DISCLAIMER:: still not mine

A/N:: update two of two. enjoy.

-/-

"You are the king of inappropriate timing, you know that?" Jane answered her cell, angry at being interrupted when she was finally getting the chance to say everything she wanted to.

Maura stood, hugging the sheet around her and looked around for her clothes. Jane grabbed her free hand and held her back.

"What crawled up your ass and died?" Korsak didn't sound hurt, just frustrated at having his shit jumped. "You told me to call the second we found anything worthwhile."

Maura struggled against Jane's hand but the brunette detective pulled her closer and gave her a look that stopped her struggling. She flopped back down on the couch with a sigh.

"Did you guys find a lead in the letters? Please tell me you found this whack job."

Maura looked up, interested now that she knew this conversation involved the case.

"No. We were able to sift through and narrow it down to five suspects, but one's just as twisted as the other."

"So, what's our something worthwhile?"

She could practically hear the frown in Korsak's voice. "They found another victim."

Two minutes later, after Korsak had given her the address, she hung up her phone and ran her hand over her face. They tell you in training never to make things personal. Don't get involved with the victims; don't emotionally invest yourself. Don't let a case consume you. Jane had broken those rules very few times. But she could already predict that this case was going to get to her.

"What'd they find?"

Jane let go of Maura's hand and walked over to the coat closet. She opened it and pulled out the dress Maura had been wearing when they got to the apartment early that morning. She held it out to Maura. "Suit up. They found another body."

-/-

"He's improving."

Jane ducked under the crime scene tape and held it up so Maura could follow her.

"What makes you say that?" She didn't look at Korsak but rather up at the house, not as fancy as the Ries house, but nothing she'd ever be able to afford.

"You'll see when we get inside."

Jane followed Korsak, but paused at the front door and looked back. Maura hadn't moved. She was just standing halfway up the walk, staring at the house. Jane walked back outside.

"Maura? Are you okay?"

Maura looked at her. "My old house is two blocks away from here."

Jane nodded slowly. It had been over two years since she'd been to that house where Maura was taken from. She hadn't even realized they were in its vicinity, but after Maura pointed it out, she noticed things she hadn't noticed driving up. She used to run by this house with Maura when they went out for morning jogs on the days where they didn't feel like hitting the gym.

Jane knew what Maura was thinking: this could have easily been me.

Jane grabbed her hand, oddly enough an action that Maura didn't immediately shy away from. She pulled Maura up the path until they made it to the doorway and the medical examiner could no longer look up at the house.

This was where Maura dropped her hand and put space between her and Jane. They both slipped on paper booties and latex gloves.

As with the other crime scene, the point of entry was an open bathroom window and every room besides the bedroom was devoid of any obvious crime.

The second Jane caught sight of the bedroom she understood what Korsak had meant about their unsub improving. The victim was still on the bed, the slices more clean, less rushed. The blood was confined to the bed and the immediate area around it, the rest of the room lay untouched.

"He was quick, efficient. He's learning from his mistakes."

Jane nodded in agreement. That was apparent. He hadn't given this victim a chance to struggle.

Maura approached the body to do her preliminary exam.

"What's her name?"

Korsak looked down to his notes. "Nia Kettner."

Nia Kettner was also married to a traveling business man who was conveniently out of the country at the time of her death. She had no children, no family, and no relation to their first victim. They lived in different areas, they traveled in different circles. Nothing tied them together, except the way they left the world.

-/-

Maura rolled the just autopsied body of Nia Kettner into the fridge before going into her office and falling into her chair with a sigh.

"You look tired."

Maura looked up and saw Jane leaning casually in the doorway. A brief stab of pain shot through her heart… this was just like old times. This was so… them. The closeness, the being around each other all the time, the easiness of it all.

"I've been tired for two years."

"Maybe that's a sign."

"A sign of what?"

"That you made the wrong choice." Jane looked away, avoiding her gaze.

Maura sighed. "I could have told you that."

Jane's head snapped around. She hadn't been expecting that to come out of Maura's mouth. She couldn't speak, couldn't think.

"Do you mind if I stay with you for the duration of this case? I could stay at Erin and Barry's place while they're overseas, but I don't really want to be alone."

Jane was floored. She just nodded her head dumbly. "I'll sleep on the couch. You can have the bed."

Maura shook her head. "We're adults Jane, don't be ridiculous. We can share the bed."

"Can we?"

"You don't trust me to behave?" Maura raised a perfect eyebrow.

"No, I don't trust me to behave." Jane smirked.