"Fifteen points in the last quarter."

"You're kidding?"

"No, no way he was playing defense all night then suddenly out of nowhere blam! Fifteen points!" Frankie picked up a pickle on his plate and bit into it. "Can't believe you missed it." He chewed.

Jane huffed as she reached for her milkshake. "Can't believe you caught it, we didn't get out until three in the morning."

He shrugged. "Nina programed it so the tv box saves all the Celtic games, I couldn't really sleep." His fiancée had tried to stay awake and watch the game with him having played basketball in High School herself but Nina had passed out with her feet on Frankie's lap two minutes in.

Sensing something behind his tone Jane reached into their shared bowl of onion rings in the middle of the table. "Everything okay there?"

"Yeah yeah." Frankie waved off. "We're just tired y'know, always talking about the case—"

"So the wedding planning has been put on hold."

Frankie narrowed his eyes. "Hey keep it down."

Jane chuckled as both siblings turned to regard their mother talking to a guest of The Dirty Robber a few tables away. "The sooner she's allowed to get involved the sooner it won't hurt." Jane teased.

Frankie adjusted his suit tie. "Or the sooner we elope."

"You better not."

"You kidding?" He reached for a french fry. "I'd never hear the end of it. It's a lot of pressure you know? Being the first to get married."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Middle child finally feeling the heat?"

He chuckled. "Speaking of basketball, how's your knee?"

Jane flexed and unflexed her leg muscle under the table at the mention of it. "I'll be fine." She had slept in today, showered up at BPD headquarters and put in a few solid hours of work before saying goodbye to Korsak and heading over to The Robber with Frankie for lunch before he was going to drive her to the airport. If all went according to plan she'd be in New York in a couple of hours catching up with Tasha at the hotel bar while Maura got ready for the opening ceremony of her conference. Not even an achy knee was going to get in her way.

"Just don't walk everywhere." Frankie warned. "You're gonna want to cause you can but isn't a part of that FBI thing a physical?"

"Not this part." Jane's cell phone began to buzz on the table beside them. "This is only the psych evaluations, Since I'm only lecturing, I won't really need to do anything like that."

"You gonna see Agent Gabriel Dean?"

Jane looked up from her phone. "Ma make you ask that question?"

Frankie shrugged. "No."

"No I won't be seeing Gabriel." She said his name sarcastically before looking back to her cell phone. It was a text from Maura. "Doubt he's even in the country."

Winds NW 18mph-Air quality index 55-feels like 17 degrees Fahrenheit.

Jane shook her head and shot her back a reply before returning to her burger.

So it's cold….?

"Can't a brother be curious—"

"No."

"Y'know." Frankie sat back in his seat at their favorite corner booth of the bar. "I can't remember the last time you took a vacation. I approve."

"You approve?" Jane raised a brow.

"Yeah y'know, I'll close up this case—"

Jane chuckled. "Nina's gonna a close it."

Frankie gave her a look and then chuckled too. "Whatever, anyway after dropping you off I'm going to circle back to the union rep's house. Figure we'd look again now that we know what we're looking for."

Jane nodded. "You need a connection to Khury. There has to be files on him."

"Korsak put in to get access to his office again."

Jane slowly chewed a french fry in thought. Her phone buzzed again. "You know maybe we already have what we need in evidence from the first time."

Frankie reached for his iced tea. "We wouldn't have known then who he was."

Jane looked at her phone again and nodded at her brother's train of thought while typing out a reply. "Right, and this rep doesn't seem like the type to leave anything undocumented, remember his medicine cabinet?"

You will need appropriate winter attire, yes.

Meet up with Tasha yet?

Frankie nodded. "Yeah everything was mapped out: what to take, when to take it, an OCD kinda thing."

Jane put her phone down. "There's gotta be documentation on Khury. Find out why he backed out for representing him, find out why he's protecting him now."

Frankie nodded. He was about to say something when a firm hand surprised him by capping him on the shoulder roughly.

"Hey guys!"

Jane smirked at the annoyed looked on Frankie's face as Tommy obnoxiously began to ruffle his hair. "Hey you're late."

"Get off me." Frankie swatted his hands away and Tommy only grinned.

"Sorry, meeting ran a little longer, since I got TJ tonight it's the only one I could catch." He took off his brown leather jacket and tossed it onto the back of the booth before rolling up his flannel sleeves and scooting into the booth beside Frankie. "You guys ordered without me?" He looked a little hurt.

Jane pushed the bowl of onion rings that they had been sharing his way. "Tommy It's been thirty minutes."

Tommy popped a crispy onion ring into his mouth and chewed. "Where's Ma? Think she's in a good enough mood to make me a tuna melt?" He began looking around the bar.

"How's the meetings been going?" Jane redirected. "TJ? Lydia? You ask about a tuxedo and then we hear nothing?"

"I've been watching the news." Tommy waved down their mother. "Hey Ma!" He turned back to Jane and Frankie. "Big hot shot detectives investigating who killed those park girls, figured I didn't want to bother you."

"C'mon Tommy you know you're not a bother…." Frankie gave his brother a look. "Not all the time anyway, what was the tux for?"

Tommy sat up a little straighter in his seat. "Picked up a second job driving limos for this guy I used to know—"

Jane narrowed her eyes. "Tommy the only people you used to know were convicted felons."

"Take it easy huh? Larry's a good guy, he's changed."

Frankie put a hand to his face. "How many times have we heard that one?"

Tommy reached for another onion ring. "Lydia wants to put TJ in another daycare cause of some problems he's been having, it's two hundred extra a week. It's an easy job, I drive around a bunch of suits visiting from who knows where. I get to look cool and driving a limo ain't too hard when you're wrecked."

Jane and Frankie stared at him.

"Jeesh you guys really need to get a sense of humor."

Frankie chuckled. "Jesus."

Jane cracked a small smile. "What's up with TJ's daycare?"

Tommy shrugged. "He's been coming home with dirt all over himself, no one can say why, but apparently they're not washing his clothes or nothing. What kind of place does that to a kid?"

"You want me to stop by? Check the place out?" Frankie offered.

"Nah we already took him out of there."

"What did TJ say about it?" Jane asked.

"Said he was playing mud castles."

Jane nodded having been subjected to the game of no reason and unlimited ways to create the biggest mud mess possible. "You remember when he played that with Ron at Maura's?" Her rose bushes still hadn't quite recovered and no one dare mention it in front of the ME.

The two laughed. "Think we were kicked out for like what? A week?"

Jane chuckled. "No Sunday dinners, nothing. She was so pissed."

"Aye where is the Doc anyway?" Tommy asked.

Jane was still grining at the case she had to make for then and an even smaller and completely innocent TJ for having dinners there again. Now if something, like that were to happen Maura would probably be able to adjust her expectations but back then when he was first starting to get into everything the detective had to remind her friend frequently that he hadn't really developed many reasoning skills and probably didn't mean to stress her out. "New York, she flew out this morning." As if on cue another text came through on her cell phone.

We're meeting now. Have you packed?

"Hi honey!" Angela called as she came over to the table where her three children sat. It was sweet that the boys wanted to see their sister off.

"Oh Ma thank God huh?" Tommy grinned. "Can I have a Tuna melt?"

Angela smiled. "Sure, Frankie you want anything?" Frankie shook his head no and looked to Jane who looked up from her phone.

"More onion rings?"

"You have an hour left honey."

"I know I know." She made a pitiful face. "I'm just really hungry."

Tommy snickered and mimicked her expression. "Yeah Ma, I'm starving."

Angela sighed. "You'd think I never fed you three, Aright I'll be right back."

Tommy turned back to Jane. "So Janie, you excited about New York huh?"

Jane smiled a little at his general state of excited. "Yeah, It worked out kinda well. Tasha has some time off from school and Maura's got her thing there she's doing."

Tommy reached for another onion ring nugget from the empty tray between them. "You gonna look up cousin Vinny?"

She raised a brow. "The same cousin Vinny that stole my bike?" Frankie began to laugh. "No, Tommy, I don't think we'll have time."

Tommy shrugged. "Well you're making all this time to go I just figured you'd y'know, look up some family."

It was just a thing that Tommy would say, and just like all the other things Tommy said there was usually little thought behind it or meaning after it. He moved on to talk about TJ's new favorite book, something on dogs, but Jane couldn't help but think about what he had said anyway.

Wasn't it a family trip already?

Tasha was more family to her than some other Rizzoli she had only met three times in her entire life, and Maura…. Well Maura was more family than a lot of people.

Figured I'd get away with a few shirts and a nice dress, what do you think?

We can always go shopping here :)

I thought this was supposed to be a vacation…

"—Anyway the damn thing has like ten other books, If You Give A Pig Pancake, If You Give A Dog A Donut, I mean who the hell comes up with this stuff?"

Frankie laughed. "You should write a children's book Tommy."

Tommy got excited. "If You Give A Shark A Shotgun."

Jane laughed at that. "No." She pointed at him. "No Tommy."

When Angela returned the whole table were in stitches over something she couldn't understand. With a small smile Angela put the tuna melt, onion rings and french fries down and made her way with their empty trays toward the bar where her station was set up. It was only she and her line cook Edwardo on schedule today. it was supposed to get busy around five and that's when Vince promised to come by and help. She wondered if Kiki would join him too, the last time they all had a blast playing bartender to the busy men and women of BPD.

"Hey Angie, I'm all set here."

Angela looked up at Nate one of their most faithful lunch crowders. He was a man well into his fifties with greying red hair and the prettiest blue eyes. He drove the late-night transfer trucks for prisoners being moved from BPD holding to one of the two prisons upstate and he always ordered a pastrami sandwich on buttered rye, no pickles.

"Alright Nathaniel give me a second here." She smiled and moved over to the POS machine to ring up his bill. At the sound of someone entering the bar Angela automatically put on a hospitable smile and turned to say hello. Words fell flat on her tongue though and a familiar sadness filled her stomach with worry when she noticed her ex husband standing in the doorway scanning the bar.

I can make it worthwhile.

Tommy and Frankie were still going on with the children's book joke like boys did. The humor had long since settled over Jane but she liked seeing them get along so she decided not to mention how stupid giving a postman a perogy would be.

Keep talking.

I've left something for you in your room for when you arrive, consider it a token of my appreciation for your future patience.

Jane chuckled to herself.

Can I fit it in my pocket? Can I eat it? Is it Yankee's toilet paper?

The laughter at their table died so suddenly Jane looked up from her phone at her brothers, and then to her right at the foot of the table where they were staring.

"Pop—" Tommy started.

Frank Rizzoli Sr. dropped his hands to his sides and attempted a smile. "How are you kids?"

##

"Well that's simple The Aufbau Principle states that when electrons are orbiting one or more atom, it fills the lowest available energy levels before filling the higher levels."

Tasha nodded. "Now consider what exclusion systems say about quantum numerals."

Maura nodded once, the torn naan bread in her hand growing cold. "No two electrons in an atom can have identical quantum numbers."

"Which is what I put on the exam!"

Maura shook her head disapprovingly as she dipped her naan into the large cast iron bowl of saag they were sharing "I don't understand how that could be incorrect."

The younger woman rolled her eyes. "I was able to argue the relevance of this all if the Hunds Principal was supposed to be taken into consideration. You can't talk electron configuration without it."

Maura nodded. "Every orbital in a subshell is singly occupied with one electron before any other orbital is doubly occupied, and all electrons in the singly occupied orbitals have the same spin."

Tasha reached for more naan. "Then she said I was being a smart ass."

Maura gasped. "No."

"Yes."

"Should I write a letter?"

Tasha chuckled. "The semester is almost over, I think I can handle it."

Maura nodded and smiled to herself. Tasha was growing up to be quite the powerhouse in quantum studies, and the though the younger woman swore she were still on the path toward her MD Maura wondered if she would find the other work more interesting. Anyway that was a conversation for a different time, right now she could only smile, because she was filled with an unexplainable pride for the woman she was becoming, she would have gotten far without Jane and herself, but Maura liked to think that the three of them had something special that Tasha always knew she could fall back on if times got rough. The unruly teenager had somehow wiggled her way into their lives to the point where no holiday was complete without her, and to where Jane worried about grad school and what that would cost them.

Maura supposed that in her greatest loss Tasha was able to remind Jane of the love she were capable of sharing, and for that she'd always welcome the young woman into her home.

Tasha paused mid-chew and began to grin. "You're getting sentimental, again aren't you?"

Maura chuckled softly. "No I-Well I'm just very proud of you." She shrugged. "I'm happy to be here."

Tasha, whom usually shied away from the more sentimental moments in life due to her inability to trust easily wiped her hands in her napkin and nodded. "You guys are the only people to come up and visit." She went back to her naan bread. It was really all Tasha needed to say for Maura to understand her. She was happy they were here too.

##

Frank Sr. shifted. "It's more of a temporary thing… While I get a few things in order. it's uh—it's working."

Jane nodded once. He had checked himself into some sort of live-in rehabilitation arrangement. It was better than the questionably maintained hotel near the docks she knew he had been staying at. Judging by the drooping nature of the skin under his eyes and the unevenness of his dark stubble she wasn't sure if working were the right word for his progress. He looked the most worn out she had ever seen him in her life, nothing at all like the heroic figure she remembered him as growing up.

"What are you doing here, Pop?" She asked before looking at him and then back at her brothers who both seemed anxious to initiate what they all wanted to know.

"I actually came to see your mother—"

"Come to ask her to cancel the last couple decades of her life so that you can get someone else maybe almost pregnant?" Frankie cut before reaching for his iced tea.

Frank Sr. shook his head. "Watch—"

"Frank."

Everyone looked up to see Angela approaching the table wiping her hands in a bartender side towel. "I said come at six."

Jane looked at Tommy who swore with his eyes that he had no clue what this was about. "What's going on here Ma?" Jane began to get out of her booth, but Angela rested a patient hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"I had a few extra hours to kill, thought I'd come by and talk and then see if you wanted to go out to lunch y'know on your break."

"I'm meeting Ron for lunch and we have a rush in an hour." She dismissed easily. "Let the kids eat." Aside from being incredibly annoyed at his very familiar lack of attention to anyone else's requests but his own, Angela was really enjoying glancing over every now and then at the table, they never really go moments like this anymore and their father's unexpected presence was sure to upset them.

"Angie they're my kids too, I can say hi for crying out loud."

"What are you guys talking about at six?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah." Frankie added. "Rizzoli and Sons?"

"And how it was for our own good but we hadn't heard anything about it after the sale." Jane added. She gently brushed her mother's hand away. Everyone turned to look at her as she wiped her hands in a napkin and tossed it onto the table. She wasn't going to be able to deal with him being here much longer, and it was a foreign feeling to feel so strongly about but she was learning to lean into these things more and more.

"You knew the sale went through?" Frank didn't seem as surprised as they all expected.

"Maura told me."

Frank Sr. sneered and looked over to Tommy. That thinly veiled agitation he was becoming know for exposed itself once again. "You know I told you that you had more realistic things to worry about than this stupid fantasy of you and her."

Tommy rolled his eyes. "Pop Maura's my friend." He said it as if it wasn't the first time he'd had to.

"Who you apparently can't keep your mouth shut around." He put his hands to his hips. "That was private, Tommy."

Tommy standing suddenly prompted Jane and Frankie up without question as well. The youngest Rizzoli stood squarely in front of his father in challenge. There was a venom in his usually playful eyes and maturity to his posture that seemed suddenly as fatherly a stance as Tommy had ever stood.

"What like, texting Lydia the other night? Like private like that?" He growled between a clenched jaw. Frank looked away. "We're together y'know, Pop. She told me." Frankie's brows shot up and Jane crossed her arms to her chest. "Ma said come at six."

Angela sighed. "Why would you be texting Lydi—" She was stopped by Jane's hand.

"Ma."

Frankie stepped forward and gently pushed the two men away from one another. "Tommy—" He began already knowing what was going to happen if he didn't intervene at least physically.

"I'm not proud of that, son." Frank finally began slowly. "But it wasn't—"

"It wasn't?" Tommy hardened.

"Alright Tommy." Frankie nodded stepping in between them fully now. He rested a brotherly hand on his chest. "Alright."

Tommy seemed to calm down a little and soon completely deflated before plopping back down into the booth. Angela went over to console him but was pulled away from her intention when someone across the bar's small dining room called for her. She shot daggers at her ex-husband before leaving her children.

"Just get out of here, Pop." Jane shook her head. "Come back when Ma asked you to."

"Janie—"

"You don't get to call me that anymore alright?" She said clearly and without emotion. "Just go." She could feel every cell in her body curl and tighten and she had been in such a good mood that just the extreme shift hormonally frustrated her. He was no longer the person he said he was, any semblance of that man returning she was sure she lost in place of the anger she felt. That would always somehow be okay, but to now see Tommy so upset, so disenfranchised and so obviously crushed could turn her to violence.

He was and always would be the more innocent of the three of them, and this was wrong on so many levels, but what even consumed the eldest daughter most was her father's true gift to take the love out of each and every thing he once prompted so high up.

"Pop." Frankie broke his father from saying anything else. "Go." He stood guard almost as Jane sat back down at the bar and reached out for Tommy's clenched fist.

##

Jane wheeled around her carry on bag closer to her person as Frankie closed the trunk door. "Could have gotten it myself."

Frankie shrugged. "Can I be a gentleman to my older sister like once without you commenting on it?"

Jane rolled her eyes. "Between you and Maura I haven't opened a door for myself in a damn week." She deadpanned. Frankie chuckled not really understanding and for the briefest of moments Jane were grateful he was distracted over their family to be his normally observant self, but only briefly. "Check on Tommy."

He nodded before slipping his hands into his suit pockets. It was one of the warmer days they'd had in a little while, but the wind whipping into the breezeway of the Logan terminal made it worth the effort. "He didn't tell us." Jane raised a brow. "Tommy."

She nodded now understanding where his mind had been. "You think he would?"

"I mean—"

"C'mon, Frankie."

"No, guess not."

Jane pushed some of her hair out of her face the wind had placed there. "And find out what was supposed to happen at six." She had a feeling she already knew though.

"You sure you don't want to stick around for that interrogation?" He let up a small smile.

Jane shook her head. "I don't think I can be in the same room as Pop these days…" She said honestly.

"For all this stuff I don't know what in the hell he could have been thinking, first Maura, then Lydia—"

"Hardly the same." Even she'd admit it. It was interesting however that their father knew about Tommy's old crush on the ME.

"Yeah but… I don't know."

"You wanna look at it like a cop and not my brother?"

"Aint' I both?"

Jane chuckled a little but then grew serious again. "He's desperate Frankie, and he's an addict, and I'm pretty sure he's sick again or at least on his way."

Frankie's face well. "Ma told you that?"

"She doesn't have to." Jane shook her head. "Why else would they be meeting at all? Look at him. He's lost weight—"

"Could be the detox—"

"Frankie."

They two siblings and partners in law studied one another straightforwardly. Being so close it was as if at times she swore her younger brother could read her mind as accurately as she could understand it herself, there were times when they were the same thought, and it was because those moments happened more and more often now that he joined the homicide unit Jane sometimes took for granted their closeness. She often forgot his age, and that at the end of the day he wasn't her partner on the squad, but that he was her kid brother first.

There would always be things she'd see first and want to protect him from.

"Damnit." Was all he offered as a thickness in his voice registered what she had observed.

Jane looked down at her boot not feeling the same at all until that very moment. "Yeah…"

They hugged tightly soon after and Jane went about the near auto pilot routine of checking in at the airport, going through security, searching for a coffee place that also sold snacks and a wide variety of magazine enough to have the mechanics one she liked to look at with the interesting articles before sitting at her gate and closing her eyes for two beats. With a small breath and a blind sip of the hot beverage Jane opened her eyes and reached into her pocket for her cell phone. She had missed a call from her mother but wasn't even remotely interested in going there, and one surprisingly enough from Tommy. Jane took another sip of her coffee and called him back only to get his voicemail.

"Hey! This is Tommy Rizzoli, leave a message alright?"

Beeeeppp.

"Hey Tommy it's me, listen I land in about an hour and a half from now, call me back." She hung up and then hesitated before pressing another familiar name to dial the number.

Maura answered on the third ring. "When should I expect you then? Has there been a break in the case?"

Jane smiled. "You're not going to believe I even packed until I get there and change clothes huh?"

Her tone suggested she were smiling. "No."

"I'm at the airport, Maura. I am coming to New York today."

Maura nodded and gave Tasha a thumbs up at the shirt the younger woman pulled off the rack at the boutique designer showroom she had gotten access to last minute before turning toward the large glass walls facing Park Avenue. "Tasha and I are shopping." There was a display of spring dresses in the window, beautiful silken pieces with a particular bohemian flair she couldn't help but reach out and touch.

"Ooh."

Maura chuckled. "We'll be heading back to the hotel shortly though to begin getting ready."

"I guess this means I'll see you soon."

"Yes." There was a pause on the line. "Was there a development in the case?" Jane sounded… Off. She couldn't quite put together why over the phone.

"Um no, none. Just some family stuff."

"Did lunch not go well?" Maura let the print dress on the manikin fall from her hands gracefully.

"Well it was but uh, let me let you go, they're saying we might start boarding." She didn't want to talk about this, especially if it meant taking away from Maura enjoying herself.

"Yes." Maura nodded and made a mental note to inquire further later. "Bon Voyage, Jane."

Jane smiled a little at how the normally cheesy saying sounded exotic on an actual French speaker's tongue. "Bye, Maur." They hung up and Jane returned to her coffee. Not even a full cup of Joe, a solid thirty more minutes of people watching, nor the glossy dissection of a yacht engine could preoccupy Jane's mind enough. She was scuttled between her mother and father, Tommy and Lydia, TJ. Then the case, those women… Had they checked Khury's residence enough? Was the car detailed? Did Frankie know where she left her detective note pad?

It wasn't until Jane actually sat down on her lavish hotel bed and tore into the small box of artisanal macarons Maura had left for her (all pistachio of course) that the detective finally got an opportunity to observe her surroundings and be in the moment.

She had been sitting in a junior suite at Le Modern Hotel directly adjacent to St. Patrick's Cathedral and Rockefeller Center in one of the greatest cities on earth.

For Maura.

The thought alone could power a small town, for Jane was up and mobbing quickly to get herself ready for the night at the conference's opening ceremony, and then dinner. She'd deal with all things Boston tomorrow.

##

Tasha plopped herself down onto the velvety plush bedspread. "He's nice." She said simply. "It's nothing serious, he's just nice."

Maura peaked over her shoulder from straightening out her dress, a red number she picked up while in Paris with her mother. "Just nice?" She had just finished her hair, Tasha had zipped her up and now all that was left was to practice her speech and do her make up. Maura glanced at her cell phone for a third time.

"I'm not going to date until I get this damn degree, what can anyone show me anyway now that would impress me?" Tasha sat up from her spot on the bed and looked around. "This hotel room is way too big for you and Jane, Maura."

Maura turned curiously at Tasha pointing to the large floor to ceiling window that overlooked the famed Rockefeller Center. Below the large Christmas tree had been removed but the iconic skating rink was just visible at an angle making all the tourist look like ants.

"Oh Jane is next door." Maura clarified as she walked over to look into her makeup bag. "And believe it or not this was the modest bedroom suite."

"Wait hold up." Tasha put the eye shadow tin she had been playing with idly down with a chuckle. "Jane isn't staying in this room?"

Maura shook her head unsure of where the questioning was going. "No."

Tasha chuckled again. "Why do you need so much space?"

Maura supposed she never realized how ironic the whole thing was. Yes there was work to be done and Jane had her obligation as well, but the trip was really, she hoped, a time for them to get a little closer. "The hotel only has three room types." She tried.

"You could fit my entire sociology class in here."

"Well that isn't saying a lot, sociology is inferior in popularity with students your age to anthropological studies." Maura picked up her foundation. "You're changing the subject."

"Benny is nice, that's all." Tasha looked over to the dress she had brought with her to change into. Maura had gone with her to pick it out for her graduation, she had no idea how much the thing cost but it was the nicest thing she owned and judging by the elegant off the shoulder number the good doctor had slipped into she hadn't been wrong to assume the best was expected. "He listens when I talk, and he grooms himself." She paused. "I brought three shoes to choose from." She pointed. "But I'm not getting ready until you're actually ready to leave."

Maura shook her head at the comment. "You sound like Jane."

"When's her flight get in again?"

"She should be in already." Maura said distractedly as she cleaned her applicator and turned back to the large vanity.

"You think she'll move to Virginia when they offer her a full time?" She sat back down on the bed and watched Maura with a sort of engaging curiosity. They were so similar it a lot of ways, so different in so many others. If any one had told her even six years ago that she'd be sitting in a penthouse with some wealthy genius white lady getting ready to network her ass off at a medical ethics conference in New York City she would have probably thought the that person was smoking something difficult, but here she was, and it was funny, how as you grew you changed, and it was even funnier then kinships you found when you allowed yourself to.

Maura finished applying her foundation and looked over her shoulder at Tasha. "I don't know—"

"She can't be a detective forever."

It was true. "Most detective's careers on average only last two decades."

"Do you think she'd enjoy working for the feds though?"

Maura chuckled. "Perhaps when you see her you can ask her."

##

Dr, Maura Isles scanned the room for effect. She had spoken in front of hundreds if not thousands of people over the span of her career, this crowd was hardly different. Friends and colleagues she seldom saw in real life but followed their work faithfully, new young faces peppered the crowd here and there, all sitting upright gussied up for a night of mingling as if New York itself were the theme. She wasn't nervous at all, she was proud. Proud of her field and the respect it was now getting on the medical stage, proud of her ability to fit into her dress after a day of literally eating everywhere she and Tasha passed, proud of Tasha and her ability to help mentor the young woman. It was a very nice medley of positivity and Maura was looking forward to holding on to it for a little while.

"….As we continue the week I ask simply that we remind ourselves of the humanity we have all sworn to fight for, and what the construct means when it comes to an ethical practice." She smiled. "But tonight we have an open bar…" The whole room laughed.

Tasha nudged Jane. "I told her to add that part."

Jane grinned, Maura wouldn't even let her look at the speech while she were writing it. "Nice."

"—Thank you and have a lovely evening." Maura stepped away from the microphone on stage as the room erupted in applause.

A tall man with smooth tan skin and a red bowtie that matched Maura's red dress came back onto the stage and the two embraced quickly. He approached the mic as Maura made her way off stage to return to where Jane and Tasha were standing in the crowd.

"Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Maura Isles everyone." He clapped. "I don't think there is a pathologist quite like her." He nodded as the applause died down a little. "Now—"

"That was really great." Tasha nodded when Maura finally got to where she and Jane were standing.

Maura clasped her hands together; her face a little red from all the attention. "Do you think so? I don't believe I hydrated enough today to project my voice as effectively as I would have liked." She motioned to the back of the room with a wrinkled brow. "Do you think they could hear me properly?"

Jane nodded. "Maura you were great."

The ME's worry melted away quickly in exchange for a smile. "Thank you, Jane." She motioned to her dress having not seen Jane until right before she had to make her speech. Apparently, there was a lot of traffic getting into the city. "You look very beautiful." Her dimples creased and her smile became a little shyer.

Jane raised a brow playfully but could hardly fight her blush. She was wearing a simple black dress that clung to her frame and was shoulder less. It was something the ME had seen on her before, had she forgotten? "C'mon."

Maura smiled a stitch wider seeing the redness in her friend's cheeks. "It suits you well."

"Yeah well I can't wait to get out of it." She joked before motioning to Maura's choice of dress, it hugged her breasts criminaly close in a subtle V neckline. "Is this what you went shopping for today?" She had never seen it before, she would have remembered.

Tasha looked between them curiously. What was happening right now?

Maura chuckled. "It was a bit of a splurge I'll admit, but I took into account the fact that I didn't need to get it hemmed at all. I purchased it in Paris."

Jane nodded some and moved to put her hands in her pockets but then stopped short when she realized that she didn't have any. "You look great." She looked incredible. Jane looked at Tasha who was studying her intently. "You too kid."

Breaking from her thought the younger woman brushed her shoulder off. "I try."

"I would have to agree with that." The man from the on stage with the red bowtie approached the small group all smiles.

Jane's smile faltered a little. Was he hitting on Tasha? "Yeah well she's barely twenty-one so take it easy pal."

He put his hand to his chest in apology. "A beautiful woman is a beautiful woman, but don't worry Detective." He smiled at Tasha politely before looking to Maura. "Did Dr. Isles—?"

Maura smiled while shaking her head. "Jane, Tasha this is Dr. Greco Hillnore, an old friend from school. Don't bother with his shameless flirting, he's married."

"My friends call me Greg." Greco smiled shyly. "Also actually you haven't read the latest newsletter? Jess and I split about nine months ago."

"Oh." Maura touched his arm. "I'm so sorry to hear that."

He shrugged. "Yeah me too, but hey what can you do? We both y'know…" He trailed off. "Anyway that's not at all what I came over here for." He motioned to Tasha. "Maura told us all about you."

Tasha looked over at the ME. "She did?" The doctor hadn't miss the small tone of suspicion in her voice. She had hoped Tasha would know her better than that. She hadn't told them everything.

"Yeah, you're at Columbia now, then back to BCU pre-med right?" She nodded. "There are some people I think you should meet here, I'd be happy to make introductions."

"I'm…"

Jane nodded. "It'd be good to network Tash."

Maura agreed. "I can come with you if you'd like."

Tasha smiled at the two women. "No that's cool." She motioned to Greco. "What was it that you studied again?" No matter how introverted she knew she was there was a level to this whole navigating the world thing that she was getting used to. She should smile, ask just intrusive enough questions that really didn't tell you much about a person but made you seem free spirited, and then smile again. It was a formula that had won her popularity amongst her peers and would make an excellent thesis come end of year.

If she could survive that elevator, she could survive a bunch of tipsy doctors.

Besides for whatever reason she got the feeling Maura and Jane needed to talk about something.

Greco became about three inches taller at her question. "Cardiovascular surgeon, at your service. I did a rotation with Dr. Kinley at BCU, have you taken his classes yet?" The two began to walk off.

"No they're so hard to get into! Why do you think that is?"

"Good question. It's a –"

Jane watched them disappear into the crowd before looking over at her friend. "He's…"

"Talkative, but harmless Jane. Dr. Jessica Knight was my roommate for a semester abroad. They seemed so… well for one another. I wonder what could have happened."

"Maybe she got tired of his bowties"

Maura snorted softly and tapped Jane's arm. "Stop."

"What? It's just so loud."

"The bow tie originated among Croatian mercenaries during the Thirty Years' War as a scarf around the neck to hold together the opening of their shirts. They're quite stylish these days."

"Annnd his is that red because?"

Maura looked off to where Greco and Tasha disappeared. "He called me earlier today asking what color I was going to wear."

"You sure he's not—"

"Jane." Maura turned to face her. "Just because he has a stylist vision for—"

"A stylistic vision?" Maura gave her a look to which Jane grinned sheepishly. "Alright alright."

"When did you end up getting to the hotel?"

"Closer to seven believe it or not. Ate all the macarons."

"They are from Bouchon Bakeru downstairs and you know the train would have been faster."

A waiter walked by with a tray of champagne flutes. Jane took two off and handed one to Maura. "Yeah but I didn't want to be late y'know? I'd never hear the end of it."

"I am just happy you're here, Jane."

Jane smiled a little at that. "Yeah, me too Maur."

Maura lifted her flute "Santé."

The taller woman clinked her glass gently against hers and took a small sip. "Mm, we're going to need another one of these. What is this?" She pointed to the flute before taking another larger sip.

Maura chuckled. "Do you like it?" It was a little too dry for her taste.

Jane motioned to the room. "I do, so I'm gonna find Tasha and drink these while you mingle. Let's try and get out of here this year."

Maura crossed her arms and tilted her head. "You'd like me to leave?"

"Run along."

"Unbelievable" She laughed. "Is it at all possible that perhaps I wanted to mingle with you?"

"That's what the whole week is for, but we have a reservation at this place across town right?" Maura nodded. "If you're going to start discussing evolutionary theories and chemical whatevers you'd have to start now." She looked at her watch. "We'd never make it if you don't and I'm already contemplating eating that chair over there." She pointed her flute.

Maura laughed. Despite whatever happened before she left Boston Jane was apparently in a good mood. It was so different from how she was this past week, knowing Jane she was trying to refocus her energy on the present and Maura really appreciated it. "What will you do?"

Jane motioned to where Tasha had disappeared with Dr. Hillnore. "Make sure I don't have to hurt someone tonight."

##

Tasha groaned as she wiped the corners of her mouth with her napkin. "I have to go think about what I've done, excuse me."

Jane and Maura both laughed as she rolled herself out of her chair and attempted to navigate the long and narrow dining room at Primi, the Italian restaurant Maura had been excited to take Jane and Tasha to.

Jane had just taken a sip of her wine out of obligation, there was no room left in her stomach for even the finest of liquids but with how wrinkly the label looked when it was brought out and by how excited Maura got when she recognized it on the list, she knew it had to be a few hundred easy. "She got real grown on us huh?" She commented looking back to her left where Maura was seated.

Maura put her wine down. "Though there has been a significant decrease in her heat generating adipose tissue, she hasn't gotten much taller Jane." Maura reached for an olive from a bowl in the middle of the table. Jane raised a brow softly and Maura chuckled at her. "She is quite the young woman now, yes I agree." She relaxed into the worn leather of the booth and let herself openly study her friend. "Would you have imagined being here when we met her?" She asked slowly, the wine making her tone low and thoughtful.

"Mm." Jane shook her head no. "No, no way." She picked up her fork again to dig into the last pearled chunk of seared duck fat on her plate. "I had different plans."

It was the first time she had brought up the miscarriage on her own however indirectly. "Have you heard from Casey at all?" She chanced. Though it caused a strange and unpleasant sensation to run the course of her ribcage Maura knew that Jane had at one point felt deeply for the other man. After everything had happened he had tried to reach out and when Jane didn't respond he had come to her for help and she had because she was a good friend. For a brief moment in time the detective contemplated trying to work things through but something had made her change her mind, she never said what and Maura never asked.

The Boston native shook her head. "No, I think that's for the better." She nodded.

"It lacks integrity to agree with you so hastily, but I can't help but feel so inclined to do so, Jane." Maura put her right hand out to cover Jane's on the table. "I can't explain how happy you coming has made me." She added the last part quietly as if the entire city would hear.

Jane smiled at how Maura's dimples pressed into her cheeks just then and the two shared a moment of soft expressions. "You only told me eighty times."

Maura's smile grew. "Four, I've told you four times."

"Four?" Jane grinned.

"Yes, four, and now five counting this time." She reached for her wine glass again.

"Well good." The detective shrugged. "Cause this has been one great big sacrifice on my end." Jane motioned to the restaurant. "Amazing dinner, fancy wine, bunch of macarons waiting for me back in my room, it's a lot to deal with."

Maura waved her off. "Drink your wine."

Jane laughed and reached for her water glass. "I'm all out."

"I suppose you'll complain about that too?"

Jane hadn't decided but judging by the goofed expression on Maura's face the other woman knew she were only kidding. Still, she didn't want to take away from the opportunity to put herself out there to meet her. Jane took a large sip of water before resting her glass down and fixing the words in her head. "Maybe, still wouldn't matter though."

Maura put her wine down. "Why is that?" She asked curiously.

"Because, I don't know many places I wouldn't go to be around you." She stated matter of factually. It was true when they were only friends too but before Maura could respond herself she noticed Tasha approaching the table again.

"Okay. I'm back, what did I miss?" Tasha asked as she slid back into the booth at Jane's right. "Dessert?"

##

"Nah I don't think so." Jane chuckled quietly.

"No?"

"Maybe." The detective grinned. "If you do it."

Maura's features; already singed with the slightest blush from the amaro she sipped on after dinner while Jane and Tasha drank coffee. "Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Jane laughed but then lowered her voice as she pushed off from her hotel room door frame she had been leaning on. "You're kidding right?"

Maura smiled. "I am."

They laughed quietly and as the moment rested Maura tilted her head and motioned toward her room with her chin. "Would you like to come in?" Jane shrugged softly, her face an adorable confusion. "I have a tea kettle, or we could perhaps see what the mini bar has to offer." She was tired yes, it had been a very long and emotionally dense day, but she didn't want to say goodnight to Jane just yet.

She motioned to her dress. "I'm pretty sure this thing inspired designs for the first straight jacket."

Maura smiled. "You would be surprised what actually had."

"Tell me later." She fished out her hotel room card and swiped into her room. "I'm gonna change first." Maura agreed and disappeared into her room. Out of pure habit Jane scanned the hall once over before going into her own room to change.

Tasha had had the two in stitches all night about the many characters she had been introduced to and when the conversational turned nerd Jane was happy just sitting back and admiring the two and how much they knew. Aside from their little moment at dinner when Tasha excused herself and some stolen moments at the conference ceremony cocktail party they hadn't been alone really since saying goodbye to one another on the landing in Boston. Jane knew her friend well enough to know she were curious about what happened at lunch, and probably had loads to fill her in on Tasha, but also without really having to say much at all she knew that Maura simply wanted her company too, and it surprised the detective how nice it made her feel. Maura being Maura the other woman had never really shied away from asking for her presence or participation in various things before but this felt different.

So Jane quickly brushed her teeth, put her hair into a ponytail, and picked out the least worn pair of sweatpants she owned along with her grey BPD zip front hoody and was out the door.

When she opened the door Maura was already clad in a silky violet robe that fell to just above her knees and was loosely tied in the front revealing a soft looking white shirt and pair of charcoal grey cloth shorts. Her hair was still down and her face damp as if just having had washed it. It didn't matter to Jane, she thought Maura was just one of those beautiful people, the ones where it didn't matter if she were wearing make up or not and they knew it. She looked really nice tonight, sexy even, and at times the detective found herself attaching every thought she had to Maura's breasts, but in all honesty, she loved this version of the ME most.

"You got short." Jane commented as she stepped through the front door and let the blonde close it behind her.

Maura seemed amused by the comment. "I am short, Jane." When neither were wearing any type of heel there was a good four inch different in their heights.

Sometimes she forgot. "I forget."

"What do you have there?" Maura asked when she noticed what looked like magazines rolled up in Jane's right hand.

"Oh." Jane remembered. "I got you these." She unrolled the two magazines as Maura tried to read the title standing next to her. "You sent me an article about those whales I think and at the airport they had a new science one." She motioned to the National Geographic magazine with a whale underwater on the front cover and then the other magazine with "Science En Vogue" on the front cover in elegantly fashioned letters. "Thought you might need something to read on thw way back."

Maura smiled and took the magazines from her touched by the gesture. "You were not this thoughtful when we were just friends." She teased.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Sure I was, you just didn't want to see it." Jane went over to the mini bar and squatted down to look at it's contents. "They have gin and tonic in a can now?"

Maura rested the reading materials down before going over to where Jane was. "I've already tried the Manhattan—"

Jane looked over her shoulder up at her. "When?" She laughed.

"When Tasha and I were getting ready."

Jane pressed the little code on the side of the locked refrigerator to open it. "Man you guys have been just boozin' it huh?" She reached for the tiny half bottle of IPA figuring that she had quite a bit of wine earlier in the evening and might want to sip on something to mellow everything out. Plus she didn't want to have a hang over their first official day in the city. "You want the wine in here?" Maura had stepped away to do something.

"Yes, the small bottle." If she had been correct in her calculations, she could have exactly three more ounces of alcohol and not put her organs into distress. Though the liver was the primary force behind cleaning alcoholic impurities Maura had to be mindful not to put her sole kidney to the test. "Red please."

"Red…"Jane nodded a she found the small half bottle of wine and pulled it out. She stood and rested the drinks on the counter and came over to where Maura was attempting to rotate the small loveseat near the floor to ceiling window of that gleamed the breathtaking New York City skyline. "Let me help." Together they rotated it and when Maura went to get them glasses for their night caps Jane brought over a foot rest and a small throw blanket Maura had on the bed. "Good?" She asked when Maura came back and handed her the beer.

"Almost." The ME motioned to the small couch and Jane chuckled before sitting down and propping her foot up with a big sigh.

"Damn what a view." Jane looked over to Maura who was sitting down beside her while her eyes scanned the city lights analytically. "What?" She took a sip of her beer.

Maura relaxed a little into the loveseat and motioned to the city of Manhattan with her glass. "How many lights do you think are on right now?"

Jane chuckled again. "A lot?" She looked back to the incredible view. "Is that the first thing you think when you look at something like this?" She wondered before looking to her side at the other woman.

Maura could sense her genuine curiosity, so she sighed with a small smile at her, they were shoulder to shoulder. "Yes, Jane." The detective didn't look away or laugh at her, or even smirk, she just looked at her with this softness, it was hard to describe but made Maura feel understood even if Jane didn't get it. "What do you see?"

"Me?"

"You."

Jane inhaled slowly and looked back at the skyline. "A lot of people who trust too easily." She looked at Maura then. "But it's nice y'know…?"

"To live so closely, day in and day out." She swirled the wine in her glass thoughtfully. "It is quite a view indeed." Jane nodded glad she understood what she meant and then burst out into a small laugh. "What is it?" Maura couldn't help but fighting her grin seeing the other woman so suddenly animated.

"We're weird Maura." Anybody else would have just seen a beautiful view.

The blonde laughed and the two shared a few hard moments of finding the seriousness they just had. Eventually though their breaths caught and they smiled at one another before sinking further into the couch and watching the city before them. There was so much to catch up on but neither had the energy, and this, this was pretty perfect.

Two ounces of wine in and Maura rested her glass aside and leaned against Jane side as her breath grew quieter. She smiled a few moments later when she could feel the weight of Jane's left arm fall over her shoulders. They watched the city in silence for a long time before Jane looked to her left and Maura straightened up a little to look back at her.

"Here we are." Jane said quietly, a small twinkle in her eyes.

Maura smiled and nodded before leaning in a little, Jane met her half way and the two pressed their lips softly together.