Save for the hum of the lab equipment, Dean's statement was met with silence. Maura entertained the idea that Dean was too afraid of Jane to move from that spot without her say so. He certainly looked it. Maura could see Jane's tension ripple through her muscles from her jaw down her neck to her clenching fists. You're an Alpha Jane. And so is he. Those eight words finally clicked together, and the meaning the Agent has put behind it sunk in. Ice rushed through her veins.

"So let me get this straight." The detective snarled. "The last three times Hoyt has come after me, everyone was practically shitting themselves to keep me from him. To keep me locked away some place safe while I waited for him to come and try to kill me." The heels from her boots clicked against the tile as she once more began to slowly pace with her arms crossed, back and forth in front of Dean. Maura was reminded of an angry animal pacing in their cage.

"But now. Now by some kind of fucking cosmic joke, the bastard is still alive and I'm somehow the only one you know who is able to kill him?" There was something dangerous in her voice that sent a shiver down the Doctor's spine. Jane stopped her pacing and stood in front of the Agent, waiting for an answer. He said nothing, his face still as stone. A drop of sweat trailing from his brow betraying how nervous he really was. "Hoyt has once again, fucked up my life beyond anything imaginable, all because you and your buddies wanted to run their little tests- HE WAS DEAD!" She roared directly in his face. Not even Dean could avoid flinching back with a grimace. The room rang as the last echo of Jane's voice faded away.

Jane's expression melted to cool indifference in wake of the silence. "He was dead, and you brought this nightmare back into my life." She took a deep breath and turned away from the Agent, walking past Maura to the table. She brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

Maura stepped to the brunette's side and rubbed a hand across her shoulders. Jane looked to the side and gave a halfhearted smile. Maura wasn't fooled. There was pain and fear behind the anger in those brown eyes. Hoyt was a nightmare that seemed to never end. Maura was barely able to contain her own fear and anger. The detective's life was nearly ended now six times because of that monster. Instead of trying to keep Jane safe, Gabriel wanted to toss Jane into the thick of things. He wanted her to confront Hoyt, fight him, and risk her own life to snuff out his, to fix his mistakes. Maura wanted nothing more than to tell Dean to figure out the problem on his own and to get the hell out of their lives, but she knew realistically that wasn't an option.

Hoyt is a wolf and has proven that he could very easily find Jane. He could find anyone, at any time. This wasn't something a uniform detail outside of Jane's apartment would protect her from. They needed Dean's help, and this problem wasn't going away without Jane getting involved.

"I can't…" Dean's voice broke the silence, but it was the tone of his voice breaking that caught their attention as they looked back towards him. "I can't imagine what this is like for you Jane. I know I can never be sorry enough for bringing this mess into your life." His voice was thick with emotion. Regret making his usual strong deep voice quiver. "You don't have to give me an answer now." He took a deep breath to regain his composure, and the stone faced emotionless federal agent returned.

"Take a few days to think over what you want to do, Jane. My pack is in Boston and we'll keep up regular patrols everywhere you go. It's not much but it's enough to give even Hoyt pause." He pulled a card out from his suit pocket and slid it onto the counter near the door. "Give me a call if you have any questions. Regardless of whether or not you help us, I can still help you." He turned put his hand on the door to leave, but hesitated, waiting. Realizing that Jane wasn't going to say anything, he pushed the door open and left.

As the doors closed behind him, Jane slumped down onto a stool and dropped her head into her hands. Maura moved to stand in front of the brunette the moment she saw her shoulders start to shake. The Doctor covered Jane's knees with her palms. They remain this way for several minutes, Jane silently crying with her face hidden and Maura standing close rubbing soothing circles with her thumbs.

"It's real." Jane murmured from behind her hands. "This is all real, it's actually happening." She lifted her head to look at Maura with red rimmed eyes. The blonde shifts her hands from the detective's knees to run up long forearms before lacing their fingers together. Bringing their joined hands down to rest on Jane's knees, Maura looked at their hands and took a deep breath trying to think of something to say that could possibly help.

"It… Seems that this is in fact real. It's a lot to deal with at once, and… certain things will take some time to get used to, but that doesn't mean they have to be tackled all at once. At least now we have some answers and we know there is a way to control this change in your biological make up." Maura looked up and gave a reassuring smile. "If someone like Dean can operate out in the open, then there's no reason this should change your life too much."

When Jane rolled her eyes Maura was quick with her rebuttal. "So you turn into a giant wolf from time to time and you might have to take a few lessons in anger management. Anything we can't figure out on our own, Agent Dean will be able to fill us in on." She had made sure to emphasize the "we" and knew Jane caught it when she smiled that half smile that made Maura's heart melt.

Jane took a deep breath and looked into Maura's eyes with enough intensity to make the doctors breath catch in her throat. "Thanks Maur. It's just… This is a lot. But you're right. I need to focus on things one at a time. I just wish there was someone more trustworthy than Dean on Hoyt. He's not going to come after just me and it's never something straightforward or predictable." Her hands slip out of Maura's and begin to rub together, thumbs pressing against raised scars. A curtain of dark hair falls from her shoulder as she looks down at her damaged hands. "Gabriel doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to keeping Hoyt away."

Maura reaches forward and gently lifts the detectives chin so their eyes will meet. The glazed look in those brown eyes told Maura that Jane was remembering their encounter with Hoyt in the prison. When she was almost raped and killed while Jane was being forced to watch. She swallowed before she moved her hand to brush unruly curls back over Jane's slumped shoulders. Pale hands slid over a tanned jaw with fingertips just brushing along the Italian woman's hair.

"We'll be careful. I'm sure Agent Dean's people will be putting enough pressure on Hoyt to keep him away until a plan is in place to stop him. At this point, who knows more about how he works than you and me?" Jane said nothing, but Maura could see the worry start to fade, only to be replaced by something else. As the silence built, something inside of Maura screamed for her to act. Now was the time.

Kiss her.

Just kiss her.

Do it.

Something else was holding her back. This deep sinking feeling in her stomach that the doctor recognized as fear. What could she possibly be afraid of? There was fear of rejection but a little voice in her head whispered possibilities that were much worse. What if she dies? What if you're together and Hoyt gets her first? What if she leaves? What if after all of this is over, she decides to run off and be a wolf and find a pack of her own? You would have given everything you had and then you will be left with nothing. You will be an empty shell.

She is frozen and can't bring herself to move closer or to pull away. Three loud beeps jerks the two out of their reverie and Maura steps back and points over her shoulder to the source of the beeping. "That would be the uh, the blood test. From earlier."

"Oh, I wonder what secrets it could possibly reveal. I hope it's not something like being a werewolf." Jane's sarcasm quickly cleared all awkwardness from the last few moments.

"There's no harm in checking. Besides, I'm curious." Opening the delivered document on her laptop, Maura looked over the results and had to admit that it was fascinating. "This is extraordinary. It looks to be unbelievably complex, but Agent Dean is correct. It is a virus."

"So what, could a cure be made? Is it something that could be reversible?" Jane shifted in her seat. Maura could tell she was trying not to get ahead of herself and get her hopes up, but the Doctor was loath to squash that small spark that still managed to show on the Detective's face.

"Unfortunately there's no such thing as a cure for viruses. Only vaccines that strengthen your immune system so that you are no longer affected by that particular stand of the virus. I wouldn't be able to find out without extensive testing, and I'm not a viral analyst. If I were to hypothesize based off of what Agent Dean has told us, I would guess that they have yet to figure out how to remove the affliction. If they were using Hoyt as a test subject just to repress the change, they might be on to something."

After reading the test results over again, a thought came to Maura. "How do you want this to end, Jane?"

"Huh?" She looked up from where she was sitting, a confused look on her face.

"Once all this is over. When Hoyt is gone, all questions are answered and everything is behind us?" She paused, "What do you want to happen?"

Jane stares at the Doctor, takes a deep breath and holds it for a few seconds before letting it out. Without looking away, Jane says answers in a low confidant voice.

"I want to see Hoyt's dead lifeless corpse burned in front of me. I want to not have to deal with anymore of this wolf bullshit. I want to be able to have a normal weekend for once. I want-" She breaks off, her confidence wavering. The brunettes gaze searches the Doctor's face for several seconds before she looks down at her hands in her lap. "I want things to go back to how they used to be."