There's another Chapter, hope you guys like this one, it's what you being waiting for, one more chapter after this one. Thank you guys for hanging in here, and reading my work, it's much appreciate it and I love you guys :-)...
Disclaimer: R & I belong to TNT and Tess Gerritsen, I do not own them, nor am I making any wages from my story, I'm only having fun with them!
Chapter 4
"I—I can't—."
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"BP's 164 over 102," Nina cut in. "We're gonna have to roll her on her side!"
"Maura, are you absolutely sure you want Jane in here?" Dr. Montgomery stepped back from the table after lowering the stirrups as Robbins and Nina skillfully and gently moved Maura onto her side. The same side causing the honey blonde to become face-to-face with Jane.
"Of course I want her here!" Maura insisted; her eyes linked solidly with Jane's brown ones. "She's the father/mother of my children!"
"168 over 102!" The warning tone pitched in Nina's voice. "We need to check the babies' heart rates, and now!" She announced while walking over to the fetal heart monitor and began checking the strips printing out each of the babies' heart rates.
Maura Isles forced a steadying breath between her lips, striving to focus on calming her racing heart. She struggled to remember the Yoga specific breathing techniques she learned as well as in the Lamaze classes. She wouldn't compromise her babies' health! Not for any reason! But she had to know before they came into this world of whether or not they were going to have a father/mother. Dr. Isles closed her eyes, forcing herself to picture the Jane Rizzoli she'd fallen in love with. Brave, warm-hearted, and loving! Oh, so so loving!
"BP's coming down!" Came the relieved update from Nina as the rhythm of the heart monitors' beeps became less erratic.
"The babies are all right now," Robbins added. "And they're both in the right position!" She smiled down at Dr. Isles.
Maura kept her eyes closed and took another steadying, deep breath. Three. Two. One. When she opened them, Jane was still there, watching her with concerned in her sweet eyes, smiling at her.
"BP is 145 over 91," Nina spoke. "Way to go Maura!" She gave her friend a thumb's up.
"Whatever you're doing, keep on doing it!" Robbins said encouragingly as she assisted Maura, repositioning her feet into the stirrups once again.
The honey blonde grabbed Jane's hand again and pulled it to her chest, convincing the raven brunette to come closer to her. "Please… t-tell me! W-what's going on!" she begged. If she was going to have to say goodbye to Jane Rizzoli, she may as well do it while the physical pain could drown out the emotional pain.
"Wouldn't you rather just wait?" The provost marshal asked pleadingly, throwing an anxious look at the monitors, and back towards her full belly.
"If the woman I love is going to leave me right after she tells me that she loves me." The doc spoke with greater lucidity than she realized, "then, I need to know why!"
"I'm not leaving you, my sweet, little love!" Jane pressed her lips against Maura's sweaty forehead, trying to somehow convey the explanation directly from her heart through the kiss.
"I'm hardly little," Maura countered warily, bracing herself for the worst.
"Course you are! You're a small figure of a human being, with two smaller humans growing inside you!" Jane laughed, before continuing. "The most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on!" Her husky voice ended in a more whispered tone.
Blinking back tears of frustration, Maura forced herself to put a voice to her worst fear. "But you're not staying, are you?" She asked in a watery tone.
"I won't of my own free will. I think it's something that you should want, my sweet Maur." Jane said lowering her head. "I'm not that same woman you met nearly nine months ago... Not even close, baby." She finished, sweeping few strands of blonde, wet hair away from Maura's perspiring forehead.
"W-well whoo-ooo-ooooooooooOOO aa-are Y-you-uuuuuuuuuooowwwww t-then?" Maura stuttered through a set of hard contractions.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Jane laughed good-naturally as the doc pressed hard against her back and shoulders, screaming her way through another hard push with a chorus of cheers and encouraging words from her colleagues.
"I don't think I can give you everything we talked about before I left!" Jane immediately said once the hard contractions passed, leaving a panting Dr. Isles slumped against the bed.
"What. Do. You. Mean?" Maura huffed. Having a heart-to-heart conversation while in the throes of bringing these babies into the world seemed strangely perfect to her.
"I got shot," Jane explained, "and both my hands are damaged… from a scalpel going through them."
Maura's brow furrowed in confusion. Realizing she wouldn't completely understand, Jane let go of the doc's hand. Stepping back from the table, the soldier pulled up her shirt revealing a still angry looking and red gunshot wound to her lower right side, before turning around to display the exit wound and surgical scars on her back. Next, Jane removed the half finger gloves she'd been wearing, and hesitantly raised both hands up in the air. Maura then recognized the still red and raised scar tissue in the palms of each one. After several moments, Jane turned them over to display the twin scars on the backs of her hands.
There were a series of gasps within the room and everything grew quiet, except for the fetal heartbeats on the monitors and Maura's heavy breathing. Everyone watched while Jane pulled her gloves back on, embarrassed for being so vulnerable in front of all these people she hardly knew.
Maura calculated all the parts of the human hand: 27 bones. Capitate,
trapezium, trapezoid, scaphoid, lunate, triquetral and pisiform. Lumbricals,
ulnar bursa, the median nerve, and the superficial palmar arch. The deep palmer arch, the muscles, and nerve endings! She could adequately understand from a medical perspective of all the damage those scalpels had inflicted!
If Dr. Maura Isles had thought her heart couldn't have loved Jane Rizzoli more, she was wrong! Her heart burst with additional as well as renewed love and affection for this woman! She was even prouder to be having her children… she now realized there was room for more! Oh, so much more!
"Well…" Maura started to chuckle. "This could be interesting watching you play catch with our toddlers!"
Jane's eyes widened. They started burning the prettiest brown the doc had ever seen them before growing misty under a film of tears!
"We're lucky you got these two on the way, because I won't be able to have any more children!" Jane's words were jammed together, spoken so quickly that Maura had to pause a minute to tease them apart and extract their meaning.
"I don't care about that," Maura confessed, "and I didn't in the first place."
Jane shook her head in stubborn disbelief. "But are you sure about this?" the soldier asked, raising her hands in the air.
"Yes! Twins and a five-foot-eight beautiful, strong wife! Who could ask for anything more?"
"Y-you'd mean, you still w-want—?" Jane's hands balled into fists. One fist started pressing against her mouth to cover a sob while the other pressed into her chest, as if she were trying to hold her pounding heart into her ribcage.
"Of course, I do!" Maura smiled. "Especially if you'll let me call you: 'Stud
Muffin!'"
Jane threw back her head and laughed, also throwing in a "whoopee!" and powerful victory punch in the air!
Just as quickly as it was through, her expression sobered. "I really need you to be sure, Maur! Absolutely and one hundred percent sure this is what you really… truly want, baby!" Jane finished looking intensely in Dr. Maura Isles' eyes.
"What kind of idiot do you take me for?" The doc started to make her point. "Who else—?"
Whatever Maura's brain had formulated to say disappeared as a sensation akin to being struck by lightning surged through her entire body. The lingering surges continued shooting throughout her body as the lioness roar of will over matter filled the room. She barely heard Dr. Montgomery's voice updating her with the first baby's progress. The head was out… she had stated… the baby's head… complete with full, dark hair! The little shoulders next… then whoosh! All the sudden, an exhausted Maura Isles was looking at her beautiful little baby boy, as he was tenderly placed upon her chest!
Jane Rizzoli couldn't believe her eyes! She was actually looking at her son! Or at least she hoped he was a boy… not like her! She almost timidly reached out, and touched his tiny hand, while he opened his eyes. They were the color of his mother's, and Jane's heart exploded with such a surge love she had never imagined for him!
Robbins appeared behind Montgomery. Her face was adorned with a grin larger than the Cheshire cat's as she tugged on her surgical gown. "May I have him?" She asked, extending her hands out.
Maura nodded, knowing Robbins was referring of her taking the baby away for a quick cleaning as well as checking to ascertain his throat and nose were entirely clear of any liquids that might harm his little lungs.
A sob of pure, unadulterated joy flew out of Maura's throat when Dr. Montgomery announced Jane had just successfully cut the umbilical cord and that the other baby was already visible.
Dr. Isles blindly reached out to find Jane's hand, wanting to touch the father of her firstborn son. But shards of pain tore through her heart when she realized Jane Rizzoli wasn't there! Disappeared as deftly as she had when the soldier had gone on tour!
Maura knew she had to find a way to forgive her someday—one day.
"What did you have in mind for his name?" A familiar, husky voice asked.
Maura turned to look on the opposite side of her bed where Robbins and Nina had been monitoring her vital signs, and her eyes filled with tears! There, standing before her with the proudest look she'd seen on anyone's face was Jane, gently cradling their baby son in her arms! He was tiny, but strong! His eyes were closed tight, and his little fists just visible above the blue blanket! A patch of thick pitch-black hair making a clear statement as to whom his father/mother was!
A tender warmth filled Maura's chest.
Jane had stayed! She'd chosen to stay!
"Got anything in mind, love?" Jane ran a thumb against her son's soft cheek, bringing another rush of tears into Maura's eyes.
Another, more powerful wash of sensations rushed into her belly.
"I like James Matthew, but I think… w-we're going to… h-have two choices o-on our… our hands in… na… a-a minute!" Maura squealed as another strong surge of contractions erupted.
"Less than a minute!" Dr. Montgomery announced. "I'm already seeing a curly-headed, strawberry-blonde girl on her way out!" She added with growing excitement in her voice.
Maura's eyes flicked between her newborn son and Jane as the provost marshal handed him off to Nina, and came over to help her as she bore down against the pain. Dr. Isles' teeth clenched, knowing she had the strength to do anything in the world now that she had a family!
"Head's out, now here comes the shoulders…aaaaand here's a little,
'Mini Maura!'" Dr. Montgomery beamed, holding up a little girl already in full voice, screaming at the top of her little lungs as she was laid on her mother's chest.
"Hey there, little Jessica Morgan! Welcome to the world, baby girl!" Maura informed the room of her daughter's name while Jane kissed her little pink head.
"I like that, Maur! We got a little James and Jessica!" Jane whispered in her ear.
"Okay, let's get this little missy cleaned up and then…" Robbins paused, eyes connecting with Maura's, "…perhaps we can give the happy parents some time alone!" She smiled; walking over to where Baby James lay in his issued bassinet.
She threw Maura and Jane an apologetic look, after cleaning Baby Jessica up and wrapping her in a pink blanket. "We'll give you a few minutes, but since the babies are preemies, we might need to keep them in the Nursery for a few days of observation."
"But they're okay?" Maura could barely mouth the words as Jane looked between her son and daughter that Robbins now held in her arms.
"They both look healthy! We already know that they're little fighters, just like their mothers! But let's make sure they've got every advantage, shall we?" Dr. Montgomery advised.
"James might need to be checked…" Jane hesitantly cautioned, "to… just… to make sure that he's truly a boy."
"We'll take care of that for you, Jane." Dr. Montgomery stated in a gentle tone, causing Jane to regard the doctor especially after their tense moments earlier.
As one, the new parents nodded before the entire room once more swept into action.
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A few hours later, it was almost impossible to believe there had been even the tiniest bit of chaos in this room. Jane had made herself into a 'bed rest' for Maura with her long legs encircling the doc's while they each held an infant within their arms. The parents were also holding one another as if their lives depended upon it.
A real family.
All the sounds in the room were melding and separating with coos of delight. Murmurs, along with soft and sleepy noises from the babies. They were little soldiers… that much was already certain! Just like their mother… and father.
"I can't believe they were just inside of me," Maura finally spoke.
"They look so…so complete." Dr. Isles felt Jane's head nodding along in agreement, her soft cheek shifting alongside her hairline.
She turned so she could look her squarely in the eye. "Would you really have left us?" Maura asked warily.
"If I thought that's what you wanted, I wouldn't have had a choice. I would've done anything. Although…" She reached out a finger, stroking it along the tops of each of her babies' tiny heads. "Now that these two little peanuts are in the picture, you would've had to fight me tooth and nail to get me to leave!" Jane confessed with a subtle firmness in her voice.
"What about kissing you until the end of time instead?" Maura teased, a cheeky grin forming on her lips. She was exhausted, but there was one thing she had been aching for a long eight and half months.
"Something like this?" Jane lowered her head towards Maura's as one of her index fingers drew the doc's chin closer towards hers. She paused only for a moment. Jane's eyelashes were so close, the doc could feel butterfly kisses against her cheek before the soldier fully lowered her lips, and gave her the most tender kiss she'd ever felt.
When at long last they came up for air, Maura softly spoke. "You promise you'll never leave again?" Her voice possessed a hopeful tone.
"Will this convince you that I won't?" Jane softly smiled, bringing her opposite hand from a pocket, and holding out a black, velvet box. The provost marshal dropped another kiss on her true love's forehead.
Maura Isles gasped after opening the top of the box while Jane held the bottom, seeing as they each had a baby in their arms. The doctor looked up towards Jane with tears in her eyes as she beheld the most beautiful ring a girl could ask for!
"Oh Jane!" Maura whispered, "it's beautiful!"
"Maura Dorthea Isles, will you marry me?" Jane asked hopefully.
"Yes-yes!" She replied happily.
Jane Rizzoli took the ring out of the box and slipped it onto the appropriate finger knowing she'd spend the rest of her life by Maura Isles' side.
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That's the last chapter of this story, we only have the epilogue left. I sure hate to see it end, but all good things must come to an end, see you guys next time Terri411..
