Thanks for all the lovely reviews and comments. I love reading them and hearing the feedback on the story. This chapter is shorter than usual, but the next chapter covers a lot and I didn't want to break it up. Thanks guys! As always, mistakes are mine.

Maura was soaking in a luxurious bath. Long soft curls dangled over the side of the tub as she rested her head against the edge. A glass of Sauvignon sat untouched beside the latest AMA Journal. Even though the water smelled like lavender, Maura felt guilty... and highly aroused. It was an odd combination to say the least.

Her mind continued to play various scenarios of Jane entering the bathroom to join the silky water. Surely friends didn't think of each other in sexually pleasing fantasies. Yet, alas, that is all it was—fantasy. Maura tried to contribute it to Jane actually being an inmate. Perhaps it was the thrill of being taken by such a dark lover? A continuous thump could be heard moving through the doorway. The creak of the door announced a visitor, but Maura didn't jump or even move.

"Bass, she confuses me so."

Of course, the tortoise didn't respond. He never did, but Maura still enjoyed their talks nonetheless. He was an excellent listener.

"I haven't stopped thinking of her since I got home. What scares me most... it's not only sexual." Maura peered over the edge of the tub. "I've never had so many questions I didn't know the answer to." A soft smile came to life as she told her beloved pet, "She suggested we watch a movie together. As in the sense of if she wasn't incarcerated, we would still be friends."

As Maura's thoughts drove her out of the tub, she wondered what Jane was doing for the hundredth time. It wasn't as if she could text the brunette, but that thought ignited a spark of an idea. Once she was in her pajamas, Maura scrolled through the countless contacts in her cell phone. She stopped on Vince Korsak.

JR+MI

Jane had her hands propped behind her head as she lay on the cot in her cell. Lights out had happened hours ago, but she wasn't sure if it was closer to midnight or three in the morning. Time had a way of slipping beneath her grasp at this place. At night, her feelings surfaced. True fears tickled her thoughts and interrupted her dreams. Everything would be better in the morning, but lately, it took morning a hell of a lot longer to reach Jane.

Instead of focusing on herself, Jane thought about her Ma. Her latest letter had been far less optimistic. The elder Rizzoli hadn't included anything about having Jane a date when she got out of prison. That had always been an annoying staple of her letters. She sighed as she thought about her Ma's upcoming visit. It would be a waterworks fit for the ages, but Jane looked forward to it nonetheless.

Her thoughts drifted to Maura. They had been doing that constantly since she had met the doctor. It was scary. Jane had sort of been thinking about her Ma to keep Maura from entering her mind. How could she have these feelings? Butterflies and giggles and surges of smiles. She should be thinking about how to get outta prison, or at least death row, but she kept thinking about what Maura looked like outside of here.

Jane got up quietly. She moved through her cell like a prowler in an alleyway. She took a seat at her desk to think. There was a missing piece. A flash of light caused her to freeze.

A tactical flashlight shined down the hallway. Jane carefully rose from her chair. Her socked feet seemed to dance as she silently got back into her cot.

Morning found Jane still wide awake. She was in some sort of daze. All the noise from the prison had been blocked, but the distinct click started to rouse her. Click, click, click. It was rhythmic.

She sat up and ran a hand through wild curls. Rizzoli was sure her hair looked more like a mane than actual hair.

And there she was.

A vision of glamour and class in a red dress. The most gorgeous thing Jane had ever seen. The beating of her heart swelled inside her chest.

"Good morning," Maura said almost shyly as she set her gaze on the starch white of Jane's tank top. Defined shoulders screamed to be touched as Jane hoisted herself forward with her jumpsuit hanging half off her hips.

"You're up early," Jane noticed as she walked toward the bars. "Or at least, I think it's early."

"It's seven." Maura whispered. She was scared of her voice. Scared it would betray her after hearing Jane's deep rasp.

Jenkins moved between them rather rudely. He was freeing his cuffs and Maura protested, "That's not necessary."

"I don't make the rules, doc. If you go in, Jane's gotta be restrained."

Rizzoli stuck her hands through the slot. He slapped the cuffs on before he unlocked the door. Maura entered and requested politely, "I'll be fine. Thank you, CO Jenkins."

He nodded before resuming his post at the end of the desolate hallway.

"I couldn't sleep last night... from thinking about you," Maura admitted.

Jane raised an eyebrow in jest, "Thinking about me, huh?" Her smile was gleaming as she moved to sit on the edge of her cot.

"I called Vince Korsak." Maura took a seat at Jane's makeshift desk. Her hands reached forward to grab Jane's. The contact soothed her and seemed to excite her at the same time.

Instead of pulling away from the touch, Jane's thumb curled around Maura's index finger. She was silent. No sarcastic remarks passed through her mouth as she waited.

"I wanted to call you, but this place makes that impossible." Maura's fingers moved to trace over the chains that held Jane so far away. "He said I should ask you the details of what happened, but I... Oh, Jane I don't want to overstep my boundaries... I asked him for your father's autopsy report."

Jane cleared her throat before looking away. She simply stared at the wall behind the honey blonde.

"Are you angry with me?"

"They said I shot him six times. I only shot him once." Jane shook her head as the magnitude of the situation hit her. "When I was a kid, I remember hearing him on the phone. Paydays. He was always talking about paydays. He'd say 'make sure Maulden gets his payday, we don't want any trouble. Make sure Henry gets that cash.'" Jane rested her cuffed hands against her thighs as she shook her head, "He always thought since I was gonna be a cop, I'd be in his pocket. When I wasn't, that really ticked him off. That night, he called to tell me to come get Tommy cause he was drunk and threatening to swim out into the ocean. When I got there, he told me to quit. Just quit being a Detective. To quit sticking my nose where it didn't belong. I always wonder what would've happened if I had just let him sock me one good time and walked away. Something about that time, I was hell bent on breaking our ties. Well, I broke them alright."

"So you think your father paid multiple politicians and seat holders?"

"Oh, I know he did. He could swing a vote like that, Maura," snaps her fingers together. "They lost a bunch of money when he died, or either they all wanted him dead and I was a scapegoat. I don't know who or how, but I'm pretty sure I got part of the why. It's like a bad mob movie or something." Jane tried to ease the situation with humor. Her signature defense mechanism.

"Are you certain you shot him once?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter, Maur. When they confiscated my gun, they took care of everything they needed to. At the trial, you can imagine how my face looked when they confirmed it had been fired six times. It's a big sham. I know you probably don't wanna believe this kind of thing can actually happen, but it happened to me. Ask Korsak. He can tell you I'm not making it up."

Maura leaned forward to say her words. She was certain and confident. "I believe you, Jane."

There was a long sigh as Jane thought for a moment. "Maura, I don't want you getting hurt."

Maura opened her mouth to speak, but espresso colored hues stopped any words from leaving her lips. Jane looked at her in such a way that stunned Maura. She looked at her intensely, but there was something Maura couldn't place. All she knew was lost in those eyes.

"I can't protect you in here," it was solemn, yet, Jane hadn't realized she was going to say it until it just fell out into the open.

"Jane," Maura spoke, "I don't know what to say."

"I know, I know, I'm stepping over the line—"

"No. I mean. I haven't had anyone ever want to protect me from any situation." Hazel eyes glanced up filled with tears threatening to fall.

"Jeez, Maur, will you quit it with the waterworks?" Jane moved to clap Maura onto the shoulder breaking the hold of their hands.

"You are deceptively complex," Maura wiped her eyes. She had expected an embrace instead of a friendly gesture. The doctor wondered if Jane was afraid of her actual boundaries or afraid to feel at all.

"Do you treat all your patients this way?" Jane asked with a raised eyebrow. Suddenly angry with herself from running away from such a pure intimate moment.

"Only the annoying ones," Maura said with an exaggerated tone.

"Just making sure I don't need to be jealous," Jane quipped as both of the women burst into a fit of laughter.

Jenkins moved back to the cell as he instructed, "Shower time, Rizzoli." His lips curled into his own form of a twisted smile. He seemed to observe the closeness.

It was then that Jane realized they had been speaking less than a foot apart. Jane hated to be interrupted. Her time with Maura had started to become the only precious moments to her entire day. Not knowing what to do, Jane was glad Maura spoke first.

"Would you mind if I asked you some questions over lunch again?" Maura stood to leave the cell and looked over her shoulder as she walked.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Jane knew it sounded lame as soon as she had said it.

"I'll see you then."

Jane and Jenkins both watched her walk down the darkened concrete hallway.

"Whew, that's a good lookin' woman," Jenkins said.

Jane found the prickle on her neck and the bristling of her arms confused her. She was jealous. Angrily jealous, "Hey, don't talk about Maura like that!" Her shoulders squared in defiance.

Jenkins only laughed. "I see she's bringing that old Rizzoli temper back out in ya." With a loud sigh, he shook his head. "I was afraid you'd lost it. Come on, you've smelled like onions since yesterday. You need to clean up for your date."