Before anyone goes all Annie Wilkes on me, read on! Got a couple of scary reviews…eeek! Sorry for the long interval between posts, but I was on vacation. Went home to Louisiana and had a blast hanging with my partner and family! The Red River will never be the same! We all left with memories and some (me) left with bruises! (Hard to step off the boat onto the dock when you've been partying aaaalll day! Haha!) Hope everyone enjoys my latest offering. It's long. Maybe I'm overcompensating for leaving you all hanging for so long.
Chapter 51
Jane sat back on her heels, still kneeling beside Maura's bed, her hands still on her lover's body, thumbs gently caressing her warm skin, realizing suddenly how it now felt like sandpaper under her fingers. Unsure if it had felt like this the last time she'd touched her mate or just since she'd become aware of her current dilemma, she still grimaced at its roughness, the texture completely unlike how she'd remembered it previously.
Maura's skin was always soft…not abrasive like this…not like this, at all.
Jane was quiet as she stared at Maura, her own eyes still dry, but her throat burning and aching with the tears that she refused to let fall, her mouth thick with saliva. She swallowed furiously, blinking them back, her chin trembling.
Maura couldn't cry, so neither would Jane, her sense of solidarity always holding fast.
She bit the inside of her lower lip, desperately trying to pull herself together and regain control, something that she felt quickly slipping from her grasp, her fingertips barely grazing it as it left her, it slipping into the unpredictable ether that surrounded Maura now.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on the feeling of her lover under her hands, trying to center herself.
Korsak leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Jane. She's still alive." He touched her shoulder. "And as long as she's still breathing, you can save her." He tried to urge her to stand.
She didn't move or acknowledge him at all, opening her ice blue eyes, gluing them immediately to Maura. Jane felt that the moment she looked away, Maura would breathe her last breath, her own loving gaze the only thing keeping her doctor alive.
Jane continued to breathe, matching Maura's rhythm. They inhaled and exhaled in unison.
It was then that Korsak realized that he was going to have to be aggressive with his Sentinel, the shock of what was happening now joining forces with her stubborn streak.
"Jane." He said with a little more volume and sternness in his voice. "Stand up."
Her eyes never wavered from Maura. She wasn't ignoring him, just not hearing him, her mind an impossible jumble of guilt and "what ifs", replaying the past few days over and over, different scenarios, each with different outcomes crashing into her mind and then quickly being discarded, another immediately taking its place.
Her mind was overloaded with all the possibilities, signs unseen and chances missed.
In the end, it didn't matter how many resolutions she envisioned, she couldn't change reality.
Maura was still laying in front of her, dying of simple human dehydration.
It both infuriated and embarrassed her.
"I should've seen this happening." She whispered to herself, shaking her head. "I should've known." Her eyes danced over Maura's body, head to toe, her raspy voice rising with the realization. "I've been a fucking EMT three fucking times! I should've fucking seen this!" She yelled into the room, her eyes and hands never leaving Maura.
"Jane." Korsak said calmly, his hand on her shoulder as he stood slightly behind her, trying to maintain his composure, his own need to compel Jane into the right mindset trying to assert itself. "You think like a vampire. You thought she was becoming a vampire. Why would you ever even consider this as a possibility? No one could consider this, Jane! No one!"
Jane was silent for a long while, her thumbs still lovingly caressing her bashert.
"You did." She whispered, her voice dripping with regret, her eyes moving briefly in his direction as he stood behind her, then returning to Maura.
His heart ached at this admission from his friend. He needed her to understand.
"Only because I think like a human, Jane! She's still half human. You can't blame yourself for this."
"I can and I do." She found Maura's hand, covering it with her own. "I should've recognized the signs. This is my fault. She's dying and it's my fault."
Korsak stood up straight, taking a deep breath, knowing that he was going to have to provoke Jane, breaking her out of this self-imposed, remorse ridden fugue she had immersed herself in, easily wrapping it around herself like a blanket.
She was sinking into self-pity, an emotion that he'd never seen in his Sentinel.
Until she'd bonded with Dr. Isles, he was sure that she would have never even acknowledged that it was an emotion that she herself could even experience.
Jane would've considered it a weakness and beneath her.
She was falling into an abyss that would kill them both, possibly all three of them.
He had to act fast, his own mind trying to process and adjust to the changing predicament. This was not Jane. He formed a quick and easy solution to this whole situation.
He also knew that he could possibly be hurt if she didn't snap out of it before she lashed out.
He knew Maura needed Jane…now more than ever. Only Jane had the medical expertise to save her from this slow, wasting and, most assuredly, agonizing death that Maura was now experiencing.
Korsak was deeply grateful that she appeared to be sleeping peacefully, even though he knew, deep down, that she was suffering intolerable pain.
It selfishly made it easier for him to get through everything. If he thought too much about the agony that Maura was trying to live through and the mental anguish that Jane was also putting herself through, he would've already gone off the deep end. He'd never been so mentally and emotionally drained in his life.
'What a fucking shitstorm this is.' He thought as he stood above Jane. 'The Council had better be prepared for her with this is over. She's coming for them one way or another.'
He also knew that calling someone else into the turning process at this point was not only impossible, it was forbidden. Once begun, only the Sentinel could see it through to the end.
In short, Jane was Maura's only hope.
And he was Jane's only hope. If he couldn't break this spell she'd cast over herself, then Maura would die right in front of both of them.
Then, shortly after, he was sure that his own Sentinel, his life's work, his calling and his friend, would most likely do something drastic and irreversible, as well. She would either let herself fall willingly into hibernation, only reawakened when the Council saw fit, or she would put in a formal request to the Council to be terminated, her bloodline and, essentially his as well, ended forever.
Korsak had absolutely no idea that Jane had already thought of doing this very thing a few days before.
He just knew that he would not allow either to happen without a fight.
Jane was stubborn, but he was adamant, determined, and filled with purpose and duty. He took a deep breath, readying himself for whatever was about to happen to him.
He moved behind her and unceremoniously hooked his hands into her armpits and lifted her to her feet, breaking her contact with Maura.
Jane was astonished at his audacity, growling immediately, spinning to face him, white ice eyes glowering, fangs dropping and ascending.
She lifted her lips, revealing her teeth, both top and bottom sets, clenching them together, growling loudly through them.
He stood his ground, holding her eyes, now hooded with fury, her hands balling into fists.
"JANE!" He screamed at her.
Jane didn't flinch, her eyes focused completely on him now, exactly as he'd hoped. He needed her full attention.
"STOP FEELING SORRY FOR YOURSELF AND THINK OF MAURA!" He yelled at her, squaring his shoulders and planting his feet, preparing for what he was about to next. "SHE NEEDS YOU!"
Then he did something that he had never done before in his entire life or would he ever do again.
He hit a woman.
R&I R&I R&I
Jane stood wide eyed, mouth agape, shocked into silence at Korsak's insolence. He had slapped her open handed across the face.
She slowly touched her mouth, looking down at her fingers now coated in her own blood, then back up into his eyes, mouth still open.
"Jane?" He said quietly, holding his hands out in front of him, palms out. He swallowed once but held her gaze, preparing for the catastrophic reprisal that was headed his way.
"I'm sorry, Jane, but I had to do it." He said quickly, trying to keep his composure when all he wanted to do was run, knowing full well he wouldn't make it two steps before she would be on him, if she chose to take that route.
She looked at her bloody hand again, then back up at his face, incredulous. "Ooooow! You hit me?! Have you lost your fucking mind?!"
He stood stock still, waiting for the repercussions, but somehow, incredibly, sensing a slight tone of humor in Jane's question or maybe that was just wishful thinking on his part.
"I had to, Jane. You were getting lost in Maura's situation. I had to bring you back. She needs you." He said quickly. He wasn't sure if Jane was angry or amused, or both. Either way, his diversion seemed to have worked. Jane had put her fangs away and her eyes morphed from ice white to clear blue, which he took as a good sign, still not completely relaxed but not angry either.
She raked the back of her hand over her bloody lip again, looking at her own blood curiously. She opened her mouth wide, loosening the muscles in her jaw.
"Ahhhhg!" She said, clenching her eyes closed as the pain shot across her cheek. She massaged her face softly, finding Korsak's wide blue eyes. "Shit! What the fuck, Vince?!" She licked her split knowing that it was already healing. "I get it but you didn't have to hit me so hard!"
"Sorry!" He said, realizing she was lucid. "So you aren't gonna kill me?" He asked, relief washing over him.
She covered her bleeding lip with her right hand and reached out with her left, closing it over his forearm, shaking her head, a slight smile peeking out from behind her fingers.
"Not this time. You did alright, my friend. And you were right…again. I did need that." She stood up straight, looking at her bloody fingers one last time, turning and pulling several tissues out of their box. "But do that shit again…" She left the sentence hanging, the consequences left to his imagination.
He quickly threw his hands up, nodding vigorously. "I know, Janie! I know. I won't."
Jane wiped her face and then saw how covered her hand was also, realizing the tissues were useless. She dropped them into the wastebasket before walking into the bathroom, turning on the tap, her determined eyes never leaving Korsak as he followed her, the moment of levity over.
She pumped Maura's expensive clean smelling antibacterial soap into her hands and began vigorously washing them under the hot water, knowing that she needed to be as clean as she could be for the next step, looking at Korsak in the reflection of the huge mirror that ran the length of both sinks.
Human bacteria and viruses didn't affect her, but she wasn't sure if Maura's new immune system was as efficient.
She was now all business, her mind finally clear and her direction defined.
She knew now that Maura's life depended on it.
Korsak stood just inside the bathroom door awaiting Jane's directions eagerly, his little pad and pen at the ready. This was the Sentinel that he knew so well and he was secretly pleased that she had, once again, lived up to her reputation.
He could see in her eyes the shift.
She was given respect and adoration for a reason. Once focused, she never wavered, the problem at hand becoming her only mission.
She splashed water on her face, cleaning off the remains of the blood from her lip, which was already completely healed. She looked up, water dripping from her chin.
Holding his eyes as she spoke, she began rattling off her list.
"Call Eveland. She's close and has the means to get me everything I need." Jane said calmly, turning off the tap and grabbing the hand towel that hung from its hook, drying her hands and face quickly, replacing it soundly before turning and facing Korsak. She leaned back onto the marble countertop and crossed her arms over her chest and her ankles over one another, thinking, forming a plan in her mind. Her eyes trained towards the bathroom door and Maura just outside, she nodded to herself. "And I trust her more than most."
Korsak saw this and waited patiently, watching the wheels in Jane's head turning at a blistering pace.
"Tell her I need four…no six, electrolyte saline bags and a drip pole, 'stat'." She touched her lip again unconsciously as she talked, glancing down at her fingers, which now showed no signs of any blood. "Get me…two more IV catheter rigs with regulators just to cover my bases."
She looked up at Korsak again. "Did Alex deliver the order?"
She had been downstairs when he had opened the fridge and Jane could've easily seen that Alex had, but at the time, her mind was elsewhere, trying desperately to solve the puzzle, the resolution to that puzzle now consuming her.
He nodded quickly, not going to point out her oversight. It was rare when his Sentinel missed anything. So when she did, it was forgivable. It meant that she was focused on something more important.
It also gave him another reason to do his job, which was taking care of her.
"Good." She said, taking a deep unnecessary breath, knowing that sometimes Korsak was also comforted by her respiration. "I don't know if she'll be hungry when she wakes up, but I want to be prepared for it just in case."
He was delighted that Jane was now talking about Maura using "when" and not "if" as she spoke about her making it through the turn. It was encouraging.
She nodded to herself, tapping her mouth with her index and middle fingers as she thought.
Her eyes lit up and she pointed to Korsak. "Oh, tell Eveland to pick up some 'Pedialyte'! A least a case. All different flavors! " She said, smiling to herself. "Maura likes variety. And some straws! The 'bendy' ones! Maura's gonna have to drink that herself, probably while lying down. I want to make it as easy for her as I can."
Jane looked towards the bathroom door again…towards Maura. She became somewhat shy, her eyes cutting towards Korsak and then back to Maura.
"I mean if she still needs human sustenance."
He smiled at his Sentinel's newfound enthusiasm.
She focused on Korsak again, feeling that she'd thought of everything, but not completely sure. She wanted her Watcher's input, knowing that he was the one that had really solved this puzzle...the puzzle that was, hopefully, going to save Maura's life and conversely, her own.
"What else, Vince?" She asked, standing and moving in front of him, placing her hands on his elbows as he wrote down her demands. "Can you think of anything I'm missing?"
He looked up from his pad, finding Jane's caring brown eyes.
He thought for a moment then shook his head. "I think you've covered everything."
Jane smiled, nodding. "Good. I sure hope so. If you think of anything else, put it on the list."
He turned to leave but she stopped him, placing her hands on his shoulders.
"Thank you, Vincent." She said, quietly, holding his eyes, tears forming in her own. "I mean it. You are saving both of us." A single tear slid down her face. "And Maura's still right. You are a good man."
He smiled, blushing slightly at the compliment, placing the pad and pen back into his pocket, then covering Jane's left hand with his own.
"Don't thank me, Jane. It's my job."
She shook her head, still smiling. "No. It's not. But I'm glad you do it anyway." She stood up tall, taking one more deep cleansing breath before releasing his shoulders, wiping the tear from her cheek.
"Now go." She said, resolutely, her mind already focused again on Maura and the task in front of her. "Be careful but be fast. Use the light and siren if you have to. Meet Eveland halfway. It should only take about half an hour or so. Call me if you run into any trouble. I'll have everything ready when you get back."
He nodded and left the bathroom quickly, glancing briefly at Maura.
She hadn't moved and still looked as if she were sleeping peacefully, the only indication that she was in any kind of distress was her sunken features and the dark shadows under her eyes that somehow seemed to have grown even darker in the few minutes since he'd seen them last.
The urgency in the air was palpable.
He put his head down and made his way quickly out of the bedroom, calling Jane's supplier as he ran down the stairs and out of the house.
R&I R&I R&I
As soon as Korsak left the room, Jane moved into the bedroom and began quickly and efficiently prepping everything that she knew she would need when he returned.
She opened up a large gauze pad and laid it on the bed beside Maura and placed her supplies on top of it. Latex gloves, alcohol wipes, a tourniquet, the IV catheter, unopened, all the needle catheters, also unopened. She was unsure of what size she would need to puncture Maura's now shrunken veins. Surgical tape rounded out the preparation and all were now neatly lined up within easy reach.
She stood up with her hands on her hips, surveying her tools. Everything seemed to be in order.
As an afterthought, she reached into the leather bag and pulled out an handful of female specific incontinence underwear, sized just for Maura, another addition she'd made to her kit, not knowing why. To her chagrin, now it became glaringly obvious. She laid them on top of everything that was now unnecessary on the bedside table, spreading them out, using them as inspiration.
If they'd caught this thing in time then she would gladly be sliding them over Maura's shapely hips soon enough.
Maura involuntarily pissing herself was, at this point, a welcomed outcome. In fact, it was actually hoped for and counted on.
She smiled briefly, allowing herself the fleeting moment of hope before lowering her head and again assessing the instruments that she'd laid out next to her mate.
She turned her attention to Maura, still unmoving, her breathing shallow. Jane leaned over and smoothed the hair from Maura's forehead.
Maura moaned weakly, the first sound she'd made in almost twenty four hours.
Jane quickly leaned over and whispered into Maura's ear. "I'm right here, baby. You're gonna be just fine. Vincent figured it out. Soon, youre gonna be as good as new."
Jane caressed Maura's cheek softly, careful not to hurt her. Her skin was now beginning to feel like tissue paper.
Jane had a brief and terrifying moment when she envisioned it just peeling off under her touch, revealing the muscle and tendons underneath, the hallucination so real that Jane had to shake her head vigorously to clear it.
Maura was silent, her shallow breathing the only sound in the room…briefly in the entire house.
Jane blinked rapidly, clearing the intense horrible image that had flooded her mind, suddenly questioning her own sanity.
'What the fuck was that?!' She thought, closing her eyes tightly, clenching her jaw.
Then she heard Maura croak, barely above a whisper. "Thirsty."
Her eyes flew open immediately, finding her chosen one's face, the concerns about her own mental instability instantly forgotten.
Jane's heart leapt, knowing that there was no way that Maura could possibly orally ingest enough liquid to satisfy her own body's needs this late in the game without her stomach completely rejecting it, but still ecstatic that she was aware enough to express her wants.
Jane whispered gently into her ear. "Give me a second, sweetheart. I'll be right back with some water."
She softly kissed Maura's cheek before disappearing downstairs and then reappearing seconds later with a bottle of mineral water and a highball glass. She quickly unscrewed the top and poured it into the glass, filling it two-thirds full, then sitting both on the table. Finding an eye dropper, she dropped it into the glass. Carefully lifting the gauze pad filled with all of her tools onto the seat of the bedside armchair, she gently sat on the bed beside Maura.
She leaned over and whispered softly into her doctor's ear.
"I'm back and I have something for you." Gently she slid one hand under Maura's neck lifting her and the other adding another pillow under her head, sitting her up as best as she could without disturbing her mate too much.
Maura moaned again softly, eyes briefly opening, finding Jane's.
Jane was elated to see those gorgeous hazel green orbs again, even if they were bloodshot, red rimmed and looking incredibly tired.
"I'm sorry if I'm hurting you." Jane whispered, smiling lovingly at Maura, holding her eyes, then letting them flit quickly over her entire face. "But I don't want you to choke."
Maura didn't speak or give any indication that she was even hearing Jane at all. She just blinked slowly once, her shallow rapid breathing still filling the room.
"Thirsty." She rasped again.
Jane nodded, smiling sympathetically, cradling Maura's jaw briefly before picking up the glass, now covered in condensation, filling the eye dropper with cold water.
Maura's mouth was closed as she gently slid the tube in between her lips.
She immediately encountered Maura's teeth.
Maura's eyes slid closed, her head lolling to the side. Jane carefully righted it, pushing her gently into the pillow so it wouldn't tilt again unless Maura herself moved it.
Jane squeezed the bulb at the end of the dropper, pushing the water into her lover's mouth, hoping the liquid would slide past Maura's teeth, coating her dry tongue, enticing her to open her mouth.
It didn't.
The water merely dribbled down Maura's chin and her neck, then wetting her tank top.
"Shit." Jane whispered to herself, grabbing a handful of tissues, dabbing them at Maura's face and neck, refilling the dropper.
She tried again, this time elevating Maura's neck and tilting her head back, hoping her mouth would naturally fall open, but with the same result.
The irony of this situation was becoming extremely clear to Jane.
She now knew how Maura must've felt when, not only six days ago, she was faced with this same dilemma…how to get your unconscious mate to open her mouth and drink.
Some might call this Karma.
It wasn't.
Even though Jane had never experienced this aspect of it, she instinctively knew it was the bond working its slow, steady and now circuitous route, not only knitting their souls together, but now allowing for common experiences.
Jane was getting a taste of her own medicine.
She chuckled bitterly at the realization, shaking her head.
'Fucking Council.' She thought, tossing the dropper into the glass, placing it back onto the table, disgusted. 'You keep trying to let me kill her, don't you?'
She stood up, stretching her body and focusing her mind.
Maura had needed to figure out what to say to get Jane herself to feed and now Jane was going to have to do the same thing to get Maura to accept the water that she was offering.
The Italian vampire knew it was all symbolism at this point. The drops of water she fed her weren't going to save Maura's life, just merely increase their bond.
The Council had taken away her ability to feel Maura's emotions for a reason.
Jane was slowly beginning to understand why.
Maura was going to be different than any other mate she'd taken, not just because of who she was, but also because of what she was.
She stood up and interlaced her fingers behind her head, pacing, her eyes never leaving Maura.
Jane was going to have to understand what it meant to be human and to not only think like them, but begin to identify with them, as well.
Her mate was going to be half human. She had to open her mind.
She'd always been aware of their needs and how to relate to them. It was her job.
Suddenly, she was about to be immersed in everything that they were. This is why she couldn't figure out the reason that Maura was now slowly dying. She didn't think like them. From now on, she would have to…to protect her mate.
The realization hit her like a ton of bricks.
She needed to figure out how to bond with her half human mate on a human level and fast.
She stopped pacing and sat down next to Maura on the bed, once again tracing her thumb over her forearm, studying her face, her mind furiously trying to work out this new riddle.
Jane had an undeniable feeling that if she herself didn't work out this problem on her own, then all would be lost and no matter how quickly Korsak returned or what he returned with, it would be too late.
Maura needed Jane to do this for her…for them.
The bond demanded it, as well. Jane knew this.
She felt the pressure.
She looked over at the bedside table, frantically searching for something, anything, that could save her beloved's life. She moved things around, picking them up, examining them, then discarding them, her mind trying desperately to connect the dots that seemed to be so far apart!
'What am I doing?! I have to save her!' Jane's mind raced.
Then she picked up the headphones. She turned them over in her hands.
She smiled. This had to be it.
They were not only noise-cancelling, but actual headphones…headphones that wirelessly connected to her own phone.
A plan began forming quickly.
She smiled at Maura, leaning in and kissing her delicately on the side of her mouth, laying the headphones down on the bed next to her mate.
"I'm going to save you." She whispered. "I'm going to save you."
She quickly rushed downstairs and found her phone, instantly returning upstairs, standing next to Maura's bed.
She frantically touched her phone, searching for exactly what she knew, or thought she knew, would save Maura…the perfect song.
Finding it, she smiled to herself, dropping the phone on the bedside table and picking up the headphones. She carefully placed them on Maura's head, making sure that she was comfortable.
She closed her eyes, hoping that she had not only figured out another conundrum that the Council had tasked for her, but also how to break through Maura's own wall, conveying to her mate that now she now completely understood her.
She tapped her phone. The music that she knew Maura loved began playing in her ears softly.
Jane had picked out a particular song and was ready to replay it over and over again, not only because she knew Maura would love it, but because it expressed exactly how she felt about her partner.
She sat watching Maura as the music filled her lover's ears, lightly tracing her fingertips over her exposed shoulders and arms.
Maura smiled, weakly.
Jane beamed. Dimples flashing, she quickly picked up the glass of water, filling the dropper and gently placing it into Maura's mouth.
Maura sucked on it greedily, running her dry tongue over her lips when the dropper was empty, immediately wanting more, eyes still closed.
Jane smiled, quickly refilling it and repeating the motion, over and over, Maura draining the eye dropper every time it was offered.
Jane gently moved one ear of the headphones off of Maura's head then continued to nourish her, wanting her beloved to hear her as she sang to her alongside Elvis.
"For I can't help falling in love with you…"
She harmonized with him and then when the song was finished and so was the glass of water, she gently removed the headphones, placing them back on the table, tapping her phone closed.
"Still thirsty." Maura whispered, licking her dry cracked lips, her eyes still closed.
Jane smiled, refilling the glass, still only halfway, ecstatic at the sudden interaction with her lover.
"Okay, my love, but no more after this. It'll make you sick." She filled the dropper. "Vince will be back soon with what you really need. So let's take this slow and then you can rest. Okay?"
She placed the dropper to Maura's lips and squeezed as her doctor dutifully drained it. Once the glass was empty, she set it back on the table next to the bottle, placing the dropper inside.
Maura swallowed once more, taking a deep harried breath.
Jane gently leaned Maura forward and removed the pillow from behind her head, laying her down again onto her back.
"Feeling any better?" She asked tentatively, knowing that the small amount of water Maura had just ingested wouldn't really change her physical situation that much, but hoping blindly that since Maura's system was now different, it might.
It hadn't.
Maura shook her head almost imperceptibly, her eyes remaining closed, breathing still shallow and rapid.
"I'm sorry, baby. Vincent will be back any second and then I'll get you fixed right up." She kissed her warm forehead, lips lingering. "Please just hang in there for me, Maur. Please. Please?"
Jane looked for any response but Maura was already fast asleep again. The vampire again dutifully coated her lover's lips with the balm, placing it resolutely on the table, eyes never leaving her mate.
Quietly, imperceptibly, Maura responded, eyes closed. "Promise?"
Jane's own eyes immediately filled with tears as she struggled to answer. She wasn't sure she could keep this one.
Maura instinctively knew it.
Jane instantly knew that Maura knew. Her heart broke.
Maura was again silent, falling back into her dehydrated stupor.
Jane stood and began to pace, looking at the small digital clock that sat on the bedside table, feeling that the minutes were stretching into hours, even though time was moving at its normal speed.
"Come on, Korsak." She whispered to herself. "Hurry, dammit!"
She carefully moved the gauze pad filled with tools back onto the bed next to Maura, lining them up neatly again in the order that she would need them. She sat back down in the chair, bouncing her knee impatiently, biting her thumbnail, checking the clock again, feeling Maura's time growing short.
She stood again, finding it impossible to just sit, needing to find something, anything, to do to keep her mind off of how long it was taking for Korsak to return.
She moved the water and glass into the bathroom to get it out of the way then checked the clock again, beginning to pace once more, rubbing her eyes, feeling the exhaustion, both mental and physical, moving into her bones.
After what seemed like an eternity, she heard Korsak's cruiser turning onto Maura's street and she quickly put her sneakers on, laces untied, running outside to meet him in the driveway. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other as she watched the road for his headlights, sighing with relief as he rapidly made his way to the house, turning into the drive so fast that he clipped the curb much as Maura had done less than a week ago.
She helped him carry in the supplies, grabbing the box that held the saline bags first, knowing that the rest could wait until Korsak brought them up behind her. The box she was holding was the only one that truly mattered right now.
She sprinted back up the stairs and placed the box on the dresser, ripping open its seal, quickly examining its contents and taking out one bag, inspecting it closely. Satisfied that it was what she needed, she turned and laid it on the bed next to her tools, standing over Maura and licking her own suddenly dry lips, the realization that her mate's life was now completely in her hands, no questions left to ask and no excuses left to give.
It was now or never.
She readjusted her hair into a tight ponytail and went into the bathroom, quickly washing her hands again, drying them and then returning to Maura.
She pulled on a pair of latex gloves then gently moved Maura's right arm out from under the covers, turning it palm up, her expert EMT vampire eyes already searching the pale white skin for the light blue veins that lay just below the surface.
She heard Korsak close the door downstairs and drop the case of 'Pedialyte' onto the island, then begin making his way upstairs.
After opening several of the alcohol swabs and laying them next to the rest, she opened the needles themselves, careful to keep them sterile. Then she efficiently tied the rubber tourniquet around Maura's bicep and waited for a few seconds, looking for the veins as they swelled, pushing themselves closer to the surface of the skin.
"Shit." Jane whispered to herself, shaking her head. She then began lightly pressing her fingertips along the inside of Maura's forearm from elbow to wrist, side to side, up and back, searching.
"Dammit!" She said, standing and shaking her hands, trying to rid them of the sudden case of nerves that were making them tremble, the enormity and pressure of what she was about to do settling into her mind.
"What's wrong, Jane?!" Korsak said from behind her as he stood in the doorway, the collapsible drip pole in one hand and a bag filled with the rest of Jane's list in the other.
She looked up at him, her eyes suddenly filled with doubt. "I can't find a vein. She's so dehydrated that her blood is thick and sluggish and her veins are shrinking."
He brought in the supplies, dropping the bag next to the dresser and standing the drip pole next to the bedside table, out of the way until Jane needed it.
She looked up at him. "Can you set up the pole, please. Just make sure it's about five feet tall."
She leaned over again, pushing into Maura's skin with a little more pressure, shaking her head as each search failed. She was getting frustrated.
Korsak sensed it and began talking to her in quiet dulcet tones, soothing her with encouraging words.
"Jane, you know you can do this. Just relax." He stood out of her way in the doorway of the bathroom, his own hands dangling in front of him, fingers laced together. He found himself becoming anxious just watching Jane try to locate an adequate vein. Each time she failed, he closed his eyes, feeling her confidence slip a little more.
Suddenly she stopped, her fingertips pressing into Maura's arm just below the crook of her elbow and a little towards the inside of her arm. Jane tapped the area gently then pressed again.
"There you are." She whispered, a slight smile crossing her lips, the only vein that Maura offered plumping itself under her fingertips.
She momentarily agonized over what sized needle to use before deciding on one, her thumb still pressing into the vein, holding its position.
She had a brief moment when her trembling hands almost missed it, but it was Korsak's soothing, confident words that encouraged her into success.
"You can do this, Jane." He whispered quietly into her ear. "You've done this hundreds, no thousands, of times. Stop thinking so much and just do it."
She smiled, her shaking hands suddenly steadying at his words. She slid the needle home.
Jane then quickly, almost too quickly for Korsak to even see, went through the practiced motions that were now second nature to her trained EMT hands. Suddenly Maura was completely attached to the IV.
He stood there dumbfounded...it had happened so quickly.
Jane opened the regulator, squeezing the saline bag, pumping as much fluid as she could into Maura's vein, massaging and squeezing it repeatedly. She stood over Maura, eyes focused only on her mate, hands moving unconsciously, mind still racing.
Massage and squeeze. Massage and squeeze.
After several minutes, Korsak moved behind Jane and gently took the bag from her hands. She looked at him quickly and he smiled, nodding, hanging the bag onto the drip pole.
She adjusted the regulator to an acceptable drip interval, sitting down in the chair once again, propping her head into her hand, preparing to wait, knowing now that she had done nothing but her best once she'd realized what needed to happen.
Korsak fretted over them both but she'd eventually shoo'd him out of the room, asking and then demanding that he get some sleep.
From here until the end, there was nothing either of them could do.
The rest of the turning was now up to Maura.
Thank you all for your continued and absolutely amazing support and response to this story!
