Author Notes: Thanks everyone for all of the comments, etc. on the last chapter and my fics yesterday! Since I finished those ones I couldn't thank you, but I do appreciate it. I think there's only going to be a couple of chapters of this one left. I've really struggled with this one, in terms of story arc, it probably should have ended a long time ago. But here we are, and I've found a way through the struggle to get to the end.
"Whoa, looking big, Rizzoli!" Nina said, leaning forward to touch her bump.
Jane grunted and batted her hands away. "Touch me and you're dead!"
"Sorry," Nina said. "I just can't believe how quickly time is passing, how far along are you now?"
"Thirty-two weeks. Everything hurts."
Another day closer to giving birth was another day closer to having to think about the one thing Jane was most frightened of. Not that she'd admit it out loud. She rubbed the sides of her stomach and leaned back in her seat.
"Don't anger the beast," Frankie said, smirking at his desk.
"It's a good job I'm carrying a bowling ball on my stomach," Jane said. "Or I'd come over there and pummel you myself."
"You could always throw a shoe at him," Nina said, folding her arms. She raised her eyebrows at Frankie.
"I would if I would reach my damn feet," Jane said, sighing. "It would have taken me twenty minutes to get my left shoe on this morning if Maura hadn't found me first."
Sitting upright, Frankie opened a case file, and grinned. "Guess I survive another day."
A glove flew across the room, hitting him on the head. Frankie rubbed his cheek. "Hey!"
Jane and Nina turned to Korsak, who barely looked up from his paperwork, and shrugged. "Get back to work."
Frankie's cell phone buzzed on his desk, he answered it, then stood up. A moment later, Korsak's rang out. Picking up her phone, Jane waited, and waited, until Frankie and Korsak were almost out of the door.
"Wait, I wanna come!" she shouted.
"Like that?" Korsak shook his head. "Not until those babies are safely out."
"I don't wanna chase after criminals," Jane said. "It's just a murder!"
Frankie squeezed her shoulder and kissed the side of her face. "It's never just a murder with you. Look after my nieces."
They left the office, leaving Jane feeling even more sorry for herself. She hated desk duty, hated it even more when she could barely stand up without someone fussing over her. All week everyone wanted to touch her stomach, or talk to her like she was a small child. Every cop she came across looked at her with a tilt to the head.
"Take me!" Jane said.
Nina backed out of the room, her hands in surrender. "No can do. But call me if you need anything."
"I'm not an invalid!"
x
"Cailin, I need you to take samples from the body," Maura said, walking around the body. "By the time you've finished Kent will be available to perform the autopsy. I've got a prior arrangement in ten minutes, I'll be in my office but wish not to be disturbed."
"No problem," Cailin said, placing the last of the tools back on the equipment shelf. "Do you want me to do a full workup?"
"Yes. Fingerprints, skin, clothes, photographs. Document everything. Then put him through an x-ray. There appears to be some bruises around the groin area, check for signs of sexual penetration."
"Will do."
She clipped a document to a clip board and left it on the counter beside the body. "If you need anything, Kent should be your first point of call."
Back in the seclusion of her office, Maura closed the blinds and turned on a relaxation recording on her laptop and lay down on the couch. She closed her eyes. As much as she loved Jane, and sharing a bed with her, the increased movement in the night made it harder to sleep. She was on high alert, conscious of every little shift and turn, as though it meant something.
She got lost in the sound of water flowing along a ravine, birds twittered high in the sky. She focused on her breathing, in and out, in and out, with the gentle movements of the recording.
A knock at the door pulled her from her meditation. She sat up, sighing. Had it been the door to the examination room, she'd have ignored it. But she had no control over how many people knocked on the main office door.
"Morning," Jane said, pushing past her the second she'd opened the door. She took a few steps forward then turned, narrowing her eyes. "Did I disturb something?"
"I was meditating."
"Oh, sorry," Jane said, walking back toward the door.
"No," Maura said, closing it. "Stay."
"You sure? You look tired." Stepping closer, Jane tucked the end of her hair back over her shoulder. "I can be quiet. Go back to meditation."
"I need no disruptions," Maura said, walking over to her desk and turning off the music. "It's fine."
"No, it's not." Edging closer, Jane rested her hands-on Maura's hips and leaned in close. "Your bags would have bags if it wasn't for your moisturiser. How can I help?"
"I might sleep in the nursery tonight," Maura said, stifling a yawn. "I've been trying to rest but I can't help noticing how restless you are."
"I'm sorry, my back has been playing up," Jane said, pressing her lips to the side of Maura's mouth and trailing her mouth across her chin. "Maybe I can help some other way."
"What are you doing, Jane?"
Without responding, she reached down and tugged up the edges of Maura's skirt around her thighs. Maura covered Jane's hands, to stop her, but it had been longer than she wanted to think since they'd been physical.
"This okay?" Jane asked, wrapping her hands around the backs of Maura's thighs, she attempted to lift her up.
"No," Maura said, unwrapping her hands. She placed a finger over Jane's mouth and turned to her desk. Rearranging a couple of things, she made space and jumped up onto it. "Now it's okay."
Stepping in between her legs, Jane moved her mouth back down to Maura's neck, nibbling her skin and sending kisses across her skin. Maura ground her hips forward as Jane's hand slipped between her thighs.
A loud knock on the internal door cut through the passion like a knife tearing a parachutist from their parachute. Jane leaned against her forehead, her eyes fixed on Maura's. "Don't answer it."
She toyed with the idea for a moment, but they knocked again, three times in successive order. "I'm sorry."
Jane stepped away, giving Maura just enough space to pulled her underwear back up and her dress back down. She ran a hand across Jane's cheek and kissed her softly.
"There's an active shooter in the building," Cailin said, before she'd even opened the door.
Maura turned back to Jane, who joined her by the door. "How do you know?"
"Kent got a call on the internal phone, I guess they couldn't reach you."
"Are there any casualties?" Maura asked, her hands shaking at her sides. She grasped at Jane's hand, stealing the briefest of glances.
"I should go," Jane said, pulling her gun out of its holster and heading for the door.
Grabbing her by the arm, Maura shouted. "No!"
"I can't do nothing!"
"You're seven and a half months pregnant." Closing the gap between them, Maura cupped her cheeks. "Please, Jane, don't go. There are any number of armed police officers in the building. Stay here."
"Kent says there's been some injuries on the first floor."
"Okay." Maura pulled the gun from Jane's grasp and placed it back in its holster. "Keep it close, but stay here. Cailin, take Jane, go get Kent and barricade yourself in the safest place you can find."
"You're not staying?" Jane asked, staring at her. "No. Maura."
"Trust me, Jane," she said, squeezing her hand. "I won't be long. I'll go upstairs and see if I can help. Don't leave unless you need to. Your safety, and the safety of our daughters is the only thing that matters. No heroics."
"Then why are you trying to be heroic?" Cailin asked.
"I'm not." Maura sighed. "The only doctors in the building are in this room. If there's injuries, it can be the difference between that and fatalities."
"Then I'll come," Cailin said.
"No." She opened the cupboard beside her desk and pulled out her medical bag. She ran for the door. "Cailin, I need you to stay here and take care of Jane. If something happens, I need you and Kent to make sure they make it out of here alive."
"Maura, don't," Jane said, tears filled her eyes.
She stopped, her fingers on the handle, and shook her head. Her heart told her to stay, to batten down the hatches with Jane, Cailin and Kent, but her head told her there were people that needed her and she couldn't ignore that.
Spinning around, Maura rushed back into the room and pulled Jane into her arms. She longed to be able to hold her, unhindered, but sought comfort in the knowledge that their children were there with them. She kissed her on the lips. Brushing the tears from her face, she kissed her again.
"Be safe," she said, and left the room without another word.
x
Pacing back and forth across the room, Jane's heart raced. It felt like it had followed Maura out of the room long ago and she hadn't heard from her since.
"Sit down," Kent said. "You need to stay out of sight.
"How can I do that knowing Maura's out there with a potential shooter?"
Cailin wrapped an arm around her back and guided her into a corner between a couple of overturned tables. "Kent's right, you need to stay down. I know this is scary, I'm scared too."
"It's not scary," Jane said. "Shooting yourself in the stomach to stop someone from killing everyone is scary. This is terrifying. What if she's hurt?"
Kent shuffled across the floor. "She's smart, Jane."
"Don't touch me," she snapped, as he reached out to her. He pulled his hand away. "I need you both to stop fussing over me like I'm incapable of anything."
"You're pregnant, sweetie," Kent said, staring her down.
"We just have to wait it out," Cailin said, looping her arm around Jane's. "We don't know how serious it is, we don't know where the shooter is. It's better that we stay here, surrounded by metal, keeping quiet."
"I can't lose her," Jane whispered, sinking her face into her hands. Tears overflowed down her cheeks, forcing her shoulders to shake as all of her emotions flooded her. "I can't raise our babies alone."
Cailin slid her arm around Jane's shoulder. "You won't have to."
"Right," Kent said, gripping hold of her other hand. "We'll all be here, no matter what."
x
On the first floor, the first thing Maura saw was blood. It had to be more than two pints, spread across the tiles like soap trailing behind a cleaner's mop. She froze. Her heart racing. The entrance hall was empty, void of people for the first time in her entire career at Boston Police Department. As she stepped across the tiles, she was painfully aware of the sound of her shoes hitting the floor. She slipped them off, abandoning them by the doorway. Reaching the front door, Maura looked again at the trail of blood, heading off towards a doorway on the other side of the room.
"Hands up!" a man shouted, a draft from the front door whirled around making the room colder.
Maura froze, dropping her bag. She lifted her hands up at her sides. "My name is Doctor Maura Isles."
"Pathologist?" he asked. She nodded. "Come with me."
She followed him out of the building and onto the stone steps where a group of uniformed gathered. She surveyed the street, cordoned off a few metres away. An ambulance sat at one end, several EMTs milled around a group of injured people.
"You got supplies?" She nodded again. "We got lucky, only one gunshot victim. The rest are accidental. A woman twisted her ankle trying to get out, a kid who was in the café fell down the steps."
"What happened?" Maura asked, following him down the street towards the injured.
"Man came in, didn't even try to get through security, just started shooting up the place. He got Officer Hanley on the front desk."
Maura gasped. "Is he alright?"
"Gunshot wound to the upper arm, he's on the way to the hospital. They don't think it's serious."
"He was the only one?"
"Officer Franklin just happened to enter the building, he pulled his gun and got the shooter in the side. He dropped his gun, managed to pick it up again as he headed through security and ran off."
"So, he's inside, but nobody knows where?"
"That's right."
Maura crouched down in front of the small child, bruises to his arm and a cut to his head. "Hey there, I'm Doctor Isles. Can I have a look at you?"
x
"We've been here for hours," Jane said, breathing heavily. The more time passed, the harder it was to not know anything. She didn't even know if Frankie and Korsak were still out at the crime scene. "Why is it taking so long? I need to lie down, my back hurts."
"You know how these things word," Kent said, opening a bottle of water and handing it to her. "Maybe I could get the pillows from Maura's couch."
"You shouldn't leave here," Cailin said.
Jane sipped the water, grateful, but too irritable to thank him. "Why aren't they done?"
"If the shooter is moving through the building, they have to secure it."
Banging her fist down on the tiled floor, water flew out of the end of the bottle and onto her lap. She groaned, her pants were soaked. "She could be dead for all we know."
"She's not dead," Cailin said, gripping her hand. "I don't believe that. We haven't heard any gun shots, as far as we know nobody's hurt. It's a police station full of people with guns, how far can someone get?"
"You'd be surprised," Jane said, rolling her eyes. "The last time they damn near killed Frankie."
"The last time it was an inside job," Kent said. "Maura told me everything. She also told me about your attempt at stopping him. I wouldn't recommend shooting yourself in the stomach this time."
"Do you really think I'd do that?"
"No. Of course not."
x
The building was near enough empty. Officers, Detectives and everyone in between gathered around the nearby streets. Maura stood in the middle of the road waiting.
"Where's Janie?" Frankie asked, rushing to her side. "What the hell happened? Someone said there's a shooter."
"Inside," Maura said, grabbing Frankie's hand on one side and Korsak's on the other. "I left Jane in the lab with Cailin and Kent."
"You left her there?" Frankie let go of her hand and stood in front of her. "How could you do that?"
"I had to go and help, I needed to see if anyone was injured."
"You could have been killed! Jane needs you."
"And I need Jane, but that doesn't mean we don't still have jobs to do."
"It's okay," Korsak said, wrapping a hand around Frankie's arm. He retreated. "Jane's smart."
"Yeah, real smart," Frankie muttered. "Last time she was in the building with a shooter she shot herself in the stomach."
Korsak, his voice slow and methodical, stared at him. "She's not gonna do that this time."
"She wouldn't hurt the babies," Maura said, folding her arms across her chest. "What's taking them so long? They should have cleared the lab by now."
"We got the shooter!" Detective Crowe shouted, rushing out of the building, closely followed by two officers carrying a man, blood spilling from his stomach.
Without even thinking, Maura ran forward to assist. "You need to put pressure on the wound."
"Why?" Crowe asked, his face stoic.
"He is still a human being," she said, rushing along beside them, her fingers pressed into the wound. "Besides, if he dies there's no justice."
AN EMT ran forward, pulling along a gurney. The officers placed him on the bed. Maura ran along beside it as they transferred it back to the ambulance.
"Call me when Jane's out," Maura shouted after her.
x
"Would you get your hands off me," Jane shouted, batting the nurse away.
She stood beside her in purple scrubs, her head tilted to one side, glaring at Jane in much the same way she glared back. "Are you really gonna fight me on this?"
"I'm fine! Where's Cailin? I need to know that Maura's okay."
"We can find Cailin for you once I've examined you. You're heavily pregnant and you were in a very stressful situation," the nurse said. "Let me do my damn job so you can get the hell out of here."
"Somebody's crabby," Jane muttered, leaning back and giving in to her examination.
She leaned forward, pain travelled through her abdomen. "God."
"Everything alright?"
"No." Jane groaned, the pain barely subsided.
"What does it feel like?"
"I've had a back ache for days," she said, falling back against the bed. She breathed slowly. "Why does it hurt more now?"
The nurse, her hand on her hip, stared at Jane. "Did you injure yourself?"
"No."
She pressed her fingertips to Jane's abdomen. "Is it Braxton Hicks?"
"I dunno, how would I know? I've never been pregnant before."
"Like your stomach is rock solid."
"Oh, that? No. Not like that."
"How often have you been feeling the pain?"
"A couple hours."
"How often?"
"The backache? All the time. But it gets worse every few minutes."
"Jane," the nurse said, gripping hold of her hand. "How far along are you?"
"Thirty-two weeks, nearly thirty-three."
"Have you had any bleeding or discharge?"
"What kind?" Jane asked.
"Vaginal."
Sighing, Jane nodded. "Maura said it's okay. It happens."
"It can do. You said you've had the backache for a few days, does moving around help?"
"No."
"Okay."
She turned to walk away, but Jane grabbed her arm. "What is it?"
"I should get a doctor to examine you."
"Why? You know what's wrong."
"Okay." She turned back to Jane. "We'll need to do a few more tests, but from what I can see you could be in the early stages of labour."