Maura's head was killing her the next morning. Everything felt heavy and achey. A splitting headache had greeted her once she had woken up and as usual refused to go away, even with the help of painkillers. Maura had decided she needed to go home to feed Bass, and get a new outfit so she wasn't showing up to work in the same clothes as yesterday. Usually she kept a spare outfit at Jane's but she had used it several weeks ago and had forgotten to replace it. It was becoming a more and more frequent thing staying over at Jane's during the week, she needed to get organised so she wouldn't have a mad rush to dress herself appropriately as the Chief Medical Examiner of the state of Massachusetts every morning when she woke in Jane's bed.

Organisation Maura had repeated the word several times over in her head before yawning sleepily at the thought of it.

"No thank you" she mumbled battling to keep her eyes open. The morning sun was blinding Maura, even through her sunglasses, she felt hunched over the wheel of her car as she drove through the streets of Boston. "C'mon Maur, just wear what you wore yesterday and lets go get coffee" Jane had groaned when Maura had announced she needed to go home before she went to work. She had just looked at Jane horrified at the idea of wearing the same outfit. "

Wearing the same dress won't kill you" Jane had argued seeing the look on Maura's face.

"It might" Maura had frowned. "Who's gonna notice?"

"Everyone, probably even the dead bodies, I never wear the same outfit twice in a week" Maura pouted. Jane had known she wasn't going to win this debate so she threw her hands up in the air.

"Fine, meet me at Boston Joe's in 20"

That had been agreeable for Maura, but now that she was in her car driving seemed like a huge effort that she wished she hadn't partaken in. The sounds of angry morning traffic wasn't helping her head in the slightest, she had already turned off the radio as soon as she got in the car, the smallest amount of noise was causing a big amount of damage to her already pounding head. She couldn't believe she had gotten drunk again on a week night, what's happening to me? She thought as she pulled up at the stop light. Am I turning into an alcoholic? She questioned leaning her arm on the window so she could rest her aching head on her hand. Maura stared at the red light, feeling herself drifting off into her world of thoughts, but the sudden flash of green startled her out of her daze and she slowly lowered her foot onto the accelerator turning the corner, entirely missing the silver Subaru that had just run the red light and was spinning at great speed around the same corner Maura had just turned into.

"Where is she?" Jane impatiently tapped her foot, sitting at the table by the window of Boston Joe's so she would easily be able to spot Maura when she arrived. It had been 40 minutes since Maura had left Jane's to go home and change and feed the turtle, and Maura was never late. Maybe hungover Maura doesn't care about time management? Jane pondered, the medical examiner was one of the most punctual people Jane knew, never late, always a minute early. She probably fell asleep Jane told herself, but when she had called Maura her phone had gone straight to answer phone, and there had been no reply on her home phone either. Maybe Bass is sick? Jane couldn't stop wondering what was taking the doctor so long, they were going to be late for work if she wasn't here soon.

Jane sipped her coffee and immediately the hot caffeine pouring down her throat made her feel a lot less grouchy, her head was thumping painfully as a result from too much marshmallow vodka. Jane was just contemplating swinging by Maura's to see what was taking her so long when her phone started buzzing on the table. It was Korsak. Goddamn. They were going to have a body and the Chief Medical Examiner was hungover and M.I.A.

"Korsak what's up?" Jane said taking another long sip of her coffee trying to wake herself up entirely, Frost would be able to spot a hangover from a mile away.

"Jane, it's Maura" Korsak said and Jane frowned.

"What about Maura?" she asked slowly.

"It was just on the police radio there was an accident two blocks from Maura's house, only two cars were involved and one of them was a blue Toyota" Korsak spoke fast, the concern in his voice was clear.

"Fuck" Jane leapt from her seat, her heart suddenly beating one hundred miles a minute. It couldn't be Maura. No. Maura should have been home by now, there were thousands of blue Toyota's in Boston, it didn't mean it was hers.

"You might wanna get over there" he said and Jane was already in her car.

"Thanks Korsak" she shouted down the phone before hanging up and zooming out of the car park.

Yellow crime tape was strung up around the corner exactly two blocks from Maura's house, Jane pulled up beside one of the police cars and leapt out flashing her badge at one of the police who was standing on guard, not letting anyone unauthorised near the scene. Jane immediately saw a silver Subaru that had totalled itself around a tree on the other side of the road, glass was shattered everywhere. Jane tried to contain herself as her eyes caught sight of Maura's blue Toyota parked in the middle of the road, the passenger door completely smashed in.

"Oh god" she whispered a hand flying over her mouth, a sick feeling growing in her stomach.

"Detective" one of the police officers came over to Jane "you're not needed here"

He said looking mildly confused.

"What happened?" Jane asked bluntly having not have heard a word of what the officer had just said.

"Subaru ran a red light, hit the car that was turning the corner, tried to divert and smashed into the tree" the officer explained still loping remarkably confused at why the detective was enquiring.

"Driver of the Subaru's in critical condition" the officer continued to explain as Jane couldn't move her eyes off Maura's car.

"What about Maura?" Jane asked her voice barely above a whisper.

"What was that?"

"The driver of the Toyota" Jane said clearing her throat quickly pulling herself together.

"Were they okay?"

The officer gave a shrug "Last I saw she was being lifted into an ambulance on a stretcher…is there a reason you're here detective? This wasn't a homicide"

Jane shook her head, her body was going in to shock from the sudden turn of events. Her chest felt tight making it hard for her to breathe, she suddenly felt dizzy, sick at the thought of Maura being hurt. Abruptly turning on her heel she half sprinted back to her car, getting in and gripping her hands on the wheel tightly, taking deep and shaky breaths. Her hands trembled from holding the wheel so tightly, she let out a small gasp for air shutting her eyes and leaning her head back against the headrest for three short seconds before opening her eyes.

The hospital. She needed to get to the hospital.

Jane went flying through the doors of the hospital closely dodging a man leaving on crutches and a family pushing an old woman in a wheelchair, she ran down the hallway to find the main desk. Maura. Maura. Maura. That's all she could think about, that's all she wanted to think about. Please be okay. Maura. Please be okay. Screeching to a halt at the desk she slammed her hands down, unintentionally giving the nurse behind it a fright, she looked up from her clipboard startled by the arrival of the detective.

"Can I help you?" She asked her brow furrowed.

"Maura Isles" the words tumbled from her mouth "Doctor Maura…Isles"

Jane's worried eyes frantically searched the nurses face, waiting for her to register who she was talking about.

"She was hit" Jane forced the words from her mouth as pain rippled through her chest "her car was hit…" Suddenly the a realisation washed over the young nurse and she nodded holding up a finger to Jane.

"One sec" she said disappearing into the office and coming back a second later.

"Sixth floor, ward 3" the nurse said pointing upwards and Jane nodded, beginning to walk away then quickly sliding back.

"Is she okay?" she almost begged the nurse, and the girl just shook her head.

"I couldn't tell you, I'm sorry" she said before returning to her clipboard. Jane dashed over to the elevator, aggressively hitting the up arrow, bouncing her foot as she waited for the elevator doors to ding open. It felt like everyone was moving ten times slower than usual, everything getting in her way, keeping her from getting to Maura as fast as she could. She impatiently waited for an elderly woman to exit the lift before getting in, several other people following her, hitting all the floors before the sixth. Jane wanted to scream with frustration, push them all out and make them take the stairs. Just let me get to Maura. Please.

Finally the doors opened on the sixth level and Jane was out, running. Ward 1. Ward 2. Ward 3. Jogging down the corridor, she couldn't help but peek into all the rooms as she dashed by, checking to see if any of them were Maura.

"Excuse me are you looking for someone?" a voice said from behind her, spinning around Jane came face to face with a small nurse, clutching several clipboards.

"Maura Isles" she said automatically. The nurse pointed over Jane's shoulder to a closed door, and Jane immediately spun around and headed toward it.

"Family only" the nurse called out but Jane wasn't listening. She took a breath before going in, but before she could lay a hand on the door handle, it opened and an women wearing a white lab coat, in her thirties stepped out and looked at Jane startled.

"I need to see her" Jane said trying to hold back the tears that she knew weren't far away.

"Family only I'm sorry" the woman said and Jane just shook her head, trying to push past the doctor but she stepped in front of the door, blocking it.

"I am family" Jane stated, her tone frustrated as ever.

"You're Jane" the doctor asked and Jane was taken back at the fact the woman knew her name.

"Yes I am"

"I'm sorry" she said immediately moving out of the way, opening the door for Jane to go in.

"She's been asking for you"

"She's been…" Jane's eyes widened. She looked at the open door, terrified she might see on other side.

"Come in" the doctor's voice was suddenly a lot softer and comforting.

"She's okay, Jane"

"She is?" Jane asked, not feeling any less relieved.

"She suffered a minor head trauma, she looks a lot worse than she is"

Jane swallowed hard before taking a brave breath and going into the room. Be brave for Jane. You can do this. Stepping into the room, Jane's eyes immediately found Maura. She was lying on the hospital bed, her eyes shut. She looked peaceful, not in any pain. Finally Jane felt the immediate relief, she was okay. Her honey blonde hair was pulled up away from her face tided in a loose bun, and she had a brace around her neck. Stitches ran across her right side of her forehead and there was dark bruising down the side of her face. Blood had dried under her nose and was yet to be cleaned away, and she had blood stained lip too. But her cheeks were slightly pink, and her breathing was normal. Jane could breathe again.

"The bruising and blood is from the airbag hitting her face, she was lucky her head was turned or it could have been a lot worse" the doctor explained "We've got her on an IV drip because when the results came back there was traces of alcohol in her blood, so we're just flushing them out"

"Y-you said she was asking for me?" Jane asked not taking her eyes of Maura.

"Yes, she was, that's all she was saying in fact, but she was in quite a bit of pain so we gave her some morphine and she fell asleep"

"Oh god" Jane said running a hand through her messy hair, still in disbelief this had happened.

"It's okay Jane" the detective felt the doctors comforting hand on her shoulder.

"She's going to be fine, the neck brace is only for support she took a hard hit to her head and often it results in further back and neck pain, and occasional dizzy spells, we just want to make sure we minimise the chance of that happening"

Jane nodded "Okay, thank you"

"I'll leave you two now" the doctor said with a warm smile "if you have any further queries don't hesitate to come and see me, my name's Lena"

"Thank you Lena" Jane said giving the doctor a soft smile as she left, quietly shutting the door behind her. Jane collapsed into the seat beside Maura's bed, her eyes wandering over the medical examiners fragile body she leaned forward onto the bed burying her head in her hands. Why did this have to happen to her? Of all people. Tears prickled at the back of Jane's eyes, she knew Maura was going to be okay but she couldn't bare to see the doctor like this, in this broken state. What if the car crash had been worst and she had lost Maura, they hadn't talked yet, they hadn't said what they needed to say and she would have been left in a abyss of uncertainty for the rest of her life. She wanted to tell Maura that the thought of losing her ruin her forever, that she had never seen such beautiful eyes in her entire life, that when Maura smiled Jane's heart would flutter, she wanted to tell Maura she loved her. But she couldn't. Not now and not like this.

"Jane" Maura's sleepy voice startled the detective and she looked up as Maura's eyes began to flutter.

"I'm here" she answered immediately and picked up Maura's hand entwining their fingers.

"I'm here sweetie" she smiled as the medical examiners glassy hazel eyes finally opened and she smiled when she saw Jane.

"You came" she mumbled still in a sleepy state from the morphine.

"Of course I came Maur" Jane said running her thumb over Maura's.

"Did I die?" the words were shocking to Jane, she didn't know why Maura would ask such a question.

"No Maura, you didn't" Jane felt the tears spill down her cheeks. "You're right here, you're safe"

"You look like an angel" Maura smiled her eyes struggling to stay open.

"Do I?" Jane laughed softly.

"My head aches" Maura stated "and I can hear the blood rushing through my veins" Jane stared at the honey blonde wondering whether she should go and find a nurse.

"All my love, all my pain" Maura said sleepily her eyes shutting "I can feel it, I can feel…you"

"I can feel you too Maura" Jane said her tears hitting the cold hospital floor, she held on to the doctors hand tightly, afraid to let go.

"Jane" Maura murmured.

"Yeah sweetie?"

"Don't…don't leave" Maura's voice was quiet but the words were absolutely clear.

Still with me?

I have to admit I shed a tear writing this, I wouldn't say it's been fun getting to explore Jane's vulnerable side but it is definitely something interesting.

Let me know how you're feeling. More will be coming soon. As always thank you for reading, much love xxx