A/N: Just over half way through now. How are you enjoying it so far? Hands up who still hasn't seen the movie? Shame on you.

CHAPTER EIGHT

"I took that position in San Diego because Ian promised he wouldn't be travelling as much with his relief work. His new position at the Trust was intended to be supervisory, though we both expected he'd still make a few trips per year. I was… prepared for that." She breathed deeply again, "What I wasn't prepared for… was moving all that way to be with him to then have him disappear."

Thinking she'd have to contact someone in missing persons before the night was over, Jane's mind was a whirl, "What do you mean disappear?"

"It started with one trip, then another, and another. They went from a few days to weeks to months. I would contact him and he'd make excuses for why the trip was longer than scheduled and then, eventually, even that stopped. I wouldn't hear from him at all when he was gone. There was one trip where I discovered he'd actually been back to San Diego and left again without telling me."

Offended, Jane snarled, "The nerve!"

"I got so lonely, Jane." There was that overbearing, debilitating sadness again. "And I couldn't – I couldn't live that solitary life again. It was agonizing and he didn't seem to care." She sniffed and Jane squeezed her hand again, encouraging her to go on. "I had an affair."

Jane's eyebrows shot up and she blinked repeatedly. It was the last thing she expected her friend to say.

"I didn't set out to find someone else but it - it happened and I was helpless to stop it. I fell so completely, so quickly in love with that person that it was almost as if it was happening to someone else."

The pain was so clear to see that the brunette felt it inside her own chest. She rubbed Maura's knuckles with her thumbs over and over again.

"Ian found out… somehow. I'm still not sure how considering he was almost always out of the country. But the next time I saw him he – he put me in the hospital."

Jane was practically trembling. She was gonna track down this motherfucker and tear off his balls.

"He filed for divorce. It was a mess. He wanted every penny I'd ever earned and to destroy my reputation in the process."

Jane's detective mind wanted to connect all the dots, "So, what happened?"

"I knew too much," she smiled. "So, I threatened him right back. He'd been stealing drugs and supplies from the Trust's medical center and I said I'd report him. I knew he was taking things on a regular basis, though I only found out the true extent of it much later." She chuckled morosely, "He wasn't keen on the idea of wearing an orange jumpsuit. In the end he signed the papers without a fuss and disappeared completely."

To say Jane was gobsmacked was an understatement. She'd only met the guy a handful of times, and didn't instantly warm to him if she was honest, but she'd never have taken him for a drug smuggler. She wasn't sure how to phrase the next question on her mind. "And the… the other person you… what happened to them?"

There was a very long pause while Maura worked up the courage. "She ran away."

"She?!" Jane's eyes were as big as saucers, until the full weight of what Maura was admitting fell on her and she softened, realization setting in. "Oh."

Maura picked invisible lint from her trouser leg, it was somewhere to anchor her gaze because she sure as hell couldn't look Jane in the face right now. "She blamed herself for all the cuts and bruises. Couldn't bear look at me after that. It was all such a mess and it was just… too much for her in the end. She moved away to start over."

Clutching a hand to her own chest, tears welling in her eyes, Jane's one pervading thought was Oh god… everyone left her. Her naturally raspy voice was low and brittle when she finally echoed Maura's words back at her friend, "I'm so sorry, Maura."

The blonde hiccuped a sob as she finally looked up at her friend and begged, "Just… please – please don't think badly of me… I couldn't bear it -"

"No, no," Jane rushed in, scooting over as much as she could given their close proximity already, throwing her arms around the shorter woman's shoulders and rocking her as she sobbed through her shirt. "God, no, sweetheart." She stroked the back of Maura's head and closed her eyes, "I'm so sorry we lost touch. I should never have- " married Casey, she finished mentally. "I should have done more..." to keep you, to protect you, to save you.

Maura sat back, the worst of her tears over, and she wiped at her face under her eyes.

Giving her friend a moment to breathe and compose herself, Jane waited several long beats, before her gravelly voice offered, "I can get someone to track him down and I can -"

"No!" Maura barked a laugh, her eyes still shining with wetness, "No, that's really not necessary." She patted Jane's thigh several times, smiling and tilting her head. "Thank you, though."

"If you're sure? I'd love to get my -"

Another pat, "I've got my fresh start. That's enough for me."

Taking Maura's hand in hers once more, the brunette spoke softly, "I'm glad you told me, Maura."

The doctor still looked unsure, scared of repercussions yet to come, "I guess I was worried what you might think of me, that you might hate me for who I am now."

They both laughed when Jane remarked, "I could be wrong, but I don't think I've turned into my mother just yet." The detective's forehead creased and she turned serious again, "You really thought I might hate you? Really?!"

Maura looked sheepish once more, "I'm sorry."

"So, was this like…" Jane was trying so hard to be delicate she was stuttering. "Would you have a relationship with a woman again, or… was it a one-time thing?"

Maura smiled sweetly; Jane was cute when she was flustered. "I would. I mean, I think that's who I am, y'know?"

It wasn't really a question but Jane nodded her understanding anyway. "And your mom, she's cool with… everything?"

"She's been wonderful," Maura said in a long breath. "She's done so much for me. It's…" She shook her head, searching for a way to explain, "… overwhelming."

"She's really great," Jane conceded with another nod. Constance had been a revelation tonight and the brunette was extremely glad that Maura had that relationship to rely on. It was the least she deserved.

Maura watched Jane fidget for a long moment, her expression indicating she was working up to saying something awkward, or that she felt a little uncomfortable. "What is it?"

Jane waved her off, chickening out, "Nothing."

"You can say it, whatever it is."

Jane smiled, embarrassment coloring her entire face, a bright pink blush disappearing down past the open collar of her shirt, "Sooo," she drawled childishly. "What was it like… with… her?"

"Her name was Ruth."

"Ruth," Jane repeated under her breath. Maura and Ruth, Ruth and Maura; it didn't roll easily off the tongue, not like… "So, how… how did you… um, what was…" God this was excruciating. "Please don't make me say it," she whined.

"Sex?" Maura laughed. She wanted to answer the question but it was bound to make the brunette screw up her face regardless of how she put it. In the end she sighed, turning serious, and offered, "Sex was never an issue for me. I enjoyed having sex and, even with Ian, it ranged from… mostly uninspiring to occasionally adventurous. But most of it… was just fucking."

Jane couldn't hold in the ugly snort that leapt out of her. "Maura!"

"You asked," she chuckled.

"I know but I don't think I've ever heard you say that word before."

"I - I didn't know that it was appropriate before." At Jane's very confused look, she added, "I realized that… before Ruth… that's all I'd been doing. I'd never really… made love… until I'd been with another woman."

Maura's soft, sensual, almost wistful tone made Jane blink and swallow a gulp. Somewhat speechless and more aware than ever of her friend's proximity, she cursed her overriding curiosity. She should never have asked that question.

oOo

Jane hadn't slept very well – not a wink if she was being honest – and so she was at her desk more than an hour early on Friday. There was a little paperwork still to complete and she finished it in record time, given the peace and quiet in the office that allowed her to work without distraction.

When Lieutenant Cavanaugh showed up, the brunette had rushed into his office and let loose a barrage of questions. It didn't matter that Detective Sergeant Vince Korsak had already explained it to her, she still wanted reassurance from higher up that the issues of neglect and abuse were being suitably dealt with at Beechgrove Retirement Home. She wanted confirmation, no… promises, that everyone responsible would be punished to the full extent of the law and that the likes of Edward Bannister wouldn't have any reason to be afraid any more.

Cavanaugh had finally relented and said he'd see what he could do. Satisfied with the situation, she'd swaggered leisurely down to the café for the largest cup of coffee she could wrap her hands around.

She'd barely turned and begun to pour copious amount of sugar and creamer into her drink when Angela had come up behind her to continue the begging and pleading that had started the second she'd entered. Come back to the home, Janie. They need all the help they can get, Janie. Don't you have a conscience, Janie? Why don't you want to spend time with me, Janie?

Trying to emotionally blackmail her daughter with comparisons to the Talucci women had been the last straw and Jane had turned around in a flash, thunder clouding her face. She didn't mean to lie, but it was the one thing she could count on getting her mother to stop instantly. The argument itself was valid, they'd bickered about it often enough. "I work too much as it is, Ma. Do you think Casey wants me to spend what little time I have with him looking after old folks instead?"

"Well," Angela tipped her head, instantly deflated, "I suppose you have a point. But it's a shame, y'know."

Making her way out to the elevator she'd replied flatly, "I know, Ma. Terrible shame. See you later."

She'd spent the next ten minutes after that, squinty-eyed and using her inferior right hand as an added challenge, trying to knock over Frost's action figure by flicking rubber bands across the bullpen.

Jane's ass was the only part of her visible when Korsak moved quietly into the office. He laid his satchel quietly on his desk and cleared his throat.

A flurry of dark waves smothered Jane's face as she sprung up in a flash, a fist full of rubber bands clearly visible before she had the wherewithal to hide them behind her back.

Their eyes held for three seconds, then Korsak gruffed, "You alright?"

"Yeah," she snipped. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Korsak looked at her pointedly, amused, "You better not let him catch you doing that."

She raised a sharp eyebrow as her lips turned down in denial, "I don't know what you're talking about, old man."

Jane sat down and Korsak watched her fidget, rearrange everything on her desk, shift in her chair, and tap her pen repeatedly for a full ten minutes before he disappeared into Cavanaugh's office.

The detective reappeared shortly afterward, the Lieutenant hovering in his office doorway. "Rizzoli! It's the weekend…" He lifted his wrist to examine his watch, "… starting now!"

"What?!"

He jutted his chin in the direction of the corridor, "Go home."

She watched the Lieutenant's office door slam and turned to her old partner in shock. "What just happened, Vince?"

He shrugged, large shoulders hefting the entirety of his oversized blazer, "Take a break, Jane. You seem a bit distracted today. I'll call you if a case comes in."

She opened her mouth to speak before thinking better of it. "You're sure?"

He scoffed, "You've got more vacation days banked than the rest of us put together. If I were you, I'd get out of here while I had the chance."

This time she didn't argue. She shucked on her suit jacket, grabbed her weapon out of the desk drawer, flipped her long hair over one shoulder and stalked out of the room."