Chapter 11

"Just stitch it so I can get out of here." Jane was getting impatient.

"Everybody's talking about your episode with your brother in the parking lot. Is this an ongoing feud or is it something new?" Jan asked Jane as she put another stitch in the cut on her forehead. "And what are you doing down here? You never come in on your own."

Jane gave her the old Rizzoli smirk but it didn't reach her eyes. Jan could see she was hurting in more ways than just the physical. "Tommy says he's in love with Maura and thinks I took her away from him. He blames me for everything that has gone wrong in his life so tonight I tried to let him get it out of his system but he wouldn't listen to reason. Even after Constance said Maura had told her a while ago she was in love with me he thought he could win her back. Then I went back upstairs and everyone blamed me. Even Maura. I figured here was the last place anyone would look so I thought I could get fixed up in peace." She gave Jan a sheepish grin.

"Are you going to go back upstairs? I'm sure Maura didn't mean it." Jan asked quietly.

"I'm not sure, I'm really angry and I don't want to say something I might regret later. Right now I need to sleep. I haven't slept in over 2 days. Maybe I'll just go home." Jane felt the weight of the world on her shoulders and all of the sudden she felt too tired to worry about anything.

"Maybe you should spend the night here?" Jan suggested.

"No way. Are we done?"

"Yeah I think so. Think about staying here Jane, you shouldn't be alone right now." Jan was worried about her.

"I'll be fine, I'm used to it." Jane swung her legs off the table and stood up and had to grab the table to regain her balance.

"See you can't even stand up on your own. Why don't you let me drive you home? I'm out of here in about 10 minutes."

"Don't worry about it." Jane walked out and heard her phone ringing and saw that it was her mother again and she turned the phone off and walked slowly to her car. She sat in the car and thought about what had happened over the past couple of hours. She was still pissed at Tommy for beating the crap out of her just as she was beginning to feel human again and she knew she had probably been unfair to Maura but she always took Tommy's side. She leaned forward and started the car and headed home. Jo greeted her at the door with her usual exuberance but for once Jane was just not in the mood so she took her out to do her thing with barely a word and took her back inside. She climbed in the shower and let the water wash away some of the grunge and grime from almost three days working and running non-stop. When she finished she went to the kitchen and grabbed a beer and plopped down on the couch. Jo jumped up on her lap and started licking her face. "I supposed you're mad at me too. Join the club so is everybody else." She buried her face in Jo's neck and just sat there.

She woke to the sound of pounding on her door about 4 hours later. "Come on Jane I know you're in there, open up." She groaned at the sound of Frankie's voice. "Open up before I kick the door down."

She walked over to the door and opened it then walked back to the couch and looked at the clock. "What do you want Frankie it's almost midnight? I'm trying to sleep. Get in here before you wake the whole neighborhood."

He walked over and picked her phone up from the coffee table and saw that it was turned off. "I guess that explains why you're not answering your phone."

"I turned it off after about the10th time Ma called. I'm just not ready to talk about it yet." Jane sat back down on the couch and drank the rest of her beer and grimaced at the stale beer.

"Maura thinks you aren't coming back. She was crying after you left." Frankie said the last hoping it would get to Jane.

"Hitting below the belt there Frankie and I was going to go back but I fell asleep. Can you give me a ride over there? I don't think I should be driving as tired as I am." Jane stood up and winced again.

"How bad did Tommy hurt you?" Frankie asked with genuine concern.

Jane pulled up her shirt and showed him the new bruises and the stitches in her forehead. "Four stitches to fix this one and this time I think one of the ribs is broken. Don't tell Tommy but he's got a pretty good right hook." She rubbed her chin to make her point. She limped towards the door.

"You do know it's past visiting hours right?" Frankie smiled knowingly.

"Since when did that stop a Rizzoli?" Jane smiled back at him. "Hey can you take care of Jo for a couple of days? Just check on her and let her out. I want to take care of Maura and I don't think she needs to be trying to avoid a dog in her own home. Just for a day or two ok?"

"Sure." He scooped Jo up in his arms. "Come on kid Mom's ignoring you again."

"Hey don't say that she'll get a complex." Jane walked over and scratched behind Jo's ear and leaned down to Jo's level. "It's just for a couple of days while I take care of Maura ok?"

Frankie laughed at the high pitched voice she used. "Come on Mommy let's go." He went ahead of Jane so she could lock up behind them.

Frankie pulled into the circular drive of the hospital and stopped the car. Jane turned towards him with a look of trepidation in her eyes. "Was she really mad after I left?"

"No she was sad. Now go in there and make things right."

"Thanks Frankie." Jane left the car and almost ran into the hospital. She smiled at the nurses at the nurse's station on the 3rd floor.

"We were wondering when you'd be back. You know it's past visiting hours right?" Jane nodded. "Would we be able to stop you if you wanted to go in there?" Jane shook her head. "That's what we thought." She pointed to the other nurses. "So you might as well go on in. Don't do anything to rile her up ok? She needs her rest." They all smiled as Jane hurried past them to Maura's room without having said a word..

Jane stood at the door and just looked at Maura as she slept. God she's so beautiful, how could I ever have doubted her? She walked over to the chair next to the bed and gently took Maura's hand and just sat there. She could have kicked herself when she saw the streaks on her cheeks left from the tears she had cried. "I'm so sorry Maura." She whispered as she lifted her hand to her lips.

"You came back." Jane looked up into eyes that looked at her warily. "I wasn't sure if you would."

"Always Maura. I am so sorry I hurt you like I did." She stood and started to lean over but her ribs stopped her and she yelped and sat back down.

"Oh Jane he did hurt you didn't he?" See saw the bandage on her forehead. "How bad?" She pointed to the bandage.

"What Jan didn't run up here to tell you?" Maura shook her head. "Four stitches. Maura I didn't fight back I swear." Jane started to explain.

"Shhh." Maura reached up and placed a finger on her lips. "Frankie explained everything after you left and he made sure your Mother and I both knew you were only trying to talk to him. I'm so sorry I took his side that was so wrong of me. I should have listened to you before I spoke."

"Are you saying the great Doctor Maura Isles jumped to a conclusion before she had all of the facts?" Jane gave her the old Rizzoli smirk.

"Yes that is what I am saying and it will never happen again." Maura said with sincerity.

"I'm sure it will but at least now that I know you are capable of it I will be better prepared next time." She once again brought Maura's hand to her lips and kissed it. "Go to sleep I'll be here when you wake up."

Maura moved over on the bed and patted the empty space beside her. "Come here, you can't sleep sitting in that chair."

Jane slid in next to her and took as deep a breath as she could and inhaled Maura's scent. "I'm not hurting you am I?" She asked as she lay her head down on Maura's shoulder.

"Nothing has ever felt better in my life." Maura smiled contentedly.

"Nothing?" Jane asked suggestively.

"Well there may have been a few occasions when I've felt better but this is a different kind of better." Maura pulled her in tighter.

"I wouldn't want you to forget those moments and I can assure you there will be many more." She heard Maura's breathing start to even out. "I love you Maura."

"I love you too Jane. I'm really sorry I hurt you. I'll try to avoid such instances in the future." Jane sighed and Maura knew when she fell asleep. She leaned down and kissed the top of her head then lay back and closed her eyes.

That was the way Angela and Constance found them the next morning. "I'm so glad she came back. Maura was so upset. It looks like they worked out their differences."

"I told you Jane would come back. She loves Maura too much to let things go too far for too long." Angela walked over and gently kissed Jane's forehead then sat down in the chair as Constance sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed. "Don't they look cute together?"

"They sure look content." Constance said as she pulled a magazine from her bag and sat back to wait.

Jane opened her eyes and saw Constance sitting beside the bed and made a quick move to get off of Maura. "Shit!"

"Language Jane." Maura said as she opened her eyes to see the distress in Jane's. She turned her head and looked where Jane was staring. "Good morning Mother. How are you today?" She smiled at her mother.

"We brought you some croissants if you're hungry." Constance couldn't help but laugh at the look of dread on Jane's face and watched as she carefully turned over to see Angela sitting in the other chair.

Angela wiggled her fingers in a wave of sorts and gave both women a huge smile. "I'm glad you came back Jane. I looked everywhere for you last night and you weren't answering your phone. I was worried until Frankie called me to let me know you were ok. I still haven't found Tommy. He'll come out when he's ready. Then I have a few choice words for him about beating on his sister when she's already hurting. How are you by the way?"

"Do you really care Ma?" Jane felt Maura squeeze her in warning. "What? She didn't seem to care about anything but Tommy last night."

Angela didn't back down from Jane's accusations. "I guess I deserve that. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. But he's my baby and…no that's no excuse, just believe me when I say I'm sorry ok?"

"Ok where's my real Ma? What did you do with her? Since when do you not take Tommy's side?" Jane smiled to take the bite out of what she said.

"Since Frankie told me a few things about what you did for them when you were growing up." Angela looked at Jane with nothing but love in her eyes.

"Now you're really starting to scare me. What could Frankie have said to make you do this complete about face?" Jane reached out and took Angela's hand that was resting on the bed beside her.

"He told me that you took the blame for a lot of things he and Tommy did as you were growing up. I blamed you for almost everything and when you didn't fight back I assumed you were guilty."

"They were such wimps. They always came running to me afterward crying and I couldn't stand to see them cry so it became easier to just take the blame. Then they would come and apologize and thank me for my awesomeness. That was so much easier." Everyone in the room knew it was so much more than that but none of them refuted what she said.

"I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry I've been so hard on you. I just wanted what was best for you."

"I know that Ma but I'm a big girl now and you have to let go sometime. As you can see I never needed a man in my life to make me happy." She turned and kissed Maura on the top of her head and looked at her lovingly. "By the way, good morning." She turned back to her mother. "I knew you always wanted what was best for me but as you can also see, you don't always know what's best." She gave her mother the widest grin she could produce and they all had a good laugh. "Now Ma would you help me out of this bed so I can use the bathroom? Constance you may want to let one of the nurses know that Maura is awake and may want to use the facilities so they can come in and show us what we need to do."

"Jane I do not need any assistance to get out of bed and use the bathroom!" She said adamantly then proceeded to try to show them and yelped in pain from the broken rib. "How do you do it Jane? You have to be in far more pain than me yet you move as if you aren't."

"Because I'm the badass cop and you're just my part time badass protector. In other words, you're a wimp." Jane ducked the pillow Maura threw at her then laughed as Maura yelped again. "See I told you." But when she finally made it to the bathroom she yelped in pain then lifted her shirt to check out her ribs. "Damn." She pressed on the spot where she could see the most bruising and knew she needed a wrap to make it feel better. She walked out of the bathroom to see everyone looking at her. "I'm going to the nurse's station, I'll be right back."

"She too stupid for her own sake." Angela laughed.

"Did just call your daughter stupid?" Constance asked dumbfounded that a mother would say that in the presence of others.

"Of course I did. You heard her in the bathroom just as well as I did. She will not admit when she is in pain and she will not accept help of any kind. Well except when it's Maura doing the helping." She smiled as Jane came back into the room.

She held up the ace bandage and walked over to Maura who was by now sitting up in bed. "Can you do it for me?" She asked shyly.

"Of course I will if someone will help me into the chair." Maura asked as she looked between Angela and Constance.

"I'll help you." Jane walked towards her to help her out of the bed.

"Get out of the way you stubborn cuss. You always were the most hardheaded of all of us. If you can't even wrap your own ribs how do you expect to help her out of the bed? Jane stood back in frustration and watched her mother do what she should be doing. Maura hissed in pain as Angela gently put her arm around Maura's waist and helped her out of the bed. "Do you want to hit the bathroom as long as you are up? Then when you come back you can sit and stay seated."

"That makes sense. Is that ok Jane? Can you wait a few moments while I relieve myself?" Maura looked at Jane as if she were apologizing for having to go to the bathroom.

"Of course Maura, your needs should always come first." Maura touched her cheek as she walked by her knowing what she said applied to much more than this situation.

"Thank you. I'll be right back." The look that passed between the two of them caused Constance to almost look away because it seemed so private.

Jane turned to Constance after Maura disappeared into the bathroom. "So where are those croissants? I'm famished."

Constance shook her head to bring herself back to the moment and she reached down beside her for the bag from one of Jane's favorite bakeries. "Here, I don't suppose you've taken the time to eat properly since all of this started." She handed the bag to Jane and watched as she dug in with gusto. "Save at least one for Maura, she loves them."

"I know, we go to that bakery all the time. Maura also likes the donuts with the sprinkles on them. She's like a little kid in a candy shop there. The guys in the office love it when she brings donuts." Jane turned as she heard the bathroom door open and watched as Maura came back out. She saw that she had finger combed her hair and she probably brushed her teeth already too. She looked wonderful. Jane reached out and took her hand when she got close enough and helped her into the chair.

"I'm not sure I can reach around you to wrap it but I'll do my best." She looked up at Jane with an apologetic smile.

Constance surprised them all when she walked around to the side of the bed where they all stood. "Why don't you hand it to me darling then I can wrap it around and hand it back to you. Will that work?"

"Yes Mother that will work perfectly. Thank you." Maura then started to wrap and with a few instructions they were able to wrap Jane's ribs as good as Maura had on her own before. "You've got potential Mother. You did well."

Jane sat down on the side of the bed and took a good look at Maura. If it weren't for the cuts and bruises she looked almost like her old self. Jane knew from experience that the dreams would come and she hoped she would be there to quiet her fears and make her nights as peaceful as possible. They all turned at the quiet knock at the door and Jane jumped to her feet when she saw who it was. "What the hell Tommy didn't I tell you to stay away?"

"You said to stay away until I get my shit together." He gave her a tentative smile.

"Do they all swear like this?" Constance asked Maura.

"Yes Mother they do."

"So you're saying you are ok with Maura and I dating? You're not going to punch me out every time we get in an elevator together? You're not going to jump me in the parking lot when we leave?" Jane tried to smile but she wasn't sure if she could trust him or not.

"I promise not to beat you up and we can still have family dinners without fighting anymore than we usually do."

"You do know that I let you win that fight right? I could have taken you at anytime." Jane didn't move from where she had been standing.

"There's no way you could have won that fight. I had you the whole time." He took a step towards Jane.

"Then how come I was able to throw you off as easy as I did and stop you from hitting me?" Jane took a step forward.

"Are they going to fight again?" Constance looked towards Angela with a worried expression.

"I'm not quite sure." Angela was ready to break it up if necessary.

"Ah hell not again." Frankie said as he walked into the room and saw Jane and Tommy almost chest to chest. He walked between them and they both backed down.

"I guess you were right about the swearing." Constance said to Maura.

"I am right 99% of the time Mother." Maura gave her mother a knowing smile.

"What about the other 1%?" This time it was Jane that asked without taking her eyes off of Tommy.

"Well then I would Google it of course." She said matter of factly.

And what would Jane say to that? "That's my girl."

THE END!