Maura woke the next morning, having slept soundly being back in the comfort of her own bed. As she groggily came to, she smiled as she saw the lean figure lying in reach. Dark curls fell across the pillow. She was tempted to reach out and touch, and maybe caress Jane awake, but as much as she wanted to do that, she had been concerned the previous evening by how tired Jane looked. She decided to pull herself away from temptation and leave Jane to sleep a little longer. Maura prepared breakfast for them and then went back through to the bedroom and gently kissed Jane on the forehead, then the lips, then the cheek, finally concluded Jane was so deeply asleep she wouldn't be waking with a gentle kiss. After also discarding her original idea of caressing her awake aside when several strokes of her arm just seemed to leave Jane snuggling further in to the bed, she resorted to calling her name whilst gently shaking her shoulder. Any feelings of being let down they didn't have a wake up scene worthy of a movie were put aside when, as Jane's eyes focussed as she woke she suddenly saw Maura and smiled broadly. Maura was sure no one had even shown such pure joy to see her.

"Morning Maur", Jane's voice was even more husky first thing in the morning

"Morning yourself, sleepyhead"

"C'm here" Jane invited, opening her arms wide.

Maura debated momentarily "Jane I would love to, but if I hop in that bed with you and cuddle, I really won't want to get out, and we are already cutting it fine to be on time. I have your breakfast all laid out"

Jane looked disappointed

"But Jane" Maura continued, "the great news is it is Friday, so today we work, tonight we go to the robber, and tomorrow morning we have nowhere to be and can stay in bed as long as you like"

Jane brightened "And tomorrow night, can I ask you on a date Dr Isles?"

Maura smiled, feeling almost giddy "why you most certainly can, Detective Rizzoli, but right now, it is time for breakfast." And she quickly headed out of the room. Jane tried to keep her eyes off her sashaying bottom in short silk sleep shorts.

…

They split up once at the precinct to establish what was new in their respective domains. Maura was pleased that everything seemed just fine down in the Mortuary. They had managed to get a competent short term locum to cover her unexpected non-appearance, and Susie had taken care of everything else. So long as she didn't have to "manage" Dr Pike, Susie could manage most things. It had been a quiet night in Boston suspiscious deaths wise, so Maura had only some paperwork that needed her attention.

…

Jane was feeling restless up in the bullpen. As Cavanaugh had taken her off everything else currently she was meant to continue to focus on the ME situation. Enderlene and Rodriguez had made the immediate decision to go once they heard she was safe, and were now with the rest of the team in Portland. Jane looked impatiently at her watch. 845am in Boston was 545am in Portland. She couldn't call anyone yet just to ask what was happening. She should wait another two hours at least, and three- four hours was probably more polite. She went round to see what Korsak and Frost were up to. With Boston having had a quiet few days for homicides, they like Maura were mainly catching up on paperwork. Korsak looked up and watched her pace around the desks. "Loose end Jane?"

"Yeah"

"shall we go for coffee?"

"any more coffee and I'll never be able to sit still"

"donuts?"

"watching you stuff yourself with Donuts, Korsak? Not my kind of date"

Korsak looked up her and smiled impishly "so shall I start asking what your kind of date is Jane?"

At this Frost looked up with interest and Jane glowered at Korsak "c'mon. there must be something useful we can do?"

Korsak "look, we don't have much on either. Why don't you see if Maura is free and we all get together at 10am and see if anyone has had any new thoughts in the last few days. We've been so focussed on finding Maura, but maybe someone has had a passing thought or a new way of looking at things that they left because of the urgency of finding Maura. Worth a shot? Jane, why don't you catch up on any briefing materials the FBI have sent through in the interim?"

"I've already read those Korsak"

"cool so summarise for me"

"okay, maybe not so well I can summarise for you. I'll go prepare"

"will you invite Maura, or shall I"

"ah, I'll do that" Jane smiled.

….

Korsak led their small team talk. "Jane. News from Portland?"

"So, victim was on the short list of at risk medical examiners. Gloria Stuart. 43. Single. Seen as a national-level expert in the matching of bruising patterns to blunt force weapons". Jane was distracted by Maura nodding "yes, I read an excellent paper of hers in the annals on…."suddenly Maura tailed off "..but that's so sad isn't it? So talented, and maybe dead because of it?"

Jane continued somberly "Dr Stuart was known to be an enthusiastic user of her outdoor hot tub, which she swore by using nightly to relax her body for sleep. She was found lying by the tub with the cover off. Ligature strangulation. Again, seems as though it was quick, there was no real struggle, no sexual assault. Time of death estimated at around 10pm, but the ME reported that was even more a guess than usual, depending on whether her body temp may have been raised if she was murdered just as she hopped out of the tub. Her front door was locked and secured. She had been escorted home by a member of the small team the local police had assigned to oversee her safety at around seven pm – who swept the house and ensured she locked up the front door as he left. Presumption is the perp came around through the side gate, and seemed to expect she would be in the tub"

"any slip ups, trace evidence?"

"no. a fibre near the gate, but not confirmed as related, and thought to come from a common brand of Walmart polo shirts, of which there are thousands around the country. Again a possible shoe print, but seemed a brand new, size 10 walmart house brand. Not the most common shoe in the united states, but not distinctive in any way"

Frost grinned "bags not being the guy who sits through thousands of hours of quality Walmart video trying to decide "Fashion Crime or Serial Killer disguise"?"

He lost the grin as everyone stared at him "yeah, sorry, not so funny"

Korsak "so if she was known to use the hot tub, does it look like the perp knew that? Like it was another well planned attack – knew they wouldn't need access to the house, knew she would be alone and vulnerable in the back yard?"

Jane "well there is no indication the house was broken in to. Maybe they were going around the back to see if there was an easy access in and found her by chance, but yeah, could be that they knew she would be there and vulnerable"

Maura "Jane, did Dean get those checks run on whether there were any staff of a similar profile joining each MEs lab in the time gap between each killing?"

Jane "I think we all got distracted by a certain missing ME Maura. I'll ask him again. Any other ideas team?"

…..

Whilst the others went back to their various tasks, Jane kept thinking about the ME killer. Late in the day, she got a call from Rodriquez who had had an analyst follow up on Maura's question. Rodriquez sounded cautiously optimistic. In each case a male criminologist in the 35-45 age band had been employed in the office of the ME. In each case, starting after the date of the prior killing, and suddenly leaving and disappearing within days of the new killing. The names given varied, but the first run through the databases suggested that the few months this person had been using the assigned social security number was the only time the number had earnt taxable income in years. So expectations were they would be found to be assumed identities. Jane realised there was still a lot of checking to do, to try and establish whether it might be a solid lead. She realised there was nothing more for her to be doing that day and went down to the Morgue.

She smiled as she walked in to Maura's office and saw Maura head down, peering at paperwork. Maura looked up at her and smiled back. Jane's heart lurched. "Hey you" she husked, "not just beautiful, but smart too" she continued "your criminologist theory looks like a possible. They have found a couple of probable assumed identities fitting the time frames that could be the same person"

"So, what next?" Maura asked

"Well they will try and chase down these identities, try and work out if they are assumed, and if so, whether it might be the same person. Then try and work out who that person is. Hopefully find a mistake there. At the very least, there must be some security footage from the labs so we can get a picture. If it is one person, it seems highly likely to be our perp – why else would you impersonate a criminologist?"

"Some people enjoy the excitement of assuming identities of authority, the feeling of special knowledge of covert operations" Maura began

"but, why keep moving? And how could you have the coincidence of appearing just before an ME dies repeatedly"

"I agree Jane, the perp seems more likely, you just asked why you would impersonate a criminologist and I answered" Maura smiled.

Jane grabbed her round the waist and firmly kissed her "Gosh I love you when you're so dorkily adorable".

Maura pushed her off "Careful Jane, we don't want gossip round the precinct yet, and also, dork is a term for..."

"Okay, okay, okay" Jane laughed. "please, no lecture. I'm sorry. But you are adorable"

"back to the case Jane, once you have the picture, then what?"

"well hopefully we find the slip amongst the identities that gives us an actual identity and location"

"and if you don't?"

"well at least we will have a picture"

"ooh, I could go undercover. Advertise for a new criminologist in my lab?"

"Maur, I'm not sure you can say you're going undercover if you are planning to be yourself. Dr Maura Isles undercover as….Dr Maura Isles. I think you're referring to a trap"

"Oh but we need to avoid entrapment?"

"No. In this case, we would be laying a trap to have him come out of hiding. Entrapment which is illegal, is where you incite someone to commit a crime. We aren't allowed to do that. But we will hopefully be able to get this guy to confess if we can find him. Or maybe we will get a lucky break with evidence he has left somewhere once we have him. But I am not sure I like the idea of you putting yourself at any more risk Maura. Luring him out. Let's hope it doesn't come to that"