AN: Thanks for all the encouraging reviews.

March 6 – Employee Appreciation Day: Part 1

Jane flung open the door to the morgue and stormed inside, muttering angrily as she did so. Two weeks ago, one of the city's most successful prosecutors and his wife had been found murdered in their home. There were no witnesses to the crime, and very little physical evidence of any kind had been found at the scene. Every single lead they had pursued had come up empty, and the pressure she was under, both from herself and from everyone else in the damn city, was beginning to wear on her. She was tired; she was frustrated, and if the tirade she had just unleashed on Nina up in BRIC to start out the morning was anything to go by, her grip on her self-control was pretty much gone.

As she strode through the room towards Maura's office, one of the junior criminalists looked up at her with a smile and began to welcome her to the lab. He immediately lowered his head and busied himself back in his work, though, when Jane leveled an icy glare in his direction, clearly warning him that today was not the day to try to engage her in small talk. Not sparing the tech a second thought, Jane continued her purposeful steps until she was standing in the open doorway to Maura's office. Seeing the other woman standing by her desk engrossed in the file she was reading, Jane knocked firmly on the door to get the blonde's attention. "Do you have the results from the Collins' DNA test yet?'' she asked brusquely.

Maura paused in her reading to look up at her friend. "Good morning, Jane," she said with pointed politeness.

The brunette rolled her eyes as her breath escaped in an aggravated huff. She knew her failure to offer even the most basic greeting before asking a question had been rude, but right now was not a good time for a lesson in manners. Jane nodded her head irritably in vague acknowledgement of the point she knew Maura was trying to make, and then moved into the room and shut the door behind her. "Sorry," she said, her tone making it clear that she didn't actually feel any remorse for her actions. "Do you have the results?''

Maura held up the file she had been reading, her right eyebrow arching high on her forehead in response to Jane's curt tone. "Delivered five minutes ago."

Jane waited a few moments for the blonde to continue, before stepping forward impatiently. She swallowed hard and tried to hold on to her temper. "So can I see it?" she asked tightly.

"'May' I see it," Maura said in her nit-picky manner that sometimes Jane found adorable, and sometimes she found annoying, and right at that particular moment, she found to be the single must aggravating thing she had ever seen anyone do in their entire life.

"Oh Jesus-fucking-Christ, Maura!" Jane ground out, so angry she was practically vibrating with rage. "Just give me the goddamn folder!" she snarled, as she snatched the file out of the blonde's hands and then turned and stalked away.

Standing with her back to the other woman, Jane opened up the folder and began to quickly scan its contents. It only took a few seconds to realize that, like every other possible clue they had found, the DNA tests on the blood stains they had found at Spencer Collins' home were a dead end. Once again, they had nothing. Two weeks of combing over the crime scene for physical clues, of medical tests, of interviewing anyone who could have an interest in seeing Spencer Collins dead, and they had absolutely nothing to show for their efforts. They were just spinning their wheels, and not getting any closer to finding the murderers.

The sound of Maura's phone receiving an incoming text message interrupted Jane's gloomy thoughts. As she listened to the other woman pick up her phone, the realization of what she had just done slammed through the detective. She had charged in looking to pick a fight. She'd been rude, and aggressive, and completely over the line of acceptable behavior when she had taken the folder from Maura. Closing her eyes briefly, she focused on her breath, determined to be completely in control of herself before she faced her friend. Maura would be well within her rights to yell at the detective the instant she turned around. The last thing Jane needed to do was react and get defensive and just escalate everything all over again.

Jane drew in one last, deep breath and then slowly let it out again, before finally turning to face her friend. "Maura, I'm…" The brunette paused when she saw the other woman looking at her phone strangely. "What's wrong?"

The medical examiner continued to focus on her phone as she answered. "That was Frankie. He wanted to let me know you were in a really bad mood, so if I saw you, I should be careful not to 'poke the bear.'" Maura looked up at her friend, a thoughtful expression on her face. "I'm not familiar with that phrase, but judging by the context, I think it's safe to say that I managed to do just that."

"Yeah," Jane said apologetically.

Maura looked back down at her phone. "He also says that you 'tore Nina a new one.'" The medical examiner raised her gaze to meet her friend's. "Judging by the fact that you are walking around freely, I will assume that doesn't mean that you actually physically assaulted her."

"No, it means she said something that pissed me off, and I yelled at her like a 'Grade A' bitch."

Maura placed her phone back down on her desk. "And what did she say?"

Jane shrugged and looked away, the overwhelming sense of failure she felt right at that moment making it impossible for her to look Maura in the eyes. "She said that no one Spencer Collins put away has gotten out of jail recently, and that they were checking all known associates of everyone he ever put away, but that's a lot of people, and so far, none of them have come back as any kind of positive lead…and it will be days before we can possibly check everyone."

Jane drew in a deep breath and turned to look at her friend. "But you know what? It doesn't matter anyway, because checking all those guys out is a completely pointless waste of time, because the killer wasn't supposed to be a killer, he was supposed to be a burglar," Jane continued, her voice rising slightly as her gestures began to grow more animated. "A couple of guys decided to rob the place, and Collins and his wife just came home at the wrong fucking time, which means they were killed by two completely random guys who are new enough to being on the wrong side of the law that they've never gotten arrested and fingerprinted…or had their DNA collected," Jane snarled, holding up the folder she had taken from Maura for emphasis.

Realizing that she was starting to lose her temper again, the brunette dropped the folder onto the coffee table and then collapsed onto Maura's couch. She leaned her head back against the top cushion and closed her eyes, briefly allowing herself to shut out all the voices of the people that were pressuring her to solve this case. She heard Maura walk over to the couch and then felt the cushions shift as the blonde sat down beside her. Exhaling softly, Jane opened her eyes and wearily rolled her head to the right to look at her friend. "And that while we're wasting our time chasing after all the people connected with the guys Collins put away, the case is getting cold, and if I don't figure something out soon, I'm going to have to hear Crowe busting my ass about this every day for the rest of my career."

Maura placed a hand on the brunette's leg and began rubbing soothing circles just above her knee. "Nina certainly had a lot to say. I had no idea she could be so talkative."

Jane chuckled tiredly. "Oh yeah, she's a real 'Chatty Cathy' when she gets on a roll."

Maura nodded absently. "Yes, well, I can't say that I really agree with 'Nina's' assessment of the situation."

Jane sighed heavily. "We're never going to find who killed Collins unless they're dumb enough to get caught in the future for something, and we get some kind of match then."

"You don't know that," Maura protested.

"I don't not know that," Jane countered with a faint grin. After a few seconds, though, the grin disappeared and Jane's expression took on a much more somber tone. "Seriously, Maura, the smart money is on me failing here."

Maura shook her head and shifted to sit closer to her friend. She brushed the hair off the detective's forehead and then began lightly running her fingers through Jane's dark curls, gently massaging her scalp as she did so. "I don't know what you mean by 'smart money,' but I'd never be foolish enough to bet against you."

Jane snorted softly with laughter. "That has got to be the corniest thing you've ever said to me."

"Oh I'm sure it wasn't the absolute corniest thing I've ever said to you," Maura said seriously, but her eyes were sparkling with humor.

"Really?" Jane teased. "You're positive it wasn't?"

"Oh no," Maura corrected. "I'm sure, but I'm not positive."

A look of confusion appeared on Jane's face. "What?"

"To be 'sure' refers to being certain in one's beliefs," Maura explained. "I believe that the odds are that at some point in the past, something I said was cornier; therefore, I am sure of this fact. To be positive, however, refers to having actual, concrete evidence, not simply theory and speculation. As I lack that kind of evidence, I cannot be positive that it wasn't the corniest thing I've ever said."

"God, you are so…so not normal," Jane said, shaking her head in dazed wonder. "You have no idea how much I love you for that," she murmured, as she leaned against her friend's side and rested her head on Maura's shoulder. The brunette sighed softly in contentment and closed her eyes when she felt Maura's arm wrap around her and hold her close. She'd missed this…this spending time with just the two of them. There was just something about being in Maura's presence that could just instantly begin to calm her. Or at least, it could when she wasn't acting like an out of control asshole, she acknowledged to herself remorsefully.

"I'm sorry about the way I acted before," Jane said in a hushed voice. "I had no right to yell at you or take that file away from you. It was disrespectful as a friend and a colleague." The detective swallowed hard, before forcing herself to meet the other woman's gaze. "I promise I won't do anything like that again."

Maura smiled at her friend gratefully. "Thank you. And I'm sorry about giving you a hard time earlier. You don't need someone correcting your grammar."

Jane shrugged negligently. "It's ok. Someone has to do it," she said, her grin briefly spreading to her eyes, before fading. "I'm really getting worried I'm not going to get these guys," she said quietly.

Maura pondered Jane's words for several seconds, and then pressed a kiss to the top of the detective's head. "I'll tell you what. I'll make you a bet that you do."

Jane's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really?" she asked, a bit taken aback by the unexpected offer. "What would we each get if we win?"

"If I win…hmmm…" Maura mulled the question for a few moments, before a slow smile began to appear on her face. "If I win, I get to pick the location of our vacation, and you will let me pay for getting us there."

Jane's eyes narrowed slightly. "But we'll split everything else?" she asked, unwilling to agree to let the other woman pay for anything more. Receiving Maura's nod of confirmation, the brunette nodded as well. "OK, and what do I get if I win?"

"If you win, I will not only state in front of as many witnesses as you would like, that you were right, and I was wrong, I will also‒"

"You will also say that I was right about poutine being a wonderful food," Jane interrupted with a broad smirk.

Maura's jaw clenched slightly, but she nodded her head. "And I will also say that poutine is a wonderful food…AND," she hurriedly continued, seeing Jane about to interrupt again, "I will tell your mother directly, in words that cannot be misunderstood or misinterpreted, that she needs to stop interfering and let you live your own life‒"

"DEAL!" Jane said, quickly sitting up and extending her hand.

Maura accepted Jane's hand and shook it with a smile. Just as the blonde began to pull away, however, a thought suddenly struck the detective and she tightened her grip on her friend. "Wait…there's no way for me to win this. I can't win 'never.'"

"Yes," Maura agreed, barely holding back a smile, "I thought offering to tell your mother to butt out of your life might entice you to agree before you realized that."

The medical examiner once again tried to release herself from their handshake, but Jane simply tightened her grip again. "You have to give me an end date."

"I don't think I do," Maura denied. "The deal was made in good faith."

"Good faith?" Jane scoffed. "You tricked me. You just admitted it."

"That's true, I did," Maura agreed thoughtfully, "That was probably a mistake on my part."

"Maura," Jane rumbled warningly.

"Ok, ok, you're right. I owe you an end date." The medical examiner rose gracefully from the couch and walked over to her desk to pick up her cell phone, before returning to sit at Jane's side once more. The detective watched as her friend brought up her calendar. To her surprise, Maura then extended the phone to her. "Here. Put it in."

Completely confused, Jane took the phone from her friend. "When is it?"

Maura waited for Jane to look up and make eye contact before answering. "The end date for the bet, assuming that you do not catch the ones responsible sooner, is the day that you agree to close this case. So just go ahead and mark that on my calendar for me, and we'll have our date."

Jane stared at her friend in silence, unable to do anything more than simply appreciate just how thoroughly Maura had managed her. They both knew that Jane would never agree to close the case. Even if the department someday chose to shut the case down, the brunette would never stop investigating until she found the men who were guilty. Finally, she lowered her head and laughed wryly. "I guess I can't argue with that, can I," she asked gruffly, as she handed Maura's phone back to her without any date marked.

"You could try," Maura said. "But you would lose." She placed her phone on the coffee table and then reached out and took Jane's right hand in her own. "You're off your sport, Jane. Are you getting enough sleep?" she asked gently.

"Game, not sport, Maura. Off your game. And I'm getting as much sleep as usual."

Maura cocked her head slightly to the side. "Are you eating healthy?"

"Same as usual."

"So no to both questions?" Maura chided, her voice a strange mix of both reproval and resigned amusement.

Jane turned to look at her friend. "My health food for the month is wine. Maybe I just need to start drinking lots of wine."

"Well, I don't think we should try excessive drinking just yet," Maura replied, "But why don't you come over to my place tonight? Let me cook dinner for you. Then afterwards, you can fall asleep on my couch while we watch a movie."

The offer, if Jane were honest with herself, was very tempting. She knew some time off would probably do her good, and beyond that, she just plain and simply missed spending time with Maura alone. The problem, though, was that her growing desperation to find Spencer Collins' murderers made it difficult for her to let up for even one night.

Suddenly Jane frowned, as a thought struck her. "It's Friday. Didn't you tell me you had a date with Gerald tonight? Something involving a special bottle of wine?"

Maura nodded slowly. "I was planning on cooking for him, but considering everything that's going on right now, Gerald would understand me spending the evening with you instead of him."

Jane resisted the urge to argue the point, but she seriously doubted that Gerald would be particularly 'understanding' about anything that involved her. The detective sighed inwardly. Now that she thought about it, she remembered Maura telling her all about the perfect meal she had planned to make to go with the special bottle of Gerald's favorite wine she had picked up. Truthfully, a very large part of her wanted to say 'yes' to Maura's offer purely for the sake of messing up Gerald's evening, but she couldn't do that. She had agreed that she would be better about sharing Maura with others. Forcing her friend to give up a special night just so Jane had some place to fall asleep watching a movie would be pretty much the opposite of that goal. "I can't right now, Maura. Once this case is over, though, I'll definitely take you up on that."

"I understand," the medical examiner said with a resigned sigh. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Jane began to respond, but stopped at the sound of an incoming text. She quickly pulled out her phone, hoping to see a message from Korsak. Disappointment filled her, however, when she saw that the text was from Erin. All but certain what it was going to say, she opened the message, dimly aware of Maura rising to her feet and walking away as she did so. It only took a few moments for Jane to confirm her guess: Erin was asking if she wanted to get together for drinks that night. Exhaling heavily, Jane began composing her response.

"Is something wrong?" Maura asked.

"No, it's just…" Jane's words trailed off distractedly for a few moments as she continued to type. "It's uh…it's just that one of Korsak's CIs contacted him and said he had information, so Korsak went to meet with him. I was hoping this was Korsak telling me we had an actual lead." She finished her message and returned her phone to her pocket. She looked back up at her friend and saw that Maura was now leaning back against the front of her desk. "But it was just Erin asking if I wanted to go out tonight. This makes the third time in a row I've turned her down," Jane said with a half shrug. "She's going to start thinking I'm avoiding her."

Maura looked at the brunette curiously. "Is everything alright with the two of you?"

"Everything's fine, I just don't have time to see her right now."

Maura hesitated for a moment before replying. "Maybe you should make the time."

"I don't feel like going out with anyone right now," Jane said, leaning back into the couch and closing her eyes. She knew she should get up and go back upstairs, but she was tired, and it wasn't as if they were making any progress anyway. Besides, as soon as she got up there, she was going to have to apologize to Nina, and she had no idea yet what she was going to say.

"It might help."

"What?" Jane asked distractedly.

"You're obviously very stressed," Maura said pragmatically. "Sexual activity has been demonstrated to reduce stress and anxiety and lower blood pressure. It's also been shown to improve analytical thinking, help a person to sleep, and improve overall mood, all of which would be helpful for you right now."

Jane slowly sat up straight, a look of utter incredulity on her face. "Did you just tell me that I need to get laid?"

Maura frowned slightly as she considered the question. "Yes," she said calmly, after a few moments had passed. "I suppose I did."

Jane snorted in disbelief. "Yeah, I'm not doing that."

"I don't understand why not," Maura replied, clearly puzzled by the other woman's objection to her suggestion. "You've said yourself that your relationship with Erin is largely based on sex, so why not take advantage of that fact. Take the night off, relax, and tomorrow you can return to the case refreshed and rejuvenated."

"Look, once this case is over, I'll be more than ready to call Erin up and spend the night 'rejuvenating,'" Jane said meaningfully, "But if I had sex with Erin right now, it would just be…wrong."

"Why would it be wrong?"

"Because I don't want to be the kind of person who fucks someone I don't care about, just to forget about the fact that I had a crappy day," Jane snapped in annoyance, before catching herself again. Reminding herself that Maura wasn't trying to make her mad, that she was honestly just attempting to suggest the course of action that she thought would be the most helpful, the brunette paused to take a steadying breath before speaking again. "If I was with Erin tonight, it'd just be about taking control and using her without caring how she felt, and then leaving as soon as I was satisfied. Erin may not be my girlfriend, but I'm still not going to treat her like that."

The medical examiner nodded her head in understanding. "Alright...I see, and honestly, I think that is a great attitude to have about sex." Maura tapped her chin thoughtfully. "So unfortunately, while sex would provide numerous benefits that would be helpful to you right now, you cannot have sex with Erin because you don't want to feel obligated to reciprocate, or even care about how she is feeling, and you don't want to feel guilty about that fact either."

"That's not exactly how I would have put it, but I guess that's close enough," Jane muttered, wishing Maura would just drop the whole thing.

"Well then the answer is simple," Maura said. "You need to have sex with someone who understands your situation, and would only care about your pleasure and seeing that you got exactly what you needed, without any expectation of reciprocation once you had achieved your release." A teasing glint appeared in Maura's eyes, as a suggestive grin began to play about the corners of her mouth. "I believe the answer to your problem is right in front of you."

For an instant, time seemed to come to a crashing halt, and Jane nearly forgot how to breathe. Maura couldn't possibly be suggesting what it sounded like she was proposing, could she? Sure, they had admitted that they found the other attractive, and they flirted with each other all the time, but they had also both agreed that they could not cross the line between friends and lovers.

Fighting back the images of Maura naked in bed, gasping and moaning with pleasure, writhing beneath someone who was definitely NOT Gerald, Jane swallowed hard to get past the tightness in her throat. "It is?"

"Well," Maura said, her head tilting slightly to the side, "I suppose it's more accurate to say that the answer is 'close at hand,'" she said, nodding meaningfully towards the detective's hands.

It took Jane's brain several seconds to push aside the thoughts from before and process what her friend was saying, but once she did, she felt her embarrassment level ratchet up several more notches. "Jesus, Maura. Really?" she demanded. God what was wrong with her? How could she have allowed herself to believe that Maura was suggesting they have sex? They had agreed not to go there, and yet she constantly found herself imaging what it would be like to have Maura Isles as a lover.

Forcing those thoughts aside, Jane instead focused on the current problem facing her: Maura's suggestion. "I'm not doing…that," she muttered, feeling her cheeks flaming bright red.

Maura waved her hand dismissively. "Honestly Jane, masturbation is nothing to be ashamed of. Take some time tonight to draw yourself a bath, relax, and then just take matters into your own hands, so to speak."

Jane shook her head and rose to stand. "Okay we are so not talking about this." If the choice was between talking about sex with Maura, and swallowing her pride and apologizing to Nina, the apology was the clear winner.

"Why not?"

Still reeling, Jane struggled to find a way to escape from the conversation. "Because you're my friend," she replied, in a tone that indicated the answer should be obvious without her having to say it.

"I'm a doctor."

"You're not MY doctor," Jane growled through clenched teeth.

Maura sighed. "Jane–"

"No no no no no!" Jane said emphatically as she began walking towards the door to Maura's office. Clearly, this was her punishment for having indecent thoughts about her best friend. "We are not having this discussion. Not now. Not ever."

"Alright," Maura said, holding up her hands to signal her surrender. "I'm sorry. The last thing I intended to do was cause you even more stress."

"I know," Jane said tightly, as she paused with her hand on the door handle. And the fact was, she did know that. Maura was just trying to help. The problem was that right now, Jane was finding it hard to remember that she couldn't pursue a sexual relationship with her friend. Making matters worse, Jane wasn't entirely certain she would have turned Maura down if the medical examiner had been making the offer that Jane had thought she had.

"Look, I need to go apologize to Nina for taking everything out on her earlier," Jane said. "If I'm in the building later, maybe we could have lunch together?"

A look of chagrin flashed across Maura's features. "I'm sorry. I can't, I already made arrangements to take everyone out for lunch. It's Employee Appreciation Day."

"Which explains the presents I saw out there when I was walking through the morgue," Jane mused. "It's ok," she reassured her friend. "I'll grab something from the café."

"Or I could bring something back for you," Maura suggested.

The detective shook her head. "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine."

"Well at least take a break for coffee with me this afternoon."

The detective's left eyebrow immediately shot up high on her forehead. "Seriously? Dr. Isles is going to encourage me to drink coffee in the afternoon?"

"I think under the circumstances, I can make a determination that drinking one regular cup of coffee this afternoon would not do you irreparable damage," Maura said with mock solemnity.

"Awesome. Then we are scheduled for one 'regular' cup of coffee," Jane said, holding her hands about a foot apart to demonstrate her ideas as to what constituted a regular size cup.

Maura rolled her eyes but otherwise did nothing to disabuse the brunette's notion regarding the size of a regular coffee. Instead, she walked over to stand beside her friend and placed a hand on her right arm. "Jane, I'm sorry about giving you a hard time earlier."

"I told you, it's ok."

"No, it's really not," Maura said quietly, her voice filled with concern. "I should have realized that this investigation is putting a lot more stress on you than normal." The medical examiner shook her head slowly. "I'm usually better about recognizing how you are feeling. I don't usually need Frankie to tell me when you're really upset," she continued ruefully. Maura lowered her head and fell silent for a moment, before exhaling heavily. "I don't know, lately, where you and I are concerned, I just feel so...so…"

"Out of sync?" Jane asked quietly.

Maura looked back up to meet her friend's gaze. "Yes."

A long pause filled the room, as both women considered what to say next.

Jane finally broke the silence with a soft laugh. "This doesn't bode well for us dancing together at the wedding next week, does it? Maybe you should rethink taking me."

Maura smiled and gave her friend's arm an affectionate squeeze. Shaking her head, she walked back over to the coffee table to retrieve the file Jane had deposited there earlier. "Sorry, but you're not getting out of this that easily. I'm sure we'll be fine."

"Sure, or positive?" Jane teased.

Maura flashed her friend a sly smirk. "As I lack certain critical data that I would need in order to make an analytical judgment, I am relying on my beliefs, and therefore, I am sure, not positive."

"Uh huh…and just what beliefs are you relying on here?" Jane asked. "That I am always amazing at everything I do?"

"No, that I am an amazing dancer," Maura said with a smug grin. "So I should be able to smooth out any mistakes that you may make."