Vbbneighbor: I already missed you! Glad you're all caught up :) Everyone else: wow. Thank you. Thank you so much for all your kind words. Once again, if you don't remember what happened between Ryleigh and Jane, go back and read chapter 5 from To Love A Girl.

I won't keep you waiting any longer, happy reading!


Jane somehow manages to keep herself from saying Ryleigh's name when the woman walks in, the cop instinct telling her not to. She doesn't want their attacker to know that she knows this woman.

Ryleigh closes the door behind her and turns around, facing the hostages for the first time.

Her face goes white as a sheet.

The silence seems to stretch on for hours. Even Jonas senses that something's off, because he looks up at Jane with curious eyes.

Jane inspects the woman standing in front of her. Ryleigh is a lot taller than she remembers, but the brunette would easily win if she'd stand up right now. Other than that, Ryleigh looks exactly as Jane remembers her, except for the Glock 14 attached to her hip.

"I see you haven't changed," the brunette spits, half angry and half sad. Ryleigh turns away, breaking eye contact. The brunette sees her former best friend take a deep breath, but she doesn't reply.

"Can you at least explain what the hell is going on?" Jane says, deciding that she can be angry. She knows Ryleigh won't hurt her.

Finally, the woman turns back to face them, her face impassive. Some emotion flickers in her eyes, but it's gone immediately.

"We have a deal in the harbor today. The cops knew about it, and we couldn't risk getting caught. It's a couple million dollars. So we decided to go here," Ryleigh says. There's no emotion in her voice, either. It scares Jane a little. "Headquarters under attack? We knew that would drive everyone away from the harbor."

The brunette shakes her head. "So, you're still doing drugs, then."

Her former best friend frowns shortly, and Jane is not sure the woman in front of her knows what she's talking about. But, eventually "Yeah. At least I can afford some shit now."

Jane looks at Jonas, who is watching their conversation with a frown. He doesn't understand what's going on, and Jane doesn't blame him for it. She presses a quick kiss to the top of his head, praying that'll help him calm down a bit. He's still frightened.

Ryleigh watches the interaction curiously.

Jane knows exactly what she's thinking. "No, he's not ours," she answers the unspoken question, referring to Maura and her. Letting Ryleigh know they're still together, after all these years. "He could be, though," she adds. Jonas has blonde hair, exactly Maura's color. His dimples are similar to Jane's, and when he laughs, they appear next to his eyes too. The only difference is his blue eyes.

The brunette looks back up at Ryleigh, her arm still wrapped around the boy. "How long does the deal take?"

Ryleigh hesitates, looking at her watch. "Shouldn't be more than half an hour from now."

Jane glances at Jonas, whose breathing is speeding up again. All she wants is for him to be safe. He has just escaped from a horrifying situation, and here he is, already wrapped up in the next nightmare.

"Ryleigh," the brunette starts, swallowing past the lump in her throat that has suddenly appeared. Saying that name has become so unfamiliar. "You have to let him go. He has nothing to do with this." She looks up into her former best friend's eyes, pleading. "You have to."

The woman in front of her clenches her jaw. "No."

But Jane isn't giving up. "Please. He's been through hell already."

"Shut up," Ryleigh tries to keep her voice steady, but Jane is no fool. She knew this girl, now woman, for so long that she knows which buttons she needs to press to get what she wants.

"Look, Ry, I know this is not your idea." The look on Ryleigh's face when the brunette uses her nickname is one of incredible sadness. "It can't have been your idea. And you don't want to kill him."

Silence.

"Let the kid go, okay? I'll stay right here with you. Just let him go," Jane tries one more time.

"SHUT UP!" Ryleigh yells, pointing a shaky finger at the brunette. She turns around after a few seconds, opening the door again. She yells a name the brunette can't understand, but she figures it must be the man who took them here. She doesn't want to see him, but it's not like she has a choice.

..

..

"Ryleigh?" Maura repeats, her mouth falling open in disbelief.

"Who is it?" Korsak asks, unfamiliar with the name. He doesn't know her, but Maura cannot find the words to explain. Luckily, Frost does it for her.

"Ryleigh went to the same high school as we did," Frost explains, motioning at himself and Maura. "She was Jane's best friend. Jane and her had a massive fight and Ryleigh disappeared right after, and they never saw each other again."

"It hurt her so much," the blonde adds. "I still remember the pain in her eyes when I asked her about it later. I can't imagine what she must be feeling right now."

Maura doesn't like to think about the things that could be going on inside the building right now. She looks up at the windows of the second floor, but there's nothing to be seen. Of course there isn't.

"Is she dangerous?" Korsak asks. "We still don't know who she's with. Do you know anyone from your high school that could be in there with her?"

The question throws both Frost and Maura off guard. Neither one of them has considered that.

The blonde shakes her head. "I can't really think of anyone, but I only joined you the last year."

"We were her only friends, I think," Frost says. "Jane and I, and the girls from her soccer team. It could be anyone."

Then, the sound of cars arriving makes them turn around. Several SWAT-teams jump from their vehicles and run towards various groups of officers, motioning for them to get back. Two men, obviously the leaders, walk towards Cavanaugh, asking about the situation.

Maura turns back towards the brick building, hand on her heart.

"Oh, Jane."

..

..

"If you let that boy go, I'll work out a deal for you." Jane looks up at the man, who came in right after Ryleigh called. She hopes she sounds convincing.

"The only reason we're here is to make our deal work. Do you really think we're just gonna give that up?" He yells. Jane notices that Ryleigh flinches.

"Listen," Jane says calmly. "You and I both know there's no way they're just going to let you walk. You have a chance to do the right thing. If you let the boy go, you'll do a lot less time in jail. I swear."

"I'm not going to jail. We're walking outta here without a scratch. And you two either come with us or die. Those are your options."

Jane tries to suppress a wave of nausea at both thoughts. Don't panic.

"Do you really think you're going to open that door and walk onto the streets?" She asks. "There's at least a dozen SWAT-teams outside by now. You're not getting away with this. So do the right thing, man. Save yourself a couple years."

Finally, he's silent, almost as if he's considering this. Jane continues.

"Just let him go. I'll stay right here with you. You can use me to get a better deal. I'll help you out, I promise. Let him go."

It's silent for a couple of seconds, and Jane thinks he's going to reject again. But then,

"Fine. Get up," he says to Jonas, pulling on his arm. "Get up!"

Jane scrambles up from the floor, putting her hand on the man's shoulder. "Wait! The elevator doesn't work. He has to walk and he doesn't know which way to go. Please let me go with him. Or at least let her take him," she says, motioning at Ryleigh.

He looks at his partner before shaking his head. "Nah. I'm taking him."

Jane feels as terrified as Jonas looks. She steps closer, although she knows it could be the wrong move. "Jo, it's okay," she puts her hand on his shoulder. "Go with him. He'll bring you outside, okay honey?"

"Jane," his voice sounds small and frightened. "Why can't you go? Can't you take me?"

The brunette shakes her head, trying to control her breathing. "Honey. You have to trust me, okay? Go with him. It's okay."

She raises her eyes, looking at her kidnapper. "If you hurt him," she growls. "I will personally end you."

Something in his expression changes, and he pushes Jonas outside. He steps closer and before Jane realizes what he's about to do, he gives her a hard kick to the ribs, causing her to fall hard onto the concrete floor. She wills herself not to cry out, because Jonas is right outside.

"That's for being a fucking bitch," he spits, and leaves the room.

A sharp pain shoots through her entire body when she moves, and she carefully puts one hand over her ribs, nearly unable to breathe. She waits for the pain to subside a little before she tries to heave herself up, but that only causes her more pain. "Fuck," she mutters, releasing a shaky breath. She looks up, but Ryleigh has turned away from her, not wanting to see this happen.

Jane decides to keep quiet, and carefully pushes herself up into a sitting position against the wall. It's quiet for a while, until she finally speaks.

"I know you never wanted things to go that way between us."

Ryleigh spins around, eyes wide.

"I know you needed the money, but you nearly caused Maura and I to break up. I can't forgive you for that."

Ryleigh pretends she doesn't tear up. She remains quiet.

"But you could've come to me, Ry. You didn't have to disappear off the face of the earth."

Jane's former best friend wipes at her eyes, before she surprised the brunette by sitting down next to her. "I couldn't face you," Ryleigh says softly. "You were so in love, Jane, and I felt so guilty. I thought I messed it all up. So I left, and tried to forget about everything and everyone."

The brunette smiles sadly. "We spent our entire childhood together."

"That's why I couldn't just forget," Ryleigh answers.

They fall silent after that. Jane nods, removing her hand from her ribs. As long as she remains still, there's not much pain.

And now what?

..

..

The creak of hardwood doors opening makes Maura's head snap up. Two tiny hands are holding on to the blue door like it's the only safe place in the world. A blonde-haired boy peeks around the corner, eyes squinted against the suddenly bright daylight. It's Jonas.

Jane saved him. Where is she?

"Hey little man," Frost is already on his way, motioning at the SWAT-teams to stay put. They immediately understand that a police officer looks a lot less scary than a SWAT-agent in a full bodysuit with a huge gun. The boy looks scared, but he seems to relax when he notices that Frost is a good guy.

When the boy is safe and being checked out by EMT's, Maura makes her way over to the fence that prevents them from getting too close to the building. Right when she wants to go past it, she feels two strong hands pull her back by her shoulders.

She turns around and is met by Barry's eyes, which reflect the exact things she's feeling.

"I need to go in there, Barry. I can't stand here, and, and … do nothing!"

When she makes another move towards the fence, Frost wraps his arms around her, keeping her from moving forward.

"You can't, Maura. You can't. She wouldn't want you to."

"And I don't want her to end up dead! She-"

"Listen. Jane will do anything to come back to you, Maura. Anything. You know that. She'll do everything in her power to come back to you, and she will make it out of there. I feel it."

"But, but …" the blonde falls silent, letting her head fall on his chest. Frost holds her even tighter.

"I know, Maura. I know."

..

..

Ryleigh remains next to Jane, until the sound of footsteps coming closer makes her head snap up. When her partner walks in, she immediately scrambles backwards, away from Jane. The brunette knows it's the wrong move when she sees the look on the man's face.

"What the fuck, Davis? Are you making friends with your hostages?"

The tone of his voice is wrong. Jane hears it, but can't do anything about it.

"No, I swear I wasn't!" Ryleigh says. "I was just-"

"You were just what?" He roars. "Telling her our escape route? You're fucking worthless!" When he raises his gun, time seems to slow down. Jane sees her former best friend raise her hands in a reflex, but a pair of hands won't stop a bullet. Ryleigh knows this too, of course, and makes eye contact with Jane for the last time.

Familiar eyes meet brown ones, and Jane still knows Ryleigh well enough to see that she's absolutely terrified.

The brunette's scream of "No!" is in synch with the gunshot that instantly kills her former best friend.

..

..

The sound of a gunshot startles them all. Maura immediately turns her head towards Korsak, who's already up on his feet and moving towards the SWAT-teams. Jonas has been taken to the hospital already, by a female EMT who looked a lot like Jane.

Korsak motions for her and Frost to come closer, and she catches snippets of their conversation as she makes her way over to the SWAT-van.

" ... go inside ... cops in there."
" she's MY responsibility ... her wife over there."
" hostage situation ... treat like any other."

Maura taps on Korsak's shoulder. "What is it?"

Korsak looks at Frost before telling her.

"SWAT wants to wait and see what happens. Maybe Ryleigh and her partner want to negotiate. We don't know how many cops are still in there, but we're five short. Jane included."

"We can't wait when they're shooting in there!" Maura yells. Frost looks apologetic. "Why haven't they come out?" the blonde asks, but she's not sure she wants to know the answer.

"They could be hiding," Frost answers. "It could be impossible to get out. Or they ... could be taken as hostages."

Maura closes her eyes.

..

..

In the few seconds of silence that follow the gunshot, Jane realizes two things. One: she will be the next victim if she doesn't do something right now. Two: Ryleigh never unholstered her gun, meaning it's still strapped to her waist. Jane can get to it, but only if she reaches over the body of her dead best friend.

The brunette looks up into the eyes of her attacker, before she frowns at something behind him, pretending someone's there. He turns his head and Jane immediately grabs Ryleigh's gun, pointing it at him. Her hand is steady, and she quickly takes a breath before pulling the trigger. But right when she shoots, the man realizes it's a trap and spins back around. The bullet hits him in the shoulder instead of the heart and doesn't instantly kill him. Terror shoots through Jane's body at the sight of him raising his gun at her, aiming randomly. She sees him pull the trigger before she fully realises what's going on.

At the sound of the gunshot, Jane turns away, but she can't prevent the bullet from hitting her in the abdomen. A hot, blinding pain shoots through her entire body and she fires the gun multiple times in blind panic, praying that he's still in the same spot. She can't see, she can't hear, all she knows is that this could be over in a matter of seconds.

Maura. I need to get to her. Please let her be okay.

When she regains her vision after a few seconds, she's looking straight into her attacker's eyes. He looks at her, surprised and defeated, before his legs give out and he falls to the floor. The last beats of his heart push blood from the bullet holes in his chest.

Jane does not remember getting up. She doesn't know how she gets down the stairs leading to the doors that'll lead outside. All she knows is that suddenly she finds herself staggering through the main hall, holding on to the wall with one hand to not double over in pain. The other hand is on her stomach, trying to stop the bleeding. It's not working.

She trips over her own feet and nearly falls, but manages to stay up somehow.

"You're almost there. Almost."

She doesn't recognize her own voice. Darkness creeps in around the edges of her vision, but she wills herself to stay conscious. The pain is now lessening rapidly, and she knows that's not a good sign.

She pushes against hardwood doors with the last strength she has, squinting her eyes against the harsh daylight that greets her.

..

..

Jane's seconds away from going into shock.

That's the first thing Maura notices when she sees her wife stumbling out of the building, looking completely disoriented. The brunette is clutching her stomach with one shaky hand, and the light-blue shirt Maura watched her put on this morning is stained with blood.

Two paramedics, a man and a woman, immediately rush towards her, Maura hot on their heels. A SWAT-team runs past them through the other door, into the building which Jane has finally gotten out of.

"Ma'am, can you hear me?" the man asks the brunette. Maura tries not to panic when her wife doesn't respond at all. The female paramedic tries to steady the brunette when her knees give out, but she eventually lowers Jane to the ground.

"Jane, honey," Maura crouches down and wants to grip Jane's wrist, but the male paramedic puts his arm forward, preventing her from touching Jane.

"Ma'am, I need you to step away."

"That woman is my wife," Maura spits, pushing his arm aside. "And I've successfully graduated from Medical School. I got this."

His eyes go wide, he's apparently not used to someone talking to him like this. He quickly looks over at his colleague for approval before stepping away, finally giving her the space she wants.

Maura immediately focuses on her wife, who's still not moving. She puts her hand on the brunette's arm, confirming what she already knows.

Cold, clammy skin. Sweat. Rapid pulse.

"Jane, honey," Maura says, trying to sound calm. She doesn't feel that way. "Can you look at me?"

The brunette doesn't obey. She stretches out her bloodied hands and looks at them as if they're not hers. Finally, her eyes move upwards and meet Maura's, not a single sign of recognition flickering in them.

The blonde is silent for a second, completely thrown off guard.

"It's me, Jane. I need to look at you," she says, carefully taking one of the brunette's bloody hands in hers.

"Don't touch," the brunette immediately says. Her voice sounds frightening, and it makes the hairs on Maura's arms stand up. When Maura tries again, Jane says it even louder. "Don't!"

"Honey," Maura tries to keep her voice steady. Steady and strong, like she learned in Medical School. Try to get in control of the situation. Calm the patient and tell them what you're doing.

But when she shifts to the other foot, she notices that there's blood dripping onto the sidewalk.

Dripping. She's still bleeding.

The blood is seeping through Jane's shirt, something Maura hadn't noticed yet. She was so focused on her wife's state of shock that she didn't remember to look if the blood had dried.

"Jane, I need you to tell me what happened." Maura's voice sounds urgent, unsteady.

"I can't feel anymore, Maura."

Okay, at least she remembers my name.

The brunette hasn't given consent, but Maura lifts her shirt up, motioning at the paramedics to get back. It's a gunshot wound, and it's bad. The blonde cannot seem to formulate a better sentence than that.

"I need help!" she yells. She can't do this on her own. The brunette looks completely zoned out and has stopped responding to her. Even when the same paramedics that she just sent away come back, Jane seems to react on autopilot, not saying a word.

"She's in psychological shock," Maura says when the paramedics kneel down next to her. "And she might go into hypovolemic shock too if she's not treated immediately." She tries to keep the panic out of her voice. "A gunshot wound to the abdomen has made her lose a lot of blood. There might be other injuries I'm not seeing. Take her, now."

The older man nods, and the woman is already opening her bag. "I'm going to give her sedatives that'll put her to sleep immediately. We need to get her onto a stretcher."

Maura, although she wants nothing more than to help her wife, steps away and lets the paramedics do their thing. She knows she's not capable of helping Jane right now, and she silently hates the brunette for making her feel things during times like these. She used to be able to handle things rationally, but ever since Jane has become a cop, every case and situation is personal.

When the stretcher with Jane on it is pushed into the ambulance, Maura jumps in with her, immediately closing the doors behind her so the male paramedic can start driving. The woman is sitting in the back with her, hooking Jane up to an IV.

The wailing of the sirens is louder than the steady beep of the heart monitor as they race through the city, and Maura reaches out to hold her wife's hand. The skin is pale, a little grey, and cold to the touch. The blonde shakes her head, trying to get the image of Jane on a morgue table out of her head. It doesn't work.

She gently lifts the brunette's hand to her lips, pressing a kiss to the skin. She expects Jane's chocolate brown eyes to open at the feeling, but they don't. The brunette is unconscious, and will stay that way for a while. Maura knows her wife needs surgery, and she'll be taken away from her the second they arrive at the hospital.

Rubbing the cold skin of her wife's hand, Maura tries not to cry.

"Stay with me, Jay. You can't leave me."

..

..


Let me know how you've experienced this. I love reading your opinions and stories and feelings.

Next chapter up on Wednesday! Only a two-day wait this time. If you want to get an email when I update, you can click on 'follow story' right below this. :)