AN: I made it to nine! Ahahaha…I was really worried I would "expire" before I made it here. I hope this is good. To be honest, these later chapters are kinda hard to write. Enjoy. :)
The door broke when Jane barrelled in. The light that streamed in hurt Maura's eyes, for the room was dimly lighted. It nearly distracted her from what she had set her mind to do.
Before Jane and Frost had arrived, Christopher had set her down and moved to crouch behind the small table, so that both the window and door was in his peripheral vision. Maura knew that whoever came in first had the best chance to die first. And deep down in her heart, she just knew that Jane would be the one to enter first. That was how she was. Always willing to be the first one into the head of trouble. Always willing to be the one in the front lines.
Chris had taped up her mouth too, disallowing her to shout out any warning. Maura just had to do something. Sure, she had wanted Jane to rescue her, but if it meant that her (Jane's) life would be in danger, Maura was then not willing to risk that. In a morbid way of thinking, at least they would have found her body, instead of going through a "treasure hunt" to look for her, would be, decaying corpse.
With that thinking in mind, Maura determined to at least do her best to prevent anyone else from dying. Since the hut was a small one, Maura knew that she would be able to at least hurl herself towards Christopher and that would at least throw his aim way off. Maura didn't bother to think of the damage that may be done on her side, she didn't care. After all, love is blind, isn't it?
Maura regretted that she had waited for Jane to be the one to make the move. She knew that Jane was not just her best friend, she was more than that. There were subtle signs. But, Maura wanted Jane to be the one that was comfortable enough to bring it up. Now, things weren't looking too good for her and her wish right now was to be able to tell Jane one thing.
It was time for action now. Maura forced every iota of strength she had left and tossed herself as best as she could, towards Christopher, crashing into him and knocking him off balance.
Jane yelled her name when she saw what Maura had done. Two shot followed almost immediately. Maura wasn't sure if she had taken a bullet herself or if Jane had managed to get a shot at Chris. Because, everything hurt. It hurt so much, she couldn't even cry out. Her vision was starting to fade already.
Jane's heart was breaking into a million pieces when she rushed to Maura's side. She had managed to fire a shot off, but she wasn't sure if she had hit Christopher. Her doubts were put to rest when she saw that blood was gushing from his side.
Frost had whipped out his phone and dialled for the ambulance when he heard the gunshots.
"Maur, Maur, can you hear me?" Jane wept as she gently cradled Maura's bruised and battered body.
"Hey, Jane. Ne-need to tell y-y-you someth-thing." Maura whispered.
Jane had to bend closer to catch Maura's words. It was then that she noticed that there was a bullet hole in Maura's hip. Jane took in a sharp intake of breath. "Maura, you're shot."
"Can't feel it." Maura stopped to take in another shallow breath. "Jane, li-listen. I lo-l-love yo-you. I love you."
Jane was shocked silent. She almost missed the fact that Maura's eyes were now closed and her chest was barely moving.
"Freaking homos." Christopher croaked.
Frost, who had been standing silently standing at the corner, giving the detective and the doctor some personal space, went forward and cuffed Christopher's hand in the front. "You are under arrest for the murder of Claire, possible murder of Marianne, and deadly assault on a medical examiner. You have the right to remain silent." Frost growled, he had to restrain himself from lashing out at him.
Suddenly, Jane's cries rented the room. "Maura? Maur! MAURA! Baby, please, don't close your eyes, don't close…" Maura had totally stopped breathing. Her broken body gave no sign of movement.
Jane was about ready to kill somebody. When the ambulance had arrived, they had disallowed her to ride with Maura. That left Jane in a quagmire. Maura had stopped breathing, and her pulse was so faint, it could barely be felt. "Frost, please, could you get me to the hospital as fast as you can?" Jane looked to him with tear-stained eyes.
"I was going to." was Frost's quick reply.
Jane followed Frost like a zombie. All she could think of was Maura, Maura, Maura, and what Maura had said. As she slumped in the car's front seat, she couldn't help but mentally beat herself up. Why did it take so long just to accept that she loved Maura too? Now, it might be too late to tell her that.
Frost glanced at Jane. "You know, you should probably call Constance and Hope. They would need to know about their daughter."
There was no response. "Jane? JANE!" Frost nearly had to yell into Jane's ear.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard ya. I'll call them now." came the morose response. It was not going to be easy.
Jane rushed to the counter fast as she could. "I am looking for Maura Isles, the chief medical examiner. May I know which operating room she is in?"
The nurse looked up at the harried Jane. "Sure, I can tell you where it is, but you are only allowed to wait outside, at the provided chairs. It's operating room sixteen."
"Thanks!" Jane tossed over her shoulder as she sprinted towards the room. Frost followed closely behind, making a few calls to Korsak – who had been called onto another case with another partner – and Angela. Frost was certain that Jane needed someone to be there to give her a great, big hug. Angela was just the person who would be the best at comforting her daughter.
"Jane, you are going to wear a hole into the floor if you keep pacing." Angela said.
Jane looked up and saw the number of people gathered. Angela, Hope, Caitlin, Constance, Frost, Korsak (who managed to take some time off), Frankie, and even Tommy were all here. The door was pushed open and the surgeon came out. He looked grim, yet relieved.
Immediately, Jane was on him. "How is she doing? Is everything okay? Can I, we, go in and visit her?"
The surgeon instinctively stepped backwards, overwhelmed by the onslaught of questions. "Maura is now in a stable condition. We managed to extract the bullet, transfuse some blood to compensate the amount of blood lost, and gave her some painkillers for the broken rib. And, to answer your last question, you may visit her now. She should just be coming out of the sedatives we gave her. However, only two by two at most, and for a few minutes. After that, I would request that you just let her rest for the time being.
Jane nodded. Angela, being the wise and loving mother, knew that Jane would want some time alone, and took charge of organizing who would pair up to go into the room. "Frost, you can go with Korsak. I will go with Constance, Frankie, go with Tommy, Hope and Caitlin, you can go together, and Jane, you can go last and by yourself."
Tears threatened to come out of Jane's eyes. "Thanks, Ma. You don't have to wait for me. I'll head back to my apartment when I am done." She whispered as she initiated a rare hug with her mom.
AN: Next chapter might be posted after the weekend. (For any wondering, I do not live in the States, so, timing wise, we are very different.) Will probably start off with a talk Jane has with Maura. :)