Season 6 Once Upon a Time

Chapter 7

Second Trimester

If Maura focused on her breathing then she could almost ignore the smell. It was simply a matter of concentration, of thinking about something else. She had a lot to do on this crime scene anyway, being busy was not a problem.

The current state of the corpse was terrible and there was no time to lose: it had to be taken to the morgue as soon as possible.

She knelt down next to it but another wave of nausea rushed through her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The area was loud. People were talking, officers were coming and going. She could hear the brouhaha of journalists in the distance and the traffic nearby. There was no fresh air. The temperatures were particularly high for September and she was hot. Too hot. A drop of sweat ran down her spine. Her clothes stuck to her life an uncomfortable second skin.

"Are you okay?"

Jane's voice rose on her right. Maura remained quiet, and still. She didn't open her eyes anew. She simply shook her head carefully and kept on fighting back her nausea.

It had only happened to her a couple of times until now. Curiously, her morning sickness - that could actually take place at any moment of the day - had appeared just after she had made her pregnancy official, on her birthday. She couldn't help thinking that it was how her body and her mind had reacted to the news, how she had finally and fully embraced it. Before that, she had simply tried to hide it. Just in case.

"Okay, follow me." Jane carefully grabbed her by the elbow to make her stand back on her feet. "Come on. Let's go sit down for a while."

Maura didn't protect. She couldn't afford to be sick next to the corpse. Not only did it have chances to ruin clues but it would also be very humiliating. Too many people were watching. She was being observed. The chief medical examiner couldn't be sick on a crime scene. It would be ridiculous.

"There. Sit down."

She let's Jane take her a bit further. In the shadows. Maura counted until ten in her head and finally opened her eyes anew as she felt the wave of nausea go away. She checked her surroundings. Jane had made her sit down on outdoor steps that led to the building next door.

"Are you thirsty? Do you want to drink some water?"

Maura shook her head. She wished she could say something back but she still felt too dizzy for that. She casts a glance at the journalists. A few of them were staring at her. They looked worried and curious.

Everybody had welcomed the news of her pregnancy warmly. On her birthday, she had gone from one pair of arms to another as exclamations of joy had risen over the small patio of her house. She had then made her pregnancy official at work where she had received the exact same kind of reaction. People were genuinely happy for her, which warmed up her heart a lot.

"Maybe Kent could replace you." Jane passed a soothing hand on her friend's forehead. Maura looked very pale, and she was shaking. She obviously couldn't work right now. "You know, just for today."

"No."

Maura clenched her fists and pursed her lips. She was doing just fine. Just because she was expecting a child didn't mean that - all of a sudden - she wasn't worth of doing her job anymore. She was barely 4 months pregnant. It was way too early to slow down.

"Maura..."

Another wave of nausea caused her to close her eyes again. Except this time, her self-anger melted into a terrible frustration that made her lips tremble. Tears reached her eyes and she begins to sob silently. She had rarely experienced something so frustrating, and humiliating. Her job was more than just a job. It was her passion, and she dedicated herself to it with a complete abandon. Renouncing to it because she suddenly lacked what it took to do it was very upsetting.