I woke up before the alarm went off the next morning. Maura was on top of me, where she'd fallen asleep after we'd made love the night before. She was pressed up against the front of me, her head on my bare chest, her ear right above my heart. She was breathing deeply, one arm wrapped loosely around my neck. I'd noticed that was Maura's favorite position to sleep in, and not just after we had sex. I think she actually fell asleep to the beating of my heart, which made me fall in love with her all over again when I finally realized that.

Maura started stirring not long after I woke up. She looked up at me and grinned before she leaned in and kissed me.

"Why are you awake, beautiful girl?" she asked sweetly, already completely awake.

"I can't sleep," I admitted.

I squeezed her to me and she kissed my neck softly. "Nervous about today?"

"A little," I admitted. "It kind of feels like the first day of school."

"I used to love the first day of school," Maura gushed, smiling happily at some random first day of school memory she was having.

"I'm sure you did," I said with a soft laugh.

"I know how to take your mind off of things," Maura said smartly.

Maura sat up and straddled my legs, then leaned in to kiss me deeply.

"You're going to do so well today," she said as she moved from my lips down to my jaw, leaving a wet trail of kisses. "You're going to look great," she said as she continued her kisses, "and you're going to feel great too. I'm going to make sure of that."

I felt her fingers slide through my folds, and we both groaned at how wet I already was. It didn't take much for me to get wet when Maura was around. She could sneeze and I'd find it sexy.

Maura kissed her way down my body and stopped at my thighs. She kissed everywhere but where I needed her most, and then giggled at my desperate "Maura!". Finally she let her tongue wander to my center, where she made lazy circles. Maura liked to start me out slowly, and I really didn't mind it at all. She had my thighs up, over her shoulders, and had both of my hands in hers, her fingers laced tightly through mine. Over and over again she brought me right to the edge, and then slowed down.

"This is payback for Friday night, isn't it?" I asked her between gasps. It was simultaneously frustrating and more erotic than anything else I'd ever experienced with her.

She just laughed against me, lifted her eyes to look at me seductively, and continued her teasing.

Once more she brought me right to the edge, and then slowed her efforts down. I was squirming under her, thoroughly enjoying what she was doing to me but getting desperate for her to give me the relief I needed.

"Maura, if you keep this up, I'm not going to have time to return the favor before the alarm clock goes off," I warned.

She ignored my warning and sucked my clit into her mouth, causing me to jump and then moan in pleasure.

"Maura…"

Finally, finally she pushed me over the edge into a blinding orgasm that made my bones feel like they'd been turned into jelly. She kissed her way back up to my lips, and settled herself back against me in her favorite spot just as the alarm clock went off.

"Where are you going?" I asked her as she jumped out of bed. "I haven't gotten to, you know, to you!"

Maura grinned at me from the entrance to the bathroom.

"Come on, Jane. You don't want to be late for your first day back at work."

I eased out of bed on wobbly legs and followed her into the shower where I managed to return the favor and not make us late, a feat neither of us had ever accomplished before, but no less satisfying than any of the other times I followed her into the shower in the past.

We were both still grinning like lovesick fools when we pulled up at the precinct. Maura took me aside before we walked in, brushing an imaginary piece of lint off of my shirt and re-folding my collar. She then gave me a kiss on the lips.

"Knock 'em down, Rizzoli," she said proudly.

I smiled at her. "It's knock 'em dead, but thank you."

"Well, that would be rather counterproductive, don't you think? I mean, you're here to solve murders, not create more of them."

I just loved her innocence and her inability to understand colloquialisms. I gave her an endearing smile that told her just how much I loved her. "Whatever you say, Maur." I kissed her once more, and we headed inside.

I walked over to the desk after promising to call down to Maura as soon as my four hours were up so we could go to lunch and she could take me home. I signed in with Cadet Walters, who seemed to be perpetually on front desk duty.

"Don't you ever go to class at the academy?" I asked him good-naturedly.

"Yeah, I do," he responded. "But I sign up to volunteer here in the precinct as much as possible so I have a better chance of working in this sector once I graduate."

"Good plan, Cadet."

I smiled at him as I fingered the badge on my hip, wearing it as much for the pride it invoked in me as I was for the security blanket element it gave me. I may have been relegated to very restricted desk duty, but for all intents and purposes, I was a detective again.

"Welcome back, Detective." Cadet Walters said with a grin. "Thanks for not giving me a hard time about signing in."

"Nah, I'm too happy to be back," I smirked.

"It'll be even better when we have you back on the streets. Until then, be well."

I smiled at him and walked over to the elevators to head up to BRIC. Maura had walked over to the elevators that took her down to the morgue, and looked over her shoulder at me, giving me a huge smile and a small wave. As the elevator doors started to close, she blew me a kiss.

If each of my days started out just like that one, the rest of my career was going to be wonderful, I thought.

I arrived up at BRIC at about ten minutes to eight. Frost, Korsak, and Cavanaugh were not yet in. Over in the far corner I could see Crowe and Klatsky doing whatever it was that Crowe did most mornings. I'd never liked the guy, and wanted nothing to do with him now that I was back. I didn't even bother to walk over to greet them.

Instead, I walked over to my desk, where a computer had been installed, and found a small bouquet of flowers sitting on the chair in a tiny vase, along with a small gift bag on the desk itself.

I picked up the bouquet first, and saw it was from Maura. The card was computer-generated, leading me to believe she'd ordered the flowers online and had them delivered there first thing in the morning so I could find them.

Have a great first day back, beautiful girl.

The card was exactly what I needed, because I was definitely feeling nervous. I put the flowers up on my desk and picked up the gift bag.

Inside was a BPD travel coffee mug and a gift card to the coffee shop up the street. I opened up the card on the inside and saw that it was from Frost and Korsak.

Welcome back! We're so happy you're here! Coffee is on you!

I grinned. I guessed the boys were boycotting the cafe because of the way Stanley had treated my mother, and this was their way of telling me. I'd be more than happy to buy them coffee, now that I was back and they'd so readily accepted me back into the group.

I put the mug on my desk next to the flowers, and put the gift card in my back pocket.

I sat down at my desk and waited for the guys to arrive.

I didn't have long to wait. Frost showed up first and beamed at me.

"Heeeey partner!" he exclaimed, giving me a solid tap on my shoulder as he walked around to his desk. "So good to see you! Welcome back!"

"Hey!" I grinned. "Thanks for the mug and the gift card."

"No problem. We don't go to the cafe anymore, so we walk up the block to that other coffee shop and fill up travel mugs there. We wave them at Stanley as we walk back in. Thought you might want in on the fun," Frost said.

"Sounds great," I laughed.

Korsak and Cavanaugh came up on the same elevator and walked in to see Frost and me conversing.

"I didn't think I'd see the day," Korsak said reverently.

"Welcome back, Rizzoli. Step into my office. Frost and Korsak, come in with her please. We have a few things to go over," Cavanaugh said by way of greeting.

I got up and followed them into Cavanaugh's office. I walked behind them, so they wouldn't be able to see me limp. Crowe caught it though.

"Hey gimpy, welcome back!" he barked from the opposite end of the bullpen. Klatsky ducked his head in embarrassment.

I ignored them both and shut the door to Cavanaugh's office behind me.

Cavanaugh sat us down and gave us some ground rules.

"I know you're raring to go, Rizzoli, but you're on restricted desk duty. You are only allowed to handle the paperwork given to you by the other detectives in the unit. I know you want to be back out in the field with your partners, and I'm sorry that I can't let you do that. You'll handle reports and case notes for your partners, and if there's time, you'll handle reports and case notes for Crowe and Klatsky too. Your doctors have only approved you for four hours of desk duty two days per week, so when the four hours are up, I expect you to stop what you're doing and head out. It's going to be tempting for you to stick around. Please don't do that. I can't risk HR giving us a hard time about this, and I can't risk your doctors pulling you off of desk duty."

"Yes, sir." I believed him when he said it was possible for human resources or my doctors to pull my desk duty from me, and it was a risk I wasn't willing to take.

"You have your badge back," Cavanaugh continued, "but it's largely symbolic. You will have to pass your physical requalifications, including tactical driving and firearms, before you're allowed back out of desk duty and onto regular duty. As much as I would like to have you at crime scenes, you can't be there yet. You also cannot question suspects or sit in on autopsies. Officially, the morgue is off limits to you, however if you're down there just to see the Doc, I won't hold it against you."

"Okay," I said sadly.

"These aren't my rules, Rizzoli, but we have to follow them. Korsak, as her sergeant, I'm looking to you to make sure these rules are enforced. And Frost, do us a favor and don't try to tempt her, okay?"

"Yes, Sir." Frost was resolute, but gave me a small smile.

"One more thing, Rizzoli."

"Yes?" I asked.

"Don't take any shit from Crowe, and make sure Klatsky's not learning Crowe's attitude from him. Klatsky's not half bad, but I don't want Crowe turning him into a dick if we can help it."

"Yes sir!" I grinned.

"Now go get to work. All of you."

We filed out of Cavanaugh's office and I returned to my desk.

"Hey Korsak, thanks for the mug and gift card," I called over to him.

"My pleasure. Welcome back, Jane." He walked over with a large stack of file folders. "Sorry to do this to you, but these all need case notes and interim reports."

"Okay," I said, taking the first folder off the pile.

"And these too," Frost said sheepishly as he put another large stack on my desk.

"We're really backed up, but having you take care of this stuff is really going to help us out," Korsak said gently.

"I'm just happy to be back," I said earnestly. "I really can't wait to get back into things. I'm so glad I'm here."

"We're glad you're here too," Frost said.

"Paperwork is going to get real old real fast, Jane," Korsak warned. "But I'll do my best to try and keep things lively for you. And you know, if you come across anything in any of these files that we may have missed, make sure to let us know. It would help to have a fresh pair of eyes looking this stuff over."

"Yeah, especially if they're your eyes," Frost added.

"I'll do that." I couldn't hide my grin from the two of them as I turned in my seat and booted up my computer.

I logged into the system using the same username and password I'd had before I left, and for the first time in more than a year, things felt absolutely normal.

About twenty minutes into the paperwork I was doing, my cell phone pinged.

How is your first day going?

I grinned at Maura's text.

It's early yet, but the flowers from you made an already perfect day even better. Thank you.

You're welcome. Text if you need me. Stop by if you have time.

I sighed before I replied. Cavanaugh says the morgue is off limits, and even though he said he won't hold it against me if I stop down there to see you, I'd rather not get in trouble. But feel free to come up and see me whenever you want.

I forgot about that. I'll stop up and see you when I bring up reports for your partners in a little while. Keep your chin up.

I will. It's good to be back.

I put my phone back and continued looking over the case file that Korsak had given to me. Everything in that file seemed to be pretty straightforward. I entered in case notes and typed up an interim report. I emailed the report over to Korsak and printed a hard copy for the file.

I stood up to go and pick up the hard copy from the printer, and felt everyone's eyes on me as I made my way over. My limp was far less pronounced than it was when I'd first started walking, but it was still noticeable. I was working really hard with Derrick to rid myself of it, but it was hard work, and it was probably the most formidable barrier I had to passing my physical requalifications.

"Don't fall, Rizzoli!" Crowe yelled across the bullpen.

I ignored him, but Korsak didn't.

"Nothing better to do, Crowe? Because if not I've got a bunch of paperwork here you could work on."

"We have a new secretary for that," Crowe deadpanned, and I flushed beet red. I still didn't say anything though.

Frost stood up and actually growled at Crowe. "Watch it, man!" he yelled.

"Why? You gonna have gimpy over there come over and kick my ass with her bad leg?"

I'd had enough already. I spun around and glared at Crowe before I spoke to him in a calm, measured tone.

"Even with a bad leg, I could still kick you from here into next week. Watch yourself, Crowe. I may have lost a lot of things in that accident, but my hearing and my ability to beat you back into submission were not part of them."

I waited for Crowe's brain to formulate a response. He seemed slower than he had been. I looked over at Klatsky.

"If you want to learn from the best, and avoid the stink associated with that piece of shit, I recommend you spend some time with Korsak, Frost, and me. We'll show you how it's done around here."

Klatsky looked like he wanted to find a rock to crawl under, and Crowe finally started to open his mouth again. I raised my hand and stopped him.

"Save it, jackwad. Nobody cares."

I picked up my printouts and walked back to my desk. I stapled the report into Korsak's file and made a pile for completed cases.

Crowe was right, really. I was essentially their secretary, but goddamn if I wasn't going to be the best I could be at it. I hadn't survived what I had to do anything less than my very best.

We all continued working in stony silence until Maura came up an hour later with reports for Frost and Korsak. She could tell something had happened, but the look I gave her told her to wait until later and we'd talk about it. For once, Maura understood a non-verbal cue and just gave my shoulder a squeeze.

"Thai for lunch?" she asked me.

"Oh, I'd love that." My stomach growled in agreement.

"Are you hungry now?" Maura asked, hearing it.

"Not really. I ate the snack you packed for me. Thank you."

"You're welcome. We're all trying to stay out of the cafe. Once your mother owns it, we'll all go back en force."

"That's sweet, Maura. Thank you."

Maura gave me a beautiful smile and headed out. "I'll see you at noon. I'll come up and get you," she called over her shoulder to me.

Crowe snorted in the background, and I just gave Maura a warm smile. I definitely wasn't going to let that guy get under my skin. Not that day, and not ever.