Sitting in Maura's living room, Jane flipped open her laptop and started working on her paperwork. After their last minute trip out of state, Jane had found it hard to get back into the groove. On top of that, she was paranoid about messing up and giving Cavanaugh an excuse to come down on her. So, despite her reluctance to do so, Jane was trying hard to stay caught up on everything her job threw her way.

A gentle meep sounded from across the room where Maura was sitting. Book in hand, her eyes were on the detective as her face took on a pout. Jane tried to ignore it as she worked on.

"Meep?" Maura's voice held the chord of a question.

"I'm working, sweetie. Just give me a few, okay?" Jane tried to hold off the smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth.

"Meep." Maura's voice, though still quiet, held in it the sound of frustration, and, still, she pouted.

Dark brown eyes tensed a little. "Look, you know I have to stay on this. Until we figure out what to do with the HR thing and Cavanaugh, I really can't be behind on stuff. It'll only take about an hour. Why don't you finish the book you've got, or watch tv, or whatever it is you do when I'm working and you're not?"

"Meep." Maura's voice sounded sad and rejected as she slowly opened the book in her hands.

"That's not fair, Maura. I'm trying to," Jane looked up to see the dejected look on the other woman's face. "Really?"

"Meep." Maura's voice sounded resigned as she frowned deeply while staring at the pages in front of her.

"Man," Jane grunted as she slowly placed her laptop on the coffee table. "You're spoiled; you know that?"

"Meep." Maura's voice sounded offended.

"Okay, that's it!" With a battle cry, Jane lunged from the sofa and onto the chair where Maura was curled. Tossing the book aside, the detective trapped the doctor's hands in her own as she fiercely kissed the smaller woman. "If you want attention, sweetie, you could just ask."

A grin spread across the honey blonde's face. "It's not as much fun." She sighed. "I know you need to finish what you're doing. I just needed a little acknowledgement."

"It's fine, but I'm going to go back now, okay?" Hesitantly, Jane stood back up to return to her spot on the sofa. "I promise I won't be long."

Maura shrugged, raising an eyebrow. "Meep," she said, voice full of doubt.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Funny."

"Rizzoli! Get your ass in here!" Cavanaugh's voice rang out over the bullpen.

All eyes settled on the lanky female detective as she slowly stood and made her way to the lieutenant's office. Following his silent direction, she stepped inside the small room and closed the door behind her. "Yes, sir?"

"This your report?" He handed her a sheet of paper.

She glanced at it for a moment, looking for anything that was out of place. Not finding anything, she nodded as she handed it back to him. "Yeah, I filed it this morning." She crossed her arms and waited.

"It reads like a freaking encyclopedia." He tossed the page on top of the stack of papers already on his desk. "100 words where 10 will do. When did you start trying to write books for reports?"

"It's a touchy case. I was trying to be as accurate as possible so the defense couldn't poke any holes in it." She shifted her weight as she tried to control her temper. "You told me to make sure the report was as watertight as the case. I was only following orders."

"Yeah, I told you to write up a strong report. I didn't tell you to write War and Peace." He snorted. "Is this how you're going to be?"

"What?" Jane blinked at him, clearly confused. "How I'm going to be about what?"

"You're dating Doctor Isles, so now you have to show everyone up by using four dollar words?" He leaned back in his chair. Pointing to the report in question, he glared at her. "Trying to prove you're smart enough, Rizzoli, because, if you are, you can stop it now. No one needs you showing off on something just because you can."

"Try to prove… I'm not even… How dare… Where do you," with each sentence she started to say, her anger multiplied. After starting and stopping a number of times as she tried to not yell at her boss, she finally lost her internal battle. "You know what? You can fuck off! This is bullshit!"

"Watch yourself, Rizzoli," Cavanaugh warned, voice just as loud as her own.

"No, I'm not going to 'watch myself'. What you're implying and what you've been saying about me and Maura for the past couple of weeks is all kinds of messed up. You know it, I know it, and any person in HR worth the paycheck we give them every month knows it. I'm tired of you taking pot shots at me and at Maura just because you think you can. If you've got a problem with me being a lesbian, then that's your problem, but it has nothing to do with my job. I'm one of the best damned detectives on the force, and, if you can't handle the fact that I'm dating the best medical examiner Boston's ever seen, then you can kiss it because that's no one's problem but yours." She seethed at the man still sitting at his desk.

Cavanaugh leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk. "You done?"

"Yeah, I'm done, and so are you. You threaten my job again because of who I'm dating, and I don't care if you do have someone in HR on your side, I'm taking this up the chain. Think about how much the Brass is going to like hearing about the hero detective getting harassed. I'm sure the newspapers will have a field day with it." She made a motion with her hand as if writing in the air. "Female Hero Detective and Girlfriend Harassed: Forced Out of Job by Homophobia. Bet that'll go over real well with the politicians in this city given how much they're trying to show their support of the LGBT community right now." She leaned forward over his desk. As her eyes narrowed, her voice took on a threatening tone, "Two can play dirty, Cavanaugh. Go ahead. Try me."

For a long moment, they stared at each other. Neither was willing to break the eye contact, and neither was willing to be the first to blink. It was Cavanaugh who ended the stalemate by way of picking her report up again. He looked it over, regarding it for a moment, before looking back at the still seething detective. "The report made its point. You can go now, Rizzoli. Close the door on your way out."

"Damn right," she growled as she turned on her heels and left the lieutenant's office, closing the door with a solid click behind her.

Thank you for continuing to read this. As always, I super appreciate your reviews.