A/N: AGAIN, I am so sorry this is getting to you all so late. I went to an Orioles game last week and madness pursued from then. This one gets back online to the story so less fluff and more peanut butter. Peanut butter is the story FYI. Thanks again to all who are still reading and reviewing!


The next morning the blonde had awoken to find that Jane's limbs were wrapped tightly around her. She smiled to herself as the warmth from the other woman radiated through her own. It had been some time since Maura had felt this kind of touch from another person and it made her happy to not feel so alone.

Looking over to the clock on the wall, Maura reluctantly began to detangle herself from the brunette. As she got up from the couch, she watched as Jane turned over into the pillows, groaning as she tucked herself into them to stay warm. Grabbing the throw blanket, the blonde gently places it over and then heads upstairs to get ready for work.

Jane had felt the other woman's absence the moment she left but being as sleepy as she was, she decided just to turn over than to protest her departure. She groaned when the feeling of warmth Maura emanated left her, she couldn't remember if there was a time that another person's presence could be so serene and soothing.

...

The next time she jolted awake, Jane knew that it was time to get up, even if she had yet to look at the clock. Sitting up and stretching, Jane smiled as she remembered the night.

As usual on nights that Jane spent over at the blonde's, she headed upstairs to Maura's bedroom. It was a normal routine for the brunette to use Maura's bathroom to get ready in the mornings. The boys would use the other bathrooms to get ready for school and being that the blonde would wake the earliest, she was usually finished by the time Jane needed to get ready.

Today was different though, Jane was not aware that the other woman was running late due to falling asleep on the couch. As she neared the bedroom entryway, the brunette was too tired to realize that the door was ajar instead of the usually open one. Pushing open the door, Jane had walked right in on the blonde's naked form.

Shocked, Jane could do nothing to make herself move. Not even when the blonde, who was equally, if not more shocked, began to poorly cover herself with her hands. Not even then could Jane even consider moving. It was only when the brunette noticed the faint line of scarring on the other woman's breast did her mind click on and she realized the urgency of the situation.

"I'm sorry!" Jane finally has the wherewithal to avert her eyes to the floor as she backs up to the hallway. "Maur, I'm so sorry. I didn't see anything!" She lies but they both know as much.

"JUST GET OUT JANE!" The blonde yells and the other woman can hear the tears in her words.

And she does as she is told, closing the door behind her; Jane covers her face with her hands as she tries to rub off her embarrassment.

"Ma?" Jane looks up as she sees two sleepy and bed-headed boys come out into the hallway. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong." Jane hates the fact that something is. "I just forgot that I have nothing to wear to work. So, we are going to go home and get ready instead."

"Okay." The little boy answers too groggy to care.

"Go get your things and we will head home." She watches as her son retreats into the bedroom.

"Hey Nate?" the little boy looks up with drowsy eyes and raises his brows to show he is listening. "When your mom comes out can you tell her that I am really sorry…to you know…leave, without telling her." Nate nods and sluggishly hugs her before heading to his room.


Maura was despondent after the incident with Jane. She could do nothing more than stare at her naked body in the mirror. Something she had done every day for years, it was only then that she had realized that she had not done this in months.

It was because she was happy for once but now she knew that she would be happy no more. Someone she cared about, that she was close with, who she admired, had seen her biggest insecurity. Jane was tenacious and tough, Jane who had her own scars, had looked at her with shock. Maura knew that her friend was never without words but this morning she was; the blonde could see the revulsion in the other woman's eyes. Her greatest fear had come true, the person she cared for had truly seen her and was disgusted.

Instead of dwelling on it, she did what she was used to, the same thing she did many years ago, when the kids at school would make fun of her, she compartmentalized. She took her pain and placed it in that hole that constantly pulls and shreds at the back of her mind. That place that tells her that she will never be good for someone, that place that tells her that she will always feel alone, that place that tells her that she's broken and worthless.

Getting dressed, Maura looks into the mirror and finds her strength in the cold hard eyes that stare back at her. It is her old routine that she used on the days where she had to mentally prepare herself for the depressing hours ahead of her.

Walking downstairs she is greeted by her son as he eats his cereal.

"Hi Mom," he smiles at her and her spirits lift a little. "I know cereal is just for the weekend but we are running late so I figured it would be okay."

"That's fine." She replies as she looks around the kitchen in hopes of seeing Jane. It does not go unnoticed by the boy.

"Oh, that reminds me." Maura looks at her son again. "Jane and Nick had to leave." At those words, the blonde begins to feel the gnawing pain in her gut. She knew that Jane wouldn't be here but just the fact that the brunette couldn't leave fast enough added to her battered heart.

"She said she was really sorry." The boy adds when he sees his mother's face.

Turning around as fast as she can, Maura busies herself as she tries to hold back her tears.


Jane was more than mortified, walking into work she begins to think of all the ways she could begin to apologize to Maura. When she approaches the elevators she hits the down button to the morgue instead of the button that will take her up. She knows that it would be better for them both if she gets this over with now.

When the doors open for the basement she walks out and the nausea begins. Approaching the door she inhales deeply before knocking. She hears the soft answer for her to come in and so she opens the door.

"H-Hi…" She curses herself for her quiet and unsteady voice.

"Hi." She tries again and is relieved when it comes out sounding stronger. "I was wondering if I could talk to you."

"I'm shocked that you knocked." Maura says coldly. "From what I gather, you like to barge into places you don't belong."

"I deserve that." Jane says as her head drops. "I don't know what to say…"

The blonde looks at the other woman as she looks to the floor. It pains her to know that Jane, her friend, is so disgusted by what she saw that she can't even look at her. "You don't need to say anything other than to explain to me why you came down here just to say you don't want to be friends anymore."

Jane's head darts up as she tries to understand what the blonde has just said. "WHAT?" She exclaims.

"Jane, I saw the way you looked at me this morning. The way you stared at my scars and how you were repulsed by me." Maura replies more distantly than Jane has ever seen the blonde.

"No, how can you think that?" Jane is quick to respond. "I have my scars too Maura. I am sorry if you thought that but I know what it's like to feel insecure. When I walked in on you…I panicked. It wasn't because of your scars it was because you were naked!"

"I was more shocked by the nakedness than anything and then when you panicked about the scars, I knew I had messed up so…"

"Jane." Maura can't help the smile that appears when she hears the other woman's words. "I didn't even think that could be the reason why you acted that way. I'm so used to the natural form while doing autopsies, that a naked body does not affect me that way. I was just wrapped up in my own insecurities that I figured that was the reason you left."

"Never." Jane doesn't know why she blushes as she remembers Maura from that morning. "It wasn't the scars, I would never do that to you. I have my own and I know what it's like to want to keep them hidden…when you want that part of you hidden from others."

"You made me comfortable with my scars, you make me feel like they aren't there. I want to do the same for you and I'm sorry that I made you feel insecure. If you ever want to talk about them I will. If you would rather us never talk about them then I'm okay with that too."

Maura reaches out, hugging her friend and smiles when she feels the softest kiss placed upon her head.


That night after the boy's practice, the two women opted out of the usual dinner together and decided to just head to the respective homes. It was strange to both women to not be together but Jane knew because of the incidents of that morning, that they needed some alone time.

Jane was restless as she tossed in turned to find a comfortable position to ease her mind and body. It was hours before her head was clear enough to fall into slumber, but it was anything but peaceful. Her dreams were filled with scenes from all her run-ins with Hoyt. When she finally woke, she was drenched in sweat and her heart was vigorously pounding in her chest.

Her hands ached but it didn't matter, she was used to this pain. She pushed it from her mind; quickly Jane got out of bed and checked on her sleeping son. Once that was done she went and checked the house, making sure everything was secured.

Knowing she wouldn't be going back to sleep, Jane made her way to the front room. Sitting on the couch, she checked the time on the cable box. 'Great' she thought as she read the glowing white numbers. Turning on the television, she tried to keep as quiet as she could for being awake at 3 o'clock in the morning.

….

Several hours later, Jane finds herself at an early morning crime scene. A passerby had called hours earlier reporting that there was a man with his throat slit on a park bench. When she arrived, Dr. Isles had already begun looking at the body.

"Detective Rizzoli." She said as more of a professional courtesy to Jane, as there were other officers around. "It seems that the body has been sitting here for some time. The body temp is very low."

"Any idea how long?" A physically drained Jane asks and Maura shakes her head giving the brunette a small 'no' along with it.

"Well, that's today's newspaper." Jane says as she tries to piece together a timeline. Trying to rid her frustration, the detective jokes, "Well my guess is he was reading the stock pages and slit his own throat."

The blonde takes a closer look at the neck, "There is something very odd about the edges of the wound."

Jane scoffs, "This whole thing is odd."

Maura turns her attention to the brunette who is now on a rant. "There's no blood, no sign of struggle…wh-what death by a sharp nap?"

As the blonde really looks at Jane she can see that there is something wrong, "The darkening of the nasojugal fold indicates fatigue and vitamin deficiencies."

A tired Jane looks closer at the dead man's eyes to see what the doctor is describing. "Really?"

Maura, whose attention had been solely on the brunette for the last few moments, notices the other woman's lack of concentration. "You…you have dark circles under your eyes, are you not sleeping again?"

Jane knows she has been caught, she suspected that Maura would notice but not to this degree.

"Thanks." She deadpans. "You look nice too."

Maura rolls her eyes, "Are you having nightmares?"

At that moment Detective Frost approaches and cuts off anymore of the subject.

"Morning." He greets her before diving right into what he has to say. "Our victim is James Stern. I already ran his name, James Stern and his wife Emily vanished two years ago."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, there was a history of domestic violence and he was the number one suspect in her disappearance." Jane nods, remembering the case from a couple years back.

"Theory was he murdered her, hid her body and fled." Frost adds in the rest of the information.

"Maur," Jane looks to the blonde. "We're going to head back to the precinct and look into a few things, when you start the autopsy can you call me?"

"Sure thing." Maura shakes her head and watches the two detectives as they retreat.

The rest of the morning came pretty fast and Maura was already underway on the autopsy when Detective Frost came in alone. "Jane is looking into a few leads, she told me to come down and watch the autopsy and go over evidence with you."

Maura, who had been looking forward to seeing Jane, nods and continues with her work. As they go over the evidence she finds, she notices Frost become colder as his interests gets peeked.

"What is it Detective Frost?" she asks when his facial expression changes to fear.

"You said that his wrists were duct taped." He states more than asks. "As well as his mouth, you also stated that the wound appeared to be a precise cut, more consistent to a surgical wound…much like a scalpel." He says the last part more solemnly.

Panic overtakes Maura as she glances from the body on her table to Frost. "I have to find Jane."


I hope you enjoyed it. Soon and very soon the feelings will start to arise and they notice them…FINALLY!