Thanks for the reviews and adds. I really appreciate them.

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

Chapter 4

Three months later

Maura was waiting outside Lt. Sean Cavanaugh's office. Inside Korsak, Frost and the rest of the squad were discussing Jane's case. She was pacing, a million thoughts going through her head. It had been three months since Jane had gone missing and they had no new leads, nothing. She'd heard the whispers going around the building, that Jane was dead and it was just a matter of time until they found her body rotting in a ditch somewhere.

What did they know?

Each time she closed her eyes Maura saw her friends smiling face, each time it made her heart ache. Then she'd open her eyes and close them again but this time see Jane lying dead in a ditch. Her eyes shot open. She hated to think Jane was hurt somewhere and she refused to believe she was dead.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when the door to Cavanaugh's office swung open with a loud bang where it crashed into the adjacent wall. Korsak stormed out, taking a few steps away from the room before he turned and walked back in. Maura followed him in without hesitation.

"This is bullshit!" Korsak roared.

"What's going on?" Maura asked no one in particular.

"They're giving up on her!" Korsak said, and everyone in the room heard the emotion in his voice, not just anger but sadness too.

Maura looked up at him and saw tears in his eyes. "Jane's still alive." she said, turning to face the others in the room. She saw Frost, sat with his head in his hands, staring down at the table. There were some other men she didn't know but going by their fancy uniforms they were high up, possibly higher than Cavanaugh.

Cavanaugh spoke, "We don't know that. If Hoyt had killed her, we would have found her body by now. He would have thrown her back at us."

"You're talking about her like she's just some piece of meat." Korsak yelled angrily.

"Because that's all she is now. Korsak, we all have to accept she's gone. She was a damn good Detective and she'll be missed….but we have other cases. There are other vic's out there that we can save and cases that we can solve." his tone said that was the end of the conversation.

But Korsak wasn't done. "That's all you care about, your reputation for running a squad who solves crimes and saves vic's, but not when one of them cases is ours; when one of them vic's is one of us!"

"We have to face facts. She's gone. It's time to move on." Cavanaugh said simply, almost coldly.

Maura didn't care what he said, "She wouldn't give up if it were one of you."

"Dr Isles, with all due respect this doesn't concern you."

"She's my friend so this does concern me!" Maura argued, becoming more than angry at Cavanaugh and his shitty attitude towards Jane's life.

"This is done! Finished! We've spent three months searching for her and Hoyt. We've got nothing, less than nothing. We've had nothing since the day we finished searching that guards house." Cavanaugh stated. "There will be a service for her next week, you're welcome to attend Dr Isles, but as of now, this is over."

Maura glared angrily at him and wondered how he could just give up on Jane like this. She sure as hell knew one thing, she wasn't going to give up until Jane was found; even if she had to find her herself. She knew the search for Hoyt would continue, after all catching an escaped convict was good for the reputation, but she didn't care about finding him, she just wanted to find her friend.

~0~0~0~0~

Jane bent forward, resting her hands on her left knee. She watched her puffs of breath linger around her face in the chilly morning air. After a moment she stood upright and rubbed her gloved hands together, she then pulled her woollen hat down more over her ears and, finally, struggled to pull her oversized coat closed around her swollen belly; thanks to the cuffs around her wrists. The coat was second-hand and didn't fasten due to the bust zipper so as soon as she moved her hands it fell open again, exposing her belly to the chill of the air.

"Poor baby." she muttered quietly.

"Get a move on!" she heard Drake growl from behind her.

It was 5am and a particularly cold morning. Every morning for the last three months she had been brought outside at this time "for exercise." Hoyt insisted on it. What pissed her off most about it was that whilst she was forced to jog through the forest that surrounded the house she was now being kept it, he slept in a nice warm bed or sat by a nice warm log fire. She knew Drake felt the same, was reminded of it as he poked her in the back with the riffle in his arms. "MOVE!"

"Alright!" she growled at him.

She began running again around a path that wound through the thick forest and that finally led back to the wood cabin, to her prison in the middle of nowhere. She had been brought to this place in the back of a van. She'd had no idea where they were headed during the entire journey, but it had taken hours before they had finally come to a stop. However it had only been to re-fuel and throw half a dozen bags of groceries into the back of the van. It had been another forty five minutes before they finally got to the cabin in the woods.

Half hour or so later Jane and Drake finally arrived back at the cabin. She was out of breath when they got to it. Her cheeks were flushed and her throat sore. The cold air had hit it like angry pin pricks. When she finally caught her breath she looked up to see Hoyt stood on the porch of the cabin. He was smiling at her, holding a steaming cup of coffee between his hands. What she would do for a cup off coffee.

"You can take her out tomorrow. She must have stopped off ten times today. Bitch is lazy!" Drake complained as he walked up the steps, leaving Jane where she stood by the black van she had been brought here in.

"I'm not the running type." Hoyt said before taking a swig of coffee.

"Yeah, well, me either and neither is she. I'm fucking sick of this. All of this! I'm not a God-damn babysitter!" he yelled angrily.

Hoyt spun around and got right up in Drake's face having had enough of his childish temper tantrum. "You do what I tell you!" he reminded him. They both remained totally silent for a moment. Drake glared at him, accepting but clearly annoyed. "Now get her in before she freezes to death." he told him.

They both turned to look at their prisoner, at Jane, and both of them suddenly panicked upon what they saw. "Where the hell is she?" Hoyt yelled.

They both ran down the steps and turned around on their heels, searching the area surrounding them. "There!" Drake said as he watched Jane disappear into the forest.

"Get her back now!" Hoyt bellowed.

Without hesitation Drake began chasing after her. Hoyt stood there, angry, determined he would get her back.

Jane ran in no way near as graceful as she used to, but for a four month pregnant woman she didn't think she was doing too bad. She was jumping over fallen trees and trying not to trip on roots that were hidden beneath the thick layer of leaves on the forest floor. She knew Hoyt and Drake would be chasing after her and she was sure she could hear one of them behind her but she daren't look back.

What happened next happened too quick for her to stop. One minute she was running and the next, with a painful tug, she was lying face down in the leaves and dirt. Pain shot through her stomach and through her leg as cold mud seeped through her clothes.

She was a little winded but she wasted no time getting back to her feet. She looked down at the scattered patch of leaves, the mud exposed. She saw she had tripped on the root of a tree, twisting her ankle in the process. Fucking nature. She'd never been a fan of it.

She tried to run on but the pain was too much and she could only quickly limp along. The pain in her stomach passed but she feared for her baby. She could only pray it hadn't been harmed in the fall.

Drake was running out of breath. He was already tired from the morning run and so didn't need this shit as well. He looked ahead and couldn't see Jane anywhere. "Bitch!" he muttered.

He looked down and noticed the floor, the leaves were splayed apart and the mud beneath them was exposed. He noticed a thick tree root sticking up from the floor and instantly knew what had happened here saw it play out in his mind. "Hope you enjoyed your trip, whore!" he said before he took off running again with new found eagerness.

Jane was running on empty. She stopped by a huge tree and rested her back against it. She wasn't sure how much longer she could possibly run for when she thought she heard a sound. Realising what it was she took off running again, ignoring the pain in her ankle and the ache in her chest.

She struggled up a muddy bank, having to claw her way up it so as not to slide back down. Finally at the top she stumbled forward onto a road. She smiled as she saw a small blue pick-up style truck coming towards her. She waved her arms in the air and wanted to cry with relief when the truck stopped right by her.

She immediately pulled the passenger door open and looked in at the older man behind the wheel. "Gosh lady you look like hell!" he said to her.

"Please, I need you…to get me out of here…. Hospital." she said, totally out of breath and resting her hand on her swollen tummy as more pain returned.

"Get in." the man said reaching his hand out to help her, noticing the cuffs.

She climbed awkwardly into the truck and slammed the door shut, locking it and then reached over the man and locked his door. He looked at her, waiting for answers. "I'll explain everything, but please start driving." she told him, searching through the window into the forest. She couldn't see anyone. Thank God!

The man looked at her and nodded. "You're safe now." he said with a friendly smile.

She smiled back, thankful this man had been driving on this road when he had. She sunk back in the seat, noticed how warm it was in the truck. The pain in her tummy went and she was finally able to catch her breath. She closed her eyes, needing a minute.

"So you wanna tell me what you're doing out here….What the hell?"

Jane opened her eyes as she felt the truck come to a sharp stop. She had to reach her hands out and catch herself on the dashboard. She looked at the driver as he unlocked his door and then opened it up. She turned to look out of the front window, at the black van that stood across the road; its back doors wide open.

"Don't..!" she began to scream, just in time to see Hoyt come up behind the man and with a quick swipe slash open his throat.

Jane felt his blood splash her face and chest, it felt even warmer on her cold skin. She unlocked her door and jumped out, right into the arms of Drake. "Got you!" he spat at her through gritted teeth.

She couldn't hold her tears in. Tears of pure frustration. Hoyt came round the truck and stood next to Drake as she collapsed in his arms. Drake pulled her up to her feet before Hoyt swung his arm too quickly for her to avoid. His fist connected hard with her jaw. She felt her blood begin to fill her mouth, could taste it, metallic and horrible. It began to choke her.

Drake dragged her over to the van and pushed her into the back of it. He then climbed in crouched over her, only so he too could punch her hard in the face without warning. His punch was harder than Hoyt's and it made her whole head hurt. She lay there too dizzy and too sick with pain to move.

Drake jumped out of the van and slammed the doors shut and walked over to Hoyt who remained by the truck. "Still think we should keep her around? It would be easier all round to kill her now, we could bury her out here in the woods."

"No!" Hoyt said, clearly. "Get rid of the truck and the body." he said as rain began to fall around them. "Perfect." he said as he turned to where the old man lay dead in the road. The rain had already began washing away his blood.

TBC

Thanks for reading. Please review.

Sorry for the three month jump in time but I needed it to really get this story going. Did anyone think Jane may have been saved by now.