Author: Pardon the lag. Work. What else?

Disclaimer: As if.

-x-x-x-

She's raging mad.

And to be honest, most of that is probably directed at herself.

Who the fuck forgets to include her best friend to the list of people the sick fucker might hurt in order to get to her?

Apparently, Jane Rizzoli does.

Well, never again.

"I swear to God this finger is just itching to put a bullet through your skull. But that'd be too nice of a favor for you, you sonofa—"

"Jane!" Maura's voice is clear. Clearer than her first few words when she thought the doctor was hurt much more seriously than she appeared to be.

So of course, she can't help her ingrained reaction.

She rolls her eyes and— "Maura! Really?!"

"I'm just saying—"

"I am this close to shooting the brains out of that asshole who—in case you forgot—is holding you at gunpoint right now, and you want to focus on my language?!"

"Honestly, Jane. It's not like throwing in a few more curse words is shifting his gun any farther from my temple."

"Well neither is adding more apparently so would you let me say as I please?"

"You do remember what I told you about how using profanity says a lot about a person's level of intelligence—"

"And you do remember what I shared about how using profanity says a lot about a person's emotional stability—"

This time it's Maura who cuts her off.

"Oh, when you say 'share', do you mean personally or 'share' as in tagging me on some stranger's Facebook meme that you decided to post as your status for the day?"

"You're using sarcasm on me, Maura." She growls. But perhaps with a tinge of smile at the corner of her lips.

"Well I learned from the best, I suppose."

"That's a guess."

"I said, suppose."

"Which is another word for 'guess'."

"Hardly, Jane. In fact—"

"HEY! SHUT. UP!"

-x-x-x-

The guy tightens his arm hold over Maura's neck.

Fucker.

"ARE YOU SERIOUSLY FORGETTING WHO'S HOLDING THE GUN OVER HERE?!"

Is he mental? He must be. Coz I know as sure as shit I'm holding one too.

"Actually, so is Jane."

Really?!

"Are you stupid or something?!" The guy shouts right near Maura's ear.

She's wincing.

No—nope…cringing.

Ew. The guy must have spat spittle or something at that distance.

My poor little germophobe. Ho—wait. Stupid?

"Hey! You do NOT get to call the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts stupid! Now, I'm telling you, let her go or I swear to you, you WILL regret everything you've done at this point. More so if I see A BRUISE on her fucking neck from the way you're holding on to her!"

"You don't get to call the shots here, Rizzoli. Crazy ass bitch. You think you're so mighty, so smart, when all you are is a murderer! Any other fuckin' adjectives you wanna add to that?" He shifts his hold on Maura and she can see that her best girl's breathing a bit easier at least. That's something.

"Technically, murderer isn't exactly an adjective."

Her Brainiac. Just can't help herself.

"That's true. Even I knew as much. Guess I can declare myself as not the dullest tool in this shed." She adds immediately to draw any further ire the idiot might think of bestowing upon the ME for simply being honest.

Jane decides to cut in further as she notices Maura's look of confusion.

Entertaining other questions at this point…seriously.

This has gone on long enough.

And then she feels the shift within her.

-x-x-x-

There have been a number of distinct times when she felt this sense of calm just spread through her. Where others have claimed to feel amped up and ready to jump into the fray, there were cases wherein she honestly felt otherwise.

Korsak, her old partner, made a note of it one time.

It was during a case when Frankie was still a uniform tagging along. They meant to simply scope a place that was rumored to be an old stomping ground for their vic when the next thing they knew was that bullets were flying. And Frankie was cornered.

And it was as if everything she saw and heard was filtered through some sort of slow-motion device. She could've sworn she saw the moment the suspect's arm shifted to Frankie's direction, could've sworn as well she noted the fraction of a second where his finger made to pull on the trigger…

And instead of calling out to Frankie to warn him, Jane simply saw her vision focus enough to shoot directly on the perp's gun, causing his shot to shift and the bullet to miss her brother by less than a foot.

Korsak said something about how it wasn't exactly strange. He added how he knew others who reacted just the same. Not a lot of people, he added. But she wasn't alone in it either, he assured her.

Of course, when she mentioned it to her best friend, all Jane could remember was something about a story about some passenger on a train that went crashing and how the brain yadda yadda yadda reacts or overreacts… To be honest, she was just too overwhelmed at the time thinking about how close Frankie came to biting the bullet so to speak.

-x-x-x-

And now, it's happening again.

Jane could swear she was more aware than ever as she feels her spine straighten, her feet shifting positions, her arms both tensing and relaxing at the same time.

She could also swear Maura notices it too as she sees her best friend's facial expression turn into a mix of wonder, curious, and stunned silence.

And for the asshole.

Oh yeah. That's fear.

-x-x-x-

"Whatever it is you think you've got up your sleeve, Rizzoli, it's got nothing on—"

-x-x-x-

"Jane!"

-x-x-x-

"Maura!"

Her gun clatters to the ground.

-x-x-x-

"Did you just shoot at my ear?!"

So much for that sense of calm.