As agreed previously Maura took her time getting to the scene to give Jane time to report back on what to expect. Sure enough as she pulled up to the kerb a text message came through from Jane.
One body, looks to be a day or so old. Same MO, blood everywhere but it should be all dry by now.
Maura breathed a sigh of relief; she hadn't wanted to deal with the scent of a fresh body on her first day back. Carefully checking her attire one last time she gathered her equipment and moved to the police tape. After showing her ID and stating her credentials to the recording officer she moved into the crime scene.
The body was located in another abandoned factory, reminding Maura sharply of the location of her first encounter with the vampire world. The layout of the factory was completely different to the one where they had found the fifth victim almost a month ago, but the dusty floors and signs of neglect were the same. Maura forced herself to remain calm, squashing her sudden anxiety under her professional façade.
Approaching the detectives she got her first glimpse of the body. As with the previous victims the woman was sprawled on the floor, her face distended in pain, her abdomen split open. Maura had stopped breathing as soon as she stepped out of the van, but she could see that Jane's assessment of the blood was correct and she would most likely not react to the smell. Glancing around she realised nobody was looking at her so decided to take in a breath to test the air.
As the smell of the factory passed into her nose Maura immediately picked up an odd scent. She had gradually been learning to utilise her improved sense of smell over the last few weeks, now being able to hunt by smell and differentiate between genders and races in humans. This smell was something she had only encountered once before; the day she awoke to her new life. That day had been filled with so many new sensations that she hadn't thought anything of it, but now she realised that the scent was vampire.
Maura took another breath, clearing her mind and refocussing on processing the scene as she usually would. A normal human medical examiner wouldn't sniff out clues. The fact that Maura had actually done that before was entirely beside the point.
Jane had noted her arrival and was currently scrutinising her features for any sign of an internal struggle. Maura smiled reassuringly, receiving a relieved smile in return before they both turned to the body.
Working efficiently Maura quickly established a time of death window of between 24 and 36 hours. She did a cursory check for any obvious forensic evidence although she knew from the presence of a vampire at the scene that the likelihood was extremely low. As expected she didn't find anything helpful and after a few brief words with Korsak released the body to be taken to the morgue. Maura stepped away from the scene and paused just inside the door, taking the opportunity to change her gloves from the blue surgical gloves back to her light-tight leather gloves before stepping back into the daylight.
Maura was extremely pleased with how this had gone; she hadn't needed her emergency procedures and hadn't endangered or hurt anyone. A large smile broke out on her face that was still in place when Jane moved to stand beside her.
"Maura stop smiling, it's creepy to smile like that at a crime scene."
Maura glanced over at Jane, noting the smirk on her face. "Well Jane where else am I going to do it?" Jane snorted, remembering a similar response Maura had given at a crime scene years ago.
Maura laughed. "I'm just excited that this went so well. I managed not to hurt anyone, I didn't slip up and get spotted in sunlight, and I haven't forgotten how to process a scene. It's a big step in the right direction."
Jane nodded happily, squeezing Maura's arm. "It is. I'm glad for you, I know you were worried about this. But now we know you can do it and we can move on to the next problem; actually trying to solve these murders."
Maura glanced back at the body being moved into a bag for transport. She checked that nobody was in hearing range before whispering to Jane. "But solving the murders would mean admitting that there was a vampire here tampering with the scene. How do we solve this without actually solving it?"
Jane's forehead furrowed. She had been trying to focus on getting Maura back to work and ignore the reality of having to somehow lead the investigation away from the truth. "I don't know, but as always the first step is the autopsy. I guess you just make sure you find the same thing that we've found on all the other victims; nothing."
Maura looked at Jane with a pained look before pulling on her gloves and stepping out to the coroner's van. As they made the trip back to the morgue she thought about how far she was willing to go to conceal the truth.
If she was fortunate there would be nothing to find on this body. Whoever was covering up the true cause of these deaths had so far been extremely thorough, ensuring that no forensic evidence was found to indicate anything superhuman. The protective membrane Maura had seen around the hybrid baby had been removed cleanly from each of the mothers, leaving a mangled mess inside the victims. Apart from the incorrect hormone levels there were no other unusual characteristics of the victims that could lead to dangerous conclusions.
Around an hour later Jane made her way down to the morgue to find Maura preparing to start the internal examination. The body had already been cleaned and stripped, all evidence catalogued carefully. Jane knocked softly, unsure whether Maura would want anyone in the room when she was wrist deep in a woman's chest.
Maura glanced over, her hand pausing over the scalpel tray. The medical examiner that had been called in to cover for her had left the morgue in a clean but disorganised condition, so Maura had spent a lot of the last hour restoring her instruments to their correct order. It wasn't quite as bad as when Dr Pike had filled in for her, but still frustrating.
Maura waved Jane over, waiting for her to put on scrubs and gloves. Jane glanced around to make sure nobody was in earshot and turned the recorder off. "How's it going so far? Any issues?"
Maura smiled again, shaking her head. "Everything has gone smoothly, except for my tools being out of order. I can tell that a vampire definitely tampered with the wound site; I can smell their scent on all surfaces where they removed the protective membrane and deformed the surrounding tissue to hide the evidence."
Jane pulled a face. "Still creepy Maura. Please tell me nobody saw you sniffing the corpse this time."
Maura sighed. "Nobody saw me. And even if they did, they'd just think I was weird, no different from how I've always been." Jane looked like she was about to argue, then changed her mind and nodded.
"True. Okay, so do you have anything new that we can actually tell the others?"
Maura glanced down at the mangled body on her table. "Not yet, but I haven't really gotten started yet. I may know more in a few hours."
Jane nodded and stepped back, turning the recorder back on. Without another word Maura picked up her scalpel and started the first incision.
Maura carefully examined and catalogued all the internal organs as usual. She found she needed to rely on her weighing equipment more than usual as her sense of the weight of the organs she was handling was distorted by her new strength, but had been able to determine that apart from the heart being overworked during the last few weeks of the woman's life there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Jane grimaced when Maura got to the dissection of the stomach. She knew Maura loved this part but she wasn't convinced. Maura sliced open the stomach wall, carefully spreading the gooey contents out in a tray. Maura's eyebrows furrowed, causing Jane to stand up straighter in anticipation. When Maura glanced at her before glancing at the recorder Jane realised whatever she had discovered was not for general knowledge and quickly turned off the recorder, ignoring her distaste and moving close to inspect the tray.
"What did you find?"
Maura looked intrigued. "There appears to be blood in her stomach. I found no signs of any internal trauma that could have caused bleeding inside the stomach and she shows no other symptoms of gastritis, so she must have consumed the blood, within thirty minutes of her death."
Jane raised her eyebrows in surprise. "So, what, she was a vampire too? Maybe there are more than one kind of vampire?"
Maura frowned. "I don't have any way to research that, but I don't think so. I haven't found anything else abnormal in her organs which would indicate that she is a different species. There are also signs of human food mixed in with the blood."
Jane thought over the implications for their case. "Is there any way we can get that blood tested without saying where it came from? I think this is the sort of thing that nobody else should find out about if we can help it."
Maura shook her head. "If I give it to the lab to test I won't be able to conceal the fact that it came from this victim; there are no other open cases that require blood testing right now. I'll keep a sample aside and try to find a way to test it myself. It won't be for a while though, there are lab techs working 24/7 so I'll have to find an outside lab to use."
Jane nodded and moved back to the recorder, glancing at Maura in warning before turning it back on.
Maura carefully collected the samples and placed them aside before clearing up the stomach contents, making some notes about the normal food before moving on to the rest of the autopsy. There were no other major discoveries and before long she was finishing the stitching on the y-incision. It was around 5:30, so after finishing off her report it would be time to head home.
Jane was thrilled with how smoothly the day had gone, which was ever more surprising considering how the preceding month had gone. Every time they had come up with a plan something unexpected had reared its head and derailed them, forcing them to adjust and improvise. Today they had managed to get back onto the case, Maura hadn't killed anyone or gotten caught, and they had all but reclaimed their lives. As she glanced back at Maura she felt a huge burst of love and pride; the quiet unassuming doctor had to be the strongest person she had ever met, even before she could juggle cars.
Jane made her way back upstairs, hoping to check in with Korsak before calling it a day. She would also try to talk him into leaving on time for once too; he was looking exceptionally ragged after all the extra work he had put in lately.
As she walked into the bullpen she saw Korsak's desk was already empty. She noticed Frankie still talking to Nina and wandered over. The pair gave her a greeting nod as she approached before returning to their conversation. Jane realised they weren't discussing anything to do with the case so let them be, returning to her desk and shuffling through the piles of paperwork that had been left there throughout the day. There was nothing urgent, just a few minor leads that could be followed up on tomorrow and a stack of reports that nobody was in a hurry to read. Jane had just decided to head back down to Maura when Frankie finally walked over.
"Hey sis. How was your first day back in the fold?" Jane smiled at him, happy that any remaining tension between them seemed to have disappeared once Korsak started trusting her again.
"It feels good Frankie. Why are you still here?"
Frankie shrugged. "I convinced Korsak that he could go home if I stayed put, he's been overdoing it lately. Hopefully now you and Dr Isles are back we might start to get somewhere on this case. We're kinda drowning on this one Janie."
Jane nodded, sad at the realisation that there were things about this case that she could never tell her brave younger brother. "We'll figure it out eventually Frankie. I'm going to head out, I drove Maura here today."
Frankie nodded happily. "See you tomorrow."
Jane headed back down to the morgue, realising it was now almost seven. Hopefully Maura would be completely done with the autopsy reports by now and would be ready to go.
As she walked into the morgue Jane saw Maura was nowhere in sight. She looked a little further; she couldn't hear any noise, but Maura had gotten a lot quieter recently. Finally she spotted the doctor sitting at her desk, seemingly frozen. Her face was a mix of grief and anger as she stared at her computer screen, her hands gripping the desk. Ever since Maura had become a vampire her ability to cry had been replaced with a slowly tightening grip on anything in range, seemingly without Maura realising what she was doing. If she had been human it wouldn't have been a problem, but considering Maura's incredible strength Jane had taken to monitoring the compulsion carefully to ensure the safety of the furniture.
"Maura, what's going on? Did something happen?" Maura jerked in surprise, the entire desk jumping with her. In fast forward she glanced in surprise at her hands, comprehended what she was doing, and quickly pulled her hands into her lap. She glanced back at Jane, looking slightly embarrassed.
"It's silly. Never mind. Are you ready to go?" Maura had that look on her face that she always got when she couldn't decide whether to talk about something or not. It was usually up to Jane to figure out what was bothering her, after which she would blurt out everything.
Jane walked around the desk, trying to see what Maura had been glaring at on her computer. The death certificate for the latest victim was up on the screen, all filled out and ready for the medical examiner's electronic signature.
"So you're done with the autopsy, you've filled out the death certificate. Are you angry because you can't say the whole truth about her death?" Jane was carefully watching Maura's face for any twitches that indicated she was on the right track. She didn't see any.
Maura huffed. "No, I understand the reasons why I need to obfuscate the truth in this case; I know we need to keep everyone safe. I don't like it, but it is necessary."
Jane kept talking, realising there must be something more personal going on. "Okay, so it's not about the cause of death. Is it the victim? Did today remind you of the victim we found that started all of this?" Maura twitched a little at that question, but not enough to tell Jane that this was the real problem, it was more like this was something that had come up during the day but been pushed aside. She glanced back at the computer screen, her eyes flashing over the words 'Certificate of Death'. Jane suddenly understood the problem and her heart fell into her stomach.
"Certificate of Death. You died and then came back. You didn't get an autopsy, or a funeral, you're still here and nobody except me knows anything happened." Maura's eyes flashed, her face moved through several emotions too fast for Jane to follow before settling on anger again. Jane knew she had the right answer and waited for Maura to start talking.
"Yes Jane. I will never get a funeral; nobody will ever know I died. There has never been a vampire corpse discovered, which either means I can't die or that when I do die my body will disappear or disintegrate or somehow be covered up. I will never be mourned, nobody will ever gather around to remember me. Someday I will just disappear, and nobody except you will have any idea why."
Maura was working herself into a rage and Jane didn't quite know what to say.
"Jane I've seen death all my life. I was fascinated by the process as a child and always wanted to understand everything I could about death. I've seen the effect death has on families and friends. I have always respected the process that people need to go through to understand the loss and move on. How is it possible that I of all people will be denied a proper death? How can I be the only one who doesn't get to find out what happens? Why am I the one who will be left behind to mourn everyone I love? What if I never die Jane? What if I'm now stuck here forever and you will all leave me?"
Maura's voice had been teetering on yelling, but at the last sentence her voice had broken, the words coming out in a quiet whimper. Jane had been trying to follow the words, understanding and sympathy and heartbreak flashing across her face in quick succession. When Maura suddenly deflated in her chair, her shoulders slumping in misery, Jane lunged over and gathered her distraught friend into a bone crushing hug.
"Sweetie, it's okay. I'm not going anywhere, we won't abandon you. There are so many people that love you. There will always be people that love you, even if I'm not here to do it myself. And we don't know that you can't die, we just don't know how all this works yet. There could be a million reasons why we've never heard of vampires before now; it doesn't mean that you'll be left alone."
Maura still looked miserable. "You can't promise that Jane. You work in a dangerous job; you could be shot tomorrow and leave me. Korsak could have a heart attack, Frankie could be killed in a car accident, Angela could be killed in a robbery, the list is endless. And I would be here, with my secrets and my odd personality scaring everyone away. If you died I don't think I could ever let anyone get close to me again Jane. I think that would be the end for me too."
Jane hugged Maura closer to her, her heart lifting when she felt Maura's arms finally snake around her to return the hug carefully.
"Well I know how I felt for those few seconds when you were dead Maura. I know this might be selfish but I'm glad that you might not ever die. I know you'd be lonely without us, but this world is better with you in it. I know you're strong enough to adapt to whatever happens, with or without me."
Maura's hands tightened briefly before releasing Jane. Maura stepped away from Jane, her expression sad and guilty.
"Would you ever choose to stay with me? Become like me?" The words were so quiet Jane almost missed them. When she realised what Maura was asking her jaw dropped open. The idea had never crossed her mind; she had been so focussed on Maura and helping her that Jane hadn't even considered the notion of becoming a vampire herself.
Maura looked at Jane struggling with the concept, taking her stunned silence as her answer. Maura's jaw clenched. "I understand. I'm sorry for asking, that was horribly selfish of me. I don't think I'd wish this condition on anyone, I just…" Maura fell silent, turning away from Jane.
Jane finally managed to shake herself out of her stunned silence. "Maura, wait, no. It's not selfish of you to want to keep me around; I just basically said the same thing to you. I understand you not wanting to be alone. I honestly don't know what I would decide if it came down to it, I need some time to think it over I guess. The idea hadn't even occurred to me, I was just surprised."
Maura nodded sadly, not convinced. She had heard Jane avoid the answer to a difficult question before. "I think it's time to go home."
Jane nodded and headed towards the elevators, knowing this conversation shouldn't be over but having no idea what to say. She knew she had been relieved beyond words when Maura had come back to life and knew Maura needed her, but the idea of becoming a vampire to stay with her had shocked her. Could she give up her whole life for her friend? If she had been asked to sacrifice her life the answer would instantly be yes, so why was this any different?
Jane wanted to be able to smooth the troubled frown off Maura's face and say yes, she would choose to become a vampire and stay with her, but instead she stayed silent, churning over the answer for the entire car ride home. The pair stayed silent as they moved into Maura's house, going through the motions of their evening routine without any of the usual life and energy, both of them trapped in their own roiling thoughts.
When Jane left to return to her own house so Maura could go for her nightly hunt, the silence had become strained and painful. Maura felt awful for asking such a huge sacrifice from Jane, but found herself unable to stop wishing that Jane would agree to it. Despite the overwhelming guilt Maura knew that she needed Jane too much to let her die without fighting for her continued existence.
Jane was still completely confused about her reluctance to agree to choose Maura over death. She had never wanted to die, she wanted to stay and be there for Maura for as long as she could. But something was holding her back, something subconscious but important. She just couldn't work it out. So instead she left, wishing Maura happy hunting in a strained voice before retreating to her car.
Jane readied herself for bed, still churning over the conversations that had led to this conundrum. She settled into her usual sleeping position but knew instantly that sleep would be elusive tonight. Her brain was starting to feel overheated from spinning over the same thoughts again and again, but she felt no closer to an answer. Staring at the ceiling, she thought over all the struggles that Maura had gone through since her transformation, looking for anything that would be a deal breaker.
Jane thought she could handle the hunger. It was the first obvious disadvantage of being a vampire; the fear that the predatory instincts would overwhelm her and make her kill someone without a moment's notice. She had watched Maura deal with that part of herself, and although she knew it would be a battle initially and require constant vigilance Jane thought she could handle it. So the diet wasn't the issue.
She could deal with the change in appearance. Her skin was naturally darker than Maura's so it was possible the cosmetic changes would be more obvious in her case. She wasn't that put off by the red eyes either, and could cover them with contacts if they became an issue.
She would still be able to see her family and friends. Maura had been able to adjust to people within weeks of her transformation, and while Jane might not be the genius her friend was she thought she would be able to get herself under control eventually. There was nothing she was doing now that she wouldn't be able to continue….
Except her job.
That was it.
Her job entailed being out in sunlight, chasing perps, getting shot at, getting in fights. If she went outside as a vampire her colleagues would see instantly her shining skin and most likely pull their guns on her. If she tried to arrest a perp and got angry she might kill him instead of cuffing him. If she got shot who knows what would happen; would she shatter, would she bleed, would she feel it at all?
If Jane was a vampire, she couldn't be a detective. That was the answer. That was why she couldn't instantly tell Maura she would be there for her.
Being a detective was Jane's whole life, and she hadn't been able to say to Maura that she was more important than her job.
With this realisation Jane's heart ached. She felt incredibly selfish for even considering putting her job before her best friend.
But now that she had finally gotten this fear into her conscious mind, was that really her final answer? Was she really saying no to ever becoming a vampire, if it came down to a choice between leaving Maura alone and keeping her job?
Hell no.
Jane felt a weight lift off her chest as soon as she thought the words. It was no competition; she would definitely give up her job to make sure Maura was okay.
Finally Jane was able to drift into sleep, her decision made. If the day ever came, she would have no regrets; she would stay right by Maura's side and make sure she was never alone.
A/N Hi everyone! Apologies for the delay in posting this chapter, it was a difficult one to write, plus we're coming up to Xmas which is always busy!
On a brighter note, yay 50 reviews! Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment, especially the ones who have come back time and again! Your support is incredibly important, if I didn't think anyone was reading this story would have probably wrapped up by now, but as it is there is a lot more to come! I hope you continue to enjoy this odd little tale, and please continue to let me know what you think!