“Talk to me Jane.” She collected up Jane’s discarded clothing and tucked it into the laundry hamper, making a mental note to get on top of the increasing pile that Jane had neglected to do.

More sobs echoed around the bathroom and Maura felt a pull in her chest. “Jane?” her own voice shook as the heartbreak that filled the room threatened to consume her. “Please sweetie.” When another five minutes of silence greeted her, Maura turned to the large linen cupboard and fetched a fresh towel, before pulling back the shower curtain and turning off the now cold water. Jane hadn’t moved, her knees drawn up to her chest with her arms around her legs. Dark hair framing the shivering mass; Maura smiled sadly. She looked so small, so vulnerable, so un-Jane-like.

Wrapping the huge towel around her friend’s shoulders, Maura helped her to her feet, rubbing some warmth back into her friend as she guided her to the bed. “What’s going on Jane?”  She began towelling dry her hair, waiting for Jane to say something, anything. Her silence was terrifying.

‘I don’t know’ Jane thought, ‘How do I say that she scares me, that her being here is the most terrifying thing in the world right now?’ As Maura rubbed her shoulders, Jane shivered. The warmth, the life and love that radiated from her friend made her feel about an inch tall. ‘Please go away and let me rot here on my own.’

Throwing the towel to the floor, Maura shook Jane hard by the shoulders. “JANE RIZZOLI!” she shouted, her cheeks flushing with anger. Jane looked up at her, empty dark eyes meeting tear-filled hazel as she shook her head, a minute motion that would have been easily missed.

“Please Jane.”

Jane opened her mouth, the words collecting in her throat before dying, one by one on her lips. She wanted to tell Maura everything as she understood it, but the words wouldn’t come. She could see the fear in her friend’s eyes and it hurt her heart. She was the cause of that look, of that pain. She was the reason that Maura stood before her, tears pooling in her eyes and her immaculate make up streaking down her cheeks. Another promise she’d broken. All she did was bring hurt and pain to everyone around her. This was why Jane Rizzoli didn’t have friends, didn’t have relationships. Someone always got hurt. She’d promised both herself and Maura that she wouldn’t do that to her, that she wouldn’t be the cause of tears.