This day could not have gone any worse.

Maura would not like that term. Because of course it could have gone worse. She could have died. Parts of her though she was dead. But she was breathing, and bleeding, and most definitely not dead.

So maybe it could have gone worse.

Maybe she would change this thought process to this day could have gone better.

Then it hit her.

Jeremy was dead. Of that she had no doubt, she hadn't made it far enough away for him to have made it away, and suddenly she was incredibly sad. She knew she shouldn't be sad, he had killed at least nine people, injured countless more, and nearly killed her too, but in the seven and a half minutes she'd spent alone with him, she had started to root for him.

And now he was dead. Part of her was grateful his pain was over, but saddened that he had to kill himself to get that peace.

Pushing him from her mind, Jane shifter her thoughts to Maura. Getting to Maura. Telling Maura that she was alive, and that she loved her. Tell her when she was alive, and Jane was alive, and not when Jane was walking to her death, forcing Maura away from her.

And getting medical help because she was pretty sure her arm was broken. Luckily it was her right arm, so her shooting hand would be fine, but sadly because her writing hand was fine, she would be riding the desk for a good long time. She could live with that.

Using a nearby wall, she half pushed, half pulled herself up and started to work her way outside. Part of her mind noticed that if this were a movie, this would be the climax to a ridiculously slow motion scene set just after the explosion. The hero, not that she thinks of herself as a hero, walks out of the rubble, smoke and fire in the background, tendrils of the smoke wrapping around her legs as she moved through the rolling smoke as she made her triumphant exit.

Then she tripped on a hunk of cinder block.

Most definitely not a hero.

And she was okay with that.

Pushing herself up again, she stood gingerly, supporting her limp right arm with her left and looking for Maura.

Frost was who she saw first, his suit torn and tattered, his body covering Maura's. Every ounce of pain leaving her, as she half ran, half stumbled to Maura.

It seemed Maura saw her at the same time, and Jane's heart soared as Maura pushed past Barry and started running towards her. They met somewhere in the middle, and a hug wave of relief washed over Jane as she held Maura in her arms. Arm. Because her right arm was painfully pinned between them in what may have been the tightest hug in the history of the world.

"Jane." Maura whispered, voice thick with unshed tears.

"Maura," Jane whispered back, holding tightly to the smaller woman in her arms, feeling the love she felt reciprocated back to her.

"Jane, next time you tell me you love me, you'd better not be walking to your death." Jane felt Maura pull back, her hug loosening as she moved away, and Jane loosened her own arm, not fully, wanting to keep her close.

"I promise." Jane pulled the head of honey blonde hair closer, and rested her forehead against Maura's, breathing in the same hair, lips so close together, but the were at least a thousand people milling about, Jane didn't want their first kiss to be shared by so many.

Oddly enough, she was not concerned with the fact that they were two women, as far as Jane was concerned, this was meant to be.

"Maura, I think my arm is broken, and you're crushing it." Jane whispered, the pain finally catching up to her.

"I know. I can feel the radial spiral fracture of the radius and the ulna." Though her words expressed understanding, the doctor didn't pull back from Jane, and the detective couldn't figure a reason to be mad.

"Maura," Jane pulled her head back and looked into the eyes that she loved, the hazel orbs, specks of green and gold all mixed together, long eye lashes, even the small cuts on her cheeks were lovely. "I love you."

~Don'tKnowWhyYouSayGoodbyeISayHel lo~

Maura sat besides Jane's bed, the detectives hand in hers, as she waited for the detective to wake from her surgery. The fractures Jane had suffered required surgery to correct, and small plates to be fastened to the bones. It was going to be hard for Jane to get used to the fact that she now had medical steel in her wrist, but Maura found the thought endearing.

Her bionic woman, as it were. Not that she'd ever watched that show, she preferred the discovery channel, or national geographic, she used to love the history channel, but all they seemed to play was that horrible show Pawn Stars which was not history.

Though that was neither here nor there.

The doctors had shown her the incisions, the half cast only there so the stitches could be reached in a week to be taken out, and the hemavac could be installed, irrigating the wound of any extra blood and helping Jane to heal.

There would be scarring, like the one currently under her thumb, and Jane would carry that with her for the rest of her days, and Maura knew that she would look at it as the badge of honor that it would be, and a reminder of this day.

The day that Maura knew was the beginning of the rest of her – their – life. And she would be there for it all.

"Morning." Jane's finger's squeezed her and Maura watched as the dark chocolate eyes she loved blinked open lazily, pupils dilated with the pain medication that was no doubt still coursing through her veins. Technically, Maura shouldn't be here, but she knew the doctor on shift, and the burses had been told to leave her be.

"Technically, it's good evening, as it's only 10:30." Maura informed Jane, squeezing the fingers that were in her grasp, Jane rolling towards her, inherently tucking her broken right wrist on the bed. Maura still lifted it lightly, and pulled a pillow under the limb, and resting the broken appendage on it, quickly taking Jane's hand back in hers, and smiling down at her as she scooted her chair closer.

"Shh, am waking up, must be morning." Even her words came out slow and mumbled, but Maura found herself giving into the endearing qualities.

"You logic is flawed, sweetie." Maura replied, reaching over and tucking an errant strand of hair behind Jane's ear, fingers lingering on high cheekbones and soft skin.

"No big words." Jane complained, her head turning into Maura's fingers.

"Sorry. Are you sleepy?" Maura took note of the heavy eyelids, the way Jane was breathing deep and even, and slurring her words. She was content to just watch Jane sleep, but she would do what Jane wanted, whatever that was.

"No. Not sleepy, wanna talk. Ask questions." Jane shifted her body slightly towards Maura and the blonde leaned in to her, heads bent towards each other.

"Big questions or little questions?" Maura whispered, falling deeper in love with Jane and her current state of sobriety, or lack there of.

"Whatever. You ask I answer. It's how it works." Jane said, snuggling deeper into her hospital bed.

Maura noted that Jane might me a little more forthcoming now than when she were sober. So she decided to ask the one question she knew Jane wouldn't want to answer when she was of sound mind. Though it may be a little unethical, Maura was certain that Jane wouldn't mind too much.

Or so she hoped. But she continued on, ready to face the consequences of her actions.

"What saved you back there Jane? Why did he let you go? His psychological profile indicated that he wouldn't do something like that. He was focused, dedicated, he wouldn't have let you go." Maura knew that she said a lot of words, and big words, which she had been expressly forbidden to say.

Jane's brow furrowed and smoothed almost instantly, as she replied, "Love."

"Still feeling the morphine, are we?" Maura asked, loving the way Jane sounded when she was under the influence.

"No. He said love saved me." Jane intoned 'love' with a silly smile, and gripped her fingers tighter.

"I'm not sure I understand."

"He said that love saved me because he'd never been loved. He loved love and no one ever loved him." Maura had been drunk with Jane, and even alcohol didn't leave Jane this wordy. Though wordy Jane wasn't ever a thing.

Maura loved wordy Jane.

"He said that?"

"Yeah. Then he called me selfish." The face Jane made elicited a laugh from Maura that made Jane smile.

"Why would he call you selfish?" Jane was the least selfish person Maura knew, and not that she knew a lot of people, but Jane was pretty selfless, as indicated by the broken wrist in her hand.

"'Cause I made Barrold," Barry's full name came out as a giggle, and Maura couldn't help but smile, "Take Maura away when I stayed to die." Which immediately was lost at that end.

"Yeah…" She had to know. "About that…"

"I know… bad Jane." Jane frowned at her own sentence and Maura smoothed her fingers over the worry lines on Jane's forehead, and bringing the hand in hers to her lips and kissing it.

"Yes, bad Jane." The words were said with love and devotion. Because though Jane did a very bad thing, Maura couldn't blame her. "Why did you do that anyway?" But she did want to know. In her opinion, all the detective had done was be herself, and that was a selfless, honorable person thinking not of herself, but of others. How did Jane see the same actions in herself.

"He wanted me. Just me. Had to save Maura."

So, almost the same. But also apparently not the end of the thought as Jane continued on after a slight pause. "She's pretty. I love Maura. Doctor. Maura. Isles. Even her name is pretty."

"Jane, I'm Maura. You must be really under the influence." She smiled as she said the words, her heart light and warm at Jane's sloppy admission.

"I'm high as a motherfucker." Jane laughed at her own words, and giggled into her pillow, giving Maura a slightly shy look.

"While I oppose such language, I suppose we can let your drug addled candor slide." Jane smiled with all of her face, sleep ridden eyes shining with getting away with her swear word.

"Is this morphine?" Jane asked bringing their joined hands in to rest in front of her eyes, the chocolaty orbs struggling to focus on the IV in her hand.

"Yes. Which, evidently, is the secret to getting you to talk a lot."

"He asked if Maura was my girlfriend." Maura was taken aback. How long had Jane been in their alone with Jeremy? By her calculations, which she was sure were fairly accurate, only seven minutes, obviously she and Jeremy had talked a lot.

"What did you say?" The M.E. knew that she was milking this inebriation for all it was worth.

"Not yet." The detective didn't even have the grace to look abashed at her confession. Perhaps that was the morphine.

"We can work on it." Maura knew that they would. Because all of the sudden, that thought, Jane as her girlfriend, she as Jane's, belonging to Jane in such a fashion burst fully into her conscious mind, and Maura found that it was as welcome as Jane's admission of love.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Jane asked, worry once again lining her features. Maura bent forward and kissed Jane's cheek. She probably should stop letting Jane spill her innermost secrets in this state, but the detective was adorable in this state, and her curiosity was peaked.

Worst case scenario, she would blame her love of science and the scientific method and natural curiosity.

"You can tell me absolutely anything, I'd like to be your secret keeper, and whatever you have to say to me will stay with me."

"Huh?"

"Yes, sweetie, tell me your secret."

"I'm in love with Maura." Jane admitted on a huff, squeezing the fingers in her hand.

"That's not really a secret." Maura laughed, loving the words. Even on the drugs, Jane knew just the way to make her heart melt.

"Not there yet, shh, let me finish."

"Oh, sorry, please continue."

"Mmm," Jane said on a smile, obviously thinking about something pleasant. "Maura's too good for me."

She had not been expecting that. Though she had had the same thoughts about Jane being too good for her. She didn't expect the normally calm and confident Jane Rizzoli to think that way. She hadn't even felt that way about Garrett or Ian. But Jane, Jane frightened her with her goodness.

"Jane! No, honey no." Maura admonished, reaching up and cupping Jane's face again, trying to convince the beautiful detective in her hands that she was completely worthy and entirely silly for thinking such thoughts.

"Yeah," Jane drew the syllable out and Maura was about to interject once again, but it seemed that Jane wasn't finished, "she's really pretty and really smart and rich and she's a college and she's better than me."

"Jane, no – Wait, did you just call me a college?"

"Maybe, I dunno. Words are hard." Maura kissed her cheek again, once again loving the fact that Jane was so open. But now her deceit would be on full display because she intended to have this conversation with Jane once the detective was sober.

"It's okay though, 'cause I think Maura loves me too." Jane finished.

"She does, she really does sweetie." She could be honest too.

"Shh, no tell Maura, she'd get mad if she knew I thought these things."

Maura's heart softened. They'd been going through the same struggle regarding each other it seemed. "Maybe only a little."

"Okay, I sleepy now." Jane whispered, finally letting the struggle for sleep to overtake her tired body.

"Okay my love, you go to sleep, I'll be here when you wake up."

It seemed that Jane was already asleep, her soft breaths coming even and deep and the grip on her fingers a little slack, but still prevalent. Maura kissed both the fingers and forehead before settling more fully into her chair, preparing for the long night ahead of her, and letting her mind come to rest on the fact that Jane loved her, and that they would face whatever the future held for them together, the slender fingers in her hand an anchor in a stormy sea.

Nearing the end friends. If someone can tell me the two pop culture references in this story they will win a prize. (Prize is a story of their choosing. I have a list of pairings to choose from, will be sent to the winner, and any kind of story they want. Lemon, first kiss, second kiss, baby fic, whatever.)