Disclaimer: I don't own Rizzoli & Isles; they belong to Tess Gerritsen, Janet Tamaro and TNT. I'm just having some fun with the characters and I don't profit from anything that I write.

A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews, they are really appreciated! Let me know what you think of this next chapter.

Chapter Two: THE DEEPEST CUTS

"Please, you really should let us take a look at you," the young intern said for a second time, trying his best to make eye contact with Jane, "Your friend is fine. The nurses are just dressing her injuries."

Jane wasn't listening to him, instead pacing restlessly along the hospital corridor. This was the fourth person who had tried to move her from her vigil. She wasn't trying to be troublesome; it was just that there was only one doctor that she wanted to see. What was taking her so long?

The man continued to stand awkwardly next to her, as eager as Jane was stubborn. "Fine," Jane conceded, "But do it here, alright?"

The young doctor scarpered off excitedly to get what he needed, happy to have won over the detective. Jane was just grateful to be left alone with her thoughts.

She really was furious. Seeing the cuts that had been made to Maura's skin made her blood boil at the thought that a few more minutes and her friend would have been lying in the morgue and not the emergency room. Jane knew that this day was going to haunt her for a long time, especially because so much of the blame lay on her shoulders. She should have known that Hoyt was playing with her before; it was always games with him. And most of all, she should never have brought someone as special as Maura within one hundred feet of that monster, and for that she would always feel guilty. She had had enough; if Hoyt really did have an apprentice then let them come and God help them.

When Maura finally finished up she emerged from the room to find Jane Rizzoli pacing wildly. This was no surprise to her. She noted that Jane very much resembled a caged lion, which probably offered the best explanation as to why Jane still hadn't been seen to by a doctor. Relief washed over Jane's face at the sight of her friend and she couldn't help noticing that despite all that had happened, Maura still looked completely radiant. Maura walked over, moved her body in close to Jane and both women gazed at each other intensely before collapsing into each other's arms in a long, tight embrace.

"Thank God you're alright," Jane sighed as she held Maura close to her.

"Jane, really, I'm fine," Maura said, gently pulling away, "But you should get somebody to see to that cut. Stop worrying about me."

Maura smiled, but Jane saw through this easily. She knew best of all how it felt to be a victim of Hoyt.

"I'm always going to worry about you."

Jane softly held her friend's hand in hers, "Hey, I'm really sorry about what happened."

"Don't be. It's not your fault."

"No," Jane frowned as she turned away quickly, "I shouldn't have brought you."

Maura only laughed, placing her hands on Jane's shoulders and hugging her from behind, "I came of my own accord. And if I hadn't, who knows, you might have been killed?"

"Still–"

"It's over Jane! Hoyt's dead. He can never hurt you again."

Jane looked down and started tapping her foot nervously. Perhaps it was best that she said nothing about Hoyt's last words to her. Maura was undoubtedly unconscious and blissfully unaware of the words that filled Jane's heart with dread. Jane did not want Maura to suffer the nightmares that she always had.

"What? Did something happen?"

Jane met her eyes but she couldn't quite say the words. She hadn't fully processed it herself.

"Hoyt is dead?" Maura asked.

"Yes, of course. Thoroughly dead. It's just that, Hoyt said something to me, you know, before he died."

Maura's whole body suddenly tensed, "What did he say? He couldn't have said anything too–"

"He has another apprentice, Maur."

Maura was clearly speechless but she managed to utter, "I'm sorry."

"He's calling them his final apprentice. And he said some bullshit about it being someone that I loved, someone who has betrayed me."

"Do you believe it?"

Jane shook her head, "No, sick freak is just trying to mess with me."

Maura knew Jane well enough to know that this was not true; Hoyt had already got to her, his words playing on her mind.

Jane continued, "It was probably just some desperate attempt to get one last victory on me. Make me doubt the people I care about."

Jane patted Maura's arm softly at the mention of people she cared about, but Maura's mind was clearly elsewhere.

"You've got nothing to worry about, Maura. Let's just go," she gestured towards the exit, "And it's my birthday, of all days. Ma's throwing some surprise party."

She received no answer. Maura's mind was somewhere far darker than Jane could imagine: a world of apprentices and betrayal. The new information that she had just received made her feel faint. Something bad was going to happen, soon; she had escaped death today, but for whole long?

Maura turned to find that Jane was halfway down the corridor, arguing with an intern holding a mound of bandages. As she advanced towards her friend she thought it kindest to offer them both a mercy. "It's alright, I'm a doctor. I'll sort her out for you."

Jane seemed much happier with this idea. Maura carefully tended to Jane's wounds, cleaning out the cut made by Hoyt's scalpel. Yes, Maura feared the future for both her and Jane. It seemed that Charles Hoyt had at last realised how to play with the wounds that cannot be treated; the ones which fester and change people. It seemed that he had finally realised that the deepest cuts are from betrayal.