Author's Note: Another quick chapter for you guys. (: All your reviews make this happen. So here we catch a glimpse of what's happened to Maura via nightmares. You guys are amazing with the reviews. I know I say that like every AN, but it's true. xD Thank you SO much for them. I try to reply to them all. (: I'm off to start Chapter eight. Let me know what you think. Next chapter will probably have Jane trying to get a statement from Maura. Oh! And do you think you know who's done this? c:
Disclaimer: Yeah, still don't own em.
Chapter Seven
Your head is pounding, that's the first thing you notice when you come to. The second thing is that you're lying on a hard concrete floor. It's cold and you shiver. Your nose wrinkles at the scent of stale air, cigarettes, and bad cologne. Your body aches like you've been in a wrestling match and as you try to sit up, you note that your hands and feet are bound. This is when the panic starts to set in and the memory of being taken out of the morgue comes to play in your mind. It's fuzzy, everything is fuzzy.
You somehow maneuver yourself into a sitting position, your back against the cold wall. Your eyes work to make out your surroundings in the badly lit...basement? This seems to be a basement. As you try to ignore how dirty you feel just from lying on the cold disgusting concrete, your eyes slowly take in every inch of the small room. Your brain is mentally cataloguing anything and everything to be used at a later time, perhaps as you try to come up with a way to get out of here.
Despite your current predicament you are fairly calm...At least you're trying to be, you do after all need a rational mind to get yourself out of this. But you can't help the adrenalin and fear that course through your veins, you can't help the way your heart is hammering in your chest. You try to calm yourself down with facts and statistics, what the chances are of you getting out of this alive. This doesn't help, it actually makes things worse, because the chances are low. You're mind suddenly pictures yourself lying on your own table, ready to be autopsied.
You suddenly feel sick and try to think of something else to stave off your increasing nausea. Jane. You think of Jane and how you know she'll do whatever it takes to get you back. She's a good detective, she'll get you out of this. As you work to steady your breathing and calm your heart, you focus your thoughts on Jane, try to remember the sound of her voice, the way she teases you about not being able to insinuative guesses, having to go over the facts thoroughly before you can make a definitive decision. You've always felt safe in the world of science, it's always been there when you needed it. But as you sit there, trying to compartmentalize, you realize how science and facts can't help you right now.
Just when you think you've calmed down a little, you hear a door slam and you feel yourself jump, your eyes snapping open. Your heart starts to beat faster, fear gripping you by the throat as footsteps begin to descend down the stairs you never noticed hidden in the shadows. You count each step, wince at each creak until you stop counting at 10.
"Doctor Maura Isles, how nice of ya to join us." His voice makes you want to vomit. His accent is distinct and you decide he's of Irish decent. As he emerges from the shadows, you swallow thickly and allow your eyes to study him, taking in his tall stature, broad shoulders and well defined muscles. Under different circumstances you'd say he was aesthetically pleasing. You can't see his face however, once he's fully visible. He's wearing a black ski mask.
"W-what do you want with me?" You hear your voice waver and you curse yourself for allowing the fear to make it's way into your voice.
You hear him chuckle, watch him shake his head as if you should know why you're hear, tied up. "You war just caught in tha middle, lass." He slowly steps closer, leans down and you try to back away as his face gets close to yours. "I'm not sarry though, tha boys an' I'll have a lotta fun with ya." He moves his hand to touch your cheek with his grubby fingers and you immediately want to vomit as your mind envisions his dirty hands touching you. You jerk your face away defiantly, mustering up your best scowl and glare.
He laughs and stands up straight again, watching as you try and sink back into the wall. "Yeah yar a pritty little thing arntya?" Your heart seems to rise up into your throat and you begin praying to the God you're not sure you believe in, that this is all a dream. He watches you, no - leers at you for a moment longer and then turns to toward the stairs.
Before you can stop yourself, you're talking. "Who are you?" You're proud that your voice is stronger than before. "Why have you brought me here?" You're not sure you really want to know, but anything to prolong whatever he and 'the boys' have planned for you.
He turns slowly and you catch his eyes in the bad light, they're dark, beady. You swallow thickly, heart thrumming against your ribs. "Ya can just call meh Riley, lass. As fur what yar doin' har, well yull eventually find out." He said gruffly, the previous smile on his face gone and replaced with a look of malice. You're silent now, you're throat suddenly dry.
You think he's about to leave but as he puts one foot on the bottom step, he places a hand on the railing. "Hey boys, tha lass is awake." He calls up. You're sure the color has drained from your face as a rush of adrenalin and fear spread through you. It only intensifies as you hear two more pairs of footsteps begin to descend down the stairs.
As the two newcomers come into view, you note that they are both similar looking to Riley, in size and stature but you can't see their faces as they are also covered with ski masks.
"Who wants ta go firsts, lads?" Riley muses, looking between the two men. Both of them smile and rake their eyes over your body. You tense and subconsciously begin to scoot back but are stopped by the concrete wall behind you. You are briefly aware of the way your breathing has increased as the three men seemingly undress you with their eyes. Riley grins at you and takes a step forward. "Yar ganna wish ya nevar crossed us. He's ganna wish it when war done with ya." He says, glaring at you.
You're unsure of what you did but before you can make your voice work and ask, one of the other men has moved across the room and has you by the throat as he slowly lifts you up. You struggle to get free, but his grip tightens and when your eyes make contact with his, you involuntarily shiver at the coldness in his eyes. "P-Please..." You manage to croak out. "L-let me g-go. I - I don't -" You're cut off as you feel tiny needles prick your cheek, taste blood in your mouth. He's slapped you.
You can't control your tears now as they start to overflow, involuntary sobs coming from your lips. You feel something, or someone tug at the top of your dress and it rips. By now you've got your eyes clamped shut as you still struggle. You find yourself calling for Jane, willing her to find you before-
Jane snapped awake, unsure of what woke her until she heard Maura's sobs. She'd been calling for Jane, thrashing about. Immediately, Jane sat up and reached out to still Maura's arms that are flailing about. "Jane! P-Please, I-I need Jane!" Maura cried. Jane's heart crumbled into a million pieces at Maura's pleas.
"Hey, Maur...Shhh. I've got you. I'm right here. It's a nightmare." Jane whispered softly, rubbing her hands up and down Maura's arms. After a moment of Jane gently shaking her friend, Maura awoke with a jerk.
Her eyes snapped open and her chest heaved, eyes searching the room frantically. As everything registerd, as she realized she was in her own room and Jane was right beside her, she let out a shuddery breath. Maura worked to calm her breathing, listening to Jane's coaching before she turned and wrapped her arms around the detective. In between her thighs were on fire, and she realized that she had her legs crossed too tight. "J-Jane..." Maura stammered, tears still flowing down her cheeks.
Jane gently laid them both down, allowing Maura to lay her head on her chest. "Shhh. You're okay, Maur. It was just a nightmare. You're safe." Jane said softly, her fingers pushing sweaty hair from Maura's forehead. Maura nodded against her friend's chest and tried to snuggle into her more. Jane sighed softly, knowing what it's like to have such vivid nightmares. After Hoyt, she had many of them but she had always had Maura to call if they were too intense, so now Jane would do the same for her best friend.
Soon Maura's breathing evened out again, her body relaxed and her heart rate calmed. She was back asleep in Jane's arms. Jane was pretty sure that Maura probably wouldn't remember much about waking up crying. She could feel Maura's steady breath against her neck and she closed her eyes again, trying to fall back asleep but Maura's cries kept echoing through her mind, taunting her. What happened to her? Why did it happen, and why couldn't she stop this?
"I'm so sorry, Maura." Jane whispered into honey blond locks, wrapping her arms a little tighter around Maura, her emotions trying to break through. Jane wouldn't allow them, she forced them back down into a steel box covered in chains and a giant lock that she threw away the key to. She knew it probably wasn't healthy, but when the only person you ever talk to about your feelings was the heart of them, you can't possibly talk to said person about them, can you? Not without causing a whole mess of chaos, and probably more pain for both parties.
So the only option was to lock them up tight until you were alone and could break down alone. But Jane was used to that, wasn't she? Before Maura, she had no one that she allowed close enough to even see her shed a tear. But once she allowed Maura in, felt the love and compassion that she offered, the comfort and calm that the ME who claimed she was not good around people, gave her... Jane realized something. She realized how badly she had craved someone to be there for her while she cried, ached for someone to understand. Somehow Maura, who claimed she had trouble understanding people and human emotion, the woman who had been deemed, 'Queen of the dead', and often called a cyborg by the people around her who didn't understand her, she was the person who had broke down Jane's walls. She didn't just break them down, she crushed them, wriggled her way through to Jane's heart. She had claimed not to understand Jane, but she somehow knew how to make the shittiest day turn into a good one.
Maura was her confidant, and Jane was hers. She would be strong for Maura, and even though being alone again when she needed comfort would be hard, she could do it. Maura didn't need Jane's fears and anxieties. She had enough to deal with, Jane would comfort Maura though, she'd do everything in her power to make sure the ME was okay. And she'd find the bastards that did this. She couldn't understand why this happened, Maura was the sweetest person she knew.
Of course Jane knew it was illogical to think that nothing as extreme as this could happen to Maura or her, or anyone else she knew for that matter. It could happen to anyone, she knew this, she was a cop! But it still baffled her that it happened to Maura, someone she was so close to.
Sighing, Jane shook her head to clear her thoughts and tried to fall asleep before her alarm clock went off. She should have turned it off, it might scare Maura. She looked down at the honey blonde and stared at her a moment, as if contemplating whether the sound of the alarm clock would scare her, and then closed her eyes again. Maura would be okay.