Disclaimer - I don't own anything except plot line, Tom and Amelia.

Okay. Well. I must say I was really shocked by the response. I woke up to over 80 emails. From 1 chapter!

So, because I'm nice, here's the next chapter, and its longer than normal. Hope you enjoy!:)

(Also, this is not beta'd - all mistakes are my own)

After Maura closed the door she took a moment and leaned back against it. She spent a moment considering the job; she knew she should really start doing something during her days. She knew that hanging around the house all day wasn't good for her, but she couldn't bring herself to work. Not yet.

Apparently she wouldn't get any longer to think about it as she heard a loud noise from upstairs.
At the sound she rushed upstairs, only to find Mia exploring.

Maura smiled at the sight. She leaned against the door frame and watched for a few moments as Mia played.

It was always the simple things that Maura loved, the little things that most people wouldn't think of, or pay attention to. Those were the things Maura paid close attention to.

Just in case.

Maura was beginning to think the move had helped. That maybe Amelia would be okay here. But after a month, as Maura lay in bed at 3 am she heard it.

The tell tale whimpers from her daughters room down the hall.

Dammit. I really thought it helped. I thought we were over this now.

Dammit.

I'm going to have to see someone about it. A year on, it can't be normal right?

She sighed and pulled herself from her bed, padding down the hall.

Mia had pushed the sheets down and was laid across them. She whimpered and screwed her face up.

"Daddy...no!"

Maura let her face drop even more.

It's always the same dream.

"No! Daddy! Nooo! You can't just leave me! Daddy!"

Maura barely had chance to make it across the room before Mia woke, tears streaming down her face. Maura climbed onto the bed, pulling her daughter to her chest. She wiped away the tears and kissed Mia's forehead.

Mia curled up in Maura's lap, resting her head on her chest. She sobbed quietly for a while.
Maura thought after a while that she had gone back to sleep, until she spoke.

"Mommy?" Mia's voice was quiet, tired. It wasn't hard to pick up the fear and sadness in it either.

"Yes baby?" Maura loved how Mia smiled when she used the term 'baby', but tonight Mia didn't even notice the term of endearment.

"Make him stop, make the nasty man stop. He keeps taking Daddy away. I don't think it's very nice of him to keep doing it. It was horrible the first time, why does he keep doing it? I don't want to keep losing him because I can't stop the nasty man?"

Mia didn't look up at Maura. It was a good job because Maura, even though she knew it scientifically impossible, thought she could feel her own heart breaking. Maura had been through hell and back with Tom. She had lost her husband, her lover, the most important man in her life, but so had Mia. It had hurt Mia, more than Maura could understand. And knowing how much it had hurt her, she couldn't imagine Mia having to go through the same. So when confronted with Mia's pain so directly, and being so helpless, it hurt her. It really hurt her, she hated feeling helpless.

Maura couldn't come up with an appropriate response for her daughter; she couldn't lie to her daughter, but she didn't want to tell Mia there was nothing she could do.

Instead she leaned down, kissed the top of Mia's forehead before whispering "I'll try. I promise I'll try."

Mia was quiet after that. Her sobbing ended and she eventually fell asleep in her mother's lap.

Maura smiled down at the little girl. She moved Mia so she was laid back on the bed before pulling the sheets up and moving across the room. She intended to leave and go back to her own room, but as she crossed the room she couldn't. She couldn't leave Mia. She knew it wasn't reasonable, and there was no scientific fact behind it, but after Tom she couldn't help but want to spend every moment with Mia. As though there was more chance she would now lose Mia.

Of course she knew that the chance of something happening to Mia was no larger now, but because she was more aware of it, she couldn't help but feel the need to be there every second. She didn't want to become an overprotective parent, but she didn't want to waste any time with her daughter.

So instead of leaving the room she grabbed some spare blankets from the cupboard and settled in the chair across the room. From where she was sat she could just make out Mia's sleeping form. She spent many a night after Tom's death doing this. She would sit in the chair, just watching over Mia. Making sure nothing happened. And even though she knew there was no reason for it, that Mia was perfectly safe, Maura had found it comforting.

So she watched Mia sleep for a few moments before finally closing her eyes and allowing herself to fall asleep.

The next morning woke suddenly, her breath ragged and her heartbeat fast. It didn't take long for the memories to fall into place and for Maura to remember her nightmares. She glanced at the clock, only to find she was awake early, as usual. She moved from the chair in Mia's room, cursing herself for falling asleep in the chair. As emotionally comforting as it was, it was not physically comforting. She moved down to the kitchen and busied herself, trying not to allow herself to think of her own nightmares. She moved swiftly, completing jobs, readying breakfast. It wasn't much after 7am when Mia ran down the stairs, teddy in hand. Her hair messy as usual, Maura noted.

A little after 10, once Maura had dropped Mia off at school, gone to the store and put everything away, she wandered around her home. She had nothing to do.

That in itself was a blessing and a curse. She knew that with an empty house she could work, take time to indulge in a hobby or read. However, she knew that the silence always lead to thinking, which quickly lead to over thinking, and then the sadness, the anger and longing became overwhelming.

She shook her head.

She wasn't going to get dragged down by this today.

No, instead she walked quickly, almost silently through her house towards her room. She spent a few minutes digging out her running gear. She hadn't run in such a long time, she remembered how much she loved it. She had planned to run more often after having Mia, to shift the little extra weight she'd gained. However, shortly after that, once Tom became sick it just became impossible to fit everything in.

She laced up her shoes and grabbed her iPod from her bedside table. She took a few minutes strapping it to her arm and then went downstairs to get some water.

She didn't normally run with water, so she made sure there was a bottle in the fridge for when she got back.

She switched her iPod to shuffle, matched the earphones to the correct ear and headed outside.
Granted, it took her a few moments to get into a steady pace, but after the first mile she remembered exactly why she loved it.

Being out like this, she loved it; the ability to just run. Her flight reflex physically taken care of.

She finished her run in fairly good timing, for someone that hadn't run in such a long time.
She jogged up the length of her street, slowing her pace as she neared her home.

She was so caught up with catching her breath and unlocking the house, she never even noticed Jane watching her from the front window.

Over the next 4 weeks Maura began to settle into a routine. She would sleep in her room, till Mia awoke from a nightmare and then Maura would either sleep in the chair in Mia's room, or take her back to her own room and they would both sleep in Maura's bed.

The next morning Maura would wake early, sort some jobs out and then drop Mia off at school. (Once or twice a week she'd stop by the store on her way home) But everyday at 11am she laced up her running shoes and headed out.

There was something comforting about falling back into a routine again. One that wouldn't be broken up by hospital appointments, one that Maura didn't have to only half do, because of Tom. No, she could stick by this routine, and it felt good.

So, when one particular morning her routine was thrown off, she didn't expect to be so happy with it.

She headed out at 11:04 on a particularly sunny Thursday morning and laced her shoes up leaned on her porch.

She had her back to everything so she never saw Jane approach.

"Well, good morning!" Jane smiled widely as she spoke.

Maura, on the other hand, jumped back at the sound of Jane's voice, clearly startled.

"Oh crap! I'm sorry! I thought you'd seen me!" Jane's hand immediately flew to Maura's arm to steady her.

Maura immediately stiffened at the touch, before realizing what she had done and tried to cover it up.

"No, sorry, I was lacing up and I didn't hear you."

"Ah...sorry."

"It's fine." Maura added a smile at the end, trying to show she was fine.

Truth be told, no one had reached out to her physically since Tom. Other than the odd stranger who had walked into her, or passed her something, she and Mia had spent most of their time together, moving around so often that Maura didn't have time to build a relationship, not even a friendship. So for a near stranger to suddenly touch her, it was rather shocking. It wasn't that she didn't like it, it was just unexpected.

Maura looked at Jane for a moment before Jane realised she hadn't explained why she was there.

"Oh! Yeah, sorry. I noticed you everyday around now and I figured if it was alright with you we could run together or something?"

Maura thought for a moment. She wanted to say no, she liked running alone. But today something told her running with someone might be nice. And she knew that getting to know someone might do her good.

"Um, well I guess that would be acceptable."

Jane smirked at Maura's choice of language, but ultimately decided to ignore it.

Maura finished lacing up her shoe and immediately started warming up. Jane followed suit, but quickly became bored and just jogged on the spot till Maura caught on.

The two ran in silence for a mile and a half before Jane considered breaking the silence.

"So, you a baseball fan?"

"No."

Jane tried to ignore the sharp tone that accompanied the single word.

"Okay, you a football fan?"

"No."

Jane couldn't ignore the tone with this one.

"You like hockey?"

"No." Maura responded simply again.

Jane smiled, not deterred in the slightest.

"You'd tell me if you were a cyborg right?" Jane shot a smile in Maura's direction, making sure the blonde knew the intention of the comment.

Maura noticed and finally smiled herself. It had been such a long time since she'd done this, the getting to know a new person thing. She didn't mean to be rude; she just didn't know what else to say. Jane's joke caught her off guard, but in a good way.

She smiled back at Jane before responding.

"No, I don't think I would."

Jane laughed, before letting a comfortable silence settle over the rest of the run.

By the time they made it back to Maura's place they were both pretty beat.

"Jeez Maura, how do you do that every day?" Jane leaned over against the wall, trying to catch her breath.

Maura smiled again.

"Practice." She responded before unlocking the door. She pushed it open before turning to Jane.

"Would you like to come in? For hydration?"

Jane smirked again.

"Yes Maura, I would love to come in for hydration." Jane finished the sentence in a 'posh' accent, intending it as a joke towards Maura.

Maura however didn't get it, instead of laughing she looked at Jane a little oddly before walking inside the house.

After about a half an hour of random conversation, the topic switched to Jane's work. Jane discussed briefly about what she did before asking Maura if she'd considered the job.

Maura directed her gaze downwards at her coffee.

She had thought about the job, and after doing a little more research it sounded perfect. She'd be working under a Dr Pike, who she hadn't met, but had heard of. She knew he had helped solve a lot of high profile cases, and working under him sounded like a good opportunity.

"I...I have thought about it..." Maura hedged.

Jane waited a beat.

"And..." She prompted Maura.

"That's about it...I haven't done anymore than think about it." Maura was still staring at her coffee.

"Oh." Jane responded simply. "Is there something you don't like about the job?"

"Oh no! It sounds like a perfect opportunity!" Maura was quick to reassure Jane.

"So what's the problem?" Jane shot back.

"I...I don't know." Maura admitted honestly.

Before Jane could respond her phone buzzed on the counter.

She answered quickly.

"Rizzoli?"

She listened intently for a few moments before writing an address down and hanging up.

"Duty calls. Sorry, I've got to go."

"Oh...that's okay." Maura smiled, trying to allow her true feelings show. She was disappointed Jane had to leave, but also a little relieved that she was going. She would have the opportunity to think clearly now.

Jane downed the rest of her coffee quickly before rushing towards the door. Maura followed her and was about to shut the door when Jane turned and yelled "Maura!"

Maura directed her gaze towards Jane.

"Interviews are arranged via Cavanaugh and Dr Pike...if you get a chance, think about it and they are who you need to call. See ya round Maura!" With that Jane dashed off down the street.

Maura shut the door behind her, mirroring her pose from only a few weeks ago.

Over the next week and a half Maura thought about the job a lot. She thought about it when she got up, when she went to bed, when she picked Mia up, when she made dinner. The job seemed to consume her thoughts.

The job came with so many amazing opportunities and 'pro's' that she couldn't really say no.
She knew she needed to get out the house.

And that is how she found herself exiting an office in BPD after shaking several hands and accepting a position to work under Dr Pike with a view to taking over when Pike retired in a year.

As she lay in bed with Mia that night, she couldn't pin point a single turning in her life. She couldn't point out a moment where everything changed.

Just as she lay in bed that night she finally thought things might be looking up...finally.

A/N -

Okay, I know its very heavily Maura based, but that's because its her story right now. As Maura gets to know Jane, and spend more time with Jane, the fic will begin to look more at Jane.

I hope you guys liked this, and the direction I went with it. Is it the right direction? Is this okay? I really want to know what you think, because if you don't like it, unless you tell me why, I can't fix it!:)

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you all (and maybe some new people...hint hint;D) In chapter 3!:)

-Katie.

(Oh, not so subtle link here, feel free to check me out on tumblr! I'm sashaalexanderr on tumblr, or the link is on my profile!:))