Summary: Charles Hoyt is dead. It is the end of an horrific ordeal. There are scars, there are memories but there is also hope. The day after the death of Charles Hoyt, Jane wakes up into what should be a world without fear. But when she finds out that after her birthday party Maura has gone missing Jane is forced to realize that maybe the real nightmare has only just begun..

Pairing: Rizzles. Because there is only one true love.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Rizzoli & Isles belongs to the wonderful Tess Gerritsen as well as to TNT. I am simply borrowing the characters, have my way with them and then put them back where I found them.

Timeline: Set right after the 2x10 "Remember Me"

Chapter 1

"How can you love someone and not be able to be with them...?"

Jane Rizzoli groaned and blinked against the bright light falling through the half open bedroom curtains. It felt warm on her face but it was everything but pleasant to her eyes. If anything, it freaking hurt like hell. She had a pounding headache and as she pulled the duvet over her head she was convinced this had to be the hangover from hell. Birthday celebrations, countless numbers of cans of beer, and not to mention the fact that she head butted a prison guard the previous day in an attempt to save her life as well as that of her best friend from a psychopath serial killer, made that Jane felt rather less in a celebratory mood this morning.

The persistent knock on the front door made her want to hide even deeper under the covers but when the knocking continued, and only began to aggravate her already aggravated headache, Jane slipped out of bed, scrambled her way across the bedroom and into her apartment. She tripped over a horse shaped balloon that had been left on the living room floor as a reminder and her eyes wandered around the mess that had been left behind after last night's party. She had never celebrated the death of another human being before but the death of Charles Hoyt was genuinely the best birthday present she could ever have asked for.

Another knock.

"Yeah yeah, I'm coming" Jane groaned and went to remove the chain from the door. Her hand hovered in mid-air for a second when she realised it wasn't on. She frowned but then her fingers closed around the doorknob and opened it. Even without peering through the peephole, she wasn't even sure whether she had the eyesight to manage it, she knew who the person standing outside was. Only one woman knocked in such a persistent manner.

"Good morning baby" said Angela Rizzoli cheerfully and walked past her daughter into the apartment. There she spun around. "AH! The mess, Jane!"

"We had a party in here last night, Ma, remember? You were there" Jane said as she closed the door and turned to face her mother. She instantly regretted even having let her in. She loved her mother, honestly she did, but with a hangover and still half asleep, Angela Rizzoli was not the person you invited into your house. Dressed in an oversized Red Sox jersey and a pair of grey shirts and coupe birds nest on her head, Jane looked anything but flattering and she shook her head when her mother began pushing aside some of the empty beer cans and the abandoned pizza box on the coffee table. "Really?"

Angela arched an eyebrow and continued into the kitchen. She planted the grocery bag she had been carrying on the counter and her eyes curiously wandered around her daughter's home as if it was the first time she saw it. "Where's Dr Isles?"

"Why don't you tell me, Ma? You're the one living in her guest house"

Jane shot a quick glance in the mirror on the wall and smiled when she realised someone had draped their tie over it. The more she looked around, the more her apartment reminded her of a frat house instead of the home of a Boston homicide detective. Staring at her own reflection Jane's eyes were drawn to the plasters on her forehead covering the cut and bruises she had sustained when she head butted the police guard. Tentatively she brushed aside a strand of raven hair and revealed the thin, red cut across her throat where Hoyt's scalpel had sliced through her skin. She shook her head as she imaged flooded back into her mind and she turned around to find Angela staring at her with a look that showed both worry as well as relief.

"Don't you remember Dr Isles saying last night that she wanted to make sure you were all right to be left alone for the rest of the night? It was why Detective Korsak drove me home" Angela said and Jane furrowed her brow.

She did have a vague recollection of Maura saying something like that. In fact, she even had some blurred image of Maura standing over her bed. Her dark eyes snapped up to meet her mother's. "Yes…." She didn't sound convinced.

"When I woke up this morning she still hadn't come home so I thought she had spent the night here with you and I decided to come over and make you breakfast" Angela said whilst rummaging through the grocery bag and only now did Jane realise that her mother had brought everything she needed to make pancakes. A slight smile fell over her face and she walked up to her, wrapped her arms around her mother's waist and kissed her on the top of her head.

"Thanks, Ma"

"You know, if Dr Isles is still in bed you can just tell me, Jane. I wasn't going to walk in on her, you know. It is fine with me, honest" Angela said, her face straight as she looked at her daughter.

"It is fine…" Jane began, looking slightly bewildered and stared at her mother in a mixture of horror and utter surprise. "What? Hang on Ma, what exactly is fine with you?"

"You and Dr Isles of course!" Angela said with a beaming smile and opened one of the cupboards to try and find a measuring jug. "Oh Jane, why can't you ever put things back in the same place where I left them?"

Jane stared at her mother, not sure whether to be shocked or insulted. She ran her fingers through her messy curls as she tried to figure out whether Angela had actually said what she thought she had just said. This was not what she needed this morning. Her head was feeling thick enough and there was very little room for these crazy thoughts. "Me and... Ma, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Oh come on, Jane, did you really think I wouldn't figure it out? I wasn't born yesterday, you know" Angela laughed and began mixing the ingredients for the pancakes together. "The amount of time you two spent together, you have practically moved into her house and you have more clothes in Dr Isles' wardrobe than you have in your own…" She looked for a moment, her eyes twinkling. "I know. I rearranged her clothes"

"Yeah, and threw away her shoe boxes" Jane immediately added and couldn't suppress a smile when she remembered Maura's confused expression upon first realising what had happened to her wardrobe. "Ma, are you seriously thinking what I think you're thinking?"

"And what would that be, Janie?"

"You think me and Maura are together? Like together together?" Jane's eyes were suddenly wide open and whatever bit of sleep that had still blurred her brain was now gone. She couldn't quite comprehend that they were actually having this conversation. She shook her head and her raven curls danced around her head. "Like together?"

Angela nodded. "Of course I do, baby. Especially after last night. And why wouldn't I?"

"Maybe because we're not?"

Angela openly laughed. "Knock it off. There is no need to try and fool me any longer. Honestly, it's fine. Just go and get her, Jane. Nobody wants cold pancakes for breakfast"

Jane stared at her mother, her mouth slightly open. "Ma, I can't go and get Maura because she isn't here!"

Angela looked up as she carefully put the first pancake on one of the plates and her eyes found Jane's. Upon seeing the expression on her daughter's face she slowly put down the pan and seemed stunned for a second. "Not here? But I thought…"

Jane shook her head. "Yeah, well, stop thinking. You're not doing the world a favour. Maura and I are not together, Ma. She is my best friend and sometimes she sleeps over. And sometimes, I spent time at Maura's house…" She shrugged and felt a somewhat uncomfortable blush spread across her cheeks. She averted her eyes and stared at the floor. "I happen to like watching baseball on her TV"

"That is not all you happen to like now is it? She has bought you coco puffs, Jane" Angela said with a knowing look and she reached a bowl that lay in the sink, a left over from yesterday's breakfast that Jane had neglected to wash up. "And there is one of these in Maura's kitchen. I know it's yours because it doesn't match the rest of her crockery and it's the only type of bowl you'll eat your cereal from. I bought you these, remember? And last week I found two of your shirts in the clean washing…" She arched an eyebrow. "And that is not all that I found. I am sure Dr Isles doesn't wear girlie boxers"

"MA!" Jane raised her hands up and shook her head in disbelief. "Stop! You're just… Oh, why am I even talking to you about this? Maura and I are just friends…"

Angela rolled her eyes and continued to make another pancake. "Well, if she is not here, then where is she? At work?"

"No. It is not Maura's weekend to be on call" Jane automatically answered and wanted to slap herself when she saw the look her mother gave her. She didn't know how to feel about her mother's assumption that she and Maura were more than friends. How did that idea even come to be? She sat down at the counter, picked up a fork and poked around in her pancake for a few seconds before looking back up. She put her fork back down. Suddenly she didn't feel like eating anymore. Her curiosity had been triggered. Jane sighed.

"Ma, did you really think me and Maura were together?"

Angela folded her arms across her chest and for a split second Jane realised how much she looked like her mother. The way they pulled their faced when making a point was identical. The thought horrified her. Angela merely shrugged. "Yeah, me and the rest of the world"

"The rest…" Jane began and groaned before covering her face with her hand. "Ma, did you to talk to Frankie about this?"

"Of course. He sees you way more than I do. And he said that you're always texting Dr Isles when you're not out somewhere chasing bad guys together."

"Oh man this is bad…." Jane sighed and peered at her mother through her fingers. Suddenly her head snapped up as realisation dawned on her. She nervously looked around for her cell phone and realised she had left it at the side of her bed. She jumped up and ran across the apartment to her bedroom. From there her muffled voice could be heard. "Ma, if Maura isn't at home or work or here, then where is she?"

"Maybe she's met up with someone?"

Jane poked her head around the door as she struggled to change into a pair of jeans she had found on the floor She clutched her cell phone as she fought with the zipper. "Really, Ma? First you say Maura and I are lovers and then you just go and suggest she has met up with someone else? Besides, Maura wouldn't go and meet up with someone unless she has told somebody else where she's going…"

"Like she didn't tell you when Ian came to visit?" Angela retorted and judging from the dark look that appeared in her daughter's eyes she knew she had said something wrong. Jane walked back into the living room, still pulling her t-shirt over her head and with one arm already poking through. She had found a rubber hairband and bound her hair in a messy ponytail. She quickly sat back down and began searching through her cell phone for missed calls or text messages from Maura. There were none. Just Frankie texting her saying he was proud of her and he had a good night last night.

Jane hit speed dial and began cutting her pancakes into pieces. She had just stuck the first forkful in her mouth when Maura's phone rang out and went to voicemail. She quickly swallowed before leaving a message. A tiny bit of syrup trickled down the corner of her mouth and dripped on tp her shirt. She swore under her breath before restoring herself and focusing on leaving a message. "Hey Maur, it's me. Ma said you're not home. Just call me back when you hear this, all right? I can do with an extra pair of hands to clean up the mess in my apartment" She hung up and gave her mother a look. "See, just an ordinary message"

"How's your head this morning?" Angela cleverly changed the subject and poured her daughter a glass of milk.

"It hurts"

"From the alcohol or because you went head to head with a prison guard?"

"Both" Jane slipped off her chair. She left the half eaten pancake. Suddenly she wasn't hungry anymore and she didn't fancy getting any more stains in her shirt. "I am probably still over the limit and my world looks like a carnival ride right now. You think you could drive me to Maura's?"

"What? But I just got here and…" Angela gestured around. Another one of the horse shaped balloons fell from the ceiling and landed on the floor. Both Rizzoli women stared at it for a moment, both still trying to decide whether to smile or frown. "…your apartment…"

"It can wait" Jane said impatiently. This was not the time to think about how she was ever going to remove the stickers from her doorframe. "Can you just take me to Maura's, Ma?"

Angela shook her head, switched off the gas and left the dirty dishes for what they were. She patted her pockets in search for her car keys and followed her daughter of the door. Jane closed it behind her after one last hard look at the state of her apartment. And with a tiny smile, remembering Maura as she had sent her to bed, she followed her mother down the corridor.