Jane felt a hand tighten around her arm. She jumped and screamed as she took a blind swing at whoever it was, afraid that Casey had not been killed after all.
"Janie, Janie. It's me, Frankie." her brother said as he knelt down beside her and started rubbing her back. "Come on, Janie, let's get you away from him."
Jane, eyes red -rimmed, blinked up at her brother and asked "Is he really...?"
"Yah. He is."
"Who did it?"
"Me."
"You? Really?" she asked as she continued to blink. God, her eyes hurt.
"Yah." said Frankie. "He was going to shoot my sister and my niece or nephew. Do you really think I'd be able to face Ma if I let him kill you or the baby?" He thought for a moment then added, "I don't know who I'd be more scared of if anything happened to you on my watch, Ma or Maura."
Jane continued to blink rapidly, saying nothing.
"What's wrong?"
"God, my eyes hurt."
"You must have gotten concrete in them when the bullet struck the steps." He turned her face toward him. "You've got little cuts all over your face and hands as well."
Jane reached up to her face and Frankie grabbed her hand.
"No Jane. Don't rub your eyes. It'll only make it worse."
"It hurts, Frankie." she said as she let out a sigh. "Can you at least get some water and rinse my eyes? I can't see."
Frankie sent a guard into the building for water because he didn't want to leave Jane, especially since she was still lying on the steps next to Casey's dead body.
"You ready to try and get up?" Frankie asked. "I want to get you moved away from him."
"Yah. I think so. Give me a hand, will you."
Frankie bent down and hooked his arm under Jane's arm pit and went to help her up. When he lifted, she pushed off the step with her free hand. All of a sudden, she yelped then collapsed in pain, grabbing her side.
"Janie, what's wrong?"
Jane continued to hold her side and pant as she groaned in pain.
"Oh god." Frankie said. "Did he shoot you?"
Jane shook her head no. Her breathing slowly returned to normal but, despite the coolness of the September morning, she was broke out in a lather of sweat.
"Frankie." she whispered. "Try to help me roll onto my butt. This pressure on my stomach's killing me."
"You sure?" he asked as he knelt down to help her.
"Yah." she panted.
Jane gritted her teeth and hissed in pain as Frankie helped her roll. Sweat poured from her, tears streamed down her face, and all the color had drained from her face by the time they got her into a sitting position.
Frankie sat down on the step above and behind his sister and held her between his knees as he saw her swaying from side to side.
"Frankie." she grunted as she continued to hold her side.
"Yah."
"Thanks."
He barked out a laugh. "You're welcome, I guess. Damn, Janie, can't anything be easy with you? Is the baby alright?"
"I don't think it's the baby." she gasped. "Can you look at my side? That's where it hurts."
Frankie scooted around to Jane's side, moved her coat out of the way (it wouldn't button anymore), and lifted her shirt.
"Oh shit!" he said.
"What?"
"I think you might have bruised a rib or two when you fell."
"I didn't fall. I was pushed down. Does it look bad?"
"Bad enough."
The guard finally came back with the water and Frankie had Jane lean her head back against his chest as he poured the liquid into one eye and then the other.
Jane blinked a few times the whispered "Thanks bro. At least my eyes feel a little bit better."
She rested her head back against his chest and he bent down and kissed her forehead.
"I love you, Janie." he said.
"Love you too, Frankie." she said in return.
It seemed like it was taking forever for the ambulance to arrive but, in reality, it had only been ten minutes or so since Frankie had shot Casey.
The ambulance finally arrived and a few moments later, the morgue van, followed by Maura in her state-issued Medical Examiner's car.
Maura, white-faced with worry and concern, jumped out of her car and ran up to where Jane and Frankie were sitting. She hadn't even taken the time to close her door.
"Jane!" she cried as she went to throw her arms around her wife in a gripping hug.
"Maura don't!" cried Frankie as he held his hand up in a STOP gesture.
"Why?" she asked as she stopped cold in her tracks.
"I think she might have a bruised rib or two. He knocked her down and she hit her side on the step, trying to protect the baby. She's got a nasty bruise forming."
Maura looked at Jane who nodded in agreement with what Frankie had just told her.
"Let me see." she said as she knelt beside her wife and lifted her shirt. She started to gently probe the area and Jane let out a hiss of pain and grabbed Maura's hand.
"Maura, stop!" Jane yelped as she began panting again.
"I'm sorry sweetheart. I think Frankie's right. You probably have a couple bruised ribs. Unfortunately, they won't be able to do x-rays because of your pregnancy."
"Great." Jane said.
Maura instructed her staff to remove the body and take it to the morgue where Dr. Pike would perform the autopsy because she was directly involved in the case and couldn't perform it herself. She also asked them to let Susie know that she would be at the hospital and to call if she needed anything.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Detective Rizzoli." said Dr. Carter as he entered her room in the ER. "We really must stop meting this way."
"Not my idea, Doc. The cosmos seems to have it in for me lately." she said as she cradled her side.
"I'd guess not. You've grown quite a bit since I last saw you. When are you due?"
"November." Jane said as she tried to smile.
"Getting close." he said.
Jane nodded.
"Let me take a look at those lacerations and at your eyes first, then move onto your ribs."
"Do you think we can wait for Maura to do the rib exam?" Jane asked. "She should be here soon."
"No problem, Detective." He examined her face and eyes then said "Now we wait."
As if she had received a cue from a director, Maura burst through the door. "Jane." she said as she crossed to the gurney and placed a kiss on Jane's lips. A noise in the room made her jump. "Oh, Dr. Carter. I didn't see you."
"That's quite alright, Dr. Rizzoli. You had other things on your mind. We were just waiting for you before I examined your wife's ribs."
"Thank you." she said as she reached for the brunette's hand. "Ready?"
Jane sucked in a shaky, shallow breath and nodded that she was.
After much moaning, yelping, and swearing on Jane's part, Dr. Carter confirmed that she, indeed, had a bruised rib or two.
"Unfortunately, with your condition, there's not a lot we can do. Rest with alternating heat and cold plus the occasional Tylenol is about it, I'm afraid. You might want to splint your side when you move or if the baby's kicking to help minimize the discomfort. You'll also want to keep those facial lacerations clean and dry and use the eye drops twice a day for the next two weeks."
Jane could only nod. She was still unable to talk after Dr. Carter had finished his examination.
Maura spoke for them and said, "Thank you, Dr. Carter."
"You're welcome and I hope to not see you two in here again until the big day arrives." He winked at them and started out the door. He then turned and added, "I'll get your paperwork filled out and we should have you out of here within a half hour."
"Thank you." The women said in unison.
XXXXXXXXXX
Jane and Maura hoped for a quiet evening at home, alone, but it wasn't going to happen. They were barely in the door and got Jane settled on the couch when their first, uninvited, visitor arrived.
Angela Rizzoli burst through their front door laden with bags of groceries, follow by Frankie who carried just as many. Seeing Jane on the couch, in obvious pain and with multiple lacerations on her face, she dropped her bags and went running over to give her daughter a hug.
"No Ma!" Jane said. "Please don't. My ribs won't be able to handle it."
Maura bit her lip to prevent herself from yelling at Angela to stop.
"Oh baby. My poor, poor baby." Angela said as she looked for a way to comfort Jane.
"I'm alright, Ma. I just hurt a bit, that's all."
"The baby?"
"The baby's fine. Believe me, I feel every kick." 'The baby seemed to take that as a cue and gave her a healthy kick which caused her to wince in pain.
"Oooh..." said Angela. "If that Casey Jones wasn't dead, I'd kill him myself for everything he's put you and my daughter-in-law through. I'm just glad Frankie was such a good shot!" Angela beamed at her son with pride, even though he had taken a life today.
Jane looked pleadingly at Maura and said "Maur, do you think you could take Ma into the kitchen and..." She let the last of her sentence trail off.
Maura looked quizzically at Jane then understood when Jane jutted her chin toward Frankie. Maura figured she wanted some alone time with him.
"Oh sure." Maura said. "Angela, let's get the groceries and take them into the kitchen. We can start dinner while Frankie and Jane relax."
Angela eyed her children then agreed.
Frankie walked over and sat on the coffee table in front of the couch. "How you doin', sis?"
"Not bad. How are you?"
He shrugged. "It was determined that it was a legit shooting, so I'm not in any kind of trouble They just gave me a couple of paid days off to, you know..."
Jane reached out and took his hand. "That's great, Frankie, but how are you doing? It's never easy to kill someone, no matter how much of a scumbag they are."
Frankie teared up as he looked at his sister. "I had to do it. I had to kill him. He was going to kill you and the baby." He placed his hand on Jane's stomach and gave it a gentle rub. "I can live with killing Casey but I could never live without you. I love you, Jane."
Jane's eyes also filled with tears. "Thanks Frankie. I needed that." She trapped his hand with hers on her stomach, glad that Frankie finally accepted the baby." "Now, help me up."
"Why? I thought you just got comfortable."
"Yah. I did but...I gotta pee!"
They both chuckled as Frankie helped Jane to her feet.