I do not own anything. All characters belong to Janet Tamaro, Tess Gerritsen and TNT.

Four weeks

Jane Rizzoli entered the bullpen and went straight to her desk. Sitting down with a sigh she leant back to stare at the ceiling. It had been four weeks since the warehouse shooting and still Maura wasn't talking to her except it was case related. Jane had tried to apologize and to get Maura to talk but the blonde ME wouldn't have any of it. She was mad at Jane and she made that pretty clear. The problem was that Jane didn't know why exactly Maura was so angry. Of course, shooting Paddy Doyle was one reason but after all she had just done her job. And it wasn't like Maura referred to Doyle as her father. Jane knew she had to protect herself and Frost and that it had been the right thing to do. And she was pretty sure that Maura knew that too. So there was no reason for Maura to be mad at her about the shooting itself. That left one other option. Special Agent Gabriel Dean.

Even thinking about him right now made Jane mad. She thought she could trust him. She thought that they were friends and as a friend she had told him about Doyle and what he had to do with Maura. And Dean had promised her to stay out of it. To not make a move. And then he showed up at the warehouse and from that moment on everything went just wrong. But she had told Maura about her conversation with Dean and she had been okay with it. So again that left Jane with the question why Maura was so mad at her, that she wouldn't talk to her in weeks. And even after Doyle admitted that he would have shot Jane, just because she was a cop. Not caring that she also was his daughters best friend.

And there were two things which made the situation even worse for the young Detective. Number one: Jane was hopelessly in love with her best friend and not being able to talk to her or spend time with the ME was hell. And number two: the fact that she was thinking about Maura all the time made it very hard to concentrate on their newest case.

Jeremy Hall, 25 years old and a well known drug dealer had been found dead near the harbor with a bullet straight through his heart. The only thing they knew so far was the cause of death and that the killer had injected Jeremy with some strong sedative to make sure that he would not fight back. Jeremy wasn't registered anywhere so they were still trying to find his apartment or whatever place he was living at, when he was killed. The killer was pretty smart as well not leaving any evidence behind which didn't make it any easier to solve this case. And that was frustrating as hell for Jane and the rest of the team.

„Everthing okay, Jane?", the voice of her partner, Detective Barry Frost, brought Jane back to reality. She run her hands through over her face and then looked at him. She could see the concern in his eyes. He knew that she was suffering right now and there was nothing that he wanted more than to help her getting back her best friend and, as he knew, the love of her life.
„Yeah, I am just tired and frustrated. Why can't we find anything? I mean, Jeremy must have lived somewhere and someone must have seen him.", she said and he nodded.
„I know. Korsak just went to meet with one of his informants. Maybe he can tell us something about Jeremy."

„I hope so. We have to find a lead otherwise we won't be able to solve this case.", she stood up and turned to Frost again. „Anyway, I am going down to the cafe. Do you want anything?"
Frost shook his head.
„No thanks. I am fine."

Jane did regret her decision to get herself a coffee as soon as the elevator doors slid open. The lobby was empty except for one officer, Maura and a man Jane had never seen before. He was tall, had dark hair and dark eyes and yes you could say he was sexy. That was not the reason for Jane's mood to drop even further. It was the fact that he was flirting with Maura and the way she was looking at him.

For a moment the Detective didn't know what to do. Should she go back to the bullpen or not? But she really needed a cup of coffee since she didn't get much sleep the night before and so she had no other choice than to go to the café to get herself the desired liquid.
To make it a little easier she decided to just look down at the floor so she wouldn't have to watch all the flirting going on but that turned out to be another big mistake. Because she didn't really see where she was going she didn't realize that Maura and this new guy were also moving towards the café and before she could stop it she bumped into the man.
"Oh fuck.", she said, holding her nose which had made direct contact with the man's arm.
"Is everything okay, Officer?", she heared him ask her in a tone Jane didn't really like.
Still she looked up at him, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to fall because of the pain in her nose.
"I think I'll survive it, thank you.", Jane tried to sound somehow polite which didn't work completely.
"Well…", the man said, „maybe you should stop looking at the floor while walking. Then something like that won't happen again, Officer."
Again his tone didn't sit well with Jane and Maura, who had been watching the scene unfold without saying something, could see the anger rising in the brunettes eyes.
"First of all it is Detective and not Officer. And second…you obviously didn't see me coming either so thank you for your advice but maybe you should do the same, Sir.", she replied angryly.
The man wanted to say something else but in that moment his mobile phone started ringing and he had to answer it.
"Yes. Yes…tell Dr. Murphy I am on my way.", he said into the phone before putting it back into his jacket. Without another word he turned to Maura.
"Excuse me, my dear.", he said and Jane had the urge to puke right there, „I have to go. They need me at the hospital."
"It's okay, Michael. I understand.", Maura answered with a sweet smile and the man called Michael leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. Again Jane had to fight the urge to puke and turned around so she wouldn't have to watch the rest. She went back to the elevator without her coffee because not even the biggest cup in the world would help her mood to get any better right now.

But before she could go back up to the bullpen the elevator doors slid open again and revealed an excited Detective Frost.
"Woah Frost, why the hell are you so happy?"
"Well, why the hell are you so grumpy all of a sudden?", the young man countered.
"Long story and I asked you first."
Frost rolled his eyes but he knew that there was no point in arguing with his partner when she was in a bad mood.
"Korsak just called. He found the victim's apartement and is on his way there. The crime scene techs are on their way too. So you wanna come with me or are you to grumpy for that?", a smile was now showing on his face even though he knew that he was playing with the fire right now. An angry Jane was a dangerous Jane but that didn't stop him from teasing her a bit.
"Very funny, Frost.", was all Jane said and so they made their way to his car.

Two hours later they returned from the apartment, Janes mood now a lot better than before. Jeremy Hall had obviously been some kind of paranoid because after a few minutes at the apartement the Crime techs had made an interesting discovery. There were at least ten surveillance cameras and a hidden recording room and the best part was that the cam's had still been filming. So maybe they would find something on the tapes that would help them solve the case.
But just when they entered the lobby, they saw Maura leaving the elevator, her jacket, keys and bag in hand.
"You're calling it a day, doc?", Vince wanted to know and Maura smiled at him.
"Yes I am. I have a date tonight and I don't want to be late."
Jane didn't want to say anything but she just could not stop the words from coming out.
"Oooh a date, huh? Let me guess. With Michael?"
Frost and Korsak raised their eyebrows looking from Jane to Maura and back to Jane.
"Yes, Detective Rizzoli, with Michael. Dr. Michael Kent, if you must know. He is a trauma surgeon and a really nice man."
"Oh yeah, he is a real charmer. Could see that two hours ago. Really, a lovely man. And sooo in love…..with himself.", Jane spit out and the two men now gulped. They were caught in the middle of a massive cat fight and they both knew it was dangerous territory so they excused themselves immediately.
"Uhm, I think we start viewing the tapes, Jane. Feel free to join us when you're ready.", Korsak said but Jane didn't answer. Right now she was in some kind of staring contest with Maura and so the two men left as fast as they could.
"I don't like the way you talk about Michael. You don't know him and as far as I can remember it was you who bumped into him and not the other way around.", Maura's voice was dangerously low but Jane didn't care.
"Oh yeah, thank you for reminding me. Of course that explains why he was acting like an asshole. He's perfect for you."
The sarcasm in Janes voice was clear and Maura had to bite her tongue to stay calm.
"I am not having this conversation with you, Detective. With whom I go on dates is non of your buisness. And now excuse me I want to say goodbye to your mother before I go.", she replied and leaving an angry Jane behind.

After that Jane had needed a few minutes to calm down again but when she entered the bullpen she was in her cop mode again. After all they had to catch a killer. Korsak, Frost and Frankie were just viewing another tape from the day Jeremy had been killed.
"You have anything yet?"
"No. It seems that Jeremy wasn't home that day.", came the reply from her little brother.
"Well…he was sedated after all. Maybe the killer kept him somewhere for a few days before killing him. Let's view the other tapes. There has to be something on them."
"And what if there isn't?", Frost wanted to know.
"Well then we are back to square one."

Three hours later they still had not found the lead they were hoping to find and that again was frustrating as hell.
"So…there is only one tape left. It's from the day before the murder. If nothing's on there too, we are screwed.", Frost stated.
He hit the play-button and the taped started playing but again nothing seemed out of the ordenary.
"Oh come on, that's ridiculous. He has surveillance cameras everywhere and we don't get one little clue as too whom the killer could be?", Jane jumped up and started pacing. This must be the worst case ever, she thought. But just as she was about to tell the guys that she would go home the Fortuna seemed to take pity on them.
"Woah Jane, look.", it was Frankies voice that made her look back at the monitor. The video tape showed Jeremy and he was obviously fighting with someone they couldn't see yet. And suddenly there was a short struggle and they could see the killers hand, ramming a syringe into the victims neck. The four cops watched as Jeremy stumbled backwards, trying to get away from his attacker before breaking down.
"Come on, you bastard. Show us who you are.", Jane mumbled and as if the killer could hear her he took a step towards his victim. Now they were able to see his face and the moment they did, Janes face turned pale.

"Oh my…", she choked out and had to sit down in shock.
Frankie was at her side in an instant, looking worried.
"Jane, what is wrong?"
"I…I know him."
"The killer?", the three men asked at the same time and Jane nodded.

"Who is it?", Korsak inquired.
"His name is Dr. Michael Kent….and right now Maura is on a date with him."

It was like a bomb exploding in the middle of them. In seconds Korsak was on the phone to get search warrant. Frost used his "magic fingers" to find out more about Michael Kent and Jane immediately tried to call Maura. But either she had turned off her phone or left it at home because only her mail box would answer.
"God dammit.", Jane cursed, fear now running through her vains. Her heartrate was dangerously high and she was sure it would jump out of her chest every second.
"Jane, did she say where they would go?", Frankie asked. Maura was like a sister to him and he was just as worried about her.
"Frankie, you know we're not talking to each other at the moment. No, I don't know where they went. If I did, I wouldn't sit here, trying to call her.", Jane snapped but Frankie didn't care. He knew that she didn't mean it like that.
"But someone has to know. Maybe she told Susie.", Frankie said and suddenly Jane had an idea.
"She said something about saying goodbye to Ma. Maybe Ma knows something."
"Go Jane. Korsak and I are taking care of Kent's house and the search warrant. You and Frankie go and find Maura. Make sure this asshole doesn't hurt her.", Frost reassured Jane and that's exactly what the siblings did.

Out of breath they entered the café and Jane carelessly pushed one of the customers out of the way.
Before Angela could say something, Jane started talking.
"Ma, do you know where Maura went on her date with this new guy?"
"Why Jane? You are not going to interrupt them, are you? I know Maura means a lot to you but that…", Angela started.
"Ma stop. It is really important. Maura is in danger. So…do you know where they went?", Jane interrupted her mother who's turn it was to turn pale.

"Oh my god.", she stuttered. „He seemed like such a nice guy."
"MA!"
Frankie and Jane screamed at the same time.

"Oh yes, sorry. Maura said something about that new French restaurant near Boston common. I don't know the name."
"That's okay, Ma. We'll find it.", Jane assured her.

Janes car came to a halt with squealing tires. Both she and Frankie jumped out of the car and entered the restaurant Angela had told them about.
"Good evening. Can I help you?", the reception lady asked them.
Jane showed her badge.
"Can you tell me if Dr. Michael Kent is here with someone? It's an emergency."
"Yes Ma'am. Dr. Kent was here. But he and the lady he was with left about ten minutes ago."
Janes heart sank.
"Do you know where they went?"
"I saw them walking towards the park.", the young woman answered.
"Thank you."
With that Frankie and Jane left the restaurant and ran to the park as fast as they could.
"Let's split up. We have to find them as fast as possible."
Frankie nodded and they seperated.

Since it was a beautiful summer night there were a lot of young couples in the park, making it hard for Jane to find her best friend. But the adrenaline pumping through her vains kept her going and finally she spotted them walking towards the Parkman Bandstand. Jane drew her weapon and went after them. She didn't want to cause a panic so she made sure to wait until they were away from most of the other visitors, using the time to sent Frankie a short message to let him know where they were.
As soon as they were alone Jane didn't wait any longer.
"Kent. Boston police. Stop right there."
Kent and Maura turned around seeing Jane with her weapon pointing at the man.
"Jane, what the hell are you doing?", Maura wanted to know.
"Maura, step away from him please."
"Why? What is this about, Jane?"
"Yes Detective, what is this about? Are you mad at me because you bumped into me this afternoon?", Kent asked sarcastically.
"I think you know what this is about, Kent.", Jane spat out before turning back to Maura again.
"Maura, I know you hate me right now. But if there is any trust left in you, then please step away from him. I will explain it all to you. Just come here, please."
Now she was nearly begging and Maura knew that Jane wouldn't point her gun at someone without a good reason. And so she did no longer hesitate and walked over to the Detective.
"Now can you explain this to me, Jane?"
"He killed Jeremy Hall.", was all Jane said and Maura was shocked.
"What?"
"You heared me. He is our killer."
Now it was Kent's turn to speak.

"This is ridiculous. You are accusing me of murder, Detective? You say I did kill someone I don't even know? This is insane. I will sue you, you can be sure.", he said angryly but Jane didn't care.

"You didn't know Jeremy Hall?", she wanted to know and Maura knew that voice and that face. It was the face of a predator knowing that his prey had no chance to escape.

"I have never heared that name in my life."
"Well that's funny. Because we have you on tape with him. At his apartement and ramming a syringe into his neck."

No it was his turn to look shocked.
"And do you know what else is funny? Finding the murder weapon in your dumbster behind your house. Together with the clothes you wore when you shot him. If you ask me, it is pretty stupid to keep something like that and not getting rid of it right away, Dr. Kent."

By the time Jane finished talking, Frankie had arrived at the scene too.

"Frankie, read him his rights."
Frankie put away his weapon and went over to their killer, who was still to shocked to say something or even move.
"Michael Kent, you're under arrest for the murder of Jeremy Hall. You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…", as Frankie kept reading him his rights, Jane turned towards Maura who was still visibly shocked.
"Are you alright?"
"No…no…I am not."
"Well, sit down for a moment. I know this must be a shock.", Jane led Maura to one of the benches before speaking to her brother again.
"Frankie, I'll take him to the station. You make sure Maura get's home safely as soon as she's ready to walk again, okay?"
There was nothing Jane wanted to do more than bringing Maura home herself. But she knew, the ME wouldn't want her to. And she knew, Frankie would take care of Maura.

A few minutes later, Frankie and Maura were sitting in the police car on the way to Maura's Beacon Hill home.
"You're so silent. Is everything okay, Maura? It wasn't your fault. If he had not been on one of the tapes, we would have never found out that he is the killer. At least not so fast."
"Still I should have realized that something was off. I always tell people that I can read facial expressions but I couldn't see that he wasn't really interested in me. And the worst part is, I didn't even like him like that."
Now Frankie raised his eyebrows in surprise and took his eyes of the street for a short moment to look at the woman.
"You weren't interested in him? But why did you go on a date with him then?", he wanted to know.
"I…I was trying to distract myself from thinking about Jane.", Maura admitted.
Frankie sighed. He knew that Jane was in love with Maura. And he knew that Maura felt the same way about his sister and he felt that now was the time to adress the situation between the two women.
"Maura, I know you are still mad at Jane for whatever reason. And maybe you have the right to be. I can't and won't judge that. But I know one thing for sure. Jane loves you. More than anything on this planet. She would do anything for you. And by anything I really mean anything. When we found out that Kent is our killer she nearly went crazy, knowing that you could be in danger.", Frankie started.
"She never meant to hurt you, Maura. She was just doing her job at the warehouse and I think you know that. And I know that you love her, too. It's really frustrating to watch the two of you acting like that when it is absolutely clear that you can't really live without the other."

Those words hit home.
Maura knew that Frankie was right. Yes, she was in love with Jane and she had been for a long time. Not talking to her in weeks had nearly killed the young ME but her pride had gotten in the way and she knew that she had hurt Jane with her unwillingness to listen to her even for a minute.
"You're right. I do love her. And I am so sorry for putting her through all of this. I want to fix it so much. But I just don't know how."
And that was the truth. When Jane was there again to protect her, Maura finally realized that she had made a mistake but she wasn't sure if she would be able to make it right again.
"Go and talk to her, Maura."
"But what if she doesn't want to listen?"
Frankie could understand Maura's concern but he knew his sister und so he just smiled.

"It won't be easy but she will listen, Maura. Because, as I said before, she loves you."

The next day it was Janes day off. She wasn't on call and since they had finally solved the case she could finally relax. At least she was hoping that she could. For the past four weeks it wasn't that easy to relax cause normally she would go to Maura. The blonde ME had always been her safe haven were she could go when times got rough.

After her first encounter with Hoyt, Jane had been sure that she would never be the same again. Everything inside of and around her was just dark and she could feel this darkness eating her. She was about to give up but Maura just wouldn't let her. Whenever darkness threatened to take her, Maura was there like an angel surrounded by light, saving her and bringing her back. Yes, Maura had saved her life in every way one human being could save another and Jane never thought that she could ever lose this wonderful woman. But now she was sitting here, beer in her hand, staring at the dark TV-screen and not knowing what to do. It was like the darkness was coming back to her without Maura being there to chase it away.
But just as Jane felt like she would start to cry, there was a soft knock at her door. Sighing she put her beer on the table and stood up to open the door.

And when she saw the person standing in front of it, she could feel her heart beating faster again.
"Maura!"
"Hello Jane.", the ME said shyly. "Can I come in for a moment?"

Without saying a word, Jane stepped aside to let the honey blond in before closing the door again and turning around.

"What do you want, Maura?", the question had come out a little to harsh but since they had not spoken to each other in four weeks without the conversation ending in a massive argument, the dark haired Italien could feel her walls building again and Maura knew that. That's why she didn't flinch at the harsh tone.
"I wanna talk, Jane."
Now Jane had to laugh. She couldn't stop it.
"You wanna talk? Well that's new. Whenever I was trying to talk to you about what happened you made it very clear that there was nothing to talk about. So what changed?"
"I realized that I was wrong. That changed.", Maura admitted but Jane still wasn't ready to just let it go and listen. There was still to much pain left from weeks of being ignored. Even though a part of her wanted to just take the few steps that were seperating her from the woman she loved, she just couldn't. Not yet.
"And that's a first too. Maura Isles admitting that she was wrong.", the sarcasm in her voice now in full force.
"Jane, I know you are mad at me and…", Maura could not finish her sentence because now it finally was Janes time to explode.
"You are damn right, I am mad at you. For weeks I was trying to talk to you. To tell you that I was sorry, that I never meant to hurt you even though I just did my job. For weeks I was trying to find out what it was that made you so mad at me but you just kept pushing me away, never telling me why. And then you start dating this…this asshole. No, you could not have known that he was some crazy ass killer but there is no doubt that he was an asshole. You didn't care about me or my feelings even though I tried everything to tell you how much you mean to me and that I would give everything to turn back the time. And I still am sorry for telling Dean. I know it was a mistake and I would do anything to undo it. But I can't . But you just wouldn't let me tell you all of this. And now you wanna talk? Why? Because of what happened last night? Well, I can assure you that there is no need for you to talk to me just because you think you owe it to me. You don't, Maura. I was just doing my job, again."
Maura had been listening closely the whole time and now she had tears in her eyes.
"I know all of that, Jane. I didn't come here just because I think I owe it to you. I came here to tell you that I am so horribly sorry for what I did to you. I know that a simple sorry is not enough but it is all I can say."
"No, it's not all you can say. You could also tell me why, Maura. Why did you do this to me? To US?", Jane wanted to know.
"Because I was stupid. When you shot Doyle I was just so shocked. I've never seen you shooting someone and I just couldn't process it fast enough. Later I knew that you were doing what you had to do but then there was Agent Dean and I felt like you had betrayed me. I know that wasn't your intention but I just couldn't shake off this feeling. It felt like you were protecting him, and caring for him more than for me. Yes, that's crazy but in that moment it felt that way and it took me a while to figure out that it was just jealousy speaking. But by then I had already gone to far and I was just to proud to admit that I was wrong.", Maura explained and Jane blinked in confusion.
"You were jealous? But why?"
"Because Dean was brave enough to go after you. To tell you, that he wanted to be with you. And it seemed to me as if you were interested in him too and it made me so mad because I thought he was about to get to do all the things I wanted to do. To tell you how much I love you. To kiss you and make love to you and to show everyone that you're mine and I am yours. To marry you and raise a family with you. The thought of him getting to do all of that made me furious and for the first time in my life I just lost controle and let my feelings take over my actions."
Now Jane was speechless. Maura was in love with her. She wanted to get married and raise a family one day. All the things Jane had imagined herself, dreaming of a beautiful little girl with blonde hair and hazel eyes running around in their garden, playing with Jo Friday.

The silence made Maura nervouse. Maybe she had said to much. Maybe Frankie was wrong. But just when she could feel her tears starting to fall, Jane started speaking again.
"You…you love me?", she asked, still not sure that she had heared that right.
Maura nodded.
"Yes Jane, I love you. I love you so much, it scares me sometimes. But I can't deny it any longer. I don't want to. I know I hurt you, Jane and I will do anything I have to do to make it up to you. No matter what it takes. Just please tell me I haven't lost you forever already."
Jane could hear the fear in Maura's voice and that was it. She could feel her walls crumble. Yes, she was still a little mad at Maura and it would take some time to go completely back to normal. But her love for the woman in front of her was so much stronger.
"You'd do anything to make it up to me?", she asked and again Maura nodded.

"Yes. Anything. Just tell me what and I'll do it, Jane."
Jane couldn't stop the smile spreading across her face. Finally she was able to close the distance between them and when she were so close to Maura that she could the other womans breath she started speaking once again.
"Well then, Dr. Isles. What would you do if I asked you to kiss me right now?"
It took Maura a moment to understand what Jane had just said but then she started to smile too.
Snaking her arms around Janes neck she gave her the answer the brunette wanted to hear.
"Then I would do it, Detective."
And with that, Jane closed the remaining gap between them and kissed Maura with all the love and passion she had inside.
Yes, they'd still have to talk about what happened…but now they would do it as a couple.

-
Reviews are very much appreciated.

I hope you liked it and I apologize for the mistakes. I am still trying to get better.