"Detective Rizzoli?" The male voice broke through Jane's pleasant dreams of Maura and things she'd never tell anyone about expect for, well, Maura. She scowled in her half sleep. "Detective Rizzoli, wake up."
"Beat it, Schmucky, I'm busy," Jane responded, voice heavy with sleep as she turned her face away from the sound of the surgeon's voice.
Maura moved only slightly, head on Jane's shoulder, arm draped loosely down her own side. Once, just once, in the night she had allowed it to stray across Jane's body. The resulting hiss of pain had taught her quickly that there was no safe way for her to hold Jane, so she had made do with pressing herself in towards Jane's uninjured side.
"Clearly, but you two can do that when you're at home. Right now, I need to check your progress." His voice was flat.
Slowly opening her eyes, Jane glanced down to see her right hand wrapped around Maura and all but groping the smaller woman's chest. She grunted as she glanced back to the impatiently waiting man. Her eyes narrowed. "Mine."
"So we've determined," he responded, no inflection in his voice as he flipped open her chart.
She growled as she gave Maura a gentle shake to make her. "Maur, sweetheart, you got to wake up. Sluckles is here to check on me, and you need to move."
Maura hmphed in protest, but the disturbance was having its effect. She would not sleep or dream well even if all movement and conversation ceased immediately. Anyway, there was something she had to remember. Her brow furrowed as her half-asleep mind struggled towards a memory of her waking life. Something to remember. Something good.
"Slucky." He corrected absentmindedly as he flipped through her charts. "For every time I hear you call me something besides my name, I'm going to suggest one additional week of PT."
Maura stretched herself awake, blinking until her eyes could focus. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said in a sleepy-cute, smiling voice. "Let me get out of your way. Jane, be nice. It's not his fault." Whether she referred to the shooting, to the fact that morning had come, or to the fact that it was horrifically easy to give offensive and comical nicknames to a man named 'Slucky', she did not say. "I'll just go get dressed, unless you'd rather I wait?" She addressed Jane directly, knowing that there were times Jane just wanted to get the examinations over with, and other times when she seemed to want Maura to be beside her.
"Wait." Jane held Maura's gaze. "I want you to hear what Dr. Slucks here has to say."
The other doctor, the one curled against Jane, sighed. "Sweetie..."
"Three weeks of PT just went to four," Dr. Slucky replied as he reached down to pull up Jane's shirt and then stopped. "Actually, Ms. Rizzoli, I need to see how well everything is healing on both sides. This will be easier if you'll remove your shirt and sports bra." He glanced up to make certain the door was closed and then to Maura, a question in his eyes that went unspoken.
Maura's eyes narrowed slightly, focusing on the hand that had come perilously close to trespass until the surgeon backed off. She hadn't meant to look that way, but it was effective, she had to admit when she thought about it. "It's easier," she said after considering the options, "and he really does need to check both sides. Would you like some help, while Dr. Slucky turns around to give you some privacy?" Fortunately for him, the surgeon took the hint and turned his back to the two women.
"Detective Rizzoli," Jane corrected before answering Maura. "No, but I probably need it," she groaned as she slowly sat up. While Maura was helped her, she whispered under her breath with a chuckle, "Territorial, Dr. Isles?"
"Maybe a little," whispered the smaller woman with unexpected bashfulness as she stood, then bent to give assistance. Though there was some discomfort associated with clothing removal, particularly the sports bra, Maura was gentle and moved slowly, so as not to jostle sore muscles or tear delicate skin. Too, her eyes were gentle, neither landing on the wound itself, nor on Jane's torso at all, granting what privacy was possible, given the nature of the task. When both garments were off, she held up the shirt again over Jane's chest. "Just move aside enough for Dr. Slucky to do what needs doing," she said in more normal tones, both for Jane's sake and as a tacit warning for the surgeon. "You don't have to be completely bare for this examination."
"True," Slucky turned back around, "This won't take long."
With a skilled hand and a practiced eye, the surgeon examined Jane. After long minutes and several questions, made a few notations on her chart, and flipped it shut. "I'll discharge you as soon as we remove the stitches, which should be in a few more days. You're healing nicely, but, given what I know of your history, I think it safer to keep you here until there's no risk of you accidentally popping a stitch. Besides," he glanced over to the other doctor, "I would feel better keeping an eye on your progress for a few more days yet. With this type of wound, I'd rather be safe than worry about infection later."
Having paid attention to the wound in a surreptitious manner as the man performed his examination, Maura nodded at the wisdom of waiting. "It's safest," she said to Jane, still speaking to her and not, at least directly, to the doctor. It was quite a contrast, especially when held up beside her behavior with Nurses Jeff and Watson. "Even after you get home, I'll keep a watchful eye on it for that very reason. We'll just stay out the end of the week," she told Jane, then glanced towards Dr. Slucky purely for confirmation.
He raised an eyebrow. "Are you taking up residence? Doesn't the coroner's office need you for something? You're the head pathologist, correct?"
"Chief medical examiner," Maura confirmed the position but corrected the title, this time addressing Jane's surgeon himself. "Yes, I'll be going to work during the day, just as I've been doing for the last nine days. But until Jane tells me otherwise, I will be sleeping with her." The wording was not accidental. There was no arch of the eyebrow this time, but the tone was – barely – pointed enough to mark finality to the polite refusals she had been handing Dr. Slucky for the duration of Jane's hospital stay.
He shrugged. "Pathologist, medical examiner. Potayto, potahto, as they say." He ran his eyes over the smaller woman, who had just begun to remind her fellow physician that there were multiple types of pathologists, and the more exact term…
"Hey, buddy, that's enough of that crap. Listen, Dr. Schmuck, you might be my surgeon, but you're not out of bounds for getting my foot up your…"
"Jane," Maura said sternly, placing a calming hand on Jane's forearm. "Pardon us, Dr. Schmuck.It's been a stressful nine days."
"Slucky, Doctor Slu… you know, never mind." Giving one last glance to the medical examiner, he left the room.
"Potayto, potahto," Maura replied dismissively.
