Faith glanced at the clock, and then again at her phone. She was dressed in a beautiful blue dress that hugged her form and came nearly to her knees. Around her waist was a black belt, above which the dress was black. It was short sleeved, which was pretty odd for the middle of January, but Jane had said that where they were going would be warm. See, Jane was taking the blonde out for dinner, as an I'm- sorry- for- ignoring- you- this- entire- week endeavor. Faith, however, felt it was something closer to a date. No matter what Jane said about them "just being friends." They were too close, too comfortable. Faith didn't jump at the slightest noise or check behind her every step when she was with Jane. Jane calmed down when she was with Faith. She didn't get quite as angry, didn't fly off the handle as easily. But there was something off about her, and Faith couldn't quite put her finger on it. it was like the woman was perpetually saddened. Like she was looking at someone that she should have known and just didn't. Faith glanced at her phone again, seeing that there was still twenty minutes that she would have to wait for Jane. She rose, pulling a fur coat from the bed, where she had laid it carefully almost two hours earlier. She figured, if she was going to have to wait another twenty minutes, she may as well go downstairs. That was until she got to the top of the stairs, and was looking at that door. She swallowed. Jane hadn't told her so much, and she had nearly forgotten all of her questions about the secrets of the other woman. But this, this was her reminder. This door. She shouldn't go in, she knew. but she wanted to. She wanted to know what upset Jane so much that she wouldn't even so much as think about the room on the other side. Faith rested her hand on the doorknob, biting her lip. Jane had asked her not to. But Jane wasn't here now. She could go in, look around, and be gone before the other woman hadeven shown up. She dropped her hand from the handle, drawing back.

"No. You would be betraying her trust. After everything she's done for you." Faith whispered to herself, turning back towards the stairs. She walked down the stairs quickly, trying to distance herself from the temptation that the door represented, instead turning towards the library. She had barely gotten through half of the shelves since she had gotten here, there were so many different books covering so many different subjects. She stepped up to one of them, stepping up on to a stool in order to look at the top shelf. Jane had found her this stool after an accident one day, where the detective lifted her up, and she dropped the book. The hardcover novel landed right on the detective's head, and she fell over, taking Faith with her to the ground. It had been hysterical, but they had decided that perhaps a stoll would be safer next time. She grinned at the memory, pulling out one of the books in the center, and moving to step down. It skimmed the side of her face before landing with a muffled thud on the ground. Faith tilted her head, she hadn't seen that book on the shelf. It was smaller than the others, shorter. It would have been noticable. She stepped down, crouching in order to examine it.

The book was simple; its covers a plain black, and its pages slightly yellowed, as if it had been sitting there untouched for awhile, probably around a year. She tilted it to the side, looking for a title on the spine, but there wasn't one. She opened the cover, carefully. The book looked so fragile. When nothing broke, she opened it a little bit further, reading the perfectly scripted hand writing on the forst page.

"Property of Maura Isles."

She turned the page again, curiosity creasing her brow. Why did Jane have something of Doctor Isles'? And what had happened to the good doctor? No one had offered to speak a word to her about the doctor. Actually, no one really seemed to say anything at all about the doctor, except that one slip by Frost on the first homicide scene. And... Maura. Angela had called her Maura. Was Maura and Doctor Isles the same person? It seemed to be. Faith flipped another blank page, before reading.

"28 February 2010

Bought Late Night Winter's Brawl today. Or rather, adopted him. He just seemed like a horse that needed a second chance, and I figure I'm good enough to at least give him that. Moving him to West Tower as soon as I can, which should be next week. Natasha has been working with him every day. She says he'd do any damn thing I'd ask. That's good. I need another horse like that. Too bad this case is a bit too out of hand for me to see him every day. I guess I'll just have to hurry up and finish this thing and get to see him. Until then, I've tucked a picture in here to at least know what he looks like."

Faith slid the photo from the page behind the writing, gazing at the horse that she had seen only a few weeks prior. He shimmered with cleanliness, standing in a perfect form with Nat holding the lead up a bit to keep his face up. It looked, save for Natasha's own clothing, as if he was in a show ring. She skipped forward many pages, pausing at another one that opened too easily.

"13 April 2011

I don't know what I would do if I lost Jane. She means so much to me; we are the very best friends. I know she was hurting today, and I know its worse when I helicopter. But she has to heal, and I can't stand looking at her in pain. that's what my last few weeks have been like. Not knowing... Not knowing what I would do if I ever lost her. I have no other friends, no one else that truly cares about me like she does. So that's why, today, when I dragged her to West Tower, she didn't seem to mind so much. She thinks Winter is hilarious, and Nat even let her borrow Blondie for a walk around. Who knew that Jane would get along so well with animals? It's like Jo Friday all over again; she insists she's allergic, and then she ends up loving every moment with them. I told her that she should come here, when she needs someone to talk to. I always talk to Winter. He knows my deepest, darkest secrets, and I have no idea what I would ever do without him. I can always count on him listening to me, understanding what I mean to say, even if I can't find the words. Nat took a picture of us on the fence with the two of them. It's a shame we can't spend more time like this."

The photo was of Jane, facing the camera and Blondie with her neck craned around. A blonde had her back to the photo, her head turned into the stallion's own as her held his head up, ears pricked, leaning on her. Faith was sliding it back into the paper package when she heard the door open.

"Faith?" Faith turned, unable to hide the grin from her face as she rose, sliding the book into her purse without thinking.

"In the library!" She called back, stepping back up to replace the original volume she had taken down.

"I should have known that." Jane stated, this time leaning against the door frame. She was dressed nicely, if simply, in a black pants suit with a burgundy short sleeved shirt and a black jacket on top. "Ready to go?" The detective asked, unable to control he own grin when the blonde smiled.

"Whenever you are."

"Then shall we?" Faith just nodded. Tonight was going to be awesome.

AN- Here we go, with the fun part! Counting down the chapters 'till the epilogue now, all answers coming within the next few chapters, and then a nice, neat bow to wrap it up with. I want to thank everyone who has favorite, followed, reviewed, and just plain off dealt with this story. I want to give you guys a heads up though, in the next upcoming chapters, there will be flashbacks and diary readings. I'm going to try to do either one or the other. Italics will be cues for both, but I'm thinking flashbacks will be in third narrative, diary quoted and in first. Anyway. Thanks for reading!

~SnapTobiume