MPOV:

Hunched over the naked corpse of her first case, she had been at the department for less than a day and already felt overwhelmed at the large scale of work that needed to be done to bring it up to her standards.

She knew when she agreed to replace the previous M.E. that she would face anger from scorned officers at the bad job he had done. But what she was not prepared for was the chaos of an office she walked into. She was appalled at how the man had allowed so much lapse to happen at the highest level of the examiners office. Losing herself in the details of her work helped her feel better, less overwhelmed at the chaos of the job she faced.

She knew that her biggest struggle would not be with the medical work, for she had always had a predisposition and passion for the sciences, and a neuroses that forced her to be prodigious in her detailed work. Early in life, her teachers marveled at her ability to remember details and understand information that was often lost on them. No, she knew she would handle the details of her job just well, she just couldn't the handle disorder and chaos that was the medical examiners office. Her compulsions were hard enough to keep in check, and now she had to worry about contaminants to her work.

She had become renown for her detailed work and vast knowledge base. When other examiners would rip open a body going straight for the obvious wound, Maura like to start at the top and thoroughly examine the body for those small clues that helped break a case or seal it. That's where she found herself now, deep in the oral cavity of her first major case.

"Alright, let's see if we can't garner your identity." she states to no one in particular as she carefully tilts the woman's palate.

"Her name is Julia" a low husky voice from across the lab startles Maura who jumps at the sudden intrusion. "And usually fingerprints are found on fingers, not in mouths."

"Actually, every person has a unique set of teeth and tongue providing a very positive identifier that can sometimes be more relia..."She looks up, surprised to see a tall dark woman blushing slightly while playing with her long obsidian hair. She was shocked by how striking the woman looked and gasped slightly at the austere features that stare back at her. For the brief second that passed she found her eyes traveling south from the woman's face taking in the rest of her long lean body. Catching herself, she smiled and blushed at the second of thought that flowed into her mind.

"So...sorry" the raven haired creature stuttered as if reading her thoughts, she too blushed and quickly looked down as she continues. "I didn't mean to startle you. I'm detective Jane Rizzoli. I lead the homicide..."

"Yes! Hello, I know who you are detective" Maura cut her off a little to excitedly.

"Rizzoli is fine." she interrupted back flashing a bright smile that once again caught the usually reserved doctor by surprise.

"Rizzoli? Ok Rizzoli, I'm Maura. I just took over as the new head Medical examiner." without thinking Maura extended her hand to offer a handshake, quickly realizing her mistake she laughed at herself and proceeded to take the bright purple glove off. "You know a lot of people think that doctors wear purple gloves so they can easily tell if they are wearing one instead of the flesh toned gloves, but in reality The reason that most nitrile gloves are colored, purple in this case, is often to add a visual indicator that differentiates it from a natural latex glove, which is cream or beige in color. Since less than 1 percent of the general population are allergic to latex, most prefer to be safe than sorry." Maura rattles off as she dumps her gloves in the trash can on the other side of the table and faces her new visited, who returned her a bemused look.

"You dont say..." Jane says trailing off. "I think you can safely assume that most of the people you handle down here won't need the added protection" she adds sarcastically motioning to the corpse laid out.

"Oh of course not! Their skin wouldn't respond to the stimulus after death even if they were allergic. "Maura states matter of factly, the sarcasm lost on her. "I just like the way they look. You know the gloves comes in many different colors beyond natural, blue and purple" she adds nodding her head.

Jane starts to laugh causing Maura to realize she missed a key social indicator again. Blushing she smiles and apologizes.

"I'm sorry, it appears I've missed something? I'm usually very astute, except when it comes to social interactions."

"No I'm sorry. I tend to be very sarcastic at inappropriate times." Rizzoli extends her hand to shake Maura's hand who eagerly takes it. The warmth of her hand enclosed in hers surprises her for a moment.

"You have very warm hands." Maura states as Jane retracts her hand rather quickly. "You must have phenomenal circulation!"

"Do...you have any findings for me yet Dr. Isles?" Jane asks tentatively while rubbing her hands.

Maura recognizes the faint traces of a scar on one of Jane's hands and makes a mental note to ask about it later.

"Yes, sorry detective..."

"Rizzoli" Jane cuts her off quickly correcting her.

"Right! Rizzoli. The woman appears to be in her 20's as evidenced by her third molars and pelvis. But I can't give a definitive number just yet." Maura adds matter of factly.

Rizzoli raised her eyebrow, "Reealy?" she elongates the word.

With Jane's Boston accent, Maura cant tell if she's being sarcastic so she continues. "Oh yes, at this point I can not clearly give a definitive age. You see the best way to check for ossification is by using an X-ray machine. Internal cranial joints, or endocranial sutures, are more reliable in determining age than external joints, or ectocranial sutures."

Jane smiles, then starts to laugh, and for a moment Maura holds her breath. She is having trouble reading her visitor, being new she wants to make a good impression. Especially with someone she knows she'll be working with quite closely.

"I'm sorry, I tend to do go on and on sometimes." Maura looks down unsure of the impression she's making.

"It's fine Dr." Jane smiles and visibly relaxes for the first time since she entered the room. "I'm glad you seem to know what your talking about, and...uh...you don't need to worry about determining her age. I actually have her file right here. We were able to ID her. Her name is Julia, she's 23 and a student at Boston university. We don't know what she was doing at the motel she was found at, I was hoping you could give me some insight on her death."

"Well I'm sorry detec...Rizzoli" Maura catches herself as Jane is about to correct her. "I haven't finished my preliminary findings yet and I still have to send things out to the lab before i can give definitive results."

Maura walks back to the body and turns her slightly over so Jane could see the multiple stab wounds on her side.

"Right now it looks like there are 6 3-4 inch incisions on her right upper quadrant."

"So she was stabbed to death. Rizzoli says as she looks at her case file.

"well, no, I mean...she was stabbed yes, but I can't be certain that's the cause of death. I have yet to fully examine the body and rule out any other possible causes of death." Maura looks up to see Jane staring at her with a perplexed look on her face.

"Could you go out on a limb here doc? Am I looking for a knife as a murder weapon or some other magical device that kills someone while looking like a knife?" Rizzoli asks in a measured tone.

"I don't go out on limbs" Maura replies unblinking. Something about this woman unnerved her. Which was hard to do for the normally stoic doctor. "And I'm not aware of many objects that resemble the perforated look of the flesh besides a knife."

" so it's a knife then, about 3 to 4 inches with perforations." Jane intones as she begins to hurriedly walk away. "Thanks Doc, it was nice meeting you!"

"wait, no! That's not what I...said." Maura calls out after her in vain. With a flourish, Jane was gone as quickly as she had arrived and Maura was once again left alone with her work.