Dr. Maura Isles felt a heavy weight settle on her chest as she walked into the Boston Police Department. It bothered her that a place that had once been somewhere she felt confident and at ease, was now reduced to an awkward and tense environment. Not that it was entirely unexpected. When she and Jane had finally decided to admit their feelings for each other and start a romantic relationship over a year ago, Maura had known this might happen should they ever break up. At the time, that threat hadn't mattered to her. She couldn't possibly ever imagine not being with Jane, so awkwardness at work after a break up never worried her. They were perfect together.

Most people would point out that they had a lot of differences, citing that as their reason for their surprise when the two women went public, but neither Maura nor Jane cared about their differences. In fact, it seemed to Maura that somehow their differences were what made their relationship exceptionally strong. Maura had a softer demeanor than Jane, a sliver of unspoiled childlike innocence that reminded Jane of the good still left in the world, when sometimes her job threatened to take that from her. Jane's tougher demeanor made Maura feel safe and accepted. Two things she had really never experienced before.

Trivial differences like Jane's love of baseball and everything greasy and Maura's fondness for documentaries and an all organic diet didn't matter. Neither did some of their bigger differences, like the social classes they grew up in. To everyone on the outside looking in, and to Maura as well, it seemed like nothing could break them up.

Until something did.

Maura didn't know what that something was, despite the long hours she had spent agonizing over it since they broke up 3 months ago. Nothing had happened to the pathologist's knowledge. She had just woken up one morning to find Jane gone, a brief note on the Detective's pillow explaining she didn't think their relationship was working any longer. They hadn't spoken of it since. They hadn't really spoken of anything other than work since ending their partnership.

Maura was beginning to feel a crushing loneliness and isolation. Just as she had during their fight after Jane shot Paddy Doyle, Jane had asked her mother to move out of Maura's guest house. Maura had felt that particular insult like a knife through the chest. Angela had been reluctant to go, but in the end she had left. That perceived betrayal stung almost as much as Jane making the request. To her credit, Angela still tried to reach out to Maura, insisting that she was still like a daughter to her and that she loved her, but Maura had pushed her away. Maura was tired of hurting and being lonely. Her analytical brain had looked at her dilemma as a cause and effect problem. Her grief, the effect, was caused by people leaving her. Therefore, her logical explanation was to stop having relationships with people all together.

So, there were no more family dinners with the Rizzolis, no more early morning coffee heart to hearts with Angela, no more friendly banters and jokes passed between Maura, Frost, and Korsak, and the most painful of all, no more anything with Jane. Maura was truly alone, and even though she tried telling herself she had been alone for most of her life, she couldn't shake her heartache. Living without something is much harder after you've had it and thrived with it.

Nevertheless, Maura would hold her head high, and continue to strut onto crime scenes with her same confidence and fashionable clothing intact. Her mother had always taught her to never let anyone know you're hurting. Her mother had always been very reserved and poised, something Maura hadn't been very good at. Until now. Practice makes perfect and Maura was definitely getting plenty of practice.

She was in perfect form as she waited for the elevator. Her red dress was wrinkle free, her feet were encased in black stilettos, her makeup was spotless, her hair was styled, and her eyes were cold and as expressionless as the mask on her face.

"Hey, Doc," Korsak said, surprising her as he came to stand beside her. She kept her face passive. Her fingers tightening on her eco friendly reusable coffee cup the only indication of her distress.

"Good morning, Detective," Maura replied, her voice cool with professionalism. Korsak felt his shoulders sag slightly. He had always been Detective Korsak, but since Maura and Jane's split he was merely Detective. A small change under normal circumstances, but it still felt like a punch to the gut every time he heard it. In fact, she had started referring to all of them with a simple 'Detective'. Adding their names to the end seemed much too personal for this Maura's liking. It was one of the many things about this new Dr. Isles that troubled Korsak.

"So, how was your weekend?" He asked politely, refusing to give up on getting some kind of 'old Maura' reply from this new cyborg edition. Sure, she had always been a little odd and they often joked that maybe she really was a cyborg, but at least back then she had been a cyborg with feelings.

"It was fine, thank you for asking."

Strike one.

"Beautiful day out isn't it?"

Maura didn't answer that time, only emitting a low hum of agreement in the back of her throat.

Strike two.

As Korsak opened his mouth to try again, the elevator arrived and Maura escaped onto it in a blur of red. Since it was going down and he needed to go up he had no reason to follow her.

Strike three.

Time to give my report, Korsak thought sadly. He took his elevator to the main floor and walked briskly into the cafe. He locked eyes with Angela briefly before taking a seat in the corner. Angela quickly finished helping her last costumer and made her way over to his table. She had barely slid into the chair across from him before the questions started. Korsak tried to answer each one as she asked it, his mouth opening and closing comically as Angela didn't let him get a word in edgewise.

"How was she? Did she open up a little? Did she look ok? Like she's been sleeping and eating? Was-"

"Angela, slow down," Korsak finally managed to say. "She was...polite."

"Oh," Angela muttered, her body literally deflating in disappointment. Her eyes glossed over with tears she refused to let fall. "Well, did she look like she was taking care of herself?"

Korsak paused before answering her, his mind pulling up the Docs appearance from just moments before.

"Physically she looks fine, but her eyes..." He wasn't quite sure how to put into words what he had seen in them. Or hadn't. "It's like...I don't know, like no ones home."

"Poor baby," Angela muttered, bringing a fist to her mouth as she fought back tears. "I shouldn't have left her like that."

"You were put in an impossible position," Korsak assured her, laying a warm hand over her smaller one.

"She won't talk to me. Neither of them will. God, Vince what if I've lost both my girls forever?"

"They've had fights before. One pretty big one if I remember correctly."

"Those were as friends. This is different. Besides do you remember how they got over it the last time? It's not like we can put them in a car, crash it, start shooting at them, and force Jane to cut open Maura's leg."

"Let's hope something that drastic isn't what it takes this time."

Angela nodded in agreement, worry wrapping it's familiar icy fingers around her heart seemingly with no intention of letting go any time soon.

Jane stared blankly at her computer screen, blatantly ignoring the pile of paperwork teetering dangerously off the edge of her desk. She looked up as Korsak breezed by her to settle in his own chair, a steaming cup of coffee in his hands.

"How's my mother?"

"What?" Korsak asked, trying to feign innocence and failing miserably.

"Unless you pulled that cup of coffee out of your ass, you got it at the cafe."

"Not necessarily. I could have gotten it at Star...Star..."

"Starbucks," Frost offered from his desk, without looking up, hoping to avoid engaging in whatever uncomfortable conversation was about to follow. Jane smirked as she stared at Korsak.

"Ok, so I got coffee from your mother, big deal," Korsak replied, this time trying to feign nonchalance and once again, failing miserably.

"I know she has you spying on Mau- Dr. Isles."

Frost inwardly groaned and tried to disappear even further behind his desk. Jane and Maura were both his friends, even if Maura didn't seem to want anything to do with anyone lately, and he didn't want to be put in the middle. Jane was a big girl and if she wanted to know about Maura, she could go see for herself. And Frost was going to tell her that ...just not right now... while she had her gun.

"She's worried," Korsak replied, giving in to honesty. "Maura won't talk to her. Or me for that matter."

"She talks to you," Jane argued weakly.

"Sure, about cases. I couldn't even get her to comment on the weather this morning."

Jane's face fell and she slid her gaze to the floor. Her intentions had never been to hurt Maura this badly. Hell, she hadn't wanted to hurt her at all, but it was inevitable for...reasons. Jane wasn't quite ready to go there just yet. Even within the confines of her own mind. The trio settled into a thick silence until their beepers went off simultaneously, signaling a new case.

Maura had beaten the Detectives to the scene of their next case and was leaning over the body of an attractive young woman. The woman was slim and muscular with curly blonde hair and lifeless blue eyes that seemed to be imploring Maura to help her. The woman's shirt was ripped open and a single gun shot wound to the center of the forehead made it pretty obvious what had killed her. Poor woman had been murdered in her own home. A nice home, Maura thought as she looked around. The woman was clearly wealthy and also seemed to live alone. There were no personal photographs around leading Maura to believe this woman had led a rather solitary life, much like Maura herself. The mailmen had called it in, when he had seen the body while pushing her mail through the slot on her door. If he hadn't noticed her, it could have been weeks before the BPD would have been made aware of her murder.

Footsteps behind her alerted Maura that the Detectives had arrived. She steeled herself in preparation of seeing Jane. When she spoke her voice was cool and professional.

"She's been dead for 12 hours," Maura told them, not giving any of them a chance to make small talk or ask questions. "Making her time of death between 10 and 11pm last night. Cause of death is a single bullet wound to the forehead. It also appears she was sexually assaulted," She nodded at her colleague, silently telling him to stay with the body and bring it back to the morgue when the Detectives were finished. She rose to her feet and came face to face with Jane. She stumbled back a little in an attempt to put more physical distance between them. Jane grabbed her forearm to steady her, making Maura's skin burn. "Thank you," She said, her voice emotionless. Jane didn't let go for a moment and Maura felt her searching her face and eyes for the same thing that Korsak had been looking for this morning.

It's not here, Maura thought, because you killed it. As if Jane could sense her thoughts she suddenly pulled her hand away quickly.

"Sure thing, Doc."

Maura squared her shoulders and then disappeared under the yellow tape and out of the house.

"She guessed," Frost said softly, looking shocked even as the words spilled from his lips. He hadn't meant to say them out loud, knowing it would only cause more drama. Jane's face hardened and she followed the Medical Examiner out of the house.

"Let's hope they figure this out soon," Korsak muttered, bending on old knees to stare at the body below him. "This seems too familiar."

"She looks a lot like Dr. Isles," Frost agreed.

"Not only that, she lives a lot like the Doc. No husband...or wife, no pictures of friends or family. Wealthy and alone."

Frost looked at the door two of his closest friends had just disappeared through. "Yea, just like the Doc."

Jane saw Maura opening the door to her blue prius and hurried to catch up to her.

"Maura!" It caught Maura's attention, but when Maura saw who had called her name she turned back to her car. Jane broke into a sprint and grabbed the car door to prevent Maura from closing it. A glimmer of anger, the most emotion the medical examiner had shown in months, flashed across Maura's face. It was gone as quickly as it had come and Jane wondered if she had even seen it at all. Jane realized Maura was staring at her impatiently and everything she had been about to say died in her throat. 'I'm sorry, I can't stand to see you hurting like this.' "I thought we were being professionals. What if I had needed to talk about the case?" 'Please forgive me, baby. I love you so much.'

'How could you leave me?' "If you had wanted to talk about the case you would have called me Dr. Isles. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of work waiting for me." 'How could you do this to me?'

Maura tried to shut the door, but Jane held strong. "Look, I don't understand why we can't be friends. Or why you won't talk to my mother or Korsak or Frost."

Maura's eyes widened and then narrowed in an intense anger. "You asked your mother to leave, not me! As for why we can't be friends?! Are you really asking me that?!" Maura shook her head, her soft curls bouncing off her shoulders making Jane stare in awe at the beauty that Maura embodied.

"I'm sorry," Jane replied, aware how desperate and vulnerable her voice sounded, but past caring.

"Let go of my car, Detective," Maura hissed. Jane reluctantly let go and stepped back. Maura slammed the door and roared down the road, away from Jane, away from the only thing that could still make her human.

Jane reentered the crime scene and looked down at the body. Flashes from the crime scene techs cameras and the chatter from the uniforms collecting evidence went barely noticed as Jane stared at the woman's face. The resemblance to Maura was frightening.

"Wh-what do we know?" Jane asked.

"Her name is Melissa James, 32 years old," Frost replied, looking down at the information on his IPAD. "Lives alone, doesn't even own a cat."

"We don't believe she has any family or if she does they aren't very close," Korsak added.

"So, we're just all in a guessing mood today, are we?" Jane spat, putting her hands on her hips. Korsak and Frost shared a look. Clearly the talk outside hadn't gone well.

"No pictures anywhere and the neighbors report that they've seen a couple of different guys around, but they never last long. No one has seen anyone else visit Melissa. Her neighbors have never even spoken to her."

"I'm sorry," Jane replied softly, her shoulders sagging in exhaustion. "I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's alright," Korsak assured her. Frost gave her a small smile in agreement. Jane smiled gratefully at them.

"Alright, let's figure out who killed her."

Maura heard the doors to her morgue open and she looked up from the body. Frost was standing by the sink, already looking a little green from the sight of Melissa James insides exposed for all to see.

"I haven't finished the autopsy yet, Detective," Maura told him, before looking back at the body. Frost took a deep breath and stepped closer to the table. Maura looked up again, curiosity flashing in her eyes. Frost gave her a look that he hoped said he wasn't leaving and waited for her to place her scalpel down on the table beside her.

"She looks like you," Frost said without preamble. Maura looked at him shocked, clearly not expecting those to be the words that came out of her mouth. Recovering quickly, she glanced down at the face of Melissa James.

"I suppose we bear some resemblance. I'm not sure what that adds to the-"

"I want you to be careful."

"Excuse me?" Maura asked, her eyes widening in shock.

"This killer might be targeting wealthy women who live alone and it appears you're his type."

"With one body that's an awful lot of assumption-"

"Please, Maura. Just, be careful," Frost pleaded softly. He glanced once more at the body, made a classic 'Frost grossed out' look and left Maura to her thoughts. Maura stared at the empty space where Frost had stood moments before and began to feel everything crashing around her. She ripped off her gear, starting with her goggles, then her gloves, then her gown, before rushing to her office.

She quickly closed the door, then the blinds, and sat down on her couch. The first sob was loud and Maura jumped, startled that the noise had come from her. Hot tears began slipping down her face at an alarming rate. The taste of salt filled her senses as the tears landed on her lips. Another sob tore from her throat and she slid from her couch to her knees. She wrapped her arms around her middle and let herself cry.

Jane looked up as Frost came back into the squad room, her eyes following him suspiciously.

"Where were you?"

"Went to see if the Doc had finished the autopsy. She hasn't."

Jane nodded, deciding not to push it, and stood up. She walked towards their board trying to see something that wasn't there yet. As her eyes glanced quickly over the photograph of Melissa James, it was Maura's face she saw staring lifelessly at nothing. Jane's eyes slammed back to the picture, her heart racing, but the image had returned to the correct woman. Breathing a sigh of relief, Jane ran a hand through her hair.

"I need coffee," Jane said rushing out of the room. When Jane was gone, Korsak looked over at Frost.

"Where were you really?"

"I was at the morgue. I've got a bad feeling about this. I just told Maura to be careful," Frost replied, his eyes daring Korsak to challenge his decision. Korsak merely smiled proudly.

Angela looked up and saw Jane coming towards her. She smiled at her daughter and put down the dish rag she had been using to clean the counter. Jane poured herself some coffee and sat down at the counter in front of her mother.

"Rough case?" Angela asked, sympathetically. Jane nodded as she stared into the dark coffee in her styrofoam cup.

"Korsak told me Maura won't talk to you," Jane said after a few moments of silence. Angela looked surprised by the change of subject, but recovered quickly.

"I think she feels like I abandoned her."

"I never should have asked you to move out of her guest house. She loved having you there," Jane smiled sadly. "You were the mother she had never had, but always deserved."

"Why did you ask me to leave, Jane?" Angela's voice was soft and curious, not angry like Jane had expected.

"I didn't want a reason to go back to her house. If I had I would have begged her to take me back."

"Would that have been so bad?"

Jane pictured Melissa James, with her blonde curls, dead and violated in the morgue.

"Yes," Jane replied, rising from her seat and leaving the cafe. Angela sighed, her shoulders physically deflating in defeat. That was the most Jane had opened up about what happened with Maura, but Angela still didn't feel any closer to figuring out what went wrong. She didn't have long to sit with her thoughts as she saw Maura walking quickly down the busy hallway. Angela raced around the counter and into the hallway. Maura was just about at the door.

"Maura!" Angela called, causing the medical examiner to stop and turn around. Their eyes met and for a brief second and Angela could see the pain her other daughter was feeling in the younger woman's tormented eyes. Hastily reapplied mascara and eye liner told Angela that Maura had been crying recently. Everyone else in the busy hallway ceased to exist as Angela stared hopefully into Maura's blue green eyes. It only took seconds, however, for Maura's walls to slam back up. Her eyes went cold, her detached mask slipped onto her pretty face, and she turned away, disappearing out the door in a flurry of red and blonde. Feeling even more defeated than before, Angela returned to her cafe.

AN: A small taste of what's to come should anyone want it. Please let me know!

AN2: The title of this chapter and the next few at least are titles of Florence and the Machine songs