It's a bit shorter but if I post it now I force myself to hurry up the next chapter :) I hate keeping you waiting and cliffhangers make me work extra hard.
All of your comments on the last chapter were so wonderful and unexpected. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Your love gives me writing wings and smiles, your words to me inspire me to give this story the ending I know you would want. Your love is all i need.
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Chapter Fourt33n

"You were wearing Kevlar Jane?"

"Yeah, I was. I took it off in the elevator after I was shot...to cover Tasha. She was going hypothermic from shock."

"And you were worried he might shoot her?"

"Yeah. He was after her...not me."

"Except you put yourself in front of him, with no protection yourself." Maura says with a hint of anger. She hates it when Jane puts herself in danger even though she thought she would be used to it by now.

"To protect her. To stop him. I couldn't stay in the elevator. We were sitting ducks in there. I had to...to stop him." Jane's voice is raised and defensive.

Maura takes a breath herself, "It's ok Jane. Just relax."

Jane nods and calms herself.

"And then he...attacked you..."

Jane nods her head and holds her stomach again.

"I attacked him, with a steel bar. It was all I could find. The elevator was almost at the bottom. He was waiting for the doors to open. He was going to shoot Tasha. So I charged him...but he got it off me."

"You were injured Jane, you shouldn't have..." She takes a breath again, she is not to make this about her, "He punched you in the stomach?"

Jane nods again, "That's how he got it off me. Then he whacked me with it in the back. I was on the ground and he swung but I moved. The next one would have got me but Korsak arrived and shot him."

Maura almost winces at the thought of it all going down. A few more seconds and Jane would have been dead.

"You were injured already before you went to the basement and cut the power."

"I was wearing a vest when he shot us outside...but every-time I moved afterwards it felt like a knife was cutting me up inside. So it was hard to stop him because I could barely stand up straight, I was tired and sore, and there was eleven flights of stairs Maur."

Jane watches Maura's face morph from professional to emotional again. Maura had seen Jane's when the paramedics brought her out of the building, she had seen her chart and x-rays in the hospital, and as a doctor she knew the tremendous pain Jane had gone through after the initial attack from the bullet. How she had pushed on anyway just hoping that someone would get there in time. Like she always did. Putting herself in danger for someone else.

"Maura...I wouldn't change anything. Tasha is alive and so am I. I did my job."

Maura swallows, "I know Jane. This is for the police report. I'm sorry, I can't help my feelings. Maybe I should have let Korsak do this..."

"No...I am glad it is you." Jane whispers and her voice breaks with her own emotion.

She reaches her hand out and takes Maura's hand gently, stroking the back of it.

"I could have lost you Jane. It causes me both grief and gratitude."

A tear slides down Maura's cheek as she watches the pain in Jane's countenance disappear as she puts on a brave face solely for Maura.

"Maura please...don't be upset. Please."

"I want to be mad at you Jane. I want to make you promise to never put yourself in danger. I want to protect you so I never lose you. I am sorry I wasn't there. I'm sorry you got hurt. It hurts me so much when you are hurt."

Jane gives Maura that look, the one that says I know, I'm sorry, I understand. The one that says you have to understand me too. The one that says I am sorry but I also would do it again. The one that says I hope you wouldn't be mad at me for too long.

"I'm sorry Jane," Maura forces a smile, "You just...you deserve so many good things in your life."

Jane smiles softly, "Maybe it's for the best huh? You know...I heard that fourty percent of relationships end after a baby comes into the picture due to stress. We might have had lots of cat-fights. And I am not sure Jack would have liked being the third wheel."

"You are making those statistics up Jane." Maura laughs softly easing the tension

"I am making a point, Maura." Jane says with a smile

"Well...maybe...I hate that word, but maybe it is for the best. Somehow. We will never know for sure."

Maura won't say it but she is glad that Casey is out of the picture now. Completely. Not that she would change the reason why if it was within her power. She never liked the way Casey treated her best friend. And she hated how much Jane loved him and put up with his figurative excrement. She worried that he might use the baby to come back into her life again. Something about him was off at times.

"Course we won't. But we don't need to know. Because you know what. We are ok. I am alive and I will get over this. And I have you to help me."

"I won't leave your side." Maura jokes, "And If you ever want to have a baby in the future, I will still be there with you."

"Likewise Maur. And thank you."

"For what Jane?"

"For being there yesterday, for staying on the phone with Tasha, and you know...abandoning your date. And for being here for me. And mostly for keeping my mother busy today so she doesn't fuss over me."

Maura hated that she had been with Jack while Jane was fighting to protect their witness. That she hadn't immediately answered the phone when Jane was calling her for help. That Jane had had to wait for her while sitting in pain in an elevator with a bleeding witness on a hot-wired phone waiting for help.

Maura squeezes Jane's hand with both of hers, "You are welcome."

"Jane. Your vest. Now."

Jane slips into her Kevlar quickly and puts her blazer over the top. Her gun is hidden against her ankle and Korsak has her service weapon in the glovebox of the car. She won't risk appearing armed, she won't take any unnecessary risks when it comes to Maura. She won't screw up this chance.

"This is probably all part of his game. Have you run around Boston hoping he will let Maura go. He has been playing games all along Jane, don't get your hopes up ok?"

Jane nods but her determination stays firmly fixed on her face

"I do doubt he will touch you in public. So stay where there are people until you know we are all in place." Korsak adds.

Jane nods again. She hopes the circumstances will allow her to stay public and to make it easy for her team to do their job.

"All communication is working?" Korsak asks and Nina nods.

"Can you hear me through the earpiece Jane?"

"Yes." She says her impatience growing steadily as the clock ticks closer and closer to 9am.

She looks at the clock again. 8:40am.

"Jane. Everyone is in place, Do I need to remind you to do what I say at all times?"

"I got it Korsak, I should get in there."

Korsak nods, "Go. But be careful."

Jane pulls the door to the unmarked van open and climbs out checking the area first to be sure. The station is an old building, a place she always liked architecturally, but today she is only looking at people, faces. There is enough activity that no-one would notice her unless they were looking for her but not so much that she would miss a face in the crowd.

She searches for anyone suspicious as she makes her way up the steps to the entranceway.

The air escapes her in warm steamy breaths against the cold air.

The clock on the outside reads 8:45am as she passes underneath it.

She spots the ticket counter but doesn't approach it straightaway, she looks for anyone watching it, or anyone looking for her. It isn't time yet anyway.

"Korsak?" She mumbles softly

"I'm here." Is the reply

"Korsak, promise me that you will do whatever you have to for Maura...to save her."

"I'm not compromising your safety Jane."

"I need to know you will do what you have to...what I would do. I can't do this right unless I know you have my back on this."

Jane looks up into the surveillance camera's so Korsak can see her, she knows he is locked into the feed and can see her. So he can see the determination in her eyes

"Jane..."

"I couldn't ever forgive you if something happened to Maura and you could have stopped it. I need you to put her first...for me."

She hears him growl under his breath. Maybe she should have asked him this face to face, but he might have said no.

Her eyes beg him.

"Damnit Jane. Fine."

Jane blinks in relief, "Thank you Korsak"

"I can't stop him." Maura cries out loudly waking herself from a dream.

She stares into an empty room.

Her heart pounds heavily, half from the remnants of the dream and half from knowing she is alone because Casey is on his way to get Jane.

In her dream he had Jane. He had her and he was going to hurt her and she couldn't stop him.

And knowing her dream might become real she screams her frustration into the silence before she cries from feeling so helpless.

The long hand of the clock sits right before the 12 when Jane joins the cue in the ticket line. He eyes scan every corner taking in everything.

The lady behind the counter doesn't look at any of the customers in front of her. when Jane reaches the front of the line the lady says, "Where too?" like she has been doing since her shift started at 6am.

"You have a message for Jane Rizzoli."

Her eyes meet Jane's and for a moment she looks confused then realization dawns on her.

"Right. Of course. Got a call an hour ago. Wrote it here." She shuffles through some papers and produces a folded note handing it to Jane who opens it without moving.

"Who called you?"

She shrugs, "A guy. I was on a break. Figured it was a lost kid thing."

"What did he sound like? What did he say?"

She stares at Jane for a moment annoyed at the inconvenience as well as the building line behind the detective, "He sounded like a guy. Had an accent, english maybe. Just said he needed to leave an urgent message and could I write that down."

9:15 train to Worcester.

"I need a ticket on the next train to Worcester"

The clock says 9:12am when she is standing on the platform waiting to be whisked into the unknown.

"Ready Korsak?" Jane asks with equal parts impatient and scared. Everything since finding the body and necklace was happening so fast without her even having time to stop and catchup and breathe...yet it still wasn't happening fast enough.

"Everyone is in place."

At 9:16am the train comes to a complete stop and the doors of the first carriage open in front of her.

Jane looks up the platform at the other passengers getting on, no-one looks familiar except the four under-covers she met an hour ago. Korsak had taken extreme measures to make sure no one from their department was in the open, because whoever knew Jane probably knew who she worked with. They couldn't risk getting made.

"I'm ready. Wait. What do you guys say to each other right before you pull the string?"

Jane closes her eyes instead of rolling them, "It's sting...Maura."

"Sting." Maura repeated her eyes still questioning.

Jane smiles at Maura's excitement, her hands still on Maura's arms and she says gently but seriously "We say 'don't get made'."

Maura smiles, "I like that. 'Don't get made'."

The doors close behind Jane and she walks to the middle to the car looking at all the passengers. Most already settling into there seats with a book or device, none interested in Jane.

She starts to make her way to the other end carefully. No one stands out to her.

"We have got officers on their way to check the stations along your route, Jane. Just hang tight."

Jane reaches the end car and turns back to face the front.

"Jane, Nina just got a hit off the burner phone. Someone just turned it on."

"Where is it?" Jane murmurs through her teeth.

"No-where near where you are or any of the stops on your route. It's near newmarket."

Jane sighs, "Maybe someone else has it."

She sits down in a vacant seat and glances out the window.

Her brain begins it's search for the answers as to why. Did he know she wasn't alone. Did he suspect something. Was Maura alive. Did he ever plan to take her. Is it part of a game. Was he taking her somewhere or taking her away from something.

Her phone starts to ring.

She almost drops it trying to get it out off her belt clip.

It's not a number she recognizes.

She takes a deep breath and answers it.

"Rizzoli."

"Detective Jane Rizzoli?" The voice she doesn't recognize questions.

"Just let her go. Ok. I'm here. Let her go and I will do whatever you want."

There is a short pause before the voice returns, "I don't understand what you are referring too. I am returning a call I received from your department yesterday. Are you Jane Rizzoli?"

"I am." Jane answers

...to be continued...