The response for this story has been overwhelming! I never expected to get as many lovely reviews as I have gotten so thank you all so much!
On with the show!
The two friends sat on Maura's couch, Jane holding Maura in a fierce embrace as both of the women attempted to find solace for their anxiety over Maura's sudden blindness. Maura pressed her face to Jane's neck, inhaling the unique scent that the blonde associated with safety and comfort while Jane found serenity in the scent of Maura's citrusy shampoo.
A knock on Maura's door jolted them both from their reverie, causing them to pull apart from each other.
"That's probably Frankie," Jane told Maura. "He said he'd pick up your eye drops from the pharmacy. I'll grab 'em."
"Wait," Maura said softly as she reached out to try and place her hand on Jane's arm. She only managed to brush Jane's arm but still managed to still the detective. "Let me get the door," she said as she pushed herself to stand up.
"You sure?" Jane asked, watching Maura place her hand on the sofa and begin to turn herself towards the path that would take her to the front door.
"Yes," Maura stated as she took small steps, still not trusting herself to walk her normally poised gait without her vision. "I am going to need to learn to navigate this house without vision and I would like to start now. With someone here in case an accident happens."
"Alright," Jane smiled as she remained next to the couch and watched Maura move towards the wall, using her hand to follow the wall and guide her to the door. It took Maura only a minute to reach the door but to the medical examiner, she felt as though Bass could have reached the door faster.
Maura unlocked the door and pulled it open, feeling the spring breeze rustle her hair.
"Hey, Maura," came Frankie's voice. He noticed the red tint to Maura's eyes but couldn't tell if the color was from crying or her recent vision loss. "I got your drops for ya," he said with a smile. "The guy at the pharmacy also suggested I pick up some gauze eye patches for you to wear at night so you don't accidentally rub your eyes in your sleep or something. There wasn't a whole lot of eye care stuff at the store so if you want a different kind I can do that tomorrow or something."
"That is very kind of you, Frankie," Maura said as she reached her hand out and let Frankie place the handles of the plastic grocery bag in her hand. "I am sure that whatever you have picked out is perfect. Thank you very much for doing this for me."
"It ain't a problem at all," Frankie said. "It's what family does."
"Would you like to come in for a beer?" Maura offered. "I keep some of Jane's favorite stocked in my fridge but I am sure she wouldn't mind sharing with you."
"Can't," Frankie responded. "I picked up a buddy's patrol shift tonight so I gotta get going. But I'll be at Sunday dinner."
"Of course," Maura smiled. "I will see you on Sunday, then."
"See ya, Maura. Bye Janie!" Frankie said, figuring that his sister could hear him before turning around and jogging back to his car.
Maura walked back into her home, closing her front door softly. She flipped the lock into place and sighed deeply as she turned around.
"Jane?" she called, unsure where her friend was.
"Right here," Jane said softly, walking up next to Maura and reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder.
"Could you read the instructions on these drops?" Maura asked, holding the bag Frankie had brought in the general direction where Jane stood.
"Sure," Jane said, taking the bag and pulling the small box that housed Maura's eye drops out. "It says to put two drops in each eye three times a day," Jane said.
"Thanks," Maura replied. "Would you like to go to sleep?" Maura asked. "I don't know what time it is but I can imagine that it is getting late."
"It's almost 11," Jane said. "So, yeah, I'd like to go to sleep."
"Jane?" Maura's soft voice called from her bathroom.
"Yeah?" Jane asked, making no move to leave the bed she had flopped on after pulling on a pair of flannel pajama pants and an old Red Sox t-shirt.
"Could you…help me?"
Hearing that Maura needed help, Jane jumped from the bed and quickly reached Maura's bathroom, her hand on the doorknob.
"You decent in there?" Jane asked.
"Yes," Maura laughed as she heard Jane turn the doorknob and enter the bathroom. When she felt Jane's presence next to her, Maura suddenly felt self-conscious at what she was incapable of doing.
"How can I help?" the detective asked, noticing that Maura's eyebrows were furrowed and she appeared to be on the verge of breaking down.
"I have three steps to washing my face at night," Maura said softly. "There is the wash, the toner, and the moisturizer. The problem is, each of the bottles is the same shape and size so I am not sure which bottle is which at the moment," Maura continued as she pointed to the three bottles of product that she had set out on her counter.
"I'll help ya," Jane said with a smile as she examined each of the bottles, placing them in a line on the counter. "The bottle on the far left is the wash, the middle one is the toner, and the one on the right is the moisturizer," Jane said after she had organized the bottles. "Anything else I can help with?"
"No, thank you, though," Maura whispered. The realization that she might never see again had yet to fully sink in and seemed to hit her in waves of pain.
"I'll go warm up your side of the bed," Jane said with a chuckle, placing a soft kiss to the side of Maura's head, noticing the pain on her friend's face.
Jane left the bathroom and grabbed her laptop before sitting cross legged on the bed. She leaned against the headboard and began her search, bookmarking several pages before Maura emerged from the bathroom in her silk pajama set.
Maura walked to her side of the bed and propped herself up against the headboard next to Jane, hearing the soft clicking of the keyboard.
"What are you up to?" Maura asked softly, turning her head to face Jane.
"Nothing important," Jane replied as she closed her laptop, set in on the bedside table, and turned to look at Maura. "Wanna tell me what's going on in that big brain of yours?"
"I'm scared," Maura admitted. "Being a medical examiner is such a crucial part of who I am. I would love to teach, of course, but...I have finally found a place where I am valued and can use my intelligence for good and feel confident in myself. I don't want to lose that."
"You won't," Jane tried to reassure her. "Just because you might have to change professions doesn't mean you'll lose anything. You'll still have me and my crazy family to deal with, will be changing the lives of every student you teach, and will be the same quirky and beautiful woman we all know and love. You'll still be you."
"Logically I think I know that but emotionally…Emotionally I am all over the place right now," Maura confessed.
"Well, then let's get some sleep and deal with emotions tomorrow," Jane said as she reached out and gave Maura's hand a squeeze.
Maura nodded and readjusted herself so she was lying down on her bed. Jane did the same, groaning loudly as she moved her upper back and felt pain.
"Jane?" Maura asked, lifting her head to look at her friend when she heard the groan of pain. "Are you okay?"
"I'm good," Jane said. "My back's just been giving me problems since I had to tackle that giant gang member the other day."
"Roll over," Maura said, sitting back up.
"Huh?"
"Roll onto your stomach," Maura clarified. "I'll give you a massage to help ease the pain you are obviously in."
"You don't have to do that, Maura," Jane said. "I'm the one who is here to take care of you, remember?"
"Just because you are helping take care of me does not mean that you need to be in pain. Now roll over," Maura commanded.
When Jane rolled onto her stomach and folded her arms onto her pillow and relaxed her head, she felt Maura crawl on top of her and kneel at the small of her back. Jane was surprised that Maura had so unashamedly knelt over her friend and went to protest but was silenced when Maura placed her hands on Jane's back over her thin shirt and began to massage her aching muscles.
Maura murmured something under her breath as she massaged Jane but what was said Jane couldn't tell. After several more minutes and a few more words muttered, Jane opened one eye to look up at her friend.
"What are you saying up there?" she asked.
"I am saying the names of the muscles I am working on as I massage them," Maura said shyly. "Knowing that I can still identify muscles without actually seeing them offers me comfort. I'm sorry if it wasn't relaxing," Maura added, her hands still working out the knots and aches Jane had.
"Feels great," Jane groaned as Maura worked out a particularly large knot in her back. "Really great," she added as Maura's hands skirted over the exposed skin of her lower back where her shirt had ridden up.
"Less pain?" Maura whispered, not trusting her voice to remain calm as she battled both the emotions surrounding her vision loss and the feelings she was encountering in regards to Jane.
"Yeah," Jane sighed contentedly.
Hearing that, Maura removed herself from her kneeling position over Jane and curled up on her side, her back to Jane. She felt a tidal wave of emotions threatening to spill forward and did not want Jane to see should any tears escape.
Jane saw the pain in Maura's face before she rolled away from her and sighed, wishing there was something more she could do to ease the pain of her best friend. She knew she couldn't medically help Maura so she did the next best thing. She scooted her body to mold against Maura's back and wrapped an arm around Maura's waist, squeezing softly.
"If I could," Jane whispered in Maura's ear, "I would give up my eyesight for you to get yours back."
Thoughts?
I'm driving my dad to give a presentation to a club about an hour away tonight so, although this chapter could have been longer, I wanted to get it up before I headed out.
