So, this story is slowly but surely coming to an end, I think there are at least two chapters left to go. Thank you for sticking with it and all your reviews. It really means a lot to me. I also hope that you'll like this update.

Have fun,

T73.

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The next morning, I come down the stairs and hear a loud and annoyed groan that makes me stop for a brief second, wondering if I really want to know what caused that sound and from whom it came. When I woke up I realized that Maura has sneaked out of the bedroom and ask myself if she made the mistake to tell my mother about the spontaneous proposal of mine and that she indeed say yes.

I take a deep breath and dare to round the corner that leads into the kitchen only to see Skye laying with her upper body on the kitchen island, her face is pressed to its cold surface and her eyes are closed while Ma is working around her and telling her happily stories about my brothers and me. The typical signs of a pretty bad hangover.

Maura is holding a cup in her hands and leans with her hips against the counter. It seems like she's sensing my presence because she turns her head to me and smirks amused what scares the shit out of me. I furrow my brows while I walk towards her and kiss her anyway even though I get the feeling that here's a conspiracy going on. "Hey." I whisper and I receive a smile I almost have forgotten. I lean to her ear and whisper into it. "What's going on here right now?"

Maura sips her coffee and nods in the direction of my mother. "Angela is telling us interesting stories of the first hangover you, Frankie and Tommy had."

"Not at the same time, though." My mother objects a little louder and swings the spatula she's holding in her hand only to receive another groan from Skye and my fiancée chuckles amused.

I grin and pour myself a cup of coffee and direct my question at the young woman. "How are you feeling today, Skye?"

She sighs dramatically and lifts her head. "I feel like someone put an ice pick into my brain."

"We aren't joining your pity party, young lady." My mother says and Skye rolls her eyes. "If you think you are old enough for drinking, you have to live with the consequences."

I hide my smirk behind my mug and glance at Maura who is grinning as well. I know that lecture by heart, Ma told me that every time when I woke up after a long night or showed up for family dinner. "Kid, do you wanna have a coffee, too?"

Ma glances at me and chuckles, opening the fridge already.

Skye straightens up and takes a moment before she answers. "I'd rather have orange juice." She smiles at my mother when she hands her a glass of juice. "Thank you."

Ma glares at me and I duck my head. "That girl still have manners."

I open my mouth to object but then I direct my attention back at Skye. "Seriously, how are you feeling today?"

She takes a swig from the juice and frowns. "Besides the headache I am suffering from? Better."

I smile once and smile.

Maura places her mug on the counter and stands close to me. "It's been a long time the last time we have seen each other. Two years?"

Skye takes a moment with a frown. "Well, according to some … circumstances I thought it would better not to -" She trails off and I want to shake her right now. "Bother you with my very own problems."

Ma scoffs and throws her hands up. "Nonsense!"

"Ma!" I admonish her immediately.

Maura shakes her head and places a hand on my arm, looking directly at Skye. "Angela is right, that's nonsense." She agrees and frowns deeply. "You don't bother me at all, Skye."

Skye takes a large sip of the juice and looks at me with huge eyes like she's silently bagging for some support but I can't come up with any. She rolls her eyes and her shoulders slump. "I mean after all what happened to you, Maura. I thought that you didn't need someone who is crying over her past."

I swallow hard because I can see all kind of emotions in Maura's eyes and even my mother keeps her mouth shut this time. I furrow my brows the moment my fiancée rounds the kitchen island and release my breath when Maura wraps her arms around the younger woman's shoulders and kisses the side of Skye's head like they've done this for years. She keeps her head close to the girl and doesn't break the embrace. "No matter what happens in Jane's or my life, Skye, or how busy seem to be, we are only one call away from you when you need us. I want you to know that you are a part of this family and that all of us care about each other, no matter how hard the times are."

Skye doesn't say anything, she only nods and smiles like understands that Maura really means it and that it's okay to give us a call when she needs us, no matter if it's day or night. Like the young woman finally understands that she isn't alone even if she's feeling like she is at that time.

Ma smiles broadly like she's silently saying the same Skye did last time, that something like that makes a good parent.

I'm about to open my mouth and to tell her not to say her thoughts out loud when the doorbell suddenly draws all of our attention to the front door.

Maura looks confused at me and asks, "Are you expecting someone?"

I snort and place my mug on the counter before I start to head for the door. "Not at that time of the day … unless you are ringing for a morning run." I smirk when I get an eye roll as response and open the door thoughtlessly. I stop dead when I look into the face of DA Gabriella Bruneau. I stare at her in horror and want to slam the door shut again.

Apparently, she knows me better than I thought because she presses her body past me into my house and says warningly. "Don't even think about it, Jane."

I close the door loudly and growl through gritted teeth, "What the hell are you doing here, Gabriella?"

She stops in the hall and swirls to me. "I think that your girlfriend had had enough time to think about what happened and that I gave her more than enough time to contact me. Not enough that I had to deal with O'Keefe's defensive tactics for the last couple of months, no, I also have to run after my key witness for the same amount of time and then I have to deal with you and your family, too."

I step closer to her and I know that my face is dark, I can feel it. Not only because of Gabriella's intrusion but also because I am very well aware of what O'Keefe is trying to achieve with his delays. "And I told you that Maura is going to contact you when she's ready. Obviously, she isn't yet, and now get out of -"

"Jane!" I hear Maura say and I turn my attention to the woman I love and who is standing in the hallway too now. "Stop."

First, my jaw drops to the floor but I pick it up quickly and growl low which makes Gabriella looking at me. I am not angry at Maura for interrupting me, on the contrary, I think that it is better that she stopped me otherwise I'D have thrown the lawyer out of the door, literally.

Maura takes a deep breath and points with her hand down the hallway. "Gabriella, let's have a talk in my study."

The lawyer glares at me and follows Maura's direction Maura's pointing to without directing a single word at me.

Maura looks long at me and for some reason I lower my gaze. I'm not really sure why, maybe because I have the feeling that I'm again butting in in her business, which I told myself not to do again, or maybe because I don't wanna see the anger in her eyes. My eyes snap up as soon as I feel a light touch on my arm and meet hers. There is no anger in them but kindness. I hear her say, "I'll be alright, Jane. This is unavoidable."

I take a deep breath and nod slowly. "We're right in the kitchen if you need -"

She cuts me off with a sweet kiss and my hand finds its way to her hip. "I know." She whispers and I swallow hard before she kisses me again like she's trying to assure me that everything will be okay. Not alright but okay. "I love you."

I hold her in place and nod with closed eyes. God, I hope that everything will be at least okay because such enormous set-backs like the last times I would not survive. I inhale sharply and nod once again, saying, "I love you too."

She smiles at me and follows the DA quickly because both of us know that Gabriella isn't very familiar to our house.

I take another deep breath before I go back into the kitchen and avoid two sets of eyes, especially those of my mother. I lean with my hands on the kitchen counter and close my eyes to sort my thoughts out. Foolishly I was hoping that the DA's office wouldn't need Maura's testimony anymore even though the cop in me knew better. I know that she's going to be the last nail to his casket and still I was fooling myself by thinking that they'd have enough time to collect more evidence. What is better than the statement of a person how survived Taylor O'Keefe? The answer is nothing.

"Gabriella," I hear my mother ask but I don't look at her, answering. "Yeah."

"Gabriella Bruneau?"

"Yeah."

The ex-girlfriend of your brother is the attorney in this case?"

That's when I lose it and growl through clenched teeth. "Yes, mother. Gabriella Bruneau is the attorney who is bringing O'Keefe to justice."

"Good God." She groans.

My head snaps up and I am about to lose it when my phone, that is laying on the counter starts to buzz. "Really?" I bark at it and decide to ignore it for the next five minutes, opening my mouth to trounce my mother. To tell her that no matter what happened between Gabriella and Frankie in the past, it won't restrain Gabriella's ability as an attorney and her sense of justice. I open my mouth when my phone starts buzzing again and I growl low at it.

"I got this." Skye suddenly says and hands me my phone and our eyes meet. "You go and do your job and I'll take care of Maura and your mother. I got this, Jane."

I look long at her and frown deeply. "You sure?"

She nods with raised eyebrows. "Otherwise you know where your next crime scene will take place."

A small smile is cracking free and I take my phone from her hands. "Alright." I start to head towards the stairs and say loudly, "I don't like it but alright." I glare at the phone and bark into it, "Rizzoli!"

My mother chuckles and Skye rolls her eyes. I suppress a growl while heading to the stairs.

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I'm sitting silently in the courtroom, staring at the back of O'Keefe's head like I'm trying to bore a whole into it. I've attended many trails but none of them were as farcical as this one.

What's more, we are currently working on a really complex case. In the last two days four uniformed were shot dead in the streets in the broad daylight but somehow there is not one witness to be found, which is really abstruse. Right now, I spend more time at courthouses than at home with my family, so I am really grateful for Skye's and my mother's support. I can tell that Maura would rather spend her time in the lab than here but Gabriella is unrelenting. Especially when it comes to her only eye witness that is still alive.

While Maura was sitting on the stand, O'Keefe was staring at her, almost undressing her with his eyes and I could see how she forced herself not to vomit in front of everyone. Gabriella gave her the chance to take a breath and to have some water because she noticed the same, she noticed that my fiancée needed a break every now and then. Especially when it came to the night she found herself in the hole, watching another victim dying slow and painful.

I felt sick when Maura told that she came around in the cabin and how she realized that O'Keefe must have undressed her. I felt my mother's hand on my thigh, squeezing it tightly, almost digging her nails into it. Frankie got up from the bench at that point and left the room. I know why he couldn't stand this. Not because he once had a crush on Maura but because that night was a cause she lost our child. Korsak's face was unreadable in that moment but his eyes told that he wanted to have thirty minutes alone in a room with Taylor O'Keefe. It's obvious that only one of them would make it out there alive and that would be Vince Korsak.

I heard Nina sigh every now and then and at some point, out of the court, she followed Frankie what I understand.

I, for myself, didn't move, hardly breathed but held that monster's eyes every time he turned his head and smiled at me. I didn't give him the satisfaction to see my broken me. I know that this kind of person fuel themselves by seeing the pain of their victims. For this species it's not enough to be a part of the victim's life, they want to see it, feel it.

At some point, Maura told what she has been through but looked at me like we are the only persons in this room and that I am the one she confides in me and I nod every now and then to encourage her to continue.

O'Keefe's defender tried to tear Maura apart, tried to portray her as the trigger because she's a successful, confident woman who might has been flirting with his mandate at some banquet, something she can't recall now, saying that it might be possible or not.

I am beyond impressed because Maura stood her ground and told the defender that she might meet him at a symposium and that they might exchanged a couple of words but that there was no reason for him to think that they'd be more than two people at the same place at the same time. And I am beyond impressed when she finally looked at O'Keefe and said that he's no one she normally would remember. That hurt his ego and led to his outburst that he'll be a part of her life once and for all, every time she'd visit our baby's grave.

I stay seated and ball my hands into fists. I can feel Korsak's and my mother's eyes on me but I keep my eyes on Maura and she stares at me, we both know that what he just said is true but neither of us show it to him while O'Keefe's is having his fit and while his lawyer is trying to talk his client off the ledge.

I swallow down my anger and don't blink to show my fiancée that I am capable to keep myself under control although right now I am wishing for my gun so I can put a bullet into O'Keefe's head.

Judge Harriette Ramsey decides that it's best to adjourn the case and releases all of us for the day. I don't need to think twice and got up to my feet, leaving the courtroom without waiting for my friends and family after O'Keefe is led off. I know that Maura will need a little longer which gives me the chance to take a deep breath and clear my head. At least there is no doubt anymore that O'Keefe will get locked up once and for all, after his outburst and his involuntarily confession in front of the court and all of us get closure, the relatives of his other victims, Maura and me.

I stand with my back to the door and close my eyes. I don't know what I am feeling right now beside a kind of relief. It feels like an extreme heavy burden has been lifted off my chest and as if this is the first time for a while that I really can breathe.

I flinch when I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to look in the eyes of an older woman that is standing close to a man that is in her age, holding fast onto his forearm. "Detective Rizzoli, is it over? Is this what you've been waiting for," she asks with a shaking but hopeful voice.

I look long at the couple and nod my head with a loud sigh. "Yes, Scaramelli. This is what all of us have been waiting for. It couldn't be better because Taylor O'Keefe confessed in front of judge and jury. He won't see the daylight as a free man ever again."

Mrs. Scaramelli closes her eyes and a loud sigh escapes from her lungs. Her shoulders are sagging and it seems like an even heavier burden than mine has been lifted off them.

"Are you sure about that," her husband asks me and I understand that he's unsure about that. O'Keefe got away more than once and left the court with a cocky smile, but this time he won't, Maura made sure of that.

I nod once more and smile softly at them. "Yes, Sir. I am positive about that. He won't get away this time." I need a second to realize that he has pulled me and is thanking me over and over again for nailing the murderer of his only daughter finally down. Samantha Scaramelli was O'Keefe's second victim and it took the police almost five years to make a connection with him. Her parents had been relentless and sent Korsak weekly a picture of their daughter so he wouldn't forget about her. He didn't and kept the investigation file on his desk until the day he was able to give the murderer of Samantha Scaramelli a face, the face of Taylor O'Keefe. The photos started with Samantha being a baby, then a little, child, a teenager and then her being a young woman. I know that her murder got to Korsak and that he had a copy of her file on his nightstand, literally. I still don't understand why he didn't ask for Frankie's or my help but I guess that is something he'll never tell us why he was with Nina instead with one of us. Don't get me wrong, Nina is an extraordinary detective but not really used to field work. I pat the man's back and lock my eyes with Maura's as she emerged from the courtroom. "You don't have to thank me, Mr. Scaramelli. It was Sargent Korsak and Detective Holiday who solved your daughter's murder, and Dr. Isles."

The couple turn their heads only to glance at Maura. Before she knows it, she finds herself in the arms of Mrs. Scaramelli who is whispering something into her ear that makes Maura close her eyes before she's whispering something back before they bit their goodbyes.

I take a deep breath and walk over to the ME, looking long at her and placing my hand on the small of her back. "You okay?"

Maura takes a deep breath before she nods and hooks her arm with mine. "Yes."

"Ready to go home?"

She smiles at me and I start to lead the way without waiting for her answer.

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I sit at the counter in the Dirty Robber and take a swig from my ice-cold beer, turning my head to the right when I feel the presence of another person. I furrow my brows and smile a little when I look into the face of Nina, she's leaning against the counter and scrutinizes my face for a second.

"Please tell me that Maura and you didn't fight when the two of you came home," she says and I can hear the frustration in her voice.

I scoff and take another sip of the beer. "No, we didn't fight after we got home."

"Why aren't you with Maura and celebrate your victory over Taylor O'Keefe," she asks and sits down on the barstool next to me, ordering a beer for herself.

I take a deep breath and scratch the back of my head. "Maura and my mother are having a girl's night, celebrating O'Keefe's downfall."

"And why are you sitting here on your own and drink instead of being with the two people you love the most?"

I frown and look in the direction of Frankie and Korsak who are discussing something vividly.

Nina follows my eyes and smiles. "Beside these two."

I shrug and turn the corners of my mouth downwards. "I have something else in mind when Maura and I are having a girl's night."

She looks long at me and raises her brows when she's starting to understand, saying with a laugh, "Too much information, Jane."

I join her laughter and empty my bottle. "You asked."

She's still laughing and I order another round for myself. "She knows where you are, right?"

I nod slowly. "Yeah, Maura knows that I am here. Don't worry, Nina."

"But I am after all what you two had been through." She replies and sighs. I nod slowly and she continues after a short moment. "You look worried, Jane."

I huff and furl my brows. "Why should I be worried?"

She shrugs and thanks the barkeeper for the bottle of beer, I do the same. "That maybe Taylor's lawyer could plead insane after the outburst."

"Johnson won't do that." I state and roll the bottle between my hands. "His own psychologist certified that O'Keefe exactly knew what he was doing to his victims like three others. O'Keefe only snapped because he understood that he was no longer in control of Maura and that she was the one who broke his neck by surviving. The jury has seen his true personality and I am more than sure that he will be found guilty."

"So, what are you afraid of?"

"The life after this, after the trail." I admit and take a deep breath. "I mean, we didn't find closure for a long time and Maura suffered a long time after we got her back, and now we're supposed to back to normal?"

"Maura wasn't the only one who suffered a lot, Jane. You did, too, all of us suffered because we couldn't get a hold of Taylor O'Keefe in the first place." Nina says and I frown at her. "But I know what you're talking about even though I haven't experienced the same than you and Maura but I know what it feels like when you lose someone and that you have no idea how to continue with your life after that."

"That's why you left Chicago." I state somberly and she nods.

"Yeah." She says and takes a swig of her beer. "But somehow life goes on, I mean, Maura and you fought, broke up, got together and talked about what was really laying heavily on your heart, what made it impossible for you to be with each other. And in the end, you two got engaged, let's focus on that."

I chuckle and quirk an eyebrow. "Let's focus on the wedding of you and Frankie first." I counter and she drops her chin to her chest with a chuckle. "When are the two of you finally get married?"

"I think it's time for the hard stuff." She laughs and raises a hand to order some booze.