An: Final Chapter here guys.

This time it's legit. I was thinking about doing an epilogue type sequel that takes place years after this, but I figured with the frustration this story has caused a lot of you wouldn't want that lol. Plus, I like this ending. I've wanted this ending for a while now I've jut been unsure. Anywho comment. This is the final chapter, wanna hear from everyone about the Epilogue-sequel idea and also if you guys liked the chapter. Thanks for sticking in here with me guys; it's been a magical ride.

You start to feel guilt and anger thrum inside your chest. Part of you knows you just messed up big time, and the other part of you is just so angry that Riley, some woman Jane hooked up with once or twice (at least that's how many times you tell yourself she did), is the one pointing it out.

"This has nothing to do with you!"

She scoffs loudly, waving a hand about dismissively. "Whatever. Someone has to care for Jane, and obviously it isn't going to be you."

You try to say something more, your heart still pumping with adrenaline, but before you can, Jane places her arm across your chest, stilling you and your onslaught of words.

"Don't talk to her like that, Ry.I get it; you're mad. But don't talk to her like that."

She commands it so steely, so seriously that you almost feel like swooning. She didn't do this at the table, and you wonder if it was because she didn't want the audience of Korsak and Frost. Or if Riley's implication that you didn't care for her just set Jane off. Either way, her defensive attitude makes you want hug her closely, if only for a moment. But you shake off that impulse quickly because this is neither the time nor the place. And she and you have already broken enough rules tonight. You see an unreadable look rush quickly across Riley's face at Jane's words before she simply turns her gaze to you and hmphs. Her indignance angers you even more than her interruption.

"What is your issue with me, Riley? Really? I'm a complete stranger." You question, pressing forward into Jane's arm.

She laughs loudly at you as if your question is the funniest thing she's ever heard.

"Well, first you're engaged," she pauses looking at Jane who you feel shuffle uncomfortably as if she'd almost forgotten that detail, "And despite that fact, you're still making out Jane. Speaking of which," she turns her gaze from you to the detective at your side, "Jay, what are you doing?"

The words come out short and exasperated, almost as if she's said them to Jane a million times before.

"Just stay out of it, Riley. I'm handling it," Jane responds hastily, running a hand roughly through her hair before glancing over at you. Riley shakes her head and rolls her eyes.

"Okay, Jane, say I leave and you two continue to handle it on the counter. Maybe even a couple of times in the stalls," the shorter brunette begins, sharp derision on her tongue " What happens after that, Jay?" She pauses, and you start to realize you don't really know what happens after this. Your feelings for Jane are getting out of hand, and this break from Ian is doing more to confuse things than to clarify them. But does that mean you're going to leave him for her? Does that mean you're going to just ignore a decade of relationship, of history, of love?

"I'll tell you what's going to happen, Jay," Riley sighs, "She's gonna leave and go back home… to her fiancé."

Jane stiffens immediately, and you want to say something to the other woman. You want her to stop talking, to stop popping the happy, thoughtless bubble of passion Jane and you have created. But before you can talk, Jane moves in front of you again, blocking your view of Riley with her face. Her hands come up to cup your cheeks gently, but the desire in her eyes is all but burnt out. All that's left is sad surrender.

"Do you love me?" Jane asks you quietly, her eyes full of this desperate sort of hope, "Because I love you, and I can't stay away from you. And what happened just now made it feel like maybe you can't stay away from me either. That maybe…maybe you're in love with me too."

You can feel your heart pulsating with this oddly dreadful yet pleasant feeling. Love is so strange, isn't it?

"Do you love me, Maura?" she asks you again, her thumb rubbing gently against your cheek. You don't say anything. This whole situation went from passionate tongue battling to life-changing decision time in a second flat. And make no mistake; that is what this is…a life-changing decision. Maybe not the love itself, but the admittance of it…the acceptance.

It is a choice. You choose to be in love with someone, you agree to surrender yourself to that person, and once you do, well it is almost impossible to truly belong to anyone else. And the weight of that choice is almost unbearable for you. It is too much.

So when she looks into your eyes, urging you to answer, you can't bring yourself to say no. But you also can't bring yourself to say yes.

All you can really do is stare at her, eyes wide in indecision.

And maybe that indecision is choice enough for Jane because she turns around and walks out of the restroom, not even acknowledging Riley on the way out.

You expect the other brunette to go running after Jane, desperate to pick up the pieces, but to your surprise Riley doesn't immediately follow Jane. She just stands there, staring at you in judgment

"What do you get out of this?" she asks simply after a moment, her arms still crossed beside the door. You only glare at her before straightening out your blouse a little. She doesn't let up though; she just keeps her eyes locked on you. "I'm serious…what do you get out of this?"

"Get out of what?" you huff, wishing she would just go. Wishing she would just let you sulk in silence.

"Breaking her heart?"she asks softly, her eyes peering into yours inquisitively. And you realize she's asking the question genuinely

"I never wanted to break her heart," you answer back in frustration, "I never wanted to hurt Jane." She stares at you a moment, nodding silently before finally speaking again.

"Then let her be happy," she says, "Stop coming around and reminding her that she loves you."

Let her be happy with you, you mean?" you respond back sharply before you can stop yourself. You're certain she has some other motive other than Jane's happiness, and honestly, you don't want to be reminded that after you go, she'll slip right in.

She simply shrugs at you. "We haven't known each other that long, but if she ends up happy with me, who cares? As long as she ends up happy right?...or is that too selfless a concept for you?" Her tone is blank, but the biting words are hard to miss. You grit your teeth a little at the woman.

"Jane and I work together; we have mutual friends. It is almost impossible for me to 'stop coming around' as you put it."

"I don't think you want there to be a way," she retorts, "I think you want to keep stringing her along, so you can have a cuddle buddy when your fiance's away."

"Did she tell you that?" you ask sharply, offended. You wonder just how much Jane's shared with this woman. You wonder how much she knows about your life. "I'm not sure what Jane's told you or what Jane believes, but my feelings for her are far more than tha-"

"But it's not love!" Riley almost snaps, her anger appearing briefly before she quickly replaces it with calm indignance. When she speaks again her voice is low and stern as if she's speaking to some insolent child. "It's attraction; it's desire. It's fondness. And that's nice, but it's not love. And even if it were love, it's a shitty, horrible love. It's a selfish, vindictive, manipulative love. And Jane doesn't know it, but she deserves more than that. She deserves more than the crumby, piece of shit love you have to offer."

You stand stunned by her harsh words, staring at the other woman speechless as she turns smoothly and walks out of the restroom.

By the time you garner the courage to come out of the restroom too, the pair is already gone. Frost and Korsak are staring at you, wide-eyed and curious, and you wonder what show the two women must have put on upon leaving to make them look so baffled.

"Is everything okay, Maura?" Frost finally asks, and the sympathetic look he's giving you makes you feel as if he's a lot more aware of the situation than Korsak probably is. You wonder if Jane has told him. But before you can think about that possibility too thoroughly, the exhaustion of the situation settles into your bones and all you want to do is go home and cry.

"I'm just tired," you start, reaching for your purse which is still sitting on the edge of the booth seat. When Korsak realizes what you're about to do, his eyes widen and a disappointed expression takes over his features.

"Don't tell me you're leaving too."

You look at him guiltily, but Frost rests a hand on the man's shoulder and saves you the discomfort of responding. "Hey, we can celebrate together old man. It'll be like a practice bachelor party." The older man chuckles lightly and Frost glances over at you before saying,

"We'll see you tomorrow, Maura."

Day 7

It's not really day 7. It's more like a late, late Day 6. But it's 1 o'clock, so you regard it as Day 7 even though the sleepless night of Day 6 still lingers. You know Ian is expecting your call. He probably expected it at 12, He probably expected you to come running back to him, crying in relief that he was still there to run too.

You sigh hard. When did you start regarding Ian so lowly? Is it some sort of subconscious defense mechanism, so you can protect yourself from dealing with the true guilt of what you've done? Are the kind of person that cheats on someone else and then blames your behavior one the person you've hurt?

God, you hope not. But the way your mind has been working lately it sure seems like it.

You think about Jane more than Ian. At least these 7 days you've thought about Jane more. Maybe it's because you've seen her more; she's always within arms' reach, always there. Whereas Ian…well Ian always feels like a country away. But you figure distance shouldn't matter to the heart. The heart doesn't understand miles or times or really any human construct; it feels without bias. It loves without reason. And if Jane ran away tomorrow to a different country, to a different continent, you'd think about her the same. Maybe more.

Why not Ian?

Maybe it's because you've been numbed to his absence. His departures are more normal than his arrivals; you see him as a permanent fixture in your life. Like the sun or the moon. He disappears sometimes, out of sight, out of your world completely, but you always have faith he will return. You always know he will once again adorn the corner of your sky.

Jane's presence in your life used to be comparable to that of a security blanket's. She was always there, for warmth, for company, to wrap yourself in when the stillness of the night became too much. She was yours, and maybe not rightfully so...maybe not under the appropriate circumstances. But in a way, for the short amount of time when Ian wasn't home, she was yours. And you realize now, you were kind of hers too.
You realize now that you haven't been fighting some fiery, passionate attraction. You haven't even been fighting a feeling.

What you've been fighting against is love. Deep, undeniable love. And your heart, god your heart wants her so badly that being away from her now, it hurts. It is painful. In that dingy little restroom, you discovered something so incredibly obvious that you'd ignored it for almost a year.

You love Jane Rizzoli. You are in love with Jane Rizzoli

Yet still, you hear Riley's words ringing in your ear.

"It's a shitty, horrible love. It's a selfish, vindictive, manipulative love. And Jane doesn't know it, but she deserves more than that."

You can hear her voice berating you, criticizing you.

And part of you can't help but feel even with your hatred of this woman, that maybe she is right.

You were nothing but selfish and manipulative in the beginning. And maybe you weren't exactly conscious of it, maybe all the acts were kind of impulsive and stupid. But you hurt Jane. You hurt so badly she broke down in front of her own mother, the same mother she's been hiding her feelings from for a very, very long time.

And look how you've treated Ian. He's basically given his life up for you, and a big part of your mind still just wants to toss him aside.

Is that really the kind of a person you are?

"She deserves more than the crumby, piece of shit love you have to offer."

"Ugh!" You groan, reaching over to pick up your phone from the nightstand. You should call Ian. You loved him once right…you still do in a way right?

But no matter how much you tell yourself that there's still a chance, you can't pick up the phone. You can't dial the number.

Jane's POV

Getting your heart broken is just like getting a limb cracked in half. Except with a limb, you go to a doctor, you get it braced, you let it heal. With a heart, you have to fix it yourself, you have to brace it even as it beats furiously against the cast. Even as it longs to get out. You want so badly for something and unlike other limbs which ache and burn in their broken state, which beg for you to stop, your heart…your heart eggs you on. Your heart can be ripped from your chest and still find the power to beat a little longer. Because your heart knows no reason. Your heart knows no boundary. It loves without limitations even when its tiny form cannot bear to do so.

You're so tired of your heart.

You're off today, so you decide to stay in and sulk quietly in front of the television. You've probably spent the entire day like this, your phone turned off and somewhere in a drawer. Riley kept trying to apologize last night, explaining why she acted the way she did. But honestly you didn't feel like dealing with that drama, so you just told her you wanted to be alone. It isn't until late, late into the evening that you hear a knock on the door. It's light and tentative, and a big part of you hopes it's a certain blonde. But when you open the door, it's Riley, standing there nervously.

"I just wanted to really apologize, Jay…I don't want you to be all pissed at me."

You want to roll your eyes a little, but Riley isn't being mean. Or vindictive.

She's just showing she genuinely cares about you unlike some people in your life. Lately, she's really been there for you even as you annoyingly fixated on some other woman. The least you could do is not treat her like some irritating pest. It's not fair. And being in the situation you are with Maura, you completely know how she feels.

"It's okay, Ry," you say finally, stepping to the side so she can enter.

Maura's POV

It's getting late. Time is running out. Work was rough today; you were too focused on not focusing on Jane. And Ian.

But mostly Jane.

Because you're in love with her.

And now you can't go back to not being in love with her.

You grip your phone tighter in your hand. You've been hovering over the call button for 15 minutes now ever since you finally got home. But you don't want to call. You don't want to be reminded of how much Ian means to you, and how long he's been there for you.

Because you're in love with Jane.

And you want to run to Jane. You want to burst through the doors of her apartment and say the words that have been pulsating in the pit of your stomach since yesterday.

I love you

I love you

I love you

I am in love with you

It's desire versus reason. It's control versus nature. Your heart wants Jane, at least the crazy, passionate part. But your mind doesn't think you should have her. Because if you do have her, you'll break Ian; you'll lose all you've built with him. And with the pattern you've developed with love, you'd probably just end up breaking Jane too.

You keep reminding yourself of this. Riley's words somewhere in the back of your head.

"Let her be happy. Stop coming around and reminding her that she loves you."

You can hear her voice you swear, but still some part of you is screaming that maybe you can make her happy too. Maybe she can be happy with you.

So before you can think it out too thoroughly, you just grab your keys and go.

You quickly park on the curb of her house, fly out of the car, and trod up the steps to her apartment.

You're ready to knock on the door. You're ready to tell her. To be with her.

But then you hear a faint sound float out from inside the room. Well several faint sounds actually. There's the unmistakable buzz of a television set, but then, right behind it…between some commercials for car insurance and breakfast cereals there's her voice. Jane's…and someone else's. Someone who has a heavy but distinctly different rasp. Somebody who's laughing. Whose laughter is tangling with Jane's so effortlessly it almost makes you want to weep.

She sounds happy.

So happy. Which is odd because recently, every time you see her, she seems so…unhappy. It isn't until you hear her laugh slipping under the door that you realize how rarely you've heard it lately. Her loud, scratchy laugh. You've missed it…you've missed her. This her. Happy her. And now, now with you gone; now with you virtually out of the picture, she's laughing. She's better. She's happy.

You wonder if you could ever make her that happy.

When all the theatrics and the declarations of love and the hand-holding and first dates are over. When your novelty runs out, when the chase is done, when she has solidified you as hers. You wonder if she will still be happy with you. You wonder if she will still love you.

Ian would… Ian has.

Ian's given you a second chance, and all you can do is selfishly think about this dream. This dream of Jane. Of some woman you haven't even known for a year. Of some woman you forced into spending time with you. You're choosing her over a man who has loved you for more than a decade. You're choosing her over a man who has given up everything for you. You loved him once, right? You did. You must have. But your mind won't stop thinking about Jane. Your heart won't leave her alone.

"Maura I am so unbelievably in love with you."

The adoration you have for her; it is overwhelming you. Controlling you. Because now, now that you've been forced to confront it, to see it, you can't seem to look away. You can't seem to ignore it. Every bone in your body is aching for her, is urging you forward.

Love her, hold her, be with her.

Your lungs, your brain, your heart, they all just want her. So badly, that for a moment you try to push yourself to knock on the door. It's the only thing; this little slab of wood is the only barrier separating you from her. But every time you try, every time you convince yourself you're ready, you hear her laughter. You hear her happy, beautiful laughter.

And you stop yourself.

Because of all those overpowering little wants thrumming inside your chest, the strongest desire—the want that keeps your knuckles perpetually one inch from the door—is just for Jane to be happy.

Ian is staring at his phone. Blankly. Resignedly. He knows what the silence means. He knows the truth it must signify. And yet he can't stop himself from staring. It's the 7th day. She should be calling…Maura should've called. But it's 11:23, and there hasn't been one ring. Not even the ding of a text message.

There's a small part of Ian, a tiny microscopic part, that is angry. That is infuriated at the thought that maybe Maura has picked Jane. That maybe Maura is with her right now. That maybe within the span of a week, his fiancé, the love of his life, has all but forgotten him. Maybe he overestimated her love for him; maybe he shouldn't have given her space. Maybe he should have kissed her so deeply that she forgot any other lips existed. Maybe he should have held her so closely that she forgot what it was to be held by anyone else. Maybe he should have stayed there and loved her with his presence because when he thinks about, his absence is what brought him here in the first place. He clenches his fists tightly before almost immediately relaxing them. He's trying not to let that microscopic anger grow; he's trying to stay reasonable and hopeful because that's really the only things he has working in his favor at the moment.

Reason and hope.

And until the 7 days are decisively over. Until Maura has come to a clear choice, Ian will wait.

He looks away from the phone for a moment, turning his eyes to the white, bumpy motel ceiling. He's praying silently, praying to every god in existence that he hasn't lost Maura. That he still has a chance.

And almost as if a miracle. Almost as if some invisible deity has heard his plea, his cellphone screen lights up.

A call. From Maura.

Don't forget to tell me about your feelings about an Epilogue-Sequel type thing, and also tell me your feelings on the ending. I know I'm going to get a lotta anger lmao, but you guys angry comments just let me know you care. So they're alright. This is a free zone. Anyways thanks for the ride guys, it's been a blast.