Above the ranch, grey murky clouds were settled.

Pregnant and threatening with rain, they loomed.

The sun offered a tropical heat, sticky and humid the air hung with the scent disturbed earth, hot in the nostrils of the many workers who lazed out upon the grounds.

With blurry eyes, the men peered up to the sky, their eyes searched the clouds for any sign of retreat, but with the first premature droplets of rain came a sign the rains were there to stay.

With wet fingers the men jutted them up out of the barley, the golden tips swayed with the winds the rain brought with it. The men tried to catch the direction of the wind, with a bazaar interest that amounted to nothing.

The thud of footsteps upon the dampening earth rose into the air, the effort to talk was scarce throughout the workers.

Tired eyes roamed along the sky line from the dusty window in the bunk house, the earth was readying for weeks, possibly a month of unstable and turbulent weather.

Candy withdrew his gaze from out the window and with the internal creak of his bones, he leant over to the wireless and through white-noise he tuned into the local radio station.

Candy knew the weather, he'd spent enough of his life in the natural world to know the patterns of season.

This year, it came early. The old swamper took the rain seriously, but like any other man, turned to the radio and submerged himself in the broadcasts.

Candy knew to let it be.

A day went, the winds picked up and stayed steady. They picked up the dirt from the dried ground and dusted the barley, dusted work boots and clogged up machines. The rain turned the dirt to mud soon enough.

The workers knew how to cope with such natural a occurrence, but Hoyt was far from mud, he was quicksand.

The rainheads dropped to the earth, splattering against the sandy sluch.

Jane's boot landed heavily into a kidney shaped puddle. The water spat up and drenched the tip of her boot.

"Damn Jo, stop" Jane hissed at the terrier who lapped up the water, upon receiving the scolding, leapt into the puddle instead.

The loud shouts from around the ranch offered Jane with the comfort she wasn't alone in feeling the change that had been thrust upon them.

"Rizzoli" Slim's Hamana waterproof was glazed in droplets and dirt. Buttoned up to the top, the coat made Slim appear business like in his demeanour. "Enjoying the weather?"

"For sure" Jane's voice was thick with exhaustion. She ran a hand through her soaked hair and let it fall back over her face.

"Hoyt's got you working double ain't he?" Slim coughed after his words and spat out the product of it.

Jane watched the wad of spit land on the mud but was soon consumed by it.

"Yeah" she sighed. "If it keeps him off my back though I'll do it"
"McRae's bein' a bastard 'bout you as well?"

"Is it that obvious?"

Slim let out a snort of a laugh.

"He follows you 'round like your own God damn pup"

"Could you distract them for me while I try and get some shut eye?"

"Yeah kid" Slim adjusted his hat and smiled lightly, but something behind the smile hinted to a bigger dilemma inside the man.

Jane smiled at him briefly and retreated back to the bunk house, Jo followed in happy bounds.

Jane's clothes were soaked, the water that infested them dripped onto the floor when she arrived.

Hanging in the doorway, she peered in for a second, her eyes fixed upon Candy's hunched form. Jane took a few steps in, the footsteps tore through the white noise the wireless produced.

Candy stood from his stool and bowed his head slowly to her.

"Candy?"

"It's changing around here" his voice was shaky, his eyes moist.

"What's going on?" Jane's heart beat increased, her mind leapt from the confines of her skull to fabricate far fetched reasons to why the old man was acting queer.

The swamper pointed to the roof then to the ground in silence then hobbled over to Jane, his walk unsteady and drunk.

"Nothin' good is gonna come of this" he wheezed.

"Candy, speak straight!"

"The rain has come, it'll wash away everything, it'll break roots and kill plants"

Jane leapt back as the old man grabbed her shoulder steadily, the clinging odour of smoke clung to his clothes.

"Nothin' goods gonna come of this" Candy gulped thickly and a small smile erupted on his thin lips.

"Nothin' good" he muttered and his body fell to the floor, he landed with a sickening thud. His broom clattered to the floor sharply.

Jane stood, motionless.

Her chest heaved and her hands hung at her side.

Candy lay still upon the dusty floor, no breath came from him.

Maura stood in Harry Witham's study, no sun came into the room only a dull side lamp lit his and her features. The patter of rain on the shutters and the onslaught of wind raged outside.

They'd been indulged in idle banter until the conversation took a bitter dip when the natural silence between the pair arrived.

"What do you have to stay for?" Harry looked over her with stern eyes, puffing on his cigar, Maura tried to refrain from telling him to stub it out.

"Sir, this is the only home I have"

"You're a wise woman Maura, you can find a new home"

"I don't want to find a new home, Sir"

"You like it here?"

"I have grown to"

"Grown" he scoffed and puffed rings out into the smoggy air. "Miss Isles, you can grow to like somewhere else"

Maura coughed lightly, her vocals shaky from the smoke.

The Boss pursed his lips and patted the end of his cigar into the tin ash tray.

"Sir?" Maura held her hands behind her back.

Harry was silent, his eyes plagued with an idea.

"Hoyt" he stated simply.

"Hoyt?"

"Yeah, Hoyt! He's my next in line to run this place if I go... you sure as hell could marry him!"
"No, disrespect Sir, but I have no romantic interest in him"

"And you're tryna say you had feelings for my boy when you married him? Maura, I know you jus married him to have somewhere to go, I woulda to if I was you back then, but Hoyt, he's a good guy, you can marry him, it'll keep you outta trouble"

"Sir" Maura pleaded.

"Jus spend time with him, get to know him... unless you wanna be homeless?" the Boss leant over his desk, the wood creaked with his weight.

Maura lowered her head.

"No Sir"

"Well then" he let out a gruff laugh, a loud 'heh, heh, heh'. "Miss Isles, you're gonna be a Mrs Hoyt in no time"

Maura didn't answer him.

"Oh and Maura" he licked his lips. "You and that James boy, you better say away from him"

Maura felt her heart beat skip and she spluttered from the urge to cough.

"May I ask why Sir?"

"You talk so pretty" he added to himself before fully responding. "He's got to many ideas, shifty I'd say, you best stop talkin' with him"

"...Sir, he's become..." Maura whispered, her voice backed with a harsh resistance.

"He's become someone I suspect"

"Of what?" Maura huffed.

"My boy's death"

"James would never..."
"Him and my boy had a fight over you, James is getting all involved with you, he coulda killed Curley to get you"

"I don't think that assumption is accurate Sir"

"Oh so you know other wise?"

"I know that James only had that … argument due to the fact he knew I was in trouble"

"My boy'd never give you hassle!"

"Sir, we had an argument prior, Curley was..."
"I don't wanna here it Maura, let's jus' look forward, huh, yeah, look forward"

"Yes, Sir"

"Now, don't wanna keep Hoyt waiting, you go and see him, tell that man I said hi"

"I will do" Maura sighed heavily, deflated and anxious.

"Bye Maura"

"Bye, Sir" Maura exited the man's study, once outside, she pressed her hand to her abdomen and the other to her mouth.

A numbness invaded her muscles and made her limbs shake with nerves.

Maura leant back onto the wall and tried to steady her breathing to control the building anger radiating from her veins.

The heavy thunder of laboured steps neared.

Slim stood, soaked and panting at the top of the stairs. Maura peered at him, through her lashes but made the effort to look at him fully after a few prolonged seconds of his panting.

"Slim?"

He held up his hand to silence her then coughed again.

"Sorry 'bout that Maura" Slim patted his chest and flexed his hands as he neared to knock on Harry Witham's door. "You'll want to know too" he noted and with three heavy knocks and a grunt of recognition he was allowed in.

Maura looked around the hallway, nobody else seemed to be around.

The blonde indulged in a old habit.

She pressed her ear to the crack in the door and listened. Past the thud of her own heart, she listened in silence, with baited breath.

From the mumblings she caught a few words.

"McRae... Candy's on the floor, James is getting'..."

A chair screeched along the floor, Maura backed away in panic and took a glance at the stairs.

Maura was soon out of Harry's abode, her legs carried her her mind merely followed.

The shouts of a distant commotion was dumbed down by the rain.

A horse shoe shaped gathering stood outside the bunkhouse, from their came the ruckus.

Maura ran out, her prairie dress was soon waterlogged around the sleeves. Her tan boots hammered down into the mud, it spat up around her and soiled the rim of her dress.

"James" Maura stopped at the edge of a gathering of men, her voice was just a whisper in comparison to the chaos.

"He didn't do nothing!" one voice croaked out of the mutterings.

Maura pushed past the men and peered out, with a front row view of the scene.

Frost had Jane with her left arm twisted behind her back. Jane's nose was bloody, the rain smeered it down her face and it dripped from her chin and jaw to drip into the ground.

Her clothes hung from her skinny frame, heavy with water.

McRae paced in front of her, his brogues grazed with mud.

Maura's eyes met with hers, Jane dropped her gaze and fixed it upon McRae. Maura scowled at McRae but looked over Jane in horror. Maura had thought of herself as a woman never to hesitate if another was in need, but the fear of a consequence held her back. She could loose her home or get arrested with the assault of an officer if she carried out the act she was mapping.

"So you murdered an innocent man?"

"No I didn't" Jane spat. Frost looked pained as he twisted Jane's arm further. She grunted but stayed firm in the eyes of McRae.

"Candy was at your feet"

"Because he fell there"

"You are sour about the new second in management, so you took it out on an old man" McRae shouted, his hand pointed to her with the conviction of a preacher.

Maura was ridged.

The men behind her heckled with him.

For a brief second she felt as if she were backed by an army. Her chest welled with the fact with a word, she could send them into battle. Alas these men were no fighters, they were far from knights, they were pawns, the first to be slain.

Maura was simply one of them.

"No! Where is this new second in management, huh? He coulda done it"

Jane spat out and tried to squirm free from Frost's hold. Despite her physical state, she felt almost free as her assumption rolled off her tongue.

Hoyt could have killed him.

The accusation was seductive to Jane, but it was far fetched. In hind sight, it was simply a natural death, Candy had died of old age.

"Sir" Frost spoke up and softened his hold upon Jane's arm, Jane sighed in the relief of the tension and strain her limb had been under. "I hardly think you can say Rizzoli did this off the fact he was stood in the bunk house"

"He's a suspect"

"No, he's not!" Maura shouted, her voice shrill, the men around her shouted at McRae with the same opposition.

Maura felt as if that was it, her simple in put was enough to send them rouge.

A few men stepped out of line, Ollie and Klark.

They loomed over McRae, their eyes twined with a meanness, with a brotherly protection over Jane.

"Rizzoli ain't someone you can pick on, buddy" Ollie was the first to talk, his shoulders squared and firm. Klark rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles.

Jane grinned at them and Frost tensed. McRae glared at them, his eyes squinted to they could not witness his fear.

Ollie spat at McRae's feet and rose his eyebrows.

"It coulda been me, couldn't it? It coulda been Klark, damn it coulda been Rizzoli's pup if we were gonna get serious on this" Ollie let out a rough chuckle and looked down upon McRae.

"You gonna blame it on the rain, arrest the rain?" Klark sneered and the other men laughed, a chorus of snide laughter. McRae reached into his pocket, his fingers curled around a pistol.

"Rizzoli is guilty" he whispered, and felt the cold metal against his palm.

Another move and he just might.

"Not guilty as of yet" Harry Witham boomed, the men parted, their laughter cut off. The beefy man stepped into the semi-circle and Frost let go of Jane, her body lurched forward. Jane regained her balance shortly, her limbs ached from the former assault she'd been burdened with. McRae let retracted his hand from his pocket, empty of the weapon.

Maura lifted a hand to her chest and sighed out, her eyes soon met Harry's.

"Maura" Harry turned to her."Take James to the barn, get Crooks to tend to him"

Maura didn't object and strode forward and snagged Jane's wrist in her right hand.

"Maura" Jane hissed, she tried to wrench away to see about her fate, be part of it, challenge McRae alongside Ollie and Klark, almost as a brother.

Maura rolled her eyes and soon tugged Jane from the commotion, out of the way.

Jane looked over Maura with sore eyes.

Her once blonde hair was almost brown with the water and matted to her face with the rain, her eyes were stern, her dress was soaked through.

"I thought you found me irritating?" Jane spoke lowly.

"I do" Maura wrenched open the barn door and urged Jane inside first, she then followed.

A few droplets of rain fell through the roof and down into the hay. The rafters creaked and the sound of the rain upon the roof was dim.

The curtain the separated the barn from his room was tugged in the breeze that crept in through his broken window.

Crooks sat in his room, the pups at his feet and in his hands, a book. The gaslight on a high shelf flickered.

Maura motioned for Jane to stay where she stood whilst the blond went to collect Crooks.

Maura knocked on the beam, Crooks peered up from the yellow pages and smiled at her, his teeth an off white.

"Miss Isles" his voice was sleepy.

"Crooks, I'm sorry to disturb you, but I would like your assistance"

"With what?" his eyes were soon sceptical. Crooks looked over at her, slitting his eyes, and he chewed as though thoughts were being sorted and arranged by his jaws before they were finally filed away in his brain. The examination was simply a habit of his, any white person to walk into his room was assessed as a goodn' or a badn'.

"Aiding James" Maura spoke, a slight pout formed on her lips. Crooks mumbled, but rose to his feet, he wafted his hand much like a gospel singer as he stood. The bunk creaked and he kicked the pups away as he hobbled to the door.

"What's up?"

"A broken nose I suspect"

"I got some ointment for it, I got a bandage as well, but you'll have to put it back in place"

"Thank you Crooks"

"It's nothin'"

Maura smiled at the man, she held a high respect for him. A fallen solder from the First World War and a intelligent medic, Maura knew this from all the conversations they had shared when she had first arrived.

Crooks was a worthy friend.

"Your boy aint so careful is he?"

"My boy?" Maura defended, she knew perfectly what the man meant, but still felt the need to question him.

"Maura" he hummed her name. "I sees the way you look at him, my sister gave a post boy the same look back in New Orleans, she married him months later, damn guy probably still has that job, lucky bastard"

"Crooks" Maura sighed, smiling at his rambling.

The pair walked from his room, Jane was slumped back in a pile of hay. Her hair already dried at the ends and curling with the natural wave it possessed.

"Later that same day" Jane snapped and heaved her body up.

"Rude ain't he?" Crooks jabbed a finger at her, Maura laughed, they both did. Jane soon felt the sour tang of exclusion hit her.

"What?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Nothing" Maura smirked and upon seeing Jane's hurt expression, behind the blood, Maura walked over and with a handkerchief from her pocket she gently dabbed away the blood.

"I can do it myself" Jane mumbled. Maura's hand clasped the right side of Jane's neck to steady her.

"Yes, but you would smear the blood" she added and Jane rolled her eyes.

Crooks popped the cork from the bottle of ointment, the smell radiated out, a sharp sting of herbs hit Jane.

"Dab it onto the wound" Crooks instructed and Maura took it from him and dampened the cloth with the liquid.

"It stinks" Jane complained and Maura rolled her eyes.

"Are you just going to complain?"

"Yeah, pretty much" Jane huffed and upon the first dab on the bridge of her nose, she yelped and recoiled. "Ow"

"I didn't say it would be painless"

Crooks chuckled to himself and watched, his arms hung at his side.

Jane gritted her teeth and bared the short bursts of pain that invaded her nose, an ache was left behind after every dab.

"Now" Maura stood back and tilted her head, like Jane was simply a specimen. "It's just split skin, not broken, probably bruised, Crooks can you get me some water and a clean rag?"

"Sure" Crooks hobbled off to do so.

The yelps from the pups in Crooks' room filled the air.

"Jane"
Jane flinched at the use of her former name. Her heart skipped in an electric beat.

"Don't go using that around here" she hissed, but the blond took no notice.

"What happened in the bunk house?"

"Candy died, I couldn't have stopped it" Jane's voice filled with hurt, regret to a certain level.

"No, you couldn't have"

"But he kept saying, before he died, nothing good will come of this" Jane shrugged. "Something about the rain"

Maura's eyes flashed with intrigue, a small curse from Crooks room broke her pondering.

"He knew something" Maura summarised quickly before Crooks reappeared with a tin bowl of water and a cloth slung over his arm.

"Thank you"

"Naw, it was nothin', I'm jus gonna go back and read my book, I'm in no mood to stick around no more, I got no sleep, damn rain" Crooks muttered and handed Maura the bowl, then tossed the towel at Jane.

"I'll be seeing you Miss Isles"

Crooks tugged the curtain over the door frame and the creak of the bunk assured the pair he was indeed doing what he said.

Jane flexed her jaw and still smelt the herbs upon her skin. Maura set the bowl down on the floor and submerged the rag in the water. Jane watched, Maura was knelt, swirling the rag like it was smoke through the water until she wrung it so it was damp.

"What's this for?" Jane sighed, her clothes clung to her skin and magnified every muscle and shape in the woman's body. Only then did Maura spot the ridges the bandages across her chest, the give away of Jane's bound breast.

"To clean you" Maura hummed her words.

"Not in a religious way right?"

"No" Maura chuckled, her eyes half closed as she felt the rag tangle in between her fingers. "No"

Maura rose to her feet and with the rag in her hand, advanced towards Jane. Jane didn't move back, she remained still.

The cold rag was applied to the side of her neck, she soon cursed the rag would dumb out the beat of her pulse. It raged inside her, it plagued her with a sensitive give away of her feelings.

"Hold still"

"I am" Jane croaked and Maura rubbed the rag gently up and down Jane's neck, the blood was pink against the rag. Maura concentrated on the rag more than Jane, it seemed a much calmer subject to focus on. Maura's free hand rested on Jane's shoulder, her fingers rubbed though Jane's shirt to kneed the tense skin.

"You're tense"

Jane didn't respond, she just watched Maura's expressions as her hand travelled to clean more of her olive skin.

Maura felt Jane's dark eyes upon her, they made her skin tingle with anticipation.

Her heart beat told her something was going to happen, the increased pulse, the heat that now invaded her skin, it led her to ache and to yearn.

Jane licked her bottom lip, her hands ran from the sides of Maura's thighs to land upon her hips. Maura's breath hitched in her throat. She dropped the rag to the floor to let her soaked hand meet with the burning flesh of Jane's collar bone.

Jane's breath was heavy, as if she'd just finished running.

Maura winced as her hand moved slowly from Jane's collar bone to run into Jane's hair.

Jane pulled Maura's hips closer so they rubbed against her own.

The blonde whimpered.

Jane shuddered when Maura's nails rubbed into her scalp.

Weapons of destruction, Jane knew them as that.

They simply killed her resolve, her resistance to temptation was non existent.

A fever raged upon her skin, it infested her forehead, she was clammy with nerves.

Jane gulped, her throat dry and sticky.

Maura rubbed her nails into Jane's scalp, circles, lines, swirls anything to coo the woman out of her cave.

Jane held her tighter, then without her brains aid, she pressed her lips to the blonde's.

Jane ignored the pain as the tip of her nose pressed into Maura's cheek, she captured her plump bottom lip in between hers and felt a euphoria erupt from their connection.

A need, the simple electricity was passed between the pair was enough to urge them on.

Maura stood upon her tip toes. Her hands tugged in Jane's hair, but the effect was short lived. Jane withdrew, the pain in her nose made her eyes water and her frontal lobe fuzz with shock.

"Ow, ow, ow" Jane broke away, she stumbled back. The imperfection of the moment made Maura's shaking lips curve into an amused smile.

Jane cupped her left hand over her nose and shyly spied Maura's expression.

"What?"
"You" Maura giggled, but Jane stood ridged. Maura then straightened her expression to correct her statement. "I didn't mean, you as in... oh Jane, I didn't mean it as I thought it was humours you kissing me! In fact I found it pleasant"

"Pleasent? That's something a person says after a kinda nice meal" Jane jutted out her right hand in a motion, as if the barn was watching, a notable witness to the statement.

Maura's brow furrowed as she thought for the right word.

"Satisfactory?"

"No, that's not... oh" Maura jack rabbited when she realised the word hadn't passed Jane's lips.

Jane dropped her hand from her face and the pair stared at Crooks' doorway.

"I told you, he was your boy" Crooks stood with a coy grin, his book in his hand and his eyes playful.

Maura was about to challenge him when he drew the curtain. Maura heard the rustle of footsteps and turned, her heart beat pulsed in her skull.

Maura stood still as she watched Jane walk with her back hunched and she slipped back out into the day light. The patter of rain broke the air, sharp against the air in the barn, the the door swung back and closed, the rain was soon just dumbed out.