Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Rizzoli and Isles - the credit goes to Tess Gerritsen and TNT. I'm merely borrowing them for a fan fiction idea. Please read and review. Thanks.

A/N - This is set before Charles Hoyt and before Jane and Frost are partners.

"Come on, Korsak, keep up, will ya?" Detective Jane Rizzoli chided as she and her partner, Detective Vince Korsak trekked up the wooded hill.

"The vic is already dead, Rizzoli, why do you have to take this hill like you're running a marathon?"

The tall brunette stopped and turned to Korsak.

"Running a marathon? Really? I'm walking up a hill, Korsak. You'd seriously better get your ass to the doctor to have that physical," she said, placating her partner by waiting for him. When he finally caught up, she turned to continue.

Finally, they made it to the top of the hill to find the scene abuzz with activity. Jane approached the victim, momentarily forgetting that there was a new chief medical examiner.

"Rizzoli. You the new M.E.?" Jane asked.

"I don't know who Rizzoli is, but I'm Doctor Maura Isles," the hazel-eyed blonde replied, barely looking up.

Jane stared at her in disbelief for a second and shook her head. "No, I'm Rizzoli. Sorry, Detective Jane Rizzoli. You the new M.E.? she repeated.

Maura finally looked up. "Oh, yes I am. Hi."

"Hi. Anyway, what do you have?"

"What do you mean?"

Jane let out an exasperated sigh and ran her hand through her hair. "I mean, right here, the victim - what are you seeing? Cause of death, you know, the things a detective might ask," Jane said, her tone becoming just a tad snippy.

Korsak wandered over. "Hi, I'm Detective Vince Korsak. You took over for Doctor Shaud?"

"I did. And hello, I'm Doctor Maura Isles," she said, standing up.

"Doctor?" Jane prompted, pointing to the victim.

"Yes?"

"Okay, you are seriously killing me," Jane muttered under her breath, donning rubber gloves and kneeling down to the body to have a look for herself.

"Looks like there's a knife wound to the shoulder, one to the side," the detective said, shifting the body. "What kind of damage would a stab wound right here do?"

"I don't know. I can't tell you a cause of death yet, Detective."

"Oh, for Christ's sake, what the hell can you tell me then?" Jane asked, standing up and searing Maura with a laser-type glare. "I mean you are the chief medical examiner, right? I'm assuming this isn't your first day on the job."

Korsak silently winced. He had a bad feeling Jane and the new doc were going to come to blows soon and could tell Rizzoli's top was about to pop.

"Detective, I haven't yet fully processed this body, but I promise you that when I do, I will deliver a full, concise and very detailed report to you," Maura said, shooting her own death glare back at Jane. "Until then, however, I will not speculate on the cause of death. I do not ever speculate on a cause of death. Do I make myself clear, Detective Rizzoli?"

At that, Korsak felt his jaw go slack. No one - no one - had ever spoken to Jane like that when she was on the job or at any other time for that matter.

Jane set her jaw and exhaled a slow breath, trying to retrieve her patience and keep herself in check - all the while holding Maura's glare. The two women were seemingly attempting to stare one another down in a battle of wills.

Korsak cleared his throat, intentionally, to try to cut the tension that by now had become as thick as frozen maple syrup. "Come on, Jane, let's see what else we can find around here," he said, gently touching her arm.

She backed away from the scene, she and Maura still staring eachother down, neither wanting to be the first to look away. It was only when Jane almost tripped on something that she was forced to look down and found the victim's wallet. It was devoid of cash and credit cards, but at least it held the identification.

"Brandon Gray," Jane said aloud, walking back to the victim to compare the photo. A quick look at the photo against the face told her it was the same person.

"His name is Brandon Gray," Jane said, holding the license up so Maura could see. "Unless you don't want to speculate that the photo identification is accurate."

"I've had just about enough of your attitude, Detective," Maura said, not even glancing up as she went back to obtaining samples and filling in a form to have the body transferred back to the precinct.

"Well, I'm sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, Princess, but I'm lead detective on this case so unfortunately, we're going to be seeing a lot of eachother."

Maura sighed deeply. "Wonderful."

Korsak had just about enough. "Rizzoli, come on," he barked. His tone got her attention and she turned away, finally beginning to process the rest of the scene.

"What the hell?" he said.

"I know, right? What is wrong with her?"

"I don't mean her, Rizzoli. I'm talking about you. What the hell got into you back there?"

"Me? Me? Come on, I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, Korsak. I approached her with the intent of doing my job, which she is holding me up from doing."

He sighed. "Not everyone works the same way Shaud did. Come on, Rizzoli. We are going to have to work with her, she's the damn chief medical examiner - so quit the cat fighting and be a professional."

"Excuse me?" she snapped.

"You heard me. Now let's glean what we can from this scene. We don't have all day and we'll be losing light in a few hours."

TBC

A/N2: Yeah, I'm back a wee bit sooner than I expected. It's just my take on how they first met and came to be friends. Please, please, please review! This is going to be more a comedic fic, at least that's my plan! rutgers :-)