Constance and Richard Isles arrived at the hospital the next morning, asking for information about their daughter. Jane was jolted awake when they entered the ICU room.

"You must be Maura's parents… Jane Rizzoli, I'm Maura's –"

"Wife it seems? Surely our daughter would've notified us if she'd gotten married." Constance said jokingly.

"I just said that so that I could get information on her while you arrived." Jane said sheepishly. "Maura's my best friend. We had no idea when you were arriving and I just wanted to make sure she was alright and properly cared for."

"There is no judgment here, Jane, I assure you. Now, Richard has spoken with Maura's doctor and she is to be moved to a more appropriate place, perhaps something a little roomier and with better attention for my daughter. She needs someone who can monitor solely her; we are looking for her best interest after all."

"Of course Mrs. Isles."

"The doctor has informed us that she's not woken yet from the surgery… is there no timeframe for that?"

"You know more than I do. He assured me she would wake up, but did not state when. She has been the same all night; no change. A nurse has been coming in hourly to do vital checks."

"Care to tell me what happened, and why my daughter is in this state, detective?"

Jane looked down, ashamed of herself. "Maura was with me yesterday. We were following a lead on a case and someone t-boned my car and drove us off the road."

"Why was Maura even there? She's a medical examiner!"

"She offered to join me since she had the afternoon off; she was of great help with her knowledge of chemistry. I assure you Mrs. Isles, if I could turn back time, I would. If I could trade places with her, I would. I never would've wanted this to happen to Maura, and I would do anything to have it not be the case."

Hospital personnel entered the room and brought the discussion to a close. They worked on Maura quickly; moving her from the ICU to a private room equipped with everything necessary and more. The Isles were quick to leave too, once their daughter had been situated into a better room. Citing important phone conferences now that they were unable to personally attend, they left their hotel information with Jane and asked that she contact them with any changes.

Jane was surprised to say the least… she knew from what Maura had told her that she and her parents had not been close at any point in her life, but to go from that to not even being present while she was unconscious in the hospital?! That was beyond her. She guessed it was because Angela was always present, whether it was for broken ribs or even just a stitch on her forehead. It was at that moment that she thanked God for that overbearing mother of hers.


The morning turned into afternoon and with it brought no change in Maura. Jane was beginning to worry about her waking up, and was about to page the surgeon when she noticed a change in heartbeat… it was beating faster.

"Maura? Maur? Can you hear me?"

The heartbeat sped up slightly.

"Maur? If you can hear me, squeeze my hand." Jane had Maura's hand wrapped in hers. After a few seconds, she felt the slightest squeeze. "That's great! You can hear me. Can you open your eyes? I know it's a lot, and that you're probably in a lot of pain, but can you try to open your eyes for me?"

Maura's eyelids felt heavy. The more she tried to concentrate on opening her eyes, the more taxing the job seemed. She could hear Jane, faintly, but could make out everything the brunette was saying. The moment Jane mentioned pain, she felt her entire body ache as if it were on fire. She tried to speak, but she must've had something in her mouth prohibiting her from doing so.

"No Maur, don't try to talk. You have a breathing tube in; it will hurt if you try to move. Try to open your eyes for me, please."

After a few more moments, Maura's eyes slowly fluttered open. She tried to focus on something, on Jane, but found it incredibly difficult to keep her eyes open. They slowly started closing again. Jane immediately pushed the call button for the nurse.

"How bad is the pain Maur? Do you need some more medication? Squeeze my hand once for yes, twice for no." She felt a squeeze. "I already paged the nurse. Let me go get someone who can hurry up." Jane made to leave, but Maura's grip tightened slightly and looking into the blonde's eyes she could see Maura moving them side to side. "Ok Maur, I'll stay. I'm not going anywhere, ok?" Maura calmed down a bit and her heart rate began to slow down again. The nurse came in a minute later.

"Is everything ok Ms. Rizzoli?"

"Maura's awake and she's in a lot of pain. Can you give her something for it and have Dr. Shepherd paged please? I want him to know she's woken up."

"I'll get her something right away and have another nurse page Dr. Shepherd." She came back no more than two minutes later with a syringe. "This should help with the pain, though it is very likely she'll go right back to sleep. It's a very strong medication. Dr. Shepherd has been informed and he'll be with you shortly."

"Thank you, nurse."

The moment the fluid went in the IV, Jane saw Maura's eyes flutter closed again and felt the hand in hers relax. "Looks like it's working," she said.

"It's a high dose of dilaudid, very strong and hits your system almost immediately. It should help ease the pain but it will induce sleep once again. Dr. Isles will probably be asleep once Dr. Shepherd gets here, but you can fill him in on what's happened and we can go from there. Please page in the event you need anything else."

"Thanks again." Jane replied.

"I'm so happy you're awake, Maur. I'm happy that you can understand me. I was so worried about you. I'm still worried. The doctor said that brain damage was likely, though not as likely as I feared thank God. Your parents were here earlier; I'll call them and tell them you've woken up. I'm sure they'd love to see you again."

Maura tried listening and her eyes just slowly opened for a second at a time before closing again.

"I don't want to overwhelm you. Just try to get some rest, ok? You have a long recovery ahead. I'm so sorry. There are no words to describe just how sorry I am this happened to you. If it hadn't been for me, this never would've happen—" Jane felt a stronger squeeze on her hand. Looking up at Maura, she could see Maura's eyes quickly going from side to side as she made to speak. "Don't try to talk Maura, you'll hurt yourself. Just rest, ok? Go back to sleep. I'll tell Dr. Shepherd that you've been awake and responsive. Just rest." She felt the hand in hers relax again and the heart monitor's slower beeps. Seconds later, she could tell Maura had fallen back asleep.

Jane sighed heavily and kept her eyes on the woman she loved. Though she'd been unable to talk, Maura had woken and was responsive. She thanked God that at least she didn't seem to have any brain damage and she had recognized Jane. She knew though, that this was only the beginning of a very long road to recovery ahead.


So Maura's awake and appears to be well. Will she end up blaming Jane for what happened?