"Knock knock" Constanse looked up to see Angela Rizzoli popping her head into the room with a smile

"Angela" Constanse breathed out and a relived smile started forming on her lips. Through all of the craziness, this cheerful Italian woman was one of the few things that kept her from falling apart.

"I brought lunch." she held the paper bag proudly as she entered the room. "I know how terrible the food in the hospital cafeteria is, though I`m sure you haven't eaten anything these last few days." She placed the brown bag into Constanses' hands who accepted it greatfully.

They both sat there a hour after Constanse finished her lunch, playing cards using the deck that Angela brought along to help pass the time. She`s already been there once, she knows how slow time seems to move when you`re waiting for a miracle to happen.

"How are you holding up?" Angela looked up from her cards glancing at Constance.

"Not so well." Angela watched as the other woman seemed to shrink in her chair.

"Her heart stopped again last night, they-they had to revive her. I…. I've never been so terrified in my life." Her voice seemed to fade with every word, until it became a whisper at the last syllable. She shook her head slightly, trying to fend off the unwanted memory from resurfacing.

"That poor excise of a doctor thinks that maybe it's time we consider the possibility of her never waking up." another sigh.

"You mean Pike? The intern?! He doesn't know that he`s talking about. What did the real doctor say? . That lady, what's her name?"

"Doctor Martin?" Angela nodded "She says that she`s seen patients come back from this all the time but that she didn't want to give me false hope."

"I want to take her someplace else but she`s not stable. I spent the whole night just staring at buttons, thinking that the only reason she`s still here, is because of those machines, and I just starting having this insane idea that someone might accidently turn them off at night and I will wake up to find her gone."

Angela listened quietly, knowing quite well that nothing can be said to comfort a mothers' fear of losing her child.

"Arthur is no help at all. I see him sometimes talking to the doctors, but he never set foot in her room. I don't think he`s even seen her after what happened."

"Mine was the same. When Janie was in the hospital, he would come and tell me that it's time to go. I had two more children to take care of at home. I asked him if he could stay with her so that she wouldn't wake up alone. He kept saying he had work or let the doctors handle it. Can you believe that? It was as if she wasn't his daughter anymore. I think that maybe it's just hard for them knowing that they couldn't protect them."

"I was never good at it." Constance stated, glancing over to the still body in the hospital bed. "When Arthur brought her home, I felt tricked, he left no chance for arguing. It was set in stone. He was repaying a debt to an acquaintance, one that I knew of. I kept telling myself that it wasn't the little girls' fault, that I`ll treat her like my own." Constance sighs as she remembers little Maura walking into their house for the first time.

"I was in way over my head. Maura wasn't just any kid, certainly not a child who had a normal childhood. She never looked up from her shoes, never spoke and would sometimes panic when someone tried to engage her in a conversation, but I was determined to bring her out of her shell. I took her shopping, I thought 'every little girl love dresses' but every time I`d ask her opinion on any of the dresses she would shrug. I tried scolding her about it not being ladylike, and that she should speak up, and sure enough she stopped shrugging, nodding became her new way to communicate. I still remember the first dress she tried on, she was so beautiful Angela." Constance eyes sparkled with the memory "I certainly didn't expect her to cry when she saw herself in the mirror, but she just stood there frozen, tears welling up in her big beautiful green eyes. There were so many red flags and I missed them. I told myself that it will be alright eventually."

"How is your daughter anyway? Can't even imagine having to go through that again."

"She`s better. They had to restrain her to keep her from hurting herself, gave her some sedatives to help her calm down. I never saw her like this, even before, she wasn't like this."

They both stayed silent for a while.

"They tell me they found his body."

"Yes, the police informed me as well."

"Do you think that maybe Maura`s father…" Angela trailed off no knowing how to finish the question.

"That's the only explanation I have. Did he think that Paddy would let him live after hurting his daughter? The police said they identified him through his DNA. I`m sure Paddy did quite the number on him."

"I`m just glad he`s finally dead."

Maura and Jane stopped running just as the cottage came into view. Jane was catching her breath while Maura was looking at the cottage suspiciously. Taking a deep breath, Jane started walking again.

"Come on." she said over her shoulder but Maura didn't move "Maura?"

"Something`s not right." she warned.

"What are you talking about?"

"The cottage, something is not right." Maura repeated.

"Look I`ll just go inside and see when is Korsak is coming. Do you know where we are?"

"No" Maura said shaking her head.

"Just wait here." Jane reassured her and walked up to the cottage. Maura watched as the brunet disappeared through one of the windows. She started fidgeting, walking a few steps in one direction before turning around a walking in the other.

"Damn it." She walked to the window and poked her head inside. "Jane" she hissed, but there was no answer. Nothing seemed to be moving inside the cottage. Cursing, she placed her palms on the frame before lifting on leg at a time through the window. She was five steps into the living room when she heard the click of gun to her right.

"Maura, the phone is dea-" Jane stopped in her tracks when she saw that Maura was frozen. Turning her head, Jane froze as well. Charles Hoyt was sitting on a chair with a gun held lazily in his right hand.

"It's nice of you to join us Janie." he said with a sly smirk.

"The police will be here any minute." Jane said, hoping that her voice wasn't trembling as much as her hands.

"Oh yes, Boston's finest. I don't doubt it." Hoyt looked relaxed, calm and even amused at the thought of the approaching police. He watched as Jane took another step to the side, bringing herself in front of Maura. Maura placed a hand on Jane's shoulder and took a step bringing herself to Jane's side, effectively rejecting the brunet's protective offer.

"Isn't that sweet." a mirthless chuckle came from his throat.

"Maura, would you like to explain what this means?" he asked calmly, waving the gun between them. Maura refused to answer. "You know, I don't think we've been properly introduced." He sat up straight in the chair "Jane, this is Maura. Maura, here is my newest recruit." he gestured with the gun carelessly at Maura. "Maura, this is Jane. Now if I`m not mistaken, she`s the one that tried to strangle you to death. I don't know about you, but that does not sound like something friends do to each other." Maura and Jane stayed silent.

"I`ll tell you what. I don't usually do this but I see great potential in you kid. You remind me of myself when I was your age-"

"She`s nothing like you." Jane growled but Hoyt chose to ignore her.

"So how about this. I am willing to give you a chance to redeem yourself. How does that sound?" Hoyt pulled out a scalpel and extended his arm toward Maura "You take this, and help me finish what we started." Jane looked from Hoyt to Maura, seeing Maura visibly swallow before taking a hesitant step toward Hoyt. "It's ok, come on." Hoyt insisted. Maura balled her hands into fists, squeezing her eyes shut. She took a breath before opening her eyes once more.

Jane knew the precise moment Maura made her decision, her shoulders pulled back and she seemed to stand a bit taller.

"No" she said firmly, defiantly. There was no hesitation in Maura's voice. Jane couldn't help but feel the strength in her voice.

"That's a shame" Hoyt hung his head. "You know, you would have been my greatest achievement, yet you`re throwing it all away for someone who doesn't even care about you."

"It's not about her." Maura replied.

"Ahhh, but it is about her. It is all about her. She`s the reason you`re standing here right now." Hoyt huffed in remorse and shook his head. "I never liked guns. They`re not personal. You can shoot a person from a distance that's true, but where is the pleasure in that? A scalpel allows you to look closely into their eyes, witness the life draining from a man and know precisely when his heart stops pumping. I`ll have to admit though, guns are great in practicing control." he looked up at Maura and smiled "Maura , I really did enjoy the time we had, but since you are no longer of use to me…"

Jane watched helplessly as Hoyt swiftly lifted the gun and pulled the trigger. They both flinched, but it was Maura who crumpled to the ground, pushed back by the force of the bullet that burned its way into her chest. Every cell in her body was screaming, but in reality she was just standing there staring with disbelief at the body that lay prone on the wood floor.

"Well aren't you going to help her Jane?" Hoyt's voice brought her back to reality.

Jane felt the breath leaving her in a sob as she threw herself next to the blonde, quickly putting both hands over the bleeding hole in Maura's chest.

"There is a fine line between courage and stupidity, don't you agree Jane?" Hoyt balanced his head on his hand and relaxed, he was in his element. "Maura here thought she was being brave, while the truth, she was simply being an idiot."

The blood kept seeping through her fingers. She pushed the tears that blurred her vision, she wasn't going to let her die. She felt shallow breaths coming from Maura's body and she felt the whimpers of the blonde before she even heard it.

"It's a shame really." Hoyt sighed. "She really would have been something that girl. She had a bright future ahead of her. Maybe she would have become a doctor one day who knows?' Hoyt emptied the gun before throwing the bullets to one side and the gun to the other "Don't worry Jane, I won't shoot you. I`m going to enjoy you."

Jane kept her eyes trained at the now blood red dyed hands. She pushed harder and squeezed her eyes shut when another sob escaped her god, please, please. The feeling of a hand covering hers made shake her head in refusal, she knew that once opened her eyes and looked at Maura. Any hope she had in both of them walking out of this alive will be destroyed. A gentle squeeze to her hand made her unable to refuse the blondes request. She fought back the tears and looked up. The blonde had a pained face as she tried and failed to draw any breath into her lungs, her lips moved but no voice followed. A single tear fell out of her hazel eyes, making its way slowly down to her temple and finally disappearing into her hair.

"Please. Just hold on please. Please." Jane kept repeating, desperate. She heard shuffling behind her, felt a body kneeling behind her and the sickening breath in her ear.

"I love the smell of lavender and fear." She felt him inhale once again before she saw his hand reach out to Maura`s face. She swatted his away.

"Don't you dare touch her." she growled, feeling the anger starting to build within her.

"You know, this is all your fault" she felt the breath near her ear again. "She would have been just another teenager at your school, unimportant. You made her important Jane, you gave her a name and a story…it was too good to be true. You started going to school every day just to see her, you should have known how jealous that made me." Hoyt taunted, moving her hair to the side and exposing her neck "So desperate, so lost it didn't take that much to reel her in and I have you to thank for that. You made all of this possible Janie, all of this is thanks to you." Jane watched as more blood started seeping from Maura`s chest, how dull her eyes became, her whimpers becoming so soft she can barely hear them "Do you want me to tell you what's happening?" Hoyt continued "She`s drowning in her own blood Jane. Isn't it odd how something so vital to life can be the reason of dying? Just comes to show you how delicate we are as creatures. Look at her in the eyes Jane, you`ll see what I meant about seeing the life draining from a person. It won`t be long now, just a bit more before her body relaxes. This is your doing Jane, not mine." Jane felt the anger spreading though her like a fire as Hoyt let out another amused chuckle.

Maura was slipping in and out of consciousness. One second Jane was by her side and the next she was alone. She could feel vibration through the wooden floor indicating a struggle, she tipped her head to the side just in time to see Jane landing a punch to Hoyt's face. The man only snarled before throwing her off him. He grabbed her by the shirt and slammed her to the floor stunning the brunett long enough for him to drive the scalpel into her right hand.

Jane`s scream managed to breach Maura's foggy brain. She already knew she was going to die, but she refused to let it be for nothing. Jane needed to go home, she has to go home. Mustering all the strength left in her body, Maura clinched her jaw and rolled over on her stomach. She suppressed a cry when her wound met the floor sending blinding pain through her body. Her arms were weak but she still dragged herself, the five feet felt like miles and the floor just seemed to stretch in front of her. Mura grabbed the couch with a desperate grip gun, bullet. They should be close, where the fuck are they?

Hoyt was ready to drive the second scalpel into Jane`s left palm, when a shoot rang out in the room. Startled, he looked around until his eyes landed disbelievingly on a very disheveled blonde propped up on the couch with smoking gun held firmly in her trembling hand.

"How do you expect to shoot me? You can barely hold the gun." He mocked with an amused tone "Bet you can't see all that well either huh?" He laughed while still straddling Jane's midsection "Why don't you put that down before you hurt yourself." He was just turning his attention to the girl beneath him when a second shot went through the floor near his knee.

"How about I keep shooting till I get you?" Maura was breathless, but if she was going down then she was going to take him down with her. Hoyt growled and got to his feet, he was charging her when a third bullet startled everybody in the room.

"It's peaceful here." Maura stated. Her eyes fixed to a waterfall, her feet dangling in the water while she sat on dry land. The sound was soothing.

"Yes." replied red who sat crossed legged near Maura.

"I don't remember going to a place like this in real life." She had grown so accustomed to the beeping sound by know that she stopped noticing it.

"You could have read about it somewhere or saw it on TV." red shrugged, not really caring.

"But it feels so real." Maura said absentmindedly. "Was is really that bad?"

"Could have been worse. Yes you were Paddy Doyle's daughter, nobody wanted anything to do with you, but maybe being alone wasn't the worst thing that could have happened. At least your father's name was feared enough that nobody dared lay a finger on you."

Who would want to go back to that horrible world anyway?

reviews makes my day!