Berkshire was a restaurant in Midtown whose entrance sat right in front of a popular corner bodega and specialized in upscale reeditions of famous beef and pork sandwiches.

There was something so nauseating about the honey rich sweetness of the rows of flowers seated on the street at the corner store entrance drenched in their own beings, and the pungent aroma of roasted animal flesh wafting onto the street from the restaurant's kitchen window above.

Jane wrinkled her nose and adjusted her coat as she maneuvered her way about the business of the convenience store and began to climb the narrow staircase to the luncheonette's main entrance. Once at the top she took a small glance behind her before pushing her way into the surprisingly open and sundrenched floor plan. Suddenly the sickening sweetness in the air was replaced with a more manageable and savory familiarity that the detective admired as she began to take off her coat.

"Hello, Welcome to Berkshire." The hostess was already fretting over her sleeves.

"Hi." Jane nodded and let the petite woman wonder off quickly with her coat before returning with a metal slab with her coat number pressed into it.

She wasn't sure why, but Jane thought of the movie she and Maura went to see after the family trip to the zoo at that very moment.

The hostess began to frown. "Ma'am?"

Jane snapped out of detailing the place and smiled apologetically. "Smells good in here." She took the coat fob. "Thank you."

The hostesses smile returned, and she proudly situated herself back behind her podium. "Yes, Chef Gregory is excellent." Then she noticed what Jane was wearing and frowned again. "Do you have a reservation?"

Jane looked down to her simple get up of a t-shirt and jeans and rolled her eyes mentally. She really should have known Davies would recommend somewhere way higher brow then he let on. "Uh yeah, sorry. I think he's here already. Cameron Davies?" Jane watched her break eye contact and begin to search the small tablet in front of her. "He said he was here so—"

"—one moment please." She hadn't even looked up.

"Jane!"

Jane looked toward the sound of her voice and spotted Davies, clad in an imperial blue suit (she was now taking private delight in being able to tell the difference) and loafers without a tie. He had shaved and was smiling a wide and easy smile as he got up from a corner table and made his way over to the stand within a few strides. "You made it!" He beamed. The hostess did not seem at all pleased at their small embraced but smiled when Davies motioned to her. "This is my guest, we're all set." He nodded and with a light hand on her shoulder blade lead Jane toward the table. "Jeez, what'd you do to her?" He muttered as they walked.

Jane rolled her eyes. "I don't think she likes my jeans." She gently shrugged his hand away.

"Oh." Davies looked down to what she was wearing and chuckled softly. "Sorry, this place has been written up a million times, I thought you'd recognize it when I mentioned it."

"You said Pastrami sandwich." They sat down. "Where I'm from that means wear the worst item of clothing you own because you're just gonna end up getting drippings all over it." She reached for her water.

Cameron leaned forward at the small round table they were sharing and smiled. "Boston has different standards I hear."

"This better not be a forty-dollar sandwich." She went to take a sip but paused. "And it better not be human meat either."

Cameron's eyes shot up with laughter. "What? God, I hope not!"

They settled into an easy conversation: it was confirmed that they had both made it in okay, and though incredibly ridiculous, the New York City transit covered way more than Boston's infrastructure would let it. There was some talk of the psychological evaluation and how the process was going. Jane was reminded at how easy he was to talk to, and how that was nice. They had ordered beers to go with their steak and pastrami sandwiches. When their drinks came Cameron took a large gulp from his beer and smiled.

"Thirsty?" Jane chuckled finding the whole thing to be mostly funny, a little childish.

"A little, I never quite shook that field training we got on hydration, now no matter what it is, if I see it I drink it." He chuckled at the look she was giving him. "It's just to condition us to remain hydrated."

She pointed to herself. "I don't have to do that right?"

Davies shook his head seriously, as if disappointed she wouldn't have the honor. "No, it's only for field ops."

"Oh, Good I can barely get through two cups of coffee without being up and down at HQ." She commented thinking about her morning routines when back in Boston. She picked up her own beer and took a small sip.

"You don't remember when I stayed over?" He asked. "I had four cups of water before I could leave with you and Doctor Isles."

"Did you?" She couldn't recall.

"Mhm."

"Well, that was a long time ago."

Davies grinned softly. "Was it?" He sure thought about it often enough.

Jane cleared her throat a little. "Well, I would say so."

Noticing her posture become more ridged Davies sat up a little more himself. For a second, they both openly studied the other. "I'm glad we could make the time while you were here though." It was a genuine statement, but the unavoidable brush of pleasantries had officially cleared for Jane, and it was finally time to say what she had been trying to figure out to say since they got off the phone.

"I am too." Jane glanced at their table before looking back at him. "It's a …see… what we were doing before." She nodded firmly as she held onto her words. "Before when you were over?" He nodded. "I've started seeing someone else and it's… Well it's important to me that I do it right."

Davies seemed surprised. "Oh."

"Yeah I …. I did want to see you, to tell you." She motioned to him. "And because I do like you… Which by the way is a really big complement being a fed guy."

He laughed, not at all expecting the last bit. "Well thank you? You know I know I've been rather MIA and all over the place, literally most days, but I was really looking forward to see you to ask if you wanted to pick things back up from where we left them..."

Jane thought of her conversation with Maura, and kissing her goodnight last night, and as a flurry of butterflies attacked her stomach she tried her best not to smile. "You're a great guy, it's just…."

Cameron nodded and waved her off in a friendly way, the kind that explained any more explanation on her part would be too much for how infrequently they had been intimate. There had been a potential there though, his eyes said he was disappointed to have lost it. "Don't worry about it." There was a long pause between them as he grabbed he grabbed his beer. "So… Tell me about the lucky guy? He work at BPD?"

Jane was caught off guard. She was sure Davies would take it well enough, he was a nice guy and there was a lot of respect between them, it was getting the words out on her end she was more concerned about, but now that that was taken care of she hadn't at all prepared herself for actually talking about Maura, and they still hadn't gotten their sandwiches yet!

"Uhmm, well we've just known each other for a long time."

"Did I meet him when I was there? Ray?"

"Ray!?" Jane made a face. "C'mon Davies give me a little credit here."

Cameron chuckled and motioned to himself. "You were talking to him a lot when I was down there—"

"He was a lead on a case that I had taken over, and—"

"Yeah, uh huh." He teased.

Jane raised a brow. "Ray couldn't close a book let alone a case, there's no way I'd—"

Davies continued to laugh. "Oh okay, so your guy's top cop?"

Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Quarter Women's League Fencing Champion, New England Medical Officers first and only President in the field of Forensic Pathology, Organ Donor, Guest Professor of Forensic Sciences at one of the best schools in the country… Friend of the Zoo…

Yeah, Jane would say Maura was pretty top cop. "Sort of." She offered humbly.

A waiter had just arrived to place their lunch before them. "He buy you amazing pastrami sandwiches?" There was a final attempt at flirtation in his voice that Jane had to chuckle at.

He really liked her.

"God no." She admitted reaching for her beer to take a quick swig in preparation the deliciousness just placed before her. "S—He's a bit of a pain in the ass when it comes to stuff like that." She smiled though. She wondered then what the ME was doing right at that moment.

"Well I've got him there at least?" he motioned to their sandwiches. "Save room for the bacon chocolate ice cream."

"Keep talking about this bacon chocolate and we'll see."

She left lunch feeling both accomplished and stuffed beyond gastric repair

They had hugged goodbye, and Davies offered to buy her her first beer when she got to Virginia but it was all in the name of friendship.

On the way back toward the hotel Jane debated calling her mother and then decided she'd call her brothers instead. The conversation with Tommy lasted three blocks, he was taking a break from work and only had a few moments to spare. He hadn't heard from their father and was taking his time to see their mother too, He needed space. Lydia was good, TJ was good, he had returned the tux. The next call was to Frankie and lasted the rest of the walk back toward the hotel. They talked about the case almost explicitly until the end of the call when Jane keyed into her hotel room and Frankie announced that he would need to go.

"Hold on a minute." Jane slipped out of her sneakers and ran her free hand through her hair before sitting on the edge of the freshly made bed. That sandwich had enough greasy goodness to sedate a town and the feeling was starting to pull at her attention and making it difficult to stand and talk at the same time. "What's going on with Ma?

"Ma?" Across the communal meeting table situated randomly in the bull pen and over a mountain of evidence boxes and files Nina picked her head up and made eye contact with him.

"Yeah, our mother, did you check on George? Was she there?"

Nina raised a brow as Frankie hesitated. "Ma? Yeah she was there, your damn turtle has gotta be half ninja or something, took me an hour to catch him." He laughed at the memory. "Ma's screaming wasn't helpin'."

Jane furrowed brows. "She had him out of the tank—he's a tortoise, Frankie." She shook her head. "—What did Ma say about what happened?"

Frankie sat back in seat and adjusted his tie. "We didn't get to talk about it." Nina got up and he sighed at the action. "I mean— She didn't tell me what this was about." It was true, she hadn't said much of anything that he could confirm.

Jane leaned forward a little and rested her elbows on her knees. "Why are you being weird all of a sudden?"

"I'm not being weird."

"You're being very weird."

"She didn't say anything either way."

"Alright so what happened?"

Frankie shook his head. "Janie, you should just call her."

"I don't wanna call her."

He huffed. "Well why not?"

"Because…" She flayed a hand out toward the hotel wall before her and the tasteful piece of modern art that hung there. "Because then she's going to want to talk about all kinds of things that I don't really want to talk about."

Frankie paused. "What kinds of things?"

Jane supposed she had shared more than she wanted to and in response slowly pulled her posture back up with a large sigh. "Would you just tell me what she said? You suck at lying you know."

He could just imagine her features then and despite the flicker of curiosity within him Frankie decided to oblige his older sister this once... "Alright…" He started with George Herman and ended on her promising to know what she was doing. "—She said she had to help him because he gave her us." Frankie scratched at his chin and waited. "What do you think?"

"He's sick."

"That's what I thought."

"She didn't confirm it?"

"Not really."

"Would explain the money…"

"Rizzoli & Sons?"

"Yeah I mean, wasn't he saying that he was going to leave it for us, settle somewhere here in New York?" Now that she relived the conversation there was a hopeful finality in his voice that lay very close to desperation, and it was her own spite that naively named it the later.

"That part confuses me." He admitted.

Jane nodded to herself. "Yeah me too…" She suddenly got an idea. "He ever mentions what he'd be doing here?"

Frankie shrugged. "Dunno, maybe Tommy knows?"

"Yeah… Maybe." Just then a small beep told both detectives that one of them was getting another call. With a glance at her phone Jane brought her attention back to her brother's voice talking with Korsak in the background.

"Was that you or me?"

"Me." She glanced at the device in her hand again. "it's Maura."

"Alight well I'll let you go, try to have a little fun huh?"

Jane smiled. "Yeah yeah, try and solve a murder, huh?"

"Call me later."

It wasn't an odd request, however with the frequency at which they spoke in general it was one that was never really made before but simply understood. Jane took notice to it now and nodded slowly. He was definitely being weird about something. "Alright I will." They hung up and Jane was able to just switch the call over right at the last moment. "Rizzoli."

"Hi Jane."

Jane smiled at the cheeriness of the ME's tone. "Hey."

"I only have a moment; we are starting a panel discussion on ethical chemical purchasing soon."

"Everything going okay?"

"No one has turned up diseased yet, so I believe so."

Jane laughed. "Give it time."

"I…" Maura tried not to blush. She was standing outside the main hall of the conference rooms watching her peers mingle before the next session. "Well I admittedly had no real reason to contact you other than to say hello."

Jane laid back on her hotel bed and kept her phone to her ear. "Can we do that?"

Maura's smile grew. "I don't see why not, do you?"

"No no I don't see any reason either. This works for me."

"How is your day going?"

Jane sighed then. "Let's talk about it later?"

"Does that mean you spoke to your mother?"

Jane checked her watch. "No but I'm gonna call her here soon."

'Focus on the factual evidence." She reminded cutely. "There is no sense wondering into the abys."

Jane's smile became crooked. "You wanna do something after you're done there? Want me to meet you?"

"I would like that very much, dinner?"

"Pizza."

Maura frowned. "Sushi?"

Jane's smile fell as she pursed her lips together. "Mmmm, no?"

Maura seemed amused. "Vietnamese?"

"Pizza."

"Indian?"

"Pizza."

"I see."

Jane stretched out some on the bed. "That we're having pizza?"

"That you are going to make this difficult."

"What time should I be there?"

Maura waved as she was motioned forward down the hall to her assigned paneling room. "Five thirty."

"I'll be there at five twenty." There was new commotion in the background. "You're walking?"

"I am."

"Alright—"

"—Just remember that she loves you."

Jane sighed at that and then sat up in bed again. "Yeah… I know." After they hung up Jane stared at her cell phone for a few minutes. She wasn't sure how to handle this. On one end, she was livid, enraged really. How she could think that letting their father back into their lives on any level living or dying was a good idea was crazy to Jane. Then, as if noticing some feature for the first time she had had her entire life in the mirror Jane's callousness surprised her. When did she start feeling so… angry? And why? He had always been there for her as a kid, showed her how to ride a bike, swing a bat, hot wire a car. He was at her softball games when he could be, brought her and her bothers to school on the first day every year even in High school, and when she shared that she wanted to join the force he was the one who talked her mother out of locking her in her room for the next thirty years.

Sure, the reality of life was that a person lived many different ways, and was many different things to a lot of people, but what about that person he was to her back then? Had she truly exhausted every ounce of care for him these last years?

It was then that Jane realized she was afraid to call her mother because she knew she'd be disappointed to learn that she in fact had, and for all her father had done for her growing up disappointing her mother still ranked highest on the list of the worst feelings in the world.

The line rang twice.

"Well if it isn't my only daughter." Her tone was big and warm, and it made Jane smile regardless of how truly nervous the call made her feel.

"Hey Ma."

"Finally able to take a break from all the shopping and eating to call your mother huh?"

She shook her head. "I officially quit shopping."

Angela chuckled. "Maura's got you holding all those bags again?"

Jane nodded. "Mhm."

"Well I warned you. You girls need a plan when you go somewhere, that's how you end up with things I never see you wear anyway…" She continued on, it sounded like she was outdoors somewhere but only because of the wind sweeping in between her words. There was no traffic, no other voices Jane could detect so she imagined she was in her garden.

"—Just got off the phone with Frankie." Jane cut off when her mother began to ask about articles of clothing Jane hadn't worn since she was a teenager.

"Really? Has he eaten?"

"I don't know Ma, I'm all the way in New York."

"I'm worried about your brothers."

"I'm worried about you."

There was a small pause, the kind that told the younger woman that Angela had caught on to where this was going and was trying to figure her position. "Ma."

"You kids need to stop worrying so much."

"Kinda hard given everything that's going on."

There was another pause. "There isn't anything going on that you all should be worried about, that's what I told Frankie."

"Is the cancer back?"

"Yes."

Jane felt her stomach drop at how sure she sounded. "…Well… Is he getting treatment?"

Angela's effort was audible as she hiked herself up onto the small garden bench between Maura's kitchen back door and her own front door before dusting off her jeans. This morning she had decided to rotate some soil in preparation for their spring plantings. It was an activity that she and Maura usually enjoyed doing together once it started to get warmer, but the matriarch needed something to do with her hands on her off day, and seeing as how everything was clean, and literally everyone's laundry was done, she decided the ME wouldn't mind her starting a little today. "He hasn't decided."

"He hasn't decided what?"

"We were supposed to go to an appointment together, he was scared because of how quickly he started feeling bad, he called me you know…" She tried to think of what to say next. "He doesn't want you kids to worry."

"Sure looks that way with all this commotion he's been kicking up."

"Your father hasn't always made the best decision—"

"Lydia."

"That poor girl has been through enough."

"Of this family I'll say." She thought of Tommy and the tuxedo and TJ and the zoo then. "How could you help him after all of that?"

"He's your father—"

"—Yeah I know, well aware Ma, That's something I don't think any of us are gonna forget, but he broke your heart, pretty much left you homeless, and—"

"—And what good has ever come from thinking of all the negative things, Janie, especially when he's sick like this—"

"It doesn't erase them!"

The line fell completely silent.

Angela brought her new cell phone to her other ear. "Honey." She began calmly. "It is because of all those things that happened to me in the past that helped me wake up and realize we all need a little help every now and then" She could Jane exhaled on the other line. "I am a happy grandmother, a proud mother, and I am in the heathiest relationship I have ever been in in my entire life. I am going to help your father, and I am going to do that because I am in a place where I can. Do you understand?"

Jane nodded once. "Yeah."

"You don't have to agree."

"I don't."

Angela frowned. "Well then we don't have to talk about it."

Jane suddenly felt guilty. "Ma it's just that…. You're my Ma."

Angela chuckled softly. "I know sweetheart."

"If anything happens to you again because of him—"

"It's very advanced, this time around, Janie."

Jane frowned. "It is?"

"From what I understood; you know all that medical mumbo jumbo goes over my head sometimes…" She regarded the plot of soil she had been working. "… We won't know how bad exactly until this next visit."

Jane sat with that for what seemed like eternity. "Doesn't help that he's still drinking…"

"No, it doesn't."

She shook her head at the whole situation and sighed heavily into her free hand before rubbing at her temple. "What do you need?"

Angela smiled at the gesture. "Nothing, Ron is helping me with the medical appointments."

"Ron is helping you?"

"He is a Doctor, Janie."

"Yeah I know it's just." She shrugged to herself. "This is a lot to take in I guess."

"It's uncomfortable."

Jane huffed at that. It sounded something like Maura would say. "You sound like Maura."

Angela finally sat back on the bench and stretched out her feet. "Enough about all of this for right now. We can talk more when you get back."

Jane wanted that "Okay."

"You girls should be enjoying the break. How is Maura? Her mother called the house looking for her."

"Which one?"

"Bio Mom."

Jane nodded with a little laugh. "I keep telling her she needs to just get rid of the house phone. No one uses them anymore."

"With how much you kids are attached to those things I don't see why either."

"I'll let her know, she probably already called her cell phone by now but she's in this conference all day pretty much."

"Are you two having fun?"

Jane thought back to the first leg of the trip and smiled to herself. "Yeah." She shrugged it off. "We uh, got to spend a lot of time with Tasha."

"Which I know you love." Angela nodded proudly. Jane hardly realized how firmly she placed herself in the young girl's life. It was that big heart of hers that told the other woman that though she disagreed with her decision with helping Frank, somewhere at some point, she'd understand it.

"Yeah she's this adult now it's crazy, too smart for me, keeping up with Maura. I dunno. We're talking about grad school when she gets back to Boston. It's a year or so out."

"Graduate school." Angela nodded quite impressed.

"Yeah… Maura and I were talking about the money of it the other night. It's damn expensive what they're asking for. I mean Tasha will get the scholarships but still."

"Well you know if she needs to make a little money when she gets back there is always waitressing at The—"

Jane shook her head firmly. "—She's not working at a bar, Ma. She's just a kid."

Angela laughed. "I thought she was an adult?"

"Well not really, no." Jane got up to make herself another cup of coffee in the kitchenette. "That's the last thing I need is some drunk rookie hitting on her."

"You'd lose your badge."

Jane chuckled and nodded. "Damn right I would, she's already gotten this far. You know I've seen it too many times." Albeit when Jane saw it now it usually ended in murder, still, getting knocked up way too young had to be prevalent enough without death too right?

"How is Maura?"

"Maura is Maura… this morning she brought me—uh coffee."

"Well that's nice."

Jane glanced at the parcel of what she supposed was honest to goodness pornography sitting on the small table in her suite. "Yeah she thinks of everything…"

"Have you met up with that hunk agent?"

Jane frowned. "Davies? Yeah we had lunch today Ma—"

"—Oh that sounds—"

"No no no, hold on a minute."

"What!?" Angela smiled. "I was just going to say that sounded nice…."

"This whole meddling this is getting old Ma."

"Who's meddling!?"

"You are, you asked Maura to help get us together?"

"I don't know what you're talking—"

"Maura told me!"

"Why would she do that!?"

"Don't get her involved in your nonsense." Jane warned. "Cut it out, seriously."

"I just want you to be able to find someone—"

"I will I will, God."

"—You know Frankie and Nina are going to get married and Tommy and Lydia…. Have TJ. I don't want you to miss out—"

"Ma, alright. I know."

"—You know you're not getting any younger, and with this new job, Lord knows when you'll have time to met someone and have babies—"

Jane rested her mug down and put a hand to her forehead. "How many grandchildren do you need?" She was exacerbated at how quickly it always came to that.

"Twelve." Angela answered seriously.

Jane huffed. "I'm hanging up."

"I love you, Sweetheart."

Jane sighed. "I love you too, Ma." She thought of something. "Be careful yknow? With all that stuff with Pop."

"Stop worrying."

"I can't."

"Try."

"Bye Ma…" When they hung up the detective sat back on her bed and waited in the silence of the hotel room until her kettle told her the hot water was ready.

##

Maura discreetly checked her watch before smiling brightly at the group around her. "—Yes, it is quite fascinating." She agreed.

"Do you think it's possible?" An NYU pre-med student with the hopes of a path in forensic pathology asked her.

"Well as you know we can not say finite until the right amount of research has been done, however in Boston we are very optimistic for its release." The new Mass Spectrometer TD7X had been finally committed to a release date sometime in the fall. The news broke over the course of that day and devoured all outside conversation at the New England Medical Officer's ethics conference.

"—I hear it can create literal carbon base copies of the matter on a molecular level." Another gushed.

"That feature has been confirmed to my understanding." Maura checked her watch. "If you'd all excuse m—"

"Doctor Isles!"

Thirty minutes later and an hour late Maura rushed out of the polished elevators at the Gansevoort Conference Center at New York City's Hudson Yards Basin and made her way into the marble lobby. She spotted Jane immediately and felt a soft tug at her lips hesitate between a frown or a smile.

The detective was seated with her long legs crossed in one of the large cream-colored sofa chairs with her coat on her lap and her chin on her knuckle, she was wearing the most severe case-face the ME had seen since Alice Sans invaded her life those short years ago.

As not to disturb her thoughts Maura made a slow and lateral approach into the other woman's direct line of sight and waited. Jane quickly picked her head up when the fragrance of Maura's perfume though faint tickled her nostrils. She smiled up at her as she began to stand as if she hadn't been at all lost in her own thoughts for more than an hour.

"Hey, you ready?"

"Hi." Maura smiled and reached a hand out to her arm. It was beginning to feel reflexive to reach for Jane this way in greeting. "I could ask you the same thing, I'm so sorry we ran late."

Jane frowned and checked her watch. "Oh.." She snuck a peak over at Maura. "I forgot to get pissed."

"I can give you some time."

"Nah." They smiled at one another. "You got everything? Cost? Briefcase? Nerd swag?"

Maura took her hand back and quickly accounted for all of her belongings. "Yes, shall we?" Jane reached for her briefcase and Maura held it from her. "I do believe I can manage." Her smile was teasing but her message clear.

Jane nodded as they started toward the exit. "This place is huge, where were you guys?" She craned her neck to finally notice the painting on the ceiling in the grand entryway.

"We were in smaller rooms upstairs, tomorrow though, for the lecture of micro organic chemistry and criminalist procedurals we will be what is call their Dome. The entire ceiling is made out self-cleaning polyurethane cut to resemble glass, it's quite spectacular."

"Self-cleaning polyurethane…"

They stepped out into the late evening chill and immediately remembered their coats. Once Maura settled into her down lined jacket she adjusted her hair about her face and nudged Jane softly who was fighting with her scarf. "Spumante's Pizzeria is a mere three blocks away."

Jane's face lit up as she rummaged in her pockets for her cell phone with the information for the sushi restaurant she had looked up. "But Keeley's Sushi is one block away."

Maura's brows knitted together in amusement. "Both?"

Jane shrugged goofily. "We are on vacation."

Keeley's Sushi was a small narrow establishment with a hand full of stout wooden tables decorated with red and gold placemats. The mood tonight seemed lively, the crowd: a mix of people from young to old. Maura and Jane just happened to get there as one of the tables were being switched over from a previous guest eating alone. As they waited for their waiter to wipe down the surface and place their new chopsticks down Maura turned to Jane, curiosity getting the best of her intensions to wait.

"Is this later? May I ask about your day now?"

Jane had been trying to figure out what the decorations above them even were. She looked down at Maura and wore a sheepish sort of smile in apology. "Huh?"

"How was your day?"

"Oh." She nodded and motioned a hand toward their new table. The waiter was handing her menus. As they sat Jane tried to think of what or even how to express what her day had even meant to her. "I had lunch today with, Davies." She noticed the ME's smile fade. "I mean… not like that, Maura." She waved in order to back track.

Maura nodded once. "How, then?" She asked curiously.

Jane shook her head at herself. "He called me this morning; he had just gotten into the city—"

"I hadn't been aware he intended to be here." They stared at each other again. "Had you?"

"Well he mentioned something about it, yeah."

"Interesting."

Jane sat with that and decided she didn't like it. "Anyway, so he asked if I wanted to get lunch and I was thinking now was as good a time as any to um… y'know." Maura shook her head no. "Tell him that I was…" She pinched at paper chopstick holder that sat at her right as they looked at one another. "…Monogamous."

Maura exhaled softly, she almost seemed amused as she dipped her chin before looking back up at Jane. "His response?"

Jane seemed to relax a little too. "Well he seemed okay." She reached for the glass of water just placed before them. "He'd kind of have to be."

"He moved his travel plans around in order to be in town when you took your exam." She pointed out.

Jane nodded. "Yeah, but I moved my exam date back so I can take it up here so we could go together."

Maura smiled at the raised eyebrow Jane tossed her. "Yes, that too."

"It was okay, food was pretty good, we talked a lot about the job after that." She paused. "It's okay that I didn't tell you before, right?" Maura nodded. "Because I didn't know how'd you feel especially after what you said and what I said… But I didn't want to just send him a text message. That didn't seem right."

Maura considered her surprise again at their meeting and decided that she wasn't as perturbed by it as she might have thought she would be. "I am fine with it, Jane." It wasn't like Jane to be reckless with important things, and this, they had both agreed was quite important. She could get over this amount of withholding. "I didn't expect you to say anything after what I said the other night you know." It was interesting though to know Jane went out and did the very thing she eventually hoped for.

Jane nodded. "I know, it was just something I had to do…He thinks I'm with Ray by the way."

"Raymond?" Maura looked horrified now.

"Is his name Raymond?"

"Yes."

"So his name is Raymond Ray?"

Maura shook her head. "Yes, Jane. Legally."

"Hm…"

"How on earth would he come to such a conclusion?"

Jane chuckled at how seriously put off the ME was. "I was taking over some cases of his when Davies first came to Boston and I guess he mistook my annoyed face for my flirty one? I don't know, but I'm just letting you know that that's where the real completion lies."

Maura laughed. "He's actually a very nice man."

"He drools on the break room tables."

"That could be from an abnormality of the salivary glands, it's more common than you would imagine." She motioned to her throat. "His are enlarged."

"I cannot believe your defending him right now." She stopped herself. "I cannot believe you were checking out his glands."

"You could do worse."

Jane laughed at the banter. "Um excuse me, you have done worse."

Maura waved her off. "If this is about Byron—"

"It's always going to be about Byron." Jane deadpanned.

Maura waved her off. "So you didn't tell Cameron it was me." She concluded. Jane shook her head no. "Is there a particular reason why?"

Jane shrugged suddenly becoming a little shy. "Honestly?"

"Please."

"I just didn't want him thinking about you in any other way than Doctor Isles."

That was interesting. Maura nodded. "Do you feel he would lose respect for me professionally?"

Jane shrugged. "Y'know back home everyone knows you as Maura, you're already part of the family in so many ways… We've been through a lot together and I guess it'll be weird for a bit but they'd get it eventually right?"

Maura smiled softly. "I hope so."

"Davies…. Davies doesn't know about anything; he doesn't know about Tasha or Hoyt or… I kinda felt like that was a personal thing about you and me that he didn't really need to know."

Maura tilted her head. "I see."

"You're looking at me weird." Jane pointed.

"Well it would have been more convenient thinking it were because I was a woman, but your reasoning is interesting." She wondered what peer reviewed works were out there on the topic. "It isn't easy being a strong woman in any field. We are often oversexualized."

Jane shrugged. "It just didn't seem relevant for him to know."

"Do you think—" She was cut off by their waiter returning to take their orders. Jane let Maura order for the both of them and before they knew if they were alone again. "Did you manage to get a hold of Angela today?" Maura asked deciding that she'd ask Jane what she was going to ask at a later point. Jane responded by exhaling loudly and the ME quirked a brow. "May I take that as a yes?"

Jane nodded and sat up from her somewhat slouched position. "The cancer is back."

"Oh, Jane." She stopped herself from regurgitating any and all statistics about reoccurring cancer cases in men her father's age and instead reached a hand out to cover Jane's wrist. The detective looked down at the small act of comfort before picking her up her hand and moving it away. She didn't know if she wanted to be comforted or not. Maura seemed to understand.

"She said it's pretty bad this time around and she wants to help him."

Maura took her hand away and nodded at the information. "And how do you feel about her decision?"

"I don't understand it."

"You're very close to the situation."

Jane thought about that for a moment. "Yeah, she's my mother. He's just…" She waved it off. "Anyway she said she didn't want us to worry, but now I'm officially worried. He's not trustworthy."

"Angela seems to trust him enough."

"Alright but no offense to Ma or anything, he's the longest guy she's been with and for a while the only guy."

Maura clasped her hands on the table. "Do you think she's naïve?"

"No, I didn't say that."

"So then?"

"I think he'd do anything to wriggle his way back into our lives."

"So, you think he's lying?" Maura raised a brow.

Jane shook her head. "No I don't think that either." The ME waited patiently. "He.. He doesn't deserve her kindness Maura; you know Ma would take a stray jaguar off the street if she thought it didn't have any place to go."

Maura chuckled at the real likely hood of her at least loosing sleep over the stray cat. "Jane your mother has one of the biggest… theoretically speaking, hearts I have ever come to know." She motioned to herself. "She had nothing to gain from accepting me into your lives the way she did. Or Lydia."

Jane made a face. "You cannot put yourself and Lydia in the same sentence."

"Be nice."

"I know what you're saying, and I agree, I get it, she's a nice lady, all the kids on the block thought so too. It's just that… What if he takes advantage of this again?"

"And what if he is actually very sick, and very lonely?"

Jane sighed at that and stared the ME down only to find her staring right back. "I don't want him to die, Maura." She said it with as little emotion as she could, but the way Maura was looking at her meant she didn't by it at all.

"I know you don't, Jane."

"But I don't trust him either."

Maura extended her hands. "Do you trust your mother?" Jane nodded easily. "Well then let's see what she would like us all to do, and trust that for the time being it's the correct call." She could tell sitting still with the idea made Jane uncomfortable, but after a few more moments in silence she nodded slowly.

"It's Ma's call."

"It is isn't it?"

Jane nodded again., this time firmly. "Yeah, you're right." She smirked softly then. "Thanks."

Maura's smile didn't show her teeth and lived primarily in her eyes. "You're very welcome."

After sushi and more catching up from the day apart the two walked the few extra blocks to find an incredibly packed pizzeria. So after ordering their slices they stood outside on the sidewalk and ate quickly like a handful of people who had just arrived. When some tomato sauce clung cutely to the tip of Maura's already chilled red nose Jane hesitated before reaching for it and brushing it away mid conversation before shrugging away the ME's sweet look with a blush of her own. After pizza, and sushi, and sorbet and ice cream, the two hopped in a cab and headed back toward the hotel. When they arrived they promised to meet back up in Maura's room once they were changed into comfortable clothing for a night cap. Jane was instructed cheekily to bring the porn with her, and as the detective knocked on Maura's door a half hour later in sweats and a long sleeve blue and grey BOD sweatshirt she glanced down at the package under her arm nervously.

It had better not be porn.

"Tomorrow I have time before my lecture to stand in line for them." Maura answered the door clad in silky mauve pajamas with her cell phone to her ear. She mouthed "It's Tasha" to the taller woman as she stepped aside to let her in. "—Or we can have Jane wait in line and then you can meet her."

Jane got out of her sneakers and rested the parcel down on an end table. "Wait hold on a minute, don't I get a say in what I do with my morning?" Maura merely glanced at her over her shoulder before going back to opening the bottle of wine she had picked out earlier in the room service catalogue.

"—right, or we can simply purchase them… Well it would be my treat… "

Jane shook her head in amusement at being ignored before going into the suite further and grabbing the remote control from its stand near the mini bar and letting the large plasma tv screen descend from the ceiling with a push of a button. The Mets were playing, and she was curious about how that worked. Maybe she'd be a Mets fan, anyone against the Yankees was okay with her…

Eventually Maura came out of the kitchenette and noticed Jane relaxing and watching baseball. Her phone was still to her ear. "Well that's impossible, you cannot splice an ion that microscopic. Hold on… Jane?"

Jane looked up from her spot on the bed "Oh you noticed I've arrived."

Maura chuckled with the phone receiver to her clavicle. It wasn't too late, only nine at night, the bar downstairs had to still be open. "Can you go downstairs for something? A corkscrew? It's specific."

Jane looked from Maura in her pajamas to the tv screen. "I—Now?" She asked looking back at the blonde.

Maura looked between Jane and the tv screen. "The corkscrew here is in disrepair."

"You broke it?"

"I did not break it." Maura could hear Tasha laughing on the other end of the phone.

"I'm just starting to relax…" She groaned. "Why can't we just knock the thing over the dresser here?"

"That is now how these closures work." She smiled at the woman who was pulling herself off the bed. "And I am not simply knocking a 2001 Chateau Margaux over anything."

"What happened to room service?" She asked getting into the shorter woman's personal space in an effort to intimidate her into letting her go back to watching baseball. "This place too fancy for room service?"

Maura quirked a playful smirk at the new use of height between them and pushed her body away softly. "Will you call them? I need a restaurant grade utensil for an old cork like this." Jane nodded and hurried back to the bed to watch the inning as she called room service. Eventually the corkscrew arrived, and Tasha and Maura finished planning their plans to get Broadway tickets tomorrow. The Chief Medical Examiner poured two glasses of the historic wine and brought Jane over a glass before sitting beside her on the large bed. Maura watched with a laugh caught in her throat at the detective sitting up, taking a moment to slosh the liquid about while peering into the glass curiously before taking a large unsophisticated gulp and immediately bringing her attention back to the baseball game.

"What do you think?" She waited a moment to enjoy her own sip to ask.

Jane looked at her. "It's okay."

Maura nearly dribbled on herself. "Just okay?"

Jane shrugged. "I liked the other pinot thing we had the other night more."

Maura looked down at her glass and had to laugh. The Pinot Noir they had had was a twenty-five-dollar bottle of wine, this cru classe cost five times that and Jane would probably ultimately prefer a beer. She had to laugh at herself, for she had picked it out in order to impress her date forgetting momentarily that Jane was still Jane.

Noticing the ME laughing Jane looked back at her curiously. "What?"

"Nothing."

"You're making fun of me aren't you?"

"I am not, I promise." She took another sip from her glass and marveled at the layers of complexity and acidity. "I am glad you liked the pinot noir." She decided. That alone took seven years of coaxing, Maura realized though with a great deal of affection for the other woman that she'd gladly offer another seven more if she'd begin to start appreciating older vintages next.

Jane nodded and for a happy little moment she could feel Maura sit beside her and try and understand what was happening on screen. "That's Esteves, he used to play for us." She pointed out before taking another sip from her glass.

"Do we harbor any ill will towards him for his departure?"

Jane shrugged. "He was just a rookie when he started with us."

"Hm."

After a few more moments Jane looked up to see Maura getting off of the bed. She followed her form in the loose pajamas as she went over to the kitchenette and picked up the parcel she had brought her that morning. Like a gun being waved around at a robbery Jane could hardly look anywhere else. "That's not porn, right Maura?"

Maura let out a breathy laugh. "Of course not." She turned and looked at the relief wash over Jane's face. "Besides, I prefer to read erotica."

Jane nodded quickly at that new piece of information. "I— yeah okay."

Maura came back over to the bed pretending to not take pleasure in leaving the other woman a little dumbfounded. "I thought these might help us." She sat beside Jane with the parcel in her lap and her wine glass in her left hand.

"What is it?" Jane asked now completely engrossed with the packages contents.

"Media." Maura explained simply as she reached her right hand in and pulled out several DVDs.

Jane put her wine glass down on the floor carefully before leaning over to help her take out the disks. She began to read their titles "Venture, Dealings On A Highroad…" She furrowed at the last title. "I can't even read that."

"It's Finnish."

"All of it?"

Maura chuckled and took the DVD from her hands. "It's a movie about two women hiding a relationship from their religious parents."

"In Finish?"

"Yes it appears so." She could read the skepticism on Jane's face. "We don't have to start there."

Jane looked down at the DVDs a little overwhelmed. "Maura I think maybe… Maybe this stuff doesn't apply to us."

Maura took a sip from her wine glass. "I know, but we've agreed that we don't want to share these developments quite yet with our family and friends correct?" Jane nodded. "It only took Tasha half an evening together with us to suspect something, that rate of observation is hard to ignore."

Jane nodded. "Alright so… they're gonna show us how not to act?"

"That was my hope. It seems we've always operated in a particular manner towards one another…" Maura began to doubt her idea. "You don't feel comfortable with this." She read.

"No no, it's just…" Jane chuckled. "A little weird."

Maura looked back to the DVDs on her lap. "We don't have to watch them."

Sensing she made the ME feel awkward Jane tried to turn the whole thing around as quickly as possible. "You know what, Maur? I think you may be on to something with that whole rate of observation part." Jane reached for a DVD at random. "Let's watch this one."

Maura offered her a little smile. "We don't have to, Jane. It was merely an idea." The detective was already out of her seat figuring how to activate the DVD player.

"We're researching right? It's for science."

Maura stood to help her. "For science, yes."

##

"Pause it!"

Maura laughed as she reached for the remote control again. At this rate they were never going to finish this movie.

"Pause it, Maura. Pause it."

"Give me a second." She fumbled with the remote in the dark.

They had nearly finished the bottle of wine she opened and were laughing so much she was sure she spilled about thirty dollars worth of it onto the Egyptian cotton bedspread, and that was likely to cost her credit card double that amount upon check out. She would have usually distracted herself with finding the best homemade alkaline solution to rid the sheets of their stains, but Dr. Maura Isles was more concerned with the levels of oxygen her brain was getting with this much laughter. It couldn't be healthy.

Jane jumped out of bed and pointed to the screen. "That is such bullshit!"

Maura could hardly contain herself. "Jane please—" Their laughter cut her off. "Sit, sit, you're blocking it."

Jane continued to point to the television. "There is no precinct on earth that is going to allow any detective an unmarked like that, look at the rims on that thing!"

The scene was stilled on Detective Quinn Lawson's unmarked mustang and Jane was not having any of it.

Maura coughed at a fit a giggles. "It's just a movie!" She had said it forty-three times already, but that fact of fiction did not seem to deter a tipsy Jane Rizzoli from debunking every single procedural element of the film she could. "Get back into bed, we won't finish like this." It was already midnight.

Jane climbed back onto the large bed. "Maura the things got twenty inch chromed out rims, those things probably cost Cavanaugh's pension." She crawled back to the head of the bed where Maura sat.

"I know, I know." She soothed, the mirth overflowing in her eyes. "It's crap."

Jane grinned as their faces got close. "Whoa, take it easy."

Maura waved her away. "I'm going to press play."

Jane got back under the covers they were sharing, "I don't know what they are doing here in New York but I may have to transfer if that's the kind of unmarked I get assigned." She shook her head and picked up her wine glass. "How many years do you think she has on her jacket?"

Maura laughed before shushing them both. "I am pressing play."

"This is ridiculous."

The movie was about a homicide detective following a series of call girl murders while "dating" a call girl consistently found at scenes of the crime. It was well shot, well-funded, but Jane just couldn't believe any of it and Maura found her commentary hilarious.

"Do you think they care about each other?" Maura asked as the two on scene actresses were once again waking up in a hotel room together.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Maura she's clearly just sad and needs to get laid."

"Oh but Jane they're holding one another—"

"That doesn't mean she's not the murderer."

Maura turned to look at her. "Do you think she is?"

"Hell yeah I think she is." Jane looked at her as if she were crazy. "Maur all this circumstantial evidence leads to her, the MO fits too."

"That doesn't mean she did it."

"Think like a cop."

"I'm not a cop, I'm a scientist, a doctor, there is still more evidence to overturn."

"The boot prints at the first crime scene?"

Maura nodded proudly. "Yes, they are clearly not belonging to Lenora, she seems to be relatively lightweight too."

Jane shook her head and took a sip from her glass. "The director just threw us that to get distracted. AND any cop worth their badge is not going to get involved with a material witness, not matter how hot they are."

Maura quirked a brow at that. "Do you find her attractive?"

"What?"

"Do you find her attractive?"

Jane looked between Maura and the movie. "What?"

Maura paused the movie. "Answer me."

Jane looked at her in the dark with a laugh in her throat. "No, I don't want to."

"Why not?" Maura looked back to the screen. "She is blonde."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's not supposed to mean anything, Jane. Merely an observation."

"Alright so she's pretty." Maura began to grin. "Oh my God—"

"Pretty?"

"Maura press play."

"Yes yes, sure." Maura was grinning so hard her face hurt but decided to press play before Jane turned into a tomato and they had a real medical emergency on their hands.

Once they movie was finished the two snuggled up close finding it heard to fall asleep after such a commotion.

"I'm a little drunk." Jane whispered.

Maura chuckled. "Hm? Are you?" She was a little past a point she relatively would say she were comfortable with as well, but currently Jane's arms were wrapped around her torso under the covers and her arms were about the detective's waist and if it meant they were drunk well then that was okay, she'd be obliged to agree.

"And I think you're way prettier than Lenora." Maura giggled. "I'm serious." Jane nodded.

"You are a little drunk."

"Told you."

"What was your favorite part of the movie?"

This took Jane some time. "When she turned in her badge."

"Really?" Maura asked louder than she intended.

"That's a big deal, the biggest."

"She did it for Lenora. To help her."

"Cause I guess she wasn't the murder…."

"I was right."

"You always get to be right."

They smiled at each other.

"You think they're gonna make a sequel?" Jane finally murmured.

Maura chuckled at how cutely it sounded, as if hoping with all her being that they would. "I can check."

"I'd watch it."

"Well then they must."

"What was your favorite part?"

Maura tried to concentrate enough to remember a part she had seen long enough without Jane pausing to remember its context. "Watching it with you." She decided.

Jane smiled softly. "See that right there, that's gonna get us into trouble."

"How?" Maura smiled as Jane's arm moved across her back a moment before settling where they were. She'd wish she hadn't stopped.

"We were supposed to be looking at things we can't do."

"What did you gather, Detective?"

Jane grinned at the way she said it, like the character in the movie. Maura chuckled quietly at the response it yielded. "That!" Jane pulled her closer. "Making me laugh."

"I can't make you laugh?" They were pressed together impossibly close now.

"No, you can't."

"Well then you can't make me laugh."

"Maura, I can't help that I'm incredibly funny, I can't help that." The detective shook her head.

Maura put a hand in her face to still her. "Is that what you think? That you're funny?"

"Get your hand out of my face."

"No." Maura challenged but then yelped when Jane licked her palm. "Jane!" Jane laughed as Maura squirmed about in her arms. She held her closer and leaned in to lick her cheek now. "Jane Rizzoli!" A struggle ensued mixed with grappling and tickling, stolen kisses, and various pitches of laughter, before they knew it there was a physicality to their roughhousing that got a little too playful and with one falsely perceived movement Jane was shot into sobriety as the metallic richness of her own blood filled her senses.

"Ow!"

"Jane?"

"Shit!" The detective grabbed at her face.

"Jane!" Maura pushed her shoulder back so they were both sitting upright now. "Jane." She sobered up immediately and was trying to pull the other woman's hands away from covering her face. Her brain routing a hundred million mishaps faster than she could process.

"You punched me!" Jane yelled from behind her palms.

"I didn't mean to!" Maura stomach filled with dread. "Jane, just let me see, let me see." She was able to get one hand away from the detective mouth and when she saw blood, she was quick to roll over to the side and turn the nightstand lap on in time to see Jane spitting several times into her palm. "Oh." She gasped and quickly covered her own mouth when she saw why.

Jane looked from her bloodied palm up at the ME, shock still wide in her eyes. "What oh? Oh what?" She could barely move her bottom lip and there was a ferocious pain ebbing from her lower gumline.

Thinking quickly the blonde leaned over to inspect her palm and before Jane could stop her, she stuck her fingers to the saliva and blood there and picked up Jane's bottom front tooth to bring to her attention.

Jane looked at it skeptically for a moment before darting her eyes toward the ME in when realization hit. "You knocked out my tooth!?"

Maura winced. "I…" She had. "Yes."