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 12

"You are a doctor, correct?"

"Yes."

"So I will use the medical terminology. She has an extreme case of lactic acidosis due to the absurd level of activity and effort she imposed on her body. Her heart, kidneys and liver are working in overdrive to try to get rid of it. She was unconscious when they brought her here, seemingly passing out as soon as she stopped moving with you. She is extremely dehydrated and undernourished, and her already trim body seems to have burned through every reserve of fat it could find. We are keeping her lightly sedated, given the muscle cramps she will feel until we can detox her body from the lactic acid will be terrible, and because we need to de-stress her organs for her to go back to functioning in normal levels. Now that I know exactly how far back is her fastening and the amount and type of effort she had to put through this, I will adjust slightly the medication we are giving her on IV. The bloody blister on her leg also burst, and she lost blood like you did, since she never stopped to bandage it – I assume hers burst while she was carrying you, and stopping to bandage herself wasn't an option. Her lungs are also inflamed, because she put her parka on you and was exposed to the extreme cold for a very long time."

"Why would she put her parka on me? Didn't I have mine?"

"You had yours on. I am assuming that she suspected hypothermia and the only thing she thought of doing was to increase the warmth around you as much as she possibly could, what again prevented your case to become worse."

"What about her concussion?"

"She did have a small subdural hemorrhage, but the application of cold helped contain it. She should have rested and avoided effort, so the combination of that and the herculean effort she did was the worst that could happen. But we will only be able to assess if there was any cognitive impairment once she wakes up. Since she was conscious all the way, and cognizant to make decisions and save you both, I would not anticipate any impairment, but only the assessment will assure us of it."

"Can I see her?" Maura pleaded.

He checked the monitors attached to Maura's body.

"Your body temperature is slowly coming back to normal. As soon as you don't need the electric blanket, I will ask a nurse to take you to see her on a wheelchair. You will be able to stay just a few minutes, though, since you know how ICU protocol is."

"Thank you, doctor, I appreciate it."

"And now you need to rest. In all going well, I expect you can be released by end of day tomorrow. You will need to take it really easy for a few days, but that is it."

Maura nodded, and he left.

She closed her eyes, and the enormity of all that had happened overwhelmed her. If she had went on her own, she would certainly be dead by now. Jane, once more, had saved her life. Maura just hoped this would not cost Jane's life as well, she couldn't bear losing Jane.

The nurse came in the next hour to bring her food again, this time warm oatmeal with apples. Maura was able to feed herself more easily. When she finished it, the nurse announced: "Your body temperature has been steadily back to normal levels. The doctor had authorized me to take you to see your friend for a few minutes if you are up to it."

"Yes, please…"

The nurse helped Maura to a wheelchair, moving her IV to a pole attached to it. Maura was wearing a hospital flannel and heavy socks. The nurse still covered Maura with a thick blanket, before pushing her through corridors and elevators until they reached the ICU cubicle where they were keeping Jane.

Jane was scarily pale, the only dash of color on her nose and on the top of her cheeks where the cold bitter wind had burnt the skin. Maura could see how impossibly thin Jane's face looked, gaunt even, and the black circles under her eyes. All monitor equipment were showing stable readings, and that was the only consolation Maura felt. She could see the purplish bruise on Jane's neck, the tips of a bandage from the back of her head, and she knew Jane had a bandage on her leg similar to the one Maura was sporting on hers.

Maura moved the hand that had no IV to gently smooth Jane's temple, while tears streamed from her eyes. She felt relieved to feel the warmth of Jane's skin under her hand.

"Jane… please… keep fighting… I can't do this alone…" Maura whispered, before she leaned forward to kiss Jane's forehead.

"Time is up, ma'am." The nurse announced. "You still need to rest."

Maura sat back on the wheelchair, but the nurse pointed to the EKG equipment with a smile, where a single spike could be seen: "She for sure heard you." What brought a tiny smile to Maura's lips.

The nurse took her back to her own room, and helped her back to the bed. Only then Maura realized how tired she was still feeling, and welcomed the slumber that overtook her.

Maura woke up to the light of day. She tried to move her limbs, and felt much stronger than the day before. She was still weary and felt weightless, but just the fact that she had control over her movements was a big progress.

A new nurse entered the room greeting her good morning and asking how she was feeling, before setting up some breakfast for her. There was hot tea, oatmeal, fruits, and buttered toast. Maura ate slowly and with appetite.

About half an hour after she finished her breakfast, the doctor showed up to check on her.

"Good morning, ma'am, how are you feeling today?"

"Much better, thank you. I am still weary, but I have control of my limbs and I feel much stronger than I was feeling yesterday."

"That is great progress. We will keep you here until the end of the day, so we can keep feeding you every hour to hour and a half, and so we can finish a good regimen of replenishing what you lost in the past few days over IV, that will be much faster than trying to do it only orally."

"How is Jane?"

"I visited her first, since I knew you would ask me about her." The doctor smiled gently at Maura. "Her lactic acid levels reduced by 50% overnight, what is a significant progress and a result of the absolute rest caused by the light sedation. My expectation is that she should be back to normal levels by the end of day today. By then we can then wane her from sedation, assess any consequence of the concussion, and define a path of treatment for the next few days."

Maura sighed, relieved.

"Are you two close?"

"Very… We are best friends. She saved my life more than once, this is just the most recent situation."

"Well… I am really sorry for your losses based on what you told us yesterday. And I am at least glad I can give you the good news your friend is on the path for recovery."