Jane had a pleading expression and frowned. " Please. " She knew that problems occur but that she hadn't expected.

The stubborn three year old Alexis started into her mother's eyes and pouted. " No. "

Jane sighed in frustration and dropped her head to her chest. " I tried it too. "

" No. ", Alexis replied in Jane-style.

Jane pressed her lips together and smiled. " Mom will be disappointed. She had applied a lot of effort. "

Alexis pressed her lips together and shook her head in disgust. " I don't like it. "

Jane closed her eyes and ran her hands over her face. The sound of heels snatched Jane out of her thoughts. She looked up and breathed out loud as Maura came into the kitchen. " Your daughter despises your lovingly prepared food. "

Maura kissed Alexis' cheek and looked at Jane. " You should be a role model and eat your own lunch. "

Jane looked at her plate and wrinkled her nose. " I'm not hungry anymore. "

Maura rolled her eyes and sighed.

Jane decided to take a swing at new tactic and leaned over to Alexis. " Eat a little of the ... sprouts and I promise you that I make tomorrow for lunch yummy spaghetti with minced meat sauce. No cauliflower, broccoli or any other kale. "

Alexis' eyes sparkled and the girl ate with a grimace her lunch.

Jane grinned and stood up. " Alexis is bribeable.

Maura took a sip of her coffee and raised her eyebrows. " What did you promised her? "

Jane pursed her lips and shrugged. " Nothing. "

Maura kissed the pursed lips of her wife and looked at her smiling. " I know your Nothing. "

Jane grinned conspiratorially and stepped into Maura's personal space. " It's nothing. "

Maura smiled and was about to retore something when her phone started to vibrate.

Jane sighed and handed Maura her phone.

Maura smiled weakly and took the call. " Isles. "

Jane walked to her daughter and ran a hand through the light brown hairs.

Alexis looked up questioningly and frowned.

By this expression Jane had to smile lovingly. From day to day her daughter looked more and more like Maura.

Maura hung up and looked worried at Jane. " I have to go to work, Jane. "

Jane's face was dark and threatening and she gritted her teeth. Since the last major case, she had become dangerously withdrawn from her job and had rejected all complex cases. Frost's dead still pressed heavily on her shoulders.

Maura looked at Jane's reaction in detail.

Jane took a deep breath and nodded. " I go and change my clothes. "

Maura bit her lower lip and looked after her wife.

The couple got into an abandoned warehouse and ducked under the crime scene tape through.

Korsak looked up from his notepad and couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Jane at Maura's side. " I haven't seen you for a long time. "

Jane smiled and rubbed nervously her hands. " Our door is open for you at any time. What do we have here? "

Korsak nodded to a reading chair. " Probably a suicide. "

Jane pulled on her gloves and drawn her eyebrows together. " Why are we here for a suicide? "

Korsak sighed loudly and looked at his notes. " I have no idea. They had requested us. I guess that one of the patrolmen have assumed that this is a case for us. "

" Or they have seen this wall. ", said a voice in the pitch of a bass-baritone. A tall, handsome man with dark hairs and ice blue eyes came from a dark corner and light up the team of investigators with his flashlight. Jane looked at him skeptically and took a step toward him. " And you are? "

He smiled friendly. " Detective Ryan Masterson. Fresh from Baltimore. I was requested and assigned to you as your new partner. Hello, Maura. "

Jane didn't know what her angered more. That Cavanaugh had assigned her a new partner or that this prig knew Maura apparently. In whatever kind of way.

Maura looked up when she heard her name and turned ashen-pale as she saw the intruder. " Ryan? "

" I don't need a new partner. ", Jane growled and looked at her wife.

Masterson retained the friendly facet and raised his eyebrows. " Well, Lieutenant Cavanaugh seems to have a different opinion. "

Jane pierced Maura with her gaze. " Did you know it, Korsak? "

" No. ", Korsak replied innocent and surprised.

Jane was still staring at Maura and walked over to the chair. Then she glanced at the corpse. With a heavy-calibered gun. I claim a nine-millimeter. "

Maura looked up and pulled her eyebrows together. " I can not say that with certainty. "

Jane rolled her eyes and nodded in agreement. " I conclude it from matter of fact that Korsak has a nine-millimeter Browning in his hand, Maura. "

Maura looked at the older detective and frowned. " Oh. "

Masterson smiled broadly. " Some things never change, Maura. "

Maura blushed a little and examined the body again. " Not really, Detective Masterson. I classify the cause of death after the autopsy, Jane. "

Jane's facial muscles twitched and she nodded. Then she looked at Masterson. " Show us this said wall. "

Masterson light up in a direction and started walking.

Jane walked beside Korsak and snorted. " I don't like him. "

" He has something strange. ", Korsak agreed.

Jane looked at him long. " We better keep an eye on him. "

Masterson stopped and pointed to a wall that was hung full of pictures and newspaper clippings. " The patrolmen have discovered that after their arrival. "

Jane looked at the wall and drawn her eyebrows together. " What the hell is that? "

Korsak skimed through the newspaper article. " They date back to fifteen years. "

Jane light up the wall with her own flashlight and looked at the pictures. " The forensics shall photograph everything and pack it up. "

Jane stood in front of Cavanaugh's desk and looked indignantly at her boss. " I haven't requested a new partner because I work better on my own. Even Korsak realized that. "

" You're not a fucking one man army, Rizzoli. ", Cavanaugh replied calmly. " I need a well-functioning, dynamic team. "

" Then assign Frankie. He knows how I work. In contrast to this ... gorilla. "

Cavanaugh sighed loudly. " Frankie works for the drug unit. You have to come to terms with Detective Masterson, willy-nilly. "

Jane made big eyes. " Frankie has in the past repeatedly worked with me when he was dispensable. I ... I don't even know this Ryan Masterson. Sir, how can I work with someone I don't trust? "

Cavanaugh dropped a personal file on the desk. " He was one of the best in Baltimore. Always reliable and eager to solve his cases clean. You're not thinking that I'll allot any greenhorn, Rizzoli. Get to know each other, work together on the case. And then we'll see. "

Jane flipped though the file and looked up. " And if I can't deal with him you leave me alone? "

Cavanaugh looked at her exhorting.

Jane stood in the autopsy room and chewed on her thumbnail while Maura superficially examined the body. " And ... from where you know Masterson? "

Maura paused for a moment and raised her head without looking at her wife. " He's an old friend. "

" Hmm, an old friend. You never mentioned him. "

" Have you mentioned all your old friends, Jane? "

Jane nodded and raised an eyebrow. " Um ... yes. How closely have you been ... ' friends '? "

Maura sighed and looked at Jane. " Close. "

Jane waved between them. " So close like ... like we are friends. "

Maura licked her lips and raised her eyebrows. " Aside from the fact that we're not only friends but also married ... no. "

Jane suddenly felt relieved. " So you had no romantic feelings for each other? "

" I didn't say that, Jane. "

" So, you had feelings for him "

Maura looked at her long and chose her words carefully. " It's a very long and very complicated story ... but yeah. "

Jane pulled her eyebrows toghether. " Even more complicated than with Ian? "

Maura licked her lips again. " Even more complicated then with you. "

Jane pulled the corners of her mouth downward. " Well ... and that was very complicated. "

Maura smiled in relief and turned to the body. " You're right. "

Jane had felt something like jealousy ascend when she was confronted with the incontrovertible fact that Masterson knew Maura closely. But now she just wanted to get to know a new chapter in the life of her wife. " Maura, what happened between the two of you? "

Maura sighed. " Life. Ryan moved to Baltimore ... and I didn't. "

Jane crossed her arms and thought for a moment. " You could have meet in the middle. "

Maura looked over her shoulder and smiled. She was glad that Jane got a jealous rage that she tended to get occasionally. " We could have. But as I mentioned it was a little complicated. I just started to study and Ryan was ... is just as stubborn as you so I had my problems. And there were our parents. ", she paused for a moment. " Well, they weren't particularly happy about our relationship. "

Jane rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. " Let me guess ... The two-tier society. "

Maura pressed her lips together. " In a nutshell, yes. You know how Constance can be. And for Ryan's parents also insisted that opinion. To them I was preferred of the society woman who has not had to work hard for the things I wanted. Their son included. And something like this can stress a fresh relationship terribly, Jane. "

Jane slowly scratched her chin. " Something tells me that the story isn't over yet. "

Maura smiled weakly. " Again, you're right. Ryan and I continued our relationship despite the resistance. We even wanted to get married. But eventually the reality got caught us up. We could never go together to a public event or be at home and watching TV on the couch when our ... or better my parents were in town. My mother began to set up dates for me to which I HAD to go. You know it. ", she sighed loudly. " Anyway, Ryan was sick of hiding and wanted that I stood up to my parents. I was a completely different person than today and hated confrontations much than today. You would say that I didn't had the ' balls '. "

Jane smiled sympathetically and sighed. " You've never told your parents. "

Maura pressed her lips together and smiled. " No, I was a coward. "

Jane rubbed her hands and frowned. " You know ... I'm glad you were a coward. ", she said hesitantly. " Otherwise, we can't be together or married to each other. And then MAYBE Ryan would be extremely jealous because we vibe with each other. "

Maura had to laugh and pointed at the corpse. " Help me to cut the shirt. "

Jane grinned and walked to the dead body table. " Okay. "

Maura took the scissor and carefully cut open the shirt.

Jane drawn her eyebrows together as she saw the torso. " What the heck? "

The upper body was completely tattooed. It was a kind of time tree. The worrying thing was that several women's faces were tattooed with a time stamp.

" Fascinating. ", Maura whispered as she looked at his tattoo.

Jane made a face. " I rather would categorize it under ' creepy '. "

Maura studied the work of art. " No ... I mean yes. But that reminds me of ... "

Jane waited patiently. " Reminds you of? "

Maura pulled her eyebrows together and looked slowly up. " The Illustrated Man. "

Jane looked at her confused. " I am a little bit confused. Yeah he's pretty much brushed. "

Maura waved the statement away. " No, the Illustrated Man is 1951 book of eighteen science fiction short stories by Ray Bradbury that explores the nature of mankind. A recurring theme throughout the eighteen conflict of the cold mechanics of technology and the psychology of people. The unrelanted stories are tied together by the frame device of The Illustrated Man, a vagrant with a tattooed body whom the unnamed narrator meets. The man's tattoos, allegedly by a time-travelling woman!, are animated and each tell a different tale. All but one of the stories had been published previously elsewhere, though Bradbury revised some of the texts for the book's publication. The concept of The Illustrated Man was later reused by Bradbury as an antagonistic character in Something Wicked This Way Comes, the tattoos coming to represent the souls of sinful victims of a mysterious carnival. "

" The book was made into a 1969 film starring Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom. ", Masterson added smiling as he came into the autopsy room in his tailored suit. " It was adapted by Howard B. Kreitsek from the stories The Veldt, The Long Rain and The Last Night Of The World. It was directed by Jack Smight. A number of the stories, including The Veldt, The Fox And The Forest, Marionettes. Inc and Zero Hour were dramatized for the 1955-57 radio series X Minus One. The Veldt, The Concrete Mixer, The Long Rain, Zero Hour and Marionettes. Inc were adapted for the TV series The Ray Bradbury Theater. I had to read up in some things to talk with Maura. Don't worry if you can't keep up. "

Jane stared at him with a deadly gaze. " Really? "

Masterson smiled and shrugged his eyebrows as he looked at the Medical Examiner. " Yes, she is an unlimited source of knowledge. You look good, Maura. I would like to invite you to dinner. "

Jane couldn't believe her ears. Had this mouthbreather had actually the nerv to invite HER wife to a date ... in front of her?

Maura felt Jane's emotional tension. First she talked about Ryan's and her past and now he was in her domain and asked her out on a date ... in front of her wife. " Thank, but no, thank you. I am happily married. "

Masterson smiled and shook his head. " Of course you are. The lucky guy. "

Maura gasped like a fish out of water for air while Jane this time really waited patiently. " Well ... happy ... maybe ... but a guy ... Um ... I'm ... I'm ... "

Jane raised a eyebrow. " Maura, you stammer. "

Maura took a deep breath and straighten her back. " I am married to Jane and we have a wonderful daughter named Alexis. "

Masterson frowned and pointed at Jane. " This Jane? "

Jane pointed proudly at herself. This Jane ... and I am present. "

Masterson came out of his state of shock and looked at Jane horror. " Oh, dear God. I mean ... I respect your marriage ... I mean ... I don't pinch your wife ... What I mean ... I had no idea ... I'm sorry ... "

Jane rolled annoyed her eyes. " I've got it. "

Maura snorted and looked at Jane questionable.