To the guest reviewer: I use days for chapters because this is my National Novel Writing Month novel, and I'm supposed to write 1,667 words per day to meet the wordcount goal of 50,000 by the end of November. Sorting the chapter by day lets me keep easier track of how I'm doing in my pursuits. But by all means, it could be used as a timeline indicator for the story. I plan on continuing to include show aspects but changed so that they adhere to my little AU universe. Tessa isn't my character, she's an original member of the Infernal Devices trilogy (of the original, Cassandra Clare designed Shadowhunter universe) just as Jem is. I haven't included all of their conversation, so they have gotten to know each other extremely well, particularly during their therapy sessions. I have no plans as of this moment to introduce a supernatural power aspect to their relationship, or any aspect of the story. Superpowers in addition to the power of runes and warlocks seems like a bit much, in my humble opinion.
By all means, continue to ask me questions, I love questions.
Maura insisted, staring at the Shadowhunter earnestly.
Jane rolled her eyes. "Well, then that's why I have you, Doctor Isles. You can look me over later, but I'm telling you, I'll be fine with an iratze or two. Frost'll have my back."
"That is not the point, Jane, and I don't have the equipment for it!"
"What possible equipment could you need? Poke around a bit and you'll figure it out soon enough by how much agony I'm in, yeah?"
Maura was completely appalled. "No, an x-ray machine, and perhaps at this point an MRI and a CAT scan because you must've hit your head to be acting so ridiculous."
Jane put the car in gear and drove off. "Just stop, Maura. I'm fine. I'm not going to any of your mundane hospital type places – we just left one for you – and I am not terribly keen to return. Besides, I'm a Shadowhunter, they're gonna want to like dissect me or something!"
"Jane, you're completely overreacting. You have a glamour, it'll be fine." Maura reasoned.
"No." Jane stated decisively. "I'm not going and you can't make me. The best I'll give you is the opportunity to inspect my injury yourself when we're back, but there is no way in hell you're getting me looked at by a mundane.
Maura didn't answer, choosing instead to sink into her seat and sulk silently.
They pulled up to the Institute and Jane parked the Prius in a grove of trees so that no one would be able to see it from the road. Frost walked out to the car from the stoop, ready to help carry back in Maura's belongings.
He was about to make a cheery joke about how long it took the two women to get here, but the cutting atmosphere surrounding them stopped him short.
"Alright, Jane, what did you do to get the doctor so pissed at you?" Frost sighed as Jane handed him a box.
"Hey!" The brunette said indignantly. "Why do you assume it's my fault? Maybe she was being ridiculous and overbearing!"
"I simply told her that she should get looked at by a doctor," Maura ignored Jane's lashing out.
Frost raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you a doctor?"
Jane whooped in victory. "See!"
"I don't work on live people. I'm a medical examiner. I determine how people die, I don't fix them up while their hearts are still beating!" Maura insisted hotly.
Frost could tell Jane was working up to a good argument and jumped to put a stop to it. He put the box on the ground quickly and then placed a hand on a shoulder of each woman. "Ladies, calm down. You're both alive, so just enjoy that for a minute and stop the bickering. You're like an old married couple sometimes, I swear." He shook his head and picked the box back up, escaping inside before he could be dragged into their grade school behaviour.
The two looked sourly at each other for another minute before the heat steadily dropped from the gazes and they looked vaguely remorseful at their conduct.
"Sorry," Jane muttered and Maura quickly returned the sentiment, even leaning in for a hug.
Jane took a quick step back. "Uh, I'm not really a hugger sorry. And there's the whole huge ass bruise on my side thing too so…"
"Oh, right," Maura dropped her arms. She picked up a box as Jane readjusted her grip on the one she was carrying. They left it at that and entered the Institute together, Jane's cheeks turned the slightest shade of pink as she recalled the last time she'd been here, mere hours ago.
With a sinking feeling in her chest, Jane led the way into the Institute. Despite Frost's assurances that he would take care of the majority of the questions her hasty departure would have raised, she was still wary of an inquisition from her mother. That woman was never satisfied with the second hand word of others when it came to her children.
Sure enough, the matriarch was waiting with her hip coked and elbows crossed at the foot of the staircase.
She said only two words, "Explain. Now."
Jane sighed and looked imploringly at Frost. He shrugged and offered a sheepish grin. "Ma, it can wait five minutes while I take this upstairs. Besides, I hear Frost already told you what happened, you don't need me to say it all again."
"Five minutes, young lady, and then you will tell me all about it. Again." Angela disappeared into the kitchen.
"You know it's just because she loves you, right?" Frost asked, slinging an arm carelessly across Jane's shoulders.
She shrugged him off. "Yeah, yeah." She turned back to Maura, "C'mon, Maur, let's go put this stuff back in your room."
Maura readily complied and soon enough they'd been up and down the stairs and it was time for Jane to face her mother. "It'll be fine," Maura assured her, patting her arm soothingly.
"Sure, sure," Jane muttered.
"And after, I'll take a look at your injury and we can talk Barry into giving you a couple of iratzes," Maura concluded cheerfully.
"Oh yay," Jane said, "the good times just keep rolling."
Maura tilted her head at Jane's tone. "Sarcasm?"
"No… not at all," Jane responded, laying it on thickly.
Maura glared at her. "Not funny, Jane."
Jane tried to cover a laugh. "It totally was."
"Go face the shooting squad, Jane," Maura said, rolling her eyes.
"I see you're picking up some of my bad habits," Jane commented. "And it's 'firing squad', not shooting squad."
"Right," Maura nodded, taking the correction with her usual grace.
Jane slipped through the door, leaving Maura and Frost waiting on the other side. No one else was in the kitchen, it was just her and her mother, staring at each other from opposite ends of the room.
"Everything from the past forty-eight hours, Jane. Go." Angela commanded, leaning heavily against the kitchen island, arms crossed and face grim.
So Jane sighed and gave her the recap, glossing over the more painful things, lingering on the things she thought her Ma might soften at. Angela did better than Jane expected at keeping silent and not interrupting the retelling of the tale.
It wasn't until Jane finished her quick summary of their time at the hospital that Angela interjected. "But why did you rush out of here like a bat out of hell? She was fine in one of her mundane hospitals, well looked after, I'm sure."
Jane glared at her mother. "We took her in, we brought her into this messed up world, and then we just tossed her aside with no explanation, no information, and no gratitude. Ma that may have worked for the Shadowhunters of the past, but it fucked them over more often than not. I was not going to make that same mistake with Maura, Ma. One day we're going to need the mundanes on our side and that isn't going to happen if anyone we let catch a glimpse get thrown aside like yesterday's trash. We won't be a secret forever, and I don't know about you, but I'd rather have seven billion allies than seven billion more enemies, alright?"
Angela's glare had strengthened during her tirade, but it faded toward the end. "You're too smart for your own good, Janie," she stated, moving forward toward her daughter.
Jane froze in place. "Do not call me that," she hissed. Her eyes flashed and then she was gone, sprinting back through the doorway to meet her friends in the hall.
"Jane? What's up? How'd it go? You weren't even in there for very long. I thought Maura and I were going to have to take up Patty Cake or something like that," Frost chuckled before noticing Jane's stiff posture.
"Jane?" Maura asked softly, moving toward her carefully.
Jane shuddered and shook her head. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Minor flashback, it's okay."
Maura and Frost exchanged worried looks. "You've been going non-stop, Jane, it's probably time for you to go to bed. Get some rest."
They escorted her upstairs and watched as she simply crashed onto her bed, clothes and all. Off to the side, Maura told Frost about the injury and held the shirt off of the wound while Frost drew the rune.
Just as they were about to slip quietly out of the door, Jane's voice murmured from her bed, dripping with the grogginess of sleep. "Maura."
The doctor stopped cold in her tracks, giving Frost a questioning stare. He simply shrugged and pushed her back into the room, closing the door behind him as he left.
"Maura." Her voice was a whimper as her body writhed on the comforter.
Maura walked back to Jane's bedside, heart breaking at the sight before her.
"Please stay, don't go."
Maura nodded, tears starting at the corners of her eyes. She sat down carefully beside Jane on the bed and held her hand as the brunette slept and dreamed, offering comfort when it looked like the visions in her mind were taking a turn for the dark.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jane woke slowly, the blurry edges of her consciousness receding at a painstaking pace. Eventually she grew aware of an arm wrapped around her waist and the steady pace of puffs of air being exhaled into her neck. She froze and with great effort attempted to recall whom she'd invited back to bed with her last night, but for the life of her she couldn't remember extending the invitation to anyone.
The person yawned and rolled, removing their hand from Jane's hips. Taking the opportunity, Jane turned over to discover that her mysterious bed mate was Maura, who was lying fully on top of the covers, and rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Morning," Jane husked carefully, looking at the blonde with a questioning stare.
Maura startled and almost fell off the bed. "Oh, hello, Jane. I didn't think you'd be up yet," she smiled.
Jane gestured at their current position. "Care to explain?"
Maura's blank look was almost priceless.
Jane sighed and reiterated, "What're you doing in my bed?"
"Oh," Maura said quietly, facial expression dropping like lead. "You don't remember? That's okay. I'll just-" she moved to get up and Jane's hand shot out, wrapping around her wrist firmly.
"No. Just because I don't remember doesn't mean I don't want to know." Jane explained.
Maura sat back down on the bed, albeit farther from Jane than she'd been before. "You asked me to stay. I think you were in the middle of a nightmare, but Frost was here when you did it and he encouraged me to do as you asked."
"Huh," Jane commented, removing her hand and shifting to lie on her back. "Interesting."
Before Maura could ask what precisely was interesting, someone knocked on Jane's door and Frankie called out, "Jane! Rondo's here for you!"
She jumped up and tore open her drawers for decent clothes, not caring that Maura was in the room before starting to strip and change.
For her part, once she realised the brunette was going to just not care that she was in the room, Maura burrowed her face into a pillow. Eventually. She was a bit sidetracked by Jane's abs and legs, but not enough for Jane to notice. Had she been questioned about her lingering attention, she could simply state she was checking on the progress of Jane's healing, which was spectacular. You could barely see the fading subdural hematoma, at least not in the faint light of the sun through the drapes.
"Come on, Maur!" Jane called as she dashed out the door. Maura could hear her thunder down the steps and all she could wonder was who this 'Rondo' person was and why they were so important. Boyfriend? Secret lover?
She headed back to her own room to change, locating the box marked 'clothing' with ease before joining them downstairs.
Jane and a tall, black man were huddled together in a corner of the kitchen and Jane gestured for Maura to join them. First though, Maura said hello to the mass of people huddling together on the opposite side of the room. She also took a minute to talk to Frost, who explained that Rondo was one of the good guys. An old faerie knight who'd kind of 'retired' and now he roamed the streets of Boston, lending a hand where he could and assisting the Shadowhunters (mainly Jane) in keeping the streets safe.
When she approached, they were in the middle of discussing a slew of murders which were, according to Rondo, vampire attacks.
"Are you sure?" Jane asked, voice and face completely business like.
"Damn straight, Vanilla! I got into the morgue and saw the bodies myself, if it isn't a vampire, then I swear to God I will give you my personal sword and you can behead me yourself," Rondo insisted hotly. Maura shifted closer to Jane, who reached over and squeezed her hand without even acknowledging she'd done it. Rondo raised an eyebrow and gave Maura the once over, up and down. "Mrs. Vanilla," he inclined his head before turning back to Jane.
Maura opened her mouth to ask what exactly that meant, but Jane was already there. "Why're you calling her Mrs. Vanilla? We aren't married Rondo."
Rondo chuckled. "Oh. No worries, Vanilla. I know you aren't." He paused and smiled knowingly at the two of them. "But you will be." Before either could respond, he'd moved on, saying, "Now, are you going to go track down this son of a bitch, or am I going to have to find another way to get rid of the problem?"
Choosing to gloss over the marriage announcement, Jane assured him that they would take care of it. He nodded in reply and then left so quickly Maura's head almost spun.
"Alright, when is Hoyt being moved?" Jane asked the crowd at large.
Sean responded, "Tonight." She nodded.
"Okay, here's the plan. Once we get one criminal off of our property, we hit up the local hangouts and try to find an ID on this guy. Rondo says he's been creative, hiding some of his kills within statues, or framing mundanes for his work so that the police around here think they're doing some good." She looked around and did some mental math. "Teams of two would probably work best. Ma, you'll hold down the fort?" Angela nodded, but Jane seemed to predict her answer and moved on without acknowledgement. "Maura, you can come with Frost and me. I'll get you lot assigned to the different bars and we'll head out as soon as Hoyt's been shipped off."
Everyone murmured or nodded their assent and went off to sleep some more or sharpen weapons or whatever it is that Shadowhunters do in their free time.
Jane approached Cavanaugh. "How long do they plan on keeping him before the execution?"
Sean pursed his lips in thought and then shrugged. "Could be anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks; who knows with these pencil pushers."
Jane sighed and nodded, then excused herself, taking Maura's hand and dragging the blonde along with her.
Once they were out of earshot, Jane slowed down. "I gotta make a plan, figure out where the most likely Downworlder hangouts would be and stuff." She looked thoughtful for a moment before turning to Maura. "Feel like a little research?"
"Hang on, what'd he mean by we'd be married?" Maura asked, refusing to budge another inch before satisfying at least some of her curiousity.
Jane sighed. "Rondo used to work for the Seelie Queen, queen of the faeries, and he says she taught him how to read the future." She snorted. "It's complete bullshit, of course, but ever since, he'd been trying to predict our futures and now he's under the impression that we'll get married. Usually I'd just say he's crazy, but now he's certainly out of his ever loving mind."
Maura's eyebrows drew together. "Is the thought of marrying me so bad?" she asked, slightly crushed that not even her friend could find her the least bit enticing.
Sensing that this was a delicate subject, Jane chose her next words very carefully. "No, Maur, I'm sure you'd be lovely. It's just that," she lowered her voice, "Shadowhunters have very, very strict views on sexuality and though you mundanes are making headway against it and opening yourselves up to the possibilities, we remain concrete and solid in our belief that same-sex relationships are the work of the devil." Jane shrugged. "One of my old pals, Alec, got into a gay relationship with a highly renowned warlock up in New York. His family basically deserted him, except for his sister and his adopted brother."
"That's awful," Maura said sympathetically.
"Yeah," Jane agreed. "He's a great guy, real catch. And though Magnus has his quirks, he's a pretty decent guy himself." Jane looked up to meet Maura's eyes. "Personally, I'm of the belief that anyone can do anything they want, because who they happen on fall in love with has no bearing whatsoever on me. If they're happy, then I'm happy for them."
Maura smiled, genuinely pleased at Jane's answer. "I think that's an excellent view of the world."
Jane smirked. "Oh yeah, my way of thinking brings all the boys to the yard," she said and promptly cracked up. Maura stared at her blankly. "Seriously, Maur?" She shook her head, but continued smiling. "We need to work on your pop culture references."
She gestured upstairs. "Let's go hit the books. We need a plan of action."
…
Hours later, Jane and Maura emerged from the library after researching the most popular Downworlder hangouts in the city. They narrowed it down to four, which was a perfect number as Jem and Tessa had poked their heads in earlier to say they'd be happy to help in the search for the vampire, and that gave them four teams exactly.
They searched out the other teams and told them where they'd be heading before locating Frost and making a more detailed game plan for themselves. The plan they decided on involved cleaning up really nicely to blend in with the crowd, and even purchasing food there, although Jane warned Maura about the hazards of faerie food. Maura had a hard time believing that even a chocolate peanut could turn her into a chimpanzee if it was faerie food, but given all the other things she'd recently learned were true, she took Jane at her word.
They cleaned up separately, opting to meet back up in the foyer once Sean gave the word that the prisoner transport had been executed smoothly and without fault.