A/N: This is kind of a setup chapter, implying the big bad of the story and also the promise of Rizzles (you knew it had to happen eventually!) Thank you for sticking with this, and as always thank you for your reviews, favourites and follows!
"I knew you dreamt about me, Jane. We'll be together again soon, I promise. Not long to wait."
Lost in a dark wilderness the very words he hisses snarl around her like macabre branches of trees, words suffocating her, stealing her own voice as they restrain her neck, crushing her throat. The silence is the most terrifying of things, in the moments where all she can do is look into eyes that have no soul behind them, cold and ready to kill.
Ready to kill her.
It's a look she's all too familiar with, memorized and trapped within her consciousness. Haunting, his face never leaves her, the feel of his fingers around her wrists gnawing at the back of her brain like a burning itch, a parasite that won't leave her alone. The sweet smell of chloroform lingers inside of her nostrils, her lips cracked and dry. In reality she was the one that got away. His unfinished business, left with scars but still breathing.
There's no escaping him here.
In only two short hours Maura knew everything she had to about the ship, not needing to sleep definitely having its advantages. Developing her own schematics of Sox she was quite sure she could give a guided tour if they ever received visitors, although the thought came with some hesitance and rectification as Maura realised the crew she travelled with, however well meaning, were probably more likely to take hostages than they were to serve tea... Nevertheless her internal blueprints were sure to come in good use one day, (and the petite machine was always one for keeping her skill sets fresh), which was why she continued to pace the corridors, always finishing her path in the exact same place that she started.
Jane's quarters.
"I want to see them. Hands are so useful, dexterous... Do they still work?"
Every time she dares to choke out words and tell him "Good as new" the laser scalpels singe through her flesh once more, creating a new chasm for her blood to flow from like lava erupting from a volcano. It doesn't just seep, it pours. And there is nothing Jane can do about it.
"Jane?" if Maura were an animal her ears would have pricked up, alerted by sounds that a human ear would fail to pick up on. If Frankie or Frost were standing in the same spot they would not hear the distressed moans of their superior from the room behind them, but Maura did. Maura heard everything, and although she knew better than to invade Jane's personal space it was within the perimeters of her programming to soothe and heal the crew and from her analysis of the audio she decided Jane most definitely needed soothing.
"I haven't finished what I started with you. My friend is out there. Enjoy him, because he'll enjoy you."
Turning on her heels the buxom bot placed herself in front of the doorway, activating her voice manipulation software to steal Jane's voice and allow her access to the room beyond. A short, gravelly snap of 'Jane Rizzoli' confirmed her status and only seconds passed until Maura was able to check on her patient, although the sight was not something she expected to affect her quite as much as it did.
"Jane."
Apart from tousled hair about her head like a web thanks to evident tossing and turning Maura had never seen someone look so soft while experiencing such clear turmoil. Seeing the dearest of children weep was the closest comparison the faux female could make as she laid her eyes upon the whimpering woman, manufactured tear ducts causing unsalted drops to fall silently at the sight in the corner of the room. All at once she knew what the freshly widowed mother's of those weeping children had experienced; their sorrow, their anguish, their pain. In her years of existence Maura had longed to feel happiness, to experience joy, and everything else she envied the evolved creatures around her. It was certainly a shock to the system that this was what made her feel so close to being human.
"Jane."
Melting in with the shadows Maura's footsteps make no sound as she carefully steps forward, managing to sit herself on the edge of the frightful occupier's bed without so much as a creek. Still Jane cowers, and the android is aware that something impossible is happening inside of her. Her heart, made more for decoration than for practicality, is aching.
She's never been so scared in her life, stuck beneath him, crudely caressed as the scalpel lingers by her throat. Waiting patiently for another release "Oh, its okay baby. Wake up, baby..."
Useless breath catches inside of the watching woman's throat as Jane cries aloud, clearly terrified with whatever she see's behind her tightly locked eyelids, and Maura knows she cannot let the pain continue. Carefully she chooses to wake her believed to be fearless Commander, a light touch to her cheek just as soft as her whispered voice "Jane, its okay. Wake up, Jane..."
Suddenly the gentlest of movements places Maura back inside of a warzone, her petite form flung backwards before a shot vaporises a patch of her suit at the left shoulder, mechanics clean to see beneath as synthetic flesh follows. In the darkness she knows her attacker's eyes are wild, the breathing from the corner as ragged as a beast protecting its den, and Maura doesn't have to initiate her electrocardiogram measures to know that Jane's heart rate is off the scale "Perhaps I should have been quicker to predict the fight or flight would end in this result."
"Maura?!" even as the emergency lighting snaps on like floodlights and the wailing conflict siren follows Jane does not blink, bolt upright in her bed with the previously concealed energy weapon tight within her grasp "What are you—I COULD HAVE KILLED YOU!"
"Not with a shot like that. I think your weapon needs recalibration, especially if you were aiming for my head," pushing the singed strands of hair with her working hand Maura's nose wrinkles as she inspects the damage "I'll need to rewire the top section, and replace a motor. The skin grafting may well take a few days, but if I get the collagen scaffold sorted tonight then the Keratinocyte spray shouldn't take too long to adhere."
"You sure sound like I shot you in the brain," shoving her gun back beneath the pillow Jane's long limbs helped her leap to the floored android's side, holding in a breath at the stench of burning flesh "You're really okay? 'Cos that doesn't look okay, Maura."
"Nah, I'd say that looks like you shot her in the shoulder," doors having been opened since the gunshot Frankie had no problem hurtling in with a gun of his own, stopping with a sighed mixture of relief and annoyance to see his sister unharmed "Hey Frost, you can shut down the alarms! Jane got trigger happy!"
"Yeah, ha-fuckin'-ha. Let's all laugh at Jane gettin' spooked."
"I thought it was just guys that fired early?" entering the room with a wrench in his hand Tommy merely shrugged off his older sibling's scowl "Hey, you gave me permission."
"Really you shouldn't be laughing at your sister right now. My wound is clearly the result of her post traumatmmff!"
"So you don't just shoot her, you'gotta gag her too? Y'know this is why you never got a boyfriend in school, Jane."
"What'cha doin', makin' jokes at a time like this? Bot or not we've got an injured crew member that needs fixing up!" beneath Jane's hand Maura kept her lips tightly closed, aware that Korsak was now speaking for her with the look in his eyes. Maybe Jane's brothers didn't know about the night terrors but the Captain did, his fatherly tone of voice taking a hold on the situation "Frankie, Tommy – give Maura a hand up."
"Only you would damage the doctor, Jane"
"Shut up, it wasn't like I meant to! I thought she was-" shutting off her own words as quickly as she had Maura's Jane rose to her feet, looking to her victim as Frankie and Tommy stepped aside "Can I do anything to help?"
"I think you've done enough."
"Tommy, what did I just say to you?" shoving her youngest brother away Jane's stubborn streak kicked in, swiftly accompanied by a sense of guilt "At least let me pass you some tools, Maura. I've got to do something since I've left you looking like Swiss cheese."
"Swiss cheese typically has more holes; a donut might be a better analogy. But if it will make you feel better you're welcome to accompany me infirmary.
"Yeah, it would" accompanying Maura through the door Jane only turned back to instruct her crew members and more poignantly her brothers "I want you guys out of here by the time Doctor Donut and I are done fixin' her up, you got me?"
"Just don't go tryin' to balance her out!" Frankie's final words echoed down the corridor as the two women walked side by side, Maura more worried about her companion than the damage to herself. Allowing herself quick sideways glances she observed as Jane sighed and intermittently chewed at her bottom lip, the Commander's nerves quite clear. If Jane was concerned by the smaller woman's visible damage she had nothing to worry about – it was what was internal that troubled Maura, something that could not be repaired so easily, especially when it was not something she could even begin to comprehend.
Keeping quiet until inside of her new found haven Maura sat herself in the middle of the medial bay, deciding to ignore the questions brewing inside and instead make good use of her wound – an excuse to keep both herself and Jane both distracted and occupied "I've kept all my maintenance tools in that left hand locker, if you wouldn't mind getting them for me. You'll want the small black bag and one of the silver canisters."
"One of? What were you expecting to be shot a lot more?" following the other woman's instructions Jane found what she needed, trying to ignore how dangerous the rest of the equipment inside looked. Considering it was all needed for repair work it looked as if it was all more suited to taking Maura apart rather than stitching her back together.
"Accidents happen, Jane" waiting patiently Maura remained seated until the darker haired female was at her side before lifting herself from the stool, speaking her next words without so much as a flutter of her eyelids "Unzip me."
"Whu—Why?"
"This accident means I need full access to my arm and shoulder, and I can't use this hand to unzip the suit myself as someone damaged my nervous system..."
"Alright, I get your point" standing behind the android Jane took due care and attention as her fingers eased the zip down to the small of Maura's back, not wanting to do any more damage than she'd already managed. That same caution stayed as she realised she was also needed to help peel the fabric away from the doctor's skin, trying to look elsewhere and focus on anything else inside of the room until she realised that even robot breasts needed something to help them fight against gravity.
"Thank you," a small smile crept across the injured party's lips as she and Jane sat in unison, very aware of the flush to her superior's cheeks and neck thanks to her undressed state. Jane Rizzoli was full of surprises, and that was something that Maura was starting to appreciate "I suppose we're even now, what with your bare legs."
With the shooting happening so quickly Jane had failed to even noticed that she was still in her what she chose to wear to bed; a simple choice of a white tank top and grey shorts. Slender, tanned legs that shot out beneath them were now bent, heels of her feet on the edge of the stool so that her chin could rest against her knees as she watched Maura start her procedure "Huh? Oh yeah. I was uh- looking at your shoulder. I hadn't noticed."
"Of course not," the smile was back and at risk of being a permanent feature, something that Maura presumed to look very odd given what she was about to do to herself "I need the tweezers, and the blowtorch."
"Blowtorch?!"
"To solder the wires back together, Jane."
"Uh yeah, right. Of course. Can you tell Tommy's the mechanic in the family?" A small laugh slipped free before a stifled yawn took a hold "So, how long can a person go without sleeping?"
"Hallucinations begin by day four," eyes on the gap in her shoulder Maura was perfectly unfazed as she answered whilst teasing a section of wires apart, picking out fragments of metal and concluding that the injury was not as bad as she first perceived "followed by slurred speech, short attention span... And death."
"Huh. Guess I'll continue trying to sleep then. Hey, Maura? How are you planning to do that one handed?"
"I'm not, I'm going to borrow yours" returning the small blowtorch into Jane's wary palm the doctor used the tweezers to pick a small cog shaped piece from the bag on the table "I'm going to put this in place, and I need you to solder the ends of the wires onto it. Your shot fragmented the last one; it's just a simple replacement."
"I can't do that; I'm really sorry Maura but I-"
"I really like my arm, Jane."
"I'd be burning you."
Again the incomprehensible feeling struck Maura, her features softening with a great tenderness as she realised Jane's confusion "You'd be burning metal, Jane. You won't hurt me, you didn't hurt me. Your concern is sweet but I'll be okay. I promise."
"Right... Robot..."
"Android."
"Sorry, android. Okay. Put it in," wincing as she watched the metal disappear inside of Maura's shoulder Jane silently urged herself to move as she inched the blowtorch close to the opening, dark eyes searching the other woman's for approval – something she was instantly granted "So just round the edges, right?"
"Just follow the line around the cog... That's it... Jane, I'd feel much better if your eyes were open..."
"Shit, right, sorry."
"There, see. That wasn't so hard, was it?" removing the tweezers from her arm the more scantily clad of the two continued her work, flicking off the lid of the canister with her thumb before giving it a hearty shake "the Keratinocyte should fix the whole sufficiently enough so I won't need any help with stitches. You can relax now."
"You mean that's it?"
"Well, no. The spray takes some hours to graft properly, and will need a few more coats. It will take roughly the same amount of time for my system to accept the new chip and for my arm to regain mobility, but the hard work is done."
Jane's previous lip biting had been replaced by choosing to chew at the tip of her thumb between words "Are all rob—Androids... Are you all so easy to fix?"
"When it comes to surface wounds like this? Yes, I suppose so. The more integral damage would need to be to the central points of our system, such as the head," Maura's working hand moved to gesture where exactly she meant "or the centre of the chest. I could be as injured as proficiently as a human on any part of my body, just with much more force."
"And what about humans? I mean, if I lost a limb... Could you replace it with one of yours?"
Something told Maura that Jane was not just making small talk, and that it could not be a mere coincidence that Jane wanted to know how robotic beings could be fixed, or more precisely taken apart so soon after sharing her dislike for them – all of them it seemed, apart from Maura.
"It would depend on the injury you sustained, your blood loss, and whether your tendons can be fused to the larger wiring of a cybernetic implant. In reality the practice has been in use for years, but is not common because of the expense. The Alliance would rather employ a new human in the ranks than spend money replacing parts of an old soldier."
"Yeah, that sounds about right," swinging her legs off the stool before standing and showing a distinct height difference between herself and Maura it was clear Jane had heard all she wanted, or perhaps needed to know "Listen, I'm sorry about the whole'er..."
"Shooting me, thing?"
"Yeah. Thanks though, for this."
"I couldn't have done it without you," Maura's restraint failed her as she watched Jane walk to the door, unable to stop herself from calling for her Commander's attention "Jane."
"Yeah?"
"I think the phrase is 'risking life and limb'? Well you should know that I would, for you."