She enters the room, and smiles, as if she's surprised.

"You're here?"

"I told you that I would be."

"It's only been a week," Jane reminds her.

"I just want my life to get back to normal."

"Maura, there is no more normal."

"As normal as possible. I know that you don't understand, but..."

"Sure I do. You just want your life back," Jane realizes.

"If it were you..."

Jane cuts her off, shaking her head, "Don't go there."

"You would have chosen differently. You're stronger than I am."

"You are the strongest person that I know," Jane tells her.

"We should get started," Maura tells her.

"We don't have a body, yet."

"We will."

They work on the case until nearly midnight. Even though she's been at work for sixteen hours, Maura is disappointed when she realizes that she's going to have to go home. When she gets home she finds an empty house. She makes a beeline for the shower. She showers away the day's slime, and dirt. She gets out of the shower, and wraps herself in a towel. She garbs her pajamas. As she pulls on her shirt, her hand lingers. Her abdomen is still sore. She freezes, midway down her abdomen. She doesn't allow the shirt tail to fall into place. She finds herself staring at her incision, again. Her sutures have only come out that morning. She tries not to think about an empty womb, or the fact that she comes home to an empty home. She feels alone.

In the morning when she gets up, she finds Jane sitting in her kitchen. Jane just watches her as she comes down the stairs. Maura tries to hide her grimace as she slowly moves down the stairs. She doesn't want Jane to see the pain. Jane can see right through her. Finally she reaches the kitchen.

"What are you doing here?"

"I am here to call you out," Jane admits.

"Excuse me?"

"Maura it's too soon for you to be at work. You're going to pop a stitch."

"I had them taken out yesterday, before I came to work."

"Maura quit being so stubborn. You're not ready. You are still in pain, I can see that."

"Jane I am not going to have this conversation."

"Yes you are."

"I have to come to work," Maura tells her.

"Why?"

"Because if I don't all I do, is sit here, in this empty house. I sit here, and think about everything. I don't want to think about it. I need the distraction."

"Maura you have to deal with it, at some point."

"I don't want to deal with it. I just want to forget it."

"Maura I hate to break it to you, but you are never going to forget. Just like that scar, the pain is never going to go away. You just have to learn to live with it."

"You're one to talk."

"Excuse me?"

"You never open up. You don't talk to anyone, not even your partner."

"It's different."

"You're right it is different. You didn't have someone take you away from everyone you loved for months, and torture you every single day. You didn't have to live with the fact that at some point while you were being tortured, and raped, you got pregnant, and there wasn't anything that you could do about it. You didn't have to live with someone growing inside of you every single day, knowing that you couldn't keep them. So, yeah, you're right, it's different. Don't ever tell me that you understand what I am going through, because you don't."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, please just leave," she begs.

"Maura I am not going to leave. You don't need to be alone right now."

"I am going to eat breakfast, and come to work."

"No, you're not."

"Yes I am," Maura argues.

"I am taking you to see a therapist."

"I don't need to see a therapist."

"I don't believe you."

"You don't have to," Maura reminds her.

"I think that you feel guilty."

"For what?"

"Giving your baby up for adoption."

"Jane I never want to talk about it, ever. Do you understand that?"

"Maura you have to talk about it at some point."

"Why?"

"One day you are going to fall in love. One day someone is going to ask you about that scar. You can't lie. Everyone knows what that scar is."

"Jane..."

Jane swallows hard, "And forgive me for thinking that you didn't want to do this."

"Do what?"

"You wanted to keep her."

"I am too emotionally damaged to be someone's parent now, probably ever."

"You have to get help," Jane insists.

"Why is it that you think you know what is best for me?"

"Sometimes when we're in pain we can't see the whole picture."

"And you can?"

"I know you," Jane reminds her.

"What is it that you think you know about me?"

"You already regret it."

"No, I don't."

"You already feel like you made a mistake. You feel like you're being punished for something you had no control over. All you ever wanted was a child, and when you finally had one you felt like you couldn't keep her. You felt like you shouldn't keep her. Society says you shouldn't. But Maura what is your heart telling you?"

Maura swallows hard, but she can't stave off the tears. They fall down her cheeks down like rain. Finally she answers, "That I never knew it would be this hard."