A/N The wonderful characters of 'The Closer' and 'Rizzoli and Isles' belong to their respective rights holders, no infringement is intended, but as always, thanks for letting us have our way with them, if only for a moment.

A quick thanks to Kyra Sedgwick, Mary McDonnell, Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander for the warmth and depth you bring to the portrayals of our favourite detectives.

The morning after the night before

Jane's viewpoint

Oh god, morning already? The sun was trying to claw its way past the drapes which, thank god, were closed. So instead of a burning ray of light searing its way into my eyeballs it was instead a gentle glow warming the room.

It was still too damned bright.

I groaned softly, everything hurt, a kinda good hurt, but hurt is still hurt. I would have rolled over and pulled the covers over my head, except that I had a slumbering Maura snuggled half across me. She was lying there with her head on my shoulder, her arm across my chest and her leg thrown over mine, so I wasn't going anywhere.

I peered over at the clock, glowing entirely too cheerfully for something reading 9.10 on a Sunday morning, especially a Sunday morning after a very, very late Saturday night.

I used the hand that wasn't wrapped around Maura's shoulder to run it through my hair and down the back of my neck, trying to massage a few kinks out, wincing as I felt a few sore spots, especially one at the base of the neck, before realising that was where Maura had sunk her teeth into me. I was going to be carrying that mark for a few days at least.

I could imagine the comments I would get from the guys at work, especially Sanchez; I smirked, jealously was an ugly emotion and they had a lot to be jealous about. I looked down at Maura, still sleeping soundly.

Poor baby, I must have really worn her out, she's normally an early riser. Hell she often starts the day with a five AM yoga session before having a shower and breakfast, which I think is mad, missing all that extra sleep.

But when I kid her about it she usually reminds me of the many benefits of yoga, including upper body strength, a toned physique and exceptional flexibility, all of which I've learned to appreciate, especially that last.

If she was still asleep now, she really was wasted, mind you, I had no real desire to get up, I wasn't feeling too energetic either, we'd had a serious workout, on the dance floor and afterwards. Smiling at Maura, I pressed a gentle kiss to soft blonde hair and let myself drift back to sleep.

Unfortunately, it didn't last all that long, I felt the call of nature, all that alcohol last night meant a visit to the bathroom was in order. Sighing gently I carefully extricated myself from under Maura; she made some gentle whimpering sounds as I slid out from under her, but I kissed her gently on the temple and she quieted, unconsciously moving into the warm spot where I had lain.

Not wanting to risk waking her, I decided to use another bathroom, maybe the one out near the pool if I had to. Pulling on a polo and shorts I quietly walked to the door, noticing our clothes from last night strewn everywhere, a reminder of what we'd got up to.

Quietly easing out the door I made my way down the hall past the other bedrooms towards the kitchen, thinking a coffee would help as well, so I should put the jug on.

Entering the kitchen, I flicked the switch on the jug before making my way out to the pool house bathroom. Wandering back in afterwards I found a very ordinary looking Ana busy staring at the jug, obviously willing it to boil faster.

"Hey"

"Hey"

Pleasantries taken care of, I grabbed a pair of mugs and poured some coffee into the cups straight from the bottle. Ana watched but didn't complain; when the jug boiled she just poured the water straight in, filling both, before setting the jug back and lifting the cup to her mouth as I did the same.

In synchronised action we both blew on our coffee's, cooling the water enough to let us sip, before twisting our faces as the pure caffeine hit. She was marginally faster.

"Shit that's strong"

"Damn that's hot"

As the caffeine hit we slowly became more aware of our surroundings, in particular each other.

She looked very ordinary in fact, obviously not enough sleep, rings under her eyes, hair a mess and carrying several quite noticeable marks on her neck and shoulder. Never one to let an opportunity pass I had to say something.

"You look like shit" She ignored me for a moment, taking another pull on her coffee, before offering a mature and considered response.

"Fuck off" I snorted, not offended, just pleased to have the opportunity to give her a hard time. Unfortunately I didn't get to enjoy it for long.

"I take it you haven't actually looked in the mirror this morning?"

"Huh?" She waved her hand in my general direction.

"I could make a comment about pots and kettles, but basically you look like something the cat dragged in" I really didn't want to get up and look, a little scared at what I'd see, so I ignored her.

We sat there for a while, finishing the coffee as I felt it starting to hit me, I'd probably had the equivalent of four spoons of coffee in there, so the caffeine jolt, when it hit, hit hard.

I looked around, realising just how stiff and sore I really was, Maura had done a number on me, I felt sore inside and out. I was about to say something when I realised that Ana had heard us last night. We'd practically been in a competition to see who could make the most noise.

I felt my face colouring, shit this was embarrassing, she'd heard us moan and scream and yell, probably some fairly explicit things actually. Oh god, how did I handle this.

Eventually I looked up to see her looking at me, a tinge of red in her cheeks as well. Looks like I wasn't the only one thinking about how awkward last night might have been. Ah well, here goes.

"What happens in Las Vegas…" She nodded.

"Stays in Las Vegas" I held out my hand and we shook on it. She looked closely at me.

"Seriously, Maura's gotta be part vampire, she's made a mess of your neck, both sides" I nodded.

""Same with you, all down your left side's a mess" She rolled her eyes.

"You don't know the half of it" she turned away and reached over her shoulder, pulling up her t-shirt. Her back was covered in scratch marks; in fact she'd been quite effectively clawed. I winced, immediately glad that Maura kept hers neatly trimmed short, long nails don't go too well with surgical gloves.

"Jeez Ana, that's gonna hurt" Dropping the shirt back, she turned back to me and nodded.

"Nat's not normally like that, but last night, well she was a bit frenzied" I bit my lip. Maura had been a different person last night, raw and desperate and well, frenzied wasn't such a bad description. Ana reached out and pulled my polo shirt neck to one side, pulling a face as she saw the damage, before letting it go.

"I wasn't kidding, oh man, you'll need to wear turtlenecks for the rest of the week" I looked at her, silently shaking my head, before I noticed Joe bouncing around, demanding some attention.

I picked her up and gave her a cuddle, getting a good face licking in return. Ana smiled at the sight.

"Well at least someone doesn't care what you look like" I snorted, before handing her off to Ana and rustling up a frypan.

"I need food; bacon and eggs work for you?" Ana was concentrating on Joe, playing with her on her lap but looked up.

"Hell yeah, lots"

I bent over to get the pan out of its drawer, groaning gently at the muscle pain. Ana must have heard it.

"Sore?" I looked up at her, before nodding. She watched me for a moment before replying.

"Me too, I ache and can't wait for a long soak in the tub" She paused, looking at me quietly before continuing. "But I wouldn't trade it for anything"

I thought about it for a moment as I grabbed the eggs and bacon from the fridge. I was going to be stiff and sore for a couple of days plus I'd get no end of grief from the guys at work. Still, she was right.

"Me neither"