Authors note: So new chapter people! Thanks again for the reviews and keep them coming! Where would you like to see our characters go, what kinds of creatures they could face, etc! Also, if you have any question don't hesitate to PM me. Enjoy! :)
After that terrible experience in the M.E office of the New York PD, Maura expected Jane to stay at the hotel that she had booked for both of them and wait for her return. She wouldn't have blamed her, in fact she encouraged Jane to stay. Although she admitted to Jane in some manner that what happened scared her, the reality was that she felt completely terrified. When she opened her eyes and saw Jane limp on the floor she screamed and went down to grab her face, holding her until the spasms ended. For some strange reason she was still in the memory, even after Maura got out of it, thing that shocked her. Before Jane, she had never shared her gift with anyone else, and different research showed that the few people that had the same gift as her chose to not share it with others because of how personal the experience was. At first she didn't understand what this meant, but now that Jane grabbed her hand she felt it: the warmness that came before they went inside the darkness, the connection afterwards and flowing of emotions between each other, almost as if by living the memory together made them become closer. That fear that she felt when she saw Jane on the floor was pure irrational fear, uncontrolled fear that she usually kept hidden deep inside herself. She at first assumed that it was because she had just come out of a memory, but now that she thought it better, she knew that it was because it was Jane the one in danger. Without her realizing it, Jane had become a trigger for her emotions to show, something that she liked because Jane also opened herself up to her, but also didn't like because others could see it too. After Mephisto's threat, Maura had been agitated and careful to not contact her family or little group of friends that she had. She didn't want to give him tools that could control and hurt her, which in the end probably turned to be failed attempts because the person that was starting to mean so much to her was the one that always followed her.
"A penny for your thoughts?" she heard Jane ask her while smiling at her.
Maura returned the smile. "I would expect my thoughts to have more value."
Jane laughed. "It's just a saying Maur, and your thoughts are definitely worth more than that."
"I was thinking about what happened earlier." Maura whispered while looking for a reaction.
Jane closed her eyes. "I have been thinking about that too. And I still know that it wasn't your fault."
"Do you remember what Mephisto told me when he went inside that man's memories?"
"I do Maur." Jane said sweetly.
"I have been replaying that threat every single day Jane. It felt so real, so personal in a way that he had violated the man's last moments in order to give me a message."
"He was tainting us Maur, trying to say that he could take us and scare us by threatening what we love the most." Jane said while grabbing her hand. "In our line of jobs these threats will come almost all the time."
"I know that Jane, and I have had many since I started working as an MD, but for some reason this one felt so much charged than the others, so much planned, which makes me be scared of the possibility of it becoming a reality." Maura whispered while looking at Jane. "Before meeting you I had never shared my abilities with someone else. There is small research about doing this, and I can't promise you to know what could happen."
Jane nodded. "I understand that, but I am your friend and I will not let you face this alone. Although, it would be really nice if there could be a way for us to communicate during the memory?"
Maura looked up in surprise. "Well, since I always see it through the eyes of the person I don't even know if that is possible."
"Yes, but think about it Maura. Before you go in, in a matter of speaking, what do you tell yourself?"
"I concentrate on the person, on who they were and what I want to see."
"Yes, so for example, if I were to come in with you, wouldn't it be safe to assume that I could also choose a person from the memory of the deceased?"
"Like being a projection from the memory that could be able to talk with me?" Maura asked surprised.
"Exactly! You see, I wouldn't intervene in the essence of the memory because I would not be affecting it, but we could talk with each other because I have noticed that even against our will we seem to follow the timeline of the memory."
Maura thought about this, and it actually made sense, hypothetically speaking, if Maura was able to decide what she wanted to see, if someone else also decided to project on one of the people that were with the deceased during that same moment.
"I don't know Jane. It sounds plausible and even makes sense. But after what almost happened to you I couldn't go with you and feel tranquil. She saw that Jane started to move around the room, desperate to refute her but thinking of a smart way to do so. She knew that with screams she was not going to get anything out of Maura.
"Maura, I will not let you go by yourself to that town. I will not let you go inside that person's memories without me following you. That's what partners do, we have our backs."
Maura just looked at Jane and smiled. "I have always been used to being on my own, to have my own back."
Jane smiled back. "Well, adapt Dr. Isles, because wherever you want to or not, you now have a friend that worries about you."
Maura smiled and gave her a hug, thankful for having her as a friend. "But, I still don't feel sure about you coming with me."
"Well, too bad, because I'm going. But now that I think about it, how will we be able to just access a memory if they are not dead yet."
"Well..." Maura started to say. "In these communities it is quite normal to have people on the verge of death. They refuse to go to hospitals and instead die in their house with their families. I called ahead, expecting to go to the town for further research, and talked to them about what can I do and how we can help them stop this." Maura smiled shyly. "There is a man that is going to die soon, probably tonight, and they allowed us to be there in the room with the family."
Jane just looked at Maura, expecting her to smile and tell her that it was all a joke, but when she saw not one thing from her serious expression change, she took a deep breath.
"I guess it's time to go to a funeral." she said sarcastically.
Macabre is a small word to describe this place, Jane thought to herself while moving around the small house. The ride to the small town was two hours of them sharing their life stories and fun facts with each other, Jane focusing specifically on learning everything that she could about Maura.
"I have already told you about my overbearing family and my helicopter mom." Jane said laughing. "Seriously I think she invented the term."
Maura laughed too. "Yes, you have."
"Which I think gives me a wild card to now ask you questions about your family."
Maura looked up at Jane, a little nervous of what she would think of her once she found out who she really was. "I guess it does."
Jane nodded, excited to know more about Maura and how she became the wonderful person she is now. "Before I ask you something you need to give me like a little introduction to your life. Who is Maura Isles?"
Maura thought about her answer for a while. "I was born in Boston, never knowing my biological family because I was adopted. My parents are very important people of the Boston socialite, and because of that I have been very fortunate regarding my upbringing and education."
"Who are your parents?"
"My father is a scholar at BCU and teaches archeology, but my mother is Constance Isles."
Jane looked up surprised. "Of the Isles Foundation?"
Maura smiled softly. "Yes, my parents are members of the Board of Directors."
"Shit, that's very nice Maur."
"I suppose it is." Maura said quietly. "I had a very lonely childhood, my parents being so involved in their own lives and then with each other made them be absent during most of it. That, and also the fact that I was always a weird child, which scared possible friends and left me all by myself. I was really lost." she finished while looking down, sadness overtaking her. "Still, I managed to finish high school in a boarding school in France, which then led to BCU during college. I graduated with honors and then I went to Harvard Medicine for my MD, residency in California and finally coming back home to Boston for the job of Chief Medical Examiner." Maura finished, emptiness in her voice, almost as if unhappy with her life and what she did with it.
Jane realized this and grabbed her hand while keeping the other on the steering wheel. "Whatever happened to you Maura, whatever made you become the way you are today, is nothing to be ashamed off. To me, and I'm sure that to many people, you are a wonderful, kind, smart and beautiful woman that could have chosen to have an easy life and good future but instead felt the need to help others. That, in my book and in the book of many others, is such a brave and unselfish thing to do. You are incredible."
Maura felt her eyes burning, tears threatening to make an appearance. She managed to control them and smiled warmly at Jane, who was also smiling.
"My favorite time was college in BCU" Maura said happily.
Jane smiled back. "I remember that when I was a teenager I heard my friends talking about going to BCU and having the time of their lives." Jane said wistfully. "And that made me want so bad to go there too that I even applied to the university."
"Well, BCU is a very tough university to get accepted." Maura said while looking at Jane who had glanced away from her.
"I did get in." Jane said while smiling sadly.
"Then why didn't you go?"
"I couldn't do that to my pop." Jane whispered. "Tuition for BCU was expensive, and the salary of a plumber could never be enough to cover it. I never told my parents that I applied because it was too sad to let them know that I got in but that I couldn't go."
Maura thought for a while what to say next, what Jane would have wanted her to say in order to make things be better. She smiled.
"Well, it's a good thing that you didn't go to BCU." Maura said, getting a shocked look from Jane. "Because you would have known me during that time and see that I was really a terrible geek."
Jane laughed at this. "Come on, it couldn't have been that bad."
"I had braces, freckles, big black frame glasses, wore tails and tall skirts with square patterns and a cotton sweater." Maura said embarrassed.
"The nerve." Jane exclaimed while then laughing. "I wasn't also the greatest university student. Many professors hated my Italian personality."
"Italian personality?" Maura asked.
"Yes, which is basically being very loud and telling the professor that what they said was bullshit if I believed it was."
Maura laughed. "The nerve."
Maura pressed her hand in Jane's shoulder when she saw her gaze freeze on a random object. She knew Jane was thinking about something else, thing that was confirmed when her eyes focused and started to scan the room. Maura herself also started to look around, not liking what she saw. The house had been very difficult to stop, almost in the middle of nowhere. After going around circles for a while they found it, being welcomed by a young man who could barely see anything because of all the eye make-up that he had on. Maura took Jane's hand and led her further away from the bed, not wanting her anywhere close the man who was barely breathing. It isn't hard to feel it, Maura thought while sitting on one of the empty chairs, this man will not make it through the night. It seemed that Jane thought the same because she felt her sit down right to her and take out a notepad. They had discussed about accessing the memories with a better of the victim and the people around him. Soon enough they both realized that the oldest daughter was the one that had the most interaction with the victim, that took care of his every need. Jane got up and quickly went to ask her questions about herself, trying to know and understand her as much as possible so she could think like her and see things from her eyes. Maura was happy about Jane's stubbornness: she was scared of going alone, and the fact that Jane was pushing her feel instantly at peace.
Right before midnight Jane saw that the man started seizing without control. Instantly getting up she saw that Maura did the same and started to feel his pulse and then chest. When she opened her eyes she saw them clouded and moving rapidly.
"He is in the middle of a sleep paralysis attack." Maura told her while moving around him and taking chairs and things out of the way.
"Maur, I don't think this is the best moment to start cleaning." Jane told her sarcastically.
Maura just ignored her and kept on moving things away from the small space. "Help me Jane."
Jane did so immediately and started to get a table out of the way when she heard a terrible scream come from the bed. There, on top of the chest of the man was the shadow of what seemed to be a person, smiling at them and pointing to the near deceased. Jane froze, her eyes not believing what they saw. Maura instead just went to stand next to the old man, clearly ignoring the shadow that focused on her instead. Jane immediately followed.
"Maura, I believe there is a shadow looking at us?" Jane tried to be funny but failed miserably.
"Yes there is." Maura said while trying to take the pulse of the man. "He is gone." she spat angrily while looking at the shadow who seemed to be telling them that it wasn't his fault.
Jane just kept on staring and almost screamed when she saw that the man pointed to Maura's hand and then to the temple of the man. He was aware of Maura's ability and was asking her to use it. Maura started to do so.
"Maur, I don't like this." Jane hissed. "He wants us to do it."
"But Jane, this may be our only chance of knowing what is going on and how to solve this." Maura begged at her. "Please Jane."
Jane just looked angrily at the shadow, who watched with interest their discussion. She faced it:
"Listen weird creature, we are going to go inside and try to find out how to stop you. If you do anything that may harm Maura then I promise you that's going to be the last thing you will ever do. And I keep my promises." Jane hissed at the shadow. Immediately after that she took Maura's hand, who was going to touch the temple of the man.
"Don't forget Jane. As soon as you feel that you are in aware talk to me. I may not be able to move, but you will because the daughter was moving around the room."
Jane nodded, already concentrating and preparing herself for the darkness.
"And one more thing." she felt Maura squeeze her hand. "Everything that you are feeling is not real. The pain, the sadness, it's not. Just don't forget that."
Jane nodded again, remembering what Maura explained to her earlier.
"When one is looking at things from the perspective of others, you may have noticed that you start having emotions that do not match with your line of thought. The reason this occurs is because the body in which you are it's not yours, and because it's not you are unable to control it and the reactions that it has. The happiness, the feelings of true love and sadness that we experience in there are not our own. Our mind may think that they are and may make us react as if they are, but they are not. Do not let your emotions control you."
"Easy to say, and specially to say it to a hot-tempered Italian."
As soon as she felt the darkness overtake her she started to think about Danica and where she had been sitting when they were in the room. She remembered it clearly, a chair next to Maura's. She thought about the calmness that she tried to show, to try to bring stability to her family that was suffering and needed her coldness. This seemed to work because she opened her eyes and there she was sitting and facing the room. She looked to her left and saw a man with his eyes closed and what seemed like praying. On her right was Maura, calmly looking at her surroundings and then exhaling softly. Jane felt bewitched, the sudden closeness of Maura becoming intoxicating and difficult to ignore. She remembered what Maura had told her and immediately felt angry. Did this mean that Danica had also found Maura beautiful? Focus Jane, do not forget why you are here, she told herself while looking at the bed.
"Maura?" she said while looking for any reaction.
"Jane? Jane?!" she heard Maura almost scream, fear on her voice.
Deeply concentrating, she remembered Danica standing up and approaching her father, which is what her body did.
"I'm here darling, everything alright." she reassured her.
Maura, or the old man, looked at her with tears in his eyes and nodded. "Have you seen him yet?"
Jane was going to answer no when she saw the shadow appear in the middle of the room, looking amusedly at them.
"Well, whatdaya know?!" the man said while smiling brightly. "It's not every day that I have the honor of getting visitors."
Jane just scoffed. "Yeah, I bet you are having the time of your life." Jane said while going forward and approaching him. Weird, she thought while doing it.
The man seemed as surprised as her. "How are you doing that?" he choked out.
Jane looked at Maura and saw her perplexed reflection, which then became one of pain. She yelped.
"You better hurry Jane, your girlfriend may not have much time until the old man dies." the shadow said while laughing. "And from what I remember it was very painful for him."
Again Jane heard Maura scream and anger filled her lungs. She ran and crashed the man who seemed just as surprised and in shock as she felt.
"This is not possible, I am a specter." he screamed while Jane just grabbed him and pushed him up.
"You were a specter." Jane said angrily while pushing her hands around the throat of the man and squeezing.
"I'm not the only one." he managed to say. "There are many ore that have heard the call of Mephisto and that are coming."
"Oh don't worry. We will find him soon enough too. Sadly, you will not be there to see it happen. " Jane said while squeezing harder and then feeling the specter become dust under her fingers.
She stood up and went running towards Maura, who was looking at the whole scene through clenched teeth. She kissed her hand and whispered in her ear. "It's ok darling, it's over, you can let go. Take us back home."