A/N: You guys really are awesome! This one is a little long, but I hope you enjoy it:)

"Please…"

God, those fingers. They could set me on fire in a matter of seconds if they were in direct contact with my skin. I feel them slide slowly, sensuously along my spine like melted chocolate dripping down a ripe, red strawberry. Those same strong hands, whose touch is firm and sure, pause at the top of my skirt as if only to ask permission out of courtesy, not really to imply that no is even an option, because a moment later they continue their descent, dragging the zipper down with them. At this point, I don't think I have it in me to protest.

It's getting harder to keep my eyes closed, but I do because she asked me to. And as much as I'm enjoying this – which is the understatement of the century - I don't know how many more feather light touches I can handle.

"Please."

I'm not usually one to beg, but the simple plea is all my brain can muster as it escapes my gasping mouth again. I'm finding it incredibly hard not to squirm or scream in anticipation as I feel my self-control begin to fail me. It's been at least five minutes since any words have been spoken to me and I'm dying to hear that voice. Hear it say my name.

When I feel those long fingers trail a blazing path even lower over the swell of my ass, my hips move forward on instinct with the primal need to get closer. And then lazily, almost as if deliberately taunting me, the pair of hands advance their downward path to ride the goosebumped skin at the back of my thighs, and then lower still to my… wait, what is that?

Maura awoke to a sharp pain in her lower back. She groaned and reached under her back hoping to remove the source of radiating discomfort. What she came back with was a foot. Her son's foot.

"Jake… what-" She turned on her side to see two hazel eyes staring back at her. The boy was sporting a full-on grin and moved until he was nose to nose with his dazed mother.

"Morning, Mom."

His mother's features instantly softened at his cheerful voice, even this early in the morning. Maura wondered how she had slept through her alarm. She had only done that once before, and her entire day had been flipped upside down. Her suspicions were confirmed as she looked over at the alarm clock which confirmed that she indeed had thirty minutes left to sleep.

Sighing patiently, she gave her sleep-addled attention back to her little man. "Sweetheart, what are you doing in my bed?"

"I couldn't sleep so…" he shrugged at the end of his sentence, a little uncomfortable with how childish he felt he sounded, but quickly made peace with it.

The boy knowingly raised his eyebrows and moved his hand to her ear. Maura smiled contently at the gesture. Ever since Jacob was smaller, he had always done this. When he was seeking comfort he would somehow sneak his hand up to her ear and rub it between his fingers and thumb. Maura thought it strange that a gesture meant to soothe the person receiving it, did the exact opposite and would put the boy to sleep almost immediately.

"Did you have a bad dream?" she asked, running her fingers through his tousled brown hair. Note to self: get Jake a haircut.

"No… but it seemed like you did."

Maura frowned as she tried to think back on her dreams. It was hardly ever that she dreamed when she slept, and if she did dream, she scarcely remembered it. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you were making these weird noises and then you said please like you were talking to someone."

Maura suddenly felt the heat of embarrassment flush her cheeks as disjointed images from her dream came rushing back. She had been dreaming alright, but it definitely was not a bad one. Maura thought harder as she sat up. She had been having a dream that made her very warm and… honestly, aroused. But who could she have been dreaming about? It was certainly a mystery to her, having had a very long drought in that department thus far. All she remembered from the dream was how the woman's hands on her body made her feel. Wait… a woman?

"Hello…? Mom? You okay?"

She glanced at the boy who had sat up beside her and was now waving his hand back and forth in her line of vision. Maura shook her head and tried to focus on what he was saying.

"Hm?" she mumbled.

"Are you okay?"

Hesitantly nodding her head, she was happy that her son was only ten and couldn't quite place her expression as what it was. Apprehension.

"Okay, well can we go eat breakfast now? And can Jane cook again?"

Maura was grateful for his ignorance as she idly played with her son's hair and thought about last night. Jane really did have a gift for cooking. When she had asked Maura to try the sauce and let her know what she thought, the architect almost blurted out the first thing that came to her mind. She only admitted the sauce was delicious, but smartly omitted the part about what a turn on it is when someone can cook.

"Well, I'm not sure when Jane will grace us with her culinary skills again, but we'll be going out for brunch today."

Knowing that her son's tilted head and wide eyes meant the same thing as when she tilted her head with wide eyes, she sighed and carefully asked, "Jacob, what did you do?'

"I may have already waked Jane up."

"Woken."

"…woken Jane up."

Shaking her head, Maura pressed her lips together and tried not to smile. She stood from the bed and started putting on her robe and slippers. She knew exactly how much her assistant hated early mornings. When Maura had asked her to switch their Friday night flight to Saturday morning, the brunette made it known by groaning as loudly as she could when she thought her boss was out of earshot.

Now, walking into the kitchen she could smell the coffee steaming on the silver rolling trey. Room service. Maura looked around for the brunette but couldn't immediately find her. Fixing a cup of coffee for herself, she sat at the kitchen island and started reading the newspaper lying on the counter. She had just made it to the comics section when the elevator door dinged and booted footsteps echoed down the hall. What she saw almost made her drop her coffee cup.

"Morning, boss. Sleep okay?" husked Jane in an insanely sexy morning voice. Coupled with the visual, it took Maura by surprise.

Maura sat frozen in her seat with her mouth hanging open mid-hello. She dropped her gaze and slowly let her eyes rake up Jane's body. Starting at her slightly dirty shoes, to her never ending naked legs that were only covered from mid-thigh due to her red athletic shorts. Maura swallowed loudly as her gaze continued upwards to the tight and completely saturated tank top that clung around Jane's visibly well-defined stomach. Letting her eyes travel even further up she took in the sight of Jane's toned arms, covered in a light sheen of sweat. Finally her eyes drifted to the woman's face and took in her raised eyebrows and smirking mouth.

"Something wrong, Maur?"

Instead of attempting to string an intelligent sentence together, the stunned woman rather took a quick sip of her coffee and looked back at the woman. Speaking seemed like too big a task at the time.

Jane walked over to Maura and reached across her to grab the newspaper and heard the smaller woman release a shallow breath.

"Gross, Jane. You're dripping your sweat all over the table… and my mother," Alice grouched walking into the kitchen with Jacob in tow, who had done a really good job at waking everyone in the hotel suite.

"No, I don't mind."

All eyes turned to Maura instantly. One pair shocked, one pair amused, and the last only looked out of habit.

"Mom?" questioned Alice, incredulous.

"Well I- I- I just meant that- you know… it's only natural for humans to secrete perspiration during vigorous physical activity. It's nothing taboo." When no one said anything Maura continued, "So did you e-exercise or?" Maura's heart skipped when Jane smiled at her.

"Yeah. I hit the gym downstairs since I was already up at six this morning…" she directed that last part pointedly at a certain ten-year old boy with ridiculously adorable dimples. She wasn't really mad though. She really needed the outlet after last night.

"I'm sorry about that. My child's hunger is like an alarm clock."

Jane laughed and grabbed two coffee cups from the tray and filled them. "No, it's fine. I didn't get much sleep anyway..."

And just like that, the awkward was back. The brunette walked over to Alice, who was sitting in the only seat beside her mother, and cautiously placed a coffee cup in front of her. The girl looked down at the coffee and then turned her suspicious eyes back to Jane. She was about to decline when her mother nudged her.

"Alice…"

The girl sighed and gripped the cup. "You shouldn't have."

"Well, you are the boss's daughter. Have to keep you ladies happy." Jane pressed her palms on the countertop her arms instantly flexing and grinned over at her boss who snapped her eyes back to Jane after being caught staring at her arms again.

Deciding she really was dripping all over everything, Jane stood back up. "I'm gonna take a shower. Ten minutes tops." She walked out of the kitchen.

"Mom, what time are we leaving?" Alice asked her mother, turning towards her. When she saw her gaze lingering after Jane and realized that her mother hadn't even heard her question she furrowed her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, honey. What did you say?"

Alice looked at her mother with a puzzled look on her face. Her mother couldn't possibly be checking out her assistant...

"Mom, do you li-…" Alice cut off her own sentence and decided not to ask what it was she really wanted to know. She was too afraid of the answer. "Never mind. I'm going to get dressed."

Someone was calling her name, but she couldn't see anyone she recognized. Maura looked over to Jane still in line for food as she let Jacob entertain her quite animatedly as he told whatever adventure he had. Maura smiled at how well her son seemed to have taken to Jane. When her name was called again, she finally looked over her shoulder to see the one person she was trying to avoid this entire conference.

"Well, I'll be damned. I get to share a table with the great Maura Isles, this go 'round?" The woman walked up to the table and placed her food down a few chairs away from Maura and plopped in her seat. Maura silently cursed herself for not checking all of the name tags at her table and just assuming there was an extra chair.

"Jessica, how are you?"

The red headed woman looked surprised for a second before she laughed out loud. "Do you really want to know, or are you just trying out some of my southern hospitality?" Maura only shrugged as she brought her glass of juice to her lips; truth was, she really was only being polite. "Well, in that case, I'm doing just fine. How about you?"

"I'm great. How's your family?" Maura went on as some sort of reflex, but wasn't really interested in prolonging this conversation.

"Carson just got accepted into Harvard. She's going to be a lawyer, just like her Daddy. And Samantha's soccer team won first place in the state last weekend. Oh, and Peter is doing amazing at his firm… How's Ian?"

Something in her tone told Maura she already knew. This woman knew how to push her buttons and never hesitated to do so. She knew Jessica from her College years, and they were once even good friends before Jessica decided that they could no longer be friends for as long as they were competition in graduate school.

She definitely knew about the divorce. Before Maura could answer, Alice walked over and reluctantly took her seat between them. Maura could see the beginnings of a scowl.

"Hello, Mrs. Wright," greeted the teenager.

"Why hey there, girly. I see someone's finally hit puberty," she gestured over to Alice. "I remember when you were so short and, my goodness, those crooked teeth of yours. Do you remember, Alice? Now look at you, you're a pretty little thing."

"Pretty little thing? Really? Whatever happened to feminism?" retorted a teasing voice.

Jessica Wright slowly turned her head to the interrupting voice as if she couldn't fathom that anyone would ever butt into a conversation like that, but her devious smile turned into a surprised smirk when she found the source of the comment to be a tantalizingly tall, tanned woman with long dark hair taking the seat right next to her.

"And who might you be?" The tone of her voice was noticeably different.

"She's my assistant, Jane Rizzoli," interjected Maura unknowingly. "Jane, this is my… colleague, Jessica Wright."

"It's nice to meet you," said Jane dutifully and stuck her hand out to shake Jessica's. The woman looked the brunette up and down before she slowly took Jane's strong hand into her delicate grasp, her hold lingering a little longer than polite.

"The pleasure is all mine," she giggled, "and what a strong grip you have."

Jane knew when she was being ogled but couldn't help but smile at the woman. She found her accent to be somewhat charming, and she wasn't exactly a sore sight either, as Jane tried to hold her eyes above 'c' level. C for cleavage, that is.

The gorgeously curvy ginger woman leaned closer and smirked proudly when Jane's eyes darted down to her bosom. "But honey, you can call me Jessie."

"Uh, Jessie?"

"Yes, Jane?"

Jane looked down to the hand that the woman held so close to her chest that she could practically feel the woman's heart beating. "I'm going to need my hand back."

Mrs. Wright looked at Jane for a beat longer before she slid Jane's hand out of her clutches and turned back in her seat to wink at Maura. Jessica could see the fire practically dancing in Maura's eyes and she smirked at her before turning her attention to her meal.

If Maura thought she disliked Jessica before, she had no idea how to express what she was feeling now. The woman comes waltzing over to the table in a blouse that was clearly from the kids department and then starts blatantly flirting with her assistant. The blonde rolled her eyes and glanced at Jane who was already looking at her.

"So, Jane. Where are you from, sweetie pie?"

Jane considered the woman beside her and wondered when their chairs had got so close together. "Boston, but my family roots are in Italy."

"How exotic. So do you speak Italian, Jane? Say something for me, sweetheart," she grabbed Jane's arm, squeezing a little and almost moaned at the firmness.

"What would you like me to-"

"Dov'è il resto dei tuoi vestiti?"Alice offered, interrupting Jane.

"Alice!" Maura stared at her daughter who seemed to be completely unfazed by her mother's glare. Jane turned away from Jessica, choking on her own tongue for a second, and tried to cover her laugh with a cough.

Regaining her composure she looked over to Alice, who looked back at her for a second, before she broke out into a full grin and started to laugh. This sent Jane into her own laughing fit and soon, with Maura joining, the entire table had erupted into laughter, with the exception of Jessica and Jacob (who was elbow deep in pancakes).

"What exactly is so funny? What did she say?"

Jane sat up after being doubled over and sadly looked at Jessica who seemed annoyed at being out of the loop. She placed her hand on the redhead's shoulder and didn't notice her boss's smile immediately drop.

"She said that… you have nice…" Jane looked down to the woman's chest and then back up to her eyes, "hair. You have nice hair. And I, for one, whole-heartedly agree."

Seemingly believing Jane, the woman was taken aback as she smiled back. "Well thank you, Jane. And Alice."

Alice sarcastically raised her eyebrows and nodded, then looked to Jane and upon seeing her smile, quickly averted her eyes to stop the giggle that was trying to come out of her again.

"What about you, Jessie? Where are you from?" Jane inquired.

"North Carolina, can't you tell?"

"I thought as much. I hear it's beautiful out there."

"Sure, but I'll tell you what: they don't make 'em quite like you, honey." The red head smiled scintillatingly as she once again leaned closer to Jane.

The brunette placed her fork down and turned to Jessie with a knowing smirk on her face. She was used to women flirting with her, but they were never so pushy, especially in such a setting. "Is that so?"

Jessie nodded as her eyes darted to Jane's lips then back to her eyes.

Jane sighed and leaned closer to whisper into her ear. "How about we tone it down a bit, huh? There are kids at the table… I mean, I don't even know you."

The woman giggled lightly, pushing Jane's shoulder. "Whatever you say, darlin'."

Maura instantly rose from her seat and everyone turned to her. "Excuse me. I'm going to use the restroom."

"Everything okay? You look a little flushed," Jane said as she moved to stand before Maura waved her off.

"I'll only be a minute."

Jane wondered what was up with Maura. She could immediately sense that she didn't like her abrasive colleague. The woman was like a firecracker and she could see how someone like Maura, calm and sophisticated, could easily get annoyed with her. But to Jane, the almost crude redhead reminded her of her own family… minus the flirting.

Jane looked over her shoulder to see her boss walking away as fast as her Louis Vuitton heels would carry her. Only a second later her attention was grabbed yet again by Jessie who proceeded to talk her head off.

As they walked out of the buffet hall, Maura tried her best to contain her eye roll. She had to sit through nearly two hours of her former friend talking everyone's ears off about herself, as well as all the totally gratuitous touching on her assistant. When she asked a question she had to touch Jane's arm, when she laughed at something Jane said her hand would disappear under the table to probably squeeze her thigh, and when Jane got something on her face, which was only visible to Jessie, the woman had to get up close and run her thumb dangerously close to Jane's lips.

When she had escaped to the bathroom, Maura had to wonder why it was bothering her so much. She and Jane only worked together, so why should it matter who she was interested in? But it wasn't hard to compile a list of why she should care about Jane rubbing elbows with someone she despised.

Firstly, Jessica is married. Maura had met her husband a couple of times at previous conferences and he seemed like a decent enough man, which is exactly why she always wondered how they ended up together. Just because he couldn't join her for this conference did not permit her to go around hitting on anything with a pulse, least of all her Jane. Her assistant, Jane.

Secondly, hello? The kids were right there. Would Jessie allow Maura to go flirt with her husband in front of her own children? Of course not. Not that it's a direct comparison in situations, but the principle of the matter applies all the same, right? If not, it should.

Thirdly, on Jane's part, it was completely unprofessional. Jane was here to assist her and therefore had no business seeking conversation with anyone as insufferable as Jessica Wright. Her job did not involve indulging her colleagues, or at least not for two hours straight for goodness sake.

But as Maura reflected on the frustratingly freely flowing conversation between the two other women, she realized that Jane had seemed genuinely interested in her, and that is what bothered her the most. When Jessica asked her questions, Jane indulged her. When Jessica got handsy, Jane let her. And when Jane laughed or smiled or smirked, it was genuine. What was up with that?

Either way, it was completely unprofessional and she vowed to bring it up to her assistant sooner or later. Probably sooner.

Waiting on the sidewalk with her children for a cab, Maura looked back to see Jane walking out of the building with Jessica's arm looped through her own. Well, at least Jane's hands are in her pockets.

"Hey, Maura? If we're all going to the TED lecture, mind if I borrow your assistant here? Cab rides can get quite lonely."

"Actually Jessie, I think I should ride with Maura."

"No," The pair eyed Maura as she ushered her children into a cab. "Actually, I'd like you to escort Ali and Jake back to the hotel. Please."

Jane was confused by the stony look on Maura's face. "But I thought we were all going to the lecture."

"They have a lot of homework and I would like them to work on it now. Plus, I hardly think an architectural lecture is the place for children."

An awkward silence enveloped them before Jessica unlinked her arm from Jane's, not without a final squeeze, and hailed a taxi. "Well then, I guess I'll see you later, Maura. And I will definitely see you later," she said to Jane before ducking into the cab.

Jane gave her a quick wave before walking over to their own cab, but was stopped by Maura's hand. "Jane, a word?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Mrs. Wright is a married woman as I'm sure you must know."

Jane looked over to the redhead's retreating cab in surprise. "You mean Jessie? Oh… I had no idea."

Maura almost scoffed. "Did you just happen to miss the wedding ring on her finger? I thought you were more observant than that, or were you too busy looking at her… 'hair'?"

The taller woman took a step back. Wow, that was unexpected. It was rare these days that she was on the receiving end of one of her boss's harsher tones. Jane tried to remember if she had done anything wrong in the last five hours and when she couldn't think of anything, she decided that she didn't deserve the attitude. She shut the cab door and lowered her voice as she stepped up to Maura. She clenched and unclenched her jaw staring into her boss's eyes before speaking.

"Look. Whenever you talk to me like I'm an idiot, I know it's your roundabout way of telling me something important, but do you mind if we skip to the part where you say what's actually bothering you?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Clearly not," said Jane crossing her arms.

"You were being completely inappropriate!" she replied in a harsh whisper. "This conference is no place for your flirty back and forth and least of all with her."

"What are you talking about? We were just getting to know each other. What was so inappropriate?"

"You were practically drooling all over her and she was practically dry-humping you at the table. Did I mention she's married?"

"Yeah, you did. Thanks for that. I'm sure you couldn't have pulled me aside and told me that like two hours ago, huh? But I guess that's my fault. I wasn't being observant enough."

"Or maybe you were observing all the wrong things."

"I can't believe we're having this conversation right now. I can't believe we're having this conversation at all."

Jane was in shock for a second. She couldn't believe that her boss was going on about something so small. So it's okay to flirt with you, but not anyone else? Maybe Alice was right. Maybe she had been reading the signs wrong. What the hell is wrong with me? She shook her head.

"I've really had my head in my ass," Jane mumbled quietly.

"Excuse me?"

She looked back up to the woman in front of her. Her boss. Maura. Ms. Isles. Her boss. With a shake of her head, "Nothing. It won't happen again, Ma'am," she mumbled as she walked around the blonde to get into the car. "My cell's on if you need anything else… Ms. Isles."

Maura watched as her assistant heavily slid into the car, forcefully shut the door and they drove away. This wasn't exactly how she had imagined this would go. Sure, she wanted Jane to be more professional, but with Jessica. Not with her. Wasn't it a reasonable double-standard? She cringed when Jane politely spat the words 'Ma'am' and 'Ms. Isles' at her.

Maura bit her lip and internally kicked herself for being so transparent. But what exactly was she feeling? Annoyance? Anger? Disappointment? Whatever it was, she hated feeling it and only wanted to express her regret to Jane.

She left for the conference where she knew she wouldn't be able to focus for long.

"Boo-yah! One more point and I win, Jane!"

"Okay, big shot, but you have to beat me first. Prepare to be terminated." Jane bounced the ball on the Ping-Pong table a few times with a serious look in her eyes. She breathed in and out loudly as if about to begin a footrace at the Olympics. She was definitely in the zone, or at least from Jakes perspective, who couldn't help but grin back in return.

At last, with a karate shout, Jane served the ball across the table at flashlight speed; not quite lightning. Jacob returned it with gusto, completely unfazed, and a match ensued. They went back and forth like a pendulum, Jane's face contorted in overt frustration while Jake's tongue stuck out the side of his mouth in concentration. The fun of it was more in trying to keep the ball in play than actually trying to beat each other at this point, but then Jane gave a dangerous smirk before letting her paddle accidentally fly right out of her hand to the ground. The ball flew in the opposite direction and landed in the kitchen before rolling to a stop.

"I won! I won! Whoo-hoo!"

Jane couldn't help but smile then laugh as the boy took a few victory laps around the table, even pulling his shirt up over his head like a soccer star. She bent down to pick the paddle up and fetched the ball to place them back on the table.

"Okay, okay. You got me. Well played, buddy." She shook his hand in a show of sportsmanship once he finally stopped his victory dance.

"That was fun. Let's play again." Jacob rounded the corner and picked his up paddle before the woman could even answer. Jane glanced at the clock; it read nearly 9:30 p.m.

"I think we should call it a night. Your mom will be home soon."

"She won't be mad. I already did all my homework and we're only just playing. Come on, the first to five wins?"

The truth was that Jane didn't want Maura to catch them like this. Playing with her son isn't in my job description, and heaven forbid I further flaunt my spectacular lack of professionalism. The thought really pissed her off and she was just about to tell the young boy to get ready for bed when she made the huge mistake of looking across the table... into those puppy dog eyes. Dammit, he got me. How could she refuse him? Just one more game, Jane assured herself as she wordlessly served the ball across the table.

"Hey, Jane, can I ask you something?" he asked as they volleyed back and forth.

"One," Jane said as she scored a point. "Sure, bud. You can ask me anything."

He served and asked, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Jane's eyes snapped right up to the boy as the ball flew right past her.

"One!" he exclaimed excitedly.

She took her time fetching the ball and returned throwing it across the table in a sneak-attack. "No. I. don't." she said with each hit, and this time Jake let the ball go by him. "Two," she said before he ran off to grab the ball and when he returned he was trying to conceal a mischievous smile.

"Oh..." he said, but it was a clearly loaded oh.

Jane frowned as they passed the ball back and forth, "Oh, what?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Jane let out a hearty chuckle, never stopping her paddle's strokes through the air. His mother and sister didn't give Jacob nearly enough credit. This kid was more intuitive than he appeared but it didn't surprise her one bit considering who his mother and sister were.

"No, buddy. I don't have a girlfriend… Three."

"Why not?" he shrugged.

Jane thought for a second. She didn't really know why she was single. She thought about the time when she did have a girlfriend. Amanda. She slightly shuddered as she thought back to that dark time and the ball once again flew past her. "Two."

"I guess you could say I'm married to my work." She served the ball only for the ball to go into the net. "Dang it. We're tied." She tossed the ball over the net into the boy's hands.

"Hm. That's what Dad said about Mom."

"What's that, buddy?"

"I heard them arguing once. I was supposed to be doing my homework in my room, but I forgot my backpack downstairs and when I went to get it I heard him say that mom was married to her work."

"Four, game point." Jane took the ball, but paused. "And what do you think about that?"

Jacob scrunched his face as if trying to form a conclusion. "I guess it doesn't matter now. They're getting back together… Four! Tied again." He looked back up at Jane as she gripped the table, obviously not ready for him to serve.

"Th-They are?"

"Yeah," he looked around conspicuously for a second before he whispered to Jane, "This one time I was supposed to be sleeping, but I wasn't…." he trailed off as he grinned and served the ball over the table.

"What are you talking about, bud?"

"Dad came over really late last week and everyone was sleeping but me, and Mom went to get the door, and then I saw them talking and then he kissed her. It was a very long goodnight kiss, and when they didn't stop I ran to my room, you know… gross… FIVE!"

Jane stood as still as a statue, thoroughly defeated as the boy ran circles around her in victory for the second time. Her heart beat loudly in her ears and the image of Ian kissing Maura burned her eyelids. Did Maura really let him? Did she… want him?

Jane's eyes suddenly widened at her realization. Maura had come into work one day looking very distracted and whatever her boss had been thinking about was certainly not work-related. Jane didn't question her about it and Maura didn't willingly offer any information about it so she didn't dwell on it.

Jacob ran and wrapped his arms around her middle and looked up at her. "I thought you said you were going to kick my butt. You totally sucked at that, Jane."

"Jacob Louie Faulkner, you know better than to use that kind of language."

He released Jane and they both looked behind them to see an exhausted Maura. "Sorry, Mom."

"Are you playing Ping-Pong? Jacob I told you to do your homework."

"But I already finished my homework. Tell her, Jane."

Maura looked over to her assistant for conformation. She placed her hands on her hips waiting for an answer, but Jane only sported a 'deer in headlights' look. Maura sighed and turned back to her son. "Well, you've had your fun. Time for bed."

When the boy walked away it seemed to snap Jane out of her trance and she followed after the boy.

"Jane, wait." Maura pled.

"I'm just going to check your e-mails and then hit the hay. Unless there's something you need."

"There is." Maura looked over her shoulder and waited until her son disappeared from sight. "I need to talk to you."

Jane waited a beat before she looked at her boss. "Have I done something wrong?"

"Jane…" Maura wasn't sure how or where to start.

"Is this work-related?"

"No, it's… it's not."

"Look, Ma'am, I realize that playing ping-pong isn't exactly the epitome of professionalism, but he finished his homework before dinner. You can go check if you don't trust me."

Maura sighed and looked away. "No, it's not that. But-"

"Then what is it because I'm really sorry, Ms. Isles, but your emails could be important." Jane started walking away anyway. "My cell's still on. Good night."

Maura looked after her as she walked down the hall. Defeated, she set herself down on the couch and sank into the cushions.

Isn't this what she had wanted when she requested professionalism? To be spoken to with detached respect. To only be addressed on business matters. To be given space. This is what an employer/employee relationship should be. Nothing more. But then why wasn't that enough?

Why did it hurt just now when Jane referred to her as Ms. Isles and why was she so badly agitated earlier when Jessica was having a conversation with her assistant?

Maura shut her eyes and swallowed the urge to cry. If Maura was being totally honest with herself, out of the four assistants that she has had in the last ten years, Jane was the first that she had shared a hotel suite with and she knew that meant something, but unwilling to admit the truth that she knew lay dormant in the back of her mind, she reached over to the hotel phone and listened to the voice on the other line.

"Yes, I have an order for suite 14."

Italian Translation: "Where's the rest of your shirt?"