Chapter 2
They all slept peacefully and comfortably in Maura's king size bed, for a while, and it was a long while, until something made Aerial wake up with a jump.
Aerial had woken up with such a jolt, she had woken Jane too. Jane still had her arms around her. Aerial had a thin layer of sweat on her forehead.
"What's wrong? Something's woken you up like that" Jane whispered, gently squeezing her for reassurance. "Bad dream" Aerial whimpered, she had had more than a bad dream. "It's okay baby, It's not real, just a dream and were both here, okay?" Jane said reassuring Aerial and rubbing her shoulder.
At this Maura wakes up, but she pretends she is still asleep, so she can hear the conversation.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Jane asked, hoping she would say yes because there were some things that needed to be discussed. "Er..." Aerial starts. "Take your time" Jane says, kissing Aerial's forehead.
Aerial sits up so her bum is on the pillow and her back is on the head board. She brings her legs up to her chest and hugs them. Jane sits cross legged next to her, facing Maura.
After taking a deep breath, Aerial starts. "It was seeing you. Seeing him do what he did, and not being able to do anything. I feel so guilty about not doing anything."
"Listen to me" Jane says. "What he did to me, should never have happened, and no one should have seen. But it's happened, and we both need to deal with it." Jane says.
"I can't get rid of the feeling of the nails through my hands. I keep thinking there there, then I look and there's nothing but a wound" Jane says, curling her hands in protectively.
"At least he wasn't inside you" Aerial mutters, immediately wishing she had said nothing.
"I'm sorry." She whispers after wards.
Tears start to fall down Maura' s face, but she manages to stay quiet.
Jane says nothing for a long time, but she finally broke the silence.
"I feel like I let you down" Jane whispers. "You didn't." Aerial replied. "I did. Look what a mess were in at the moment. I should have protected you." Jane replied. "No one could have protected me. Not even Boston's finest." Aerial mutters. Jane did have a point. "I should have done something." Jane says, the guilt in her voice obvious. "There was nothing you could have done. It's happened now, it's in the past." Aerial says, trying to sound strong, but the detective knows her to well. "But it's not in the past. It's something that you and I are going to have to deal with, to have to remember, everyday for the rest of our lives." Jane whisperd, her voice cracking half way through. "Deppressing much..." Aerial whispered. Emotions weren't her strong point. "But we can fight it together." She added. At this, Maura was unable to suppress her sobs any longer. Maura rolled over and sat up so she was level with Aerial and wrapped her arms around her, burying her head in Aerial's long wavy brown hair, embracing her smell. "You're awake?" Aerial asked with a pang of guilt, Maura didn't need to hear their conversation. "I am sorry you had to hear that Maur"Jane said sitting up and getting close to her. Aerial shifted her weight so she was Sat on both of their laps. "You couldn't have expected me to sleep" Maura muttered. She had a point.
They sat cuddling for another half an hour or so, until they lay back down in bed and tries to get some sleep.
Aerial drifted back to sleep after a few minutes, closely followed by Jane, and then Maura. As morning finally came, Jane was the first one to wake up. Something wasn't right. It took her a few second to work it out. The space in the bed next to her was cold. Aerial wasn't there, and hadn't been for some time. Maura was sleeping peacefully on the other side of the bed.
"Maura" Jane whispered. No response. "Maura!" Jane said, slightly louder. Still no response. "MAURA!" Jane says loudly. This time the there's a moan. "What is it?" Maura yawns. "Aerial. She's not here." Jane said. "Calm. Breathe. She has probably just gone downstairs to watch TV. She's a teenager" Maura said, rubbing her eyes. She wasn't fully awake yet. "We should check" Jane said, bringing a blanket with them, they reluctantly leave the warmth of Maura' s bed. The cold, harsh air hit Jane's skin, reminding her of the cold floor where she had lived for 3 weeks. Maura came up and cuddled her until she felt better again.
Thankfully, on this occasion, Maura was right about teenagers.
