Hi all!

I see everyone enjoyed the last few chapters! I really appreciate all the comments, they are very inspiring, and it's lovely to know people are a bit hooked! Please keep letting me know what you think!

Thanks as always to JaneyGWF, this was a tricky chapter so I really appreciate all your efforts!

Enjoy!

It felt like days ago that she was bitten by Alec. She had heard Maura screaming, more brokenly and desperately than Jane had ever heard before. Frankie had been there too, bellowing and protesting, but pain had overcome her senses before she could talk to them and reassure them.

She realised what was happening immediately. It was exactly how Maura had described it. Her entire body felt like it was on fire. Bones, muscles, eyes, toes, sweat, tears, and especially blood; all of it was burning, and Jane could do nothing but scream.

And then it had stopped. It felt like a soothing bucket of water had been poured through her, dousing the pain and leaving a safe, comforting feeling of happiness and love in its place. After a few seconds, Jane realised it had to be Maura, using powers Jane had thought forever lost to save her from the agony of the transformation. She had no idea how Maura had managed it, but she could feel her friend's influence; warm, familiar and very welcome.

Jane tried to move, to thank Maura for somehow stepping in, but her body was still out of her control, her consciousness separated from her physical form by some sort of barrier. She wasn't sure if it was Maura's power or the venom, but after several minutes of stubborn struggle, Jane admitted she was stuck as a passenger in her paralysed body until her change was complete.

Jane decided to try and think through the situation, so she could possibly anticipate what she might face when she woke up. As a vampire.

The realisation stopped her thoughts cold. She really was turning into a vampire. It wasn't a possible outcome, it wasn't a long-term possibility, it wasn't an idea to be discussed academically; it was happening, now. She could feel the venom in her veins, heavy and foreign, and although she couldn't feel the pain, she could feel the wrongness. Her body was fighting, but she knew it couldn't win. Her transformation was inevitable now.

She had considered the possibility before, even going so far as to ask Maura to change her in an ill-considered moment of insanity. But now it was actually happening, Jane was rather apprehensive. Her whole life was about to change, in fact had already changed. She would never return to work, never help rebuild BPD, never chase down a criminal with only her gun and her wits between her and death. She would never trust herself around TJ again, in fact she would be lucky to see any of her friends or family. There was no imminent threat compelling her to risk the temptation of being around people, like Maura had been subjected to under the threats of the Volturi. Jane knew that unless she was 100% sure of her self-control, she would never risk being around her loved ones unnecessarily, as she knew it would destroy her if she had to live with killing someone she cared about.

The train of thought came to a screeching halt when she realised there was a chance that Frankie was still stuck in the boiler with her.

Jane's thoughts reeled at the idea that she might be capable of killing her own little brother. It seemed ridiculous, but she remembered watching Maura's struggles with vampire thirst, and she felt no confidence in her ability to do better. Maura was one of the smartest and most strong-willed people she'd ever met, with much more control over her emotions and impulses than Jane had ever had. If Maura couldn't overcome the inherent instincts that came with being a vampire, it spoke volumes about Jane's chances.

Jane had been stuck in the half-conscious limbo of her transformation for an unknown amount of time, agonising over the potential outcomes of her awakening, when a new pain suddenly blossomed along her left arm. It was a different sort of pain, more focussed, sharper, and more difficult to ignore. She felt her body react, seizing and thrashing, and Jane suddenly found her mind assailed with the full pain of the experience again. For some reason, Maura had lost the link, and it was leaving Jane completely vulnerable to the painful assault of the venom.

It was relentless, pounding in on her awareness from all sides, leaving her nowhere to hide. She couldn't fight, she couldn't surrender, she could only endure it. She felt her body grow heavier, as if someone had fallen on her, and the pain increased in her arm again. The additional agony lasted a few minutes, time filled with burning, stabbing and tearing, but finally the pain stopped once more.

Maura's influence swept over her again, and Jane was released from the torture back into the depths of her mind. She felt completely exhausted, as if the smallest thought would take more energy than she possessed. Although the process of her transformation wouldn't allow her to lose consciousness, Jane's awareness slowed to a crawl, her thoughts stunned into silence. She stopped fighting and allowed the essence of Maura's feelings to pervade her, keeping her safe. Her mind drifted through thoughts of her life, fond memories that she hoped would remain clear after her transformation, and also past traumas that she couldn't believe she would be able to forget.

After another unknown amount of time, Jane started regaining awareness. Her body was still unreachable, but her mind was becoming clear. She took a careful inventory of her condition, and noted many amazing changes. She could feel the new strength in her limbs, as the hard floor no longer pressed into her flesh. She still breathed, her inhalations shallow and harsh, but her fatigue was dissipating as her tissues grew hard as stone.

Her thoughts had changed as well. She could feel the way her memories were linked together, more linearly as Maura had once explained. Every experience she had lived through was a doorway to another, and she could call any of her memories to the forefront with blinding speed. She travelled the course of her whole life in her mind, surprised to find memories she could previously barely remember easily accessible.

Jane was confused, as this felt different to Maura's description of her experiences. When her friend had first regained awareness, she had been barely able to recall her life, in fact completely forgetting certain people and events. Jane seemed to be experiencing the opposite, with her memories of her human life perfectly intact, or possibly even enhanced.

As she continued to wonder about her memories, Jane slowly noticed an awareness of her surroundings. Her eyes were still closed, so she had no idea how she could see, but she started to see shapes and bizarre colours, like nothing her eyes had ever seen before. The images were faint, but as she concentrated she started to make sense of them.

She could make out the shape of Frankie, sitting slumped against the wall. He had a sort of glow around him, and she could see something like currents flowing around his body, following where she guessed his circulatory system to be. She could also make out Maura looking down at her. There was no glow coming off Maura, but she did have currents flowing through her as well, although they looked very different to the ones inside Frankie. Instead of the colours moving in a circular path, all of Maura's cells were pulsing with colour, exchanging little bursts and passing them on, making Maura's body shimmer and shift like a kaleidoscope. There were dark spots in the picture, which Jane eventually understood to be the pieces of metal piercing her body.

After a while, Jane started to notice an ethereal thread between them, starting at Maura and flowing into Jane. Based on what she could feel, Jane guessed she was somehow seeing the pain suppression that Maura was using to help her. Jane fervently wished she could move, to thank Maura for all she was doing, but her body was still stubbornly unresponsive.

Jane continued to watch her companions with her strange new sense, and over time noticed something alarming about Maura. The colours flowing through her body were steadily slowing and dimming, although the cord between them remained strong. Jane wasn't sure what it all meant, but she suspected Maura was killing herself trying to help her. Jane struggled against her body with renewed urgency, trying to produce any reaction that could get Maura to stop, but there didn't seem to be any way to move until her transformation was complete.

When Jane had worked herself into a frantic wreck after watching Maura's energy wane steadily, her body finally moved, however it was still involuntary. Jane felt her heart convulse painfully, her limbs flying out aimlessly, and she fervently hoped that this was it. That it was finished, and she could wake up and help Maura.

She suddenly saw the cord between them change colour, sending a burst of sadness and guilt into her painfully, before being severed altogether. Jane felt her mind and body reconnect, and put all her concentration into not screaming. The pain was almost overwhelming, but she focussed on that image of Maura's life force, energy, whatever it was, draining to almost nothing, and tried to look as if she didn't need more help.

It didn't work, and Jane felt Maura recommence her efforts. Jane could only watch as her best friend's energy sputtered, surely on the edge of giving out altogether. She wished she knew how to turn off this new second vision, because she knew she didn't have the strength to watch Maura die trying to help her.

Fortunately, there wasn't much more to endure for either of them. Jane's body collapsed to the ground as her heart beat for the last time, the pain disappeared and her eyes opened.

Jane immediately jumped to her feet, taking a moment to get used to the new strength in her limbs. She felt lighter, as if she was barely attached to the earth anymore. She looked at her hands, noticing the flawless, scar-free skin. There was a slight pang of something guilty and sad when she realised all the marks of her old life would be gone, but she smiled when she realised that all her memories were still completely intact.

Jane abruptly remembered her urgency, and her eyes snapped up to meet Maura's. She sucked in a sudden shocked breath as she got a good look at her.

Whatever second vision she'd experienced hadn't lied. Maura looked terrible to her new vampire eyes. She sagged weakly against her restraints, the metal stabbing harshly through her skin without mercy. Jane could see the large cracks permeating her skin, joining the wounds in a gruesome pattern. Maura's eyes were almost completely black, her thirst readily apparent, but those eyes weren't fixed on Frankie, the only available food source. Maura was staring at her newly transformed best friend, her expression pleading and desperate.

Jane looked at Frankie, and realised that he was pressed as close to the wall as possible, his face split between fear and hope. Jane understood, remembering her reaction when Maura had first awoken. She noticed he had a gun in his holster, but he didn't look like he had any intention of using it, despite being faced with a newborn vampire.

Jane frowned in confusion when she realised that she hadn't felt the need to attack Frankie. Maura had been uncontrollable when she'd first awoken, not even recognising Jane until she'd fed on almost two people's worth of blood. But, for some unknown but entirely welcome reason, Jane wasn't even tempted. She could smell Frankie, and she could identify the smell as potential prey, but the instinct to attack just wasn't there. In fact, Jane didn't feel like she had any new predatory instincts at all.

Shaking her head in confusion, Jane refocussed on the issue at hand. She decided to hold her breath, just in case the vampire instincts were simply dormant or delayed, and took a step towards Maura.

Jane was immediately hit with a jolt of pain, her eyes meeting Maura's in confusion. Maura was using her power to try and stop Jane, but it was obviously taking a huge toll, and wasn't anywhere near as effective as it should have been. The sensation wasn't simply composed of hatred or anger; instead there were a multitude of emotions, fear and guilt prominent among them, resulting in a mixture of pain and general discomfort, but no crippling agony. Jane knew that she could easily fight through the pain and move if she wanted to, unlike her experience with the Volturi using the same power. Maura's small frame was trembling, her face a determined grimace, and she was sagging further in her restraints as she put everything she had into keeping Jane away, but she had obviously pushed herself past her limits.

Jane abruptly realised that she was protecting Frankie, since she had no way of knowing what was going on in Jane's head. "Maura! Stop! You're killing yourself, please, stop!"

Maura frowned and gritted her teeth, while Frankie looked between them, completely at a loss. Jane could see the concern on his face as he looked at Maura, as well as the fear when he looked back at his sister.

Abruptly the pain stopped, and Maura gasped, her eyes rolling back as she winced and groaned. Jane immediately ran to her side, ignoring a bewildered Frankie for the moment.

Maura slowly opened her eyes, and looked at Jane with great regret, her voice sounding exhausted and defeated. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you, but I had to try everything. I had to try and protect Frankie."

Jane grasped Maura's face gently, feeling the worrying tremors that were still running through Maura's frame. "And you did, Maura. Frankie is fine. You did great. Now you need to let me help you, okay?"

Maura just looked dazed as she frowned at Jane. "Why would you help me? I let this happen. I couldn't stop Alec. I couldn't stop you."

Jane realised that Maura couldn't understand, between her depleted state and her reliance on everything she knew about vampires, that Jane was different. That the worst case scenario had, for once in their lives, been avoided.

Deciding that actions were more important than words right now, she decided to stop arguing and reassuring, instead starting to try and free Maura. When Jane started running her hands over the metal spikes, carefully bending them away from Maura's battered body, Maura gaped in astonishment and spoke in an incredulous but croaky voice. "Jane? What are you doing?"

Jane rolled her eyes, continuing to work as she answered, managing to get one of Maura's arms free. "I told you, I'm getting you out of here. You shouldn't have done that for me, Maura, using your power for three whole days like that. You're hurt. You nearly killed yourself, and that's not anywhere close to acceptable."

Frankie laughed in disbelief, a strangled odd bark of a laugh, before he silenced himself fearfully. Maura's head whipped around, her expression growing more flabbergasted as she realised Jane hadn't killed him. Jane gave him a reassuring smile, starting to pull on some of the longer pieces as gently as possible. "Frankie, don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."

Frankie frowned in confusion. "What? Jane, you're talking really fast and creepy."

Jane remembered Maura telling her about a vampire's perspective of time, and concentrated on slowing her speech down while continuing to work on Maura's bindings. After the third attempt, Frankie finally nodded in understanding, then frowned in disbelief at what she had said.

Maura was still gaping, not making any attempt to help Jane. "How? How did you stop yourself? I couldn't stop you, he should be dead…"

Jane shrugged, grimacing at Maura before yanking hard on one of the spikes extending through Maura's torso. Maura yelled in agony, her free arm smashing against the boiler wall. Jane muttered an apology before yanking again, managing to remove the rest of the piece on the second try. Maura whimpered, her body slumping tiredly.

Jane assessed the rest of the damage, realising that Alec had pushed the pieces a long way through Maura and the wall. It would take some time to remove all the metal, and it would put Maura through a lot of additional pain. She glanced at Frankie, realising he might be able to help. "Frankie, what happened to Alec? Is he coming back?"

Frankie grinned and shook his head, apparently feeling gradually safer around Jane by the second. "No, Maura managed to knock him down a peg, and she still had a gun. I did the rest."

Jane smiled back in relief. "So we're in the clear? Nobody is coming after us?"

Frankie simply shook his head with a smile, which Jane returned. "Good. Okay, I need you to go to the other side and cut off the ends of these pieces, so there's less to pull through on this side."

Frankie nodded, but gestured helplessly towards the roof. "I would, but I can't get out. The only door we know about is way up there."

Jane followed his gesture and could see the door in question with her new vision. She stepped away from Maura, finding several small portholes and support plates on the sheer walls she could use as hand holds. She looked back at her best friend, who had just been through hell to save her, and gave her a determined look. "I'll be right back."

Jane reached out a hand to Frankie, who looked fearfully at the wall. "Um, so Maura was telling me this story about when she was first turned, when she knocked down a house because she misjudged a jump…"

Jane frowned as she remembered the same story. "Right. Let me just practice a bit first."

Jane moved to the other end of the boiler, hopping slightly to try and judge the amount of force needed to jump. She focussed on her first target, bent her knees and leaped. Predictably, she'd misjudged, slamming into the wall below her intended height with far more force than was anticipated. She fell back to the floor, leaving a new large dent in the side of the boiler.

After a few more failed attempts, Jane managed to judge the required strength correctly. She made the next few jumps to the door more smoothly, learning more each time she attempted to use her new strength. Once she was satisfied she could make the journey safely, she turned around and dropped back to the bottom of the boiler, landing well away from Frankie.

He stepped back warily when she approached, reminding Jane that he must still be expecting the other shoe to drop. "Frankie, I promise, I'm okay. For some reason, I'm in control. I'm not going to hurt you. But I need to get you out of here, Maura needs your help."

He still looked apprehensive, but slowly nodded and moved closer to Jane. She turned around and encouraged him to jump on her back in a piggy-back position, then turned back to give Maura a reassuring smile. Maura just stared back in bewilderment as Jane turned and started to carry Frankie out of their prison, alive and unharmed.

Minutes later, they had left the boiler and found a workshop. Jane let Frankie down and immediately started looking for a useful tool, noticing after a few seconds that Frankie hadn't moved, and was still staring at her in puzzlement. She decided to try and break the ice, to work out if Frankie hated her for changing into something he despised. "You never even considered using that gun, did you?"

Frankie looked at his weapon, seeming surprised to find it still on his belt, before looking back at Jane seriously. "Of course not. It wouldn't be self-defence, it would be me shooting my sister. If you'd attacked me, you wouldn't have had a choice, but I did. I chose to let you live, even though you were turning into a vampire. If that meant I was finished, well, I knew who to blame, and it wasn't you. Or Maura. It was Alec, and only him. I could never kill you Jane."

Jane paused to smile at him. "I could never kill you either Frankie."

He watched Jane moving in a blur around the room, his expression still mystified. "I just don't understand why I'm alive right now. Everything we know about vampires says this is impossible. You shouldn't care about Maura at all. You should have woken up, killed me, then run out of there looking for more victims. There should be nothing left of the old Jane. But instead, here you are, saving Maura, looking after me, caring about everyone else before yourself. Just like always. As if nothing's changed."

Jane found what she was looking for, a large grinder and the safety equipment to go with it, and returned to Frankie. She urged him out of the workshop and back towards the boiler at a brisk walk.

After walking for a few moments, Jane started speaking hesitantly. "I don't know what to tell you. I know exactly what you were expecting, I was panicking about it too. I realised what was happening to me, and I realised that you might still be stuck in that place with me, and I freaked out. But then, I don't know how or why, but I didn't lose my mind when I changed. I still feel like me, I can still remember everything. What happened to me is different than what happened to Maura. When she first woke up she was gone, she was all vampire, and the only reason she didn't kill me was because she was tied down, with metal plates. It took a while for her to remember anything from her old life, and I'm not convinced she ever really got it all back. For whatever reason, which I'm sure Maura will figure out and explain to me, I'm different."

Jane realised they were about to start walking in circles. The place was a maze, and they probably would have been lost for hours, but after a few minutes of aimless wandering Jane thought to stop and close her eyes. Sure enough, her second vision was still working, and she could see Maura's energy through the walls, disturbingly fainter now than it had been the last time Jane had seen it before waking up.

Frankie kept looking at Jane with a stunned expression, but he nodded when Jane pointed him in the right direction. Jane moved to the wall Maura was pinned to, pulling sheets of cladding away from the structure to reveal the ends of the metal spikes. There were several stakes extending more than a metre past the wall.

Frankie caught up with her and looked over the situation, nodding as he plugged in the grinder. "Go back to Maura, I've got this Jane."

Jane smiled and nodded, before hurrying back to the boiler door.

Maura, who had slumped against her restraints in dejected sadness, looked flabbergasted when Jane jumped back down and immediately returned to her task. "Jane, how are you doing this? Frankie should be dead, and there is no reason you should remember who I am. Everything I know about vampires says this should be impossible."

Jane shrugged again, not understanding what was going on either. "I don't know, Maura. Frankie said the same thing. I just know I still feel like me, and the most important thing is getting you out of here and fixed up."

Maura looked at Jane's hands, clean of blood and still trying to release her from her restraints. Jane could see the moment when she decided to just accept it, as a relieved smile spread over Maura's face.

Jane smiled back, taking a moment to appreciate the fact that they'd all somehow survived a second encounter with the Volturi, before returning to her efforts. She could hear Frankie still working on the other side of the wall, so didn't attempt to pull out any of the long sections yet.

Maura watched Jane work, the smile never leaving her face, and started talking, her voice increasingly hoarse. "So, what do you remember? Did anything odd happen during the transition?"

Jane replied thoughtfully, remembering all the details vividly but not really knowing what to share. "I remember being bitten, then the venom started burning me. Then I felt you start to help, and it didn't hurt anymore. Except when something happened with my arm, I don't know what that was."

Maura grimaced at the memory. "The hardware left in your arm after your surgeries was rejected rather forcefully during the change. Frankie had to pull them out before I could start helping you again."

Jane nodded in comprehension, making a mental note to thank Frankie later. "Okay, so after that I sort of drifted off, just thinking about random memories. I think I may have been doing that 'life flashing before my eyes' thing. The next thing I knew I was about to wake up. I could feel that I had changed, and I could see some kind of weird colours or something even though my eyes were closed, but I didn't feel any new killer instincts, I still felt like me. And I didn't forget my human memories either, I can remember everything really clearly. It's strange. I'm obviously a vampire, but the mental stuff seems to be wrong. Wow, I'm a vampire. I, Jane Rizzoli, am a vampire. That sounds so weird."

Maura huffed out a brief laugh. "I know the feeling."

Jane smiled at hearing Maura laugh, even though it was strained and coarse. "So, in answer to your question, as far as I know nothing weird happened during the change."

Maura thought for a moment. "Perhaps this is just a unique reaction to vampirism, specific to you. Other vampires have special powers, including me. Maybe yours is to have a ridiculous amount of self-control."

Jane laughed briefly. "That doesn't sound like me. I thought vampire powers had something to do with your human personality, like you with your super-knowledge thing. Or Jane and her sadistic super-torture glare."

Maura nodded thoughtfully. "You may be right. There does seem to be some correlation between personality and powers, although it is not always as obvious as those examples. Maybe it was something else."

Jane considered everything she remembered. "I don't think Alec drained much of my blood. I don't remember feeling like he was sucking at my neck, more like he was latched on and pumping in as much venom as possible."

Maura winced and nodded, swallowing painfully. "I would tend to agree. There was a huge amount of venom in your blood just minutes after being bitten, in fact it stopped us from bleeding you."

Jane looked at Maura suspiciously. "And you know there was lots of venom because…"

Maura licked her cracked lips awkwardly, drawing an exasperated huff from Jane. "Is that why your voice is all messed up? Because you got a mouthful of his venom trying to help me?"

Maura simply nodded, looking away guiltily. Jane stopped her efforts, needing to wait for Frankie anyway, and decided to use the time wisely. She met Maura's gaze seriously, needing to convey her feelings as clearly as possible. "Maura, thank you so much for everything you just did for me. I only felt the full effect of the venom for a few minutes at most thanks to you. I can't even start to understand how you went through three days of that and came out sane."

Maura smiled generously, her freed hand finding Jane's and squeezing lovingly. Maura opened her mouth to say something, before frowning and staring off into space, her mind clearly thinking through something.

Jane frowned as well. "What is it?"

Maura nodded slowly. "Maybe I didn't come through the change sane. Maybe the pain of that ordeal is what creates the vampiric instincts in the first place."

Jane simply continued to look at her in confusion, so Maura continued. "Think about it. The human mind isn't designed to undergo that kind of pain for an extended period of time. I remember noticing, when I first woke up after being changed, that it was as if my mind had compartmentalised those memories and put them somewhere they couldn't hurt my conscious mind. But what if those violent memories end up becoming the violent vampiric instincts? The pain of the transformation is a more concentrated version of the pain of vampire thirst, which feels like your own venom starting to attack your body, so the vampire mind may draw a link between them. In order to avoid the pain, the conscious mind shuts off, and we instinctively act in a manner that will stop the pain, meaning we hunt and kill without restraint. Those sort of instincts are buried within all humans to varying degrees, so it's possible that when a human mind tries to adapt while becoming a vampire, the vestigial instincts are revived and hyper stimulated by the trauma."

Jane heard Frankie finish his work on the other side of the wall, but didn't interrupt Maura's explanation, which was making a scary kind of sense. "Jane, the reason you don't have those instincts might be because you didn't experience the extended trauma, you only got a few exposures, which the human mind can cope with. For example, we can deal with the momentary pain of a broken leg or a burn, and we won't be adversely psychologically affected in a long term sense. But someone who is tortured for an extended period of time or who experiences chronic pain will undergo dramatic personality changes, in order for their mind to cope with the experience. Maybe vampires are like humans in that sense, and the urge to kill when thirsty is simply the way the vampiric mind has evolved to cope with the pain of being transformed."

Jane smiled, glad to hear Maura's google speak coming out even while she is still impaled. "So, in theory, anyone who is transformed while you're helping them won't kill people as soon as they wake up?"

Maura thought about it, becoming distracted enough by her musings that she didn't notice Jane grasping the next piece of metal. She was about to say something else when Jane pulled, which drew a pained shriek from Maura instead.

Jane winced and grabbed Maura's hand. "I'm sorry, I was trying to make it hurt less. I don't have your talent for helping."

Maura nodded tersely, her eyes slammed shut. "Please, just get it over with."

Jane sighed, knowing she was right. She moved quickly to the next wound, not stopping to let Maura recover between them. Frankie had managed to trim the ends, so each piece came out easier, but Maura's screams weren't easy to take at all. After each removal, Maura slumped a little more, and each scream had less power than the last.

Finally Jane reached the last one. She didn't pause, carefully bracing Maura so she wouldn't slump to the ground before she yanked out the last intruding shard. Maura collapsed into Jane's arms, her strength gone, and simply whimpered in pain.

Jane finally understood how much Maura missed crying. She desperately wanted to burst into tears after the amount of pain she'd just had to inflict on Maura, but instead she gathered the damaged woman into her arms and jumped.

They made it to the door with no incidents, and Jane carefully manoeuvred Maura out of the small opening. Maura didn't move or react to Jane or their movements at all. She seemed to be unconscious, or the vampire version of it at least. Jane felt a burst of panic and wasted no time getting back to Frankie, picking him up with no time spent on conversation.

The trio sped out of the power station at Jane's full speed, with Maura cradled in her arms and Frankie clinging to her back. They soon reached a populated area, and Jane stopped down the street from a convenience store.

Frankie clambered down on shaky legs, with Jane grabbing him to stop him toppling over. "Frankie, are you okay? Don't worry, I know how you feel, you'll be okay in a few minutes."

He nodded, waving aimlessly at Jane. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Go, look after her, I'll call someone from here and get picked up."

Jane smiled at him thankfully. "You did good, little brother. Thanks for looking after us, and for killing that creep, and for helping with my arm, and, well, for everything. Stay safe, okay? I'll contact you as soon as I can."

He smiled back before moving in for an awkward sideways hug around an unresponsive Maura. "You're amazing, Janie. Look after yourself."

Jane nodded once before taking off at full speed.