Remember me? Yeah, so I'm back. After a massive writing block, and a re-write of this whole chapter and the next one (because I lost them because ADHD oh well), I've finally got you guys an update. I must say that I kinda like the way I wrote this chapter, way better than the one I lost, so I guess it was all for the best, right?

Anyway, I know there is no amount of words that could ever make up for this awfully long disappearance, so I'll just say that I'm so extremely-terribly-so-very-much sorry, and I wish I would have broken this block ages ago but I tried and failed miserably multiple times. I do hope it won't happen again so soon. It's almost 5 AM for me when I'm posting this, and after writing and watching all episodes so far of Faking It, I'm not even tired. I just want to write on until I have to leave for work in the morn... holy crap it's in about three hours.

Well, nevermind. Enjoy!

Chapter 37

"He had a long day today." Maura said when she came back to the living room almost half an hour later, as if justifying TJ for making her stay by his side until he fell asleep again.

"It's okay, really." Jane said with a soft voice.

"You're injured pretty badly." Maura pointed out.

"Yeah, you said it earlier. It's nothing. The EMTs checked me and said it was mostly superficial, but asked me to go to see the Doctor in a day or two, just to be sure. Frankie got it pretty bad though."

"What happened?"

"He got shot, straight to his knee. They said he was lucky his kneecap wasn't broken into a million pieces, the bullet missed it by a millimeter or something."

"His leg probably won't be the same again though."

"Yeah, I know this. He knows this. But he'll be fine, he's a fighter just like all the other Rizzolis." Jane chuckled to herself.

"What happened there?" Maura asked softly.

Jane sighed before she answered. "They got onto us. My guess is that they knew pretty much from the start, we weren't subtle at all and took no time to blend in in the area. We messed up big time, but we made it somehow, thanks to the UC that was there for a few years. He's probably on the run, or went to see his wife and kid before. I hope they get protection as soon as possible, I'd hate it if they got lost in the system."

"He'll be fine." Maura put her hand on Jane's.

"Yeah, he's a fighter too."

"Tell me more about what happened."

"Uhm, I'm not really sure how much of it I can tell. Well, I guess DiAngelo – the guy we went after – wasn't as stupid as they told us he was and was onto us pretty much after day one. I think that he knew and just waited for the right time or opportunity or something. He tried to make us talk, hit us, basically tortured us, for hours. We got lucky when I saw an old cell phone lying on the floor at the corner. We got even luckier when it worked. I called Lieutenant O'shaunessy and told her they knew. He didn't know we were cops though, just thought we spied for another dealer. He got cruel at some point, and instead hitting us when we refused to talk, he'd hit the other."

"What do you mean?" Maura was confused and a bit terrified at the same time.

"When I refused to talk, he'd hit Frankie. When Frankie refused to talk, he'd hit me."

"Oh God..." Maura was horrified.

"Hey, hey, look at me." Jane said, putting her thumb and index finger under Maura's chin and tilting her head up until their eyes met once again. "I'm here now, aren't I? It's over, I'm here, I'm home."

They fell into comfortable silence. Maura leaned on Jane, resting her head on her shoulder, and Jane wrapped one arm around her. It's been quite some time before Jane broke the silence.

"He really loves you, you know," Jane said, "TJ, I mean."

Maura smiled to herself, her eyes focused on a spot on the wall. "He's a very sweet little boy. We spent time together since yesterday and we hadn't argued even once about anything too serious."

"Yeah, he's a great kid." Jane said, unfocused.

"I found your song." Maura blurted out.

"I'm-sorry-what?" Jane said altogether, slightly confused.

"Well, technically it was Casey who found it, but you got what I tried to say – "

"Wow wow wow, hold on. Rewind a little bit, and tell me what the hell was Casey doing here?" Jane was confused, and mad.

"I don't really know. Yesterday we were here when he came. He tried to unlock the door, but I left the key inside the lock so he couldn't open it. We talked for a minute or two, I repeatedly explained him that he had nothing to do here, and he left. When we came back from the park about three hours later we found him here. He was holding this orange notebook you used to keep in the drawer of your nightstand, I realized it was it when I saw your handwriting on the front cover of it. He threw this at me, it was open on a certain page, and the headline was my name, so I read it."

Jane was a little overwhelmed. For a starter, she hated the fact that Casey was here for any reason but leaving the divorce papers for her to sign on whenever she was to return home. Second, she hated that he went through her stuff. But more than everything – she hated that Maura saw the song before it was finished.

"Well... Uhm..." Jane managed to mumble a few vowels. "Did you, uh, did you like it?"

Maura looked at Jane's eyes and smiled, though Jane avoided her look. "I love it. It's beautiful."

Jane looked up and met Maura's gaze. A little smile started to spread across her face, as Maura's smile was covering her almost from ear to ear.

"Well, it's not done yet, but I have a pretty solid start. I just had these few lines stuck in my head for a little while, and I immediately thought of you when I repeated it in my mind." Jane said, clearly with not-so-slight embarrassment.

Maura just kept smiling at her. "It's still beautiful. And I'm very much flattered."

They talked for a couple of hours about nothing and everything, making each other laugh from time to time. They both had an unspoken agreement that there will be no more talking during this night about Jane's undercover mission and that the "us" talk was too soon. Around midnight Jane suggested they'd go to bed, since they were both quite tired. She got up and offered Maura her hand in an act of chivalry. Smiling, Maura took Jane's offered hand and stood up. They looked in each other's eyes, silent for a few seconds, as if they were both afraid that if they'd talked the moment will be gone and forgotten. Yet, it was Maura who broke the comfortable silence.

"I've really missed you Jane." She said, tucking a curly stray of hair behind Jane's ear.

"I missed you too, Maur." Jane smiled back. Maura kept looking into her eyes, until Jane pulled her closer for a very much needed hug. They both tried to convey everything through it, and they both understood what the other said in it.

"Will you hold me tonight?" Maura asked, her head resting on Jane's strong shoulder.

"Of course I will." Jane almost whispered and planted a gentle kiss on the top of Maura's head. It took them a few more moments to pull apart and head to bed, both didn't want to give up the warmth of the other and the strong feeling of security they had in the other one's arms.

"Auntie Jane! Get up, get up, get up!"

Before Jane could even contemplate the question of what time of the day was it, she heard TJ's voice. She let out a tired growl and rubbed her eyes.

"What is it little guy?"

"Auntie Mora said we can go to the park with Jo before Sunday dinner with Nonna. Now get up!" TJ said right before he ran outside the room towards the bathroom.

'He reminds me of Simba when he tried waking Mufasa up just because he wanted to see their territory' Jane thought to herself just before her eyes landed on Maura, who was leaning against the doorframe with a little smile on her face.

"Morning to you too." Jane greeted her with a smile.

"Good morning. How did you sleep?"

"Pretty good, actually."

"I'm glad."

Jane looked at her, and then let out a soft chuckle. "You look good in my clothes."

Maura gave a gentle shrug. "I'm quite comfortable in them. And they smell like you."

Jane dropped her head and released another soft chuckle before she finally stood up and made her way towards Maura, who met her halfway. Jane slid her arms around Maura's waists, pulling her close, and Maura put her hands on Jane's chest.

"I'm so happy that you're finally home." Maura whispered, leaning her forehead against Jane's.

"I'm so happy I came home to find you here." Jane said, her voice soft, almost caressing Maura with her words.

"You are coming to dinner tonight, are you?" Maura looked up to meet her eyes.

"I don't know if I can. I have to go to the precinct to give my statement pretty soon. How about I go to the precinct and come back here when I'm done so we could go together?"

"Okay, that sounds good to me." Maura's eyes sparkled.

"It could be a while though, so don't get upset if I don't show up after a little while."

Maura, still in Jane's arms, turned her head to check on TJ. He was still watching TV, but it was crystal clear that he was eager to go to the park by now. She turned her look back to Jane. "Actually, TJ seems to be quite on edge. Why won't we walk to the park with Jo and you'll meet us when you're finished at the precinct?"

Jane looked down into Maura's eyes. 'Here's that spark again' she thought as a small smile was formed on her face.

"I wish I could kiss you right now." Jane said.

Maura looked at her, almost studying her face. "What stops you?"

"I'm still technically married to Casey. I don't want you to be 'the other woman', you don't deserve that."

"It's just a kiss, Jane."

"It doesn't matter. I screwed up too much by now, and no matter how we move on from this I just want to do this right. I owe you to do this right this time, I owe you a fresh start."

"You don't owe me anything Jane. We both made some bad choices. While I was away I've had two relationships – Alex and Ian – and during both of them there was this constant voice in my head that kept telling me that I shouldn't have run away, that I should've stayed and fought, because if I had fought than I might have won." Maura's voice was calm, but very much assertive.

"Maur, I was, or am, married to Casey for, well, I can't even remember how long. But I do know and I do remember that if you're happily married to someone than you should be hoping to be sharing a bed with someone else."

"It's not like I was there for you to come back to, I didn't even come to say hi on your wedding. I came with Alex, but it was too painful to see you standing next to a man, that in that moment I wished with all of my heart to be in his place." Maura explained.

"I didn't know that. I didn't know that you thought about marriage or anything like that, let alone with me." Jane looked deeply into her eyes. "You see, Maur? That's exactly why I want to make this right. That's why I haven't kissed you yet, and I'm pretty sure you've been wondering why. This is why, I want that if we will be 'us', than it will actually work. I want this to work, I want to give you what you deserve to get. I want to treat you like the lady you are, to be there for you whether someone stole a body from your morgue or whether you've simply lost the TV remote. I want to be there for every step of the way, and I need to not be married to Casey anymore for this to happen right."

Maura smiled at her. She was touched by each and every one of Jane's words. "Than I think you should give Casey a call, and maybe consult an attorney."

"Hey, you're up." Jane said rather softly as she took a seat by Frankie's bed.

"Hey, you're here." he said with the same tone. "How are you?"

"I'm good, nothing that a painkiller wouldn't fix." Jane smiled at him. "How was your night?"

"T'was fine, got a sleeping pill to make it through the night without any pain. How's Maura?"

"She's pretty good, seemed to turn a lot better when I showed up. She was at my place with TJ." Jane said. When Frankie gave her a confused look she continued. "She met Lydia at the park when she took Jo for a walk on Thursday. She said Lydia seemed to be very tired, so Maura suggested taking TJ for the weekend and bring him back on Sunday dinner."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Oh come on! Did you kiss her?" Frankie asked.

"No."

"Why?!"

"Because, Frankie, I'm still married to Casey. Maura doesn't deserve to be that 'other woman', remember how furious we were when we found out about dad's affair? I just wanna do it right this time." she said, easing up a little in her chair.

"Are you going to Sunday dinner?" Frankie asked her after a couple of moments of silence.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you that question. If I go then Ma will show up here in no time, and I thought you might need some space, at least until you're out of here." Jane said.

"Well, uhm, considering the cops outside my door won't let anyone in unless it's you or someone with a badge, I don't see any problem." Frankie joked. "But seriously now, I really don't care. I mean, if you want to go then go, I shouldn't be the one to decide that for you."

Jane looked at him for a minute. "Thanks." she said gratefully. She sat there for another half an hour before she remembered she had to go to meet Maura and TJ. She said goodbye to Frankie, promised to come back the following day with some normal food, and left.

Maura only saw Jane when she was already sitting next to her on the bench. She turned to look who was the person next to her, and smiled when she saw Jane. She rested her head on Jane's right shoulder and felt Jane planting a light kiss on the top of her head.

"How was it like to be at the precinct again?" Maura asked her quietly.

"Pretty great. Luck was on my side when lieutenant O'shaunessy called and asked me to come in through the morgue entrance, so I managed to avoid Ma and take a look at your office again."

"My office?" Maura lifted her head.

"Relax, I didn't sit in your chair." Jane rolled her eyes, making Maura release a soft laugh before resting her head on Jane's shoulder once again.

"Seriously, why my office?"

Jane wrapped her right arm around Maura and gave a small shrug. "I don't know. The smell, I guess. The smell reminds me of you, like the smell of your shampoo mixed with, I don't know, you."

Maura smiled. "That's very sweet of you Jane."

They sat like that for another couple of hours, talking while watching TJ playing around. When it was almost five-thirty, Maura called him over.

"TJ, we need to go."

TJ looked towards Maura, making sure she was the one talking, before he got up off the ground and ran to her and Jane.

"Hey little guy," Jane said and sat him up on her lap, "ready to go?"

"But Sunday dinner is only at seven!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, but you need to take a shower, and so does Maura and me." Jane explained to him.

"Okay. Where's Jo?"

"Right over there." Maura pointed at a tree Jo was currently marking her territory under. "Why won't you take her leash and bring her over here?"

TJ nodded and took the leash before he ran towards Jo. He attached the leash to her collar and made his way back with her towards Maura and Jane, who were standing and waiting for them. They made their way to the car, Jane naturally taking the driver's seat, and within a few minutes they were back in Jane's apartment.

"Jane, hurry up! We are going to be late if you won't get out of the shower soon!" Maura knocked on the bathroom door for the fourth time.

"Maur, I'm counting on us being late. It's okay." Jane's voice was muffled through the bathroom door.

"Just hurry up, please." Maura said and went back to the bedroom to finish getting ready. For the first time in a very long time, for the first time since Jane went undercover, she was felling like her normal self again. Her enthusiasm with everything that's related to fashion and appearance came back, and she realized just how much she had missed feeling like everything was normal again.

Five minutes later she heard the water being shut, and a couple of moments later Jane came into the bedroom with nothing but a towel wrapped around her wet body. It took Maura every bit of self control not to stare at her through her compact mirror. She knew Jane wouldn't want the first time Maura saw her naked after this long time, to be like this.

"I can hear you struggling internally." Jane's voice came from next to the closet.

"Than you must know how hard I'm trying not to look." Maura returned with the same tone, satisfied when she heard Jane's small laugh.

"I'll be ready in a few minutes, I just need to dry my hair and get dressed." Jane said. She found a pair of dark jeans and a nice navy blue colored button-up shirt and was about to lose her towel when she felt Maura's eyes on her.

"Maur, your eyes are sharp like arrows."

Maura closed her compact mirror and put it in her bag. "Well, I'm sorry Jane. The last time I touched you was about two years ago, if I remember correctly, and the last time you kissed me was literally thirty seconds before you left." Maura turned her full body towards Jane, remaining sitting on the bed. "I mean, what would you expect?"

"Just this, actually." Jane chuckled. "I understand, Maur, I miss all of this about you too. But, like I said, I want to make this right."

"Fine," Maura said and stood up, "let me know when you're ready, then I'll get here and get dressed."

When Maura walked passed her, Jane put her arm across Maura's stomach to stop her. Maura looked at her. Jane just smiled and said quietly "thanks."

Maura stepped closer to her, pulled gently her head lower and gave Jane a soft kiss on the cheek, before she exited the room, closing the door behind herself.

It took Jane no more than fifteen minutes to get dressed and dry her hair with the hair dryer. When she finished her preparations she joined TJ in front of the TV.

"You've got some good taste," she said.

TJ took his eyes off of Pinky and the Brain and looked at Jane. "You like it too?"

Jane wrapped her left arm around him. "Kid, that's what I'm supposed to ask you. That show's original run was in the nineties. I'm surprised it's still on re-runs." Jane chuckled.

"Who do you like the most?" he asked.

"There's a character called Larry, he's only on one episode I think. He's my favorite."

"I like Pinky. He's funny." TJ smiled and turned his eyes back to the screen.

"Hey, buddy, I wanted to ask you something." Jane said and straightened up. He looked at her again.

"Do you want me to turn off the TV?" he asked with his big, innocent eyes.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because every time Nonna say it to someone, then this someone turns off the TV if it was on. Nonna told me that it's just something you do to be polite."

Jane was sometimes amazed that this kid was only four. She felt sometimes like she was talking to a person at least two and a half his age. "No, you can keep it on, just put it on mute."

TJ did as Jane asked and looked at her again, waiting for her to talk. "I wanted to ask you if you could do me a little favor when we get to dinner. I want you to run inside as soon as we get there, and that until I walk in you won't say anything about me being back. Could you do this for me?"

TJ gave her an exited not, and Jane chuckled and messed up his hair. "Thank you buddy."

"Can I ask you something too, Auntie Jane?"

Maura had spent the past couple of minutes looking for her heels, when she remembered leaving them by the door when she had first arrived the apartment on Thursday, so she wouldn't have to look for them before Sunday dinner. She was about to enter the living room when she heard TJ's little voice.

"I heard you and Auntie Mora talking this morning and you said that you want to kiss her but you can't because you're still married to uncle Casey, but you still want to kiss her."

"Go on." Jane chuckled.

"Why you're still married to him, if you want to kiss Auntie Mora? Mommy and daddy told me that if you like someone like mommy likes daddy and like daddy likes mommy than you want to kiss just them, and that it's not like the kiss daddy gives to Nonna."

Maura hated herself for eavesdropping, but she felt like even if she wanted to walk away her legs would just collapse. She was amazed by the wisdom and curiosity this little boy had in him, and she wanted to hear Jane's answer more than anything.

"Well, you see," Jane started, "sometimes people are so sure of what they feel, that they don't see that they are making a mistake. I made a mistake, buddy, when I agreed to marry Casey. I shouldn't have done that, I thought I liked him like your daddy and mommy like each other, but I see now that I was wrong."

"And you like Auntie Mora like my mommy and daddy like each other?" TJ kept on asking.

"Yeah, I do. I like her a lot." Jane smiled to herself.

"Good. Because I don't like uncle Casey." TJ said.

"Why not?"

"Because he looks at me funny, like I did something bad like taking his crayons without permission." TJ explained.

"I'm sure it's not like that, but don't worry about that."

"Okay. Can I turn the volume back up?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll go check on with Maura." Jane said before she rose up from the couch. It was only then when Maura realized she needs to at least look like she wasn't listening, and made her way back into the bedroom before Jane noticed her. She pretended to be looking for her shoes when Jane walked in.

"Hey, you ready?"

"Yes, I think I left my shoes at the door." Maura was about to make a quick exit but Jane stopped her.

"Look, Maur, I talked to TJ, and – "

"Oh, you did?" Maura said, almost too quickly.

"Yeah, and I want to ask you this too. Would you please not say anything about me being back until I come in? I want a chance to explain everything to Ma and everyone."

Maura seemed to be a bit surprised by Jane's request, but gathered herself up within a couple of seconds. "Oh, yes, of course."

Jane smiled at her. "Thanks. Now go get your shoes."

Within another two minutes the three of them were ready to go. Jane grabbed Maura's car keys and opened the door. She was about to step outside when she realized someone was blocking her way.

"Jane?"

"Casey?" Jane's voice was at least as twice as shocked at Casey's.

"What are you doing here? When did you came back?" he asked, realizing he was caught off guard.

"What are you doing here?" she shot back.

"We live here Jane. Together."

"No, Casey, I live here. Alone. I've lived here years before you showed up out of the blue with a ring, and it's my name on the contract." Jane shot her words like bullets from a gun.

"Jane, you're being unreasonable, we can talk about it – "

Maura felt TJ wrapping his hands around her legs and hiding behind her as Jane cut Casey off in the middle of the sentence.

"There is nothing to talk about Casey. Nothing. I've asked you for one thing and one thing only – give lieutenant O'shaunessy the divorce papers, signed. I'm back, and these papers probably don't even exist yet, am I right?"

"Jane, please, don't throw everything we have away for some..."

"Some what, Casey?" her voice was surprisingly calm this time. When he seemed to be struggling with his words, Jane looked behind her to where his eyes were, and her sight fell on Maura. When realization came to her, she was furious. "Don't even say a word. Not even a single word. Give me those divorce papers by Thursday, or I will take this whole thing to court."

"Why are you doing this, Jane? We were happy for God's sake!" Casey tried to reason with her.

"No, Casey, you were happy. I only thought I was happy too, and I wish it hadn't taken me so long to realize I wasn't."

"Jane," Maura said quietly, "TJ and I are going to wait for you down by the car."

"No, that won't be necessary, we are all leaving now." Jane said, looking directly into Casey's eyes. Realizing that he had no chance, Casey unattached the key to Jane's apartment from his chain and handed it over to Jane.

"I wish you were ready to fight for your marriage just like you are ready to fight against it." he said, before he left.

As soon as the car was parked at Maura's driveway, TJ unbuckled himself and ran straight to Maura's house. Not bothering to knock, he just stormed in and both Jane and Maura heard Angela's joyful voice. Maura gave Jane a small smile before she got out of the car and into the house, and giving Jane what she had asked for. Jane waited for a moment before she, too, got out of the car. She slowly made her way towards the front door of Maura's house, not making a sound. When she finally stood at the door, everyone had their back at her. She decided to wait, and within a few seconds Angela turned around. When her eyes landed on Jane, who had the Rizzoli trade mark smile on her face, her eyes widened. Her face was a mixture of shock and confusion, both quite soon turning to relief as she realized it was all real.

"Jane..." she said. It was all she could say.

Jane took a few steps towards her. "Missed me?"

In that moment Angela practically threw herself at Jane, hugging her closer and tighter than ever. "Oh God, Janie, you're home!"

"I take it as a positive answer." Jane chuckled and hugged her mother back.

"Janie." she heard another voice. She looked up from her lightly sobbing mother's head to meet her brother's eyes. She let go of Angela and went to give him a hug.

"How you've been Tommy?"

"Who cares? How are you?" he asked.

"I'm fine. Glad to be back." she said, and took a look around. She saw, really saw, everyone for the first time. Korsak was there, along with Frost and Cavanaugh, Lydia was standing next to where Tommy was only a moment earlier, and it seemed like the only one missing was Frankie.

"Where's Frankie?" Angela asked when she realized the exact thing Jane was thinking about.

"He's fine," Jane hurried to calm everyone, and especially her mother, down, "he's at the hospital. Got a bullet to his knee, but it missed his knee-cap. He should be out in a few days, maybe a week top. He also had a minor concussion and had a small fracture in his arm, but none of it will leave a permanent damage."

"Can we go see him?" Angela immediately asked.

"No. there are cops outside his room and they will only let me or someone with a badge in. In no more than a week he'll be discharged, and then he'll need quite some help."

"I'm so glad you're okay, Janie..." Angela said, once again throwing herself on Jane and pulling her for a bear hug.

"I missed you too Ma, but I'm having trouble breathing here..." Jane could barely let those words out. Angela released her and wiped her tears before they fell down her face.

"At least tell me you've cracked someone's neck over there." Frost said with a wide grin.

"Frostie!" Jane said and pulled him for a hug.

"Glad you're back, it was starting to get boring around there." he said.

"Sorry I made sure everyone around me stayed alive, next time I'll make sure to give you an interesting case." she returned him with the same coin.

"I'm not sure that will be necessary." Korsak said and approached Jane, who gave him the same warm hug.

"Hopefully. Being there made me realize how much I don't miss narcotics." Jane said, making him laugh.

"Well, I'm not the hugger kind of person, but I'm glad you're back." Cavanaugh said and extended his hand out. Jane shook it and smiled.

"Thanks lieutenant. I'm glad to be back."

"When did you came back?" Korsak asked her.

"Uh, yesterday around the afternoon. I'm not sure what time exactly, but before it started to get dark." Jane said.

"Is it a chance I could come with you to see Frankie?" Angela asked her, hope filled her voice.

"Ma, I told you – they won't let anyone in except me or the police." Jane said. "But, I have another idea."

Jane took her cellphone out of her pocket and dialed. She waited until she heard a familiar voice from the other end.

"Hey, what's up?"

"Hey. There's someone here that I think really wants to talk to you." Jane smiled at her mother as she pressed the speaker button and handed Angela her phone.

"Frankie?" Angela said with a slightly trembling voice.

"Hey Ma, how you doing?"

"Oh, Frankie, thank God you're back!" tears once again fell down Angela's face. They passed Jane's phone between everyone, and when everyone had talked to him Angela went outside to have a couple of minutes alone with him over the phone. Maura took the chance to have a few moments alone with Jane and pulled her aside with her.

"Hey." Maura said, looking into her eyes.

"Hey." Jane said back, catching once again the sparkle in Maura's eyes.

"I just needed you for a few moment away from everyone."

Jane looked at everyone at the living room. "Yeah, they seem to understand that too."

"They all seem so relieved that you are safe and home." Maura pointed out. Jane took in her words, scanning each and every one of those who were at Maura's living room, before she turned to face Maura again.

"So I was thinking, the first Friday after I sign the divorce papers, I want to take you out on a date." Jane looked into her eyes. Maura's pupil were dilated, and her eyes sparkled more than ever.

"Yeah, okay, I'd like that." she smiled at her, before they got back to the living room.

If you're still here, let me know.