A fair few people are confused by the title of this story, hopefully it will become apparent in this chapter :)

Also if anyone is a fan of my work there are some Rizzles fan awards opening in a matter of hours...hint hint ;) if you google it you will see the links to it - i'd love it if i were nominated :)

Maura's eyes fluttered open to see Jane's worried face gazing down at her. Maura smiled affectionately at her best friend before the painful memories came racing back and flooded her mind. She watched as the relief in Jane's face quickly disappeared as her face fell in despair at the change in her own expression. Maura tried to get as far away from her as possible but felt her head swoon again and was forced to lie back down.

When the ME opened her eyes and smiled at her Jane felt a huge wave of relief and happiness wash over but even as she looked into those hazel eyes she saw the flame suddenly reignite and the steel clouded the hazel. She sighed as Maura tried to get up and presumably away from her but her annoyance paled as the medical examiner fell back.

Maura felt sick to her stomach and couldn't decide if it was the smell, if she had hit her head, or the fact that Jane was cradling her head. She should have been thanking her, she should have been grateful; instead she could only see red, her rage failing to subside. Once she felt more stable she sat up and briskly brushed Jane away from her, ignoring the hurt look the detective gave her.

Jane tried not to feel rejected and upset as Maura shrugged her off and shot her a look that could only be described as disgust, but it hurt her deeply and she felt as if she had been winded. She focused her gaze on the scars on her palms, her vision blurred by the tears swimming in her eyes and she grimaced as she clenched her fists as hard as she could wanting to feel any other pain than the emotional one she was feeling.

"Amorphophallus titanum, the titan arum. A tuberous plant endemic to western Sumatra, where it grows in openings in rainforest on limestone hills. Locals know it by the more evocative name 'corpse flower' bunga bangkai, because of the hideous stench the fly-pollinated inflorescences produce." Maura wandered over and gently fingered the flattened large glossy fuchsia flower. "Unusual to find here, it is very difficult to grow and very expensive." Maura felt herself becoming queasy again the more she looked at it. She frowned, it wasn't the smell, in fact she had become quite acclimatised to it, it was more that it was disturbing her and she couldn't quite place her finger on why. "Parts of this particular plant are poisonous. The corpse flower can be-"

Maura stopped her googlemouth flow abruptly and Jane turned sharply to look at her. Once again the ME had gone deathly pale and her usually rock steady hands were trembling furiously. Jane slowly made her way over to the medical examiner and crouched down next to her. She placed a tentative hand on Maura's knee and was surprised when it wasn't removed. "Maur?"

Maura could feel the bile rising up at the back of her throat and she swallowed rapidly. Something wasn't right but she had no idea why but there was a feeling deep in the pit of her stomach, a dreading feeling. She stood up sharply, almost stumbling back from the head rush and felt Jane's hand on her lower back steadying her. She looked into her best friend's chocolate eyes that were flooded with worry, concern and compassion. Something within Maura wanted to reach out and gather comfort in her friend's arms but she steeled herself. You are being irrational, quite probably due to the stress of the last few days, caused by Jane no less. She took a deep breath and tried to convince herself that it wasn't bothering her. Pull yourself together Maura, you are a Doctor. We do not listen to our intestines.

Jane could see the thoughts racing through the ME's mind and she searched Maura's face for any kind of clue as to what was going on but found the medical examiner unusually unreadable. Jane frowned, this wasn't just the whole Paddy Doyle thing, something was bugging her and she was trying to block it out, as well as Jane. "Maur..."

The gentle husky voice of the detective snapped Maura out of her nebulous thoughts and she span on her heels and walked briskly out of the building calling to Jane over her shoulder "You will receive my findings in the autopsy report."

Jane watched her best friend vanish out of the door and felt the worry niggling at her, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand up and her stomach to roll over. When she could no longer see Maura she turned back to the strange purple plant on the floor and snapped a photo of it on her phone.

Maura managed to hold it together as she passed colleagues and barked out instructions in a more vigorous tone than usual. As soon as she sat behind the wheel of her car however she broke down, heavy tears rolled down her face, forceful sobs wracked her body and she gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. She sucked in as deeper breaths as she could manage to try and calm herself. She was shocked at the overwhelming emotions she was feeling and had no clue as to why they were there. Certainly she had not gotten to recommended or preferred amount of sleep over the past few days but she felt positively hysterical. She wiped away the tears as she felt her composure returning.

Jane came out of the building and was confronted by Frost who was reeling off information about the victim, relatives and possible suspects. She did her best to listen to him but she was focused on the photo of the flower on her phone.

"Jane?"

She looked at him guiltily and handed him the phone "Find out what you can about that, it's some kind of plant Titan something Maura says."

"You two ok? She seemed kinda mad when she came out?"

Jane looked away from his questioning gaze and simply began walking away, not in the mood to discuss that particular subject. As she walked away from him she saw Maura sitting in her car wiping her eyes looking like she had been crying.

Maura looked up and saw Jane walking toward the car, she couldn't handle her now, she didn't have the strength to go over what happened and she couldn't provide an explanation as to what had just happened to her. She turned the key in the ignition and started up the car. She sighed as she saw Jane speed up and began running toward her car.

Jane managed to slap the rear end of Maura's car as she sped away, she growled in frustration as she watched her drive off into the distance. She took her hair out of the tie and ran her hand through it. Something's not right here and I'm sure as hell not gonna just let it go.