Disclaimer: All rights go to the beautiful producers and creators of the TV show Rizzoli and Isles

Chapter 1 – Only Women Bleed

"Man makes your hair gray. He's your life's mistake
All you're really lookin' for is an even break
He lies right at you. You know you hate this game
He slaps you once in a while and you live and love in pain"

[Only Women Bleed by Alice Cooper]

"No, no, no, no…" Maura half-heartedly begged, her mascara smudged all over her face from her tears.

"Maybe if you kept your mouth shut then this wouldn't happen, would it?" her drunken boyfriend slurred. This wasn't the first time he came home drunk from the local bar and thought it would be a good idea to push around his long term girlfriend for a while.

His fist connected with her stomach causing her half-limp body to collapse to the ground, her head screaming for her to fight back, to run, to do anything, but her hands stayed unresponsive, and instead were weighing her down to the ground as if they were made of concrete.

Charlie was her boyfriend that she had been dating for over a year now. He was everything she could ever dream of at first, he became her safe haven from the world she had to deal with outside and felt delighted to come home to a kind, sweet, and honest man he once portrayed herself to be. Every time he came home like this, she would remember the sweet little notes he left for her around the house and the roses he brought to her workplace "just because".

Though that soon turned for the worst when he got laid off his job no less than two months ago, the company he worked for went bankrupt, it didn't matter to Maura, she still loved him for who he was but his fragile masculinity was wounded at the fact he had to rely on his girlfriend for everything, from bills to basic things like food. Therefore, he turned his usual working out wasting money gambling and at the bar drinking away his sorrows and coming home to have control of something he could take advantage of, and that happened to be Maura.

The worst part of it was that Maura would never leave him because each and every morning, he would bandage her wounds and treat her like a queen for the day, apologising every moment he got. Well, what else do you expect from an emotional manipulator? All they need to do is find the right victim to fall into their trap.

"Pathetic!" He shouted and walking away from her limp body splayed on the floor, the rest of his profanities and taunting were covered with his slurred speech, but all Maura could hear from the floor was the footsteps moving away from her and the door slamming not long after. She let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding and forced herself to push her body up. She didn't dare walk towards the mirror like she would usually do right now, the damage this time was by far the worst it has been ever. As a doctor, she knew that she would have to go to the hospital, she didn't have the equipment at her home to fix up these wounds, and she was close to certain that some of these needed stitches.

Her breathing hitched as she stood up, her arm grasping the fresh wound and now forming bruise on her abdomen. Reaching out close by for something solid to hold herself up, she took a few deep breaths before deciding what to do next.

She could go to the police and inevitably Jane, that thought reoccurred through her brain, but as absurd as it was, she loved Charlie, loved him enough to stay with him. Her plan B was her best option right now.

Plan B for her was a small clinic on the outskirts of town, it was mainly used by teenagers who fell pregnant at a young age or for free contraception but the best thing about this place was that they didn't know who she was, she wasn't a highly decorated medical examiner, she was just another patient. Her movements were still shaky from the beating though she managed to get to her car keys and, with a lot of struggle, to her car.

Getting there, the car ride was filled with silence apart from the sound of heavy breathing as Maura reached hyperventilation every so often and was soon followed by her pathetic means of calming herself down, trying to see the bright side of things, something she thought would be a lot easier than it actually was.

'Just breathe Maura, you're okay'

'Just breathe' she thought in her head.

She parked her car near the entrance of the clinic, considering the time of night it was, she knew it wouldn't be that busy apart from the sparse number of doctors and odd nurse who worked the night shift, but she thought the less people around to witness her presence then the better it would be for her. Worst thing about this was the look she was going to get from the remaining doctors and nurses who just know what happened to her. They always know.

Maura blanked out for the rest of the night and soon was led to a room where a nurse was cleaning and stitching up her wounds, until an old doctor came in and started asking her questions.

The room was sterile white and filled with cold silver equipment that made the room feel unwelcoming and bitterly cold. There was a pitiable attempt at warming up the place with colourful posters aimed at children, filled with cartoon characters and bright primary colours.

"Are you ready to leave him?" he asked abruptly. As much as Maura could pretend to not know what they were talking about, they knew the signs of their abuser, it was their job, and they probably saw cases like this in their daily work. She could just pretend that she was fine, fine on her own. The only problem was that she wasn't fine. She was slowly breaking in to pieces inside.

Nobody pushed her after she denied it the first two times, they knew it was best not to push someone further than they can emotionally handle, but that doesn't mean they didn't offer her help. Lucky for Maura, the nurse she had was friendly and understanding, persuading her to go to this small group gathering, a domestic abuse centre, a piece of information that spiked something in Maura. This group was something small and occurred during her lunch hour once a fortnight and reluctantly, she agreed.

A/N: So yeah, I'm re-writing this one now, I have a habit of not finishing my work so I really want to do this. The original wasn't that bad of a basis so I just extended my work a little bit and polished it around the edges, along with giving it a proper ending.

I just got a review not that long ago from someone asking if I was going to finish this and since then I have been planning to get started of this. I've been spending pretty much most of October finishing this and that's why I haven't been focusing on the rest of my stories.

Oh by the way, my chapters are named after the song I'm using; it's not just some random thing… yeah, not sure where I was going with that sentence.

Though I have finished this story, I will still follow my normal uploading schedule because it's just so much easier

Read and review xx