I figured I'd get this one up quick so you all wouldn't hunt me down. :)

As always, please let me know what you think! Your reviews feed my tiny mewling soul.

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"Chest pains due to overexertion," the doctor said, flipping through Jane's chart. He looked up and raised an eyebrow at Maura. Maura was braless, wearing Jane's BPD t-shirt that was, by now, in desperate need of a wash. Her jogging capris were not clean either. Her feet were bare. The ME was well known in Boston and no one – no one – had ever seen her look like this.

"Syncope due to low blood sugar," the doctor continued, reading the notes, flipping through test results. Jane scowled at him from the emergency room bed where she was tethered by an IV and several leads attached to her chest. Her heart monitor beeped, the only sound breaking the awkward silence.

Maura had managed to get Jane's tank top back on just as the ambulance arrived, only to have the EMTs cut it off. Jane was bundled in a hospital gown now, open to the front, but tucked around her sides to keep her from exposing herself. She hugged herself to stay warm and continued scowling at the doctor.

The doctor looked from Jane to Maura. Maura flushed. He might not have known what had been happening between the two women just hours before, but you didn't have to be a genius to pick up on the messy hair, the still-flushed cheeks, and God, Maura hoped he couldn't smell the dripping hot sex that was emanating from them both.

"Everything looks to be in order, Dr. Isles," the doctor said finally. "Thank you for moving so quickly to get her here, but it appears her new valve is working just as it should be." He tucked Jane's chart under his arm. "You still need to take it easy, though, young lady," he said to Jane, causing her expression to turn from sullen to murderous. "I know your recovery has been going remarkably well, but you need to be gentle with yourself." He looked at Maura pointedly and then back at Jane. "And don't forget to eat."

"Can we get out of here?" Jane asked Maura, ignoring the doctor, reaching for her IV.

"Hey, hey, hey," Maura said, putting a hand on Jane's arm. "First you rest, hydrate, balance your electrolytes, and then we'll go."

The doctor gave both women a tight smile. He opened his mouth to say something and then smartly shut it again. "Dr. Isles," he said, nodding his head good-bye.

"Dr. Smith," Maura said, nodding back. The doctor shut the door behind him as he left. That was one perk to arriving in the ER with the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: when she demands you get a private exam room, you get a private exam room.

"This is so embarrassing," Jane groaned, throwing herself back against the inclined gurney.

"I told you to eat breakfast," Maura tsked, handing Jane a pillow.

Jane threw the pillow at Maura and growled, "You're the one who wouldn't let me eat."

Maura laughed. "Me? I'm pretty sure you're the one who leapt out of bed and fairly attacked me."

"Well, you should be packed with electrolytes because you're the only thing I'm hungry for."

Maura gave Jane a sidelong glance and they both laughed.

"Was that too cheesy? That was super cheesy wasn't it?" Jane reached for Maura. Maura went to her, careful to not get tangled in all the cords and wires. She whispered in Jane's ear, "I'm not even sure that made sense." Jane whacked her with another pillow and they laughed, trying to keep it quiet even in the private room.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Jane," Maura said, her face turning serious. "I should have known it wasn't anything serious, but seeing you unconscious like that…" she shivered. "It just brought back so many memories and I…"

"It's OK, Maura. This isn't your fault. I'm glad you called 911. I'm glad I have you to look after me."

"Well, I've been doing a poor job of looking after you and I'm sorry. I'll have to do better." Maura's voice suddenly sounded clinical and detached. The heart rate monitor beeped with Jane's distress. She sat up straighter. "What do you mean a poor job? I'm ahead of schedule recovery-wise, you've kept me on track with my physical therapy-"

"I've been distracted," Maura interrupted. "By my feelings for you." She ran her hands through her hair and bit the inside of her cheek. "I'm going to have to do a better job of not letting my emotions – and my desires – get the better of me. We have to get you back to one hundred percent and then we can…" she paused, closed her eyes, smiled, "…go back to our investigations."

"But—" Jane protested.

"No, Jane," Maura said, her voice still clinical, but also gentle. "There are clearly things you need to figure out and I clearly cannot control myself. We're going to have to get you well before we resume our-"

Jane turned swiftly on the gurney, accidentally pulling off one of the leads stuck to her chest. She grabbed Maura's forearms with both her hands and pulled the ME to her, making sure they had eye contact. The monitor alarmed with shrill beeps as the ripped off lead dangled onto the gurney.

"This was a dumb thing, Maura. I fainted. That's it. I wore myself out with you last night and then this morning I didn't stop to eat before wearing myself out again. It has nothing to do with how you've been taking care of me or with how I'm dealing with all of these feelings I'm having. I'm not like you, Maura. I can't just compartmentalize my-"

The door swung open and a nurse came in. She raised her eyebrows at the intimate way Jane was gripping Maura, but said nothing. Jane dropped her hands as the nurse pulled Jane's hospital gown over her shoulder, exposing a breast. She attached a new lead and then she was gone, without a word.

Despite herself, Maura's gaze lingered on Jane's chest, but Jane reached over and nudged Maura's chin up so they could look at one another. "I can't just compartmentalize my feelings like you can, Maura. I can't just decide, 'Oh, OK, I'm going to be all doctor-y and clinical-y now and save all my feelings for later.'" She goofily mimicked Maura's voice, but Maura was not amused. Jane cleared her throat and started again. "What I'm saying is, yeah, I'm scared. I'm fucking scared. Not just because of the new heart valve, but because of everything. I went out for a jog with my best friend, and now it's six weeks later, I have a robot heart, I'm fucking in love with you, and I'm in love with fucking you." She said the last part low, through her teeth, but with a smile. "So, yes, Jane Rizzoli is having a bit of a moment. But now that I'm in it, I want to have it with you. All that talk about Godliness and the universe and whatever it was you were saying this morning, it all made sense, Maura. I mean, in a crazy Maura way, but still." She gave a half-smile and Maura did, too. "It might take me a little while to come to terms with all of this. You might have to keep teaching me and coaching me and calming me down when I start to freak out. But just because I start to freak out doesn't mean we have to stop everything and put our doctor hats on and wait for everything to settle down." She pulled Maura to her, holding the ME's ear against her chest. "You hear that?"

"I can actually hear it through the monitor without having to-"

Jane spanked Maura's ass as she held her even tighter to her chest.

"Jane!" Maura laughed and squirmed but Jane wouldn't let her go.

"Maura! I'm being serious." Jane loosened her grip, but Maura stayed with her ear pressed to Jane's chest. "My heart rate is never going to settle down when I'm with you. You're doing something to me, Maura, something no one has ever done before. And if you want to try to put the brakes on it and go back to how things were, well, that's going to be impossible for me. There is no before anymore. There is only now. There is only this moment. As terrifying as that is, it's true." She took a deep breath.

After a minute of listening to the pounding of Jane's heart, of feeling Jane's warm skin against the side of her face, of having Jane's arms tight around her, Maura looked up into Jane's blistering black eyes. She didn't like to feel out of control. In fact, she'd never let herself feel out of control before. But she could feel herself stumbling into the blackness of those eyes, melting into the warmth of the body holding her close. Her brain whirled with studies on Chaos Theory, with quantum entanglement theories, with legends of soul mates and karma and… Jane's lips fell onto Maura's and the two women kissed passionately, deeply, the rest of the world dropping away – until the door opened. Jane pulled away quickly, though Maura could have cared less if anyone saw them. The back of Jane's hand was already guiltily wiping her mouth as Maura stood frozen, her face still tilted, her eyes still closed.

"Mrs. Rizzoli?" The nurse said.

"Ms." Jane and Maura said at the same time. Maura opened her eyes and squeezed Jane's hand. Jane slid her hand away.

"Here are your discharge papers." The nurse handed the papers over and Maura took them. Jane was still in the process of trying to pretend they hadn't been kissing. "Follow all instructions and make sure to make an appointment with your cardiologist no later than 48 hours from now." The nurse spoke like she was reading from a script. Walking in on two women kissing was nothing compared to the things she'd seen. An ER in downtown Boston was quite the education for any emergency medical professional.

Maura thanked the nurse and Jane managed an embarrassed grunt as the nurse removed Jane's IV and turned off the monitors. She reached for the leads attached to Jane's chest but Maura interrupted. "I can get those," she said. The nurse nodded and headed for the door. Maura reached out and gently touched her arm. The nurse turned, surprised. "Would you mind finding a pair of scrubs for Ms. Rizzoli? We came in a bit of a rush this morning and she has no change of clothes." She handed her hospital ID to the nurse. "This should work in the scrubs machine. Don't worry. I'll bring them back." The nurse looked like she wanted to argue, but she took Maura's badge and almost managed a smile. "I'll be right back," she said.

As the door shut behind the nurse Maura sidled up next to Jane. "You know, you pulling away from our kiss and wiping your mouth like you'd just been caught eaten forbidden ice cream… that's something we're going to need to work on." She paused, flicking at the edge of a sticky lead on Jane's chest. "If we're not going to compartmentalize our feelings." She ripped the lead off and Jane winced.

"I'm sorry, Maura. Like I said, I'm trying to not be freaked out by all of this. I really am."

"I know," Maura said, flicking at the edges of another lead and then ripping it off. Jane winced again and rubbed at the spot, now pink and raw on her chest.

"You know," Jane said, mimicking Maura and giving her a doubtful look.

"Mm-hmm." Maura ripped the last lead off and Jane yelled, "Jesus!" just as the nurse walked back in the room. She handed the scrubs and badge to Maura.

"Thank-you," Maura said.

"No problem," answered the nurse. "Have a nice day."

"You, too," Jane said in a fake sweet voice as the nurse walked out. "I will be so glad to get out of here," she continued in a low voice, hopping off the gurney and taking the scrubs from Maura. She stripped off the hospital gown, standing for a moment, bare-breasted and in her boy shorts.

"Even in this hideous fluorescent lighting you are so beautiful, Jane," Maura breathed.

Jane smiled a genuine grin and shrugged into the scrubs top. "Thanks, Maura." She pulled on the pants and tightened the drawstring waistband. "Let's get out of here."

She took a deep breath and held out her hand. Maura entwined her fingers around Jane's and opened the door. "You don't mind everyone seeing the famously tough Jane Rizzoli holding hands with the medical examiner?" Maura's smile almost hid her true worry that Jane was going to yank her hand away at the last minute.

Jane rubbed at the still tender spots on her chest. "I think you made your point clear about that, Dr. Isles," she said with a rueful smile.

Maura grinned. "Everything in its due time."

"Right," Jane answered, leading them out of the room. "If by 'due time' you mean 'tortured until compliant'."

"Oh you think that was torture?" Maura reached around and pinched Jane's ass. "You know nothing, my friend."

"Nothing?" Jane responded with an ass pinch of her own. The two women walked out of the hospital, giggling and squealing, their bare feet slapping against the linoleum.

"We are going to have to sterilize our feet after this," Maura said. "Just the thought of all the pathogens we're carrying right now…" She wrinkled her nose. They walked out into the warm sunlight and stood for a moment soaking in the heat of the afternoon.

"Maura?" Jane's voice was soft, low.

Maura turned to Jane, a jolt awakening her belly. "Yes, Jane?" She leaned in close.

Jane paused, gazing into Maura's eyes, momentarily mesmerized by the gold and green and hazel that made up an eye color no one else on earth could claim.

"Yes, Jane?" Maura said again, in a whisper, leaning in even closer. She closed her eyes as she felt Jane's face invade her airspace.

"How are we going to get home?" Jane whispered up against Maura's mouth. "You rode here with me in the ambulance."

Maura said nothing, but opened her eyes.

"Oh," she said. "Hmm."

"We're going to have to call my mom, aren't we?" Jane was still whispering.

"They won't let us on public transportation without shoes," Maura whispered back.

"Well, shit," Jane answered. She paused and said, "We could take a cab."

"In bare feet? After all the pathogens we've encountered in the hospital? I don't think so."

"You'd rather deal with my mother than ride barefoot in a cab?" Jane was incredulous, but also madly, deeply in love with Maura's crazy reasoning.

Maura nodded briskly. She already had her phone out.

Jane squeezed Maura's hand.

Maura squeezed back.

"Hello, Angela. Yes it is a lovely day. Yes I do know where Jane is. In fact, we're going to need you to come pick us up from the hospital…."

Jane leaned over and kissed Maura's neck. "I love you," she whispered up against Maura's skin.

"I know," Maura whispered back. And then into the phone, "Yes, Angela. That's what I said. I know I should have called you. I am so sorry."

Jane looked up into the blue, blue sky and then she watched the sun play off of Maura's messy sex hair.

She memorized the moment.

She memorized the now.

It was a beautiful day.

And she was so in love it hurt. But in a good way this time. A really good way.