A/N: After last night's episode of Rizzoli and Isles, I was so disappointed and angry. In my opinion, episode 4.07 was nothing more than a beardfest, created specifically to remind the fans that Jane and Maura are "straight". It was so awful. I certainly hope the fluff at the end of this chapter makes up for the lack of Rizzles on the show last night.

Thanks, as always, to CharlietheCAG for her beta edits on this chapter. They are always appreciated.

I was very quiet on the drive home, staring out the passenger side window and rubbing circles in my palms with my thumbs. Maura looked over at me several times, but stopped herself from speaking every time. I could see her worried reflection in the passenger side window in the darkened car.

"What happened back there?" Maura finally asked me when we were nearly halfway home.

"Nothing," I said.

"Something happened, Jane. One minute you were listening, laughing and adding to the conversation, and the next you were pale and terrified looking."

"It's nothing, Maura. I'm just tired."

"Since when does being tired make you terrified?" she pressed.

"I wasn't terrified," I said, without much conviction.

"Don't lie to me Jane!" Maura's tone scared me almost as much as my thoughts had earlier.

"I was just thinking, Maura. It was nothing, really. I had a long day, and it all caught up to me, I guess."

"What were you thinking about?" Maura inquired, no sign of giving up on this line of questioning.

"Work," I muttered.

"What were you thinking about work, Jane?"

"You sound like Dr. Gilfried," I said, starting to grow irritated.

"Stop deflecting."

"See? She says that too!"

"Jane." Maura wasn't going to take any nonsense from me.

"Okay! Fine! What if I can't go back to work? What's it going to be like for me to be around all of you if I can't go back?!" I was yelling. It felt good to yell.

"You will go back to work," Maura said simply, not raising her voice.

"But I don't know that, Maura! I don't know if I will be able to do that. I want to be able to go back, but the chances are that I'm never going to physically qualify for duty. And what then? What's going to happen to me? WHAT WILL I DO, MAURA?!"

Maura actually pulled the car over at my outburst. She threw it into park on a side street and turned to face me, grabbing both of my hands in her own.

"Jane, I truly believe you will return to work. It may take time, years even, but you will do it. And if you don't, because you can't or because you decide not to, we'll figure it out. It will not be the end of the world. I promise you that. No matter what happens, everything will be all right," Maura soothed.

"What if I can't go back to work and all of them, Korsak, Frost, Cavanaugh, even you, make me feel like I don't belong anymore? What if I already don't belong?" I worried.

"Jane, you are part of a family that loves you. Frost, Korsak, Cavanaugh, they are all part of that family too. We love you. You will always be a part of that family. You will never not belong."

"I'm so scared, Maura."

The words were out of my mouth before I ever had the chance to censor them. I hated admitting I was afraid of anything. I think the only time prior to that I had admitted to Maura that I was afraid of something was the night I spent at her house when Charles Hoyt was after me, and Bass' wanderings around the kitchen made me think someone was trying to break in.

Maura unbuckled her seatbelt and then leaned over to unbuckle mine. Then she pulled me across the center console and hugged me to her tightly.

"You're not alone, Jane. We're in this together. I will do everything I can to make sure you can go back to work if that's what you want. But if you can't, you're not going to lose me over it. You're not going to lose your family over it either. We'll support you no matter what." The conviction in Maura's voice was almost overwhelming.

"But what will I do if I can't go back?" I worried.

"We'll both retire early and go live on a tropical island somewhere," Maura said with a shrug.

"I couldn't ask you to give up your career for me, Maura. It means too much to you."

"But I would give it up for you, Jane. And maybe early retirement isn't the answer, but my point is that I would go anywhere and do anything for you. We will figure it out. When the time comes, we will figure it out. But for now, know that I have faith in you, and I know in my heart that you are going to go back to work."

"I thought you didn't listen to organs that weren't capable of thinking," I said suspiciously.

"If I've learned anything, Jane, it's to listen to my heart when it comes to you, even if physiologically, it doesn't make sense."

"I love you, Googlemouth."

"I love you, Detective."

I sat back in my seat and buckled up. Maura looked me over for a moment before she put her seatbelt back on and put the car back in gear. She held my hand the rest of the way home.

When we got home I told Maura I was going over to the guesthouse to go get Jo Friday. If I was home permanently, there was no reason why she needed to stay with Ma all the time. While I was over there I asked Ma for my debit card and my driver's license. Both of them had been in my pocket when I had been involved in the train accident, and they were turned over to my mother after I had been found. Ma gave me a sheepish look as she handed the plastic baggie containing both items over to me. When I looked at them, I realized why. Both of them were crusted with blood. My blood, presumably. They'd been in my back pocket when my abdomen was crushed.

"Sorry honey, I was so wrapped up in you that I forgot all about trying to clean those off, and it never occurred to me to get you new ones."

"It's okay. I'll see what I can do with them. Thanks, Ma."

Jo Friday and I walked back across the yard to Maura's house, and I asked Maura if I could use her laptop. I explained to her I wanted to see if I could get us tickets to a show for the following night.

While Maura went upstairs to get her laptop, I set about getting the blood off of my debit card. I probably wouldn't get it presentable enough to hand to a waiter to pay for dinner, but I could get it functional enough to take cash out of an ATM and use that to pay for dinner.

When Maura came back down, I was standing with my back to her, over the kitchen sink, using a paper towel and some soapy water to clean off my debit card and my driver's license. My scrubbing had created a small mess in the sink.

"What are you doing?" Maura asked, leaving her laptop on the kitchen island. She walked up behind me before I could answer her, and gasped.

"Jane, where did you get them?" she breathed.

"From my mother. I didn't realize they were going to be this bloody. I, I didn't realize I was that bloody. They were in my back pocket. I always put my cards in my back pocket. Ma said they were in my back pocket and she forgot about them and didn't clean them off." I didn't know why I was babbling like that, repeating myself. Maybe it was the realization that I had almost bled to death, and these cards were proof of that. Maybe seeing something of my own, that had been with me when the accident happened, had triggered my nervousness.

I scrubbed harder, but all I was managing to do was smear the blood around on the cards. It was caked on, stuck between the raised digits of the card and dried into the signature strip on the back. My signature wasn't even visible on the back. I scraped at the card with my fingernail, and wound up getting a considerable amount of the newly rehydrated blood on my hands.

"Stop, Jane! Stop. Please. I can't look at that!" Maura cried out, panicstricken.

I looked over at Maura, who was staring at my red hands and the mess in the sink. She had paled considerably.

"You look at blood all the time, Maura," I said, shocked at her reaction.

"Not yours, Jane. Especially not your blood from that accident."

Maura walked away from me and sank down onto the couch in the living room. I dropped the cards onto a clean paper towel and then washed my hands and the sink thoroughly. I walked back over to Maura and sat next to her.

"Hey," I took her hands in mine as I sat down. "You know, throughout all of this, you've been so good to me, making sure that I was okay. But I don't think anyone has asked you how you're doing. Are you all right, Maura?"

She shook her head no.

I wrapped my arm around her waist and she laid her head on my shoulder.

She cried softly, into my shoulder. "I'm not okay. I'm not okay with seeing your blood again, Jane. I lost you when you walked away to go to New York. And I almost lost you permanently in that train derailment, and then again today when William tried to kill you. I can't lose you. And I can't be reminded of how close I came to losing you, over and over again."

"You're not going to lose me, Maura. You're stuck with me," I promised her. More stuck than anything else, I thought.

"It's just that your blood, I saw it twice today. It just reminded me of how fragile you are. How fragile we all are really," she said as she cried into my shoulder.

I rocked her gently back and forth. "I'm not as fragile as you think. I survived, Maura. And every day I get stronger because of you and all that you've done for me. The worst is over, Maur."

"I know, it's just still shocking to see. How is it that I can be completely detached at a gruesome crime scene, but watching you clean up your own blood makes me feel faint?"

"Welcome to the human race, Maura. If you felt as deeply for all of the victims whose murders you help solve as you feel for me, you would faint every time you saw their blood," I pointed out to her gently.

"I guess you're right," she murmured.

"It means a lot to me that you were that concerned, Maura. It's just another reason why I love you so much. I'm sorry I upset you, though. I just wanted to be able to use the card to take us out tomorrow night."

"Leave the cards for tonight, Jane. Let's just go to bed," Maura said decisively.

"But I didn't get us tickets for tomorrow night."

"Let's put that off until next week, okay? This week we'll go to the bank and get you a new debit card, and we'll go to the Registry of Motor Vehicles' website to get you a replacement license in the morning."

"You don't want to go out tomorrow night? On our date?" I was saddened that I had upset her that much.

"Can we put it off a week?" she asked hopefully. "Would you mind? I think I just want you all to myself this weekend."

"Sure," I said, shrugging.

"Are you angry?"

I definitely wasn't angry. "How could I be angry at being alone with you all weekend? We have all the time in the world to go on dates. And maybe it would be better if I got the rest of my credit cards and clothes out of storage before we go out."

"Thanks, Jane. Thank you for understanding."

"There's no need to thank me, or to be sorry. Let's spend the weekend at home. And let's go to bed. I'm exhausted."

"Me too," Maura said as she wrapped an arm around my waist after I stood up.

We put out some kibble and water for Jo, looked in on the tortoises, and then made our way upstairs. I stopped off in the guest room for some pajamas. By the time I made my way back into Maura's bedroom, she was already coming out of the bathroom. She helped me into bed.

"I can do that myself, you know," I said with a smile, to take the bite out of my words.

"I know," she grinned. "But I rarely get to tuck you in, so I thought I might take advantage of that tonight."

"You now have that option every night," I said proudly.

"And I plan to exercise it," she said, still smiling.

Maura walked around the bed and got in on her side, then she leaned in and kissed me.

"Welcome home, beautiful girl."

Maura snuggled up against me, her head under my chin. I wrapped my arms around her and breathed her in, running my hand over her golden curls before kissing the top of her head.

"I love you," I whispered to her when she fell asleep. She snuggled in closer, and I closed my eyes. I fell asleep to the sound of her breathing, thankful for the second chance life had given me.

The next morning I woke up to an empty bed. I reached over for Maura, disappointed that she wasn't there. I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was only eight. Not too late, but too late for Maura, I supposed.

I got up and made my way slowly into the bathroom. I was incredibly sore from the events of the day before. I wondered if Maura was waiting downstairs for me, or if I had the time to take a hot bath in her jacuzzi tub. The hot water and the jets would be just the thing I needed.

I decided a bath was the way to go. If Maura needed me for anything, she could come up and get me. I started filling the tub, turning the hot water on as high as I could get it to go, and dropping in some of the lavender bubble bath that Maura had gotten for me a week before. I turned the jets on in the tub and started to undress while the bubbles began to foam up. I was just getting ready to step into the tub when I felt, rather than heard, the bathroom door open behind me. I turned around to look when I felt the slightly cooler air enter through the open door.

Maura was standing there, still dressed in her pajamas from the night before, openly appraising me.

Since my back was to her, I felt a little less conscious of my scars, and I gave her a little shimmy.

"You like?" I asked, mimicking Maura's signature move.

"Very much," she said with a sly smile.

I turned slightly and reached out, crooking a finger at her. "Want to join me?"

"Very much," Maura repeated, stepping into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

She stepped in front of me and I lifted her silk nightgown over her head, tossing it aside. She wasn't wearing anything underneath it.

"Mmm… Dr. Isles, what happened to your underwear?" I let my eyes wander down her body, and let my hands follow.

"I think you melted them off of me when you did that little shimmy over there," she said seductively.

I chuckled as I leaned in to kiss her. It felt so good to touch her, to feel my bare skin against her own. I cupped her breast, then bent over to take her nipple into my mouth. Maura tossed her head back and moaned. I kissed my way back up to her mouth, swallowing her gasp as I ran the hand that had been cupping her breast down her body, around her navel, and over her center, and then I entered her with two fingers.

"You're not much for foreplay, are you?" she asked, as her eyes fluttered shut and I pulled her tighter against me.

"Oh, I'm all about foreplay," I said confidently.

"Really? Because this isn't foreplay," she said as she moved her pelvis in time with my fingers, her fingernails digging into my shoulders.

"I know. We have years of unrequited lust to make up for. There will be time for foreplay later."

"You'll have to show me your skills," she challenged.

"I plan on it."

I leaned down to kiss the nape of her neck, and she slid two fingers into me. We didn't even need foreplay at that point because we were both already so worked up. Maura was as wet as the bath that was waiting for us, and I wasn't much different.

My pelvis started to wobble, the closer I got to orgasm, so Maura turned us slightly and pushed me up against the bathroom sink. She pressed up against me, never slowing the pace of her fingers inside of me or her thumb on my clit. I did my best to reciprocate, and was rewarded when Maura came first, practically collapsing on top of me. I followed her seconds later, and held on to her for dear life, because I knew between my weakened knees and my injuries I wasn't going to stay upright.

Maura removed her fingers from inside of me and wrapped her arms around me, nuzzling against my neck.

"Mmm," I moaned. "I think we need to be naked together a lot more. You feel so good against me."

"Mmm," Maura started letting her hands wander as we kissed, already looking for more. She wasn't kidding when she agreed after I called her insatiable the day before. "We could always have Naked Saturdays."

"Ooh, I like that idea."

"I'm not sure your mother would, though."

I pulled away from her, grinning but also slightly frustrated. "You did not just bring up my mother during intercourse."

"You just said intercourse," Maura said, pointing at me.

"Sex. Coitus. Whatever, Maura! We don't talk about my mother during sexy time, got it?" I poked her in the sides to make my point.

She laughed at my obvious discomfort. "Okay."

Maura stepped away from me and got into the tub.

"Jane! This water is scalding hot!" she cried out as she eased herself down into the tub anyway, cringing.

"It started boiling when you took your clothes off Maur," I joked.

She smiled at me and waved me toward the tub. "Come in. But be careful, this water is really too hot."

"I need it hot. It helps with the muscle spasms. I'm really hurting today."

"Why didn't you say something?" she asked, surprised, as I settled myself in the water. I leaned back against her open arms.

"I hurt every day, Maura. The intensity of the pain just varies with how physically active I am the day before. There's no point in complaining about it," I said with a small shrug. Aches and pains had been a part of my life for a long time, since right around when Hoyt had pinned me to the floor with two scalpels. Shooting myself a few years later, and then this accident, hadn't caused the number of daily aches and pains to dwindle.

"But you could tell me, so I could help you to feel better," Maura whispered against my ear.

"Just being around you makes me feel better," I said honestly.

She kissed the back of my neck. "Still, if you don't feel well, or if something is bothering you, you should tell me. You don't have to keep that to yourself."

"I don't want to come off as a whiner."

"Jane. You used to whine if there wasn't enough fluff in your peanut butter sandwiches. I put up with that then, I can certainly put up with you whining if you don't feel well now."

I sat up to look at her. "You put up with me?" I smiled to take the sting out of my words.

"I probably could have phrased that better," Maura said quickly.

I grunted as I turned back around.

"It's okay, Maura. I still love you anyway."

She laughed, then took the facecloth and soaped it up, washing my back. I leaned back against her, halfway through, spreading suds all over the front of her.

"Hey!" she squealed. "I wasn't done!"

"I know. But I just want to soak for a bit. Hold me."

"Gladly." She leaned back against the tub and wrapped her arms around me. She picked her legs up out of the water and wrapped them around me too.

"This is nice," I said, and she sighed in contentment from behind me.

"It's better than nice," Maura said. "I've waited years for this moment. It's like coming home, Jane."