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.

For full disclaimers, please refer to the first chapter.

Chapter 8

Two weeks.

Maura had been in Boston for two weeks.

And only now she was finally beginning to feel better from her ordeal with the malaria. It had been a total of five weeks since she had left Africa. She still felt tired and weak most of the time, but the fever chills happened maximum once a day, what was much better than a few weeks earlier. And the dizziness spells were farther and farther apart, only made worse if there was a stress trigger.

It had also been two weeks since she mailed the envelope to the PO Box Frankie had given her.

In that time, she had lunch with Frankie, Nina and Stella once. Seeing Stella at an age so close to the age Mia had been at when they lost her brought bitter-sweet memories to Maura, but she tried to enjoy the close friendship she always felt towards Frankie and Nina.

Her path also crossed with Angela a couple of times, but Maura knew Angela felt guilty about all the consequences of her act with Jane, and kept a discreet distance.

And she had visited Mia's grave every single day.

Most of the time, Maura had just kept to herself.

Maura had decided she needed to leave again. The house was too full of memories. And being there, without Mia and without Jane, was killing Maura. She had been devising a plan. Stay until the end of the week to extend the chance for an unlikely reply from Jane. Then fly to Paris. Stay another week in Paris to complete the full eight weeks mandatory malaria recovery and, in feeling physically well, go back to Dakar and from there disappear to whatever village she got assigned to.

For now, she was finally feeling her appetite back after weeks when she would have gladly exchanged even the lightest salad for some IV saline solution laced with whatever vitamins her body needed to function.

And since she was in Boston, she would sate one craving that neither Africa or Paris could properly satisfy. Chinese food. She had ordered delivery about twenty minutes ago, and was waiting for it to arrive.

(…)

Jane had lost track of time. The same plane that had brought the mail the previous day departed at 4AM local Afghanistan time going back to the US. There were a couple of stops for refueling, that she didn't notice, too groggy with the medicines the doctors had given her prior to beginning the trip. It was a cargo plane, not a medevac, so it was far from comfortable, but she didn't really care. They also changed planes somewhere, where she boarded a smaller plane for the last leg to Boston.

"Where to, Rizzoli?" the officer assigned to pick her up at Logan asked, helping her to overcome the last two stairs out of the plane with her crutches as the jeep waited for them in the tarmac.

Jane recited the Beacon Hill's address automatically. She was not sure if Maura was still around. But she had a key. And she could call Frankie from there if needed be.

The officer drove her there, and traffic was favorable.

Jane noticed a rental car parked in the driveway.

The officer helped Jane out of the jeep – she put her rucksack on her back, lightweight given there was little to nothing in there, she had taken nothing with her when she left three years ago, and had amounted nothing while in Afghanistan - just a package with the letters she received during the past three years, and a few documents, as well as medicines for the trip. He handed her the crutches and waited until she moved to the front door, before waving at her and driving down the street.

Now that she was here, Jane was not so sure if this had been a good idea. There were too many memories… And Maura… What if Maura felt differently now that they were face to face? But Jane was tired, messed up with the timezone difference and the painkiller medication. She inhaled deeply, figuring that she had already come this far, she needed to see it through. She steeled herself and rang the doorbell. Her old key was in one of her uniform pockets, if needed. Tied to the crystal keychain Maura and Mia gave her on their first Mother's Day as Mia's mothers, engraved with a picture of Jane, Maura and Mia together.

(…)

"Finally!" Maura thought to herself when she heard the doorbell ring.

The Chinese delivery.

She had already suffered a meltdown as soon as she realized her order had been for two adults and a kid, automatically picking what she always ordered when they were still a family.

She was ready to drown in a bottle of wine to accompany the food, and to try to forget, even if for a few hours, the pang of pain and loneliness.

She picked money from her wallet and walked barefoot to open the door, without even bothering to look through the side glass panel.

So she was really taken aback when the first thing she saw was the light color scheme of the camo army uniform.

Maura's heart raced and threatened to jump out of her throat.

'They would contact us if anything… bad… happened to her while there.' Frankie's words immediately echoed through her mind. Could she have waited for so long, only to learn Jane had gotten killed in action?

Maura tried to think instead this was just someone delivering mail. Jane's reply to her letter. She tried to keep conscious, stress triggering every shutdown response from her recovering body.

As her eyes moved up, Maura finally took in that there, standing tall in front of her, was Jane. Her features sharper than ever, skin, sinew and bones. Her ebony hair, tied back in a low ponytail, stricken with silver. And the sad warm compassionate chocolate brown eyes Maura loved so much looking down on her.

"Oh my Gosh, Jane…" Maura whispered, turning an almost transparent shade of pale, a wave of dizziness finally overcoming her and her body going slack.

Jane widened her eyes and let go of one of her crutches to pass an arm around Maura, bringing the limp body against hers. Only Maura would have a vasovagal episode now of all times. At least Jane hoped it was only a vasovagal episode, the memory of Mia's sudden demise still too raw on her mind.

"Maura?" Jane tried, concerned, precariously balancing their combined weight out of her injured leg, and trying to balance Maura's limp body against hers, at least alleviated by feeling Maura's erratic heartbeat against her skin.

Jane noticed she had never seen or felt Maura so small or so thin before. Those had been rough years on Maura as well, Jane was sure, what was obvious by the amber hair stricken with silver, by the dark circles under Maura's eyes, by the strong tan that didn't hide the paleness.

"Maura, wake up, please…" Jane tried again, gently.

"Oh, my..." Maura tightened her grip around Jane's mid-section, as she slowly regained her senses. "It is really you." She mumbled against Jane's chest, panting and hyperventilating, trying to get a hold of herself.

"Yes, Maura… It is really me…" Jane slid her hand up and down Maura's back, in a comforting motion for a few moments, giving Maura a chance to recover her wits.

"Would you mind if we continue this inside, please? I really could use the couch, my knee is not doing too well…" Jane pleaded, sheepishly.

Only then Maura finally noticed the crutches and the volume of the heavy bandaging under one of Jane's leg pants.

"You are hurt. Oh Jane, you are hurt..." Maura straightened herself, removing her weight from Jane hastily, and opening the door wide for Jane to come in.

Maura watched as Jane picked up the crutch that she had rested against the wall to catch Maura a few moments before, maneuvered herself to the couch, stopping to remove the crutches from under her arms and stationing them on the floor by her side, dropping her rucksack, and lowering herself carefully to sit.

Maura in a few steps was kneeling by Jane's feet, trying to undo the laces of the uniform issued boots. Jane could see how badly Maura's hands were shaking.

"Maura, sit down… You just had a vasovagal episode on me. Please… I am not exactly in any shape to carry you if need be…" Jane took Maura's shaking hands from the laces of her boots, and gently brought Maura to sit by her side in the sofa, before finishing loosening the strings and removing the boots herself, and using her hands to help lift her bandaged leg to the top of the coffee table, groaning a sigh of relief.

Jane turned to Maura to begin speaking, when the doorbell ring again, and Jane knotted her eyebrows.

"Chinese delivery." Maura explained quickly, standing up to take the door.

Jane could not stop a tiny smile to grace her lips. It explained why Maura had been ready to take the door without checking the glass panel first.

"Sorry." Maura walked back, having paid, and left the food by the kitchen counter, sitting nervously by Jane's side.

"Breathe, Maura." Jane looked compassionately at her, noticing how pale and agitated Maura still was. Jane took Maura's hands in hers, and they were cold. And for the first time Jane realized that, like herself, Maura still wore their wedding band. And on Maura's neck still sat the heart shaped flat locket that Jane knew contained pictures of them, Jane and Mia's first Mother's Day gift to Maura. "It is just me. It is just us. Breathe." Jane instructed again.

Maura took three deep breaths, closing her eyes and lowering her head, before raising her head slowly and opening her eyes again.

"Okay." Jane nodded, noticing a bit of color returning to Maura's cheeks. "Why don't you go ahead and eat?"

"Won't you join me?" It was almost a pout.

"Oh, no, I now have a new favorite dish: field rations… so yummy…" Jane tried to tease. "Yes, I will join you, if there is enough for us both."

"I ordered the usual, automatically…" Maura admitted, blushing and sighing, a wave of sadness washing through her face, her eyes welling in tears, all of which didn't go unnoticed by Jane. "Can I see which medicines you are taking for your leg?"

"Sure, front pocket of the rucksack."

Maura checked.

"Considering what you are taking, you can have one beer with it if you want."

"And do you have beer?..."

"I just told you… I also bought the usual. Old habits…"

"… die hard." Jane completed, understanding, and cringing at the choice of words, not missing the wince on Maura's face.

Maura came back with their plates, a beer for Jane and a glass of wine for herself.

They ate in hungry silence, both enjoying the exotic flavors after three years without it, and each other's presence. They caught themselves observing the other, the little gestures so familiar and at the same so very much missed. It had been a long time, but they were still each other's feeling of home, of safety, and of comfort.

When they were done, Maura removed the plates and came back to sit, sipping her wine while Jane sipped her beer.