Detective Jane Rizzoli is sitting with a broad smile at her desk in the Homicide unit and is holding the glare of her best friend and Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Dr. Maura Isles.

She isn't quite sure how, why and when the bantering between the two has started, but she can tell that both of them are enjoying it immensely, like always. She would never admit it in front of the blond doctor, but she has deeper feelings for Maura then just friendship. It isn't like no one knows that she is into women, and most of her give a damn about it. Sure, there is a knucklehead who is pulling her chain because of that, but she early learned to ignore that. The only time she had been worried about her fondness was when she told her old friend and mentor Vince Korsak that she is into women, but he only shrugged it off and ordered the next round of beer, saying that he already knew that or guessed so and that he doesn't give a shit about it as long as her work doesn't suffer from it. In that night Jane confessed to him that she is madly in love with the ME after she had a little too much. Frost has been sitting with them and chuckled like a little school girl who was talking for the first time about crushes, love, and sex. It was shortly before he got transferred to the other Police Department on the west coast.

Jane's smile grows even wider when Maura is frustrated rolling her eyes.

Korsak looks over the rim of his glasses and scoffs amused.

Frankie, Jane's younger brother, rolls her eyes and sips his coffee. He has token Frost's place after he got transferred and is doing a fine job, even though he needs assistance every now and then. He also knows that his sister is having it for the ME and wants to lock the two women into one room until they have figured out their feelings for each other. He growls low and smiles at Maura as she looks puzzled at him. "Just … ate something wrong." He stutters and rolls his eyes once more when he turns away.

Maura chuckles amused and nods slowly. "Jane, are you free for tonight?"

The Italian sighs dramatically and turns the corners of her mouth downward. "Depends on what you have in mind. If you want to go to a boring art exhibition, no."

Maura can't help the smile but glares at her friend. "I was thinking about pizza and a movie of your choice."

*Your place or mine," Jane asks and quirks an eyebrow.

"Your place," Maura says and scoffs when Jane gets up to her feet in no time. "Shall we?"

"Lead the way, Dr. Isles," Jane says and grabs her jacket from the back of her chair. Never had she been so grateful that it had been a slow day.

Korsak turns his computer off and stretches his arms with a good yawn over his head after the two women had left the bullpen.

"What do you think? How long do they keep on doing this?" Frankie asks and takes his very own jacket from the back of his chair.

Korsak looks long at the young man and furls his brows. "What do you mean?"

"How long do they pretend that they don't have feelings for each other?"

The older man is gathering his belongings and takes a deep breath. He never has been that kind of man that wondered about his colleagues' private lives as long as they didn't come to him and asked for some advice, then he tried to be the wise man who everyone thinks he is. "They figure it out when the time is right for them. I don't give too many thoughts about it, and that's what you shouldn't do either. They take their time."

"Seven years?"

Korsak doesn't say anything about that and lifts a hand to bid Frankie good night.

The younger Rizzoli grins and follows Korsak out of the bullpen.

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Jane is watching how Maura is throwing her head back and laughs heartily after she had explained the blonde that it is possible that mankind synthesizes a virus that can turn humans into brainless zombies. She doesn't know why she had picked Resident Evil for tonight, but silently she loves the doctor's lecture how incorrect that movie is, not to mention scientifically. She is smiling like an idiot and wants to reach out so she can trace her twitching fingers along Maura's cheek and jaw.

Maura sees the strange look of the Italian and her laughter dies to a smile. "What is it, Jane?"

The brunette swallows hard and gathers all of her courage. She knows she is doing it because both of them are a little intoxicated by now and that neither of them is going to broach the subject in the morning. She takes a deep breath and runs a thumb over the dimple on Maura's left cheek. "I like that one since the day I have seen it for the first time." She says and smiles again as soon as Maura doesn't flinch and something in the room has shifted.

"You have to of those, Jane." Maura laughs all of a sudden.

The detective rolls her eyes and pokes her own dimples. "Yeah, but I don't stand there and do this all day long." She says with a broad smile to make her point clear and flinch as her friend swats her thigh. Her heart skips a beat when Maura's hand stays on her thigh and none of them breaks the eye contact. She notices how Maura's eyes drop to her lips and she skids a little closer. She can feel that it is now or never to tell her friend how she is feeling about her and takes a deep breath. "Maura -" She begins and frowns as soon as a knock at her apartment door interrupts her. She decides to ignore the intruder and licks her lips. She is sure that it is her mother Angela, who wants to make sure that she is at home and that she is alive.

Jane has been going to the Café when Angela had been taking a break so she wanted to avoid her mother's attempt to set her up with some girl from their prior neighborhood. "I'm going to ignore that." She says and dares to touch the doctor's forearm with her fingertips. A smile plays on her lips as she sees the disapproving look of her friend. "It's only Ma."

The doctor smiles softly at her friend and places her head against the back of the couch. "Jane, you do know that she has a key."

"Doesn't grant her access because of the door chain," Jane mumbles and is doing the same as her friend, looking at her dreamily. She starts to fumble with Maura's fingers and groans when the next knock is to be heard, and after that the next. She knows that her mother already would have used her key or yelled through the door that she knows that her daughter is at home.

She closes her eyes for a second and shakes her head. Probably just a neighbor, she thinks to herself and sighs. "Give me a sec." She says and gets up from the couch.

Maura nods slowly and is doing the same to refill her wine glass. She has felt it too, that something has changed between them before they have been interrupted. Something both of them seems to long for.

She sips her wine and her eyes are glued to her friend, catching every move of Jane.

The Italian looks through the peephole and her body tense up. "You have to be kidding me." She growls and unlocks the apartment door. "What the hell are you doing here?" She growls low and clenches her teeth when the intruder pushes their way into the apartment.

Maura chokes on her wine as soon as her eyes are making contact with a new pair of brown ones and she feels like she is in a dream in which Jane Rizzoli, her friend, exist and the five years younger.

The woman in front of her doesn't look exactly like Jane, though. She has lighter hair and eyes, but the appearance of the stranger is almost the same at all.

The strange woman stops dead and looks long at the ME. "Am I interrupting something?"

Jane slams the door shut and balls her hands into fists. "What are you doing here, Joselyn?"

Joselyn smiles and makes her way straight to the fridge. "Hi, I am Jo. Jo Amadeo." She introduces herself and lifts a hand.

Maura is waving perplexed back. "Maura Isles ." She almost whispers.

"Hi, Maura," Jo says as she opens a bottle of beer. "You're Jane's new girlfriend?"

Maura can't hide her blush at that moment. "No. No, we are colleagues."

"Uh-huh."

Jane clench her teeth and cross her arms over her chest. "Joselyn is my cousin who didn't give a damn about us in time of need." She growls low.

Jo bites back a snarky comment and smirks. "I always loved to be the bad guy in a story." She drops a stack of files on Jane's counter. She doesn't seem to be very pleased about that either. "I am here to ask you for your help."

Jane snarls now and walks to the counter. She is about to flip the top file open and frowns. "Am I going to be arrested?"

Jo smiles without any humor and sips her beer. "Funny, but no. Do I have to beg for your help?"

The older woman looks long at her and then her eyes are finding Maura. Jane sighs heavily and finally opens the file on top. "What are we talking about?"

Maura smiles a sits down on one of the high stools, sipping her wine.

Jo nods slowly and leans with her hip against the counter. "I am not quite sure. I can tell that the person is always operating the same way, but doesn't have a special type."

"I can see that," Jane says and runs a hand through her hair as she goes through the files. "His victims have different genders, different ages, different ethnics. Looks like your murder is choosing his victims randomly."

Jo nods slowly and rounds the counter now, standing closely beside Jane now. "That's what I also thought at the beginning of the investigation, but the victims do have something in common, two things."

"The cause of death," Jane states and looks with furrowed brows at Jo. "A stab wound to the chest."

"And families in Boston. Each of the victims came from here or does have connections to Boston. Everything leads to this city. And the murder starts all over with the killing after a break of six months. It's like he starts a circle all over again. Same MO, same victimology. There is no deviation."

"All over again," Maura says slowly and frowns. "For how long are you investigating those cases now?"

Jo doesn't answer right away and seems like she is considering her answer. "Five years."

Jane's eyes are snapping to Maura's and her head starts to swim. "And it's always four?"

Jo nods slowly. "Always four victims, yes."

"Oh, God," Maura whispers.

Jane let the information sink in and licks her lips. "And why are you asking for my help now, Jo?"

The younger woman hesitates for a moment and wiggles her brows. "I followed him across the entire country, and I think that he is in Boston now."

Maura closes her eyes slowly and grabs her friend's hand, holding it tightly.

Jane releases her breath through her mouth and is wishing Jo and her serial killer far, far away.