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 11
Maura swallowed hard before continuing.
"Jane had a nasty concussion… and a wound bleeding on the back of her head… but there was little that we could do about it… We found the bedroom that was less destroyed by the sackers upstairs… We used some fresh snow and a towel… to try to control the bleeding on her head… and slept during the entire day… Jane woke me up when it was time for us to leave… She had checked the entire house… room by room… and found only a half tin of dried nuts the sackers had not noticed… because my father typically had one on his office or on the library… somewhere most sackers wouldn't consider for storing food... It was the only food we had now to come back… given the deserter had consumed every last bit of our provisions... Jane made sure I ate a handful of dried nuts and drank water from our thermos… before we locked the door again and began our way back…"
"Did she eat with you as well?" this time the doctor asked.
"No, she had already eaten when she woke me up…"
They nodded for her to continue.
"We began cycling back… After about one hour and a half on our way… the chain of my bike snapped… probably because of turning brittle with the cold… It whipped my calf painfully… Jane made me sit on the frame of her bike… and biked both of us for another hour and a half… before the chain of her bike snapped the same as mine... We had covered about twenty-five miles with the bikes… but we knew now the situation had changed… and we would need to walk the remaining of the way…"
The nurse again offered her tea, that she sipped before continuing.
"We walked until it was almost morning… and we stopped by a boatshed to rest… I don't even remember falling asleep… I was exhausted… Jane woke me up for us to leave… but first we bandaged my leg with a sock… noticing it was bleeding where the chain had hit my calf… Again, I ate a handful of dried nuts and drank water before we resumed walking…"
"Did your friend eat with you then?"
"No, she had already eaten when she woke me up… We walked for what seemed forever… But I was feeling so really weak… I fell down on my knees and couldn't move further… Jane made me eat the last nuts… when I couldn't walk further… and she realized that my bandage had escaped… since I was leaving a bloody trail on the snow… She adjusted the bandage… and we kept going until it was almost dawn… and then stopped by a dwelling…" Maura paused, knotting her eyebrows.
"And then?"
"That is the last I remember, Sir."
"Thank you, ma'am." The commander offered.
"Can I ask you how I got here?"
"We know very little as well. Early morning today our sentinels noticed a shadow moving from the other side of the border. It was your friend, carrying you in her arms."
"May I ask what day is today? I am kind of lost in time…"
"You set up and left on a Tuesday night. Today is Saturday, and it is almost 10PM." He tried to situate her.
"I have a few more questions, if that is okay." The doctor asked, but the nurse interrupted him.
"It has been one hour since we fed her, if you would allow me, I will feed her again first."
"Of course. We need to get her body back to functioning."
The nurse had another bowl of soup, on which she broke some soft bread to make it thicker than the first one she had offered Maura.
This time, Maura felt she had enough energy to bring the spoon to her lips. She ate slowly, savoring the food, and the feeling was as if the warmth and the strength was flowing through her limbs.
She had seen there were IV flasks dripping on her veins since the moment she woke up, but she knew this was the real deal.
When she finished, the nurse collected the things and offered her more tea.
"In another hour or hour and a half we will feed you again if you are awake and willing, otherwise, tomorrow morning."
"Thank you…" Maura was really thankful.
"You said you had more questions for me." Maura turned to the doctor.
"I do… Is it safe to say you didn't see your friend eating on any occasion?"
Maura paused to think and to review her memory. Except for the soup they had at the inn, since this nightmare began, she had not witnessed Jane eating.
"Correct." And then realization hit Maura, and she gasped, closing her eyes as she turned scarily pale. "She didn't eat at all, did she?"
The doctor sighed. "No, it does not look like she did."
"Where is she? How is she?" Maura asked, urgently, her medical mind calculating the time and effort Jane had taken without any fuel to burn.
"She is in the ICU, and she is being taken care of."
"The dried nuts tin… when she offered it to me the first night… it had less than half a pound in it. There was no way she could have had a handful as well as me and it lasted as long as it did. I didn't realize it… until now…" Maura swallowed hard, her eyes welled in tears. Jane, as usual, had sacrificed her wellbeing for Maura's. And Maura was too out of it to even realize it.
"Based on what you just told us, ma'am, you were likely suffering the aftereffects of shock, and dehydration, and hunger, and exhaustion. Not to count your only remaining kidney working in overdrive trying to keep up with the extremes you put your body through. Don't blame yourself. Instead, be thankful to your friend, because the only reason you are already up is because of what she did. You were in the first stages of hypothermia when you were brought in, but since you have apparently only completely fasted for the last twenty-four hours of your ordeal, it was easier to bring you back. Steady warmth and proper fluids and vitamins, and you will be back to your feet in no time. You lost blood through the wound on your leg, what was an added weakening factor for sure, but not enough to require a blood transfusion. As soon as we get you back to a normal diet by tomorrow, you should be able to move around and get out of the hospital."
"What about Jane?"