Jane continued to wring her hands as they waited, her fingertips brushing over the scars of her hands repeatedly. She had been there for all of five minutes, but already it felt like an eternity.

Another hand fell atop her own, asserting a soft but dominant presence, willing her to calm down. Maura's delicate hands gave Jane's a small squeeze as they waited in the courtroom. Jane made eyes with her and offered a weak smile. It was nice to have Maura here. Jane felt like she wasn't facing this alone.

Jane stared down at Maura's fingers, which still lay on top her own. Was their date just last night? Jane tried to think back to what happened immediately after the call. The night had been a blur. She remembered Maura's embrace after she delivered the news. She recalled Maura offering to drive home and asking Jane if she wanted her to stay the night.

Jane was at least confident she made the right choice then. She thanked Maura for the offer and kissed her on the cheek before going home alone. She knew she wouldn't sleep well. She certainly didn't want their first night together to be filled with her nightmares. Maura didn't deserve that.

Jane woke up feeling restless. Images of Hoyt filled her head all night, leaving her with a sense of uneasiness when she awoke at 5:30 that morning. She spent the rest of the morning waiting for Maura to pick her up.

James McAulty, the state's attorney, spoke with her when she and Maura first arrived. He told her how Hoyt's defense likely pushed up the trial in hopes that the state hadn't had enough time to fully gather the evidence to set up a strong case.

"Strong case?" Maura interjected, "He was found at the scene!"

"If he's got a good defense, they can twist it," McAulty noted as he reviewed the file. "I don't know how he afforded Nash and Bernard. Most expensive law firm Boston has to offer."

"They're going to ask me to testify?" Jane asked, knowing the answer.

"Yes. You'll be interviewed by both sides. You're a particularly interesting witness as you were both the detective on his case and a victim."

Jane grew steely at the comment.

"How long will the trial last?" Maura asked, her eyes never leaving Jane's face.

"Too soon to tell at this point. I've seen cases that are even more open and close then this last for months."

Jane's throat constricted at the though. Months? At the rate she was going, there was no way she would withstand it.

Maura seemed to read her mind. She excused them from the frantic lawyer and sat them down. Her hands now covered Jane's trying to let her know she was here.

The doors off the side of the courtroom clanged open. Flanked by two guards, Hoyt entered. He was handcuffed and dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit. Jane made her way up to his face, which held a small smile as he surveyed the courtroom. He finally made eyes with Jane. The smile broadened. Jane watched as his eyes flicked to Maura, who was still grasping her hand. She felt her stomach plummet.

Jane quickly pulled her hands from under Maura's and scooted away, putting more space between them. Maura gave her a quick look, but before Jane could respond, the judge entered.

"All rise."

Jane heard the shuffling as people rose and sat back down again. She tried to pay attention to the judge, but she felt as if her mind was going a mile a minute. Had Hoyt seen them? Surely from his angle he couldn't see Maura's hands over Jane's? He hadn't given any recognition that he noticed something, but Jane still felt nauseous. The hundred of dreams that she had with Hoyt and Maura began to swirl in her head. He can't know that I care about her.

She was being paranoid. What could Hoyt do from behind bars? She needed to get a grip on herself. The last thing she wanted was for Hoyt to see how much he had affected her. How scared she still felt when she pictured his face.

"Mr. McAulty, your first witness."

Jane watched the state's prosecutor rise. Buttoning his coat, he stated, "I'd like to bring Detective Vincent Korsak to the stand."

Jane's stomach did another somersault. She hadn't seen Korsak come in. She craned her neck towards the back and saw Korsak make his way to the front of the room. He gave Jane a quick nod and then quickly took a seat at the witness stand to be sworn in.

Taking a deep breath, Korsak recanted the basics: Jane and he had been assigned to a case that involved a murdered man and his missing wife. Less than 24 hours later, they found the wife dead in the nearby woods from the couple's house. Traces of sexual assault had been determined back in the lab. There were no fingerprints left on either of the victims or at the scene. A similar case happened about 20 miles south of Boston a month later. When they discovered that the incisions to the male victims seemed to be made from the same tool and that both had signs of taser marks, the case was handed over to BPD. Less than two weeks later, a third couple was found. The husband bound and gagged like the others. The wife found in a nearby park just an hour later. Her body was still warm. With three murders following the same pattern, the perp was deemed a serial killer. That was when the feds were brought in.

Hearing Korsak's retelling was difficult. She had tried so hard to forget the brutal details. This case had consumed her. She was up all hours of the night looking for clues. But the killer was so precise. There was never any evidence left at the scenes. There seemed to be no connection between the different couples to suggest why the killer would be targeting them. To make it all the worse, she and Korsak were shoved aside once the feds were brought in. The agents gathered all of their intel and suddenly the two of them were no longer a part of the need-to-know group.

"Detective, when did you and Detective Rizzoli finally catch your big break?"

Korsak scratched his head and closed his eyes as he thought back.

"Must have been two in the morning when Gary, the security guard, dropped off a package someone had left. Gary ran it through the scanner. Said there was nothing harmful inside. But Gary knew a 2:00 AM drop off was probably not a good sign. He brought up the surveillance footage so we could take a look at the guy's face."

Hearing it now, it felt like it had happened just yesterday. She could still remember Gary's uneasy face as he handed Jane the package.

"It's addressed to you," Korsak said, nodding at the note on top.

Before accepting the package, Jane grabbed a pair of gloves from her desk, hoping that they might finally be able to get prints.

She carefully sliced the package open and found a singular note inside.

I'VE GOT A PRESENT FOR YOU.

Jane turned the note over looking for more. Frustrated (and terrified) she asked Gary for the surveillance tapes. With the Fed's database, they were able to pinpoint the man who left the package less than 24 hours later. He told them that he had left the Dirty Robber around 1:30 AM that night. A man with shaggy, gray hair stopped him and told him that he'd get $300 for delivering a package across the street.

"I thought the man was totally nuts, but who am I to turn down $300?" the young man said with a laugh.

Quickly sensing the urgency in the agents eyes, the man cleared his throat and began giving better descriptions of the man who gave him the package.

Jane finally returned to present day as the lawyer interjected Korsak's story.

"And did the young man's descriptions match Mr. Hoyt's?"

Korsak nodded. "To the tee. We started running searches using his descriptions against recently paroled people within the Boston area. Our hits kept coming up blank. But the crime lab came back late that night. Only Jane was still at the office. They had found DNA on the note inside the package."

"And did that DNA match Mr. Hoyt?"

Korsak shook his head. "No. The lab reported that it contained traces of a female's sweat. Jane was worried it might be his next victim's. That she was the present he referred to in the note."

"And was Detective Rizzoli able to determine who the woman was?" McAulty asked.

"Yeah. She worked with the crime lab and isolated it down to three woman who contained a certain genetic marker. Each was being treated in Boston. It was a bit of a long shot, as there were probably many more people out there with that genetic marker that weren't being treated at BCU Medical, but she was willing to try anything at this point. We both were. She called me when she was on her way to the first house, which was Anita Delgado. I was still twenty minutes away, but I planned to meet her there."

Korsak's voice grew a little shaky. He still seemed to blame himself for Jane being down there alone.

"And when you arrived at the house?"

"I found Hoyt lying over Jane on the floor. He had pinned her down with scalpels. He pushed them through the palms of her hands and into the ground," Korsak paused, taking a deep breath. "He was tracing her cheek with a third scalpel."

Jane felt hundreds of heads turn towards her in horror. Jane kept her eyes down, trying not to rub her scars.

"So you're confirming that the man lying over Jane's body at the victim's house was the same man sitting in that chair over there?" McAulty asked, pointing his finger towards Hoyt.

"Yes. I shot him. Twice. Once in the shoulder and once in the leg. He collapsed on top of Jane and I rolled him off. I called for an ambulance. I didn't trust myself with the scalpels, so I untied the woman Hoyt had trapped. He had tortured her for hours while Jane watched."

"Objection," Hoyt's lawyer said as she stood up. "Detective Korsak was not there, so his last statement regarding Ms. Delgado is an assumption. Please strike it from the record."

"So stricken," The judge responded back. "Please continue, Detective Korsak."

Korsak nervously cleared his throat. "That's it. I cuffed Hoyt and a minute later the ambulance was there. "

"Thank you, Detective Korsak. I know hard it must have been to relive that. No further questions, your honor."

"Ms. Parring. Your witness."

Hoyt's attorney stood up and walked past the podium. The woman held herself with such confidence. Jane had no idea how she planned to weasel her way out of this. It seemed too cut and dry.

"Detective Korsak," the woman began, giving a small turn past the jury. "there was never any physical evidence that Mr. Hoyt was at any of the murder scenes, correct?"

"I, no. But-"

Parring cut him off and continued with the next question.

"And would you agree that the scene in which you found him in did not match the MO of the previous couples? After all there was no couple targeted."

Korsak look flustered. He was not expecting this.

"He had scalpels, which matched the incision marks found on the previous victims. He also had a taser."

"Can you confirm that those marks were made by a scalpel? I would imagine a knife would leave a similar impression, even a box cutter."

Jane started to feel numb. Was this really happening?

"Furthermore the notes from the ME pointed to a specific location where each victim had been burned by the taser." Parring continued. "This specific location will be left undisclosed for the purpose of confidentiality. The report from the incident in July noted that Ms. Delgado had no taser burns. Detective Rizzoli only had one on her stomach, which did not match those burns from the previous victims."

Korsak wiped the sweat from his brow.

"So to recap," Parring said as she turned towards the jury. "There is no physical evidence linking Mr. Hoyt to the previous string of murders for which he is being falsely accused. The night in which he was found in Ms. Delgado's residence does not match the MO of whoever brutally murdered those poor people. Detective Korsak walked in on a scene, but he has no knowledge of what occurred previously. For all we know, Mr. Hoyt was committing self-defense."

"As he stood over Jane's helpless body, pinned to the floor?" Korsak shot back.

Parring shrugged her shoulders. Jane watched her talk but was no longer listening. She felt like she was going to be sick. How was this happening? Would McAulty be able to tie Hoyt to the original three murders? He chest felt constricted. It was getting hard to breathe.

Jane heard the gavel come down as the judge called for a recess. She bolted for the door and stumbled out into the sunlight. She quickly strode across the lawn and put her hand against the trunk of the nearby tree. Jane felt the nausea hit again. She leaned over as her stomach emptied.

"Jane?"

Maura stood a few feet back. Jane hadn't turned around.

"Here. It's water," Maura said quietly, holding out a bottle.

Jane gave her a small smile and grabbed the bottle. She took a sip and wiped off her chin with the back of her hand.

"Thanks," Jane said, clearing her throat and moving to the nearby bench where Maura was now sitting. "I'm sorry for running out like that. I just had to get out. I'm a mess."

Maura shook her head. "Don't apologize. Don't ever feel like you need to apologize for what he did to you."

Jane nodded, still avoiding eye contact. The cold air felt good against her flushed skin. She watched her breath form in the cold January morning.

"Maura, I'm just so scared," Jane said, continuing to look out. "I can't let him know how much I care for you. I won't put you in danger."

"Jane," Maura said, her eyes drifting at the foot or so of bench Jane put between them. "He can't get to me. He's locked up. There's nothing he can do."

"Did you not hear Parring? What if he gets off? What if she somehow twists it?"

"He was found at the scene with your blood on him. Holding a scalpel. The jury just needs to hear your side of the story. He won't get away with it."

Jane continued to avoid eye contact. Maura forced herself not to reach out.

"I spent a long time wanting to be close to you," Maura started. "And after last night..." Maura trailed off, hoping to keep her voice from breaking. "I'm not willing to lose you. Not when I know how wonderful it is to be with you. I understand if you need space, but please don't push me away."

Jane finally turned towards Maura, who was nervously awaiting Jane's response. Jane placed her hand against Maura's cheek.

"I have to keep you safe."

Maura brought her hand up and rubbed Jane's outstretched arm, her head falling further into Jane's outstretched palm.

"I'm safe when I'm with you."

Jane paused, staring at Maura's face. They were both near tears.

"Don't push me away," Maura repeated, as Jane's hand fell down. "Please. Let me be here for you."

Jane finally nodded. "Just... until the trial ends, we need to be careful. You're right; He's guilty. He'll be locked up. But until then... I can't let him know. I wont," she finished stubbornly.

"We'll be careful in court. But outside of it..." Maura trailed off, waiting for Jane to answer.

Jane smiled back. "Outside of it, we'll still be us."

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I've been busy with the holidays. Hope everyone had a wonderful new year's!