Maura had been serious about the plan to just walk into the morgue. "Just use your usual swagger and let me do the talking, then everything is going to be fine." The blonde instructed Jane as they got out of the taxi in front of the hospital which also harbored the morgue. Jane scratched her head in the burning afternoon sun and grumbled as the blonde strode with full self-esteem towards the entrance.

"What do you mean by swagger?" she asked her determined friend. "You know, swagger… the thing you are doing when you walk into a room. The thing you did when you came to chase the spider." Maura stated with a chuckle. Jane had never realized that these were the vibes she was giving off and thought about it for a while.

"Your behavior can easily be explained by the fact that you are working in a male dominated field." Maura stopped in her tracks and turned to reassure her, giving her a gentle smile.

"Yeah, and by the fact that I grew up with two brothers." Jane explained. "Whatever. We need to get this thing done." she mumbled and Maura smiled, shaking her head at the detectives antics.

Once inside the building they stood dumbstruck in a hallway trying to figure out where the morgue was situated in the building. To their surprise there were no checkpoints or codes needed to access the morgue. No one had asked them what they were doing there as they walked downstairs right into a cooler part of the building.

"Dr. Nasari?" Maura asked with an intoxicating smile after they had entered the autopsy suite after some detours. The figure in gowns which was standing at a table examining a body turned and glanced at her. "Dr. Isles?" joy was filling his voice and Janes eyes widened in surprise. "What a pleasure to meet you in person!" he waved them over to the table, where their travel companion was laying naked on the steel table.

Jane stood in silence after being ordered not to speak, grumbling to herself. She was highly impressed by how well Maura's plan had worked out though. Not even daring to greet the man she nodded silently, but he didn't seem to notice her presence anyways as he was too focused on Maura.

The hell, Jane thought, this woman was a legend nationwide when it came to difficult cases. Seems like she's famous all around the world. Her eyes darted to the body as she followed some exchange about lectures and consulting's between the doctors.

"So, what are you working on?" Jane asked, getting tired of the chit chat. Both, Dr. Nasari and Dr. Isles stared at her and she subconsciously pulled the head in between her shoulders, giving an apologetical smile.

"This is indeed an interesting question of my friend." Maura tried to save the situation after giving Jane a glare, which made her shrink more. No more swagger, Jane thought angrily.

Dr. Nasari turned to the autopsy table and glanced at the corpse as if seeing it for the first time. "Nothing interesting actually. Just another heart attack." He shrugged and watched Maura grab some gloves.

"May I?" she asked politely, and Jane could see that he wasn't happy about her checking his work.

"Sure." He said between gritted teeth, glaring at Jane who had started it all. Pulling out the head of her shoulders she grinned innocently, while Maura examined the body.

"Dr. Nasari. I'm sure that your work ethic is solid. But in this case, you might have overseen something. This man didn't die of a heart attack." The doctor bent over the body and for Janes taste he came far too close to the blonde who took a small step aside.

"And what would this be?" he asked, sounding offended by the hidden criticism.

"I don't know. But I would like to look at him myself if you don't mind. Have you checked his blood too?" Maura wore a sweet smile but Dr. Nasari had a hard time to keep his polite tone as he replied:

"There was no need as he died of a natural cause."

"Would you please check it for me?" Maura asked in a sweet tone which only made him angrier. "Whatever you want Dr. Isles." The situation left Jane to wonder why he didn't throw them out.

"Although I liked your idea of breaking into the morgue, I wasn't sure if I could handle the excitement." Maura whispered with wiggling eyebrows once Dr. Nasari had left the room. She grabbed one of the fresh coats hanging nearby and handed Jane another one.

The brunette offered her help with binding the cords, although Maura would have been perfectly capable of doing so herself. But she just liked to be close to the doc and the doc didn't seem to mind a bit closeness either. The blonde giggled while Jane swore in all colors as the cords were very slippery and she hardly managed to tie a knot.

Once done, she took a step back to give Maura space to work. "If you stand on the other side of the table you can watch. But only if you can keep your stomach contents to yourself. I usually find them very exciting but only if they come from dead people." Maura instructed.

Seriously? Jane thought with a smirk as she walked to the spot Maura had motioned to. "I can handle this, don't worry Dr. Isles." It sounded serious, but there was a nuance of teasing which made Maura glance at her with a smile.

"Hope you know what you are talking about detective." She said in the same teasing tone.

"You bet!" Jane said with a grin. During her career she had witnessed numerous autopsies. But never had she seen such a talented ME. Maura was in her element, mumbling facts and findings, which Jane began to write down into her notebook, beginning to see why the blonde was so good at her job.

"Stupid me!" Maura suddenly exclaimed and made Jane jump.

"How often do I have to tell you, that you are everything but stupid!?" Jane asked.

"No, no." Maura's hand disappeared in the open cave, which now caused Jane to feel a bit nauseous after all. She watched in horror as Maura fumbled around until her hand reappeared with a small bullet.

Both gasped at the finding. Jane was breathing slowly in order to keep from retching and grabbed an evidence bag out of her pocket. "Always carry one around." She shrugged at Maura's questioning look before the bloody hands dropped the bullet into it.

Jane noticed how Maura almost hyperventilated when she slipped the bag swiftly back into her pocket. "That's stealing evidence." Maura whispered fiercely. "What evidence?" Jane asked, knowing that her swagger was back and grinned.

Maura tilted her head, getting rid of her gown and gloves into the biohazard disposal. "I guess Dr. Nasari can stitch him back up." She mumbled, feeling a sudden urge to leave.

"No, we need the fingerprints." Jane said with a smirk.

"Oh right. See, stupid." Maura grabbed for a new pair of gloves and Jane watched in silence as the doc took the prints one by one.

"so, can we go now?" the ME asked once they had collected all the evidence they could think off.

"Yes, now we can go." Jane smiled happily. Both were glad once they were outside of the building again, although Jane missed the cool air of the morgue. The sun was still burning down on them as Maura waved for a taxi.

Jane returned to take one last glance at the hospital and her jaw dropped when she read Nairobi Isles Hospital in bright letters over the entrance. She had been far too busy with talking to Maura about her swagger to notice the name when they had arrived.

"Is your friend okay, Mrs.?" The taxi driver interrupted her thoughts and motioned towards Maura who was hyperventilating. "Maybe you should take her back into the hospital." The scared man said in a thick accent.

When she saw Maura tilt her head in no behind the taxi driver, she patted his shoulder and told him that they were going to be fine. Although she began to panic herself because she had no idea how to handle this. She almost felt guilty for making Maura do this.

"Hey, what are you..?" she shrieked when she felt Maura's hands dive into the pockets of her jeans. It was an intimate and very pleasant feeling Jane thought. Realizing that the blonde was looking for a bag she handed her one.

R&I

"Now, that was fun." Maura said when they climbed out of the taxi at their hotel.

"Listen, Maur. I'm really sorry for making you do this." Jane began, believing that the doc was being sarcastic. But the blonde tilted her head. "No, I mean it. It was a bit scary at first, but it was really fun. This is the first time I broke the law."

"Technically…" Jane began and interrupted herself when Maura lifted one hand.

"We broke the law." She pointed at the evidence bag with the bullet in Janes hand. "Right?"

Jane glanced at the tiny object and then back at amused hazel eyes. "I would rather call it a necessity." She stated and Maura laughed.

"You can be such a smartass." She said and Jane shrieked. "You mean badass, Maur. There is a difference."

They bantered all the way through the lobby and their way to 7th story, until it was time to report back home.

R&I

"Hey, what's up Jane? Any new murders?" Frost greeted her with a joke as usual. He became serious though when he saw Maura sitting next to her on the bed. "Jeez Jane. Don't you want to present me?"

"I would if you would let me talk for once." Jane chuckled hoping that Maura wouldn't think that they were a bunch of morons after all. "Dr. Isles, meet Barry Frost. He is my partner over there. Barry, this is my partner over here."

Frosts eyes almost dropped out of their sockets. "Nice to meet you Dr. Isles." He waved into the camera. Maura smiled politely and Jane could feel her social awkwardness growing. Therefore, she silently grabbed the blonde's hand reassuringly knowing that it was out of Frosts sight.

"I read a lot about you. You are the star among the MEs." He stumbled in the meantime.

"Yes, it's a pleasure to have her on board. And a star she is indeed. She gave us some fingerprints and this." Jane held the evidence bag with the bullet into the camera. Still feeling her stomach turn a bit at the memory of its retrieval and Maura's comment about loving stomach contents.

Well everybody had its preference. Detectives loved guns, and MEs… well… better leave that alone.

Frost gasped. "I'll check with Cavanaugh how to get it over here." He said and promised to call back later. As to the fingerprints he gave Jane instructions how to take pictures and sent them to him.

R&I

Jane giggled after hanging up. As expected, it didn't take long for Cavanaugh to call her in person. He told her that they had a courier on the way to pick up the evidence and fingerprints. When he heard that they had gotten permission to do a quick autopsy he was more than surprised.

This is when Jane brought Maura into the boat, explaining why she was able to help them, and most of all, that they should call SFPD to set up a talk. Maybe their cases were related. she handed the phone to Maura that she could give him some details.

"See, and that's why I chose you. Good job, Rizzoli." Cavanaugh praised her at the end of the call.

"Well, uhm, you seem to be a star too." The blonde said with a smile as they shared a bottle of wine after dinner.

"No, I'm just doing my job." Jane waved the compliment off with a shrug.

They were sitting on Janes bed, relaxing as the night fell over Nairobi, pushing the last sunrays away.

Janes phone rang and she picked up. "Are you happy Jane?" Gabriel's voice came sharp over the phone. Maura feigned interest into some imagined dust on her blouse, but Jane knew that she had and could hear every word.

"What are you talking about?" she asked her husband.

"Do you know who she is?" His slurry speech giving away that he was drunk. Marcella screaming in the background after being woken by his loud voice. "Who?" she asked irritated after pointing out that his daughter was screaming.

"The woman you fuck, Dr. Isles." He spat. "She is Paddy Doyle's daughter."

Jane glanced at Maura who tensed. She instinctively grabbed her hand and squeezed it thinking that they did that a lot lately. "I'm not sleeping with her." Some strange look passed the doctors face and Jane recalled how easily they had fallen into a pattern of flirting from which she didn't know yet what it meant.

But her husband accusing her of sleeping with the blonde probably gave away that Jane was not totally oblivious to the same sex. It never had been a secret between her and Gabriel that Jane felt attracted to women.

He had begun making up for the lack of sex in their relationship by sleeping with other women, which Jane didn't mind. Neither had she minded when he told her that one of his affairs was expecting a baby – Marcella. Jane had accepted the kid and was raising it as her own. She loved her from the bottom of her heart.

She on the other hand had never engaged into a relationship on the outside of her marriage. She had never felt tempted to do so until… her eyes lifted to Maura.

"I'm going to hang up and call ma to pick up Marcella." She said, suddenly feeling sore and sad.

"Already called her." He hung up.

"Fuck!" Jane exclaimed throwing the phone onto the bed next to her, pulling her hands through her dark curls. "Fuck!"

"Do you want me to leave?" Maura asked with a thin voice. Jane glanced at her and saw that tears were shimmering in the blonde's eyes.

Before realizing what she was doing, Jane bent over and cupped the blondes face with both of her hands to place a tentative kiss to the corner of Maura's mouth.

Then it hit her what she had just done and when she felt Maura's frozen face between her hands, she made a quick move to pull away. But a surprisingly strong hand wrapped itself behind her neck pulling her back and she felt soft lips brushing over hers.

Their kiss tasted a bit salty as tears were running down the blonde's cheeks. When Maura's tongue ran over Janes bottom lip the brunette opened her mouth to let her in. This time she couldn't hold back the soft moan which mixed with one of Maura's when a warm and silky tongue met hers.