Maura was sat in a small private waiting room of the hospital, she was still wearing the clothes she had on whilst she had been curled up with Jane watching television an hour previously. Now Jane was fighting for her life in an operating theatre and she was sat alone in the private room waiting…. Waiting for Jane to come out of theatre and be back at her side… waiting for the arrival of the Rizzoli family… and waiting to find out if the love of her life was even alive.

It was not long before the hurricane known as Angela Rizzoli swept into the room in a hurry. She froze at the sight of the honey blonde woman who was sat on the sofa inside the room, she was caked in blood; it was all over her clothing as well as her skin where she had tried desperately to save Jane. Angela was used to seeing the woman bright and fully of life but this version just sat there silently, staring straight ahead of her as if she were not seeing at all, and she was silent. "Go and get her something to wear", she said to Tommy, "Quickly, before the children get here".

Tommy nodded and left the room, moving towards the nurse's desk.

Angela cautiously made her way over to Maura's side, the sight of so much blood on Maura made her feel quite nauseous, however, she knew that Maura needed her in that moment and had to suppress that feeling. It was not the sight of the blood that made her heart clench the most, but instead the handprint on the side of Maura's face which appeared to be Jane's.

Maura simply continued to stare at the wall ahead of her, not seeing or hearing a thing.

"Maura", the Italian woman whispered softly, "Maura", she tried again as she reached out and placed a hand on Maura's shoulder.

Her face whipped around to look at Angela, seemingly surprised by her presence as she had not known of her arrival. It surprised Maura that she had not even noticed the other woman was there, usually she was fully aware of her surroundings. The moment that she noticed the woman, tears began to stream down her face and she fell forward into Angela's embrace, sobbing and breaking down in her arms.

Angela held her close with tears running down her own face as she did her best to comfort Maura, "She's going to be okay Maura", she said gently, "She's a fighter", she was not only trying to convince the sobbing honey blonde in her arms but also herself.

It had been a long day for them all, Jane had still not awoken and it was taking its toll on each of them, especially Maura who was trying to hold it together for the four children. Their family continued to do their best to help support Maura and the children, however, Maura was stubborn and consistently attempted to do everything herself. She wanted to be the one to take care of the children, she wanted to be the one to remain at Jane's side, and she wanted to be the one there when Jane awoke. She desperately wanted to be there for that and she begged her true love every single day to wake up.

Just like every night since Jane had been admitted, the four children were resting on the hospital bed with the sleeping woman whilst Maura was sat in the chair beside the bed with her hand firmly clasping Jane's. She found herself missing the feeling of Jane squeezing her hand back or brushing her thumb over the back of her hand - she found that it was the small things that she missed the most, the things that she vowed to never ever take for granted.

Maura read the story calmly to the children, "Once upon a time there lived a good king and his queen. They had no children for many years and were very sad", her voice carried through the room making the children relax in the bed even more.

As she continued the story, the children listened attentively as they always did when she read to them, "Then one day, the queen gave birth to a lovely baby girl and the whole kingdom was happy. There was a grand celebration and all the fairies in the kingdom were invited. But the king forgot to invite an old fairy. She came to the celebrations but was very angry. Soon it was time to gift the baby with special wishes. The good fairies wished her well and said, "May she grow to be the most beautiful girl in the world! She will sing sweetly and dance so well! She will live happily!" All the fairies blessed the baby and gave her beautiful gifts".

Leona snuggled into Jane a little bit more as she listened, she had taken Jane's hand and wrapped the woman's arm around herself after mumbling that she had to hug her.

Jane was lying on Leona's bed with the storybook in front of her, the child had awoken in the night and the Italian woman had been convinced by the child to read a story to her. She had her arm wrapped around the two-year-old holding her close as she read the fairytale story although going a little off script by adding in things that she thought would make it more fun. It was not long, however, before the child had fallen asleep and she was followed shortly by Jane.

An hour later Maura wondered what was taking Jane so long, she went up to the child's bedroom and could not help but smile at the sight of the dark haired woman sprawled out on the bed with her leg hanging off the side of the bed and her daughter spread across her.

"When it was the old fairy's turn, she said, "When the baby is sixteen she will touch a spindle, and die!" The king and queen were shocked and begged the fairy to forgive them and take her words back but the fairy refused to do so. When the other fairies saw the king and queen crying, they said, "We cannot undo what the old fairy has spoken. But we certainly can make it different. Your child shall not die when she touches the spindle. But she will fall into a deep sleep for a hundred years. Then, a prince will come along and wake her up." Hearing this, the king and the queen were relieved. The king forbade everyone from spinning so that the princess would never touch a spindle", Maura read the story out loud to the children, occasionally looking up at them, she truly did love each and every one of the people on that bed and she had come to realise that her entire world was currently laying on that bed although she did wish that they were all laying on her bed instead. Far away from the hospital and preferably uninjured.

Faith smiled brightly at the woman, if anyone asked her then she would claim that she was 'too old' for fairytales but in reality she loved them and the hope they portrayed but she also just loved to listen to her mother read as well as Maura. Throughout the ordeal of her mother being in a coma she had come to find Maura's voice the most soothing of sounds possible. The comfort and love the woman offered was exactly what she needed, exactly what all of the children needed.

"A hundred years passed. There came a prince from a far off land. He, along with his servants, went deep into the forest and crossed many rivers. Once the prince lost his way and was separated from the rest of the travellers. He came to the sleeping kingdom and was amazed. The guards, the servants, the cats and the cows were all fast asleep and snoring", she read before glancing over at her own beauty.

"This one is a bit like Maleficent isn't it?", Grace said with a smile.

Leona smiled, "I like Maleficent", she said happily.

Maura smiled, nodding at Grace before continuing, "he prince reached the palace and entered it. No one moved. The prince then found the sleeping princess. She was such a beautiful girl that the prince kissed her. By that time, a hundred years had passed by and everyone was waking up, one by one. The princess yawned and opened her eyes. She saw the prince and smiled. She asked him "Are you my prince?" He was happy to hear her speak. The prince and the princess fell in love with each other. The prince wanted to marry the princess so they went to ask for permission from their parents".

"That doesn't make sense", Emery commented, "Why would they fall in love with each other and get married that quickly if they only just met?".

"And he kissed her when she was sleeping", Faith highlighted, "He didn't have permission, which means there are some pretty big consent issues there".

Maura smiled at them both and nodded, "I agree with you both, I am not entirely sure what they were thinking when they wrote this".

"I preferred the Maleficent version", Faith said with a slight sigh, "At least they knew each other beforehand, and I know it was Maleficent that started the curse but she really did love Aurora".

"And it wasn't in an icky way", Grace said with a slightly scrunched up face.

"You should do that", Leona said suddenly.

"Do what sweetheart?", Maura asked with curiosity as she closed the fairytale book and placed it on the side. The book was a collection of fairy tales and she had been reading the stories to the children every night as they lay on Jane's hospital bed.

Leona started to sit up, removing her head from the comfort of the woman's chest where she could feel the movement of her breathing. She had begun to breathe on her own the day before but she was yet to awake from the coma despite the sleep medication being stopped almost twelve hours ago. "Kiss her", she said simply, "Kiss her like Prince Charming did to Snow White".

The woman bit her lip and looked down, "Leona", she began gently, "I'm sorry but that... that only works in fairy tales".

Instantly the child glared at her, "It works Mommy", she insisted, "It will work"

"It might work", Grace said as she watched her mother sleeping in the hospital bed, "and at least you knew each other before the kiss...and love each other too"

As she sat beside Grace, Emery nodded, "It's worth a try, isn't it? I bet Ma wouldn't mind".

Maura looked at the woman and sighed heavily before closing her eyes.

"You said you love her", Faith highlighted, "I heard you at the house and I've heard you hundreds of times since, and I know she loves you too". The thirteen-year-old looked at Maura before saying, "What can you lose when we know you want to kiss her anyways?".

"I would have preferred her to be awake for it", Dr Isles mumbled.

Faith smiled, "Then you have to wake her up".

She stood up beside the bed and reached out to cup the other woman's jaw, "I love you, Jane, so much", she whispered before leaning into her. Her lips met Jane's in a soft but loving kiss, holding her lips against hers with her eyes closed. Tears ran down Maura's cheeks as she gradually pulled her lips away and simply rested her forehead against Jane's, "Please wake up".

Gradually her eyelids fluttered open and as Maura pulled back, opening her eyes as she did so, she found herself looking into the eyes of the woman she had fallen in love with so many years ago. "Jane", she gasped.

"I told you it would work", Leona said proudly with a grin.

Jane looked over at her and with a croaky voice, she asked the child what had worked.

Leona smiled, "Prince Charming kissed Snow White to wake her up from the curse and so Mommy woke you up with a kiss too".

Lieutenant Rizzoli smirked, "My Prince Charming, huh?", she said as she looked at Maura who began to blush.

"No silly", the two-year-old responded as she shook her head as if the woman was being ridiculous, "She's a Queen".

"My Queen", Jane repeated as she remained looking into the hazel eyes of Maura Isles, "Does that mean I get another kiss?".

"You get as many as you want", she said with a bright and almost blinding smile, before leaning forward and kissing the woman carefully although it was not long before Jane deepened it and reached up slightly to pull her closer.

Faith smiled and covered Leona's eyes, looking at her siblings, she knew that everything would be okay because now? Now they could officially be a family, not that they weren't one before of course.

"Does this mean you're getting married now?", the child said with her eye still covered making the others in the room laugh.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has added this story to their favourite list or to their alerts as well as to those who have taken the time to review.

Sweetkid45 - Thank you! I am glad you think so! Thank you for your review.

Sunshine - Thank you for taking the time to review. I am glad that you have enjoyed it.

Boo - Thank you for leaving a review on this story, it definitely made me smile to awake to such positivity.

Thank you for staying with me throughout this story, it has now come to an end, however, my next task is to work on chapter 41 of Jane's Story! Does anyone have any preferences what I should work on after chapter 41? Chapter 42 or an update to another of my stories?