Thirst.
Jane stirred, she tried to swallow but she was parched.
She tried to produce a small sound, but her throat was gritty and to dry to let her speak.
One by one, Jane began to register other sensations apart from her apparent thirst.
The numbness of her legs, the tingling in her fingers and the cold, hard flooring she lay sideways on.
A voice called out, urgent and persistent, a shrill sound against her waking senses.
"Jane! Get up! Please!"
Her name wheeled her back to consciousness.
Jane finally opened her eyes, paralysed but aware, she glanced around to try and pin point where the shouting was coming from.
Jane tried to roll onto her back, but she was soon aware her hands and feet were immobilized.
She strained to free her wrists but rope bound her incapable and frustrated.
"Maura?" she finally wheezed.
A chill was sent through her clothes as she heard a pained grunt.
"Maura!" Jane struggled again and gritted her teeth to break free, urgency ignited her skin and sent her heart pounding. Jane witnessed the brass bed through blurry vision, she was laying on the floor at the foot of it.
Her nose was blocked, she could smell blood, a nose bleed?
Jane listened.
Another whisper of a voice, another grunt.
Crying?
Jane was twisting, rolling against her binds.
Jane slammed her hip into the floor and sucked in a pained gasp. She breathed deeply until the pain faded and continued.
This time her face landed against the wood, her lip scraped against it and exposed her teeth to be slammed.
Jane yelped and felt her nose crush against the wood in a rebound.
Fighting tears of frustration and pain, Jane curled up in the fetal position.
Another whimper sounded and Jane rolled to her knees, her face still pressed against the wood and her rear in the air. Feeling the muscles in her stomach pull, she rose to a kneeling position.
Panting she glanced around.
The light was dim and two figures rested on the bed.
A sickening fear invaded Jane's mind.
Hoyt was raping her?
No, he was leant over her, he was... talking?
Jane rested for the next challenge she would surely be facing now she was conscious.
Hoyt wasn't paying attention to her, he was transfixed with Maura.
A sudden thud of footsteps brought Jane's attention to the figure that had walked through the door.
Slim.
Jane stared at him, he stared back, his eyes cold and his face stern.
"Hoyt, she's up"
Jane recoiled back.
She? When had Slim know she was not a man?
Only then did Jane notice her shirt had been slashed open, exposing her stomach and her bound breasts.
"Crap" she hissed to herself and Slim kicked her down with a thud to her chest. Jane landed on her back, winded of breath. Jane lay numb while Slim walked to Hoyt's side. They both stood and talked for moment, the only thing Jane could hear was the rush of her own pulse.
Hoyt and Slim parted, Slim advanced towards Jane, Hoyt tugged Maura into a sitting position. Slim tugged Jane up by the hair and dragged her to sit on the chair Hoyt had been sat on moments before.
Jane's scalp screamed, she whimpered and tried to stand to relive the pain. Her effort was pathetic.
Slammed down in to the chair with her head hung and eyes moist with stubborn tears, she caught sight of Maura.
"Janie" Hoyt cooed and cupped her chin between his index finger and thumb. Her line of sight was forced to rise to his, her neck was forced to be taut and exposed.
Jane let out a strangled cry, panting in panic and writhed as Slim held her down to the mercy of Hoyt's blade.
"Maura I want you to watch, Slim bind Janie so you can make Maura watch" his eye twitched and his voice slithered into Jane's ear. "Say bye Jane"
Jane soon felt his hand snake around her neck and squeeze until she was reduced to whimpering for air and for a voice.
"No!" Maura shrieked out, she struggled against the ropes, the bed creaked and lurched with the force.
"Slim, now!" Hoyt growled and Jane gagged, her limbs were reduced to a spasm.
"Don't" Jane screamed out against his vice grip, her voice horse.
Slim moved over and pressed a gun to the back of Maura's head. Maura felt the cold metal and tensed, her eyes blurry with tears.
She shook her head in silence as Hoyt drew his blade.
"How did-" Jane battled against her strangulation. "Korsak, Frost?" Jane wheezed. She felt his fingers dig into her trachea and suppress them.
"They've been dealt with" Hoyt shrugged, his sliver hair hung down over his eyes.
Slim chuckled and set the trigger, Jane writhed at the sound.
"No!" Jane spluttered and felt the knife pinch at her skin.
Maura wished he'd pull the trigger, to spite Hoyt.
She wanted the bullet to shatter her skull, to let her brain smear against the walls, he wouldn't have her. Alas, it would be a loss of an innocent life for a selfish deed, Maura peered down at her stomach and cursed herself.
"Why... why do you want Maura?" Jane cried out, her vision started to dot over and blur, her lungs quivered.
"Don't you know?" Hoyt played, his eyes black over hers.
Maura whimpered and let out a sob only to be rewarded with a sharp nudge of the barrel against her skull.
"Have you ever wanted kids?" Hoyt trailed off, his blade still pressed to Jane's neck but didn't go anywhere. "Maura is my only hope"
Jane felt her blood run cold, she soon weakened.
"Maura's pregnant Janie" he laughed shrilly and his blade pinched at her skin, Jane soon felt the skin rip open.
"You killed Curley" Maura blurted, distracting Hoyt from his true intention of killing Jane.
"Very good Maura"
"I'm why you did it! I'm the reason Curley's dead" Maura whispered.
"Slim shut her up" Hoyt snapped and Jane jerked her body when she heard Maura yelp in pain.
Jane let out a sob when she felt the blade cross more of her flesh.
"No, Hoyt, don't!" Maura slurred and the bed creaked, Jane knew Maura was fighting for her.
"If I'm going you're coming with me" Jane rasped and kicked her legs franticly into his knee caps. Hoyt lurched back, his body tumbled to the bed and Slim raised his gun to shoot at her.
The bullet missed Jane as she flung herself off the chair and to the ground, her right hip collided with the floor. The chair was tipped and clattered to the floor along with her.
Jane yelled out at the pain as her hip was bruised by the wood, but scuffled to Hoyt. He was already to his feet. Jane noticed his knife had fallen. She leapt to it and desperately snagged it in her hands. Hoyt didn't notice and dragged her up with him by the neck. Her blood stained his hands and it trickled down from the wound. It dribbled through his fingers.
"Shoot her" Hoyt held Jane out at arms length like a meat slab and winked at Maura, who lay on her side on the bed, her right eye swollen shut and already a deep red with a forming bruise.
Jane squirmed but she couldn't free herself from his hold this time.
Slim aimed his gun at Jane's chest and at the moment she was sure Slim would pull the trigger, she slit Hoyt's wrist.
Blood squirted out, it gleamed across Jane's face and hit the bed sheets. Maura knew Jane had severed his artery.
Hoyt dropped her and yelled out in a shrill cry.
Jane fell to the floor as the bullet was fired. The knife clattered against the floor and Hoyt's body fell by hers, the bullet had hit him in the chest.
Jane was quick to recover, panting she stared up at the ceiling.
A few moments pass, the sound of ripping rope broke through the room.
Slim walked around the bed and knelt by Jane.
"How did I do?" Slim smiled down at her.
Jane could only nod in thanks, but his body soon froze. His eyes rolled back into his skull and fell atop of her before he could register his praise.
Jane yelled and stared at the doorway. Harry Witham stood with his gun shakily in his hand.
Jane felt Slim's blood drip onto her bare stomach.
"Get him off me!" Jane wheezed.
Behind Harry, Frost and Korsak burst into the room.
Maura lay on the bed, stunned and breathless, her bonds had been cut, but the burns were still stinging upon her skin.
"Jane?" she whispered.
"Maura? It's okay, it's Frost" Frost smiled down at her and lifted her into his arms.
Jane kicked Slim's corpse away and didn't stop moving until her back hit the bed side table and the lamp fell and smashed.
The room was plunged into darkness for a few seconds before a voice called out.
"What the hell is goin' on?" the light flicked on.
The four of them paused and Jane piped up, her voice shaky. He'd just shot Slim and he was now asking what was going on?
"Korsak, just tell him" exhausted she rested her head back on the bedside table and drew heavy breaths.
Dawn rose.
The day was born with a light breeze and little clouds.
The workers had stirred instantly when they heard cars pull up and sirens cut off.
In amongst the crowds of police and workers, Jane, Korsak and Frost were the boldest.
Jane was covered in Hoyt's and Slim's blood as well as her own. Her eyes were red and she had a bandage pressed to her neck.
Frost's clothes were ripped and he was supporting a nasty cut above his right eyebrow.
Korsak looked haggard and was gulping down a glass of whiskey.
The trio were clearing up any tiny details they hadn't shared during the two hours they had spent being questioned. The task seemed almost hilarious to them, after a night of blood shed, they returned to society as murderers.
Jane was covered with Korsak's jacket and gave a crooked smile when Korsak offered her his whiskey when a police officer asked her about her concealed identity.
Jane almost laughed when she told him. She didn't know if it was due to sleep deprivation, the ache in her bones or the fact she was still in a state of shock that made it so easy to tell them everything.
Korsak nudged her when they brought the bodies out of the house. She stopped telling the officer to look.
Jane ran a hand through her hair and sipped at the whiskey.
Covered with white blankets, the two bodies were carted off into a van and soon concealed from prying eyes. The two metal doors clanked shut and a man patted the side of it in signal for it to drive off.
"You probably shouldn't go back inside that house Ma'am"
Only then did Jane burst out into uncontrollable laughter.
"Ma'am? Really?"
Frost chuckled and Korsak shrugged to the officer.
"She ain't slept in 24 hours"
"Or ate much" Frost added.
"It's not like I haven't been in there already" Jane inhaled sharply and stopped laughing.
"That's the point" the officer glanced back at the house.
Jane understood, she'd been the one to kill Hoyt, the person who had severed his artery. She was probably going to get a sentence for it. She'd even gone the whole night without shooting her pistol once. She'd used Hoyt's own weapon against him, that was satisfying enough, the jail sentence didn't seem that much of a threat any more.
"We already informed Miss Isles" the officer tapped his note pad.
"Maura" Jane peered over Korsak's shoulder to spot the woman, wrapped in a blanket stood by herself out of the spot light. "Excuse me" Jane parted the space between the officer and Korsak to walk over to Maura. Her legs were numb, but her mind was perfectly aware of everything she was feeling, everything she would feel.
"Maura" Jane announced, the blonde peered up, but didn't smile, her eyes were soon on the figure approaching Jane.
"Jane Rizzoli?"
"Yeah" Jane was taken off guard, she glanced at Maura, but the blonde was soon walking towards to the field, Jo followed her.
"Lieutenant Sean Cavanaugh" looked her up and down. "I deal with homicide"
"I suppose you wouldn't really fit in here if you were Lieutenant of a muffin shop" Jane's dry humour made the man twitch, but he didn't press her on it.
"Are you here to arrest me?"
"I am" he scratched the back of his neck. "But, I don't really want to"
"Must be my good looks, huh" Jane tried to shut herself up, but she was to tired to really stop herself.
"And the fact you actually took down the most wanted man in the country, I can't believe Harry Witham hired him, I might arrest him for stupidity"
Jane smirked.
"Rizzoli, I want you on my team"
"What?"
"I'm offering you a job, after you serve your time"
"After I killed someone... I am a woman..." she was mumbling.
"I'm gonna make you Frost's partner, he'll teach you the ropes, so will Korsak, if he takes back his post"
"Take it back?"
"He resigned, we've wanted him back for months"
"Yay, it's all working out just dandy" Jane sneered and stretched. "I'll think about it, I guess I have time since I'll be in jail cell"
"Just call me, okay?" Cavanaugh handed her a piece of paper with his number scribbled on it.
"Okay" Jane stuffed the paper into her pocket and Cavanaugh bowed his head.
Jane watched him walk back to the other heads of authority and soon to tell them her charges.
Frost walked over and stood by her side.
"Get some sleep Jane"
"Get some new clothes Frost"
They both smirked at each other, their eyes tired and their bodies slouched.
"You gonna join the police then or what?"
"I guess I don't have a job here any more do I?" Jane glanced to meet the stare of her former bunk mates.
"You'll make a great Detective" Frost rolled his shoulders. "after you serve your time, Cavanaugh will wipe your record, he's an ass hole like that"
"How long do you think they'll put me in for?"
"It was self defence, still murder, but you just slit Hoyt's wrist, which makes you kinda the assistant to man slaughter because of Slim shooting him... about a year if you play the cards right"
"What?!"
"You lucky you ain't getting life"
Jane shrugged sadly and ran a hand through her already growing hair, it was considerably longer from when she'd had it cut.
2 months would see it through. She'd be trying to tie it back back and tame it's wild nature in no time. Jane hugged herself, she looked forward to it.
Being a woman again.
"I'll guess I'll see you in a year"
"See you in a year Rizzoli" he patted her shoulder and walked over to Korsak.
Jane turned and spied Maura resting on the fence by the barley fields.
She walked over and stood by her, Maura looked forward to the ever rising sun.
"You're under arrest?"
"Yep" Jane sighed and also looked ahead.
"You did what you had to do" Maura picked at the blanket.
Jane rocked back on her heels then forward again.
"How long have you known you were pregnant?" Jane patted the fence then peered at Maura.
The blond licked her bottom lip and considered the question.
"Counting the sickness, 5 weeks"
A silence followed, until Jane drew the bravery to breathe again from the news.
"I'm going to miss you" Jane bit on the inside of her cheek to will the tears away, but Maura was ahead of her.
"I'll be around Jane, apparently, so will they" Maura sniffled and rested her hand on her tiny mound of a baby pump.
"That's why you were wearing loose fitting clothes" Jane smirked, her eyes puffy with tears. "I thought you were just getting fat"
"Shut up Jane" Maura wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. Maura bit down on her lip and pulled Jane into a fierce hug.
"I love you Jane" Maura whispered and pressed their foreheads together, aware of all the men around them.
"I love you too M" Jane smiled at the nickname that had aptly sprung to mind and she hugged the blond tighter. Their noses brushed, but their lips never touched.
"I better go hand myself in" Jane whispered and pulled away, walking towards the army of police cruisers, Jane turned just out of earshot of the men.
"Miss Isles" she waited for the blond to turn. "You owe me a kiss when I get back"
Maura giggled to herself and nodded.
"Of course"
The End?