The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. - Bertrand Russell
Chapter Thirty Six - Stay By You
She woke up to a gentle beeping. Her eyes fluttered open slowly and she groaned as she felt a stiffness in her neck. She was lying on a bed so she sat up and realised she was on some kind of fold out bed in a hospital room. She turned her head and saw Jane on the bed next to her.
"Janey." She sighed. She threw her legs over the side of the bed into the very small gap between the beds and leant over to take Jane's hand in hers. "Why did you do that?" She whispered.
"You know, I've been wondering the very same thing, cuore vero."
Maura lifted her head up to find Nonna stood in the doorway. "Nonna." Maura smiled, genuinely happy to see her. Nonna walked in and sat on the bed next to Maura.
"How are you? Angela says you fainted."
"I suppose I did." Maura frowned. "It was a very stressful day."
"That it was." Nonna nodded. "I also hear from Frankie that you saved his life."
"I did what I could." Maura replied. "It was Jane that told me I had to." She continued looking down at her friend.
"Always so modest." Nonna smiled at Maura. She looked at Jane as well. "Will she be ok?"
"I just regained consciousness. I believe I was out for some time so I don't have her latest update from her surgeon." She glanced at the read outs coming from the various machines. "Everything looks as I would expect it to at this stage though."
"She looks so pale." Nonna whispered.
"That's from the ..." Maura started but stopped abruptly, usually Jane would be grouching because she was google mouthing but she was lying there, completely unresponsive. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She had to stay calm, it just wouldn't do for her to faint again.
"She will wake up and she'll be back to the Jane you love very soon." Nonna told her as she settled her hand on Maura's shoulder. Maura looked at Nonna and was about to reply as someone walked in the room with Jane's chart in his hand.
"Ah, we see Sleeping Beauty is awake." He smirked. "We were wondering how long you would be out for."
"And you are?" Maura asked.
"Doctor Sluckey. We were the surgeon who took care of Jane here."
"How is she, doctor?" Maura asked, cutting right to the important question.
"Miss Rizzoli ..." He started.
"Detective Rizzoli." Maura interrupted. Doctor Sluckey raised his eyebrow at this interruption.
"We stand corrected. Well Detective Rizzoli has suffered damage to the intestines that we were able to correct however the majority of damage was to the liver. Luckily the damage to both organs was repairable especially with her getting here so quickly. We have put her into a medically induced coma which we will leave her in until we are satisfied that she is stable and movement will not hinder her recovery." He took a deep breath. "Dr Isles, we need hardly tell you how important the next forty eight to seventy two hours are."
"Yes, I understand doctor." Maura replied, "Thank you."
"Yes well, if you have any more questions please do not hesitate to contact me." He handed her if card and left.
"Is that appropriate?" Nonna asked. "To hit on someone when their loved one is in a coma?" Nonna tutted but turned back to Jane. "Does that mean she's going to be asleep for a while?"
"The doctor's will review her condition after forty eight hours, but he was hopeful that she will recover. He was worried about the extent of the recovery which is why she has been put in the coma."
Nonna looked at Jane for a few moments and then turned back to Maura and looked at her with an assessing eye. Maura was wearing the scrubs Angela had told her had been found earlier for her. Her hair was messed up from the events of the day and where she had been lying on it. Her feet were bare as her heels had been removed by Angela earlier. When she had arrived earlier, Maura was slumped in a chair in the waiting room with her head resting on Angela's shoulder. Before she could really be told anything, a nurse had arrived and told them Jane had been moved into a private recovery room. She had taken one look at Maura and looked questioningly at Angela, who had explained that she had fainted. The nurse nodded and told them that she would set up a fold out bed in Jane's room.
Jane's partner had then lifted Maura into his arms and followed the nurse a few minutes after this. Angela and Nonna had followed him into the private room and looked at the pale form of Jane as she lay on the hospital bed. Her partner had excused himself and Angela had removed Maura's heel's and placed them next to the bed. They both walked out of the room and discussed the fact that they were sure that Maura wouldn't leave Jane's side so they both decided to make a trip to each woman's house and pick up some of their things. Frost had agreed to take them both but Angela had wanted to check on Frankie before they left. Nonna had turned back to the room where Jane was and saw that Maura had woken up. Maura looked awful and Nonna knew she needed some time away from here, so despite the fact that she knew Maura was going to turn her down she made the offer to her.
"I can stay with her, why don't you run home and get changed and have a shower. Jane will ..."
"No." Maura said firmly. "I am not leaving until she's awake and ordering me home." Her hand hadn't left Jane's the whole time she had been sat there but now her other hand helped cradle Jane's hand in both of hers.
"Ok cuore vero, I'll go to your house with Angela and grab you some clothes and other things, is that ok?" Maura nodded. "Anything particular you'd like?" She shook her head and watched as Nonna smiled at her and walked from the room with one last glance at Jane. She sat there for hours, just staring at Jane's pale face when there was a knock at the door.
"Doc, can I come in?" Korsak asked. Maura nodded and looked up to him. "I just wanted to let you know that I've taken Bass home for you and I've got Jo Friday too so there's no need to worry about them. I'll take care of them both for you."
Maura was shocked that this was the first time she had thought about Bass but smiled gratefully up at the older man. "Thank you Detective Korsak. I'm sure Jane will be glad to hear that as well." She noticed he wasn't wearing a jacket and then remembered that he had given her his jacket to stop the bleeding when she had been tending to Jane. "You're suit is ruined, I will make sure to replace it for you." She could do that. It was a simple thing to do. Waiting for Jane to recover was something she was helpless with.
"No Doc, you don't have to do that ..." Korsak protested.
"I insist." Maura replied.
"Frost has taken the Mrs Rizzolis to your apartment and Jane's. They'll be back soon."
Maura nodded and turned back to look at Jane. Korsak cleared his throat at the look on Maura's face. He wasn't blind. He knew that there was more to their relationship then just friendship but the look on Maura's face now confirmed it for him. She loved Jane. "Can I get you something to eat or some coffee maybe?" He asked.
Maura fought the urge to correct his grammar and nodded with a smile. "Thanks."
"Coming right up."
As Korsak was leaving he almost ran into a nurse. He mumbled his apology and left, allowing the nurse to enter. She looked at Maura and smiled. "Hi, I'm Emily. I'm the lead nurse for Jane here."
"I'm Doctor Maura Isles." Maura replied.
"I understand that Doctor Sluckey has been in here with an update?" She asked as she went about her routine, updating the charts.
"Yes." Maura nodded.
"Well if you have any questions then I'll be happy to answer then if I can and I can take your cell number if you want me to call with updates when you go home to get rest and changed,."
"Thank you but I won't be leaving." Maura told her.
"I can't let you stay here twenty four seven. It's against hospital policy but you also need your rest too if you're going to be helping Jane." Emily said gently.
"I appreciate your concern, Emily, but I will be staying. I will rest here where she's close. I wouldn't rest at home and if anyone gives you a hard time about me staying here then I will have my father call, my family gives generously to this hospital. I don't want to do that though." She frowned, she intensely disliked 'pulling the funding card' as Jane would have put it.
Emily looked at her closely. "If I agree to this would you agree to having two half an hour breaks a day to have a walk out of this room? Do what it is you want, just be away from here?"
"I will try to make sure I do that." Maura agreed. She couldn't guarantee she would be away from Jane for that long but a quick walk everyday whilst Jane was unconscious and having a shower would be a good idea.
"Ok, I'll let the other nurses know so you don't have any problems, doctor, but please don't make me regret this."
"Please, it's Maura and I'll be ok." Emily nodded and picked up the chart before she left.
Maura turned her attention back to Jane. "I'm right here Janey. I'm not going anywhere." She whispered and leaned forwards to push her hair behind her ears.
Meanwhile, Angela and Nonna had gone to Maura's house first. Angela used the key that Maura had long ago given her to open the front door and she and Nonna walked inside, leaving Frost waiting in the car.
"What are we going to do about Maura's birthday?" Angela asked.
"I think we should ask her." Nonna replied. "I don't think she'll want to celebrate while Jane is in hospital."
"No but it's her thirtieth, we should at least acknowledge it, especially with her parents being how they are." Angela replied.
"Yes but I still think she should make the decision."
Angela nodded and they walked upstairs to Maura's room with Angela grabbing Maura's overnight bag from the hall closet on the way.
When they walked into Maura's expensive bedroom closet, Nonna whistled softly. "Sometimes I forget that Maura comes from such a wealthy family, she's always so modest and down plays her wealth."
"She is such a sweet girl. Always has been." Angela agreed and Nonna nodded in agreement. Angela packed a few changes in clothes for Maura and Nonna turned to walk back into the bedroom but noticed something off. Right by the door was a small section of wardrobe that had some plain black and grey suits and several different coloured t-shirts and vest tops with a pair of boots neatly placed underneath this. Nonna couldn't help but open the drawer underneath. Inside were some plain bras and Jane's favourite lavender shower gel. Nonna smiled, she wondered how long Jane had been sharing closet space with Maura and then snorted at her thought on this.
"What's funny?" Angela asked as she came to stand by Nonna.
She pointed at Jane's clothes, "I just wondered when these two were going to 'come out of the closet'."
Angela laughed too before she sobered slightly. "She has to make it through this. I want to see my baby happy and we both know Maura makes her happy."
"We've talked about it, Jane and I." Nonna confessed. "She's convinced Maura only wants her friendship and so she stays quiet. If only she could see what I see when Maura looks at her."
"I almost told Maura that she was in love with Jane earlier. She was so upset and I wanted to tell her it was ok ... of course I realised how much pressure I would be putting on her so I didn't but I wanna bang their heads together."
Nonna agreed and they packed up a few more supplies for Maura when they were getting Maura's book from her bedside table, they noticed that Jane's oldest red sox jersey was folded on one of the pillows next to Maura's silk pyjamas and Jane's copy of The Home Run magazine was on the opposite table.
"Do you think they realise that this is strange for friends? Even best friends aren't usually this close." Angela asked Nonna.
"I honestly don't think either of them think too much about it at all."
They left Maura's and headed to Jane's where the first thing they noticed was half an open bottle of expensive red wine on the breakfast bar and an empty bottle of beer. They smiled at each other and walked into Jane's bedroom. Jane hadn't made her bed and both sides were thrown back. Nonna walked to her closet as Angela found another bag for Jane's things. She opened the doors and laughed as she found half the closet had Jane's suits and half had Maura's clothes.
"They basically live together at two different addresses." Nonna said as they started rummaging through the drawers to find Jane's comfy clothes.
"Who knows?" She said to Nonna. "Maybe this will finally be the push they need."
"Maybe." She said, "I just want to live long enough to see it."
Angela scoffed, "You're too stubborn to die before it happens." She smiled at Nonna.
"You're right Angela. You learnt that from me. I put you through a lot of tests over the years."
Angela stopped part way through zipping up the bag. "Nothing I couldn't handle." She told her. Nothing else was said as they hurried down to Frost and back to the hospital. It was late by the time they got there. Angela and Nonna checked on Frankie who was asleep with Frank Sr asleep on the chair next to him so they went to Jane's room. Maura looked up as the two women entered and tried to smile.
"Hi Maura." Angela said, "You look tired sweetie. Why don't you try to get some rest? Have you eaten?"
"Korsak brought me some food and a coffee a while ago." Maura told them. "I can't sleep yet." She sighed.
"We ran into nurse Emily on the way in here." Nonna grinned. "She might slip you something if you don't try."
Maura frowned. "I highly doubt Emily would risk her ..."
"I was joking cuero vero." Nonna clarified. "I meant you should at least try to rest."
Maura didn't want to admit it but what was preventing her from resting was the fact that usually when she was this upset, Jane held her as she slept. Obviously she wouldn't be able to do that now. Something of how she felt must have shown on her face because the next thing she knew Nonna was trying to push the bed Maura was sat on the right up to Jane's.
"Lift your legs Maura." Nonna told her as Angela came to help. "I don't want to squash them." Maura quickly did as asked and smiled at the two women.
"Thanks." She said simply.
"I packed some of your more comfortable clothes Maura." Angela told her. "Why don't you have a quick shower and get changed. We'll stay with Janey whilst you do."
Maura nodded and grabbed her bag before walking into the little private bathroom. She showered quickly and walked back out to Angela and Nonna talking quietly.
"... they'll be happy one ..." Nonna said but abruptly stopped at the sight of Maura walking through the door. "Feel better?" She asked her.
"Much, thank you."
"Right well, we'll be heading off now but you just call me if you need anything." Angela told her, she paused. "About your birthday ..."
"No! Not until I've got Jane with me." Maura said.
"Jane would want ..."
"No!" Maura exclaimed again.
Angela paused and then sighed. "Ok we'll talk about it when she's out of here."
Maura nodded and waited until the two women had left the room before she walked back to Jane. She gently brushed the hair out of her eyes and then moved to the other side of the room to lie on her bed. She turned onto her right hand side and looked at Jane's profile and took her left hand in her own left hand.
"Night Janey, I love you." She whispered. It took her a long time to fall asleep that night as all she wanted to do was stay awake to make sure Jane was ok, eventually she dropped off to sleep in the early morning.