AN- I know I didnt explain very much in the first chapter... But I'm aiming for three to five in here, and the rating may go up depending on if I decide on adult content or not... Because everyone knows Disney's sleeping beauty was the biggest whore out there. Regardless... Chapter Two skips forward by... 20 years, eleven months, and various days. Just sayin'. Also, the song is "Tides of Time" by Epica's Simone Simons. I suggest you listen, close your eyes, and imagine the deliciousness that is Sasha Alexander singing that. I know that I did.

Yes, I am a Sashanista. And proud of it.

~SnapTobiume

PS- Marx, you may have reviewed as a guest, but right now? You are my favorite person in the entire fandom. I freaking love you. And because of you, I've decided to try and work out changing the rating.


Jane Rizzoli left the police department in a huff, holstering her gun as she walked out, driving out into the forest while going at least twenty miles over the speed limit in an unmarked. She was frustrated; after all, who wouldn't be? She was tired of everyone looking at her like she was a disappointment, as if she had done something wrong that even she was unaware about. Actually, she was completely aware of the problem. But she couldn't exactly fix it. Or rather, she couldn't really afford to fix it. See, the issue everyone seemed to have with her? She was a woman. Which meant she wasn't a man. Which, ultimately, meant that she was not good enough for whatever the Hell they wanted her to be, or do, or whatever. She jumped out of the car, turning down the first path she came too, and trying desperately to get lost. She always thought that maybe, just maybe, if she got lost and couldn't find her way out, she could live off the land with only her gun and the forest. However, she knew that was illogical. She didn't have enough bullets to last her the rest of her life. Which meant she had to go back, at some point.

It was all just so frustrating. She didn't know what they wanted from her, what anyone wanted from her. Her mother just always was pushing her to find 'the right man' so that she wasn't obligated for... Something else. Not that Jane knew what the 'something else' was, she just knew that there was something else. It was as if her entire life had been set out for her, and she really didn't have much of a say in the matter. Not that she minded; it was better than being harped upon simply because she didn't have balls, and was thus not a man, but a woman.

So absorbed in her thoughts, Jane never heard the voice until she could almost see the woman singing.

"You were always there to hold my hand
When times were hard to understand
But now the tides of time have turned
They keep changing."

The voice was so soft, so sweet, that it caused all of Jane's movement to stop, all of her thoughts to instantly still. She was simply standing, aghast. The voice, it was too beautiful to be natural. Too beautiful to be human. She found that she was drawn in; she couldn't possibly turn away.

"Seasons range, but you remain the same
A steady heart, a sun to rain
You'll be the light that's shining bright
High above me

Autumn cold, losing heart

We are leaves meant to fall
There is a meaning to all
That fades."

Jane couldn't bear the sadness in the voice, she walked through the thick foliage until she could see the woman, until she could see the person that had such emotion in her song. For a brief moment, she hoped that the woman wouldn't be ugly; she didn't know how she could bear if the voice that pulled her in belonged to someone who was not visually appealing. And then she nearly smacked herself right then. What did it matter?

"Freezing winds were stayed by warming words
To touch your healing to the hurt
I'll treasure every lesson learned
to the embers

Fire fails
Blushes pale.

We will answer the call
There's a meaning to all our

Seeds of eulogy
To sow along with dreams
Fill the need that can leave us grieving alone

Frail is our beauty in the end
But all we count is sentiment
A memory stays to guide the way and whisper

Don't lose sight, don't deny
We're leaves meant to fall
There's a meaning to all our

Seeds of eulogy
To sow along with dreams
Fill the need that can leave us grieving alone
A symphony resounding in our minds
Guides us through what we knew
would come all along."

Jane stopped, abruptly. She could see her now. Her hair fell to around the middle of her back in dark blonde waves. She was wearing a short red dress that swirled loosely around her knees in an uneven hemline, and she was walking in spiked heels that were at least five inches, but probably more. And her skin... Jane found her breathing had quickened in pace, and she was stepping out into the clearing and joining the woman in song before she had even registered what was happening.

"Sometimes I feel like I don't have the words
Sometimes I feel like I'm not being heard
And then I fear I'm feeling nothing more

Sometimes I feel I don't want this change
And think we all have to rearrange
And now I feel there's no one losing more"

The blonde woman had spun around at the sound of the accompanying voice, and Jane found herself begging with her eyes for the woman to continue, catching the slight smile that graced her lips as she paused between the phrases for a breath. The nearly- twenty one year old, dark- haired woman felt her breath catch again as she allowed her eyes to wander up legs that never seemed to end, to a chest that was perfect, to the most striking hazel eyes she had ever found herself gazing in to.

"Seeds of eulogy
To sow along with dreams
Fill the need that can leave us grieving alone
A symphony resounding in our minds"

Jane sucked back a gasp at the soaring soprano, and then the feeling that washed over her as she was nothing short of entranced again by those eyes. She could read every flicker of pain, of loneliness there. And the begging was not lost on her; the begging from the blonde to join her in the soft words. She nodded once, swallowing before she picked up the last few lines in a harmony that was far from perfect, yet felt so right.

"Guides us through - as you hear me
As you do - As you need me

Making true

What we knew would come all along ."

As the end note faded, the blonde couldn't help but smile, before blushing slightly. Then, the past couple of minutes must have caught up to her, because her face fell, and she hurriedly gathered up her cloak from where it hung on a nearby tree, and made as if to run off. Jane reached forward, grabbing her wrist as if her hand was made of iron.

"Please. Stay. Don't go. I... Your voice... Its beautiful. You're beautiful. Hi, I'm Jane." Everything came out in a rush, and the blonde found herself turning around slowly, her eyes flickering with wonder, with a curiosity that didn't make much sense to the Drug Control officer. Yet it still took her breath away.

"I'm Maura. Maura Isles." She whispered in a voice as sweet as the one that she had used to sing. Jane exhaled, as if some awkward stepping stone had been jumped over and left behind. "I'm sorry that I... Interrupted whatever you were doing. I'm so sorry." Jane shook her head, grinning in the slightly skew way that she had a tendency to.

"No. No." She paused, regathering her thoughts. "I'm pretty bad at talking, can you tell? I was just um... Walking. Trying not to think about how my parents are always looking at me like they're upset that I'm a woman, and how I'm never good enough and... God, I'm spilling my entire life to the most gorgeous stranger I have ever met in my life. Oh my God I did not just say that out loud." She covered her face in her hands when she felt a hand stroke her forearm gently.

"That's alright. At least your parents... Talk to you. I'm adopted. And... They never seem to have time. Never seem to care." She turned away, looking far off into the bushes, as if seeking answers there. "I come here often as a mental reprieve; in order to imperturbate the mind and increase one's acumen and-"

"Pause. You lost me with the fancy words." Maura blushed, dropping her eyes downward.

"I'm so sorry. You must think I'm exceptionally maladroit, or interminable, or even audacious-"

"I think that you are exceptionally amazing, and though I enjoy every word that you speak," She paused, making the blonde look at her. "I simply do not understand the large words. Yo don't speak much like a commoner."

"I... I read a lot." She blushed, before taking a seat on the soft grass, folding her legs on the cloak.

"See, I understood that one." Jane whispered, laying back. There was a long pause, though it wasn't awkward, but comfortable. "Hey. I come here a bit more often than any usual person. Yet I haven't seen you around. Why is that?" Maura blushed.

"I... I normally keep to myself and the trees. I stay quiet enough not to disturb the natural calm of the forest." She leaned back on her arms before the other woman's wrapped around her waist, pulling her back onto her chest. "Jane-"

"You looked uncomfortable."

"This is... Much more satisfactory." She felt Jane laugh, closing her eyes as the vibration shook through her back. Something about all of this just felt so... Right.

"Maura." The blonde opened one eye, tilting her head back to see more of the brunette's face. She had fallen into a lull; focused only on the parts of them that were touching, the soft caresses over her side, her arm. "What is it like. What is it like, to be free?" Maura sighed, before sitting up and turning, in order to look the other woman in the eyes.

"I don't know." She whispered. "My whole life... I feel like its all been set out for me. Even later today, I'm supposed to go to some huge party for my birthday and my wedding, or whatever, but I don't want to go." She let her hands wind with Jane's, the contrast of their skin tones sticking out when the officer laced their fingers together. "If I had to answer though... I believe that being free, it would feel like being here with you. Like right now." They paused, and Jane's eyes flickered with something that Maura didn't quite understand. The brunette moved, lifting herself up until they were barely inches apart.

"Maura, want to do something completely rash and idiotic?" She whispered, voice low. Maura's breathing paused, as she connected the dots about what the other woman was asking.

"If it means that I get to touch you, that we'll make something work, then yes. Yes, absolutely." She drew in a tight breath, nearly closing the distance. "Anything."