Maura tossed her head back in hearty laughter.

"—So I'm sitting there two minutes into the exam when I realize—" Jane started laughing; seeing Maura in stitches was pretty hilarious never mind the situation. "—Maura c'mon, I'm trying to tell a story here!"

Maura put her glass of wine down in fear of spilling it on her new green and white dress she had seen and a window that very afternoon and purchased on a whim. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, go on."

Jane grinned. "So I'm sitting there trying to figure out what the hell I had eaten and then it came to—"

"—Do not tell me you ate from that street vendor across from the hotel." She gasped.

"Maura the damn kebobs smelled so good, plus I could hardly eat anything at that breakfast place, everything was hard and—"

"—Jane I personally saw him sneeze and then continue to make a sandwich. Does norovirus or hepatitis sound apet—"

"You never told me that!"

"I assure you, I have." She shook her head. "When we were talking about microscopic bacterial anomalies?" She motioned to the other woman. "The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene did a study on—"

"Maura when have we ever talked about microscopic bacterial whatevers this week?" Or at all.

"Well I read about it and then I shared it with you." Jane shook her head. "At breakfast."

"Was this before or after you knocked my tooth out?" Jane asked reaching for her root beer.

"Before."

Jane shrugged. "Nah, sorry, best damn kebab I've ever had that's for sure, I didn't even spill any sauce on my suit."

"For such a violent gasto-intestinal reaction like the one you are describing it is highly likely that yoy consumed—"

"—Ah! Jesus, I was there you don't need to repeat it."

Maura shook her head again but smiled fondly across the table at her best friend. She had apparently put on a little make up for their dinner and the navy turtleneck she was wearing brought out the brightness in her dark eyes when she smiled. "Why do you do this to yourself?"

Jane smiled and shrugged again as she reached for her fork. "I feel fine now."

"I can tell you why."

Jane shook her head dramatically. "Please don't."

"So how was it? You haven't said how it was." The ME pushed as she reached for her own fork. There would be another conversation on eating from strange unaccredited street venders once she was able to gather the right data.

Tonight they were having dinner in Astoria, Queens, right near the water at a famous local Greek restaurant called Telly's Taverna. The dining room felt like someone's grandmother's living room with warm colored lighting and big round tables filled with families of all shapes and sizes enjoying themselves. With a serving of lemon and oil potatoes between them and juicy grilled fish the two ate well and talked excitedly about their days well into the night. It wasn't until they were leaving the restaurant and hailing a cab that the weight of reality fell upon them again and the pair grew quiet on the ride back to the hotel. At one point Jane lowered her window some and inhaled deeply as she relaxed against the cabs used leather seat before turning to Maura when she could smell the faintest dampness of promised rain.

"It's gonna rain." Jane announced.

Maura nodded in agreement. "Maybe."

She cracked a little grin. "Maybe?" The medical examiner leaned against her suddenly in a way that made the detective smile warmly and blush at the same time. "No information on wind speed or humidity?" Maura simply shook her head no. "No statistical aversion to microscope hydrogen carbon compounds around an electrode?"

The pathologist chuckled softly against her. "You're simply saying words now."

Jane hesitated before slipping her left hand from in between them and putting it around the blonde's shoulders. They looked at each other then and Jane offered a cute little shrug in explanation even though Maura's expression told her she didn't need one. "The day you stop saying words is the day I get worried."

Maura blinked. "Well I would imagine I would no longer be living."

Jane chuckled and then shifted some. "That'd be a hard day." Their eyes met again. "It's a good thing I'm dying one day before you though." She reminded.

Maura gave her an incredulous look hidden behind a smile. "Not for any other reason other than to not have to go on a boat and carry out my final wishes."

Jane nodded quickly. "Yep, you're on your own." Maura pinched her side. "Hey!"

##

As a thin line of morning light made its direct path from behind the heavy hotel curtains across her waist and onto the opposite wall Jane Rizzoli woke with the troubling realization that the day had indeed come.

Today was their final day in New York City.

The detective stretched against the stiffened comfort of their expensive bedsheet and sighed lightly to herself as she watched the patch of light with a mild curiosity. A week had come and gone and for the life of her she couldn't recall why they had decided it would be enough time. It was hardly enough, she wanted to wake up this morning and spend it like the last; lazing about, ordering room service in her pajamas with her best friend. She wanted to pick somewhere to eat solely based on the name of restaurant, or how cute the table settings were. Jane Rizzoli wanted to rent bikes again, and then sit and watch the sunset over the Hudson River with Maura's hand clasped over her own again.

The logical side of her knew that doing these things were not mutually secluded to the city that never slept, but they were made possible to her here first, and she wasn't sure how they fit into life in Boston. Then on top of everything waiting back home Jane worried she wouldn't be able to say the right thing when the time came to explain what the ME meant to her and what this time meant for them. It had been very personal, intimate, and she wanted with all her power for that to continue without interruption, because even though they had had some very difficult conversations, and even though she had technically lost a tooth in the process, Jane Rizzoli could not think of one single place anywhere that she would rather be than where she was right now.

"We never did go to the gentleman's club." The voice was soft and reflective coming from over a pillow away.

They had been sleeping together in the same bed for the past three nights now.

After Jane's emergency room visit, and what at first was guised as medical observation now just plain out was. Neither woman really found it necessary to bring up why.

Jane chuckled softly at the comment as she was lifted from her thoughts. "We can still go." She moved a blanket aside to see Maura's bright hazel eyes staring at her from behind a limp bun of blonde hair. "The night is still young." She rasped.

Maura exhaled in amusement. "It is seven in the morning." She watched Jane stretch before continuing, it was something Maura found endearing considering how tall the other woman was and how her limbs seemed to spread in uncoordinated directions. "Good Morning."

The detective moved over a little closer to her and tucked her arm under her own pillow to get comfortable. "Morning." She motioned to the pillows between them. It wasn't how they had slept before, but apparently Maura's neck had been bothering her and she had built the ultimate nestling station to relieve the tension from her neck while she slept against gravity. Jane just figured she wanted to build a castle, cause that's how extensive this system was. "You sleep okay all the way over there?"

Maura's eyes were teasing now. "I am not even two feet away from you."

Jane grinned softly. "Well y'know, it seemed you had a process going. I didn't want to intrude."

Maura's smile faded into a softness as her cheekbones thinned her cheeks. "You could have." It made Jane blush at the ears.

"Aye." She warned. "No flirting."

Maura chuckled quietly as her cheeks flushed as well. "Oh, excuse me. My apologies."

Jane adjusted her pillow again. "You're excused."

"How long do you suppose until everyone suspects something?" Maura asked curiously after a few moments of enjoying the moment in silence. She was cautious of her brain disregarding reason and leaping to wild rationalizations just to be near the other woman. It had to be monitored more stringently when they returned. It would be too obvious if not.

She practiced by not reaching out to move aside a thick black curl threatening to fall into Jane's line of sight.

"I don't know, I'm hoping not before we tell them." Jane sighed. "Not with all this other crap going on that's for sure." Maura nodded and adjusted her pillow to mirror Jane's comfortable lounge. "You're still okay talking about that some other time?" She glanced at the blonde a little unsure but relaxed when Maura nodded and met her gaze.

"I think it's for the best." Both women shared the sentiment that they wanted some more time to explore things on their own, and with news of Frank's condition, Jane's work arrangements getting ready to change, and Maura's ever changing, they wanted to make sure they themselves had a bit more stable ground.

"You'll tell me when you don't think so anymore?" She didn't want Maura to walk around feeling like she were living a lie, but she also was not anywhere near ready tell her family about the changes between them.

"I will."

Jane nodded to herself. "First things first when we get back is getting Nina's desk back." She had apparently been "relocated" to ensure the FBI's lead tech Candice Roadhouse had ample "surface room."

Maura sighed. "Yes." Her tone almost professional now. "I truly wonder what is going on."

"There all run a little ragged. I spoke to Korsak yesterday and even he is annoyed."

"Sargent Detective Korsak seldom exhibits symptoms of over activity in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis."

Jane rubbed sleep from her eyes with an amused huff. "Maura."

"Too early?"

"Yeah, too early." She finished rubbing her face. "Let's talk about something else."

Her dimples flared. "What do you prefer we discuss at this hour?"

"Mm." Jane hummed as she grabbed the largest pillow between them with a little smirk. "I wanna talk about how we can get all these pillows out of the way."

Maura found it hard not to smile at her. Jane's voice was of pure mischievousness. "Oh, they're in your way?"

"All night they were in my way, Maura." She groaned as she chucked the sleeping utensils over the side of the bed like she had every single morning Maura tried to make up the bed that she refused to get out of. "I could barely move!"

Maura pointed at her as she got closer. "You're making the bed today."

"I'm not making a hotel bed, this place should give us new beds every morning with how much it was." She tossed another pillow over her shoulder.

"You're making the bed."

Now that the path had been cleared between them Jane gingerly inched her pillow close to Maura's before laying down on it and closing her eyes. "You'd have to hold me at gun point."

"You've disrupted me morning routine all week." She defended only to notice Jane begin to smile more with her eyes closed. "You're proud?"

Jane popped an eye open, Maura was smiling too. "A little." The ME feigned annoyance as she moved to lay on her back and then turned away from Jane completely. "Maauraa." The detective dragged out with a thickness still in her voice from sleep.

"I am ignoring you." She fought a small and unexpected bout of laughter when she felt the pillow under her own head being tugged away. "Jane!" She warned.

Jane sighed dramatically before she scooted closer to the to the other woman and unearthed her right arm from under her pillow so she could wrap it around Maura's upper torso under her breasts just the way she had learned Maura liked to be held most. "Alright, I'll make the bed." The detective mumbled sweetly.

Maura sank back into her best friend and smiled to herself. "I should be suspicious." She thought aloud and could feel the small rumble of muted laughter in Jane's chest pressed against her back. "But I suppose I will have to have faith."

Jane snuggled closer behind her eliminating all space between them. "What does the evidence suggest?"

Feeling the warmth of her breath at the nape of her neck caused Maura to shiver slightly. "That you won't do it."

Jane chuckled again. "I will I will."

"Hm." They fell silence for a long time just enjoying the feeling of being this close after so long. Neither could get over how amazingly natural the intimate embrace felt.

"Are you ready?" Maura finally asked the silent room. She knew Jane was gradually becoming more and more awake with the steadiness of her breath and how the detective buried her face some as if to fight the inevitable.

"I'm gonna need some coffee first." Jane mumbled near Maura's neck again. "Maybe a shot." Maura's silent laughter made Jane smile. "You?"

The ME took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes." She nodded and looked over her shoulder at Jane who picked her head up. "I had a lovely time though."

"Me too, Maur." She blushed a little at the thought of their relationship changing so much in the past week. "Next time we take two weeks."

Maura's features brightened. "I will hold you to that, Detective."

They laid in bed spooning for another half hour or so before Maura excused herself for the restroom. Jane reluctantly let her go and then rolled onto her back to enjoy the last few moments of peace and quiet before life truly began again. She had so many feelings swimming about within her, and she knew all of them were valid. It was now time to fish them out one by one and make sure they all got her attention, and that's how she'd plan the day.

Beginning with the end in mind Jane rolled over to her side of the bed and reached for her cell phone. Maura had turned on the shower, a subtle message to Jane that they were indeed getting up now. After finding the number she was looking for Jane sat up and cleared her throat as the dial tone rang out twice.

"Hello?"

"Ma it's me."

Angela put down her cup of coffee. She had been awake now for an hour or so just sitting thinking about her family. "Hi honey, wow, you're up early."

Jane huffed quietly and glanced to where Maura had been laying. "Maura runs a tight ship." Her mother only chuckled and made an amused noise as if to agree from her own personal experience. "What are you doing?"

"Just sitting with some coffee. What do you want for dinner tomorrow night?"

Jane shrugged. "Gnocchi."

Angela huffed again. Every time she asked Jane always had the same response. "What about tonight?" When are you girls getting in?"

Jane glanced at the clock in the corner of the hotel suite. "We're gonna try and leave after getting lunch with Tasha one last time, but y'know traffic, late probably."

"Well I'll make something light then."

Jane thanked her. "How's your head?"

"Are you calling to check up on me?"

Jane rubbed gently at her less swollen jaw. "I've been thinking about what we talked about… with Pop." She could hear her mother sigh gently. It was a new sort of sound, Jane thought it sounded tired, unable even, and it worried her that her own mother, a woman so full of life and love and energy could make such a noise. "I don't want you to think that I don't support you, Ma. I'm just…"

"You're conflicted honey. I know what it's like to feel that way."

Jane nodded to herself. "Alright, as long as you know that." There was a small pause. "… So when is the next visit?" The fact that he had not decided if he wanted treatment or not was something she couldn't get out of her head.

"Not until Tuesday."

"Well alright.." She picked at the fabric of the bed. "How are you getting there? Ron?"

Angela was quiet a moment. "I could use a ride there."

"Well I'll take you." Jane jumped at the opportunity. Work would be crazy but she wanted her mother not to have to go through all of it alone.

"Oh honey you don't—"

"I want to."

Angela nodded again to herself. "Okay." Her heart swelled for her daughter. Jane had always been such a good girl despite her restlessness. She wondered if Jane remembered the time that she took her to the doctor when she was six. The family car had broken down and was at the shop, so she and Jane got on the bus and headed there that way. At the end of the trip Jane took off her shoes at the front door and announced that when she was older she was going to drive her mother around any where she wanted to go. She then took off to chase Frankie down the hall who had just gathered the know how to wobble on his own let alone run. "Do you remember taking the bus with me when you were little?" She interrupted Jane saying something.

Jane furrowed a brow. "What's that got to do with the Feds?" She had been filling her mother in BPD happenings in explanation for not seeing Frankie or Nina around as much.

Angela picked up her coffee cup. "Oh! How did your big test go?"

Jane sighed and glanced over at the closed bathroom door. She hadn't shared with Maura her recent thoughts on her position with the FBI and didn't want her to overhear something and misunderstand. "It went really good, they said that everything from here on should be a breeze."

"My daughter, a big shot FBI agent."

Jane chuckled despite her frustration with the older woman. "Ma I won't be an agent; I'd just be lecturing."

"Well whatever, it's still amazing honey."

"Thanks, Ma."

"Thank God you're not going up there to live, away from everyone? Could you imagine what getting a frozen lasagna would be like?" Jane imagined she'd never had a frozen lasagna in her life. They talked for a but more about normal things. Angela wanted to know how the weather was there, Jane wanted to know if Tommy had stopped by with TJ recently. "Now I know you want me to butt out but—"

"See Ma, that should be a hint that I'm not going to hear whatever you have to say next."

Angela ignored her. "I went by the station to bring Frankie and Nina some spaghetti, you know a little something since they've been working so much." Jane said nothing "and I met this Davies fellow."

Jane narrowed her gaze at the area in the wall where the luxury flat screen slid down from. "Why?" She asked harsher than really intending to.

"Well he was there Jane what did you want me to do? Be rude?"

She sighed. "Ma c'mon. I thought I sa—"

"So I invited him to Sunday dinner—"

"What!?" Jane sat up quickly. "You didn't… Ma tell me you didn't."

"I thought you liked him?"

Jane growled. "What part of butt out and leave it alone says I like him!?"

"Well I can't un invite him, honey—and what about Joseph Grant, isn't that what you told me about him? You know I saw his mother—"

Jane stood from the bed and began to pace with the phone to her ear. "Yes you can and yes you will, Ma c'mon. It's enough I gotta work with him with the Feds and on my case at BPD, and Maura does—"

"Maura likes him too?"

Jane paused. "What!?"

"Oh…" Angela nodded to herself. "That complicates things." Jane swore under her breath. "What did you just say?"

"Nothing Ma. Nothing, just uninvite him."

"I don't have his number." She reasoned.

Jane felt like pulling her hair out. "How do you invite someone over—to not even your own home by the way— and not have their phone number Ma?"

"I don't know why you are getting so agitated honey, It's just dinner here and—"

"Why can't you just mind your own business!?"

"You are my business, excuse me for not wanting my only daughter to die alone."

Jane huffed at how quickly she could turn on the drama. "Ma!"

"You and Maura need to talk it out if you both like him, he's seems very nice, but it's not worth you girls getting into another big thing about." Angela sat back with her coffee and nodded at her advice. "You two have been through much more than some guy, Anyway wasn't Maura seeing somoni anyway?"

Jane sat back down on the bed with her head in her hand. "Sometimes I wish I were adopted."

"Don't you say that. Do you know what—"

Jane exhaled slowly in efforts to calm herself down as Angela went on. "Ma…Ma." She interrupted. "I'm hanging up"

"I'll make gnocchi."

Jane nodded and hung up the phone. She sat there momentarily stupefied at how things always happened to her. Now what? Her plans to talk to her brothers about their father had to take a momentary backseat so she could run proper interference from Davies getting any ideas about this being some kind of gestures to rekindle things, and to make matters worse her mother thought she and Maura both liked him. While she on some level did or at least found him attractive enough to sleep with she was pretty certain Maura rather not have anything to do with him.

Especially now that they were…

Monogamous.

It was almost like inviting Jack to dinner randomly.

Just the thought made Jane feel a surge of upset muddled with annoyance. She had no idea what it would feel like now to sit across from the guy who used to have sex with Maura and she didn't want to put Maura though finding out either.

Just as Jane was about to call Davies and uninvite him herself the bathroom door opened and Jane looked up to find Maura stepping out with a thin hotel towel wrapped around her body and darkened wet hair sticking to her neck.

"I believe water pressure is severely under valued in Boston. State legislation has a municipal—oh," Maura froze when she noticed Jane sitting on the foot of the hotel bed staring directly at her. Perhaps this may have been a step too familiar.

"…Yeah." Jane swallowed trying to level her suddenly heavy chin so she could look at the ME's face and not her legs or the soft beads of water that slid down them.

Maura began to blush. "I just needed to grab my blow dryer."

Jane nodded quickly and cleared her throat. "Yeah it's um…" She had no idea where her goddamn blow dryer was. "Somewhere here." But she stood and tossed her cell phone on the bed behind her as she tried to be helpful by fumbling through some drawers she had seen Maura open before when doing her hair.

"Jane that—" Jane's eyes widened a little when she opened a particular drawer to find very colorful and lacy lingerie innocently looking back up at her. Maura held back a chuckle as she tried to finish her sentence. "…I don't believe I put it in there."

"No." Jane nodded as sensibly as she could under the current circumstances. She closed the drawer quickly and opened another. "I don't know why you unpacked everything like you're moving in." She criticized out of pure flustratiion.

Maura was smiling. "I do not like to live out of my suitcase."

Jane waved a hand at her underwear drawer. "Well it's just anyone can y'know…Room service or…" She opened another drawer and sighed with relief when she found the ME's blow-dryer with its cord rolled up neatly against it. "Here." Maura came over to her and they both looked at each other as Jane handed it over.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

They stared at each other a second more before Maura dipped her chin slightly. "Can you take a look when we return?" She raised a brow subtly. "I don't think the unit has been properly serviced in some time."

Jane's mouth went dry. "At…" If her brain was ever going to earn it's keep around here it needed to start acting and now. "Your water pressures?"

Maura nodded slowly never letting Jane's eyes go. "Yes."

"I can take a look at it." Jane nodded a few times. "…Yeah."

"Wonderful." The intensity of her gaze lightened as she smiled at Jane's expression and turned to head back toward the suite's bathroom.

Jane watched her and her towel leave before looking around the room a little lost.

What had she even been doing?

##

TJ giggled at the reluctant grin on his father's face as he wriggled around reciting his favorite Saturday morning cartoon theme song as he was being helped into his tiny sweatpants.

Tommy shook his head. "C'mon now, enough dancin' your mom is gonna kill me if I don't have you ready by the time she shows up." He stilled the younglings hips with a simple movement and TJ giggled more. "If you don't stop dancin' I'm gonna have to tickle you again." He threatened in a deeper voice.

"No!" TJ continued his jig while looking up at his father with playful eyes.

"And I'm callin' Uncle Frankie to help me and your auntie Janie to help me too!" The boy stilled immediately not so tough now are ya huh?" Tommy laughed a little.

"I'm too wittle to tickle all of you back Daddy." TJ reasoned.

Tommy nodded thoughtfully as he was finally able to adjust his waistband properly. "You got a real point there little man."

TJ stood in between his father's legs holding onto his knees as he patiently waited to be let go. For a moment, father and son shared a silent exchange before curiosity got the best of the youngest Rizzoli. "Daddy when I'm gonna give Auntie Mauwa her book?"

Tommy laughed as he sat upright to find the little boy's socks he had just sat beside himself in preparation. "When she comes back from New York, Bud."

"When's dat?"

"Sunday I think—"

"—Sunway!?"

"You even know what day of the week that is?"

TJ grew thoughtful. No, he wasn't one hundred percent. "Not weally."

"Well it's soon, alright? Lift these little piggies."

TJ lifted his left foot to help it into his sock. "Bu…I wan show Auntie Mawra my new books too." Somehow he wasn't sure that'd be possible at this rate, Sunday could be next year for all he knew, and he already lost one of them at school.

"Well you can't show her now 'cause she's not here TJ." Tommy explained patiently as he worked.

"Bu-how come?"

He sighed in relief when the second sock took seconds less than the first. If they continued at this pace, he'd be ready for Lydia to swing by to take him to daycare. "—Cause Buddy they wanted to go somewhere and have adventures." Suddenly the front door knocked. "Alright that's your Ma huh? Remember what I said?"

TJ grinned and nodded happily. "I'm gon' be good."

"Alright thanks dude." Tommy jumped up from his son's height and quickly took stock of his appearance. He checked his breath and straightened out his shirt as he approached the door and tried not to look as tired as he truly was. Kids were hard work, and he had actual work in about an hour. How did people have more than one of these?

Lydia Sparks smiled timidly when the door opened. She was clad in her Penny Saver uniform; a hideous skirt, stocking, and blouse get-up with big pockets and funny imperfect box faces dancing around her name tag. To Thomas Rizzoli though, she could have been wearing a box for all he cared, she was smiling at him, and it felt like getting to eat ice cream before dinner.

"Hi Tommy."

"Hi… Lydia." Was what he managed out.

She dipped her chin almost shyly. "Can I come in?"

"Wha in here?" He tossed a thumb over his shoulder. "I uh.. no I didn't think you'd wanna so I didn't… it's not the cleanest place y'know two men living here and all…" He cleared his throat. "Yeah yeah." He stepped aside and watched as TJ bolted up from the play carpet in the living room where he was sitting fiddling with his dinosaur backpack and watching his parents intently.

"Mommy!"

"Oh Hi honey!" Lydia gushed as she immediately dropped to her knees to receive his hug. "You've gotten so big!"

TJ giggled at all the little kisses she was planting on his face. "No I didn't!"

Tommy closed the door behind them and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "You want a chocolate milk or something?"

She looked up at him from her spot on the ground with their toddler's arms still wrapped around her neck. "Ok."

Tommy nodded and quickly made his way into his cramped kitchen and opened the refrigerator to find it mostly empty besides a four-pack case of Pedialyte and some leftover noodles he made TJ the other night for dinner. "Damn." He cursed before checking in a cabinet and finding the boxed chocolate milk case sitting tipped over with two cartons left in it. He quickly grabbed them and made his way triumphantly into the living room. "Maura was telling me about these for TJ, lots of soy and stuff."

Lydia was still seated on the ground with their son but she smiled at Tommy again. "Soy? I thought it was made of silk?"

Tommy shrugged but then chuckled when he caught TJ trying to shrug his little shoulders in a similar fashion. "Hey copycat."

Lydia took the warm box of soy chocolate milk from his outstretched hand and regarded their son. "He wants to do everything you do." She looked over at Tommy. "Hopefully not everything."

Tommy shifted. "Yeah…"

"Mommy let me open for you!"

Lydia handed the little boy the milk cartoon and stood to sit beside Tommy on the couch. "How are the meetings?"

He nodded some. "Good, good… you know all that talking has me thinking and… it's good." Lydia studied him carefully in an expression that made her look a little ill, but mostly concerned around the eyes. "I mean now.." Tommy looked back to his hands. "Now I gotta find a new place to go to, cause of this thing with Pop."

Lydia scooted back into the sofa and looked ahead as well. TJ was still trying to figure out the chocolate milk box straw's plastic wrapping. "You know that I didn't—" She began.

"—I know." They looked at each other. "I know that," Tommy nodded. "That's why I didn't say anything to you."

"I didn't know what to think, Tommy. When I got that message… I was afraid if you found out that you would…."

"Start drinking again?" He looked at her squarely. "I told you 'bout that Lydia." He motioned to TJ. "He's too important to me."

The room fell quiet for a long time as the two looked at one another, the smallest of sounds of plastic and toddler noises passed between them before Lydia blushed some. Tommy had the most intense eyes; she hardly knew what to do underneath their gaze. This was a serious question though, one that she had rehearsed on the way over six times; there was no more room for mistakes, no more room for apologies.

"Am I still important to you, Tommy?"

"I love you..." He cleared his throat a little and looked back to their son playing. "That aint never going to change."

Lydia looked at her hands. "I need to be sure you mean it Tommy Rizzoli." She had already been down this road with her mother, she was not going to do it again, could not do it again. "You… can't just say things like that and not mean it."

Tommy looked over at her features, and noticed with a heaviness, that they looked saddened to hear his confession. "Whatever it takes to show you." He waited for her to look at him. "I can be… " He swallowed hard not expecting a sudden surge of emotion wrestle within him. "Important to you too. If you let me try."

##

"Can we ensure that this perimeter here is covered?" Cameron motioned to a map of lower Boston and nodded at his peers. "I just have a feeling there is something there we haven't seen."

"What if we are triangulating this incorrectly?" A meek looking man with an FBI lanyard around his neck and a windbreaker on spoke up. "Perhaps this unsub met our recruit somewhere here." He motioned the butt of his dry erase marker to another water front neighborhood not too far away, "I know it doesn't match victimology of the murders but whoever has the brains enough to organize such an operation has to have had some higher education, the mean in this area of Boston is a Master's degree."

"Zepp's got a point." Another spoke up.

Davies nodded. "Good, let's break apart to—hold on." Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed Jane's younger brother walking down the hall toward the elevators with Segment Detective Korsak. "Detective Rizzoli!" He called from the huddle of agents.

Korsak and Frankie stopped and looked at one another before Frankie made his way over to the huddle. "What's up?"

"You grew up in Dorchester, right?"

"Revere." Frankie looked between Davies and the other special agents and then nodded. "Not too far off though, down there by Liberty avenue, why?"

"Well I need help, and I think it might be a good idea to get the lay of the land from a native. Will you ride with me to our last crime scene? We may be able to get a better radius and faster with you behind the wheel."

"Yeah…" he agreed suspiciously. "Korsak and I were going to head into Southie but… I can take you around I guess." He pointed at the gaggle of agents standing behind Davies now giving him the once over. "They coming too?"

Davies chuckled and shook his head no. "Give me five minutes?"

##

Maura watched Jane pump gas into their rental car fondly from behind rolled up windows. She looked as if she had been holding in how tired she was, and in a perceived moment of solitude finally let her facial muscles relax into their age as she watched the prices on the digital screen tick upward as she filled the car with fuel.

There intension was to have already been home by now, but the two had made the decision to forgo an early arrival home for a few more hours of vacation. After getting breakfast in Soho and walking around the city sight seeing they took a train into Queens again to visit The Museum of the Moving Image and have lunch with Tasha at an Indian restaurant she had been raving about a few days before. After that they had to pick up Maura's case of wine at the Union Square Farmer's Market, and then grab the rental car. They hadn't left the hotel until late in the evening and by that time both women had joked that they needed a nap. It was now a quarter to midnight, and they were stopping one last time to fill the tank up with gas before getting into Boston proper.

Maura opened the door just enough to startle Jane into looking at her as she pumped gas. "The University of Waterloo conduced a study last year that promotes the idea that standing for thirty minutes out of each hour promotes healthy bones and cardiovascular function." The doctor explained as she slipped out of the vehicle and wrapped her arms around herself as the eager night chill she had previously been immune to surprised her.

"Maura you're gonna freeze." Jane tried as the ME came to stand where she was pumping gas.

"Would you like me to drive the remainder of the way?" She waved away Jane shrugging out of her jacket. "You seem tired."

Jane nodded in thanks as she removed the gas pump nozzle from their sedan. "I know you don't like driving at night." She returned the nozzle to the pump.

"It is only because my visual acuity is at it's best with natural light."

Jane was putting her credit card in her wallet now. "Maybe I just need a coffee."

"What time do you want to return the rental?"

"I would have liked to turn it in when we got in." Maura was already shaking her head at the plan. "I know." Jane motioned to the small convenience store beside the gas station. "You need anything?"

"I'll come with you."

"To stop me from ordering coffee?" Jane joked as she checked to make sure the car was locked.

"To purchase water and use the restroom." She gave Jane a look and the detective smiled. "I've retired the idea that you will take any advice regarding your caffeine consumption four years ago."

Jane chuckled to herself. "If I didn't have coffee in my life Maura I don't know what I'd be doing. It's the Italian in me." She defended as they walked the graveled path toward the well lit "Food Shoppe". Jane stepped a half pace ahead when a balding man with several biker gang affiliation tattoo stepped out of the convenience store and eyed them before lighting his cigarette.

"Do you know him?" Maura asked in whisper before they crossed paths.

Jane shook her head no as she stepped to Maura's left to put herself between them. "Seems like he knows me though." As they approached the front of the Food Shoppe Jane made no sign of fear by staring directly at the older man and the biker made no effort to avert his eyes either.

"Nice night." He commented between drags of his Newport once the two came into earshot. "Where you and your little blonde headed to?"

"No where with you. Keep it moving Buddy." Jane answered as she let Maura pass her to head into the store.

The biker took another long drag from his cigarette and smiled a toothless smile at Jane. "Bet I could show you girls a good time, strap on not included." He grabbed his groin with his free hand and Jane sneered.

Jane glared at the biker. "Watch your mouth." She growled suddenly, arage boiling under her skin within seconds.

The biker chuckled before spitting on the ground directly beside Jane and squaring up his stance to directly match hers. He was significantly taller than her and had a frame that best could be described as truck like. "Or what?"

"Jane." Maura was holding the convenient store door open. "It isn't worth it."

Jane glanced behind her before giving the biker one more dirty look before turning her back to him and joining Maura at the entrance. Behind them she could make out the biker throwing one last vulgar cheap shot before the bell attached to the door closing rang him out. Without acknowledging Maura's worried look Jane ignored her and made her way toward the coffee pot in the corner of the bodega and began making herself a coffee. Maura straightened up and watched the taller woman's posture a moment before deciding to let it slide. After a rather dubious examination of the facilities toilets but having no other option Maura returned to the floor in a state mild distress to find Jane sipping a coffee and looking at baseball cards incased in the display window underneath the assorted candy stand. She had lost her entire collection in the fire Alice Sans fire but hadn't showed any interest in rebuilding it. Maura wouldn't know where to begin if she were to even surprise the other woman, but at least this was some sort of evidence she would appreciate the gesture.

"Ready?" The detective asked when she looked up to find Maura applying another coat of hand sanitizer to her hands.

"Yes." As they left Maura noticed Jane scan the parking lot for the biker. "He really upset you." She observed genuinely surprised.

Jane looked over at her as they neared the rental. "I didn't like what he said, Maura that's all." She was hoping it would be enough.

"Because it was about needing an artificial phallus?"

Jane unlocked the car with the key fob once they were a few feet away and got into the driver's seat with her coffee. "Sure." It was curt and whether she intended it or not it jabbed the air between them.

"It was grotesque." Maura agreed as she got into the passenger seat and immedicably reached for her shawl to place over her shoulders while the car's heater adjusted to being turned on. "it isn't like you to let other's words bother you like this."

Jane had put her coffee down between them and was buckling her seatbelt. "Guy's lucky I wasn't on duty."

"And then what would you have done? Arrested him for harassing us?"

Jane was in the middle of exhaling. "Yeah." Maura chuckled. "It's not funny Maura." She retorted sharply which earned them both a heavy silence.

"What is the matter, Jane?" Maura asked pointedly.

Jane pit both hands on the wheel and shook her head at herself. Maura was right she could get a little involved, but that usually only pertained to her work. Usually she'd let stuff like this just roll off her shoulders, because she had prospective. "I'm tired." She answered before looking over at her best friend. "He had no right to talk about you like that, not in front of me."

Maura nodded slowly to show she was trying to understand. "He won't be the only person with an opinion on what we do or do not do." Jane looked out her own window a moment as she processed. She didn't like this feeling, She didn't like the swell of discomfort reality brought to her gut. Jane was used to reality, in homicide you saw every dark corner of it's face, but this discomfort was different. This took the brightest part of her day, her intimate most feelings, and made them a mockery, and she didn't like it. "You need to be able to be comfortable with that." Maura added.

"How am I going to be comfortable with some asshole grabbing his junk in front of you?" She rose an eyebrow at the ME. "Seriously?"

"What I mean is that you have to be clear that this a classic expression of heteronormative insecurities and this person's particular mindset, but it most certainly is not mine, or yours, or anyone who's opinion we truly value."

Jane started the car. "Yeah well maybe I'm not that evolved." She muttered. "He's lucky he walked away with all four of his teeth."

The next hour of the drive was spent in silence.

By the time Jane pulled up to another gas station to refill the tank it was one in the morning, her leg muscles had grown tight from inactivity and her mind was fuzzed by too much caffeine and a lack of sleep. She put the car in park, unbuckled her seatbelt, and tilted her head back against the head rest as she rubbed her eyes. "Maura wake up, I'm getting gas." She yawned into her hands before bringing them lazily to her lap. "Maura." Jane looked over to her right. When she got no response. Maura was curled up against the door fast asleep. The ride back wasn't exactly what she was hoping for them, and instead of apologizing for being so knuckle headed over some random biker she sat stubbornly in her position and let too much time pass before saying what she really felt. Jane reached down to the floorboard where the ME's shawl had fallen off her lap and put it back where it had been before resting a hand on Maura's leg and shaking it a little. "Maura." Maura opened her eyes and immodesty found Jane's. Their hazel confusion made the detective smile a little. "We made it to Toronto in time to check in." She tried seriously. They hadn't wanted to leave the city at all and when the time had finally come Maura proposed Canada instead of Boston in time to catch the annual Neuroscience Expo being hosted there this week.

"We're in Canada?" She asked cutely before blinking and looking around at their surroundings. "This looks like a gas station."

Jane pulled her hand away and nodded. "Yeah huh? I guess I missed a turn somewhere." Maura looked over at her and they smiled gently at one another. "Sorry for being an ass." She shared softly. Maura adjusted herself to sit up some. "It's…" She shrugged. "Hard to explain."

"Would you like to try?"

Jane exhaled. "Remember how we said things were familiar, and that that was good?" Maura nodded. "Some things… are not at all and I guess…I guess I needed a moment to figure out how I'd react to stupid stuff like that."

"You've never reacted like that before."

Jane nodded. "Never felt that way before either."

Maura sat up fully as her brain examined the situation again. "Has my value somehow changed?" She asked without intention, she was genuinely curious. Jane had always been quick to defend her family and friends, and yes at times she could lose a bit of her cool, but she was a passionate woman. Earlier Maura knew that something viscerally was wrong, and that the detective was even surprised at how quickly she wanted to throttle the biker, she was uncomfortable in her anger and Maura wanted to know why.

Jane took her time to respond. "I dunno Maura, you've always been one of the most important people to me.." She shied up. "Now I guess that's a little different right?"

The ME nodded. "I feel very safe with you." She touched Jane's arm. "A man with below average standards of hygiene and anatomically inaccurate skeletal tattoos doesn't change that."

Jane let out an amused breath. "I was worried." She joked.

Maura smiled back. "A part of me believes you were."

They settled into a comfortable space again and Jane let herself relax fully into her seat before considering an alternative scenario. "If he touched you—"

Maura let her head roll against the head rest to look at her best friend. Jane's soulful brown eyes were playful but her jaw was set in seriousness. "Permission granted to break a proximal phalange."

"I'm hoping that means face in Latin."

Maura smiled "It doesn't."

AN: Oh man, this chapter was so the drama to upload. Let's just say that due to technical difficulties I've had to re-write this chapter completely by memory at least once. Then Maura was all wrong, and then Jane was all wrong, and then that meant I had to re-watch season three. (One of my favorite seasons of the show) Anyway not the longest of updates but I hope you're all still here and all still enjoying. Please review!

KathleenDee