Chapter 4

"Jane, I really don't think this is a good idea…."

Jane sighed in irritation. "Maura, my hair feels like a huge grease ball. I desperately need this shower. Besides, I can walk around by myself now. I'll be fine, I can handle it."

Maura continued to look unsure.

"Seriously, Maura," groaned Jane, "I got this."

The ME closed her eyes and smiled. "All right, fine. But if you're in there for more than an hour I'm coming in after you."

Jane grinned as if Maura had just agreed to call all red-ish brown stains blood. "Sure thing, doc."

Maura settled in to read some documents while Jane went into the bathroom, but she couldn't concentrate. The detective worried her. Jane hadn't been getting much sleep recently – Maura could tell by the way she hunched her shoulders and seemed extra cranky, the way she usually did when she suffered from nightmares. She also appeared to be pushing herself extra hard, both in physical therapy and in everyday life, such as this very situation, which Maura still didn't agree with. What if Jane pulled out stitches trying to wash her hair? What if she fell?

Just as Maura was thinking that perhaps she was just overly worried, she heard the detective's voice calling her name from the bathroom, and fear claimed her heart for its own.

Maura was on her feet in an instant, and at the bathroom door in the next. "Jane?" she called. "Jane, I'm coming in."

She found the detective sitting on the floor of the tub, looking miserable. She had only a soaking towel covering her.

"I got in fine, but washing my hair really, really hurt and now I… Now I can't get back out." Jane looked away, shamed.

"Oh, Jane," murmured Maura. "How long have you been in here?"

"I dunno…. A while…." Jane looked frustrated. "Didn't wanna ask for help."

"All right," soothed Maura. "I'm going to try and lift you out, okay?"

"'Kay," mumbled Jane, sounding like a saddened child. After about 10 minutes of trying to figure out just how to lift Jane without hurting her, Maura secured her elbows under Jane's arms and heaved. Jane moaned, and Maura tried to be gentler, but the detective's legs slid out and hit the ground hard, the jolt to the rest of her body causing all of Jane's muscles to go rigid.

"Okay, all right… there we go…." grunted Maura as both she and Jane lowered to the bathroom floor. Maura grabbed the other towel from the floor and draped that around Jane's shoulders as well, further covering her trembling form.

Jane was known for being stoic and brave. She did not cry, even when she was lying on the ground, bleeding from a gunshot wound. Even when they'd had that first hellish trip home from the hospital, Jane had only allowed a few tears and sniffles to escape before her serious and tough "detective face" took over once more. It was only when she'd been sleeping and in a great deal of pain that she'd actually allowed herself the weakness. So when she quite suddenly burst into tears, right there on the bathroom floor, Maura was startled and just a little bit alarmed.

"Jane," came the soft utterance, low with empathy. Maura's hand reached out for Jane's shoulder.

"I feel so dumb," spluttered Jane. "A-and useless. God, I'm such a crybaby!" She pressed the scarred sole of her hand to her eye, swiping at her tears in a very childlike way that tore at Maura's heart.

Maura pursed her lips and tried not to sob herself. "Jane, you're hurt. You're not dumb, or useless – you've saved more people than I've had on my table, and that's significant. And you're certainly not a crybaby. In fact, your emotional state is quite normal after the trauma you went through-"

"Maybe," interrupted Jane with a sniffle and an attempted half-smile, "maybe we should… save the heart-to-heart and Googlemouth for when I'm fully clothed?"

Maura glanced down at Jane's current state of undress and sputtered out a laugh, whilst Jane let out a half-sob half-giggle.

"I'll go get you some clothes," Maura declared, giving Jane's shoulder another comforting rub as she stood. Jane gave a watery smile back. The ME suddenly knew what had caused Jane's recent distress, could see in her eyes that something else besides her gunshot wound needed healing; her pride.