Maura sighed. Jane had said very little on their morning phone call and had texted even less. This, more than anything, told Maura that Jane was worried. Probably desperately so and trying to hide it from Maura. Which, given their history, meant Jane was days away from doing something extreme and lacking much of the intelligence she truly did possess. Which meant Maura was lonely, worried, and desperate to find a way to ease Jane's concerns.

Maura had reached out to her editor's office, trying to set up additional safety precautions. She assumed she'd hear back from them tomorrow. In the mean time, Maura was looking for a way to make Jane smile. Which was how she ended up beneath Pikes Place Market in an alley that smell like the worlds worst vat of fruit, sugar and human excrement. It was even worse than Maura imagined. Millions of pieces of gum adorned either side of the walls. Several had fallen off and littered the ground. Maura was both fascinated and horrified.

Maura pulled out a stick of gum and began chewing. She was generally opposed to gum. The sugar in most gum contributed to the overproduction of plague and harmful bacteria in the mouth. It also tended to strain the temporals and masseter muscles. She chewed for a few moments before pulling out her phone. She was thankfully alone for the moment. She wandered the wall looking for a space that was relatively empty of other people's leftovers. When she found a space she began a recording.

'Hi love! Here's your gum wall!' Maura showed Jane the entire alleyway. Maura fumbled to grab out a second stick of gum. 'And these are ours,' Maura replied. She placed the first piece, trying to shape it with minimal touching. Her fingers were already sticky from the sugar. She shoved a second piece in her mouth with her clean hand, making a point to chew as obnoxiously as possible for Jane's video. She pressed a second piece to the wall, lining it up with the first piece to form a misshapen heart. 'I hope you know I would not visit this wall for anyone besides you Jane Rizzoli. It's revolting. I love you. Talk to you soon!' Maura hit the end recording button. She snapped a few pictures of the wall and their heart gum. One of them turned out surprisingly artistic. The grey bleak wall permitting Maura's pink gum to pop vividly amongst an array of colours. On a whim, Maura made it her phone background. She was sure it would gross her out in a few hours but at the moment it made her happy. Backgrounds were easy enough to change.

Maura headed back out of the alley and towards the nearest restroom to wash her hands. With that accomplished, Maura texted Jane the video and her photos along with the message: 'The things I do for love.'

Maura expected something in response. A smile, a heart, a quip about gum. Anything. The silence she received in turn was deafening. Maura tried not to take it personally. She tried not to let it bother her but after spending her evening alone, eating dinner alone, and getting ready for bed alone Maura could not deny that it hurt. Maura tried to call Jane but she didn't pick up. Maura sighed. Jane Rizzoli was not a woman to rush she would talk to Maura when she was ready and Maura simply had to wait until Jane decided she was ready. Even if it drove Maura down the hall.


Jane stabbed at her lunch with her fork with no intention of eating it as she refreshed the find my iphone screen on Maura's phone. She was frustrated and grumpy and worried and avoiding Maura was harder than it had any right to be. It wasn't that Jane wanted to avoid Maura. It was just that there was no way she could talk to Maura and pretend she wasn't worried. There was no way to talk to Maura without lying and there was nothing Jane hated more than lying to Maura. Jane sighed.

'Um, Agent Rizzoli,' Recruit Dhar interrupted her, 'do you have a minute?'

Jane looked up to see Dhar and Baccay standing above her. 'What do you want recruits?'

Dhar and Baccay exchanged looks. 'Ma'am we're worried about you.'

'Aarna is worried. I'm just here to witness her inevitable demise,' Baccay said, straight faced.

Dhar made a face that even grumpy Jane had to admit was the perfect mixture of adorably amused and endlessly annoyed, 'Noie is worried too, she's just embarrassed to be caught having feelings.' Baccay shrugged and looked, for all the world, like she didn't care at all.

Jane huffed in annoyance. 'Don't you two have anything better to do than annoying me?'

'Yes,' Baccay said.

'No,' Dhar said at the exact same time. They gave each other a look that reminded Jane so much of her and Maura her heart constricted.

'Well I do,' Jane said, thrusting her chair back from the table. She dumped her lunch without having eaten much. She wasn't entirely surprised when the women followed her.

'You've been particularly grumpy,' Dhar commented.

'And this is the third day you have thrown away a full lunch,' Baccay commented.

Dhar grinned, 'told you Noie cares.' Baccay blushed but didn't say anything.

'What about it?' Jane asked. 'Why do you care?'

Dhar looked genuinely taken aback, 'I know we're your students but you're a woman in law enforcement. You're one of us. We have to watch out for one another.'

It was sincere enough to make Jane stop and look at her recruits. Really look at them. Baccay was glaring at her feet. For the life of her, Jane could not figure out how the tiny woman saw so much considering she never looked up. Dhar stood tall and proud, her eyes bright and emphasised by the red bindi on her forehead. 'Third eye' had a fitting meaning with Aarna Dhar. 'Look, I appreciate it okay? Really, thank you Noemi. Thank you Aarna. But I'm fine.' Jane replied.

Baccay shrugged, accepting her statement without question, 'let's go Aarna. She doesn't want a couple of recruits advice.' Baccay turned to leave but Dhar did not.

Dhar crossed her arms, tapping a foot on the floor. 'You are lying.' It was a statement, absent of both question or accusation.

Jane felt a growl in her chest, 'what do you want Dhar?'

'To help,' Dhar replied steadily. 'Whatever it is, it's eating at you.'

'It's none of your business,' Jane shot back, 'so just drop it.'

Dhar shook her head, 'I'm not buying it.'

'I could write you up for insubordination right now Recruit,' Jane shot back. She wouldn't, of course.

'Aarna,' Baccay said, her voice carrying a warning.

'Do it,' Dhar replied, her tone baiting.

'Damn it Dhar. What do you want?' Jane's voice was raised now.

'I want to help someone I care about deeply,' Dhar shot back angrily. Her hands flew to her mouth, her eyes blinking in surprise. She'd said more than she meant.

Baccay stepped in front of Dhar now, protecting her, 'what Aarna means is that you're the best instructor we've ever had Agent Rizzoli. You've taught us more about what it means to be in this field, especially as women, than the others combined. We only wanted you to know we care and we're here to help. We'll leave you alone now.'

Jane blinked, her throat tight. She had spent so long being the only woman in the field. The few she had encountered, like Riley or Sands, had always been more interested in competing than assissting. It was part of what drew her to Maura in the first place. Maura never played power games. Maura never acted like there was only room for one woman at the table. Jane was unspeakably proud of her recruits in that moment. The feeling sparked something. 'Wait, did you include everyone you talked to about me and Doctor Isles in your report?'

'What?' Dhar asked, clearly confused by the subject change.

'Of course,' Baccay responded, clearly offended at the notion she might have neglected something. 'Why?'

Jane gestured for them to follow as she hurried to her office. 'Some one has been asking questions about Maura but maybe it was just the two of you. She unlocked her office and let them in as she began rifling through her assignments.'

'We made a complete list of everyone who we so much as mentioned her name to,' Baccay replied steadily, 'it should be at the front of the interviews tab.'

'Someone has been asking questions about Doctor Isles in such a way that concerns you?' Dhar asked, clearly chewing on a thought.

Jane found what she was looking for, she showed it to the pair of them. 'And there's no one else? No friends, no co-workers, coffee makers, family members, random people you forgot?' Baccay nodded when she showed it to them. She began to scowl as Jane went on.

'No Agent Rizzoli,' Dhar replied. 'We were not flippant in our interviewing process nor would we neglect to include someone's name. We understand the importance of discretion. in a relationship.' Dhar smiled softly at Baccay who was blushing and looking away. Jane would have to tell Maura she told her so later.

Jane stared at the list, willing a name to jump out at her. Most were fellow Agents working with Jane. A few were neighbours. Two were nurses at the clinic. Jane snapped a picture of the list and sent it to Frankie. Maybe he and Nina could run down a connection in the other direction. 'Thank you, both,' Jane said stopping to look at her recruits, 'for the support and the discretion.' She smiled at the pair, 'I, as the kids say, ship it.' She gestured between the two of them. Dhar blushed and smiled. Baccay slapped a hand to the back of her neck and muttered something Jane couldn't hear. They excused themselves politely from her office when the agent was clearly distracted.

Aarna paused when they were out of earshot. 'I'm sorry Noie, I didn't mean to out us.'

Noemi smiled softly at her, endulgingly, 'it's okay Aarna. I think she had already figured it out.' In a rare public display of affection, Noemi brushed an errant strand of hair away from her lover's face. Aarna leaned in to the touch, her eyes closing and her lips pursing in to a soft relaxed smile. Noemi knew there were a million reasons they weren't out. Cultural, professional, personal, you name it, but at moments like this Noemi desperately wished they were.

A sound broke their reverie, causing them to jump away from one another. Aarna cleared her throat, her eyes twinkling and her cheeks flushed slightly. 'Do you think we asked the wrong person about Doctor Isles? Opened the proverbial can of worms?'

Noemi considered it for a moment. 'I don't think so. Every one we talked to knew significantly more than we did about her. Besides her book sales are projected to be significant this winter. All any one has to do is open Twitter. She's trending.'

Aarna wrinkled her nose in teasing distaste, 'why am I unsurprised you know the projected number of book sales?'

Noemi smiled shyly and shrugged, 'I did some research?'

'Of course you did, love,' Aarna said, her hands tugging softly at Noemi's collar straightening it though they both knew it was merely an excuse to touch one another. Aarna was better at finding those professional excuses than Noemi was. Aarna looked down the hallway they had come, her eyebrows knitted together in concern. 'Agent Rizzoli is worried and that worries me.'

Noemi sighed, 'you're wearing your I've-got-an-idea face.'

Aarna smiled brightly at Noemi, warming Noemi's cheeks. 'What's wrong with that?'

'Nothing,' Noemi replied, feeling a bit star struck by the brightness of that grin, 'except it usually means a lot of work and the statistical likelihood of one or both of us getting in trouble.'

Aarna laughed, the sound bubbling softly from her mouth like some hypnotising melody straight from the mouth of a Sirena and just like that Noemi was drowning. 'But we always have fun,' Aarna asked.

It was probably rhetorical but Noemi answered anyways, feeling bold, 'do you promise?' Noemi raised one eyebrow, offering a challenge.

There was a flash of heat in Aarna's eyes, her own eyes wiggling in a pleased sort of way. Her voice came out as a husky whisper, 'I do.'

Noemi gave an exaggerated sigh, 'then, I suppose I will help with whatever you have planned.'

'I am indebted,' Aarna said offering a half bow to Noemi, she glanced up through her lashes with a mischievous smirk that stole Noemi's breath away, 'and I always repay my debts.'

Noemi felt her face flush and her heart thump. She figured there was a fifty five percent chance that Aarna's plan got them in trouble with the FBI at large, an eighty five percent chance that it would get them in trouble with Agent Rizzoli specifically, and a one hundred percent chance that Aarna would make up for it with mind blowing sex. Noemi could take those odds. 'Alright, what's the plan?'