**DISCLAIMER – I do not own the characters, they belong to TNT and associated bodies. **
(However I have a wonderful imagination and that belongs all to me, just sometimes Jane and Maura wind up naked in it, and there's not a thing I can do to stop it. Gutted.)
*Author's note: sorry that 12 and 13 are extremely short, it was working out at posting chapter 13 on friday, and well I just couldn't do that lol; so you're getting a double treat today and the FINAL chapter (14); will go up on friday. It will be significantly longer.*
How to solve a problem like a wedding ring.
Chapter Thirteen – For the first time.
(For the first time belongs to an Irish band called The Script, apparently Angie is a fan – according to her twitter.)
Jane had been back at work for just over a week. It was tough, she was physically and mentally drained. Although the wound had been in just about the best place possible, it was still torture getting back into a normal routine. The thing about gunshot victims in the job was that they all shared one characteristic; stubbornness. It made physical therapy a nightmare, it made loved ones worry and it made recovery quicker. There is nothing quite like the resilience that results from being told you can't do something, through no fault of your own.
For Jane, the shooting was neither a tragedy, nor a setback. It was a reckoning. Being confined to a hospital bed, watching Maura's eyes on the bandages; she never wanted to run the risk of leaving the fragile doctor alone.
She started to see things with new eyes. On arriving back at home, she noticed Maura's care with the activities Jane was involved with. The M.E would sit and watch, not worry; but watch as Jane struggled with small weights, rebuilding the muscle blown out of her shoulder. She knew Maura watched her wince as she lifted herself off the couch, knew she watched her sleep.
Jane was amazed by this new sight of Maura. She was no longer a worrier, she had grown to accept the dangers of Jane's job, grown to accept that fussing over the Detective would only result in resentment on both parts, she had grown as a person. Into someone that Jane had no intention of ever hurting, into someone that gave her the hugest rush she had ever felt, into someone she could not; and be damned, would not; spend the rest of her life without.
After regaining her strength, she set about on a mission to spoil the Doctor. There were a few mishaps along the way; making pizzas from scratch had ended up in a spectacular flour fight, going to the opera had led to Maura having to bribe the venue into not calling Jane's colleagues after they got caught in a compromising position in the ladies rest-room. Every other little treat had went wonderfully. It was after a midnight stroll for Valentine's Day, that Jane stole a look at the beautiful M.E in the moonlight, smiling with her head tilted and her blonde hair slowing that she knew; she was the luckiest person in the entire world; and when you feel like that, it's time to put a ring on it.