Chapter 6 – Not Realizing They're Injured

Jane and Frost were working on a case. They had been frustrated as every lead hadn't provided any more information than what they already had which was nothing. Jane went down to Maura's office to see if she found anything new when she reexamined the body. At times Maura looked over the body a second time to see if she could find any further clues. Jane appreciated Maura's efforts.

"Hey Maur, any luck?" Maura looked up at Jane and frowned. "Man, I was hoping that you would find an additional clue, not that you would have missed anything the first time around."

"I wish I could give you better news." Maura could see the frustration in Jane's body language. "Jane, are you sleeping?"

"Yeah, well somewhat. Not as much as I should but I try to sleep and then wake up trying to figure out this case."

"Well, if there is anything I can do please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you, Maura."

Jane went home at the end of her shift and tried to get some sleep. Once again, she couldn't sleep so she starting vacuuming. She always vacuumed when she had a difficult case. Her carpet had never been cleaner.

At about three in the morning, she finally was able to fall asleep on the couch. Her alarm went off at six. She was so tired but she had to get up to get ready for work. This went on for several days.

On the fifth night, she gathered her things and went to Maura's. She didn't call ahead she just went there. Maura showed her to the guest room. Jane asked her, "So, how long can a person go without sleeping?"

Maura quickly replied, "Hallucinations begin by day four, followed by slurred speech, short attention span, and death."

"You're better than Wikipedia."

"Well, Wikipedia is frequently incorrect. Very little is rigorously peer-reviewed." Maura stated as she removed extra pillows from the guest bed. Jane laid on the bed and got comfortable. Maura laid on the bed and talked with Jane for a little before they both fell asleep.

Jane didn't realize how much sleep she was depriving herself of. She managed to get at least five hours of sleep before Maura's alarm went off. It was time to get ready to go to work. While at work, she and Frost got another lead. While chasing down the suspect, she tripped and fell. She felt pain but got up and continued to chase down the suspect. She didn't realize that she was injured. She went back to the precinct and she and Frost interrogated the suspect. After two hours of interrogation the suspect confessed and they were able to wrap up the case. Jane didn't feel like going to the Dirty Robber to celebrate she just wanted to go home and go to sleep.

When she woke up in the morning she was in pain. She looked at her leg and noticed a cut. It had been bleeding. She had fallen asleep in her clothes and didn't realize that she had injured her leg. She went into the shower and cleaned her leg up the best that she could. Once she arrived at work, she checked in with Korsak and then went downstairs to see Maura. She needed Maura to take a look at her leg. She was limping a bit as her leg really hurt. She didn't know how she had slept through the pain.

"Jane, you should have gone to urgent care. You might have needed stitches."

"Do I still need stitches?" Jane asked as she pulled up her pant leg so that Maura could observe the injury.

"Yes, it looks like stitches will be needed. I will need to clean the wound up and then apply stitches so that the wound will heal properly. Please jump up on the table, so that I can take a better look and have a sturdy place to work."

"Not the dead people's table, Maur."

"Jane, it is an examination table." Maura took the time to place a sheet on the examination table so that Jane wouldn't be as freaked out.

"Yes, an examination table that you examine dead people on." Jane continued.

"Jane, please just jump up on the table so that we can get started. I placed a sheet on the examination table to make you a little more comfortable. I wonder how many more times I am going to have to patch you up. I wonder how many injuries you incurred without even realizing that you were injured. Or how many you were trying to hide from me."

"Okay, okay I am jumping up." Jane offered as she slipped off her work boots. She didn't want to answer any of those questions. She knew that this was not the first time that she hadn't realized that she had been injured. This injury was just worse than any of the other injuries that she hadn't told Maura about.

Once Jane was on the table, she hiked up her pant leg as far as she could so that Maura wouldn't ask her to take her pants off. She didn't want to be caught on the examination table with her pants off.

Maura had turned to acquire all of the supplies that she would need to clean and stitch up Jane's leg and then asked "Jane, how did this happen and how come you didn't realize that you had injured your leg?"

"Maur, you know how tired I have been. After I fell, I was so determined to catch our perp that I just kept running after him. I caught him and we took him to the precinct where Frost and I questioned him for over two hours before he confessed." Maura was cleaning the wound, she reached a rather dirty patch and had to remove some debris. "Ow, that smarts Maur."

"Sorry Jane, I have to make sure the wound is clean before I can stitch you up. Please continue with what you were saying."

Jane continued, "After his confession, I was so tired, I went home and went straight to bed. I didn't even change out of my clothes. I think I am going to need a few days of nothing but sleep."

"That might be a good idea Jane, at least take one day off and sleep. I am glad that you came to me but please when you get injured like this again go to the hospital."

"Maur, you know I hate hospitals."

"Well, then come to me as soon as it happens, don't try and hide your injuries. If you fall, check yourself out and make sure that you are not injured. The suspect could have waited five minutes while you looked yourself over before starting the interrogation. Didn't Frost know that you had fallen?"

"No, I turned a corner and fell and Frost was just far enough behind me that I had gotten up and started running again before he saw me. Honestly after that I was so wrapped up in what I was doing I really forgot that I had fallen."

"Didn't you feel the pain?"

"I did at first but I knew I needed to catch up to our suspect. So, I ran after him. I didn't want him to get away just because I fell."

"I can understand that, just be careful in the future. I don't want to be stitching you up again. I can't believe you went to bed not realizing that you were injured."

"I was that tired, Maur. Are you finished?"

"Yes, Jane, ten stitches and you are all stitched up. The hospital probably would have only given you six stitches. My stitches are closer together in an effort to not leave a scar. So, I hope you don't mind the extra stitches. They are dissolving stitches and I will need you to let me check on your leg to make sure the wound does not get infected, okay?"

"Yes, Maur, you can look at my leg anytime you want." With that they both smiled at each other and Jane jumped down off of the examination table and put her work boots back on. "Do you have any plans for lunch today, doctor?"

"Yes, with you, just come get me when you are ready." Jane gave Maura a quick kiss on the cheek. As Jane turned to leave, Maura put her hand on her cheek and smiled. Jane went back upstairs with a huge smile on her face. She had a lunch date with Maura to plan.