It feels so good to get this up after leaving it unfinished for so long. I hope you enjoy this chapter and this story and forgive me for the far too long hiatus.

Monday morning Jane ended up spending a few hours catching up with her own neglected cases. Since Frost knew what had been going on, he had been picking up her slack and taking the lead on homicide cases that should have been divvyed up in responsibility.

Korsak didn't know exactly what she was preoccupied with, but Jane could tell he knew something had been up with her, and something clearly involving Maura.

"Hey Jane," he greeted as he set down a fresh coffee for her. Jane looked up in appreciation. "Is everything okay? With you and Maura?"

"Uh, yeah, yeah they are, thanks for asking."

"And with your hands?" He nodded towards her somewhat swollen knuckles as she picked up her coffee.

Jane gave a small smile and tucked her hair behind her ear, perhaps to move her hand out of view. "Yeah, they're alright. Just been needing to let out some frustration lately. But it's all good."

He looked at her for an extra moment or two. "Alright," he conceded lightly, lifting his hands to show that he was laying off the issue. "Well you know where to find me."

As her partners took a break to the café for lunch, Jane headed upstairs instead.

She looked down at Rebecca Walsh as she approached her desk.

"Hey Rizzoli—"

"Did Anna James write that she was burned?" Jane knew she had to act like she hadn't talked to Anna and personally gotten the answer to that question already. She hadn't technically lied about anything in this case so far, and she would be quite proud of herself if that kept up.

The other detective's mouth stayed open slightly as she's cut off, and there's a moment before she reacts, her brow creasing in surprise and concern. She took a document from a pile on her desk and scanned over it. "Yes—"

"Does it say where on her body?"

"Her thigh…" She looked at Jane quizzically. "Why…"

"Come to lunch with me."

Walsh nodded, clearly interested in what Jane knows and could add to the building storyline of the multiple-rape case.

At a small sandwich shop down the block, Walsh began the conversation. "Okay Jane, what do you know? Is there more from your survivor?"

"You have to be the most discreet about this, do you hear me?" Jane heard her voice come out low and stern. "This cannot get out to anyone in BPD, or the press, or I will have your head, are we clear?"

Rebecca nodded, her eyes open in intense curiosity. "Yes, agreed. No one but me and potentially my ADA will know."

Jane wet her lips as she stared her down. She heard the silent "right now" on the end of that promise, but that would be dealt with later. She knew she was being genuine, and Walsh had only ever given her reasons to trust her.

"It's Doctor Isles."

Rebecca's jaw dropped slightly, and she blinked unconsciously to sooth her surprised eyes. "Wow…she had a similar experience with Tucker?"

"Burned the same way." Her voice was low and short. She had to be Detective Rizzoli right now, and push down her emotions that were always just below the surface.

Walsh's eyes squeezed shut and she brought her hand to her slightly downturned face. "God…" No matter how many cases they worked on, some stories still made them cringe, especially if they had a personal connection with those involved.

"That's an MO," Jane insisted. "And with the thwarted attempt that's three assaults, we can show a pattern, lock these bastards up."

"We could argue that. I'll need her to make a statement."

Jane liked Walsh, but she still needed to keep control of the situation, for Maura's sake.

"Downstairs. It would draw interest for her to be in an SVU interview room, she ordinarily has no reason to be there." Jane wanted to prevent the opportunity for anyone to ask questions about the case, especially because she knew Maura would have a hard time telling anything but the truth. She had worked so hard over the years to be respected as the genius doctor she was, in spite of her sometimes unrelatable demeanor and her awkward over-sharing.

Walsh nodded. "Okay. Does she know you're telling me?"

"Yes, and I'll give her a heads up that you'll be talking to her."

"I don't have anything else urgent, I'll go down there this afternoon."

The two detectives walked back to the precinct separately, each with their own tasks to attend to. Jane sent Maura a quick text asking if she is free, and shortly answered her responding phone call.

"Hey Maur."

"Hey you, what's up?" It sounded like she was having a decent day so far, and Jane hated to throw it off.

"Are you able to have a private conversation in your office with Rebecca Walsh this afternoon?" As expected, Jane could almost feel the change through the airwaves. The response was not an upbeat tone, and it now sounded like Maura was behind a wall, speaking carefully from behind her defenses.

"You told her about Emily?"

"Yeah. She wants to talk to you about it. Do you want me to be there with you?"

There's a pause on the line, and after a moment Maura responded simply. "No. I'll see you later."

"Okay, at home? I love you."

"I love you too, Jane."

Jane sighed and ran her fingers through her hair as she returned to her desk. She assumed that Maura was remaining adamant in her mindset that she wants Jane to know as little as possible about what happened. And it would probably be inappropriate for her to be there for Walsh's interview anyway. So she would do her own interviews with Frost and try not to hear the potential conversation play in her head as the day wore on.

When Jane walked in Maura's front door that evening she was immediately accosted.

"Did you tell Walsh about me? Before you told me you did?"

Uh oh. Maura's voice was raised and she was staring at Jane with anger, ready to demand answers.

"No—"

"You've been having interviews, stopping rapes! How long have you been involved in this? Behind my back!"

"I said I had an anonymous source, to get information, and work with Walsh, I didn't use your name until now." Jane spoke quickly to get out what she wanted to say without being interrupted.

But Maura's eyes were still made of anger and hurt, and Jane could see tears forming as Maura worked to hold them back. "How could you do something like this behind my back Jane?"

"I had to do something to put these people behind bars, to make sure they don't hurt anyone else like they hurt you, to get justice for what they did!"

Maura didn't respond to this idea with anything but a continued pain-filled glare. She turned and walked toward the bedroom, and Jane thought she was going to start giving her the silent treatment again. But she turned around and continued in a loud voice, "You've been so irresponsible Jane! A homicide detective working on her girlfriend's rape case? Thank god we haven't really told people yet! You know how bad that would look for you? Jane you could lose your shield."

Jane cringed slightly from Maura yelling at her. "I'll be okay Maura. I know what I'm doing."

"You're a good detective Jane, but no, you don't. You're not an SVU detective. You aren't an expert on how to handle situations, cases like this—"

"That's why I'm working with Walsh!" Now Jane's voice was raised, too, defensively reacting to all the accusations being thrown at her.

"And you can't think at your highest level when you're clouded by the fact that it was me."

Jane tilted her head up to tear her gaze away from the distant spot on the floor she had unconsciously fixed on. In Maura's eyes, for the first time tonight she saw a softness, an empathy. Jane sighed guiltily. Maura knows how she operates.

"You need to take yourself off this case." Her tone was calmer, but still adamant. She was probably right. And now that Walsh had all the information and they were making progress on the case, she should let her do her job. She didn't want to jeopardize anything by being involved further—Maura wasn't wrong, an inappropriate personal connection with a case could not only get her reprimanded, but also stir controversy that could threaten the prosecution's ability to make their case.

But she didn't like making promises she couldn't keep—especially not to Maura. "I'll step back and trust Walsh's lead. But I can't agree that I won't be checking in with it. I can't just let it go."

Maura stared at her another moment before apparently conceding to this with a small nod. And suddenly her armor seemed to crack as she meekly stepped to Jane and pressed her head against her chest. Jane automatically wrapped her arms around her and rested her face on Maura's soft hair.

"I'm scared." It was a weak whisper. Jane closed her eyes and placed a gentle, long kiss against Maura's head. What she would do to make it all go away.

They stood there silently until Jane felt herself say, "I love you so much, Maur." More silence. "We're gonna get through all of this, okay?"

"Promise me you won't do anything stupid." The vague statement came slightly muffled from the woman in her arms. "I can't lose you."

How could Jane object? "I promise baby. Let's go lay down and let me hold you properly."

Maura lay next to her in bed but didn't cuddle up. "What else haven't you told me?" Jane's gut twisted. She never wanted to hurt her. She didn't know what she should or shouldn't admit to, and if she had said enough or Maura had heard enough already. Thankfully, Maura continued in a direction Jane could be honest about.

"Who knows? Korsak?"

"No, but he's been trying to ask what's been going on."

"Well he'll know eventually, right? You might as well appease him."

Jane turned to face her and made a quizzical eye contact. "You want me to tell him?"

Maura sighed. "I mean we're really in this now, aren't we? I'd rather you tell him privately than it just blind-side him when it inevitably gets around the office."

She scooted closer and slid her foot in between Jane's. An intimate gesture that let Jane know they were okay. "I need all the people on my side I can get."

"I don't see how anyone could not be on your side, love." Maura shrugged and laid her arm across Jane's stomach.

"She made me believe it. I hardly had the strength to tell you."

Jane held her tight. "You're the strongest person I know. And those evil motherfuckers aren't going to get away with hurting you."

Maura cringed slightly against her and Jane regretted her harsh tone. "I love you." It came softly, naturally. She didn't know what else she could say to make any of this any better.

"I love you too, Jane. I suppose we'll see what happens."