They're burning up the pavement beneath their feet at the God-forsaken hour of 6a.m. All Maura's idea, of course. 'Oh, Jane, we should take up early morning running! It's excellent for the constitution...' blah, blah, blah.

Stupid, stupid, Rizzoli for agreeing. She loves her sleep; particularly the period from six to eight. But, she loves Maura too, and that's the entire reason she's even doing this. You can bet that she'll use this for leverage at a later date. Not that she needs the leverage, Maura seems willing to do just about anything so long as Jane is there, but it makes Jane breathe easier about dragging Maura to do things outside of her comfort zone.

There's a soft intake of breath beside her, followed by a low groan, and suddenly the medical examiner is no longer running alongside. She jerks to a halt before whipping around to find her friend on the ground. "Maura, are you okay? What happened?"

Holding her ankle in front of her, Maura replies, "I seem to have injured my talocrural joint. I don't think I'll be able to finish our run this morning." She raises her eyes to meet Jane's contemplative look. Before she can protest, the brunette is pulling her to stand on her one good foot and instructing her to jump. "I'm sorry, what?"

Jane rolls her eyes. "You know, jump. Like a piggy back ride." At Maura's perplexed stare, her jaw drops. "You've never had a piggy back?"

Maura shakes her head.

"Well that settles it! Climb aboard, Doctor Isles. I'll crouch low and all you have to do is wrap your arms around my neck and rest your legs under my arms, okay? Come on!" She lowers herself to the ground and then has to tug the doctor onto her back. She stands, testing out the added weight. It's not a lot; she can definitely handle it.

"Jane, I don't think this can be any good for your lumbar vertebrae or your lateral collateral ligaments." Maura protests as she learns by example what, exactly, a piggy back ride is.

Jane snorts. Of course she wouldn't use plain English. "Maur, I'm fine. Honestly, it's only about a mile and a half back to your place where you can sort yourself out. No big deal."

So Maura relaxes into the interesting new embrace she finds herself in. She can feel the strength in the muscles beneath the skin that she's pressed up against, working hard to get them home. It's kind of nice to depend on someone when they're worth the risk. She places her chin on Jane's shoulder, settling in for the trip just as a cab passes by. Stiffening automatically, she waits for Jane to flag it down and bring their contact to an end, but no such thing happens.

She relaxes.

Another cab passes by on the next block, but still no sign of cessation from her friend. A sense of calm flows through her and she barely glances toward the road at the next yellow blur.

In and out, come on Jane, you're doing just fine. Don't concentrate on her breath hitting your ear. How warm and inviting it- Damn it, I said stop. God. Just think about anything else than the fact that you're touching more of your friend than ever before. That those are her legs around your waist- FOR FUCK'S SAKE, JANE, GET A GRIP. Silently, Jane berates herself for her mind wandering into the inappropriate realm of thought. She focuses only on the ground in front of her, powerfully ignoring everything else around them.

When they get home, after Maura's attended to her leg and they're in the kitchen sipping on coffee, Maura turns to her and asks, "Do you think I'd be able to get another piggy back ride from you in the future?"

Jane swears her heart stops at the adorable look of quiet innocence on Maura's face. Unbidden, flashbacks from their earlier walk home stream through her mind. She smiles at the recent memories, the lingering feeling of womanly perfection surrounding her.

"Yeah, Maur, whenever you want."