Thank you so much for all your reviews. You're all wonderful! :)

Most of you mentioned how you liked seeing the vulnerable side of Jane in the last chapter. I did too. :) I know she's often seen as a tough, badass cop, but in so many scenes from the show her sensitivity is lying just beneath the surface... so I guess that's what I'm trying to express when I write her. Thank you so much for the alerts etc, and for letting me know I'm keeping true to the characters. That is the best compliment I can get.

Anyway, here's some more. I hope you approve. Tj.x

It had been a hard day. At 10am an anonymous caller advised the discovery of a deceased newborn stuffed into a trashcan at a local high school. The mother was nowhere to be found, and it was assumed she was one of the students. Everyone was not only troubled over the baby's death, but also extremely concerned for the possibly young mother's health. Maura had been working on the body for 2 hours but Jane hadn't been present due to running around questioning the school's faculty, students and parents. All leads were coming up blank. She felt like she was running in circles.

They arrived back at the station with Jane leaving Frost in the lobby to go check in with their ME. What she found uncovered the softness of her heart from the outer shell she'd long built up as a detective.

Maura was seated in her office, head cradled in her hands, her body curled over and leaning on her desk. Jane recognised the small intermittent sounds breaking the silence. Maura was sniffing, quietly… and she was crying.

Jane entered, locking the door behind her.

"It's okay, Maur," she said softly, as she reached her. The ME tried desperately to pull herself together, annoyed with herself she'd been caught. "Hey, c'mon, it's only me," Jane offered, reassuringly.

She finally turns to show the strain on her face. She'd tried to keep it together all morning, but working on such a tiny, helpless little body undermined all of that as soon as she attempted to transpose her findings to hard copy. The lacklustre tone of her voice on the autopsy recording set her off, and she'd resigned herself to dealing with her emotions alone.

"I'm sorry… I was listening to my findings and my… emotions got the better of me." She sucked in air as Jane knelt to wipe the tears from her face.

"It's okay, sweetie. This one's getting to everyone."

"Including you?"

"Including me."

Maura looks away. Of course Jane would be affected. She has such a beautiful heart. She felt terrible at having asked her.

"Of course… I didn't mean… I just… I'm sorry. My behaviour is unprofessional."

"Hey." Her response is firm. "You're the last person anyone would ever call unprofessional." Her manner calms. "Now, how long has it been since you took a break?"

"I can't, Jane… I have to finish this report."

"That you're working on for me... Maura, honey, just give me the details and you can finish the paperwork later."

"No, I couldn't possibly…" she says, shaking her head.

"Maura, you're exhausted. Have you sent off toxicology & DNA?"

"Of course!"

"Then the main tasks requiring action are all done, so take a breath for christ's sake." She takes a breath herself. "Did you find anything? Anything relating to COD?"

"She was healthy, Jane. A beautiful, perfectly healthy little baby." Maura's face says it all, along with her next sentence. "She froze to death."

Jane grimaced. "Okay… Christ. Poor little thing… Look, there's nothing else you can do, and at the moment neither can I, so right now, we're both taking a break."

She tugs on the blonde's hands helping her up and pulls her over to the sofa.

"Jane…"

"We're having a nap, or you can meditate or whatever." She sits down with her hand in the air, still caught in Maura's who's still standing. "I don't know about you but just thinking about this case is exhausting."

"I know, but I couldn't possibly do what you're asking."

"And why not?"

"Someone could walk in on us for a start," she says, gesturing to the door.

"It's locked, so come on."

She tugs, but Maura still resists.

"We can't possibly both fit on my couch."

Jane grunts in frustration, letting go of Maura's hand. She places her arms around her pulling her close. Without realising it, she's positioned the woman between her legs and is now level with her tummy. She rests her face against it, savouring yet another new sensation before looking up.

Maura cautiously puts her hands on her shoulders, her balance off kilter causing her to lean in. Her line of sight sinks into sparkling brown eyes and Jane's raspy voice breaks their silence.

"You either get on here with me or I'm dragging you down here. You got that?"

Her breath is caught, and all she can do is nod. With a tender kiss to her stomach the detective fulfils her threat, and the ME finds herself lying against her friend. She closes her eyes, her head resting on Jane's chest. She curls her arm in front of her, atop of the detective's sternum, feeling slowly smothered by contentment.

"I've set my phone to go off in twenty. Try to rest sweetheart."

Maura feels the words as well as hears them. She locks this moment away as one of the most truly special moments she's shared with another being. With her Jane.

Jane sends Frost a text before settling.

I'm off air for 30mins. Don't bother asking.

In the offices above, Frost reads the text in surprise. Korsak notices.

"What?"

"Jane's sent me a message saying she's off air for thirty minutes. Wasn't she just going to see Dr Isles?"

A sense of protection takes hold of her older partner.

"You know how she gets when Maura's explainin' stuff. She doesn't like being interrupted." He aims for a distraction. "She's just pre-empting your pain in her ass, that's all."

Frost grunts at him. "Shut it old man."

They end the argument with a smile, and leave it at that.

With Maura having fallen into a light sleep within moments, Jane gets to immerse herself in the feeling of her as she stares into space. She doesn't realise she's doing it, but her left hand has been caressing slowly up and down the ME's back, and it's this motion that's lulled the fine doctor to sleep.

I can't believe I did that.

She's thinking back to her embracing Maura, as the smaller woman was still standing. It was the thing of romance she'd seen played out in films. If Maura had run her fingers through her hair she would've been a goner.

She sighs, kissing a patch of fair skin that was closest to her mouth. She begins imagining the feel of Maura's fingers dragging across her skull. Her eyes close, and she remembers the touch of Maura's blouse against her face, her friend's hips leaning gently against her chest. Sadly, time is lost to her fantasy, and her phone reminds them of 20 minutes passed. Its noise and Jane's movement at silencing it, makes the sweetest, softest woman snuggle in a little harder. Jane smiles, and lays restful lips on her forehead. They share a quiet moment before facing reality.

"Maur," she rasps, "… sweetie, wake up."

Maura grizzles, and she chuckles. Sitting them up, she watches the ME rub her eyes.

"You're so cute when you're half asleep, you know that?"

"Mm… Did you sleep?"

"No…" she shakes her head, "… just thinking about the case." There's no way she could admit to what she was really thinking about.

"You run yourself too hard, Jane. It's not healthy."

"Look who's on the other side of the argument now, Maura," she says playfully, brushing her hand from the ME's shoulder to her fingertips. "I've gotta go. You take it easy, okay?"

She nods. "I'll do my best."

"I don't doubt that… hey, maybe come up in a bit and you can go through everything with us. See if there's something we haven't noticed."

Checking the clock, Maura estimates. "I'll be with you in 40 minutes."

Please review... Tj. xx