A/N: I had a bit of fun with this chapter. Hope you do too :)

When Jane joined the boys for lunch on Tuesday, she appeared both tired and testy, and nervous looks were exchanged all around.

Frost nudged Korsak, and Korsak sighed. Why did he always get stuck removing the lion's thorn?

"So, Jane…" His voice was unusually high and squeaky. "We missed you at lunch the other day."

Jane didn't look up from her sandwich.

He cleared his throat, and tried again. "What did you get up to?"

"Drop it, Korsak."

"Okie dokie. I'm just asking because your mom called my house looking for you Sunday night, and then Tommy stopped by our table yesterday–"

"I said drop it." Jane threw down her sandwich, and left the table.

Frost patted him on the back. "Way to go, Buddy."

"Ah, shut up. At least I tried."

….

On Wednesday, things weren't much better. Davies tried to break the tension with a hilarious joke about PMS, which resulted in the swift departure of Jane. He received a thump on the back of the head from Korsak for his trouble, and a reminder from Frost that Jane's period wasn't due for another two weeks.

….

On Thursday, no one risked saying anything to Jane beyond hello. She did not talk or smile or punch Davies in the arm really hard when he said something stupid, and things were generally awkward until she finished her sandwich and left.

"Are we sure she's not on her rag?" asked Davies.

"Yes!"

"Because I heard sometimes girls' cycles sync up. Like with whoever's the most alpha."

Korsak snorted. "You seriously think there's a chick more alpha than Rizzoli?"

"Good point."

….

On Friday, Korzak decided to try a different approach.

"So what's everyone up to this weekend?" he asked.

"I'm going to that sweet back-to-school party on Beacon Street tonight," Davies said, just like they'd rehearsed.

Korsak nodded at Frost.

Frost shook his head.

Korsak kicked him under the table.

"Yeah, me too," Frost said, with all the enthusiasm of a piece of cardboard. "I hear there's going to be a guy there who looks like a young Brad Pitt."

Jane's head shot up.

Korzak smiled. Girls were suckers for Brad Pitt.

….

"Did you say there's gonna be a party on Beacon Street?" Jane asked.

"Yeah," Davies said. "It's all over school, supposed to be a wicked kegger."

Gunnerson slid a magenta flyer across the table. "Got this from Debbie."

Jane picked it up and began reading.

Back to school Kegger tonight! 9 pm, 56 Beacon Street.

There was a crudely drawn map of the neighbourhood, with a circle around a house Jane was pretty sure belonged to Maura.

So that was what Kate was up to. "They're going to trash her house."

"Yeah, probably," Davies said. "Wait, whose house?"

"Maura's," Jane said. It felt strange saying her name out loud. They hadn't spoken since Monday, but Jane had thought about her almost constantly.

The guys stared at her.

"The new girl who looks like a teacher," Jane said.

"Aww, no way!" Korsak said. "I am so there."

"For real," Frost said.

"Wait a minute guys," Jane said. "We can't just let everyone wreck her place."

"Why not?" Davies asked. "She's loaded."

"Because she's a nice person. And if I know Kate, Maura has no idea her so-called friends have been handing out these flyers."

"So what do you want us to do?" Korsak asked.

"Well, for starters, we need to figure out a way to warn her."

"Can't you just show her the flyer?" Gunnerson said.

"Uh-huh. Good idea." Jane would get right on that – just as soon as she managed to convince Maura she wasn't a rapist.

"It'll be impossible to track down everyone who got a flyer," Frost said. "But we could spread the word online that the party's been cancelled."

"Yeah," Korsak said. "I'm thinking something along the lines of 'back to school kegger cancelled, parents back early'."

Davies nodded. "Gunny and I have a spare next. We'll message everyone we know."

"Cool, thanks guys," Jane said. "I'll track down Maura and tell her what's going on."

"Be sure to mention that a handsome dude named Davies is totally coming to her rescue."

Jane smiled weakly. First she had to get Maura away from the mean girls long enough to talk.

….

Maura flushed the toilet and smoothed her dress. She doubted she would ever get used to the woefully thin toilet paper at St. Dominic's. She opened her stall and stopped short at the sight of Jane, who was standing at the sinks – not washing her hands or fixing her hair or checking her teeth, just standing there waiting for someone. And there was no one else around.

Maura eyed the bathroom door. There were slats in the metal; if she screamed someone would surely hear. "What do you want?"

Jane held up a magenta piece of paper. "Just wondering if you've seen this."

Maura couldn't make out what it said. She glanced at the door, and crossed the room.

She read the flyer twice, her eyes zeroing in on the crudely drawn circle around her house. "Where did you get this?"

"Debbie was handing them out before lunch."

Not five minutes ago, Debbie had promised to show Maura where to get the best mani-pedis in Boston. "I don't understand."

"I'm sorry."

Was that pity? Maura didn't need any pity, certainly not from Jane. "I invited them over. They probably just wanted to bring a few friends."

"The whole school."

"What?"

"They were handing them out to the whole school."

"They're popular. They have lots of friends."

"Kate pulled something like this on a rival cheerleader last year. Did over fifty grand in damage to her house."

Maura shook her head.

"Maura, listen –"

"No, you listen. Just because no one likes you doesn't give you the right ruin my party."

"I heard them talking about you in the stairwell."

"Shut up."

"They were planning on ditching you once Rory dumped you."

"I said shut up."

"Maura, those people are not your friends!"

The words echoed through the bathroom, as did the sound of the slap that followed.

Maura looked down at her hand and up at the handprint blooming across Jane's cheek. "Oh." She covered her mouth. "Oh, Jane, I'm so sorry." She ran her fingers along the rising welts, already knowing there would be a bruise, shuddering each time Jane flinched.

Arnica cream would help. She reached into her purse, and came up with a jar of cocktail sauce for the seafood platter Louisa was preparing. How proud she had been to place that order. How wonderful it had felt to say "I'm having friends over," as though she did it all the time. But Kate, Debbie and Emily were not her friends. They had just been pretending. And if she was honest with herself, she had been pretending too. She released the jar, and her groping grew wilder. "I can't find it."

"What?"

She shook her head.

Jane stopped her hands, and took the bag. She fished out a package of Kleenex. "Here."

Maura became aware of the tears streaming down her face. Her body began to shake.

Jane set the purse down, and wrapped her arms around her.

Maura wanted to resist. She wanted to be the kind of woman who recoiled instinctively from the touch of an alleged sex offender. Instead, she buried her face in lavender-scented cleavage and cried like a baby while Jane rubbed her back and made little shushing noises that were low and raspy and most likely lowering her cortisol levels, triggering the release of oxytocin. Besides man, few species comforted each other this way. Most primates, maybe elephants, jungle cats, wolves…

Maura looked at the mess of mascara and tears on Jane's shirt. She was no longer crying. "I've ruined your shirt."

"Don't worry about it."

Jane's eyes held no traces of psychopathy. Up close, they were the colour of cocoa. And just as warm.

"You okay?"

Maura nodded.

Jane studied her, chewing a plump and peeling lip. "Think you can put aside everything you've heard, and just trust me for a bit?"

Maura wanted to. She really, really wanted to, but Kate had told the truth. Then again, Maura had always subscribed to the belief that there were no absolute truths. "Did you…" There was no good way to put it "Did you force yourself on Emily?"

"No." Jane's features bore no signs of deception.

For the moment, that was good enough. "Okay."

"Okay?"

"I believe you."

Jane exhaled. "Well okay then."

"What now?"

"Me and a few buddies have a spare next."

"A few buddies and I," Maura said."

"What?"

"You're supposed to say, 'a few buddies and I have a spare next.'"

"Fine. A few buddies and I have a spare next, and we're gonna spread the word that the party's been cancelled. You know, if you're cool with it."

"I'm cool with it." Maura hoped she had correctly applied this bit of teenage vernacular.

"Good. That's phase one. Phase two involves us all hanging out in front of your place to scare away any delinquents who don't get the message."

"Your friends would do that for me?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "They're teenage boys and you're a super-hot girl. They'd probably jump off a bridge for you."

Maura felt her lips curve upward. "What do you need me to do?"

"Well… I know you suck at lying, but how are at not bringing stuff up?"

Countless conversations with her parents came to mind. "I'm an expert."

A/N: Reviews/identification of any errors my non-existent beta failed to catch are always greatly appreciated.