Booth came around Jane's apartment at eight o'clock the next morning, and as they drove to a diner Jane had recommended for breakfast, she noted that her friend didn't seem to be in a particularly great mood.

"Something happen last night?" she asked. "After the bar?"

With a heavy sigh, Booth quickly reasoned that it wouldn't do any good to try and deceive Jane—she'd always been able to see right through him. "Yeah."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Bones. It's Bones. She's driving me up the wall! I mean, you heard what she said last night, about us having sex! It'd be so great, but she refuses to go there because of what I'd want from her afterwards, so now it's just, like—" He lifted one hand off the steering wheel and waved it aimlessly. "The whole sex invite thing is just floating in the air! It's been acknowledged, and totally ignored!"

Jane whistled. "Yeah, that is awkward."

Booth snorted. "You know, I think you have the right idea, Jane. I should've just kept my mouth shut."

"Why? Are you embarrassed? Brennan certainly doesn't seem to be."

With a sour chuckle, Booth said, "I don't think it's physically possible for Temperance Brennan to be embarrassed by anything. And no, I'm not embarrassed, it's just …it just sucks knowing that she at least returns the notion that we'd be good together, but she won't go there. Wouldn't you say that's worse than if she just flat-out disliked me?"

As they pulled into the diner's parking lot, Jane considered this. "Yeah, I dunno. You may have a point."

"Incidentally," Booth said as they got out. "Angela thought you and Maura were dating."

"What? No way," Jane said with a smile.

Holding the door open for Jane, Booth followed her in and said, "Hey, her words, not mine. Although you have to admit it's an honest mistake."

Jane felt some long-dormant butterflies take flight in her stomach as she guided Booth to her usual table. "What makes you say that?"

He took her bashful grin as a cue that she was simultaneously curious and wary of what his answer might be, and thus was not uncomfortable in replying: "Well, you know. The way you guys touch each other sometimes, and the things you say."

"Like what?"

"I don't know—it's not always the exact words themselves, but how you say them."

"Which is…like what?"

Booth laughed, wondering if he'd ever get the chance to peruse the menu in peace. "Like Dave and Maddie on Moonlighting, I dunno! Flirty, cute."

"You think we're cute?" Jane asked, raising an eyebrow and grinning. "Aw, Booth, you old softie."

"Hey, you like this woman, right? And I'm your pal, right? So of course I'm gonna be gunning for you, Rizzoli. That's what friends do."

"Thanks, man."

"No problem. Now shut up for a second so I can figure out what I want to order."

Already knowing what she wanted, Jane just smirked and texted Frost. He had planned on getting to work early to start checking Alicia Howard's social networking sites, and Jane was curious to see how he was progressing.

Yo, Frost. I'm grabbing a bite with Booth—can I bring you anything/are you having any luck with the website stuff?

The reply was quick: No and no. Alicia Howard didn't have any.

None?

None.

Wow. That's really weird. Check her phone records.

On it.

We'll be in soon.

Booth had flagged down a waiter, who took their orders and then bustled off to get them filled as quickly as possible. Nodding at Jane's phone, Booth said, "Any news?"

"Yeah, apparently Alicia didn't have like a facebook or Myspace or anything. Frost couldn't find any social networking sites under her name."

"Huh. Maybe she felt afraid to, being a politician's daughter?"

"Maybe. Yeah—Maura was telling me about a friend of hers… she married like a duke or something, and they have a thirteen-year-old kid who deactivated all her accounts because she kept getting harassed. And spammed, you know. Anyway, it might be something else we might want to ask Senator and Mrs. Howard."

"Hey, speaking of Maura…" Booth drained nearly half the cup of coffee their waiter had just dropped off. "You're—you're sure she's straight?"

"Booth! Look, all I'm saying is that everything I have witnessed in my years of knowing her has led me to believe that she is heterosexual. Would she be open to having a relationship with a woman? Sure, I dunno, maybe! But she's never made a pass at me, at least not an overt one, so…"

"Did you ever think maybe she was waiting for you to make one first?"

Jane stared at him, trying to gauge whether he was being serious or joking around. "Well, no, but… that's not Maura's style. She doesn't wait for stuff, she takes action."

Booth shrugged. "All right, if you say so. By the way, I had known Angela for all of two years before I found out she was bisexual."

"Really? You never saw her come onto a woman before?"

"Nope. But oh man, does she think you are one hot piece of ass!" He had to laugh as Jane smilingly blushed, trying to think of a way to deflect the compliment. "Who could blame her, really. Now be honest, Jane. Did you find her attractive at all?"

Running a hand distractedly through her unruly hair, Jane sighed lightly, still grinning. "Well …I have to admit, I did find her more—uh, I guess, attractive than the last time I met her. I mean she was still really gorgeous when we were at Hodgins' house, obviously, but I liked getting to spend more time with her. She's funny. And I could stand to take a lesson or two from her in the way she treats Brennan. Sometimes I worry that I'm a little too rude to Maura about her weird, social quirks. I like how Angela handled her nerdy doctor." She cleared her throat and took a long draw of coffee. "Um. So have those two ever, like…?"

"Who, Bones and Angela? No way," Booth snickered. "They're just friends. Inexplicably friends, but friends nonetheless. Hodgins is the one who's stuck on Angela."

With a good-hearted moan, Jane slumped back in her seat. "Great! So Hodgins likes Angela, Angela wants to get in my pants, and I'm in love with Maura, who thinks you're a hunk."

"She does?" Booth asked, perking up. He immediately neutralized his expression upon seeing the look on Jane's face.

"Sure, but so does my mother."

"Ha. Touché," Booth chuckled, finishing off his coffee. But his friend still looked tense, folding her arms and chewing the inside of her cheek, as if seriously considering Booth a potential threat. "Whoa! Don't worry, Jane, I would never try to put a move on your girl. I'm your wingman! Remember? And I'll even finish your little romantic octagon or whatever you were coming up with a second ago—Maura thinks I'm a hunk, I'm stuck on Bones, and Bones thinks Maura is into you."

"She—wait, she does?" Jane said, sitting up. "Did she tell you that?"

"Yeah, it was on our first night here. Or the next morning, actually. She just sort of conversationally brought up that after scrutinizing your interaction with each other, she thought Maura was attracted to you."

"Booth!" Jane cried, only refraining from reaching across the table and slapping his shoulder because their food had just arrived. "Why didn't you say that sooner?"

"Well what, I told you that Angela and I already thought it!"

"Yeah but Brennan's, like a doctor, an anthropologist, right? So when she notices stuff like this, it's more legit. No offense."

"None taken." Somewhat starving, Booth dug into his omelet with great gusto, but after a few bites, noticed that Jane was staring just over his shoulder, as if in a daze. "So what, you going to do anything about it?"

But he quickly guessed that he hadn't lost Jane because she was thinking of Maura; she wasn't staring off into space, she was staring at someone. Booth twisted in his seat and saw that Eden Carlisle had just walked in, dressed like the last time they had seen her, in running shorts and an old T-shirt. She was at this point ignorant of their presence, and seemed to be having an unpleasant discussion on her cell phone.

"Yeah, that's what I said," she muttered, her voice barely audible to Jane and Booth. "And if you don't like it, go crawl in a hole and take the hole with you!" With that unintentionally amusing line, Eden huffily hung up and stuck the phone into a band she had tied to her arm. She sighed heavily and trudged to a stool at the counter, where her conversation with the man at the register led Booth and Jane to believe they were on friendly terms.

"How you holding up, kid?" he asked.

Eden just shook her head. "I'm still waiting to wake up. I still can't believe this happened, that A.J.'s not… ever coming back."

The man reached out and gently covered one of Eden's hands with his own. "You'll see her again someday."

Though her back was to Jane, it was clear that Eden had started crying. "I know, but that's not helping very much right now. Brother Leighton, her parents don't want me to come to her funeral!"

"What? Why not? You were her best friend!"

"They've been mad this whole time—they think that because A.J. converted, God's going to punish her for joining some crackpot religion and she'll never get to heaven!" She put her face in her hands, and a girl two stools down from her awkwardly turned away. The man at the register was flustered, clearly trying to come up with the right thing to say and unable to think of it. Soon, Eden said, "I want to have a memorial service for her, though. We can have it at my house, my parents' house. For the ward. So we can all say goodbye." Then, as if suddenly feeling two investigative pairs of eyes on her, Eden turned swiftly and saw Jane and Booth sitting close by. "Oh!"

Jane stood up and Booth followed. "Eden."

"Detective," Eden breathed, taking some napkins the cashier had given her and wiping away at her tears, embarrassed. "Agent Booth, h-hello."

"Um, sorry, we couldn't help but overhear what you were just saying," Jane said softly, and Eden pursed her lips, shutting her eyes. "Is there anything else you'd like to tell us?"

"Like what?" Eden asked, sounding not insolent but merely tired.

"Who you were on the phone with just now, or when the Howards decided not to let you come to Alicia's funeral…" Jane took Eden by the arm and led her back to the booth she and… Booth were sharing. "Please, honey. Talk to us."

Eden wearily put her elbows on the table and pushed her face into her hands, trying once more to rid it of tears. "I was on the phone with a friend." She snorted a laugh. "Well no, not a friend, just a guy from school. He was—he was friends with Brock, I met him a couple of times." Sniffing loudly, she leaned back in the seat, trying to will herself to calm down.

Guessing there was more to the story, Booth asked, "And might this guy be at all connected to Alicia Howard?"

Before she could stop them, two more tears rolled silently out of Eden's round, green eyes. "Yes," she choked out. "Yeah. But he wouldn't have anything to do with this, sir, he's in Utah. He lives there, I mean his family is there, so he's not been in Boston. He knew Alicia but he couldn't have… killed her."

"All the same, would you mind if we asked his name?" Jane pressed her. "We're going to be seeing Brock in a couple of hours."

Eden clamped her eyes shut again, as if hoping that when she opened them, she would be transported to an entirely different place. After a long pause, she said, "Taylor White."

"Now how about the Howards?" Booth asked. "What exact reason did they give for not wanting to be at Alicia's funeral?"

"If you heard me talking to Brother Leighton just now, you know the reason they gave," Eden said, looking extremely pained. "I called them—well I called A.J.'s little brother, and then he gave the phone to Senator Howard, and I asked her what I could do, how I could help. And he said I could help by leaving them alone."

Bastard, Jane couldn't keep herself from thinking and instantly feeling guilty for it. The man's daughter had been murdered, so he had the right to be upset, but not allowing her best friend to attend the funeral was pointlessly cruel. "I'm sorry, Eden."

"It's okay," she said thickly, returning the very-crinkled napkin to dab futilely at her eyes. She took a deep shuddering breath to try and calm herself. "If either of you would like to come, I want to hold our own service for A.J. Lots of people in our ward, our congregation, really loved her."

"Keep us posted," Booth said, exchanging a look with Jane that tacitly conveyed it would be a good opportunity to scope out more potential suspects.

Sparing a glance for the clock over Booth's head, Eden jumped a little. "Oh, shoot, I'm supposed to take my sisters to the dentist—may I leave?"

"Of course," Jane said. "Sorry we kept you from getting breakfast."

"That's all right," Eden said with a faint smile, standing up. "I'll just grab a banana or something at home if my siblings haven't already eaten all our food." But just as she was headed for the door, the cashier called out her name and tossed her a glazed donut. She grinned and deftly caught it, then waved at Booth and Jane before exiting the diner.

Booth whistled and turned back to his (now somewhat chilled) omelet. "Man. That is cold."

"What, the Howards?"

"Yeah."

"Poor Eden."

"Poor kid."

In light of the murder and this sad turn of events, even something as important as their love lives didn't seem so pressing anymore. They finished their breakfast in relative silence, and the moment Jane had downed the last bit of her coffee, they were up and gone. To anyone standing near the entrance of Boston Police Headquarters that morning, it was clear that Jane Rizzoli and Seeley Booth were on a mission to kick ass and take names, in that order. There was none of Jane's usual air of politeness or excitement; both had been replaced by an unusually grim determination, matched by her equally strong and silent partner.

Together they approached Frost at his desk, and without so much as a preliminary hello, Jane said, "Tell us what you've got."

"Found an interesting bunch of texts between Alicia and Brock, and another number we traced to a Taylor White."

"Taylor White? Eden was just telling us about him," Booth said. "What'd they say?"

Frost nodded at one of the screens in front of them, where he had pulled up a series of conversations. The texts between Alicia and Brock didn't betray much except for the fact that there was obviously something they needed to talk about—which they apparently did at length, because there were a series of outgoing calls from Alicia to Brock. Whereas it might have been possible to only misread animosity in the messages exchanged with Brock (tones are difficult to fully comprehend electronically), there was nothing ambiguous about the texts from Taylor. There were only a few of them, but in the last, he called her a rather unsavory word and told her to "back off."

"So…you say Eden mentioned this guy?" Frost asked.

"Yeah, but he lives in Utah, and hasn't been to Boston, at least not lately," Jane said. "But I dunno, it could be worth asking Brock about." Suddenly realizing something, Jane turned to Booth and said, "Wait. How is Brennan getting here if you picked me up?"

"Apparently Maura texted her and insisted on driving her. Thought it'd give them some time to catch up on the newest Scientific Tortoise Weekly Journal or something like that."

It felt good to be able to laugh again. "Nice. Well…" Her phone buzzed, and with a quick glance, Jane said, "Huh. That's Maura now—they just got here. Hodgins and Angela are with them."

"Right! There was like, a bug or something that they wanted him to check out."

"Yeah…let's go down and check in with them before we head to the band's venue." Following Booth out the door, Jane turned to Frost and said, "Maybe just in case, you should see if you can find anything on this Taylor White guy."

They had a small welcoming committee at the HQ café in the form of Maura, Brennan, Hodgins, and Angela, the latter two wearing visitor's badges. Walking up to Maura, Jane said, "Maur, Booth and I are gonna go check out Eden's ex. Can you hold down the fort here?"

"The fort?" Maura asked, looking confused.

Jane smiled ruefully and put a hand on Maura's shoulder. "Can you take care of our D.C. friends while we're gone?"

"Oh. Well, goodness knows it won't be easy, but I think I'll be able to manage without you," Maura said dryly.

"Aw, your sarcasm is getting better day by day," Jane said. "I'm so proud. Angela, were your services needed here, or did you want to come with us?"

"You want me to tag along?"

"Well, I just thought that… you know, you might want to say hi to your dad."

Maura cut in before Angela could respond: "Typically, Jane, the actual band doesn't arrive until several hours after the 'roadies' have begun work."

Looking a bit embarrassed, Jane said, "Oh, duh." Truthfully she was totally aware of that obvious fact, but she'd been a bit distracted from remembering it due to Angela's appearance today. Her makeup was very understated, allowing Jane to fully admire the woman's natural beauty and softness (those amazing cheekbones!). Tight jeans clung to rather shapely legs, and capped sleeves showed off slender yet toned arms. For the first time in a very long while, Jane was mortified to find herself trying to mentally undress someone. She had asked Angela if she'd wanted to come along just for something to say, to get her mind out of the gutter, but also because she found Angela intriguing, and was curious to get to know her. So curious, in fact, that Jane totally missed the terseness of Maura's remark.

"You know, actually, I was going to ask if I could come with you," Angela said. "If he's not totally like, wasted, my dad likes to spend sometime with the roadies in the morning when they're setting up—bring 'em coffee and donuts, and stuff. He's kind of a sweetie sometimes. So if I'm not needed here, I'd love the chance to surprise him and say hello…"

Brennan answered before Maura could: "Well, we had planned on asking you to help us recreate the crime scene to determine whether or victim was killed from her fall or from within the apartment, but I realize that your specialty lies in relying on a very specific brand of technology currently sitting at the Jeffersonian in D.C."

Angela stared at her. "Right. So…I'm free to go?"

"I'm sure the BPD has someone on hand who will be competent enough to help us out," Brennan said, folding her hands in front of her. "So if Booth and Detective Rizzoli wouldn't mind—"

"Not at all," Jane said. "Consider it a lift."

With a giddy smile, Angela put a lid on her coffee and followed Booth and Jane towards the exit. Watching Jane hold the door open for Angela caused Maura to frown, and she wasn't totally sure why. It wasn't a romantic move, or necessarily even a friendly one; it was just Jane being polite. The difficult thing to explain away was the look that Jane and Angela exchanged, a sort of indulgent smile that Maura simultaneously was confused by yet knew too well. She masked the disappointment on her own face quickly enough, but Hodgins thought he saw a hint of it. Perhaps later they'd have to convene and commiserate over the fact that they seemed to be losing Jane and Angela to each other…

"I'm glad you're coming with us," Jane said to Angela as Booth headed off for the park Frost had given them directions to. "I'm not sure if Booth told you this or not, but Maura and I sort of had a bet going to see whether you or she could I.D. our victim first."

"Oh, he told me," Angela laughed from the back seat (which she had insisted on taking, despite Jane's attempts to be chivalrous). "So what do I win, detective?"

Jane spared a glance at the rear view mirror and caught Angela's smirk. "Well, I kinda hoped bringing you to your dad could count as a solid, but now that I think about it, that's not particularly rewarding, is it?"

There was a pause before Angela said, "I could think of something better, yeah." Booth coughed loudly to remind the women that they weren't alone, and Angela rolled her eyes. "Oh, relax, Booth. I don't have any illusions. Here's what I want you to do, Jane: call and leave me a message on my phone."

"Really? Why?"

Never one to shy away from frankness, Angela replied, "Because if sex was a person and had a voice, it would be yours."

"Whoa! Hey, come on!" Booth said. "Guy still in the car, remember?"

"Don't worry, Booth. She can do it later."

Though flattered, Jane was definitely a bit flustered. "Uh… what do you want me to say?"

"Whatever you want."

"What's your last name, Angela? I forget."

"Montenegro."

"Angela Montenegro." Jane grinned. "Nice. Ms. Montenegro."

Angela felt a very palpable shiver go down her spine at the sound of her name in that low, husky register. Booth, meanwhile, was beyond uncomfortable. "Practice on your own time, okay, Rizzoli?"

"Right. Sorry, Booth." Jane cleared her throat and cast about for a subject change. "I was thinking about this memorial service Eden wants to hold for A.J. We should go."

"Definitely."

"Undercover."

"As…Mormons?"

"Yeah. You know, if they think we're one of their own, they might be more open to sharing things with us."

"Jane, they're not carnies," Booth said, eliciting a giggle from Angela.

"Well I know, but—I dunno, I just think that… the girl who's been killed is the daughter of a high-profile politician, so it's a sensitive issue, and an alarming one. People might feel more comfortable sharing their opinions to someone they think comes from the same fold, you know? Not a federal agent and a lesbo detective."

"Yeah, I get you," Booth said. "We could bring Maura along as our, like translator. She seemed pretty well-versed in Mormon culture."

"How different is it from Catholicism, really?" Angela asked.

"Very," Booth and Jane answered. Jane continued: "That's a good plan, Booth, but she may be more useful speaking to us through a headpiece. She's gone undercover once before, but not to something like a memorial service. Not something personal, and intimate. One thing that's very important to know about Maura is that she is physically incapable of lying. In a case like this, that could blow our cover."

"She can't lie?" Angela asked. "That's kind of cute."

"Kind of," Jane said. "But it can be a real problem sometimes. Although …I admit, yeah, it's admirable. Sometimes she makes me feel like I need to work on being more honest."

A few minutes later, Booth pulled onto some turf by the park where ZZ Top would be performing. He got out and quickly ran to meet the organizer who was walking disapprovingly towards them, looking very displeased.

"Oops," Angela chuckled, as she and Jane stepped out of the car and Booth showed the man his badge. "I forgot to bring my I'm-Billy-Gibbons'-daughter badge to these things." She shivered and clutched her bare arms. "And a jacket. I left it in Hodgins' car!"

Jane smoothly removed her blazer and handed it to Angela. "Here, take this."

"What? Jane, no, you need it."

"I don't," Jane insisted, feeling fine despite the chilly November wind. "I was only wearing it out of habit, I swear."

Sensing that Jane wasn't going to take no for an answer, Angela just smiled and took the blazer. "Thanks," she said, slipping it on. "Probably just as well—Hodgins didn't think I dressed very professionally today. Which is true, but I'm technically not on the job, so…" Angela let it off there, but Jane, not being a moron, sensed that the ball was in her corner and she was supposed to step in and say something.

"Oh. Hey, I think you look great." And kissable. Very kissable.

"JANE!" Booth shouted from several yards away. "Get over here! Work! It's a thing, remember?"