Disclaimer: Still don't own anything R&I related.

AN: Hey Y'all! Welcome to another chapter! We are so glad y'all liked the last chapter. This chapter is also going up a little bit early because the fascinating thing about attending what is considered a private college is that you have to make up snow days. So, thanks to the "snow day" on Monday guess where I'm going to be headed once I post this? Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Maura woke to her alarm. She must have drifted off sometime within the last hour or so. It had been a long night. After arriving at the hospital and Jane having X-rays it was determined that she had a subcoracoid dislocation and it the doctor only had to manipulate the joint to get it back into the socket properly.

Jane had been lucky. If she had been caught by the car any more than she was it could have taken surgery to repair. Further testing also revealed that she had a concussion. Though the doctors didn't feel it was fully moderate and more on the mild side she had been getting up every couple of hours and waking Jane up just to check.

Though she had set her alarm each time this was the first time it had actually gone off. She had been up all night thinking. She had thought about everything from the day she met Jane to the point yesterday where Jane had apologized in the ambulance. Somewhere in the last hour she had finally fallen asleep. The only bad thing was that she still didn't quite know what to make of everything that had happened between the two of them.

She pulled herself up out of her chair and made her way to the guest bedroom. They had given Jane pain killers before reducing her shoulder yesterday and sent her home with more. At first Jane had insisted that she didn't need them, but halfway through the night she had gotten Jane to take one after Jane admitted she was in some pain. She had been resting comfortably since then except for when Maura had to go in and check her for the concussion.

Jane was still asleep, half propped up with her arm still in the sling so she didn't jostle her shoulder in her sleep.

"Jane," she whispered touching her arm that wasn't in the sling as she sat down gently on the edge of the bed. "Jane I need you to wake up for me for a minute."

Jane stirred slightly. She had woken up a little easier before she had taken the pain pill. It was a sign that she hadn't been getting good rest because of the pain she had been in before. Maura tried again, "Jane, I need you to wake up for a minute."

This time Jane grunted a little bit and shook her head. Maura couldn't help but smile at that. Jane was not much of a morning person, but couple that with pain meds and it was a wonder that she had been able to get her to wake these few times throughout the night.

"Please Jane," she tried pleading just a little. A couple of moments later Jane's eyes fluttered open and she turned her head towards Maura.

"You are so lucky that I love you," came Jane's gravelly voice. Maura couldn't help but laugh just a little.

"Well, I think you're going to be fine. You don't seem to be exhibiting any other symptoms from your concussion. I'll let you go back to sleep now."

"Alright," Jane husked again. Maura watched as her eyes took in the room around her. Then she spoke again asking, "What time is it anyway?"

"Just after seven a.m. Do you need me to pull the curtains so you can sleep some more?"

Jane shook her head before saying, "Not necessary. I can still feel the pain pill. It'll kick in here in a few more seconds and pull me back under. By then it won't matter if the sun was shining directly on me, I'll be out." Her eyes started to flutter closed once more as she said, "So I'll see you again in a couple of hours?"

"You'll see me soon enough," Maura whispered as she eased herself off the bed to keep from disturbing Jane any further. She exited the guest room and closed the door softly. The day was upon her and today she was going to need caffeine to keep going, so she headed for the kitchen.

R&I

Jane made her way slowly down the stairs from the guest room. She had noticed that it was some time after ten in the morning. Maura was supposed to be checking on her every couple of hours. The last she had remembered her coming in was sometime just after seven.

She wondered what was going on. She spied Maura sitting at the breakfast bar with her laptop open. She seemed to be absorbed in something. She wondered if Maura was reading a new journal article or she was enthralled in a report while trying to work from home.

"Morning," she said as she came near; her voice still raspy from sleep. Maura finally looked up and smiled.

"Good morning, how are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess, when you consider everything that happened."

"I've got coffee, would you like some?"

Jane smiled, "You know me too well. I'd love some."

Maura got up quickly and headed over to the coffee maker. It wouldn't take long to get a cup made for Jane and another one for herself.

"How come you didn't wake me up?" Jane asked curiously as she made her way over to the stools to take a seat.

"It wasn't necessary," Maura replied without looking away from the task before her. You're pupils reacted as normal when I checked you the last time. I figured after the night that you had you'd appreciate getting some uninterrupted sleep."

"Hey, even interrupted sleep is better than getting no sleep. Which is what I'd have been getting if that asshole hadn't…"

"Jane," Maura reprimanded her.

"Sorry," she apologized for the outburst of language. She decided just to stay silent.

Quickly though her eyes started to drift over to Maura's laptop which was still sitting open on the countertop. Normally she would never invade Maura's privacy like that, but she was curious to see what had held Maura's attention like that as she came in the kitchen moments ago. As she took in the words on the screen it was quickly apparent. She recognized the words almost instantly. She had taken those words and strung them together into the sentences herself. Eventually she had strung the sentences into a story: a story where she could write the ending for a character that was an ending she had always wanted for herself.

Maura turned from finishing off their coffee and saw Jane staring at the computer screen. She slowly walked over to the breakfast bar. She set Jane's coffee down beside her. She then took her seat beside Jane where she had been rereading Jane's first story about Jamie and Maria.

"They are well written stories. I've heard the saying hindsight is 20/20, but I don't suppose I had ever really thought that much about it until you were standing there in Boston Joe's looking for a woman in a Red Sox jersey. Suddenly, it all made sense for me. There had always been something so appealing about the stories and, I guess, at times I had thought about what it would be like if it were you and I living out a story like that."

Jane turned to look at Maura. It was time. They needed to have this talk. "I'm glad you like the stories. I'd always been pretty good with the writing assignments I was given in high school, or so my teachers always said. Some said I was a kid of few words on the outside, but had a whole other world where I was a great speaker living deep inside to pull from and share; that though, I'm still not entirely sure about. But it seems like times when I've needed help the most with dealing with problems and situations that arise I do seem to find these words within that just flow out."

Jane paused for a moment trying to decide how it was she needed to say the things that had been buried deep within her for so long. She stared down at the countertop. She might be able to find the words to say to Maura right now, but there was no way that she could face seeing any more pain or hurt in her eyes for the moment.

"I started writing the stories what feels like a lifetime ago now. At the time I was in need of finding some way that I could express what I was feeling for you. Nothing in all of these years seemed to indicate that you could possibly reciprocate the feelings I had and there was no way I could tell you knowing that I was going to be rejected. Having you in my life as my best friend, and being in agony that I couldn't tell you I loved you the way I truly meant it was better than not having you in my life at all.

"I've tried to tell you a couple of times here pretty recently. The night you came over for movie night: I was just about to tell you when your phone went off in your purse. Saved by the bell, or so they say.

"Then after the opening I thought some on what you said about a new path. And I realized that after Ma had said you were internet dating I wanted to try and tell you how I felt. I wanted to maybe be the person that you could take that new path with. I was finally willing to say something, even if you rejected me. So, I went down to your office, but when I got there you were lost in typing up something on your computer. I flashed back to Ma saying that you had been internet dating and chatting with a man. I figured 'he' had to be the reason for the big smile on your face and I couldn't even bring myself to stay long enough to let you know I'd been in the morgue.

"I figured that if you could find someone on the internet I could at least look into a growing friendship and maybe something more that I'd had going on with this woman online who had read my stories. At the least I was hoping it would allow me to take a step back from thinking about you long enough that I wouldn't become insanely jealous of whoever this man was and give you the chance to be happy.

"So, I talked some more to this woman and decided to meet with her. And I show up to find the woman of my dreams standing there, apparently waiting for me. I was almost like some cruel joke of the universe. Like I said yesterday, a part of me was happy that you finally knew. It was amazing that you had found the stories and that you would now know they were about you and me, but then at the same time I panicked. I wondered what you must be thinking about me. I was afraid you would think I was pathetic because here I was writing this story that was working out great for this couple when I was hiding who I truly am from everyone."

"Jane," Maura said as she laid her hand over the top of Jane's on the counter. "Don't talk like that, please."

Jane took in Maura's voice; it was cracking slightly with some of the words. For the first time since she had looked away not wanting to see the pain she knew would surely be there, she looked up. Tears welled in Maura's eyes. A few of the tears, though not many at this point, had spilled over and made their way down her cheeks. Jane felt like something within her slightly fracture as she took in what she was seeing.

Jane stood up and turned Maura so they were facing directly towards one another. "Will you ever forgive me for the things I've done?" she asked in a whisper as her hand slid along Maura's face to brush away some of the tears.

"Yes," Maura whispered back as her eyes closed and she seemed to melt into the touch from Jane. "But you have to forgive me as well."

Jane's motions stopped and Maura opened her eyes. Jane had a curious look on her face, and Maura knew she was wondering what she was talking about. "I made you feel like you couldn't be yourself with me. You felt like you couldn't tell me who you were without thinking that I would exit your life and I am so sorry about that."

More tears started to spill down Maura's cheeks and Jane couldn't believe what she had heard. Maura thinking that she was to blame for not speaking up sooner. If anything she had also made Maura feel the same way. Jane leaned in, as best she could with her arm still in the sling, and wrapped Maura up in a hug. Instantly she started to feel the hot tears soak into her shirt.

"Shh," Jane tried to sooth her. "Hey," she whispered, "we both made some mistakes and there were things that both of us should have done differently. Now though, we know about them, and the most important thing is that we are going to get past them. Right?"

All Jane could hear was some kind of muffled reply. Maura still had her face buried in her shirt. Though, her shirt had started to feel like it was drying a bit so Maura must have stopped crying. She decided to pull back a bit so she could look at Maura. "Sorry, what was that?" she asked as she turned on a slightly less stunning version of her famous Rizzoli smile.

Maura couldn't help but give Jane a little smile in return. "I said, I hope so." Her voice was still just a touch raspy after everything that had occurred in the last few minutes.

Jane took her hand and pulled Maura's chin up slightly so she could look at her better. She shook her head slightly. "No," she said back, "I know so." She started to lean in towards Maura. She couldn't help it anymore. Many times she had wondered what it would be like to kiss the woman of her dreams and she hoped that now she could find out.

Their lips met and neither could describe the feeling, other than it felt so right. The kiss was light, chaste, but it held the start of something. And it definitely held hope.

Jane soon broke off their kiss, but rested her forehead against Maura's. "I love you," she whispered to Maura just before she kissed her again.

Maura broke their kiss this time. Her eyes still shined from tears, but at this moment they were happy tears. "I love you too," she replied. Maura captured Jane's lips this time and had planned on only coming up for air when it was absolutely necessary.

"I knew it!" they both heard a voice that definitely wasn't a part of their plan. "I knew something was going on between you two. How long has this been going on?"

So, there we have it. Who's walked in on the girls, and will they be accepting of how they found them? Come on now, you know we wanna hear what you think! So, please please please click in that little box and leave us a review?!