Many of you have been asking about Hoyt and if I'll be including that storyline. The answer is yes, and it starts in this chapter. Buckle up folks, we're just getting started :)

Thanks for reading!

Tessa's wailing came crackling through the baby monitor, startling Jane and Maura from a deep sleep. The baby had been sleeping through the night for the past several weeks, so when Jane finally oriented herself enough to glance at the clock, she was surprised to see it was 3:37am. Letting out a sigh, Jane rubbed a hand down her face and pushed the blankets aside.

"I'll get her." Jane's voice was gravelly as she leaned over and kissed Maura's forehead before putting her feet down on the cool wood floor and heading in the direction of the nursery. This was the third night in a row where Tessa had woken up in the middle of the night, and Jane was brought back to the first couple months of having a newborn in the house. Now that Tessa had been sleeping through the night, Jane wondered how they had gotten anything done with how little sleep they had gotten in the beginning.

Jane pushed open the door to the nursery and flipped on the lights.

"Shhh little girl, it's okay. Mama's here." Jane cooed softly as she approached the crib where her daughter was red-faced and wailing loudly. "What's the matter, huh?"

Jane leaned over the crib and scooped up her daughter. Jane held her to her chest and patted Tessa's back gently. Jane started to sit down in the rocking chair, but Tessa's wails only grew louder, and her little body was shuddering with great sobs.

"Okay, okay. We'll just walk around then." Jane kissed her daughter's flushed cheek and started to walk in slow circles around the nursery, hoping that the motion would calm Tessa down. This was definitely out of the ordinary for Tessa, who was generally a very happy and content baby. Usually she would stop crying the minute one of her parents came into view.

Five minutes later, Tessa was still inconsolable. Jane was worried that her crying was going to wake up Jack, so she quickly changed Tessa's diaper and headed towards the master bedroom to see if Maura could help calm down their unusually upset daughter. As Jane entered the bedroom, Maura immediately stirred, yawning widely as she turned on the lamp next to their bed.

"I can't get her to calm down. I changed her diaper and she's still crying so I think she might be hungry." Jane yawned as she passed the baby off to Maura.

Maura held Tessa close with one arm as she unbuttoned her silk pajama top with her free hand.

"Shhh Tessa. Calm down so you can eat." Maura urged softly, repositioning Tessa so that she could nurse. To both of their surprise, Tessa squirmed even more and turned her face away from Maura's breast as she let out a particularly angry cry. Maura repositioned Tessa again to try and encourage her to nurse, but once again Tessa turned her face away, her blue eyes red-rimmed and full of tears.

"Why won't she eat?" Jane asked, genuinely concerned since this was so out-of-character for Tessa. "I've never seen her like this."

Maura scooted down in the bed somewhat and held Tessa tightly to her. She started to rub small circles on the baby's back as she continued to cry.

"I'm not sure, but I think she may be teething." Maura replied. "Your mother said she thought Tessa's gums looked a bit swollen yesterday."

Jane yawned and slid closer to her wife and daughter, reaching out and smoothing down Tessa's hair. "Isn't she a little young to be getting teeth?"

Maura looked down at Tessa, who was finally starting to calm somewhat. "She's almost seven months old, Jane. Babies generally start teething around six months, so that would make sense." Maura kissed the top of Tessa's head and stuck her pinky finger in the baby's mouth. "Her gums do seem to be swollen." Maura continued to rub along Tessa's gums, hoping that it would soothe some of the baby's discomfort.

After a few moments, Jane could see their daughter calming down. She smiled sympathetically and wiped the tears from Tessa's chubby cheeks. Jane rested her hand on top of Maura's on Tessa's back and watched as Tessa's eyelids started to droop.

"That's definitely helping Maur. She's almost asleep." Jane said quietly. She continued to watch the baby as she calmed down, studying Tessa's features and marveling at how much Tessa looked like Maura. "God, she's still the cutest, even when she's upset." Jane chuckled, looking up at Maura.

Maura smiled sleepily and shifted slightly so she could see if Tessa was asleep. When she saw that Tessa was finally calm and sleeping, she sighed in relief.

"I hate seeing her so upset." Maura said quietly, stroking her index finger along Tessa's fist that was clutching her pajama top. "She's usually such a happy baby."

"She is. I'm obsessed with the huge smiles we get when one of us walks in the door when we come home." Jane snuggled closer to Maura. "It's the best."

They both watched their daughter sleep for a few minutes and they soon felt their eyelids drooping as well.

"Do you want me to put her back in the crib?" Jane yawned.

Maura glanced at the clock and shook her head. "She's going to be awake in another couple hours to eat anyway. She can sleep here until then."

"Sounds good to me." Jane replied, scooting back from her wife. She reached out and picked up her daughter from Maura's chest and placed her gently on the bed between the two of them. Jane bent and kissed Tessa's forehead and then leaned over to kiss Maura's lips. "G'night Maur."

"Night Jane." Maura reached out and shut the light off, before turning on her side so she could face her wife and daughter. She nuzzled her face into the pillow and let herself drift back to sleep.

Unfortunately Jane's phone rang not even an hour later. She had been working in homicide for a few months now, and had quickly learned that murders happen at the most inopportune of times.

"Shit." Jane fumbled around blindly near her bedside table trying to locate her phone. She finally grasped it and held it up to her ear. "Rizzoli."

Maura rubbed her eyes and turned on the light again. She checked to make sure Tessa was still sleeping and sat up just as Jane was hanging up the phone.

Jane sighed loudly and flopped back against the pillows. "That was Korsak. I've gotta go…we've got a body." She rubbed a hand over her face in frustration. "I guess I'll see you at work later. I'm gonna hop in the shower real quick. Hopefully that will wake me up." Jane pulled back the covers and got out of the warm bed.

"Be careful out there Jane." Maura tried to stifle a yawn.

"You know I will." Jane replied, grabbing her towel from the back of the closet door. "Call Ma if you need any help getting the kids ready this morning."

Maura nodded and snuggled back into the pillows. "I'll see you in a few hours."

Jane headed into the bathroom and turned on the shower. In a few minutes, steam was billowing out of the shower stall and Jane stepped in. She let the warm water cascade over her body for a few minutes, willing herself to wake up. Just when she was about to start washing her hair, Jane felt cool air as the shower door opened. She started to turn around just as Maura's arms wrapped around her waist. Jane grinned as she felt Maura's lips on her shoulder blade.

"What are you doing?"

"My phone rang about thirty seconds after you went into the bathroom. Dr. Benton wasn't happy about being woken up so early, so they called me to come examine the body. I called your mother and she should be here in a few minutes to watch the kids."

Jane turned around and kissed Maura fully on the lips, pulling the both of them into the stream of water. "One day, they're gonna start calling us the 'Dream Team', ya know. Boston's finest and sexiest medical examiner and her brilliant detective wife…we're gonna be unstoppable."

Maura chuckled and reached for the bottle of shampoo. "Come on Detective, the 'Dream Team' is going to be late."

Maura and Jane pulled up to the crime scene less than an hour later. It was still dark out, and the flashing lights from the police cruisers lit up the neighborhood. Jane shivered in the cool winter air as she stepped out of the car, clutching her coffee cup tightly as she took in the surroundings. They were in a particularly wealthy area of the city, and the large house in front of them sectioned off with yellow crime scene tape looked like it cost a few million dollars at least.

Jane let out a low whistle. "We ain't in Kansas anymore…" She looked around until she saw the patrol officer securing the crime scene. "Come on Maur. Let's get this over with." She picked up one of Maura's bags with equipment in it and headed over to check in, with Maura following closely behind.

"Rizzoli…Victor 8-2-5." Jane nodded to the patrol officer in greeting. She stepped aside to allow Maura to present her credentials.

"Dr. Maura Isles-Rizzoli. Assistant Medical Examiner." Maura held up her ID badge.

The patrol officer looked at the both of them for a few seconds, obviously trying to figure out why the two women had the same last name, and then lifted the yellow tape for them to enter. "Detective Korsak told me to tell you the body's on the second floor. He should be up there."

Jane placed a hand at the small of Maura's back out of habit as they ducked under the tape. "Thanks…"-she looked at the name plate on the officer's uniform- "Officer O'Shea. Keep warm out here."

The two women headed into the house, stopping to slip protective booties on over their shoes before heading up the grand staircase.

"Hey Rizzoli…this way. We're in the master bedroom." Korsak poked his head out from a room at the end of the hallway. Jane and Maura made their way down the hall and deposited Maura's gear outside the door. Both women slipped on latex gloves and entered the room.

Jane's focus was immediately drawn to the male victim sitting in a plush armchair. More accurately, her focus was drawn to the large slash across his throat and the blood spattering the ceiling directly above him. His hands and legs were bound with grey duct tape, and his mouth was hanging open.

"Jesus Christ." Jane muttered. "What do we know so far?" She watched as Maura went closer to the victim and started her examination.

Korsak pulled a small notepad out of his jacket pocket. "Victim is Dr. Mark Hart, age thirty-seven. This house belongs to him. He's a cardiovascular surgeon at Mass Gen…married, no children. Wife…Lisa, age thirty-four is missing at this time. We just put an APB out for her."

Jane nodded and started to circle the room slowly, looking for any evidence or clues that would help them figure out who wanted their victim dead. As she got closer to the victim, there was a clattering noise as her foot connected with an object on the floor. Startled, Jane bent down to see what had made the noise, slightly surprised to find a teacup resting on the floor underneath the armchair.

"Huh…that's strange." Jane held the teacup up. "Some kind of tea party gone horribly wrong?" She said sarcastically. She placed the teacup into an evidence bag and placed it with the other evidence that had been collected so far.

"Cause of death seems to be exsanguination." Maura announced. She gestured for Jane and Korsak to come closer. Once they had gathered around the victim, she pointed to the large gash that stretched across the man's throat. "The edges of this wound are unusually clean. Whatever made this wound was very sharp…possibly a scalpel of some sort." She straightened up and pointed to the blood that adorned the ceiling above them. "And the arterial spray would indicate these wounds were inflicted pre-mortem. The artery was severed. The victim likely bled out within minutes."

Jane took a minute to process the information. "Looks like it's gonna be a busy day, huh Korsak?"

Korsak gave her a wry smile. "And we're just getting started Jane."

Jane peeled off her gloves and tossed them on the floor. "Let's interview some of the neighbors and see what we can find out about the vic. Then we need to focus our efforts on finding the wife. If she's alive, she may be able to ID the killer."

Korsak nodded and headed towards the door. "I'll meet you outside. I'm gonna radio headquarters to let them know what's going on over here."

Jane turned back to Maura, who was measuring the length of the wound on the victim.

"You good up here by yourself?"

Maura turned to her wife. "Of course. If you and Detective Korsak need to head back to headquarters, I will just get a ride back with CSRU. I want to examine the body more to make sure I'm not missing anything. I'm sure I'll be doing a full autopsy once we get back as well, even though the cause of death seems quite clear."

Jane sighed. "I guess I should call Ma and let her know we're gonna be home late, huh? For some reason, I feel like this case is gonna be a nightmare."

"Yes…probably." Maura replied. "Although I don't think it will take much to convince your mother to stay later with the kids. She absolutely adores them."

Jane grinned. "That's because our kids are awesome." She quickly glanced around the room to make sure no one was looking, and then gave Maura a quick peck on the lips. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"See you later." Maura replied, turning her focus back to the body in front of her.