Jane was bored. She had been on medical leave for ten days so far, and had been bored for nine of them. Maura had been with her for the first couple days, but then had to return to work, leaving Jane to her own devices for the majority of the days. And Jane had quickly realized there is only so much daytime TV one can watch before boredom sets in, something she had never thought possible.
"I wonder if it's possible to die from boredom." She muttered, rolling onto her back on the couch, feeling only a slight twinge of pain in her ribs as she did. Her injuries had been healing quite well, but her stitches had yet to come out and she couldn't return to desk duty until they did. Jane picked up the TV remote and pointed it toward the large flat-screen TV, but decided against it and placed it back on the coffee table, letting out a loud groan of frustration.
Raising her head to look at the clock in the kitchen, she let her head fall back against the couch cushions, mentally calculating how much longer it would be before her wife would be home. Ughhh. Five more hours-she lamented internally. Jane slid one arm off the couch, her hand searching blindly around on the floor for the tennis ball she knew was somewhere in the near vicinity. Wrapping her hand around the ball, she brought her arm up and began to toss the ball straight up in the air from her position on her back. She gradually increased the force of her tosses, seeing how high she could get the ball. Jane had just bounced the ball off the ceiling above her, when she heard keys being inserted into the front door. Thinking it was her mother, who had already been over once this morning, she continued to fling the tennis ball into the air.
Jane had just tossed the ball particularly hard, bouncing it off the ceiling with a resounding thunk, when she noticed Maura standing in the entryway, hands on her hips.
Maura frowned. "I see you are in the same position I left you in. Did you even bother getting dressed?" She craned her neck to see what Jane was wearing as she slipped off her sneakers.
Jane looked down at what she was wearing. She had not even bothered to get dressed and had been lounging around in her underwear for the majority of the day. She had managed to throw a tank top on after her second nap of the day however. "I have clothes on." She responded grumpily, tossing the ball into the air again. As the ball bounced off the ceiling and headed back towards Jane's outstretched hands, Maura stretched out her hand and intercepted it, eliciting a glare from Jane.
Maura eyed her half-dressed wife skeptically. "I told you yesterday not to bounce this off the ceiling. It leaves marks. Honestly Jane, I don't know how you wear so little clothing. It's the middle of winter for heaven's sake!"
Jane grunted noncommittally and rolled onto her side facing away from Maura. Maura sighed and walked into the kitchen, picking up the half-eaten bowl of cereal Jane had left on the counter and placing it in the sink. She noticed the pills that were still lying on the counter where she had left them this morning, meaning that Jane had not taken her antibiotic or her pain pills. I swear- I married the most stubborn women on earth-Maura thought as she scooped the pills into her hand. Maura filled a glass with water and padded into the living room. She stopped in front of her scowling wife and held her hands out. "Take your pills." She ordered. Her wife huffed and rolled her eyes, wrapping her arms around her chest stubbornly instead of reaching for the pills.
"I don't want to." Jane responded sullenly. "I don't like how they make me feel."
Maura was quickly losing patience. "Jane, you can't just stop taking antibiotics. You have to finish the dose. Come on, you only have two more days anyway. Just take them and stop acting like a four-year-old-throwing a tantrum. If you don't feel like you need the pain meds any more, then this can be your last dose." She thrust the glass towards the brunette and looked at her expectantly, waiting for Jane to concede.
Muttering a few choice words, Jane finally sat up after a few seconds. Maura couldn't help but notice how she grimaced while she did so, feeling validated about forcing her wife to take her medicines. Jane grabbed the glass out of her hand and tossed back the pills. She set the glass back down on the coffee table, with a little too much force for Maura's liking, then shot her a particularly vicious glare, curling back up on the couch.
"Can I take a nap now? Or are you not done nagging yet?" Jane spat out. As soon as she said it she regretted it, watching Maura stiffen up. The look of hurt that passed across her wife's face said it all, and Jane knew she was in deep shit.
Maura picked up the empty water glass and deposited it in the sink. Without saying a word, she quietly made her way up the stairs and into their bedroom. Jane could hear their bedroom door shut from her position on the couch.
"Goddammit." Jane muttered, running her hands through her tangled curls in frustration. "Why do I have to be such an asshole sometimes?" She sat up gingerly, waiting a few seconds before she swung her legs over the edge of the couch and got to her feet.
Maura could hear Jane's hindered gait as she made her way down the hallway. Her leg had healed well, but Jane still had a slight limp, as she couldn't put full weight on it yet. Maura sniffled and brushed the tears out of her eyes, curling up tighter against herself. The door opened quietly and a few seconds later Maura felt the bed dip as her wife sat down on the edge.
Jane sighed as she heard Maura's quiet crying. Without hesitation she slipped in beside her, rolling over so that she was behind her wife. Surprisingly, there was little resistance from Maura, and Jane slipped her arms easily around her thin waist, pulling her close against her. Jane brushed the blonde hair away from Maura's neck and placed a gentle kiss at the nape, then lowered her head to the mattress, breathing in the delicate scent of Maura's shampoo.
"I'm an ass." Jane whispered. "You came home early for me, didn't you?"
Maura didn't respond immediately, but eventually rolled over to face Jane, settling against her chest. She sniffled quietly, and Jane felt an immediate pang of guilt as a few tears made their way down Maura's reddened cheeks. Jane reached up with one hand and brushed them away, feeling Maura relax in her embrace.
"I'm sorry Maur. Really. You were only trying to help and my behavior was totally uncalled for. I've been a cranky, miserable, bitch for the past several days, and honestly, I don't know how you've put up with me." Jane kissed Maura's forehead then started to rub her hands along Maura's upper back. "Please forgive me."
They remained in that position for quite some time, and Jane felt the tension ease out of Maura with every pass of her hands along her back. The soft cries and sniffles stopped a short time later, and Maura snuggled in closer, her hands sliding under Jane's tank top and resting against the warm skin on Jane's lower back.
"Do you want to talk about it Jane?" Maura's quiet question came out of the blue and startled Jane a bit. "Are you just bored? Or is it something else?"
Truthfully, Jane didn't want to talk about it, but after the horrible way she had treated Maura, she at least owed her an explanation.
"I'm just frustrated." She admitted. "I hate being stuck at home and feeling helpless and like I'm an invalid. It sucks."
Maura nodded. "I know Jane. I don't like seeing you like this either. But it doesn't excuse your foul mood and childish behavior." She looked up and saw an embarrassed flush creep across Jane's face and chest.
Jane sighed deeply and looked solemnly into Maura's hazel eyes. "You're absolutely right. I was awful to you and I feel terrible."
They were quiet again for several seconds until Maura broke the silence.
"Thank you for coming up here and apologizing Jane." She said quietly. Her hands started to move underneath Jane's tank top, her fingertips lightly brushing along smooth skin on her abdomen and back, eliciting goosebumps. "I talked to Dr. Barnett in passing this morning and he says that your sutures can probably come out when you finish your antibiotics." She smiled at Jane's relieved expression.
Jane's relief turned into a full grin as she kissed Maura fully on the lips. "That's music to my ears Maur." She nipped playfully at Maura's neck and squirmed as Maura's hands continued to explore her torso.
A few minutes later, Maura was too distracted by the kisses Jane was placing on her neck and upper chest to notice when long fingers danced playfully along the waistband of her scrubs. Jane had begun to untie the knot at the top of the scrubs when she felt Maura's hands over hers, halting her progress.
"Jane"-Maura said breathlessly-"What are you doing?"
Jane responded by pushing her hands away and resuming her efforts to untie the knot. "I'm making it up to you for being an ass earlier. Just go with it." She growled, successfully untying the knot and slowly easing the pants down Maura's legs.
"But Jane, your leg…" Maura started, only to be cut off by Jane's lips pressing against her own.
"I'll be careful Maur." Jane whispered, settling gently onto her stomach between her legs. "Now shut up and let me make it up to you." She grinned wickedly. Maura couldn't' help but shut her eyes as lips pressed against her lower stomach and journeyed lower with each passing second.
Maura flopped back against the pillows, her breath coming in gasps as she basked in the afterglow of an intense climax. She brushed a sweaty strand of hair off her face, squirming as she felt Jane's lips on each of her inner thighs. The sheet over her lower body moved as Jane made her way back up toward the head of the bed, eventually emerging from under the sheet with a cocky grin on her face.
"I told you I'd make it up to you." Jane said as she gathered up the comforter that had been tossed aside in the heat of the moment and pulled it over both of them.
Maura immediately pulled her wife close as she continued to come down from her high. "Well, I'd say you certainly did that, and more." She craned her neck and kissed her wife, almost letting out a groan as she tasted herself on Jane's lips. "We haven't done that in a while, have we?"
"Mhmm." Jane yawned sleepily in agreement, reaching for Maura's hand and linking their fingers together.
As the two women cuddled together, for some inexplicable reason, Maura found herself thinking about a situation that had happened several days ago during another one of her ER rotations. A situation with an orphaned infant had affected the entire ER staff, and had weighed heavily on Maura's mind since then.
"Jane, don't go to sleep yet." Maura squeezed her hand and brown eyes appeared again. "I want…I want to talk about something."
Jane frowned slightly, curious as to what her wife wanted to discuss immediately after sex. "Okay…what is it?"
Maura paused and took a breath before she started. "I was thinking…I-I want to apply to become a foster parent."
Jane's frown eased, and she moved to sit up against the headboard. Maura followed suit and they settled in next to each other once again, Maura's fingers pulling at a loose thread on the blanket. Finally Jane cleared her throat.
"Okay. Can I ask what brought this on?" Jane fixed her gaze intently onto her wife's face.
Maura recounted the story from several days ago, telling Jane about the unresponsive woman paramedics had brought in, along with an infant who was only a few days old. The trauma team worked on her for a long time, but the woman had overdosed and couldn't be resuscitated. At some point in the shuffle, the baby had been placed in Maura's arms, and she held the tiny boy as his mother was worked on. After they pronounced the woman dead, they tried to locate family or next of kin with the help of the police, but everything ended up in a dead end. Maura held the little boy for several hours, eventually surrendering him to a social worker who was going to take him to a temporary foster home until they could locate a permanent home for him. Just as she handed him to the social worker, his eyes opened, and Maura could remember the brightest blue eyes looking back up at her.
"Jane…in that moment, I couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen to that little boy. He was so innocent and now his whole life is going to be determined by the foster system." Maura's voice started to waver. "What kind of life is that?" When she looked at Jane, there were tears brimming in her eyes.
Jane sighed and kissed her wife affectionately. "So what do you want to do Maur?" She asked softly. "That little guy has already been placed. There's nothing we can do."
Maura nodded, brushing back her tears. "I know Jane. I just…I mean, we have so much to offer a child Jane, and I want to be available to help children like him."
"I'm not saying no Maura…but what about work? You and I don't exactly have the most…normal…schedules for taking in foster children." Jane glanced up at Maura nervously.
"No. You're right Jane. But, my residency is finishing in four more months, and after that I should have a more regular schedule. And the application process can take several months to complete. Will you just think about it? Please?"
The look on Maura's face had already convinced Jane that they should start the process, but she pulled Maura in for another kiss. "Yes. I'll think about it." She promised, eliciting a watery smile from her wife.
Maura let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and scooted down in the bed, Jane joining her only a second later, pulling the covers tightly over them.
"Okay." Maura reached for Jane's hand. "Thank you."