A/N: I'll be upfront. If you're looking for nothing but immediate Rizzles, go elsewhere. There are literally hundreds of other wonderful stories on this site about those two for you to choose from. I do intend to have Jane and Maura wind up together, but you're going to have to wait. Hope you don't mind, because I am enjoying the heck out of writing this.

A plan was mostly in place: Korsak and Frost would attend Alicia's official funeral, as the Howards felt it only appropriate to have the department's senior detective working on the case. Jane and Booth, meanwhile, would scope out the service Eden was putting together, hopefully with Maura's help. She and Frost had also just unearthed some rather interesting information on Eden Carlisle, and Jane was just on her way back down to tell Booth about it when she was apprehended once more by Angela near the front door of BPD.

"Ms. Montenegro, fancy meeting you here," she said.

Angela had to grin. She normally felt a bit odd having people address her so formally, especially when it was someone she knew, but there was just something so indefinably sexy about the way Jane said it that she didn't mind. "Hello, detective."

"Headed out?"

"Yes, I was going to meet my dad for lunch. Don't suppose you'd care to join?"

"Wish I could," Jane said with a rueful smile, nodding behind her to indicate that she was needed here. "Have a nice time, though."

"Sure, sure…" Before she lost her nerve, Angela said, "I know you guys are working really hard right now on a super important case, but my dad—and, well, I—did want you to know that we could swing something if you and Booth wanted to come tonight. To the concert, I mean. If you get off in time."

Jane grinned slowly, knowing the odds of her being able to get out in time were very slim. "Tell you what. I'll call to give you my answer, and I'll leave that message you asked for. So don't pick up."

"Deal," Angela laughed. "See you around!"

As she waited for the elevator that would take her back downstairs, Jane quickly tried to asses the wisdom in what she was doing. She couldn't even remember which of them had been first to open this flirtatious dialogue. Yes, Angela had made the first move back in D.C., but she had been tipsy and under the impression that she wouldn't see Jane ever again. Since she'd been here though, Jane found herself becoming attracted to her. Could anything come of it, though? Angela would probably be back en route to D.C. tomorrow, or the next day, at least…

A small fight broke out in her head once she got into the elevator: Who cares if she leaves soon? There's nothing wrong with just getting some action. Yeah there is. I don't do that anymore. I'm not a kid anymore! Hooking up isn't just for kids, you prude. That's not what I'm looking for right now. I want a relationship, a real one. So what about a long-distance relationship? That could work, right? And Angela's sort of in your line of work, so she wouldn't be a wimp when it came to your job. That's true …but what about Maura? What about her? Either make a move on Maura or don't—you can't just expect her to say something, it's got to come from you! But Angela's available and into me and hot and interesting! And into me! And hot!

She had just banged her head against the wall of the elevator when its doors opened, revealing Booth, Brennan and Hodgins standing there, looking a tad surprised.

"Oh. Hi, guys," Jane said lamely.

"Detective, are you feeling well?" Brennan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." She walked out, and the others followed her back to the morgue. "So? Find anything?"

Hodgins shrugged. "The dirt was pretty nondescript. It could have feasibly come from any area in the northeast."

"What the hell does that stupid finger even have to do with Alicia Howard?" Jane growled, glaring at the tray that held the dirty, disembodied digit. "Why did she have it at the crime scene?"

"I dunno, Jane, but maybe we shouldn't be focusing on that," Booth said lightly. "If we find a connection, great, but our best bet right now would probably be to focus on Alicia, and getting more suspects."

"Great, so are we done here?" Hodgins asked. Jane stared at him. "Well… I was only waiting to talk to you. Billy and Angela invited us to lunch."

"You two go ahead," Booth said, nodding at Hodgins and giving Brennan a pat on the shoulder. "We'll stay here and try to find some more answers." As soon as they left, Booth turned to Jane, folding his arms and looking at her expectantly.

"What?" she asked, giving him a sour look.

"I think you know damn well what," he said with a knowing smirk. "Angela goes up, you come down, and you're banging your head in the elevator. Is there something you're not telling the class here, Rizzoli?"

With a loud groan, Jane slumped onto a nearby stool in defeat. "I feel really confused right now."

"About Angela?"

"Yeah, and…" She clenched her jaw and glanced tellingly at Maura's closed office door. Booth followed her gaze then looked back to Jane, waiting for her to elaborate. Jane was loath to bring it up, but she worried that if she didn't, she would just be setting herself up for more awful Gollum-like, back-and-forth arguments in her head. She sighed heavily and said, "Angela's a nice girl."

"Yes," Booth said, taking the stool next to her. "Yes she is."

"But she lives in D.C., and I live here."

"Okay, two things, Jane. First of all, yes, she is attracted to you. But that doesn't necessarily mean she's looking for a life-long commitment from you."

"Hark who's talking!" Jane cried. "You're the one who got me to stop hooking up with people because it—I dunno, it wasn't decent! Now you're telling me to just get with your friend and then let it go at that?"

"Hear me out," Booth said patiently. "My second point was that you're already over-thinking this. If you two, say, went on a date or something, you'd both be more sure of where you stand. You could find out what she wants from you. If all she's after is…" He wavered awkwardly. After all, Jane and Angela were both his good friends, and much as he liked the idea of them going out, he felt a bit uncomfortable encouraging them to have sex. "To… you know," he finished somewhat pathetically, "then at least you'll know."

"Well…well, what if that's all I want, too?"

Booth raised his eyebrows again. "Excuse me?"

Jane looked down at the floor, interlacing her fingers. "I know it's hypocritical, Booth. But I'm starting to get worried about myself."

"What do you mean?"

"Maura," Jane muttered. "Lately I think I've just been spinning my wheels, ready and raring to go but not having the guts to tell her anything. I think I've been, I don't know, subconsciously avoiding dating other women because the one I want is right there." She pointed at Maura's door, then let her arm fall with a heavy slap back to her leg again. "She's always two feet in front of me and I can't say it. What's wrong with me? When did I get so sad?"

"Why haven't you just told her how you feel?" Booth asked.

"What if she rejects me?" Jane whispered.

Booth leaned forward, putting his arm around Jane's shoulder. They both seemed focused on the same spot on the tiled floor, because Booth didn't want to force Jane to look at him and Jane was afraid that if she did, she would burst into tears. When did she get so pathetic? How long had she let her desire for Maura keep her from really living? Was that the reason she had shut down so many potential girlfriends? And what was it about Angela that got Jane so interested? For some reason, she felt guilty for her attraction towards Angela—but why? She didn't owe anyone anything, least of all Maura, who was blissfully ignorant and happy to remain nothing more than Jane's friend.

"Can I tell you something?" Booth asked quietly.

His tone got Jane to glance over at him. His arm was still draped over her back, so she couldn't move much, but she waited for him to meet her gaze. "Of course," she said, sounding a little surprised.

"I really was in love with you," he said, looking back to the floor with a sad chuckle. "I was so in love with you, and I was so sure you felt the same way about me. Sometimes when things were quiet, or you'd leave after we had a really great, long conversation, I'd have these little fantasies. Not, uh, those kind of fantasies. I mean I would envision the two of us married, living in some nice suburb. We had a house and a white picket fence, a dog and some kids. Some kids who were proud to have such badass parents," he added, trying to inject a little humor into this sad reflection. It worked a bit; at least Jane laughed weakly with him. "I thought—I mean, I waited so long to tell you because, well, we were in a war zone. It didn't seem like the right place or time to say it, but then I realized that was a really cowardly excuse. If I was honest with myself, I was afraid maybe you didn't… return those feelings. But I had to have it out. I had to tell you. And then I did. And then you told me your big secret."

"You took it really well," Jane said. "I remember."

"No," Booth said, withdrawing his arm from around her. "No, I acted like I took it well. Jane, I was never angry with you or anything like that, please believe that. I didn't hold it against you or blame you for—it. You weren't—you aren't—attracted to men. You can't change that, and I would never ask you to. Did it still hurt like hell, though? Yeah. Of course it did. I wanted you more than I had ever wanted any other woman. I wanted you in every way. I loved you in every way. So to hear that anything between us was a total impossibility? It broke my heart. It broke my heart because I knew it meant I had no. Chance. Ever. "

Jane realized her eyes were sheen over with tears. So wrapped up in her own despair and fears, she had never known—or perhaps cared to know—how deeply Booth had been affected by this. "Booth, I'm…I'm…"

He looked over at her, and sat up straight, sighing loudly. "Aw, geez, Jane, this is why I never wanted to tell you! I don't want you to feel guilty about it, you have nothing to feel sorry about. I was sad, but it wasn't your fault. You didn't do anything wrong. Look how far we've come! Look how close we are, huh?" He put his arm back around her, and she shuddered with another shaky laugh. "The point, Jane, is that I got over it. I learned how to deal, and I love you like a sister. But I don't still harbor feelings for you. Who knows how much time I could have wasted if I had spent years pining after you? If I had never learned about you?"

Jane took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. "All right Booth," she whispered, patting his knee. "I get it."

"Let's talk about what we know," Booth said, wanting to get right down to it in case Maura came back soon. "Maura's your best friend. She absolutely adores you. She knows you are a lesbian. This doesn't offend or repulse her any way. She's kind, she's sweet. Those are the facts. Okay? Can you agree that those are facts?"

"Yes," Jane sighed. "Yes, they're facts."

"All right then. So, now, let's be logical. You tell her how you feel. Maybe she turns you down. She does it carefully, quietly, sadly—sad because she doesn't want to break your heart. Because you mean more to her than anyone else in the world, and she wants so desperately for you to be happy, but she can't be that for you. It's just not how she's wired. It's nothing to do with you, but she's trapped. There's nothing she can do." He let that sink in, rubbing Jane's back as she sniffed loudly and wiped away at the few tears that had managed to escape. "But Jane, you'll never know unless you say something. You'll never get over it unless you can broach it. And hey, who knows? Maybe Maura's just waiting for you to speak up. Maybe she's waiting for you to be the brave, courageous, initiative-taking person we both know you to be."

"That's just it, Booth," Jane said. "I do think I'm a brave person. But this, I feel like there's so much hanging in the balance—I don't want to screw it up…"

"Jane, listen to yourself. I know how you feel, 'cause I've been there, okay? If you get rejected, it hurts like hell. But you will get over it, I know you will. And you and Maura, you can still be best friends. I know you will be, because that friendship is worth fighting for, just like ours was and still is."

"I'm not as strong as you, Booth."

"Bull."

"Booth—"

"Don't tell yourself that, Jane, all right? I understand your apprehension, but the Jane Rizzoli I know is capable of handling this. As far as your love life goes, if you stay like this, just stalled, you're gonna be miserable. You either have to man up and tell Maura how you feel, or try going out with Angela and see how that feels. But if you ask me…"

"What?"

"It just really seems like Maura is into you. Angela, Bones and I all think so."

Jane laughed softly. "Yeah, you mentioned that. The thing is, Maura's, well, naïve. Not naïve, she just doesn't understand a lot of… basic… human interaction. I've seen her around men. If I push it, yeah, maybe it seems like she treats them similarly to how she treats me. But I think that's because she's never had a best friend before, and our relationship is so close that it—that she—I dunno, she doesn't know where that line is. And part of it's my fault for not discouraging her enough." Part of her wanted to tell Booth about Ian, and how much his memory bothered her. Maura called him the love of her life…how could she compete with that?

Booth asked, "When's the last time you went on a date?"

"Phew. Uh. Like a real date?"

"A date like you asked a girl out, or she asked you out, you got food or went to a movie, and you made out."

Jane was startled by how long it took her to remember. She sat up a little straighter, taking another deep breath to try and calm herself down. "Boy. I guess it was about, uh, four months ago?"

Considering Jane's confidence and her devastating good looks, it might have been surprising that so long had passed without a date. But without pressing her, Booth guessed part of that was because of her job: not a ton of women were incredibly eager to date cops. Oh sure, they thought the badge was hot, and one-night stands were common for that reason, but it was harder to make them feel comfortable enough to commit.

"And when's the last time you…slept with someone?"

"Can we not talk about this anymore?" Jane said abruptly. "Booth, I appreciate what you're trying to do, really. You made your case, and it makes sense. I intend to think about it, I swear." And she did. She felt wracked with guilt over the pain she had caused Booth, but she was profoundly grateful that he had been willing to share it with her. The truth was, he was right. Maura wouldn't turn on her. She would be kind, she could take it. After a long pause, Jane said, "Angela wanted us to come to her dad's concert tonight."

"Yeah?" Booth asked, trying to gauge her emotions. "What'd you say?"

"Said I'd call her," Jane snorted. "It could be fun to go… we'd have to go late, and just for a little while, maybe." She jumped when her phone started ringing, and it dawned on her when she opened it that she didn't have Angela's number. "Rizzoli."

"Detective Rizzoli, hi. This is Eden Carlisle."

"Eden! Hello."

There was a short pause. "Are you all right, detective?"

Jane glanced at Booth, as if he too could hear what the girl was saying. With one more loud sniff, Jane said, "Yes, I'm all right, thanks. Just fighting off a cold. What can I do for you?"

"Well, it's about the memorial service for A.J. We're still planning on holding it, and when I told my parents you and Agent Booth wanted to come, they said to ask when would be a good day for you."

"Wh—oh, well, you shouldn't be planning it around us."

"The only reason I ask is because Thanksgiving is this week, and we didn't know if either of you would be going out of town a few days early for the holiday. We want to make sure at least one of you is here for the service."

"Oh. Oh, Thanksgiving, right. No, we'll be here."

"Would you like to spend it with us?"

"Spend…"

"Would you like to spend Thanksgiving with us? We're so grateful for everything you're doing for A.J., and if you don't have plans…"

"That's…very kind of you, Eden, but…" Not entirely appropriate. "We're taken care of, thank you."

"Well, as long as you have somewhere to go!"

"Yeah…just call when you set a date for that service, all right?"

"Yes, ma'am. Goodbye!"

"Oh, wait, Eden—could you come in today, please?"

"Uh, sure. Did you find something new?"

"We may have. I'd like to ask you something in person."

"Yes, all right. Shall I come in now?"

"That would be great, yeah."

Sounding a little confused, Eden said she could be there in half an hour or so, and Jane hung up, feeling a little shell-shocked. "Well that was awkward," she said, putting her phone back in her pocket. "A potential suspect and near-stranger just invited us to spend the holiday with her family."

"The…oh crap, Thanksgiving."

"I know. With all this going on, I totally forgot about it."

"I tried to," Booth muttered. "Parker's spending it with his mom this year."

"Aw. Booth, I'm sorry. Hey, do you have plans? You should come spend it with us. Maura's once again graciously offered to open up her house to my family, and we would all love it if you joined us."

"Ah, I dunno," Booth chuckled. "Wouldn't want to impose. Besides, Bones and I usually do something together."

"Well she can come too! The more the merrier, Booth, really. You just said you loved me like a sister. Thanksgiving's a time for…" She cut off there, not wanting to rub salt in the wound of Parker's absence. "It's time we made you an honorary Rizzoli, Booth, and that's that. I'm afraid my mother's going to insist on it."

"Insist on what?" came a distinctly feminine voice.

Jane nearly fell off her stool. "Maura! What—I thought you were in your office!" she cried, looking from Maura to the still-closed office door.

"Well, you were mistaken," Maura said simply, walking in from the hallway doorframe. "Anyway, my question still holds: what's your mother going to insist on?"

"Booth and Brennan are going to be alone on Thanksgiving," Jane said. "I told him we could offer them a less lonely alternative."

"Oh, absolutely, you must spend it with us!" Maura said, looking delighted. "It'll give us a chance to work on our undercover relationship!"

"When you put it that way, how could I refuse?" Booth laughed. "I'll talk to Brennan about it as soon as she gets back from lunch."

"Why don't you call her up and ask now?" Jane said, giving him a very pointed look. "You know. Find out as soon as possible." Knowing all too well what Jane was really getting at, Booth nodded and walked out into the hallway, leaving Maura and Jane alone in the lab. "So," Jane said, joining Maura near one of her many microscopes. "I might have a date tonight."

Maura forced herself to concentrate on looking at the sediment Hodgins had left under the microscope. "Really?" she asked, her voice light and curious. "Who with?"

"Angela Montenegro."

"Right, I should've known."

"Why would you have known that?"

Maura straightened up, meeting Jane's inquisitive (and embarrassed?) gaze. "Because she's so obviously attracted to you. I figured it was only a matter of time before she made a formal proposition of some kind."

"Oh," was all Jane could think to say. Technically Angela hadn't asked her on a date, since she had mentioned Booth should come to the concert, too. But Jane had wanted to get some kind of reaction out of Maura, and so far it was disappointingly apathetic. "So you think I should say yes, then?"

Appearing surprised that a final decision hadn't been reached, Maura said, "Do you find her attractive?"

"I guess, yeah."

"Well then a date would seem to be the next logical step," Maura said, idly picking up a clipboard and scanning the information on the top sheet it held. "It would allow you to get to know her better, and help you decide whether or not this is a relationship either of you are interested in pursuing. You told me just a few days ago that you aren't interested in meaningless sex, so I'm forced to assume that your willingness to entertain the notion of going on a date with Angela is indicative of something more than mere physical attraction."

As was often the case, Jane had to wait a moment to make sure Maura's rant was over, and then another moment to process it. "So you… you think I should go."

Maura looked up from her clipboard, frowning. "Why are you asking me?"

Jane smiled awkwardly, giving Maura's shoulder a light punch. "'Cause! You know, this is what friends do."

"Oh. Right."

"Talk about prospective dates, and get… their friends' opinions. What do you think of her?"

"Angela?"

"No, Kim Kardashian."

"Well, I have to say I normally like to reserve judgment on people I've never met, but the extravagance of that wedding was an atrocity unlike any…" She caught Jane's disbelieving gaze, and said, "Oh. You were being sarcastic." With a sigh, she lay down her clipboard and said, "She's a very nice woman. She's obviously smart and talented if someone like Dr. Brennan holds her in high esteem. And she's a fan of my mother, so you know she has good taste in art."

"My top priority when it comes to choosing women, yes," Jane chuckled. "Okay then. Maybe I'll do it." She motioned at Booth, who was pacing the hallway outside, and he wrapped up his phone call to Brennan. "Thanks for the pep talk, Maur."

Still feeling a bit blindsided, Maura worked quickly to control her expression as Booth walked back into the room. "Maura, if you're sure about having us for Thanksgiving, we'd really love to spend it with you."

"Of course I'm sure," Maura said, genuinely smiling when she saw Booth's happiness at her words. "Besides, since you're here on the case, it makes more sense for you to stay in town for the holiday. It will be a pleasure to have you join us."

Booth thanked her profusely, then turned to Jane. "So guess what Brennan told me. You remember Cam?"

"Yeah, she was at the Godzilla thing, right? Brennan's boss?"

"Yup, that's the one. She's coming to Concord to spend Thanksgiving with her cousin, and since she's making the trip, wants to stop by and see how our case is coming along."

"Wow. Random. When's she coming?"

"Well apparently, she's almost here."

"What?"

"Got up at the crack of dawn, and headed on out."

"Who…who's manning the Jeffersonian?"

Booth chuckled. "I don't think Cam's taken a day off in about three years. She had some vacation time coming to her, don't worry."

"That reminds me," Jane said. "Well, actually, it doesn't. Bad segue, sorry. But do you have Angela's number? I just realized I don't have it."

"Yeah sure." He gave her the number, then cleared his throat and said, "By the way, what'd you want to bring Eden Carlisle in for?"

Before Jane could answer, she caught sight of Frankie standing hesitantly by the door in the hallway. Ignoring the fact that Booth, Jane, and Maura were all staring at him, wondering why he didn't just come in, Frankie silently motioned for Jane to come over. Telling Booth she'd be right back, Jane walked over to her brother, who turned and walked a little further down the hallway for some privacy.

"What's up, bro?"

"Okay, before you say anything, just hear me out, Jane. Gina Maggione just cancelled on me."

"Who?"

"Gina! Remember, I was gonna take her to the policeman's ball?"

"The—oh, yeah."

It had become a sort of tradition for the department to hold a Thanksgiving party, which were getting more and more lavish each year. Originally it had been held near Christmas, as it was a more festive holiday and nearly everyone working there was Catholic or some other Christian denomination. All it had taken to overturn this policy was one embittered atheist, who lodged a complaint and got it changed to Thanksgiving, thinking he was doing a favor to all other non-believers and people of other faiths. He didn't realize that nobody really cared, but nobody cared enough to complain about his complaint, either, so Thanksgiving it was. A few cops had started jokingly referring to these parties as "policemen's balls," ever since it became a tradition a few years ago to have a small, live band play. Jane rarely went to these events, mostly because she hated the pomp and circumstance of it all (they were supposed to dress in uniform), but also because there was often dancing, and she hated dancing. And it was expected for you to bring a spouse or a date, and Jane felt like a loser going without either. Frankie, on the other hand, thrived on these parties. His dates never failed to be impressed, and Jane was quietly grateful that Gina had cancelled on him, because in Jane's frank opinion, the girl was kind of a skank.

"So anyway," Frankie said, "It's tomorrow night, Jane, and I haven't got a date."

"Aw, man. Sorry, Frankie, I know how much you wanted to go."

"Jane, I wanted to ask you if you… if you'd mind…"

"Ew, Frankie! Are you asking me to go with you?"

"What? No! Gross, Jane, what the hell? I wanted to ask if you'd mind if I asked Maura to come with me."

Jane raised her eyebrows. "You want Maura to be your date?"

She didn't seem to be angry, but Frankie cowered anyway. "Not like a date-date. But we're friends, and if nobody else has asked her to go, I think it'd be fun. I would make it very clear that I just want to go as friends. That it's not a real date."

"That she wasn't your first choice?" Jane teased him.

He narrowed his eyes. "She knows how much I like Gina. It'd just be weird to go alone, you know?"

"Yeah, Frankie. I think you should go ahead and ask her. You didn't need to like, ask my permission."

"I know, I just wanted to ask…I mean she's your best friend, and I didn't want you to think I was trying to do anything sneaky behind your back or anything."

Jane gave him a good looking-over. Frankie was earnest and sincere, and she could tell that he genuinely just wanted to ask Maura to come with him as a friend. He didn't know a lot of women, and he felt comfortable around Maura—not as comfortable as Tommy, who had gone too far, in Jane's opinion. She wasn't entirely sure how Maura would take this last-minute invitation, but she told Frankie to go ahead and down and ask her anyway. He had nothing to lose. Somewhat adorably, Frankie said he still felt a little awkward about it, and wanted to go for lunch before he asked Maura about it.

As Frankie ambled back to the elevator, Jane got an idea. Walking even further down the hall, Jane took out her phone and dialed Angela's number. As it rang and rang, Jane chuckled to herself, feeling as nervous as a teenager calling up the most popular girl in school for a date. As per Jane's instructions, Angela didn't answer, allowing for Jane to leave the following message:

"Hey Angela, it's Jane. Jane Rizzoli. I'm really sorry to say that I don't think I can make it to your dad's concert tonight. As much as I'd love to go, I don't feel comfortable making a commitment, because I'm foreseeing a long evening here. However, I want to make a counter-offer. The department's holding a sort of a… party tomorrow night, and I wasn't gonna go, but if you're free, and still in Boston, I'd love to take you as my date. Anyway. Just call me back when you can, and let me know. No hard feelings either way. See ya."

Now there was that old feeling in Jane's stomach, a sort of nervous excitement, mixed with surprise at what she had just done. For the first time in ages, she had asked a woman out on a date. Maybe this'll be good for me. Booth's right, I'm never going to get anywhere just pining after Maura…

She stayed in the hallway another minute or two, suffering through a second round of internal questioning. Meanwhile, Booth had gone upstairs to prepare to meet Cam, and Maura was alone in the morgue—alone with her thoughts. It had recently become painfully evident to her how much she was attracted to Jane, how much she wanted to run her hand through those curls, feel those lips against her own, and hear that voice whisper sweet-nothings into her ear at night. She had her reasons for not acting on those impulses, but suddenly she felt like kicking herself. Why had her attempt to practice lying extended to being dishonest with Angela about her feelings for Jane? How could she have treated something so potentially life-changing with such relative apathy?

Part of it, she realized, was the fact that she had not at all been expecting Angela to be so forward with her. She had been caught utterly off guard, and hated it. Now because of that one lie, Jane was going on a date with this woman. What if they really hit it off? What if they became a couple? What if Jane moved to D.C. to be with her? Maura tried to tell herself she was getting way ahead of things, here, but she couldn't help thinking no matter what happens, it'll be because I told Angela to go ahead. If I had advised Jane not to do this, would she have listened to me?

Possibly the only thing that could have taken her mind off this depressing track was what she saw when she turned to look out the hallway.

Camille Saroyan was standing between Booth and Jane, having just come down. They walked into the morgue, and Cam was saying, "…around 5:00 a.m. I was up anyway, so I figured I might as well just head on over, and—" She cut off abruptly at the sight of Maura, who was giving her a similar look of shock. "Dr. Isles?"

"Dr. Saroyan!"

"Wait, you two know each other?" Jane asked, glancing at Booth and seeing that he too seemed surprised by this.

"Yes!" said Cam, walking over and eagerly shaking Maura's hand. "Dr. Isles was the medical examiner for NYPD when I was a coroner over there! Oh my goodness, it's been years!"

"Wait, this is crazy," Jane laughed. "Which of you left first?"

"I did," said Maura. "I—needed a change of scene."

Cam chuckled and said, "I certainly feel that. I left shortly after you. Now look at us! Doing pretty well, aren't we?"

"Certainly are."

"Well it's a small medical, forensic criminology world after all, isn't it?" Jane asked, still bewildered. Her phone started buzzing, signaling a call from her boss. After a quick conversation with him, she told Booth, "That was Cavanaugh. He wants a word with me before Eden gets here. I'll call when I need you, all right? Fill Cam in on what we've done so far."

"Sure thing," Booth said, as Jane quickly headed out.

"We'll have to catch up some time," Maura said to Cam. "It's been too long. Unfortunately, this isn't an opportune moment, and I have some files that need reading…"

Cam smiled and held up a hand. "Of course! You work." Once Maura had reflected the grin and closed herself up in her office, Cam just shook her head and laughed. "Wow. I had no idea she was in Boston."

"I can't believe you know her."

"Weird, right? She's a sharp one, I'll tell you that. You know actually, Dr. Brennan reminded me a lot of her when I first came to the Jeffersonian."

"That's what Jane said!" Booth laughed. "Socially awkward and weirdly obsessive about random things?"

"Is that terrible?" Cam giggled. "We're terrible. I mean I know Dr. Isles is a medical examiner and Dr. Brennan does forensic anthropology, but for a while there I figured all extremely scientific people were just like that. But even once I got to know Dr. Brennan, I learned to differentiate her from Dr. Isles a bit more. Scientists don't all come in the same mold—naïve or empiricist, personable or blunt, uh…" Cam realized she was running out of differences between the two. "Gay or straight…"

"Yeah, I—wait. Gay?"

"Yes," Cam said casually, nodding at Maura's closed door. "Dr. Isles."

"Maura?"

"Yes…"

"You think Maura's gay?"

Looking surprised at his surprise, Cam said, "Well, if she's not attracted to women, I'd sure be interested to know why she spent the better part of a year dating Vivian Phillips."

A/N: Trying to decide if I want to shoehorn Angela and Hodgins into Thanksgiving with the Rizzoli's...hm. Anyway, reviews are love! Thanks for reading! :)