A/N: I'm back. Still sick but antibiotics are working their magic. Updates aren't going to be every day any more because they're going to start being longer. Especially next update. But we are really getting into the thick of things before what everyone is waiting for finally happens. Thanks again for all the well wishers and reviewers and alerters. You guys are the reason I keep writing. You really motivate me. I'm sorry if the beginning is a tease ;)

Enjoy and review if you please.

Jane walks in the door from a hard day and smells the aroma of spaghetti. Following the scent into the kitchen she sees Maura at the stove preparing dinner. She walks up to the honey blonde and slips her arms around her waist and places chaste kisses up and down her neck.

"Hi honey. I'm making spaghetti for you tonight. Do you want to shower while I finish this?" Maura asks.

Jane pulls Maura's ear between her teeth and sucks. She turns her around and kisses her hard.

"Someone is frisky today." Maura laughs before being cut off by Jane's lips again.

"I'm always frisky around you baby." She growls as she continues to kiss up and down Maura's jaw and neck. She grabs Maura's ass and lifts her onto the nearby counter and continues her attack on her neck.

"Jane we can't do this right now. I'm cooking." Maura pants out.

"Turn it off and finish later." She says in between kissing and sucking Maura's neck.

"Let's eat first then we can finish this in the bedroom." She stands up and tries to push Jane away and continue cooking but Jane begins sucking on Maura's pulse point causing her legs to go weak and she realizes this is an argument she is not going to win. Jane stops her from falling, turns off the stove and pulls Maura towards the bedroom.

"You're all I want to eat right now." She growls sexily as she leads the laughing blonde into the bedroom.

Jane awakes panting and sweating in her empty bed. She checks the time and realizes it's 5 A.M.

I can't even stay asleep without thinking about her. Oh my god I just had a sex dream about Maura! This is getting too out of hand. I can't dream of her like this. And there is no way I'm getting back to sleep. Leave it to Maura to make me sexually frustrated when she isn't even do anything. I need to burn off this energy.

She gets up and changes into a tank top and shorts and pulls on a pair of running shoes. She heads out the door and begins an early morning run.

What am I doing? I hate running. Where am I even going?

Jane continues running wherever her body takes her as she listens to her Ipod. She doesn't even realize that she is running towards Maura's house. When one of her headphones falls out of her ear, she stops paying attention and tries to put the bud back into her ear. She stops when she feels herself hit another body as she rounds the corner.

"I'm so sorry." She mumbles as she looks at the woman she just knocked to the ground. You've got to be kidding me. Of all the people to run into right now, I run into Julia. Literally!

"Jane?" Julia asks taking the hand Jane extends to help her up.

"Yeah. How are you?" She asks feigning interest.

"Good. I just left Maura's and I wanted to get a run in before work. I've gotta keep my training up for the BPD victim's 5k on Sunday. You're doing it right?"

She just left Maura's house? Shit how did I end up on Maura's street? Oh god she spent the night. That can only mean one thing. They-

"Jane?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah sorry what were you saying." She asks after Julia breaks her from her thoughts.

"I asked if you were doing the BPD 5k." She repeats.

"Oh yeah. I am. Just getting some running in to keep my training up also. I hate running but it clears my head and for some reason I've managed the best time every year since I've been doing it." Jane says proudly.

Julia nods. "Mhm." She hums challengingly. "Well you might have a little competition this year Rizzoli." She laughs.

"We'll just have to wait till Sunday now won't we?" She asks crossing her arms defensively. "Since when do A.D.A.s run in the 5k anyways?"

"They don't but I figured I'd do my part to help."

Of course. Little miss perfect has to get in on every charity event she can.

"I see. Well I'm going to get back to it. Great seeing you." Jane says somewhat bitterly while turning around and heading back in the direction of her apartment but stops when Julia calls out to her.

"Wait Jane."

She turns back to Julia. "What do you need?" She asks trying not to sounds annoyed.

"I was wondering if you'd like to hang out some time. Maybe go get a beer together and get to know each other. You're Maura's best friend so I'd like to be your friend too." She asks.

Are you kidding me? The last thing I want to do is hang around my competition.

Do it for Maura. Be the bigger man!

Fuck!

"Um sure. I don't have my card on me though." She explains.

"I'll get your number from Maura if that's okay."

"Okay. See you around." Jane says as she takes off back towards her apartment.

When she arrives home she walks Jo and heads for a shower before work. As always her brain gets away from her as she washes her body under the stream of water.

Julia is running in the 5k huh? Well I'm going to do whatever I can to beat her. Show Maura that little miss perfect isn't great at everything she does. She is just doing this to brag and I'm not giving her another thing to brag about. I will beat her time and I'll be one step closer to showing Maura I'm better for her.

Ugh why does she have to seem so nice though? She wants to get to know me. Does she think things are getting serious with Maura?

Julia was leaving Maura's house which means she spent the night right? And Maura introduced her to everyone. What if I'm too late? What if Maura is really serious about Julia?

I can't ask her to choose between Julia and I. That isn't fair to any of us.

All I can do is show Maura that I'm just as worthy as Julia. And whatever she decides from there is what will happen.

Jane readies herself for work and heads off to BPD. When she arrives Frost is waiting for her with a coffee.

"Sometimes I could just kiss you Frost." She smiles taking the coffee from him. "Thanks. Is Novak here yet?"

"Sitting in interrogation room 1 waiting for you as we speak." He replies.

"I hope he wasn't waiting long. You wanna come in with me on this one?" She asks while heading towards the room.

"Naw I'm going to keep trying to get a hold of the family and see if I can find any more information on Jessica and her family. We will get a lot more covered this way."

"Thanks. We'll swap intel when we're done."

He nods in response.

She walks into the room and sees Major Novak with his head in his hands. She takes a seat in the chair across from him which causes him to lift his head and she notices the sadness in his eyes.

"Major Novak, I'm Detective Jane Rizzoli. You spoke to my partner Detective Barry Frost on the phone about the murder of one of your squad members, Jessica Schuler."

"Um yes. Call me Jason please." He says throwing formalities out the window.

"Only if you call me Jane." She says as she shakes his hand. "Were you close with Jessica?"

"When you're in close quarters like we were, facing the dangers of war like we do, it's hard not to become close. We protect one another." He responds.

"I understand. So knowing that you guys were close. Did you know anything about her before she entered the military? How her home life was?"

"She didn't like to talk about her family. She only told me that they weren't a factor in her life since she was sixteen." He replies sadly.

"Is there anything at all you could tell us about her past then? Our M.E. found evidence of physical abuse that she estimates happened around the time right before she entered the army. Did she ever mention anything about an abusive boyfriend?"

"No. She told me she never had any relationships back home. She told me there was no one waiting for her back here. No one to come home to. It's why she was pretty reckless in the beginning." He says almost in tears.

Jane notices his demeanor and realizes that their relationship may be more than what it seemed. She takes his hand before continuing her questioning. "Jason I know this is hard. But if we want to find who did this you're going to have to tell us everything. Including the type of relationship you and Jessica had." She informs comfortingly while squeezing his hand in reassurance.

He looks down at his hand being covered by Jane's and nods. He wipes a few tears before finally speaking up. "Jessica and I were seeing each other secretly. It started about two years into her service with my squad. She got put into my unit about 4 years after joining. We quickly became friends after I saved her from her own recklessness. Like I said she was unconcerned for her own safety in the beginning. We started seeing each other on the down low because it was against the rules. At first she wanted to become a career soldier but I told her that's not the life I wanted for her. For us. She was supposed to finish her tour a month before me. I was doing my last before I was going to retire and come back."

"We went to Jessica's apartment. She was moving. Do you know where?"

He sniffles before nodding. "She was moving to New Haven with me. It's where I live. At first I couldn't convince her to come back. She said she wasn't sure it was a good idea. I told her to come back and pack up her stuff and move into my house and wait for me. I'd be done in a month and we could start our lives together. She finally gave in and came back after she finished her service."

"Do you know why she was so hesitant to come back?" She asks gripping his hand tighter.

"No." He cries. "I wish I hadn't forced her to come back. I wish she would have told me she was in danger. I loved her. I was going to ask her to marry me. We were going to be happy." He breaks down into tears.

Jane steps to the other side of the table and hugs him while he cries.

"I feel so stupid. I forced her to come back. Why didn't she just tell me she was in trouble?"

"Some people don't know how to ask for help. Especially when they're worried about how it will affect the ones they love. It's not your fault okay?" She says comfortingly before releasing him.

"Is there anything she told you about her past that can explain the abuse? She said she hasn't been in contact with her family since she was sixteen. Do you have any idea where she was between then and when she joined the army? Who she lived with?"

"No. She didn't like to talk about her past that much. The only thing she ever told me was that she had a crappy home life and that she didn't miss her family." He sighed finally quelling his tears.

"There is nothing she said that could be of any help to us?" She asks one last time hoping for even the smallest thing to go on.

"The only other thing she mentioned once was that she missed her best friend. That she had gotten her out of hard times. But she never told me her name. Just that she was there for her and I knew she wrote to her from time to time."

"Good. That can be of some help to us." She praises before taking his hand again. "We will find who did this okay?"

He nods wiping his tears one last time and standing ready to leave.

"Thank you so much for taking a leave to come in. You have been of so much help. I promise we will do what we can to get justice for Jessica. We will call you if we need you again or if we find anything."

"Thank you. I'm heading back to finish my tour tonight. She'd want me to come back and be safe even if it's without her. I trust you will find her murderer Jane." He says as he heads out of the office.

She steps out of the interrogation room and breathes a sigh of relief. It may not have been the holy grail of information but at least she knows a little bit more about the victim and she knows what she needs to do. She needs to find Jessica's friend and have a talk with her. But first she has to try and talk to Jessica's parents.