Newspaper Clippings: Sick Day
A Rizzoli & Isles drabble by Gigi
A/N: This one's heavy, guys. Just a warning.
Jane didn't go to work that day. Korsak authorized it as a sick day, but Maura knew that Jane would report to work about to vomit because "murderers won't care if I'm sick," she'd always insist. She tried to press him, but he clammed up the second she pushed. A dark look fell over his face, as if he was recalling a particularly unpleasant memory, when he asked her to not make an issue of it in the office.
The day passed by in a blur for Maura. She performed her autopsies just as well as usual, but her mind was otherwise occupied wondering and worrying about Jane. She never called in sick.
When she went over to her apartment after work, Jane came to the door pretty quickly. She looked perfectly healthy, although a haunted look did cast a shadow over her dark eyes. "Hey," she murmured, dry-washing her hands. She rarely did that anymore. She tilted her head toward the living room and started walking. "Come on in."
"Jane, what's going on?" Maura asked immediately, the concern evident in her voice. "Korsak told me you called in sick, but you seem healthy."
Jane let herself fall back onto the couch and waited for Maura to take a seat next to her before she answered, still kneading away at her hands. "Today is...today's the third anniversary of the first time Hoyt tried to kill me," she confessed. Maura's eyes once again went to the fidgeting hands, and understanding bloomed on her face.
"Jane," she whispered, reaching out and taking those hands in her own. She rubbed each of the scars almost reverently. "He can't hurt you anymore."
"I know that." Jane had to close her eyes and take a steadying breath to force herself to continue. "I know that he's finally dead, and that he can't send anymore apprentices to try and finish what he started. But...he...he broke me, Maura," she declared, long-suppressed fear seeping into the husky words. "He invaded my world in every way possible short of physically raping me, and he broke me. I didn't eat or sleep or talk to anyone for a month after I got out of the hospital that first time. And on this day, three years ago..." She trailed off, but she didn't need to speak. Her shaking hands squeezing themselves into fists in Maura's grip told her what happened three years ago.
Maura knew about he not eating, sleeping or talking following the ordeal. She'd been there. But in every episode with Hoyt, she'd never heard that kind of despair in Jane's voice. She'd say in private that she was afraid, but it was just the one sentence, usually. Knowing Jane, she'd probably suppressed it while Hoyt was alive so that he wouldn't see how just how much he'd affected her. She never liked to admit when she was scared. But Hoyt was dead, and on this very dark day, Jane was finally letting herself feel all the ways Hoyt had violated her life.
Jane was trembling, her brown eyes glazing over as she flashed back again and again to all the ways that man had tormented her. Maura slowly released her hands and instead framed Jane's face to get her to focus on the present. "Jane, he didn't break you. He tore huge holes in you like he did your hands, but he did not break you. Those holes can heal; they are healing. And he's dead, Jane. You made sure of that. You just have to remember that." Maura concluded her speech, looking desperately for any sign that she'd gotten through to her. Maybe she had, because Jane leaned forward and placed her lips on Maura's gently.
Pulling away just a few inches, Jane opened her eyes, which had started to clear a little bit. "Do you think you could stay for a while? I just...I think I just need you to hold me for a little."
Maura didn't even need to answer. She simply shifted on the couch so that she was laying down with Jane on top of her. She didn't care that this was the first time they'd ever been horizontal in their relationship. If Jane needed someone to hold her, then she'd hold her all night if she had to.
A/N: I wrote two completely different versions of this Newspaper Clipping. The first was more along the lines of sexual frustration, which is fun. But it was also crap. So this happened. It's really heavy, I know. But I'm just so much better at the heavy and it's really annoying. Anyway, I almost wasn't able to post this today because the evil storms decided to fry our modem. But my dad is FANTASTIC and fixed it. So you get today's Newspaper Clipping. Hopefully that means you'll REVIEW!