Chapter 7
"Wow Maura that's deep. You'd do that for me?" Jane looked up at her as if seeing her for the first time.
"No I'd do it for us. Now that we've figured out that we could be good for each other I'm not willing to walk away until we know if this is the real deal or not. If, and that's a big if things don't work out then it may be awkward for a while but I think we could still work together. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Give us a chance ok?" Maura was almost pleading with Jane.
"Well when you put it that way how can I say no? But for this to really work we can't change anything because then we're not being ourselves. You drink your wine and I'll drink my beer ok?"
"I am in total agreement with that. If we changed, sooner or later we will end up resenting each other. Who you are is what attracted me to you in the first place." Maura leaned down and kissed Jane and Jane caught her by surprise and pulled her down until she was almost lying down on top of her. "Jane behave, someone might see."
"Who are you afraid might see Maura? The hospital staff already knows I don't care if any of my co-workers see. So who are you worried about Maura?"
Maura decided to throw caution to the wind. "No one Jane." She placed her hip next to Jane's on the bed then swung her legs up off the floor so that she was lying next to Jane on the bed. She then slid her arm under Jane's neck so that she could pull Jane closer to her. Jane lifted her head and laid it back down on Maura's shoulder. "Now that's much better don't you think? Go back to sleep Jane, you need your rest if you expect to get out of this hospital."
"Maura Isles you are amazing." Jane turned her head so she could kiss Maura's neck. Jane's voice faded out as she was speaking and she promptly fell asleep.
Maura lay there with Jane in her arms and was surprised at how little she actually did care about what others thought at that moment. She could only think about how right it felt to hold Jane in her arms and watch her sleep. To watch the rise and fall of her chest and listen to the monitors beep in the background was a balm to her weary body and soon she too fell asleep. Maura woke with a start when she heard a moaning beside her. She woke to see Jane drenched in sweat in the middle of what was obviously a bad dream. She wrapped her arms around her sweating body and held her from behind in a gentle grip then whispered in her ear. "It's ok Jane I've got you, come on sweetie wake up you're having a bad dream. Jane stop struggling or you'll hurt yourself." Jane was grabbing her stomach as if she were in pain and struggling, Maura thought it looked as if she was reliving the shooting. She decided she was going to have to be a bit more forceful. She placed her hand on Jane's shoulder and shook her hard. "Jane wake up! You're having a bad dream."
"Damn Maura, you trying to give me shaken baby syndrome? Can you do that to an adult? Why are you shaking me so hard?"
"You were having a nightmare and you wouldn't wake up and I was worried that you might hurt yourself." Maura looked worriedly at Jane.
"So you decided to hurt me yourself? Damn you're strong." Jane smiled to take the sting out of her words. "I was dreaming about shooting myself but this time I couldn't get the gun turned around and he shot at you. That's when you woke me up. Thanks but next time you wake me I hope it's a little gentler."
"Oh my dear Ms. Rizzoli I will make every effort to wake you as gentle as possible the next time you have a bad dream. You better pray that we're not here at the hospital." The sultry sound of Maura's voice and the passion in her eyes were enough to tell Jane exactly how she planned to wake her up.
"Oh that's enough to make me look forward to having a dream. So tell me about the operation. How was it being in there?" She saw the look of excitement appear in Maura's eyes.
"Oh Jane it was very exciting to be back in the OR. It's been years since I was in an operating room, not since I did surgical rounds during my residency, before I decided to be a Medical Examiner. Did you know I originally started out wanting to be a Cardiac Specialist?"
"No I didn't, what changed your mind?" Jane was surprised at Maura's confession.
"I was a second year resident and I was assisting the head Cardiac Specialist in a quadruple bypass but we lost him on the table. It turned out it wasn't his heart that killed him, it was an aneurism in his brain that was found during the autopsy. The family wasn't even aware that it was there and most people aren't until it's too late. Until the autopsy, the doctor blamed himself, but when he got the autopsy results he was able to come to terms with it. That's when I decided that I wanted to speak for the dead and maybe help the living."
"I guess I never thought of your work that way, but it makes perfect sense." Jane reached up and pulled Maura's head down for a kiss. "Are you aware of the nickname the cops have given you?"
"You mean Doctor Death? Every Medical Examiner gets one sooner or later, I guess I can't do anything about it now can I? And it is what I do isn't it?"
"Yes it is and you are very good at it." Jane smiled at Maura with genuine affection. "So when can we blow this pop stand? I'm all better so I should be able to go home soon right?"
"The doctor said he would check on you sometime this morning and access the situation and make his decision after that."
"I can't wait to get out of here so I can have my way with you." Jane gave Maura a leer that made her smile. "I love your smile, your eyes light up. But then you have this impish smileā¦there! Like that one!" Jane's left hand shot out and pointed to the grin on Maura's face. "It makes me wonder what you are thinking. At the moment it looks like you're thinking the same thing I am thinking, at least I hope you are, you can't wait until we are alone together."
All of the sudden Maura got serious. "Jane I want you to know that this is much more than just sexual gratification, I hope you know that. This is so much more than that."
"But you do want the sexual gratification right?" Jane gave her an impish smile of her own.
"Oh most assuredly! That is right up there near the top of my list of things to do when you are released."
"Up near the top, how close to the top? What else do you have to do? What could be more important?" She asked incredulously.
"Well I have to feed Bass, my house needs to be cleaned, I have to take my clothes to the dry cleaner, and then I would have to make us something to eat. All very important tasks Jane." She looked at Jane with a straight face but was unable to maintain it when she saw the pained expression on Jane's face. "Ah Jane do you really think there would be anything more important than you? Nothing would be more important than spending time with you, and if that time includes making love all the better."
"I think I'm going to have to get used to this new Maura, you never used to joke around so I always knew you were serious, now I don't know anymore. But I like this side of you, you can be quite scary can't you?"
"You have no idea what you have unleashed Detective Rizzoli. The beast has been set free and now it is time to wreak havoc on my unsuspecting minions. I shall start with you as soon as we get home, speaking of home, whose house are we going to? You know you are welcome at mine but I have a feeling you would be more comfortable at your own apartment. And that is fine with me if that's what you want, you know I'm comfortable at your place."
"I'll even let you bring Bass, we can take him for a walk later and he and I can have a race to see who's faster, he may be able to beat me for the next few days." Jane wasn't kidding when she said she liked the new Maura, she had always been a bit of a stuffed shirt, a beautiful stuffed shirt but a stuffed shirt none the less. But this Maura has a brilliant sense of humor when she let's herself relax and Jane was going to do everything she could to help her relax. She looked towards the door as Doctor James came walking in and had to laugh as Maura jumped out of the bed, never thinking about the fact that he already saw them lying together. "Oh you had better have good news because if you don't you might think about turning around and leaving because I know how to kill a man and leave no evidence."
Dr. James laughed as he picked up her chart. "Well at least you are in better spirits than the last time I saw you and from the looks of your chart you are responding well to the drugs so I think it would be safe to send you home this afternoon. Dr. Isles said she would be taking care of you so I feel confident that it should be ok to let you go home." He gave them both a knowing smile. "So I'll take care of the paperwork and Sheila will be in later to give you the outpatient procedures and I would like to see you back in my office in about a week to discuss going back to work and see how you are doing."
"Do you think there's a chance I could be back at work within a week?" Jane asked hopefully.
"No I said we would discuss going back to work I didn't say you would be going back to work. It will probably be closer to a month before you can go back to work in a limited capacity at best."
"A month! Are you saying I can't go back to work for a month! You have got to be shitting me." Jane was trying to get out of the bed.
"Jane lay back down before you hurt yourself! Do you want to stay here longer? Because if you don't behave, Dr. James will not let you go home. Now lie down and behave." Jane huffed and lay back down.
"Whose side are you on? He says I can't go back to work for a month, what the hell am I supposed to do for a month?"
"I believe that is my cue to leave. Like Dr. Isles says, behave or you'll ruin everything I did to keep you alive. It's in your best interest Jane."
"How can sitting on my ass doing nothing for a month be in my best interest?" Jane was pouting as she watched the doctor leave the room.
Maura had to smile at Jane's antics, she'd never seen her like this before. "Jane I doubt very much if you are going to be sitting around doing nothing, granted you won't be out there chasing bad guys around but I think we can think of a few things to keep you busy."
"What's with this 'we'? You said you were going to take some time off but after about a week you'll go back to work and I'll be left to my own devices. That's not a good thing Maura, me with idle time on my hands is dangerous, and I get bored easily."
"We'll think of something to keep you busy, you'll have Jo Friday to keep you company and Bass can stay to keep you company too if you want. He won't be any problem."
"Thank you Maura I would like that very much. Will you be coming by won't you?" Jane asked somewhat shyly.
"Of course I will Jane, I will be there every night if you want me there. Why don't we see how things go, by that time you may be sick of me and not want to ever see me again." Maura gave her a cheesy grin.
"Never!" Just as she said that the nurse came into the room with her discharge paperwork. The three of them went over everything and then they brought in the wheelchair. As she was sitting down she looked up and saw Frost and Korsak come around the corner and enter her room. "Hey guys I'm outta here, their finally springing me and Maura is going to make dinner for me. Ma stocked the refrigerator so who knows what we're going to be eating."
Korsak looked to Frost and smiled. "Good we'll follow you there. See ya in a little while then." Frost and Korsak turned and left.
