A/N - Hmm...just read some of the reviews. Well, looks like I've made some R&I fans unhappy, but hopefully not pissed off enough to stop reading. It gets better, trust me. Jane and Maura are just having some growing pains.

Tuesday, 9:25 A.M.

The smell of coffee and cappuccino wafted into Jane's lungs before her mind had fully even awakened from the mildly peaceful slumber of a night spent in the autopsy room. Alina Bobrova's body had long been stored in one of the freezers so there was no one to welcome her upon waking up. Getting up from the stainless steel bed, Jane debated the unusualness of sleeping in the same room with a dead body. If Maura was here, she would just claim that the oddness was correlated with the cultural standards mandated by the American society she was raised in but even her girlfriend's logical reasoning could take away the need to take a long shower with disinfectant and hot water. Nothing is normal about sleeping with a victim, no matter how exhausted I might have been.

But there was no time to continue her internal debate. Coffee beckoned from Maura's office and, slowly, the semi-exhausted brunette trudged toward Maura's door. "I smell coffee," she growled out just as the blonde medical examiner exited with two coffee cups from a local coffee-shop.

"Jane, I was just about to get you. Korsak's been calling. Apparently you're late because he says he's going to head out to the Boston Ballet without you." Maura said, handing a hot cup of black coffee to the brunette. "Is that where the victim danced? Hmm…not surprising. Boston Ballet has recently been increasing the quality of their repertoire. The Russian schools are particularly known for producing highly skilled dancers from both sexes. Do you need me to go with? My mother has been an influential sponsor of the company since its inception. I'll always remember when I danced the part of the Sugar Plum Fairy in their annual production of the Nutcracker. The critics said I was extremely memorable for being only sixteen."

The excitement in Maura's voice made Jane's eyebrows rise in amusement as the vision of her girlfriend jumping up and down in a tutu garnered a chuckle. "You were a ballerina?"

"Yes," the blonde said, walking back in her office. "Does that surprise you?"

"Not as much as the image of you wearing legwarmers, leotard, and a tutu." Jane teased, her laugh filling the lighted expanse of the lab after gulping down the comforting heat of the black coffee in her hand.

Maura rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Laugh all you want, Jane. But my wearing a tutu while performing an artistic style of expression enjoyed throughout the world as a display of beauty is not as embarrassing as you calling me Maubie."

"I never called you that."

"Yeah, you did. Remember, last night, before you proceeded to sleep with a dead body in the room even though you could have slept in my office, with me."

Jane moved into Maura's personal space, just as Maura did the same, neither wavering under the other's death stare. "Well…let's say I did call you that…what if you just forgot that I called you that?"

"I can't." Maura replied with mock pity. "I already wrote it in my journal, in ink. This is so cute, Jane. You call me Maubie and I call you-"

The brunette's face dropped and she immediately muffled Maura's mouth. "Stop, just stop. Do not call me that at work unless everyone at BPD suddenly dies of an outbreak of bubonic plague. I was tired and made a mistake. Let's just leave it at that, alright?"

"What are we leaving at that?" Frost asked, walking in with Korsak. The two detectives immediately slowed their pace upon seeing the two women squaring off in preparation for an argument. As frustrated as Jane was toward the pet-name slip, she knew that appearances had to be upheld over her own pride. Frost is already starting to jokingly ask questions, all it takes is one incident to create suspicion.

Stepping away from the blonde, she turned back to them with a forced smile. "Maura is planning on spending a couple of weeks in one of her mother's summer homes in Switzerland and she wants me to watch her pet turtle until she gets back. Jo hates the turtle, I hate the turtle, so, therefore, no turtle-sitting. Ready to head out?"

"Tortoise, Jane. Bass is a tortoise. How come you always forget that?"

Ignoring Maura's comment, Korsak looked disapprovingly at his ex-partner's bedhead tangled curls and slept in clothes from yesterday with a frown. "Are you ready?"

"Come on, Korsak. What's the first thing they teach in the academy? Always be prepared. I always keep a spare pair of clothes, toothbrush, and a comb just in case. With morning traffic, I'll have plenty of time to become presentable in the car."

The three detectives walked out, leaving Maura alone. Before she could walk back to her desk, Jane came rushing back with a look of embarrassment on her face.

"Call me when you get the lab results. And…um, I'll…uh…I'll miss you," the harried brunette whispered before looking over her shoulder and, finding no one present, hugged Maura. The awkwardness of holding her girlfriend with a coffee cup in the way soon gave way to comfort as Jane's hands instinctually came up to hold her in a firm embrace against her strong frame, tension that she didn't even know was present evaporating away with Maura's reciprocal movements. It felt odd to hug Maura in a public area where anyone could see them, but the risk was forgotten in the feel of the medical examiner's hands around her shoulders.

But the moment was brief. Jane's responsibilities pressed on her mind and Maura's office phone rang loudly for the busy medical examiner's attention. A groan of dissatisfaction rose from their throats, their hands twitching around their forgotten coffee cups with the need to reconnect for longer than a moment.

"I need to talk. You think you can get some time off tonight? We can meet at your place or mine, whichever is best for you," she said in a hushed tone.

"Alright, but do you think you'll be able to get off work with the case?"

"I'll make time." Jane looked back behind her anxiously, expecting to see Frost lurking. "I've got to go before we get caught whispering together. Call me, even if you don't have anything new to report."

"I'll miss you too, Jane," she waved goodbye as the brunette raced off to meet the other detectives; sadly, Jane was already too far gone to hear her response.