Monday

Doctor Isles was in the black scrubs, the ones that made her look grim and serious. Her hair was tied back, making her look strict and professional as well. She was focused on the small bodies again, and Jane longed to go in there, watch as Doctor Isles uncovered more details about these poor kids.

The light from the lamp Doctor Isles used was behind her, bringing out the highlights in her hair, making her golden hair glow, and in that moment, when Jane's defenses were down, Doctor Isles looked up, made eye contact with Jane.

Jane's breath caught and she involuntarily stepped back, even though Doctor Isles wasn't holding a scalpel. She'd been haloed by the light, and Jane had been brought up as Catholic and had lapsed in recent times, but for a second she believed in angels again. The look on Doctor Isles' face was desolate, and Jane braced herself, swung the door open.

She stood beside Doctor Isles, looking over the bodies.

"All those bruises," Jane said, shocked. Doctor Isles nodded sadly. "I didn't notice them on Friday."

"It's the bulb," Doctor Isles said. Jane looked at her and could see the blue lines of her veins in her temples and throat. It made her look vulnerable, showing Jane how thin her skin truly was. "Blood tests came back. Trace amounts of sedatives. No external wounds, other than the bullet. It went through here," Doctor Isles indicated on one child's back "and ended up here," Doctor Isles indicated the chest of the second child. "Efficient, if gruesome."

Jane didn't want to ask, but knew she had to.

"Have they been... Interfered with?" Doctor Isles nodded. "Jeezus." Jane let her gloved hand cover the cold hand on the table in front of her. "Jeezus," she said again.

"I'm getting the lab to run a wider spectrum of blood tests and hair tests. I suspect they were frequently drugged due to the degraded condition of their liver and kidneys."

"You get any foreign DNA off the clothes? Fingernails, teeth, anything?"

"We've been running everything as we found it. Nothing yet."

"That wrist look broken to you?" Jane asked, rotating the still hand in hers. Doctor Isles examined it, pulled down the fluoroscope.

"Good eye," Doctor Isles said, pointing to the break visible on the screen. "Recently, too. Pre-mortem."

"Defensive wound?" Jane asked. Doctor Isles shrugged, checking over more of the bones slowly, looking for more breaks.

"I'd like a full x-ray of both of the bodies," Doctor Isles said. "There are a number of healed fractures here, enough to warrant it. Maybe even an MRI."

Jane swallowed, taking off her gloves. "The poor bastards," she said harshly. "They've seen more kindness on your table than they did in life."

"I'll arrange for the transport," Doctor Isles said. "We don't have the facilities here." Doctor Isles looked down at the body on her table, pulled the sheet a little higher. "I'll go with them," she said quietly. "They won't be alone." She looked away, caught the back of Jane's hand brushing her nose, a strategy she was familiar enough to realise Jane employed to cover tears rising to her eyes. Jane's other hand landed on Doctor Isles' back for a moment, between her shoulder blades, crossing over to her far shoulder, squeezing it softly.

"Thank you," Jane said. "Take care of them, huh?" Jane's hand was gone as quickly as it had come, and Jane was headed to the crime lab, probably to try to badger a DNA match out of the techs, or to try to bully a dental match from the facial x-rays Doctor Isles had taken. Doctor Isles shook her head at Jane's impatience, recognising the cause of it. Her shoulder felt warm where Jane's hand had briefly rested on it. It had been a long time since anyone had offered her comfort via physical touch, partially because she was so unused to it that she'd flinch away. Yet it hadn't been unwelcome, here in her morgue, from Jane Rizzoli, the brave, hot-tempered, impetuous Detective. She hadn't pulled away. She hadn't minded, and it had offered some comfort, knowing the dreadful task that awaited her. She called the coroner, arranged for transport, trying not to look over at the lab, wondering if Jane was watching her again, feeling the residual warmth from her shoulder travel through her, thawing parts of her she didn't realise were frozen.