Note: This story is set after Casey left to go back to the army in season 4. It's an alternate future, so he didn't reject her and Jane didn't get pregnant. He came home and they are now engaged. Whilst there will be some Casey/Jane, I can also promise there will be some Jane/Maura. There will definitely be Rizzles loving going on. Given the storyline, it's certainly not going to be a happy story in many ways. Lots of angst and pain.

Warning: This story will contain a lot of difficult situations and storylines, I'd rather not reveal them all before the story has begun, but if you want to know what the specific triggers could be just sent me a message and I'll tell you.

Disclaimer: I'm not TNT or Tess Gerritsen, so I don't own Rizzoli & Isles.

It was time. She'd fought against it long enough. She'd been sat in her car for nearly fifteen minutes pretending that she didn't have a job to do. Glancing in the rear-view mirror, Jane ran her fingers through her hair and brushed away the dregs of tears lingering on her lower eyelids. She forged a smile, checked that it looked okay, and opened the car door. Grimacing, Jane closed her eyes and fought through the pain searing through her right hip. Once upright, she took a deep breath and walked slowly towards the police tape.

"About time," Korsak said, lifting the tape as Jane ducked beneath it, coughing loudly to disguise the anguish she knew would be evident on her face, an act that only made it hurt more. "I know you're still excited to have Casey home, but that's no excuse for being late."

"I wasn't late," Jane said, her arms hung at her sides. She rolled her eyes. "I was sitting in the car putting on make up."

"Very funny," Korsak said, motioning to the body lay out on the concrete slabs.

Maura greeted Jane as she crouched beside the body. She conducted a full examination of the gunshot wound on the man's forehead, as Korsak continued.

"We got a call forty minutes ago from the caretaker, Alam Akbar, he was closing up the mosque at the end of evening prayer. He was taking out the garbage when he spotted the body behind a dumpster. He recognised him but doesn't recall seeing him inside."

"Did anyone hear gunshots?" Jane asked. She took a deep breath, fighting through the pain as she crouched beside Maura

"No reports," said Korsak.

"There's early signs of rigor," Maura said, working her hands along the man's neck, though her attention was momentarily drawn to Jane. "It's not quite fully reached his neck and shoulders; I estimate it's been between two and three hours since he died."

"How long's evening prayer?"

Maura slipped off her gloves and stood up. "Each prayer can last around seven minutes, approximately thirty minutes' total. There's inevitable opportunity to socialise before and after, and of course there's the time it takes for wudu."

"Wudu?"

"The ritualistic washing in preparation for worship."

"So, we've got a man who died around two to three hours ago outside a mosque full of people and we have no witnesses and nobody heard gunshots?"

"That's about it," Korsak said.

Jane placed her hands on her knees and lifted herself back up to her feet. She winced, then coughed to disguise the pained sounds that escaped her lips. When Maura's eyes shifted across to her, Jane forged a smile.

"If you can't tell me cause of death, can you at least guess?" Jane asked, hoping for an argument if it would stop Maura from asking the questions she didn't want to answer.

Without a word, the crease between Maura's eyebrows said the things she opted not to say. Eventually, she returned her attention back to the body.

"No need. I will need to do a full autopsy, but there's discoloration around the wound, as well as tattooing and scorching which suggests he was shot at close range. There's no blood or exit wound, so we're looking for a lower powered weapon. I'm comfortable saying the gunshot was the cause of this man's death."

"Has anyone found any shell casings?" Jane asked, gritting her teeth. When Maura said nothing more, Jane felt relieved.

Korsak shook his head. "Not yet."

"We need to get that bullet out; I'll see you back at the precinct."

Back in the safety of her car, Jane lifted up the side of her shirt, breathing through the discomfort as she analysed the bruising on her hip. Her phone buzzed in the cup holder, she closed her eyes and leant back against the seat, and pretended just for a moment that she didn't have anywhere to be.

A gentle tapping against the window pulled her from her thoughts. Maura's eyes danced between a look of concern and the smile plastered across her face. Rolling down the window, Jane smiled back.

"What is it, Maura?"

"Are you okay?" she asked, the crease between her eyebrows growing denser.

"Fine," she said, turning the key in the ignition and switching to drive. "I'll see you later."

The case board was already full of photographs by the time Korsak arrived back at Boston Police Department. Jane had noted down every piece of information they knew and stood with her arms folded across her chest as she contemplated the evidence thus far.

"He was shot in the front of the head," Jane said. "Which must mean he knew his attacker. Unless Maura can come up with some reason why he would allow someone to shoot him right in the middle of his forehead."

"Could have been an execution," Korsak said, peeling a full body photograph from the board. "There's dirt marks on his knees. What if someone forced him down onto the ground before shooting him?"

"But why?"

"Khaleel Mousa was a high school science teacher, I can think of a thousand reasons why he might be killed."

Jane shook her head. "How many high school students do you know who can overpower a grown man and shoot him in the head? It's a damn near perfect shot. If he struggled, even for a second, it wouldn't be so perfectly aligned."

"Course it was perfect, they did it so close he could probably smell the gunpowder, and have you seen teenage boys? Half of them are grown men."

"It's Friday night," Jane said, securing a school ID photograph of Khaleel to the board. "Hopefully we can rule out any other possibilities before school starts on Monday."

She turned at the sound of her cell phone buzzing against her desk. The screen lit up, the caller ID displayed clearly. Korsak nudged her in the side. Jane winced.

"Guess we should be letting you get home to lover boy."

"It's fine," Jane said, shrugging her shoulders. She picked up her cell phone and secured it to her belt. "Hopefully Maura's got something."

The chill in the morgue quickly settled in Jane's bones, causing her hip to hurt even more than before. She pulled open the door to the examination room and stopped opposite Maura, the victim's body lay on the slab between them.

"Got anything?"

Maura raised an eyebrow. "It's late. We've both had several late nights in a row. I do not have the mental capacity to complete this autopsy right now. I'm going home, so should you."

"We have a murder to solve," Jane said."

"It can wait a few more hours. We'll work better with a clear mind. You look exhausted. I imagine Casey's been keeping you up later than he should."

"He's been back for a month," Jane said, the lack of expression on Maura's face made her feel a little uncomfortable. "We've kinda moved past the hands all over each other, can't put each other down thing."

Zipping the body bag up, Maura unlocked the break on the trolley and pushed it towards the doorway. The strain of pushing a fully grown man across the room became evident on Maura's face and Jane stepped forwards, pushing the trolley along with her, before the pain increased in intensity and Jane remembered that she should not have stepped in. She chewed on the inside of her lip and continued on until the body was safely back in the morgue refrigerators.

"I'll see you in the morning," Maura said.

"Don't you want a night cap?" Jane asked, ignoring the buzzing of her cell phone. "We've barely spent any time together in weeks."

"Through no fault of my own."

"I've been…busy," Jane said. "Let's go back to yours."

"Won't Casey be expecting you?"

"I told him I'd be later than usual. My mind's too awake for sleep right now."

Maura closed the front door behind them and tossed her keys into the bowl in the hallway. She secured the lock and headed for the fridge, placing her purse on the kitchen counter. Following close behind, Jane perched on a stool whilst Maura opened a bottle of beer and passed it across the counter. Pouring herself a glass of wine, she sat down beside Jane.

"You've not really told me what it's like living with Casey," Maura said.

"It's fine," Jane said, shrugging. "We eat burgers. We watch baseball. We have sex. Sometimes we do it all at the same time. It's a match made in heaven."

"Any regrets?"

"Why would I have any regrets?" Jane asked, staring into Maura's eyes, searching her expression for some sign of emotion that she could pick out.

"You wouldn't," Maura said, staring into the bottom of her wine glass. "I know it's not been easy with him coming home with another injury."

"He's okay. He has another MRI next week. I'm happy. We're both happy."

"Good."

The smile barely reached the corners of her eyes. Maura lifted her wine glass up and waited for Jane to clink her bottle against it.

"Cheers," they said in unison.

A couple of beers and glasses of wine later, Maura sat cross legged on the couch, her hand on Jane's shoulder as they laughed about the latest Rizzoli family drama. Jane rested her head against the back of the couch and stifled a yawn.

"This is why we shouldn't do this on a school night," she said, covering her mouth.

Maura laughed. "You're the one who suggested it."

"I didn't really care about the drink, I just wanted some me time."

"Some you time?" Maura raised an eyebrow sceptically. "With me?"

"I'm used to having time to myself and now I have a boy in the house, all the time."

"I thought you said he was mentoring at risk youths?"

"He is, but a couple of hours a week isn't enough," Jane said. "He misses being a soldier. And I miss having my own space. Sometimes I just want to be able to sing in the shower and walk around naked."

"Walk around naked?" Maura asked.

"Yes. Whilst singing." Jane placed the empty beer bottle on the coffee table. "Now I can't do that anymore."

"Why didn't I know you like to sing in the shower?"

"Everybody sings in the shower, Maura."

"Not I," she said.

"What do you do then?"

"I recite the periodic table in order."

"Of course you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're a nerd, Maura," Jane said, her lips tugging at the corners. She reached out and grasped Maura's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "But you're my nerd."

"I think that's the sign that you've had one too many," Maura said, squeezing Jane's hand back. "Do you want me to call you a cab?"

Her chest heaved as she stifled another yawn. "Yes."

Carefully closing the apartment door behind her, Jane tiptoed towards the bedroom. As she reached the kitchen counter, a light came on and she spun around.

"Casey, you're up."

"I am," he said, standing up and walking towards her. "I thought you were going to be home hours ago."

"I went to Maura's for a drink," she said.

"I've missed you."

He slid a hand around her stomach, his chest against her back as he grasped the front of her shirt. She closed her eyes. His lips trailed along her collarbone. She sunk into his arms and allowed his fingers to trace her jawbone as she twisted in his embrace. "I'm sorry, about earlier. I didn't mean for you to get hurt. You know it was an accident, don't you?"

"I do," she whispered, fighting the tears that threatened to surface.

"I love you, forgive me?" He cupped her cheek as his lips brushed against hers.

She nodded and pulled away, slipped her hand in his and tugged him towards the bedroom. "Let's just go to bed."

Note: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love to know what you think so far!