This chapter is really toned down than the others but I hope you enjoy nonetheless. Things will pick up again in the next chapter. Thank you all for reading!
Chapter 10
Korsak dropped to his knees next to me; it sent me back to when he rescued me from Hoyt a few years ago. I tried to speak but all that escaped my lips was a moan, Korsak shouted for the EMT's to hurry up. One thought kept crossing my mind as the scene above me unfolded; where was Maura? Frost and Korsak were by my side as the EMT's got me on a stretcher and rushed me out of the building, but Maura was nowhere in sight. Had what I said before really hurt her that bad? Korsak fought with a young EMT to ride with me to the hospital; of course he finally won, thank God.
"Vince where's Maura?" my voice was hoarse and barely above a whisper.
Korsak didn't reply, he only held my hand as the ambulance sped toward the hospital. His silence was answer enough though; Maura didn't want to see me. I suffered another twenty minutes to the hospital, only to be taken straight to surgery. Was surviving that incident really worth it if Maura wasn't here with me? I didn't have much time to think about it before the doctor put me under.
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I stood in the kitchen of Maura's house, alone. From a room down the hall I heard sobs, which I guess to be Maura's. Slowly I walked down the hall and entered the room, like I had thought Maura was sitting on the bed crying. I went to her, sitting next to her and wrapping my arms around her.
"Maura, babe, what's wrong?"
"I don't know how you expect me to handle this," she sobbed into my shoulder.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
Maura pulled on my shirt sleeve revealing a huge scar, one I had received from Johnny's second personality, Catfish. I cringed slightly at the sight, the tissue ragged and unsightly. Was Maura really upset about how I looked like under my clothing?
"Maura you can't be serious."
"You think that's it?" she cried. "Look at yourself Jane, that's all you are, scars."
I looked in the mirror, she was right; all over my upper body were scars. The gunshot wound that left a nasty scar, the gash over my stomach, the large mark across my back and my shoulder, and then my leg two scars that would never go away. I glanced back over my shoulder to see the bed was empty, I walked through the house but it was deserted.
"Maura!" I cried out.
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I woke with a start, covered in a cold sweat. Where was I? Thinking for a moment I realized I was in the hospital. I was covered in bandages, some slightly bloody others not. The swelling on my eye had gone down some and I was able to see more clearly. I was expecting my ma, Tommy or Frankie to be in the room, or at least Korsak and Frost but no one was there. For a moment I felt completely alone again, and then the one person I wanted to see walked in the door.
"Maura."
"Hi Jane," she said, devoid of emotion. "How are you feeling?"
"Sore, extremely sorry for what I said." I replied, hoping to get a reaction.
"It's understandable that someone in that kind of situation would find someone to outwardly blame for their pain." Maura said sitting down.
"Maura that's not what I did, I was trying to protect you." I tried defending myself.
Maura didn't reply she only sat there staring at her hands. I tried rolling onto my side to get a better look at her, but the multiple tubes running from my body prohibited me from doing so. Maura was also keeping me from doing so; she stood and pushed me back down. As she started to pull her hands back I grabbed her hand and stopped her.
"Maura please, you know I only did it because I had to."
"Am I really supposed to believe you?" Maura asked.
"I've never once lied to you Maura, for God's sake I love you." I cried.
Already we were fighting and I had only been awake twenty minutes. Using what little strength I had I pulled Maura down for a kiss. I needed her now more than ever but for that to happen I had to earn her trust back. To my relief Maura didn't pull away but instead kissed me back. When we finally did part I offered her a smile, she offered on back but something behind in made me wonder.
"The doctors say you can go as long as you're released into someone's care." Maura told me.
"Please tell me you're not so mad at me that you won't sign me out?" I asked. "I don't think I can handle my mother right now."
"No, I'm still extremely angry at you but I will be the one signing you out, I am a doctor remember." Maura replied.
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Maura helped me into the bed; I could barely move my arms after being forced to use crutches. I was out of the job for a month to three months, which hindered the investigation further. Maura had informed me on the way over that Johnny had bled out before help could arrive. What was hard to take was that not only had I killed a homicidal psycho but I had killed an innocent man trapped in the same body as that killer. As I stayed deep in thought Maura changed my bandages, cringing every so often at the more gruesome cuts. She stopped at the cut on my stomach and the crudely done stitching; I watched her as she ran her fingers over it, causing me to wince and yelp slightly in pain.
"I'm sorry, did I hurt you?"
"It's just sore, it's okay." I told her. "What's going to happen with the case?"
"Korsak and Frost will be working hard to track down Derek and our third suspect. Parker has been sent home, I guess I should have mentioned that earlier." Maura explained.
"I'm betting she wasn't too happy about that." I smiled. "Does she know what the man who attacked her is dead?"
"She was informed; she actually wanted to thank you for everything you'd done, including punching her in the face." Maura laughed.
"You're kidding me, really?" I asked, laughing with Maura. "Listen Maura i really am sorry about what I said when they were holding me captive-"
Maura placed her finger on my lips cutting me off.
"Jane I understand alright, you did what you had to do." Maura assured me.
"Just know I only did it to protect you from further pain." I told her.
Maura and I sat in silence for a long time, neither of us having anything to say. I was eager to get back to work but I knew I wouldn't be back in the office for a while. Grunting as I reached for Maura's hand I pulled her closer to me, wanting her warmth for the first time in two days. Maura rested her head gently on my shoulder, I jumped slightly at the pain but it soon faded. Two days of torture, physical and mental, was actually worth it as long as Maura's arms were around me.
"I'm glad you're still alive, Jane." Maura muttered into my ear.
I smiled to myself at her confession, maybe Maura was just holding out on me to prove a point. Either way I was glad she was willing to let me stay in her home, saving me from the pain of staying with my ma. There was one thing keeping me from being completely happy though; Johnny. Technically I had killed Catfish but who's to say it wasn't actually Johnny acting in defense. If this was the case I had killed an innocent man, something I could never live with.
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"That bitch!" Derek shouted, knocking over a table in a fit of rage. "How could this happen?"
Mark tried to calm Derek down but his attempts seemed hopeless; Jane had gotten free because Derek had untied her. Then came their second problem, Catfish was dead, they were one man short. Derek slammed his fist into a door before finally calming down enough to think rationally.
"What are we going to do Mark?"
"Maybe we should take a break, they have nothing on me, and if you stay hidden we could get away with this." Mark suggested.
"No, I want this over now, you figure a way that I can get close to them and finish my work." Derek growled.
Mark nodded and, like a whipped dog, walked out the door. Derek sat there thoughts racing in his head, Jane was still alive, and Catfish was dead. How could he make a mistake so big? Derek knew that he had to end this once and for all but the only way to do so was to get to Dr. Isles and kill her.
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I looked down at the body of Johnny Burton, the man I had murdered. He had a large hole in his stomach from the knife I had drove into him. In my head I hadn't allowed myself to think it was Johnny's second personality I had killed, but the Johnny that had been kind to me. A deep throaty laugh pulled me from my self-defeating thoughts. Stepping out of the shadows was Derek, with a wild grin on his face. I took a step back, reflexively reaching for my gun which wasn't there; instead I ended up with a scalpel in my hands.
"Look what you did! I trusted you not to do anything stupid." Derek was almost laughing.
"How the hell did you get past security?" I shouted at him.
"I had some help," he replied, his grin getting bigger. "How could you do this to Johnny, he was an innocent man."
"No, I killed Catfish not Johnny." I defended myself.
"Oh but my dear Jane, they were one in the same." Derek laughed, and took another step towards me.
I attempted to drive the scalpel into his neck but he caught my wrist and gripped it tightly, driving me to my knees. Still grasping my wrist he knelt down in front of me, forcing me to kiss him. As soon as he moved back I threw my free fist at his face only to have it blocked, he forced me back, much like Johnny had done before I had killed him. I flashed back to when Hoyt drove the scalpels into my hands years before. Derek was crazy just like him, it took only a second to realize he might just rape me; I screamed.
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I shot up in bed only to be slammed back down by the intense pain that radiated through my body. Maura was up next to me in an instant, one of her hands on my back, lightly rubbing it and the other on my knee, squeezing it tightly. For minutes afterwards I was unable to speak over my labored breathing; Maura constantly trying to get me to calm down. Finally I was able to get my breathing under control, and the pain to subside for the time being.
"Jane, what happened? What's wrong?" Maura asked as soon as I had calmed down.
"It was just a dream, Maura, I'm alright." I assured her, she didn't look convinced.
"Just a dream? Jane you just scared the shit out of me." Maura said, "What happened?"
There was no use in lying to her; she would give me hell one way or another. So I jumped into explaining what had happened. Maura listened, not saying anything but nodding every now and then. When I was done she remained silent for a moment, she bit her lip and if she wasn't sure what to say.
"Maura come on, where's all your psycho mumbo jumbo?" I asked when she still said nothing.
"Jane, these nightmares will plague you until you get help." Maura finally said. "Maybe you should consider seeing a therapist."
"No Maura, I don't need to see a shrink." I whined.
"Jane."
"No, Maura."
"Jane."
"Fine you let me go to work with you tomorrow and I'll go to a shrink." I relented because I knew she wouldn't sleep until I agreed.
"Fine, but in the morgue only, Korsak and Frost don't need you distracting them." Maura gave me the terms of the agreement, I did not argue. "Now can we go back to bed? Maybe instead of dreaming about men, you'll dream about me?"
I couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous Maura sounded, but she had a point. Of course the last time I dreamt about her she told me she couldn't handle it. I had a feeling I wouldn't be sleeping very well tonight, even with Maura curled up next to me, breathing into my neck. Taking a deep breath I sunk back into a comfortable position and allowed myself to fall asleep.
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At the morgue the next day Maura stuck me on one of the lab techs swivel chairs and wouldn't let me out of her sight. It was one of the few times she was more of a mother than a friend and lover. I tried to stay in the room as she started to cut into Johnny's dead body, I'd seen plenty of autopsy's before but because I had caused this one I couldn't stand to watch. Using the swivel chair to maneuver I rolled myself into Maura's office. After an hour Maura walked in, out of her lab coat but still in her scrubs, I smiled slightly at her.
"No matter what you say it won't change the fact that I killed him." I told her.
"Jane for two days I watched everything that man did to you, I would be lying if I said he should still be alive, because he shouldn't be." Maura assured me, taking my hand.
"But that wasn't Johnny, Maura." I told her.
"Jane, listen, Johnny may have been a good man but Catfish was the dominate personality, if he could have he would have killed Johnny." Maura said.
"So I did the homicidal psycho a favor?" I asked.
"No Jane, you did Johnny a favor." Maura said.
"I can't do this…" I muttered.
"Jane-"
"Maura I don't know how much longer I can take this job," I admitted.
"Jane you love this job, you're just under stress because of what just happened. You shouldn't even be here but you wanted to be." Maura pointed out.
She hugged me gently, trying not to put pressure on my shoulders, failing miserably. Instead of groaning in pain, I laughed at Maura's awkwardness; she pulled away giving me an odd look. I pulled her back for a kiss, which she complied by kissing me back, something that had always lifted my spirits.
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Mark walked into the office that was taken up by the Homicide Detectives of the Boston PD. He was greeted by Korsak and Frost, two guys he spent his weekends watching baseball with, that was before he had started murdering men with Derek. Even Cavanaugh was friendly with Mark, a narcotics cop who just wanted to join homicide; too late now. Mark went over to Korsak and Frost to gather information on the current case.
"Hey Officer Kopp what brings you over to homicide?" Frost asked.
"Yeah Mark what the hell are you doing over here?" Korsak laughed.
"Just wanting to check things out," Mark replied. "How's the investigation going?"
"Dead end one again, but Jane's alright so things aren't all bad." Frost told him.
"That's good, when will she be back in action?" Mark continued.
"Three months at the longest, she was pretty beaten up." Korsak told him.
Mark nodded and lingered around for a bit so it didn't seem odd that he was just nit picking around. On one rare occasion Mark had actually met Jane, he at once realized she was one hell of a cop and could take most anything. If Mark was right than she would be following Dr. Isles to work every day until Cavanaugh allowed her back on the job. Mark knew exactly how Derek would get into the station unnoticed. At this point Mark understood that things were coming to the end and that was all he wanted. First though, he had to help Derek end the doctor and the detective's lives.
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Maura pushed my hands out from under her scrubs; she had already warned me against all strenuous activity because of my healing wounds. However I did not see a harmless ten minutes of making out as strenuous activity. Finally I gave up and sat back in my chair, Maura grinned slightly at my defeat.
"That's not fair you know?" I said.
"I do, but I don't need sex." Maura came back.
"Of really? So in three months when I can actually move without tearing my stitches out you'll still deny sex?" I asked.
"No, but you groaning in pain is not what I want to hear, love." Maura laughed.
I laughed, which still stung most of the time but I ignored it. For nearly three days I was without Maura's smile, and to finally have it back was amazing. What was even better about it was we spent the whole day down in the morgue with no one bothering us. I guessed that no farther leads had come up and that Korsak and Frost had gone home for the night.
"Can we go home?" I asked. "We just wasted all day on an hour long autopsy and you denying me some action."
Maura laughed and kissed me cheek, helping me up and out to her car; heading back to her house for another night of restlessness.
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Derek waited for the doctor's car to move out of sight before he headed through the back entrance of the morgue. He was lucky Mark was working from the inside; otherwise this plan would take a long time to execute. Derek went over to Johnny's body and paused for a moment, looking him over; it was too bad that he had to have died for this to play out. He ran his hand down Johnny's arm stopping at his hand.
"I'm sorry it had to end this way brother…" Derek muttered, before he moved on to scope out the rest of the morgue.