Title: Truth Love Dare
Category: TV Shows » Rizzoli & Isles
Author: Alwaysbringback-up
Language: English, Rating: Rated: M
Genre: Drama/Angst/Friendship

Truth Love Dare

Pairing: Jane/Maura

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of the R&I universe. All characters belong to Janet Tamaro. I promise that my writing is done purely for recreational purposes only. No ill harm is intended.

A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to post after the huge cliffy! I've been on the road the past two days with no internet! But I am honored so many of you have been following this story! I would like to offer a special thanks to all of my reviewers!

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As soon as they hear the gunshots over the wire, Barry Frost and Vince Korsak are out of the van and running towards the mouth of the alley at a dead sprint. They both know it is a matter of seconds, not minutes. If either of the bullets had hit any of Jane's vital organs she would bleed out before they could get to her. Their breaths come in ragged gasps for air as their leg muscles propel them relentlessly forwards. Korsak is screaming Jane's name as he rounds the corner and emerges onto the street.

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Maura wrenches open the car door and screams as two hands seize her under the arms and yank her backwards. She aims a hard kick to the man's midsection, hoping to cause damage.

But of course, she realizes her error a split second too late. As he staggers back and lets go, Maura is falling. She falls backwards and hits the pavement hard, striking her head on the curb. And for a long moment, everything is a nonsensical whirl of colors that are all blurred together.

She realizes just how vulnerable she is laying on the concrete, but for some reason her arms and legs don't seem to want to follow her mind's commands. And the thought dawns on her. She has a concussion.

For a long moment, Maura just lays on the icy concrete, her head turned towards Jane, who is not moving. She feels tears seeping from her eyes as she sees two spots of red blossoming on Jane's torso, one on Jane's right shoulder, and another on her left abdomen.

"Jane!" Maura cries as she uses all of her coordination to reach under the car. With stretching, her fingers are just able to brush Jane's. The brunette's arm is perpendicular to her body. "Oh god, Jane!"

"Get up!" Maura hears Jeff hiss, jolting her back to the situation at hand. She yelps as he pulls her up from the concrete. She continues to fight him, but none of her actions are coordinated. If she could, she would aim an elbow to the man's trachea and watch him suffocate, happily.

She screams bloody murder as he opens the car door to the back, and shoves her inside. She kicks, but soon enough, he's holding her legs down, and is hiking up her skirt.

'Breathe, Jane. Damn it. Breathe!' Jane coaches herself as eyes spring open. She gags. There's blood in her mouth and for a long moment she can't figure out why. Then she remembers.

Jane's whole body starts to shake as it becomes aware of some greater injury. Jane's world starts to spin around her in a mesmerizing, but dizzying pattern as she fails to breathe. She can't feel anything anymore. Part of her knows that she is going into shock and that she only has about sixty seconds before her body shuts down completely. She tries to take in a breath and nearly screams at the white-hot pain that seizes her chest.

The best that Jane can do is take rapid shallow breaths that make her want to scream out with each one.

"Maur," Jane's low alto voice is hardly above a whisper. "Maur," she tries again, and this time she can't hold back the groan.

Where was Maura? And then Maura's piercing scream has Jane's heart seizing in her chest.

Christ.

With a trembling hand, Jane lifts her hand to touch where her body is on fire. Just as suddenly Jane's hand is falling away from her left side to the pavement. Something warm and sticky has saturated and soaked through Jane's sweater.

Jane squeezes her eyes shut and is swallowing back the bile as she realizes that her hand is covered in blood, her own blood. The bastard shot her. He actually shot her. She is going to kill him. That is, if she can only just move.

'Have to help, Maur,' Jane tells herself over and over.

Jane forces her body onto its side and lifts her knees upwards as if to hold in the warmth and ease the pain.

"Come on, Get up!" With every bit of strength Jane has left, she forces herself to roll over completely onto her side. She curls her injured arm up into her stomach and begins to pull herself along the ground with her left, using Maura's screams as fuel for her own movements.

'Where the fuck are Frost and Korsak?' she can only think, 'Why isn't someone helping Maur?'

Jane's arm shakes as she crawls along the pavement. And Jane silently prays that her strength doesn't fail her. She has to help Maura before she no longer can.

'No,' Jane tells herself. 'Don't think like that! You're not going to bleed out. Just…'

"Fuck." Jane curses as her arm gives out under her and she falls the rest of the way to the cool pavement. Her body shakes uncontrollably for a long moment as she feels the rest of her strength threaten to desert her.

She is left feeling unbelievably cold. In fact, it feels as if Jane is in the middle of a fucking blizzard with no hope for shelter. The only warmth she feels is from the red, sticky, crimson liquid streaming out of her body. Her chest still feels like it is on fire, the pain radiating outwards to the rest of her body. Colors blur before her eyes.

No.

"No," Jane mutters, fighting with everything she has. "Maura needs you." Then. "Get the fuck up, Rizzoli. Get. Up." Jane pushes herself up off the concrete.

"I prefer brunettes, but I suppose you'll have to do since your friend isn't going to be very pleasing to me dead." Maura screams again, and is subsequently backhanded across the face.

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"Get off of her, you fucking asshole!" Jane growls as she jerks him backwards.

"Do not," Jane punctuates the words with a punch to his face. And though she lands the punch, she's not able to put her weight behind it like she wants to. Still, she'll take what she can get. "Mess. With. Jane. Rizzoli," Jane says, with a wicked cross to the man's jaw. As she strikes at him again, aiming a blow to his stomach, he catches her arm.

For a long moment the two of them grapple, before they both fall to the concrete. As they hit the pavement, Jane hears her attacker groan out in pain.

'Good,' she thinks, 'I hope I did some damage.'

But Jane can't even contemplate moving. Blood rushes through her ears with every pound of her thundering heart and she can scarcely make sense of anything that is happening, as she stares at the sky.

Jane can barely breathe due to the pain in her own body. Then she hears him start to move, and she knows that things aren't over.

"Finish it," Jane tells herself.

Using the pain and the fear, Jane's body finally gets the adrenaline it needs as Jane's body faces the danger of the position she is in.

Jane forces herself up enough to block the man as he throws a punch towards her face. Jane can hardly move, but by some miracle is able to stop his fist's progress towards her body using her forearm as a block. Jane grunts as muscles all over her body strain and tighten under her current duress.

Then she fights back; and although her range of movement and ability to fight back is shot to hell, she is still strong enough to defend herself. Jane forces herself to roll away, as she sees him pull the handgun again. Then she realizes she has nothing to lose. She's suddenly grabbing his arm and twisting, pulling. She'll do anything to get that gun out of his hand.

With luck, the gun comes free and is kicked away. Unfortunately, Jane's luck is running out. She can't even cry out as the man punches her hard in the left side. For a long, heart-stopping moment all she sees is white. The bastard hit her right where he shot her.

It cripples her and leaves her gasping. In the blink of an eye, a pair of hands are around her neck in a vice grip. Instinctively, Jane's hands dart up to his neck, trying to push the man away from her as she gasps for air. She is not able to breathe, and Jane knows that she could be facing death. Obliteration. This thought causes her to fight back that much harder.

This man was not going to take her life from her. It was her life. Hers.

"Mother frakker," Jane grits out through clenched teeth. "Die you son of a…"

Pop.

The hands around Jane's neck suddenly slacken. Jane feels blood spray onto her face and hands as the body on top of her falls.

She sees Frost over his left shoulder. Frost nods, satisfied that he's done good.

And she knows without a shadow of a doubt that Jeff is dead. Her body relaxes, and her head falls back to the pavement. She is at peace.

Maura is safe. Safe….

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"Jane."

Jane's eyes flicker open the first time Jane hears the word clear enough to know what it is. She wants to reply with a 'that's my name don't wear it out,' but she seems to be incapable of speaking. Finally, she realizes who it is. Maura looks like an angel as her honey blonde head reflects the dim light from the streetlights in order to form a miniature halo around her head. Her eyes twinkle above Jane. She seems eerily calm, but her voice shakes as she speaks.

"M-Maur," Jane whispers.

"Jane," the woman speaks the name as a lover would speak to their love. "Jane, I'm here." Frankie watches as Jane grasps Maura's hand.

"S-Safe," Jane chokes out.

"I know," Frankie whispers, "You did good, Janie. You did really good."

"Maur," the title escapes her lips in some sort of plea. If anyone can save her, it's Maura.

"They're coming, Jane," Maura soothes as she applies pressures to Jane's chest wound. She found the placement of the wound just under Jane's ribcage, within seconds, and she's been holding back the torrent of blood ever since. "Just hang in there." Jane closes her eyes for a long moment, moaning softly.

"Maur," the name gurgles in Jane's throat, and she chokes on it, but Jane can tell that Maura hears her because her eyes soften a bit.

"Shh," she tries to silence her lover, knowing something is wrong. "Don't speak, Jane. Please, just save your energy."

"She's losing too much blood," Jane can vaguely hear Maura say to Frankie, "I can't stop it."

"They're coming," Frankie whispers as they hear sirens in the distance. And Jane feels him take her other hand. "Janie, hang on. Stay with Maura and me. We're here with you." Jane opens her mouth to speak.

"Maur," Jane manages to push past the gurgling in her throat. "Love… you."

"I know, Jane," Maura says as calmly as she can, "I do too, love." It is then that Maura loses it, and lets out a sob. Jane tries to speak again, but this time she can't get the words out.

"Just hang in there. Stay with me. Please, Jane." Jane closes her eyes for a long moment, moaning softly. When she opens her eyes again, they are unfocused. It takes a long moment for her to see again. To make sense of what she's seeing. "Jane, please," she begs the detective, and Jane can see the panic and fear in her eyes. She is just as afraid of losing Jane as the brunette is of losing her. They have never even gotten a real chance. The minutes they had together were incredible, but still so short. The fleeting thoughts make Jane feel sad. Jane has to tell her. She has to know.

"Sorry, Maur," Jane has to try several times before the words come out. "…be okay…always love you…. be here."

"No," Maura replies emphatically, "You're not doing this. You're not doing this to me, Jane. You can't leave me." Tears travel down her face in a steady stream and she does nothing to try and hold them back. "I only just figured things out. You can't leave!"

"Just hang on! Please!" Frankie pleads.

Jane feels Maura reach for her hand, and the second she feels Maura's skin against hers it burns.

'Her hand feels so warm and so perfect in mine.' Jane thinks.

Slowly Jane's shaking slows until it stops completely. Her breaths grow shallow and erratic. For the first time, Jane can see the green and amber in Maura's eyes. And Maura knows what is happening. Jane has stopped fighting, and Maura can't do anything about it.

"Come on, Jane. You're stronger than this. Fight. Please fight."

"Can't…breathe," Jane manages to push past the gurgling in her throat. Jane can see black encroaching on her field of vision. She knows that she only has seconds left. "I love you." The words are cut off as her chest shoots off the ground. Jane coughs reflexively, as she can no longer breathe. Jane suddenly tastes iron, a lot of iron. It is the only thing Jane can taste, the only sensation she has left. It is acrid and nauseating and all Jane can do is spit it out, gag as more of it flows into her mouth.

"Roll her on her side," Maura orders. Frankie simply pushes down harder on the wound, not knowing what else to do.

"Frankie!" Maura's voice is loud as she shouts, "On her side! She's choking." Without thinking, Frankie helps Maura roll Jane onto her side." It is almost impossible to keep pressure on the wound, but they have no other choice.

Jane's mind screams at her and white takes over as no oxygen reaches it. Jane's eyes flutter closed.

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A/N: There's a method to the madness. I promise you!

Hopefully you guys didn't have too much of a problem making sense of Jane's thoughts. I have to say. I had a fun time writing this chapter. After all, Jane's badassery in this chapter is epic. (Is badassery a word? Nope. I totally just made it up!) But still! It takes a special kind of love to protect the person you love after being shot like Jane was!

I understand that some of you may find this chapter ridiculous, improbable, etc. But at the same time, I argue that love is an extraordinary thing that allows people to do extraordinary things. Whether or not this is the end of the road for you, I thank you(from the bottom of my heart) for reading!

Please review and share your thoughts! I will update soon!