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 13
Maura had asked for a favor from the commander to have someone retrieving her luggage from the inn storage, so she could have clean clothes to wear when leaving the hospital. There was no way she could ever wear the clothes from the past few days again – they would always be associated to finding her parents dead and to the terrible attack by that deserter soldier.
"You are released. Just please make sure to keep well bundled up against the cold, to eat regularly, and to keep hydrated. Your body went through a big shock, and you don't want to stress it again too soon."
"Could I please see Jane before I leave?"
"Sure. Please come with me…"
They were close to the ICU when a nurse intercepted the doctor urgently.
"The patient Jane Rizzoli came out from sedation, but she refuses to answer any of my questions until I give her news of a Maura, and she is very agitated…"
"I am Maura…" Maura calmed the nurse down. "I will help make her behave." Maura hurried to Jane's ICU cubicle.
"Jane?"
"Maura! Thank God you are alive…" Jane's voice was barely a breath, and she visibly relaxed in bed seeing Maura already in street clothes, but Maura could see the muscles jumping under Jane's skin.
"Jane… Please, relax… You cannot tense up, okay?" Maura insisted, getting closer to Jane's bed, cupping Jane's face lightly with one hand, the other stroking Jane's arm lightly. The last thing they needed was Jane stressing out – her muscles still couldn't handle that.
Jane nodded, and Maura could see how weary and gaunt Jane's expression still looked.
The nurse, like she did with Maura the previous day, handed Maura a mug of warm tea with a straw, that she offered Jane, while Jane sipped thirstily.
"Slowly, Jane. There is plenty."
Jane slowed down.
"Now that we established that I am fine, will you please answer the questions the nurse and the doctor have for you?" Maura admonished.
"Yeah…" Jane closed her eyes, before opening them again.
"How are you feeling?" the doctor began, as he used a pocket flashlight on each one of Jane's pupils.
Maura knew Jane hated that part, and had to hold back her chuckle to Jane trying not to swat his hand away.
"I am fine."
The doctor looked puzzled at her.
"She always says she is fine. Her goal is to leave the hospital as early as she can." Maura advised.
"Which side are you on?" Jane teased Maura.
"Yours. I want you out of here, but only when your body is ready to be out of here, Jane… So please, can you answer to the doctor as truthfully as you can?"
"Okay…" Jane rolled her eyes, and winced when she did so. "The back of my head is still throbbing. Much lighter than the past few days, but it is still there."
"Do you feel any trouble with your vision?"
"I felt dizzy and had dark spots whenever I stood up these past few days, but except for that, no, everything was fine. I can see fine now too."
"Good. How do your muscles feel?"
"I cannot really move. But now it is because my muscles feel sore and mush. It is not like they are wooden sticks as I was feeling when I met the garrison by the border."
He pulled the blanket and brought her hands to the top of it.
"Can you hold my hand, please? Squeeze it, if you can?"
Maura could see the feeble movement. It was like she had felt when she first woke up yesterday. She felt more confident.
"What about your breathing?"
"It is a bit painful when I breath too deeply. But a shallower breathing is okay."
"We will need to do some image exams for your head and your lungs tomorrow morning. But, for now, I will ask the nurse to bring you something light to easy you back into eating."
Then he turned to Maura.
"I will give you a few minutes with her before you leave. She will spend tonight still in the ICU, but in all going well in the image exams, by tomorrow morning she will be transferred to a regular room, and you can spend time with her whenever you want."
"Thank you, doctor."
The nurse and the doctor left, leaving only Jane and Maura on the cubicle, and Maura took Jane's hand in hers, the one not encumbered by the IV drip.
"God, I was so afraid when you wouldn't wake up…" Jane looked up at Maura, as if needing to make sure she was really there.
"You guessed correctly I had hypothermia. According to the doctor, what you did saved my life. Thank you…"
"You are always welcome…" Jane smiled gently at her, closing her eyes wearily.
"But it almost costed yours, Jane… Why did you lie to me?"
Jane had the decency to blush. "It was not an intentional lie. I was nauseous like hell. You needed it more than I did… You had not been eating well since the war began a month ago…"
Maura shook her head, her hand smoothing Jane's curls.
"You should have left me in that dwelling and come for help…"
"Maura… You knew the commander told us they could not offer us help beyond their territory. I… I was a few hundred yards from the border, and they couldn't even help me then! Only after I crossed the border they dared to approach me…"
"And removing your parka?"
"Again… You needed it more than I did…" Jane offered Maura her puppy chocolate brown eyes.
"Thank you, Jane. Once more you saved my life…" Maura leaned forward to kiss Jane's forehead.
The nurse entered with the same bowl of soup she had started with Maura the previous day.
Seeing Jane puzzled expression, Maura explained: "You were without any food for too long, Jane. If they begin with anything heavier or with bigger portions, it can cause damage to our organs. They will begin slow, and they will feed you hourly until your body can handle food normally."
"I… can't move…" Jane said sheepishly when the nurse raised the bed rest.
"Will you allow me?" Maura offered, extending her hand.
The nurse smiled at her, and handed her the bowl.
"They had to spoon feed me yesterday too." Maura explained softly, as she slowly fed Jane. "Given you were way weaker than I was when you arrived here, you should expect they will need to help you the first two or three times, before you can do it yourself." She cleaned Jane's mouth with a napkin when they were done.
"Ma'am, it is time." The nurse poked her head around the cubicle. Maura had overstayed already for an ICU.
"Behave… I will see you tomorrow…" Maura squeezed Jane's hand, and felt a feeble squeeze back. "Try to get as much rest as you can."
"I promise…"