The hours turned to days, turned to weeks, turned to months. Jane had gone back to work a week after her return home. She couldn't handle laying around moping and crying over Maura. The amount of alcohol she consumed scared her; she needed a change.

She had spent that week going running first thing in the morning. When that wasn't enough to keep her mind from thinking of Maura she went to the gym.

Her hands were battered and bruised for days from the countless punches she landed to the punching bag. It went through hell right along with Jane.

Eventually, the pain and heartbreak began to subside. Thoughts of Maura and what they shared in their short time together didn't have room inside her mind as she threw herself into her work.

Over the last three months Jane had pulled countless hours, pushing herself to her limits. Today was no different. Last week they caught a particularly bad case. One of the worst Jane had seen in her years in homicide.

A family of three, a mother, teenage daughter and three-year-old all slain in their home while they slept.

Jane had seen a lot of senseless killings over the years but never one involving kids.

They had no witnesses and a long list of possible suspects to work through.

Jane was sitting at her desk reading over the case and autopsy report for the hundredth time it seemed when Frost came in.

"Jane, did you even go home? You know Cavanaugh is gonna have your ass if he finds out." Frost remarked, setting a coffee in front of his partner.

Jane rubbed her tired eyes and sighed. "No, I haven't, I can't sleep knowing this creep who did this is still out there. Every time I close my eyes, I see them."

Frost shook his head in disapproval. He knew why Jane was working so hard and it wasn't only because of this case.

"Jane, you gotta…."

"Frost, I don't want to hear it alright? I'm fine."

"You're not fine Jane. Go home. Get a shower, eat something for Christ's sake and get some sleep. You can't keep going like this."

"Damn it Frost! I'm fine, okay?! Would you just get off my back!"

"Damn Rizzoli, take a Midol." Crowe snickered as he walked in. "You look like shit. Did you sleep under an overpass?"

"Fuck off Crowe," Jane retorted turning her attention back to Frost. "Anyway, thanks for the coffee. Can we just get to work please?"

Frost signed and moved to his desk. For the next two hours they combed over everything once again.

"I got it!" Frost said, shooting up from his desk.

"Geez Frost, give me a heart attack why don't you."

"Sorry Jane but look." He said, turning his screen around for her to see. "Remember how I couldn't get into the family's personal computer?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, I just did and look here. See all these emails? There from the same person, a Mark Johnson."

"Wait a sec," Jane said, turning back to her desk. "He's one of the names on our suspect list. We could never find him for questioning though."

"Well today must be our lucky day because I have an updated address for him." Frost said with a cocky grin.

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go pay him a visit."

Jane nor Frost had any idea when they walked out of the precinct of how their day was getting ready to go from bad to worse.

Maura (Paris)

"Hey Maura, I'm heading out. Are you going to be here much longer?" Janice asked, leaning against Maura's office door. Her friend looked exhausted. Maura had been, for the last three months, the first one to arrive at the clinic and the last to leave. She was beginning to become concerned.

"I was going to stay a bit longer. Just trying to finalize a few things." Maura said without looking up from her computer.

"Maura, sweetie I love you, I do. But as your dear friend," Janice said sarcastically, "I have to tell you to go home. You need adequate sleep. You can't keep going on like this. It's not doing you any favors."

Maura stopped and looked up. "Janice…."

Janice shook her head. "Nope, I'm not hearing it. I know these few months have sucked and I know it upsets you to go home but you have to. You need to rest Maura."

"Just give me ten more minutes and I promise I'll go home."

Janice dropped her bag and took a seat across from Maura.

"What are you doing?

"I'm staying until you're done." She said, getting comfortable.

"Isn't it your big date night with Joe? You really don't have to stay."

"I've already texted Joe, he's fine. So…."

Maura shook her head but chuckled as she shut down her computer and grabbed her things.

"Worked like a charm." Janice remarked with a laugh.

When Maura returned home, she flipped on the television while she made herself a quick dinner. The sound helped her not feel so alone.

She kicked off her heels and settled in on the couch.

Flipping through the many channels she settled on a documentary. After finishing her dinner, she headed upstairs to shower, bringing her phone with her for music.

She had to admit when she stepped out of the shower it felt good to be home for more than twenty minutes.

Wiping the mirror, she took a long look at herself. No wonder Janice was worried. The shadows under her eyes had become darker, her face one of pure exhaustion.

Sighing, she continued her nightly routine before grabbing her phone and shutting out the lights.

Maura was sitting on the edge of her bed drying her hair when her phone chimed.

Picking it up she read the headline. Boston Police Officer shot after a four-hour standoff.

Maura clicked the link. She had kept up on the things happening in Boston. She told herself it was because that's where Hope lived but those closest to her knew otherwise.

When the link loaded Maura watched the live news cast.

"Thank you for joining us. A Boston Police Officer was shot this evening after a four hour stand off with a suspect in an ongoing homicide case. We are being joined by Jackie Alvarez who's standing on scene. Jackie."

"Yes, as you can see behind me there's a heavy emergency response. Just roughly an hour ago a police standoff came to an end after a shootout. The suspect, who hasn't been named yet, was shot and killed when he opened fire on police. I've been told that two Boston detectives were shot, one being critically injured. That officer has been identified as Detective Jane Rizzoli of the Boston Homicide division. Her condition is unknown at this time."

Maura's phone fell to the floor as her hands began to shake and her tears fell without warning.

She rushed to her bedside table, she rummaged through the drawer before pulling it out completely, dumping its contents on her bed.

Moving a few things, she found Jane's long forgotten cell. So many times, she had refrained from calling any of the numbers stored on it but at this moment it was the only option she had.

Scrolling through the contacts she found the number to the only other person she knew that cared about Jane as much as she did.

Izzy was on her way to the hospital following Frankie and Angela when her cell rang out over the car speakers. Her phone hadn't stopped ringing since Jane got hurt and the story hit the media. Without looking Izzy answered.

"Hello?"

Silence

"Hello?" Izzy said again.

"Isabella? Is this Isabella Garcia?"

Izzy's face scrunched in confusion. "Yes, this is her. Who is this?"

"I know you don't know me but…."

"Look, if you're from some news station I don't…."

"No, no, I'm not." Maura said quickly. "My name is Maura. Maura Isles. I didn't know who else to call."

Izzy thought over the name and then it hit her. "Oh my, are you Maura as in the Maura? From Paris?"

"Wha, yes. Jane, is she," Maura asked but was not able to get the words out.

"I'm on my way there. All we know right now is she was immediately rushed into surgery. Wait, how did you find out about Jane? And how did you get my number?"

"I, I,"

"Don't worry about it, that's not important. Are you coming to Boston?"

"No, no. I, I don't think that's a good idea."

"You're right it wouldn't be." Izzy remarked a bit perturbed.

"Isabella, I'm sorry to call like this. I, I, just, I needed to know. I know I have no right to ask this of you but could you, would you…."

Izzy sighed; she was the one Jane cried to for weeks after coming home.

"I'm just pulling into the hospital. As soon as I know something, I can try to give you a call."

"Thank you," Maura said, her voice breaking.

"You're welcome, and Maura?"

"Yeah,"

"She's going to be okay. If there's one thing, I know about my Jane is she's a fighter." Izzy started to tear up when she heard Maura break down. "I'm sorry, but I need to get inside."

Maura thanked Izzy again before hanging up. "What did she mean by "my Jane"? She wondered to herself. Was Jane and Izzy back together?

Maura shook her head; she would unpack that later right now that wasn't important.

After finding out what hospital Jane was at, she spent the next three hours making arrangements for Jane to be set up in a private room once she came out of recovery and arranged to pay for anything she would need.

She heard from Izzy again sometime later. The surgery was successful in removing the bullet and stopping the bleeding. It had torn through Jane's abdominal muscles, nicking her intestines before exiting just to the left of her spin. A close call was an understatement.

Maura was relieved that Jane was stable and resting but she knew she would have a long recovery ahead of her. She also knew Jane wasn't out of the woods just yet.

When Maura finally curled up in her empty bed she screamed at the darkness and cried until it hurt. She fell into a fit sleep as the sun made its first appearance.