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"We have a Caucasian female, 35, trauma to the head and abdomen. Both hands were pierced straight through with a scalpel, conscious at the scene but lost consciousness en route."

The older doctor turned on his penlight and opened Jane's eyelids for pupil reaction. Jane's pupils shrank, immediately reacting to the light. He tenderly lifted Jane's bandaged hands and examined them carefully, setting them down after a few seconds. "I need a CT of the head and abdomen stat. Once that's done get the hands x-rayed. Page me when you have results."

"Right away doctor."

The resident took Jane's gurney and directed it towards CT, getting the necessary scans quickly. Once the x-rays were done, she immediately went to page the attending doctor. He appeared in the hallway a couple of minutes later.

"Dr. Gates, the scans you requested for detective Rizzoli are ready, sir."

"Let's take a look," the older man said as he adjusted his glasses. "Concussion to the brain is evident, but there appears to be no swelling. A few broken ribs… no internal bleeding… that's a good sign." He turned his attention to the x-rays. "Damnit, there seems to be some real damage to the palms. There's no way to determine at this time just how much nerve damage was done. Bandage the ribs, then page ortho; she's definitely going to need surgical repair. I want you monitoring her during and after that surgery for the concussion."

"Yes sir, right away," the resident replied. She bandaged Jane's midsection with the help of her intern and quickly had the ortho attending paged.

The young, blonde headed doctor rushed through the hospital corridors and into the ER towards the resident who had paged. "Moore, you paged? What do we have?" the doctor asked, quickly slipping into trauma mode.

"35 year-old Caucasian female with injuries to both hands. Some deranged psycho drove a scalpel through them. She also has some broken ribs and a concussion, but Dr. Gates has already taken care of that."

"Good," she said as she turned her attention towards the x-rays. "There's some definite nerve damage, need to get in there and determine just how much and try to fix everything we can. Are you available to join me in the OR?"

"Yes doctor."

"Call downstairs and tell them to get an OR ready, we have to go in now."

The first thing she felt was throbbing pain, yet she couldn't determine where it was coming from. She tried to open her eyes to no avail. After a few seconds, she tried again. The room, along with its bright lights slowly became clearer and clearer, though she had to squint several times due to the brightness.

"Jane? Sweetheart? Cane you hear me?"

She tried to turn in the direction of the voice; it sounded vaguely familiar. There it was, the throbbing was coming from her head.

"Jane?"

She felt a warm, soft hand on her arm as she was finally able to turn to see who that voice belonged to. Tired, worried eyes looked back at her, anxiously waiting for any kind of reaction. "…Ma? What happened? Where am I?" Her voice felt hoarse and raspier than usual. She felt as if she was about to cough.

"Here baby, have some water," Angela said as she immediately picked up on Jane's discomfort. She put a straw to Jane's lips and held the cup as Jane slowly drank.

"Thank you," Jane said.

"I'm so happy you're alive Jane. I can't believe this happened." Angela began sobbing as she broke down into tears.

"What happened ma?" Jane asked once more.

"Vince won't tell me everything; but I've spoken to your doctors. You suffered a concussion and several broken ribs. The suspect you were after, he stabbed through your hands with a scalpel."

"Did he get away? Where is he?!" Jane made to get up.

"Jane! Please, calm down. Vince got him, he's been arrested. Try to remain calm, you'll make your situation worse."

Jane slowly lifted her hands to see them both heavily bandaged. She couldn't move them even if she tried. Tears slowly began to escape her. "What did the doctor say about my hands, ma? How bad is it?"

Angela tried to regain composure for her daughter's sake. "It was bad honey. The doctor said there were a lot of nerves severed. She went in and surgically repaired as much as she could. She said that with time and therapy you will be able to regain strength and use your hands once more."

"I need to speak to her ma. Get the doctor for me will you?"

"Jane, you need your rest… please," Angela tried.

"Ma! I need to speak to my doctor! I will not get rest until I do. Now will you get her or will I?" Jane asked with a determined look on her face.

"Ok honey, ok. I'll get her." Angela rose from her seat beside the bed and quickly made her way outside. What seemed like an eternity to Jane, which in fact was only a few minutes later, Angela returned with a petite blonde woman in tow.

"Ma, can you please give us a minute?" Jane asked as nicely as she could.

"Jane, I think I should be here for you honey…"

"Ma, please, just give us a minute!" Jane tried again, albeit more forcefully.

Angela looked to the doctor, who gave her a small nod. She released a sigh and shook her head as she headed out the door.

Jane waited until the door was closed before looking directly at the doctor. "Are you the one who operated on me?" she asked.

"I was the one that operated on your hands, yes. I'm doctor –"

"I don't care to know your name doctor. I just need to know what's wrong with me and how long it's going to take before I can get back to work."

The blonde woman looked at Jane with intense, curious eyes. "The scalpels that were driven through your hands severed many of the nerves in your palm which are responsible for your finger movement. I went in and surgically repaired most of them, and I am hopeful that with therapy and time you will be able to regain most function."

"Will I ever be able to hold or fire a gun again?" Jane asked, dreading the answer.

The doctor said nothing for a few seconds, trying how best to phrase her answer. "As of now, due to the severity of your injury, you are not able to hold or grip anything, detective. I can't guarantee that you'll be able to go back to 100% function, but I am hopeful that you will be able to resume your line of work. I do advise however, that you won't have an easy road ahead of you. You will require months of physical therapy and possibly additional surgery to get your hands to as close as you had them before."

"When can I begin therapy?" Jane asked quickly.

"We need to keep you here for a few more days for observation of your injuries. We need to make sure there are no other side effects from your concussion and see if any additional surgery will be required on your hands. You are going to need round the clock care for a while, and we have everything you need here at your disposal. If after a week everything looks as it should be, I will discharge you to go home as long as you will have someone to look after you until you can regain some control of your hands and are able to do everyday things once more."

Jane could do nothing but stare up at the ceiling and try her hardest to keep her tears at bay. She felt helpless and useless. She couldn't let out her frustration, though it was evident to the doctor that she was dealing with a very determined woman.

The doctor continued. "I know this is a very difficult situation for you to assimilate detective. Just know that we are going to do everything possible to get you back to work as soon as possible. I know of an excellent physical therapist. I will have all the information for you once you're discharged. If you've any other questions, don't hesitate to have me paged. I'm here to help in any way I can."

Jane picked up on the kind smile the doctor tried to show. She saw the sincerity in the woman's words and the kindness in her eyes.

"Thank you doctor…"

"Isles, Maura Isles."

"Thank you Dr. Isles."

The young doctor smiled at her again. "That's what I'm here for, detective."

worth continuing?