With a yawn Maura pulled a fresh shirt over Jane's head. They had been living in this arrangement for a week, and now everything was just a matter of routine. Maura would wake up an hour earlier than normal; dress Jane and make her eat a soft breakfast; walk Jane the long way to the sofa to get her used to walking again; dress herself; feed Jo-Friday and then go to work. Over the days Jane had made ever so slight progress as she leant on Maura less as they walked, and didn't take too much encouragement to eat. But not only was everything physically taxing for both of them, it was testing their mental strength as well. Jane was trying to bring her mind back into the present, but every time she would try and focus on something like walking or eating her memories would viscously haunt her and urge her to go back to bed to forget everything. If it wasn't for Maura constantly encouraging her and interacting with her, Jane would have nothing to focus on in the present and just remain in bed reliving the past.
Instead of walking straight down to the morgue Maura headed to the café in desperate need of a coffee. It was strange not to see the beaming face of Angela behind the counter, but before she could ponder on that thought she noticed Frost pouring out a coffee. She joined him and silently prayed in her head that she wouldn't have to discuss Jane. "Are you okay?" he asked as she filled up a cup, and it took her by surprise. Normally people said, "How's Jane?" or, "Give Jane my best." Everyone was so concerned about Jane, and they had reason to be, but Frost was the first person to ask Maura how she was doing. "I'm okay thanks," she replied, not wanting to appear selfish or in any way imply that she was struggling. Sensing something was up and noticing the strength of the coffee Maura had just poured herself Frost continued, "How are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?" Maura remained silent and Frost had his answer. "You know if you wanted to take some time off, Cavanaugh would let you. Call it compassionate leave or something."
"Jane isn't dead, Frost. I don't need compassionate leave. I'm fine," she replied curtly, and then walked off to the morgue to bury herself in her work. She flung open the door to her office, put down her bag, and burst into tears. She sat down on the couch and put her head in her hands, feeling her body shake as she sobbed. A few minutes later Vince Korsak silently walked in unnoticed. He coughed awkwardly and Maura's head shot up, and she began to wipe the tears from her face whilst explaining, "There's an um… a tough case… It just got to me a bit." Korsak knew full well that Maura wasn't the sort of person to cry this much because of a case. She may dress like a princess but she was stronger than any knight in shining armour. He sat down next to her and placed his hand on her back. "You are allowed to break down," he said, "You can't expect to look after Jane in the state that she is in and still be strong all the time."
Accepting what he was saying, Maura allowed herself to continue crying as she was pulled into a big, warm hug. Eventually she calmed down and felt an awful lot better after letting it all out. She thanked Korsak as he left to finish up some paperwork and then started on work herself. She worked all through lunch, finding the constant flow of work therapeutic and calming. Instead of working late, she finished dead on 5pm and hurried home to Jane. Maura opened the front door and walked into the guest house. She began to panic when she heard another voice in the house and hurried to find Jane. She reached the living room and breathed out, "Oh my god." The voice she heard was resonating from the TV, which she didn't put on that morning. That only left one other explanation – Jane had put it on.
She smiled ridiculously as she realised how much Jane had moved: she had reached forward to pick the remote up from the coffee table and pressed the power button all on her own. This was a big deal. No, this was a huge deal. Jane was showing signs of strong hand function and the ability to focus on a task, which was an improvement. Maura walked over and sat down next to her on the sofa and watched Jane stare at the screen. She didn't know if she was actually watching it, but the simple matter that the TV was even on was extraordinary. "I'm proud of you Jane," she said, and then stood up and picked up the phone. Once she had ordered Chinese takeout for herself she began to warm up some soup for Jane. As the liquid slowly heated up, Maura thought of something to try. It was a long shot, but after the progress Jane showed today it was worth a go.
She wandered over to the sofa and stood in front of Jane, picking up her hands. Slowly she pulled her to her feet, and instead of hooking her arm around Jane's waist like usual, she merely rested Jane's forearms on her own so she acted like a zimmer-frame. "It's just like before, just move one foot and then the other," Maura encouraged, trying to get Jane walking slightly more independently. The concentration on Jane's face was profound as she clenched her jaw and breathed heavily through her nose. After about half a minute of standing still, she slid one foot a couple of inches along the floor. "That's it!" Maura exclaimed. Gradually Jane moved her other foot, and then took about three small steps per minute. It took ten minutes to travel less than ten feet to the kitchen counter, but they made it. The doorbell rang, and Maura gently eased Jane's arms onto the counter top so she had something to lean on as she stood up. Standing up wasn't as much effort as walking, and so Jane was grateful for the rest but proud of far she'd travelled.
Maura switched off the stove heating up the soup then went to open the door, and saw the man from the Chinese restaurant she ordered takeaway from holding her food. With her hands full as she rummaged through her purse she said, "Can you take it into the kitchen for me?" The man complied, but as he put the food on the counter he jumped back at the sight before him. Jane was leaning against the counter just as Maura left her, but only now she had a knife in her hands. Realising what was happening Maura flew across the room, shoved a $20 note in the man's hands and said, "Go! Just go! I'm sorry!" as she pushed him out the apartment. She ran back to Jane and noticed that she hadn't quite managed to grip the knife completely on the handle, and part of the large blade was cutting into her hand. "You can let go, he's gone," Maura said in a soft voice, gently trying to pull the knife from Jane's grasp. She threw the knife into the sink and focused her attention on Jane's hands, which were now bleeding profusely. It took a while to stop the bleeding, but eventually Maura managed to wrap a bandage around the wound.
It was late into the night by the time Jane was dressed in her pyjamas and in bed. Still in her green dress from that day, Maura sat on the mattress next to her friend and spoke out loud the thought she'd been holding in all night. "It's men, isn't it? You're not comfortable with men ever since… ever since Brazil." She had made the connections – Jane had resisted treatment from male doctors before she was allowed home, she had fought off Frankie Jr. when he tried to pick her up, and she had grabbed a knife when the delivery man entered the house. For the first time in days, Jane made eye contact with Maura and moved her head ever so slightly in a nodding motion. Maura smiled sadly and said, "That's okay to feel like that," before placing a goodnight kiss on the top of Jane's head. Just as she was about to stand up, she felt Jane's hand clamp around her arm and saw fear plague her eyes.
Knowing Jane so well, she knew what was wrong and said, "Okay, I won't leave." Maura swung her legs on top of the bed and lay down next to Jane. She wanted nothing more than to wrap an arm across Jane's body and feel her warmth radiate between their bodies, but she didn't want to make Jane feel trapped and so resisted. Instead, they lay there side by side with their arms touching, and although she still clasped onto Maura's arm, Jane loosened her grip as they both fell into a blissful sleep.