CHAPTER ELEVEN

Falling.

That's all she could remember.

Hands grasping and finding nothing but air.

Her back hit something hard, jolting the breath from her lungs.

Rizzoli lay on the ground below the window, winded and disoriented.

The body lying next to her groaned and started to move just as a caravan of cruisers screeched onto the property.

Recollections swam back to her in pieces as strong hands helped her up.

Under attack, surrounded by broken glass, kicking, defending...

She felt surprisingly okay as she wiped snow from her stained clothes. She was in one piece, though the cold was quickly permeating the damp, bloodied fabric, raising prickles on her skin. It stung in a few places; no doubt she was scratched and bleeding.

She shook her head and planted her hands on her hips as the last of the replay flashed behind her eyes.

Pushing with both legs, lifting the suspect's center mass, before being grabbed and dragged over the edge...

She breathed in deeply and let out a huge sigh. Lucky didn't even come close to explaining how she'd lived through a fall from that second floor.

An ambulance was the last vehicle to appear in the driveway and her head whipped around towards the house.

Korsak!

oOo

Frost held the doctor back upon her hasty exit from the vehicle, un-holstering his weapon and pressing a single finger to his lips, to prevent her from running into an unknown situation.

Now, an eerie silence surrounded them as Maura and Frost cautiously moved past the squad cars that blocked the driveway.

There was clear indication of a struggle, evidence of a bloody form falling onto the snow, and Maura's heart rate shot up. She raised her eyes to find a balcony... a broken window... more blood.

Oh god.

Her strangled voice was a whisper, "Jane."

Frost couldn't stop her from running to the back of an ambulance that sat with its rear doors open.

"Jane?"

A deafening scream came from the gurney as a woman lurched violently forward and made to grab her.

"Oh, my!" Maura jumped back in shock. The palm that instinctively lifted to her chest felt every pound of her heart as it fought to escape her ribcage.

"LET ME GO, YOU HEATHEN!" The woman fought with her restraints until an EMT and a uniformed officer pushed her back down.

Frost lay a hand on the blonde's back as he moved up behind her to take a look. "I'm guessing that's our suspect?"

Maura turned, grabbing fistfuls of his blazer to steady herself, "If she's here, then where are -"

Both sets of eyes snapped to the main entrance as the heavy wooden door creaked open and familiar voices could be heard bickering.

"You don't have to ride in the bus but you do have to get your head checked."

"I'm fine."

"You are not fine. You nearly split your melon open, old man."

Rizzoli and another EMT were helping Korsak out of the house, each of his arms draped around their necks, all three hunch-backed and hobbling with the effort.

Korsak tipped his head to the side. "He already checked me, said there was nothing but a lump."

The doctor's sigh of relief was faintly audible and she moved as if wanting to run to them, but the sight of both Jane and Vince covered in blood made her feet feel like lead. She swayed on the spot, trying to shake the image from her mind but it remained; it was real. All she wanted to do was wrap Jane up in her arms, but now...

The doctor could hear Jane's attempt at blackmail, "And what do you think Dr. Isles will say when she finds out?"

"Don't threaten me with your girlfriend, Janie. You were lucky to survive that fall. Might be a terrible shame if she accidentally found out -"

"You wouldn't dare -" she gasped.

She fell. It was Jane that fell. And they're laughing?

The sound of Frost clearing his throat a few feet away drew their attention but it was the sight of a scowling Dr. Isles, arms folded across her chest, lips pursed tightly, and booted foot tapping quietly in the snow that made them freeze.

"Ut oh." Korsak suddenly found the ground fascinating.

"Speak of the devil," Jane mumbled through the side of her mouth.

Korsak chuckled heartily for a second until the throbbing in his head made him stop with a wince.

What the hell?

As uniformed police officers exited the house behind them and the sound of yet more screeching emanated from the ambulance, the EMT excused himself to help his colleague, leaving Jane to hold up Korsak's considerable weight alone.

"It's not what it looks like," sighed Jane.

Maura gestured with both hands, from their heads to their toes. She was patently not amused by their light-hearted bantering and shocking appearance. "That's good... because it looks like you're both half-dead!"

"We're fine," she drawled just as Korsak groaned, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, one of us is," she added.

Frost moved to take over where the EMT had left off, hoisting Korsak's arm around his neck and taking some of his weight from Jane.

"I'm glad you sent ahead those units, buddy. It got a bit hairy there for a second."

"I've always got your back, Jane. Even via dispatch!"

She laughed. "Yeah well, thanks partner."

With Vince safely stowed in the back of their car, the two women found themselves stood several feet apart, silently staring at each other. The bustle of officers and scene investigators around them seemed to melt away for a moment as they communicated without sound.

"Maura –" I'm sorry.

Dark eyebrows drew together, repentant. I'm glad you're here.

A head tilt. I'm glad you're okay.

Parted lips. I want to kiss you.

Wringing hands. I need to kiss you.

Deep, simultaneous inhales. Later.

oOo

In the end it took more than seventy-two hours of non-stop reports, pointless interviews, redundant computer searches, endless evidence analysis, and several headache-inducing meetings with superiors to even come close.

Finding time together, alone, was impossible.

Maura had been camped out in the crime lab, having plenty of fluids, bones, and limbs to identify but no body to speak of that needed autopsying. Jane had tried to camp out with her for the first few hours, badgering the techs, pestering her staff. That was until the bloody fingerprints of Adam, Lizzy's second son, were identified as part of the reason Lizzy was able to physically conduct this gruesome crime to begin with. He was the accomplice and it was a detail that spurred on the detectives upstairs.

The first opportunity they had to be together was at Maura's house. But no sooner had they walked through the door, exhausted and sore, Angela came barging in unannounced to declare a family get together had been spontaneously arranged.

Great.

As it turned out, it was more of a BPD family gathering with Korsak and Frost and Frankie, still in his patrol uniform.

The matriarch wouldn't rest until she'd been reassured that the case from hell was over, that her girls and friends were safe.

"So there's no lasting damage?"

Korsak rubbed the back of his head where a bruised lump was beginning to recede, "I'll be fine," he laughed, slightly embarrassed.

"He will," added Maura. "I checked him myself." And she had, in the back of a cruiser at the crime scene, arguing all the while that both he and Jane needed to get checked out at the hospital.

It had given her something to do at the time, while Jane debriefed Frost and the two then went about directing and instructing the uniforms in hushed tones, handing out tasks to each man and woman.

She had kept an eye on the lanky brunette at the time, watching her limp to and fro, knowing that any argument for Jane to get checked out would be as equally fruitless. She had wanted so desperately to take an alcohol swab to the scratches on Jane's face, to clean her up... clean off the blood and kiss her senseless. A tidal wave of relief had washed over her in the back of that car, leaving watery eyes in its wake that only Vince had witnessed.

He had been gracious enough to cover her embarrassment with details of being overpowered and injured by a small woman. Distracted from her worries, the doctor had gone on to explain some of the effects of psychosis. It wasn't outside the realms of possibility for it to happen given the suspect's condition and he shouldn't feel bad about it. It could have happened to anyone, no matter their level of training and experience.

Ultimately, explaining away Vince's incident had been a detail that tickled at the back of her mind in the crime lab. Psychosis plus adrenaline was one thing; the ability to hoist bodies up into trees, alone, was something else. The identification of Adam's remains and finally getting a solid picture of everything he'd had a hand in had helped them to sort through all the pieces of the overall puzzle.

This case had been the biggest can of worms they had ever come across.

"Good thing you had those doggy treats in your pocket, too," Angela praised.

Jane laughed and shook her head. Animal Control had arrived on scene just as the ambulance carrying Lizzy Bath had departed. It was one of the first calls she had made after the backup units had arrived; making sure the property was safe for them to access all areas of the grounds.

"I still can't work out if that was a genius move or you just got lucky," Jane wondered with a frown.

Korsak grimaced as a shiver ran the length of his body. "I'm grateful those wolves had already been fed. Is that wrong?"

Jane snickered and Frost paled. He visibly gulped at the thought - just as he had at the scene - of femurs and ankle bones and a jaw riddled with chew marks being bagged by CSRU as they collected evidence from the backyard.

Indeed, that's where Lizzy's partner in crime had ended up. For as much as he had helped his crazy mother, Adam had clearly been as expendable as the rest of her estranged family. Seemingly, no good deed went unpunished if you were deluded enough to kill in the pursuit of everlasting life.

It was clear how lucky they had all been after stumbling into this nightmare. Maura spoke with a sigh, grateful and eager to move on, "Thank you for dinner, Angela."

"My pleasure, sweetie."

The doctor moved to clear some dirty plates from the dining table and as Jane followed suit Frankie jumped up. "Not you, Carrie," he said firmly, pointing at where the brunette's foot was propped up on an empty chair beside her and using a nickname that had started at the scene and stubbornly refused to die. "You stay."

There was nothing she could do under the reproachful gaze of her mother and best friend but sulk and fold her arms. Only Vince looked remotely sympathetic.

"Y'know," Angela drawled as she consolidated untouched leftovers into one bowl, "If you wanted to do dishes so badly you could have gotten that injury looked at three days ago."

True, she thought, but then she didn't want to do dishes, she wanted an excuse to sneak off to the kitchen with Maura and...

The blonde appeared at her back, ready to take more dishes to Frankie who was busy loading the dishwasher. "She'll live," she defended, wrapping an arm around the brunette from behind and planting a kiss on the top of her head. "Nothing broken. And sadly I can't prescribe anything to cure stubbornness."

Jane shouted as Maura giggled and moved away, "Hey!"

It was true. She had steadfastly refused a trip to the ER and continued to work with a limp until the case was closed. Her only concession had been to dry swallow the painkillers Maura insisted she take every four hours. Some things were just too important to stop and rest. It was a mark of her success and reputation that she always put them first.

Forced to watch the clean up from afar, Jane hobbled over to the couch and settled into a contemplative mood. Had it not been for the snow and the doctor's inability to get home without help, those gory displays might have gone undiscovered. The bodies might have been left to decay and break down into the snow, to be picked apart by predators and ultimately lost to the darkness.

She was left wondering how many homicidal maniacs managed to get away with murder if bodies could be hidden so well in plain sight. How many had she missed in her career if someone so obviously clinically mad could be the mastermind behind this awful spree? What hope did they have with the sane ones?

It wasn't long until people started to leave. Korsak, Frost and Frankie couldn't escape Angela and her Tupperware, each of them taking leftovers and a portion of a dessert that had remained untouched. There might come a time when Jane and Maura could look at a pumpkin pie without cringing but it was going to take a while.

When Maura turned out the kitchen lights and entered the living area with a drink in each hand Jane thought she was going to join her on the couch.

"You wanna watch a movie?"

Maura tilted her head side to side before a shapely eyebrow lifted and a smile teased her lips. "Actually..." she paused, "There's been something I've wanted to do for days now."

Scary movies weren't high on her list of priorities; they'd seen enough nasty surprises to last them through to next Halloween.

Jane's eyebrows lifted in response. "Oh?"

Placing a glass of wine and a bottle of beer down on the end table, Maura flicked off the lamps and the light in the entryway by the front door, before kicking off her shoes and padding back across the lounge barefoot.

Maura picked up both drinks and lowered her voice, "Did you know there's a jacuzzi tub in my en suite?"

Jane breathed in and out slowly, deliberately pausing to let that information settle before responding, low and husky, "I did not know that."

Jane leaned forward intrigued, elbows propped up on her knees.

"The day we ditched my car it's all I could think about." Maura's eyelids fluttered closed and she sighed dreamily. "A long... hot... soak."

The blonde beamed, "And I've been looking forward to the opportunity ever since."

Wondering whether or not she should get up and leave, Jane's answer came as Maura began to saunter backwards out of the room. One saucy, wiggling eyebrow said far more than the question that came out of her mouth. "Are you coming?"

Her eyes were dark and she swayed her hips deliberately as she turned and started down the hallway toward her bedroom.

She giggled lightly at the sound of Jane eagerly trying to catch up while cursing her limp and begging the blonde to slow down. Jane might not have taken kindly to repeatedly being told to take the weight off her foot earlier, but Maura figured she wouldn't have as much objection to being horizontal for the next eight to ten hours.


A/N: That's it folks. Thank you for still being interested, for following and for your nice reviews. You're all wonderful.

Shout out to Orison once again for being my beta, and in particular for sticking around during the unplanned hiatus. You rock! Grazie mille.