A/N: Okay. Now this happened.

Chapter 2: The Hospital

Jane peered into the rear mirror. The woman on her backseat was on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Shit!" she cursed and abruptly turned the car into the next empty driveway. Blue and red lights were still illuminating the space around them. She couldn't even count the police cars escorting them.

Right on cue, her partner's voice crackled over the radio. "Everything alright, Jane?"

She pushed the reply button hectically as she noticed the other woman jump at the sound, and hissed into the mic: "Just give us some minutes!"

She then turned fully and held both of her hands in the air, trying to display that she was no threat. William had buried his face into the seat next to the unknown woman's shoulder, who was sitting sideways, probably due to her wounded back. His headphones still in place, the boy had grasped the lady's upper arms, his tiny knuckles visibly white, even in the dim light.

"Hey!" Jane said more forcefully, trying to snap the other woman out of the state she was becoming more and more entangled in by the second. "You need to get it together for him!"

To her surprise it was anger that flashed over the woman's eyes. She was glad it did. It was an emotion she could perfectly relate to.

"You're safe", she reminded the woman. "You can say whatever is on your mind."

"It's all I did!" She gulped in air that didn't seem to reach her lungs. Jane got it.

"I know. And you did a terrific job at keeping it together for him." Immediately the other woman's features softened a bit.

"It's my fault", the woman suddenly sobbed, and for the first time Jane feared that she might have made a mistake.

"What are you talking about?" Her question had a dangerous growl to it she couldn't contain. If that woman had, in fact, any part in William's kidnapping she might never forgive herself.

"The man... He", the woman sobbed harder and the little boy flinched in her arms. "He- he-" She didn't seem to be able to get past that. In the end, to get past her kidnapper would be too much to ask at this point. Jane had seen only a fracture of what he'd done to her. Whatever that woman had done herself, or whatever she thought she had done, it wasn't for Jane to judge her. Not now.

Instead, she carefully climbed into the back seat. "Look at me."

The woman obeyed, her whole upper body shaking with the effort of taking a decent breath.

"There will be a time to work through this, alright? But that time is not now. You really need to calm down."

The woman nodded in agreement, but she didn't seem capable of controlling the sobs that were working their way up through her throat, making her breath hitch in a way that sounded as if it was painful.

"Hey", Jane said again. "Help me out, please. I don't know what else I can do for you. I can't even call you by your name and that's driving me crazy!"

It only went downhill from there. Whatever connection she thought she'd established with the foreigner had been lost. Whatever positive reaction she had already gotten, it seemed gone.

The woman suddenly pushed the little boy away from her, her face regretful, but her movements held none of the tenderness the detective had witnessed in the interactions between the lady and the child before. William was instantly flailing his little arms, searching for the comforting touch he'd been denied. Jane awkwardly steadied him as he was slumping into her direction. He shrieked when her hands closed around his upper body in an attempt to keep him upright.

The distressed woman opposite from them blindly searched for the door handle and almost fell out of the car when the door suddenly opened. Jane snug an arm around the now wailing child and pulled open the door on her side, too. She climbed outside almost as clumsily as the other woman, the kid in her arms thrashing so violently that she couldn't find her balance at first.

"What's going on!?" Frost shouted over the radio, and the boy doubled his efforts to squirm out of the detective's grip. Several police officers were already running toward them, waving there flashlights, and shouting questions and orders Jane wasn't able to make out.

She turned William in her arms in order to get him to look at her, but as soon as they came face to face with each other, he squeezed his eyes shut and screamed on the top of his lungs, "RAWRA! RAAAAWRAA!"

Just when she thought she'd leave bruises on his delicate rips by gripping his wriggling form too hard, he got pulled out of her arms and enveloped by two desperately crying parents. She wasn't sure anymore, whether this would be the best approach for the little boy, but in the end she hadn't succeeded in getting through to him either. She decided to concentrate on the other person that had depended on her. Maybe she could help at least one of them.

With a few strides she rounded her car, and found the woman pressed against one of the tires, surrounded by three officers. Her chest was heaving, her face contorted in pain.

"Step back!" the detective yelled at the police men. She crouched down in front of the panic-stricken lady and put a hand on her pulled up knees, initiating contact out of intuition and against her better judgment.

"Breathe!" she commanded firmly, but right then one of the flashlights got pointed at the woman's face and she shied away from it, sheer terror and agony apparent in her features. In an instant the detective became furious, an emotion she actually preferred as a channel for her actions in contrast to the irresolution and fear she had already felt that night.

She swiftly turned and knocked the flashlight out of the officer's hand with so much force that it had him stumble backwards, cursing "Jeezus, Rizzoli!"

"Back the fuck off!" she growled at all of them, before turning back to the woman, whose eyes were still shut and even though she didn't make a sound, the whole image of her was very similar to the one of the little boy. In a strange way the experience of pure panic connected them, let them be the same, irrespective of their age difference.

"If you don't calm down, someone else will take you to the hospital, do you understand? They might even sedate you", the detective explained, but her words showed no effect on the now truly hyperventilating woman. Her already anemic looking face had lost even more of its natural color. For a second her eyes flashed open and Jane felt as if she'd been hit by the intense emotion radiating out of them. And then the woman lost consciousness.

Detective Jane Rizzoli was standing in a hospital hallway, listening to the screams reverberating along the naked walls, and gazing through a window at the woman they had discovered earlier that night. The light from the hallway barely reached her crouched down from. She was sitting sideways again; had chosen a spot at the far end of the room she got locked into after their arrival at the emergency center.

"Rizzoli!"

She had expected the reprimand any minute now, and already decided to let the tirade wash over her. She was pretty sure she wouldn't make different choices if she'd get the chance to go back to the beginning of the evening.

The voice drew nearer. "Do you have any idea how much I want you off the case right now!?"

She finally turned to face her boss, lieutenant Cavanaugh. "I counted on your assessment of the situation!" he ranted.

"Something set this woman off", Jane explained. "Her reaction when we got to the car couldn't be anticipated."

"The hell it couldn't! That's why we don't go off protocol!"

"Well, I sometimes think it's nonsense to have a protocol for situations like these!" the detective snorted and then she simply pulled open the door and stepped into the room she had been watching, not waiting for an order, permission or approval from her superior.

.

The woman did not acknowledge her presence. She had been stoic since she regained consciousness in the back seat of Jane's car, where the detective had put her down after she had passed out. Jane had been able to guide the weakened woman into a room of the emergency center without any further incident. She had switched off the lights before she had left her to herself, wanting to check on the little boy before she continued her efforts with this woman.

Now Jane squatted down in front of the huddled person. It was a windowless room, the second of its kind in which they met tonight. The unknown woman might have been rescued, but Jane wasn't sure that term truly applied to being placed in yet another small space.

"William is screaming for you. Can't say how much longer 'til he gives into exhaustion. He's been shouting 'bear' over and over again." Detective Rizzoli was not beating around the bush anymore. She needed to know if this woman was capable of helping the little kid that, as they were speaking, was out of his mind at the other end of the hallway. Only because she had established a good relationship with the Johanssons over the course of the last two months, they had agreed no to give him a sedative right away. However, they'd cave in soon. One didn't have to be a mind reader to know that.

The woman winced. At least she hadn't shut down completely.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure out that's the safe word you were talking about. Is it supposed to make you help him? Why give it to him when it has no consequences?"

The addressed person only pushed herself closer to the wall.

"I recognized that look on your face before you collapsed. I have no idea why, but you carry a huge amount of guilt."

The woman moved a trembling hand over her eyes, as if she wanted to shield them before Jane could see even more.

"I've also witnessed your reaction when we first entered the basement tonight. You offered your battered back to us, because that's how you protected him all this time. By offering yourself to whatever that man wanted to do to you. And has done to you."

The peaky looking woman gasped for air.

"And in the way you talk to this little boy", the detective continued undeterred, "I could see the connection you built with him."

She was crying again, but spoke up nonetheless. "William rendered possible whatever connection you're describing." A sob wrecked her body. "Poor child. He wouldn't have been taken if it wasn't for me."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He- he-" Her breath hitched again and she shook her head slightly. "That man-" But her voice broke.

"Try telling me without talking about him."

"That's impossible", the woman panted and let the hand that had covered her eyes drop to her side again. Her brows were furrowed in concentration. "He's the reason for all of this."

"Good." Jane almost smiled. "It's good that you're aware of that", she amplified when she noticed the confusion in the woman's face.

A single tear made its way down the cheek of the nameless person, as she straightened a little and managed to explain some of the circumstances. "In his state of mind he established this construct of a life he envisioned with me. He thought I'd be happier with him, if he gave me a child."

Jane understood. She made a mental note that rational statements on a more meta-level appeared to come easier to this woman. Maybe she could finally find out more about what had happened to her and where she'd come from.

"Since when have you been held in that house?"

"June 9th."

Jane didn't let on that the reply had shocked her.

"William needs you right now", she went on instead, urgency evident in her tone. "He's not asking, he's yearning for you."

The other woman only shook her head again.

"No, listen to me", Jane pushed. "I get it, alright? I am the first one to blame myself when people I love get hurt."

The shake of the woman's head only became more desperate, more tears were spilling over. "I have no right to love him", she hissed, drawing her arms around her waist in a seemingly unsuccessful attempt to comfort herself.

"But that doesn't matter to the kid right now!" The detective raised her voice. She knew the woman had every reason to fall apart, every right to sink into self-pity. She'd ask the opposite of her anyway. "None of the things you're struggling with make sense to him. All he understands is that the one person he trusted for 58 days has suddenly abandoned him."

"I never wanted that", the woman sobbed softly. "I don't want that", she corrected herself, more resolute.

"Okay. It's okay, I know you don't want to hurt him", Jane said calmly now and the woman nodded automatically in agreement. The detective felt a great urge to express her gratitude. This woman, despite all the still unknown things she had been through, was really trying to work with her here. Her willingness astonished Jane deeply.

After a beat, Jane fingered her radio and told Frost to bring the child over.

"Uhm, Jane", her partner's voice as well as the child's screams sounded over the small speaker before the radio crackled with static for a moment. "I don't think I'll manage." The child sounded absolutely terrified in the background.

"Damn it", Jane muttered under her breath and quickly got up.

"I'm coming with you", the woman interrupted the detective's movements, determination in her voice all of a sudden.

"There'll be a lot of people. His parents, too." She was pretty sure by now that their desperate cry of their son's name back at the house had triggered the woman's response in the first place. It was probably too soon for another confrontation. And if she had learned one thing over the past hour, it was the she'd be a fool to rely on that woman's emotional state, which ultimately kept changing by the minute.

The woman carefully touched Jane's upper arm. It was the first time she initiated contact since they had left the house she'd been held in. Maybe trying was all they got.

.

When Jane opened the doors to the examination room where she had left her partner, William and his parents earlier that night, she held out one of her hands to make a sign for 'stop' and put a finger from her other hand over her lips, beckoning everyone to stay quiet.

She knew she was asking a lot of the Johanssons that night. She had explained to them, that this woman they had found William with was not the enemy, even though she hadn't been beyond doubt herself. One more encounter gone wrong, and she'd lose these people's trust for good.

The woman had her eyes glued to the floor while Jane had hurried her along the hallway. As soon as they had entered the room, though, her gaze snapped into William's direction. Squinting against the invasive lights, she managed to focus solely on him, not on the hostile looks his parents sent her way.

She dropped to her knees next to him, groaning with the effort it took her, and making sure to position herself in a way that she had her back to all the strangers.

The little boy had covered his ears with his tiny hands, his eyes wide open, though. He had bit his lip. The blood was mingling with the tears and spittle that were running down his crimson red, scrunched up face. The second he laid eyes on the person he had shared a prison with for two months, he flung his arms around her neck the way Jane had witnessed a couple of times already.

"Where you been?" he wailed. "Where were you beeeen! You!" he shouted accusingly, pressing himself even closer to the woman. His little body was drenched in sweat, his short hair sticking out in every direction. "I said- I said... but I said-"

"Shhhh", she soothed him. "I know you said it. I know. You did well. And I'm here now."

However, even though William obviously had no energy left from the outburst he had been able to keep going over more than sixty minutes, he couldn't be calmed right away. His little legs simply wouldn't stop moving and he continuously kicked the woman, who was holding him in her lap.

Almost with ease the woman moved his upper body into the crook of her elbow and pinned down his legs against her own torso with her free arm, holding him like a baby. It was an experienced move, and the detective realized the woman already knew by heart which technique would offer relief. They must have done this quite a few times for it to look so naturally. William was still whimpering, forcefully grabbing her shirt, but his breathing had finally slowed.

.

It didn't take more than ten minutes and the exhausted little boy had been fast asleep in the person's arms he felt safe with. No-one had dared to speak, and the detective could tell that the kneeling woman was immensely unsure of what to do next.

Jane moved to the entrance and switched off the lights.

"I'd say, we'd let them rest for tonight", she proposed, glancing at the Johanssons and praying that they would agree, that they wouldn't want anything else from that foreigner holding their son, who had yet to regain one ounce of freedom.

With a longing and regretful look at their son's legs dangling from the woman's grasp, the burdened parents stepped out of the room, escorted by Frost.

"Detective?"

Jane almost missed it. She held on to the door knob and waited, but the woman didn't speak up again. She closed the door, staying on the inside and leaning against it. The whisper that followed was barely distinguishable over the child's breathing.

"Tell me what to do."

"What? No!" Jane almost spat, bewildered. The way this woman went from being decisive to submissive kept freaking her out.

"Please", the woman whimpered as she dropped her head, her bangs brushing the boy's face. "I- I'm so tired..."

Yet, Jane felt nothing but compassion for her, realizing her feelings weren't single-edged and straight-lined that night either.

She moved toward the people on the floor.

"You feel like lying down?" she finally asked, figuring she could direct the woman without telling her what to do. A nod she had already come accustomed to encouraged her.

"Will you let me help you?" Same nod. Jane carefully slipped her hand under the woman's arm that was holding William's legs. She didn't let herself be irritated when the woman stiffened beneath her fingers, but pulled her to her feet. She didn't let go either until they had moved to one of the hospital beds and the woman had put William down on the covers. His brows were furrowed, even in his sleep.

"Tonight was the first time I didn't react to the safe word", the lady explained unbidden, as she mustered the little boy's face. Jane kept silent, glad the stranger was giving her something to work with.

"I introduced the idea to him, because I hoped it would make him feel somewhat empowered. In addition, I tried to establish it as a word that would trigger my resources whenever I felt too weak to go on. I didn't want h-him to ever touch William..."

"A secret weapon", Jane swallowed painfully. "That was a good thought."

"Not if I don't keep up my end of the bargain. You implied that yourself."

"Only to push you into action. And you did act. Maybe it took you a bit longer than what he is used to. No-one blames you. He doesn't blame you."

"I will have to leave him", the woman whispered then.

"Says who?" the detective replied, pointing to the fact that she shouldn't get ahead of herself. The woman climbed up onto the mattress and carefully came to rest on her side. She brushed her hand through the toddler's sweaty hair.

"We don't belong together." The hurt in her voice told Jane that the woman was even more frightened by the idea that this little boy would leave her. She let her eyes sweep over the woman's form, and noticed she looked even smaller and frailer lying down.

"He called you Rawra, right?" The question was meant to remind her of the relationship at hand. Jane received another brisk nod.

"It's fitting in a peculiar way." There was the hint of a smile in the corner of the woman's mouth.

"Tell me your real name", the detective prodded gently, and watched curiously as the woman closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose.

"You're still you."

The shaky sigh the other woman let out told her she was on the right track.

"No-one can take that away from you."

A new tear slid out from under the woman's eyelid.

"You're safe now. You're safe and not alone."

The woman nodded again. Her features had softened, illuminated only slightly by the light seeping in from the hall. For the first time that night the detective became aware of the fact that the woman was quite beautiful, and must have been stunning before all the horrors she had encountered.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

The woman opened her eyes, finding and holding Jane's gaze.

"My name is Maura."

"Nice to meet you, Maura."

Jane could swear Maura returned the small smile she was giving her.

"Thank you", Maura said after a while.

Jane only shrugged. "What for?"

"Being mindful of switching off the lights for me."

Maura had closed her eyes and missed that Jane was smiling genuinely now. She would be fine.

The detective pulled up a chair. She wasn't leaving.

As soon as the woman's breath had evened out and Jane was sure she had surrendered to sleep, she texted Frost: Anything you can find on a Maura, gone missing four and a half months ago on June 9th!?

A/N: It's undeniable. Your support fueled this chapter, dear readers. I've been writing all day. My back is a mess.