Chapter 10 – Blow To The Head

Alice Sands and her associates had been terrorizing Jane. They had burned down her apartment, wreaked havoc on her finances and kidnapped Maura. Before Maura was kidnapped Jane was very flustered, she knew that they were after someone in her family she just hadn't figured out who it was until it was too late. She was obsessed with protecting those that she loved and Alice Sands and her associates were getting to her, she didn't protect Maura enough and she felt terrible.

Joe Harris had struck Maura on the head several times to cause her to bleed so that he could send Jane a threatening photograph. He wanted to scare Maura and piss Jane off. He did just that. Maura was scared that Harris might harm her some more. Jane was pissed off that this doctor had taken Maura right from under her nose, so to speak. Jane hadn't provided enough protection to prevent Maura from being taken and that truly pissed her off.

After they had gotten Maura back, Jane kept a close eye on her. She was what Maura would call overprotective but Maura understood why and didn't fuss at Jane. Joe Harris was dead and would not hurt Maura anymore, but Maura had told Jane that Harris wasn't working alone, so there was still a threat.

At Vince and Kiki's wedding there was a commotion. Shots were fired into the gathering of people seeing Vince and Kiki off as they left the Dirty Robber. Nina was shot in the left shoulder as the crowd scrambled. Maura was pushed down and banged her head. Jane felt that she didn't protect Maura as she ran off after the shooter, leaving Maura, not knowing that Maura had been injured.

Maura thought that she had a concussion, a few days later Maura passed out in the bullpen while speaking to Korsak, Jane and Frankie. She went to the hospital and the doctor confirmed that she had a concussion and they scheduled a CT scan. The CT scan confirmed the concussion, however it did not show anything else. Maura was concerned as she was forgetting things like the name of the machine she used daily.

Kent figured out that something was wrong with Maura and confronted her. She couldn't keep the truth from him. She filled Kent in on her condition and he promised to keep her condition between them. Kent told Maura, "I've actually been doing some research on your symptoms. I think it's possible that you have a Chiari Malformation."

Maura gave him a concerned look and replied, "That's a genetic condition, isn't it?"

Kent looked at her and told her, "congenital structural defect of the cerebellum. It could've been lying dormant until it was unmasked by your head trauma."

Maura thought for a moment and then said, "I hadn't considered that." Maura hadn't considered a lot of things lately as she just wasn't her normal brainiac self.

Kent sensing the concern in Maura informed her, "hey come on, my research shows there's room for optimism."

Maura replied, "I'm sure there is. I'm sorry, it's just, um, daunting to objectively diagnose something that affects me so deeply."

Kent simply replied, "yeah, well, it's not your job to be objective. That's why I'm here. And I've left the reading on your desk."

"I'll take a look at it, thank you." Later that day, Maura looked over the information. She also did some research of her own.

Over the next week, Kent caught Maura in more slip ups. Maura was concerned and felt like she needed to explain her concerns to Jane. She told Jane, "I have been reading the research about Chiara Malformations. It may be the source of my condition."

Jane looked at her concerned, "Okay. What's it say?" Jane didn't know anything about this condition and she wanted for Maura to explain everything to her. She knew something was up with Maura. She also knew that Kent was looking after her. She knew if things got bad or if Kent felt that Jane needed to step in, he would talk to her.

"Well, there is a procedure to alleviate the pressure on the cerebellum, and it could eliminate my symptoms entirely."

"Well, this is great right?"

"Well, there's also a chance that it doesn't work or my symptoms worsen, rendering me unable to perform my duties."

"But that's not going to happen." Jane wasn't sure but she didn't want to let Maura think that, she needed to be positive so that Maura would be positive.

"Maybe not. But until I can be sure I can't let our cases rest in the balance."

Maura handed Jane an envelope and Jane asked, "What's this?"

"My resignation. If the day comes … " Maura didn't get to finish her thought as Jane butted in.

"Maura. Come on. This is a little premature, don't you … no, this is more than prema … this is like the nuclear option."

"I just want to be prepared for the worst-case scenario. I don't want you to have the burden of having to make that call for me down the road." Jane was Maura's medical power of attorney person and she knew that Jane had doubts about that responsibility. She really just wanted to make things easier for her best friend.

"Well, what about the best-case scenario, you know, the one where you get better?" Jane wanted Maura to think about the positive, the best-case scenario.

Maura sat down in her chair and they both sighed. Jane was still standing in front of Maura's desk and told her, "Look … Maura, I know this is scary for you. it's scary for me, too, okay? And I will hold on to this if that's what you want. But I know I'm not gonna need it."

"I just don't want to let anyone down."

"You never have." Jane picked up her vibrating cell phone and looked at the screen. She told Maura, "Okay?" then looking at the phone screen again she sighed, she continued, "Nina's got something. Look, we … we're gonna talk more about this later. Okay? Everything's gonna be all right." Jane started to walk out and then turned and told Maura, "Dr. Maura Isles does not resign." Jane left to go see Nina.

Maura sat at her desk and looked around. She started thinking about different activities that she could do to build new neural pathways. Over the next few weeks, she started spending more time fencing. She knew that learning new skills would help the brain create new connections that can compensate for damaged ones.

She had fun with some of the activities that she had selected. She even started listening to music from Motown while working instead of listening to her classical music. She wanted to go down this path and see if it alleviated her symptoms. If it didn't, she would consider the surgery.

Kent knew that Maura was trying to cover up her symptoms and wanted her to consider having the surgery. Kent gave Maura a list of neurosurgeons. Maura was not happy that he presented her with the list. He told her he was only trying to help and left the room. She felt bad because she knew he was telling her the truth.

Later when Maura was holding the file of neurosurgeons in her hand, Jane walked in and thought it was the DNA test on the hair sample for their case. Maura tried taking the file from Jane before she opened it but she wasn't fast enough and Jane opened the file.

"I thought you were feeling better. What about the whole neural highway thing?"

"In time it can be effective. In truth, I think I was using it to avoid the surgery." Maura was afraid of what might happen if the surgery didn't work. She was scared. After Jane comforted her, she agreed to make the appointment to talk with a neurosurgeon about the surgery. She knew Jane would always be there for her, no matter what.

Jane was sitting at the kitchen island while Maura was pacing around talking with her biological mother, Hope. "I've experienced some symptoms headaches, um, occasional memory loss. … Yes, I-I was diagnosed with Chiara Malformation after the fall."

Maura looked at Jane and Jane smiled at her to continue. Jane was pleased that Maura had finally agreed to have the surgery. She was also pleased that she had called, Hope. She wanted her friend to be better. She knew this was driving Maura crazy.

"Yes. Yes, I've decided to have decompression surgery. My … doctor thinks that it could eliminate some pressure caused from the injury. … Later today. … No, no. There's no reason for you to go out of your way. It is a minor procedure. I will be home tomorrow. Okay, I've gotta run. Okay, talk to you soon."

Maura ended the call and turned to Jane, "I told you it was a bad idea to call her. Now she wants to come by the hospital."

"Maura, she's concerned."

"There's nothing to be concerned about."

"It's what mothers do." Jane said as Angela walked into Maura's house. Jane's back was to her mother so she didn't see her.

"I don't want to make a big deal out of it." With that said, Maura and Jane went to work. Maura planned to work until noon as her surgery was scheduled for 1 PM.

Jane and Angela were waiting with Maura for her surgery. She had already been admitted to the hospital and was sitting in a hospital bed waiting for her surgery time. Hope showed up and said hello. She then left the room as she wanted to speak to Maura's surgeon before the surgery.

Maura's surgery went fine and Jane called Hope almost every twenty minutes to check on her. On an afternoon break Jane went to Maura's house to check on her. Hope was fixing some soup while Jane and Maura talked. Jane had been working on a case and had to wait until she had a break in the case before she could come and check on Maura. She was concerned about her best friend.

After Jane left, Maura and Hope talked and Maura confided in Hope that she was worried that her memory might be affected and that it might affect her ability to testify in her cases. She had no way to know if the surgery worked. She worried about what she would do if she couldn't be a medical examiner.

Over time Maura discovered that the surgery had worked and that her mental functions were all back to normal. Maura was pleased as was Jane. Jane was worried that Maura would continue to doubt herself. This bump to the head had caused them both to worry so much and Maura knew now that some things were out of her control and she just had to make the best decisions she could based on the information that she had. She also realized that no matter what happened in her life, her best friend would always be there by her side helping her through whatever life brought.