Author Notes: Thank you, your responses have continued to be amazing. For those that aren't aware - on the main fanfic page where there's the info about each story posted, at the end it usually says J. Rizzoli, M. Isles. When there's square brackets around it [J. Rizzoli , M. Isles] that means Rizzles, and that is what I refer to when I say my story is labelled as Rizzles. I don't label Rizzles in all story summaries because it's not always relevant to do so. The ship label should be sufficient.

I've had a tiring/busy couple of days, even though this chapter was ready I haven't been able to post. My car has been at the garage so travelling to/from work has been so much harder, which makes me tireder when it comes to home time.

Oops accidentally posted the bartender chapter 3, hopefully it updated before anyone got confused!

"If you're happy and you know it clap your hands," Alejandro sang, clapping his palms together. He sat cross legged on the floor when Maura walked in, their daughter sat opposite. She stared at him, a look of petulance on her face. "If you're happy...you have to join me!"

"Isabeau not happy," she said, pouting.

"Why not?"

"Charlie left."

"Jane and Charlie have gone?" Maura asked, walking across the room. She stared down at Alejandro, waiting for some confirmation. She'd gone to work with the assumption that Jane and her son wouldn't go anywhere. "Where?"

"I have no idea," Alejandro said. "They left at lunchtime."

"Why didn't you call me?"

"And say why?" He stood up, patting Isabeau on the head. "She's an adult I can't make her stay."

"Did she at least leave a number?"

He narrowed his eyes and marched toward her, his eyes fixed on hers until he was inches from her face. He smiled, lowering his voice to barely a whisper. "You liked her."

"She's a colleague who needed my help."

"So?" He shrugged. "You're upset that she's gone without telling you. You didn't want her to go."

"That doesn't mean I like her." Maura brushed her hair back from her face and headed over to Isabeau. "Bath time."

"No bath!" she shouted, kicking her legs as Maura lifted her into the air.

"Detective Jane Rizzoli is rude and obnoxious," Maura said, struggling to tame her rambunctious daughter. "But she needed help."

"Tell yourself that," he said, smirking. He reached his arms out and Isabeau clung to his neck until Maura let her go. "Bath time!"

"Bath time!" Isabeau repeated.

"If you're happy and you know it," Alejandro began, only to be cut off by Isabeau's grumble. "If you're sad and you know it clap your hands."

She lifted her hands from around his neck and smashed them together. "If I'm sad clap my hands."

Maura folded her arms across her chest and followed them up the stairs. "Why is daddy's bath time better than mine?"

"He splish splashes," she said, leaning over Alejandro's shoulder. She reached an arm out to Maura. "But I love you most, Mommy."

x

Maura put two bowls of rigatoni on the table and sat down. "I just don't understand why she wants you to do everything."

"I am home with her every day," Alejandro said, filling two glasses with wine. "If reversed roles were at the house she would want you instead."

Rubbing her temple, Maura sighed. She could feel a headache come on. "She's never liked me, not like she likes you."

He shrugged, chewing a mouthful of pasta before swallowing. "She's daddy's girl. She still loves you. She told you herself."

"I just..." Maura rubbed her head again. "I feel inadequate sometimes."

Alejandro nodded his head, scooping several pieces of food into his mouth before his bowl was practically empty. "You worry too much. By next week she will hate me."

"She could never hate you, you're her father."

He raised an eyebrow. "Like you never hated your father?" He forked the last of his meal into his mouth, downed his glass of wine and stood up.

"Are you in a rush?"

"I have to go places," he said, kissing the side of her head.

"Ah." Maura sat back and ate her food slowly. "Ramone."

He shrugged. "What can I say? The dog needs play."

Maura's head pounded so hard she felt a wave of sickness. Her fork clattered into the bowl. "Will you be bringing him here?"

"Probably not." He took his shirt off the back of a chair and slipped his arms into it. He buttoned it slowly. "Ramone has a new loft. He is cooking."

She resisted the urge to raise her voice, and instead it came out as barely a squeak. "I made you dinner."

"I'll be hungry man," he said, kissing her head again, a huge grin spread across his face. "Don't wait for me Argentina."

x

Maura emailed a copy of the lab report, from a previous case, to Detective Korsak, and filed it away. She put a note on file about a delay in closing a second case, and replied to a couple of emails. By lunchtime, a call came in about a suspicious death in South Boston.

"Detective Korsak," Maura nodded her head as she approached the police tape. "What do we have?"

"Sixty-four year old woman. Neighbour called it in, said it looked suspicious. He thought he heard gun shots. Our luck it was a rookie who got called out and decided to call homicide before he entered the property. He probably heard a car backfire, looks like she died of natural causes to me."

"Looks like how?" Maura asked.

He shrugged. "You tell me. Smells like she's been dead for days."

She snapped on a pair of gloves and entered the premises. The woman sat in a chair opposite a television that continued to play an old movie. She narrowed her eyes. "Did somebody turn down the volume?"

"Uniform."

She shook her head. "Does the academy not teach rookies about chain of evidence, Detective?"

"I'll have a word."

He headed back out of the room, leaving her to do a sweep of her surroundings. She noted the empty food dish on the floor, and searched for the cat she presumed it belonged to.

"Any guesses?"

Maura turned suddenly at the sound of Jane's voice. Given the potential natural death before her, she hadn't expected her attendance. Neither detective needed to be there. She cleared her throat. "I don't guess, Detective Rizzoli. I follow evidence."

"Same difference," she said. "So, what does the evidence tell you?"

"The body is almost certainly past the stage of rigor mortis, as you can probably tell from the putrefied scent and the colour of the skin. Do you know what that means?"

Jane shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"I told you," Maura said.

"Jeez, Doctor Isles, it was a joke."

She didn't feel much like laughing, particularly given how unusual their current situation was. "She's been dead for at least thirty six hours."

"I'll let Korsak know."

"You can also let him know that it's unlikely this woman's death is anything but natural." She nodded towards the food dish. "Somebody probably wants to feed the cat, though."

She peeled off her gloves and left the room.

After sending her team to complete the recovery, she carried her medical bag to her car. She placed it in the trunk and turned back to the driver's door to find Jane stood there with her hand on her hip.

"That's all you've gotta say?" Jane asked.

Maura narrowed her eyes. "I wasn't aware there was anything more to say. The deceased will be examined further and a full report completed. She will be released to her next of kin in due course."

Jane shrugged, ignoring her own original question. "Look, I just wanna thank you for yesterday."

"I trust that everything is okay now."

"It will be, I hope." Maura looked into her eyes, carefully analysing her expression. "I'm sure it will be eventually."

"You don't sound too sure," Maura said, opening her car door.

"I bounce," Jane said, smirking.

Maura frowned. "Nobody truly bounces, Detective Rizzoli. We're malleable, but damage sits far deeper than we realise."

"Are you trying to psychoanalyse me?"

"I'm not trying to do anything. I offered you my help, you took it, then you left."

"I appreciate it," Jane said, giving Maura's arm a gentle squeeze. "Let me buy you a drink sometime to say thanks."

She stared down at her fingers, wrapped gently around her upper arm. She cleared her throat. "Perhaps."

"You don't want to?"

"You don't need to repay me," Maura said. "I didn't ask for payment."

"I didn't offer payment." Jane lowered her hand to her side. "There's not many females round here, you know?"

"I'm well aware."

"It'd be good to have a friend."

x

When Maura entered her house later that day, she stopped abruptly. Standing in the middle of the kitchen was a man with oversized muscles and olive skin. He'd lost his shirt, presumably on the floor where a pile of clothes lay. He turned around, not noticing her presence, and bent over, showing off the very round and pert curves of his buttocks through a purposeful hole in his pants.

"Alejandro!" he shouted, flexing his body, his brusque Boston accent evident.

Maura cleared her throat. "Excuse me?"

He sprang to his feet, cupping the front of his pants as he stared at her. His eyes darted from Maura to the stairs and back again. He reached a hand out. "Maura, I presume? I'm Ramone."

"It doesn't take an aerospace engineering degree to have worked that out." She ignored his hand, and raised her voice. "Alejandro!"

"What's aerospace engineering?"

Maura pressed her lips together. "Rocket science."

A quick pounding on the stairs resulted in Alejandro entering the kitchen a minute later, wearing only his underpants. Maura crossed her arms and stared at him.

"Sorry!" He rested his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry we were going to guest house sex."

She pushed his hands away, her face contorted. "Where, pray tell, is our daughter?"

"Play date." He shrugged. Maura glanced at her watch, it was nearing six. "Overnight play date."

"You didn't think it pertinent to check with me?" Maura asked.

"Ramone has night off. He's working all the hours until next week."

She sighed and turned around. "Fine."

"I see you're fury," he said, stepping up behind her.

She shrugged off his attempt to touch her again, and whispered. "I won't have this conversation in front of your friend."

"Sorry," Ramone said, heading out the back door without another word.

Maura twisted round so fast she felt a little dizzy, but she was too furious. She lifted her finger out in front of her and pointed it towards Alejandro's chest. Her voice came out louder than she intended, and her chest heaved. "Did you really think it appropriate to send our daughter on a sleepover so you could have sex in the guest house?"

"I don't see problem," he said, nonchalantly.

"She is three years old!" Maura stepped back and tried to reclaim her breathing. "It's her first overnight with someone who isn't family. Why did you think I would be okay with you approving that without asking me first?"

"It's no big deal, she was having fun."

Another bout of fury filled her and she couldn't find the words to express it. She stood still, her eyes fixed on Alejandro's.

"You're mad." He stared back. "Why? You've had men here. You've had women. Isabeau has been asleep in the bedroom, with you in the guest house with someone. Why is this different?"

"I..." she tried to speak but words caught in her throat. In many ways she knew it was the same, but there was something bothering her and she couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. She groaned loudly and marched off up the stairs. "Keep your games out of the house."