Hi all!

Cheers as always to my awesome beta JaneyGWF. Also thanks to everyone who has left a review, unfortunately I haven't been able to respond as I usually would, but they have all been read and appreciated. I will hopefully get my normal internet access back soon and will be able to answer you! Enjoy, and as always let me know if there was something you liked!

Despite Constance's exasperated glare, Jane couldn't stop fidgeting. She'd been cooped up in too many small moving spaces within the last few hours, and she was bursting to walk around under her own steam. The presence of Constance and Hope hadn't made the trip go any faster either, since despite all they'd been through Jane always felt like they were judging her for not helping Maura more. It was entirely possible that she was projecting her own expectations onto them, but she couldn't help it when faced with the two often intimidating mothers.

It had been just over a month since Frankie and Maura had gone to New York. Neither of them had been back to Boston, instead choosing to remain vigilantly on the case, Frankie in an official capacity with the task force and Maura unofficially working behind the scenes. Jane had tried to get both of them to take a break and come home, but they both stubbornly refused, citing a need to stay where the action was.

Maura had been true to her promises, and called Jane as soon as she reached the city. She had shared her planned routes, her scheduled movements, and any findings, which greatly reassured Jane after their emotionally charged farewell.

It felt like a previously undetected barrier had dissolved between the two since Maura's explosive and somewhat terrifying outburst. Jane finally understood Maura's frame of mind better, and could try to respond to her as she is instead of how she used to be. Jane could also see how certain things she'd been doing or saying were unintentionally hurting Maura, including how wrong it had been to even suggest being turned into a vampire for anything less than avoiding certain death.

Maura seemed to be feeling freer after her confession, as if by admitting her self-hatred out loud to Jane she had stripped it of some of the power she'd given it. Jane had no doubt that the underlying guilt that had monopolised Maura's emotions was still there, and always would be, but it no longer seemed to be crippling her sense of self or getting in the way of her trying to live. Although Maura had left, it no longer felt like she had run away, or like she was trying to avoid talking. Maura answered any questions Jane asked, and even offered some insights into her thoughts without prompting.

Both of them felt more at ease with each other, even with the distance between them physically. But as always, the gain of their increased closeness and openness came with baggage from external sources.

Maura's findings had been more frustrating than useful since reaching New York. She had identified vampire trails all over the city, which were so easily detected Jane had worriedly speculated that the vampires may want to be found. Maura had taken her caution to heart, being careful not to track them back to the source directly. Instead, she gathered more information about the direction of the trails, trying to project the paths to a likely destination. She managed to identify twelve different vampire scents, including R1, R3 and R4, the individuals whose trails she had already encountered in Boston at various crime scenes.

After several weeks of speculation, lots of colourful lines on a map and some trigonometry that had made Jane's brain hurt, they had identified seven likely general locations for vampire activity within the city. Two were in Manhattan, the others were spread amongst the boroughs on the mainland. Jane and Maura hadn't worked out what to do with this information yet, since it seemed far too dangerous to simply approach an unfamiliar vampire's lair without warning.

Jane had readily shared any new intelligence Maura discovered with Constance, Hope and Frankie. She felt like she had become the information hub for the entire team, since Maura and Frankie only talked to her, and everyone kept running theories and suspicions past her first.

Constance and Hope had continued to nurture the contacts they had made, obtaining new information on vampire related activities from all around the country, and some overseas locations. There hadn't been any apparent increase in vampire activity worldwide, but there were reports of 'serial murders' in several European countries that looked a lot like hybrid breeding activity. The centre of the European vampire issues appeared to be Italy, but these vampires had been more careful about avoiding groupings of murders, ensuring it was impossible to find a specific city to investigate. They were still waiting on more information, but even if they found something to chase it was hard to think of a way to utilise their knowledge without actually going overseas and investigating personally.

Frankie had been working with the task force, chasing up leads as if they really were after a cult obsessed with vampires. He had begrudgingly called Jane the first day he reached New York, still obviously upset about Maura's involvement but trying hard not to blame Jane. After a few strained conversations, the siblings managed to avoid the issue and return to their usual comradery.

His impression of the officers he worked with was that they were clueless about the true nature of the crimes they were investigating. The only one he suspected of knowing more was the task force leader, Lieutenant Reynolds. She had raised his suspicions when she had referred to a suspect they were following as a leech, rather than a cultist. Frankie had been keeping an eye on her ever since, noticing other little slips that would be meaningless to anyone who didn't know the truth. She didn't seem to be working against the purpose of the task force, which was to stop the murders, but he wasn't going to trust that she didn't have another agenda either.

Jane was worried about him. He still seemed angry, with Maura specifically and vampires generally. She had been trying to come up with something, anything, to help him understand and move on, but she had come up empty. The only reason she understood Maura's actions was that she understood Maura at a deep personal level, and Frankie didn't have that background knowledge. Unless Maura picked up an ability to share her thoughts or something similar, it was likely that Frankie would never understand, and would always resent Maura for his mother's death. That sort of anger wasn't healthy in the long term, and could lead to him doing something impulsive and stupid.

Despite her misgivings, Jane had been relaying all the information gathered by the others in an attempt to help him and make him feel part of the team. Although Frankie couldn't act on the locations they'd found, since it was even more dangerous for humans than it would be for Maura, he could avoid them and lead the task force away from the potential lairs so nobody got hurt. So far he'd been doing well, with Lieutenant Reynolds appreciating his work and insights without suspecting he was steering the investigation or that he knew more than he should.

Things were starting to feel stagnant again, with no sign of when the vampire situation might all be resolved. Hope and Constance had grown impatient, hating that Maura had essentially been forced out of Boston and away from the only three people that cared about her by her own stubbornness and sense of obligation. Jane had therefore agreed to help organise this trip, and had shared one of her ideas for helping Maura with Constance. In turn, the socialite had gone crazy with the idea, blowing it completely past the modest idea Jane had started with, which is how Jane now found herself in New York, in a limousine with Hope and Constance, heading for a five star hotel.

Jane sat up in awe as they pulled up in front of the hotel. Her door was opened as soon as the vehicle stopped, the greeter dressed to the nines and extending his hand to help her out of the car. Jane hesitated, then took the offered hand awkwardly, not quite knowing what to do and instead focussing on trying not to trip over.

Constance and Hope exited the limousine more gracefully, Constance immediately taking charge and issuing orders to the staff. Hope gently took Jane by the elbow, guiding her towards the elevators after Constance. Within minutes Jane found herself in a suite bigger than her apartment, with what looked like several wings. Hope led her to a lavishly decorated room, which to Jane's astonishment was designated as hers, before leaving her in peace to get ready.

Jane looked around the room doubtfully, feeling like she was going to break all of the expensive things she could see just by breathing too loudly. Her bag had been placed on an ornate stand, so she decided to unpack and rest for a while. She settled back on the huge bed, sinking into the mattress, which felt like a fluffy cloud lined with feathers, with a tired sigh.

The journey had obviously tired her out more than she'd realised, because the next thing she knew, Jane was being awoken by someone carefully shaking her shoulder. She groggily blinked her eyes open, finding an amused set of golden eyes hovering over her.

Jane was suddenly awake as she lunged forward and pulled her visitor into a hug. "Maura! You're here!"

Maura hugged Jane just as excitedly, a light chuckle pre-empting her heartfelt response. "It's good to see you! I've missed you, Jane."

Jane held on for a few more seconds before letting go and sitting back, smiling broadly at the sight of her friend finally sitting in front of her. "Yeah, well, I haven't missed you. Not even a bit."

Maura put on a fake hurt expression for a few seconds, but couldn't maintain the pretence. "So, how was the trip?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "Somehow, a private jet and limousine seems a lot more tiring than just driving. I think your mother has a super power of wearing me out."

Maura tilted her head to the side curiously. "Really? Which one?"

Jane thought for a moment. "Both of them! Hope kept asking me all these detailed questions. What's been going on with Maura? What is Maura doing today before coming here? What's Frankie up to today? Ugh. It was like she thought that if she stopped talking we would stop moving. And Constance just kept looking at me with this disapproving look, every time I touched something, or walked, or breathed."

Maura laughed heartily before putting a hand over her mouth and trying to contain her enjoyment of Jane's ordeal. "Well, I appreciate the effort you've gone to just to visit."

Jane smirked mischievously. "Oh, we're not just here to visit. There's a plan. And you're participating."

Maura frowned. "What plan? I didn't think we had any safe plans for investigating any of the…"

Jane put a hand over Maura's mouth to stop the ramble before it started. "Not work plans. You're officially off duty today, got it? Frankie knows, and he's on high alert, so you can have the night off."

Maura raised an eyebrow, waiting for Jane to move her hand before speaking. "And if I refuse this ever-so-congenial offer?"

Jane shrugged. "I don't need threats. I have incentives. If you come along tonight and promise not to try and run off early, you get to put me through the horror of dressing up. In an actual dress."

Maura gasped excitedly, bouncing once on the bed before she managed to contain herself. "Really? You're wearing a dress?"

Jane nodded. "And so are you. We all are, in fact, since we're going somewhere pretty darn fancy."

Maura smiled, but then looked at Jane suspiciously. "Where are we going?"

Jane got up from the bed and started rummaging through her bag, finally finding the invitation she'd carefully packed. "Your mother is holding a benefit to raise funds for several non-profits associated with medical and scientific research. There's an auction, and donations, and speeches. Also there are heaps of big brainy researchers invited, so they can meet and greet Constance's rich friends and convince them to donate lots of money to their causes."

Maura frowned in confusion. "But why are we going to this? I can't be seen there, someone might recognise me and call the police. Plus, this hardly seems like the sort of thing you'd enjoy."

Jane grinned. "Okay, first of all, it's a masque ball. Everyone will be wearing masks and relying on introductions to know who people are. We're running the meet and greet part a bit like speed dating. And we have a great mask for you that will cover your whole face, so there is no chance anyone will recognise you."

Jane grew more serious as she sat back down. "Second, the real reason we set this up is so you could have the chance to meet all these smart people with all this great knowledge, and have a chance to shake their hands. I know how much you love learning new things, and this seemed like a great way to get a lot of great minds in the one room. You can mingle, talk science with some fellow geeks, and learn a whole bunch of new things."

Maura was flabbergasted. "You set this up so I can use my powers on innocent people?"

Jane nodded calmly. "We know that your power doesn't hurt anyone. They don't even know that you've used it. We had no idea that you'd copied my shooting skills, and it saved our lives. You're not going to hurt or inconvenience anyone, but it would give you a chance to enjoy using your new powers for something not life or death serious. What do you say?"

Maura looked torn for a moment, before smiling and grabbing Jane's hands. "Thank you. This is such a thoughtful thing to do, and it must have taken so much effort to put together!"

Jane shrugged, grinning widely as she realised Maura was excited rather than angry. "Constance did most of the work, I just made the suggestion."

Maura smiled at Jane wonderingly. "Really Jane, I'm impressed that you came up with such a creative way to utilise my powers. It's quite an ingenious plan."

Jane crossed her arms in offence. "You say that like you would never expect me to come up with a good idea. I have lots of good ideas. I am a font of good ideas."

Maura jumped up from the bed with an indulgent smile, holding out an arm to Jane as she carefully avoided answering Jane's statement. "Let's go, I want to see what you're wearing!"

Jane allowed herself to be pulled up, graciously letting Maura's needling slide, but moved to her luggage instead of out to the rest of the suite. "There's something we need to do first. I meant to do this a month ago, but we got side-tracked with your mothers and Frankie and New York and everything else. Also, I'm not sure if my hand would have been up to it back then anyway."

Jane turned back around, holding several tools. "It's time."

Maura pulled back with a slight wince. "Time? I don't know, maybe we should wait."

Jane couldn't help the eye roll. "You've had those bullets in your back for months, Maura. You won't be able to wear the dress your mother picked out for you unless we get them out. What's holding you back?"

Maura looked at her feet, her hands wringing together as she sighed. "Frankie. He still doesn't forgive me. I feel like they should stay until he does, and if he never forgives me, then so be it."

Jane stepped forward into Maura's personal space. "Listen to me. Frankie is being emotional, and stubborn, and he wasn't there. He can't understand, because he didn't see how hard you worked to avoid anything bad happening, and he didn't see how destroyed you were after it happened. I was there, I saw those things. And I forgive you."

Maura looked up, seeing the complete truth in Jane's eyes. She nodded, a small smile of thanks finding its way onto her lips.

Jane grinned back in response. "Okay, it's settled. Now lie down on your front."

The removal process was surprisingly simple. Jane managed to carefully prise the cracks in Maura's back open with some custom made heavy-duty retractors, which Hope had assisted her in procuring. She managed to make just enough space to get some narrow pliers around the bullets, and with a quick pull they were out within seconds of each other. Maura let out a gasp as Jane let the edges go and they knitted back together, the seam in her flawless skin repairing itself within seconds. Jane ran a hand over the smooth, granite-like skin, unable to tell where the bullets had been. The only sign Maura had of being in a fight was the bite mark near her shoulder, but that was faint enough to be unnoticeable by casual inspection.

Maura sat up with her eyes closed as she smiled blissfully. Jane could see the relief on her face, confirming her assumption that the bullets had been bothering Maura more than she let on. She couldn't imagine that having two shards of metal stuck in your skin could be comfortable, even without the added meaning attached to them. Maura, however, would never have admitted her discomfort in a million years, instead choosing to suffer in silence as part of her penance.

Jane picked up the bullets and held them out to Maura as her eyes opened. "Do you want to keep these?"

Maura held her hand out, taking the bent pieces of metal and examining them carefully. "No, I don't. I don't need them to remind me of anything, since there's no chance I'll ever forget. You can keep them, or dispose of them, I don't mind."

Jane took them back and went back to her bag, throwing the tools inside and pulling out a plastic bag. "They are going in the first dumpster I see. I don't need the reminder either. I'm considering it all behind us."

Maura nodded happily in agreement. The pair shared a moment of silent reflection, each appreciating the lightness that came from finally moving on.

Maura was the first to move, getting up off the bed and shepherding Jane towards the door. "Come on, I believe I was promised the opportunity to see you in a dress!"

Jane groaned exaggeratedly, but allowed herself to be pushed towards the waiting mothers in the other room with a satisfied smile.