this might sustain me. Jane's eyes softened and she gave the smallest of nods. I broke down. We could have been together this whole time, and now we were going to die.

Hoyt moved between us so I couldn't see Jane. I had to tell her. She had to know I loved her too. I had to stop crying long enough to get that out. Wait. It is worse if I tell her. She should not have to feel this bitterness. I keep my mouth shut. Hoyt is next to me and Mason is holding Jane down. Oh, God, this is going to play out like one of his earlier murders. I track every movement Hoyt makes. I hear Jane yell "NO!"

Hoyt turns to her, "I win, Jane."

Jane is struggling against Mason. God, I love the bravery, the fight she has. "Hoyt, don't you touch her!" Jane, my noble good paladin, is fighting for my life to the last. I want to look at her. To let her eyes be the last thing I see. But I don't want her to have to watch me die, so I focus on Hoyt. Then Hoyt puts the taser to me and I fall back. I have lost all motor control. I can't get up, I can't fight. I can't see anything except the stained ceiling tiles of the infirmary.

I hear Hoyt, "You're going to feel a little pinch, doctor." I close my eyes and picture Jane's face. I think about all the times we've been together at my home, or at the dirty robber, or her tackling a suspect. I feel the scalpel start to cut and I know he hasn't transected any major arteries yet. He is drawing this out, to torture Jane. I hear her tortured voice, desperately screaming, "NO! STOP IT!"

I hear the guard tell her to shut up. Then I hear her cry of outrage and the crack of bone hitting bone. Then Mason is grunting in pain, and I smile, Jane has overcome the guard, she will be able to escape. I hear the sounds of the fight and I'm not sure who is fighting whom. I hear the taser, but the fight continues so I know Jane is still alert. I hear scrambling along the floor, and Jane cries out and Hoyt grunts in pain. Then I hear Jane's confident voice grind out, "I win. And you're going to Hell alone." I relax, Jane got Hoyt. I wait for her to come to me but then I hear a taser charge and then two shots.

The next thing I see is Frost's face. He's helping me to sit up, and cutting off my zip ties. I realize I can move again and apply pressure to the wound on my neck. I look over and see Jane crying in Korsak's arms. I am floored at seeing my Jane so broken, but I will help her through this. She is my friend, and...she is in love with me too.