"Finally", Jane sighed out many hours later, kicking off her shoes before she let herself fall onto Maura's sofa, "what a tiring day. Talking to those gangrapist assholes really put an itch into my triggerfinger."
"Language, Jane", Maura admonished while she took off her shoes with much more care than the detective, hanging up her jacket as well before she moved to join her, "even though I can't say I don't understand you. Did you learn anything new?"
"No", Jane grumbled, sinking into the soft cushions, "they knew just as little about her as the first guy. And unlike him, they didn't want to be taken into custody, even when we told them about the drug. One of them even said, and I quote, 'I handled the bitch once, I'll handle her again.'."
"How very self-secure", the medical examiner commented, sitting down next to her, "let's hope he didn't overestimate himself. On the other hand, maybe he should, after what you told me about the pastime activities of his friends and him. There was no way you could have held them anyway? After they basically confessed to those crimes?"
"…there would have been", Jane gave back after a moment's pause, "but they both agreed to be under constant surveillance through the police until she's caught, and we hope that, if we use them as bait, we'll accomplish that."
"Quite risky", Maura pondered out loud, "but it might be our best shot right now to catch her."
"Yes", the taller woman agreed, then shifted slightly on the couch so she was facing Maura, propping her elbow up on the backrest and leaning her head on her hand, reaching out with her other one to run the tip of her index finger over the doctor's thigh, satisfied when almost immediately, Maura blushed slightly.
"But enough of the case", Jane rasped, sounding a bit hoarser and lower than usual, "I believe there was something to talk about?"
"Yes, but your touch is messing with my ability to think", Maura chided, giving her a strict look, "there are indeed some things we should clear up before taking this any further. Like, what are we?"
"What do you mean, what are we", Jane repeated, at a loss, "we're Jane and Maura. Detective and medical examiner. Why?"
"Not what I meant", Maura shook her head, "I meant the two of us. Are we still friends? Friends with benefits? An item? A couple?"
"I'm definitely not gonna be friends with benefits with you", the detective shot back at once, shaking her head incredulously, "you mean too much to me for that!"
To her surprise, Maura started beaming at her in response; before she could ask her what she was so happy about though, the doctor was already speaking up, and clarifying before the question even had been asked.
"That answers the question pretty much", she stated, earning a slightly confused look from Jane, "because you mean too much to me, as well, for such an arrangement, so the logical answer is that we are a couple. If you're okay with that, of course."
"Yes", Jane replied at once, before that tiny voice within her, the voice which was scared of messing up and ruining everything, could try to protest and maybe suggest that they should take it easier, "perfectly okay with that."
"Great", Maura gave back, positively glowing – before she scooted closer on the couch and, without bothering to say more, kissed the detective yet again, Jane immediately and happily responding to the kiss, a low sigh escaping her when she felt the doctor's hands slide up and down her back, caressing her tenderly – and then beneath her shirt, making the contact directly from skin to skin and sending a shiver through her while she pulled back from the kiss, looking at the smaller woman with a raised eyebrow.
"You sure you want to take the next step already?" she then asked, just to be on the safe side, "because, I really wouldn't mind, but I don't want to rush or anything…"
"I've been fantasizing about this moment way too long to wait just another second longer", Maura gave back in complete seriousness; and before Jane could ask her to elaborate on that, she was kissing her again, her hands now sliding to her front, her tender caress quickly making the detective forget any questions she might have had as all she could focus on was Maura and the way her touch was making her feel deep inside.
When the phone rang and tore her out of her sleep, Jane at first had no idea what was going on and where she was; then, the memories came back, of the wonderful time she'd had with Maura on the couch before they had moved to the bedroom, having fallen asleep there after even more wonderfulness, the blonde now stirring beside her as the loud ringing of the phone had woken her up, as well.
"It's 3:24 am", Jane realized as she grabbed the phone and stared at it with bleary eyes, asking herself why they had bothered to take their clothing along from the living room to the bedroom, "this better be important."
With those words, she hit the button which took the call, barking a rather annoyed "What?!" into it, only to sit up straight moments later as Frost's voice reached her ear, sounding fully awake and urgent.
"They got her", he told her, not bothering to explain, knowing she'd immediately figure it out, anyway, "I'm at the station, but she's not talking to me or anyone else. She insists on speaking to the doc and you, that's all she says."
"On our way", Jane gave back at once, then ended the call, already out of bed and halfway dressed by the time Maura had managed to turn on the small lamp on her bedside table.
"They got her", she repeated what Frost had said to her girlfriend – girlfriend! her brain interrupted her with celebratory thoughts, not all too helpful in the current situation, Maura's your girlfriend!, "she insists on talking to the two of us."
"Oh!" Maura gave back, not all too smart, but at least already awake enough to get out of bed, as well and begin getting dressed, "the surveillance worked, then, even though I wouldn't have expected them to catch her so quickly."
"Neither did I", Jane admitted, then made a few impatient gestures when the blonde didn't get done immediately; and not even five minutes after the call, they sat in Jane's car and drove to the precinct, getting there at record time thanks to the rather quiet streets and the detective not minding a traffic rule or two on the way there.
Frost was already waiting for them at the elevator, to their delight having coffee at the ready for them; he didn't make a comment about the fact that Jane had been spending the night at Maura's, since this wasn't such a rare occurrence, but still Jane had time to wonder if he had noticed something, since he gave them a rather curious look, didn't make any comment though, only speaking up to tell them that the woman was in interrogation room number three.
"Her name's Terry, Terry Rhyne", he added as they walked there together, "short for Teresa, according to the ID she had on her. That's all we got from her."
"Alright, thanks", Jane gave back, then took in a deep breath and a large sip of her coffee before she opened the door leading to the interrogation room and entered, with Maura right behind her, her gaze immediately falling on the woman sitting at the table, the way her hands were positioned close beneath the table's surface showing that they had been cuffed to it, something they only did with the most dangerous criminals out there.
"Hi, Miss Rhyne", the detective greeted her in the kindest and friendliest voice she could manage, giving her best to hide how much the severe scarring disturbed her; the scars ran from both corners of the woman's mouth all the way to her ears, perfect matches of the cuts she had carved into her victims, deep dents in the skin and muscle beneath, too deep to be covered up by make-up.
"Detective", the woman gave back, holding her gaze, "I'm impressed. Coming here in the middle of the night."
"Well, my partner out there told me that you wanted to speak to me", Jane replied, putting the coffee cup down on the table and taking a seat, prompting Maura to do the same, "and, as you know, I've been working your case, so here I am. Would you like something to drink, Terry? I can call you Terry, right?"
"You can call me whatever you want", she replied, not sounding as if she cared much, "it doesn't matter. Nothing matters anymore. You should have let me finish."
"You know I couldn't do that", Jane carefully replied – so far, the woman was remarkably calm, but she didn't want to risk a freak-out, knowing that this wasn't unrealistic with someone who wasn't fully mentally stable.
"Dr Isles", Terry suddenly lost her focus on the detective, her gaze moving to the doctor instead, startling Maura with how bright and aware it was, clearly not the eyes of someone in the middle of a psychotic break, "you came, as well. Thank you. Detective, she means much to you, doesn't she?"
"…she does", Jane confirmed after a second, aware that this was being filmed and not wanting to reveal too much about Maura and herself, not yet; the woman nodded in response, as if she had expected this, still sounding strangely calm as she went on.
"Sarah meant a lot to me, as well", she told the two women evenly, "she was my everything. I would have died for her, but I couldn't protect her from… them. There were too many and they were too strong…"
"We know what happened to you, and to Sarah", Jane replied, now sounding soothing again, "and believe me, the three of them who are still alive will go to jail for what they did. We got one of them there already, and the other two will be arrested soon enough."
"Jail isn't enough", Terry gave back at once, sounding just a tad more heated now, just enough to let them both notice, "they deserve what I did to them, and more, each and every one of them!"
"It won't help", Jane told her, keeping her voice carefully levelled, not wanting to upset her even further, "I know, I've been there, not in the same situation as you, but… There was this man, Hoyt, a psychopath, after me and then after Maura, to get to me, and I killed him. It didn't make the pain stop, and it didn't make the nightmares stop."
"You should have backed off", the murderer brought out in response, now sounding as if she was close to tears all at once, "like I told you, and you should have let me finish… Now I can't, I can't finish, and I'll fail her again, I promised her I'd take them down, one by one…"
"You wanted to reveal the truth about them", Maura now spoke up, making her look at her, "and you did, we know now what they did, and they will be punished for it."
"It's not enough", Terry replied again, swallowing heavily, "jail isn't enough for them, not after what they did… You should know, detective, jail wasn't enough for Hoyt, either!"
"It would have been, if I'd had the choice", Jane gave back, making sure to hold her gaze, "but I didn't."
"They left us to die", the woman tonelessly replied, "out there on the street, after they got done… And I promised her I'd make them pay, just before she died, and now I failed her…"
"You didn't", Jane tried to reach her over that angle, figuring that this was the most important part to her about the whole situation, "you brought them to justice, they might be too stupid to realize it yet, but with what they told us, they basically confessed to… attacking your girlfriend and you, and we got it all on tape. They'll be in jail for a long time."
"Jail's not enough!" Terry roared in reply, jerking up in her seat until the handcuffs connected to the underside of the table held her back and forced her to remain in a rather awkward, crouched position, Maura flinching back at this sudden outburst while Jane somehow managed not to move, even though she was just as startled as her girlfriend.
"Not for what they did!" the young woman went on, glaring at the two with such intensity that it sent shivers up and down the medical examiner's back, "we never did anything to harm anyone, never, and we were happy, and then they attacked us and did all those horrid things to her, just because they could! And they made me watch and there was nothing I could do!"
And with the last words, she gave a shockingly strong jerk at the handcuffs, a gasp coming from Maura as the wood of the table splintered and she broke free; she lunged forward and halfway across the table, and Jane reacted with stunning speed, shooting up from her chair and forward to meet her, and after a brief scuffle which happened too fast for Maura to follow, had her pinned on the table flat on her back, breathing just a bit heavier, the medical examiner finding herself quite impressed.
"Listen to me!" Jane snapped at the killer, raising her voice as well to make sure she'd be heard, "I know you're hurting, I know what it's like! I've been there, I know!"
"You know nothing", Terry snarled at her – before she, with another burst of unexpected strength, suddenly reared up, with enough speed and power to surprise the detective, a pained yelp coming from the taller woman when the murderer headbutted her, the noise of her nose breaking at the impact awfully loud in her own head, the world spinning around her as she stumbled backwards and against the wall, her legs giving in beneath her moments later, Maura calling out in shock as she watched her slumped down, hot blood gushing from her nostrils and running down her face.
Eager to get to her side, the doctor started moving, but before she had taken more than two steps, Terry was in her way, snarling at her as she grabbed her; another startled cry came from the smaller woman, then she found herself forced around and the chain between the handcuffs was slung over her neck from behind, her eyes going wide as it momentarily cut off her flow of air, then lessened again, just enough to let her breathe.
Upon seeing her captured like that, Jane froze in mid-movement, her eyes going wide; and for a few moments, there was silence in the room, the only sounds being the harsh breathing of the three women while the detective had time to ask herself if no one outside had heard the scuffle and if someone would come in to check what was going on any moment, making the situation even more unstable.
"Don't do this, Terry", Jane finally dared to speak up, slowly coming to her feet, "don't hurt her…"
"Give me your gun and the key to those cuffs", the woman snarled in reply, tightening the chain again when the detective didn't react immediately, "now!"
Fighting hard to hide how freaked out she was, Jane produced the desired objects, slowly moving closer to hand them over; following the killer's instructions, Maura took the key first and unlocked the cuffs, the killer immediately snatching up the gun afterwards and pressing it against the medical examiner's jaw, making her wince as she stiffened.
"Let her go", Jane almost pleaded, forced to watch helplessly how Terry started to retreat with the medical examiner firmly in her grasp, reaching behind herself with one hand to open the door, "please, don't hurt her!"
"She's just my ticket out of here", Terry let her know in reply, already halfway out the door, "but don't try to follow me."
And with those words, she dragged Maura outside, startled sounds accompanying her appearance as the nearby policemen finally realized what was going on; all Jane could do was stand there helplessly and watch, her heart hammering up to her throat with fear for her girlfriend's life as they moved out of sight, asking herself where exactly this had gone so wrong.