I've got a head full of chemicals, mouth full of ridicule.

Chapitre 1

'I had to leave. I couldn't handle the thought of him hurting you when he'd find me at your place. I had to keep you safe. Don't worry about me. I'll be okay. I'm happy to have seen you again. Thank you for everything. Jane.'

Maura crumpled the note in her hand. Jane had left it on the pillow before leaving the house while Maura was asleep. Tears were running down her cheeks. Jane had cried while writing those few words. The paper was stained with water stains. Maura didn't need to run tests on it to know that it was tears. Jane hadn't left willingly. She had left only because she feared the man who was beating her, and she had feared what he would do to her if he was to come there. Once again, she was sacrificing herself to keep her friend safe, but Maura couldn't accept that. She couldn't let her go back to him with what she now knew. It was her turn to protect her, to save her from the bad guy. That goodbye note she had left wouldn't stop her. She was a doctor. She had to help people. She was her best friend. She had to save her.

She was so stunned by Jane's note that she hadn't wanted to move from bed. A bed she had shared with her friend. Her smell lingered on the sheets and pillow and comforted her. But having Jane by her side would be better. She had to bring her back to safety before he could lay a harmful hand on her. She had enough of being the damsel in distress of the story and waiting in the shadows for someone to come and save her. That time, she would be the knight in shining armour, as stupid as it sounded. She was no knight, but Jane was in distress. She wouldn't want her family or former colleagues to see her like that, but Maura couldn't deal with Casey Jones alone. She had a basic knowledge of martial arts, but he was a trained soldier. He could break her, physically and professionally. She didn't doubt that he had the connections to screw her career.

She got out of bed and headed for the walk-in closet. She wouldn't go for anything fancy. Yoga pants, a sports shirt and a pair of trainers.

"No!"

Maura froze. It was Jane's voice. She was still here after all, but she wasn't alone. The only person she could have met so early in the morning was Angela, but Maura had told her that she had a special guest, and the older Rizzoli had promised to let her know if she had to come in the main house. She could have forgotten and come in the house out of habit. She could have met Jane as she prepared herself to sneak out.

"I knew you'd go back to her as soon as we'd be in Boston! Should have known you couldn't be trusted."

"Casey, please."

Casey. Maura gritted her teeth together and rushed to her study closet. She dug a small and dark case out of the impressive collection of various objects she was hiding here. She opened it and retrieved the pink gun stored inside. She clicked the cartridge clip in place.

Jane was screaming now. Maura rushed down, gun in handlike she had seen her friends do many times before. She hadn't known what she expected to see, but certainly not a terrified Jane, trapped between the kitchen counter and Casey. He was so close to her that she had had to step back until the edge of the counter was in her back. Her body was in an uncomfortable position, especially for a pregnant woman, but it wasn't what Maura was worried about. Casey had his hands gripped around both of Jane's, and his other hand was tight around her neck.

"You're mine, Jane! Mine! And if I have to kill your doctor and fuck you senseless in her blood, I'll do it!"

He let go of her throat only to unzip his pants. Jane gasped for air. Maura removed the security of her gun and aimed it at Casey. Her hands didn't shake, neither did her voice.

"Let her go. Now."

Jane's eyes grew big. Casey laughed. Maura didn't move. Her finger was on the side of the gun, close to the trigger. She had never used a gun out of a shooting range, but she knew a couple things thanks to Jane.

"You wouldn't dare."

"You've illegally broken into my house, hurt my best friend and threatened to kill me, that'll be self-defence."

Casey glanced at Jane who hadn't moved. She was looking down, ashamed that Maura was now a witness of her misery. He cupped her cheek. She closed her eyes. He stroked her skin, smiled at her. Maura was nervous. The man could be unpredictable.

He grabbed Jane's left wrist so tight Jane made a grimace of pain and showed her hand to Maura. The light caught the diamond on her ring finger and the wedding band just under it. He pointed to it as if she was blind and needed help to see the rings that had broken her heart and her friendship with Jane.

"This is the proof that she belongs to me, Doctor. I do what I want with my wife."

To prove his point, he pushed Jane on the counter. Her back popped as she fell backward. She whimpered. He slapped her face with the back of his hand. Maura readjusted her grip on the gun. She was breathing heavily. She had to take a decision. She couldn't fire on a man supposedly unarmed, but she couldn't let him hit Jane either.

Casey was having fun hitting Jane. In the face, in the chest, in the sides. Jane wasn't even fighting back. Maura couldn't take it anymore. He picked a kitchen knife, she fired. He stumbled back, surprised that she had actually shot him, and collapsed to the ground. Jane slipped to the floor.

Angela came in, alerted by the gunshot. Her eyes went from Casey, bleeding out on the floor from a wound in his shoulder, to Jane, on a heap on the ground, her face ruined with bruises and blood and arms wrapped around a swollen belly, to Maura holding a smoking gun.

"What happened here?"

"Call Korsak. And an ambulance."

Maura put the gun down on the counter and grabbed a towel to press on Casey's wound. Angela knelt before her daughter, already on the phone with Korsak. Jane was crying, and when her mother wrapped her arm around her and brought her against her, she didn't protest. Casey was cursing. Maura pressed harder. An ambulance was on the way. So was Korsak. That time, the soldier would have to face the consequences of his acts. He wouldn't hurt Jane anymore...