DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rizzoli & Isles nor any of the characters from the show. I am writing this purely for entertainment, not profit. Rizzoli and Isles are property of Tess Gerritsen and TNT.

Please find the full disclaimers in the beginning of Chapter 1.

Chapter 19

Maura melted and relaxed in Jane's embrace. Maura had never been used to being touched. But she never bothered when Jane touched her, because Jane's touches were always authentic. And Jane's hugs… They always, always made Maura feel more wholesome, since the very first time Jane had hugged her all those years back. Jane hugged as if she really meant to hug you, as if hugging you was her sole purpose in life – and it likely was, at least for the few moments the hug lasted, Jane focused completely on you.

And Maura simply let herself go, because she knew Jane would catch her, Jane had her. All of her.

She only realized she had been ugly sobbing when she felt the gentle touch of a crumpled tissue to her face. They were back to sitting in the sofa, she was sitting sideways to Jane, leaning against Jane's torso, hugging Jane's midsection tightly, with her face buried into the crook of Jane's neck. And Jane was gently drying her tears while she sobbed.

Maura tensed up, and tried to move.

"I am sorry…" she mumbled sheepishly.

"Don't be… You have been carrying the world locked inside of you…" Jane whispered gently, kissing her forehead as she continued to dry Maura's tears.

When Maura made a motion to move, Jane asked: "Stay…"

Maura relaxed again on Jane's arms with a tired sigh.

"I am a mess, Jane…"

"No, you are not. You are just trying to figure things out, Maura…"

"I… I have decided not to go back to my job. I will resign from the Chief Medical Examiner position…"

"Why?"

"I committed a major felony, Jane. I killed a man. I will likely never be judged for it. Even if I am, it will likely be considered a war crime."

"Yes, a self-defense crime during a war situation. So I will repeat my question: why would you resign?"

"When you shoot someone on the job, there is an Internal Affairs Investigation before you can resume work. The system ensures it was a fair shooting. That is not what happens in my case. People could use it to try to question the validity of the cases I work on. They might even question the validity of past cases. It would all be bogus, but until it is proven bogus, a lot of good could be undone…"

Jane hated that Maura was right. It didn't make it any fairer.

"Are you sure that is what you want to do?"

Maura nodded, sighing. "I am. Besides, the Foundation needs someone heading it… You've seen in the past two weeks how long I spent on the phone with them – and this was only to decide the absolutely urgent topics to keep it afloat. But that is not why the Foundation exists. My parents… They alternated being available to head it…"

"Is it something you would like to do?"

"Yes… It is… Even these most urgent decisions… Made me feel I was doing something meaningful in a totally different new level than my day-to-day job… Instead of justice for one victim at a time, I might try to prevent bigger groups of people from becoming victims. I can help bigger groups of people who already are victims at once…"

"So then this is a good plan, Maura… And I think your parents… They would approve of it…" Jane smiled gently at her. She knew how big of a change it would be for Maura to step down from her professional position. And Jane had no doubt the Foundation would benefit from Maura's genius.

Maura gave Jane a half-smile.

"There is more bothering you, isn't it?" Jane asked softly.

Maura paused for a moment, before she nodded quietly.

"Care to share?"

"Do you ever… have the feeling that other people would not be able to understand you because they didn't share the same experience?"

"Yeah, more times than I care to count…" Jane agreed.

Maura sighed, relieved. "I don't think a lot of people will ever understand what we've been through in those days in Switzerland…"

"They likely won't ever… And it is a blessing that the reason they won't is because they didn't have to go through it like we did…"

Maura paused to digest what Jane had said.

"I didn't think of it that way you pose it... Yours is a very altruistic way of looking at it." Maura replied softly.

Maura realized that, to be fair, Jane probably felt that way many times, having worked in high profile cases, having been both the detective responsible for arresting and the victim of Hoyt and then Alice Sands. Even being as close to Jane as Maura ever was, she was sure she accepted more than understood all that Jane had been through. And she knew Jane was thinking the same when Jane added.

"But people don't need to understand what happened, Maura. Those who really matter, the ones closer to us… They will likely just accept the fact that we were changed by what happened, even if they don't understand it."

"You are very wise, Jane Rizzoli…" Maura concurred gently.

"I have been called many things in life, but I don't think wise was ever one of them..." Jane chuckled.

"But that…" and Maura leaned forward to peck Jane's lips. "… is only because they don't know you…"

Jane smiled and blushed, leaning forward to capture Maura's lips in a slow loving kiss.

"How come it took us like forever to figure out something like this if it feels so right?" Jane asked when they broke the kiss a long while later, her forehead leaning against Maura's, their breaths still intermingled.

Maura smiled gently.

"I have been asking myself the same question since a month ago… But it won't change the past, will it?"

"Not really…"

"Then, why don't we just make out the best of the present in the hopes for what is still to come?"

"Hmmm… I think I can back up that proposition…" Jane teased, making Maura chuckle, before their lips met again for the first of a series of kisses, each one taking the prize from the last to make up for lost time.