Chapter Fourteen
"Jane!" Maura called out, her own torch now pointing back towards the detective. "What happened?!"
"I don't know, Maura. The door closed and now it's stuck," she said, her voice calm, if not a little irritated. "HEY!" she called out. "Can anyone hear me, we're stuck in here. Open the door!" Her fist pounded on the metal door. It shook, and the noise was deafening.
"Jane, please stop banging. They know we're here. Someone from my team will arrive or maybe Frankie or Korsak, and then they will let us out."
Jane considered this for a moment before accepting that it was the obvious conclusion. She turned back towards Maura's voice, shining her torch around the enclosure. "So, what have we got?"
"Well, from what I can gather in the dim light from my flashlight, we have a male body. Approximately 30 years of age. He has no visible signs of injury that I can make out. The head and face show intense congestion and cyanosis with numerous petechial haemorrhages in the skin of the face and beneath the conjunctivae."
"So, he suffocated?" Jane asked.
"Yes! Jane, how did you…"
"Because I listen to you, Maura. I'm not just some dumb cop that doesn't pay attention." She dropped to her haunches to examine the body, holding her hand to her nose as she got closer.
"I have never considered you to be," Maura said, rather indignant at the accusation. "I don't understand what has gotten into you lately, it's like you're picking a fight with me and I don't understand what it is we have argued about."
Jane stood, the light from the flashlight illuminating upward from under her chin. She looked ghostly. "I am not picking a fight with you."
"Really? You spent two days not speaking to me at all."
"I was sick," Jane cut in. It was true; she was heartsick.
"You were not. I know when you're ill, Jane. You get all whiney and needy and expect me or your mother to run around after you, bringing you food." Jane lowered the flashlight a little so that Maura couldn't see the grimace she pulled at the realisation that Maura knew her so well, too well!
"I was sick. Ugh, the thought of you and Darren Crowe…"
"There you go again, why do you have this obsession with putting Darren in my bed?" Maura asked, she pointed her own torch at Jane now. The detective squinted away from the light. "Firstly, I am not remotely interested in Darren Crowe. And secondly, he isn't interested in me. He is gay, Jane!"
"Gay! Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am sure, he told me, and I would hope that you will keep that confidence, because it's not my place to out him, but you…you're just being ridiculous."
Jane rubbed a palm over her face, the hand holding the torch dropping to her side. "I'm sorry, Maura."
"So you should be," she said, running her hand down her neck. "It's so hot."
"Yeah, it is," Jane agreed, pulling off her jacket and pushing her sleeves up her arms. "Why haven't they found us yet? We've been in here ages."
"By my reckoning, it has been twelve minutes," Maura said, undoing the top button to her shirt.
"Twelve? You wanna be a little more precise in your guessing, Doctor?" She could hear the smile in Jane's voice, and it made her smile too.
"Well, for your information, Detective, I had literally just recorded the liver temp and the time was 4:20. I just looked at my watch now and it's 4:32. So, yes I am going with twelve minutes."
They stood in silence for a moment, both contemplating the fact they were stuck and nobody had yet discovered as much. The only sound was their breathing.
"Are these things airtight?" Jane asked, moving back towards the entrance and feeling around the edges of the door for any sign of air coming in. "Maura, could he have suffocated inside here?"
"Well, yes it's perfectly acceptable to believe that might be the case. I saw no signs of strangulation." She moved towards Jane. "In a container this size?" She stopped speaking to do the math in her head. "I'd say he had probably 18 hours of breathable air."
"Okay, so we have 18 hours for one of these idiots out here to work out we are stuck in here."
"No."
"No?"
"I said he had roughly 18 hours, there are two of us."
"So?"
"Two of us breathing will accelerate the build-up of CO2. We would have less than 8 hours. But then that isn't taking into account the heat. We will sweat more, and with nothing to hydrate and replace the electrolytes…"
"Okay, okay, I got it…Jesus it is hot."
"I suggest that in order to avoid contaminating the crime scene any further that we stay at this end of the container." Maura used her torch to check the ground for footprints or anything else that could be evidence and found nothing.
Jane banged on the door again. "HEY! Come on, somebody has to be out there!"
"For goodness sake, Jane. Will you please warn me next time you're going to start banging away like that." She felt her heart beat faster at the scare.
"Sorry, I'm just…I'm hot, okay, and you know how tetchy I can get when I'm hot."
"Yes… you are," Maura mumbled.
"What?"
"I…I said yes, you are…tetchy. Take off your clothes."
"Maura! I am not taking off my clothes," Jane scoffed.
"Fine, then please suffer in silence." Jane turned the torch on her friend and found her half naked. She had already removed her blouse and was unzipping her pants. Jane felt her mouth dry in an instant.
"Jesus, I need a drink," she murmured.
"Oh, actually…" Maura began, but then took off with her torch in search of her bag. She returned moments later carrying two bottles of water. It was warm, but it was wet. "I almost forgot, I carry these in case I need to wash anything down."
"God, you're an angel," Jane said, taking the offered bottle and unscrewing the cap. She took a swig, let it whoosh around her mouth before swallowing slowly.
"Just remember, it needs to last us. So, sip," Maura reminded her. Her eyes were becoming a little more accustomed to the darkness. "Why don't we place our flashlights in the corners facing upwards. That will at least give us a little light until we are rescued."
With the light of the torches glowing brightly, they could finally see one another. Jane wasn't sure it was a wise idea now that she could see perfectly just how sexy the doctor was as she stood in just her underwear. Jane found it difficult to tear her eyes away.
"Maura?" she asked tentatively. When the warm hazel eyes looked up at her, she thought that she might just fall into them. "I'm not ready to die, Maura."
"We're not going to die. Someone is going to find us time now."
"You can't know that," Jane said, pointing to the corpse. "Nobody found him." She slid down the wall onto her butt. "I'm so freaking hot."
"Take off your clothes, Jane. Your body temperature will drop instantly. It's much more bearable."
Jane let her head fall back against the wall, but her fingers moved to the top button on her shirt and began undoing each of them until she could untuck her shirt and pull it off. The doctor watched closely, enjoying every small movement until Jane's torso was naked. Jane heard the audible gasp from Maura. Jane wasn't wearing a bra. She folded the shirt across her chest and looked across at Maura. The doctor was now sitting cross legged on her pants, back against the wall. Her eyes were closed.
"Are you meditating?" Jane asked as she watched the woman breathe in slowly before exhaling at the same speed.
"Yes, you should try it. It's very good for controlling our breathing, which will help."
"Right."
Maura opened her eyes and stared at her friend. "Jane, just for once will you please not fight me."
Jane looked at her, their gaze held and fixed in place. "Okay, Maura." Didn't she know already that she would do anything she asked her to? "If we don't get rescued—" She began undoing the button on her pants.
"We will, Jane."
"But, if we don't. If this is it…if my life ends here, with you." She yanked the zipper down and lifted her butt to pull her pants down and off. "If my life ends here, with you, half naked and withered like a prune. Well, I want you to know that…it was worth it." Maura tilted her head at her, not quite sure what she was saying. "I mean, everything. Since the day I met you and we, we became friends, it's all been…it's been the best, Maura, and I wouldn't change any of it."
"Really? Nothing at all?"
Jane looked away for a moment. She checked her watch, it had been an hour already. For whatever reason, and she couldn't come up with one, she had the thought that nobody was coming. They'd have been here by now. Something weird was going on, but she couldn't explain it, and if she was going to die in this God-awful place, then she was going to do so having told Maura just how she felt.
"I'd have told you that I love you. I'd have said a long time ago that you're my person, Maura." Her words were quieter than she normally spoke, and yet they hit Maura like a wall of sound, each word penetrating her heart and settling there. "I'd have made it clear to you that what I wanted was…" she gulped and took a quick sip of her water. "What I want, Maura…is you, and I know, I know that you probably don't feel the same way, but I'm not going to die a coward."
"Are you finished?" Maura asked. She was moving, crawling on her knees across the floor to where Jane sat. The detective's head dipped low and her eyes stared at the floor until she heard the shuffling sounds. Maura pushed at Jane's knees until they parted and she could shuffle in between her thighs. "I love you, I always have." When Jane's eyes finally met hers once more, she leant forward and softly kissed her, lips slowly working together to push and pull until both deepened the kiss.
There was a creaking sound as the door unlocked and opened a crack, allowing air and light inside. They pulled apart quickly, looking at the door and then at each other. Smiling, Maura jumped up and quickly grabbed her clothes as Jane hurriedly pulled her shirt back on just in time as Frankie popped his head around the door.
"Finally," Jane whined.
Frankie pulled a face. "What?"
"We've been in here for over an hour," she said, pushing past him to get some air.
"And we only just got the call," Frankie said, looking towards Korsak, who was currently talking to the uniformed officer she had met and signed in with.
"What? I swear to God I am going to kick some ass."
"Jane?" Maura said, her palm lightly touching Janes arm. "Let's get this done, okay, and then I think maybe we should talk, don't you?"
"You're right." Jane smiled, calming instantly. "We're okay?"
"We're more than okay." She smiled before turning to one of her techs and showing him the scene. Jane watched her, remembering the kiss and the sight of her in just her underwear.
"Yeah, more than okay," she mumbled to herself with a grin.
AN: Thanks for all the comments and reviews. Next Chapter will be the Epilogue and then this ride will be over ;)