A/N This is just a Rizzles fluff story. No crime (ok…so there's a little, tiny bit of crime in the first chapter but there's no actual crime arc for the story. I just couldn't quit cold turkey). It doesn't really 'fit' anywhere specific- so call it AU since I'm certainly not going to follow any canon. I intend to start working on the sequel to "Duplicity" but I can't really start that one until late August due to my schedule. So until then- you get this tale. Just one possible way Jane and Maura could move from the best friends they are to the couple I think they should be. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Not mine. Never will be mine. I just really like to pretend.

From There to Here

Chapter 1

"Got it!"

Frost practically shouted as he stepped out from the BRIC. He looked a little frantic. "I've got the address!" he said heading straight to his partner. "1741 Abbott."

Both Jane and Korsak had looked up as soon as they heard Frost's voice coming from the BRIC. They knew he would only be that excited if he had finally been able to pinpoint the address they desperately need. Jane and Vince were already heading towards the stairs knowing Frost was right behind them. They'd call dispatch on the way for extra backup. Every second that ticked by was crucial.

"Excellent work," Jane said to her partner as they all virtually were jogging down the flights of stairs to the parking garage. Frost hadn't slept in about 36 hours instead choosing to chase down the small handful of electronic leads trying to find the address he now held in his hand.

None of them had slept in 36 hours. A girl was missing and no one at the station seemed willing to sleep until the 9 year old was found. And hopefully found alive.

It had been one of those cases. Thankfully they didn't get them often but it was one of those cases that not only exhausted the three partners but it simply weighed heavily on their hearts. What had started out as a routine response to a homicide had quickly evolved into a frantic search for a missing 9 year old girl.

Samantha Roberts was, from everything the three had managed to gather during their investigation, a happy, healthy 9 year old. But two days ago her mother, Amanda, was found murdered in their small 2 bedroom apartment by her landlord after Amanda's mother called concerned for her daughter's welfare. The scene the landlord walked into was gruesome. Amanda was severely beaten and sexually assaulted.

In the landlord's shock and haze after seeing the condition Amanda was in, he failed to mention to the responding officers that Amanda had a 9 year old daughter living with her or that he didn't know where she was. That discovery took Frost and Jane asking the question when they saw Samantha's room. Jane had asked if the daughter had been picked up from school and that was the first time anyone thought to even look for the girl.

Not that looking any sooner would have made too much of a difference. Frost found out from Amanda's mother which school Samantha attended and he knew immediately they had an issue when the school reported that Samantha hadn't reported to school that day. The 9 year old was missing.

Maura had been able to place time of death for Amanda approximately 8-10 hours before she had been found which by that time had been 2 hours prior so Jane know at best Samantha had been missing for at least 12 hours. 12 hours before even the beginnings of a search seemed like a lifetime.

It took another hour to get their first solid lead on a suspect. Matthew Parker, the victim's boyfriend, hadn't reported to work that morning nor was he responding to phone calls or text messages. According to Parker's boss after his third attempt to call Parker's cell phone it no longer rang. It just went to voicemail.

Jane had spoken with Amanda's mother. She didn't have a single nice thing to say about Matthew Parker. In fact she painted a particularly disturbing picture of the man. He had a violent temper and had been known to hit Amanda on several occasions. From all accounts he hadn't yet hurt Samantha but he apparently wasn't looking to be a father figure to the 9 year old. He tolerated the child at best and treated her as if she didn't exist most times.

Amber Alerts had gone out the minute Frost was able to find the vehicle description of the car registered to Parker. But they were behind the eight ball. Samantha had been missing for at least 14 hours and she could be several states away from Boston for all they knew.

But the detectives dug in and worked every possible angle they could think of or find trying to hope that Parker hadn't taken the girl across state lines. They all clung to the hope that he had the girl and was holed up hiding somewhere in the city.

They got the details out to the press as quickly as they could. They broke into TV coverage on local stations posting a description of Samantha and listing Matthew Parker as a person of interest. Their established tip line was buzzing with a flurry of potential sightings the minute the first alert went across the TV screen.

For the first three hours none of the tips phoned in turned out to be valid. But finally several tips started to produce leads. There was a chance that Parker's cousin might be helping him hide. No one was certain whether the girl was with him but several friends phoned in tips that they had seen or heard that Parker was looking for a place to hide out from the cops.

Frost started to work on the cousin angle for the search. It took some doing but he finally found a location the cousin had once made reference to on a Facebook post. It was a home of another cousin but the post suggested family would go there from time to time to 'get away from it all'. It was a long shot but it was their best possible lead. It at least gave the trio a place to go and check.

Korsak called in the address and request for backup to the location. They all sped out to the home with the hopes that not only would they find Samantha but that she would also be alright when they found her.

All responding officers were directed to stop about 2 blocks from the actual address. They were going to coordinate their possible entry and search of the home. That coordination didn't take long. All the officers present had been part of searches before and everyone knew what that stakes were for this one. The meeting was more an effort to divide up who would cover the front and who would cover the back.

Frost and Jane lead the team approaching from the front while Korsak lead the team covering the back of the house.

Jane and Frost approached the home with guns drawn. They tried one courtesy knock with an identification of Boston PD but that didn't earn them any answer. Jane tried the front door handle and found it unlocked. They entered from the front and started a room by room search.

It didn't take long to flush out Matthew Parker. As Frost approached a hallway, Parker tried to make a run for it out the back. He ran right into Korsak and three patrol officers. He was in custody in a matter of moments as Officer Richmond tackled the fleeing figure in the back yard.

Not knowing if Parker's cousin or anyone else unknown was in the house, Jane and the others continued their room by room search this time looking for any signs that Samantha had been with Parker. Room by room the all clear was echoed through the home.

Jane and Frost had worked their way up the stairs to the second level. A room by room check hadn't produced anything and Jane was beginning to wonder if Parker had Samantha at all. They worked their way to the last room on the upper level and once they gained entry they found what they were looking for.

Only they were too late.

Samantha Roberts' lifeless body was on the floor in the corner of the room.

"Damn it," muttered Frost as he realized they were too late to save Samantha.

"Call Maura," Jane said to Korsak as he had just joined them in the room. She stepped out into the hallway needing a few moments to just process everything.

R&I

Jane wasn't willing to admit it but she was exhausted. Both mentally and physically. It had been three weeks since they had handled the Amanda and Samantha Roberts murders. In those three weeks Jane and Frost had caught four more murder cases. The weather had finally started turning in Boston and every year when Winter seemed to finally yield to Spring their dockets always increased. It was almost as if the warm weather encouraged people to get out of the house and move around. An unwanted side effect seemed to be a heavier case load.

None of the other cases had been the emotional drain on her that the Roberts case had been. That one had just been brutal and to have lost the girl was something that just ate away at more than just Jane. That was wearing on all three partners.

They all showed it differently. Korsak got two more animals- a cat and a dog. He found excuses to go home at lunch to check on the new additions to the household. Frost volunteered to work on an IT project trying to improve the station's ability to pinpoint cell phone GPS and tower pings in the hope of finding potential suspects quicker. Jane withdrew just a little bit more into herself while throwing herself into the work.

That was the obvious sign for her. The not so obvious sign was the nightmares that had kept Jane from getting a decent night's rest in the last three weeks. Every night. The same dream. And every night she failed to save Samantha Roberts. The girl's death was haunting Jane. After three weeks of very limited sleep, Jane was absolutely exhausted.

In fact, as she drove home from the end of her third double shift in the last week, all she could think about was getting a hot shower, having a beer and crawling into bed to try to sleep. It was still relatively early in the day but she'd been working since the previous afternoon and as far as she was considered the day needed to come to an end.

The guys had wanted to stop at the Robber for a drink but she was just too tired. She just wanted to try and get some sleep. She'd already cancelled on her dinner plans with Maura earlier in the day. She felt bad about that because she really hadn't been able to spend much time outside the station with her best friend but she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep her eyes open for an entire meal and Maura insisted they reschedule for when Jane was better rested.

She parked her car and sighed. She'd have to take Jo for a quick walk but then she was going to down a beer, take a shower and then try to shut out the world for a few desperately needed hours of sleep. Perhaps tonight the nightmare wouldn't come.

She opened her front door and immediately knew something was going on. There were three suitcases sitting right by the door. She recognized the luggage immediately.

"Ma!" Jane called out. She didn't know what was going on but as much as she loved her mother there was no way given the stretch of weeks she'd just had that she was going to be able to handle her mother apparently moving in with her for a long stay.

"Janie," Angela called out from the bathroom.

"Ma," Jane called back just staring down at the luggage by the door. "I don't know what's going on but do you really need to stay here?" She wanted to just kick her mother out of her place but she wouldn't. It was her mother. She'd just have to leave it as an extreme desire to kick the woman out of her place when all she wanted was a shower, a beer and sleep.

"I'm not staying here," Angela called out not yet making an appearance.

Relief immediately washed over Jane. "Thank God," she mumbled under her breath knowing her mother couldn't hear her. The euphoria of knowing she wasn't about to acquire her mother as her roommate was almost enough for Jane to forget about the suitcases.

Almost.

She stared at the luggage again. "Then what the hell are your suitcases doing by my door?" she called out.

"Language Jane," Maura said as she stepped out of Jane's bedroom.

That shocked the hell out of the detective. She hadn't seen Maura's car out front and she certainly hadn't expected to see the ME in her apartment that night. Apparently with her mother. And suitcases.

"Maura?" Jane said not hiding her confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm helping your mother," Maura answered as if that was supposed to explain everything.

Jane just stared at the ME. Maybe she was missing something obvious. She really was exhausted. "Helping Ma with what?" Jane asked again looking over at the suitcases.

"I'm helping her pack," Maura answered. "I was pretty sure you didn't want your mother to be the sole person responsible for packing your clothes. I figured I could help make sure all your favorites got selected." Her answer was so nonchalant its meaning really didn't even register with Jane.

"Oh," Jane replied. "Thanks," she said with a smile. She really didn't want her mother being the one packing her clothes. "Wait!" she suddenly exclaimed as her brain finally caught up to what Maura had said. "What? My clothes? Maura why are either of you two packing my clothes?"

"Well your clothes certainly aren't going to pack themselves," Angela replied as she walked into the living room carrying what looked like a toiletry bag Jane now could only assume held the contents of her bathroom supplies.

Jane looked from her mother to her best friend. She felt like she was the only one in the room who had no clue as to what was going on because she really was the only in the room who didn't have any idea what the hell was going on.

"Care to explain to me exactly what is going on here?" she directed her question to her best friend.

"We are going on a vacation," Maura said with a smile.

"A what?" she asked. "I'm not on vacation," she feebly tried to point out.

"Actually," Maura said and looked at her watch. "As of about 20 minutes ago you are."

"What the f…."

"Language," both Maura and Angela said in unison stopping Jane's utterance of the 'F' word in its tracks.

"What do you mean I'm on vacation?" Jane asked pointedly. She did not care for people handling her and this was suddenly starting to feel as if she was being handled by her mother and her best friend.

"You're exhausted Jane," Maura pointed out. "And not just you. Frost and Korsak too. You all have had a pretty tough stretch of cases lately. We're worried about all three of you," she said with Angela standing next to her nodding her head in agreement.

"Frost and Korsak are going on vacation with us?" Jane suddenly asked now beyond confused.

"Not with us...you and me...but yes," Maura answered, "they both are on a forced vacation as well."

Maura had grown more and more concerned with Jane's overall health and mental status after the Roberts case. As the weeks went on she added Frost and Korsak to that list so she convinced Cavanaugh all three needed a break for their own wellbeing. All of them had amassed so much vacation time they all could virtually take an entire year off with pay if they wanted to. Maura had made a medical recommendation of three weeks. Cavanaugh agreed to two. Even he was becoming aware he was in danger of losing one or all of them to burnout.

"Ok," Jane said trying to wrap her brain around what she was being told. "Start from the beginning and explain this all to me again." She stared at her best friend and gave the best 'tell me everything' look she could muster.

Maura tried not to roll her eyes not exactly sure why she needed to repeat herself. She thought she had been perfectly clear on everything. But to avoid frustrating Jane, she explained to her once again what was going on.

Jane listened intently to what Maura was telling her. As she listened it all sounded just like what she had already said. Apparently Maura was not joking. Frost, Korsak and she were on a mandatory vacation.

Maura did fill in a few details like Frost was going back to spend his time with his mother and her wife. Korsak was apparently going to rent a motorcycle and make the drive down to Florida. Jane almost smiled hearing their plans as each sounded just like the boys. Then she wondered why neither mentioned their plans to her.

"Hey," she suddenly wanted to know, "if the guys have already made plans why is this the first I'm hearing about this?"

Both Maura and Angela looked at Jane like that answer should have been self-explanatory. Only Angela decided to point that out to her daughter.

"Are you kidding me? You wouldn't have stopped bitching about being forced to take time off had you heard about this earlier. The boys didn't want to have to listen to you complain," she said without much attempt to sugar coat it. "And quite frankly I didn't want to hear it either."

"I wouldn't have…" Jane started but the look her mother gave her was enough to shut her up so she decided to change tactics. "So Frost has plans. Korsak has plans." She looked again at the suitcases by the door. "Apparently I have plans too. Anyone care to share?" Again she looked at Maura for this answer.

Maura smiled. "You are accompanying me," she said. Maura had arranged to take the same amount of time off as Jane. She knew Jane wasn't going to like the idea of a forced vacation but she felt that the detective would comply better if she went with her.

She hadn't said where or what they were doing but a part of Jane was happy to hear that wherever she was going she was going with Maura. Doing anything was always better if she got to do that anything with Maura.

"Where exactly are we going?" Jane asked.

"New York," Maura answered. "To start."

"To start?" Jane asked.

"Of course," Maura said again in a tone like she couldn't understand why Jane was asking silly questions. "While there are plenty of things to do in New York, two weeks is an awfully long time to spend in one place." She looked so innocent as she answered Jane's questions. "We will be visiting several cities over the next two weeks."

Maura had a decent plan for what and where they were going to go. And it was anywhere but Boston. They all agreed that Jane, if left in Boston, wouldn't be able to resist trying to return to work. The homicide detective needed a break from everything and Maura knew the only way to ensure she took that break was to go with her and to keep her out of the city.

Jane didn't really know what to think. Both the women in her life seemed to be particularly resolved about how this was all going to play out. Resolved to the point Jane knew complaining, whining or making empty threats wasn't going to get her anywhere. And as she thought about it, Maura wasn't exactly wrong. She really did need a break.

Jane sighed in defeat. In truth she was just too damn tired to put up a fight that in the end she knew she wouldn't win. Maura got her way. That was just how it always worked between the two of them. Jane would fuss. Jane would complain. Maura would just give her a look and Maura would magically get her way. The woman possessed some secret power of the detective that Jane hadn't quite figured out yet.

Deciding to save what energy she had left she looked at her best friend and asked, "When are we leaving?"

The smile the crept across Maura's lips lit up her whole face. She knew she had won. "Just as soon as you finish with the shower I know you want to take," Maura answered.

Jane couldn't help but snicker. The woman really did know her well. She looked at both women and just nodded. She walked towards the bathroom to start the water. Apparently, she had a vacation to get to.