So I got passed one out of the two blocks I have. I actually found this chapter and had to edit more than 3/4 of it so it could fit to the way I chose to develop the story, but I think it was worth it.

About the song - it is in fact a song that I wrote to my latest ex-girlfriend while we were still together. I will edit the verses and adapt them to the plot and the characters, but the base will remain the song I wrote for my ex. And if she happens to read this facfiction - I'm sorry for all the pain I caused. You are still very dear to my heart and I will always have a soft spot for you.

I am so terribly sorry that I kept you waiting or so long, but now that I'm free (well, until March) I hope I'll have much more time to write.

Enjoy!

Chapter 36

They were screwed. Both Jane and Frankie were weak after being beaten up for hours, and there were just too many people – armed people – to make it possible even in theory. They both knew that the second either of them tries anything, the other sibling will get shot.

"I think you two need to wake up a bit. Wha'd'ya sayin'?" DiAngelo's voice brought Jane back to reality. She didn't answer him, she wouldn't let him get what he wanted. So she kept her mouth shut and continued to run possible scenarios in her mind.

DiAngelo and Nico pushed them, forcing them to step forward. Jane heard Frankie falling on the floor next to her and immediately kneeled next to him.

"C'mon, stand up. You can use me for support." Jane said.

"I can't. My knee…" Frankie whispered the last part. Jane remembered this was his bad knee, the one he injured years ago. This injury cut his baseball career before it even began.

"Just stand up, okay?" Jane whispered back.

"You, stand up. Now." Nico said aggressively.

"I'm trying – "

" – Well you're not tryin' hard enough. Stand up!" DiAngelo yelled.

"He's trying? Can't you see that, you little asshole?" Jane saw red.

But she didn't see DiAngelo's hand slapping her on her cheek. She wasn't ready, he was too fast for her sometimes.

"Don't you touch her!" Frankie yelled, struggling to stand up.

"Shut up!" Nico yelled at him.

And at that moment all Jane could hope for – happened.

"Auntie Mora?" TJ's little voice was coming from the bedroom door.

Maura looked up to meet his eyes. She was still sitting on the bed, the notebook opened in her hand. How long was she sitting here? Hours? Minutes? She couldn't tell. All she knew is that the notes kept playing in her head from the moment she read them.

"Yes honey?"

"You missed the movie. Mulan was on TV and you missed it." TJ said.

"I'm sorry honey, I got carried away." Maura smiled at him. She couldn't help but smiling when she saw him, no matter how bad her emotional state was. "Are you hungry, sweetie?"

"Yes." TJ nodded. "Can we order pizza? Please Auntie Mora…"

TJ looked at her with his puppy eyes and a pleading look, his hands held under his chin with a plea of their own. Maura looked at him for a few seconds before she started to laugh a little laugh and said "Okay, yes we can. But first you need to shower."

"Okay… But I want bacon on my pizza." He said with a smile.

"We'll see about that after the shower. Come with me." She stood up and walked with him to the bathroom.

"Boston PD! Put your hands up! Right now!"

Jane rolled herself over Frankie. She knew that within a few seconds shots might be fired, and he couldn't protect himself the way he was laying on the floor.

"No! Jane! What are you doing?" Frankie tried to resist.

"Shut up, I'm saving you." Jane said back. Within a couple of seconds DiAngelo and his people found their spots and started to shoot at the cops, who returned their fire with their own.

"Roll over there, follow me." Jane said and rolled a few feet to her right until she had some protection behind the wall. Within a few seconds Frankie joined her.

"It's about damn time that they show up, don't you think?" Frankie said.

"Yeah…" Jane said, unfocused, while she looked for something sharp to cut the ropes with.

"Here." She heard Frankie's voice after a moment or two. She looked at him. He pointed with his chin towards a single, rusty, broken scissor blade. Jane dragged herself until she could grab it and started to cut the rope that kept her hands tied together. When she finished she quickly cut Frankie's rope too.

"Let's go find a gun or something." Jane said when his hands were free.

"I can't, my knee…" he said.

"Stay here, I'll be back. Stay alive." She said and went towards Marco's office to get the gun he kept there, but the moment she stood up she heard Frankie screaming in pain.

She turned around to look at him. Blood was starting to stream from a wound just above the back of his knee.

"No!" Jane yelled and kneeled down once again next to him. In a quick move she took her shirt off, staying with her tank, and held it against Frankie's leg, applying pressure. Around them the cops' voices were mixed with DiAngelo's people's voices.

Jane looked around. She knew those cops were a part of O'Shaughnessy's squad. She looked for a familiar face, someone who could recognize her as a cop and help her, but she couldn't find any. She even hoped to see the lieutenant herself, though she knew she wouldn't find her – the lieutenants always stay outside to supervise and send in backup if needed.

WHOOOSH. The bullet missed her only by an inch. A little to the left and Jane would have died. The one after that was less than an inch above her.

"Someone is aiming at me." She said to Frankie.

"No shit, we need a gun." He said in pain.

"I can't leave you again, not like this."

"Just go, I'll stay alive." Frankie said.

Jane tried to protest when she felt thick, strong fingers wrapping themselves around her arm and pulling her up to a standing position. Two seconds later she felt the cold metal of a gun being put against her head.

"Put your guns down or she's dead!" DiAngelo's voice was loud, clear and confident. Everyone stopped shooting within a single moment.

"Drop 'em! Now!" he yelled.

"Let her go, DiAngelo." One of the detectives said confidentially.

"Guns down, now." He said, more calm now, as he loaded the gun. It took another two minutes, but eventually all the cops' guns were on the floor.

Jane was hoping – for a miracle, a savior, for anything that could save them. She looked around, counted desperately DiAngelo's men, hoping that one of them will decide to help her and Frankie out. But they had no such luck.

"Kick your guns away to my direction." DiAngelo said, but his voice was like fog to Jane's eyes.

"Let her go DiAngelo, it's not worth it." The same detective said in the same tone.

"You're not in the position to make a decision, now shut up." DiAngelo said.

"There are cops all around this place. If they will hear a gunshot and won't hear one of us report it they will come in here, and they won't be as gentle as I am." The cop said.

While being held in DiAngelo's hands at gunpoint, a memory floated in her mind. Last year, after Frankie got information from a CI about an Irish guy selling cocaine mixed with rat poison at BCU, detective Reynolds took Frankie along with two other detectives to bust the guy. When they reached his apartment they found him with a young female student, putting a gun against her head. The dealer said he'll let her live if they just left the place, but Reynolds wasn't going to give up that easy. Frankie told her he tried to negotiate with the dealer who refused to listen, so Reynolds had no choice but to shoot him to save the girl. He hit straight in the dealer's hand, the girl ran away and they arrested him. Frankie told her it was the most aimed shot he had ever seen in his life.

'I'm telling you Jane, that guy had no chance the moment detective Reynolds walked in that apartment.'

A chance. That was what Jane kept hoping for – a chance to get out of here. A chance to see her family again. A chance to see Maura. She lost her focus while detective Reynolds and DiAngelo continued their private little ego battle, although detective Reynolds was reasonable and DiAngelo was just cocky. But in the end, their voices were what brought her back to reality.

"DiAngelo, it's been over fifteen minutes since we walked in here. If my people outside won't hear anything from me within the next few minutes our backup will come in here, and they will shoot."

"Boss, what do you want me to do?" Nico said all of a sudden.

"Go and take their guns off the floor." He said.

Nico never lowered his gun. He started to collect the guns the cops were forced to drop on the floor. He was standing next to a detective in his mid-thirties when he got the cop's knee to his nose. Detective Reynolds saw that happening and called the backup. Within another two seconds the warehouse was filled with cops, ordering Marco's people to drop their weapons and put their hands in the air.

"You are coming with me." She heard DiAngelo's voice in her ear.

"Never." She said back.

"Well, you don't have much of a choice, do ya?" he said smugly.

Jane tried to fight him as he dragged her to his office. She managed to slow him down, making this mission almost impossible for him. As she turned her head while struggling, she saw Frankie got a gun.

"Shoot him!" she yelled at him.

Frankie looked at them. DiAngelo stopped trying to drag Jane into his office, he just kept her there as his shield.

"Well, ya heard your sister. Go ahead and shoot me." The snobbish, mocking smile on DiAngelo's face matched his tone of speech. Frankie kept his gun up, ready to shoot, but both him and DiAngelo knew he wouldn't dare as long as there is even the slightest chance he might hurt Jane instead.

"Shoot him! Don't listen to him, shoot him!" Jane yelled.

"You can shoot me, but you might hurt your sister." DiAngelo provoked him.

"Shut up Marco." Frankie answered quickly.

Jane struggled and fought back. When she was bent down she knew Marco's right side was exposed to Frankie. "Shoot him!" she yelled again, this time with all her lungs.

And he did. The bullet hit Marco's hip. Frankie didn't want to aim to his stomach, afraid he might miss and the bullet will hit Jane instead, so he went to the easiest target.

Jane took his gun off his hand before he hit the ground and aimed it at him.

"Shit! You bastard! You hurt my leg!" Marco screamed in pain as he was lying on the ground.

"Shut up." Jane said, kicking him lightly with the side of her foot.

"You bitch, I knew it. You will pay for it. Both of you will." Marco said, hatred in his voice and look.

"We'll see about that. Get up, you scum." Jane said. He ignored her, keeping his hands on the wound.

"I've got him! He's here!" Jane yelled at the cops. Two of them showed up, arrested him and called the ambulance.

"J… Ja…" she heard Frankie's voice. Jane turned around and looked at him. He lost a lot of blood.

"Stay still." She said. She helped him take his shirt off. Then she ripped the sutures on one side and created a big, long tourniquet. She tied it tight a few inches above the wound and tried to help Frankie stand up.

"I can't stand." He mumbled.

"Stay here, don't move. You've lost too much blood, I'll get an EMT." Jane said and rushed outside to call a doctor.

It took them another hour before Frankie was finally on his way to the hospital. The EMT told Jane she did just right, but they had troubles putting him on the stretcher because of his major blood loss that weakened him. He also suffered from a slight concussion, a fracture in his arm and a few superficial wounds on his face. He refused to let her come with him to the hospital, saying that someone else desperately needs her right now, and that "I've had enough of you for a year," so Jane had no choice but to give up.

They wanted to take Jane to the hospital as well, but she refused. Frankie was right – there was someone who was desperate to see her again. The let the EMT clean her wounds and check for anything that might be fractured of dislocated, but eventually they told her she was lucky. She also had a slight concussion – she and Frankie got them from the repeated beatings on their heads – but nothing more serious than that.

After the EMT let her go, she went to talk to Lieutenant O'Shaughnessy. The Lieutenant made sure she was okay, Jane assured her she was and that Frankie will be soon as well. The Lieutenant said that Cavanaugh gave her some time off until she was ready to get back to work, and they agreed that on Monday morning Jane will come to give her statement. And then she was free to go home.

"How's your pizza, honey?" Maura asked TJ who was sitting on a barstool at the kitchen island, eating his third slice of pizza with bacon.

"It's great!" he said, a huge smile on his face.

Maura smiled at him. "I'm glad. I'll just be a second at the bathroom, okay?"

TJ nodded, his mouth filled with pizza, and Maura went to the bathroom.

She closed the door behind her and put her hands on the counter. She looked at her feet, laying her body weight on her feet and arms, which supported her body as they gripped the counter edges. She exhaled deeply and waited a few seconds before she stood up straight again, her hands still holding the counter.

'Please be home soon, Jane… please be safe… please still be alive…'

Maura felt like she was almost sweating and took off the sweatshirt she was wearing, remaining in Jane's turquoise tank and a black pair of sweatpants.

The lyrics kept running over and over again in her hand. She had to try really hard to stay in focus around TJ. She didn't want him to know how confused she was about how she felt, about how Jane felt.

She didn't want him to know that each and every word that Jane wrote, Maura felt towards Jane.

Jane took her key out of her pocket. Somehow she remembered to carry it with her every day, although she had no idea why.

She opened the door and closed it behind herself. She was with her back at the kitchen when she heard a little voice screaming with the happiest tone she had ever heard.

"Auntie Jaaaaaane! You're back!" TJ jumped off the barstool and ran to hug her, wrapping his little body around his aunt's legs.

"Hey there little guy, what are you doing here?" Jane laughed and picked him up, kissing him on the cheek.

"I'm spending the weekend here with Auntie Mora, she's in the bathroom. Look Auntie Jane – we're having bacon pizza!" he pointed with excitement at his plate. But Jane almost completely lost him at the moment he said Maura's name.

She did, though, managed to let out a response. "That's great! I know it's your favorite." She said and put him down.

"Jane?"

Jane stood up straight as TJ went to take his place at the kitchen island again.

Maura stood across the room, maybe thirty feet away. She was wearing Jane's cloths and was barefoot. Jane couldn't speak. She hoped to see Maura every day ever since she left her in her office.

Her voice; her scent; the look on her face; the way the word "Jane" rolls on her tongue; her touch; the way she made Jane feel so comfortable around her; her smile; her eyes. Everything about her.

"Jane." Maura said, and ran into Jane's embrace. Jane didn't notice she was taking a few steps forward while they were silent, and she met Maura halfway.

She got to hug her. Really hug her – a warm, tight, loving embrace, which they both urged for during the past few months. Maura's hands were lying on the back of Jane's neck. Jane's hands were on Maura's waists, pulling her as closer as possible. They just stood there, hugged, for a few minutes.

"I missed you so much…" Maura sobbed against Jane's shoulder, her face buried in Jane's chest.

"I know, I missed you too. I thought about you every single day." Jane said. She took one hand off of Maura's waist and ran up and down on Maura's hair, stroking her gently.

"Just don't leave me like that again." Maura sobbed.

"I won't, I promise." Jane said in her ear.

Maura took a step back to look at Jane. Jane smiled at her. "We probably need to talk."

"Yeah…" Maura said, "I think we should."

"Why don't you go wash your face and we'll talk later, okay?" Jane said to her quietly. Maura nodded and went once again to the bathroom, while Jane grabbed a plate and took a seat next to TJ at the kitchen island.

"Auntie Jane?" TJ asked when Maura was out of ear shot.

"Yes big guy?" Jane hummed while eating almost half a slice of pizza in one bite.

"You didn't kiss her because I'm here, right?"

Jane looked at him, shocked. "TJ, this has nothing to do with you. And how do you even know I wanted to?"

"I know you like her, Auntie Jane…" he giggled. "I heard you and Nona talking in her kitchen when I slept over a few months ago. You thought I was sleeping, but I wasn't and I heard you tell her you don't like Casey anymore but you like Auntie Mora."

"You are sticking your nose in other people's businesses." Jane messed his hair and made him a face, making him laugh. "Now finish your pizza."

"But I'm not hungry anymore." He said.

"Did you shower already?" Jane asked him.

"Yes. And I watched Mulan when it was on TV today." He said.

"Then you can watch some more TV until bedtime." Jane said, and he jumped off the barstool and went to turn the TV on. Jane finished her slice as well as what left of TJ's and put the plates in the sink.

"Want me to make you a cup of coffee? You're probably tired." Maura's voice came from behind her.

"No, but thanks. I just need to get some sleep." Jane chuckled.

"I, uh… I see you're bruised. I missed that earlier." Maura said.

"Yeah, it's no big deal. The EMT cleaned it and stitched it at the ambulance. Nothing too fatal or anything. Frankie is worse." Jane said and sat back on one of the stools.

"Why? What happened?" Maura asked, taking a seat next to her.

"He got a bullet in his knee. It missed the knee-cap, which is good, but he still had to go to the hospital. He refused to let me go with him, so we compromised I'll bring him lunch tomorrow to the hospital. He also has a fracture in his arm, and we both have slight concussions." Jane said. They were silent for a few moments, just taking everything in. Jane was the one to break the silence.

"And how you've been?"

Maura sighed. "Bad. Really bad actually. I was… lost, without you. I couldn't be around people; it felt strange when you weren't a part of them. I barely came out of my office or the morgue at all. When I was at home I closed myself in my office at home. I barely ate or slept. But I meditated a lot; it helped me clear my mind when it got a little too much for me." She said.

"Are you kidding me?" Jane said.

"Not at all. Ian was confused, helpless. He just stood there and couldn't do anything because I refused to let him help. We broke up a few days ago."

"Are you okay with that?"

"I couldn't stay with him. I couldn't even let him touch me. Not sexually, not even to put his hand on my shoulder. It was bearable only when it was Angela, Frost, Korsak or when I was holding TJ. Ever since you and Frankie left I couldn't let him touch me. We haven't slept since that day." Maura said those things a bit more quietly.

"I thought about you every day." Jane said, putting her hand on Maura's.

"Me too. I squeezed the bullet at least ten times a day."

"I held the locket against my heart more than that." Jane chuckled. Maura looked down at her fingers.

Jane turned her head to look at TJ. "He fell asleep. I'll put him in bed and then we could talk."

"No, let me." Maura said and got up. "You're probably tired too after all you've been through. It's okay, I can carry him."

Jane watched her as she carried her sleeping nephew to the bedroom. When Maura came back Jane was sitting on the couch, asking Maura to join her with no words.

Let me know what you think, and if you are still around. And thank you if you've stuck with me through this extremely long break.