The doctor regarded Maura for a moment, and then decided that Maura wasn't looking for validation of any sort. She was simply stating facts.
Facts. He was beginning to see that she stuck to the facts. She didn't postulate or waver in her thoughts or words. It was if she anticipated the questions and had already sought suitable answers. He found it remarkable.
"I don't think I need to," He answered her, "If you feel that there is nothing wrong with it, then you know that even if I agreed or disagreed, it would be moot."
"I suppose it would," She said, "I just can never understand the motive for people to be so rude."
He smiled a little, "For some, it is a question that will never be answered. So when you say that you offer Jane comfort and security, you do so because if it weren't for you, she would have none?"
Maura nodded slowly, "I don't think she would. She would turn to other avenues to rid her mind of the day. This way, she has the option not to be self-destructive."
"How is she self-destructive?" He asked, "Do you know?"
A humorless chuckle escaped her mouth, "Don't ask me to dig her grave, Brian, because I will not." She shook her head emphatically, "I will tell you what you ask of me, but I will not suggest what I do not know."
"Fair enough," He answered, "Just tell me what you know."
"She is a peace officer, a detective first grade," Maura began, "Even though I am part of that team, I can not imagine the things I don't see, the confessions I don't hear," She brought her smooth green eyes to his, "the pain I do not feel." She paused, "It is understandable that one with such a burden would feel the necessity to blow off some steam."
"I agree," He said, "Don't skirt the issue, Maura. Tell me what she does."
Instead of lowering her gaze, her eyes burned in to his, "She drinks. Sleeps around. Cries. Fights. Just like everyone else. Then she buttons herself up and pretends that she didn't. Just like everyone else. But with me, she can let it all go. She can come to my house and no matter what she needs, I make her better. I fix her. And then we wake up as the same two people that everyone else knows and we go about our day. I help her, she helps me."
"How does she help you?" He asked.
She stopped for a instant, her voice dropping a fraction of an octave as a wave of fear and heat pulsed through her veins, " I am a doctor. I fix people. I love her. I can not imagine not being there to make her a whole person again. No matter what that means. It's my duty. It's our pact."