Jane frowned in confusion when she heard a knock at her door. Someone in her family would have called before coming over this late, and she didn't have any plans with Maura …did she? Crap, that'd be just like me to forget! At least I have a good excuse to be addle-brained these days! Jumping over a precarious pile of boxes, Jane glimpsed through her peephole. She almost did a double take, and looked twice just to be sure. Excitement was draining out of her like air escaping a deflating balloon.

Casey?

For a moment she considered just pretending she wasn't home. Even if he'd seen her light on, he would know she's the type of person who had accidentally left her apartment without shutting them off once or twice. But if he finally wanted to talk, it was time to talk. Let this end.

When she opened the door a smidge, she wasn't quite smiling. She wasn't sure that she was frowning, either, but whatever the expression was, it probably wasn't what Casey had been hoping to see. Jane watched as his own weak smile grew even weaker.

"Hi, Jane," he finally said when she made no salutation.

She leaned against the frame, casual. Not eager. Not desperate. Not even passionate enough to be angry anymore. "Hey."

He nodded slowly, waiting for an invitation that never came. She was going to shame him into asking? Fine, he at least probably owed her the right to that. "Can I come in?"

"Sure," she said with a shrug, opening the door a little wider and walking towards the kitchen.

With the assistance of a cane, Casey shuffled over the threshold, then came to a halt when he got a good look at the interior of the apartment. The sofa he'd envisioned sitting on was no longer there. Nor was the easy chair. There was a slew of cardboard boxes all over the carpet, and glancing into the kitchen, he saw most of the cabinet doors were open, showing the empty insides. Jane was at the refrigerator and asked if he'd like a beer; he nodded as he made his way over to the kitchen table. There was one chair left, and he sank wearily into it. Jane handed him a bottle of beer, then sat herself on the counter-top, close enough to keep one foot perched on top of the kitchen table. When Casey remained silent, concentrating on opening his beer, Jane figured maybe it was her turn to start a conversation.

"That actually came with the apartment," she said, nodding at the table. "Chairs were mine, though. I sold all of 'em except that one you're sitting in. Don't worry; it's not gonna break under you or anything. It's just got this ugly stain on the back from—God, I don't even know what! Figured it might make good kindling or something when I'm outta here."

"You're moving somewhere with a fireplace." That's your line, Casey? Wow, good one. How could she possibly find you resistible.

"Yup."

"So you are moving, then?"

She snorted a laugh, and he didn't blame her. "Yeah, I'm moving. Tomorrow, actually. These are just the last few boxes, and I figured I'd spend one more night in the place. Just for old time's sake."

"Are you…" He took a swig of beer, trying to calm his nerves, trying to act as though her answer didn't have the potential to wreck him. "Leaving Boston?"

"Oh, no," she laughed. "No, never."

"So…why?"

"I'm moving in with Maura."

He stared blankly at her for a few moments. She just smiled, as she always involuntarily did at the prospect of living with Dr. Isles, and sipped down some of her own beer. She watched as Casey's eyes swept the living room, and she knew he was buying time. It was what a suspect did in the interrogation room when she'd dropped a hint, and it was up to them to try and figure out how much she thought they knew.

"You okay for money?" he finally asked. "I mean moving in with your best friend—that's nice of Maura, but—"

"Casey," Jane cut in gently, and his gaze reverted back to her. "Maura's my best friend, you're right. She is my best friend. I love—I'm in love with her." Casey's jaw tightened, his eyes narrowed in confusion. Jane nodded and took another draw of beer. "She's my girlfriend, Casey. My significant other. And she has been for some time, now."

He swallowed hard and looked down at the tabletop. Jane had always been a bit of a kidder. "You serious?" he asked.

The gentleness in Jane's voice was gone. "I'm serious as a hear attack, Casey. As a kidney operation." When he looked up at her with a raised eyebrow at the unusual phrase, Jane explained, "Maura's been going through hell lately. Lots of family drama, and then she decided to give her kidney to her dying half-sister. I was there when she went in for the operation, and there when she got out. She let me be there for her."

"And I guess I didn't let you be there for me?" Casey snorted.

"I tried," Jane said, her voice forcibly restrained again. "And when Maura and I started seeing each other, I didn't know if I should try calling you or not—but then I did call you when I knew you'd be recovering from your surgery. And guess what?" She shrugged. "Surprise, surprise, you didn't answer. I texted you, I emailed you, thinking maybe that would be easier for you. You wouldn't have to hear my voice, or say anything you hadn't had time to prepare. But no. Nothing. I tried damn hard, Casey, and you know why?"

"You're in love with me," Casey offered, folding his arms stiffly.

Jane shook her head, pointing at him. "I thought I was. But no. I was thinking of something my Uncle Dom used to tell me and my brothers: if you don't try to help a friend through his dark times, don't expect to be there during his success. That's what friends, that's what good people do for each other. They help, and they own up to it when they need help. I cared about you, yeah. I was trying to do right by you, and you wouldn't let me."

"I was trying to do right by you," Casey said, his voice gruff. "I was—helpless. Hopeless. I couldn't have made love to you. Not like I should have been able to."

"Like you should have been able to?" Jane asked, her voice and eyebrows raising. "Casey! You're not that ignorant, are you?" And at the word, his head jerked upwards, a scowl on his face. "There's more than one way to make love," she continued, trying once again to reign in her emotions. She could have gone on about many ways Maura was able to make love to her, all without the use of what Casey apparently thought was the only way to feel a woman. But that would've been a little cold, and maybe a little too much information. "Maura said she thought you were selfish," Jane went on. "Thought you were stringing me along."

"I didn't want to be a burden," Casey said through his teeth.

"Part of me believes that," Jane said lightly. "But the other part of me just thinks you were too proud to let me love you."

"Proud?" Casey balked. "You think I'm proud of this injury? Of the fact that I couldn't be with you?"

"First of all, if you'd really wanted it, you could have been with me," Jane said. "Second of all, that's not what I meant. Pride," as had once been defined to her by Korsak, "is the fear of shame. And that's what is was for you, wasn't it, Casey? It would've hurt your pride to have someone else take care of you. Oh a nurse or a doctor, that's fine; they're paid, that's what they're there for. But God forbid anyone you actually know, who gives a damn about you personally, see you at anything but your very 'best,' whatever the hell that would be."

"That's not what it was about!" Casey argued.

"Like hell it wasn't!" Jane shouted. "When you first got back to Boston you lied to me!"

"I d—"

"You LIED! Casey! Rather than actually let me know what had happened to you, you went and told me you just didn't care anymore! That you didn't want to be with me, that you didn't care about me, not anything!"

"I wanted to spare you pain," Casey said loudly. "Don't tell me that was selfish!"

"It was! Because you kept the truth from me! You thought you knew best, and you thought you knew how I'd react! Gee, thanks for the all the pain you spared me, Casey! Thanks for making me feel about as happy and loved as a bum's used cigarette! Thanks for all the time I wasted wondering what I had done wrong, what I could have done better! Thank you sparing me all that pain!"

"Look, I'm better now," Casey said. "I had the operation, I can walk all right with a cane, and I…" He made a conscious effort to lower his voice, not to sound so angry. "I promise to listen better, all right? I promise. I won't try to… assume what you're thinking."

Jane shook her head in disbelief. "Casey? I'm in a relationship right now. Maybe you already forgot the part where I said I'm moving?"

Again, Casey looked at the boxes in the living room, his scowl returning. "I pushed you away," he admitted. "And I can see that was wrong, okay? I see your point. I get it, and I apologize."

"Wow, that sounded so sincere."

"I'm sorry, Jane. I am. Why don't—look, just… take me back, okay? Please?"

"No. Not okay. Casey, I'm still—I still feel bad. I still sometimes worry that there's more I could've done, but you would not let me. I tried my damndest, and I'm not gonna beat myself up anymore about the fact that you didn't let me in."

"What'd she do right?" Casey asked.

"Maura? Maura. If you want to know everything Maura did right to start a relationship with me, you're gonna have clear your schedule for the next month or so."

Casey shrugged, arms still folded, eyes still dark. "I got time." Jane raised her eyebrows and smiled, wondering how serious he was. He looked pretty dead set on getting an answer, and when Jane didn't start talking right away, he said, "Y'know I defended you. In high school. I defended you."

"From…"

"A bunch of guys all said you were like this, that you were a dyke."

Jane bristled at the word and set her beer down so hard that the bottle almost smashed. She jumped to her feet, and Casey hastened to say it had been the boys' choice of words, not his. "And what, you said I wasn't? You were the knight in shining armor who went around and said Jane Rizzoli wasn't some freak, some lezzie? She was normal?"

"You're gonna prove them right?"

"You think I give a damn what anyone from high school thought about me? Oh, what, Rory Graham thinks I'm some butch? My life is ruined!"

"Jane…"

"You wanna know what Maura Isles did right?" she asked, looking sharply down at Casey. "She called me out on my bull, Casey, something I maybe should've done with you a long time ago. She's romantic when it's appropriate, and in ways that people would still translate as such after 1945. That means she wouldn't find it romantic to leave a woman in the dark about a medical condition just to 'spare her' the pain. She answers my calls, my texts, my knocks when I'm at her door. Even when her life's in a rut and she's in pain, physical or otherwise, she thinks of other people. She tries to do what she can for them."

"I work with wounded veterans, Jane," Casey said darkly. "I'm not just sitting at home feeling sorry for myself."

"She doesn't use her job as an excuse to hide," Jane said. "When she needs help, she's not too proud to ask for it. When she needed me, she told me she did. And when I needed her? She was there. She's always been there. Even if she was capable of lying to me, she wouldn't. Not when it mattered. She doesn't make me second-guess myself, or make me question my choices, my tactics. And when she talks to me, or I'm holding her, I know she can feel me." Jane pounded her fist over her heart. "She feels me here."

A long silence followed. Jane kept her hand at her heart, her eyes intently focused on Casey. He was looking at the table, teeth clenched together behind his lips. He was numb with disbelief, unable to get angry at Maura or even jealous—not yet. Those feelings would surely come later, but right now, that disbelief was washing out everything. He could never have guessed something like this would happen.

"She makes you happy," he finally said.

Jane found herself understanding how useful it was for Maura to have a wide vocabulary at her disposal. Sometimes common words just didn't express enough. "She makes me exultant."

Another silence, and Casey shrugged one shoulder. "You wouldn't have been happy with me," he reasoned. "I had… too much going on. Tests, disability, PT. Would've been a mess. You wouldn't have been happy."

Jane just shook her head, making another sound of disbelief. "Casey," she sighed. "If it's gonna make you feel better to think that, you go right ahead. I won't stop you this time."

With great effort, Casey got to his feet. Jane stayed on the other side of the table, arms folded, eying him with only the vaguest interest. "So it was me," he said. "The problem."

Jane shrugged. "The problem was both of us. This isn't about blame, Casey. It's about the fact that I am now with the love of my life." She didn't have to emphasize those words for Casey to know she didn't use them lightly; he winced all the same. "Sorry if I'm being blunt, Casey, but I'm just being honest. Don't try and get back with me. Don't ask me for another chance. If you feel like being friends, let me know. But that other door's closed, and it's not swinging."

He nodded, and started heading for the door. Jane didn't follow him, didn't offer to get it for him, and watched as she pulled the knob. "Well," he said, looking at her over his shoulder. "Goodbye, Jane Rizzoli."

"Goodbye, Casey." He hadn't been gone a full minute before Jane's phone went off. "Maura? That's so weird, I was just gonna call you."

"Honey, are you all right? You sound rattled."

"Yeah, I…" Jane groaned and sank into the chair Casey had only just vacated. "I feel so low, I could get on stilts and walk under Jo Friday."

"Oh, Jane!" Maura said, unable to hold in a chuckle at Jane's choice of words. "What's wrong? Rethinking your last night alone?"

"Yeah, what the hell was I thinking?" Jane grumbled. "I mean, I know what I was thinking. Just sort of be here, alone in my pad for one more night. Kind of remind myself why it makes so much more sense for me to just… well, be with you. All the time."

"Including tonight?" Maura asked hopefully.

"Including tonight."

"Good, because I'm on my way over."

"Really?"

"I thought I'd drop off some cannoli's for you."

"Maura, have I told you lately that you are, for all intents and purposes, totally perfect?"

"Depends on how you define 'lately.'"

"Ha, ha. Hey, I'll meet you outside, okay? I think Jo could use a walk." She laughed when Jo came running over at the word, barking. "She could definitely use one! I'll be at the stairs."

"Great! I should be there in a minute or two."

Casey was glad he had crossed the street to call a taxi. Sitting on the bench on the corner, he looked on as Jane jogged down the front steps of her apartment, Jo Friday on a leash in front of her. For a moment he worried she was going to walk his way, but she appeared to be waiting for someone. She pulled out her phone and played with it for a while, until a blue Prius pulled up and a woman got out. Casey's taxi pulled up, and he slowly got to his feet, squinting to see Jane and… yup, that was Maura.

They exchanged a quick kiss, and Jane reached for a paper bag Maura was holding. Maura laughed as Jane pulled something from the bag and stuffed it into her mouth. Jo Friday tugged at the leash, and Maura hooked her arm through Jane's. Together they began walking in the direction opposite Casey's cab.

"Hey buddy, did you wanna get out of here or what?" the driver asked impatiently.

Casey sighed and opened the door. "Yeah. Sure do."

A/N: Thank you for reading. Long live Rizzles.