Jane had to laugh at herself the next morning when she got in the shower and realized she was whistling. Well, it wasn't quite whistling, but it wasn't just humming, either; something in between. Whatever the case, she was unusually happy, and unable to remember the last time she had been so eager for a second date. She took Jo downstairs to her favorite tree for a moment, and Jane's neighbors were surprised that her typical, surly morning manner had dissolved into something much more friendly. She was still hum-whistling when she got in her car, and beaming when she arrived at BPD.

Waving to her mother, Jane strolled past the café and hit the elevator that would take her down to Maura. When she entered the morgue, Maura looked up in surprise from her computer.

"Jane, the day just started," she said. "I don't have anything new for you yet."

"I know," Jane said, perching herself on the corner of Maura's desk and poking her shoulder. "I've got something for you."

Maura leaned back in her chair and smiled. "About your date last night?"

"It was the best first date I've been on in years," Jane said. "I feel like I'm seventeen again, I mean I haven't been able to stop smiling since I got home!"

"Got home…last night, or this morning?" Maura asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jane laughed. "Last night. See, that's the thing, Maura. I've been going to the Merch—"

"You went back to that place?"

"Yeah, of course! I really liked how I felt there. I didn't have to flirt if I didn't want to; women would just come up and flirt with me."

"Are you saying men never flirted with you?" Maura asked, surprised.

"Well no, but it was different," Jane said, not sure how she might explain this to someone like Maura. It had all made perfect sense in her head. "I guess I never saw dating as a power play, or maybe I just didn't want to see it that way, but I think it's different when you're the guy, y'know? Or no, never mind, I know you think that's all a cliché. It's just been my experience. I could act however I wanted around these women, show whatever side of me I wanted. I mean… remember Casey?" She had lowered her voice to a near-whisper, as if afraid that speaking any louder would summon Bloody Mary or Voldemort—or worse, Casey himself.

Maura snorted in disgust. "How could I forget him?"

Jane returned her voice to its usual volume. "He's kind of an extreme example, but I hated how I felt I had to be around him. Weak. 'Girly.' That was crap, that wasn't me, and I hated how it made me feel."

"Going to the Merch made you feel strong?" Maura prompted her.

"It made me feel like I was in control, yeah," Jane said. She sighed. "So anyway, I hooked up with a few girls—"

"Wait, wait," Maura said shortly. The revelation that Jane had asked a woman out on a date had been shocking enough. Learning that she'd had sex with more than one? Take deep breaths, count to three. "You 'hooked up' with girls? Plural?"

"Not at the same time," Jane said, frowning at Maura's expression.

Maura hastened to explain that wasn't what she meant. "Still, you've had intercourse with them?"

Jane gritted her teeth, looking around to make sure her mother wasn't hiding behind the door or something. "Yes," she said. "But not with Kate."

"And…you're happy about that?" Maura asked, now looking confused.

"Yeah," Jane said. "I feel like this is a step for me, Maura. Like whatever it is I'm doing, it's not just a physical thing. I wasn't sure I could do it, you know? When you hook up after a night at a bar, it's just you and her, and you can leave her place in the morning, and nobody will be the wiser. But a date—it's official, and people can see it, and I had to feel confident in myself in a different way, and where it was all going. I'm kinda glad she slowed us down."

"If she hadn't, do you think you'd have slept with her?"

It was hard not to smile at the way Maura was talking about this, all clinical and almost business-like, not in the gossipy way so many women had. "I don't know, I might have," she said with a small smile. "This woman is seriously hot, Maura. But I felt like we really connected in other ways, too. I didn't ask her out because all I wanted to do was sleep with her; I asked her out because I was curious about her. She's not like the others, and I'm glad I didn't end up treating her like the others."

"Well," Maura said, trying valiantly to imitate Jane's brightness. "I'm happy you're so happy."

"Thanks," Jane said, grinning and standing back up. "It's amazing having someone to talk to about all this, seriously."

Maura grinned and shrugged. "What are friends for?"


The morning turned out well, with one of their prime suspects coming forward to confess. He was now being held as Korsak and Frost began work checking out his story, making sure he wasn't covering for anybody. Jane's gut told her the confession was actually true, as it filled in a few of the gaps in the puzzle she had begun constructing herself. She was given the go-ahead to take a bit of a break, and as it was too early for lunch, she headed downstairs to the department's gym. It'd been a while since her last good work-out, and besides—she remembered Maura telling her that perspiration gave off what was colloquially referred to as "musk," something to do with pheromones or something. Maybe it would give her good mojo for her lunch date.

After she changed into a sports bra and some shorts, she texted Kate to see if she'd be free in an hour for lunch. The response was immediate and positive (and came from Kate in her hotel room, where she was busy making phone calls and running background checks on the scant suspects her fellow agents had dug up so far in their own case).

Fifteen minutes of warm-up exercise led to half an hour on the elliptical, and Jane was just finishing up with some free weights when she saw a suit walk into the gym.

"Ah," she sighed, sitting up and grabbing a towel to dab at the sweat on her forehead. "Agent DiNardo."

"DiNozzo," Tony said. "I was told I'd find you down here."

"And here I am," Jane said, casually doing some curls as she talked. "What can I do for you?" She raised her eyebrows when Tony proceeded to do nothing but stare at her. "Agent… DiNozzo?"

"Sorry, you just… I'm impressed. Your breathing doesn't even sound irregular. How are you doing that?"

"C'mon, man," Jane laughed. "You look pretty fit yourself."

"Really! Well thank you, detective."

"You're welcome. Now I repeat my question: what can I do for you?"

"Right. Me personally, or me as an NCIS agent?"

"Are you always this charming, or am I just lucky?" Jane asked, still laughing in spite of herself. Normally she had no patience for guys like this, but it was amazing what the promise of seeing Kate was doing to her patience. Still—"Before you answer, you may want to consider that I'm very good at grappling and you're wearing what appears to be a very expensive suit."

"Understood," DiNozzo said, taking a step back despite the noted jocularity in Jane's tone. "I came by as per our agreement to keep BPD in the loop. My boss is talking to your boss, and I thought I'd let you know Will O'Malley has become our main suspect."

"Oh, that bigot?" Jane snorted, dropping her weights and reaching for water bottle. "Figures."

"Bigot, huh?"

"I'm guessing you took a look at his history? Racially motivated hate crimes? That's how we finally got him."

"'Finally'?"

"From what we can tell, he used to be in an Irish mob," Jane said. "Got phased out when his boss realized O'Malley kept targeting people of a certain race, with little to no reason."

"And without the boss's okay, huh?"

"Yup."

"And how did you figure this out?"

"O'Malley's file is upstairs. Ask Detective Frost for it, and it should tell you everything you want to know."

"Oh, I'll ask him," Tony said. "Our theory is that O'Malley is pulling some strings from inside prison. Think it's plausible?"

"Well, that depends on…" Jane glanced at the door when it opened, and seeing Kate walk inside, she became instantly distracted. "Depends," she repeated dumbly.

"Depends?" Tony asked, not realizing anyone had come in behind him. "Like, those adult diapers Jamie Lee Curtis advertises?"

That pulled Jane briefly out of her Kate-induced reverie. "What? She does Activia, not Depends. Do they even make Depends anymore?"

"Oh yeah, who was on those commercials?" Tony asked.

Kate provided the answer, striding up to Tony and smiling at him. "I believe it was Jane Russell."

"Of course! How could I forget. Jane Russell. The Outlaw. Famous object of Howard Hughes' affection. Obsession, some might say."

Rolling her eyes, Jane flipped her towel over her shoulder and said, "Agent DiNozzo, Kate Todd. Kate, Agent Anthony DiNozzo. He's with NCIS; they're helping us out with a case."

"How nice," Kate said, shaking Tony's hand. She was smiling, but Tony understood it was a try-and-leer-and-you-will-die kind of smile.

"How about you, Ms. Todd?" Tony asked. "What brings you to BPD?"

"She and I've got a lunch date," Jane said.

Tony laughed, folding his hands in front of himself. "Well how sweet! Old friends?"

"Yeah, just catchin' up," Jane said quickly. "Sorry you had to come looking for me, Kate, I was unexpectedly detained. Could I ask you to give me like, five minutes? Just enough for a minuteman's shower so I can change into something you wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen with in public."

"Of course, go on ahead," Kate said, gesturing to the locker room. Once Jane had disappeared inside it, Kate's smile took off as well and she scowled at Tony. "You can quit drooling, DiNozzo. She's a lesbian. She's not interested in you."

"Oh, I know," Tony said. "I'm just trying to picture whatever went down between you two in your room last night."

Kate's catlike grin returned. "Yeah? Is it a good picture?"

Tony raised an eyebrow back at her. "Could do with some details from a first-hand account."

"Oh. Well…" Without losing her fake sweet smile, Kate kicked Tony in the groin, sending him to the floor. "Unfortunately for you, I don't kiss and tell." Saying nothing else, she walked into the locker room, where Jane was standing by her open locker, grabbing a fresh towel. "Jane."

"Hey! Kate, sorry I wasn't upfront with DiNozzo about uh, the nature of our date," she said. "I would've told him, but he seems like the type of guy who would've blabbed about it to my team, and I kind of want them to hear about it from me, first. At, you know, a time of my own choosing."

"Trust me, I understand," Kate said, rolling her eyes. When Jane looked curiously at her, she said, "Just from the few moments I spent talking with him, and from my considerable experience not only as a profiler but as a woman, I can say you figured him correctly."

"Good," Jane chuckled. "So…we're okay then, right? You still wanna do this?"

Kate's eyes widened. "Of course! Are you having any doubts?"

"No," Jane said. "No, of course I'm not."

It took Kate a moment, but then she realized that Jane might be feeling a little anxious because for the past minute or so she'd basically been half-naked, and Kate hadn't even had the decency to so much as lick her lips. It had been incredibly hard to refrain, but upon seeing Tony was with Jane, Kate had fought strenuously to hide any wolfish expressions. All she needed was Tony teasing her about needing a drool cup. Now that they were alone, however…

Kate took a few steps closer, dragging her eyes down Jane's sweaty physique. Her voice had lowered considerably when she murmured, "You didn't think I was disappointed, did you?"

"Well," Jane said, her back to the row of lockers as Kate stopped right in front of her. "For a second I… I guess maybe I was a little bummed nothing seemed to make an impression."

"Oh, you're making an excellent impression," Kate assured her, stroking her fingers against Jane's abs. Both of them tensed, and Jane let out a shuddering breath.

Jane rolled her shoulders and grinned, resting her hands at Kate's waist. "Yeah?"

Her grip tightened on instinct when Kate whispered "yeah," then did the only thing she'd been able to think about since last night and pulled Jane down for a strong kiss. She had never really looked twice at another woman before, and yet here she was now, obsessively massaging her hands over Jane's abdominal area, pushing her tongue past those wet lips. Jane's hands moved up to Kate's hair, but didn't stay there long; she broke off the kiss shortly afterwards.

Seeming to remember herself, Kate cleared her throat and took a small step back, smoothing out her top. "Just in case you worried I wasn't still interested."

"Message delivered," Jane said, grinning in disbelief. They stared at each other a few moments later, until Jane finally shook her head a bit and nodded behind her. "Kay. So uh, unless the second date is considered the shower date, uh…"

It wasn't really an invitation to join her, which was probably a good thing, because Kate almost felt like she'd have accepted. "Right," she said, backing up. "Um… I'll just meet you in the café I saw upstairs, then."

"Good deal," Jane said. "I'll see you there in five."

On her way back out through the gym, Kate passed Tony, who was still lying in a crumpled heap on the ground. "Now maybe you'll learn to always wear a cup around me," she teased as she passed. When Tony said that was cruel, Kate called back that it was only fair.

When she reached the main floor, she bumped into Cavanaugh and Gibbs, and almost blew her cover by greeting her boss.

Seeing she was about to speak, Gibbs quickly said, "Excuse me, miss—you didn't happen to see an NCIS agent down there, did you? Brash, brown hair, probably asked you out?"

"Oh yes, he's down there," Kate replied. "I believe he was having a word with one of your detectives, sir," she said to Cavanaugh, who was looking at her with an expression of light confusion on his face. "Jane Rizzoli. She and I are having lunch today."

"Right," Cavanaugh said. "Good. She did good work today. Ask her about it."

"I will!"

The two men headed for an elevator that would take them down, and Gibbs nodded at Kate. They'd spoken that morning about the fact that Kate and Jane had a lunch date, and Kate had convinced him that she didn't need an earpiece this time around. He trusted her enough to be able to retain any relevant information, and on the off-chance that she might be in danger, Kate had agreed to allow McGee to be on surveillance. She would text him the name of wherever Jane chose to go for lunch, and he would stake-out with a pair of binoculars (and, presumably, a jealous Tony whining in his ear).

As she sat in the café, she noticed a man in uniform kept shooting her what he had to think were discreet looks. He didn't appear too sketchy or creepy, so Kate smiled politely when he finally maintained eye contact. She looked down at her phone to occupy herself, and after a few moments, glanced up to see the man had moved to stand next to her table.

"Oh," she said simply.

"Can I—may I sit down?" he asked, indicating the chair across from her.

"Oh, sure. I'm just waiting for someone."

"Ah," he said, sitting down. "I figured." Kate put away the phone, waiting for him to say more, but he remained silent for several long moments. In fact he was quiet for so long that Kate was ready to get her phone back out just for something to do, when he blurted out, "I'm Frankie. Frankie Rizzoli."

"Rizzoli! Oh, hello!"

"Hi," he said, not seeming surprised that she recognized his surname. "What was your name, again?"

Again? "Kate Todd."

"Right, right, Kate T—oh, I thought your last name was Martin."

Kate furrowed her brow. "Martin? Officer, are you sure you're not confusing me for someone else?"

Now it was Frankie's turn to look confused. "Aren't you… you're not Maura Isles' sister?"

"Who?"

"Oh. Wow, uh, sorry!" Frankie said, though he was starting to laugh. He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling awkward under Kate's polite smile of bewilderment. "Geez, I—I' m sorry, I just could've sworn that you were, uh… somebody else. You look a lot like our medical examiner. Wow, that's weird. I was about to ask you how your kidney transplant went. That might've been awkward."

"Maybe just a bit," Kate agreed. "Although that could've been true in either case."

"Uh…maybe, yeah. So, wait. If you're not waiting for Maura, who are you waiting for?"

The answer to this question came when Jane showed up, dressed and cleaned, putting her hand on Kate's shoulder. "Hey, ready to go?" When Kate got to her feet, Jane waved at Frankie and led the way out. She was sure he was going to want an explanation later, and she'd be ready to give him one at some point. For now, she was just grateful that the timing had worked so that Angela would be on her own lunch break—she wasn't sure she was ready to try and explain away Kate to her mother yet.

For lunch, Jane had suggested a few nearby places, and Kate chose the one with a specialty in seafood. As they sat down, she told Jane that Lieutenant Cavanaugh had suggested she inquire about the morning's success, and though bashful at first, Jane recounted the story of their case. Kate appreciated that while Jane was modest—attributing success where it was due to Korsak and Frost —she was also justifiably proud of her own accomplishments, and wasn't shy about sharing them when pressed.

"So anyway, now that it's pretty much wrapped up, we might go back to helping NCIS with the case they took over for us," Jane said.

"What's it been like, working with them so far?" Kate asked, smiling.

Jane chewed thoughtfully on that one for a moment. "Their boss is pretty cool, I guess. Chill, mellow, you know—but like he gets stuff done. Then there's DiNozzo and McGee, and McGee's sort of like their tech guy and DiNozzo is—well, you met him."

"Token douchebag?" Kate asked.

Jane laughed through a mouthful of food, surprised at the language choice. "Token! Yeah, I guess everyone's got one of those, huh?"

"DiNozzo was telling me a bit about the case before I um, joined you in the locker room," Kate said, pushing some salmon around her plate. "He said the body was found at a dock owned by Paddy Doyle."

"That slick bastard," Jane muttered, poking at her food with unnecessary force. "I tracked him for over a year. Finally had to take the help of the FBI to get him, and then what's he do? Break out. I dunno if he had someone on the inside or what, but damn. I was about ready to kill something when that happened."

"Do you think he's involved with the murder of that petty officer?"

"Nah," Jane muttered. "Doyle doesn't kill women."

She changed the subject.

When they got back to BPD, Jane could tell Kate was lingering on wanting to ask her something else. She assumed it was about whether or not they were still on for dinner, but instead, Kate sighed and said, "Would you take me to the morgue?"

This was so not what Jane had been expecting that she had to laugh. "Wow! You really know how to be shown a good a time, don't you, Kate Todd? Or is this your way of indicating you'd like to do some kind of joint pact suicide thing? 'Cause I have to say that does sound remotely appealing."

"No," Kate chuckled. "We were talking last night about you giving me a proper tour of BPD, so I could kind of see what it might be like to work as a cop, remember? Probably kind of different from Secret Service stuff."

"Oh, a fair bit, I guess," Jane said. "Why the morgue?"

I want to meet this medical examiner I look so much like. "General investigative work is something I'm familiar with. A morgue is something I've only ever seen on TV procedurals."

"Hm," Jane murmured, tapping her car door. "That may be a good idea, actually. If I take you back to the café, my mother will be there. If I take you to the bullpen, our Token Douchebag, Detective Crowe, will probably make a pass at you. Then I'd have to punch him in the nose, and that'd lead to a lot of dull paperwork."

"What makes you think I wouldn't beat you to that punch?"

"Fair point. Anyway, I guess the morgue is actually where I feel the most comfortable bringing people. It's where my friend Maura works. I think you two should meet." Then maybe Kate won't feel like I'm trying to hide anything.

"And who knows? Maybe I'd make a good morgue tech."

Jane laughingly led the way back into BPD, where they ran into Gibbs and McGee. "Agent Gibbs!" Jane said. "DiNozzo find everything he needed?"

"He's still talking with your partner," Gibbs said. "We're making progress though. McGee," he said, smiling lightly, "You weren't with our team at the time, but a couple years ago, Air Force One hosted a crime scene for us. Hi," he said, holding out his hand for Kate to shake. "Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Remember that case? You were pretty hands-on."

Not sure where Gibbs was going with this, Kate nodded. "Oh! Of course, yes! I was wondering why you looked familiar. My superior officers said you were quite a piece of work."

"Only way to get the job done," Gibbs said with a small grin. "Would you agree, Detective Rizzoli?"

"There's something to be said for determination," she agreed.

"Was Tony on your team back then?" McGee asked.

"No," Kate said quickly before Gibbs could answer. "I would definitely remember a skeeze like that. No offense to your team, Agent Gibbs."

"None taken," Gibbs snorted. "Well, you two have a nice day." He stepped aside as the ladies passed, returning his well wishes, and he and McGee got outside.

"Uh, boss? What was that about?"

"Gotta say, I'm not sure long-term undercover work is Kate's area," Gibbs said. "That's the second time she's looked at me like she knows me. Detective Rizzoli's not an idiot. She might have a crush, but she's not blind. Don't want her thinking anything's up."

McGee wagged his finger knowingly. "Oh, I got it! So you gave Kate an out."

"Exactly."

Kate had come to the same conclusion as Jane led her down to the morgue. Every undercover assignment she'd taken so far had been a one-time deal, ending very fast, or at least keeping other people besides the team in on it. Being around Jane made her nervous enough, but lying to her was making it monumentally more difficult to be herself.

Noticing Kate's sober demeanor, Jane stopped just outside the morgue.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked. "You sure you want to go in there? Could be pretty heavy."

"Hm? Oh no, yes, I'm fine," Kate said, giving her head a little shake. "I think this will be good for me, a good education. Besides, you said Maura was the friend you'd told about me, right?"

"Yeah," Jane said with a soft smile. She was about to take Kate's hand when the morgue doors swung open, admitting one of the techs.

"Oh, excuse me, Detective Rizzoli!" he said, almost doing a funny little half-bow before running down the hallway.

"You like intimidating them, don't you?" Kate guessed, smirking.

Jane opened the door and pretended to scowl. "Not my fault the little poindexters are all scaredy cats."

At the word "poindexter," Maura had looked up from the new body with a frown on her face. She was about to remark that Jane's timing was sort of unbelievable, when she gave one of her rare double takes instead. "Oh, my," she said.

"Maura! This is Kate Todd," Jane said brightly, walking over. "We just had lunch, and I thought I'd give her an insider tour of where I work. Kate, this is Dr. Isles, our chief medical examiner."

"He…llo," Kate managed, shaking Maura's hand. Both of them looked at Jane, who was beaming at Kate and acting as though there was no resemblance between the two women whatsoever. Ultimately deciding to follow Jane's lead, Kate smiled at Maura and said, "Jane's told me a lot about you. Says you're a real whiz kid. Or, whiz woman, I guess." When it looked for a moment as though Maura wasn't sure whether that was intended to be complimentary or not, Kate struggled for a save. "Oh! Dr. Isles, is that a Cassandra Strickenberg you're wearing?"

Jane looked at Kate in surprise, and Maura's eyebrows rose. "You're familiar with her work?"

"Of course! The detail in her beading is exquisite. When I saw the pictures from her show in Milan, I almost died."

"Wow," Jane said flatly.

Maura glanced at her before returning her gaze to Kate. "Ah. Well, as nice as it is to meet a fellow fashion aficionado, I'm afraid now isn't a good time for gab," Maura said, not altogether rudely, as she glanced at the file that the morgue tech had handed her.

As Maura unzipped the body bag, Kate said, "Would it be all right if I observed?"

"If you care to," Maura said, returning to the file's notes and doing her best to remain professional.

"Hm, no signs of trauma," Jane observed, leaning over the table. "Uh… mucus looks kinda bloody, though. Paramedics note how long she was ill?"

Frowning, Maura glanced back at the file. "A week. Neighbors said she was home from work with a bad cough." She put down the file and leaned closer over the body, peering at the woman's face. "Significant plural effusion…" Maura lifted the dead woman's arm, and looking alarmed, studied her hand. "Splinter hemorrhages—oh, no." Trying not to hyperventilate, she placed the woman's arm back down and looked over at Jane and Kate. "I'm going to tell you both something very frightening, but I don't want you to panic, all right?"

"Good start on that, Maura," Jane said warily.

"Hold your breath and move as fast as you can to the crime lab," Maura instructed, even as she hurried in the opposite direction. She lifted a panel that said "red alert" and pushed on the button she found there. "We have a code red!"


a/n: Come fly with me and suspend your disbelief, for the sake of fanfiction. Also, I have not forgotten Kate has a tattoo.