A/N: From this point on, there are only ten chapters left in BKS. Thank you for reading and reviewing!


Frost and Korsak, fresh from examining their victim's vehicle, entered the squad room to see Jane typing away at her computer, alternating harsh stares between the information on her monitor and the envelope she had found in Ryan's toolbox. "Guess what we found," Frost said giddily as he strode up to her desk.

"What? No, I was gonna say that," Jane protested with her arms out at her sides.

Frost winked at her and held up another large bag with a piece of concrete in it. "Found this in the victim's glove box."

Jane frowned. "That's weird. I found this in the victim's toolbox," she said, holding up her own bigger piece.

Korsak nodded thoughtfully. "We matched that chunk of concrete that Frost is holding with this nasty dent in the hood of Ryan's pickup," he said, showing Jane the picture of the victim's truck.

"Ryan filed an insurance claim three days ago. His report said, 'A loose chunk of concrete dropped from the ceiling of the garage at work and caused this damage,'" said Frost.

Jane stood up and inspected their concrete. "Frost, can you pull up articles on the construction of the Storrow center?"

"Sure," he replied.

"Ok, so we've got concrete that's fallen on Ryan's truck, concrete debris that he hid in his toolbox, xeroxed plans for the Storrow center… what's that say to you?" Jane turned to Korsak.

"Well, his fellow thespians said he was complaining about all the maintenance work he had to do," Korsak answered.

"Which makes no sense. The Storrow center's basically brand new," said Frost, "tenants only started moving in eight months ago. The guy who built it, Sam Nelson, already pocketed a billion dollars from its opening."

Jane looked at the article that Frost had pulled up and showed to them. "Says here he already has four more contracts for city buildings, plus a mall and an office park."

Korsak looked between Jane and Frost. "You think maybe Ryan was the mosquito buzzing around him, complaining about chunks of concrete and busted lights?"

"Maybe," said Jane. "Although, look at this post-it I found," she pointed to the three items on it. "My father used to complain all the time about creep."

Frost snickered. "The ones you were dating?"

"Ha ha," Jane snarked as she glared at him playfully. "Turns out he was the creep this whole time."

Frost nodded knowingly. "Mine too."

Jane chuckled. "No, but Ryan saved anchor bolts with dried epoxy."

"He wrote epoxy on that post-it." Korsak examined the envelope, turned it over in his hand.

"Ok, so creep can happen over time. The concrete cracks, the anchor bolts pull out, and the pipes burst. My father hated being blamed when the pipes burst from creep."

"Maybe Ryan was finding problems with the Storrow center buildings. Sam Nelson would want to cover that up. Billion dollars at stake all for a maintenance guy to come in and ruin it?" Frost theorized.

Korsak shrugged his shoulders. "What, enough to kill one of his employees? Maybe."

Frost got up from his chair and started to put his badge and his phone back on his belt.

"What? Where are you going?" Korsak asked him.

"The Storrow center. It's not far."

"We don't have enough to even say hi to this guy, and you know he's got a stadium full of lawyers."

Jane nodded. "Yeah, we show our cards now, we'll never get him."

Frost rolled his eyes. "Will you guys relax? I'm just gonna snoop around in the public areas. Take some pictures with my phone."

Jane opened her mouth to reply, but then she saw her brother burst through the doors of BRIC. "Jane, can you give Tommy and the baby a ride home? Ma got caught up," said Frankie, looking as though he knew what an inconvenience it was.

Jane let him know anyway. "What? Why can't you?"

Frankie sighed. "I'm fillin' out paperwork."

Jane scoffed and waved to the myriad of evidence and files on her desk. "Oh yeah, I don't have anything to do."

Frost smirked at the both of them. "I can drop them off after I take the photos."

"Really? " Jane asked, hopeful but not expectant. "You sure?"

"Yeah, it's no problem," said Frost.

Frankie patted his shoulder. "All right. Thanks, man."

Jane pulled her buzzing phone from its holster and sighed herself. "Good, 'cause Maura needs a shoulder to cry on." She was already headed for the elevator.

"Why? What happened?" Korsak asked kindly.

"Girl stuff," Jane said flippantly as she left them.


"Maura, what are you doing?" Jane asked as she walked into the morgue.

Maura laid on one of her slabs with a pillow over her face, still in her scrubs and clogs. "Looking for the oblivion of sleep."

"So she came by anyway, huh? When you specifically asked her not to?" Jane observed.

"Yes," Maura said, muffled by the throw pillow.

"Bleedin' all over your boundaries," said Jane with an assured nod.

Maura paused. "Are you in therapy again?"

"Nope. Just picked up some stuff from last time. She's a bitch, Maura. This whole time she's been accusing you of wantin' something from from her, but she's actually the one who's out for what you've got."

"Hmm," Maura replied noncommittally. She flattened her arms at her sides.

"C'mon, you're gonna get lip gloss on your nice pillow," Jane said, taking it away from Maura's face.

Maura sighed. "I don't care."

"Sure you do. Don't you wanna get some on me instead? That'll make you feel better," Jane said, raising her eyebrows suggestively.

Maura scoffed, but sat up and pecked her quickly on the lips anyway. "She just showed up."

"Well, at least you got to keep your kidney," said Jane.

"No, no. It wasn't even about that. I wasn't holding my kidney hostage."

"Well, you should have been."

"I stopped being nice," said Maura, "I said what I thought. I was really mad and hurt, and I just… said it."

"Baby, that's good. That's ok, a'right? I'm proud of you," Jane responded. She put her hand on Maura's knee.

"I feel nauseous. What did I say? Why did I say it? Why… I don't even know what I said."

"Ok, ok. You're spiraling a little bit. Let's talk about something else. What about ball bearings? You like to talk about those."

"Well, I'm almost certain they came from a computer hard drive, and the lab is trying to track down the manufacturer."

"Ok, good. That's somethin'. Listen, I'm gonna have a working lunch and talk to Ryan's fiancee again," said Jane, confident that Maura was soothed enough to at least be left alone. "Call me when you get something?"

"Of course, Jane," Maura said dejectedly, holding her pillow tight to her chest as she sat perched on her slab.


"Well, shit. There's nowhere to park," Frost grumbled as he drove through the Storrow Center's parking garage on the ground floor, P3.

Tommy snorted. With a glance to the backseat where TJ sat, he said, "you're a cop. You can park anywhere, man."

Frost laughed to himself. "Yeah. Yeah, why not? I'll only be a minute," he pulled up to the end of the lane and turned on his hazards. When he stepped out, TJ let out a piercing wail.

Tommy turned back again, grabbing his son's small hand and squeezing it. TJ couldn't see him because the car seat faced the rear windshield, but the touch itself seemed to pacify him. At least somewhat. "Ok, all right, TJ. You're gonna be ok. Frost's gonna be done here soon and then we'll be home."

Frost had made it almost all the way around the perimeter of the ground floor, snapping photos of anything he thought might look like disrepair or signs of creep, and had ended up back at the car where a suspicious crack ran along the floor above all the way to the parking booth. He thought he heard a heavy groan, too, but dismissed it quickly as his overactive imagination, colored by his suspicion that Storrow center construction had cut corners.

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?" A man in an Armani suit, nicely tailored and very European, shouted at Frost as soon as he noticed him with his cell phone out. "Who said you could take pictures here?"

Even in the sallow garage light, Frost immediately recognized him as Sam Nelson, builder extraordinaire and the architect of the entire Storrow complex. "Easy, Mr. Nelson. Boston Police."

Nelson sneered. Apparently Boston Police wasn't good enough. "Do you have a warrant?" he asked, approaching quickly, his own phone in his hand ready to dial. "Otherwise, I want you off my property now." There was another buckling sound, unmistakable now.

Frost held up his hands. "This part of Storrow center is open to the public, sir." He took inventory of his surroundings, cursing to himself when Tommy got out of the car.

Again, though, Frost's answer wasn't satisfying to Nelson, and he figured that for a rich, white guy like him, it probably would never be. "All right. I'm gonna call my attorney."

"Damn," Tommy said, staring at the two of them. "Everything ok out here, Frost?"

"I got it, Tommy, th-" Frost stopped himself when the lights above them flickered. The ground below them started to shake, in a state where an earthquake shouldn't even be possible. "Oh my god," he exclaimed as he realized what was happening.

"What the hell?" Tommy said, and then a chunk of concrete fell between them and Nelson.

It escalated in an instant. Concrete plummeted around them. And then, sickeningly, a giant piece crunched the top of Frost's unmarked. "TJ!" both he and Frost screamed before most of the floor above them rained down, trapping them inside.


Jane sat in Jennifer Johnson's living room on a low-seated sofa, elbows on knees that knocked occasionally against the coffee table in front of her. She listened intently as Jennifer spoke next to her.

"I didn't want to do the scene with the gun. I told him that," Jennifer said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue, her loose bun bouncing as she moved and cried. A mixture of tears and makeup ended up on the kleenex, but her green eyes were still sharp. Jane thought of Maura when she saw her, especially in her smart blazer and slacks, paired with black pumps.

"Were you angry with Ryan, then?" Jane asked quietly, slipping on her mask of empathy. Her eyebrows rose in concern, and she left her lips just slightly open in a show of vulnerability.

"Yes!" Jennifer hissed, as though it should have been obvious.

"What were you thinking when you pulled the trigger?" Jane put a hand on her knee and patted.

"Well," Jennifer gulped, gathering herself, "I was in character. So I was thinking about how much Ryan pisses me off."

Jane nodded. "Did Ryan show you how to load a prop gun?"

"Yeah, but I couldn't do it with my fingers. I fell and broke two knuckles," said Jennifer. She showed Jane the brace on her dominant hand.

Jane catalogued that information away. "So, Jennifer, we think it's possible that Ryan was committed suicide and he used you to do it."

Jennifer's eyes widened. "No, no way. Why… why would he kill himself? No, it was an accident. We were getting married."

"Oh," Jane said, surprised.

"He uh, he gave me this last night," Jennifer showed Jane a ring still in its box, pulling it from the coffee table. "But I… I couldn't get it on my finger."

Jane smiled warmly at the modest diamond. "Did you say yes?"

"Yes," Jennifer said, but she broke eye contact with Jane then. They were inches apart and she sought miles.

"Then why'd you break up with him?" Jane asked.

"Are you married, Detective?" Jennifer asked right back as she sniffled loudly.

"No," said Jane.

"Engaged? With someone?" pressed Jennifer.

"Yeah, there's someone," Jane said reservedly. She rubbed her hands together in nervous habit.

"Then you know how they can get on your nerves sometimes, no matter how much you love them," Jennifer said. "He was always complaining about his job. He said that there was too much to do and that he was barely breaking even with all the supplies and stuff. I got so tired of listening to him. I told him to quit."

"Was he going to?"

"I don't know. He said he had to figure something out first."

"Figure what out?" Just as Jane asked, her phone chimed with an incoming call. She looked at the caller ID, saw that it was Frankie, and quickly silenced it.

"He never said," Jennifer admitted, "I don't think-" she was cut off by Jane's phone ringing immediately after the first time.

Jane saw Frankie's name again and cursed. "Shit. I'm sorry, it's my brother."

Jennifer nodded. "Answer it. I'll wait for you."

Jane smiled in thanks. "It'll just take a second," she assured her, and then turned away to bark into her phone. "What?!"

Frankie's voice was far off and garbled on the other end. "Jane? Jane there's been a huge collapse at the Storrow center. You gotta get down here!" he yelled into the receiver so loudly that Jane pulled it away from her ear.

"Calm down, Fr- wait, what?" she croaked when the reality of what he had said sunk in.

"It's really… listen to me! That's where Tommy and Frost were, ok?" Frankie shouted.

Jane was already standing, patting her pockets for her car keys. "Shit, ok."

"Just get down here, Jane!"

"No yeah, I'll be right there."

It was clear that Frankie couldn't hear her now, so he just repeated his command. "Get down here, now!"

Jane slid her phone back into its holster and turned to Jennifer. "Uh," she said, uncharacteristically rattled as Detective Rizzoli.

Jennifer stood. "What is it? Are you ok?"

Jane swirled her keyring around her finger a few times to keep the nausea at bay. "Uh, my brother and his baby, and my partner… there's been a building collapse in the back bay and they think they're trapped inside. I'm really sorry, but I'm gonna have to reschedule this interview. Stay in town, a'right? I'll call you as soon as we can meet again. Thank you for your, uh, your time." She stumbled through her explanation, but it was enough. Jennifer nodded dumbly, just watching from the couch for several seconds as Jane walked toward the door.

Just as Jane was about to swing the front door open, she regained her faculties. "Detective Rizzoli! Which building collapsed?"

Jane confirmed her worst fears. "The parking garage at the Storrow Center."


As Jane swerved her vehicle just behind the caution tape near the Storrow Center itself, sirens still screaming, she saw Captain Green of Boston Fire Department commanding his men. She threw the car in park and bolted towards him.

"Follow critical response protocol. Everybody understand? Nothing we can do about the people trapped in the subterranean parking areas right now. We evacuate everybody else first," he said to the three firefighters gathered around him. He lifted his helmet for just a moment to wipe heavy sweat from his forehead.

Jane practically barreled into him. "Captain Green!" she called out.

"Detective Rizzoli…" he answered her, surprised that Boston Homicide would be on the scene.

She looked at him and tried not to cry. "My brother and his baby and my partner are trapped in the ground parking level P3," she said, offering him facts, the only thing that could have sounded commanding out of her mouth.

Captain Green shook his head. "I'm sorry, Detective. That building is way too unstable to even think about that right now," he told her honestly as he walked away.

Jane stayed rooted in her spot. "No, but we have to go-" she tried, anxious to persuade him but knowing that he needed space to do his job. She took that moment to survey the chaos around her, cops and firefighters blitzing about, injured people in stretchers and lying on the ground, covered in dust and grime, doctors and EMTs treating the wounded before they would be transported to a hospital.

One EMT ran up to a woman in hospital issue blue scrubs and a functional blonde-brown ponytail just to Jane's left. "I've got three more with internal injuries," he said, and Jane winced at the severity of what they were dealing with.

When the doctor turned away from her patient to acknowledge him, Jane's brain pushed through the panic and recognized Maura immediately. "Ok, transport the head injury," said Maura to the EMT, and then he was off.

"Maura!" Jane yelled desperately.

Maura turned at the sound. "Jane?"

"Maura!" Jane shouted again, even though Maura had heard her. She ran the six or so strides between them, her face contorted in agony when she got there.

Maura's stomach dropped. "What is it?"

"They're - they're inside the building! Frost and Tommy and TJ and they don't want to go in because its too unstable and-" Jane, tears just about to fall now, reached for Maura's eyes with her own, searching for anything to ground her. She felt adrift.

"Oh my god. Are you sure?" Maura replied. She pushed her hand up to her forehead in shock.

Before Jane could answer, Frankie came bounding toward them covered in dust and a little bit of his own blood. "Jane! Jane!"

Jane put her hand on his shoulder and wordlessly implored him to tell her everything he knew.

"I couldn't find them," he started, still gulping in bucketfuls of air. "We were pulling out bodies a-and people with broken bones. We got as many of them as we could before they ordered us out. They're afraid that the entire building is gonna collapse."

Maura cursed. "Shit. It might. It's built from recycled concrete."

Jane whipped her head around. "What?"

"The lab results came back on the concrete samples that you found. It's recycled, ground-up concrete debris, not the more durable concrete made from hard rock."

"You're telling me this place was a ticking time bomb?" Jane growled, and Maura nodded. "Ryan's list. 'Recycled.' He knew. W-what other shortcuts did the builder take?"

Frankie chimed in. "They can't find him. Sam Nelson, the developer. He was last seen walking to his car right before the collapse."

Jane cursed, too. "Fuck. He's probably halfway to the Marshall Islands by now. Ok look, Frankie, you don't say a word to Ma, ok, until we're sure they're in there."

"Yeah, Jane," said Frankie.

The same EMT that had taken Maura's order from before came up to them again. "Dr. Isles? We've got more coming," he said quietly, standing next to Maura but looking at Jane.

Maura looked to her as well, full of indecision.

"Maura, go. Go. I'll keep you updated," Jane said, waving her away.

"Promise?" Maura asked her, stepping closer. She pulled Jane into a tight embrace.

Jane nearly collapsed, but managed to nod vigorously against Maura's shoulder. "Yeah, promise. Love you."

"I love you too," Maura replied as she squeezed. She bestowed a quick kiss against the salty moisture on Jane's lips and then she was off again.

Once she watched Maura return to triaging patients, Jane spun around and clapped Frankie on the back. "C'mon. We're goin' in there."

Frankie didn't budge, even though his sister was walking away from him. "They won't let anyone past them. I tried."

Jane scoffed. "Ok, so we try again. Come on, Frankie." she tugged his arm harder, but he yanked her back. The force of it caught her off guard and she was spun around to face him again, his hands on her shoulders.

"Jane, wait. You can't," he said, his voice breaking at the tumult in her eyes, "you just can't."

Jane broke then. The tears fell. "What if they're still alive in there?" she asked helplessly, and Frankie scooped her into his arms.

"I know. I know," he said, unable to say anything else.


The entirety of P3 was covered in rubble, rebar, and smashed cars. Lights that hadn't been destroyed in the collapse flickered ominous orange against bodies and belongings. TJ's crying rang out in an otherwise eerily quiet scene.

"Oh, TJ!" Tommy, legs buried under rock, shouted as best he could in the car's direction. He reached his arm out, but was stuck. "TJ, Daddy's right here! It's gonna be ok! You hang in there, buddy, ok? Detective Frost?"

Frost was just a few feet away with his arm encased in a concrete prison. "I'm here," he said weakly, blinking away dust and confusion. "I can't… I can't get my arm out."

"My head is killing me," Tommy said. "What does it mean when I feel like I gotta puke?"

"It means you have a head injury," said Frost.

Tommy tried valiantly to rest his head against some of the concrete behind it. The garage was silent again. "Hey. The baby's not making any noise, Barry."

Frost lifted his own head up so that he could look Tommy in the eye. "He's ok. I know he's ok. He's strong."

Tommy accepted this, and stayed quiet for several long minutes. He looked up to the broken floor above them and thought about TJ, and Lydia. "You got a girlfriend?" He asked finally.

"No," Frost answered simply.

"Are you gay?" Tommy asked again.

"No. I did have a big crush on your sister for a long time, though."

"On my sister? You mean Jane?"

Frost tried to laugh. "You got another sister? Yeah, Jane. When we were first partnered together. Then I realized that was goin' nowhere fast."

"Because she had the hots for Maura? I liked Maura," Tommy said behind a big smile.

Frost looked up towards him again. "Yeah, even then, I think she had the hots for Maura. So, that's your type, too, huh?"

"Meh," Tommy shrugged. "I like Lydia, too. If y-you could just put the two of them together, they'd be the perfect woman."

Frost smiled at Tommy's simplicity, his clarity of want. "Whatever floats your boat, man."

Tommy chuckled. "You know what I'm gonna do if we get outta here?"

Frost was genuinely in the dark. "Marry Lydia?" he guessed.

"No. I'm gonna sue the shit out of Sam Nelson," Tommy said with a deep and growling threat in his voice. Just then, as if to contribute to the foreboding, the garage shook again.


Jane and Frankie approached Captain Green again, this time armed with new information. He stood talking to councilman Duluth, who passed out styrofoam water cups with his wife to emergency responders. "Captain Green, Councilman Duluth," Jane barked, "we need to talk to you."

Captain Green stepped forward. "We're doing all we can, Detective."

Jane shook him off. "It's bad concrete."

Green was taken aback. "What?"

"The builder, Sam Nelson. He used recycled concrete. That's what caused the collapse. Our crime lab just had samples tested to confirm."

Councilman Duluth ran a hand over his slick-backed hair. "No, that wouldn't be enough to cause such a catastrophic failure," he said nervously, "I-I spoke with the structural engineers who built it. They think that it was a combination of the heavy rains and the additional stories that the developer added to building 3."

Green tried to work it out in his head. "So, maybe the vibrations from the heavy equipment and the additional pilings compromised building one?"

"Yes," answered Duluth.

"We want to go in," said Jane, no patience for the details that got them here. "Our brother and our nephew are trapped inside there."

Green stepped to her, hoping to convey as much confidence and authority that she was. "I don't want a marble rolling around in there right now. It's not a question of if that building is coming down, it's a question of when. But I promise you, if we can get enough equipment in there and shore it up, I'll go in there myself." He said to Jane with finality. He was called away just after that.


Maura stood over the body of a man on a stretcher who was nonresponsive, considerably dirtier and more ruffled than when Jane had left her. McGuire, the EMT who had formed a tenuous working relationship with her, relayed the patient's status. "Initial GCS of 5. Point tenderness at the left parietal. Internal bleeding."

Maura shook her head. "He needs to go to Beth Israel."

McGuire huffed. "I'm out of transport right now."

"Well, get a police car and get him out of here. He needs attention now," Maura ordered. She placed her stethoscope back around her neck when she heard someone else call for her.

"Dr. Isles? What can I do?" Hope Martin said, in the same hospital issued scrubs as Maura. When she noted the look of shock on Maura's face, she explained. "FEMA put out a call to all off-duty nurses and doctors in the area, so I just came as soon as I heard."

Maura nodded slowly. She tamped down on the anger she felt when she looked at Hope, and told herself that she was overwhelmed. She needed the help. "Thank you," she said politely. "Can you assess the patients over there? I think that woman has a fractured femur."

Hope pulled her hair back into a ponytail and then slipped on some latex gloves. She moved through the war zone that the Storrow Center had become with the ease of someone who had seen a war zone or two before.

Maura suddenly felt glad for that.


Jane held an iPad up close to her face as she attempted to pinpoint Korsak's face through the glare. "Nothing so far, huh? Ok, just keep looking."

Korsak's close cut gray hair swished on the screen. "I'm sorry Jane. Frost is better at this."

Jane shook her head. "You're doin' fine, ok? Just get to the P3 camera at about… maybe like 1:15 or so."

"Ok, almost there," Korsak said as he readied the tape. As it played, he gasped. "Jane, I got somethin'. Tommy and Frost are standing talking to Sam Nelson right as the building collapses."

"Shit," Jane whispered. She hung up and ran over to Captain Green for a third time. "Captain Green! I got video of my brother and my partner and Nelson in the garage before the collapse."

"That doesn't mean they're in there alive, Rizzoli," Green gruffed seriously. "I can't risk other lives."

Jane had officially lost her cool. "There's a fucking three month old baby in there! We can't just stand here!"

Green stood firm again. "I'm letting you stay out of courtesy, Detective, but if you try to go into that garage, I will put you on the other side of that barricade!"

Jane bit her tongue. She had said too much. She nodded to him and stomped away, a little broken. She dialed Korsak again. He picked up immediately. "They're not letting me in, Korsak, they won't let me try to go get them and every fucking minute out here brings down the chances that I find them alive," she said without waiting for his greeting.

"Don't give up, Jane," he said sternly.

She huffed. "I'm not, I'm not. I'm just feelin' real impotent over here."

"I get it," he replied. Then he switched the subject. "I don't know how to scan these plans," he said, holding a paper up to the camera. "Do you see that?"

"Yeah, sort of," she rotated the iPad and leaned in.

"Alright. He circled a section on P3."

"Ok…"

"This looks like an arrow. He's got a rectangle labeled 'P3 floor' and then a circle with a question mark inside."

"Maybe there's somethin' under P3."

"P3 is the lowest level."

Jane contemplated that for a second, and then turned at the sound of her name. "Jane!" Maura shouted, waving to her as she weaved through responders. Jane nodded to her and then turned back to Korsak. "The lab was able to trace the ball bearings used to kill Ryan back to 500 recalled computers," Maura said when she was able to come up next to Jane.

"Ok, baby. I'm talking to Korsak about the collapse," Jane said dismissively.

But Maura would not be dismissed. "No, listen," she said, and Jane turned dutifully, contrition in her tired eyes. "Most of those computers were purchased for city employees, including all thirteen city counselors."

Jane's eyes went from tired to wide open. She turned back to Korsak. "Korsak, find out the name of the concrete company that supplied the concrete to Sam Nelson."

"Ok, gimme a sec, gimme a sec. Koneff Concrete. Lookin' for the owner now," he said, punching a few keys on the other end of the call, "Claire Koneff Duluth."

"The wife of the councilman? Oh god," said Maura, putting her hand to her mouth.

Korsak bristled. "They put the concrete company in her name to avoid conflict of interest."

Jane hung up on him for the second time and snarled as she marched to where Councilman Duluth and Claire Duluth continued to serve tired firefighters. She waved Frankie over on her way and explained what she had just found out.

He was still too late to stop her from shoving Duluth. Hard. "Was it worth it? Huh?" she asked as she did it.

Duluth shook himself out of the stupor of being hit by her. "Sorry?"

"This," said Jane, gesturing to all the chaos around them, "all so you could pocket a few hundred thousand more?"

He sputtered. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"No? Ok, how 'bout you, Claire?" she said, swiveling so that her long index finger bore into Mrs. Duluth's shoulder. "You loaded that prop gun with ball bearings. You watched Jennifer pull the trigger. How was it watching Ryan die?"

"It was awful," Mrs. Duluth crumbled instantly. She ran a hand nervously through her long blonde hair. She was almost as tall as Jane, but she cowered under the weight of Jane's blistering rage.

The councilman waved at her harshly. "My god. Claire, don't."

Jane pushed ahead. "Ryan came to you for help because you were married to a city councilman, and he wasn't getting anywhere with the builder. Who didn't know you used recycled concrete by the way."

Claire sighed to banish a crying jag. "We had no idea that this could happen."

"Stop! Stop talking, Claire! Just stop fucking talking," Duluth pleaded with her angrily.

"We underbid the project. It wasn't all bad concrete," Claire said anyway.

"Oh yeah, just some of it," Jane scoffed. Her contempt was the stuff of legends. "You're both under arrest for the murder of Ryan Granger. And let's hope today's body count doesn't get over seven, 'cause if it does, you're both goin' down for those murders, too."

"We didn't know!" Claire shouted after Jane's retreating form, "I swear we didn't know."

Frankie, content to let Jane handle the confession, burst into action then. He snatched his handcuffs from his belt and put them on the councilman first. "Put your hands behind your back."


"Maura!" Jane, having just spoken to Korsak again, pushed through a throng of nurses and policemen to find her. "Maura!" she screamed again as soon as she spotted her. Maura looked up from the patient she had just finished bandaging, and ran to Jane.

"What's wrong?"

Jane's eyes were dark brown with audacity and fear and hope. "Korsak found a tunnel under P3. Koneff Concrete was supposed to fill it and reinforce it, but they skipped that to pocket an extra 500k."

"Is Green going to go down there?" Maura asked, now just as hopeful.

"Yeah," Jane said, nodding sheepishly. "I'm goin' down there, too."

Maura pulled away. "You can't be serious. Jane, that's extremely dangerous."

"You know I'm goin'," said Jane. "I have to go. I'm not budgin' on this."

Maura's heart broke because she knew it was true. "It's foolish. Stupid."

"I know," Jane agreed easily. "Listen. I need you to come with me."

"Jane, I'm up to my ears in people needing medical attention here. I've got at least five more patients to see just around the corner," said Maura, now confused.

"I know. I'm telling you to commit a dereliction of duty here, Maura. I need you to come."

"What could you possibly need me for? You're going to need the professionals who can locate and retrieve them, if that's even a possibility."

Jane squirmed with impatience and a little something else. "Sure. And they'll be right behind us. But I… if I'm goin' into this… if I'm walkin' into certain death, if I'm not gonna make it out, I need you there. I know it's fucking selfish but I'm scared shitless. I'm not doin' this without you."

Maura twitched her nose, and then pulled Jane close to her by the sides of her face. "You're distraught. You're not thinking rationally. You shouldn't be doing this at all."

Jane sniffled. "Yeah I know. Go with me anyway?" she said it as if she were asking Maura out to dinner.

Maura wrapped her arms fiercely around Jane's shoulders and squeezed, afraid she was only holding pieces of her. "Ok. Ok, let's go."

They walked toward the underground opening to the tunnel that Captain Green and his men had uncovered, and Maura entered first with a thermal heat sensor from the fire department. "Last chance to back out," Jane said quietly as the building rumbled and she put her hand on Maura's shoulder to shelter her.

"I don't think that's an option, Jane," Maura said with a rueful smile. The tunnel was dark and musty, and the two of them stepped over large cans littered all over the floor.

"What are all these cans?" Jane said, annoyed.

"Old civil defense water cans," Maura answered, because of course she knew. "They use to store them here. Little did they know, it wasn't a very effective atomic bomb shelter because of the chimney effect."

"Let's talk about this later, babe," Jane teased as she shined her flashlight forward, ducking to get the best view she could. The garage shook again and Jane hovered over a crouched Maura, regretting her decision to ask her to come. Once the tremor passed, they walked until they encountered what appeared to be a makeshift wall. Jane felt despair again. "I don't think we can go any further."

"Alright, let me check here," Maura walked all the way to the edge of the wall.

"Maura, I can't tell my mother that my brother's dead," Jane groaned.

"Jane," Maura said in response, looking intently at the screen on the sensor as she pointed it above them, "look, look."

"That's them, that's them!" Jane yelped as she saw two distinctly hot forms appear. Captain Green and his team were not far behind, and she jumped as she pointed out the area to them.

It took them twenty long minutes to cut a hole into the concrete overhead, but when they finally did, they were able to hoist up one man onto P3.

That man spent an agonizing five minutes above, and then, his burly, glove covered hands lowered what looked like a baby wrapped in an emergency blanket. A totally silent baby.

"Maura," Jane said as she ran to the baby, "he's not moving."

And then, as if at the sound of his aunt's voice, TJ cried loud enough to echo. "That's a vigorous cry, Jane. He's ok," Maura said as she took TJ and checked him over quickly.

Captain Green turned to them. "Get that baby out of here!" he bellowed, and Jane and Maura obeyed, carrying TJ out the whole way back.


Angela and Lydia had been called as soon as Frankie knew TJ was safe. Angela held her grandson in her arms and attempted to soothe him as he wailed. Lydia was right next to her, running a thumb over TJ's forehead. "Oh baby, baby," she said as Angela bounced him, "TJ, you're ok, honey. Oh yeah, you're ok."

Jane, Maura, and Frankie stood around her, glad to see him safe, but nauseous about the others. They watched the tunnel, every person that walked in front of it Tommy, or Captain Green, until they weren't. "There's Frost!" Jane said, running to him as soon as she was sure. His left arm was in a sling and he was walking out onto the street under his own power. "Hey, you a'right?" she asked him quietly.

He grimaced in pain. He was taking her in, her filthy t-shirt, all untucked and askew, a small gash that had bled heavily just at her hairline, and grim all over her cheeks. He decided that they probably didn't look so different right about now. "Yeah, busted arm," he said as he held it up to her. "I think that's about it."

Frankie waited until they walked back to where he was standing with his mother and Maura, but then he gathered Frost up in a crushing hug. "Boy, you sure know how to make an exit."

Frost smirked. "It's good to see you, man," he said in reply before he was helped into an ambulance by Captain Green.

"Where's Tommy? I don't see Tommy!" Angela said when no one else was exiting the tunnel. Jane, almost too sick to turn around, did it anyway, just in time to see her brother being pushed out on a gurney, his arm up in the air like he was searching for someone.

"Oh my god! There's Tommy! Tommy!" Lydia said then, jumping up, practically willing the gurney towards them.

His family walked forward as he was wheeled toward the ambulance. "Hey bud, how're you doin'?" Jane asked him.

"I'm, I'm ok. Except for my head," Tommy said, moaning when he touched his forehead and his hand came back bloody. "Is TJ ok?"

Angela appeared at his other side with TJ outstretched towards him. "He's right here, baby. He's fine. Oh, Tommy," she choked out, emotion pummeling her, wave after wave.

Tommy touched TJ's chest and then put his head back down. "Oh I'm ok, Ma. Just… just make sure Lydia pumps for him, ok?"

Lydia grabbed his hand. "I'm right here, Tommy. I've got it all covered, there's bottles in my bag already," she said.

"Oh ok," Tommy said, relieved. As the paramedics pushed him up into the back of the ambulance, Lydia attempted to climb into it with him, same as Angela.

One of the men held his hand out to keep Lydia at bay. "You his wife?"

Before Angela could counsel her to say yes, she said "I'm his baby's mother. We're not married."

The man immediately barred her from entering. "Family only," he said sternly.

Jane barked from behind them. "You can't make an exception? She just told you she's the baby's mother."

Angela looked at Lydia and made a decision. Tommy needed to get to the hospital, quickly. They didn't have time to fight. "C'mon, honey," she said, pulling Lydia down. "We'll get a cop escort, follow the ambulance to Beth Israel the whole way. Frankie!"

Frankie helped pull them down, already ready to take them. "Ok, c'mon. Let's go. I can have us waiting there for him to arrive." he gave the baby back to Lydia, and then the three of them were on their way. Jane walked with them to ensure their safety, a vestige from the trauma they had all just faced.


Maura watched from a distance, the way they comforted one another by taking action and by making decisions. They made sacrifices for each other, promised each other things, delivered on those promises. She knew now, in her bones, that when Jane had said she would do anything to keep Maura, she meant it. And Maura wanted to stay around.

Hope Martin watched them, too. She watched Maura watching them, and accepted things about family and intimacy that she had been reluctant to before. She knew that when she walked up to Maura's side, that Maura didn't think of her as family. And for the first time, that thought filled her with regret.

Maura spoke first. "I want to help Cailin," she said.

Hope sighed. "She told me what she said to you."

Maura nodded. "She said, 'I don't want any part of you living in me.'"

"I'm so sorry," Hope said. Maura could tell that she meant it.

"We all say and do stupid things. But that doesn't mean she shouldn't live. I'll have Boston General's transplant unit arrange everything. I… I don't want Cailin to ever know."

Hope shook her head. "Maura…"

"No. Promise me," Maura was resolute. She turned her eyes from Jane and the other Rizzolis to Hope.

"I promise," Hope said quietly. She looked at Maura, standing there, strong and so selfless, and she was overcome. She opened her arms. "Can I… would it be alright with you if…"

Maura knew what she was asking even if she couldn't find the words. She nodded. Hope embraced her desperately, clinging onto her, squeezing her shoulders and burying her head at Maura's shoulder.

"I will never be able to thank you," Hope finally said, and Maura felt suspiciously like a parent as she patted Hope lightly on the back.


Jane watched her brother, her mother, and Lydia, drive away towards the hospital.

Maura watched Jane breathe, watched her shoulders rise and fall with the expansion of her lungs, took in her long arms and legs and her broad back. Maura needed a moment. A moment without Jane knowing she was there, a moment to steel herself. Jane had asked her to walk into a death trap for her. And she said yes. Without hesitation she said yes, especially when she pictured the life without Jane that could have ensued. And then, when they had exited with TJ and Tommy had been wheeled away alive, Maura's stomach had churned. They didn't let Lydia in the ambulance.

She didn't even realize she had been walking when she dropped her hand into Jane's. Jane jumped slightly, but smiled widely, with crinkled eyes, when she saw Maura. "Hey. How long have you been here?"

"Just a few minutes. I wanted to make sure they got off ok, too," Maura answered.

Jane felt the tension. "Yeah. They did. Just another day at the office, huh?" she attempted to break it, but when Maura only turned to face her, their hands still connected, she altered course. "You ok?"

"Listen to me," Maura said, pulling Jane's other hand into her own so that they were front to front.

"I'm listenin'," Jane said, leaning her head down just slightly to hear Maura better over the commotion of police activity, fire trucks, and EMTs bustling around them.

"They didn't let Lydia in the ambulance," Maura said, and she knew that Jane saw the wetness in her eyes.

"I know - you believe that? Standing in front of a bunch of cops, with the baby right there. Who's gonna lie about that?" Jane scoffed, remembering the incident.

"Because she wasn't his wife," Maura said, slowly.

Jane was looking at her, but not really seeing. "Yeah. They have a family only policy I guess."

"I don't ever want to be denied a seat in the ambulance, Jane. That cannot happen to me again if you get hurt," Maura struggled to find the exact right words, she struggled under the weight of what she was asking, what she was implying.

Jane shook her head. "You won't have that problem. You're an MD. You're also not a bonehead."

Maura sighed. She closed her eyes and she could feel Jane's pulse at her wrists. "I know this is not a romantic, or elaborate, way to ask. It's also probably not the right time. But I need you to marry me, Jane. I can't go through what Lydia went through today."

Jane stiffened. Turned pale, looked ghastly against the dark red blood on her face. "Maura."

"I'm not really asking, either, I guess. I'm telling you what I need," said Maura, tugging Jane closer until they were flush.

"That is… that's ah..." Jane stammered, and her pallor gave way to blush. She bit her lower lip when Maura put a hand against the scarred gunshot wound she'd given herself about two years prior. The heat of that hand felt good against her tight skin.

"Do what it takes to keep me, Jane," Maura said, both ordering Jane and warning her, echoing Jane's words from just that morning. "This is what it takes to keep me."

Jane nodded slowly, unable to deny her, unwilling to deny her.