Author's Note: I'm so sorry for the wait. Things have been a little hectic on my side of the world. Especially today. x_x Anyway, here's chapter 18! Also, I'm sorry I haven't replied to everyone's reviews. I haven't had the time. :P I do appreciate it, though. SO MUCH. You guys are so great. Okay, I'll let you get to the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own R&I. I only claim the story and the characters, Detective Olivia Vega, Dr. Abigail Reese, and unfortunately...Detective Stan Jakes. xD
Chapter Eighteen
Not long after Jane and Maura finished their meal, Korsak and Frost had to leave; and unfortunately that meant Ladybug had to go as well. Both dog and future owner were hard-pressed to be separated. Ladybug had ignored her commands and the encouragement to follow Korsak, opting to stay rooted to her spot near the head of the bed.
It wasn't until Maura nodded to Ladybug and told her, "Go with Vince. I'll be okay." Did the canine begrudgingly leave, head hanging low, but perking slightly as her new future owner promised to see her later. As much as the nurses and doctors liked Maura, dogs weren't allowed to stay in the hospital unless they were Service dogs.
Soon after that, Dr. Reese came to check in on her two favorite people. "Hello, ladies. How are you doing today?" The young doctor asked, a pleasant smile on her face as she looked between the detective and her patient.
Jane was sliding off the foot of the bed and moving to sit in the seat adjacent to Maura, who was of course in her hospital bed. The ME smiled sweetly. "I'm feeling much better, thank you."
Dr. Reese smiled as she flipped through Maura's chart. "It seems that way. I'm glad to hear it. As much as I like you, Dr. Isles. I'd appreciate it if you stayed out of my ER." She quipped, smirking.
Maura and Jane both chuckled. "I agree." Jane said as she gave the ER doctor a once over. "When I saw you earlier this morning, you were wearing pants and a blouse, what's with the pink scrubs, doc?" She asked, nodding to the garment beneath the doctor's lab coat.
Looking down, Dr. Reese smiled wryly. "You would think I would learn by now, not to wear my good clothes to work… I got puked on today. I always consider it a good day when no one vomits or urinates on me…Which isn't often." She said with a shrug and a resigned sigh.
Jane grimaced. "Gross."
Maura nodded in acknowledgement. "Yes, I remember that during my residency. One reason why I prefer my patience to live ones. They're messy, yes, but they don't regurgitate or urinate. Usually my patients' bowels are emptied seconds after death." She stated factually.
Dr. Reese looked virtually unfazed by Maura's google mouth, nodding along as she checked Maura's IV. Jane on the other hand looked just the opposite. Her nose wrinkled in disgust and she held up a hand. "Okay, okay. Enough about that, I'd rather not see my lunch make a second appearance today."
After Dr. Reese finished checking on Maura, she said that the ME could be discharged within the next hour or so, in the mean time she should just relax. However, relaxing was farthest from Maura's mind as she fidgeted in the hospital bed, freshly showered and clad in a pair of Jane's yoga pants and an old Celtics t-shirt.
Jane had explained that she told her mother to grab something comfortable as well as something for herself to wear. So there was Maura, shifting in her bed, her mind racing with different things. Jane was absently staring at the TV watching COPS when she couldn't take the tension and Maura's sighs any longer.
"Hey, why are you so fidgety? You never fidget, that's usually my job." Jane said with a smile, but when Maura didn't smile back, she frowned. "Maur?"
Maura looked up through hooded eyes and Jane could see the other woman swallow uncomfortably. "I just-I don't want to have to go through what I remember with Vega and Jakes…" She trailed off, eyes glancing to the side. "M-Mostly Jakes…" Her voice faltered slightly.
Jane stood up and wordlessly moved to the right side of Maura's bed, taking a hand and covering it with her own. "Hey, look at me." Her voice was steady, but soft, an octave lower. The detective waited for Maura's eyes to meet hers before she spoke. "I'll sit with you, okay? I'll be right there beside you the whole time." She promised, her thumbs circling softly over the smooth skin beneath the pads of her fingers.
Blowing out a sigh and offering Jane a watery smile, Maura nodded. "Thank you, Jane." She said softly
Jane was about to reply when there was a knock at the door before one Detective Vega poked her head in. "Hi, may I come in?" She asked politely, eyebrows raising slightly as her trained eyes landed on Jane's hands which were still holding one of Maura's.
Quickly, but begrudgingly, Jane released Maura's hand and looked to the ME for conformation. Maura gave a hesitant, jerky nod.
Vega smiled and moved fully inside the room, turning to shut the door gently behind her. She walked the short distance to the foot of Maura's bed and placed her hands on the rail. "How are you feeling, Dr. Isles?" The detective finally asked gently.
"I-I'm doing better." Maura replied nervously, her fingers playing with the ends of her blanket.
Jane eyed Maura carefully before turning her gaze to Vega. "Where's Detective Jakes?" She asked, watching Maura from the corner of her eye.
Vega shifted her weight and rolled her eyes. "He's parking the car. I apologize for him, he's new. He was in Drugs, but they moved him here for some God awful reason. Maybe to drive me fucking bat shit crazy." She gesticulated with a huff. "I swear he's just-" She stopped and brought her eyes back to Jane and Maura who gave her different looks. Jane's was slightly amused, and Maura's was unreadable.
Clearing her throat, Vega shifted again, this time a little nervously. "Sorry. He just gets me so worked up." She shook her head and took a calming breath. "Anyway. As I'm sure you've heard, we've caught the youngest of the brothers, Ryan O'Rourke." At the sound of his name, Maura winced as if she had been physically hit in the gut.
Jane's heart ached at the sight and she suddenly became overwhelmed with the need to just wrap her arms around her friend and protect her from the world.
Vega inwardly winced and continued on in a more gentler tone. "He's not talking. We've got guards posted outside of his hospital room and he's handcuffed to the bed." She told them, hands coming to rest on top of the rail once again. "I know that you'd probably rather forget everything, but I need to know what went down at your house, Dr. Isles. I also need to know if you remember anything. Anything to help us find and put these bastards in jail." The young detective looked sympathetic, she didn't look like she felt sorry for Maura, just sympathetic and determined.
Jane flexed her jaw a moment. "He's not at this hospital, is he?" Her brows raised pointedly at Vega.
The detective shook her head in the negative looking incredulously and saying, "Of course not." She then looked back at Maura, waiting.
Maura swallowed the lump in her throat and looked anxiously to Jane and back to detective Vega. Her heart was pounding in her chest and little black dots danced in her vision. She quickly blinked them back and before she could open her mouth to say anything, Vega was speaking again.
"If you'd like detective Rizzoli here with you, that'd be okay." She said, noticing the distressed looks Maura was giving Jane.
Jane offered a strained smile toward the other detective and then turned her full attention to Maura, nodding softly and gently taking her hand. "It's okay, Maur. I'm right here." She squeezed the ME's hand in soft encouragement and silently hoped that she could control her own emotions once Maura told what she remembered.
Maura stared into Jane's eyes for a beat, gathering the strength she needed to bring back up the horrible images and memories and smells that she had carefully locked away in her mind. Taking a steadying breath, Maura finally brought her wide, fearful hazel eyes to Vega. "Okay." She said simply before she began to retell what happened the day before.
Somewhere in the middle of this, her hospital door barged open, startling the ME so bad, she practically jumped out of her hospital bed. Her grip on Jane's hand inevitably tightened, causing Jane to wince.
Both detectives glared at the intruder. Detective Jakes stood in front of the door looking agitated, probably for having to search so long for a parking space.
Maura worked to steady her breathing, her death grip on Jane's hand never loosening. Her eyes were closed and she had broke out into a cold sweat, jaw clenched and face scrunched as she tried to tell herself she was not back in that basement.
"Jesus Christ, you jackass!" Vega whispered harshly, trying not to yell and startle Maura anymore than she was. "Do you even have any common sense, or manners for that matter? You fucking knock!" She growled, shoving him out of Maura's room so she could yell at him without disturbing Maura or Jane.
Jane ignored the two detectives and pushed down her anger toward Jakes as she brought her other hand to Maura's chest, just over the ME's heart. It was beating at a speed that Jane was sure wasn't good. Gently, Jane grabbed Maura's other hand and rubbed soft circles over her knuckles. "Hey, it's okay, Maura." She whispered softly. "You're okay. No ones' going to hurt you. I wont let them." She promised.
Jane continued to whisper soothing words of comfort as Maura's face finally relaxed, her grip on Jane's hand finally loosening. Jane gently placed her hand back over Maura's heart and felt that it had calmed significantly. When Maura opened her eyes, she was met with warm chocolaty brown ones looking back at her. Jane smiled softly, though her forehead was still creased with worry. "You okay, sweetie?" Jane asked, voice raspier than usual.
Maura nodded jerkily, and took a deep breath as she glanced down to their hands. The hand Maura had been gripping was an angry red and looked a little swollen. "Oh! Jane, I'm sorry. I didn't-"
Cutting her off, Jane shook her head. "That's not from you, I-I had a disagreement with my car…" She looked away sheepishly, but her head snapped back when she felt lips brush briefly over her knuckles. Her heart was in her throat as she met Maura's eyes, her lips still touching Jane's knuckles.
"Still…If I had known you hurt your hand…" She trailed off, voice soft as she gently ran her thumb over the area she had just kissed.
Jane just stood there, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape looking as though the lights were on but no one was home. Apparently her brain had turned into mush. When coherent thoughts started back up and her brain finally graced her with a reply, there was a knock on the door and then Vega's head popped in.
It was then Jane noticed that the hushed yelling from outside the door had subsided. "I'm really sorry about that, Dr. Isles, detective. I told him to wait for me outside." Vega said, still standing in the doorway. "May I come in again?" At Maura's small nod, the detective entered once again. "I really am sorry." She looked embarrassed and shook her head as she blew out a puff of air.
"It's okay." Maura mumbled quietly. She gazed up at Jane who quickly got back on track and gave her friend a small smile. Letting her know she was still here. "S-should I continue?" Maura asked as she brought her eyes back to detective Vega.
"Only if you feel you can. I understand how difficult this can be, and detective Jakes didn't make it any easier." Vega replied gently, offering an apologetic smile.
Maura nodded and took a deep breath before she continued where she left off. Once she finished telling Vega what had happened the day before, she looked over at Jane to gain more strength before she started up from the very beginning of what happened to her during her time with the O'Rourke brothers.
The ME went into as much detail as she could handle, pausing every now and then to take shuddery breaths and wipe away tears. Jane had at some point migrated to the bed with her, a comforting arm wrapped around her shoulders and keeping her anchored to the present, reminding her that she wasn't alone and she wasn't in the basement.
Soaking up all the comfort and strength from Jane that she could, Maura went on to tell the detective, and Jane how she managed to escape, how she had been so traumatized that she actually hallucinated but that it probably saved her life.
Jane who looked slightly abashed and relieved all at once when hearing how Maura had hallucinated her, tried her best to keep her emotions in check. There were so many of them at the moment that she felt like she was about to erupt like a volcano.
"I fell asleep on the side of the road, and that's when I woke up to the rain with no recollection of how I had gotten there." Maura said, wiping away a few stray tears. She was finally through the worst of the memories. "I walked for, I'm not sure how long until I spotted a gas station where I proceeded to contact Jane." And she ended it there.
Detective Vega for her part had to work to hide her own emotions during the story. It angered her how Dr. Isles had to go through all of that. She had never had someone go into such detail and it honestly made her stomach churn. She swallowed thickly at the end of the ME's statement and nodded. "Thank you so much, Dr. Isles. I'm going to do everything in my power to catch Shamus and Riley. I'm sorry you had to go through that, but your explanation on the area may give us insight on where they might be hiding. So thank you." Vega closed her notepad and moved to hold out her hand toward Maura. "Please get some rest and feel better." She said as Maura gently took the detective's hand and shook it.
Vega then looked to Jane a moment. "There's just one thing…How did you know it was the O'Rourke brothers, detective Rizzoli?" she asked, eyebrow rising slightly at the question.
Jane squirmed slightly and moved from beside Maura to stand up. She met Vega's eyes and for a moment they just stared. "I told you, detective… Anonymous tip." She said in a hard voice.
The staring contest continued before Vega broke it and nodded. "Alright." She said, knowing she had been defeated. Apparently she had met her match. She held out her hand for Jane to shake and nodded. "Thank you both. We'll be in touch." And with that, the SVU detective left.
The room was silent for a beat, until Maura spoke up. "How did you know, Jane? How did you know who they were?" She watched as Jane's eyes shifted to the ground and she fidgeted. Not even giving the detective a chance to reply, she continued, "Is that how you hurt your hand? Is that where you went when you left me?" She didn't mean to sound as so demanding, but even as the questions spilled out, her quick mind began to put the pieces together. "Doyle…"