Thanks for reading and reviewing!

Chapter 11

The next morning Jane made breakfast for Lilly and then made heart-shaped pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries for Maura. She gave the plate to Lilly, figuring that Maura would let the girl enter the room.

Lilly walked to the door of the bedroom. She had no idea what was going on. She knocked.

"Maua?" She asked, not being able to pronounce her name just right.

Maura heard someone knocking on the door, but she just rolled over and closed her eyes. She was so exhausted that any movement was next to impossible. She had not slept at all that night and now she just stared off at nothing.

Her eyes were blood shot and swollen and her hair was messing around her face and over her pillow. She still wore the same clothes as the day before. Lilly would hear not a sound come from inside the room.

The little girl was confused and walked back to her mother, telling her that Maura wouldn't open. Jane sighed and then busied herself with Lilly during the day.

As she lied the girl down for a nap, Jane went to the bedroom again and knocked on the door.

"Maura... please open up." Jane said.

There was not a sound from within the bedroom and that was starting to worry Jane more and more. By the time she would gain access to the room, Maura was non moving on the bed. As she would round the edge of the bed there were several bottles of empty wine bottles that had come from Maura's bedroom wine cabinet. The woman and drank herself into an alcohol induced coma.

Jane immediately called an ambulance as she saw that. She couldn't believe it and felt awfully guilty. She knew this had happened because of what she did. Jane rode along the ambulance with Lilly. And then the Italian girl waited in the waiting room, just like she had done ten years ago.

Maura was awake several hours later after they had not only pushed a chalky substance in her stomach and then pumped it. She rested on her back, knowing who did and how she had gotten to the hospital. She had not tried to kill herself...she had just drank entirely too much.

Lilly had fallen asleep in the waiting area, lying across two chairs. Jane asked the nurse to look out for her, while she'd go and check on Maura. The brunette knocked on her door and then entered.

"Hey..." She whispered and hesitated before she entered. She walked over to the bed. "How...how are you feeling?"

Maura just turned her head away from Jane and breathed out a deep breath. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard. Her hands began to tremble as Jane got closer.

"Please...don't make it worse...You should have just left me," she finally said, but did not look at Jane.

"Like I would let you die on me." Jane said and carefully reached out and touched Maura's shoulder.

"Please Maura, I am sorry." The brunette said.

"I don't know what else to say... I won't do it again, I promise." Jane said softly.

Maura did not push Jane away. She was just to tired to...that and she really didn't hate the woman...she was just hurt. She swallowed and closed her eyes again, breathing deeply.

"I can't handle it, if you did it again...I don't care what the reason. And for my birthday...the only thing I wanted was you..." she said and her chin trembled as she willed herself not to cry.

Jane swallowed and looked down at the woman.

"What is that supposed to mean, Maura?" The brunette asked and removed her hand from her shoulder.

"Do you...want me to move out?" The brunette asked her quietly.

Maura finally turned to Jane.

"No," she said sharply and then turned away. She winced at her words and sighed again.

"What do you think it is supposed to me. I wanted you...nothing else really mattered, but you didn't seem to think I mattered..."

Jane shook her head.

"That's not fair of you to say...of course you matter. That's why I did what I did, Maura. I wanted to give you so much for your birthday..." Jane whispered.

"...I wanted to give you something great...but what is there to give to a girl who has everything she needs!" Jane took Maura's hand again.

"I'm so sorry, Maura. It was never my intention to hurt you the way I did." Jane brought Maura's hand to her own chest and pressed it against it. "My heart is yours."

"That's all I ever wanted...but now I just don't know," she said, finally looking at Jane.

"I don't want you to leave...but I just need time to think about it. I want you to understand that sleeping with another person just doesn't mean that nothing bad will happen. I don't want you to think that I don't love you...because I do. I just don't know how I feel about what you did. If I sound harsh...it's only because I wanted you safe...and asked you to never do what you did again...and you did..."

Jane looked down and removed Maura's hand from her chest.

"I'm really sorry." She whispered and you could tell in her dark eyes, that she really was.

The brunette leaned down and kissed Maura's cheek, not wanting to cross any boundaries. Jane reached into her pocket of her coat and got out a little ring box. In silence she handed it to Maura.

"I know its not your birthday yet but...just take it. Or sell it again...whatever you like. I don't want it to be a constant reminder of my...unfaithfulness." She whispered.

Maura let the ring box sit on her stomach and she did not reach for it.

"It's not the gift that does that...it's the act...the mere fact that your body was within someone else's arms..." she said and her words started to become broken. She sucked in a deep breath and looked into Jane's pained eyes.

"But I guess I deserve it," she finally said, "for what I did to you all those years ago."

"Please." Jane said and shook her head. "...don't. It's the past. I've forgiven you." The Italian girl said and sighed.

"And you didn't deserve it. I really can't say anything but that I am sorry. And I really am." She whispered.

"I know words don't heal wounds...I know you need time, and I respect that." Jane said and stroke some dark hair behind her ear.

"I'll...leave you alone. Your father and brother are probably on their way here already."

"You don't have to leave..." came her soft words as she turned her head back to look at Jane. Maura's cheeks were wet with her tears.

"I wouldn't ask that of you...ever," she added and winced a little. Her stomach hurt as well as her throat from being pumped, but other than that...she was fine.

"If you are leaving because you think you might get hurt...I won't let them..."

"Your father will kill me, we both know that." Jane said. "Because it's my fault what happened to you..." She said and looked down.

"Your father hates me... you told me he wanted to kill me ten years ago but you asked him to spare my life, that's why he never came after me but...now I was the one who hurt his daughter... he won't just take that, you know that as much as I do." Jane said.

"If I tell him no...he will listen. I am his daughter...his only daughter...and that means a lot in his eyes...our family's eyes," she said and swallowed. Her heart beat a little faster in her chest because behind Jane stood her brother and her father. Her lips parted and she turned a few shades paler.

"What the hell are you doing here..." came a massively deep voice, brittle with anger.

Jane turned around quick as a flash and looked at Stephen and Doyle at the door. The brunette had noticed that Maura had became pale in an instant and before she had even heard the voice of Maura's father she had known he was there.

Jane's first thought was: Lilly! Afraid that they did something to her little girl and her second thought was: My father's murderer. The fear in her eyes was replaced by anger as she stared at the man after ten years again.

"A killer like you still on the loose? I am surprised." Came Jane cold words.

"Please don't," came Maura's weak words behind her. Doyle looked from Jane to his daughter and back again. Stephen stepped up and just glared at Jane. This was who his sister had given her heart to...and this was where he ended up. He was more than angry.

"If, I were you...I would leave now before something worse happens...and not to my daughter," Doyle said and Stephen narrowed his eyes at Jane.

Jane kept glaring at him, her dark eyes boring into his.

"I am not afraid of you anymore." The Italian girl told him. All the fear she knew she should feel right in this moment, just wasn't present. It was just anger she felt, immense anger. "And I don't take advices from murderers."

"Get out of here Jane," Stephen said. Maura cried in silence behind Jane. She couldn't stop them...and she had tried. She knew that this was the moment that she could lose Jane forever.

"Just leave and don't ever come back," he added. Doyle took a step closer to Jane and his son stopped him.

"No...she is not worth it. Her blood is poison and will not make you feel better if she is dead," he said to his father. Doyle glared at Jane. "Leave..." he said stiffly.

Jane broke off the eye contact with Doyle and glanced over to a crying Maura. She closed her eyes for a brief moment. Her instinct told her to grab Lilly and run but she couldn't. Something kept her from doing just that. It was Maura.

The Italian girl took the ring box from Maura's stomach and opened it.

"Marry me, Maura." Jane said, her heart now racing in her chest, feeling Stephen's and Doyle's eyes burning into her skin.

Maura's heart stopped as Jane asked her something that she never expected in her life to hear. Doyle froze as did Stephen. His eyes hardened at Jane.

"Don't you dare," he said, "she is my daughter, I will not allow this," he said harshly.

Maura did not even look at her father. She was crying harder now and her chest hurt incredibly bad. She covered her mouth as she gasped from the emotions that were moving through her body and in her mind...and then the only thing she could think of...was a yes.

"A thousand times yes...more than anything in my being...you belong with me," she whispered.

Jane smiled and leaned down to kiss Maura's lips softly. She took the ring out of the box and put it gently on her finger.

"Maura, I cannot allow that." Her brother now said.

"Look where you are! And why? Because of her? If you stay with her, you will end up here often." He continued. Jane tried to ignore him which was rather hard.

"Angel, you know yourself you are making a mistake. A big one." Doyle said. "I am not approving." He said to his daughter, for the first time in her life her father wasn't approving what she did. He had let her dumped Jeri, he had let her 'tried to be with Jane', but marrying her, was something he simply did not approve.

"We don't need your approval." Jane then said bitter. "Because we don't care. Maura doesn't need your money. We'll be good on our own."

"Please don't hate me," Maura said to her father and brother. She cried. As happy as she was, her heart was still breaking because she knew how much she was hurting her family.

"I need to be with her...I can't help it. I don't care if I am here a thousand times in a month...I need to be with her," she said to Doyle and Stephen. Her hand was tightly gripping Jane's who still held it and she was trembling.

"But she is poison for you Maura!" Stephen said. Doyle looked with hard eyes at his daughter.

"If you marry her, you are on your own Maura...you won't have the life of luxury anymore you love so much. You will have to choose, between your family or her." Doyle said bitter, looking into his daughters eyes. He knew he was being unfair making her choose but he couldn't allow Maura to marry Jane.

"Please daddy don't," she whimpered out and looked from him to Stephen, while still holding Jane's hand in a desperate attempt to stay strong. She was losing the battle quickly.

"Please don't leave me...I need you just as much. You're my family...daddy...daddy please," she said in even softer words before she shut her eyes tight and coughed several times from talking too much.

"If you marry her, don't dare showing up at my door anymore." Doyle said and turned. "Let's go." He said to his son. Stephen nodded and glanced at his sister again, before he left the room with his father.

Jane let out a relieved sigh as they were gone and then turned to look at Maura. She let a hand ran through her blonde hair.

"Maura I'm sorry." Jane whispered, talking about this situation now.

Maura watched her family go and she lost her breath. Jane touched her and her skin was damp. Her face was still pale. Her chest ached and trembled as she tried to regain her normal breath. Then she just cried. She did not want to lose her family...but losing Jane was worse.

"What am I going to do...I don't have anything..." she trembled out and Jane knew that she meant money.

Jane bit her bottom lip and stroke over Maura's hair. She knew exactly the answer to her problem but Jane thought of ways to break it to her carefully. Jane stroke over her cheek and then kissed her lips softly again, before she looked into her eyes.

"Honey, you have to look for a job..." Jane said carefully and flashed a small smile at the blonde.

"What? I don't know how to work," she trembled out and her brow creased in fear and frustration.

She felt Jane softly kiss her cheek and her lips and she just stared at the door where her family had left her. She coughed a few times and then shut her eyes. This was too much...this was far too much for her to handle.

Jane shrugged her shoulders. "Well, you will get used to it eventually. We are currently looking for another waitress at the restaurant...if you like I can get you the job." The brunette offered her.

Jane could never offer Maura to stay at home while Jane was working. The money wouldn't be enough...unless... "...but if you let me do the escort job for a few nights, you might be able to stay at home." The brunette offered.

It wasn't something she really wanted, since she wouldn't be able to spend a lot of time with Maura and Lilly. She'd basically rush from one work to the other seven days a week.

"I don't want to do this Jane...I don't know how to serve. I only know how to be served," she said and looked into the woman's eyes.

There was pain within Maura's eyes but it was more from the loss of her family. She had lost them for Jane...that was the biggest step she had ever taken in her life for something that she wanted. It was also the first time that what she wanted and also taken something dear to her heart away from her.

Jane took Maura's hands in her own and kissed her tips of her fingers.

"It's not so hard to serve people...I'm the head waitress, so I'd be your supervisor." The brunette told her.

"But if you really don't want to do it...you have to let me do the escort service job again. And not only one day but a couple of days in the week." The Italian girl said and squeezed her hands gently.

Maura shook her head as she watched Jane kiss her fingertips. "No I don't want you doing that...I can't let you be with someone else. You are mine..." she said softly and then pulled her hand away to rub her face.

She felt so broken and lost...but it wasn't in the way that one would think. With Jane...she had all she needed, but she didn't want to lose her family like she had just lost them. She was sure they would never come back for her. So, she would have to come to them.

"Then what do you wanna do, Maura?" The brunette asked her and let out an inaudible sigh.

"The money I am making at the restaurant won't be enough for the three of us." She said matter of factly.

Jane was realistic, it would never be enough to pay a rent at an apartment, feed them three and buy other stuff everyone needed. It was impossible. Jane have had always troubles on her own already, that's why she took the escort service job in the first place.

"My condo is paid for...he can't take that away from me..." she said and dropped her hand from her face to look at Jane.

"We don't have to pay rent...I can sell some of my bonds...for a while to keep us safe...but other than that...I don't have anything yet. I just don't know," she said and her chin quivered slightly.

Jane stroke over Maura's cheek lovingly and then leaned over and took her in her arms.

"I am so sorry, Maura." Jane whispered. She decided to let the subject of getting work drop for now. She'd have to talk about it with Maura eventually.

"It'll be all fine, I promise." Jane whispered softly.

"I know it will be," she said within Jane's hold.

"It will always be as long as I have you in my life. I need you and I have from the very first moment that I saw you and touched you." Maura wrapped her arms around Jane and just held her for the longest time. She would get them out of this mess...she had too.

TBC

Another Chapter down.