Maura took a deep breath before putting on her gloves and uncovering the body. Jane stood on the other side of the table, a few feet back.
"Time of death?" Jane asked.
"She's still a little warm to the touch. I'd say about three hours ago." Maura leaned close to the girl's head, studying the bullet hole. "It looks like she was shot at close range with a 9mm. There is no exit wound, so I'll know for sure when I get to the bullet."
"You're guessing?"
"I'm tired." Maura blinked a few times as if she were struggling to see.
Jane noticed Maura was gripping the side of the table so hard her knuckles were white. "Hey, are you okay?" Jane got even more concerned when she didn't answer right away.
"Jane, could you get me some water?"
"Sit down for a minute." Jane went to the fridge and got a bottle of water.
Maura actually listened and sat on a stool, tossing her gloves into the trash. Jane handed her the water and she took a few slow sips. She was very thirsty all of a sudden, but still too nauseas to drink much. Jane was nervous rambling about something, but she didn't hear what as she worked to clear her blurry vision. After a few minutes, she felt ready to continue. She stood and her head started spinning immediately. She gripped Jane's arm to maintain balance.
"Why are you doing this to yourself?" Jane sounded angry. "You're clearly not okay. You can finish this in the morning or pass it off on another ME. It's after midnight! Let me take you home and put you to bed."
"As much as I'd love for you to put me to bed, Jane, it's only a little dizziness." She let go of Jane. "It's gone now."
"When was the last time you ate something and kept it down?"
"It's not that."
"So you admit that it's something!"
"That isn't what I said." Maura walked back to her Jane Doe. "It's hypotension. It's normal for blood pressure to drop during pregnancy."
"I've known pregnant women," Jane argued. "And I know you. You're trying to act all tough, but I can see in your eyes that you know whatever you're feeling isn't normal. If you won't take care of yourself, I will. So I'm going to take you home and as soon as your doctor's office opens in the morning, we're going back."
It took Maura a moment to recover from Jane's harsh tone before she spoke. "We have to identify this little girl. We have to help her." She picked up her voice recorder. "We can't just leave her."
Jane's face softened. So that's what this was about. She took the recorder from Maura's hand and put it back on the computer desk, then took Maura's hands in hers. "Honey, we can't save her. She's already gone." She stopped talking to wipe away the tears streaming down her best friend's face. "We will find out who she is and take down the guy that did this to her. You've done all you can for tonight, though. Her DNA is not in the system, she hasn't been reported missing, and dental records won't be in until morning. We have to take care of you so that we will be ready tomorrow to take care of her. Okay?" Jane knew better than to mention hormones in this moment.
Maura nodded. "Please don't tell anyone about this."
"What, that the Queen of the Dead has feelings?" Jane laughed. "They'd never believe it anyway."
Maura let Jane guide her to the elevator and Jane kept a hand on her waist to steady her as they rode up to the main floor. The elevator door opened and Jane went to step out, but Maura didn't move. "Jane, I..."
Jane turned just in time to see Maura's eyelids flutter and caught her before she hit the ground right outside the elevator. "Maura!" Her voice was so panicked that she scared herself. "Somebody help me!" she screamed.
A young uniformed officer came running. "Detective Rizzoli? What happened? What can I do?"
Jane breathed a sigh of relief as she watched Maura's eyes flicker open. She looked up at the officer. "We need to get Dr. Isles to the hospital. Now."
The officer nodded. "We can take my patrol car. I just came in to grab coffee, so it's right out front."
"Jane?" Maura whispered, something like fear in her eyes. Fear wasn't something Jane was used to seeing there, in the hazel eyes of the strongest, most capable woman she knew.
"It's okay, baby. I'm getting you help. I'm going to take care of you." Jane gave what she hoped was a reassuring smile, despite her own shock at the term of endearment she'd never used before that slipped from her mouth. "Officer...?"
"Knight. Justin Knight," the young man offered.
"Fitting. Officer Knight is giving us a ride." She squeezed Maura's hand. Maura tried to sit up. "No!" Jane held her tight. "Knight, can you carry her?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Yes, Rizzoli," she corrected.
"Yes, Detective Rizzoli." Officer Knight bent down and picked Maura up easily.
Jane felt a little jealous. "Be careful with her. She's pregnant." She didn't have time to worry about whether or not she should have told him.
"I can walk, Jane," Maura murmured.
"I've got you, Dr. Isles," Knight assured her kindly.
R&IR&IR&IR&IR&IR&I
Jane could tell Maura was crying as they rode in the backseat of the patrol car to the hospital. She was trying to hide it, but silent sobs racked her body and her tears glistened in the glow of the streetlights. Jane took Maura's hand into her lap and lightly massaged her palm. She hoped that it was somewhat comforting, but she also did it to make sure Maura stayed conscious. She had no idea what was happening and she couldn't have been more worried if she tried. She knew hypotension was low blood pressure, but she wasn't sure how dangerous all of this was for Maura, or for the baby. Judging by her friend's current emotional state, she knew that this wouldn't be good.
Maura insisted she could walk into the emergency room on her own, so Jane thanked Knight for his help. "We really appreciate this, but we expect you to be discrete. No one is to know about this unless Dr. Isles herself has told them. Got it?" The young officer nodded. "When you're ready to try for detective, come find me," Jane added. Knight came through for them, so she would be glad to put in a good word for him in the future.
Through the dangers of the years in their jobs, Jane and Maura had gotten to know a lot of the emergency department staff. The charge nurse recognized them and quickly got Maura into the most private area possible. She asked a bunch of questions regarding Maura's medical history and pregnancy. As she listened to Maura recount how awful she'd been feeling all day, the extreme nausea and dizziness and blurred vision and exhaustion, Jane was kicking herself for not getting her help sooner. She would have to take better care of her best friend and she recognized that, in order to do that the right way, she would have to step up and acknowledge what had happened between them and how she'd reacted and consider what all of this could mean for the future of their relationship.
Maura's blood pressure was 80/50, which the ER doctor explained was low, but not uncommon during pregnancy. The fact that Maura was experiencing so many symptoms of hypotension caused more of a concern. Maura knew all of this, of course, so Jane suspected the doctor was explaining everything more for her sake. He hooked Maura up to a heart monitor and found her heart rate was quite high, at 122 beats per minute. Though the doctor said this was likely a combination of the stress and the heart trying to overcompensate for the low blood pressure, tachycardia could be a sign of a much larger problem. He didn't want to worry them, but wasn't going to rule anything out either until an OB came in. Maura knew the possibilities, so the lack of real information only made her feel more panicked. A nurse got her something for her nausea and put her on IV fluids for the dehydration.
Maura's obstetrician, Dr. Roark, happened to be in the hospital with a patient in labor & delivery and would be down to see her as soon as he was finished. After two hours of waiting, watching her friend in pain and scared and uncomfortable and with no way to help, Jane argued her way through a few people to get the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts admitted and moved to a private patient room. The least she could do was get Maura a slightly better bed, some privacy, and some quiet. She got Maura as comfortable as she possibly could in a hospital room, pulled a chair close to the bed, took her hand and massaged her palm, the way she had in the patrol car. They waited.
A/N: This story was always meant to be a mix of angst and fluff. I know the angst is heavy right now, and I won't tell you it will get any better, but I do think it's worth it.
The extent of my medical knowledge stems from spending half my life obsessing over Grey's Anatomy, so I apologize now if anything is inaccurate in this chapter or the next few. I've used Google and my own limited knowledge to the best of my abilities.
Please review and let me know your thoughts, no matter what they are! Thanks for reading.
