"More cheese!"

Jane chuckled. "Yes chef!" She grabbed a handful of shredded cheddar and tossed it onto Ron's omelet. Jane nodded down at TJ before looking over at Ron apologetically. "I hope you like cheese."

The older man who was pouring Angela a cup of coffee at the island bar in Maura's kitchen shrugged and put his hand up. "Who am I to get a say? Kid's obviously going to turn the Robber into Per Se one day."

Angela smiled at her grandson. "TJ honey, come sit with me." She patted the stool next to her and the little boy ran over to begin every effort to climb it on his own. "I'm so happy we get to have breakfast together." She smiled down and then helped him with the final step. "Why don't you show grandma how to use a fork like we practiced?"

TJ had an attention span akin to his father, Angela smiled as he realized he hadn't even finished his own omelet before insisting to help his aunt make everyone's breakfast. He grabbed hold of a fork that was way too large to be meant for a child. (Maura didn't really own child size anything) and began to poke at the cut pieces of cold egg.

Jane added some onion to Ron's omelet and then completed it by folding it over and sliding it onto a plate for him. "Here you go, don't choke on it okay?"

"And chance another emergency room visit?" Ron set the coffee pot down on the heating pad and took the plate from Jane. He nodded in thanks "You sure there are egg in there?" they both watched a clump of oozing cheese drip from one yellow corner.

Jane only shrugged. What could she say? Anything TJ asked of her she did, it was like she was under his spell of cuteness. She surveyed the room quickly to ensure everyone was eating. Tommy, Frankie and Nina were seated at the formal dining room table huddled over their plates eating quickly. Nina had showered and after texting Maura about clothes had changed into a familiar grey skirt and one of Maura's flowy white bottom downs. Being the Momma's boy that he was Frankie had a few articles of clothing in the guest house that he and Tommy changed into and Jane had showered and changed into grey slacks and a deep purple v-neck shirt. Maura had left hours ago leaving Jane to attempt to get some rest again, it didn't work so she bundled TJ up and went to a small nearby grocery to get a few things for breakfast, and though her mind was presently on her family the case they would soon pick up was on the heels of every thought.

Angela must have noticed.

"What's that face for honey?" It was quiet enough for Ron to understand it was not an open forum and flew right over little TJ's head.

Jane slipped the omelet pan into the sink and turned on the hot water. "I should be asking you about your own face, Ma." She turned her back so she could set up the sink to tackle the greasier dishes, Maura would be able to tell if she just chucked them into the dishwasher and after sitting through a passive aggressive lecture on the molecular structure of grease and the diluted quality of commercial detergents Jane was not apt to make the same mistake again. "Did you put on that cream they gave you this morning?"

Angela watched her daughter begin the dishes. "Yes…" She paused when Jane simply nodded her head. "Did Maura say when she would be back? I needed to speak with her about something…"

"Oh yeah?" Jane scrubbed away at a crusted over piece of egg. "'Bout what?"

"Girl business."

Jane looked over her shoulder. "Girl business? Really Ma?"

Angela shrugged. "Well I had to pick something you've never been particularly inserted in."

Ron raised a brow mid chew and stood from his spot at the stool. "TJ, buddy, you want to see how many push ups daddy can do again?"

TJ grinned and put up his small hand. "Five!"

Ron chuckled. "Let's ask him."

Jane turned from the sink at her mother still wielding a scrubby brush in one hand, Angela wasn't sure if what she was reading was guilt or disappointment, she didn't need to ask about what though. Maura had already found a moment last night among the chaos to fill her in. "Sweetheart…"

"How come you didn't want to tell me about it?"

"I wanted to find the right time."

"That's…" Jane shrugged to evade the sinking feeling she was having; the one anyone would have when speaking on such things. "It's just a big thing to think about…." She paused. "Maura and I get into fights sometimes." An argument for the instability in their relationship she knew didn't exist. Ever since losing the baby, since Tasha, their thing, that thing, the change had really started to become unavoidable. Jane wanted more than anything to be upset about this, but something told her not to be and it was frustrating.

Angela smiled. "You girls love each other."

Jane turned back and resumed washing in the sink. "Yeah…"

What had she said now? Angela watched Jane's back as she continued to scrub at the egg pan. Behind her she could hear Frankie laughing, some movement and counting. A push up competition of sorts. The older woman got up from her seat at the bar and walked around to where her daughter stood doing dishes. She touched her back.

"I didn't want to add another thing to your shoulders." She said quietly. The running water and hooting and hollering behind them aided in the privacy of the moment. "Hm? With your brothers, all my junk, work—"

Jane let the pot slip out of her hand and into the sink loudly. "Ma, you're my mother, everything would stop—"

Angela saw she was getting upset; she nodded calmly and rubbed her daughter's back some as if she were telling her about a bad school day. "But it wouldn't. You and I both know that, sweetheart. It wouldn't and all these people." She motioned to the commotion behind them. "All these people will look to you, and I've made you from scratch." Jane rolled her eyes. " So I know what you will do and what you won't do, Janie. You won't want to disappoint them, and I can't ask you to."

Jane lowered her head and then looked at her mother after a measure of thought. "You ask Maura to do it?"

Angela smiled lightly. "Maura is special." Jane reached into the soapy sink water to retrieve the pot she had let go of. "She will make whatever it is okay."

"I'm your daughter."

Angela chuckled at the possessive comment and patted Jane on the shoulder. "Not anymore honey. It's time to share me, and not just all the annoying things about me, all the other stuff too."

Jane shook her head at the dried egg on the pan. "Yeah well… good." Angela chuckled again. "and I don't think you're annoying….all of the time." She paused and gave her mother a look. "You'd be a lot more annoying dead y'know?"

Angela grabbed hold of Jane's arm while smiling. "My beautiful girl."

"Ugh, Ma get off me!" Angela kissed her. "Ma!" Jane wriggled around in the surprisingly tight side hug Angela had her in until finally she knew the shorter woman wouldn't let go until she hugged her back. So with wet hands she wrapped her arms around her mother and felt an enormous sting of emotion touch her eyes. "Love you, Ma." She whipered into greying brown hair.

"Oh I love you too, honey."

They pulled away and Jane took a moment to examine her mother's face. "You gonna be okay?"

Angela nodded. "It's just a bump. Janie."

Her eldest nodded and let go over her fully. "For you." Jane nodded in thanks before returning to the dishes. "Maura got called in this mooring, eight people died in that crash." Angela came to her left to start drying for her.

"Eight? My Lord."

She knew that whatever had been really bothering Jane wasn't resolved. Angela had a knack for knowing when to really press, now wasn't the time.

##

Maura admired how long Jane's legs were briefly before fully stepping into the detectives den where all their desks were. She hadn't seen Jane since their moment of lightness this morning having been busy with eight autopsies. The detective had texted her asking if she had milk from an actual animal early that morning and then later to ask if it were okay to feed George Herman the weird smelly herbs she found in Maura's refrigerator (Spanish thyme)

She was glad she remembered to feed him.

The entire morning Maura's mind felt occupied with the happenings of the week, What an unusual occurrence of events she had mused. Homeostasis had finally bolted into action and if she weren't called in this morning Maura was sure she would be still sleeping. She glanced at her Cartier wrist watch, the one Jane surprised her with for her birthday last year, the one that supposedly was "blood proof" Maura wasn't so sure that was a thing but to be fair she had only haphazardly researched it and had yet to truly be exposed wrist deep in blood to really know.

It was 2:00PM in the afternoon.

A series of various greetings from Frankie and Korsak rang out at her entrance into the room clad in her white medical examiners lab coat.

Jane only looked up briefly from her spot sitting at her desk chair swiveled around to face the half empty case board in front of them "Hey Maur." She greeted last distractedly rubbing her chin.

Maura motioned to Jane and looked at Korsak who wasn't wearing a suit jacket and barely attempted to tie his tie. It was their day off after all. "Have you all eaten?" She looked around. "Nina?"

Frankie groaned from his spot sitting at Frost's old desk behind Jane. He reclined in the chair. It had always helped him think outside the box on particularly abstract cases. This certainly constituted as one. "She's annoyed with us." He chuckled after patting his stomach. "She's in BRIC, Janie broke the vending machine."

"I didn't break it." Jane mumbled into her knuckle. Her eyes stayed focused on the case board turning something over mentally.

Frankie stood from his seat. "Yeah yeah yeah." He reached into his back pocket for his wallet and paused. "Let's see what Nina wants." Nina was unlike any other woman he had met, she just oozed cool calm and collected, when she was even remotely annoyed or bothered by something it sent Frankie into high alert.

Apparently he could add fig newtons to the very short list of things that set her off.

Or maybe it was just the lack of sleep

Whichever he was sure Maura was on the right track with the food idea. Maura nodded and glanced at Jane and then Korsak who shrugged.

"Whatever you guys decide is good with me." He agreed with Jane's silence.

Maura nodded and followed Frankie down the small aisle to the glass enclosure with huge computer monitors. Nina was hunched over her laptop working on something in a small booth near the rare of the room. All you could see was a slender arm disappearing into a thick head of curls. Maura smiled and stepped forward as Frankie lingered in the doorway.

"I had never thought to put those two items together. You look lovely." Maura complimented.

Nina looked up and at her friend's voice. "I'll have to raid your closet more often." She rubbed gently at her eyes to adjust from looking at the computer screen all morning. "How's the Underworld?"

"Oh Hades is a realm invisible to the living, made solely for the dead. I wouldn't know." She joked casually.

Nina wrinkled her nose with amusement. Maura was definitely weird but she liked her more and more for it.

"We're thinking about getting lunch." Frankie tossed into the room from the entrance.

The two women looked at him. Nina narrowed her eyes. "Frankie." He was so cute when he dangled like this.

"Yeah?" He looked hopeful, took one step into the room even.

"Could you tell Jane I'm almost done here, we'll be ready in HD in a half hour or so." Maura chuckled at the middle Rizzoli's expression before he straightened and nodded. When he left Maura looked back at Nina and raised a brow. "What? I was dreaming about those stale fig newtons since last night. Boy's gotta know when he's gone too far."

"What happened?" She was afraid to ask.

Nina shook her head and looked back to her monitor. "Who knows, he and Jane got into it over the last bag of peanut m&m's next thing you know it's broken." She looked up at Maura. "This morning TJ made me a marshmallow omelet." Maura laughed. "I'm starving." She set a computer preference to let a buffering run without needing to press anything before standing. "Hoagies? I could kill one from Santirello's. It's not too far of a walk."

Maura could use the exercise so she agreed. It was still bitter outside; a new cold front apparently lay on the move ready to ruin any thoughts of an early spring. Maura didn't mind it though she rather liked the cold months, if it weren't for how easily her hair dried she'd wish it year round. The two gathered themselves before leaving, Maura slipped into her red winter coat and Nina a stylish black sporting jacket. There hadn't been snow on the ground for a few weeks now, and all forecasts suggested that it would be a warm and rainy end to winter, but maybe, just maybe they'd get one more snow.

"… and we're waiting on that as well. Lots of waiting."

"Has the chief okayed Jane coming back early?" Technically she was to come back Monday morning. It was Saturday.

"Who Jane Rizzoli?" Nina asked looking at Maura expectantly. "The same Jane Rizzoli who's not here?"

Maura nodded in understanding with a small laugh. "How long has she been sitting like that?"

Nina shrugged. "After the vending machine thing so what? An hour and a half?" Maura nodded. "I don't blame her though, there is something… weird about all of this."

"COD reveals the usual trauma…. There isn't anything forensically that I could conclude from the victims that could help." She felt odd saying it. "What about victimology?"

Nina nodded. "We're looking down that path too. Was there someone, some vehicle the same vehicle that maybe got away unscathed in each crash, we can't do that plate run until the image is clearer and we don't really have the right angles because that other camera was broken."

"Were the other camera's broken from the other lights?"

Nina became thoughtful. "I hadn't checked, getting the images were hard enough. They roll over one another in week cycles if there hasn't been a run light…" She shook her head. "Which has got to be impossible right? Broadway connects to Linden, where all those college drive around like maniacs."

Something probes the ME's mind. "Maniacs." She repeated to herself.

The got to Santirello's in no time. It was a beat cop's favorite deli for the quick sandwich before their tour and not even a little cold would stop the from coming out in droves both in uniform and out. In favt it was winter especially when the family run deli was most popular. Moma Santirello's Orzo soup was probably more valuable than gold on day's under thirty. The family only made a few steam kettles full and once they were gone, they were gone. It was the kind of place that always smelled good, with peeling stools and an express order window outside.

Today there were only a few officers outside. Stragglers from the big lunch rush at noon. Maura smiled at their familiar faces and they tipped their hats, one even winked after tripping over himself to open the door for them. Nina rolled her eyes and wondered if these boys knew who their favorites were at BPD. Maura smiled at them in thanks secretly wondering the same thing.

Rizzoli's were insanely loyal and loving, creatures. A little rough around the edges but they had big hearts.

Big territorial hearts.

Maura wondered then what Jane would have said then if she knew beat cops were winking at her.

Especially now

They had gone on a half an experimental date. She had to remind herself. It hardly counted as anything right? Maura busied her mind with the menu instead. The pathologist ordered the large orzo soup having fallen in love with it a few winters back when Jane brought her a cup in a thermos once. She had made her promise not to tell Angela which the ME found endearing. She ordered Kent a soup and sandwich meal knowing the big scot could really put it away and then nodded when she read something on the menu for Jane.

When she exposed the meatball sub ten minutes later Jane's eyes glazed over. She looked up at Maura from her seat at a round table in the BPD breakroom. "One event." She put a finger up and quickly unwrapped the sub and groaned softly at the globes of red sauce and cheese spilling out onto the sides. It was still hot even though she and Nina had stopped to chat with a lab tech in the drug unit. Maura took a small step back worrying about the integrity of her skirt and the red substance.

"I beg your pardon?" She chuckled watching Jane inhale her first bite and rolling her eyes back.

Jane chewed quickly. She began to look for a napkin but then decided it wasn't as important as the meal in front of her. "I'll go to one of your fancy events… I may even wear a dress for this… shit a leotard even." The room laughed. Jane looked up at her behind big cheeks and even bigger brown eyes. "Fanks." She tried.

Maura looked into the bag the sandwiches came and retrieved a few extra napkins. "Have you considered an unsub yet?"

Behind the noises of wax paper being removed and chewing Jane reached for a napkin and wiped at her mouth. "Maura we can't even get an image of a guy that's better than the quality of a cell phone." She took another large bite. Maura winced wondering if Jane was even burning herself. It probably didn't matter; Jane's eyes were ravenous, barely human.

"Two minutes!" Nina was counting down the end of her buffering.

Maura set aside the rest of the napkins near Jane. "Well I would consider pyromania or arson as a background."

Korsak nodded between chews. "I was thinking the same thing, Doc."

Jane was about to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand but caught Maura's frown. She reached for another napkin. "Why?" She noticed Maura's bag. "Where are you going?"

"My autopsies are complete, I am going home." She could think of one hundred honest to goodness things she needed to do at home. It was in fact her day off. Tomorrow she wanted to meditate and in the afternoon she wanted to go fencing before everyone came over for dinner. She looked to the room. "If he had stayed to watch the collisions at each intersection it may suggest he had some gain or an irrefutable need to see it through. Most destructive impulses do." Jane looked between her meatball sub and Maura's purse and then her sub again. "Call me later." She decided for her friend. There was very little that could pull Jane away from food, she was flattered to even be considered.

Jane nodded up at her. "Can you check in on Ma for me?"

Maura touched her shoulder. "Of course."

##

"Play it again."

Jane was still trying to get the red sauce from out from underneath her finger nail with the dull end of her pocket knife as she stood shoulders squared in the middle of BRIC. A large monitor had come to take up a large portion of the wall (a random budget increase last year), it played footage of the intersection of Utow and Bench days prior to the collision that put her own mother in the emergency room and killed eight. With her belly full and her focus regained Jane Rizzoli was ready to put this son of a bitch away. Nina's files had finally buffered, and Korsak had made a fresh pot of coffee.

It wouldn't take them long and she knew it.

On the better quality image Jane and the rest of the homicide team watched cars stop at the light and then start up the flow of traffic once again. They began and stopped and began and stopped. Jane scanned the screen until finally it had gone dark.

"One more time." Frankie nodded, Nina started the footage up again and three times after it. She leaned back in her chair and looked over at Jane.

"It was done electronically, Jane."

Jane nodded having come to the same conclusion. She looked down at her nails and clipped her pocket knife back just out of sight under the belt loop of her pants. "So whoever this has not only an understanding of electronics but also city systems." She shook her head. They had gathered a somewhat better shot of the back of the mysterious hooded man's head. "He's tall."

Korsak nodded and pointed with his pen to a smaller screen beside the large one in the center of the room. "See how he leans… at least five feet nine inches…"

Frankie shifted in his seat. "Also real comfortable around there."

Jane nodded with her hand at her brother. "Right Frankie, I caught that too."

"We know he's not African America." Nina nodded. "Got a bit of his hand here in this shot." She clicked around enlarging the photo.

Jane nodded before rubbing her chin. "He's thoughtful." She paced a moment before looking to her younger brother. "Let's take a ride."

Frankie nodded and got out of his seat. "What are you thinking?"

Korsak nodded at Jane. "She's thinking he didn't lean in any other footage, means he's probably comfortable because he lives nearby." Frankie nodded. "Check out the community off Bennch and 80th, blue collar and then white collar the more you go north. He's got a city job, so it won't be hard to find him once we have his name. " Korsak rolled his chair up to the computer system beside Nina. "If Doctor Isles is right then we're looking at an escalation pattern. Nina let's try to figure out who was fired in the last month for anyone working in transportation."

Nina nodded and got to work immediately, she smiled softly at the feathery kiss Frankie planted on the crown of her head as he grabbed his jacket off the back of her chair.

"Aww." Jane teased as she instinctively reached for her side and frowned when she realized she hadn't gotten her gun and badge back yet. She rubbed her palms together before shaking them out. "Come on lover boy let's go."

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

Jane paused. "Nina do you think we have enough information to triangulate where he's gonna hit next." Nina nodded wordlessly as she typed furiously.

"Twenty employees on the list, Korsak." She waved to Jane. "You'll know when we know."

##

Jane fist pumped the air from behind a squad car eight hours later. She was watching a live feed from behind the lines and Frankie had just tackled Gregory Coppola who had made a stupid attempt to jump out of his apartment window. She nudged the gruff looking army type beside her who was handling the technology. "That's my baby brother." She nodded proudly.

"Ma'am." He agreed, or asked, or ignored. Jane wasn't sure. All she knew was that they had caught the bastard and for once (since she had been suspended) Frankie was going to get the credit he deserved. The tackle wasn't a bad look either for the Rizzoli name. She watched on with her hands on her hips as the speckled live feed from one of the SWAT team's terrorist units recorded the whole thing. She chuckled at her younger brother getting to his feet after cuffing Coppola and panting heavily. "Tubby." She chuckled to herself again. An overwhelming sense of rightness in that moment had her itching to get back to work.

Eighteen people had died and about the same injured in those crashes. Coppola had been fired last month because of an earlier altercation with his boss. Some nasty threats were there but no one really knew what the unhinged man had been going through. The hours leading up to the planned raid and arrest folded over bit after bit of unpleasantly stacked secrets, all the stuff that Jane knew lead to murder for most. His ex-wife removed visitation rights from his kids, he had started drinking again, his girlfriend had dumped him quite publically and to top it all off the technology he had created to actually inspire many traffic safety precautions was being touted off under someone else's name.

That man was Gilberto Maloni, a victim in the first crashes.

It wasn't enough; sadly he had come to learn what most adults already surrendered themselves to knowing. It didn't matter, none of it really mattered. It wouldn't stop his habits, it wouldn't make his kids love him, hell it wouldn't even rewrite the script by stamping his name on the new traffic lights engineered to call the police if there were an accident. They would always print Maloni, never Coppola. Instead of realizing this, returning to a sort state of enlightenment Coppola choose to imagine, to dream and to orchestrate his own. He chose to take control over something because he could not control himself, and though the reality of it was actually quite terrifying Jane Rizzoli was just happy to be one of the good guys.

"Relax. You're going to hurt yourself." Frankie could be heard over the transponder.

Jane nodded.

##

"Are you home?"

Jane tossed her keys onto the table along with her mail. "Just got in." She neared George Herman's tank and poked it gently. "Hey George." She frowned when he made what she supposed was excited turtle steps (which were just maybe a quarter of a second faster than normal turtle steps.) over to the side of the tank to look at her. "Do turtles get lonely?"

Maura shifted in her tub. A small mountain of silken bubbles had toppled over expose her bare knee. She was unwinding from a particularly lively book club meeting and almost didn't look at her phone on principal alone, but she hadn't spoken to Jane since lunch. There was a missed call from the detective around eight and she hadn't seen it until late and feared Jane had already gone to sleep. "They actually prefer to be alone, unlike mammals that get ill without companionship." She mused resting her head back. "Their quote introspective creatures."

Jane's smiled fell as she pulled her face away from the glass. "Well that lasted six seconds." She watched as George went back to what he had been doing, she couldn't quite tell what exactly that had been but he moved away with such a purpose. It had to be important. "He likes you better." Jane decided.

Maura hummed. "I feed him."

"You spoil him." Jane went into her kitchen and opened her refrigerator "Those herbs looked expensive." She pulled out a beer and a small tin of olives and hesitated before wrapping her free finger around the neck of the bottle of ketchup and closing the door with her foot.

"Are you jealous of our relationship?"

The homicide detective emptied her arms on the counter. "I'm just saying he needs to be raised with a little more discipline. You don't discipline him." Jane grabbed a bowl from her cupboard and emptied a healthy amount of olives into it before reaching for the ketchup. "Soon he'll be asking to go see the Boston Pops."

"And that could never happen." She shook her head.

"No tortoise of mine."

"Jane you remembered to feed him for one day."

Jane grinned. "Yeah and tomorrow night he goes back to his rich mom."

She slid her hand along her left leg. Was it too late to shave? Maura looked at her cell phone which had been put on speaker phone. "We could end all this you know?"

Jane licked the ketchup on her finger. "I'm a homicide detective Maura; I shouldn't have full custody of anything." She glanced at her plants which were somehow still alive. "Who keeps watering my plants?"

"Your mother."

Jane growled. "What is she doing in my apartment?" Maura glanced about the sides of the tub and sighed when she realized her razor was out of reach. She'd do it tomorrow. "What's wrong?" Jane popped a hand full of briny olives in her mouth and winced happily.

Maura furrowed a brow. "What are you eating at this hour?"

"Olives….and ketchup and…."

"And kale?"

"And Beer."

Maura shook her head and relaxed back into her tub. "Well no matter, tomorrow you'll have plenty of green to eat at dinner."

"She's seriously going through with this whole vegetarian lasagna thing?" Jane made a face. "Excuse me, baked salad." She corrected herself and spit out a pit into her hand.

Maura had helped Angela make ravioli dough before leaving for book club. It would be their usual Italian American feast. "She's even getting vegan cookies for dessert."

Jane groaned. "You are really trying not to see me tomorrow huh?" Maura laughed and Jane smiled. "Like at all."

"That's not true." Maura shrugged as a blush crept up her chest. "You know I take every chance I get."

Jane paused before sliding down to lean on her elbow beside George. "Dr. Isles, are you flirting with me?"

Maura laughed. She let her hand glide along the bubbly surface before looking at her phone, her cheeks red. "Oh Jane, I don't think I honestly know how to flirt with you."

Jane had a hand in her hair. "I'm pretty bad at it myself." She deepened her voice in jest. "What are you wearing?"

Maura burned red. "Nothing."

Jane hadn't been expecting an actual answer, but the one she got seared itself into her mind's imagination. "Damn Maura, c'mon."

"It's true."

The line went quiet. "…Really?" Jane finally asked, her pulse quickening wildly without her consent.

"I'm in the bath."

Jane glanced at George again before standing upright. She bit her lip and waited. A primal buzzing started somewhere within her and before she could really find out where and out it her brain had already made the conscious decision to see just how far she could push the other woman. It'd be funny to be able to make Maura squirm a little right? She was always bugging her anyway, wear this, eat that, kissing her and jumping on planes and leaving for weeks at a time…

"How long has it been Maur…." Jane picked up her beer cockily. "Since you…. enjoyed yourself—I mean your bath?"

Maura couldn't help her small laugh, it was sexy and sure. Two could play. "Paris."

"Ah?"

"Yes." Maura subconsciously brushed at her lips. "You're always so tense; you should take one every now and then…enjoy it."

Jane smirked. "I don't know when I'd find the time…."

Maura let a hand touch her collarbone before shaking her head at herself with a smile and using both hands to rest on the sides of the tub as she leaned her head back. "You have to make time, Detective." she purred from the position with her eyes closed. Jane was standing in her kitchen biting the lip of her beer bottle and leaning against her stove now. There was something so incredibly sexy about the way Maura just said that, it provoked… everything. "Jane?" Maura drew out slowly after a moment, her voice returning to its neutrality. That's it? Not even a bit of a fight?

"I uh…" She narrowed her eyes at herself. "It's…"A faint beep caused her train of thought to collapse even further. "I'm getting another call. I'll talk to you later, Maura." Jane brought the phone away from her ear and quickly ended the call by picking up another. "What?"

"What that's how you answer the phone for your favorite brother?"

It was Tommy.

Jane put her beer down on the counter and rubbed at her brows. "Sorry—I—It's not important. Hey Tommy, what's up?"

"I know it's late, Janie. You gotta help me with somethin'."

AN: I really do love all the comments and questions coming in. Your reviews motivate me to write thoughtfully so thank you and keep it up!