"I tried not to breathe in when he put the chloroform over my mouth; I just went still and he thought I'd passed out. Then he carried me down to the tunnels, and I waited til he put me down, and then I slashed at his face with the piece of metal I found in the room where he'd been holding me. And then I just ran."

She's so strong, Jane thought, watching her friend through the interview room window. She did everything she could have done to keep herself safe, and to stay alert for any opportunity to make her escape. She'd come so far in the time Jane had known her. Just a few years ago Maura didn't even know how to hold a gun, and would completely panic in stressful situations. Jane was so proud of her, but she also felt sick to her stomach that it was necessary for Marua to become so self-reliant. She was a doctor, not a cop. She was supposed to stay safely behind the lines while people like Jane and Frankie and Korsak risked their lives; people with training; people for whom it was in the job description.

The only reason Maura had been in such danger was because of her.

She watched through the window as Vince took Maura's statement, gnawing at her lip and twisting an errant curl around and around her finger nervously. He'd offered to let Jane take point, but she just couldn't bring herself to take Maura through her story. She needed to hear it; desperately needed to hear every horrible detail of what had happened to her friend, even as she feared it. But she couldn't be objective about it. Not yet.

As she listened to Vince's careful promptings, she was reminded powerfully of another time she'd watched Maura through an interview room window; when she had been drugged and set up for murder. They'd taken her clothes, had to do a rape kit… Jane closed her eyes against the memory and the wave of nausea it brought. Back then it would never have occurred to her to let anyone else take point on the case. She'd been with Maura every step of the way; from the initial interview to visiting her in jail to make sure she was ok. But that case was simple; Maura was in trouble and she needed help; needed protecting. What was Jane supposed to do now, when the person Maura needed protection from was herself?

Maura had been taken to hurt Jane. She had been hurt to hurt Jane. Somehow it had never occurred to her before that this could happen. She knew the risks to herself when she took on the job, and she accepted them. To an extent, she accepted that her brother would be in danger too, when he joined the force. But Maura, and her mother, they weren't supposed to take on those risks; that wasn't a choice they'd made. But it seemed to have been a choice Jane had made for them. And now Maura was paying for it.

"You said you heard him talking on the phone?" Korsak prompted gently in the interview room.

"Yes," Maura nodded. "Judging by the time that passed between the phonecall and your arrival, and taking into account what I now know to be the location of the building where I was being held and its distance from BPD, he must have received warning from his accomplice almost as soon as you found his location."

Maura was struggling; facts were her tell. When emotions ran high she would rely on detail; on the things she knew to be true and absolute and could understand. Her Google-speak when she was nervous was endearing, but the flat, dispassionate tone with which she gave her statement now set Jane's teeth on edge. She rubbed the scars on her hands absent-mindedly, mirroring Maura's discomfort.

"Can you remember what he said on the phone? Anything that could give us a clue as to who Harris was working with?"

Maura shook her head, frowning as she replayed the conversation in her mind. "He was careful not to say anything to identify the person he was speaking with. Harris had clearly been given instructions; he was very anxious to assure the other person that he'd followed them to the letter. He said he'd always left his phone at the prison as instructed; that he didn't know how you connected him to the hospital where I was being kept.

Maura paused, thinking, a look of concern crossing her face. Jane caught it right away, and was relieved that Korsak did too.

"What is it, Maura?"

"I don't know… He just… Harris seemed upset that he had let this other person down. Like he was anxious to assure them that he had followed instructions, that it wasn't his fault."

"You think Harris was scared of his accomplice?"

Maura shook her head. "No. He seemed… devoted. It reminded me of…" her eyes flickered to the one-way window where Jane stood, quietly watching. She felt her heart rate quicken at having been caught out- of course Maura knew she was there. And she knew that whatever she was going to say was going to be difficult for Jane to hear.

"Reminded you of…?" Korsak prompted gently.

Maura stealed herself, looked away from the glass and back at Korsak.

"It reminded me of the influence and control Charles Hoyt had over his apprentices. How they would have done anything for him; how they followed his instructions to the letter."

Jane's hands balled into fists, her knuckles white as her fingernails dug into her palms. Hoyt. Surely this couldn't have anything to do with him. Hoyt was dead; she'd killed him. She'd stabbed him in the heart the last time he'd come for her and Maura. And yet… this person had taken Maura; had targeted her just like Hoyt had, knowing the effect her abduction would have on Jane…

"Charles Hoyt is dead, Maura," Vince spoke reassuringly.

"I know," Maura nodded, eyes downcast, avoiding looking at the interview room window. "It just reminded me of that relationship. I don't think Harris had any real stake in this. He took me because he was told to. Because he wanted to prove his loyalty or to gain favor from this other person."

Korsak nodded. "We still haven't found any connection between Harris and Jane."

"And you won't. He didn't know anything about Jane. I asked him why he had taken me and not one of Jane's sisters- he didn't even know she didn't have any sisters. But he wanted us to think this was his idea; that he wanted to hurt Jane. He tried to play the part. He just didn't know enough to do it well."

Even when she was in that much danger, Maura had managed to play detective, get Harris to talk, and find out useful information. Jane forced herself to relax her hands, her nails starting to draw blood where they cut into her palms. Harris hadn't even know why Maura was important. He'd taken her simply because he had been told to. His last words echoed in her mind as she'd demanded to know why he had started this vendetta against her- why her?

Why not?

It was the worst non-answer. And now she knew it was the truth. He had no vested interest in hurting her, or Maura. They were a means to an end; a way for him to gain favor with the person who truly meant her harm. The person who was still out there, planning his next move.

Maura had barely seen Jane since the EMTs loaded her into the ambulance and took her to Mass General. The doctors had pronounced her to be in good health overall, just a few cuts and bruises, plus dehydration and exhaustion. They'd decided to keep her at the hospital overnight for observation, and some techs from the crime lab had come to collect her clothes for analysis, though she doubted they'd find anything of interest on them; she'd only interacted with Harris, and they had his body and his car, which were much more likely sources of additional evidence.

Jane had come straight from the crime scene to the hospital like she promised. She looked exhausted; Maura was sure neither of them had slept since the threats against Jane began. But her friend didn't seem ready to rest yet. After checking in with the doctors to make sure Maura was ok, she posted two guards on her room and left again to check over Maura's house, to make sure it would be safe to come back to the following day.

Angela had come by soon after and sat with Maura all night while she slept fitfully. She kept jerking awake in a panic, staring around groggily at her unfamiliar surroundings, like surfacing from a chloroform-induced haze. Angela hushed her softly and held her hand until she settled again. She wondered vaguely why Hope hadn't come to see her. Angela said she'd called to let her know Maura had been found safely. Constance was catching the next flight from Europe, but her biological mother who lived so much closer was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she felt that she'd be intruding by showing up at the hospital, Maura reasoned. They weren't all that close; perhaps she wanted to give Maura time to recover from her ordeal, so as not to overwhelm her.

She wondered where Jane was.

The next day she decided to give her statement down at the station; she wanted to check on progress at the lab, and to see who had been tasked with the examination of Harris' body. If it was Pyke, she'd have to step in and overrule that assignment. He was unreliable if someone wasn't watching over him and double-checking his work, and she couldn't safely do so on a case that involved her so directly; she couldn't risk being seen as trying to influence the evidence.

She was surprised when she arrived at BPD and it was Vince who took her to an interview room to record her statement. The was no sign of Jane in BRIC, but as she went over the details of the day before with the older detective she was sure she could sense Jane's presence behind the interview room window. She was probably too close to the case, Maura decided. Just as she couldn't be the one to examine Harris' body, Jane surely couldn't be the one to interview Maura. They had to make sure they did everything by the book; that they were above reproach.

Still, Jane didn't appear after Vince wrapped up the interview, so she made her way downstairs to her office, and began reviewing the crime lab's findings.

It didn't take long before she was overwhelmed with exhaustion once more. She hadn't slept well last night, and the tension and fear of the last few days were starting to take their toll. She had refused to rest when Jane's safety was at stake, and the drug-induced blackness of the chloroform had simply knocked her out, not allowed her to sleep. She felt now that she could sleep for a thousand years. But she was unwilling to return to her big empty house by herself. Though she knew Harris was dead, his accomplice was still out there. Perhaps they shouldn't be calling him an accomplice, she thought. It was more likely he was a teacher, or a master. He had planned this whole thing; the bait and switch, making them think Jane was the one in danger, then Angela, and finally taking Maura when everyone was looking the other way. He knew everything about them; the way BPD worked, how to push Jane's buttons, how to get Maura alone. He'd done it once, he could do it again.

Eventually she moved to lay down on her couch, unable to keep her eyes open any longer. She'd just rest for a moment, she thought, and then perhaps Jane would take her home.

She startled awake, disoriented. It was dark and for a moment she couldn't recognize her surroundings; she thought she was back in the abandoned hospital again. Before she could get her bearings there was a noise from the doorway and she snapped around to find its source, fully expecting to see Harris. For a moment, the face she saw was far worse; Hoyt's skinny frame blocked the doorway as he leered at her, and she let out an involuntary shriek of alarm.

"Doctor Isles! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!"

The vision of Hoyt was gone. She recognized her surroundings as being her office once more. A woman stood in the doorway, smiling apologetically at her.

"Melanie, please come in."

Maura got up to greet the woman, gathering herself as she switched on a light and smoothed out her wrinkled clothes self-consciously. She really needed to change, and to shower. She must look a mess; but at least Angela had brought her a change of clothes at the hospital after hers were taken by the crime lab techs.

She'd spoken to Melanie, the precinct psychologist, on a number of occasions in the past; once when the man she was dating turned out to be a murderer who tried to kill her; once when Jane was shot; and once when Jane was abducted. Now would probably be a good time to start seeing her again.

"I heard you were in the building; I thought I'd stop by and see how you're doing. You're not planning on returning to work so soon I hope?"

"No," Maura smiled reassuringly. "I just came in to give my statement. I was going to head home shortly but I just closed my eyes for a second and… well, I must have fallen asleep."

"You must be exhausted," Melanie smiled warmly. "I imagine you haven't slept properly for days."

Maura shook her head. "Not since the first threat against Jane. I slept a little last night, but not well."

"You're having nightmares?"

Maura nodded.

"Well, we don't have to get into this now. I'm sure you're keen to get home and rest. But when you're ready, give my office a call and we can set up an appointment to talk through everything you've experienced, and healthy ways to process everything so that you can take control back of your life and move forward."

"That sounds good, thank you."

Some control would be great right about now. She felt like she'd been fighting to keep it together for days. Hiring a bodyguard had helped when they'd thought someone was coming for Jane. Maura knew her friend would never willingly take a step back and let other people take care of her; she needed to be in control too. And Maura had felt so helpless, seeing Jane's fear and not being able to protect her. She was so focused on Jane that she'd just walked blindly into a trap and allowed herself to be abducted. She should have noticed something was off at the deserted crime scene. She had thought it was strange that Jane hadn't been there when she arrived… But Jane's absence was beginning to be familiar. She wondered again where her friend was now; why the precinct psychologist had come to check on her but Jane hadn't.

"Is there someone who can take you home? Shall I call Detective Rizzoli?" Melanie's voice broke through her thoughts.

"No, that's ok," Maura smiled with false brightness. "I'll have an officer escort me home."

Jane exploded through Maura's front door an hour later, almost causing her friend to drop her mug of tea all over the floor as she jumped in fright.

"There you are! She's right here, safe and sound. What did I tell you?" Angela chastised her daughter as she followed her into the house.

"Maura, where the hell have you been?" Jane demanded, her heart still hammering from the terrifying drive over as she'd imagined reaching the house and finding Maura gone again. "I thought you were at the station!"

"I had Officer Blakley drive me home," Maura faltered, staring at Jane's wild demeanour and trying to calm the hammering of her own heart after that entrance.

"Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I was in the shower!"

Jane was pacing the room now, checking the locks on the windows and peering out into the yard. "You didn't ask him to stay?"

"Who?"

"Blakely!" Jane all-but shouted. He was going to catch hell when she next saw him. Maura was the recently recovered abductee of a mastermind who was still out there, and he just dropped her off at her empty house and left her alone? "Did he at least check the house before he left?"

"There's no one else here, Jane," Maura started, but now she was feeling nervous, the all-too familiar sense of panic creeping up her spine and setting her on edge. Officer Blakely hadn't checked the house, and she hadn't thought anything of it when she just jumped into the shower after he left, trying to fix the mess that Harris had made of her hair. She'd been so preoccupied and so tired, she hadn't even considered the possibility that someone could be be in the house with her… She suddenly felt violently ill.

"That's enough, Jane, you're scaring Maura," Angela cut in, moving over to the other woman and rubbing her back reassuringly.

The contact helped; Maura was suddenly overwhelmingly glad to have Angela here. Right now what she needed more than anything was a soft, familiar touch; hands that communicated love and that weren't there to harm her.

Though she appreciated Angela, such a touch from Jane would be even more welcome. But Jane was already bounding up the stairs with her gun unholstered, moving from room to room,checking for any sign of intrusion. Maura gripped Angela's hand and tried to slow her breathing until Jane slowly descended the stairs once more, returning her gun to its clip.

"Sorry Maur," she mumbled, her dark eyes filled with self-reproach. "I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that whoever Harris was working for is still out there, and until we catch him, I don't wanna take any chances."

She'd have an officer stationed outside Maura's house every night for the rest of the year, if that's what it took. There was no way she was going to let this asshole come for her again.

But of course BPD couldn't spare that kind of manpower longterm. After a few uneventful days the protective detail was pulled from Maura's house. The house was busy again as Constance arrived from Europe, and Angela moved into the guestroom so Maura's mother could take the guesthouse, meaning that Jane was sent packing back to Frankie's apartment. It drove her crazy to be so far away from Maura and her mother, unable to keep an eye on things. She understood that Maura was trying to reestablish her routine; to move forward; to get back some sense of control. She didn't want to live in fear, and Jane's behaviour was making her feel just that.

That was when she'd started sneaking into Maura's house at night and sleeping on the sofa. That way she could satisfy her need to know everything was alright, without worrying Maura further.

Jane knew Maura wasn't sleeping; she'd heard her friend crying out in the night as she thrashed against an assailant Jane couldn't see. She hated how helpless, how impotent she felt; she couldn't make Maura feel better and she couldn't find the person responsible. She was failing, badly. And Maura continued to be afraid and in danger because of her. Jane so badly wanted to go to her when she heard Maura startle awake night after night, but she resisted. She didn't know how to deal with this feeling, this helplessness. She was supposed to be the one who knew how to fix it, but she had nothing to give Maura. No answers, no solutions, no comfort when she didn't believe herself that things would get better. She was so afraid that they wouldn't. She was terrified that the person behind all this would return and once again she wouldn't be able to stop him. When Hoyt had come after her years before, she'd thought at the time that she was scared as she could ever be. But that was before he'd come for Maura, and she'd watched him run his scalpel across Maura's throat at the prison. In that moment she had known a new level of terror, and it had given her the strength to stop Hoyt, permanently.

That's what she needed to do now; to harness this fear and to use it to keep driving her forward. To stay alert, to stay ready, and to hunt down the sonofabitch who was threatening the people she loved. The person she loved most of all.

It was a thought she hadn't fully allowed to form; that floated in the edges of her mind. Why had he chosen Maura and not her mother or Frankie or Korsak? How had this person known what she had only barely acknowledged to herself; that Maura was the most important person in her life?

She couldn't dwell on that; couldn't think about her feelings for Maura or what it meant. That just clouded everything; filled her with an overwhelming fear of losing what she loved most. What she needed to focus on were the facts. So she poured herself into her work, but avoided seeing Maura too much; made excuses not to have lunch together, worked late so she wouldn't stay for dinner, insisted on driving her mother home after her shift and then checking over the house to ensure it was secure. And then she would slip back to the house late at night after she knew Maura had gone to bed, let herself in with her key, and curl up on the sofa, resolutely awake and alert until exhaustion overwhelmed her.