DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rizzoli & Isles nor any of the characters from the show. I am writing this purely for entertainment, not profit. Rizzoli and Isles are property of Tess Gerritsen and TNT.

Please find the full disclaimers in the beginning of Chapter 1.


Chapter 6

The compassed blipping sounds of the monitors were soothing to Maura. Much better than when they were going wild as when they first hooked Jane up on the ambulance.

Maura had been allowed to ride in the ambulance, and provided as much updates as she could to the paramedics. She had arrived at the hospital in time to bark a torrent of orders about which tests to run, before she was held back and directed to a waiting room, where she had spent likely the longest two hours of her life, until a doctor came to fetch her.

She had asked Nina and Frankie to go to the repast as planned to handle the family, promising them she would keep them updated on any development.

"Dr. Isles, for Jane Rizzoli?"

She stood up, and followed the doctor.

"How is she?"

"The situation is worse than what the emergency doctor forecasted yesterday…"

"Is there any brain hemorrhage?" Maura asked, frightened.

"No, but that is probably the only piece of good news… One of her broken ribs had lightly grazed her lung. It was not big enough to be noticed immediately yesterday afternoon, but overnight blood was accumulating on her lung. We had to do an emergency surgical procedure to drain it, and put on a chest tube until we can make sure no more blood is seeping."

Maura exhaled, feeling numb. Jane had been lucky. This alone could have killed her.

"You know the drill, Dr. Isles, we will remove the chest tube once the drainage container shows no sign of blood for twenty-four hours… We also detected some other minor internal bleeding from organs that had been bruised by the beating, her kidneys, her spleen, her liver, and we controlled it. The hairline fractures on her zygomatic and maxilla will take a while to consolidate. As you know, we cannot fully immobilize such bones. But it means she will be on a liquid diet for six to eight weeks until the jaw bones are fully consolidated. And then there are her ribs, that also will require rest, but nothing else that can be done."

"Is she conscious?"

"She has been on and off as she is still recovering from the anesthesia used for the lung procedure. I will be back in another two hours to check on her, and then we will assess her pain levels to provide her with the appropriate painkillers. If there is any other unexpected development in the meanwhile, please press the emergency call button and the nurses will page me."

"Thank you, Doctor." Maura shook his hand, before entering Jane's room.

If Jane had looked pale before, now her skin looked waxy. Maura shuddered, because it looked just like Angela's skin inside the coffin. Maura shook her head trying to dispel the image. Her hand reached out to Jane's arm, and there was comfort in the warmth there. Jane was alive. Beaten and battered, but alive.

Maura texted an update to Frankie and Nina, and sat to wait.

Angela's loss was weighing heavily on her. But she knew now that losing Jane was a very true possibility. And it terrified her.

Jane's light groan moved her out of her own head.

"You are awake…" Maura whispered softly, a hand smoothing a stray curl from Jane's face.

"How…?" Jane knotted her eyebrows, taking in the fact she was back at the hospital.

"You had some internal bleeding… It has been taken care of now." Maura explained, and Jane nodded her understanding.

"Home…?"

"Not anytime soon, Jane. You are really, really hurt, and you will need to spend a few more days here in the hospital..."

The doctor chose that moment to enter the room, approaching the bed to assess Jane's condition, shining a small pocket light on one eye, then the other, as he spoke.

"Miss Rizzoli. Dr. Isles is right, you will need to stay here for a while. And this time you are not leaving even if you sign an A. M. A. form."

He moved to check the drainage container, that was mostly clear, just a tiny line of blood in the middle of the yellowish liquid.

"From zero to ten, how is your pain level?"

"No… pain… killers…"

Maura knotted her eyebrows.

"That is not an option, Miss Rizzoli…" He admonished.

"Jane?" Maura tried.

"No… pain… killers…"

"Could you please give us a moment, Doctor?" Maura asked, and the doctor just nodded and walked out of the door.

"Why, Jane?"

Jane just shook her head slowly, closing her eyes but not before Maura saw them welled in tears.

"Jane?"

"No… pain… killers…" Jane repeated, stubbornly, turning her face away.

"Look at me." Maura instructed. When Jane didn't comply, she insisted. "Jane, look at me, please."

Jane turned her face to Maura, her features weary, her eyes tired.

"I know you, Jane Clementine Rizzoli. And I know why you are doing this… Or at least I know why you think you are doing this… You are welcoming the physical pain, because it masks the enormity of the emotional pain you are feeling. And because you think the physical pain will absolve you from your guilt."

Maura watched Jane wincing at her words, and set her jaw before continuing.

"But there is no guilt to gain absolution from, Jane. You know I can't lie. I am not sugar coating the truth. You did nothing wrong, Jane, nothing. You are not to blame because there is nothing to be blamed about. The only person who can be blamed for all this is the truck driver who lost control of the truck and hit the car your mom and Ron were on…"

Jane continued to shake her head 'no'.

"Without the painkillers, you will take much longer to recover, Jane… The stress of the pain will consume a lot of energy your body does not have to spare right now. Please?"

Jane just shook her head 'no' again.

"Jane? We already had to bury your mother early this morning… Please, please don't make me have to bury you too…" Maura didn't care that she was begging, and that the tears that had been welling in her eyes found their way through her face. She would do anything to get through Jane's thick skull.

"Please?" Maura insisted, hazel eyes boring in chocolate brown ones.

Jane gave one nod, closing her eyes, exhausted.

Maura squeezed her forearm, and walked to the door.

"She will get the painkillers, doctor." And Maura proceeded to recommend the dosage, she would not rely on Jane to judge.