It had been two weeks since Jane and Maura's first date. Both women had deemed it a complete success and had promised there would be another. It seemed however, that time was in their way.
The cold months of the year were like having Christmas every day when you were an orthopedic surgeon. Your schedule would be constantly filled with bad fractures due to people falling off roofs or taking bad falls on the ice. Maura loved her job, and happily went to work whenever she was paged in, even though at times she wasn't even on the rotation. The fact that she and Jane were now dating did make that a little difficult.
Jane on her side had begun physical therapy and was struggling in her own sense. She was learning hand movement all over again. Coordination was going to be particularly difficult to get again. Darcy, her therapist, had been pushing her hard over the course of their sessions, not once giving in. Though it was physically and emotionally exhausting, Jane liked her. The more she was pushed, the sooner she could get better. By the end of week two, she was able to close her hand around and pick up a tennis ball, albeit not for long. She was regaining strength, and that meant she could start building up to other things.
"Dr. Isles, it's so good to see you; we weren't expecting you, were we Jane?" Darcy said as she looked over at her patient. Jane seemed to have lost any and all concentration at hearing the doctor's name. The tennis ball she was working on slipped off her hand and bounced to the ground.
"Yeah—I mean – no, we weren't expecting her." Jane looked up at Maura, a shy look on her face. "Hello Dr. Isles," she said to the blonde standing before her.
"Hello Jane." Maura replied with a smile. She turned her attention to the physical therapist. "I just had a lull in between surgeries and I thought I'd come by to see how Jane's progress is going. I hope it's alright."
"Sure, I have no problem with that," Darcy replied instantly. Both women looked over to Jane, who just nodded her head. "We have been progressing rather well," the therapist began. "Jane shows determination and isn't one to give up or give in. You know that is something needed to help you thrive in physical therapy. We're going slowly, trying to rebuild muscle/tendon/nerve strength and coordination so that we can proceed with more difficult things later on. So far she's done great. She's able to open and close her hand, though we've not gotten to making a fist. She's able to hold onto a tennis ball and can lift it, set it down and lift it again. Once she becomes more comfortable with that, we'll move on to smaller objects that require more precision."
Jane sat, quiet as the two doctors went over her current treatment. She felt a little odd at the fact that the object of her affection was going in and checking on her progress. This was Maura though; it was to be expected.
The doctor had been nothing but worried and inquisitive of her treatment and current state of pain or lack thereof. She tried to mask it as much as possible. They did text throughout the day and Maura asked how she was, what she was doing, all the while trying to stay away from questions she wanted to ask. She didn't want Jane to feel overwhelmed or like she was being constantly checked on. She had seriously debated going into the physical therapy area, knowing Jane would be there. In the end, she ended up going without alerting the brunette, hoping that she made the right decision. The blonde had tried to make eye contact while talking to her colleague only to see Jane looking down at her hands, seemingly fascinated with them.
"Since Dr. Isles is here, I'm going to bring this session to an end, Jane. We were nearly done anyway. Just continue with the exercises I gave you and I'll see you in two days."
"Ok, thanks Darcy," Jane said as she made to stand. She looked over at Maura, wondering what to do or say.
"Do you have time for some coffee? It's just coffee cart coffee, so it won't be nearly as good as last time…" Maura said, jumbling the words together.
"Yeah, that's good," Jane said as she followed the doctor out of the ward.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your therapy," Maura began. "I just had a break and since I knew you were in the hospital, I thought we might get coffee."
"It's fine Maura; it's good to see you," Jane said with a smile.
"It's good to see you too, Jane. It seems like it's been too long."
Maura wanted to spend more time with the detective. That night on the observatory roof had lit something within her, something she had considered long to be gone: hope. Hope that maybe there really was something going on between the two of them that wasn't just in her imagination... Hope that Jane was quite possibly feeling the same way Maura was... Hope that maybe her days and nights alone were numbered.
They had their coffee, both agreeing that it wasn't all that great. Maura had taken the cups in her hand and had led Jane to her office, where they would undoubtedly get a little more privacy.
"My next surgery is in 45 minutes so I'm sorry that I won't have a lot of time. I just really wanted to see you. These last couple of weeks have been the longest in quite some time. Every time I get my phone to text or call you to ask you out, I seem to get caught either in surgery or on my way to the hospital."
"I understand. You're a doctor; you're bound to be busy. I've been busy too," Jane replied.
"I know physical therapy must be quite difficult right now, but it seems like you're making wonderful progress Jane. That's really great."
"Yeah, hopefully soon I'll be able to hold more than just a tennis ball in my hand again."
"The time will come and your work will pay off, you'll see."
By the time Maura had to leave, she and Jane had agreed to date number 2 with this time being Maura's turn to pick their activities. She had discussed it with Jane and the brunette had wholeheartedly agreed that a night in together after a long day of Maura being on her feet and Jane being in therapy sounded great. It wouldn't be a formal date, Maura had clarified. It would just be spending time together. She would take the detective out for something more formal when they were both better rested.
Jane was still having issues with getting Angela out of sight on the occasions when she wanted to be alone. Though it took a lot of persuading from both Jane and Frankie (with Frankie promising to look after Jane) Angela got on a bus and headed to Atlantic City with Carla Tallucci for the weekend. Frankie kept his word, he was going to keep an eye on Jane, they just didn't mention the fact that Jane wouldn't be home for one of those nights. He figured that if a doctor was looking after her, she'd probably be doing a better job than himself.
Maura came and picked Jane up on Friday night, looking as beautiful and laid back as ever. She made the relatively short drive home talking to Jane about her surgeries that day. She could tell the brunette was a little nervous, and wanted her to be at ease.
"Jane, if you're not alright with this, we really don't have to do it," Maura said as she came to a stop at a light. "We can do something else. Would you like to go watch a movie or visit a museum perhaps? We can always have dinner somewhere else."
"No Maura, it's alright. I've just never been to your house, that's all."
"I just want to clarify; I don't you to stress over something like this. Just because we're going to my house doesn't mean that I have any expectations on what tonight will be. I was thinking we could order some Chinese or a pizza and just watch a movie over a glass of wine."
"I think that sounds great, I really do. I've been looking forward to spending time with you since that night at the observatory."
Maura smiled back at her. "Me too," she said as she continued driving.
Maura ordered pizza for dinner and the two ate and sipped on wine while continuing to share work stories. Jane had just gotten comfortable on the couch and Maura was busy setting up the blu-ray player when her pager went off.
"No… no… you have got to be kidding me! I'm off for the rest of the night and I'm not on call!"
"What's the matter Maura?" Jane asked as she made to rise from the comfortable sofa she was on.
"No, please don't get up. It's my pager," she grabbed it from the counter to read the oncoming message. "Just give me a minute, please." She grabbed her phone and quickly dialed. "This better be good Susie because I'm not even on the rotation tonight."
Jane looked nervously up at Maura, who was pacing back and forth in front of the television. She kept asking questions and calling out medications and other terminology Jane didn't understand. Judging by the look on Maura's face though, it didn't look good.
"What about Grant?! Liu? Nelson?!" Her tone of voice kept getting more and more agitated. She looked over to Jane and mouthed 'I'm sorry' to her as she continued on the phone. "Prep her and have an OR ready and waiting," she said before she hung up the phone and tossed it to the side. "Jane, I'm so very sorry, we're going to have to cut this short."
"It sounded important," Jane said as she motioned to the phone.
"There is a teenage girl in the ER right now who fell off the roof of her house and broke around 50 bones. There are no other doctors that can handle this kind of case. I am truly sorry but I have no choice. I have to go to work."
"Hey, Maura, it's ok. This is important. I would have never even thought something like that was possible."
"It is important, but you are important to me too. I wish I could just say no and have someone else deal with it."
"No Maura. You're a doctor, a damned good one. That teenager needs you. We can continue this another time."
Maura looked like she didn't know what to say.
"What is it?" Jane questioned.
"Well, it truly means a lot to me that you're so understanding of this. I have to go, and I had a thought, but I don't know if it's too much. We've only just gone out once before and I don't want you to feel pressured or anything."
Jane nodded her head to encourage her to continue.
"You've told me just how much you're tired of your apartment and how you just want to get out. I know that this isn't much better, going from one couch to another, but you are welcome to stay here if you'd like. I don't know how long I'm going to take, it could be a couple of hours, it could be all night. I just hate to cut this short and have you back in a place you've grown tired of. I don't know, I thought that just maybe after I returned from the hospital, depending on the time, I could either fix us breakfast or we could get back to that movie…"
Jane's smile was timid yet her eyes shone. "You'd let me stay here? We hardly know each other…"
"I've got nothing to hide Jane. I trust you won't have any wild parties in my absence," Maura said teasingly.
"Well it would save you the trip dropping me off," Jane said. "Plus, I would get to see you again so we could continue where we left off. If you're sure it's alright, then I'll stay. I'm sure you have ESPN or something on the tv."
"I'm sure I do," Maura replied. "I have an extensive channel list. Help yourself to anything at all in the kitchen or movie-wise. I will return as soon as I possibly can, I promise." She grabbed her purse and, without thinking leaned down to Jane's level and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.
It took both women by surprise. It had been an automatic thing that Maura hadn't even put any thought into.
"I'm sorry –" she began to apologize. "I didn't mean to insinuate—"
Jane leaned up to Maura this time and kissed her back. "Hurry back," she said before giving Maura one last smile and getting comfortable on the sofa once more.
stupid FF for being stubborn and not letting me upload a chapter... I found a way around it! I hope you like it! Let me know! Jane has a free pass in Maura's house... what will she do? What will she come across? Also, kudos to the one that can recognize Maura's case;)