DISCLAIMER: I do not own this show, the books, or these characters. I only borrow them.

Chapter 22

The sun was just peaking over the horizon when Maura first peaked her head out of the warm covers she had somehow gotten tangled in. Her eyes were sore and gritty from crying the night before. She could only remember one other time when she had been in this bed and had felt as sick – then with bronchitis and now heartsick...she would prefer the former. At least then Frankie would be around to take care of her again.

~11-12 weeks earlier, 5-6 weeks in relationship~

They both sat on a bench under a weeping willow tree in the Public Gardens. Frankie liked the view: not only of the water and Maura, but also of the brilliant fireworks going a few blocks away from a barge on the Charles River. They were close enough to still have a spectacular view, but a smaller crowd than the party goers trying to get on television by being on the Esplanade for an upfront view of the fireworks and concert. Maura would usually try to be closer as she loved the Pops, but she thought that would be a horrible way for Frankie's family to learn they were going out; knowing her luck, she would be caught on camera even when hiding in the large crowd.

When the fireworks started, Maura couldn't contain her excitement. "Do you know how interesting fireworks are? All the science that goes into making sure that they explode where desired, and with the correct effects? There are 18 chemical elements that can be combined to create those sparkling shapes out there." She said it all without even looking over at Frankie to note that he was too busy looking at the sky and listening for the sounds of the explosions to pay much attention to her words. "Carbon, phosphorus, and sulfur are needed for the black powder that works as a propellent. As oxygen is needed for anything to burn, you have oxygen, chlorine, and potassium in oxidizers. For colors there are many: sodium for gold; copper for blue; lithium and strontium for red; calcium salts for orange; barium salts for green; titanium for silver sparks; magnesium and aluminum for white sparks; and, based on heat, like red hot or white hot, iron can produce various colored sparks. And then there is zinc for smoke effects, and antimony for glitter effects. Plus weather and wind speed need to be taken into account for directionality and safety purposes...it all ties together so nicely..."

His head was spinning, so Frankie leaned over and kissed her to get her to stop talking, "Just enjoy it."

"I do enjoy it. All the chemistry and physics that make it work...it's fascinating."

"Just watch the pretty lights and try to see it how us non-scientific people do...just be in the moment...enjoy it as a kid might. Just watch and be amazed." Frankie said it all while still being amazed himself at sparkling shapes being formed in the air.

She never really cared about the firework shows when she was a kid. Looking back it probably had more to do with the fact that she saw happy, close families around watching and so was jealous. But she gazed first at Frankie's face, and then at the explosions of colors, fire, and smoke: gold, silver, red, green, and blue. She looked back at the child-like smile on Frankie's face and started to understand the marvel as a beautiful spectacle with loved ones around. She reached over and clasped his hand. They shared a brief glance, and then turned together as a firework exploded and spread out in a similar pattern to the tree they sat under.

About halfway through the light show, Maura walked closer to the water's edge to feed a couple ducks that were not scared off by all the noises. She must have gone a bit too close, or stepped wrong and tripped, because the next thing she knew, she was in the chilly water listening to Frankie trying not to laugh as he hurried over. He reached out a hand to pull her out of the water as he continued biting his lip, and Maura was really tempted to pull him in. However she knew it would be a waste for them to both get soaked, mainly because she wanted the lightweight but dry jacket that he was wearing. The night wasn't too cold, but it was better safe than sorry, and she wanted to try and ward off any illness: from being wet, or from anything that might be in the pond. When she was safely out of the water, and they were both out of range of falling back in, Frankie took off the jacket she was eying and held it open so she could slip it on. He wasn't laughing anymore, but he still was wearing a goofy grin, and Maura couldn't help but smiling back.

They walked the few blocks to where Frankie had parked his car. He was lucky to get the spot he did. The officer directing traffic recognized him and they were waved past the road blocks. Maura hoped that the officer was too new to really know who she was. Luckily, as the fireworks were still exploding in the distance, the roads were relatively empty...at least it wasn't gridlocked like it would be soon. Frankie took her back to his place as it was the closest so that Maura could get a shower to warm up; after she stepped into the shower, Frankie realized that she didn't have anything dry there to wear, so he quietly placed a pair of sweatpants, and his Boston PD t-shirt on the toilet seat and then hurried downstairs to throw the cloths in the dryer. After that night, Maura took over a small section of his dresser.

The week went downhill from there. When Frankie went to retrieve the dry clothes, he realized that he had ruined one of Maura's expensive dry-clean only dresses as he had never thought to read tags on clothing. He wished he could have offered to replace it, but he knew he probably wouldn't be able to pay rent if he did...for the next two months. Maura tried to shrug it off, but he could see that she wasn't very happy. Then, a few days later, she started to feel run down; Frankie noticed she didn't look well at work and asked her to stay at his place as he hoped that taking care of her would help him atone for killing the dress and for laughing at her when she fell in the pond.

The next morning she was worse but still able to joke about it. Her nose was congested and so her words sounded funny when she mentioned that Frost would love to not be able to smell in the morgue. She knew it would hinder her doing her job though. Fortunately it was the start of the weekend she had off, and then she had off the following week for a conference. She hoped she felt better the following day to fly out.

xoxoxoxoxo

Maura really wished she was not here. Even though she enjoyed being with Frankie and in his bed, she hated being sick. She was supposed to on a plane at this very moment for Las Vegas, Nevada for a four day meeting of the International Association of Coroner's & Medical Examiners. The meeting was to start the following day, on July 11. She wasn't sure which annoyed her more – not being able to go or the fact that she was ill. She was about to roll over and go back to sleep when she heard the main door to the apartment close. She glanced at the glaring red numbers on the alarm clock and realized it couldn't be Frankie yet as it was too early for his planned run to the pharmacy over his lunch break. It was also too late for it to be Frankie leaving for work, plus she thought she had already heard him leave. She sat up stiffly as she now heard someone puttering around in the living room. She stood up and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders to help against the chill that had nothing to do with the temperature in the apartment. Later she would blame her fever addled brain for not thinking before she left the bedroom: if the person was a thief, then she was in trouble as she had no energy to try to fight someone off; if it was family or friends of Frankie, then the secret was out; if it was Frankie, then she would have wished to comb her hair down or something.

Frankie tried to be quiet as he came back in his apartment, but he knew he didn't do as well as he hoped when he heard the sound of feet shuffling across his bedroom carpet. He put the bags of loot on his kitchen counter and then glanced toward the bedroom door. Even cocooned in a blanket, with her hair in total disarray and the pallor of her skin much too pale, he thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"Aren't you supposed to be at work?" Maura knew she missed quite a bit of time in the last couple days, but she thought she was getting better at not losing so much.

"Yeah, but I decided to take a day or two off...take care of my girl." Frankie grinned at her, "It's a good thing you're off work for a conference. To think what people might assume if we took the same sick days."

She tried to glare at him, but she was too curious to see what all Frankie had brought home from the store. On top of one of the bags was the main item she wanted. She wrote a prescription on her seldom used prescription pad for amoxicillin once she realized that she had bacterial bronchitis. The lovely color of her sputum from her productive coughs helped diagnose her; that and the fact that she had bronchitis enough growing up to know what it was. She could have run a culture on her phlegm to make sure, but she wanted to go ahead and start the antibiotic. She filled up a glass with cool tap water in order to take one of the pills. She watched as Frankie grabbed a jug of orange juice out of the brown paper bag and poured a small glass of it; she shook her head when he tried to pass it over. "I'll have some later." At his pleading look she added, "There have been various studies to show that orange juice can decrease the effectiveness of antibiotics...You should drink it...I don't want you to get sick too."

He thought the worried frown on her face was cute, and he leaned in to try and kiss the frown off her face.

She pushed him away as he tried to come closer and went back to emptying the bags in order to see what other treasures they held. She found a two liter of Sprite, five cans of chicken noodle soup, some decongestant cough syrup, herbal cough drops, and a three-pack of tissues. With the way she still felt, and how often she was coughing, she mused that she might need all three. In the bottom of the second bag she found a box of Earl Grey tea that he knew she liked that would help her sore throat, and a Get Well Card. She passed it over with a sincere smile and a quiet, "Oops."

Frankie assumed that Maura would still be in bed when he got home, so he didn't think he would have to worry about her finding it early. He went about putting the groceries away and watched as Maura made her way over to the couch with one of the boxes of tissues.

She sat down stiffly and closed her eyes as she rested her head against the back of the couch. She pulled her legs in close and wrapped the blanket even tighter around her. Maura knew she should still be in bed getting as much rest as she could, but she felt too tired and sore to make it the rest of the way to the bedroom without a brief breather. She felt the cushions move and knew that Frankie had sat down next to her. "Thanks for bringing the medicine and groceries, but I'm just going to be sleeping most of the day, so you really should go to work."

"Nope. I feel tired too, so come to bed." He liked the idea of having more time to sleep with his girl, granted he would have preferred that it wasn't because she was sick. He stood up and pulled Maura up beside him. He all but dragged her first to the restroom and then back to bed.

Maura climbed into the warm bed. She wanted to push Frankie away as she didn't want him to get sick too, but his fingers massaging her temples to help with her headache, and then the arms around her, felt too nice. She didn't have long to debate though as a healing sleep soon pulled her under.

Frankie was glad that Maura didn't push him away as he feared she might try. Instead he enjoyed holding her, and soon the sound of her not quiet steady breathing lulled him to sleep. He hoped that he could help her heal: through the chicken soup and orange juice, but more so through his presence.

He was startled awake by the sound of banging on his apartment door. He glanced at the alarm clock and noticed that they had been sleeping for nearly three hours. He carefully slid out of the bed trying not to disturb the sleeping patient. He glanced down at the black sweatpants and white t-shirt that he had changed into earlier when Maura was in the bathroom and ran his fingers through his hair so that he looked presentable. When the loud knock on the door came again, he hurried out of the room. He shut the bedroom door behind him, hoping that the noise would not wake Maura up. Then, wanting to prevent another knock to the door, Frankie opened it without looking through the peep hole. "Jane!" Crap.

"Frankie!" Jane couldn't help rolling her eyes as she pushed past him and set a take-out bag on his kitchen table. "I heard you called in sick today, so I thought I'd bring you some soup...but you don't look sick." Jane gazed at him critically. She did see a couple boxes of tissues on the counter, but if Frankie did need them before, he didn't now. "So...?"

"Um..." he hoped his brain would catch up with his words while he spoke. "I'm just...really tired." Nope, it didn't. "I needed a day to myself."

A mischievous look spread over Jane's face, "You're playing hooky."

Frankie didn't know what to say back, so just let Jane have her fun. He plastered an 'oops-you-caught-me' look on his face.

"Fine, they're your sick days. Your secret is safe with me...but you owe me."

His secret was still in his bedroom, and he really needed to get Jane out of his home. "Okay...um, thanks for the lunch. You should get going though so I don't use up all of your lunch break."

"Next time warn me so I don't feel sorry for your lazy ass," she said as she opened his door and stepped out.

Before he could shut it, he couldn't help adding, "Aww, I didn't know you cared." He laughed at the annoyed look on her face as he shut the door. He rested his forehead on the door thinking how close that was. His laughter turned almost maniacal as he heard a harsh cough coming from his bedroom. That would have gone over real well.

He walked back into the bedroom with a glass of orange juice and was pained as he watched Maura sitting up trying to cough out the crap that was congested in her lungs.

When she could breathe enough to speak, Maura asked, "I thought I heard voices out in the living room...or was that the television?"

"No, that was Jane," he tried not to show any amusement at the deer-in-the-headlights look that was now on Maura's flushed face. In fact that color slowly drained away. "Don't worry. She left. Granted, if you would have coughed ten seconds earlier, she would have heard...and then two seconds later she would have been peeking in here to see who I was hiding in my bedroom." The amusement couldn't be helped any longer. He chuckled as he passed over the cool drink. The color came back to Maura's checks, and he wasn't sure if it was from her blushing or from the slight fever that she was still running. "She brought me some soup because she heard that I was ill...She now is going to make me pay for playing hooky."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. If she wasn't collecting on that debt, it would just be something else. But one good thing about it was she brought lunch. How about it...from the smell I would say it was Minestrone." He again made sure she made it to the restroom and then to the kitchen table. He placed a bowl of soup and a glass of Sprite in front of Maura before making a sandwich for himself.

They ate in silence. Frankie was quiet because he was enjoying the quiet companionship that felt so right even after so short a time; however, it probably didn't hurt that he knew Maura through her friendship with Jane long before they started dating.

Maura was silent because breathing hurt at times, and she feared the additional effort needed to talk might lead to more painful coughing. She finished off the soup and then nursed the half-full glass of Sprite. "My chest hurts." She hoped she really didn't sound as whiny as it seemed.

"Mine too, because my heart hurts when you don't feel well."

Maura thought about calling him out on the sappiness of the statement. It sounded worse than the Get Well card he brought home, but she was too focused on the feasibility of that response. "It'd be closer to say your head hurts...Based on various studies, MRI scans have shown that empathy for pain involves the somatosensory cortex which is where sensory signal are sent. Very interesting to think about someone having input like that when they are not the one who actually had the painful stimulus in the first place."

"Riiight?...I'd say your brain is less foggy," at the confused look from Maura he went on. "It was one of your complaints yesterday. You hated that putting thoughts together was so difficult...but I at least understood everything you said...well, okay, after your nose cleared up." He rinsed the dishes off and put them in the dishwasher. "Come on. More sleep, and you'll be feeling even better." So that is what they did.

xoxoxoxoxo

Frankie had the next day off even though it was a Monday because he was scheduled to work the following weekend; he wasn't even on-call unless the force needed all hands on deck. So they spent another slow day of healing and learning more about the other person when Maura was not dead to the world.

Being the first day that Dr. Isles was supposed to be at the conference, Jane wanted to see how it was going...and that Maura didn't end up counting cards in some game. She wasn't sure if there were talks or a working dinner going on, so Jane felt it would be safer to text Maura than to call. Therefore at 10pm Boston time, so 7pm if Maura was actually where she was supposed to be, a text message pinged on her phone. [Hi, how's LV]

Maura typed back, glad that Jane didn't call. At least writing a lie didn't cause her to hyperventilate. [Good. There?]

Before the next message could come in, Frankie swiped the phone as Maura was so tired she could barely see the tiny keyboard to type. He laughed when he saw the next message. Frankie played sick. Else...usual Frankie looked up to Maura, "Jane is tattling on me for playing hooky."

"Write that's I'm listening to a talk on cardiac dysrhythmia during restraint."

"Okay," he started to type and then looked back up with a bewildered expression, "Um...how do you spell that?"

"Tell her I was just listening to a riveting discussion on adolescent Russian roulette deaths."

"Oh, yes, cause I can see how that would be...riveting. And do you really want to mention roulette when you're supposed to be in Vegas?" He was glad he wasn't in the morgue or he would be in trouble for using humor in relation to a very serious issue. He typed it in anyway and smiled at the reply.

Maura grabbed the phone Frankie was nearly pushing in her hands so she could read Jane's reply. [Guess that answers the question. I assumed card counting, but roulette works.]

[JANE.]

[Oh come on, that was a good one.]

Maura gave the phone back to Frankie before she might call Jane to complain as the short text messages couldn't say all she wanted, but that would be a dead give away that she was sick as her voice sounded scratchy from all the coughing. Her attention was pulled back to Frankie when he laughed so hard he almost fell off the couch.

"Jane wants to know if you are going to check out the night scene and pick up a guy...Should I feel jealous of this fictitious date?"

Just for that Maura couldn't help replying, "Tell her 'Maybe if he's cute.'" She was not expecting Frankie to actually send that and she grabbed the small pillow behind her in order to smack him over the head. "She is going to have too much fun with that...you do know that, right?"

"Of course, my sister is predictable in some areas."

And right then another message came though. [Hopefully he's talented...could play hooky tomorrow too.]

Frankie was starting to regret taking the phone over. "I don't know which is worse: talking about you finding another cute guy or that I'm having 'girl talk' with my sister."

"Oh, so you think your cute, huh?" Maura couldn't help herself, and then definitely thought his exaggerated hurt look was too cute...worse than Jo giving her usually sad puppy dog face. She laughed until she had a coughing fit.

Frankie threw the pillow back at Maura from her comment and then watched as she placed it behind her head and looked like she was about to fall asleep then and there. "Okay, one last reply before bedtime."

Maura smirked at him and took the phone to enter her reply, [Talk when I get back...see my cute guy now so going to bed.] She passed over the phone over to Frankie before the message was sent.

He gave her a loving smile before hitting the send button, and then grabbed Maura's hand so they could go back to bed.

xoxoxoxoxo

Maura was correct in the fact that she didn't talk to Jane again until she was supposed to be back at work. She still looked and felt wrung out, but she was finally cough free...unless she'd try running another marathon.

About an hour after Maura arrived in the morgue, Jane stuck her head in the door. She was about to ask how well the trip was, and if she did any gambling, with money or her heart, but forgot all she meant to ask when she saw her weary friend. "Wow, must have been a really busy conference...Are you okay? You look like your coming down with something." She then chuckled, "Something seems to be going around lately...just ask my brother."

Maura finally pulled herself out of the comfortable bed. She walked barefoot over to the restroom and glanced at herself in the mirror. She tried not to flinch at the face that stared back. Even with all the sleep she had yesterday, the dark bags under her eyes were still very prominent. Not having concealer nearby, Maura turned away from her reflection.

She dressed in the clothes she wore the day before. Luckily they weren't too wrinkled as she had hung them up the day before. She rummaged in her purse to find a hair tie and put her hair in a slightly messy ponytail. Between the dark circles under her eyes, and the semi-wrinkled clothing, Maura didn't think that messy hair would matter too much for the short ride home where she could make herself presentable. Not that she had anyone to impress today but herself...she mused that Frankie would have been amused if he could see her now.

Maura was about to leave and lock up when she remembered she needed to stop by the landlord's apartment to return her key...and so would Jane or Angela the following day. She hurried out to her car to grab the duffel bag so that she could change as she knew her current outfit would be a dead give away if Jane would grill the landlord for a description. She changed into her tennis shoes, jeans and the t-shirt she slept in as it made her feel closer to Frankie, and she felt she needed that to get through leaving here. She placed her dress and heels in the duffel bag, and then again as ready to leave as she would ever be.

After a once over of the apartment, Maura stepped out of the front door. She looked back in at the cheery room that she had many happy memories in, and knew that it would never hold that again. She squared her shoulder as she locked the door. Today she left the home as a grieving girlfriend; Sunday she would come back solely as Jane's friend to help her clean out her brother's apartment.

She stopped by the landlords apartment on the first floor, and, since it was after eight am, she felt it was safe to knock on the door. A short, balding man in jeans and a white undershirt opened the door, and Maura passed over her key to Frankie's apartment, "Here is one of the key's to Frankie Rizzoli's apartment. I have it on good authority that by Monday the apartment will be cleared out, so you should get the other apartment key and the one for the mailbox." She turned to leave, but a slight weight on her elbow made her look back.

"I'm really sorry for your loss," he gave the women in front of him a sad smile.

It was odd finally having someone tell her that line, rather than her saying it to others. She tried not to cry again at the gratitude she felt for his sincerity, "Thanks." She finally turned and walked out of the building until her last time the next day.

AN: Watched this years Boston Pops Fireworks finally, so I couldn't help writing it in as the dates worked and found a cool firework periodic table (yes I'm a nerd)...didn't see the 2010 version but fireworks are fireworks. And I finally stated the dates...let's hope I don't mess them up later.

YAY! 100k words...hopefully sometime soon I might make it to 100 reviews :D By the way, if I get enough reviews I might drop the next chapter in before next Friday. Yep, resorting to bribes.