Being a sergeant was great. Jane hadn't expected it to be so cool. It had its downside though: the brunette got less often to meet Maura at a crime scene. And she kind of missed their old soothing routine.

She was just sitting at her desk, rubbing her tired eyes and having a coffee when the door suddenly flew open and Maura stormed into the room. Not knowing what was going on, the brunette took down her glasses to watch an incredible scene unfold in front of her.

One of the detectives had followed the blonde and both were now standing in the middle of the bullpen, yelling at each other. Janes jaw dropped as she had never seen her wife so emotional and aggressive before. It made her wonder what had happened. Unfortunately, she couldn't make it out through the shouting.

"Stop it!" she shouted fiercely at one point and both – the detective and Maura – turned towards her. Both with an angry expression on their face. Jane rubbed her temple, wishing she had taken something again the headache earlier. It would be more helpful now.

"Could you please tell me, what this is all about?" she tried to stay calm. To her dismay, both started to talk at the same time. Jane held up her hand to stop them again. "Please, not both at the same time. Why don't you tell me what's going on detective Reid?"

Maura shot her an angry glare for not being asked to talk first, but she ignored it. Maura would get her chance to say what's on her mind too. She watched as the detective licked his lips nervously. "Dr. Isles keeps analyzing my evidence last. Even if a case came in later, she takes care of the evidence before she does with mine which was first."

The brunette silently glanced at her wife who was standing still, arms crossed in front of her chest. Her face showed nothing than anger with the pouted lips and furrowed eyebrows. Jane furrowed her eyebrows too, mulling over the fact if this was possible. As far as she knew her wife usually worked every case meticulously and did no such thing. She couldn't believe the accusations, but she couldn't ignore them either just because Maura was her wife. She had to listen to the complaint, if she wanted to do a good job.

"Dr. Isles? What's your statement to this?" she asked, feeling slightly torn between the wish to hold and sooth her and the fact that she had to handle this professionally. Otherwise word would get out, that she was not able to do the job, and worse: that she wasn't able to work together with her wife.

Hazel eyes turned to her and Jane felt as if they were burning holes into her soul. "I can only say that this is not true. I handle every case with care. I don't work differently just because of the detective who is responsible for the case." Her voice was firm, but Jane knew that she was fighting with tears.

"Do you have any proof to underline your accusations, Reid?" she questioned the detective who was watching them with eagle eyes.

"I have no proof. How could i? she's good at what she's doing!" he spat. Jane sighed. Situations like these often landed at her desk. Some of the detectives kept thinking that they were bullied even if it wasn't true. And some were really bullied but suffered in silence and didn't complain. The hole homicide division sometimes felt like a huge kindergarten full of: Miss Rizzoli, Brian slapped me; Miss Rizzoli, Connie stole my lunch. Etc.

"Well, if there is no proof, Reid, its word against word. I, personally can't decide who is right and who is wrong. Or if its just a misunderstanding maybe. If you have the feeling it happens again, come to me immediately and we'll see. That's all I can offer." She quietly said, shaking her head. Maura wasn't running from the room exactly but Jane could see that she was hurt and that she felt betrayed which kind of hurt her too. Jane knew that she was in for a huge fight when coming home after work.

She took a deep breath as she settled into her chair again. A soft knock on the door made her look up and she wasn't surprised to find Cavanaugh standing in the doorframe with a crooked smile. "Good job, Rizzoli." He stated, fetching a seat from a nearby desk to have a seat.

"I hope Maura is going to understand later." She mumbled. Of course, they had their fights like any other couple. And since both could be very stubborn, it sometimes resulted in Jane sleeping on the couch. This usually happened once a year. But they usually ended up admitting to each other that they were stupid and talking through it before making up with sex.

But even though it always ended well, Jane rather preferred not to fight and hated it when Maura hated her.

"I can talk to her if you like." Cavanaugh suggested but Jane declined his offer. She had to solve the problem herself. Her boss nodded as he gave her an understanding look. "Working with your partner can be pretty hard. But you really did well. I just wanted to let you know." With that he stood and left her to her paperwork.

R&I

Jane silently braced herself for a thunderstorm upon pulling into the driveway of the house which had become a home to them five years ago. Five years which had passed so fast that she sometimes wondered if they had just been a dream. She cut off the engine and sat in the dark car, watching the shadows passing in front of the windows. Just like back then when she had signed up to be sergeant.

Tonight, Maura wasn't knocking at her window though and she let her mind wander in order to deflect from the knot which had formed in her gut over the day. When she left the car, Brownie walked down the path towards her, greeting her with a soft purr. He dropped to the ground so that she could rub his belly.

At the beginning he had been reluctant to leave the house, but he ad finally come around a few years ago and was now always the first to greet her. She bent down and gave him a good number of strokes, talking to him softly. Like usually he purred loud and rolled around until he decided that it was enough. Then he would follow her into the house for a good meal.

Today was no exception. Jane grabbed the flowers and the bottle of Maura's favorite red wine before making her way to the door. "I'm home." She shouted, dropping her gear into the safe, locking up her gun and everything.

Two ten-year-old girls came dashing down the hall with their whipping ponytails to hug her. "Mum is in the kitchen cooking dinner. She was quite pissed when she came home." Julia whispered while being embraced by two long arms. "But I bet you know why." Her daughter pointed to the flowers and the bottle and chuckled a bit. Jane bit her lips and decided not to scold her for the words she had used.

The girls were both smart. Too smart or grown up for her taste sometimes she thought as she watched them walk back to their rooms.

Maura was indeed in the kitchen, but to Janes surprise she wasn't mad anymore.

"I'm sorry. You know I can't take your side just because you are my wife." She apologized anyways, holding out the flowers to the blonde. Maura wiped her hands into a dish towel while walking around the kitchen island.

"I know, honey. I'm sorry for being mad at you." A soft kiss was planted on Janes mouth and Maura took the flowers and the wine out of her hand. "My favorite." She smiled, looking for the corkscrew to pull the cork. "It goes perfect with the duck in orange sauce I prepared tonight."

Jane was kind of taken aback by the unexpected warm welcome. While going to fetch two glasses for the wine she wondered what had happened. "Uhm, I don't want to complain. But why aren't you mad at me anymore?" she asked, placing the glasses onto the table.

Eyebrows were furrowed on the other side of the counter. "I wont lie to you, Jane. At first, I felt betrayed and hurt. But I came to realize that you didn't take a side. You just did your job. And I get that it would be highly unprofessional if you would have taken my side."

Like that the subject was off the table and Jane knew better than to talk about whether Reid accusations were right or wrong. Personally, she just couldn't believe that Maura would do such thing. Her wife was far to correct. And Reid had a history in the department for falsly accusing co-workers.

"Julia, Sophie. Go wash your hand, dinner is ready!" she shouted down the halls, listening until she heard a door open. Then she sat down at her place, pouring the wine into the glasses. Dinner was delicious as always and Jane rubbed her belly afterwards.