DISCLAIMER:: not mine
A/N:: weather has me stuck where i am until at least monday which means more updates. yay! thanks for everyone's continued support; it is greatly appreciated. only a couple chapters left. as always, enjoy.
-/-
Jane jumped up off the floor and was at Maura's side in an instant. "Maura." The doctor didn't respond, the gun still held in front of her, at ready, just as Jane had taught her to do many months ago in this very apartment. She was still looking straight ahead to where Veronica had been only moments before, about to kill Jane.
"Maura, honey, it's over." Still no response. "Maura." Jane reached out and gently removed the gun from Maura's hands. Though she was met with no resistance, Maura's hands still kept their position, as if clinging to the phantom of the weapon that had been in them only moments before.
Jane put a hand on each of the blonde doctor's cheeks and slowly turned her head to face her. Maura's eyes were vacant and distant for a moment until finally, painstakingly, they focused on Jane. She lowered her arms… and collapsed.
Jane looked at the EKG as it blipped away the steady stream of proof that Maura Isles was indeed still alive. Thinking about that distant, almost dead, look in Maura's eyes scared her and she pulled her sweater tighter around her lean frame in an effort to suppress shivers that had nothing to do with chilly air.
"We called it in Jane. A bus is on the way." As if on cue, sirens sounded in the night far outside the small apartment.
Jane snapped into business mode. Having checked Maura's pulse and laying her on the couch, she turned to the other people in the room. Erin had already regained consciousness, waking up with a moan seconds after Veronica was shot. She was now helping up an injured Patrick Doyle.
Korsak and Frost, laying in wait for Patrick's cue, had burst in the second they heard the first shot but the events happened too fast for them to interfere.
Jane looked over to Patrick and Erin. "How bad is it?"
"I have to get him out of here."
Jane met Erin's gaze and knew instantly what she meant. "You saved our lives. You saved hers." She glanced down at Maura trying to hide her worry and wishing the ambulance would hurry up. "I owe you. If you ever…"
Erin nodded. They both knew what Jane was implying.
Erin ducked under Doyle's arm, letting him support himself on her back and they both disappeared outside the doorway, stealthy even while injured.
Jane wasn't sure how long they'd been at the hospital. Hours could have passed just as easily as it could have only been minutes.
It became an unspoken agreement between Jane, Frost and Korsak that they would not mention Erin or Patrick Doyle's involvement.
"How's she doing?"
Jane looked up to find Frost standing in the doorway, a hot cup of coffee in both hands. He held one out to her and she accepted it gratefully.
"I don't know. The doctor said her body gave out from the stress and the steady loss of blood from her neck and legs, that she just needs to recuperate and she'll be fine." She traced the rim of the steaming cup with a long finger. "But she's so still." She glanced at the bed. Maura lie, motionless, except for the barely visible rise and fall of her chest. There was a white gauze bandage the size of Jane's hand on her neck and she knew there were many strewn across the gashes on her legs, though the blanket hid them from her sight.
In the ambulance, they had assessed the wounds on Maura's legs and the bigger gash across her neck. It reminded Jane sickeningly of one of Hoyt's signature moves, the coup de grace, when he'd finish them off by slicing through his victim's carotid artery and jugular vein, leaving their larynx sliced and exposed. Maura's wound was definitely not as deep and if it had transected either the jugular or the carotid, she would have already bled out. But that fact did nothing to quell the raging storm in her chest.
She hadn't noticed Frost moving closer until she felt his hand touch her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "She'll be fine, you both will."
Jane stared down into the brown swirls of her coffee as if it would offer her the reassurance she so desperately sought. She wanted to believe Frost's words but there was that nagging voice in the back of her head that prevented her from believing him completely.
"She's always saving me… and she always pays the price."
"She loves you." He said it as an answer, though she hadn't voiced the question aloud.
"But what good does that do her if it just keeps putting her in harms way?"
Frost was quiet for so long that she became convinced he had no answer. Finally, he sighed. "You save her too Jane. No one knows better than Korsak and I that you would have torn apart every inch of this city with your bare hands until you found her. And she knew it too. She knows you love her Jane, and she loves you. Dr. Isles is the most intelligent person I know. She analyzes everything. I trust her intelligence enough to know she's weighed the risks and decided that, for you, to be with you, they're worth taking." He squeezed her shoulder and turned to go, to leave his words to soak in.
"Hey Frost?" He turned in the doorway.
She was quiet, searching for the right words. She looked down at the cup in her hands. She'd never been very good with emotions. "Thanks for the coffee."
Frost smiled, already having known Jane long enough to read between the lines. "Anytime."
Jane sipped the coffee. Caffeine was the only thing separating her from surely passing out. It had been a long night. Once the brew was gone however, her focus crept right back to its previous position, watching the EKG. Despite the coffee boost, the pulsing green line soon lulled her to sleep.
-/-
When Jane awakened the room was completely dark. She glanced at the window behind her and stood, walking to it, parted the curtain just enough to look outside and confirm it was dark. Had she slept the whole day? She stretched and turned back to the bed. It was empty. Panic shot through her body.
She was out the door in a second, nearly pummeling a nurse as she launched herself into the brightly lit hospital corridor.
The nurse looked at her with concern. "Ma'am, are you alright?"
"Isles, Maura Isles, she's missing." Jane pointed back into the room she'd just emerged from. "I woke up and she was gone."
"Dr. Isles just went for a walk. Her doctor just wanted to check the function of her legs, make sure everything is working properly. She'll be back soon."
Jane tried to calm her rapidly pulsing heart. Maura was okay. She'd be back soon. Finally, she smiled. Relief was evident on her face.
"Sorry."
She bent down to retrieve the charts she'd knocked out of the nurse's hands. She handed them back to her and retreated back into the safety of the room.
Maura returned a half hour later, another nurse beside her. When the nurse saw Jane awake she gave a short nod and silently slipped from the room.
Jane walked over and silently helped Maura get back into bed, transferring the IV bag from the portable rack back onto the hook by her bed. She then went back to her chair on the other side of the bed and sat back down.
"The nurse said you haven't moved from that chair in nearly twenty four hours."
Jane met Maura's gaze. She struggled with words as her emotions raged inside her with the fierceness of waves in a storm. "I never want to leave you again."
Maura frowned and looked down at the IV needle protruding from her right hand. "Because you think that's the only way to protect me?"
Jane ran a hand through her unruly curls. "No."
Maura's eyes shot up to meet hers, surprise evident on her face.
"May I ask why?"
Jane wrung her hands and dropped her gaze. "Because… when I'm not near you… I feel… like something is missing." Jane was scared to look up, but she had to gauge Maura's reaction. Her eyes met Maura's and she was instantly aware that she had said the right thing.
Maura scooted over and patted the empty spot on the bed next to her.
Jane smiled and crawled up beside her.
Maura curled her body against the thin frame of the female detective, something she'd done countless times before, except now it meant more. Every touch was different now. She smiled to herself.
"It's going to scar, you know. It's the first thing the doctor told me when I woke up. The ectodermal tissue will mend, but there will be significant scarring." Maura buried her face in the detective's shoulder, trying to hide the tears that were threatening to spill over.
"Hey…" Jane lifted Maura's chin until the ME met her gaze. "You must know how gorgeous you are, scars or no scars, you are the most beautiful person I've ever met Maura Isles, inside and out."
Maura searched her eyes for any hint that she was lying but found no evidence to support the theory.
"Just when I think I can't love you more." Maura leaned up, her lips softly meeting Jane's.
The lights flicked on, catching both women by surprise.
"There will be no hanky panky in my hospital!"
A beefy, and slightly scary, looking nurse stood with her arms crossed across her ample chest.
Jane was so surprised she fell backward out of the bed.
The nurse raised an eyebrow as Jane scrambled into her chair. "Mmmhmm. That's what I thought."
Jane and Maura both watched open mouthed as the nurse turned off the light and disappeared into the hall.
Jane counted to fifteen and then slowly crept back towards the bed.
"You better be getting up to go to the bathroom, because I know you're not getting back in that bed."
Jane grumbled and crawled back in her chair as Maura giggled.