I would like to thank my beta Ink-About-It for helping me out.

I do not own anything!

Prologue

It was around mid-August at the end of a typically busy day when he got the phone call. With a whiskey glass in one hand and a fresh-lit cigar in the other, he sighed back into his chair and replaced the glass with the receiver as he distractedly answered the ringing device.

"Patrick," she'd started. And with that one word, he immediately recognized Constance Isles, her voice as articulate as ever. But before he had the chance to wonder about her sudden reappearance, she went on. "We're moving back to Boston."

And just like that, Paddy Doyle's life was turned upside down.

The day this woman had boarded a private plane to somewhere in Europe with a small bundle swaddled and securely held in her arms, had played in his mind over and over again every day since. She was terribly fraught with fear for the child's life, taking her new role as her primary caregiver about as seriously as he could have ever hoped, and yet, for every moment of his daughter's life that he missed, his heart broke just a little bit more. But he knew Maura was safe, and that's what mattered most.

Somehow though, a part of him always knew that their return was inevitable. In fact, he had expressed his reluctance to let them out of his sight right off the bat, promising to protect little Maura from his enemies at all costs, but Constance couldn't – wouldn't – take that chance in case he failed. And now he had no choice but to succeed.

In the time since their migration, though, the situation had gone under drastic change. After well over a decade Maura is certainly no longer an oblivious child and he and his daughter had no interpersonal relationship to speak of. She would notice him stalking her. Paddy knew the only way to protect her around the clock as best he could was to employ someone else he could trust with his daughter's life; a pretty tall order for a man who trusted practically no one.

Irish luck, however, proved to be on his side one evening when one of his few good friends mentioned a brave Italian girl who had roughed up one of his ham-fisted minions for looking at her the wrong way. Something clicked in Paddy's head. He immediately sent his best man to go see about this girl, reminding him to bring his weapon unless he also wanted to be the subject of another embarrassing pub story.

It was getting late that summer evening on Jane's way home from work. It had been another long day under the micro-management of her annoying boss at a job that paid peanuts for her to practically perform miracles, so she really wasn't in the mood for the creeper she'd noticed following her for the past several blocks. Agitated, she suddenly turned on him, "Who the hell are you and why are you following me?"

Stopping in his tracks, the man held his hands up in mock surrender, although his cocky grin gave him away. She really wanted to smack that smug smile off of his smarmy face, "Oh, was I following you? I hadn't noticed."

"What do you want, asshole?" He looked more impressed than offended, which annoyed her even more.

"You must be Jane," the man stated.

She eyed him with caution, wondering how he knew her name. "Depends… who wants to know?" There was an unsettling air about him. He was a tough guy, taller than her and clearly stronger. She didn't like him at all.

He stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Paddy Doyle, that's who."

To say the name sounded familiar would be like saying that she was vaguely aware she was human. And that wasn't the kind of name people just dropped if they knew what was good for them. Jane took a step back to properly take this man in, and lo and behold, he clearly had a gun stuck in the waistband of his pants.

Following her line of vision, "Relax," he said. "The boss just wants to talk."

"And he ain't askin' either, is he?"

The armed man replied with a simple. "No."

Sighing, Jane accepted that the odds of her getting out of this were not in her favor if she didn't cooperate, so she nodded her reluctant consent. "Okay, take me to him."

She followed him to the car, not even bothering to laugh at a stupid joke he makes about something stupid. Paddy Doyle, who is notorious for being a man of action, wanted to talk to her – so this guy would have to forgive her for losing all sense of humor for a moment.

The entire drive was only about ten minutes long, but the young woman's thoughts were a jumbled mess trying to figure out why the head of the Irish mob wanted to talk to little old her. Paddy Doyle was the lesser of two evils though, as Jane remembered the stories she'd heard about his father, Patrick Senior.

The car came to a stop outside a well-known Irish pub before Jane was escorted inside. They maneuvered through the maze of people and tables and then into a room right at the back where she was told to take a seat as her escort stood guard by the door.

After about an hour of talking her own body into calming down enough to think, the door suddenly opened, startling her, and there stood the one and only Paddy Doyle. He instructed his man to wait outside, then he had a seat across from her before ever even looking at her.

"Hello Jane." She gulped. Paddy Doyle knew her name. "I'm quite sorry for all of this, but I have a feeling you might be the only person that can help me, if you're willing?"

Willing? She had a choice? "What, uh… what exactly is this all about?" Jane asked.

"Well, it's kind of a personal matter that requires your… unique skills. And which I trust you will handle with the utmost discretion. And, of course, I will pay you a great sum of money for your cooperation."

Pondering his ambiguous offer, Jane's mind went straight to her family who could definitely use a great sum of money, and if it wasn't for that tiny but huge detail, she may have declined his offer right there and then. But instead, she leaned over the table, eyes locked onto his, and asked the million-dollar question. "Okay, what do you need me to do?"

Paddy smiled. "I have an old friend who has asked me to keep tabs on a... target, you might say. She needs to be monitored-"

"She?"

Paddy paused, not used to being interrupted. Slowly he said, "Yes... Will that be a problem?"

Jane knew there was only one right answer. "No, go on."

"All you have to do is attend her high school and become her friend."

Jane lifted her eyebrows at the words 'high school', but said nothing about it as Doyle handed her an envelope.

"Within this envelope you will find a picture along with all the relevant details about your assignment, as well as a burner phone which you will use to regularly update me on anything suspicious. Understood?"

Jane nodded. "Yes, Sir."

"Do not let me down, Jane… Your life depends on it."

The ominous silence was even louder than the ruckus of the pub outside that door. Jane knew a threat when she heard one, but her only way out was to follow through.

"I know…"

And with that, Paddy Doyle stood and walked out of the room, leaving the girl pondering her own sanity.

The creepy escort came back in wearing that same seedy smirk he's been sporting since she met him. "So, Jane… we on the same team now?"

"Just shut up and take me home," she said standing up, annoyed. "It's a school night."

Chapter 1

Jane inhaled and exhaled a few deep breaths as she paused outside the doors of her new school. Dressed in the standard uniform consisting of a plaid skirt and a matching sweater, she hated this place already. But after meeting mob boss Paddy Doyle, where he proceeded to literally give her an offer she could not refuse – paid tuition on top of paying Jane to babysit a 'target' – there was definitely no looking back.

The envelope Paddy gave Jane had a name, a photograph, and the target's school schedule, which she was also put on in order to keep an eye on her.

She'd spent the night before studying the stranger's photograph until she could picture her shimmering honey-blonde hair, beautiful hazel green eyes and her dimpled smile and even map out every freckle on her face. And so, when walking down the halls of Boston Girls' High, it didn't take Jane long to spot her.

About six lockers away, there stood Maura Dorothea Isles of Beacon Hill, daughter of artist Constance Isles, who takes every single mind-numbing class offered in this school, head down as she carefully placed some books into her bag. Blissfully unaware that someone was watching her very closely.

Jane kept her distance, continuing to silently observe her. She knew that their first class was English and so discreetly followed Maura there, but only slipped in once the class was almost full. She wasn't surprised to find Maura seated right at the front of the room with a book already open on her desk before her, seemingly lost in her own world. Jane was lucky to find the seat right next to her free and smoothly took it before digging around her backpack pretending to act normal.

Finally taking note of the presence of human life around her, Maura glanced up at Jane, looking very confused. Even more so when Jane smiled and held a hand out for Maura to shake.

"Hi, I'm Jane," she said, "I'm new here."

Maura almost immediately took Jane's proffered hand, her body's polite instincts taking over before her bewildered brain could catch up. "I'm Maura Isles. It's nice to meet you, Jane," she replied. Her answering smile didn't reach her eyes though, but Jane took that to mean she must be shy as she went back to reading her book until the teacher implored their attention.

Keeping an eye on someone at school, Jane learned, is a tricky thing to do when you're supposed to be pretending to care about the lesson. She hadn't thought about that before she sat down right next to her charge at the head of the classroom, but there wasn't much to monitor during the first lesson of the day, and thus, nothing to report.

When the bell rang to switch classes, Jane turned to Maura to ask where the Biology class was, but the girl had already disappeared. With an annoyed sigh – annoyed at herself for dropping the ball – Jane got up and quickly made her way out. Entering the next class, she realised all the girls were seated in pairs – all except for Maura. Lucky me, she thought, not even giving a second thought to why this girl always sat alone. Instead she walked right up to her and took the empty seat beside Maura asking, "Do you have a lab partner?"

Maura didn't look up at when she quietly replied "No."

"Well," Jane gleefully retorted, "now you do."

She was rewarded with a brief smile.

The second thing Jane learned that day is that Maura is ridiculously smart and amazing at Biology. She had a hunch when she took a look at the schedule they gave her, but as she watched Maura wield her scalpel like a Pro, naming all the different parts and functions of the frog as she removed them for Jane to record on their lab sheet, the brunette was blown away. Unfortunately, every time she tried to make small talk, the blonde politely ended the conversations before Jane could learn anything else about her.

Befriending her target was proving harder than Jane had anticipated. But it was only the first half of the first day. She reeled herself in, allowing Maura the time to warm up to her naturally.

During lunch, Jane sat by herself. She found a spot where she could covertly observe Maura, who was picking her way through a kale salad three tables ahead of her, also sitting by herself. At this point, Jane recognized the pattern of separation, she just wasn't sure whether or not it was by choice. Then she caught her first glimpse of interaction between Maura and another student.

Maura had actually gotten up to dispose of her trash in the garbage when she heard a familiar voice behind her, stopping her in her tracks.

"Sit, Maura. Please? We have so much to talk about, don't we?"

Looking around the cafeteria as if she was resigning herself to her fate, Maura reluctantly obeyed and sat back down. Jane watched on as the two girls interacted with each other and from her point of view, Maura seemed tense and nervous. Something was definitely going on, and Jane became curious as to what it was.

The other girl sat beside Maura and started to speak directly into her ear. Quietly enough for Jane not to catch her voice, yet with enough overemphasis for her lips to be read as she hissed into Maura's ear, "Garret told me all about your little 'hook-up'. He told me how you seduced him and how you forced yourself on him."

"What? Carmen-"

"Shut up," she was swiftly interrupted.

Maura looked on the verge of tears, not wanting to cause a scene as she listened to these lies. She tried her best to keep her face a stony cold mask revealing nothing. "Just listen, skank. You dare go anywhere near my boyfriend again, and I'll tell everyone exactly what you did to him! Everyone, you hear me?"

Maura finally looked at her. A part of her felt sorry for Carmen and her hopeless gullibility whenever Garret was involved, but a bigger part felt like crying for letting this happen.

Once Jane saw Maura's tense demeanor shift to anger, she was on her feet before she knew it, walking fast towards Maura's table to interrupt the little spat before it could escalate.

"Hey, Maura?" Jane started casually as she sat down across from them. "Do you mind if I copy your notes from Bio? I'm sure your stuff's already in your locker, but I just remembered I only got half of them written down. D'you mind?"

"Of course not," was the instant answer, the teenage girl already getting on her feet. "Carmen, would you excuse us please?"

Jane knew she had done the right thing the moment Maura grabbed her elbow and dragged her out of the cafeteria. Once they were at Maura's locker, she finally let go in order to open it. Jane placed a hand on her arm to get her attention. Maura flinched but took a deep, calming breath.

"Maura, are you okay?"

The blonde only nodded.

"Who was that girl you were sitting with?"

Glancing up for a brief moment, she stuttered, "Uh, you mean Carmen?"

Jane just nodded for Maura to continue.

"I'm neighbors with her boyfriend, Garret…" Maura explained quickly before handing Jane her notes.

"Thanks."

Just as she was about to ask more questions, the end-of-lunch bell suddenly rang and Maura was out of sight. The day just got weird.

P.E. was next on the agenda so Jane quickly made her way to the change rooms. She tried to be quick in stripping and changing when she noticed a few other girls staring at her well-developed abdomen, but she kept to herself. It didn't really feel necessary for her to make friends with anyone else while she was there. While pondering that thought, Maura finally walked in about five seconds behind Carmen.

Luckily, there was no trouble during the session. The class played dodge ball and although Jane's team won, she didn't see it as much of an accomplishment since the girls weren't taking it so seriously. She noticed Maura have a little fun though, and it helped that they were on the same side.

Back in the change room, Jane caught Maura eyeing her torso more than once. She thought about teasing Maura about it, but let the blushing girl be, quickly pulling her shirt down and fixing her hair as best as she could while she waited for the other girl to finish up.

Unaware Jane was waiting on her, Maura finished changing and left. Jogging up to her from behind, Jane tapped her shoulder, startling her. "Jane! You scared me."

Genuinely contrite about scaring the jumpy blonde, Jane said, "Sorry, Maura. I didn't mean to spook you."

Getting her breathing under control and shaking her head at herself for being so skittish, Maura quietly accepted the apology by continuing along the hallway with Jane beside her. After a few moments of walking, Jane decided to break the silence.

"So, uh… What's your next class?" she asked.

"History. What's yours?"

Jane smiled. "History."

Maura pretended to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear to hide her own smile.

Once again seated next to each other, Jane noticed a very loud Carmen a few rows behind them, gossiping about Maura. She also noticed Maura's lack of reaction to it all and nudged her. "Hey."

"Yes, Jane?"

"I don't mean to pry, but how come you let that girl walk all over you like that?"

Maura glanced over her shoulder and gave her reply in a resigned tone. "In case you hadn't noticed, I don't exactly have anyone in my corner. And besides, there's no one to impress so I don't care what they think. Not that they would listen to what I have to say anyway."

Jane lowered her voice to just above a whisper and said, "I would."

Maura pretended not to hear her. They barely knew each other and she knew that by the end of the week, Jane would be hanging out with the jocks and will have forgotten about her. It was inevitable.

After being assigned a class a project and the History teacher pairing them off, Maura and Jane once again found themselves on the same team. They decided to start work on it the next day at Maura's house before the bell rang and Maura hurried out of the room. Jane collected her homework and books from her locker and walked a block to the nearest bus stop. It was about a twenty minute bus ride home from her new school, which wasn't too bad.

Concentrating on anything but her target was impossible, though. All Jane could think about was why Doyle would want this shy, lonely girl to be watched. There was no way she was a threat to anyone. Once she arrived home, Jane went up to her room and took out the burn phone. Paddy picked up on the second ring.

"Well?" he said.

"Uh… Hi, it's Jane."

"I know. How did everything go?"

"I have established a friendship with the target, as requested."

"Good. And, if you don't mind, you can call her by her name."

"Right… If I may ask-"

Paddy laughed "Relax Rizzoli, I'm not having you keep tabs on her just so I can just kill her later. No, I need you to keep her safe and out of trouble, like a body guard. Can you do that for me Jay?"

"Of course, Sir. I will do my best to keep the tar- I mean to keep Maura safe."

"Goodnight, Jane. Stay safe."

There was a click and the line went dead.

Jane sighed wondering why an Irish crime boss would want to protect a teenage girl from Beacon Hill. Something wasn't adding up… unlike the mountain of homework she had. She sighed and got started on it.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who read it,

please review! I love the feedback /comments/questions/criticism.

Thank you!

-JP