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 7
Maura woke up to the cacophony of sounds from all hospital monitoring equipment going wild.
She jumped from the armchair where she was sleeping at, her hand urgently trying to find the red button for the nurses, while she approached the bed.
She could not believe her eyes, because Jane had managed to remove every single piece of monitoring equipment, she had removed the chest tube where now there was a massive blood splatter on her hospital gown.
"Jane? Jane?" Maura's voice was urgent. But Jane seemed completely out of it. Maura moved a hand to Jane's neck to find her pulse point. There was none. Her other hand moved to Jane's wrist. Nothing.
"Help!" Maura yelled, when the door opened. "I can't find a pulse!"
Nurses came in and quickly reattached the heart monitor.
"Flatline. We have a code blue!"
A second later there were doctors in the room and Maura stood back, taking in the concerted chaos in front of her.
Someone produced a syringe and punched it directly on Jane's heart, while the other began chest compressions. Maura didn't want to imagine the damage, given Jane already had six broken ribs. But, first things first, the damage was a secondary concern if Jane didn't make it through.
There was a blip on the heart monitor line, and Jane clearly gasped "Ma", before the line went flat again, and the doctors continued to struggle.
"Please take over from me…" one of the doctors looked at Maura. She jumped into action, replacing him on the compressions to Jane's chest without missing a beat.
"We should pronounce her…" Maura heard someone else in the room say after some time, she was not sure how long.
"No, no, no…" Maura cried, each no in rhythm with one of her compressions to Jane's chest. When someone – a nurse or a doctor, she didn't know exactly who – put a hand on her shoulder for her to stop, she shrugged it abruptly, and punched Jane's chest hard, really hard.
A blip showed on the line. And after a short while another one. And another one.
Maura realized she was ugly crying when a nurse gently pulled her away from the bed, pushing a box of tissues in her hand.
Maura got out of their way, and entered the attached bathroom, leaving the door opened, seeing her face in the mirror as she cleaned her face from tears, and snot, and washed it for good measure, her heart beating fast and hard against her ribcage.
When her breathing was back to some level of normal, she walked back in the room.
"We need to take her back to surgery because of the damage she caused by forcibly removing the chest tube." The doctor explained, and Maura just nodded as the nurses cleaned up the room, and brought a gurney to take Jane to surgery. Maura leaned forward, kissing Jane's forehead, before they wheeled her out, and Maura sank exhausted on the armchair.
Jane had flatlined on her. The doctors had been ready to pronounce her. But first… Jane had removed the chest tube – it must have hurt like hell to do it. And she had removed all monitoring equipment. Maura could recognize a death wish when she saw one. She pulled her knees under her chin, and she cried.
"Dr. Isles?" she jumped up to the doctor's voice when he poked his head around the door.
She stood up, quickly running a hand through her disheveled hair, and running a tissue through her tear-stricken face.
"Yes, Doctor."
"She is on the recovery room, and is stable now. We repaired the damage and refit a new chest tube. We should be able to bring her back here in another hour or so."
"Her ribs?"
"A few more cracked ones with the compressions… But she will live."
"We need two new things, Doctor."
"What would they be, Dr. Isles?"
"Soft restrains. And light sedation." Maura sighed as she admitted it.
"Do you think she did this to self-harm?"
"Likely unconsciously, but yes, I do. I would rather be safe than sorry considering how it developed. Wouldn't you agree?"
He nodded at her. "I will prescribe it as you recommended."
About an hour and a half later, they rolled Jane back in, and transferred her efficiently to the bed. This time, they used the soft leather restraints to keep Jane's hands in place. And Maura observed as the nurses prepared the injection with painkillers and the injection with light sedation to put into the IV bag dripping from Jane's arm.
Only after the nurses left and Maura was sure everything was in order, she grabbed her phone to update Frankie. He and Nina had stopped by the hospital after the repast to leave her luggage and to check on Jane. But this had been the day before – Maura felt she was lost in time.
"Frankie…" Maura realized how shaky her voice still sounded.
"Maura… How is Jane?" Frankie asked, concerned.
"She is okay now, but she had an episode a few hours ago… In her agitation, she removed the chest tube draining her lung, and all monitoring equipment…" Maura's voice faltered as her memory replayed in front of her eyes. She swallowed hard, audible even to Frankie.
"How bad was it, Maura?"
"Bad…" she sighed. "It was really bad. She flatlined, Frankie, and for a moment they were about to pronounce her. But she is stable now… A few more cracked ribs added to the mix due to chest compressions, a wider wound on her chest where she hurt her lungs removing the drain forcefully."
"Is she… safe?" Maura knew Frankie had reached the same conclusion as hers. Guilt was consuming Jane, consciously or unconsciously.
"I agreed with the doctor to keep her lightly restrained to prevent her, in any state of confusion, to remove any equipment. And they are also keeping her lightly sedated at least for the next seventy-two hours, that the doctor believe should be enough to at least remove the chest drain."
"Maura… if she is sedated, try to go home and get some rest. You've been there since you landed. It has been over forty-eight hours… Please?"
"I will spend the days here, Frankie, and will go back to sleep in my house, while they keep her lightly sedated, don't worry."
"And you can define a scale, Maura, and Nina and I can switch places with you."
"Not needed. I am still on my bereavement leave. I will talk to you later…"
Maura disconnected, and walked to the bed, her hand gently smoothing Jane's forehead and her temple, mindful of all the bruising and swelling on that beautiful face Maura knew so well.
"What have you done, Jane? And how can I help you?" Maura whispered, more to herself than to Jane.
