CHAPTER SEVEN

A/N For those reading and reviewing, Thank you it is appreciated! The Cheyenne ritual is entirely fictional. Any and all inaccuracies are completely mine. Also, no offense is intended, I have only the utmost respect for all Native American Peoples regardless of tribe or clan (I have Cherokee on both sides of my family.)! Also a big thank you to Randy Newman for writing such a sexy song and to the wonderful Etta James for recording my favorite cover.

Pain seared her tightly closed eyelids and sent hundreds of leaded ping pong balls pounding through her skull. Her ears painfully contracted with every beat and her nose felt like an entire army of fire ants had marched up one side and down the other. She tried to shake her head and clear the bedlam. Second by second the noise escalated until she swore she could feel every individual drop of blood coursing through her veins. Sweet silenced crashed upon her like a wave leaving her spent and fighting nausea.

The braves stopped dancing and Jane took a shallow breath trying to convince her heart to resume beating. An ancient Cheyenne dressed only in a colorful loincloth and an elaborate feathered headdress sank onto his knees beside Janz's head. He lifted his arms palms up and chanted a haunting prayer to the elders. Two braves in matching loincloths stepped forward and placed a small wooden bowl in the flat of each palm. The elder lifted them straight over his head and chanted another prayer.

Jane felt heat flood her chest and her breath became trapped in her chest. She struggled to wake Janz only to feel his body grow heavier pushing her further into the hard packed sand. If she didn't wake him or find a way out from under his body, she would die. And Maura would never know how much Jane truly loved her. Desperate women perpetrate desperate acts.

"SSSSTTTOOOOPPPPPP Oh God!" Janz yelled. He jerked his body sideways trying to escape the searing pain.

Jane released her grip on his scrotum and pushed hard against his back. Finally free of his bulk, she sucked in a greedy lungful of air. "You're a heavy bastard." She scrambled to her feet and watched as the Medicine Man poured first the black sand, then the red sand over Janz's chest. He then removed a small leather pouch from the front of the loincloth and took out two small dried leaves. He placed the leaves on each of Janz's eyelids. Next he removed a small jet black pebble and two small red ones. These he placed in a line an inch above the navel. In the mixture of colored sand, he drew a series of symbols. One of the braves offered him an eagle feather, the other a turkey feather. The Medicine Man spat in his palm and dipped the quill, or calamus, of the turkey feather into the saliva, before he raised it toward the sky and said a prayer to remove the darkness holding Janz's eyes closed. He lowered the feather and drew a second series of symbols between the pebbles. He then repeated the actions with the eagle feather.

"Hold tight!" Janz shouted reaching for Jane's hands.

Jane obeyed and not a second too soon. As the Medicine Man lifted the quill of the eagle feather from Janz's chest, a strong breeze swept across the desert. Had Jane not been anchored, she would have gone rattling across the desert like a lone tumbleweed. "What just happened?" she panted looking into dark eyes as full of questions as her own. "Was that an exorcism?"

Deep laughter filled her ears and shook his entire body causing her teeth to jar painfully against each other. "That was the Cheyenne version. If you had a hat, I'd tell you to pull it down tight, I have a feeling the surprises are just getting started." Janz gathered himself and pushed to his full height. He turned to the Medicine Man and bowed. From his belt, he removed a bone handled hunting knife and presented it to the brave nearest him.

Jane watched as the brave examined the knife before passing it to the Medicine Man with a great deal of ceremony. The gift was praised and then wrapped in a strip of deer hide. The medicine Man took both Janz's forearms in his hands and said a final prayer. Once the prayer was finished, he nodded to the braves and made his way to a jet black stallion. The braves nodded to Janz and mounted their own horses.

In a cloud of dust the ten Cheyenne departed. Janz turned to Jane and pointed toward a small wooden structure beyond a corral holding two horses and a mule. "Shall we?" He led them to the structure and threw open the door. A cloud of strong perfume and lace enveloped them the second they stepped inside.

"You lucky sumbitch." Bart crowed clapping Vance on the back. "That injun voodoo worked. I say you're a genius."

"Can you get this octopus off me. I have a girlfriend!" Jane growled trying to avoid the open mouth trying to capture Janz. And what in the world was she wearing? Hookers on street corners were fully clothed compared to this hussy.

"Millie, calm down." Janz said holding her at arms length. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were worried about me. However, given the way we parted company…"

"Don't tease me, Janz. I've been sick out of my mind with worry." She freed her left hand and traced his face and chest.

"Seems the last time I saw that," he nodded at the ring sparkling on her left ring finger, "Boston was slipping it into his apron and giving me a bottle of whiskey. How'd you get it? And maybe I should ask why you're here? Bart's here 'cause he works for me and Vance drops by from time to time, but why are you here?"

Color bloomed on both cheeks as Millie dropped her gaze and twirled the ring around her finger. This was no time for pride. She had cabled her Father for money to get the ring back and asked his advice on how to get Janz back. "I know I act a bit high strung at times. I owe you an apology."

"Just one?" Janz interrupted harshly.

Her Father had said he wouldn't make it easy for her, damn men and their pride. Millie swallowed hard and locked gazes with the man she loved. "I'm sorry, I humiliated you in front of everyone at the saloon. I'm sorry I turned your marriage proposal down. I'm sorry I kicked you in the….privates." She looked away and said barely above a whisper. "But mostly, I'm sorry I wasted so much time when I should have been loving you."

Bart and Vance exchanged meaningful looks and fled the house promising to check on the pair in a few days.

Alone with his fiancé and Jane, Janz relaxed somewhat. He spread his feet and hooked his thumbs in his belt loops. "So you say a few words and I just forget all that stuff you did and said to me?"

"If you kiss that woman or, God help us both, take her to bed…"

"Shut up!" Janz growled low in his throat. He snapped his mouth closed to keep from saying anything else, afraid Millie would leave him again.

Lost in her own hell, Millie failed to hear Janz. She dropped her gaze and whispered. "I deserve to be punished for my actions."

"I promise you, if you even think about lifting that lace thing and turning her over your knee to spank her I'll neuter you! Help me get the hell out of here and then you and that she-cat can play all the kinky games you want."

Janz stared at Jane as if he were looking at Satan. He understood the skirt lifting and spanking, but didn't have a clue what neutering was or what kind of games she was talking about. "I've been struck by lightning, kicked where no man should ever be kicked, treated like a leper by one woman and a gold mine by another. I wake up lying on the desert floor with a Cheyenne Medicine man and ten Cheyenne braves surrounding me. And now you…"

"Janz, please. I was being prideful and stupid." Millie threw herself against his chest and began to sob. "I don't deserve you, and I know Cissy would treat you…has treated you better, but I love you. I promise, I'll make it up to you."

An idea formed in his head and shone in his eyes. "So you'll quit dancing at the saloon and only dance for me?"

Millie nodded her head quickly in agreement. She loved to dance, but she loved Janz more. "I'll dance for you whenever you want. Only for you."

"Don't ask her to dance. I swear, I'll…" Jane grabbed at bulging back muscle but only succeeded in falling on her face.

Janz pulled a wooden chair away from the small table near the fireplace and sat in it, his hat pulled low over his eyes. "Show me how sorry you are, make me believe you."

On a small ranch, only 150 acres, and 130 miles from a Cheyenne Indian village and 13.5 miles from Boot Hill cemetery, Jane Rizzoli woke up. She dropped her head into her hands seeing her mistake. Maura needed to see that their relationship mattered. She needed Jane to drop her guard and just show a little heart.

Millie dried her tears and removed two layers of lace. She stood less than a foot from Janz letting her hips sway from side to side. Jane lowered her eyes, but looked up when Janz groaned. Millie was sitting on his lap completely naked and Janz was grinning from ear to ear. "I want to come home, Maura. I just want to come home to you."

"Focus."

Jane spun around the room only to find Millie under Janz on the bed and neither of them paying her the slightest attention. Fingers of cold traced her spine. "Focus. Concentrate and you can teleport home."

The name Walter came to her, Olivia's friend. She closed her eyes and thought of the first kiss she shared with Maura. Brief touches and moments of passion swam through her mind leaving her desperate to return to Maura. Jane clenched her fists and prayed with all her heart. "Please, I just want to go home!"

Her body splintered into a million points of light and scattered on the desert wind. Grains of red and black sand attached themselves to her as she sailed over the hard packed earth. Crystals of ice imprisoned her as she hurtled at dizzying speed through dense blackness. Words of the Cheyenne prayer caressed her as she fell into white nothingness.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry Maura. I love you. I'm so sorry." Jane sat against Maura's front door whispering her prayer over and over.

"Why should I believe you?" Maura asked leaning against the garage, arms crossed over her chest. She had heard a loud thump and looked out her front door to find Jane sitting there head buried in her hands. Not wanting to disturb Jane, she had circled around the house.

Jane leapt to her feet and offered her hand to Maura. "Please come with me. I'll show you."

For a tense moment, Maura remained against the garage. She slowly straightened and walked around Jane to unlock the front door. "Let me get changed."

"You're perfect just like this." Jane pulled her close and held on as tight as she dared. "In fact, this is better than perfect." She nuzzled the soft skin below one ear and took a gentle bite. Desire freed her hands and she allowed them to roam Maura's back and hips covered by thin ivory silk. "You feel so amazing in my arms. Have I ever told you how crazy you make me?" With one cheek in each hand Jane lifted Maura and settled them against the open door frame.

"What do we tell the officer who gets called to arrest us for committing an indecent act?" Maura felt a sliver of embarrassment, but secretly didn't want Jane to stop. "My neighbors are probably watching and have already called the precinct."

Jane nibbled one ear then along Maura's jaw line and sucked the point of her chin into her mouth. She released her long enough to whisper "I hope your neighbors are watching. I want them to see how much I love you." Jane resumed her nibbling.

"Jane," She was soaked and her breathing was coming in short harsh pants. If Jane kept teasing her, the neighbors were going to have a very good story to tell. "Please bed."

"I have a better idea." Jane countered stroking Maura's lower lip before pulling it into her mouth for a long taste. Jane felt Maura grinding against her and sucked harder. She caressed Maura's ass molding them tighter together. "I'll stop, but you have to do something for me."

Stop. Don't stop! "What if I changed my mind and I don't want you to stop?" Maura pleaded.

Jane chuckled and walked them into the house. "Just a change of scenery and position Baby."

Maura allowed Jane to unwrap her legs and prop her against the wall. She became intrigued, but wary when Jane grabbed her car keys. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." Jane promised with a wink as she lightly patted Maura's bottom. "Do you have a key to that dance studio?"

Of all the! Maura stomped into her bedroom and slammed the door. Jane had worked her into a fever pitch of desire and now she wanted to go to work? Tears slid down her cheeks as she fell face down on the bed. A second later she felt Jane's weight as the bed shifted. "Call Korsak and get a warrant!"

A stinging slap across her right buttock brought Maura into a sitting position. She glared at Jane who sat smirking at her. "I don't want to go to work, but we do need to get into that studio. Now do you have a key or not?"

Maura slid from the bed and opened a drawer on her nightstand. "I bought the place as an investment." She tossed Jane the keys and tried to slip into the bathroom.

"Nothing doing. You're coming with me." Jane held out her hand waiting for Maura to join her. After a minute, Jane decided she could wait for Maura, or do what Janz would have done. She set her features into as stern a frown as she could manage and marched to the open bathroom door. She gave Maura a predatory smile and snaked an arm around her waist depositing her protesting lover across her shoulder. "Now the neighbors really have something to talk about."

They made the short drive in silence. Jane kept glancing at Maura trying to gauge her mood. This was either going to pay off big time, or ruin their relationship completely. Maybe she was crazy following in the boot steps of a 19th century bounty hunter.

Jane opened Maura's door and offered her hand. Maura placed her hand in Jane's and walked fingers laced beside her into the darkened building. "Please stay right here for me." Jane requested freeing her hand and taking a step toward a chair near the stereo equipment. Her phone shattered the quiet making Jane curse and Maura moan. "It's Frost. Give me two seconds to get rid of him. I promise, you won't even know he interrupted."

Maura glared at Jane but remained where she was and quiet. Less than a minute later Jane thanked him, promised to see him early tomorrow and turned off her phone. "They arrested Cissy Pride, traffic patrol stopped her for speeding and found a knife covered in April Long's blood under the seat. Now where were we?"

Jane placed the chair in the center of the room and sat hands lightly clasping her thighs. The music began and so did Jane's smile. She crooked her finger in invitation and growled as Maura began moving in time with the music. "That's it Baby. Listen to Etta. Take it all off, but you can leave your hat on."

"But Jane, I'm not wearing a hat." Maura purred tossing her bra across Jane's beaming face.

"Then I guess you'll be wearing nothing." Jane promised as she pulled a naked Maura onto her lap and sealed their lips.

FINIS