AU: Maura Isles is a US medical officer in Afghanistan. While there, she briefly encounters a soldier in desperate need of medical attention. When Maura returns to Boston as a civilian again, the soldier is constantly on her mind, but she resigns herself to never seeing her again. But who does she bump into on Hero's Night, but the very woman on her mind, Lieutenant Jane Rizzoli?

With this story, I'm challenging myself to write the whole "realization and first kiss" thing without the use of role-playing, costumes, or major trauma. It may end up being really, really boring and require the intervention of an evil twin …

"Ready?" she puts her fingers against the keys gently, and Maura grips the barre, hardly daring to breathe.