Inspired by that little gifset on Tumblr I saw.

Characters belong to Tess Gerritsen, I just get to play around with them.

I originally wrote this in a letter I sent to my wonderful friend Rachel and co-author of 'Keeping Secrets'. I couldn't get it out of my head, so I have another chapter being written as we speak! This is my first solo fic so please read and review, I'd love to hear what you think :D

Jane was scared.

They had hatched this plan to flush out the fire starting perp in the warehouse, and so far so good. Ever since Kevin Flynn had strolled onto the crime scene after Maura, she tensed. She knew that they would intervene at the first sign of trouble, but it was still dangerous and Jane began to question whether this was a good idea.

"You shouldn't have come here alone." Flynn said menacingly, as he pulled out his gun.

"BOSTON P.D!" Korsac shouted as police filled the area around them.

"Put the gun down Flynn, no one needs to get hurt!" Jane pleaded with him.

Flynn had lowered the gun in surprise when they had burst in, but quickly regained his composure as he grabbed Maura and held her in front of him. Jane froze.

"Flynn! Let her go!" Frost pointed his weapon at them. "Let her go!"

"They have to understand that they can't keep laying us off." Flynn was backing towards the exit of the warehouse, Maura in tow.

"I know Kevin. I need for you to let Dr. Isles go, come on. Let her go and we can talk about it!" Jane pleaded again.

"That's bullshit detective, and you know it."

As he reached the emergency exit, he opened it without looking and stepped back. In the same movement, he span Maura out of his arms and slammed the door, with him on the other side.

"Maura!" Jane shouted as they ran to her. "Korsac, make sure she's okay! I'm going after him!"

And with that Jane, Frost and two uni's sprinted out the exit and down the alleyway. Flynn had quite the head start, but he was big and Jane was faster. The two officers had raced round the side of the building to cut him off on the street, as Jane and Frost chased him. She was within a few feet of him as he turned and fired 2 shots at the detective, one burying itself in the concrete beside her and one ricocheting of a nearby dumpster and narrowly missing Frost. Jane almost fired, but Flynn was turning onto the street. Pushing herself faster, she turned the corner and launched herself onto the fireman. At the same moment, one of the uniformed officers had reached the perp and also tackled him. Unfortunately for Jane, that meant an elbow to the face from Flynn as they both took him down.

Frost secured the weapon that had fallen from Flynn's hand, as the uni handcuffed him.

"It's over Flynn!" Jane shouted at him as he struggled in the handcuffs. The rest of the unit were arriving on the scene.

"Woah Janie! Look at your face! That must have been some takedown." Korsac reached at Jane's nose, and she winced and brushed his hand away.

"No it's fine Korsac, leave it. Where's Maura? Is she okay?" Jane wondered.

"She's with the EMT's, she's fine."

"Okay, can you deal with this? I'm gonna go find them." Jane sighed. "My damn nose! Again!"

Jane walked back up the alley through the side door of the warehouse to the front entrance, where she spotted the ambulance. She walked over and sat down beside her friend who was perched on the back of the ambulance, head in her hands.

"Hey Maura." Jane said softly as she placed a hand on her back. Maura was crying.

"Jane, this is just too much. I can't. I can't deal with all of this at the same time!" Maura cried even harder, and leaned into Jane.

"I know honey, I know. It's gonna be alright, you're just in sh-"

"Shock." Maura interrupted her. " I know, acute stress response aside, I can't seem to control myself lately."

"Well is it any wonder Maura, look at what's happened to you and your family in the past couple of days! Any normal person would have crumbled long ago. For you, all it took was a dangerous criminal holding you hostage." Jane joked as she tried to make Maura feel better.

Maura laughed a little at that, and she pulled out from Jane's embrace. "Thank you Jane, seriously. For everything. Thank you for looking after me. Thank you for finding who did that to my mother. Thank you for being such a great friend. I would be lost without you."

Jane looked away. "You shouldn't be thanking me Maura, I put your life in danger. I knew this would be dangerous yet I still let you go ahead. Today could have ended much worse than I ever imagined! It wasn't fair and I'm sorry."

"God, I don't know what I would have done if he had hurt you Maura. " She sighed.

"Don't apologise. You saved my life."

"After I put you in harm's way!"

A fresh tear rolled down Maura's cheek. "Look at me Jane. I made the decision to do this, I was as highly invested in this case as you were. That bastard tried to kill me, and he almost killed my mother. He killed one of his friends and started several dangerous fires that could have killed many others. If I had any opportunity to help stop him, I was going to take it. And I'm glad I did. So don't sit there and say it's your fault, because it's not."

"Maura, I-"

"No. Enough of this, it's over now. Thank you for saving my life."

She rested her head on Jane's shoulder and squeezed her hand.

Jane relented. "Anytime Maur. You know that." She smiled and hugged Maura again.

A beat of silence passed, and Maura looked up at the brunette's nose. "That looks quite painful, how did it happen?"

"Aw it's nothin'. I took down Flynn at the same time as one of the uni's, and I got an elbow to the face. Again." Jane said unamused.

"Oh dear," Maura giggled a little despite the seriousness of the situation. She was remembering the last time Jane came to her with a busted nose, Frankie had accidentally smacked her whilst playing basketball.

"Maura don't laugh it hurts!" Jane complained half heartedly, she could see her friend beginning to relax.

"Here, let me fix it. Hold still Jane." And with a light pop, Maura carefully moved the bone and cartilage back into place.

Jane jumped and a moan of pain escaped her lips. "You know, the EMT could have done that. Less painfully than you!"

Maura laughed. "Jane, you know as well as I that isn't true."

"Yeah yeah," Jane carefully grabbed the bridge of her nose. "Come on, I'll take you to the hospital. I'm sure you want to see your mother."

Maura sighed. "I do, thanks. I need to get away from here."

Jane helped her up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She waved to Korsac as he and Frost were putting Flynn in the back of a cruiser.

"You know any good dry cleaners Maura? My damned shirt is ruined."

Maura just laughed.