Okay so I've decided to split this chapter in two, and this half was ready to go so I thought why not post it now (you guys are awesome and I like to spoil you)...I'm so excited for you guys to read this chapter, I really enjoyed writing it.

Let me know what you think!

It was Monday morning. Jane had just got her coffee and was heading across the car park when her phone buzzed in her pocket right before entered the building.

"Korsak I'm outside give me like two seconds" she said when she saw his number appear on the screen.

"Don't come up Jane" he said "We've got a body"

Spinning on her heel straight away Jane made her way back to her car.

"Where?" she asked.

When she arrived at the crime scene, she ducked under the yellow tape and her eyes immediately searched for Maura, but the doctor wasn't in sight. Walking over to the body Jane tugged on her latex gloves. It was in the middle of the quad where all the food trucks parked, how very public she thought, must have wanted it to look like an accident, with lots of witnesses she noted and looked down at the body in front of her. Korsak and Frost joined her seconds later and they greeted each other with a slight nod of the head.

"Have you seen Maura?" she couldn't help but ask, but Frost was distracted is eyes wide with horror as he looked closer at the body.

"That's Chef Holden" he frowned and Jane lifted an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"He won America's Best Chef last year" Frost explained and Jane frowned before looking over her shoulder in search of Maura again. She hadn't seen the medical examiner since their run on Saturday, nor had she heard from her. It was strange, maybe it was Maura's turn to need space but from what Jane wasn't sure. But suddenly she spotted a blonde ducking under the yellow crime scene tape in a pair of heels, a black pencil skirt and perfectly tucked in blue blouse. It could only be one person. Jane felt a rush of warmth as the medical examiner walked over to her, but as soon as she saw the body Jane's hello was bypassed and her eyes widened the same way that Frost's just had.

"Oh no" she said "Is that Chef Holden?"

"Okay" Jane said holding up both her hands "How does everyone know who this guy is except me"

"And me" Korsak said and the two of them exchanged a grin.

"Because you chose pizza and beer over an organic diet" Maura said to neither of them in particular, but Jane knew it was directed at her. Had Maura just had a go at her? Jane shrugged it off, there was a body on the ground that was her main priority at the moment.

"What a shame" Maura continued "You know his name Holden actually means kind, he donated to every food activist group, put his money where his palette was… he only served organic food" she explained as she put on her gloves and crouched down beside the body.

"Hm sounds like your type of guy then" Jane smirked and Maura glanced up at her with a humoured smile.

"He was perspiring heavily" she said returning to her observation, placing a hand on his chest she leaned over him.

"Posterior nosebleed…" she suddenly picked up his hand and investigated his fingers a panicked look crossing her face as she leaned down to his bare chest and inhaled.

She already knew Jane would be rolling her eyes, but this had suddenly gotten serious.

"Maura are you smelling him?" Jane hissed.

"Get everyone back" Maura immediately yelled sitting up in a state of alarm.

"Maura" Jane said leaning in her face stricken with concern "your nose is bleeding"

Maura felt the warm substance begin to trickle from her nose and she quickly clamped the back of her gloved hand over it.

"Jane get back" she instructed firmly holding her arm out to keep the detective away.

"Call the hazmat team now"

Jane began to back away slowly, unable to take her eyes off of Maura. They both looked at each other as people swarmed around the yellow tape yelling, Maura had never seen Jane looked so worried and scared then she did at that moment, she almost looked at Jane apologetically as she could see how terrified the brunette had suddenly grown and it pained her because she never wanted Jane to feel like that ever, she cared about Jane so much and she felt as though this sudden outburst was hurting her. She finally managed to avert her eyes away from Jane, unable to face how Jane was looking at her, she needed to make sure that everyone else was safe, no one else would be getting hurt, not on her watch. Jane's heart was hammering in her chest as she watched the trickle of blood from Maura's nose reach her lip, nothing about the way the M.E was looking at the detective was comforting in the slightest. By the look on Maura's face Jane knew Maura was well aware of exactly what was happening, and it wasn't good. Jane knew Maura was a strong person, incredibly strong, but the doctor had suddenly been caught in this moment of uncertainty and weakness, Jane was frightened, she didn't know what to do, or if she could even do anything. Her head was racing with thoughts about what might happen to Maura, she suddenly filled with fear for her best friends life as she glanced at the body underneath the ME's hand. Please don't die, please god don't let anything happen to her, what would I do if something happened to her? Jane suddenly realised that she was caught in a moment of weakness too, usually she could fix things, she could find the person who did this and lock them away, but that didn't work right now, she couldn't fix Maura right now. She had no idea what to do and she was not used to having this weakness thrown upon her.

"Maura i really think you should go to the hospital" Jane almost begged. It had seemed like a painfully long wait for the ambulance, but as soon as it arrived Jane felt as though a giant weight had been lifted from her chest and she could breathe again. Maura sat on the stretcher as the medic finished up with her tests.

She sighed impatiently at Jane's comment.

"It's not necessary" she said rolling down the sleeves of her blue shirt. "Really, everybody who ate at the food truck didn't get sick even the paramedics that were treating him are fine" she gestured behind her trying to reassure the detective who still had a somewhat panicked look on her face.

"You touched him with gloves why did your nose bleed" Jane asked her brow furrowing.

"You know, I likely became symptomatic because I inhaled the toxin that was on his skin" Maura said knowing Jane was still trying to think of reasons to get her to go to hospital, when there was clearly no need.

Jane sighed in defeat as Maura shot back answers to her questions, she knew she wasn't going to get Maura to the hospital unless she knocked the doctor out and took her their without her knowledge.

"Okay" Jane said giving up "Fine, if you say so"

"I say so" Maura said getting up off the stretcher and touching Jane's arm in reassurance. It's okay Jane, Maura thought I'm okay…see I'm right here? Please stop looking so worried, I wouldn't leave you like this.

Jane didn't get a chance to check on Maura for the rest of the day, the autopsy had to be done in a restricted environment with everyone in the room wearing full hazmat suits. Jane of course was on the other side of the glass, but there were several others there too so talking to Maura about personal things like they usually did over autopsy's didn't really have the chance to happen. She spent the rest of the day upstairs with Korsak and Frost trying to figure out why anyone would want to kill the chef. They had began to form their list of possible suspects and had also begun tracing his phone and credit card records, but so far they didn't have much, they had re-watched the finale of America's Best Chef to see if there was any tension between the three remaining contestants, but nothing seemed strange about it. So when Dahlia and Reed came in for their interviews Korsak and Frost said they'd take them, that it was time for Jane to have a break. Jane sat back in her chair and shut her eyes momentarily, she hadn't been able to stop thinking about Maura all day the sudden fear that struck her when she imagined losing the blonde had been a feeling she never hoped would ever have to be repeated. She hadn't wanted to let Maura out of her sight when they got back to Brick but she knew she would have to, they both had jobs to do. But that didn't stop Jane from wanting to swaddle the medical examiner, take her home and hold her close so nothing bad would ever happen to her again.

Realising she had a free moment to go down to the morgue she leapt from her seat and bounded into the elevator. Maura was in her office when Jane got downstairs, frowning at her laptop screen in great contemplation.

"How are you feeling?" Jane asked as soon as she got into the door, needing immediate confirmation the doctor was fine.

Maura looked up from her screen, the deep lines that had been imbedded on her face disappearing with the disruption of her thoughts.

"I'm fine" she couldn't help but smile at how protective Jane was suddenly being "My EKG is normal, you really didn't need to come and check on me"

"I wanted to, Maura" Jane said and Maura couldn't argue. Before this had all happened Maura had been angry with Jane, angry and frustrated with the past few days since it happened. Jane had completely ignored it, just as Maura had feared she would, all of her courage gone to waste. Jane had continued on like everything was normal, calling her after work to get a distraction from her boy problems, pulling her out of bed on Saturday for their morning run. Nothing had been mentioned, nothing had changed. That was until Maura's nose had started bleeding and suddenly she saw Jane react in a way she never thought her best friend would, she knew Jane to be strong and fierce but the woman who had stood in front of her in amongst all the chaos looked terrified and pained, as if she couldn't bare to see Maura in such a state. It was the look in Jane's eyes that had sparked the idea in Maura that perhaps Jane was just as afraid as she was to bring up what had happened last Wednesday night. It was hard to continue being upset with the detective after this morning, as much as she wanted to show Jane that what ignoring what happened between them was hurting her, she didn't want to upset Jane by acting standoffish and cold. She shuffled the papers on her desk and avoided meeting Jane's eye, unsure of how she even wanted to act she figured it was best to just keep this encounter short and uncomplicated. She got up with a pile of paper she needed to file and walked across the room to her filing cabinet, still avoiding the detectives burning gaze.

"Maura" Jane said, her voice was close behind the blonde.

"You're not fine" Jane said, she knew for a fact Maura wasn't okay, not because of what had happened earlier, yes that had shaken both of them up but before then, and before the weekend even Maura was not okay.

"Fine is an adverb it means pleasing or very well…so you're very well?" Jane wondered if repeating the doctors exact words from when she had sprained her ankle was a bad idea, but she couldn't help it. She liked to prove to the doctor that she did listen. Sometimes.

Maura turned around hearing the words she had once said to the detective being repeated to her, a small gasp escaping her lips as she realised how close the Jane was to her. There was only several centimetres between them. Being unable to avoid Jane's dark concerned eyes any longer she looked up and straight away found herself melting in the soft brown eyes that stared back at her. She felt her breath quicken as she realised she couldn't just step around Jane, she was cornered. Shutting her eyes she took several deep slow breaths.

"I cant handle this anymore" she said when she reopened her eyes.

"Okay" Jane said, but before Maura could question her answer Jane's lips were attached to hers. The familiar sweet taste of her lips sent tingles down Maura's spine as Jane pushed her back against the cabinet and kissed her hard. She snaked her arms around the brunettes tiny waist feeling the warmth of Jane's stomach against her own and suppressed a moan that was forming in her mouth. It was an exhilarating kiss, setting everything inside Maura on fire. Jane felt just as alive, the taste of Maura's lips against her own and the fragrant smell of her skin, she felt lost. Lost in some kind of paradise, as Maura's tongue made it's way into Jane's mouth the detective pressed her even harder into the cabinet. There was a passion in their kiss that Jane had never felt before with anyone else, it was amazing and terrifying at the same time. Suddenly she felt Maura's hands run up her chest and press on her shoulders gently pushing her back.

"Stop" Maura mumbled unconvincingly and Jane pulled away briefly feeling her heart beating hard in her chest before leaning in and placing another kiss lightly on the doctors soft lips. She was addictive. So addictive.

"We're at work" Maura looked around nervously and Jane just smiled, filling Maura's stomach with butterflies.

"No one's down here Maur" Jane reminded her and Maura bit her bottom lip already craving the brunettes lips to be back on hers.

"I know" she replied, placing her hand in the middle of Jane's chest and looking at it in a slight daze.

"Hey" Jane said softly tucking a strand of Maura's honey blonde hair behind her ear.

"Look at me" she said gently putting a finger under Maura's chin and lifting her head up. "I want to see your eyes"

Maura's cheeks flushed pink and she met Jane's eyes briefly before shyly looking away, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Eye contact was so intimate, Maura felt silly, like a school girl with a crush.

But this was entirely different. This was Jane. She stepped forward closing the gap that had reformed between them and placed a lingering kiss on Jane's lips. I love you she thought then quickly stepped back and around Jane, walking back to her desk feeling lightheaded and giddy.

Note: Yes I took the exact script from the episode Food For Thought for the crime scene. It's not mine.