A/N: So... I haven't seen this idea floating around much but it really interested me so here goes. Jane and Maura, runaways. There's angst, there's love and lots of comforting. It's a slow burner, and it's gonna be a long one... hope you enjoy!

Jane Rizzoli knew she didn't want to be in this place. As soon as she knew herself, she knew that her life as she knew it was over. Her comfortable family home wouldn't be the same again, not for her and not for her parents when they found out. She wouldn't be welcome. Jane always hated her parents and their conservative attitude but she respected it and kept her opinions to herself out of pure love and loyalty to her family. But when it affected her, she knew that she would no longer be able to stand for it. If her parents didn't accept her, she was in no way going to accept them. If they thought God would punish their eldest child, their only daughter, just for loving who she did and just for being who she was, then that was a God she could not believe in as well.

When she was younger, she had questioned her father's words when they noticed people that were different from them. He cuffed the back of her head and told her not to question his judgement. So she kept quiet, but in her head she wondered why she wasn't standing up for people when they were being mistreated by people who shared her faith. They were all human beings, surely? They had different personalities, but they were all made from the same God. Not that that was a God she truly believed in anymore.

As Jane sat on the bed, she considered her options. It had been almost a month since she had stupidly, blindly, told her parents that she was gay. She would never forget the look on her father's face, or the look on her mother's. They were angry, shocked and worried. At first Angela and tried to pity her, saying they would get her some help. Frank remained silent but the anger was there. Jane didn't want to hear it. She was 21, she was old enough to know who she was and if they couldn't accept that then… well she didn't really know. She had ran from them, ignoring her father's shouts and locked herself in her room as the yelling continued.

Frank, we just need to get her some help!

She is way beyond that, Ange. She's stubborn and won't admit that there's anything wrong with her.

Well… maybe she'll grow out of it.

It's a sin, Angela! She knows what she's doing, and she is no daughter of mine and she is not welcome under my roof if she is choosing to… to go against her own faith.

Frank, please, she's still our daughter! She'll get over this, she doesn't know what she's saying.

Jane had cried like she had never cried before. She knew that her family wouldn't understand but she didn't think her own father whom she loved so much would say she wasn't his daughter. She was confused and she was scared. If she couldn't be loved for who she was she didn't know what to do. She couldn't stand how her mother could just stand there and listen to Frank shouting about how their daughter wasn't even theirs anymore. She wanted Angela to fight for her, but she knew that when she didn't take a stance, that it was all over and her mother, deep down, agreed with her father.

Even a month later the words cut through her like a knife. She sits on the edge of her bed, an empty duffle bag by her side and her drawers open. She stares around her bedroom, her childhood, her place of solitude. She couldn't leave it all behind, could she? But you have to. The voice in her head had been telling her this for weeks now. She didn't want to think about what would happen to this room after she left, so it was better to not think about it at all. She pushed all thoughts of running away to the side, but things just got worse. Tommy followed his father's lead, Frankie wanted no part of it and soon even the Father at their church gave a sermon about what a sin she was committing. She hadn't been mentioned, but the way the man's eyes pierced through her as he spoke made her feel sick. She wasn't wanted here, she had nothing to remain here for. She had no job, few friends and her family hated her. She just wanted to disappear however she could.

And that was what she intended to do. Taking a deep breath, Jane stands up from her bed and walks over to her drawers. She picks out some jeans, fingering the rip on the knee before picking up some shirts and throwing them in the bag. She doesn't even know where she's going but she can't stay here a moment longer. She is not welcome under my roof. Her father's words resonate in her ears as she packs, throwing all she can into her bag along with her phone charger and the money that she took from her savings account. There isn't much, but it's enough. She doesn't want anything to do with this city, there are too many familiar faces. Familiar faces with fond memories. It wouldn't be her parents that she would miss, it would be the strangers on the street, the stories that she would never know the truth about. When she was younger, still in High School, her and Frankie used to sit in the park and watch people go by, making up their life story. She had laughed until her ribs ached, but now that memory left a bitter taste in her mouth. She would give anything to be young and innocent like she was back then. Anything to go back to how her life was before.

Jane sniffs back the tears, shaking her head. It was no use remembering. She needs a fresh start; and if that means no family, so be it. She would not sit by idly as she was loathed every second of the day. Wiping furiously at the tears that threatened to fall, she held a photo frame in her hand. Every inch of her body was screaming to put it down but her heart failed her and she took the one truly happy photo of her family she had, tucking it into the inside pocket of her leather jacket. She sniffs again, willing herself not to cry because it would make everything just that little bit harder.

Jane jumps as she hears a knock on her bedroom door. Not bothering to hide her bag, she mutters "Come in" in her deep, husky voice. Her heart aches when she sees that it's her mother. Even though she knew that her mother didn't condone her sexuality, she was the only one that bothered to try and keep talking to Jane.

"Where are you going, Janie?" Angela asks, noticing the bag, her voice quiet. Jane looks down at the floor, unable to meet her mother's eyes.

"I'm going away for a while," Jane mumbles, mustering every bit of strength she has not to break down in tears. She holds up her hand when her mother opens her mouth. "Don't, Ma, please."

"Janie, please, just stay. We can get you some he-"

"No, Ma!" Jane's voice rises. "Don't say it. You can't help."

"You don't know that, Jane," her mother's voice is desperate, pleading, but soft too. Like she can't see what is so wrong with what she is saying.

"I do know. I know that this is who I am. I know that you or Pop can't accept me. And that hurts, it hurts so damn much, Ma because how can I stay here, how can I live under this roof when you don't even want me to?" Jane's voice trembles but she manages to keep her tears at bay. She turns away to avoid the hurt in her mother's eyes and continues packing, making sure that she gets everything she needs because she knows she's never coming back once she's out that door.

"Of course we want you here, Jane!" her mother sounds like she's about to cry and Jane can't help but let a tear slip out. "You're being selfish!"

Jane stands there, shaking. "I... selfish? You really think this is my choice?" her voice rises. "I have no choice in who I am, this is just how I was born! Don't you go telling me I'm selfish when you can't even accept your own daughter!" her voice broke on the last word. Her mother remained silent, as usual. "You don't want me here, Ma. You're choosing him over me."

"Janie, he's your father! He loves you!"

Jane almost lets out a whimper. "I heard him, Ma. She is not welcome under my roof," Jane says, steadying her voice. "And… And I don't want to be welcome here, a place where I'm not accepted for who I am. I'm reminded every day that I'm an abomination, I'm full of sin and it's not fair!" Jane yells the last part. She's tired of hiding what she really thinks from her mother. "I never asked for this! But I'm here and this is who I am and if you can't accept that, Ma, then… then I'm sorry but I can't stay here. It's not fair. This is my life. And I'm going to live it how I want to, otherwise I'm gonna stay here and end up hating every inch of who I am."

"Janie…" her mother's voice wavers. And that settles it. There's no declaration that she's wrong, that Frank is wrong, no excusing Jane for who she is. Just a desperate plea.

"I'm scared, Ma. I'm so damn terrified. But I don't give in to fear. I just… I just can't do this anymore, Ma and I'm sorry but you have to let me go," Jane shoulders her bag and picks up her phone. The bag is almost as tall as her but she manages through sheer will. Her mother doesn't say a word. "I don't have a choice, Ma." Jane's feet move of their own accord, walking quickly past her mother before she can stop her.

"Baby, of course you do!"

Jane doesn't turn around fully. "No I don't! You stopped giving me that choice when you refused to accept me as your daughter anymore!" She won't accept it until I walk out of that door. Go, Rizzoli, just go. She runs down the stairs because the sooner she gets out, the better, for all of them. She ignores Frankie's calls of her name as she walks away, the confused look on Tommy's face as she stalks past him in the living room. She doesn't even make eye contact with her father whose eyes are filled with such resentment for his daughter that it just makes her want to run out that door even faster.

"Frank, stop her! Janie, please, please baby come back!"

Jane's hand is on the door handle, shaking. She turns and hates herself for it because Angela is crying. It's almost as bad as Frankie's horror stricken face and Tommy's concealed smirk. Her father looks at her and she forces herself to make eye contact. Jane gestures to the scene in front of them.

"I hope you're happy, Pop. And I hope that when I meet Him up there, he's the God I believe in and not the one that you do. And I hope he forgives me because I'm sure gonna ask Him to forgive you every single day I'm gone from this place…" she takes a shuddering breathe because for one second she's sure that Frank is going to kick her out himself. She points to her mother. "You caused this. This is your doing, Pop. I hope you're happy." And she opens the door, but not before turning back again, trying to drown out her mother's sobs.

"Look after her Frankie," she mutters, and Frankie nods, his face not showing any emotion, but she knows that he understands. He's the only one who has stuck by her through all this and she wishes she could take him with her. But no, this is her choice. "Goodbye, Ma."

Jane steps out of the door, closing it behind her. Closing the door on her mother's yells. Closing the door on her past, on her parent's unwillingness to accept her. She's still the same strong, independent and fiercely loyal Jane that she always was. Now she's free. Terrified. But free.

She takes one deep, shuddering breath, wiping at her nose before hitching her bag back onto her shoulder and heading up the sidewalk to wherever her feet carry her.

A/N 2: I'm sorry about making the Rizzoli's seem so horrible but its necessary for the story to evolve... maybe we'll see them again, who knows? And we all know that they're good folk at heart (maybe aside from Frank...). Don't worry, Maura will be here soon, as well as some other characters we know and love (but they may come later...). I'll try and get the next one up soon, but I'm studying for exams so we'll see how it goes and if this is worth continuing!