Haunted Hallways
Summary: Maura struggles to deal with her mother's injuries and remembers back to events following the fateful day back at headquarters a year ago.
Disclaimer: I do not own Rizzoli and Isles, not for profit. They are owned by Tess Gerritsen, Janet Tamaro, Warner Brothers, and TNT.
Note: I am working on a second chapter that I will probably upload later this week or early this weekend.
They wouldn't let her in the ambulance and she needed, needed to be in there. Rationally, Maura knew she would just be in the way, but in her chaos-clouded state of mind she needed to see the familiar face, hear the monotoned blip of the heart rate monitor.
It had just been about an hour after her mother's damaged body had been rolled into the ER. The embedded asphalt was starting to sting in Maura's knees and palms, and the emotional numbness was dissipating. She had debated calling Jane. She didn't want to bother her on a hard earned night off; but as she leaned against the wall in the empty hallway, she knew she needed Jane, and that this time she would be there.
Maura hated hospitals. She hated the depressing feel, the dying, the unknown. Maura found comfort with the dead, but in a hospital she was transformed from the confident doctor she was into a confused and scared shadow of herself. Maura had never felt completely comfortable with her emotions and being alone in this moment in the hospital was like sandpaper aggravating her delicate skin - flashbacks from last year's similar situation bombarded her brain…
….Jane bleeding out on the sidewalk.…
….herself being dragged off of Jane's lifeless body by Korsak.…
….being barred from the ambulance by the EMTs….
….pulling up to the entrance of the ER just in time to see the stretcher carrying Jane fly past, one nurse straddling Jane's now vulnerable body, performing CPR, another forcing precious air through a tube down Jane's throat….
Maura had lost it seeing Jane like that. She was so used to seeing Jane as the vibrant, crass, sarcastic woman who had quickly rooted her way into her life, pulling down all of the walls Maura had slowly built up over her lifetime. Living in a world that might not contain that energy scared the shit out of her. Maura chuckled to herself amidst the sobs, ignoring Korsak's confused glance her direction. 'Jane's rubbing off on me', Maura thought as she moved to escape the waiting room.
Maura had spent the next few terrifying hours huddled in an abandoned hallway, not able to face the force of nature that was Jane's mother, and desperately wishing Jane were there to hold her and hide her from the world.
Seeing her mother in a similar situation scared Maura, but not nearly as much as she was the last time she was here with Jane. Even though Maura wasn't very close to her mother, she had vied for her approval, attention, and acceptance since she was a small child, and had only recently been trying to repair that relationship.
Maura finally works up the nerve and calls. As the other side answers, Maura lets out a strangled whimper,
"...Jane," she struggles to explain to Jane what had happened, a fresh round of tears stream down her face as she hears Jane struggling to put on a jacket while reassuring her that she will be right there.
As soon as Jane steps off of the elevator, she swoops down on Maura, enveloping her in a comforting hug.
"The...they, they wouldn't let me in the ambulance," Maura sobs into Jane's chest. Jane murmurs support, holding Maura head against her with one arm, and gently rubbing Maura's back with the other.
Jane's arms are around her. Jane is alive. A slight scent of vanilla surrounds Maura as she buries her head in Jane's warm neck. Jane keeps her sane, this time, this disaster, Maura has Jane. She can make it through.
