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 32

"What are you doing?" Maura asked, puzzled, when she saw Jane bringing some more pillows from the small sofa and throwing them on the floor in the middle of the afternoon.

"We are going to watch a movie! You can pick the movie, and I will make popcorn!"

"But why are my pillows on the floor?" Maura almost shrieked.

"Because I will be sitting on the floor."

Jane had made Maura keep her leg extended, to have every single bruise supported while she was sitting.

"Ok." Maura exhaled, seeming to accept the fact she had no say in the matter.

She fumbled with the remote control, until she picked what she wanted.

Jane came with the fragrant bowl of popcorn.

"Did you decide on it yet?"

"I did."

Jane saw the titles lined up on the screen.

"Come on… You gotta be kidding me!" Jane rolled her eyes, exasperated, and just when she heard Maura whimpering while she laughed, she realized Maura had just pranked her.

"The look… on… your… face… was… priceless…" Maura was trying to hold back her laughter, her hand holding her ribs.

"I would tickle you into submission IF it was not for your ribs, little lady…" Jane relaxed. "And we are NOT watching a movie about plane crashes, not now, not any time soon, hopefully never ever again, do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear…" Maura offered with a mirthful smile, very proud of her prank.

"What are we really going to watch, Dr. Isles?"

"Chicago."

"A musical about crime? Bold choice…"

"Can you live with it?" Maura asked, knowing her tastes and Jane's did not always match.

"I can if you can, Dr. Smarty-pants." Jane knew this was likely a concession already, Maura having preferred a more serious movie.

The movie was fun. Jane was not a fan of musicals, but this was well done, and the fact it was all associated to a crime and criminals made it a lightened version of things they saw in real life.

"Did you know that the movie was based on a real story? A lady called Beulah Annan?"

"No… Seriously?"

"It is almost unbelievable, but yes… She kept changing her story on how she killed a man in her bed in the early twenties. She was acquitted because her husband stood by her, and then she left him."

"I had never heard of it!"

Jane was still sitting on the floor, her head propped back up on the sofa, while she looked up to see Maura.

Maura ran her fingers lazily through Jane's thick dark curls: "Up. Enough of you sitting on the floor…"

Jane groaned as she stood, and picked the empty popcorn bowl to take to the kitchen, before coming back to take the pillows from the floor to take them to their right location.

Maura patted a place by her side in the sofa.

"I am taller than you, I need to be in the back." Jane shook her head no.

"I am a scientist. This will work." Maura insisted.

Jane sat, and Maura pulled Jane's shoulders down so her head was leaning on Maura's torso, and Jane's longs legs were dangling off the arm of the sofa.

"You are a genius." Jane chuckled, sighing contentedly. "Am I not putting too much pressure on your broken ribs?"

"No." Maura replied, comfortably. "It is good to have you here. Tomorrow at this hour you will be at the airport flying back to DC…"

"And your house will be back to being cleaner and more organized than ever." Jane teased.

"Probably." Jane felt Maura's chuckle rumbling through her back. "But certainly not as fun. I miss having you around, Jane."

"I miss being around you too." Jane admitted.

They were quiet for a few moments, and ended up falling asleep without even noticing it.

Angela entered through the backdoor, and smiled, shaking her head, seeing the two women sleeping in the sofa. She backtracked, avoiding waking them up. Sunday they would all be together for a luncheon celebration, that Vince, Kiki, Tommy, TJ, Frankie and Nina would join, before Jane left for DC, and there would be plenty of time for Angela to pamper Maura in the next few weeks after Jane was gone and before Maura was ready to go back to work.

Maura woke up first, to whimpering and to Jane's tense body. A nightmare. Freeing one arm, Maura moved to hold Jane tightly. Jane kept repeating "No, no, no." with an urgency that broke Maura's heart. Maura felt Jane bunching Maura's blouse in her hands, and looked down to see Jane's knuckles white with the force she was making. Maura tightened her hold, her hand burying on dark hair to keep Jane's face to her, while she whispered soothingly that it was a nightmare, only a nightmare. Jane was shaking and sobbing and crying in her nightmare, and Maura was surprised to see her like that. Maura had witnessed her fair share of Jane's nightmares over the years, but nothing resembled what she was seeing now. She was not sure how to wake Jane up without causing Jane to jump and potentially hurt them both in the process.

The charred wreckage of the plane. Jane was alone in the clearing, not sure where Pablo and his men were. But she needed to see, she couldn't wait for them, every second counted. She walked into the charred fuselage, her eyes first drawn to the completely burned bodies of the pilots. And when she looked back, there, not one burn on her, was Maura. Jane's heart thumping in her throat, she approached. The seating had been ripped from the floor. And as Jane approached, she was met by Maura's hazel eyes wide open, but lifeless. "No, no, no, no, no, no…." Jane screamed again, and again, and again, kneeling amidst the debris, her fists closed, her mind shutting down, feeling the world closing around her.

Maura's smell. Jane inhaled Maura's smell. But shouldn't the smell be of burnt metal as she had been smelling until now? Jane drowned on it. She breathed, and breathed, and breathed, and it seemed to clear down her mind a bit. Pablo and his men would be here soon. She needed to get a grip on herself before they arrived.

"Nightmare." Jane seemed to hear. Yes. This was a nightmare. Maura was gone, gone. "It is just a nightmare." Maura's voice. Oh, God. Jane tensed and pushed herself up.

Maura looked concerned at Jane's tear-stricken face. Jane was hyperventilating, and she pushed away from Maura, standing up in almost a jump.

"Jane?"

Jane was pacing, trying to find the box of tissues, her back to Maura.

"I am so sorry, Maura… I am so really sorry." Jane kept repeating, her back still shaking as she continued to try to control her breathing.

"Jane?" Maura called again after a moment. "Jane, please?"

Jane turned and moved to the back of the sofa.

"Come around." Maura instructed.

Jane walked around the sofa, her chest still heaving, her eyes haunted.

"Sit down, please." Maura had moved to make sure Jane had a place to sit facing her.

Jane sat, her head down, her dark hair partially covering her face, her hand clutching a crumpled tissue compulsively.

Maura moved her hand to hold Jane's, tightly, feeling that Jane was trembling.

"What was your nightmare about?" Maura asked, quietly.

Jane shook her head no and sobbed, swallowing hard.

"Jane?" Maura insisted, gently. "Look at me, please."

Jane raised her chocolate brown eyes welled in tears to Maura, looking into hers as if she couldn't believe she was alive, her breathing starting to pick up speed again.

Maura pulled her by the shoulders, bringing Jane's face to her lap, in a way she could hold Jane's taller frame and provide some comfort.

Jane sobbed, but now she was crying, really crying. Maura didn't try to stop her. She just kept stroking Jane's mane of hair, drawing circles on Jane's back, reminding Jane she was there, that Jane was not alone, trying to ground Jane back from whatever had moved her out of her axis this abruptly.

Finally, the crying subdued. Maura looked to see if Jane had fallen asleep, but she could hear the sniffling. Maura moved Jane's hair out of the way, so she could see Jane's face.

"You were gone." Maura heard in Jane's raspy voice, feeling Jane shudder in her lap. "You were in the plane. Not burnt. Not a scratch on you. But you were gone." Jane whispered.

Maura couldn't lean forward because of her broken ribs, so she moved her hand to intertwine her fingers to one of Jane's hands.

"It was a nightmare, Jane. A horrible nightmare. I am right here, with you." Maura added softly.

Maura felt Jane nodding against her lap. After a long while, Maura observed as Jane inhaled and pushed herself to sit again, facing Maura.

"I am sorry…"

"For what?"

Jane swallowed hard. "For breaking down like that. You are here, trying to recover, and I can't get a grip of myself." Jane added apologetically, deviating her eyes from Maura.

Maura cupped Jane's cheek, tilting her face to look back at her.

"Don't be sorry. If the idea of me being gone affects you this much, it just means I am important to you. And you had no outlet yet, Jane. You've been the one holding the blunt of all that happened. You are human too."

Jane swallowed hard again, and nodded. She finally looked at the hour.

"I should get dinner going. You will need to take your antibiotics soon." Jane stood up, glad for the distraction.