"Hey Frankie," Jane said walking into the house.
"Hey Janie. Maura not with you?"
"She isn't actually glued to my hip you know."
"Could have fooled me…has she actually be home in the past week?"
"Do you have a problem with her staying here," Jane asked getting a little defensive.
"No, I love having her here…she makes me breakfast," Frankie said with a smile.
"She isn't your chef you know."
"I can't help that she likes eating healthy crap that I benefit from it while you sleep through it."
"Yeah funny how working the closing shift will cause me to sleep past 6am."
"Excuses, excuses," Frankie teased.
Truth was Maua would be over in an hour. Jane had a meeting with Vince about the trial and she wasn't sure how long it was going to last. Maura told her to take her time, she would go home and do some laundry and get different clothes for the upcoming week. It made Jane happy to know Maura wanted to spend her time with Jane over going home to an empty house.
What didn't make Jane feel great was the fact the trial was getting closer. After some BS attempts by Hoyt's lawyer to delay, they finally had a trial date. Jane knew once the trial started there was a high probability there would be some press coverage, especially if he was convicted.
"Frankie there is something I want to talk to you about," Jane said hesitantly.
"Sure, shoot," Frankie said flipping through the TV channels trying to find something to watch.
When Jane didn't follow up with anything Frankie looked up to see his sister shuffling around by the couch.
"Jane what's up," Frankie asked flipping off the TV?
"Frankie I have to tell you something."
"Yeah, I got that part," he said becoming a little concerned he had never seen his sister act like this before.
"There is a reason I left school," Jane admitted knowing she couldn't turn back now.
"What happened? You fail a class," Frankie joked.
Jane chuckled wishing it was that simple.
"No, I didn't fail a class."
"Then what happened?"
"Umm something happened with a professor there."
"A professor? What were you involved with someone," Frankie asked not even sure what to assume from that?
"WHAT? No, Frankie come on."
"I'm sorry I just I don't even know what you're trying to tell me here Jane….I have heard about kids sleeping with professors before."
"Yeah, well not me," Jane spit venom towards her.
"What happened Jane?"
"I was attacked."
"WHAT," Frankie yelled jumping up from the couch.
Frankie paced the living room a million thoughts running through his head, the main one was he wanted to kill that professor. Attacked…that could mean a million things but Jane left school it had to be something pretty big. The more Frankie thought about it the angrier he became.
"Who was it? Is he still teaching? I will kill him!"
"Frankie I need you to calm down you're not helping me right now," Jane said feeling her anxiety start to rise.
Frankie raced over to his sister and hugged her. He never wanted to let her go and in that moment he felt like the biggest failure as a brother. He just wanted to protect her, but he didn't know how. He didn't know what to do or say.
"Jane what happened," he asked bringing her over to the couch?
"Well, to answer your previous question the professor is no longer employed by the university. He is in jail waiting to stand trial."
"Trial…Jane what happened to you?"
"I told you he attacked me."
"Yeah, got that…what happened?"
"What you want a blow by blow," Jane asked getting agitated?
It wasn't Frankie's fault but talking about this were bringing up feelings she tried so hard to bury. She hadn't expecting this level of anxiety and she knew tackling this on her own was not the best idea.
"I want more than just he attacked me and is sitting in prison waiting for his trial. A TRIAL JANE," Frankie yelled. "That has to be something pretty bad."
"Well, it wasn't great. You don't need to know the details….you don't need those images in your head."
"Jane," Frankie said almost desperately. "Jane please….what's going through my head right now it isn't…it is not good."
Jane grabbed her laptop off the table and did a quick internet search. Once she found the article she was looking for she slid it over to Frankie and waited. The article didn't' have all the details but they had enough to hopefully satisfy Frankie.
"He held you hostage," Frankie breathlessly asked as he continued to read.
Jane knew it was only going to get worse. She started to have trouble breathing but was trying to keep it in control. While Frankie was reading Jane pulled out her cell phone and texted Maura.
'Need you at the house now, hurry.'
Jane didn't wait for a rely and slipped her phone back into her pocket.
"HE CUT YOU! HE TASED YOU! Why didn't you tell us….why didn't you tell ME?"
"It is not something I really like talking about Frankie…I can barely talk about it now. I just wanted things to be normal when I got back home…I didn't want people looking at me differently."
"I am not people Jane….I am your brother."
"Yeah you are Frankie but this isn't about you. I couldn't talk about it…I didn't want to distract you for your senior year of high school."
"Jane…he, he hurt you," Frankie said not sure what to really say.
"Yeah he did," Jane said sadly.
Frankie hadn't let it sink in yet what really happened to his sister. Based on an article in the paper is where he got most of the details but a paper wouldn't print everything…what his sister really went through must have been worse. She was held overnight, cuffed to a wall and tortured. Suddenly it was becoming too much being trapped in the living room.
"Frankie," Jane yelled out as he bolted for the door.
Frankie threw open the door and ran onto the porch taking a huge breath feeling like he couldn't get enough oxygen to his lungs. At that moment Maura was coming up the stairs and first thought Frankie just saw her through the window and was coming to get her, but quickly realized something was wrong.
"Frankie…Frankie what's wrong," Maura asked practically having to hold him up at this point.
"Jane," he gasped out.
Maura was trying to remain calm but in Frankie's current distressed state and him muttering his sisters name was not giving her a whole lot to go on other than something was wrong.
"Frankie….Frankie look at me," she said trying to get him to focus. "Look at me and try and breathe. What about Jane? Is she in trouble? Is she hurt?"
"He hurt her Maura," Frankie cried out finally coming undone and it all came tumbling out. "He hurt her so badly."
Maura rubbed his back trying to get him to calm down some. She was able to piece together that Jane finally told Frankie about her attack. At first she whispered soft comforting words to her friend to get him to calm down and prevent the panic attack that was quickly approaching. She looked over Frankie shoulder but didn't see Jane anywhere…a concerning point. Maura knew Jane wouldn't level her brother in this state unless she was worse off.
"Frankie some bad things happened to Jane, but she survived the attack now we must support her recovery," Maura said knowing Frankie needed time to process this but wanting him to know they needed to do everything they could for Jane. "Talk to me Frankie…ask me any questions you have."
"You know," he asked. "Everything?"
"I'm not sure if anyone but Jane will ever know everything, but she recently told me about it."
Frankie took a few moments to process this new information.
"She told you…but not me," he questioned more to himself than anyone.
"Frankie it is not like that. Jane can barely speak about it even now…it wasn't until after we were together that she told me. I think they only reason she told me was because she wasn't sure how to tell you. She loves you Frankie…more than anything and she wanted to protect you from this. She is your big sister and would do anything for you."
"I feel like an awful brother…I should have known. I should have questioned her when she left school…I saw her injuries when she returned."
"Frankie you had no reason…none of us had any reasons to question her. I saw the same injuries but it's Jane her explanation was plausible."
"What can I do? I feel like I should be doing something to help her but I don't know what."
"She just needs your love and support. You might not agree with how she handled the situation but she did what she thought was best for her and those she loved. This isn't an easy situation not only for Jane but those that love Jane…but she doesn't need us stressing her out. Frankie whatever your feeling is not wrong but if you need someone to talk to I am here too…I understand to some extend what you're going through."
Frankie took a few more deep breaths before nodding in understanding to Maura.
"You're right. This isn't about me; this is about supporting Jane. It is going to take me time to process all this but I will do whatever I can for my sister."
"Frankie where is Jane?"
"Inside."
"Ok, let's go find her."
Frankie again nodded and followed Maura inside. Jane wasn't in the living room so she made her way back to Jane's bedroom. Her heart broke when she saw Jane sitting on the floor her back to the bed, knees bent to her chest with tears in her eyes.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered seeing Maura and Frankie standing in the doorway.
Frankie rushed over to his sister and sat down beside her pulling her into his arms.
"You have nothing to be sorry about. I am sorry I reacted that way…I was just shocked. Whatever you need Jane I am here you are not alone in this."
"Thanks Frankie," she nodded her voice barley above a whisper.
Frankie looked at Maura not sure what to say.
"Frankie why don't you go order a pizza for dinner and Jane and I will be out in a moment," Maura suggested.
"Pizza you got it…side of anchovies," Frankie asked his sister trying to get her to smile.
"Yeah," she gave a half smile for her brother's benefit.
Frankie kissed his sisters head before getting up and walking into the living room to order the pizza.
"Jane," Maura said softly wondering if Jane even realized she was in the room.
Her dark eyes met hazel ones briefly before dropping to the floor again.
"Talk to me Jane…what's going on?"
"How am I supposed to go to trial?"
"What," Maura asked a little confused by her train of thought?
"I can't even talk about it with my brother…how the hell am I supposed to sit in a court room with that bastard and relive every detail."
"Because you don't have to do it alone Jane….you are NOT alone," Maura said lifting her chin to make sure Jane understood her. "You have me…you have your family…Vince I know he has been pretty important through all this…you have an army Jane. Your reactions tonight were because you love Frankie and wanted to protect him…when you're sitting in court everyone will already know."
"Wonderful," Jane muttered.
"What I was getting at Jane is you don't have to stress about anyone's reactions…you don't have to protect anyone…you just have to tell your story to the jury."
"He is going to be there."
"He will be…doesn't mean you have to look at him. He can't talk to you…he won't be asking you questions and at the end of it he will be spending a lot of years maybe the rest of his life in prison."
Jane nodded her head.
"Tonight was good Jane…because tonight is the hardest person to tell and you got through it. Maybe we can talk about it more…even if you're just telling us the same thing over and over again…if it makes it easier to talk about we should do it."
"Maybe."
"This doesn't have to be decided tonight Jane. Talk to Vince ask him his advice as I am sure he has handled these situations before. I wish I had all the answers but I will do anything to help."
"You're here…that helps," she said finally breaking into a small smile.
Maura leaned over and kissed her softly.
"There is one more thing though," Maura said a smile creeping onto her face.
"What's that?"
"Anchovies? Seriously, you're crazy if you think you're kissing me after you eat those."
"Well, I better get my kisses in now."
Maura smiled as Jane pulled her into another kiss.
"Thanks for getting here when you did."
"Why didn't you tell me you were telling him today; I would have been here."
"I know…I didn't really know until I just said it. I couldn't wait much longer we have a court date."
"When?"
"November 7th."
"Wow that's in like 3 weeks."
"Yup, I will be meeting with the DA and prepping for the trial."
"Anything you need just let me know…I am not a mind reader."
"I know…just be here."
"Always."