Chapter Two:

Maura Isles smiled as she checked her email inbox and saw the message from her friend in New York. Their little project was just starting to take off, and she was excited to see what Alex had sent her. She cast a wary eye around the morgue, making sure that the various random attendants and other personnel were gone (which they were) before she opened the email and sat back to read.

She smiled as she scanned through the text, thinking it was a bit too Harlequin-esque for her taste, but that she could work with it – until she came to the one word in the 'story' that had her instantly clicking her tongue in disapproval. "Really now, Alex," she muttered as she highlighted the word 'attorney' and changed it to 'medical examiner'. "Much better," she said with a self-satisfied smile.

She reread Alex's words for a second time, her hands folded under her chin as she thought about what she should write to continue their story.

Freshly inspired, Maura began clicking out her first sentence on the keyboard of her laptop. 'The medical examiner ran her fingers through the detective's dark hair, leaving it playfully mussed.' She paused, sighing as she pictured her own lover in such an attractively disheveled state...

"Maura?"

The ME shot up from her chair, standing awkwardly behind her desk and clutching a hand to her heart. Staring at the intruder, she relaxed a little when she realized that it was only Korsak. "Detective Korsak! You nearly gave me a stroke. What do you need?" she snapped, surprised and a little irritated by the interruption.

The detective ignored Maura's clipped tone. "I wanted to skim the autopsy report on our latest John Doe," he said.

"Anything specific?"

"The toxicology report."

Maura glanced to her left, fidgeting nervously with the bracelet on her wrist. "It's not finished yet," she hedged.

Korsak frowned as he worked his way around the autopsy suite toward the little desk against the wall where Maura was standing. "I just got off the phone with Bailey and she told me that she sent it to you about an hour ago. Did you not see it?"

Maura shifted to block the screen from the detective, but was taken completely by surprise when Jane's voice called out from the hallway. "Dammit, Korsak! I told you to wait for me! That slimy bastard was trying to tow my car again, I could have used the help."

Maura groaned and rolled her eyes to the ceiling in a silent prayer for divine intervention. 'Please let them leave, I can't shut the computer down without them seeing.'

"Sorry," Korsak replied, not really sounding sorry at all. "Doctor Isles says she didn't see the tox report we need."

"Hmm," Jane hummed as she pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Maybe it's because of the software upgrade the techs installed last night. I spent half an hour trying to figure my damned email out this morning. Here, lemme have a look," she smiled helpfully as she crossed the room to Maura's computer, "I actually paid attention to what the geek-squad guy did, so I should be able to fix it."

"No need!" Maura blurted out, hoping that the two detectives wouldn't notice her uncharacteristically nervous body movements. She walked around to the side of her desk, not so subtly trying to block Jane's path to her computer. "Um, do you want to go and get some lunch? Maybe I can figure out how to get you the autopsy report when we get back...?"

Jane frowned, immediately suspicious of Maura's strange behavior. Although she was a detective with acute observational skills, any bum off the street probably would have recognized the panicked expression on the medical examiner's face. "Um, we just came from lunch. Why don't you let me take a look at it now?"

"Fine," Maura squeaked, backing up several steps as Jane started walking forward into her space. When it became apparent that Jane was determined to be "helpful", Maura resorted to standing in front of the computer screen itself, hiding it from Jane's view. Reaching backwards, the doctor tried to save herself from embarrassment with one last-ditch effort - attempting to close the window without actually turning around to face the computer. Unfortunately, as intelligent and talented as she was, using a mouse backwards while watching from the corner of her eye was not in her repertoire of skills.

Jane wrinkled her forehead, trying to figure out what her lover was up to. Maura had never been good at hiding things, but this behavior was peculiar even for her. "Maur, are you okay?"

"Um, yeah, sure, of course," Maura rambled in a very un-Maura like fashion. "I just… why don't we go get some coffee and we can swing by Bailey's office on the way to grab the report there?"

Jane frowned. Something was definitely amiss. "Are you sure you're okay, Maur?" she asked softly, her keen brown eyes studying Maura's face carefully.

Maura sighed. "I'm fine, Jane. Really," she assured the brunette. "I just… can you give me a minute to close out what I was looking at?"

Jane nodded slowly. "Of course."

"Thank you," Maura murmured as she turned to her computer.

Ever the detective, Jane looked over the blonde's shoulder to see what it was, exactly, that had the Medical Examiner acting so odd. Her eyes widened as she skimmed through the email that was up on the screen. "Holy shit Maura," she whispered as the message disappeared and Maura closed out her private email for her work one.

Maura stiffened at the tone in Jane's voice, but decided that avoidance would be the ideal approach to handling the situation at the moment. "Here is your report, Detectives," she chirped as she hit the 'print' button.

Still shocked by what she had seen, Jane gave herself a mental shake and tried to push down feelings of surprise and amusement. Granted, Maura was a passionate and enthusiastic lover, but this... this just didn't seem to be her style. Still, it was an interesting new facet to her lover's personality, and she wouldn't be a real girlfriend if she didn't exploit it and tease the ME for everything she was worth. "Hey, blondie, are you sure you printed the right document?" the detective said, trying to sound casual.

Maura's heart rate instantly accelerated, and her eyes widened with panic as she ran over to the printer to snatch up the papers it was spitting out. She almost fell over with relief when she recognized the boring, familiar medical jargon that filled the autopsy report. "Jane! That was cruel," she said, attempting to control her breathing.

Jane winked while Korsak frowned in confusion. "Huh? What did Jane do?" he asked, walking over to join Maura and peer down at the autopsy report. Scanning down to the conclusions, he clicked his tongue. "Mm mm mm... It looks like we were right and our vic's toxicology was abnormal. You think it's the cause of death?"

Maura gave him a frosty stare, which he didn't really deserve, and shoved the report into his hands. "That's what it says in the report, doesn't it? Now, if you'll excuse me, I really should get back to work."

"Yeah, work," Jane chuckled, strolling towards the door to Maura's office. "Have fun with your work, then."

Maura just sighed and dropped heavily into her chair as the heel of Jane's boot disappeared around the corner. Her eyes flicked to her computer screen and she silently chastised herself for being careless enough to get caught perusing her private emails at work. Because of this, while her fingers itched to return to her project, she started reading the report on the John Doe that she just handed to Korsak and Jane – double checking the results to see if there were any new clues as to the unidentified man's identity.

She was halfway through the report when the cell phone in her pocket buzzed. She kept reading as she reached into her pocket to grab the phone, waiting until she was at the end of the section of the report that covered the mass and condition of the unidentified man's internal organs to look down.

"Jane," she smiled at the familiar face of her detective when it flashed on her screen. "I wonder if they got a lead," she mused to herself as she opened the text message. Her eyes about bugged out of her head when she saw what her lover had sent.

'Want to do a little scene recreation? Maybe your writing could use some inspiration...'

Maura's breath caught in her chest. It wasn't a particularly dirty text message in and of itself, but the implications behind it made her face burn with heat. Was Jane really suggesting what Maura thought she was suggesting? Sure, Jane had flirted with her at work before... teased her with some nerdy "science" pickup lines she had found on the internet ("I wish I was the enzyme helicase so I could unzip your genes"), but what if she was serious? Swallowing nervously, Maura tried to work some moisture into her suddenly dry mouth. She glanced at the autopsy report, then at the text message still open on her phone's screen. Finally, she gave in and started typing a response.

'What exactly did you have in mind?'

She set down the phone with shaking hands and tried to focus on her report. Her attempts failed when images of Jane's 'scene recreation' filled her head, making her heart pound harder against her ribcage. When the phone buzzed again, Maura was so flustered that she almost fell out of her chair. She picked up the phone as fast as possible to stop it from rattling against the top of her wooden desk and accepted the text.

'Come to my place tonight and find out.'

"Oooh," Maura half-sighed, half-moaned at the unspoken promise in her lover's words. Research had never sounded so… exciting. And, for her, that was saying something. She licked her lips and typed back, 'What time?'

Maura set her phone in her lap and tried to refocus her attention on work, but her usually unwavering focus was completely shot and she forgot every other word that she read. Who would have ever thought that writing erotica could be so damned distracting?

When her phone buzzed in her lap with Jane's response, Maura jumped slightly, sending the device clattering onto the floor. She dove under the desk to retrieve it, smacking her head on the underside of the desk as she withdrew from the leg space with a resounding 'crack', followed by a very-un-Maura-like curse. "Fuck!"

'Seven. And don't change, keep your heels on.'

Maura smiled and wasted no time in answering. 'Only if you wear your leather jacket… Detective.' She smiled as she hit 'send' and leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs as she waited for Jane's response.

Which came back almost immediately, as if the brunette had expected her reply. 'I was thinking of wearing something else, but I can do the jacket too.'

...