Hey everyone! I'm sorry my updates always come so unpredictably. This is a long chapter, so bear with me on it. It's also not the most happy thing ever. But never fear, things will be happier in the future.

I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own R&I

Flashbacks and Friendship

Korsak, Jane, an injured Frost, and Maura carefully checked the back rooms of the basement. They weren't having much success for a while, until they hit what appeared to be an old laundry room. Jane and Korsak nodded at each other. Korsak took position at the outside of the door, and Jane reached for the door handle. Before anyone knew anything that had happened, the door burst open, Jane let out an unladylike word of frustration and grabbed her nose, and Korsak and Frost immediately drew their guns. With his bad arm, Frost motioned for Maura to stand behind him and Korsak so that she was safe.

George Seaborne put his hands up quickly, and when the officers realized who it was, they put their guns down. Maura went over to Jane and looked at her nose.

"It's broken again," Maura said, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, Maur I can feel that," Jane said through her hand.

"Would you like me to fix it? If not now, then you need to go up to the ambulance and get a towel or something because you're bleeding through your hand and down onto your shirt and the floor," Maura said, pointing to the floor and Jane.

"Fine, fine, I'll go. Just check Seaborne because he takes priority right now," Jane mumbled as she walked off to the ambulance.

Maura turned to George and smiled, "Hi George. I'm Doctor Maura Isles."

George nodded in hello. His split lip was still bleeding and there was a bruise on his jaw that made it painful to talk. He was also still reeling from watching Eric die, so he was silent out of shock as well.

"Do you mind if I do a quick check-up to assess your injuries? If you're ok with me proceeding just nod your head. If you're not comfortable with me doing that at this time then shake your head," Maura said in a way that didn't sound like she was talking to a small child, but someone who had been kidnapped and put through mental and physical hardships.

George nodded. Maura's small, delicate hands touched his face where the bruises on his cheek and jaw were new and painful. He winced. She asked other yes or no questions about his physical and mental state, and when she was done, Maura recommended that he be taken to the hospital. After everything was wrapped up that day, the officers went to their respective homes. Or the hospital also in Frost's case.

Jane was leaning against her car when Maura got out of the house. She had a bloody towel held up to her face, as well as many others.

Maura laughed, "You didn't let the medical personnel there fix your nose? It's a simple fix!"

"They wouldn't be able to distract me enough from the pain," Jane said, "Will you do it?"

"Yes Jane, I will," Maura said, reaching up to Jane's crooked nose, "Before I put this back in place, did the doctors give you a bandage to keep the bone in place while it heals?"

"Yeah, it's in my pants pocket," Jane said, "Hurry up Maur, please. It hurts."

Maura reached back up to Jane's crooked nose, and popped it back into place. A new wave of blood came out and Jane gingerly put a new towel up to her nose. The ME reached into Jane's pants pocket and pulled out the small bandage. Jane squirmed a bit as she felt Maura's hands reach into the pocket. Maura motioned for Jane to take away the towel, and then she placed the bandage on Jane's nose, who winced again.

"Are you going to be OK to drive?" Maura said, "Because I could. I need a ride back to the station anyway. Korsak gave me a ride."

"Yeah, could you drive? My nose is still bleeding a lot."

Three days later, George Seaborne was ready to give his statement on what had happened. He walked up to the Boston Police Department, took a deep breath, and opened the door. He walked in to the visitor desk and checked in. The lady working behind the desk gave him a pass, and he walked down to the bullpen.

Jane noticed him walking into the bullpen, and smiled, "Hello Mr. Seaborne. How are you feeling?"

"Much better than when you found me, or rather, when I found you. Sorry about your nose, Detective!"

"Ah, don't worry about it. It comes with the job. So, would you come with me please? I just want to get your statement on what happened over these past few years. I'm bringing you to the interrogation room, but I promise, it won't be me grilling you for answers. You can take your time answering."

"Of course."

They made their way down to the interrogation room and sat down on their respective sides. Jane had a note pad to take notes on what George said.

"Ok, are you ready to start?" Jane asked after a couple of minutes.

George nodded.

"This is a bit unconventional, but my only question so far is, will you just tell me your side of the story?" Jane said, "This case has been cold for so many years that I want to know what actually happened."

"Well, it went a little something like this. And at the end, I realize that I will probably have to go to jail."

Jane was intrigued, "Well, please do tell."

George took a deep breath…

"Alright," Eric said, "What do you propose we do?"

"Well, here's how I see it," George said, "We only get the homicide department if a body shows up and it's ruled a suspicious death. So we need to kidnap ourselves, and then somehow later a body shows up. We can use well placed clues, we're writers after all, and then it will lead them to us."

"But," Eric sighed, "George will just get arrested. Why do this when you know we'll just get arrested in the end?"

"I dunno," George shrugged, "I just thought it would be interesting. I'm getting bored sitting at a desk all day. All the fierce, impressive work that the Homicide unit does is amazing and I want to see it in action. I don't want to get a report every so often and have to write an article on it."

Eric nodded.

"It's true we don't know what we're getting into all that well, and it's true that we could accidently get tangled in something dangerous, but I can't help but be curious."

"Alright. Let's do this," Eric said, "Am I going to need to go home and get some sort of bag or something?"

"No. We could just get some money out of the ATM and get on a bus to somewhere."

"Should we go now?"

"Sure. There's an ATM a small ways away from here," George stood up, "Now the question is, where do we go?"

"Somewhere within the state, I should think. I don't want this to be any more trouble than it will be for them," Eric said.

They went down the street, around the corner and found the ATM. They withdrew money form George's account, because he didn't have anyone who would notice a couple hundred dollars missing, as his wife had passed away a few years earlier. They caught the bus to a different town, and fell asleep, both formulating plans in their heads.

George woke up to the bus coming to a halt. They had ridden out to the very outskirts of the state, as far as they could go so that there was a place for them to stay. They checked into a motel and grabbed some paper and the pen and tried to plan out what they wanted to do. They planned to send a ransom note, ("That's cliché," Eric had said, but eventually agreed) and they discussed false leads and other clues that could be placed around the state.

They fell asleep around midnight, both exhausted from a night of talking and planning.

George stopped his story there for the time being, "Any questions thus far?"

"How come we never got that ransom note?" Jane asked.

"You- you never got the note?" George asked incredulously.

"No. The only lead we ever got was you, actually. Annie said that you and Eric didn't get along that well."

"Well, Eric and I didn't get along at first, but trust me, multiple years together waiting to be found by the police gives you enough time to sit and talk. We became really good friends," George looked down. His friend's death was still a fresh wound.

"When did Annie find you? Or how did she find you?" Jane asked.

"That part is coming up soon. It's where this gets… I hesitate to say interesting, but it does get interesting at this point."

"Well, please do tell," Jane said.

Two years in to the Wait to be Found, as the two men started calling it, there was a knock at the door of their motel room. Eric went to the door, looked through the peephole. Then he took a few steps back, looked at George with a terrified look and whispered:

"It's Annie."

"Oh fucking hell how'd she find us?" George whispered back, walking quietly to the door and checking the door himself. Then he sat back down. There was another knock at the door, paired with Annie's voice.

"Guys, I know you're in there," She said, "Let me in."

"Something sounds off about her," Eric whispered, "Trust me. I was married to her for ten years. I know how her voice normally sounds and I know her emotions. I've never heard her like this before."

"OPEN THE DOOR!" Annie shrieked.

Eric tentatively opened the door and was soon pushed back in by his wife. She closed the door and locked it.

"Where have you two been the last two years?" She demanded, "I have been worried about you, Eric. I didn't know where you went," Then she rounded on George, "And why did you take my husband from me?!"

"I didn't, I swear," George said, his hands up in surrender, "He came willingly."

Annie managed to get them both out of the hotel, but they barely came willingly. She basically had to drag them away. She drove the many hours back to Boston and back to hers and Eric's house. Then she promptly locked them in the basement. She barely fed them. They got one meal a day, usually in the afternoon, and if they were lucky and had cooperated with her, two meals. One in the morning and one at night.

She would leave them in isolation, and George could remember one of the last conversations they had.

"George," Eric whispered one day, "I'm really sorry it turned out like this. I never knew Annie could be as cruel as this."

"Hey, don't be sorry," George said, putting a hand on Eric's arm, "I should be apologizing. I was the one who dragged you into this, and you were the one who wanted to be cautious. But I want you to know, that I wouldn't've wanted to spend the last two years any other way."

Eric let out a small laugh, "Is that your way of telling me you're in love with me?"

George laughed too, "No. I'm just saying that in recent years, you've turned out to be one of my best friends."

Eric nodded, "You are too."

Annie walked in and looked at the scene in front of her, "George. Take your hands off my husband!" She growled.

George immediately did as he was told and scooted away. Annie basically threw the food on the ground. Then she left, closing and locking the door behind her.

George stopped talking again, and apologized, "I'm sorry, I just-Can I have a few minutes to pull myself back together?"

"Of course," Jane said sympathetically, "Of course, take your time. Would you like a glass of water, or some tissues? You can have both if you like."

George nodded, "Both, please. Thank you Detective."

"No problem," Said Jane, standing up to go out to ask for water and tissues, "I told you, I don't want to make you uncomfortable in the process."

It took a few minutes for George to regain his composure but when he did, Jane tentatively asked a question, "I know this is going to be really hard for you, and I apologize for making you relive this so soon, but it's important, especially when the events are fresh in your mind. But, I need you to tell me what happened the day Eric died. Again, as I've said many times before, you make take your time in responding."

The reporter took a deep breath in and out. Then started talking about the last day he saw his friend.

They had just eaten their first, and only, meal for that day. It was slightly dark in the room, and Eric and George were sitting in the room in silence. They were alone with their thoughts, and together in their physical presence.

"Thank you," Eric said suddenly, and quietly.

"For what?" George asked.

"Opening up to me, I guess," The other man replied, "If I had known before you told me last year about your wife, I'd've known why you suddenly were mean to everyone."

George nodded, but said nothing. He knew his friend well, and he knew that Eric wasn't done talking.

"Even though I missed Annie, I have had a good two years with you. I really am glad you're my friend," Eric finished.

"Thank you for opening up to me too," George said sincerely, "It's weird, I never knew that friendships could form so quickly. And I certainly never expected us to become friends. I thought you'd try and maintain a professional relationship."

"And that's what I did for the first while," Eric said, "Then I figured that we should become friends," He sighed, "How's your lip?"

"I think it's fine, it's still throbbing a bit."

"Here, let me take a look at it," Eric said. He leaned closer to get a better look, and at the precise moment, Annie walked in.

"ERIC!" She shrieked, pulling him roughly away from George, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"I was just looking at the wound you gave him early last night," Eric said calmly, "Nothing else."

"No, no, you weren't. You were going to kiss him weren't you? You were lying all this time to me weren't you? You WERE in love with George!"

"No, Annie-"

"He kidnapped you because he loved, you didn't he?"

"No, Annie. I went willingly with George. We became friends, but nothing more. I promise you, I was doing nothing more than inspecting the cut in his lip from earlier this morning that you gave him."

Annie pulled a gun, "No, I know you're lying. I know you are. Now tell me the truth or I'll shoot."

"I have been telling you the truth. Repeatedly. And so has George. We both went willingly with each other, and we only were friends. I promise, nothing romantic went on between us. Please, believe-"

BANG.

Annie gasped, dropped the gun, and ran out of the room, surprised at what she'd done. Eric fell sideways, and blood stained his chest rapidly. George's eyes widened and he scooted over quickly to his friend. He pulled Eric's head into his lap, and stroked his friend's hair back off of his forehead.

Eric let out a weak laugh, and while gasping for breath, he whispered, "Is that your way of telling me you're in love with me?"

George didn't try to deny it. He smiled at his friend, with tears streaming down his face.

"Hey, hey Eric. Stay with me, ok? Stay with me. You're going to be fine," But even he knew that was a lie.

"I really wouldn't want to have spent these years with anyone else," Eric said, smiling at his friend, "It's been nice getting to know you."

"Don't go, hey, Eric please, don't," George pleaded, still crying and trying to comfort his friend, "It's been nice getting to know you too, and I want you to know that I wish we had more time."

"Me too George. I hate to say it, but, goodbye," Eric smiled weakly, with tears streaming down his face as well. He took a shaky breath, and then would take no more.

George's forehead rested against his friend's. Tears streamed down his face like a rainstorm that wouldn't let up. He kissed Eric's forehead, and closed his eyes. Then he laid his friend down, crossed his arms, then George scooted away and drew his knees up to his chest. He cried for hours.

Jane was struggling to keep her composure. George had broken down completely at the end of retelling the last day he spent with Eric.

"George," Jane asked, her voice a bit shaky due to the emotions she was keeping in, "Did you love Eric?"

The reporter nodded slightly, "The way a brother loves a brother."

Jane nodded as well, "Thank you for your time, Mr. Seaborne. We may need to question you again, but that's all we need for today. Please, take care of yourself."

George nodded again in thanks and made his way out of the interrogation room. Jane followed, and made a b-line for the morgue. Maura looked up and her smile faded when she saw the look on Jane's face. She promptly got up, closed the door, and pulled down the blinds.

"Jane. Are you ok?" Maura said, worriedly, looking at her best friend.

"No," She said, shaking her head.

Maura enveloped her in a hug, "It's ok Jane, it's only me. You can let it all out. It's ok."

She held Jane while she cried.

So I'll hopefully update soon, with more happiness and Rizzles.

Please don't forget to let me know what you thought about that chapter, and as usual, constructive criticism is welcome (and encouraged)! :)

-RMarie