Jane's car is parked against the curb. She reads a magazine, and watches the clock. She flips through the pages of the magazine, and then looks at the building to her right.
"I feel like I'm on a stakeout," she murmurs to herself.
Someone pecks on the passenger's side window. Jane looks up from her magazine, and hits the unlock button on her door panel. She passes the magazine off.
"I can't read while you're driving."
"Just hold it."
"Ok," she agrees.
"That didn't take long."
"Nope," she replies.
"I feel like your chauffer. Where do you want me to take you?"
"Lunch. I'm hungry."
Jane furrows her brow. "You're hungry? That's not the response I expected."
"What did you expect?"
"I feel like crap, take me home."
"I'm fine."
"Is this you putting up the wall of denial again?"
"No," Maura shakes her head.
"You really want to eat after that?" Jane raises her eyebrow.
"I'm a medical examiner nothing can curb my appetite."
"I know but..."
"I'm starving, can we talk about this later?"
Jane puts the key into the ignition, but she doesn't turn the car on.
"Jane!"
Jane looks at Maura suspiciously. "Please tell me that..."
"You're wrong?" Maura guesses.
"I didn't even finish my thought."
"Did you really have too?"
"I guess not, since you seem to know what I'm thinking today."
"Jane can we please just go."
"Maura..."
"I didn't go through with it."
"You didn't?"
"I couldn't."
"You couldn't? Please explain."
"I tried. I wanted to, but..." tears start to form, "I couldn't do it."
"What changed your mind? Please tell me that it wasn't something Dr. Douchebag said."
"It wasn't."
"It wasn't something I said was it?"
"No. It had nothing to do with you."
"So why'd you change your mind?"
Only twenty minutes earlier she had walked into the clinic. She took a seat in the waiting room. The receptionist notified her that they were running a little behind. She picked up a magazine, and began reading. She never cared much for Time magazine, but she needed something to get her mind off the situation at hand. She didn't want to think about what she had to do. She knew that she had to do it, there was no other valid option. It was the best for everyone. Her mind was made up. Sure there was a little doubt, but she felt sure of her decision. She knew that she couldn't take it back, and that she may feel a little guilty, but it didn't matter. A little guilt was better than a lifetime of misery. She checked her watch. The watch revealed she had been waiting for ten minutes. She jiggled her leg nervously. Yes, this was the right decision. Jane was right. She didn't want to have to look at that child everyday, and be reminded.
That child, a girl. A tiny, unborn, girl. A little girl whose genetics were made up in half by a malignant, evil, soulless, demon. Half. Half of her genetics. The other half were... Maura took a breath, and returned her train of thought to the magazine. Suddenly her attention is diverted. She looked at her stomach in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me," she muttered under her breath. She felt it again. It just felt like a flutter, but she knew exactly what it was. It was that tiny, unborn baby girl. Her tiny, unborn, baby, girl.
The receptionist repeated her previous statement. Maura finally registered, that the woman was speaking to her. She placed the magazine on the table, and looked up. She shook her head, "I can't do this," she admitted.
"So why'd you change your mind?" Jane repeats.
"She moved," Maura chokes out as tears fill her eyes to the brim.
"What are you talking about?"
"She moved," Maura whispers.
"She moved? What does that mean? The doctor moved?"
Maura shakes her head as tears trail down her cheeks, "The baby," she rasps.
Jane opens the console, and pulls out a pack of kleenex. She hands it to Maura. "Here."
"What's wrong with me? I should have been able to do it. I don't want to have a baby. I don't want to spend the rest of my life raising..." her voice cracks.
"Your rapists baby," Jane finishes the sentence.
"That's what I kept thinking..."
"But?"
"She's mine too."
"I know."
"She didn't do anything wrong."
"Are you sure that this is what you want to do?"
"I just know what I don't want to do."
"That's a start."
"I shouldn't feel this way. I should have been able to do it. What's wrong with me?"
"Maura there's nothing wrong with you. And why shouldn't you feel that way?"
"Because it's irrational. How do I have an emotional attachment to something that..."
"Because she's yours."
"She's my unborn fetus?"
"Maura it's ok to feel like you're crazy right now. You've been through a lot."
"I just don't understand."
"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you've got her growing inside of you. Maybe that's where the emotional attachment comes in," Jane suggests.
"How did you know?"
"Know what?"
"What decision I'd make before I made it?"
"Because I know you."
"I am me."
"You don't always see yourself as clearly as everyone else sees you."
"I guess this means that I'm having a baby."
"I guess so."