It was a perfect, fall morning. The leaves under her shoes crunched against the harsh, cold 6:00 am silence. The temperature had dropped overnight in Boston, but her routine was unshaken, she simply added another layer before walking out the door. Her morning jog (and routine) was essential for her sanity.

Whenever asked she's told people she keeps her routine as strict as possible because so much of her job is reactive, with very little in her control. And to be fair, until two and half months ago, that was exactly the reason. She needed the mundane in order to cope with the extremes of being a homicide detective. Now, however, she also ran to drain her body. She needed to feel her muscles strain and her brain to switch into autopilot. In that state, she was forced to cope with the physical feelings, which helped distract her from the emotional ones.

Two months, three weeks and give or take about 10 hours ago she realized she had fallen for her best friend. Her beautiful, intelligent, co-worker, way out of her league as a person in general, very straight, best friend. There had always been something unspoken between them, a connection that was more than friends, but she had placed it under the category of family. Maura was family. She mattered more than most, heck she mattered more than anybody, and that was sacred. Yes they bantered and flirted with the line of appropriate versus inappropriate comments towards each other. It was part of the wiring of their friendship. And of course Maura was beautiful. You'd have to be dumb and blind not to notice her. She was always dressed to impress, her designer clothes she both wore with pride and as a shield. None of this, however, had prepared Jane to come face to face with….feelings.

It was a simple moment when she realized it. She was turning to say goodnight to Maura after an evening out together. Like she did every time they went out, she walked Maura up to her front door. They were still laughing at something that had happened at their dinner earlier. It was very them. Easy, effortless. Jane felt at peace and content, a much needed 180 degree turnaround after a particularly hard case involving a young girl. She needed that time with Maura, a safe space to talk or not talk but a mutual understanding that they were healing each other in those moments. A reminder that good things still existed. She wonders now if her natural guard was down more than usual because of that and potentially the wine from dinner.

The light of the house's entryway poured down across Maura's blonde curls and soft curves and Jane's breath caught somewhere in her chest. She just couldn't stop looking at her. A shift inside her change from an awareness that Maura was a beautiful woman in general to Maura was so goddamn beautiful to her. The kind of beautiful you really wished other people would stop touching.

Whatever mirage she had placed around her growing feelings for Maura finally shattered. In that moment she was awestruck. She openly allowed her eyes to travel all the way down slender shoulders, full breasts, sharp hips, and strong calves. When her eyes traveled back up she met hazel ones staring back at her. Maura's head was tilted and it became apparent Jane had missed whatever question she was just asked.

Jane cleared her throat for good measure before asking, "I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

Maura had caught her staring. A small smile, that made her dimples painfully adorable, played across her lips, "I asked if you wanted a nightcap before you headed home."

Jane's feelings were too overwhelming. The weight of them felt heavy, they hung thick in the air around her and she couldn't quite swallow the reality. She didn't want to leave. She wanted to pull Maura into her arms. She wanted to smell her perfume and the hint of vanilla that she always associated with Maura. She wanted to feel soft skin under her own rough hands. And all her want was terrifying her. She couldn't stay.

"Not tonight Maur. I had enough to drink at dinner and we have work tomorrow. I'll see you in the morning, ok?" She spoke as if it was a question, but internally it was a statement. She never made eye contact after she spoke nor did she wait for a response. She turned on her heel and took off as fast as she could to her car parked in the driveway.

She wished she was a bigger person - a more rational person. A rational person who would sit and take the time to begin working through those feelings. She, instead, had been running (hypothetically and quite literally) ever since that night. She upped her morning run from three to five, sometimes seven miles. She added boxing in the precinct gym on the evenings she wasn't working late because of a case. Whenever she came home and found herself antsy she would add an ab workout simply to secure a more restful sleep. The ache from her constant workouts had begun transitioning into even more defined muscles, especially across her abdomen, shoulders, and biceps. She had always been in shape, lean in stature simply by nature, but now her normal high calorie intake was barely keeping up to the constant churn her body was in. If she slowed down enough to be honest with herself she would have realized that the external muscle burn had yet to compare, let enough slow, the internal fire building inside her.

Two Months, Three Weeks, and 10 days of minimizing her alone time with Maura. Focusing more on pushing Maura into the relationship she had started around the same time with Jack. Weeks of cancelling plans whenever she could without it causing suspicion. Hours of holding her breath when Maura's hands lingered on her arm or hand or back. Jane knew that this charade would only last so long. Maura knew her better than anyone. Perhaps the only reason it had lasted as long as it did was Maura was distracted with Jack. This fact alone gave Jane some space to breath, but infuriated her at the same time. She knew this wasn't fair. She knew she couldn't push Maura away and beg for her affection. It didn't make it any easier. So she dealt with it how she deals with everything that could create a vulnerability - she shoved it down and pretended it didn't matter.

In the middle of her fourth mile, halfway through the park downtown, her phone began to ring. Without slowing her stride she lifted the phone to check the caller and groaned when she saw 'Dispatch' displayed across her screen.

"Rizzoli" she answered in a pant as she stopped to the side of the sidewalk. Dispatch reported a murder had happened, she was needed, and gave the address.

"That's only two blocks from my current location, I can be there in five minutes."

Despite the fact it was a Saturday morning Jane still had her badge hidden beneath her layers. She was on call this weekend and while she didn't feel comfortable having her gun during her run, she always tried to keep her badge with her. She felt like she needed to be prepared for that uncontrollable factor to her job - other people.

She arrived on scene faster than the five minutes she predicted, the extra adrenaline of a new case had added to her stride. She showed her badge before ducking under the tape and nodding to the officer as he assisted lifting it over her head. The neighborhood was quiet and the house she was walking up to was no different. From the outside it looked peaceful, wholesome even, hiding whatever horrible act had happened from the surrounding homes and people. She glanced at her watch to realize it was still a few minutes before seven.

The peaceful exterior was simply a distraction to the truth. Once inside officers were already bustling around in the entryway. On top of that, the heat was overwhelming inside the house, compared to the cold air of the morning and the smell of death in the house was overpowering. With such an extreme change both in temperature and smell, in parallel to her body being a little more dehydrated than she expected, Jane found herself feeling a little dizzy. Glancing around she realized as far as her team was concerned, she was the first detective on scene which meant she had about five seconds to get her shit together and get to work. She did her best to shake off the unsteady feeling she was having, cursing herself for skipping dinner last night.

She grabbed gloves from the box at the front door and put them on as she walked into the living room where the body was laying sprawled out on the floor. As she walked up to the body two officers were carelessly stomping through her crime scene which just pissed her off to no end. Do they even know how to do their jobs?! She cursed

"Hey you two idiots! You are literally standing in the blood of our victim. Let's show a little respect, can we?"

The officers shared the dumbest looks Jane swore she had ever seen and began to back up which caused her to yell again, "Jesus can you watch where you are going?! You just stepped on the vic's hair. I can only imagine the irritation the ME will feel when he gets here" Jane spat at them.

"When SHE gets here," said the voice behind her interjected. Maura. She wasn't supposed to be on call. Jane checked. Twice. It was supposed to be Dr. Pike. And despite the fact that most days Jane despised that man, it was easier to manage his crazy right now than her own that seemed to stir inside her whenever Maura was around.

Maura's hand ran down the back of Jane's right arm as she stepped around and in front of Jane. Maura began to give calculated directions to her team and they swarmed in to begin their tasks. Jane, however, stood still. Even through her layers Jane could feel goosebumps spreading down her arm where Maura's touch came and went.

Maura looked back at her with a questioning look and slightly sad smile, "I'm sorry to disappoint you detective" Her tone sounded defeated and it brought Jane back to present.

"I'm just surprised to see you is all Maura. I thought I heard Dr. Pike was on call this weekend. Sincerely my mistake." Jane tried to lie. She hated the defeated look Maura was giving her. "A welcomed surprised I assure you" she added for good measure.

"I see," Maura replied back. Her tone not disguising the fact she didn't completely believe Jane. "Dr Pike asked me to cover his weekend and I was happy to oblige. Hopefully this will allow our schedules to re-sync. We were always on call together, Jane. I have no idea who messed that up in the scheduling." Maura's words sounded innocent, but Jane knew she was caught. She knew that Maura was at the very least suspicious as to why Jane had been on call nearly every weekend except the ones she worked. It had taken many favors, threats, and bribes to create the space without it getting back to Maura.

She was about to reply back, but she heard her name called behind her. She turned to face Sergeant Vince Korsak - her once mentor and partner, now boss.

"What have we got?" Korsak asked.

Jane shook her head, "I just got here myself, with Maura right behind me." She looked back to give Maura a nod to realize Maura was no longer standing with her. Maura had moved on to begin examining the body.

It was seven am, on a Saturday. Maura had arrived only minutes after Jane, and yet in pure Maura fashion, she was perfectly put together. She was dressed in a dark purple blouse, with a square neckline and gray pencil skirt. Both pieces hugged her body perfectly while still being professional. Her heels, of course, complimented the entire ensemble and made her legs impossible not to notice.

Jane couldn't help but stare at her for a moment longer as she gracefully shook her loose curls back out of her face, careful not to use the gloves already on her hands. As she walked forward towards Maura, Korsak, and the body she squared her shoulders. It was time to shake it off, Detective Rizzoli was at work.