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Chapter Eighteen

"Jane? Jane!" Maura's hoarse cry penetrated the silence and caused Jane to jerk awake.

"Hey, shhh." Jane cupped Maura's cheeks. It felt so good to see those hazel eyes. "I'm here. You're okay. I'm keeping you under lock and key from now on. No more sleepwalking for you, Miss Maura."

"Kaylee," Maura whispered.

"She's fine. Misses her mommy." A layer of sweat glistened on Maura's forehead. "Are you hot? You want this blanket off?"

Maura nodded weakly. "Where's Kate? And Sasha?"

Jane pressed Maura's hand to her face. "I don't know about Kate, but Sasha... She hasn't woken up yet. But it's not much of a surprise with her being so sick. I'll ask someone to check on Kate, even though I'm sure she's fine. It was just dehydration."

"Thank you, Jane." Maura said weakly, closing her eyes.

Hope walked into the room and bent down to Jane. "Sasha's not changed but Kate is waking up and appears to be just fine. Better than that. Her speech problems have somehow disappeared altogether. Now when she sings, it will be for fun." Hope glanced back at Sasha, who was still unconscious and on the ventilator. "I just pray she'll have her best friend to sing with her." Hope's voice broke.

"She will," Jane said, confident in her words. "Sasha will wake up. Don't ask me how I know. I just do."

"Jane, why don't you go eat and shower?" Hope suggested. "And maybe sleep a while."

Jane shook her head, her grip tightening on Maura's hand. "I'm okay. I'm not leaving Maura-or Sasha."

"Jane," Maura whispered sleepily. "Hot."

Jane gently removed the warm blanket. "Get me a damp cloth." When Hope returned with the cloth, Jane gently wiped Maura's face with it.

"Better," Maura moaned as she turned her head. Jane kept applying the cold cloth. She looked up at Hope.

"Does Maura have a fever, because I wasn't sure if this was how hypothermia patients felt after rewarming?"

Hope nodded. "She's contracted pneumonia from the exposure to the cold."

Jane sighed. "When will this end? I want my best friend back."

"You have me," Maura whispered.

"Yes I do." Jane continued to rub Maura's face with the cloth.

"Don't leave. Please." Maura's voice was nothing more than a raspy whisper.

"Never." She gently lifted Maura's head so Hope could put oxygen tubes in her nose to help he breathe better. Jane could see Maura fighting to stay awake. "Sleep. I'll be right here when you wake up. I promise."

Maura let herself drift into a restful slumber. She startled Jane several times by hitches in her breathing and coughing jags. Jane summoned Hope by the third time when she feared Maura was getting sicker. Hope responded by adding stronger antibiotics to Maura's IV and putting her in a high flow oxygen mask.

"It's okay, Maura. It's okay." Jane felt helpless. The only thing she could do was rub Maura's back.

The days blurred together. Maura's fever broke by the third day and by the fourth she seemed much more alert.

"Sasha," she said, her hand tight in Jane's. Jane's fingers had gone numb sometime ago but she didn't care.

"She's doing better," Jane said. "But hasn't woken up yet. Kate is thriving. She wants to see you both so badly."

Just then Elise wheeled Kate into the room. "I thought you two might like a visitor and Caitlin's adamant about coming to see you."

Kate grinned as her mother allowed her to be free of the chair and walk over to embrace Jane and Maura.

"Kate!" Jane exclaimed with excitement. "You're walking!"

"It seems to be from our time away. I was working on it earlier, but now it's just like seven years ago. So is my talking."

Jane hugged her tightly. "That lodge saved us all. Sasha will come back."

"She will. Remember the cloud images?" Kate bent over Sasha's still form. "You're missing the fun, Sasha. Come on, pretty girl, wake up for me."

"Give her time, Kate. She will." Jane resumed her place by Maura's bedside.

"Jane," Maura whispered as she opened her eyes.

"Hey, you. See who came to visit you?" Jane asked, keeping her voice down.

Maura smiled when she saw Kate. "You're walking!" She was as thrilled as her best friend. "You're one literal step to walking down the aisle to that hot Marine of yours."

"Not without the three of you," Kate said, taking Maura's free hand. "You better get well, doctor."

Maura gave a sleepy grin. "I promise."

Kate and Jane waited until Maura was asleep. "Hey, you want to go get coffee or something?" Jane offered.

"I'd like to stay here if you don't mind but I'd love a cup," Kate said, making herself comfortable in the chair next to Sasha's bed. "I can't leave them just yet."

Jane patted her shoulder. "Understood. I'll be back. Call me if there's any change."

"I will," Kate promised and waited until Jane was out of the room before turning her attention to Sasha. "You and I have a lot in common, you know that?" She took Sasha's hand in her own. "When we met at the lodge I had this feeling I'd be seeing you again-here-not there. I spent seven years away from my best friend, the man I love and my family. I've lost so much, but these past few weeks I've gained more than I could ever imagine. I gained you and Maura as sisters and best friends. And Jane, too. Don't you dare leave us, Sasha, because I can't lose another best friend. I refuse to." Her voice cracked and tears ran down her cheeks. "So you gotta wake up. For me. For Maura and Jane. For the rest of our family. That's an order from Agent Todd."

It seemed as though Kate's plea fell flat as the woman lying before her didn't move or acknowledge her in any other way, but Kate had faith. They had each accepted the gifts of the future on their last day at the lodge, and that meant it was going to happen. For seven long days Kate and the others waited. Finally, their steadfastness was rewarded with a pair of groggy hazel eyes opening to peer at them. Kate smiled as she gazed into the eyes of her best friend. "Welcome back!"

The End