Maura awoke shortly after 3 am in the morning when she heard noises in front of the house.
"Thank you, officer Oswald. I can handle it from here." She heard Janes muffled voice. Alerted she stood to walk to the door.
"No, let me help you into your house." A male voice replied.
"This is really not necessary. I have it!" If Maura wouldn't have been so worried, she would have laughed about the stubbornness Jane showed sometimes. It had been a while since she had been confronted with it though as the brunette was less stubborn than in their early days. But she obviously still had it in her. Just like officer Oswald who insisted on helping her.
Maura took a deep breath before she opened the door. The first thing she saw was a huge plaster on Janes left leg. It was so white that it was blinding in the shine of the full moon.
"Oh good, see, my wife can help me from here. Thank you again, officer."
Maura didn't know the man but seeing his age he was probably fresh from the academy. His jaw dropped when he saw her in her silk pajama.
"What? Didn't you know that I was gay, or didn't you think that I could get such a beautiful woman?" Jane was grumpy. Maura knew all too well, that she hated if she needed help from strangers. She kind of pitied the man who was looking kind of insecure. Therefore, she gave her best to give him a warm smile and thank him for taking care of Jane.
He nodded. "Maybe I'm just surprised that a stubborn woman like you gets a partner. Gives me hope. My mother always says I'm stubborn and that I will never find a woman if I stay that way, but honestly I don't think I am." He said.
"Are you calling me stubborn now?" Jane said, but Maura saw that her wife had calmed down and wanted to tease the officer.
"As far as I can tell you are both stubborn." Maura chuckled, linking arms with the brunette.
"That's not true!" came out of Janes and the officer's mouth simultaneously as a protest and both shot her a stubborn look at that.
"Right." Maura dryly said, rolling her eyes.
A sympathetic smile was exchanged between Jane and Oswald, before the officer made his way to the car. "Good luck detective." He stated, kind of jokingly implying that he didn't envy her for having to face Maura and waved as he pulled his car out of the driveway.
Maura wrapped her arm around Janes small waist and the brunette put her arm around the blonde's shoulder. That way Jane could limp inside the house, slumping onto the couch with a groan. It was typical for the brunette to play cool in front of other people, but thankfully she was totally open towards Maura. At least with most of things.
"Does it hurt?" Maura asked as she took in the fact that the plaster covered Janes entire leg.
The brunette fumbled some painkillers out of the pocket of her jacket. "They gave me these at the hospital. But I refused to take one there. You know how I get all touchy and snuggly when I take pain meds. This can be quite embarrassing."
"So, I take it, that it hurts." Maura said, knowing her wife all too well.
"like hell." Jane confirmed, and the pain showed in her face.
"What happened?" the blonde asked after returning from the kitchen with a bottle of water.
Jane took it gratefully out of her hand and opened it to have a big gulp to wash down the meds. "The murderer was among the spectators at the crime scene. When an officer went over to interrogate him, he started to run. That son of a … uhm… "Jane stopped when seeing the warning glare of Maura. They had established the rule not to swear around the kids or in the house. This posed a challenge to Jane quite often.
"Yeah anyways" she took up her story again "he ran, and we chased him down through a park and down the street. Then he suddenly turns and shoots at us. The officer who was pursuing him with me got a bullet into his shoulder, so I continued to follow him alone. Police cars were already on the other side of the street. I just wanted to push him towards them. Then he lost his breath and I jumped at him. Unfortunately, I twisted my knee and hurt my ankle a bit. So, it's not as bad as it looks. They just put a plaster around it in order that I keep it still and it can heal."
Maura cocked her head slightly to the side. As always, she wasn't sure if she should be proud or angry or scared. Knowing that this was part of Janes job meant knowing that these things could happen. And that they could go terribly wrong. Therefore, she had decided a long time ago, to just not think about this aspect of Janes job in order to stay sane. But it was hard to ignore today with the plaster on her leg.
She saw Jane gauging her reaction carefully biting her lips. "Are you mad?" she asked quietly.
"No, but I'm a bit torn between feelings to be honest. I am mighty proud of you because you can do all these things. But I'm a bit scared too. This always reminds me of how dangerous your job can be. But I keep thinking that you are good at it. And I trust you not to do anything stupid, so .." her voice trailed off and Jane just reached with her hand for Maura's arm.
The blonde let Jane pull her closer and sat next to her on the couch. The brunette gave her a tight hug, kissing her cheek. "Thank you for being proud and thank you even more for having such faith in me and my abilities. And yeah, you are right I can be stubborn indeed." Maura knew that Jane meant it, but only admitted it to make her laugh, which she did.
"Are you never scared that one day you wouldn't come home?" the blonde whispered, checking Janes face which faltered a bit while thinking. "Sometimes." She admitted in a low voice so that Maura almost overheard it. "This is why I keep looking at you before leaving the house more than I usually would, I guess. But then I feel stupid, because as you said, I'm good at it my job and im more cautious when doing this dangerous stuff. I don't volunteer to stand in the first row anymore if its not necessary. I don't take the unnecessary risks anymore."
Maura gave a deep sigh and nodded. "I'm proud of you." She silently whispered before kissing Jane onto the mouth. Even after being together for 9 months, kissing Maura always stirred excitement and sometimes also still disbelieve that this woman was her partner now in Jane. She closed her eyes and let her hand wander through the blonde strands to pull Maura into a deep kiss.
"Do you need assistance with changing your clothes and getting through your nightly routine?" Maura mumbled against her lips when they parted to breathe. "Is this an unmoral offer, doctor Isles?" Jane grinned. Her leg might be in a huge plaster, but all the important part was functioning well.
"Let's go to the bathroom and see." Maura chuckled and helped Jane walk upstairs. This turned out to be a difficult task but after taking the meds earlier on the couch it didn't hurt so bad. No one ever mentioned the unmoral offer that night again and they dropped dead into bead after leaving the bathroom.
R&I
"I'm sorry, babe." Jane mumbled apologetically from the couch. Sophie and Julia were also still down and all three were on the couch waiting for some tea and cookies.
"What for?" Maura asked as she arranged some flowers on the coffee table. "For this." Jane pointed to her leg. "I can't even help you, and now you have to take care of us three."
"Yes, well at least I know that you three can't do any harm, so I have to watch you guys less." Maura smirked teasingly. Jane noticed how good Maura became at such human interactions and pulled quickly showed her tongue after checking if the girls were really fast asleep.
"I bet it's safe to say that we can fly to Boston next weekend. Have you heard anything from Frankie?"
"Yeah. He said that they are going to throw a surprise party. Which won't be so much of a surprise as they do it every year." The brunette grinned.
"Well, this time there will be a surprise at least for her because I bet, she doesn't think that we are coming." Maura's eyes gleamed in excitement. "I'm going to go shopping." Maura grinned because she loved shopping. "Shame my leg got hurt. So I can't come with you." Jane who hated shopping teased. Maura left the room laughing and shaking her head to get dressed.
"Will you bring us burgers? Pleeeeaaaaase?" Jane whined before letting go of Maura after a goodbye kiss "You were so naughty already today. I should bring you some vegetables." The blonde stated and left with a smile at the brunettes wrinkled nose. Jane checked her out as she left the room making that sexy movement with her hips, Jane was so fond of.