Disclaimer - I don't own anything except plot line, Tom and Amelia.
This was written real quick, not read through because I wanted to get it up tonight not tomorrow, thanks for the response! Thank you to carolm007 for the idea at the end of this chapter!
Hope you guys enjoy!
(Also, this is not beta'd - all mistakes are my own)
Maura had settled into a nice routine with Jane. Running every day, discussing her new job; Jane had calmed Maura's nerves earlier that day, but now she was nervous.
11 hours.
That was all that stood between Maura and her new job.
She was petrified. Wouldn't admit it of course, but she was.
She tried to stick to her schedule, but since Mia kept asking questions about how it would go, she couldn't stop thinking about it and get on with the task at hand.
Maura laid in bed beside her daughter, half listening to Mia's ramblings about school.
She heard Mia mention science homework, career day, something about spellings she needed to learn and something else.
She tried to listen, to appear interested, but as hard as she tried she couldn't stop panicking about the next day.
Only an hour later once Mia had finally fallen asleep did Maura leave her bed. She padded quietly to her wardrobe, only turning on the light after she had closed the door behind her, to avoid disturbing Mia.
She moved a few shoe boxes aside, to finally reach the one towards the back. She picked it up and slipped out of her wardrobe, heading in the direction of the living room. She quickly checked on Amelia on her way, but she was sound asleep.
Down in the living room Maura poured herself a glass of wine before sitting in Tom's chair.
It had always been his favourite, and towards the end it would be the only place you'd find him if he weren't in bed or at the hospital.
She placed the glass on the table in front of her and put the box on her lap.
Tom had never been one for photos, he hated standing still with a cheesy grin and then having to go through the 'oh someone blinked, let's do it again' process. So in the end Maura only had three photos of Tom; one from their 5th date, their wedding photo and one the day Mia was born.
Maura couldn't face having them around, so once she and Mia had returned from their holiday the photos had gone in the box.
The box which now sat on Maura's lap.
Maura slipped the lid from the box, stifling a sob as the lid moved away revealing their wedding photo.
She and Tom stood underneath a tree in Italy, his arms wrapped around her, the two of them smiling at the camera. It had made Maura laugh, that they had spent so much money on a professional photographer, and yet their favourite picture had been taken by Tom's uncle.
Maura picked the photo up, discarding it. Fortunately the other two photos were tucked safely at the bottom of the box. She adored the photo of her, Mia and Tom, but she couldn't look at it, the pain still too much.
Instead she pulled one of the other items from the box.
A simple grey t-shirt. There was nothing special about it; it was just Tom's favourite. Anytime he got the opportunity to wear it, he did. Even once it was old and Maura had told him to throw it, he wouldn't. At the time Maura was annoyed he kept it, but now, she was thankful he hadn't.
She held up the t-shirt, noticing a hole at the bottom. She smirked, having never seen it before. It needed throwing it, but now she couldn't bare the idea of getting rid of it.
It felt like the only piece of Tom she had left besides Mia.
She lifted the t-shirt, Tom's scent in the air. The tears continued to slip silently down her face. She was scared, petrified. She wanted Tom. She wanted him to wrap her up in his arms again and tell her it was going to be all right. And the fact that he would never do that again, never got any easier to deal with.
She tucked her feet up beside her, placing the box on the table. She placed Tom's t-shirt in her lap, willing the tears to stop falling, but as memories of her last new job came to mind the tears only got worse.
Mia had just recently turned 4.
Her birthday had been hard. Even though Maura came from money, with neither Tom or Maura working and Tom's medical bills, Mia's birthday had not been a big affair.
Fortunately Mia didn't seem to mind.
However when more medical bills arrived a few days after her birthday Maura knew she needed to go back to work. She was reluctant at first. Tom was getting sicker; he could barely make it downstairs now. The last thing Maura wanted was to work and leave him alone all day.
So, Maura had put it off. Until 3 months after Mia's 4th birthday.
Mia had gone to bed that night and Maura lay in bed with Tom beside her. He had bad days, but they had become more and more frequent.
Maura knew what it meant. So did Tom. He was getting weaker, tired. He didn't have the energy to fight much longer.
More and more medical bills were arriving. His treatments becoming more expensive as they became more experimental.
That night as Maura lay there; when she thought Tom was asleep she slipped out of bed. She walked quietly to her wardrobe, walking towards the back.
She didn't intend to stay there long, just look over a few things and then go back to bed.
In the end it was Tom's coughing that brought her back to their bedroom.
She stepped out of their wardrobe, searching the room for Tom, she couldn't see him. She walked out properly, fumbling for the light switch, sighing in relief when she found it.
However, the sight that met her eyes stole her breath before she even caught it.
Tom sat crouched on the other side of the bedroom, blood painting his lips. He coughed more, clutching his chest.
Maura tried her best to move, to get to the phone, to call for help, to do anything.
She felt frozen, terrified. In the end she spotted her cell phone on the side table, reached for it and called 911.
That night had been Tom's last night at home.
On arriving at the hospital the doctors had explained that Tom's cancer had metastasized to his lungs, and that there was nothing they could do.
Maura had sat in the hospital chair by his bed all night, she had refused to leave, refused to cry, refused to discuss it.
3 weeks after Tom was admitted it was revealed that he may never leave the hospital.
Reality slapped Maura hard when the hospital showed her just how much it would cost.
That was when Maura knew she had to go back to work. It was a simple process. She knew of many hospitals across the country that would have jobs waiting for her. All she had to do was pick.
In the end she did pick, and the hospital gave her a start date for the next weekend.
The night before Maura started she sat in Tom's room. She assumed he was sleeping, so she allowed herself to get caught up in thoughts.
"Scared?"
The voice scared her, but when she looked up and found Tom's eyes she settled.
"No." She lied. She knew she couldn't lie, but she didn't want to burden him.
"Your hives will tell me otherwise..." He joked, momentarily brightening the mood, until he laughed too much and his coughing brought reality back.
"Yes." She admitted in a whisper.
Tom looked at his wife for a moment, before shifting as far across the bed as he could manage.
"C'mere."
She refused to meet his eyes, knowing that it would be the end of her resolve.
"Maura..." He patted the bed weakly.
She briefly met his eyes this time, feeling the tears begin to well up.
"I'd play the dying card, but you might slap me." Tom tried to joke, make Maura smile, but it the end it only served to be the comment that let the tears fall.
Maura leaned forward, the tears escaping without her permission or control.
Tom leaned over, picking up her hand.
Eventually she gave up and moved onto the bed with him, cautious not to hurt him. He moved slightly so she could curl up into him, her head on his shoulder.
He placed a kiss on her forehead, and then the top of her head.
"You're going to kick ass Maur, I know you will."
Maura didn't have the heart to tell him off for his language today.
"You're going to go in there tomorrow, and they're all going to be shocked by you, and then you're going to kick some dead person ass and show them all how amazing you are." He whispered, not having much more energy.
"How do you know?" Maura responded, still scared.
"Because I know you."
Maura smiled at his words.
"I'm scared Tom..."
Tom took a second to review her words, deciding if she intended them to fit to both situations.
"I know baby, me too."
With that Maura allowed herself to sob freely onto his shoulder.
Tom lay there, stroking her arm, placing kisses on her head and occasionally whispering words of encouragement to her.
In the end Maura had fallen asleep in his arms, for what would be, the final time.
Maura had not realized how loud her sobs had become until she heard movement on the stairs. She looked up to find Mia stood on the stairs looking down at her, tears on her own face.
Maura wiped her face and cleared her throat quickly.
"Mia baby, what's wrong?"
Mia sniffled once more before running down the stairs to her mother.
Maura scooped Mia up and sat them both back down in one fluid movement.
"I heard you crying Mommy, and then I came to make sure you were okay, because I don't like it when you cry." Mia spoke quietly, her voice thick with tears.
Maura sat back for a moment, deciding what to say.
"I'm sorry Mia, I...I just..." Maura trailed off, not sure what to say.
"You miss Daddy?" Mia finished for her.
Maura looked down at Mia, trying not to cry again.
"Yes baby, I miss Daddy."
Mia nodded, before snuggling into Maura side, still crying.
In the end Mia cried herself to sleep. Something that Maura had done plenty of times herself, but it hurt her deeply to see her daughter do.
Maura got up slowly, glancing at the clock on her way to her bedroom.
9 hours.
1 hour.
That was all that stood between Maura and her new job now.
She had gotten up early, showered and made breakfast.
Now she sat in the car outside Mia's school, having just dropped her off early.
The school Maura had chosen for Mia offered and early morning class for students whose parents had to work early. It meant the kids had breakfast at school if needed; otherwise they had the opportunity to play or work.
She pulled away from the school, determined not to cry.
In the end, she was glad she had left enough time between dropping Mia off and starting work. She ended up getting lost and having to Google the BPD.
She arrived at work a little before her first shift started.
By the time 1pm rolled around Maura was actually quite enjoying the work. It had been a process of paperwork and polishing her skills.
Dr Pike had not been in, so on her first day she was the most senior person in the morgue. She wasn't left in charge of course, but it did give her that thrill of working she'd missed.
She was just leaving for lunch when she spotted Jane running up to her.
"Dr Isles!"
Maura spun round to face the detective properly.
"Detective Rizzoli." Maura greeted.
"Listen doc, I'd love to chat and do the whole 'how is the job going' thing, but I need a favour."
Maura looked taken aback. She'd been there 4 hours and already Jane wanted a favour.
Being the polite person she was, Maura nodded quickly.
"Great thank you! Okay, so me and my partner Frost are about to head out to a career day across town, and Pike was meant to be going with us, but since he's not here we were sort of hoping maybe you could...um...come with?" Jane looked at Maura pleadingly.
Really it was the last thing Maura wanted to do.
But she couldn't very well say no.
She looked up at Jane, who was now practically begging with her eyes.
"Well...okay?"
"Yes! Thank you! Meet me out front in 10!" With that Jane ran off, presumably to find Frost.
30 minutes later Maura found herself outside Mia's school.
She panicked, her heart raced, she felt frozen.
She hadn't told anyone about Mia, she didn't want to explain anything.
She'd been running with Jane for a while now, and not once mentioned Mia. The only thing she could hope was that they wouldn't be in Mia's class.
As they walked quickly through the school Maura's heart raced, and then stopped as they stood outside Mia's class room.
Jane walked in first, then Frost and finally Maura.
At first Maura didn't spot Mia and she breathed a sigh of relief, thinking maybe she'd got the classes mixed up.
Until she heard it.
"Mommy!" With that Mia appeared at the door way, before throwing herself at Maura, wrapping her little arms around Maura's waist.
Maura quickly hugged Mia back before prying her off and sending her to sit down.
She avoided looking at Jane for the whole presentation, which surprisingly went off without a hitch.
However, Maura's luck ran out as the three of them stepped out of the school.
Frost went ahead to start the car and Jane finally turned to Maura.
"Mommy?!" Jane asked accusingly.
Okay, quick A/N - hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think! Am I going in the right direction? Do you like it? Could I do anything better? Thanks for reading! Hope I see you all (And maybe some new people, hint hint) in chapter 4!