Contrary to most of the world's population, Maura didn't like Saturdays. She didn't have to go into work on Saturdays, and she essentially didn't have much else to do. There were the occasional fancy events that the Isles family had to make appearances for on Saturday evenings, but when those were scarce, Maura had nothing to do. And when you have nothing to do, it becomes very hard to ignore the fact that you are all alone.

She jumped at the dates that would come her way, but that was far and few in between now, when her social circle hadn't been expanding and all she'd been doing thus far was work and then going home. Well, that and the occasional Dirty Robber dinner when Jane remembered to ask her along. It's hard, making friends in a new city. Dirty robber nights were always great – Jane never failed to make her feel like one of them, and Maura always spent her night laughing in great company. She was lucky if that happened once a week. She couldn't expect Jane to keep inviting her, she knew her presence didn't always make people comfortable. She'd never been that good at making friends, she knew she lacked normal social skills. She'd tried to learn and pick up 'normal' social skills of course, but somehow people always knew that it wasn't natural for her. There's no faking what you don't know, Maura thought.

Anyway, it'd been a while since Jane had asked her to go to the Dirty Robber with her and the guys. Maura figured she must have done something wrong the last time and Jane had finally realised what a total robot she must be. A social recluse. Emotionally inept or something. Maura took a deep breath and a big gulp of wine. She flipped mindlessly through the channels on her television but couldn't find anything to capture her attention. She glanced at the clock. 4pm. Ugh. Why was time crawling by? She wished Monday would come sooner and she could go to work and have something, anything to occupy her mind. Anything to drive away the thoughts of how alone she was. She could barely stand the silence in the house, that's why she left the TV on all day on weekends, just so it would be a little less quiet. She tried to lie down and close her eyes, to quiet her brain from the thoughts that she knew would only cause her to spiral downwards. To try and reason her brain into being normal and functional. She felt crazy, talking to herself like that.

Yeah you're all alone now but you should really get out and about, it's too much to be alone all the time. Some socialisation would be good for you. You should ask a friend out!

You don't have friends, idiot.

Jane is a friend.

No she isn't.

Yeah she is, she asks me to go to the Robber with them almost every week!

Uh huh, but have you guys ever hung out alone together? No. Why? Because she doesn't want to hang out alone with you, stupid. If she did, she would have asked you to do all the things that friends do. Not that you would know what they were either, you've never really had one of those, have you? Nope. Robot.

No, but… that doesn't mean we aren't friends.

Please… What would a person like Jane need a friend like you for? She's just being polite, seeing as you're new and one of the only few women at the precinct. And also, if you guys were friends, why wouldn't she ask you to hang out more often and only every other week?

I… I don't know. Maybe they don't go to the Robber that often?

Please! They go to the Robber almost every night after work, you dufus! Quit lying to yourself. Nobody really wants you there. Do you realise that nobody else invites you along?

I… yeah.

Yeah, so get real. Admit it, you're all alone and you will be for the rest of your life. Get used to it, loser. Maura the bore-a!

A tear rolled down Maura's cheek and a sob escaped her lips. She dragged the back of her hand across her face to wipe the tear away, but more came. She sniffed and tried to down more wine, but she was hiccuping through her sobs now. There was a great hole in her heart and she couldn't believe how physical the pain was. It was clenching at her chest and making it hard for her to breathe. She closed her eyes and fell back on the sofa cushions, her hand losing its grip on the wine glass. It fell with a small crash onto her hardwood floor, shattering into tiny pieces. Maura just stared at the puddle of red liquid and glass shards, unable to muster the strength to do anything about it. She stared until she stopped seeing it, tears clouding her vision and dark thoughts clouding her mind.

She didn't know when, but she drifted off to a fitful sleep soon after.

Jane was pacing her apartment restlessly, one hand holding her phone and the other running through her hair. Her phone screen was on Maura's contact number.

Just give her a call, you coward!

I'm not a coward, I just don't know if… I should. What makes me think we're friends anyway? Maura is way out of my league, well in a manner of speaking, friendship-wise. She probably spends her weekends at posh parties and with other classy people. She wouldn't be free to "just hang", don't be stupid, Rizzoli.

But how would you know unless you call?

Yeah but do I really need to find out the hard way? I mean, I could find some other way to occupy my time today. I don't have to get rejected by the new cool girl from work right? I mean, I barely dare to ask her to the Robber, she always dresses so nicely it's like she would rather be somewhere else, not at that cheapass restaurant with us bums. It's like she's slumming it with us. Ugh I should really stop asking her and making her feel like she needs to hang out with us… I'm probably putting her in an awkward position and she's too polite to refuse.

Jane stops her agitated pacing and throws her phone into her couch, scaring Jo Friday in the process. Jo gives a small yelp as the phone lands near her, causing Jane to hurry over and pick Jo up and hug her tightly. "Sorry Jo! Didn't mean to scare you, sweetheart." Jane gives a groan and falls back on the couch.

"Guess we're staying in and ordering takeout tonight, huh Jo?"