Flameout – Chapter 4
Within a few minutes after the doctors had left, Ace and Frankie were talking when Frankie decided to go and get his mother, Frost and Tommy. Angela was so excited when she saw Frankie walk into the waiting room. "Can I see my Janie now?" She asked and Frankie nodded his head. He hoped that Jane would forgive him someday. He knew that Jane knew that their mother would come to see her.
When they entered the room, Angela immediately went to her daughter and hugged her. She didn't want to let Jane go. Angela was crying. She pulled back a little so she could look at Jane and then without any words she hugged her tightly again. Jane could tell that she had been crying for a while based on the tear streaks running down her face. Jane hugged her back as best she could. Her mother didn't give her a chance to talk. Jane wasn't sure if she could speak with as tight as her mother was holding her.
After what seemed like a lifetime to Jane, her mother finally spoke, "Janie, this part time flying job of yours is just as dangerous as your full-time police job. Why can't you have a normal job like a plumber or a secretary or something that is not so dangerous?" Angela was constantly on Jane's ass about how dangerous her job was.
"Ma, please, can you let go of me. I'm injured and you're squeezing me too tight. You're actually hurting me." Angela was the last person that Jane wanted to see right now but she knew her mother would come, she always did. She mouthed to her brother, Frankie, 'help me.'
"Oh, I'm so sorry Janie. I'm so sorry." Angela continued as she released her grip on Jane. Angela grabbed Jane's hand and didn't let go of it the entire time she was in the room. Jane could handle that, she felt as though she could breathe now that her mother had released the tight grip on her.
For over half an hour Angela fussed over Jane. Jane couldn't take it anymore she pushed the call button. In less than five minutes the nurse came in and saw the overbearing older lady hovering over Jane. The nurse walked over to Jane's other side and leaned down so Jane could talk to her. "Hey, do you think you could give me a little of that pain medication that you'll keep wanting to give me to make me go to sleep?"
The nurse looked over the group of people in the room and smiled at Jane. "Yes, I will be right back." The nurse immediately left the room to obtain the requested pain medication.
After the pain medicine was administered Jane was asleep within minutes. She was talking with her mother when in the middle of a sentence her eyes closed. The nurse was still annotating her chart when Angela asked, "Is that normal for her to just fall asleep in the middle of a sentence?"
"Yes, ma'am, she is on pain medication to assist her body in recovering. She needs her sleep. While she sleeps her body is healing. If she is awake and moving around it will slow her recovery. I let her skip her last dose so that she could visit with you but it is now time for her to sleep. I'm sorry, I wish that wasn't the case." The nurse really wasn't sorry, she was simply following her patient's request which was in Jane's best interest as Jane needed her sleep.
"Oh, thank you nurse. I guess we did just kind of barge in here. I didn't mean to disrupt her schedule." Angela told the nurse. Angela had no idea that Jane hadn't been taking her pain medication and she had requested the pain medication.
"It's fine when I peeked in earlier, she shooed me away and I knew I could give her another hour before I had to give her the medication. She will be out for a few hours now." The nurse replied and the group started to gather up their belongings and leave, except for Angela. The nurse always attempted to give Jane her pain meds but Jane always refused so the nurse was surprised when Jane asked for them.
Angela sat at Jane's bedside and didn't want to leave. Frankie told her, "Come on Ma, we have to go, visiting hours are over and Janie needs her sleep. We can see her in the morning." Angela still didn't want to leave but when the nurse came back into the room, she told Angela, "You can see Jane at 10 AM tomorrow." With that bit of information Angela left after giving Jane a small kiss on her forehead.
An hour later, Nina came in and was surprised to see Jane asleep and the room empty. Nina had heard that Jane's family had arrived. When she read the chart, she understood. Attached to the top sheet of paper was a note from the nurse stating that Jane had requested her pain meds so that she could fall asleep and avoid her mother. Nina laughed while thinking, 'that is certainly one way to get the stubborn patient to take her pain meds and get some sleep.'
Maura and Amelia arrived and went to Jane's room. They talked with Nina and reviewed Jane's stats. Jane was still sound asleep. Amelia examined Jane's head injury and was happy that the swelling had almost totally gone away. She conferred with Dr. Spencer and then requested an additional CT Scan as she wanted to see Jane's current status. The previous CT Scan had been taken hours ago and she felt it was worth running the second CT Scan. After the second CT Scan she ran an electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure Jane's electrical activity in her brain. She would use this test as a baseline and would repeat the test when Jane woke up.
Amelia was surprised that Jane stayed asleep during both tests. She walked with Nina and Maura as Jane was wheeled back to her room. After placing the brakes on Jane's bed and ensuring that her IV and monitor lines were in order the three doctors left.
Maura's phone dinged as soon as she walked out of Jane's room. "Excuse me, I need to call my children." Nina and Amelia both smiled and walked into the doctor's lounge with Maura. Maura walked away from the two ladies and proceeded to call home. Charlie, her 10-year-old son, answered the phone and was excited to hear his mother's voice. "Hello, Charlie, how come you are answering the phone instead of the nanny?"
"I wanted to hear your voice mommy." He said with such excitement that a huge smile appeared on Maura's face.
"Sorry, I couldn't be home for dinner with you and your sister. I had a visiting doctor come in to check on one of my new patients."
"It's okay mommy as long as we get to speak to you."
"I know baby, but I love to be there with the two of you and hear about your day and what activities you participated in."
"I can tell you all about my day when I see you tomorrow." He said as he had had this conversation with his mother before. This was one part of the job that Maura hated. She loved spending time with her children and quite often she missed dinner with them.
"Okay, I am looking forward to that, let me speak to your sister for a few minutes." Maura spoke with her 8-year-old daughter, Isabella, for a few minutes. "Good night, Bella, I love you." Maura said as she ended the phone call. She went to where Nina and Amelia were seated and began talking with them. When Maura's shift ended two hours later, she went home. She gave both of her children a kiss on the forehead and then retreated to her room.
Jane woke up around midnight and was slightly confused about where she was until she remembered that she was in the hospital. She tried to reach for the glass of water and was startled when she saw a hand reaching for it. She looked and saw her partner, Frost. "Frost, you scared me." Jane always referred to Frost as her partner even though she was a Captain and the Chief of Detectives and he was now a Lieutenant and in charge of the homicide division.
"Sorry, I didn't want you waking up alone in the middle of the night. I know what you did calling the nurse to knock you out with your pain meds." They smiled at each other. "Smart move, I think I might have done the same thing if I had Angela as a mother. She loves you and she was just worried. She cried during the entire drive here. Tommy tried his best to calm her down but you know how she is." Frost was just so happy that she cried quietly and that she was in the back seat. Frost had left earlier with Angela and Tommy and came back once he got them settled in the hotel.
"Yes, I do. That is why I called the nurse. I am sure my doc is going to tease me about it also. I have been refusing to take my pain meds and all of sudden when my mother is here, I requested my pain meds. I know she is going to say something."
"She seemed like a nice lady, she had a huge smile with a little laugh when she met Angela, so yes, I believe she is going to tease you just a little." The two continued to talk for a little while before Jane started feeling tired again.
With Jane asleep, Frost sat back in the chair and pulled the blanket over him that the nurse had given him earlier and shut his eyes. He figured he should be able to get a few hours of sleep while Jane slept. He knew the nurse would be in every hour but that didn't bug him. The nursing staff was nice and didn't balk at him being there beyond visiting hours.
Because he had drove to Syracuse, he had his badge and gun with him. He didn't stop by his apartment for clothes. As soon as Lt. Cavanaugh had informed him of Jane's plane crash and released him, he drove straight to Angela's and picked up her and Tommy and hit the road.
By the time Nina came in for her morning rounds there was quite a group of Air Force and police officers around Jane's room. Frankie was standing guard still in his uniform and not letting anybody in his sister's room. Frost had told him that Jane was asleep and unless it was one of the hospital staff, he was not to let them in the room. Frost knew that Jane needed her sleep to heal and he was trying to think of a way to limit Angela's morning visit with Jane.
Maura approached the door and Frankie looked at his paper on his clipboard to see if her name appeared on the list. He wasn't going to just let anyone into his sister's room, just because they had on a hospital uniform didn't mean they could have access to her room. He had heard of one too many instances of crimes being committed against patients in the hospital.
The police didn't suspect any foul play but they were not going to take any chances. His sister had enemies after all. She was a highly decorated police officer with a huge conviction rate. She had put away some criminals over the years. The accident had made the news circuit already because of who she was. She wasn't a celebrity but rather a well-known decorated police officer and therefore her plane crash had made the news circuit all over the east coast.
Once Frankie found Dr. Isles' name, he let her in. After Frankie let her in, he then remembered that he had met her the night before. He was still rather tired and had momentarily forgot about their brief meeting the night before. Frost introduced himself again just in case she forgot his name. "Hello, Dr. Isles. I am Jane's partner, Lieutenant Barry Frost. Please call me Barry or Frost."
"Hello again Barry. It is nice to see that you and Jane's brother, what was his name, Frankie, I believe are watching out for my patient."
"Yes, his name is Frankie. He is very protective of his older sister and wants to make sure she gets her sleep. He told me there is quite the fanfare out there between the Air Force, BPD and NYPD officers."
"Yes, I am going to check on Jane and then see what I can do to help get rid of the crowd. It is great that people care about her but she needs her sleep to heal properly. She will be going in for additional tests when she wakes up. We need to check on her eyes, she was having vision problems yesterday."
Frost nodded along with her and told her, "Agreed." As soon as Frost said that Jane started stirring.
Maura moved so she could see Jane. Jane opened her eyes and said, "Hello, my beautiful doctor. How are you today?"
"That is my line, Captain Rizzoli." Maura said as she smiled and picked up Jane's chart to review her stats from the evening.
"Oh, you think I am beautiful? And please call me Jane." Jane asked as she smiled at Maura. Jane's smile was so big Maura couldn't help but smile in return.
"No, well yes, but I meant about asking how you are doing today." Maura seemed a little flustered and that pleased Jane. She liked when she had that effect on the beautiful ladies.
"Well, first I am glad that you find me to be beautiful as well." Frost just shook his head. Jane was forever flirting with beautiful women. Well, actually she flirted with guys also but not so much. She wasn't attracted to men but she was a big flirt so she didn't exclude them. Jane continued, "I seemed to have crashed my F-16 and have sustained a few painful injuries that required surgery, but other than that, I feel great. It still seems as though there are two of you in the room though. So, I guess Dr. Spencer will be running his tests." Jane replied and deepen her smile.
Maura quickly replied, "I see you like to joke and yes, Dr. Spencer will need to run some tests to determine what is causing your eye problems. He has been reviewing your previous tests with Dr. Sheppard and I believe they have a plan. They will be in shortly to talk with you."
"I do like to joke because I like to keep things light and have fun." Jane answered while Maura looked at the machine's readings and noted them on her chart. She noted that Jane's heart rate seemed to always be elevated when she checked on her stats but not when other's check them.
"You are really something, Jane." Maura told her as she looked into Jane's eyes. Jane's eyes were dark almost black. Jane stared into Maura's eyes. Jane loved the hazel-colored eyes that she was looking into. She noticed that she had gold flakes in her eyes. Jane was mesmerized by Maura's eyes. Maura had to break the stare as it was too overwhelming.
"Yes, yes, I am. Is Dr. Holiday going to check on me also?"
"She is off today but I think she said she had to come to the hospital for a meeting."
"Well, I hope she stops by to check in on me. I would like to …," Jane paused as she thought of what she wanted to say, when she gathered her thoughts she continued, "talk with her about my leg injury and get her opinion on when I might be able to put some weight on it. I want to get back to both of my jobs." Jane sighed, she wanted to go back to work as soon as possible.
Maura smiled inside when she heard Jane speak about wanting to get back to work. She had worked with patients that had lost hope when faced with so many injuries and she didn't want Jane to be one of those patients.
"Jane, the physical therapist would be able to determine that for you and you cannot start physical therapy until your body heals some more."
"Okay." Jane said a little deflated. She wanted to get out of the hospital and get back to her life. Although she did want to continue to see Maura.
Maura said her goodbyes and let Jane know, "I will stop by in a few hours to check in on you. If you need anything in the meantime, please let the nurses know. I know that you know how to call the nurses as you did that last night to get your pain medications."
'Here it comes.' Jane thought. Maura had yet to really tease her about calling for pain meds last night. "Yeah, my mother was a bit much, I needed her to go and she wasn't going to go on her own. So, well, I just thought it would be best if I followed your orders and fell asleep."
"Yes, Jane, that was a great decision and I would appreciate it if you would continue to follow my orders and sleep more. Your body needs to heal and the more you are awake and trying to move around the longer you are going to stay in the hospital." With that said, Maura walked out the door.
Frost turned to Jane and told her, "Man, I thought she was going to tease you about calling the nurse in."
"I did also, but I better close my eyes and get some sleep. Thanks for being here with me Frost, I really appreciate it."
"No problem, Jane, now close your eyes. I will let you know when your next hot doctor comes for a visit." They smiled at each other and Jane closed her eyes. Frost took out his phone to check on his emails and sent a text to Frankie to let him know that Jane was sleeping again.
Maura was chatting with crowd that had come to check on Jane. She needed to get them off of her floor. It was proving to be a little harder than she thought it would be, but after a little while she managed to get over half of the crowd to go back to their homes or work stations. Only the top brass remained and they went to the appropriate waiting room.
Frankie was relieved and went into Jane's room to be with her and Frost. He was not looking forward to his mother arriving later that day with Tommy. He was also hoping that Nikki and Stella did not make another appearance.
As he sat and talked with Frost, out of Jane's hearing range, he remembered a few months ago when Jane had shown him the ring she had purchased for Nikki. Frankie was amazed that his sister was willing to ask Nikki to marry her. He was then so disappointed when things didn't go like Jane had planned. He remembered what Jane had told him.
"Nikki, I know we have only been dating for two years, but I feel like I have known you for so much longer." Jane was nervous. She had asked Nikki to dress up so that they could have dinner at a new restaurant that had just opened up. They had been living together for six months and Jane was just so smitten with Nikki.
After they had placed their dinner order, Jane stood up and then immediately knelt down on one knee and popped the ring box out of her pocket. As Jane opened the velvet box and presented the 2-caret diamond ring, Nikki just stared at her surprised. "Jane, what are you doing? Sit back down in your chair," Nikki instructed Jane. Jane looked confused, had she read all the signals wrong. She thought that Nikki wanted this. They had been in a relationship for the last two years, this was the next step in most relationships. This is what Jane wanted, she thought Nikki wanted this also.
"Nikki, I want you to marry me. I am trying to propose here. Don't you want to marry me?"
"Jane, I am not ready to get married yet. We have so much life to live and I want to enjoy more of life before we settle down and get married. I know your mother will want us to have children once we get married and I am not sure if I want that yet." Nikki told Jane as Jane rose and sat back in her seat.
After her failed marriage proposal, she and Nikki split up. Nikki moved out and told Jane that "I need a break from our relationship. I do love you and someday I do want to get married, just not right now. I think a short break will be good for our relationship. Jane was devasted. She started drinking heavily and Frankie was concerned for his sister. He wasn't a big fan of Nikki but if she made his sister happy than who was he to come in the way of her happiness.
Frankie briefly explained to Frost what had happened with Jane in the last few months and how Nikki had broken her heart. Now the fact that Nikki had shown up to be with Jane upset Frankie and he needed to talk to someone about it. Then the whole Stella situation, Frankie just needed to talk to his friend. He didn't want to tell Jane that both women had shown up at the hospital.
Frost knew that Jane had been involved with a woman named Nikki, but he didn't know that Jane was getting ready to propose to her. He promised Frankie that he would not share the fact that they had talked about her love life. Jane was a private person and Frost realized how worried Frankie was about his big sister. He was more than happy to let Frankie speak his mind, he knew it would help Frankie handle everything that was happening with Jane right now.
They sat and quietly discussed how smitten Jane was with Maura. They both liked Maura. The only possible drawback was Maura lived in Syracuse and Jane was only in Syracuse for a few days a month. When Jane started to stir, they stopped their conversation as they didn't want Jane to hear what they were talking about, even though they knew she was out of range. They moved their chairs back over so that they could attend to Jane. Jane was in and out of consciousness. She would be awake for a few minutes and then fell back asleep. They wanted her to sleep as much as possible knowing that Angela would be there soon. Jane wouldn't be able to get any sleep while her mother was in her hospital room. Jane told herself, 'I won't have any problem calling nurse again for my pain meds.'