Washington, D.C. was a long ways from Boston, Massachusetts.

The two Bostonian women would rather have been in Beantown, and yet their impromptu trip to D.C. was a necessity.

One was being stalked by a terrorist, and was completely freaked out over the matter. The other - her best friend, along with her friends and colleagues in the Boston Police Department - was just as freaked out.

A friend in the FBI put them onto someone in NCIS who was taking the matter as serious as Boston PD was. Even though the Chief of Police may have already contacted NCIS directly, Jane Rizzoli didn't want to wait; she wanted to meet this person directly, and find out what the hell was going on.

So, she and her friend - Maura Isles, the stalkee - hopped a red-eye from Logan International Airport in Boston to Reagan National Airport in D.C., and from there drove a rental directly to the Washington Navy Yard. Somehow - later Jane would find out how they got in from her colleague, Detective Vince Korsak - NCIS security let the two women into the building, and took them to the floor where this agent Rizzoli wanted to talk with worked.

At 6:45 a.m., Rizzoli and Isles walked off the elevator onto the third floor, and walked 20 feet to the bullpen where they were supposed to wait for Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

"It's really quiet in here," said Maura Isles, as she looked at the empty desks, four in all, surrounding a large monitor.

"Well duh, Maura," Jane Rizzoli said. "I don't think even the early birds are awake at this hour."

"The 'early birds' have probably been awake for some time," Maura stated, only for Jane to raise her hand to quiet her.

"Don't start, Maurapedia," Jane said.

"We did get here a bit early, it looks like," Maura replied. "Let's sit down...I'll take this desk, you take the other."

"Fine by me," Jane said.

The two desks they chose were the ones closest to the windows; Maura went behind the one next to the middle desk across from the monitor, while Jane went to the desk opposite Maura, next to the monitor.

Maura went to sit down when she noticed that someone was sleeping on the floor, behind the desk, and that she had almost stepped on the young woman's jaw.

"Jane," Maura whispered.

"What," Jane said.

"Shhhhhhhh!"

"Shhhhhh what? Sit down."

"I can't," Maura whispered. "Someone is asleep down there."

"Where? On the floor?"

"Yes, on the floor, and don't talk. You'll wake her up. Whisper."

Jane got out of her chair behind the other desk, walked over to Maura, and saw a young woman, asleep on the floor, a jacket over her shoulders, her head resting on her arms.

"Good thing you didn't step on her," Jane said; Maura's response was to shush her - again - and step out in front of the sleeping woman's desk.

"Jane?" Maura whispered.

"Yes, Maura?" Jane's voice was at a whisper, as well.

"You know...studies show that 64 percent of people sleep on their side, 19 percent on their backs, 17 percent on their stomachs," Maura said, looking at the young woman, her voice still at a whisper. "But she is not in an optimal sleep position. For one thing, she really needs a head pillow, and probably could use a body pillow as well. Of course, the ideal position would be on her side, on a firm mattress, and not on a floor-"

"What are you, an infomercial?" Jane answered. "Come over here...you'll wake her up."

"Shhhhh! Be quiet! You'll wake her up-"

"You'll wake her up," Jane said, motioning to the desk across from the monitor. "I'm not the one spouting off sleep statistics-"

"Statistics backed by scientific studies from the University of-"

"Maura. Shhhhhhhh."

"Shhhhhhh back."

"Shhhhhhh, and sit over there," Jane pointed to the desk adjacent to the one the young woman was asleep behind. Maura tiptoed over - in heels - and took a chair behind that desk.

"Now what do we do?" Maura whispered, loudly so Jane could hear.

"We wait," Jane whispered back.

By now, the young woman had been awake for a few moments, her hand on the gun underneath her arms, hearing strange voices.

"Who's there?"

The young woman abruptly sat up, her hair a mess, and jumped up. She saw the two strange-to-her women sitting near her, where they perhaps shouldn't be, and whipped out her gun and her NCIS badge.

"Who are you," she said, showing her badge in her left hand and her gun in her right, "and why are you here?"

Maura's eyes grew wide in response to the woman's actions.

Jane whipped out her own badge - even as her own eyes grew wide, in recognition of who the young woman looked like.

Then Maura realized who the young woman looked like, and her jaw dropped to the floor.

A younger me, Maura thought.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Jane said, gesturing, and trying to calm the situation before the woman could shoot or jump at her or Maura or both. "Jane Rizzoli, Detective, Homicide Unit, Boston Police Department. That's Maura Isles, Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

Jane looked over at Maura, still in shock over her younger doppelganger just a few feet away, pointing a gun at Jane.

"Maura...Maura! Close your mouth and say hello!"

"Hello," Maura said, closing her mouth but still not quite sure of who - or what - she was seeing.

"Kate Todd, Special Agent, NCIS," said the young woman, looking directly at Jane. "Why are you here?"

"We're here to see Agent Gibbs," Jane said. "Maura - over there" - pointing to Maura, who waved back at Kate - "is being stalked by a guy FBI says is a terrorist and we're told Gibbs knows of this...guy."

Kate kept her eyes, and gun, on Rizzoli.

"That's Maura," Jane said, pointing her thumb towards Maura, now standing behind Gibbs' desk. "You might want to take a look."

Kate Todd, unsure of what was going on, kept her gun pointed at Rizzoli, and looked over at Isles, who waved again.

Kate took the measure of the other woman sitting at Gibbs' desk, and realized just who she resembled.

Herself.

Kate lowered her gun and put it in her holster, while her own jaw hit the floor.

"You...you look just like me," Kate said.

Just then, the elevator dinged, and a middle-aged, silver-haired man with a large paper cup full of coffee stepped onto the floor. He walked 20 feet to the bullpen, saw the scene in front of him, and stopped.

"Don't shoot, Kate," Gibbs said as he walked past Kate's desk. "Looks like I got here just in time."