Saturday

Jane stirred, a noise waking her from her half-slumber, the bedside lamp of the other bed on again. It took a moment to realise where she was, hearing running water. Maura must have used the bathroom. She relaxed again.

"Sorry," Maura said quietly, seeing Jane sitting upright, rubbing at her hands. Maura heard the pattern of rain and moved the curtain aside to look out the window; it had just started raining, the asphalt spotted with damp patches, drops running down the window in rivulets, and here she was, warm and dry.

"Nah, it's not you." Jane rubbed at her hands. "I don't sleep well at the best of times," Jane said, rubbing her face and checking her watch.

"You slept well last night," Maura said, pouring herself a glass of water. She poured a second one and took two pills from the Tylenol bottle on the bedside table.

"Yeah, well, you must be my lucky charm," Jane said, smiling. Maura came over and sat next to her on the bed, handing her the pills and the fresh glass. "And we weren't winding up for a storm last night."

"No nightmares?" Maura asked seriously as Jane swallowed back the pill. Jane shook her head. "Good," Maura said, sliding her legs under the covers. Jane put the glass down and moved over, making room, ashamed of how relieved she was that Maura was here, was sliding those soft pajamas against her flannel.

"We don't need to -" Jane said softly.

"No, we don't need to," Maura agreed, lying down, pulling Jane down with her. "But I have a feeling we might be better rested if we did." Her arm slid over Jane's stomach, and Jane's breath caught, unsure of where this was going. The arm wrapped itself firmly around Jane's waist and Maura sighed into Jane's hair.

"That's not very scientific, going by 'feelings'," Jane teased her.

"Then I'm testing a hypothesis," Maura countered. "Now where are your hands?" Maura fumbled with Jane's arms, tracking down to her hands, smoothing each of her hands underneath Jane's, her palm flat against the curl of Jane's fingers, keeping them straightened out. "Go to sleep." The sensation of being physically close with Jane was its own reward, but the comfort of feeling emotionally safe enough to get into Jane's bed without fear of rejection was the best part of holding Jane's twisted hands as she slept.

Maura woke to a whimper - of pain, not fear, she realised quickly - feeling Jane's hands move over her back, seeking warmth and finding it beneath Maura's silken jacket, tipping Maura onto her back, trapping Jane's hands beneath both of their bodies. Maura worried about the weight on them, pulled them out slowly and started the long work of rubbing the stiffness from Jane's palms. Maura was tired, she realised, but Jane must be as much if not more. Jane mumbled something once against Maura's chest, digging her face into Maura's shoulder. Reluctantly Maura released Jane's hands, worried she'd made Jane feel trapped by restraining her hands, a moment later feeling them find purchase on her waist as they curled up again. Jane hadn't woken, despite Maura's careless actions, and Maura observed her, the rain at the windows and the dim light of the lamp giving her a cosy glow at the amount of trust Jane had in her. The cheekbones, the tapered chin. If Jane had come across Maura's table, she'd have admired her then as she was admiring her now. But she would have cut in to find those bones, not seeing how Jane was so much more than the sum of her parts. Dissecting her wouldn't have shown Maura that Jane was a capable, strong and surprisingly sweet woman. It wouldn't have shown Maura that the loud, brash detective could lower her tone so much that abused children instinctively trusted her. Maura wondered if that was part of it - that Jane had used that technique on Maura as well, to coax Maura into trusting Jane. But part of that, if it had all been a ploy, had been exposing what Jane thought was the weakest part of herself. Part of it was Jane's body, resting on Maura's. Part of it was Jane knocking on her door at 3am, hiding her hands in her pockets and her need behind her teeth, always ready to spill out. Maura's hands skimmed over Jane's back, and she felt the satisfied sigh against her throat.

She had to take it on trust. And she did, mostly. She trusted Jane. Maura was very rich, had many valuable possessions, and that had made her a target in the past. But Maura had spent a pittance on Jane, and Jane had paid her back - of sorts - with dinner, since Maura had bought Jane a few meals. Jane had been the one buying coffee, taking Maura to dinner with her parents. She had to know how much more Maura made than her, but she'd insisted on picking up the bill for dinner. People Maura had thought were friends had usually turned out to want something from her - sex or money, mostly. Jane didn't seem to care much about money, and despite the current sleeping arrangements, Jane didn't seem to be after sex from Maura. She could have had it, had she wanted it, anytime since that moment last Sunday. But Jane had skirted away from Maura's ready mouth, and Maura had found herself a little disappointed.

If Jane wasn't after sex or money, what was she after? Help with the scalpel issues made sense, up until a point. But Jane only had to build a working relationship with Maura to get access to her autopsies. She hadn't even had to do that - she'd have been welcome in the morgue at any time. And why had it made a difference who held the scalpel? A scalpel was a scalpel. Jane had said Maura treated Jane as though she was dead already, and from what Jane had said about the way Maura treated her patients, it almost made sense. Jane had said Maura treated her bodies with respect and compassion, and that was technically how she'd treated Jane. Maybe less respect than usual.

After all these years of loneliness, it was too unlikely to have found someone who understood and liked her. It was too improbable. In all of Maura's living history, it hadn't happened even once. Her father, a scholar, loved her in an absent-minded way as a peer, when he remembered she existed. And her mother had been kind but distant. Sometimes Maura wondered why they'd adopted her at all - they weren't the family type, and it was a relief to go to boarding school, even if the other girls weren't particularly kind. It had been good practice for the rest of her life. Jane couldn't be as attracted to Maura as Maura was to Jane - emotionally, physically - the magnet pull of Jane's body atop her own was constant. There must be another explanation, but Maura couldn't think of one. Especially not since she'd been officially introduced to Jane's family, as though she was a fixture Jane intended to keep around. Perhaps Jane felt sorry for her, and knew that the barest modicum of kindness would melt Maura like a moth near an open flame. Perhaps Jane was laughing at her behind her back, like so many other people must have. No, Jane was too honest for that, and she laughed in Maura's face if she found something Maura had said unintentionally funny.

People really were too complex. But for now, Jane was here, was letting Maura enjoy what it felt like to not be alone.

When Jane left, like everyone else had, Maura didn't know how she was going to survive.

Jane woke up again, birds outside marking the advent of dawn with their own forms of song. The rain had stopped overnight, but the tightness in Jane's hands told her there would be more later. She hadn't dreamed, she realised. Perhaps she'd been too tired, but Maura was bundled against Jane's chest again, nestled in like a songbird under a wing, Jane's arms wrapped around her. Perhaps the company had helped this time, Jane remembering the last time, the panic, the way Maura hadn't flinched when she'd all but rolled on top of her to find her gun.

"How did you sleep?" Maura asked, and Jane started, not realising she was awake. Maura yawned and buried her face in Jane's shoulder, not pulling away but nestling closer.

"Surprisingly well," Jane yawned too. "And your theory?"

"That you're comfortable to sleep with? I think it bears further analysis," Maura said.

"That wasn't your theory, was it?" Jane asked suspiciously.

"No, but you - You don't like to talk about - "

"I didn't have any nightmares," Jane said quietly. "Normally I would, in a storm. It's the hands. The pain... reminds me." Jane stretched them out but they curled back up. "With our luck, half the federal forces and the press will be here today, and me with these," Jane flexed them again, wincing as she bent them too far.

"Ibuprofen after breakfast," Maura said, studying a hand. "Tylenol now. No OxyContin until after work, unless you feel you need it."

"You're hard but fair," Jane let her hands rest in Maura's for a moment. "The hotel does breakfast."

Jane had been right about the press. Reporters stood in front of the hospital, and they lit up at the sight of Jane and Maura walking towards the entrance. Jane walked straight through, pulling Maura behind her as the press clamoured for their attention.

"Doctor Isles, since this is such a high profile case, will there be other Medical Examiner's flying in to examine these foreign children?"

"Go," Jane said, pushing Maura in front of her, hand on Maura's hip to steer her. "Walk through them and don't look back. I got this." Maura looked up, her eyes wide, and Jane could see that Maura had been deadly serious about her fear of people. She shot Maura a quick smile, squeezed her hand reassuringly. "I'll distract them."

"Doctor Isles, how many bodies have you found so far?" Doctor Isles tucked her head down and started walking quickly, Jane stepping in a few feet behind her, arms folded.

"Stuck up bitch," one reporter said, looking at Maura as she cleared the crowd, and Jane heard it over the crowd, stepped towards him, close enough that he backed away hurriedly, stumbling over a curb in his hurry.

"You're here to gloat over dead children, where's your moral high ground? Anyone here's a bitch, sounds like it's you." Jane turned caught Maura looking back at her, heart in her eyes for a moment before she turned and kept walking. Jane glared at the crowd again. "That your van? It's parked illegally. You've got until I get inside to get it out of here." Jane started following Maura who was already at the hospital doors, looking back with concern.

"Detective, how many bodies are there? Will there be more? How many children did this man smuggle into America to abuse?" Jane walked past the rest of them, the one man yelling at someone to move the goddamn van, ignoring them even as one reporter walked backwards in front of her, still firing questions up until the front of the hospital. She let the automatic door close behind her with a sigh. She made a note to get Korsak and Kuju to escort them when they inevitably had to leave the hospital.

Jane joined Maura in the small morgue of the hospital, looking over the remains.

"Hopefully we get something from DNA. Now that we have the FBI involved for the international child trafficking, at least we get to throw a few murders into the mix."

"Are you staying for the autopsy?" Maura asked seriously, eyeing Jane.

"Yeah, but take it easy on me, huh?" Jane said, mouth twisting anxiously into a smile. She held up her hands. "I won't be much help today," she added in deference to her curled hands.

"You being here helps me," Maura said. "You know what journalists are like, and I know you'll make sure they don't get in here."

"I should have told you," Jane sighed. "About the immersion therapy. That I was watching your recordings."

"I may not be socially observant, but I do know what fear looks like, and I knew your medical history. It doesn't take a genius to form a conclusion based on that evidence." Maura held out a gown, tying the back for Jane without mentioning that Jane was incapable of managing it herself. Jane knew that Maura didn't hold it against her, that she didn't like talking about it. She knew Maura wouldn't bring it up later to poke at Jane's weak spot just for the sake of taunting her. Maura was practical, and she helped Jane because that was the solution she could see to whatever was happening, whether it was steak or clothes. Jane wondered what Maura got out of their relationship. Jane had invaded her bed, her room. Jane brought her coffee sometimes, that was true. And she had just dealt with the vultures outside. Perhaps it wasn't as one-sided as she'd thought. Perhaps their differences brought them together.

Jane watched as Maura started undressing the first body, lifting the sheet to preserve as much modesty as she could. Susie came in, already in scrubs.

"Whatcha need?" Susie asked, pulling on a gown.

"Run these out to the lab, would you?" Maura asked, pointing to the small pile of clothes. "There's fluid residue on the jacket."

"We'll check for hair, dog hair especially," Susie said, bagging the clothes carefully.

"Did you have trouble getting in?" Jane asked.

"I'm not as high-profile as you two," Susie pointed out. "I don't make the news."

"They're missing out," Jane said. Susie smiled, glancing at Maura.

Maura washed the body slowly and carefully, scraping the nails and the teeth. Jane didn't mind the process so much when the bodies were adults, but seeing the survivors and knowing there were probably more of these bodies around, Jane found parts of the process hard to watch, even before the scalpel. Still, she stayed, even as Susie came in and out, the lab van pulled up around the back to reduce visibility. Jane found it easier to focus when she thought about getting justice for this, and preventing it from happening in the future. The smell of decay was ripe in the air, and the decomposition process had taken a lot of the skin off the exposed limbs and the face. Jane wished she hadn't volunteered to stay, but every time Maura looked up at her, she smiled reassuringly. She couldn't imagine leaving Maura to do this alone.

"I'm going to extract the bullet now," Maura announced, her voice sounding loud in the silent room. Jane hadn't asked her usual questions: age of the victim, how long they'd been buried. Maura was a little worried and glanced at Jane's hands, which had unfurled some with the anti-inflammatories. The bullet came out easily, and Maura examined it carefully.

"Initial analysis suggests it may be similar to the calibre of our other victims, and one of the weapons we seized." Maura said finally. Jane nodded thankfully.

"If we get him for this, we can tie him to the other two bodies, and we get him as a serial killer. He's our collar." Maura looked up, confused. "If we charge him first, he's ours. The other charges - human trafficking, kidnapping, child abuse, child endangerment, distribution and creation of child pornography - they'll come after. And we have Canada and the US fighting over the charges."

"And serial killers go into general population?" Susie asked, holding her hand out for the bullet baggie. Jane nodded.

"Of course, once the Fed's get here, all bets are off."

"We'll start processing this now," Susie said, taking the bullet. Maura picked up her scalpel, and Jane held her breath as she started the gorier part of her work, Maura's movements as fluid and graceful as a ballet.

Jane stayed for both autopsies, Korsak coming in for part of one, shaking his head when he saw the state of the body. Jane still flinched when the scalpel dug into flesh, but Maura was slow and reverent, treating the bodies with the same dignity she always did.

"I'll take them to get x-rays," Maura said finally, shucking her gown, the bodies stitched back up. "Same pattern of abuse and organ damage." She shook her head. "If he hadn't buried Kelly and Caiden out in crown property, we'd never have found him."

"There might be more," Jane said softly. "Frost has been tracking his path across North America. We're getting local law enforcement to take cadaver dogs out to every property he's lived on in the last decade."

"God," Maura said, shaking her head again. Jane knew Maura had slept well the night before, at least for the few hours once they were in the same bed because always Jane woke immediately at any noise or movement. But she looked haggard, as though her work today had worn her down. Jane tugged her gown off as well, pulled Maura to her, letting Maura grip her tightly, still unused to hugs.

"It's ok, we're going to find them all. You've done everything you can for them." Maura folded easily into Jane's arms, relaxing as Jane's hands ran across her back.

Susie came in, wiping water off her glasses. "It's raining," she commented. "Oh," she said, looking contrite. "Sorry, glasses," Susie said by way of explanation, as though she wouldn't have interrupted if she'd been able to see properly.

"Been a rough few days," Jane said. "And you don't need to tell me it's raining."

"Your hands," Maura said, pulling back and taking them in her own.

"I'm fine. I'm going to go see the kids," Jane said, pulling her hands away. "Come find me when you're done with the x-rays. I won't be much help," Jane shrugged, and Maura wanted to tell her what help she'd already been, a quiet calm presence in what was a devastating task. Instead she nodded, turning to Susie, who for some reason wouldn't quite look her in the eye, a slight blush on her cheeks. Maura reminded herself to check on Susie later to make sure she didn't have a temperature.

Jane stopped by the café to get lunch, sitting down for a few minutes gratefully. She left two takeaway meals in the entrance to the hospital morgue. After the morgue, the ward was a world of difference. A bit of food and attention, and the kids were pretty much bouncing off the walls. Most of them smiled when they saw Jane, at the very least, and one of them ran up to hug her.

"I thought you were told to stay in bed," Jane said gruffly, ruffling little Michael's hair.

"Grace said I could try out my cast," Michael said proudly, showing off a cast around his small calf.

"She's not a doctor," Jane said, raising an eyebrow at Grace, who shrugged.

"It's probably best to keep him moving," Maura said, joining Jane, bending down to examine Michael's leg.

"Wanna sign it?" Michael asked, grinning. Maura nodded and helped him up into bed, an immediate clamouring from the other kids with casts to have them signed too.

"Looks like you're a rockstar to these guys," Jane shot aside to Maura as she deliberated over the cast, Jane's hand resting softly on Maura's back as she bent over the leg. Maura shot up a pleased grin to Jane, feeling some of the oppression of the autopsies lift. "I left you lunch in the morgue, didn't you get it?"

"Lunch can wait," Maura said seriously, the children alive and warm in a way the others hadn't been, the contrast a little chilling until she realised that she'd helped keep them alive, that these children, once destined to cross her tables, were grateful to her for her part in their rescue. "I have autographs to distribute, and my fans to appease," she said, and was rewarded with a warm smile from Jane.

Notes:

I've taken liberties with the US justice system.

I also had a dream about the show, in which I was paying by cheque Maura Isles $450 for the sex we had allegedly just had, and I don't have cheques, but I asked her why she was doing this as a side hustle since she's the Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and she said it's a gig economy.

So there is a very unhealthy amount of Rizzoli and Isles in my brain.