Author's note: thank you very much for all the reviews and messages.

March

Chapter Twenty: Leo, Joshua And The Others

"Dr. Isles?"

Maura looked up from a stack of papers and smiled at her administrative assistant. Emma had been working for her for the past three years now but she rarely dared to come in the autopsy room. She found it intimidating and singular.

"Yes?"

The employee seemed a bit embarrassed, pulling over and over on the sleeves of her jacket. A shy smile finally played on her lips and she cleared her voice before speaking.

"Someone pretending to be your daughter is here and would like to see you...?"

Maura held back a chuckle. Emma had all the reasons in the world to be confused.

It was rather well known at the morgue that the chief medical examiner didn't have any child. Maura looked at the large windows that overlooked the hallway and smiled at Margot. The student waved back at her. She was standing there, all smile and rather intrigued by the room. Sharp contrast with Emma.

"Perfect. Please take her to my office. I will be there in a couple of minutes." Back to her computer. "Thank you."

The administrative assistant nodded and left the room as quickly as she could. She really had quite of an issue with autopsy rooms even when nothing was happening there. The tables were neat – all empty – and Maura was quietly sitting at a desk to revise a couple of cases.

There was nothing intimidating going on in there for the moment.

Maura shut down her computer and stretched out her arms. Why was Margot here, in the middle of the week? She should have been in Cambridge.

Maura frowned and stood up. Was she supposed to be worried? Margot had looked rather cheerful though so it couldn't be that bad. Or could it be? Her curiosity piqued, Maura rushed to her office and went to kiss the young woman on the cheeks.

"What are you doing here?" Rather direct. Too much, perhaps? "I mean... It is nice to see you here." Better. "As much as I think that you did well to go live on the campus, I have to admit that I miss you too."

It wasn't the same without Margot at home. She didn't come back every weekend and Maura had a hard time dealing with this absence. She missed the closeness they had shared the first time Margot had come to Boston.

A weekly visit in Cambridge to share a meal was quite different. But then it was life and Maura had no other choice but to accept it. Margot was an adult now, she had to lead her life; her own life.

"I had a day off so I decided to come to Boston. Then one thing leading to another, I made it close to the BPD so it was only fair for me to stop by and say hello. Sorry for the daughter thing... Maybe I shouldn't have said that. It was a joke. Looks like your assistant is quite literal."

Maura laughed and swept away the remark with a gesture of the hand. Emma would never ask for further details – she was too shy for that – but she would probably remain confused for a while.

"It is okay. Would you like some tea?"

Maura didn't wait for an answer and went to brew some. The unexpected visit was sweet, just what she needed after a rather dull day at the office.

Nothing had happened and Jane wasn't even in the building. She was attending a trial which meant that Maura couldn't go up to the homicide unit floor for a while.

If some people didn't like working with their spouse, Maura had nothing against it at all. On the contrary. She and Jane were a team. They belonged to these couples who could spend most of the time together without having the sentiment to be suffocating from it.

It was a real chance and she knew it.

"Are you alone? Leo didn't come with you?"

What was this question, Isles? They aren't glued to each other and you certainly shouldn't support this kind of idea. If you are all about women keeping their independence then show it.

Silence. A long one.

Maura turned around and looked at Margot. Why wasn't she replying? A latent panic began to spread in the scientist's stomach. Margot pouted and took a sip of her tea. She shrugged.

"We've decided to take some distance."

"What? Why? What happened? What is going on? What did I miss? What... Why?" If she had wanted to sound casual and calm, Maura had really failed: she had just broken a new record on the panic scale.

"Joshua happened."

"Joshua...?" This time, Maura didn't even try to hide her confusion. She knew that students could go from one relation to another rather easily but still. "Have you met someone? When?" She was extremely surprised.

As much as Margot had always made it clear that she wasn't looking for something serious and did not want to settle down, things had actually seemed to be anything but light with Leo. She and Jane had met his parents, after all.

That had to mean something.

The dinner.

Maura swallowed hard. What if it had gone wrong and that was the reason why Margot had taken her distance from Leo? She hadn't heard from his parents again but had simply assumed that they had been busy finalizing Elsa's arrival in the US. What if the reason was completely different?

Maybe they hadn't liked Jane and her.

"I didn't. Leo did."

End of the paranoiac scenario.

Margot's reply took her out of her endless – confused – daydreams. Although not for very long. She blinked and choked on her tea.

"What?!"

Maura's incapacity to formulate a complete question had only happened twice in her life: the first time when she had got a B in Biology way back then in junior high and the second time when she had walked in on Jane painting skulls on Bass' shell.

Margot had just managed to raise the rarity of such event to three times. A miracle in itself.

...

"Leo is gay?!" Astonished, Jane closed back the fridge and stared at Maura in disbelief for long seconds before chuckling. "I should've known better. Now that explains why he was so perfect. There's no straight guy who's that good. Nah, that is just impossible. Talkin' from experience here."

Maura rolled her eyes but couldn't help laughing. It had cost her a lot to not call her wife as soon as Margot had left her office to break the news to her. She had waited to make sure to witness live her face and the wait had been completely worth it.

"Just because he is now dating a guy doesn't mean that he is gay, Jane. He could be bisexual or just curious or... You know, labels..."

Jane nodded. Maura was right. She didn't like all these labels because it confused her more than anything. She didn't see herself as a lesbian, barely as a bisexual woman. She liked saying she simply was Maura-sexual which – all in all – was rather true. She had never lived such an intense relationship than the one she was living with Maura.

"How's Margot coping with it? Was she alright?" Mama Bear Mode: activated. "Let me call her... I need to make sure she's ok. I mean... She got dumped by her boyfriend. She can't be that fine."

Jane's sudden anxiety made Maura smile. It was cute. Jane probably didn't realize it herself but she was very protective with Margot. She had it in her genes. She would make a good mother if they ever gave it a try. Maura was sure of it.

"She wasn't in love with him, you know. I guess she just really liked him. She looked perfectly fine to me. We talked for an hour then she left because she was going to the movies with a friend... How about having dinner with her tomorrow night? Then you will be able to see by yourself how she is feeling."

Jane pondered the suggestion – opened her bottle of beer – and made a step forward only to trip over Bass.

Damn tortoise.

She was convinced that he couldn't stand her even after all these years. Maura kept on saying that he was simply traumatized after that leaf accident when Jane had fed him the wrong one. Bullshit.

He saw in anyone who approached Maura a potential threat.

He was a jealous bitch.

"Alright." Sigh. Lack of enthusiasm. Jane nonetheless grabbed her cell phone. She couldn't help it. She had to make sure that Margot was fine. "But I'm still sending her a message. After all, she did ask for the mama Rizzoli parenting so she is getting it."

Was she really fooling anyone with this poor excuse? Maura's smirk answered it.

Whatever.

She furiously typed a message then sent it. Done. Now back to her beer – her wife – and the infinite pleasure to not be on call tonight.

Or so.

A very disturbing thought suddenly invaded her mind; the kind that made her rethink pretty much everything. Pout. Snort.

"Wait a minute, Maur'. How come she came to you to tell you about the breakup and not to me? I am the cool mom. You're the..."

"The what?" Icy tone of voice.

Wrong choice of words, Rizzoli. Wrong choice of topic if you want to spend a quiet evening. Give up now. Really.

"So... Movie night, right?" Jane grinned a bit too enthusiastically. "What have you chosen? I'm so looking forward to watching it." Fakery at its best.

Maura raised an unconvinced eyebrow but didn't insist. Or at least not on this point.

She had a better weapon at reach.

"What do you want... I suppose that Margot came to me because I am the wisest one, let's face it."

Jane choked on her beer - laughed the remark away - and opened her mouth to speak but finally remained quiet. Sadly, Maura was right on this point and she couldn't fight it.