1st chapter

Maura was not afraid of her parents, no, nevertheless, she did not feel relaxed during that dinner. And of course, they noticed it.

Maybe they were not the best parents, but they knew her well enough to see when she was not comfortable and let's not forget that they still managed to keep an eye on her. Yes, she did not live with them anymore and once Constance helped her to get the job Maura wanted – at Institut de pathologie de Lausanne – they decided to let her deal with everything by herself. Anyway, she knew where to find them if needed. And she was a responsible young lady, she came regularly – every month – to their house in Geneva just to confirm she was fine.

"Is there something we should know, Maura?" Constance decided to ask directly.

"Yes, mother, in fact, I wanted to let you know that I want to move back to Boston."

"Why would you do that? Are you not happy in Lausanne? I thought you liked your job and the city."

"Yes, but I want to move on. And I have already applied for a ME position in Boston. This week I`m going there for the final part of the assessment."

Maura preferred not to mention the reasons for this move. Yes, she loved her job at the institute, but she had destroyed it when she slept with her colleague. It could have been a drunken one night after the team building... if Maura hadn't confessed her love to her the very next morning. Unfortunately her love interest (that proved to be very straight) was also her close colleague and since that moment all the team suffered by this sudden change of atmosphere. Maura was desperate, tried to change the team, tried to ignore the gossips, gave it few months to settle, but nothing helped. She stayed alone and without forces to fight, so, she has decided to simply escape from Switzerland and make a fresh start somewhere else.

How could she be so naive and think that this girl could love her back? How could she even think somebody could love her back? She`s weird, boring, no one wants any kind of deep relationship with her, never wanted. The only thing she can offer is her body. The rest is not interesting for anyone. It`s the time to accept it and learn to live with it.

"I hope you thought it through really well, Maura."

"Yes, mother, it`s been few months I was considering all my options. I`m glad I could work here, but I want to try something different now."

Her father stayed quiet till now: "In this case, we believe that you know what you are doing, Dorothea. Is there anything we could help you with? Shall I call my old colleagues from Boston? Or do you want me to help you to choose a good estate agency?"

"No, thank you. It`s very kind of you, nevertheless I think I can handle it all by myself."

Dr. Maura Dorothea Isles, Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Chief Medical Examiner. It sounds great, right?

This is her new opportunity, the dreamed fresh new start. She has new amazing position, new house, in a new city, new country, new continent…

And above all she has new list of resolutions: "I cannot screw it now, Bass. I promise this time I won`t fall in love at work place, I won't sleep with any of my colleagues. I will date only men and only for sexual release. The sex is good for the health, you know? But I will not look for any relationship and I will conduct strictly professionally at BPD." She was sitting at her new kitchen caressing the shell of her tortoise... and drinking an expensive French wine.

And she managed to keep all of it. Yes, she felt that people saw her as cold, strict professional, but that`s what she wanted, right?

Yes, she felt incredibly lonely, often she fell asleep in tears. She furnished the guest house in hope their parents would come to a visit, in vain, Boston was apparently too far for them. She tried to fill her schedule with yoga, theater, concerts or exhibitions, she visited every single museum in the region and of course she read a lot.

She read about all these successful people who lived without a partner. She was so much trying to take a cautious approach to her new life, but no matter how many studies she had read, her brain still could not accept it and continued to transmit the signals of loneliness...

At least, she managed to control her actions – she did not sleep with anyone from BPD, yet. Yes, she cooperated mostly with the homicide department and there were no female detective, the friendly detective – Vince Korsak – was twice as old as her and the rest was not really interesting for her. In her team she had just one woman – senior criminalist Susie Chang – and luckily she was rather too young.

So, let`s say that everything went according to the plan.

I mean till today.

"Dr. Isles, please let me introduce you to our new team member – detective Jane Rizzoli."

"Nice to meet you." Maura nodded politely.

"The pleasure is all mine, doctor," Jane smiled "I`m happy to finally meet the Queen of the Dead."

"Excuse me?" the ME was taken aback, Jane looked quickly at Korsak whose terrified eyes made her understand the faux-pas.

"I mean I have heard a lot about your excellent work, doctor." She tried to save the situation.

"Thank you, I guess." The doctor was not really sure how to react, thus she preferred to simply focus on the dead body.

"She –" and then it all happened very slowly...

Jane opened her notepad and started to write...

Maura noticed her tender fingers and her brain stopped working for a while...

She stared at the hands of young detective and then her eyes passed by her thin pelvis and abdomen to the perfect breasts…

When she reached the line of brunette`s clavicles, her brain started to work again – by enumerating of all the body arousal signs…

Maura swallowed and finally dared to look into Jane`s eyes.

"Everything`s alright, doctor?" Korsak's voice brought her back to the Earth.

Maura cleared her voice: "Uhm, she was alive in the moment of the shooting. No visual marks of the fight. And yes, she was not the one who was shooting." She kept examining the body and both detectives took notes.

Then the ME stood up and addressed to Korsak: "I`ll let you know the cause of death after the autopsy."

Jane was confused: "The cause of death? Isn't it obvious? She was shot, wasn't she?"

Korsak smiled and let Maura react: "I cannot confirm this, detective. You will need to wait for the autopsy results." As she saw the perplexed Jane's expression she explained: "Yes, I confirm this injury was caused by a shooting, but there is also a possibility that she was poisoned or stabbed or anyhow hurt before this shooting. Thus I can just repeat – wait for the autopsy results. Or you can assist me with the autopsy if you want." She did not know why she had suggested this to the brunette. Now she could just hope the other woman refuses it.

"Oh, I`d like to very much! Uh, I mean if I can...?" She looked at Korsak who nodded, quite surprised as it was the first time Dr. Isles invited anybody to assist her.

"Well, I`ll prepare the body and I let you know. Is your number in the system already?" The ME asked the young detective.

Korsak answered instead of Rizzoli: "Should be, but you can call me, I`ll send her to you."

"Agreed. So, see you later." Maura said to Jane`s neckline, licked her lips and turned to leave.

While she was walking to her car, she reconsidered all her Boston resolutions. Why – for heaven`s sake – does this new detective Rizzoli need to be exactly her type?

Once in her Lexus, she dared to watch again – and properly – the athletic body of Jane and all her resolutions merged to the only one: "Just don't sleep with her, OK?"

This chapter was originally one shot for FCB Rizzles contest. Next chapters are just a bonus ;)

Next chapter will be posted tomorrow.