A/N: I still own nothing here, just the idea for the story. Let's skip all the stuff about me being a terrible human being for not updating this sooner... S/O to my friend Dylan and those of you who left reviews encouraging me to update. Sometimes I just need a little extra poke and prod to get going. This chapter was a pain to write, but I think it's decent. Anyway, leave me a review and let me know what you think of it! You people are amazing :)

As Jane reached her car, she found Frankie already waiting there for her.

"Jane, what was all of that about?" He could see the tears threatening to fall from her eyes, and that worried him. Jane wasn't much of a crier, but he knew this case had her shaken.

"I-I can't talk about it right now, ok, Frankie?" He stepped aside so Jane could get into her car, but she knew he wasn't convinced. "You trust me, right?" Jane asked him.

"Of course I do, you know that," he confirmed for her.

"Alright, well, if you haven't heard from me in 30 minutes, come to this address," she stated as she handed a slip of paper to her brother. Frankie nodded and shut Jane's car door as she started up the vehicle. Their eyes met as Jane put the car into drive, and Frankie could see the pain behind them. He felt like she was pleading with him, wanting him to give her the time she needed, but he could also see that she was scared, and that worried him. Jane was almost never scared, and she certainly wasn't one to show it. As the car rounded the corner, Frankie went back inside. "Ten minutes," he thought, "That's all the time I'll give her."

Jane's mind was going a mile a minute. She was absolutely terrified for Maura's safety, and she would never forgive herself if something horrible happened to her. She was in love with her best friend, that much was certain. Even if Maura didn't feel the same way, Jane would do her best to push away the feelings and not ruin their friendship. Maura was more important to her than anyone else had ever been. Maura was her world, and Jane didn't know what she would do if that reality was pulled out from under her. As she drove, scenes of all the time she had spent with Maura flashed through her head. So many times she could have told Maura how she felt, could have just reached out and kissed that beautiful woman. Jane hated herself for running out on Maura the other night. It wasn't that she didn't feel the same way towards Maura, because she definitely did. Maura had just caught her off guard and Jane had panicked. She had been worried about the change in their friendship, and Jane knew she could never lose Maura, even if that meant that had to stay friends forever. But when she had had the chance, Jane had run away from it, and now she was worried that she would completely lose Maura forever, without having a chance to explain her actions. Tears were streaming down Jane's face by now, and her stomach flipped as she realized she had arrived at the address.

"Alright, it's been nine minutes, that's long enough," Frankie decided. He unfolded the paper and he felt his stomach drop. Frankie ran over to where Korsak and Frost were going over some of the crime scene details for processing and handed them the note. Without a word, the three of them sprinted out to the car and took off after Jane.

Jane was terrified of what she might find inside the house. From the outside, it was a small, old house with green paint that had long since started to peel off. She made her way around the house, trying to take in as much of it as she could to get a sense for what she might be up against. What stood out the most to her was that all of the doors and windows appeared to be boarded shut. "How does he expect me to get in there? How did HE get in there?" Jane was thoroughly confused. Until, that is, she rounded the last corner of the house. There she found a cellar door that led in what she guessed would be a basement, and she was sure that was where she would find Maura and her kidnapper. Taking a deep breath and readying her gun, Jane advanced toward the cellar door. She noticed that it was partly open already, he was probably expecting her. She peered in as much as she could, but there wasn't much to see from the tiny crack that the door was open and it was almost pitch black inside. Jane lightly pushed the door open, but stayed outside still. There was no noise and no movement from inside. Jane wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not, but it did nothing to help her nerves. She gently pushed the door the rest of the way open and let her eyes adjust to the dim lighting before she ventured inside. She immediately spotted Maura on the other side of the room. Maura was tied up to a chair and facing away from her. Jane also thought it looked like Maura was gagged, too, based on what looked like a strip of cloth that was behind Maura's head and disappeared towards the front.

Jane looked around as she advanced into the room. The room was barren and she didn't see anyone else in there besides Maura and herself. There was only one other door which was right in front of Maura. Jane approached Maura, but her friend made no acknowledgement that she knew Jane was there. As Jane rounded to the front of Maura, she saw that Maura was indeed gagged and she seemed to either be asleep or unconscious.

"Hey, Maura? Hun, can you wake up for me?" Jane whispered as she reached up to lightly stroke the side of Maura's face. Her friend stirred ever so slightly at the touch. "Hey, sleepy-head, how are you doing?" Jane asked, trying to coax Maura back to her as she removed the gag.

"Mmm, hurts," Maura winced as she started to wake.

"I know, Maur, but I'll fix it, ok?" Wrestling with her feelings, Jane decided to go for it and she placed a light kiss on Maura's lips, barely even touching them, but she wanted Maura to know that she was here for her. The kiss seemed to wake Maura even more as it caused her eyelids to flutter open and she searched for Jane's eyes in the darkness.

"Oh, Jane, Jane, I was so afraid. I thought I would never see you again," she said, tears starting to form in her eyes as she realized that the Jane in front of her was actually real. "Jane—I, I just… MOVE!" Maura shouted. Jane was caught off guard and wasn't quite quick enough. As she dived off to the side of the room, she felt something heavy connect with her leg, and her gun clattered across the floor.
"Stupid!" she heard a gruff voice yell from over by Maura. Jane's stomach lurched as she heard the slap of a palm hitting Maura's face and the gasp that Maura let out. Rage burned inside Jane at the sound, but she hardly had any time to react. Her leg protested as she got back up and faced her attacker. He charged at her and Jane realized he had hit her with a wooden board. There were nails sticking out of it in random places and angles, but luckily none of the nails had found her leg the first time. Jane ducked out of the way as he swung at her again, narrowly missing. As he turned around, he swung again and found Jane's side. The force of the blow sent her sprawling across the cement floor, scraping the side of her face as she slid. Jane didn't think her ribs were broken, but they were definitely bruised. She rolled out of the way, much to her body's displeasure, as the assailant swung directly for her head. Jane realized she had rolled almost all the way over to her gun, so she continued rolling. He saw her going for it just as she reached the gun, and almost beat her to it. Jane rounded her gun on him just as the wooden board made contact with her leg again. This time she felt a nail pierce her calf. She steadied the gun as she cried out and fired several rounds into the man's chest, the force of the point-blank shots knocking him backwards.

Jane looked back over at Maura for the first time since the attack started and she was met with tear soaked eyes. She made her way back over to Maura, slowly, and started untying her best friend.

"Jane—I, I love you," Maura whispered, almost inaudibly. Jane smiled, even though she was in a fair amount of pain, and whispered back, "I love you, too, Maur."

"But why did you run away from me last night?" Maura asked, the confusion in her voice was written on her face.

"I was scared," Jane said, "scared that you didn't feel the same way after I kissed you. Scared that I had messed everything up and that we would never be friends again. I know that running away isn't very sensible, but it was the first thing that came to my mind," Jane replied, trailing off in her explanation as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Oh, Jane," Maura said, cupping Jane's face in her newly freed hands, "I've loved you for so long, did you really not know?"
"I wasn't exactly sure…" Jane replied as she looked away, silently cursing herself for not realizing it sooner.

"Well now you know, and we'll never let the other forget that we love each other again, right?"
"Never," Jane replied with a smile. Maura brought Jane's face up to her own and captured Jane's lips in a tender kiss.

"Now how about we get out of this dungeon, Maur?"

"I think I'd like that, Jane."

The two women hobbled out of the basement and back into the waning sunlight, Jane's arm around Maura's shoulder for support and Maura's arm wrapped tightly around Jane's waist, helping keep her upright.

A/N: I'm thinking there will be two more chapters to this story. The next one will probably be shorter, and the last one will hopefully be fluffy/smutty, because, why not? ;) So that will probably be the plan for this unless someone gives me a better idea. 'Kay, thanks :)