Hope this is good enough as a last chapter.. thank you for reading it, I always love a review.
The street light outside Jane's apartment was the only thing to light the sitting room as Jane paced, her boots hitting the wooden flooring harshly.
Joe sat on the sofa watching the man pace.
Twirling the gun in her left hand Jane rolled her jaw. Getting the gun had been easy, a swift distraction always proved helpful. The lab techs had nearly died when they'd witnessed some evidence begin disappear every time they turned their back.
Jane grinned darkly. Purple circles haunted her eyes, tonight she was going to hunt down the bastard that had done this to her, she couldn't put Maura through any more trauma.
Jane had written down a list of all the places that were in close proximity to the highway, it had taken her all day to realise where it was.
It was the warehouse where she'd shot Doyle, she remembered through jumbled thoughts and lots of notes.
He'd be hiding out there.
She was sure of it.
He'd said she was the perfect weapon, she'd go back and make sure she lived up to his assumption by shooting his brains out.
Jane felt the cold metal of the gun in her palm. She was ready. Grabbing her jacket, she exited the building, leaving a tired Joe behind.
Maura sat at her desk, drawing circles on a page.
"A penny for your thoughts Doc" Korsak entered with a kind smile on his features.
"Vince" she smiled looking up from the now ruined page.
"Have you seen James anywhere?" his voice lowered.
"Not since this afternoon" Maura admitted bitterly.
"Well, Jane's gun is missing from the lab, the techs have gone crazy about it"
"What?"Maura shot up from her desk.
"Yeah, I think James might have it..." Korsak started but Maura cut him off.
"... where did you find James again?"
"Near Jane's car..."
"Where are they nearest places she could have taken refuge? Or James could have come from?"
"I'll get Frost on it"
"James has been gone for … 7 hours and 15 minuets, that would have given him time to figure out where Jane is" Maura muttered, find Jane was a cover up, she knew who he was... he was Jane, it had taken 7 hours, but for the past 15 minuets, she'd given the impossibility a chance. In technicality, he was off to find Jane, he was off to find himself... if that made sense.
"Make sure he hurries up, I don't want to see James do something he regrets" Maura knew this wasn't just a hunch, this was real and Jane was hunting down the man who had turned her into James.
The distant drip of water sounded behind the heavy crunching of glass. Moon light shone through the broken windows, ripping Jane's robust shadow. The warehouse was in fact a shroud of shadows.
Jane's eyes were scoping the dark, her gun clutched in her hands. A fever crawled across the skin she possessed and beaded into a cold sweat. She recognised the smoky air, how a dampness lingered it was here that bastard changed her into this maniac.
Hooded eyes watched from behind the man that prowled.
Jane's mouth became dry, gluing the chapped lips she owned together. Her own husky breaths haunted her.
The image of Hoyt pulsed through her brain, flickering in a abyss of smoke his Cheshire grin swamping her mind. She'd faced him, she'd killed him with her bare hands, she could take on this fucker. Her male body working to her advantage.
"So..." a rough voice barked through the warehouse. "I thought this place would be fitting" the yellow glow of a lighter attracted Jane's eyes, her heart was pulsing and pounding in her ears. The blood rushing through her veins electrified the adrenalin as it laced her every move.
A stocky man walked into her sight, bleeding from the shadows.
Jane finally knew why she was there in the same burnt warehouse Doyle had been shot, this guy wanted to fuck with her. Her insides began to burst, like simple over heated pipes, they splintered.
Jane stumbled back, her lungs fought for air that the toxins of panic prevented.
"No" Jane rasped out pointing her gun directly at her attackers chest.
"The one place, she is bound to look"he taunted, puffing on his cigarette the tip burning in orange embers.
"We all fucking knew I'd come" James voice was deeper, adding an needed echo to ward the attacker off.
"Not you" blowing rings of smoke from his puckered lips, the attacker smiled, smoke filtering through his teeth. "But yeah, you all know"
"What?" tensing her jaw and snapping the word, the attacker paced. She couldn't kill him, he was the only one who could change her back.
"I'm sure a certain Medical Examiner knows you're here... you've been gone for seven hours"
"How... how do you know she'll look for me?" her challenge was week, they both knew Maura would search for her.
"Janey" he smirked and took another drag this time puffing out while speaking.
Jane flinched as he leant against a charred beam.
"Don't you fucking call me Janey, you bastard" Jane spat out aiming her gun steadier.
"Fine, Jane" he examined his cigarette, pinching it from his thin lips to look at the white paper skin.
"She'll come, then you'll be all female again"
"I'm not making deals, she isn't coming"
"Three"
"Why are you..."
"Two"
"No, wait"
"One"
The sound of a car approaching sent Jane into a frenzy, she begged it was passing, but when the engine cut out and the sound of a door clicking open, her fears were clarified.
"Shit" Jane hissed and made her way to the entrance, all the while pointing her gun at the attacker.
She was going against her training, but she wasn't a Detective, she was a man who had nothing.
"No!" Jane pressed her back to a rusting metal fence, it clanked with the rough appliance of weight.
"Maura get out of here!"
"Jane?" Maura sprinted in, her heels scraping across the floor.
Jane? Shit, she figured it out.
"Maura, get away"
"What are you doin..."
"GET OUT" Jane rasped, dreading the seconds later when she felt a hand fall heavily on her shoulder and wrench her back With a audible 'umph' she hit the floor heavily. Jane's left hand hit the floor in a delay, shards of glass dug into her softened skin and her gun skidded across the floor, making a metallic scratching noise as it did so. The rest of her body had escaped with possible bruising.
"Maura!" Jane recovered and scrambled for her gun. A solid boot clad kick collided with her chin, upper cutting her and a terrified scream from Maura insured it was bad. Jane felt numb by the time Maura was shouting, crying and battling with the attacker.
The echo of their voices seemed to be absorbed by the ghost of the fire.
Jane licked her tongue across her bottom lip, the coppery taste of blood pooled on her tongue.
Bust lip I can deal with that
Jane dragged her limbs into action, her chest heaving as her arms wobbled in attempt as she hauled herself up.
"No Jane!" Maura's voice strained, horse from her attempt to warn her.
Another kick to the ribs made Jane fall down in the foetal position.
"Thanks for this by the way Jane" she heard his heavy foot steps thud by her ear then crunch over to retrieve the gun.
Jane gasped for air and groaned, her eyes were screwed shut, a bodily reaction so she could concentrate on easing the pain.
"Maura" she dragged out and wrenched her body up before she could be knocked back down.
Jane stumbled on her feet and spat out a wad of blood. Grotesque but needed.
"I don't think so Janey" he was now holding the gun to her in his right hand. Maura whimpered as she felt the cold barrel pressed to her temple.
If this bullet generates a decent-sized temporary cavity it will shove my brain against the confines of my skull, intensifying the damage done. My skull fragments can become secondary missiles, increasing the damage to the brain, which will probably be blow out of my head at that point.
Maura gulped roughly, her throat accommodating the saliva like it was sand paper.
"Don't you touch her!" Jane growled, her voice breaking through a husky shout.
"Just did Janey" he twisted the barrel mockingly against Maura's skin.
Maura's eyes fluttered shut.
If I'm going to die this way at least I've forgiven Jane.
Jane's heart bounced around her chest creating a ache that winded her. Regret stabbed at her gut, ripping the skin open and letting the insides spill in bloody amounts.
"Maura" Jane felt tears prick her eyes, stinging in the damp air. "What do you want" Jane looked darkly over to the attacker, his smug grin sparking anger within the Detective.
"I want Maura"
"Then why are you holding a gun to her head?" Jane barked, her male voice bleeding through gritted teeth.
"I don't care if she's dead or alive, I just want her to be an end to Doyle"
Doyle was still in the hospital, it was true.
"Wait" Jane held her hands out. "I just want to know, how the fuck you managed to do this to me"
"Oh" the attacker tilted his head and held Maura tighter to him. "Just some Russian genetic coding... all that stuff is complicated, I had to snag it from a fucking military base"
"All that trouble just to get Maura?"
"What can I say, she's an important little girly" he spat into the M.E's ear.
Maura winced and tried to pull away from his smoky breath.
Jane flexed her hands in and out of fists.
"Why did you need me?"
"Who else would lure Maura here? She would never come here of her own accord"
"I'm guessing you caused the crash" Jane knew how to keep a guy monologuing. "Why change me into a man?"
"A little fun to see if the Russian's did a good job, they have apparently... well that's for another time"
"Why Doyle?" Jane knew that man had irritated many big gangs.
"He killed my top scientist, he killed my family, he fucking killed my kid... I'm going to upstage him, his kid is a fucking genius"
Jane scanned the rafters, Maura watched Jane intently, she knew that look.
"Change me back" she spoke heavily. "We have a deal"
Maura felt her heart leap up her throat, Jane was giving her up?
"Really Miss Rizzoli? Or is this just a tiny bluff?"
Jane grinned darkly and walked up to pair.
"You can have her... she hates me" Jane gave her a dark stare and spoke with conviction. "I don't want her... thinking about it Doyle got what he deserved... I mean killing your kid... that's fucking harsh"
Maura blinked away tears and stared at Jane, she looked serious, even in her male body her eyes were blood shot and her body shook, her voice was laced with venom.
"Fucking have her" Jane spat and slapped her across the face. The attacker recoiled for a second but grinned at Jane's new evil.
"Self interest is the best interest"
"Yeah, whatever, just change me back" Jane stood with her arms out. Maura felt her right cheek sting, the skin had split, she'd felt it. Now the warmth of her blood dribbled down her cheek. Tears rolled freely down her cheeks, salting the fresh wound. The attacker threw her to the floor, like he was discarding a piece of paper and took out a needle. Maura felt her limbs crash to the cement floor, aching attacked her limbs, a gaze on her forearm and a a few cuts on her legs graced her skin. They were grey, the powder from the fire dusted the surfacing blood.
Jane gulped harshly and the attacker stabbed the needle into Jane's vein. The metal rod sunk into her flesh with ease, ripping it back out, Jane stumbled back her skin tingled.
Dropping to the floor, writhing, Jane screamed as her blood began to boil. Her skin blistered and reddened in a matter of a few seconds, the toxins broke her skin open, blood rippled down her skin in crimson streaks, like tiny rivers they bled into an ocean in no time/
Maura watched in horror at the scene, Jane shook, like a demon was crawling from her chest and her skin peeled away, falling off in lifeless heaps to expose fresh skin. Jane's screams reached wretches and blood spat from her lips, burning away, rolling over Jane cried, feeling her bones shrinking snapping into one another. With a pained shriek, blood pooled around her body, drenching her clothes and her screams soothed and her body stilled. The flesh she had shed created twitching lumps as the nerves responded. The attacker puffed stamped out his cigarette and after Jane didn't move he closed in, to inspect her lifeless body. Bloody like a new born, Jane lay in her female form.
Maura shook in hysterical sobs, muffling them the best she could.
The attacker prodded Jane's body with his foot and grimaced as blood pooled onto it.
"Gross" he spat and turned back to face Maura. "Remind me to have a word with those Russians"
Hanging his arms, he tapped the gun against it's thigh. Opening her eyes, Jane ached but didn't let it faze her. Maura spotted this but stayed still.
Jane's heart pulsed and she leapt to her feet, ripping the gun from the attackers hand, she sluggishly held it up at him. Her clothes dripped with blood and she panted holding the gun in aim with his temple.
The attacker lurched forward but Jane spat out a wad of blood and pulled the trigger, the bullet collided with his head, shattering his skull and blowing out the back of his head with the short range Jane shot at. White and pink mush dribbled down the back of his broken head as he fell flat on his face.
Jane stared at the body and grimaced at the mess.
Dropping her gun with a soggy clank, Jane shed the jacket and boots to make her movements less heavy. Shedding the jeans she was clad in a blood soaked shirt and boxers.
"I'm not gonna eat for a week" Jane ruffled her soaked hair and gulped.
Maura laughed in disbelief, the laugh soon dissolved into sobs.
Jane ran over and crouched by the M.E.
"I thought... I don't know what I thought" Maura sat up and pulled Jane into a well needed hug.
"It's okay, you're safe baby" she tried to sooth Maura's sobs, but felt her own tears roll down her cheeks, washing away the drying blood on her skin.
"You smell like death" Maura pulled back and grimaced at Jane's bloody body but smiled. "It's never been so welcoming"
Maura planted a rough kiss on Jane's lips and cupped her face to intensify it. Tasting copper on Jane's lips she smiled and kissed her fluidly.
The distant sound of sirens broke the pair apart.
"How the fuck I am I going to explain … this" Jane motioned to herself then glanced at the dead body with brains still hanging loose from his skull.
"I have no idea" Maura pressed their foreheads together and kissed Jane again.