Hey guys sorry about the delay. The past couple weeks have been hell with finals coming up, projects being due. It's deadweek as of now so I'll be able to work on the story when not studying. Next week and the week after are pretty busy but I'll do my best to update soon. After that I'm free for the summer so I should be able to deliver some content on a fairly regular basis.

Also just to note some of you guys just need to take a minute to breathe. Maura and Alex just ran into each other. It'll be alright I promise. In any case this chapter is pretty laid back but I promise to get back to the action soon. So thank you for reading, please let me know what you think and as always enjoy.

Chapter 5

The week had gone by slowly after Jane had questioned Alex at the station. Maura's request for recordings of Alex fighting had been slow going in regards to getting them and going through them all. Jane still didn't know what Maura was looking for exactly, but for two days, whenever Maura wasn't in the morgue she was up with Nina searching for whatever it was she thought she might find. Korsak and Jane on the other hand were stuck with nothing. They still hadn't been able to obtain a warrant from the judge. Apparently it was due to a back-log of cases that fell above theirs. Jane had other ideas of course. What judge would sign a warrant with little probable cause to back it up? The blood and saliva should have been enough, especially with the security footage and the images of the killer. All they could do was wait until they got their warrant or Jane would have to figure out how to sweet-talk Alex back into being cooperative.

With how badly the interrogation had gone it was unlikely the latter would yield any results. Alex was clearly a person with serious issues, both mentally and emotionally. When Jane pushed in on direction Alex met her with anger and would lash out. When Jane pushed in another direction Alex had relaxed and was forthcoming with her answers. The brick wall Jane was met with wasn't entirely because of Alex. Jane was to blame as well for how poorly the interrogation went. She went in unyielding, determined to get what she wanted from her suspect and it had hurt the case.

She thought about that moment as she sat at the Dirty Robber while the others talked around her.

Jane fingered the glass bottle in front of her. It was still cold, small drops of condensation rolled down the sides, causing the label to start peeling. Something that Alex had said during the interview was chewing away at her. 'Everyone has something to hide Jane.' It was something Jane had heard before, something Jane herself had said to multiple suspects on multiple occasions. So why was it bothering her?

Of course, she already knew the answer. Without even trying Alex had indirectly struck a chord. It was something she repressed, or at least tried to, since she had graduated from the Academy. Recently though it had started to bother her again. Somedays Jane struggled with it for hours, other times none at all. She hadn't told anyone about it. She'd forced herself to ignore it; to try and forget it. Alex's words, although only a statement at the time, felt more and more like accusations to Jane.

She sighed, I have been gunning for Alex… it hadn't started out that way. Slowly it had morphed from her following a hunch to her looking for whatever she could to prove Alex was guilty. I should give her the same benefit of doubt that I give any other suspect… even though she doesn't deserve it. Maybe Alex was innocent, maybe Jane was wrong, but one thing was for sure; Alexis Eldsfield was a womanizing scumbag.

"Jane did you hear me?"

Jane looked up, the sound of Maura's voice having brought her from her thought. "I'm sorry. What did you say?" She had completely lost track of the entire conversation that had been going on around her. Had we been talking about the case? No. The game next week? With the look that Maura was giving her she was sure that hadn't been it either. Why would Maura ask about baseball? Doesn't matter Jane. What the hell were we talking about?

"Korsak and Frankie were talking about the Academy."

"Right…" Jane nodded, pretending like she actually had an idea of what was going on. "What about it?"

Maura shook her head, sighing in the process. Jane had the shortest attention span of anyone Maura had known. She was sure her friend had some form of ADD. "The most difficult part of training." She repeated, making sure Jane knew she was annoyed.

Jane smiled and brought the rim of the bottle to her mouth, letting to cold liquid was down her throat. Maura was easy to get frustrated and most of the time Jane found it very entertaining. She knew that taking her time to answer the question would annoy Maura further. It wasn't like she was doing it on purpose. The Academy had been years ago. It almost felt like a life time ago. She didn't revisit the memory much. Come to think of it Jane couldn't remember any point in time where she had talked with Maura about her police training.

It wasn't that she didn't want to tell Maura about it, she just didn't like to talk about it. Jane didn't like bragging and talking about training felt like bragging. She had been top of her class, graduated top of the class and was an all-around good cadet. Work was work and her job was to put bad guys away, what was there to brag about?

"Pepper spray training," she said after thinking for another minute.

Beside her Korsak and Frankie nodded in agreement. Nothing hurt worse than an eyeful of Mace.

"I'd rather get shot again then have that shit in my face again," Frankie said. Angela, who had joined them at some point, glared at her son. "What?"

"When I got sprayed I thought I was going to die. Throat hurt, I couldn't see, my skin burned like a sonofabitch. Went through the course like instructed washed that shit out and thought I went blind." Jane smiled at the memory, although unpleasant it had been a serious learning experience. Back then she had easily run the course tears running from her eyes and snot dripping from her nose. It hadn't been a pretty sight. "Course the instructor holding the Red-man shield hadn't expected to be hit that hard by a cadet… God that was terrible."

"It's the oleoresin capsicum in the spray that causes the irritation of the throat, eyes and skin," Maura explained even though no one had asked her too. "Difficulty breathing, burning, temporary blindness are common side-effects. Severe cases can lead to long-term eye damage, laryngospasm and even death."

Her explanation earned her looks from everyone at the table- including Angela.

"Thank you Poindexter," Jane said using Maura's nickname teasingly. "You have enlightened us all with your infinite wisdom."

Maura could tell Jane was only teasing her. Still she pursed her lips. She hated being called Poindexter next to Queen of the Dead and Maura the Bora it was one of the worst. Sometimes she had trouble discerning the intent behind Jane's words. But she knew exactly what to say to get Jane back.

"It's never a bad time to learn something new," she said. "For instance how did you get the nickname Roly-Poly-Rizzoli?"

As expected Jane shot Maura an icy glare, grumbling to herself. Maura knew how she got that nickname and knew exactly why she hated it. Then again Jane knew Maura hated the nicknames she had earned over the years. So they were even.

"Why don't you tell her about your experience with a TASER," Korsak suggested out of the blue. "Back in my day we didn't have to go through that."

Both Jane and Frankie shuddered visibly at the mention of TASER training. Both of them had felt the pain of two metal prongs sticking in their back sending an uncomfortable amount of electricity through them. Jane had used a TASER on one occasion. It was easier than a gun and had far less paperwork involved.

"His or mine?" Jane asked jabbing her thumb in the direction of her brother.

"Yours was more entertaining," Frankie said.

"Please do tell." Maura grew more curious as the three officer continued to reminisce about their time as cadets.

She had seen stun guns at work. The darts punctured the skin then released a 50,000-volt charge that would cause temporary paralysis because of the contraction of the person's muscles. She found them fascinating.

There was a case Maura had read about in Las Vegas. The police were trying to subdue a woman using Pepper Spray and a TASER. The combination had caused the woman's clothing to ignite, ultimately killing her. Maura decided to keep that bit of information to herself for the moment. Obviously, in both Jane and Frankie's case, it had been under monitored conditions. Which made the idea of Jane temporarily losing control of her motor skills slightly amusing to the medical examiner.

"Well we were in the training room and our instructor came in told us we were going to have to get hit with the stun gun. He asked for a volunteer to go first so, of course, I volunteered," Jane said proudly. "Anyway he had two cadets, big guys, good cops now, keep me from falling flat on my face."

Jane grinned at the memory. The pain she'd felt during the two seconds it took to shock her was absolute hell, but the aftermath had been hilarious.

"So the instructor stood about 5 feet away, the guys had a hold of me and all of a sudden, with no warning he fired the damn thing."

Korsak and Frankie laughed with Jane already knowing the rest of the story.

"I bet both those guys regret ever holding you up to this day," Frankie said as his laughter died down.

"Why? What happened?" Maura was genuinely interested now.

"I started cussing every single one of them out. Anything to get it to hurt less and um I may have uh…" Jane rubbed the back of her neck glancing sheepishly at Maura. "I may have gotten an arm free and punched on of the guys…square in the balls."

"You punched a man while being tased?" Maura asked, a look of disbelief crossing her face.

"Accidentally," Jane assured. "It wasn't like I had much control over my limbs."

Maura giggled: "What happened after that?"

"Drug the guy left holding me up down with me. I was gripping onto his arm so tight it brought him to his knees," Jane said.

"They stayed clear of Janie after that," Frankie laughed.

"Laugh all you want Frankie," Jane warned. "It's funny because it didn't happen to you. Why don't you tell Maura about the time you tore your pants chasing a suspect and locked yourself out of your squad car."

The jab had caught Frankie off guard causing him to swallow his drink wrong making him cough. The group around Frankie pushed back in their chairs to avoid getting an unplanned spit take. There was a collective 'come on' of disgust from everyone as Frankie tried to get ahold of himself. Frankie wiped what he could with the pile of napkins Angela handed him. he was able to clear most of the table of his lost beer but a lot of the drink had ended up on his shirt.

"You're paying to get this cleaned," he informed Jane.

"Oh no that was your own fault," Jane said as she rose from her chair. "Get ma to clean it for you."

"Where are you going?" Korsak asked.

"It's getting late." Jane glanced at her phone. It was only 6:45PM but she wanted to head to the batting cages before they closed. "I've got some things I need to do."

"Do you need a ride?" Maura asked.

Jane shook her head. The walk would do her some good and the batting cages weren't too far from the Dirty Robber or her apartment. Jane really just needed to work out her frustration over the case and the nagging thought in the back of her mind she refused to acknowledge. She didn't see any better way then knocking some balls with an aluminum bat.

XXXXX

The owner of the batting cage was a good friend of the BPD and a close friend with Jane. He pointed Jane to cage sixteen, the one he referred to as the cage with the 'most functional pitching machine'. In reality all of the pitching machines worked the same aside from the speeds. The only difference with cage sixteen was that no late night group of teens looking to mess around would bother Jane. It was the last in the row of cages and had a solid wall on one side. The cage on the other side would be unoccupied unless people suddenly decided they needed to hit a few at 7:15PM. Sixteen was also the only cage to have an adjustable speed on the pitching machine. Most of the time it didn't work so whoever was in the cage was stuck hitting fastballs, which Jane didn't mind, this time it seemed to allow fast and medium speeds.

Jane set the helmet the owner, Roy, had given her in the corner of the cage. He had to sign out helmets to people if they didn't bring their own for liability purposes. People didn't have to wear them as long as they had forms fill out, which Jane did, but Roy always was saying 'better safe than sorry'. She leaned her bat against the chain-link so she could pull her hair back into a ponytail. The last thing she needed was a fastball to the side because of her hair getting in the way.

With her hair out the way and her bat in hand Jane hit the button to start the machine. One ball flew right past her before she had a chance to square up. The next pitch she was ready for. She dropped her elbow, twisted at the waist and swung. The ball connected with the bat with a clank and the ball went flying. Jane didn't bother celebrating as she reset her stance.

The next ball came and she repeated the action. Drop, twist, swing, hit, reset. It was smooth, swift an absent of thought. If you over thought your swing to much you would end up missing. Jane knew that, just like firing a gun swinging a bat was ingrained into her mind. She'd played softball in high school. Both Varsity and Junior Varsity as a first basemen and catcher. She had a good batting average. One that she maintained during friendly department games.

Pitch, drop, twist, swing, hit, reset. She was focus on the task at hand. Finally, able to forget about the case and Alex Eldsfield. And able to box those annoying feelings that kept creeping up on her.

Pitch, drop, twist, swing, hit, reset.

What if there's something you're missing. Something really glaring and in your face you haven't even bothered to look for because you're so caught up with Eldsfield? Swing, hit, drop bat. Fuck that hurt. Jane shook her hand to try and ease the painful vibration she felt from hitting the ball wrong. Her lapse in concentration had been a surprise to her. The case was really getting to her.

She picked up her bat and reset herself letting a ball fly past as she did so. Focus Jane. Just you and the ball.

Pitch, drop, twist, swing, hit, reset.

Better. Swivel your foot more when turning into the ball. Twist, swing, hit, reset. You really need to stop boxing up these feelings you've been having. Maybe that's why you're so focused on Alex. Twist, swing, miss.

"Alright fuck this enough thinking." Jane wasn't one for talking to herself but sometimes she would get to the point she had to. And when she was subconsciously berating herself about things it was a sure sign she was stressed.

"Everything alright Jane?"

Jane turned towards the voice as another ball soared past her. She was surprised to see Maura standing there. She was even more surprised that the medical examiner wasn't in her usual designer clothes and high heels. She wasn't even in her outfit from earlier. Instead Maura was in tight fitting jeans, black tennis shoes Jane was sure Maura would deny being hers, and a BSU t-shirt with a low neckline. It showed off a generous amount of cleavage which again surprised Jane. Maura wasn't shy by any means but her outfit seemed better fit on a college freshman then the refined doctor.

It took a minute for Jane to shake off the initial shock but when she did she asked: "What are you doing here Maura? Better question; how did you know I was here?"

"I stopped by your apartment to drop off a file you might want to see and you weren't there."

"So you went home and changed and…? What? Drove around until you found me?"

"I called Frankie he said you might be here."

"And you changed because?"

"I'd didn't think heels would be appropriate for the batting cages."

"Gotcha," Jane rolled her eyes. "So what was so important you chased me down here?"

"You remember after you interviewed Alexis and she ran into me at the elevator?"

"Yeah hard to miss all the paper flying everywhere."

"I noticed something when she was handing me the files. That's why I asked for any videos of her preforming a chokehold."

"You're going to have to explain a little more."

Another ball hit the fence next to Jane so she hit the stop button with the bottom of her bat.

"It took me a couple days but I was able to get her medical records from her assault. It turns out Alex had her left arm broken in multiple places."

"How is it you can get her medical records when Korsak and I can't even get a warrant for her DNA?"

"Jane."

"Right sorry broken arm. Got it."

Maura arched an eyebrow. Sometimes she wished Jane would actually listen to her instead of pretending.

"What I'm trying to tell you Jane is that because of the break she sustained Alex does not have full motion in her left arm."

Jane stopped playing with the bat and let it drop to her side. "What are you saying? That because of that injury she couldn't have killed Grace?"

Maura shook her head: "No. All I am saying is that she would have to exert more pressure with her right arm while her left was wrapped around Grace's neck."

"I'm sure that observation will crack this case wide open," Jane said sarcastically.

"Jane listen, I want to get whoever did this as much as you," Maura said. "So do I believe Alex could have killed Grace? Absolutely. But am I also looking at it from an objective point of view? Yes, which is why I need to see Alex use a chokehold. So I can compare it to the video of the murder."

"You think you would be able to tell if there's anything distinct about it?"

"Of course," Maura beamed proudly. "Remember who you're talking to."

Jane sighed with a small nod. If Maura really could do what she was proposing it couldn't hurt. If it ultimately leads to Eldsfield getting cleared so be it. Maybe I should listen to Maura and look at this more objectively then I have been. There had been times her objectivity had wavered during cases that had caused a murderer to roam free for much longer than they should have. They had run into a few pitfalls during this case but again Jane hadn't been as objective as she should have been.

"Well I've got another forty minutes in here," Jane considered. "Care to join me?"

"So you can make fun of how I hit the ball?"

"Maura you don't hit the ball. You calculate everything and swing. You're lucky when you hit the ball."

"There's no luck about it."

"Get in here."

Jane didn't give Maura any more time to argue as she opened the gate and pulled her friend through. She hadn't planned on having any company but she was glad Maura was there. Even if it had originally been to talk about the case.

"Left foot here, right foot here." Jane stood at the plate long enough that Maura could copy her stance. "I've got it on a fast pitch you think you can handle that?"

"Sure."

Jane smirked as she handed Maura the bat she'd been using. It was a couple inches longer than what Maura needed but Jane was confident that the doctor could still make contact. She hit the start button and took a step back so she wouldn't get hit by the ball or Maura.

The first ball rocketed passed Maura. She didn't even flinch. Calculating again… the second ball came at her. This time Maura swung and missed completely. Jane held back a chuckle. She allowed Maura to reset and try again.

Pitch, wait, swing, hit. The ball dropped halfway to the machine. Jane reached over and hit the stop button. The pitching machine sputtered in protest and then fell silent. Maura turned to face her friend. Jane could read what she was thinking; what gives Jane?

"You need to follow through if you want that ball to go anywhere." Jane came up behind Maura, positioning herself so the toes of her shoes where against the heels of Maura's. "You don't mind do you?"

"Of course not."

Jane couldn't tell but she could have sworn Maura had blushed. Get a grip. Jane brought her arms around Maura and took ahold of the bats grip. She held her hands over Maura so she could control the movement.

"Pull your arm back and keep your elbow up okay?"

Maura nodded against Jane. Her focus was down field but Jane could tell she was slightly distracted. "I'm going to start the machine again we'll let the first ball go. The second I want you to swing with me." Maura nodded again. Jane pulled away to press the start again then repositioned herself.

When the second pitch came Jane could feel Maura allowing her to control the swing. When Jane twisted Maura followed, having no choice since they were so close to one another. They just barely missed the ball as it tipped off and hit the fence next to them.

"Just relax Maura. Don't think about the pitch just focus on the ball."

Jane moved so her feet were between Maura's. it was an awkward position but Jane needed to be able to guide Maura's movement. The next pitch came and once again Maura let Jane guide the movement. This time the ball connected and went flying. Both woman smiled at the successful hit.

"I guess you were right," Maura mused.

"Of course I was right," Jane scoffed.

Maura worked her hands from under Jane's and turned to face the detective while they were still pressed together. Jane bit her lip and reached back clumsily to turn off the machine once more. They were still extremely close.

Jane's mind was racing. What is she doing? What am I doing? Say something. She opened her mouth just to close it again. She couldn't figure out what she could say. You look like a fish. Just say something.

Maura was watching her closely. She looked just as unsure as Jane felt. They stood there staring at one another waiting for the other to say something. How did you become a detective again?

"Jane listen I-"

"Hey Rizzoli I'm closing up shop. As much as I trust Boston's finest I'm going to need to kick you out."

Jane shut her eyes. Had they really been there until closing? How long had they been just standing there?

"Yeah no problem Roy we're just heading out."

Maura looked as if she wanted to finish what she had been saying but chose not to. Jane grabbed the helmet still in the corner of the cage and followed Maura as they headed towards the exit. Roy took the helmet and bat then thanked the detective for her business.

"Do you want a ride home?" Maura asked when they reached her car.

"If it isn't too much trouble."

"Never is."

XXXXX

The two were on the road when Jane finally decided to ask what Maura was going to say back at the cages.

"Nothing important. I just wanted you to know I'm here if you need me Jane. If something is wrong, you don't have to handle it on your own."

Ouch. Denied. Better luck next time. Jane tried to ignore the annoying voice that kept popping up in her head. It would go away on its own. As soon as this case was closed she could lock this up in the back of her mind and forget about it.

"I know Maura," Jane smiled. "I'll be alright."

Even as she said it she didn't believe it. It was getting hard to ignore that she wanted Maura. The case had flipped some switch in her brain that had brought up the feelings she kept locked up. Each day it got that much harder not to pin Maura against the wall and kiss her. So what's stopping you Jane?

She knew the answer. She knew Maura. And she was sure any feelings Maura harbored towards her were nothing more than that of friends. You could be wrong. I mean think about it. What about her says she doesn't have feelings for you? Again another question she knew the answer to. But right now ignoring the voice in her head and the feelings she was fighting with were better ignored until the case was over. Or until you decide to bury them again… Remember back at the Academy?

Jane stopped herself. She wasn't going to argue, with herself mind you, about the logistics of her problem. If they had something within the next week Jane would say something. If not…you'll die alone.

With a sideways glance at Maura, Jane decided it would be better for the moment to just let things happen. No matter how much she wanted to throw caution to the wind for once.