Season 6 Once Upon a Time

Chapter 22

Jane's heart always beat faster when she was in Dr. Whitman's office and even if she did her best to hide her nervousness then it didn't pass unnoticed to Maura. Jane used to say that it was simply her Italian roots that were showing by then - that you couldn't be Italian and not get worried at the doctor's - but Maura knew that Jane's concerns lay deeper within herself.

Jane cared for her, and for the baby. The attention she showed Maura on a daily basis was evident and it sweetly betrayed the feelings she had before this pregnancy. She wasn't accidentally invested in it. She hadn't been forced to care about it as much as she did. She wanted it, from the bottom of her heart.

Luckily Dr. Whitman's serene mood brought Jane the comfort she needed. Maura's OB/GYN was extremely caring. She spoke softly as a smile always lit up her graceful traits. She was an excellent medical doctor Jane liked her very much.

"Your results are perfect, Maura." Dr. Whitman checked the sheet of paper that she had received from the lab. "You couldn't ask for a better..."

"Does this mean she doesn't need vitamins?" Aware of the impolite way she had interrupted the OB/GYN, Jane raised a hand to apologize. She didn't put an end to her questions though. On the contrary. She was worried and she needed Dr. Whitman to answer her. "All the pregnant women take vitamins, these days. Shouldn't Maura take some too?"

Maura rolled her eyes but she decided to remain quiet and to let Dr. Whitman answer for her. Vitamins had been a source of conflict between her and Jane. If Jane was convinced that a pregnancy couldn't go fine if the future mother didn't have her daily intake of vitamins, Maura thought that the diet she followed was healthy enough to bring her the vitamins she and her daughter needed.

The results of her blood test proved it.

"Maura's results couldn't be any better, Jane. I don't see any reason for her to take vitamins." Dr. Whitman focused on Maura. "Have you been tired, lately? I know that you've slowed down on conducting autopsies. Does this new work pace suit you?"

"Outside of these contractions, I'm doing just fine. Everything goes well at my workplace as well and no... I'm not particularly tired. I'm fine, or as fine as I can be at this stage."

It was true. Of course, Maura couldn't lie but she still managed to distort the truth whenever she needed to. Yet she had simply been honest with Dr. Whitman though. Hiding a possible fatigue to her OB/GYN would have been pointless if not just dangerous. Maura may have been stubborn, she still knew that there were limits to respect.

"Yes, these contractions..." Dr. Whitman ran her tongue over her lips as she squinted her eyes in an effort of concentration. As much as it was perfectly normal for the future mother to have contractions at this stage of the pregnancy, Elsa Whitman had to admit that Maura's were quite intense. Too much even. "Hmm. Have you asked your mother if she suffered from the same kind of contractions when she was expecting you?"

The question caused Maura to freeze. She opened her mouth to speak but she felt herself fall into an labyrinth of silence. Trapped between invisible walls and dead-end paths, she swallowed hard and tried to find the most appropriate words to answer Dr. Whitman's question.

Her reaction was probably ridiculous, and a tad exaggerated. As a medical doctor herself, Maura understood the reason that lays behind Dr. Whitman's question. As a matter of fact, it was an excellent question. The issue was that it pushed Maura to think about something she had tried to not think about until now.

"I was adopted." The words came out with a palpable fragility that caused Maura to bow her head shamefully. "I mean..."

She hadn't added this detail to her medical file because she knew her father and mother's respective medical conditions which was the only thing that interested Dr. Whitman. Or at least until now. It had never crossed Maura's mind that her intense contractions may be linked to her genes.