A/N: Hey, guys. I was going to post this yesterday, but ended up having to go out of town...But don't worry. I have found wifi! Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Happy Reading!

Jane sat at her desk biting her thumb nail. Her knee bounced up and down while she waited for her boss to arrive. She hadn't gotten much sleep last night, because her mind was running wild. Thoughts about how she had snapped at her boss's daughter yesterday plagued her all night. Would Maura be angry? Would she fire her over this? She had really tried to control her tongue, but she just wasn't used to a young girl, who was privileged by the way, speaking to her mother like that. She knew if she or her brothers would have ever spoken to their mother like that they would get a good tongue lashing as well as a smack on the back of the head. She only hoped she hadn't gone too far.

At that moment Jane's ears perked up at the sound of the familiar click of her boss's heels. Maura was looking straight ahead as she walked into her office with Alice in tow. Jane swallowed hard at the fact that Maura did not stop by her desk like she usually does every morning to grab her coffee. She stood from her desk and walked to the door. Gripping Maura's coffee in her right hand, she knocked gently on the door.

"Come in."

Maura had never spent a day at work with any of her children before so she busied herself mulling it over. She already had Ali bring some study material along to keep herself occupied and productive, as well as some leisure reading in case she got bored, but one thing that was clear was that there would be very little talking going on. Last night was testament to the fact that she was in no mood to talk. She blatantly refused to discuss the incident that got her suspended in the first place.

Not even after lots of prodding, bribing, threatening and near begging on Maura's part. Alice would just shrug her questions off and change the subject until Maura had had enough, ultimately grounding her and confiscating all her beloved electronics. Needless to say, they had been playing the quiet game all morning.

Jane could sense the tension in the room as she delivered Maura's first cup of the day, whose attention was spent studying her daughter sitting on the couch at the other end of the room. Neither Isles women even raised their heads to acknowledge Jane before she spoke up.

"Good morning, Ms. Isles. Here's your coffee," said Jane, trying to inject nonchalance into her voice.

Maura accepted the coffee without taking her gaze off of Alice. She took a few sips before slowly turning her eyes to the woman standing in front of her, who had her hands linked behind her back and her eyes narrowly focused on an imaginary spot somewhere. Jane took that as her cue to start talking.

"I figured you'd want a few moments to settle in this morning, so I pushed you're 9:30 to 10:30. Also, Mark Finn called from the Jenson project to check up on the progress. I told him that everything was on schedule and that we are actually under budget, so he was really happy about that. At twelve I will go to get your lunch and if you're daughter wants something she can just tell me and I'll get it… Oh and your lawyer called… But that's pretty much it for today. Anything you guys need?" she asked, glancing between mother and daughter.

Maura sat quietly through her assistants morning prep. She curiously eyed Jane the entire time while she drank her coffee and she knew exactly why she wasn't her usual lighthearted self. She reached into her purse and pulled out a twenty dollar bill.

"Alice, take this and go to the fourth floor. There is a breakfast bar there and you can get whatever you want."

The girl eyed the money in her mother's outstretched hand. She moved her gaze to Jane and back to her mother before wordlessly getting up to get the money and leaving the office. Unfortunately for Jane, the tension in the air did not leave with her.

"Jane, we need to talk about yesterday."

"Yes, ma'am. I was completely out of line. She's your daughter and I'm just your assistant. My mother tells me it's my hot Italian temper, but sometimes it's just hard to sensor myself. I crossed the line and I understand. I'll just get my stuff and-" Maura silenced Jane by holding up her hand.

Maura leaned back in her chair and delicately placed her hands in her lap as she contemplated her assistant. For a long moment she just studied her with an impassive gaze then nodded to herself at the conclusion of her decision. Her elbows rested on the tabletop as she brought her fingers to her mouth and worried her bottom lip… before she finally cracked and a grin graced her lips.

"I'm not firing you," she shook her head.

Jane raised her eyebrows. She wasn't sure what to make of Maura's smile.

"You aren't?"

"No. You are an extremely hard worker. And honestly if it weren't for you I definitely wouldn't have gotten that deal yesterday."

Jane smiled and sighed in relief. She started to relax until she saw the smile on Maura's face drop.

"However, you were right. You crossed the line."

"Yes ma'am I-"

"Please. Don't interrupt me. Just listen." Jane shoved her sweaty hands into her pockets and gave a curt nod.

"What you said to my daughter was…well, it certainly kept her quiet the entire ride home. I can understand that you felt the need to step in when Alice was being so…unpleasant. But you have to understand that, that is my job. I will discipline my children the way I see fit. Okay?"

"I'm sorry, Ms. Isles," Jane mumbled continuing eye contact.

"No. I don't want you to apologize and I'm not angry with you. I actually feel like, maybe I should thank you. That Alice can definitely be a handful…always was. Just, from now on let me do the telling off," She said, amused.

When Jane only nodded this time, still holding her tongue, Maura rolled her eyes and shifted her gaze to her computer screen while trying to sound as casual as possible. "And stop being so nervous, I don't know what's gotten into you today," she shrugged.

Jane's answering smile preceded a shake of her head. "I know. I guess I can't help it. I just really need this job… I can't lose it." She was sure she would be packing up her stuff before midday and looking for a new job by morning.

Maura usually liked her subordinates to be off kilter, but something inside her wanted Jane to be as comfortable as possible. She told herself it was because of the big meeting today; she couldn't afford to have a bumbling idiot on her side.

"You won't. I need you too, you know."

Maura took another sip of her coffee as she fiddled with her mouse, pointedly avoiding eye contact, but when the silence had stretched out for too long, she looked up only to find inquiring brown eyes and a crooked grin beaming down at her. That's when she realized the implication of her words and felt faint.

Both adults cleared their throats at the same time.

Jane scratched the back of her neck, stepping backwards. "So! I'll just go do the… the stuff…" she mumbled.

"Yes, you should…" Maura couldn't stop nodding, "do that."

"Right. Later, boss." Jane almost gave an awkward salute but only nodded once before fully exiting the office and discarding her blazer, feeling a little warm.

She didn't notice she still had a huge grin on her face until her dimples started to ache a minute later. She just couldn't believe her ears. Maura Isles needed her. She didn't have long to bask in the awesomeness of that until she felt the heat of someone's eyes burning through her forehead. She looked up to see Alice standing near her mother's door with a yogurt and a bottled water.

"What…I mean, can I help you with something?" The girl seemed to be contemplating Jane. . What was it with the Isles women and staring like that?

"...Where did you learn to speak, Italian?"

"My family is Italian. My ma spoke Italian to me and my brothers at home until we learned it." Alice nodded her head and continued to consider the assistant. Jane sat back in her desk chair and decided to see what the girl's reasoning for speaking to her after their disagreement yesterday was.

"What about you?"

"I taught myself when I was twelve." She huffed swiftly turning around and pushing her way into her mother's office without a backwards glance. Jane chuckled to herself as she refocused on the planner. Yeah, she's a handful.

At precisely 9:45 am, Jane walked into her boss's office. She was sitting at her desk reading something on her computer, while Alice wrote something in her notebook.

"Ms. Isles are you ready for your prep?"

"Yes. I need you to run through the power point with me one more time."

She smiled pleasantly at her assistant who nodded and gathered the sketches and handed her the jump drive. She sat in the chair on the opposite side of the desk and watched with notes in hand as Maura pulled up her Mac and began going through the presentation for the meeting.

"And if you look here you can see that we will bypass the marble floor of the foyer and go for a more modern look in using the parquet floor. I think it creates a cleaner finish and gives it an overall warmer feeling." She stopped and clasped her hands together smiling. Her smile sagged a little as her assistant only stared expectantly at her.

"What? What did I miss?"

"Okay, that was great. You talked about everything on the list very well, but you did forget to talk about your designs for the music studio room." Maura looked through the slides and couldn't find what her assistant was talking about.

"I don't see that anywhere." Jane got up from her chair and walked behind Maura.

"Well, actually we didn't put it in. I don't think we really discussed it that much, because you said it was a simple task that you've installed many times before."

"Oh, yes. Now I remember…I will suggest that we implement the basic paneling that is both easy and quick."

"Okay. Here, I'll add it to the presentation." Jane, leaned down behind her boss and stretched her arms out on either side of her. She typed as she whispered to herself, "I'll just stick it in there right between these two slides…" In her current position bent over her boss, mouth near her ear, long dark hair brushing her cheek, Jane only realized how close they were when her front slightly brushed Maura's back who then bolted straight up in her seat.

"S-Sorry. I'll just…" She raised the laptop over her head and took it with her to the other side of the desk. An intrigued Alice folded her arms and sat back on the couch, intently observing. Maura sat wondering where the hell that bolt of electricity came from. The skin around her neck had gotten slightly warm.

Maura ran her faintly shaky fingers across the forgivingly high neckline of her blouse as warmth tinged her skin. She could feel it more than see it, or understand it. What was that reaction? But before she could think more into it, Jane was done with the computer.

"There."

Maura quickly stood up, gathering all she needed. "We should head over there."

The assistant nodded and grabbed the Mac following behind her boss. Maura stopped before leaving out of the door and turned to her daughter.

"Stay in here."

"Really, mom. Where am I going to go? I suppose I could drive to…Oh, wait, I can't. You took away my car." Jane sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose before walking out of the door to the conference room.

The two women reached the conference room and Jane opened the door for Maura to walk in first. The action came so naturally that neither woman questioned it. Two men sat on each side of a large, cumbersome table, patiently waiting to be wowed. Maura smiled at them with a natural confidence.

"Good day, gentlemen. Are we ready?"

"Should we brace ourselves?" one of the men joked, feeding off of Maura's energy.

"I believe so," she smiled charmingly as Jane quickly got set up behind her. "I have quite a few ideas that I think you're going to love. Is there anything we can get you before we start?"

"No, we're fine. Thank you."

"This is my assistant, Jane Rizzoli." Jane gave a polite smile and small nod from her seat at the opposite side of the table. "If you change your mind, she'll take care of it. Now, let's get started."

Jane began to unwind the knots in her stomach as her boss neared the end of her presentation. She mentally checked off all of the ideas they had discussed as Maura went through them with the grace and professionalism that Jane wished she could one day have an ounce of. She is so brilliant.

"...I think it creates a cleaner finish and gives it an overall warmer feeling. If I am correct gentlemen, that warmth is exactly what you are looking for in your wonderful organization. Although I have thought this out, your opinion is what is the most important to me. So, if you have any suggestions that you personally want to see, just let me know."

Though this was a presentation, Maura had expected some kind of feedback throughout the meeting, but the business men were quiet the entire time. Taking her seat she laced her fingers on the table and waited for some sign that they at least didn't hate everything she said. Finally, a man with short brown hair cleared his throat.

"Well, Ms. Isles. I am sure that you are aware that you have quite the reputation." Maura's lungs constricted and her assistant snapped her head up with her eyes wide. "Some say you are the best architect on this side of the globe and I think I can speak for everyone at this table when I say that these plans you have…prove just that."

Maura released an inaudible sigh and tried to relax in her seat. She mentally shook herself for not thinking she could do this. Truth is, she thinks that about all of her projects.

"But…" Her smile drooped and she swallowed hard.

"I do have a couple of questions. Everything you said was very detailed; however, I wish that you would elaborate more on what your ideas for the student music studio are. What is it that you wanted to do with it?"

"Oh, of course. Forgive me. What I was thinking was with this being only a simple task, insulating this room would be one of the easier jobs. That being said we should go with a rudimentary design."

"Rudimentary? Ms. Isles nothing about this entire model that you have presented is rudimentary. All of your other ideas so far have been things I didn't even know we could do with a building. Is there anything else…state of the art that we could do?"

Jane watched her boss at the other end of the table confidently opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Her face suddenly changed and she seemed to be frozen. Looking from one business man to another, she began to stumble over her words.

"Well…you see I…uhm." Jane's heart banged harder and her blood turned to ice at the words the architect had just uttered. Did she just say 'uhm'? Her mind raced frantically trying to figure out what to do. For her boss to be reduced to the one word that she had made clear she despised, there must really be a problem. Quickly Jane glanced down at her phone and got an idea.

"Excuse me, Ms. Isles." She looked back up at her boss who was now furiously rubbing at her hands. She could just see the wheels turning in her head.

"I'm really sorry to interrupt you, but you have a phone call."

"Jane, I'm in the middle of a meeting."

"Yes ma'am, but it's from your daughter's school. It might be really important." Trying her hardest to somehow telepathically tell her boss to just trust her, she stood and opened the door holding the phone out to her. Maura looked from Jane back to the business partners and gave her best 'professional' smile.

"I'm very sorry gentlemen, but if you'll excuse me."

"It'll only take a minute," Jane said to the men who only smiled back and sipped their water.

Once outside Maura tried to question her assistant only to be rushed away from the conference room and into her office. They both entered and Jane swiftly turned around to face her confused employer.

"It's over already?" Alice looked up from her place on the couch.

"No. Jane what is this about? Do you know what you just did?"

"Do you know? Ms. Isles you were kind of going off the rails there. I mean you even said the word 'uhm'." Maura looked taken aback. After the man had asked her the question about the music room her mind had completely gone blank. She tried to go through the designs that she had previously thought of that would work in this instance, but she couldn't think of a single thing. Ten years of ideas, gone.

"No, I didn't. I…really?"

"Yeah, you did. That's why I thought it was a good idea to get you out of there."

She looked gratefully up at her assistant. She really was good at knowing what to do in sticky situations. Maura's thoughts returned to her sticky situation. She had to go back in there and deliver an answer. The architect paced back and forth across the floor. She couldn't believe this was happening and noticed that she was having trouble catching her breath.

"What am I going to do? I mean I suppose we can go with the beveled wood siding, but will they think that's too ordinary as well. Maybe we can incorporate chipboard paneling…no that wouldn't fit with the rest of the décor of the building, not to mention the ceiling. Oh, god what do I do? What am I going to do?"

Jane watched as her boss frantically walked back and forth while spouting out random plans. She reminded herself that this was not the time to panic even though she had never seen this part of Maura. This frazzled woman who was now…What is she doing? Her boss was now standing in the middle of the room breathing sporadically while holding two fingers to her pulse point.

"What am I going to do?"

"Well, first of all stop doing that." She walked up to her and pulled her hand from her neck as the woman tried to regulate her breathing.

"Sorry. Vasoconstriction. Hypercapnia."

"Sure…look everything is fine, I…I have an idea. I was thinking that we could use acoustical paneling."

Maura's breathing slowed as she thought through the logistics. It would definitely work and it seemed to make blatant sense to use it in a room where a lot of sound would be produced.

"That is...a really good idea. Wow, Jane. That's excellent."

"Thanks. I used it in my senior dissertation."

"Don't get me wrong it is a very innovative idea, but…it's yours."

"Yeah, but I don't mind really. If you like it use it."

"Are you sure? I don't want to-"

"Ms. Isles, I would be absolutely honored if you actually liked something of mine so much that you used it. Only if you want to." Maura nodded her head. She really did want to use the idea. It made total and complete sense and she was only upset that it hadn't occurred to her.

"Okay," She said with a final nod of her head.

"Let's get you back in there."

When they returned to the conference room the men were talking and looking over the designs in the preview booklets. Jane wondered how it was that her boss could instantly regain her confidence. She walked to the front of the room with her head held high and primly took her seat.

"Everything okay?"

"Everything is excellent. Now, where were we?"

"I believe we were talking about the music room. Do you have any tricks up your sleeve?"

"I sure do." Maura smiled over at her assistant who gave her own crooked grin.

Maura sat almost giddily in her chair. After the meeting, she had thanked Jane profusely as they discussed how much the clients loved her idea. When she got back to her office, however, her mood was dampened a little as she discovered her daughter still silently brooding by the couch. By the time lunch rolled around, she was beginning to wonder if her daughter was ever going to speak to her about what happened.

Alice was a straight 'A' student. She was trilingual and her school's current valedictorian. Maura couldn't even fathom what some girl could possibly say to her that would make her risk all of her accomplishments. She put her pen down on the desk and straightened up in her chair to peer at her daughter who was now sitting on the floor with several books.

"Alice…what did that girl say to you?" The girl looked up at her mother and then back down to her book, ignoring her.

"You know you can tell me anything, don't you. I can't promise that I will understand right away, but I can promise that I will try my hardest to. I love you, Alice. You know that, right?" She slowly raised her head. Her eyes seemed to want to say something, but her mouth remained closed. Maura was about to press again when her office phone rang. Looking over at the time, she answered her phone.

"Yes, Jane?"

"It's lunch time Ms. Isles. I was going to go over to the deli down the street that you like so much and pick up your usual. Does that sound good? Oh, and would Alice like anything?" Maura looked over to her daughter.

"Actually, we're going to go to the country club for lunch. Thank you though, Jane."

"Oh…of course. Are you driving or do you want me to call a car."

"I was going to invite you to eat with us and…you know…maybe you could drive again."

"Are you sure, Ms. Isles?"

"Oh come on. You're not still afraid of my car are you? But you handled it so well yesterday." Alice looked up at her mother's teasing tone.

"Hey, now. I did do well. I didn't crash it at least. And I would love to come. I'll just have all of your calls redirected to my cell." Maura looked over to her assistant through the glass and grinned.

"Great, because I really do owe you one for what you did in that meeting."

"Ms. Isles you don't-"

"Yes, I do. Go get the car and we'll be down in a minute."

"Yes, boss."

The drive to the country club was relatively uneventful. Jane tried to avoid Ali's eyes in the review mirror and she even contained her led foot. When they finally reached the country club Jane rushed over to the passenger side and opened the doors for both Isles women. However, walking into the dining area, Jane felt a little awkward.

"Hello, Mrs. Isles. Is there anywhere specific you would like to sit this evening?"

"Anywhere is fine Jefferson." He gave a quick nod and began to walk further into the restaurant with menus in hand. Jane began to follow behind before Jefferson whipped around and stopped her.

"I'm sorry can I help you with something? If you're looking for the waiter's entrance, it's around the back." Alice snorted quickly moving her hand up to cover her smile.

"I don't work here." Jane stuttered through her shock. A waiter? Really?

"Oh no, Jefferson. She's with me. This is my assistant." He carefully looked her up and down. Scrutinizing eyes trailed from her shoes, over her pants suit, and up to her curly hair.

"Sure. Follow me." They all started walking again and Jane's ears burned from embarrassment. Without thinking she walked behind Maura and pulled out her seat before taking her own.

"Thank you, Jane." They smiled at each other before taking there menu's and ordering. Maura sat patiently while they waited for their meals. She tried to not focus on the fact that Jane was here having lunch at her country club. Never had she ever invited an assistant to eat lunch with her anywhere let alone to the club where currently all eyes were on them. However, Jane had gone above and beyond the call of an assistant with giving her the credit for her idea.

"Is that all you ladies are eating?" Jane joked. She looked down to their salads, and then back to her own burger and fries.

"Well, I'm not really that hungry."

"But you've only had coffee this morning." Maura shrugged her shoulders and began to eat.

"What about you Alice?" Jane was encouraged by their short conversation earlier that day to try her luck in talking to the girl. She swallowed and sighed before answering.

"Not everyone enjoys the taste of a dead animal."

"Wait, you're…vegetarians? But I get your lunch from the deli." Maura vigorously shook her head as she took a sip of her water.

"No. Alice is a vegetarian, all of a sudden. I have a bet with her brother, Jacob as to how long it will last." Alice gasped at this and a small smile graced her lips.

"Mom!" Maura shook her head as she started laughing herself.

"I'm sorry honey, but sometimes you don't follow through with these things. Remember your soda kick?"

She looked at her mother suspiciously who only stared back at her with her own scandalous eye brow raised. Then a burst of laughter flowed from the girl's throat. It took Jane by surprise and she couldn't help but stare at the young girl's bright smile. Just like her mother. Alice noticed Jane looking at her and quickly sobered, dropping her smile and remembering that she's supposed to be angry. For the rest of the lunch any conversation was brought up by Jane or her boss.

"Ms. Isles, if you don't mind I would like to pick up the check. It's kind of cool that you would invite your assistant to your swanky country club."

"That's very generous of you, Jane. However, there isn't an actual bill. The Isles family has a tab set up here, so we can just leave whenever we are finished," Maura said as they all stood and headed for the door. Before they got into the car Maura glanced at her assistant over the hood.

"Thanks, again."

"Really, you've got to stop that. It was…" She tucked her bottom lip into her mouth as she thought, "…my pleasure." She smiled at her boss before ducking into the car.

The next day, Jane went into her boss's office still riding yesterday's high. She couldn't stop smiling. Not only had she contributed something really important to her employer's project, but she ate a burger at a fancy restaurant and it didn't come out of her bank account.

"Jane. Just in time. I sent Alice to the breakfast bar, but I forgot to ask her to get me something as well. Would you go down and catch her for me?"

"Sure. What would you like?"

"A banana? Oh, and see if they have any of those raspberry muffins as well."

"You got it, boss." Jane left the office and headed up on the elevator. She immediately spotted the girl checking out the fruits.

"What are you, now? My body guard." She stopped in her tracks and reminded herself. Boss's daughter.

"Last time I checked, you were stuck here because you can handle yourself in fight."

"A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," the girl shrugged.

"I couldn't agree more. Your mom wanted me to tell you to grab her a banana and a raspberry muffin. If that's not too much ask, princess." Jane smirked as she turned to walk away.

"My Mom must really like you to use your idea. She never really listens to anyone about her work." Jane turned back to face the girl.

"She must really like you too. My mother would never put up with your nonsense."

"She only puts up with it because she has better things to focus on. Like work." The assistant shook her head and tensed her jaw.

"You aren't as smart as I thought. Or else you would have figured it out by now."

"Figured what out?" she said, slightly offended by the first part of the statement.

"Maura puts up with you because you are more important than work. She loves you, otherwise she wouldn't have bothered fighting for custody. You know that client we're dealing with right now? Believe it or not she was ready to ditch them to go get you from school before I offered."

"She didn't have to come get me."

"She didn't realize she had a choice…What does that tell you?" She waltzed away leaving the girl with folded arms to consider her words.

When Alice got back upstairs she walked straight to her mother's office and avoided eye contact with Jane. What the assistant had said to her struck a chord in her. She walked over to her mother's desk placing the breakfast in front of her.

"Thank you sweetie," She said without glancing up, but her attention was soon drawn to the girl. She didn't go back to the couch that she had inhabited all day yesterday, but instead sat in the chair on the opposite side of the desk.

Maura and Alice staring at each other before the latter spoke.

"It's true, isn't it?"

"What, sweetheart?" Maura asked curiously and tilted her head to the side.

"…Daddy." Her pen immediately dropped out of her hand and her mouth went dry. She hadn't anticipated having this conversation.

A/N: Don't forget to review:) They literally make my life better. Also, big thanks to dagorob for helping me with my Italian! You're awesome! You are all awesome!