Author Notes: Thank you all for the responses, I'm surprised this one is so popular, then again, it's not that surprising.

There was something not quite right about the atmosphere in the Acacia Bar. Maura had only been working there for a few months, but she had spent a lot of time watching her colleagues, learning from them, and as a result, she was hyper aware of everything that had happened. Aida was dating Scott in the first few weeks. They had since broken up, and he was now hooking up with Jacinta in the back room before, and sometimes during, their shift. Billy must have been working a second job because he replaced his car with a newer model, and she knew they didn't earn that much money, even with a gender wage gap. He took longer breaks than everyone else, which she assumed had been pre-arranged. Gustavo was sick of working and had itchy feet. Puerto Rico was calling, and she didn't expect it would be long before he moved on.

The owners, Kamila and Yancy were richer than Maura expected, given that the bar's takings weren't as high as she imagined they'd be when she started out. They were usually in another country, or at a spa and golf weekend. That being said, holidays and weekends were particularly hectic, and she assumed that more than made up for the mid-week slump. Besides, the Wednesday night quiz and Tuesday Karaoke brought in its fair share of customers.

Friday night had arrived again. Unlike her colleagues who worked a mixture of nights throughout the week, Maura always worked Friday and Saturday. She didn't see much point in being there when it was quiet, even though she'd been offered extra hours, and she really needed to focus the rest of the week on her other work.

"Has anyone asked after me since I was here last?" Maura asked, sidling up beside Aida. She had no idea if Jane frequented the bar during the week. She had been almost tempted to turn up to Thursday Pizza night, just in case.

"Nobody been round here but a bunch of drunk asses. Ain't that right, Billy boy?" He wiped water spots off the glass in his hand, saying nothing. "Looks like somebody ain't in the working mind tonight, as usual. Billy, get your lazy ass in gear before I rat you out with Yancy. It's gonna be a busy one."

"You wouldn't dare," he said, gritting his teeth. He stared her down. "I need this job. Don't you dare."

"Is everything okay, Billy?"

"Get off my back," he shouted, banging the glass down on the counter. He picked up a tray of glasses and mumbled. "These are broken, I'll get replacements."

Oblivious to Billy's foul mood, Aida picked up a rag and wiped down the surface behind the bar. "A guy on Tuesday tried to feel me up, I told him he ain't gonna get a girl if he thinks that's the way to treat 'em."

"How did he respond?" Maura asked, kneeling down to count out the bottles in the fridge. Inane chatter about the minute things in life barely interested her, but if she wanted to fit in, she had to partake in the usual activity. If Adia wanted to talk about the men who tried to touch her inappropriately, once a week, she would let her.

"He dain't," she said. "After I slapped him upside the head and sent him to security for a beer, they kicked him out on his stupid ass."

Maura smirked. "So, no tall brunettes?"

"No tall dark and handsome hunks, honey," she said, running the rag across the bar. "If ya see any tonight, send 'em my way. I wanna piece of that. But no drunks!"

"Got you," Maura said. She piled up a couple of empty glasses and carried them over to the dishwasher. "I assume that means no brunette ladies, either?"

"I already told ya," Aida said. "Nobody been round here. But I weren't in last night. Ya might wanna speak to Billy."

"It's okay, thanks." Maura ran the tray into the dishwasher.

"Honey, if ya waiting on some woman to come and sweep ya off ya feet, I got some bad news for ya. They're as bad as the gents. They'll break ya heart faster than ya can say 'not tonight, sweetcheeks'."

"I'll bear that in mind."

The night moved slowly. Every customer took longer than Maura anticipated, or so it felt. In reality, she knew the speed was down to her own distracted mind. It had been another six days since she last saw Jane. Six days since she turned her away. Six days of regret, or wondering what might have been if she'd just taken a chance.

"What's going on over there?" Maura asked, raising her chin towards Billy, chatting closely with Scott.

Aida stood beside her, her eyes narrowed. "No idea. They better get back to work, these patrons won't serve themselves."

Maura turned her attention back to the line of people waiting at the bar and proceeded to serve them. Drink after drink, bags of chips, packets of peanuts, glasses of water. The night was still young, and Maura was about ready for bed.

"I'm taking a break," Billy said, picking up a satchel from behind the car. He checked the contents six times before he wandered off into the crowd. He was tense. He usually looked relaxed, almost too relaxed. Maura kept her gaze on him as he went towards the restrooms.

"Pretty ladies," Scott said, wrapping an arm around Maura's shoulder and pulling Aida in close. His chirpiness was unsettling. He leaned close to Aida's face. "Who wants to score tonight?"

"Pur-lease," Aida said, with a wave of her arm. She untangled herself from his grasp. "Been there, got the t-shirt, don't really wanna return."

"Missing out," he said. "Maura. What do you say? You're smoking for an old lady."

"Less of the old." Maura tried to stop herself from smiling, especially when she saw how dilated his pupils were. She shrugged him off. It wasn't her job to police her colleague's drug habits. "Billy's on his break. We need you here."

"Gotcha." He picked up a cocktail shaker and gave it a spin. "Who wants Sex on the Beach?"

Maura rolled her eyes and finished pouring a beer. She pushed it across the bar in exchange for cash. Something wasn't right. Aida was happily serving customers, oblivious to whatever it was that made Billy so nervous, or Scott so happy.

A moment later, Billy appeared in her peripheral vision sprinting towards the back room. Maura paused. His satchel flew behind him as he moved at speed across the bar. Close behind, a man in a vest and shirt followed, with a curly haired brunette bringing up the rear. Maura did a double take.

"Jane?"

"What's goin' on?" Aida asked, stopping beside her. "What'd Billy do?"

"I have no idea."

Billy landed on the floor across the room. The man threw himself onto his back. The music the DJ was playing stopped suddenly. The room grew silent as every pair of eyes landed on the two men. Jane, at least Maura was sure it was Jane, came to a standstill beside them.

Aida rested her hand over her mouth. "What in God's name?"

A glass shattered on the floor behind them. Maura turned, and Scott was running in the opposite direction. Jane caught sight of him and rushed in his wake. "Something tells me we might need to close early tonight."

"Ya telling me!" Aida pulled out her cellphone. "Hey Yancy, you in the country? You might wanna do some firings tonight."

x

"This isn't how I pictured seeing you again," Maura said, raising an eyebrow. She perched on the edge of a stool. The bar had emptied. Billy and Scott were carted off in the back of a police cruiser leaving Jane and the vested man behind.

"You know anything about Molly?" Jane asked, rapping her fingers against the edge of the bar. "You see anything suspicious?"

"Who's Molly?"

Jane narrowed her eyes. "You serious?"

"I'm always serious, Detective Rizzoli."

"MDMA. Do you know anything about the drugs? About William Spence?"

"Oh." Maura chewed the inside of her lip to disguise her slip up. She really should have done more research on the hazards of working in a bar. "Billy was having some sort of disagreement with Scott earlier; they're like chalk and cheese. I assumed it was the usual work related problem."

"How well do you know them?"

"Not very well. I've only worked here for a couple of months. I probably should have realised someone might be selling drugs, especially something as common as Methylenedioxymethamphetamine."

"You don't know the nickname Molly, but you know the full name for MDMA?" Jane stared at her, her eyebrows tugged together. "Assuming that's what you said."

"Your hypothesis would be correct. Aida knows Billy and Scott more thoroughly. She and Scott used to have sexual relations."

Jane glanced down at her notepaper. It took everything for Maura to stop herself from asking something more personal. She was glad she'd shown up, despite the reason for it. She'd longed for it all week.

"What's going to happen now?" Maura asked.

"Martinez is speaking to Aida. I've got your statement. When Martinez is done, you can close up. We'll need to speak to the owner tomorrow when he arrives back in town. Nobody's going to be working here until we're satisfied that the issue is resolved."

"Okay." Maura dropped down off the stool and went around the bar. She stepped back out again. "Jane."

"Yeah?"

"Are you going to talk to me about the elephant in the room?"

"What elephant?" Jane asked, scribbling something down on her notepaper.

Maura raised an eyebrow and stared at her. "You figuratively came flying through the bar."

"Just doing my job."

"Exactly." Maura moved a little closer. "Detective Jane Rizzoli. I didn't even know you were in law enforcement."

Jane shrugged. She lowered her voice, glancing at Martinez and Aida across the room before continuing. "What's there to know? I came on to you; you rejected me, that's all."

"Is it?"

"What do you want from me?"

"I…" Maura sighed. She was so rarely lost for words, but they didn't seem to want to form in her mind, let alone get out of her mouth. "I don't know. I suppose I wanted to tell you that if you were still interested, I might be too."

Martinez nodded across the room towards Jane, and she nodded back. She pulled a card out of her pocket. "Here's my number, in case you remember anything of significance. Doesn't matter what it is, if something comes up, call me."

Maura pressed her lips together. She stared into Jane's eyes, her cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink. Maura grinned. "I hope something comes up."

Shrugging, Jane kept her eyes trained on Martinez as she leaned in close. "Me too."