sorry about the long delay but life happens, as i said we're closing in on the last few chapters. So here we go. Also in addition to giving Props to my Beta and editor Zarosguth, i'd like to shout out to CuriousWanderer who over many late night conversations has bailed me out of a slump. so im introducing him as my Creative Consultant. As always what ever remaining mistakes are mine and mine alone. Enjoy

Upon seeing her sit in her usual spot on the couch, Bass pushed off the carpet near the radiator and lumbered his way towards her. She groaned softly in pain and he doubled his effort, settling on the floor in front of her. She smiled down at him and patted his shell affectionately before she set her feet on top of him. Now comforted from the barely perceptible swaying that he felt like waves, Bass closed his eyes to nod off. The tortoise had no way of knowing that the swaying he felt was caused by wind impacting the skyscraper he lived in, he just knew that he didn't feel so uneasy with her feet pressing him into the floor. Except when she and the other one were mating. Then he didn't want to be nearby because their rocking was worse.

As the massive reptile settled into footrest duty, Kate groaned as she settled next to her partner, holding an icepack to her jaw.

"Okay, that was really scary."

Jane opened her eyes and looked over, "What?"

Sighing Kate lowered the ice pack, "Is it bad that I'd rather face off with Colehauser's evil twin then see Maura like that again?"

Jane nodded soberly as she set her icepack against her neck, "Welcome to fight night at the Rizzoli's."

Kate looked at her partner pointedly, "Seriously, what was that about?"

"That was Maura terrified of losing one of us." Jane said softly and leaned her head back.

"I understand losing you, but what do I have to do with it?"

Jane lifted her head to look at her best friend, "You don't know?"

"Tell me." The younger woman replied.

Jane sighed. "Your friendship means a lot so losing you would be really hard on her but she knows I would be devastated. Maura is my better half but she knows that losing you would be like losing a part of myself and Maura isn't sure I'd ever recover."

Jane leaned back again as gentle hands guided her head to the ice. She sighed as Maura placed a smaller ice pack to her eye.

"She is incorrect," Maura said to Kate, "I know Jane wouldn't recover. She loves you too much, needs you too much."

"Baby, you're all I need." Jane defended.

"Stop talking, Jane." Maura chided and turned back to Kate, "I know she lies. She can't help it sometimes, particularly when she thinks she's protecting me." Maura covered Jane's mouth gently as her lover started to protest.

"I have no doubt of how much Jane loves me or the kind of love we share. You however, Jane loves you as much as she loves me, just in a very specific way."

Kate looked at her partner then to her friend. "How is that?"

"You might as well have been born together. You're so much alike and yet so different."

Maura looked down at her love. "At first it scared me. She came back from Illinois and couldn't stop talking about her friends there, you most of all." Kate could see the worry in her eyes as Maura's gaze met hers, "She was so vibrant and full of this harsh energy, it could fill the room and for reasons I didn't understand, she took an interest in me. I valued every moment spent in her company."

Maura let go of Jane, "You asked me what it was I saw in Byron."

Kate frowned, "Byron?"

"Ucky Sluckey." Jane supplied.

"Oh him." Kate groaned.

"Yes, him." Maura moved to sit between them. "I was mortified when Jane was bleeding out on the sidewalk, not just because she was dying but also because faced with her death I knew that I was in love with her. Byron saved her life. He gave me back my best friend, the woman I love more than life itself and I was overly grateful."

Maura took Kate's hand into hers, "You came for her. Risked everything for her. Even though I thought Jane was straight, I was threatened by you because even then I knew how much she loved you. I felt like I couldn't compete with that and I tried to move on, sadly with Byron."

She felt a hand on her thigh and turned as Jane cupped her face, "It's you, baby. It's only ever been you."

Kate's hand was on Maura's shoulder, "I know my partner better than most. You're the only one she's ever loved like this."

Maura nodded her understanding, "I'd gotten the call from Gates that you were both in the hospital. I was so terrified. I shouldn't have let my fear control me."

Kate smiled a crooked smile. "Welcome to having a family, Maura." She hugged the ME gently. Jane's smile grew as her best friend embraced her lover. How did she ever get so lucky?

Two days and a follow up at Mt Sinai put Kate and Jane back on duty. Both knew that there would undoubtedly be an inquiry into the death of Colehauser. Expecting to be summoned by a shooting board, or at least a couple of DEA agents, they hadn't expected what they got.

A very tall, lean looking suit with deep blue eyes and greyish hair was standing in Captain Gates' office. His hard face held a dark determination that set Rizzoli's alarm bells off.

Upon seeing them, Gates waved them in. A solid frown tipped Beckett off that something was wrong.

"Where are the boys?" Kate glanced around.

Jane shook her head. "Don't know, they should have beaten us here."

Calmly they headed into the Captain's office.

"Lieutenant," the dark skinned woman indicated the two detectives. "Sergeant Beckett and Detective Two Rizzoli."

Jane shifted slightly as her threat detection went off.

He turned that stone face on them. "Lieutenant Tucker." Jane's body tensed at the name. "I just need to ask you each a few questions about the DEA operation you participated in last week."

Taking note of Jane's tenseness, Kate glanced at her Captain. "Sir, Rizzoli and I gave detailed statements to the Captain and the DEA at the hospital. In addition we've also filed written after action reports the same day. I'm not sure what we could possibly add."

"It's just procedure." He said. "I'll be conducting a private interview with each of you."

"With all due respect, sir." Jane met his eyes solidly, unflinchingly. "There is no way I will be in any room with IAB without a lawyer, my Union Rep, and both of my supervisors present."

"Jane." Kate said out of the corner of her mouth.

"No way, partner." She said openly.

Tucker turned to the captain, "Is this what you meant by full cooperation?"

"What is your problem now, Rizzoli?" Gates snarled.

Jane continued to stare at the Lieutenant, "Having a Desert Eagle shoved in your face by IAB while framing you for murder tends to make a good cop cautious. I won't let something like that happen again."

Kate pinched her eyes shut. This wasn't going to go well. Gates was IAB before taking over Homicide.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tucker growled.

Jane kept her gaze steady on him.

"You better explain that crack, Rizzoli." Gates snapped. "And I mean now!"

"After shooting and arresting Paddy Doyle. Captain Connors, the head of BPD's Internal Affairs Division, tried to frame me for the murder of an off duty cop who was selling evidence guns that were supposed to be melted down. During the course of the investigation, I removed all of the firing pins from the guns. Connors tried to kill me with one of those guns and imagine his surprise when he pulled that trigger and nothing happened." She turned her head to her commander. "If a bad seed like that could be in charge of IAD in Boston. Then corrupt cops can get into IAB here, Sir."

"I've known Tucker for years, Detective." Gates said calmly, understanding Jane's hostility. "He's one of the good guys."

Kate put a hand on her partner's shoulder.

"Sir, with all due respect," Jane continued. "I've known Olivia Benson far longer than I've worked here."

Tuckers eyes widened then narrowed.

Jane continued unfazed. "And everything I know about Tucker from her and Stabler, no way will I give this man the time of day without legal counsel."

Kate blinked. "That Tucker?"

Jane nodded.

Kate turned to her CO. "I concur with my partner, Sir. I exercise my right to legal counsel prior to any interviews."

"Benson and Stabler were dirty cops." He supplied to Gates. "I wasn't able to prove it before they retired."

Kate shook her head. "I've known Detective Stabler and Lieutenant Benson for almost a decade. They were damn fine cops and exceptional investigators. I'd call myself dirty before I'd call them that."

Tucker stood up straighter. "Have it your way. Call your reps. Interviews in fifteen minutes."

"You know what I find interesting in your file, Detective?"

Jane snorted, "I like to think it's all interesting; I've had a hell of a career."

Tucker leveled a glare at her, "You've been with the NYPD for a year and somehow you have four bodies that you made dead."

Jane looked to her CO. "Any time I've taken a life, in the whole of my career was to save a life, and every one of them was examined and cleared by shooting boards, that includes NYPD."

"I see that." He flipped a few pages. "So tell me the sequence of events that lead to the death of Brandon Colehauser."

Jane sighed and glanced at the attorney that Rick had provided.

"Agent Beltran came to us with information about Colehauser's brother. She asked us to come along on the raid to help keep NYPD in the investigation of the Triple Threat murders. We informed Captain Gates and pulled our team together. That was Detectives Ryan, Esposito, myself and Beckett, with Agent Beltran on Lead. We were in position when Brandon exited the apartment. A fight ensued, Beltran was knocked down, Ryan and Esposito were knocked down, then Beckett. I used non-lethal fighting techniques in an attempt to subdue the suspect. While I was fighting, Beltran regrouped and pulled her weapon. She felt that we were in immediate life threatening danger and shot the suspect in the head. Backup and EMTs arrived a moment later."

"How were the other detectives taken down?"

"I couldn't say for sure. I was fighting for my life and the lives of my team."

Tucker closed the file, "Given your suspect's service and abilities, exactly how is it that you were able to stand against this man alone?" He eyed her up. "You're what, five nine? A hundred pounds?"

"I studied some martial arts."

"What kind of martial arts, Detective?".

"Arnis, Keysi fighting method, some Krav Maga."

He frowned. "That's not in your file."

"I doubt that there's much of my personal life in there." She bore a hole in his eyes. "I did inform my Captain months ago."

"Was that during this so called home invasion of Maura Isles' condo that resulted in an as of yet, unidentified body?"

Jane narrowed her eyes. "Yes Sir, Captain Gates lead that investigation herself. During that time, my fiancé and I cooperated fully."

"Yes, I do see that." He said. "Gates was most thorough in her report." He flipped the page, "Let's talk about Maddox. You threw him off a building."

"No," Jane growled. "Maddox threw my partner off a building. I did what I had to do to keep my partner, my Sergeant alive."

He looked down at the file, "Sergeant Beckett, during the course of an investigation, discovered the identity of the man who shot her in the chest. Instead of informing Gates. You, she, and Detective Esposito pursued him to a rooftop. Tell me what happened."

"It's in the report." Jane replied. "Maddox was a skilled hitman, an expert sharpshooter, highly trained in hand to hand combat. We attempted to arrest him and he fought back. My partner was slung from the roof and caught the ledge of the building. I heard her calling for help and ended the fight as quickly as I could."

"By throwing him off the building like he did your partner?"

Jane stood up. "I didn't throw a two hundred forty pound man off a roof. I spin kicked him with the intention of breaking his ribs. He turned and instead of landing a debilitating foot to his ribcage he was launched forward, over the ledge and down to the street below. I'd have rather taken him in but my partner lost her grip, had I been even a half of a second later, my partner would have been right next to Maddox on that street."

He made a note. "Nathaniel Murphey."

"Had a gun to Beckett's head, hammer back. Same deal, him or her."

Gates interrupted Tucker, "and the Commissioner himself decorated her for charging Murphey's gunfire."

Tucker made another note. "How about the still unidentified man whom you killed in the condo of Maura Isles."

"Hold on here!" Gates barked, "What does this have to do with Agent Beltran's shooting?"

"It establishes a pattern. People tend to get killed around Detective Rizzoli."

Gates put her hands on the table and leaned towards him, "In case you forgot," she said harshly, "I came up through internal affairs so I know exactly where your line of questioning is going and I don't appreciate it. This interview is over and no others will be permitted until after I talk to IAB Chief Westergard and the Chief of Detectives. Now leave my precinct before I have you thrown out."

Tucker stood up, "We're not done here, Detective."

Jane smirked at him. "I'll be in Boston if you need me."

Tucker turned and walked out. The lawyer conferred with Jane briefly before he too left.

"What the hell was that about?" Gates said.

"He's got an axe to grind with one of my best friends, my guess is that he wants to take it out on me."

Gates looked up at the ceiling. "Sweet Mary help me." She looked back to the bane of her department. "Pack your things. I'm moving up your transfer."

"C'mon, Sir!" Jane shouted. "Let me finish out the week."

Gates pointed to the door, "If he comes back tomorrow, I don't want you here!"

Jane groaned and stood up. "Yes Sir!"

Gates caught her by the arm, "Regardless of how big a pain in my ass you are, you're one of my best Rizzoli. I'm keeping Tucker from shutting down your transfer to get you home. But don't think for a moment that I like you."

The corner of Jane's mouth rose slightly, "I wouldn't dream of it, sir."

Gates' hard lined mouth creased, "Good."

Jane walked out of the interview room with a grin as she grabbed an empty evidence box and started to empty out her desk drawer.

Kate and Rick immediately came to her, "What's going on?"

"Gates moved up my transfer to keep Tucker the Fucker from hanging me up here." Jane looked back as her Captain walked into her office, "Maybe she does like me."

"Hell no." Espo said from his desk, "She just doesn't want to keep you here a moment longer than she has to."

Ryan laughed, "So Rizzoli, is there a going away party?"

Jane looked up at her partner. "Ask my Sergeant."

Kate smirked, "Friday night at O'Briens."

Jane rolled her eyes. "You know I can't drink, eat bad food, or do much of anything for the next six months right?"

Kate snorted. "I thought Maura was the one getting pregnant."

Jane blew out a huff and collapsed in her chair. "Yeah but I'm the one who's giving up the eggs so I have to go healthy until harvest time."

Espo and Ryan looked up at her.

"Shut up." She jammed a finger at them. "Don't even say it!"

Espo chuckled.