It was another day before Dr. Shepherd deemed Maura well enough to remove the breathing tube. The swelling in her brain had gone down and was now within normal limits; he would be going in the following day to replace the skull fragment he'd previously removed. He'd performed a thorough evaluation of her neural function and found her to be in excellent shape in that sense. There didn't seem to be any kind of brain damage to worry about.

Her parents had come and gone. Once they were able to see that their daughter was and would be alright, they kissed her goodbye and returned to Europe, promising to keep tabs on her from the other side of the world. Jane still had a hard time believing that.

It took Maura a while to speak since her throat was so hoarse from having the breathing tube in. She'd been communicating via tablet for a few hours before she attempted to speak. Jane of course, hadn't left her side from the moment she'd walked into the ICU room the night of the accident. Once Maura began speaking, Dr. Shepherd returned to perform additional testing, just to make sure her memory was up to par.

"Good afternoon. I'm Dr. Shepherd, one of the surgeons who operated on you. I'm just going to be doing a quick exam if that's alright."

"Of course doctor, do what you need to do."

"Can you tell me your name?"

"Maura Dorthea Isles."

"When is your birthdate?"

"August 7th, 1976."

"So how old are you now?"

"36…"

"Sorry," Dr. Shepherd replied with a chuckle. "Just testing your math there."

"What are your parents' names?"

"Richard and Constance Isles."

"Do you know the other person in this room?"

"Yes, that's Jane Rizzoli."

"What is your relationship to Ms. Rizzoli?"

"Ah doc, I'm the wife, remember?" Jane said, giving Maura a quick, embarrassed look.

"I'm just trying to see how much Dr. Isles remembers, that's all… Dr. Isles?"

"Of course I remember Jane," Maura stated without additional input. If she confirmed what Jane had said, she knew either she'd faint or the hives would kick in.

"With everything else I've asked, I would be surprised if you didn't," Dr. Shepherd replied playfully. Well it seems like everything is in order. Your memory appears to be intact, which is great news. Do you have any questions for me about your surgery for tomorrow?"

"No doctor, thank you."

"You're quite welcome. It's quite standard procedure; we'll be in and out of the OR in no time. If you should have any questions, then just have me paged. Until then, I'll be seeing you soon Dr. Isles."

"Thank you again Dr. Shepherd.

The neurosurgeon quickly made his exit and left a Maura with a questioning look towards her best friend.

"Wife? How'd that come about?" Maura asked, curious.

Jane smiled sheepishly. "Well you see… when we came in, there was no way we could get information on your condition. Frost had tried to contact your parents, but they were in Europe and were going to take some time in getting here. You were in real bad shape Maur, and I wanted to make sure you were ok. They wouldn't give my ma or anyone from the precinct any information, so I just told them that little lie so that they would tell me your condition while you were in surgery and then later when you were moved to the ICU. I realize now what a huge invasion of privacy it is, and I'm sorry for that Maura. I just wanted to know you were ok."

"No Jane, don't apologize. In fact, you have a point. I never really thought this would be a situation I'd be in… now don't go there either, let me finish. I don't have anyone here. There's no family other than my parents, and they seldom visit the States. I can see how it would be very difficult for you to get protected health information on me. You're my best friend; I know that I'd want to know you were well and properly taken care of if the roles were reversed. Thankfully, I know Angela and Frankie would let me in on what's going on. Since that clearly wasn't the case here, at least not at the beginning, I can see why you did it. In any event, I'll have the necessary paperwork done so that you can be given my health and status updates should the need arise again."

"Maura, about that… it shouldn't have even happened this time. This whole thing is my fault! If only I wouldn't have let you come with me—"

"I told you to drop that, Jane. This is an unfortunate thing that's happened, but you shouldn't feel guilty about it because it isn't your fault. This could've happened to any of us, and you were quite hurt yourself! I don't want you to blame yourself for something you didn't do. If anything, I should thank you, for saving my life… for keeping me safe."

"You don't have to thank me for that Maura. You've my best friend too and I love you. I will always do everything in my power to keep you safe. I know you would've done the same for me."

"Yes, I would have. And Jane?"

"Yes, Maur?"

"I love you too."


Yep, I too, think it's too early for Jane to just blurt out "I love you" so I figured I'd do it in the BFF context. Next update shouldn't take long!