A/N: Sorry for subjecting you to another pile of html vomit. Here's the fixed chapter. I still have yet to get to the bottom of why FF does this to some of my docs. Thank you all for your saintly patience with my haphazard chapter uploads. I love you all. Please enjoy this latest chapter.

"Jane?"

"Mmph."

"Jane, wake up. We're here."

Jane opened her eyes to the sensation of Maura's gentle strokes on her forearm.

"We're home."

Jane met Maura's warm smile with one of her own. She liked the sound of that. A lot. "Thanks for driving."

"Of course. Come on, let's get you inside." Maura stepped out and around to the passenger side of the Prius. She helped Jane out of the car, surprised at her quiet compliance. "You're being awfully cooperative, Jane," she remarked lightly.

The detective hissed through her teeth as she rose from the passenger seat. "Oh don't worry. A little nap and I'll be making up for lost sass." She winked. "But right now I'm too preoccupied with thoughts of your couch to be witty and stubborn."

Maura laughed. "I see. Think you can make it to the door?" They began a slow walk to Maura's front stoop.

"Well, the other option of collapsing on the sidewalk would be unprofessional and embarrassing, so yes, I think I can make it to the door."

"Unprofessional!" Maura laughed again. "Then I'll make sure that doesn't happen." She unlocked the door and let Jane enter first.

The detective limped straight to the couch and sank slowly onto the cushions.

Maura watched her and felt a deep, settling warmth in her heart. She moved to the kitchen. "Can I get you anything?"

"Actually, just some water sounds really nice," Jane husked. "Please."

Maura joined Jane on the couch with a glass of water and a glass of Carignan. "Do you feel like talking?" Maura pressed gently as she passed Jane the water.

Jane made an effort to sit up a little straighter. "Yeah! Yeah, we can talk." She watched Maura's face carefully.

Maura idly swirled her glass, observing the burgundy liquid rolling around in lazy, off-center circles.

"Maura? Paging Doctor Isles?"

Maura looked up at her.

"Look. Before you start overthinking what you're going to say, just get it out there. Rip off the band-aid." She gave Maura's arm a little squeeze. "And if it hurts," she added quietly, "I probably deserve it."

Maura shook her head. "No Jane. You deserve a lot of things, but to be in pain is not one of them."

Jane sat back, thinking. "Okay, that's a start. Not the one I predicted, but let's roll with it. What do you...what do you think I deserve, Maura?" Her hands linked together loosely in her lap. Maura saw Jane's fingertips begin subtly pressing the scars on her palms. Despite the brave front, Jane was nervous. She was expecting - maybe even hoping - that Maura would verbally flog her and be done with it.

"Respect," Maura replied without hesitation. "Happiness. I mean it, Jane," she added when the detective's expression grew wary. "I've always said I want to see you happy. I want that so much. And I do think you deserve to be happy. However that manifests itself."

Jane swallowed. "What else?" she husked, her voice as low and soft as Maura had ever heard it.

"Love. You deserve love, Jane."

Jane turned her head, abashed.

Maura's heart pounded. She could feel it in her throat. She turned to face Jane more directly. "And I don't mean just affection, or just sex, though those are important. I mean...safety. Confidence in your relationship. Grace."

"Grace?"

"Yes. Freedom to make mistakes and be forgiven for them. Without conditions."

Jane sank into the couch, eyes on her hands. She drew a shuddering breath. Ran a shaking hand through raven hair. "But...Maura, you've given me all those things already," she whispered. She pitched forward and dropped her face into her hands. "God, I'm such an idiot."

"I tried very hard to look at your relationship with Casey objectively." Maura sighed. "To be brutally honest, I struggled with jealousy. But even after I set aside my bias, I was still frustrated because I felt you weren't getting what you need - what you deserve - out of that relationship, Jane."

Jane looked up at her, eyes swimming, lip between teeth, chin trembling.

"As your friend, I wanted so badly to protect you. I wanted to rescue you somehow, from an uninformed decision. But I also knew, as your friend, that wasn't my place. So I had to let you go, and it was by far the hardest thing I've ever had to do."

"But you did it," Jane said. There was no anger or malice in her voice. She was simply in awe.

Maura nodded. "I felt I had to. My responsibility was to support you in being your own person."

Jane shook her head. "You're amazing."

Maura blushed, but made no comment.

"You know, I've loved you for years. Years, Maura. But for any number of inane reasons, I convinced myself that...you and I - as a couple - we weren't even a blip on the radar of possibility. So I gave up hope. I made myself move on." She took a drink of water, stalling to gather her thoughts. "Casey was...convenient. And it felt good, being with him. Thinking I was in love. But with everything that's happened, I've been on this steep learning curve, and...I've discovered things about myself, about you, about decisions I've made...most of them ending up being mistakes." She forced herself to look Maura in the eye. "You say you still love me. Well, I still love you." Her voice shook, betraying the emotions she was fighting to contain. "I love you more than I've loved anyone. I realize that now." A tear escaped down her cheek. She dashed it away and gently took Maura's hand. "I don't want to screw this up. Again. I feel like I'm trying my best to do right, but lately it seems like I keep twisting things into bigger knots rather than getting it all untangled." The sensation of Maura's thumb brushing back and forth on the back of her hand made her breath catch and her pulse flutter. "I've lost my partner already. I'm ending a marriage. And you've seen how I push people away only to find out later that I alienated them when I needed them most. I lose you, and I'm...I really am fucked." She shook her head again and buried her face in her hands. "As much as I want to give it everything I've got to make this work, I'm so, so scared that I'll screw this up, and it will be my biggest failure, and my biggest regret ever." She pressed her fingertips to her forehead, deeply distraught.

This gave Maura pause. Jane admitting to being scared was a great rarity. "I don't think you're giving yourself nearly enough credit. And I've spent enough time analyzing and re-analyzing and over-analyzing my feelings to realize and accept that loving you is inevitable for me. And...I want to...give us a try."

Jane shook her head, shoulders hunching in presupposed defeat. Her face was hidden behind jet black curls and clenched fists. "I'm afraid I'm a lost cause, Maura."

Maura's heart constricted at the sound of dejection in Jane's voice. "No. I refuse to accept that." She wrapped her fingers around Jane's upper arm. "Jane, look at me. Please."

Jane obeyed.

Maura brushed wild, dark curls from her best friend's temple and held her face. "But say you were a lost cause." She smiled in spite of herself. Brushed a stray tear from her zygomatic bone. "You'd still be my lost cause. And no cause is truly lost until every last person who could possibly care has given up on it." She pulled back to look at Jane fully. "I can count on one hand the people in my life who have made me feel loved when I thought I was unloveable, who made me feel safe when I thought I never would be again. Who kept faith in who I was, when I was drowning in self-doubt. And your name has always been first on that list. I'm determined to do the same for you." She lowered her gaze, seemingly surprised by her own boldness. "Is that…alright?"

Jane nodded, at a loss for words. Tears spilled from her eyes, faster than Maura could wipe them away. Maura leaned in, then paused. This had to be right. "May I...?" she asked, still holding Jane's face. Her eyes darted to Jane's lips, then back to her eyes - which seemed to light up in wonder.

The tiniest of nods. An angling of the head.

Their lips met. This time, Maura took the lead, and Jane acquiesced. One hand moved to the back of Jane's head, fingers sliding through those glorious dark tresses, cradling her. The other slid to her waist, tenderly pulling Jane just a tiny bit closer.

Jane instinctively lifted a hand to caress Maura's face. Her head was filling with the taste, scent and feel of Maura. She had never been so...elated. She tried to stifle a moan.

Hearing the check in Jane's breathing, Maura slowly released her. She had to be mindful of Jane's injuries, even if the detective was wont to forget them in the moment.

Jane dropped her hand, fingertips trailing languidly over Maura's throat. They traced her clavicle to where it met her shoulder, and glided down her arm to lightly grasp her wrist.

Maura's hand caught Jane's as it fell. She gripped the detective's forearm, anchoring her.

Jane lowered her gaze and brought her forehead to rest against Maura's collarbone. Tried to catch her breath. Tried to ignore the pain spreading across her side.

Maura stroked her hair for a moment.

"I don't deserve you," Jane whimpered, and began to sob in earnest.

Maura slid closer and gathered Jane to her chest. "It's not about one person deserving another, sweet girl." She kissed the side of Jane's head. "It's…about letting ourselves love each other. Don't you think that makes more sense?"

She felt Jane nod against her shoulder. Felt her tilt her head. Felt Jane tenderly but deliberately press her lips low on her throat. Heard the rasp of her tired voice. "Okay."

Maura pulled back. "Okay?"

Jane wiped her eyes with one hand, but continued to grip Maura's arm with the other. "Okay, I'll…" she smiled through her tears. "I'll be your lost cause. I am your lost cause."

Maura allowed herself a soft laugh of pure joy.