TITLE: Remember Me
FANDOM: Rizzoli & Isles
PAIRING: Rizzles
SUMMARY: Sort of an episode tag for S02E10 – Remember Me. Loved the episode but as always, I want more and this is my attempt to satisfy that. Please request before archiving.
RATING: M (Playing it safe for language and violence)
AUTHOR's NOTE:Okay, so don't be mad with me. For those of you who are interested and still waiting for the next part of my addition to 'My Own Worst Enemy' I have not abandoned the story and hope to have the next part up relatively soon. The thing is, I watched the summer finale and couldn't help thinking about some of the things I'd read and seen and I just had to write this. I have no idea if it is any good and there is a possibility there could be some mistakes in here, all of which are my own. Please, let me know if you find any or if I can tweak it and correct it to make it better.

DISCLAIMERS: I do not own Rizzoli & Isles or any of the characters.

All constructive comments, opinions and suggestions are welcome so please read and review...

Chapter 1

Every instinct of self preservation told her not to step in closer. It was just too tempting an offer, to know the names and burial sites of everyone this bastard had murdered. Besides, it was always like some sick psychological game with him and Jane refused to let him have the upper hand. The difficulty was always in striking the balance between giving in to his requests and letting him know she was doing it because she wouldn't be manipulated by him and she wasn't afraid.

In reality she was petrified. This wretch of a man with his disfigured face and creepy sibilant whispering voice was Jane's bogeyman personified but he was also a bogeyman with more bad things to tell her and she wanted to know his secrets. She had told the warden it would take as long as it took if it helped her solve one more murder and she would do whatever she had to do, even if it meant having to move closer.

Cautiously, even as her body tried to recoil at her actions, Jane leant forward. "I'm here."

In the space of a breath Hoyt's eyes sprung open and having confirmed her proximity to him he moved with surprising speed. Throwing up his right arm he locked his sinewy fingers around Jane's tantalising close and available throat. Using momentum and guided with strength of purpose he physically flipped Jane around and threw her to the bed he had moments ago been 'dying' in so their positions were reversed and he was now leaning over her.

"Get him off me," she called out as she flailed against the arm pinning her down. Her eyes widened in fear at having her nightmare become reality and it added a desperate high pitch to her tone. She couldn't move. She was in the clutches of pure evil and the guard in the room was doing nothing. Why wasn't the guard helping her?

Maura had jumped back totally taken by surprise at the agility of a man who was supposedly expected to die before the end of the day and who was now gripping her friend by her throat and actually lifting her off her feet as he manhandled her. Unprepared for this sudden shift of power in the room it was Jane's normally deep voice sounding almost shrill in her cry for help that finally kicked Maura into gear.

Turning to the guard whom she fully expected to step in and assist, Maura found herself in the same predicament as her friend when he fixed his hand around her throat and waved a threatening tazer at her.

"I think I'll watch," he said against the climbing whine from the charged and ready tazer.

Dumbfounded by the turn of events Maura was compelled to watch as well and looked back searchingly towards Jane. My God, Jane. What do I do?Transfixed, she could see her friend held prone in the grip of a madman as he wished her a happy birthday and felt utterly helpless as she heard the whimpers she normally only associated with Jane when she was caught in the grip of a nightmare. Maura knew how to soothe those whimpers away, how to beat back those terrors but here, in this room with the guard who was supposed to protect them standing over her threateningly and the criminal being given free reign...

She stared harder at Jane, hoping for some clue as to what to do next and willing her friend to break free.

~/\~

Restrained and not considered to be much of a threat since the guard had thankfully turned off the tazer, they had sat Maura down on one of the hospital beds as if to offer a front row seat. She was well aware of Hoyt's sick little games, how he liked an audience for his peculiar piece of theatre but he needn't have worried. Maura couldn't take her eyes off the tableau in front of her if she had tried, more specifically, she couldn't take her eyes off of Jane.

Beyond their immediate dilemma she was concerned. Jane had said nothing as Hoyt commanded his newest apprentice to secure zip ties around both her and Jane's wrists. There had been no communication at all, no hint that Jane was planning something, no attempt to indicate a potential escape and most disturbingly not even a glance in her direction; it was as if Jane had withdrawn into herself. Her hands had balled into fists and her usually sharp eyes appeared glassy and focused inward.

Maura had tremendous faith in Jane but knowing Hoyt had always been her Achilles heel she tried to regain some order to her thinking and control the overwhelming fear which was consuming her to find some way to help herself and her friend. Hopefully she would think of something soon.

Hoyt was throwing Jane around like a piece of meat clearly enjoying having the upper hand. Exerting his dominance he slammed her satisfyingly back on the bed and knocked the breath out of her. He leaned in and as if vindicating his choice in her said, "I was so hoping you were smart enough to put together my clues."

Jane had found herself falling into the abyss as her worst fears ran rampant around her. Where the dreams had always felt so real, when faced with the reality it felt bizarrely like a dream; a dream in which Hoyt had his hand around her throat and was speaking to her, taunting her. She needed to get back into the game, to shake off the unreality of what was happening. She needed to focus. Maura was here. Maura was in danger. Her fault. It was all her fault and she had to do something. Focus goddammit!

"Was it fun?" Hoyt continued, "Like a murder treasure hunt?"

It was all just a game to him. A sick perverted game. How many lives had been lost and forever changed by this embodiment of evil? How many more would be lost, here, in this room? No! Not here, not Maura; he would not add her to his collection.

"I should've killed you when I had the chance," she growled.

Maura felt fresh tears fall as she heard Jane's admission couched in anguish and sniffles she knew her friend hated to display.

"Yeah, you should've."

Maura's hands squirmed as she tried to loosen her bonds again knowing it was futile but needing to do something to prevent the inevitable.

Hoyt requested the tazer. Confident Mason would pass it to him he kept his attention fixed on his ultimate prey until his fingers closed around his preferred method of subduing.

Maura could see even from across the room Jane's hands were shaking but viewed the balled fists now as a sign of defiance. Waiting to see what Hoyt intended to do next she felt powerless as she watched him turn the tazer toward her restrained friend and wave it in her face with malevolent intent.

"I could turn it on if you'd like?" he offered.

"No!" Maura couldn't hold back the wrenching cry, she was terrified. Her fear for her friend magnified to a whole new level that before today she would not have thought possible, not after having experienced the horror of seeing her friend shoot herself all those months ago. There was a keenness to this terror though which sharpened it to a point of almost numbing insensibility.

"I always finish what I start." Hoyt confidently promised.

Terrified and aware she was in serious jeopardy Jane began to twist in an effort to break free and was surprised to hear the up till now relatively silent guard chuckling. How on earth did he fit into all this? How had Hoyt done it yet again? What was the appeal of the man that he managed to attract and recruit so many like minded sickos into his service? Maybe she could still reach him, point out the flaws and dangers of making a pact with the devil.

"He played you Mason." She hated the sound of upset in her voice, the way she sniffled and fought to simply breathe. Trying to regain her bravado she held her gaze with her captor and continued to struggle even as she attempted to sow the seeds of doubt. "Just like he plays all his little apprentices."

"I'm not the one wearing zip ties detective," Mason replied smugly.

Maura caught on quickly. Jane was trying to make the guard see reason; maybe they could persuade him, befriend him, she was well aware of the technique in hostage situations. She needed to open up a dialogue. Curious she asked, "What was in it for you?"

"'s fun."

Maura was horrified; he thought this was fun? There was no way they were going to be able to reason with this man. She was even more convinced as he continued and his bitterness poured forth.

"He was all proud of himself, you know. Kid going off to law school. Big deal. Idiot was dropping off mystery books for a serial killer."

"I love mysteries," Hoyt whispered at Jane as if sharing an intimate secret.

Sickened Jane spared a look away to ask, "So you were the one who set up his bail?"

"Yeah. All he had to do for the five 'k' was swallow a balloon."

That explained the mystery of the teeth they had found in Graham's stomach. Well at least Cavanaugh would be pleased they had managed to solve the murder he wanted them working on today.

"It was too good to be true," Hoyt took up the story, like all villains of the piece needing to take a moment to divulge their brilliance. "When little Graham told me he was off to Boston college to be a double Eagle I knew then he would be the perfect envelope for my letter to you."

Hoyt leaned in closer to Jane again and placed the tazer directly under her chin. She couldn't stop the snivels of fear that escaped her as he announced with a lilting sing-song in his voice, "It's time."

Jane gasped in short breaths as Hoyt turned to his accomplice and swapped the tazer for a scalpel. She tried to look away but Hoyt's squeezing fingers restricted her movement and challenged her ability to swallow. He eyed her the way an artist scans a fresh canvas in anticipation of where to make the first stroke and loosened his grip slightly to offer a different view. She gulped audibly in the momentary freedom.

At that moment Maura, in the ever growing dread, understood something. The scalpel, precision cutting. "You killed him." She said to Mason, "That's why the edges of the stab wounds were so clean."

"Well that's very good Dr Isles," Hoyt confirmed. "Though Rod doesn't wield his scalpels with the same finesse, he did get Graham here. So I could be here with you."

Any help they may have managed to obtain from Mason was most certainly a lost cause, he had already killed for Hoyt and there was no going back. The realisation ratcheted Maura's alarm even further.

Jane was approaching overload as Hoyt's fingers performed a sickening caress of her neck, readjusting his hold to establish the perfect angle to make his first cut.

"I'm dying," he continued, "and I want company. I think I'm going to take you and Dr Isles with me."

She felt the blade pierce her skin, a two inch cut almost identical in sensation to the one inflicted on her the last time this crazy bastard escaped his bonds. She sucked in the scream that threatened and held her breath, trying to control her breathing as her heart slammed into hyper drive.

She could hear Maura. Maura was crying. Because of her, because of this maniac. She couldn't stop the tears, she was only human. It was too much.

Then something happened.

Hoyt had held the blade to her throat ready for what Jane believed would be the final cut when the pressure from around her neck released and like some perverse tag team Mason approached to hand off the tazer for the scalpel.

What was he doing? What was going on? Confused Jane tried to rise and see what was happening but Mason held her down. She became frantic now, kicking her legs as she watched Hoyt approach Maura, her friend's mouth pulled back into an expression of rictus.

"No!" Jane was frenzied. Her previous attempts to escape her bonds seemed paltry compared to the livewire struggle she was currently engaged in.

"I win Jane." Hoyt jeered as he vaunted his superiority over her.

He could kill Maura. He would kill Maura.

"Hoyt, don't you touch her!" She screamed.

Maura couldn't move, she was frozen in place. She could hear Jane's plea, could see her valiant attempt to free herself but she knew it would be futile. Hoyt had already switched the tazer back on; the high pitched whine indicated its charged and ready state. Flinching as he swung towards her she found herself despairingly begging in a pathetic whimper, "No, please, no."

The effect was immediate. As the tazer made contact with her shoulder sparks arced out and disrupted Maura's nervous system causing her to lose all control of her muscles. Falling backwards to the bed the scientific part of her brain processed how she was experiencing neuromuscular incapacitation and began to list off the symptoms, initially pain, muscle spasms, confusion and the potential for involuntary movement.

She then became aware of Hoyt standing over her, one hand pressing down on her shoulder and the other holding the scalpel to her neck.

"You're going to feel a little pinch doctor."

Stunned as she was, she could still sense the stinging sharp sensation of skin being sliced, the scent of iron and the warm trickle of her blood slowly dribbling its way down her neck.

"No! STOP IT!" Jane's struggles became ferocious she couldn't take any more, the mass of emotions coursing through her veins made her feel like she would explode. Her adrenaline flowed like magma burning in a vibrant rush throughout her entire body.

"Shut up!" Mason shouted as he attempted to pin her back down on the bed.

It was the absolute last straw. She could not contain her rage, her fear, her fury any longer. With almost superhuman strength she reared back and launched her head forward to connect with the bridge of Mason's nose. As he fell back disorientated from the blow she launched herself at him, oblivious to the wound she had inflicted upon herself and concerned only with saving Maura.

In close contact with the guard she raised her knee forcefully and sent him doubling over again winded. This gave her time to grab the tazer in an awkward two handed grip and propel it into the guard's side with determined vehemence.

From the corner of her eye, Jane could see Hoyt advancing on her and leaving the guard to fall stunned to the floor she swung the tazer around as if swinging at bat. She connected with a satisfying thwack against Hoyt's wrist and he lost his grip on the scalpel. It launched through the air to land with a musical ting several feet away and Hoyt, who had been knocked off balance, fell to the floor and slid himself toward it as if trying to reach home plate.

Jane discarded the tazer. Focused only on stopping Hoyt and ending this nightmare she threw herself to the floor and lunged for the scalpel.

Hoyt beat her to it and refusing to give in she grabbed at his wrists grappling for control.

It wasn't a pretty fight with fancy moves, it was dirty and dangerous fed with years of self-doubt, sleepless nights, fear and a determination to survive, to no longer be a victim trapped in a never-ending nightmare, to no longer feel the responsibility of knowing loved ones were in danger because of you, your life and your choices.

Fuelled with so much motivation Jane tried to obtain some leverage in hopes of incapacitating her nemesis. She curled her leg around him and delivered a backward kick to his side while simultaneously slamming the arm that held the scalpel to the floor. Following an elbow to his face, on her second attempt to force his hand open, he let go and she scrabbled to take the weapon for herself.

Gasping in much needed air, Jane levered herself into a dominant position above him. Completely caught up in her nightmare Jane sat straddled atop her greatest foe and raised her arms aloft in victory.

"I win!" she proclaimed and with as much force as she could muster plunged the scalpel into Hoyt's chest as far as it could go. "And you're going to hell alone."

She could barely speak. It had been primal, an animalistic instinct. Her system had flooded with white noise and a hatred so visceral her skin hurt.

Hoyt's eyes looked behind her and she became subliminally aware of the tazer's whine and shots being fired. Mason was behind her she realised as he fell dead beside them.

Korsak. Her old partner was here and he had fired the shots.

Her memory briefly overlaid with another time... Korsak coming to the rescue. Being pinned down. Not this time, this time she was the victor.

Her breathing rapid she moved to sit up again from the defensive posture she had adopted when the shots rang out and she was unable to resist a jabbing punch to Hoyt's gut as if further proving to herself that this time she had won, once and for all.

Trying to breathe she thought there was something she was supposed to be doing but her wits were scattered, her thoughts would not form in a coherent order. It was over, wasn't it? No, there was something important. Need to...

It wouldn't come, her vision consumed with the sight of her adversary and with blood.

~/\~

In the aftermath of the shots Frost and Korsak secured the room while the unctuous warden looked on.

Frost, already riding the adrenaline surge from the scene they had walked in on, felt his heart rise up in his throat as he spied Dr Isles lying on the surgical bed, her eyes wide and staring open. He took her by the shoulders and helped her to sit up; relieved to note she was breathing but concerned she appeared so out of it.

"You okay Doc?" he asked.

She looked at him. No, she wasn't okay. Not yet anyway. The effects of the tazer would diminish fairly soon she knew but it was the other stuff she was trying to process. She needed to check on Jane. She wasn't entirely sure what had happened due to the way in which she had been left not providing her with a wide enough field of vision to fully see what was going on but she had heard the fight. Every thud, every moan, every anguished cry and trembling breath of it.

She knew the confusion would pass but she didn't quite trust her legs yet to cooperate with her, the purpose of a taser was to disable the brain's electric signals reaching and controlling the muscles after all so with some sadness she could only watch as Korsak stepped over to Jane and pulled her away from Hoyt's body asking her if she was okay.

From where she was sitting Jane did not look okay. She looked wild. Her forehead was bleeding and at this distance Maura didn't know for sure if it was Jane's blood or Mason's. When Korsak pulled her up Maura also noted she appeared unsteady on her feet and was weaving a little as she tried to look around her old partner to make eye contact with her.

Maura wanted nothing more than to go to her and began to inch herself forward off the bed but Frost held her back. Frustrated she was unable to do so herself, she was pleased when Korsak finally pulled Jane in to his embrace, wishing it was her offering the comfort her friend so clearly needed. She could hear his calm assurances telling Jane, "You're okay," and watched in anguish as her normally invulnerable friend gave in to her fear and horror to sob against the older man's shoulder.

Korsak tightened his hold as he felt Jane's legs buckle and collapse against him. He turned slightly to look over at Frost and to communicate with him the answers Frost so desperately sought regarding his partner. He recognised with sadness the moment when realisation of startling clarity and insight set in and Frost deciphered his silent message. This is what Hoyt did to her.

Well? It was going to be a one shot but it started to grow a little and I know for sure there will be one more chapter which is so very, very nearly finished. Should I post it when it's done?