The pair walked down to the woman's car.
"Vince, she needs a hospital. She'd had a head injury. I can't be 100% sure there isn't internal bleeding. At the very least, she has to have a doctor watch her for the next few weeks." she said sternly.
"I think we can swing that." Vince half-smiled.
"I'm not joking, Vince."
"I know. It's just that Maura... I mean, the girlfriend. She's a doctor."
"Then she is putting up a good facade. She must be pretending things are better than they are not to stress out her partner. Don't let her keep that up. It's draining, you remember." the woman didn't wait for a reply before she got into her car and started driving away.

Korsak drew his hand across his face, and sighed. This was going to be a difficult situation. If Jane was right, if it was someone from inside BPD, then this would be a witch hunt, especially if it got out. He hurried up the stairs and found Jane sitting up, trying her best to stay awake. Maura was in the small kitchen making coffee.
"Do you want any, Detective Korsak?" Maura asked, waving him over. "What were you thinking, Vince?!" she began, whispering aggresively, "I could tell all that, I thought you were bringing a doctor, not a nurse-" Korsak held up his hand, but Maura ignored it. "And she definitley has a concusion, if not internal bleeding."
"I know, Maura. My friend didn't want to say anything in front of you. She didn't know who you were. Frankly, if you had told me all that to start off with, I wouldn't have called her anyway. But it's gonna be alright, okay."
"Jane would never say that unless she knew it was going to be okay, and you don't." Maura knew it was misplaced agression, and she didn't want to take it out on Korsak, but honestly, she needed Jane right now. Not Korsak, not some "friend" and not Frost- Jane.

"Don't be so hard on Korsak." Jane whispered as Maura sat on the couch beside her. "And thank you." she muttered, taking the coffee in her uninjured hand.
"I know, I'm sorry. Everything is going to be okay."
"I can already see the hives, Maur. You don't have to... pretend. I can tell that you're concerned. Besides, I can tell when I have a concussion." Jane joked taking a sip of coffee. It hurt when she swallowed, and she still felt as if her brains were porridge.

The next couple days they spent seeing various doctors, making up various stories about how she got beat up chasing a suspect, or she fell down stairs. All the things that people say when they're hiding something. But luckily, Jane was a cop and nobody was going to call the police on a police officer. It turned out there was minimal swelling to her brain, and it would correct itself in time. Her other injuries would as well.

It was less than a week after the beating, Jane and Maura had called out of work for a few weeks. Of course, Jane made the call claiming she had the flu, and said that Maura was going to be out of the country so she'd be sending Dr. Pike to fill in for her. Maura broke out into hives anyways. Normally, Jane would have laughed a bit, she loved that her girlfriend was so honest. Heck, it actually made the sex better.
But there was even less of that going around than there was a couple weeks before. Maura began to pull away even more, and Jane didn't like it. She knew that those perps were getting to her girlfriend and it made her so mad. Not at Maura, at the people who couldn't accept that love between two women is just plain, old-fashioned true love. The brunette tried to assure Maura that things would work out, they'd get the guys that had done it and things would be alright again. But it only made things worse.

"I told you, I'd do anything to keep you safe. This is my fault. It's all my fault." Maura said, pacing back in forth in front of the TV set. "None of this would have happened if I hadn't..."
"Yeah, none of this would have happened, but then I wouldn't have the best thing in my life." Jane fired back, frustrated. "Maura, please don't let them get to you-"
"They got to me, Jane! They hurt you, you could have died! They could do it again, and it would still be my fault." Maura began crying, still pacing on the floor, never coming near Jane.
"Maur, don't cry. I swear we'll find them. We'll be safe. Just hang on, okay?" Maura never answered, she went to the bathroom, reapplied her make-up and sat on the chair furthest from Jane.

Another couple weeks passed, and Jane seemed to be healing up well. Maura still kept her distance. It's not that she wanted to end things, it was the furthest thing from what she wanted. But she couldn't shake the feeling that they'd both be safer apart. She'd worked out a plan. They could still call and text, she didn't think the men would go as far as to check their phone records. They could see each other in passing at crime scenes, but no more than that. No more getting each other coffee in the mornings. No more visiting the morgue to help with autopsies. Absolutely no spending time together outside of work. Maura cried the entire time she wrote it down.

Finally, Jane was able to move around freely, her ribs were nearly healed and her wrist, still in a cast, was workable. The brunette showed off by cooking Maura dinner that night. It was just her grandma's gnocchi, but it felt right. Jane thought things were finally going to start going right again. But Maura knew it was time, time to go.

They slept together that night, Maura curled into Jane's chest, closing her eyes but still listening intently to Jane's heartbeat and breath. This is what she would remember, being wrapped up in Jane, being so close that their hearts almost beat in time with each other.
In the middle of the night, Maura opened her eyes, she'd never gone to sleep. She quickly wrote out a letter and left it on the kitchen counter beside the coffee pot. Signed it 'I love you.' and left the apartment as quietly as she could.

Jane woke the next morning, thinking Maura had gone out shopping, they were running low on food. But then she found the note-

Jane, my love,
I'm so sorry, Jane. I love you more than I ever thought possible, but I can't let people hurt you because of me. As much as it hurts to be away from you, it hurts me more to see you suffer. We can still call and text, but we can't see each other outside of the absolutely necessary work-related situations. This is what I can do to protect you. Please don't try to change my mind. I love you, so much. So much that it feels physically impossible to leave you right now. I want to crawl back into bed with you and sleep in your arms... But I have to go. I'll see you at work.
With all my love,
Dr. Maura Isles

Jane crumpled the note in her hand and threw the coffee pot across the room. It hit the wall and shattered. She thought she might be hyperventilating, it made her think of Maura and she became nauseous, barely making it to the toilet in time. How could she manage this? To have known Maura in every way possible and then just let her go. She had to fight back. But she knew that it would only upset Maura if she went after her.
Slowly, painfully the detective stood back up and went to clean up the shards of glass on the kitchen floor. Jane knew she had to cool down before she called Maura, she couldn't be angry and talk to the blonde, especially because it might drive Maura even further away. After taking a shower, trying to eat a protein bar and getting dressed for the day, Jane thought she was in control enough to call Maura.
The brunette dialed the familiar number and waiting, three agonizing rings, until Maura picked up. Immediatley she could tell Maura was crying.
"Ja- Jane? Jane... did you get my note?" Maura asked quietly.
"Yeah. Yeah I got it." Jane didn't know what to say. What had she called without knowing what to say? "You, uh- you're sure?" Jane asked, holding back tears.
"Yes, Jane." Maura said, her voice blunt and cold. It broke Jane's resolve. They had gone back, and there was no changing it. Maybe not ever.
"I- I love you, Maura." Jane gasped tears leaking from her eyes.
"I love you, too, Jane, but..." the blonde's voice trailed off as she listen to Jane cry.
"I have to go." Jane said, using the last bit of her strength to get the words out without sobbing. As soon as she hung up the phone, she fell to the ground and began wailing. Her sobs didn't stop for the better part of an hour, she was sure her neighbors could hear, but she didn't care anymore. She didn't care about anything. Her thoughts started flying and the first solid idea that held on was... Jane looked at her gun at the bedside table. But she quicky shook her head.
"Dammit, Rizzoli. Stop it. You can't give in. You can't let them win. Find the bastards and get Maura back." she said, barely able to get the words out. "I'll get them, Maur. I swear." Jane promised to the walls.

Maura went back to work a couple days after that. She didn't talk about her "trip", didn't mention Jane at all. One day at lunch, one of the techs asked her how Jane was, but Maura just said she wasn't sure; that she hadn't seen Jane in a while. The rest of the morgue took the hint, and Jane wasn't mentioned for a few weeks. Until the day Jane came back to work. All the morgue staff was a buzz about what had happened, each taking guesses as to why the two had broken up. None of them were right of course, but that didn't stop them from gossiping.

That morning, Maura walked into the lab and heard the words "Jane" and "break-up" being thrown around. A bit angrily, she asked if they needed some work to do, like filing cold case DNA samples. Everyone scattered and Maura went into her office. She'd already been fighting tears all morning, they had talked the night before and Jane told Maura that she would be coming back to work. Maura wanted to see her so badly, to touch her, kiss her, hold her hand, but she stuck to her rules. She distracted herself with the two John Does that sat on her autopsy tables and began to work diligently to collect any evidence she could find.

Things seemed to be going according to plan, until lunch. They hadn't seen each other all morning, really they hadn't seen each other in nearly a month. But Maura wasn't concerned, she thought that she'd had enough time apart to control herself, to control her emotions. She didn't want to see Jane on the first day though, so she headed up to the Cafe about thirty minutes before general lunch time.
Jane however was very concerned. She wanted to know if Maura was okay, if Maura missed her, thought of her. A thousand thoughts flew through her mind, all of which contained Maura. She'd been distracting herself with a cold case from the 80's but it wasn't enough. Frost and Korsak were nice enough not to say anything, but she could hear others whispering behind her back. Jane knew it would die down eventually, but how long was eventually and would she make it? The brunette decided to go down to the Cafe, hopefully it wouldn't be too full right before lunch.

Jane walked out of the elevator her usual swagger defeated by the pain still emenating from her ribs. She looked around, only a couple of officers were in the cafe. She came around the corner and heard her Ma yell out her name.
"Hey, Ma-"she stopped before finishing her usual greeting. Maura was standing at the counter sipping a latte. Jane watched Maura's eyes brighten in realization that it was Jane. Then darken when she remembered what she had to do. Slowly, calmly the blonde walked to the elevator pressing the button for the lower levels with a bit of nervous tension.
Jane held up a hand to silence her mother, knowing full well she'd say to stay and not bother Maura right now. But Jane headed to the elevator, and squeezed through as the doors were about to close.

"Jane!" Maura exclaimed, moving her back to the other side of the elevator. The brunette stood in place, her scarred hands aching she wanted to hold Maura so badly. "Jane you can't be in here. We can't be seen together."

"I miss you, Maura. A call once every couple days, it's not enough. I need you." Jane approached Maura, placed her hands above the other woman's shoulders and pressed her face into the honey-blonde hair in front of her.

"We- we can start texting, we can... J- Jane, please..." Maura begged, her breath becoming heavy and heated. "Ja-" but Maura didn't get to finish. Jane scooped her head into the palm of her hand and brought Maura into a deep kiss. At first Maura surrendered, acting on instinct instead of thinking it through. But when Jane pulled back for air, giving Maura just a millimeter of space, she took the opportunity to push Jane away.
The brunette winced, as Maura's hands pressed into her ribs.
"God, Maura! That fuckin' hurt." the blonde's hand flew to her mouth.
"I forgot. I'm so sorry." the bell dinged and they were at the morgue floor. "Jane, we can't. I have to go. I'm sorry. I'll call you?" Maura said sadly, successfully holding back her tears as she exited the elevator.

"Call me? Fuckin- dammit!" Jane said punching the side of the elevator, causing the sprain in her wrist to sting with pain. "Shit!" she cursed, holding her forearm in her other hand.

The days went on like that. Jane giving in, and letting Maura have her space. She didn't want Maura to get hurt, but she knew that this must be hurting Maura, too. It was hurting her. They had a couple cases together, they exchanged plesantries, but kept to opposite sides of the bodies. Jane would eye Maura in her peripheral vision and Maura would stare at Jane's old boots pretending to look at the body. Maura would call Jane, text her a few times during the day, but soon Jane stopped answering. It was too painful to have only a little Maura, but less painful if she had none at all. She could go numb that way, just try and work hard to forget that anything was ever there.