Jane sat at the edge of the bed and ran her thumb over the surface of the black ribbon that laid over her badge. A painful reminder that she'd lost her friend. A painful reminder that it could have been her ... or worse ... it could have been Korsak. Or in the worst case scenario ... it could have been Maura ... or Alexis ... or her mother ... or Frankie ... or Tommy ... or. T.J. ... or Lydia. Jane closed her eyes at the thought of all the possibilities. Hoyt was bad, he haunted her still ... after all those years. But this ... this was so much worse. Hoyt wanted to challenge her and he did. Hoyt wanted to hurt and destroy her after she saved his last victim, and he almost did. But inthe end ... in the end she'd won. She killed him, she killed her personal bogeyman, her personal demon who haunted her. She was his goal, his prey. Now she was prey again ... but her whole family was also his prey. No accurate target, everyone she loved had come into the line of fire of a cop killer. And she already lost a loved one to the hunter, her new worse bogeyman was someone who was worse than Hoyt. She was vulnerable. Hell, she even felt vulnerable, more vulnerable than ever. And now they had lost their best lead ... because Jason Tucker, their main suspect was dead ... he probably was killed. Jane winced at the feeling of a hand at her shoulder and frowned as she looked up into the kind eyes of her frowned worriedly. " Jane, are you alright? "
Jane bit her tongue and shook her head no, her badge held so tightly in her hand that her knuckles turned white and the edges cut into her palm while a lonely tear ran down her cheek.
Maura sighed at the sight in front of her and wiped away the tear. She knew how her wife felt, she didn't feel differently and had the fear that Jane would sacrifice herself again like she had once done. Because this involved her wife's loved ones, because she knew her wife was selfless ... reckless sometimes. But the last time she witnessed how selfless Jane was, was when she had to watch as her best friend had shot herself at the siege at the BPD to save Frankie's life... and her life. Pictures suddenly invaded her thoughts. Pictures of Jane putting her life in danger to save another life. She hadn't realized that she was crying until she felt a tug on her hand and she had to open her eyes to see Jane through blurred vision.
"Maura? ", Jane said worried and had a deep frown on her forehead.
Maura wiped the tears away and took a deep breath. "Don't be reckless, Jane ... Please."
Jane stood up fast and the frown deepened. "I won't be. I promise."
Maura sucked in her lower lip and sobbed loudly.
Jane wrapped her arms around her wife tightly and kissed Maura's forehead . "I promise you, Maura. I will be careful."
Maura hung onto her wife for dear life and sobbed into Jane's chest.
Jane rubbed soothing circles on her wife's back and closed her eyes. This was her personal worse case scenario, a scared companion who loved her till the end." Sssssssssh, Maura. I'm here. we're here.

"

The mood got lighter as they heard a familiar giggle from a certain toddler and a loud bark from a certain dog. Jane smiled so broadly that her dimples were shown and she grabbed her wife's hand before she led the way to the nursery.
The couple smiled and Jane put an arm around Maura's shoulders at the sight.
Jo Friday barked and jumped while she chased her own tail and barked at her own shadow ... a little confused because her ' friend ' didn't help her.
Alexis laid on her stomach in her crib while she watched Jo Friday and giggled.
Jane raised her eyebrows. "Jo! "
The dog whimpered as she looked guiltely at her owner and Alexis' giggles died.
Jane sighed and balled her hand into a fist. Then she threw the invisible ball far away. " Where's the ball? "
Jo Friday jumped at the shadow across the room, barked and sniffled for the invisible ball that Jane had thrown and Alexis giggled again.
Maura beamed and looked at her wife before she kissed Jane gently but with determination until they heard a sound that reminded them of a very familiar Rizzoli ' ugh'.
Jane broke the kiss and stifled a laugh.
Maura turned to her daughter who had a deep frown on her forehead with which she eyed her parents. Maura than started to laugh in amusement. "She's too much of a Rizzoli. "
Jane frowned deeply. "Yep. "
Maura rolled her eyes. "For Pete's sake ..."
Jane grinned proudly. "Too late to get out of this."
Maura rolled her eyes again and grinned too. "Oh ... I'm so in ... "

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Korsak stared long at Jane and frowned.
Jane slowly looked up and frowned too. "What? "
Korsak took a deep breath and considered whether to answer the question or not. "You look tired."
Jane closed the file and rubbed her forehead. "I am. But that won't change anything. "
"You get enough sleep?"
"It depends on what you call enough."
"You wanna talk about it?"
Jane stood up and walked to the board before she drew her eyebrows together. "If Jason wasn't our guy ... who is it that killed all those people?"
Korsak slowly nodded as Jane hadn't answered his question, "Well, maybe it was someone he hired"
Jane slowly turned to him and raised skeptically an eyebrow. "Really? Wow! "
Korsak shrugged and looked questioningly at her. "What?"
" that's the best you could come up with, someone he hired, Detective Know It All? "
Korsak looked over his glassed and frowned. "Jane, we're running out of ideas ... and suspects. Everytime we make a step forward this sicko throws us three steps back because he kills those she loves, those she cares about. Tries to scare her. Jane stared at him intensly while she run through her thoughts. "Maybe because he's afraid that his partners in crime could identify him. There must be something special about him. "
Now Korsak was completely lost. "Yes, there must be. And, if we don't have a big break, he'll get away with those murders."
Jane slowly shook her head while she drew her eyebrows together. "No, I mean there must be something odd about his outward appearance. Something that would make it easy to find him. "
Korsak looked at her and raised his eyebrows. "Because first the partner in crime was contacted via email and then the second got killed. Do you think that Jason knew the killer? "
Jane shrugged and walked to the coffee maker. "That would explain why Jason got killed. The danger that he would be in was too big."

Korsak nodded slowly and frowned. "And you're not exactly known to handle suspects with kid glove. "

Jane rolled her eyes but smiled.
Maura came into the bullpen and had a deep frown on her face. "The results from the residue in the tub are back. It is a high concentration of battery acid. "
"Any signs of a fight? ", Jane wanted to know and raised an hand because of the look of Maura's face. "It could have happened. There would be some signs on the body... if the rest of him still was there. But there wasn't though."

Maura sighed in agreement and looked at Korsak. "How are you?"
Korsak raised confused his eyebrows. "Still okay, Doc. But thank you. "
Maura looked as confused as Korsak. "What do you mean?"
"Well, you've already asked me the same question when we met this morning at the Café."
The realization hit Maura hard and she smiled apologetically. " Oh, I am sorry, Sergeant. I must have been engrossed in those tests and I had. But since the intruder was in my lab and mixed up the sanples I make sure that they are done by myself or my employees I trust most. "
Korsak smiled and waved that statement off. "I will survive it, Doc. No worries. "
Jane chuckled and looked at her wife. "Susie must love you even more because of all those extra hours. I mean ... it is not like one of your employees would have a private life after work. "
Maura rolled her eyes and bit her bottom lip.
Jane smiled broadly and looked back at the board. She sobered and sighed. "Maybe Jason got killed because he saw the killer's face. Maybe Frost got killed for the same reason."
Korsak drew his eyebrows together. "Do you think that Frost actually knew the killer as well?"
Jane shrugged and looked at the stack of untouched files on Frost's desk and she sighed. "Maybe this series of murders actually has something to do with one of Frost's cases. We should check them.". She frowned as Frankie walked by. "Frankie, you are busy? "
Frankie looked at her and shook his head. "No. You need help? "
"Yeah."
"What shall I do?"
As if on cue Jane grabbed the stack of files and dropped them into her brother's arms. "Go through these and tell Korsak or me if you find anything odd."
Frankie stared at her in disbelief. "And what are you going to do? "
Jane grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair and put it on. "I am going to have lunch with my wife."
Maura chuckled while Korsak started to laugh in amusement.
Frankie rolled his eyes and sat down at the table with Frost's case files.