Author's Note: The heavy Hope & Maura stuff will be less now, I promise. Doesn't seem to be going over well with readers. At least the reads/follows/favorites are way down on this story. I appreciate those of you who have taken a moment to leave a review. As I mentioned before, there's a quote in this piece that does not belong to me. It appeared in "The Rain King," an episode of the great series The X-Files. -dkc

Chapter 4

Jane and Frankie were at the gym playing basketball. Frankie was kicking Jane's ass and she knew it. She was giving it everything she could physically, but mentally she was elsewhere.

The two siblings took a break to drink the Gatorade they had sitting on the bench. Out of breath and sweaty, they both drank in silence. Frankie looked at his sister with concern on his face.

"What's up, Janie?" Frankie asked.

"What do you mean?" Jane looked over her bottle at him.

"I'm kicking your ass out there," Frankie gestured to the court. "You're playing, but it's like your body is here and the rest of the you is somewhere far, far away."

Jane shrugged, taking another drink. She didn't know what to tell her brother. She knew she wasn't truly committed to the game, but she didn't know how to talk to her kid brother about everything on her mind.

"Come on, you know you can tell me anything," Frankie continued.

"It's just…" Jane looked up to avoid Frankie's gaze. "Maura."

"Ohhh…" the young man answered in a teasing tone, a smile breaking across his face.

"Not like that!" Jane slugged him in the shoulder.

"Ouch!" he rubbed the spot she'd hit.

"Well, sort of," Frankie raised his eyebrows. "But that's not it. I'm worried about her."

"What's going on?" Frankie's tone changed as he picked up on how concerned Jane truly was.

"Paddy's trial and Hope attempting to be part of her life is really hard for her."

"Yeah, I can see how that'd be a lot," Frankie listened patiently for his sister to tell him more.

"She hasn't talked to Constance about Hope at all. Or Paddy's trial, from what I can tell. And that whole thing with Ma giving Cavanaugh that video has strained their relationship."

Frankie took another drink and kept his eyes on Jane. He knew that when Jane needed to talk it was best to just listen and then if she asked for any sort of advice to do his best.

"She has spent her entire life dealing with the hardest parts of life on her own. I don't want her to have to. But I don't know how to help her with this. It's hard, you know?"

Frankie nodded his head, but said nothing.

"We have always had Ma and Pop, well, Pop until now. We have always had all the support in the world. We may not have had a lot of money, but we always had what we needed. I worry that she isn't getting the emotional and moral support she needs through this."

"Jane," Frankie finally spoke. "She has you."

Shaking her head, Jane took another drink and didn't say anything.

"She does. You are the best friend a person could have. When we were kids, you were my best friend. Hell, you still are. I can't count the number of things you helped me through."

"Frankie, it's different."

"How? It's not so different."

"This isn't something I know anything about, Frankie. I don't have a clue how to help her with this. She's sure that Hope is going to be disappointed in her as she gets to know her better. She's sure that nobody will ever want her once they realize who her biological father is. I have never seen her be anything less than confident. In social situations, okay, she's awkward, but that doesn't mean she doesn't do awkward with all the confidence in the world."

"You think she'll adjust to all of this as time passes? I mean, once she and Hope get to know each other better and it stops being so new?"

"I don't know. I really don't."

"Are you going to be there through it all?"

Jane gave Frankie an almost furious look as if he was accusing her of ditching Maura.

"Of course I am!"

"Then she'll be okay," Frankie's voice was soft and comforting, something she hadn't heard from her little brother in some time.

"How do I help her, Frankie?" Jane's voice was beginning to show the emotion that was bubbling inside her.

"Be there for her. Reassure her. Remind her that she is a wonderful, strong person. Be the friend you have always been to her and to me."

Jane looked up, this time an attempt to hold the tears in her eyes.

"What if I'm not strong enough?" Jane's voice cracked.

"Are you kidding me? The Jane Rizzoli who survived Charles Hoyt? The Jane Rizzoli who was the youngest woman to graduate from the academy? The Jane Rizzoli who survived taunts and pranks throughout? That Jane Rizzoli is the strongest person I have ever known." Frankie reached a hand to place on his sister's shoulder.

"I love her, Frankie," Jane couldn't hold in the tears any longer, but wiped at them quickly to hide the evidence.

"I know," Frankie wasn't surprised to hear this.

"How did this happen?" Jane had beaten the tears away and was now looking at her brother.

"Really? You don't know?" Frankie smiled.

"What does that mean?" Jane brushed his hand off of her shoulder.

"Remember when we used to watch The X-Files when I was in high school?" Jane raised an eyebrow at Frankie. "I know, I know. Hear me out.

"There was this episode where this guy could control the weather. You know the one?" Jane nodded. "He was a real sleaze. The ever-lovely Agent Scully said something in that episode that you told me was the best philosophy on relationships you had ever heard. She said that 'the best relationships—the ones that last—are frequently the ones that are rooted in friendship."

Jane smiled slightly at the memory of both watching The X-Files with her brothers and the thought of relationships rooted in friendship.

"She said, 'one day you look at the person and you see something more than you did the night before. Like a switch has been flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is suddenly the only person you can ever imagine yourself with.'"

"Did you memorize that?" Jane teased Frankie.

"Well, you said it was a good philosophy. I listened," Frankie shrugged off how amazing it was that he listened so carefully to everything his big sister said and took it to heart.

"I hadn't thought about it in a long time," Jane rubbed the backs of her hands. "I wish I had."

Frankie smiled at this, knowing that what he'd reminded Jane of was precisely what she had with Maura, whether either of them wanted to admit it.

"You'll be everything Maura needs, Jane. You always have been."

Jane took a minute to let that sink in. She hoped her brother was right.

"You had a major crush on Scully," Jane teased.

"Hey, so did you!" Frankie bumped his shoulder against hers.

"Ah, true. Didn't everyone?" Jane smiled.

"Come on, I'm ready to beat you on the court again."

"In your dreams!"

To be continued…