A/N: Hi, guys. I'm sorry for the wait. Things have been sort of all over the place, but I do want to keep this story going!

The song that inspired the end is called "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls. Lovely song.

Special thanks to BB Reader for being such a wonderful reader of mine, and for giving me the extra nudge to write.

Hope you enjoy this new chapter x


They needed normalcy after a day like this. And Jane decided to try her best to give it to Maura. She ordered their usual from their favorite Chinese restaurant, poured a glass of some kind of fancy wine Maura liked and grabbed a Blue Moon for herself from the fridge.

Maura was in the shower as she set up the dinner at the table. At Jane's they always ate on the couch watching something, but at Maura's this was not done.

"Hey," Maura said in Jane's ear, as she carefully slipped her arms around Jane's waist.

There was hesitancy in her touch, like she wasn't sure this was okay. Jane melted a little in Maura's arms. She leaned back into Maura, and felt her instantly relax.

"Hi," Jane murmured. "I got some Chinese."

"I see," Maura said, letting go of Jane.

When Maura's arms left her waist, a shiver ran up Jane's spine.

"Let's eat on the couch," Maura said, already moving the plates to the coffee table.

"The couch?" Jane sputtered, eyebrows raised.

"Yes. I would like to watch this documentary I taped last week on flowers which bloom only at night."

"Okay, but—" Jane started, still uncertain at this change in being able to eat in the living room.

"They are fascinating plants Jane, I think you might like it," Maura said, clicking play and settling down on the couch.

She patted the seat next to hers, giving Jane a smile. Small, but there. And Jane would do anything to keep Maura smiling.


Jane had sat with Maura through many Chinese dinners and too many documentaries, but this time was different. And it's not because they were eating in Maura's living room.

Maura gave Jane some of her chicken with water chestnuts and peapods and whatever else was in that thing, and Jane gave Maura a scoop of her sweet and sour chicken like always, but this time Maura put the food to Jane's lips. And it ended up being a little sloppy, but so much sweeter.

This time Maura held her hand through half of the documentary, and Jane could not begin to understand why her heart beat faster holding hands with this woman than it did when she was tackling a perp to the ground.


The darkness didn't creep up on Jane until she was alone in the shower.

Maura's voice echoed in her head.

He kept talking about Jane—making her pay. He said, I was so important to her. He knew it and he'd make her suffer.

Jane dug her fingernails into her palms. Maura had suffered because of her.

I keep fucking up. I keep bringing pain into her life, into everyone's.

The shadows of doubt, of self-loathing. She was wondering when they would show up today and there they were.

In her mind, she saw Maura crying, stumbling over her words, saying how scared she was.

She loved Maura so much, but she couldn't protect her. She kept failing at it. She promised to protect her, long ago she promised that, but she kept fucking failing.

How could Maura want her? How could she find safety in her arms?

Fuck-up!

A throbbing sensation in her hand. She looked down at her hand. She must have punched the shower wall. Her right hand was swelling a little, throbbing.

Hurting herself wasn't going to fucking solve anything. Jane took a deep breath in.

Pallegro.

Pallegro would be going to jail for sure, the evidence was piled up against him and with Maura's statement they were golden. But she would have to make sure he got max time. She needed to make sure he suffered as much as possible.

Jane stayed underneath the burning water of the shower until her skin was itchy and she couldn't stand it any longer.


When she came back downstairs, Maura was lying down on some oddly shaped cushion, her body twisted in a strange position.

But this was the most relaxed Jane had seen her in quite awhile, so she didn't disturb her. She leaned against the door to the rec room where Maura had made Jane try to get into yoga countless times, to no avail.

But, Maura lying there, seeing her breath rising and falling in and out—this was soothing to Jane.

Maura was alive, She was here. Things may be okay. They may be okay.

Maura lifted herself from the ground after some time. She saw Jane standing by the door and smiled.

"Hey, how was your shower?"

"Good," Jane lied, self-consciously hiding her swollen fist behind her back.

Maura stood up, stretched her arms, yawned.

"Well, that restorative yoga worked well. You ready for bed? I'm tired."

Jane could not help but smile. Maura had just assumed she would be staying overnight again, sleeping in her bed with her.

"Yeah, sure, sweetheart."

Jane was caught up in Maura's eyes, so she wasn't aware of Maura reaching for her bad hand. She tried to suppress the wince when Maura took her hand in her own, but failed.

"What's wrong?" Maura whispered, her brow furrowing in concern, as she lifted up Jane's hand to examine it.

She gingerly rubbed a finger along Jane's knuckles, her mouth in a slight frown.

"Does it hurt a great deal when I push here?"

Jane shook her head. "Not a lot."

"They're probably not broken, just bruised," Maura sighed.

Maura knew. Jane knew Maura knew she did this to herself. And she didn't know what to do, so she stood frozen as Maura pressed her lips to the swollen hand.

"Bed," Maura whispered, taking Jane's other hand to pull her up the stairs.

And Jane was forever thankful that Maura was not forcing her to have this conversation right now.


There was a radio playing a sweet melody, the lyrics seeming to reflect Jane's soul and thoughts.

Maura had slowly stripped her shirt off, then Jane's, and now they were kissing. And Jane was forgetting her hand and the shower and Pallegro and the police station today.

She only had room in her mind to reflect on the beauty of Maura's freckles, the corner of her mouth, her color of her eyes. Her skin, God, her skin. The feel of Maura's chest pressed against her own made her tingle everywhere.

And I'd give up forever to touch you 'cause I know that you feel me somehow.

You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be and I don't want to go home right now.

And all I can taste is this moment, and all I can breathe is your life.

And sooner or later it's over, I just don't want to miss you tonight.

And I don't want the world to see me 'cause I don't think that they'd understand.

When everything's made to be broken, I just want you to know who I am.

They ended up on the bed somehow, their legs tangled, chests still bare. And Jane was very aware of the fact that Maura's breasts were the most perfect in the whole universe.

Into a silence so peaceful, Jane soon lost Maura to dreamland. She wrapped her arms tighter around Maura's waist, and stayed awake watching Maura's eyelids flutter, tracing her clavicle, her chin. She stayed awake all night.

Every hour or so, she woke Maura up with a couple kisses on the forehead, still nervous about her concussion. She was afraid Maura would never wake up. But every time, Maura awoke, then quickly fell back to sleep in Jane's arms. And Jane could not help thinking of this as a small miracle.


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