After Jane left Paris, Maura's creative juices for writing were sullen and morose. The words were flowing but her editor was not too pleased with the result- at first. The more Maura wrote, the more her feelings bled into the story; her experiences and thoughts were starting to appear in her characters. The more her thoughts appeared, the more the editors began to be enthralled.

"Maura your last chapter was amazing." Cora raved as she spoke to Maura over the phone. "I could literally feel your character's agony and inner turmoil."

"Really? I started wanting to vent and process some things that have been bothering me lately and I was afraid it would start manifesting in my characters. Agent Josephine Dean had done something very mature, she just left being an Agent in the field to become an instructor and Moira has been thrown for a loop. Moira thought Josephine loved her job, although dangerous. I wanted Moira to evaluate those feelings and her friendship with Josephine and how it would be affected by Josephine's choice. Psychologically one might determine that this is an immersion in a completely abstract simulation." Maura explained.

"Sounds complicated, but it works. If you keep going, at this rate- you may have your first book published by the end of the year!" As Cora excitedly relayed. "The tension between them and that classic trope 'will they' or 'won't they' is exquisite torture."

"Yeah I was concerned about that too. I am wary to smooth out their friendship as if they are this unbreakable duo. Distance can break any strong bond." Maura agreed.

"Well yeah, but also when are they going to kiss already!" Cora exclaimed exasperated.

"I, I, I don't think we are reading the same story Cora, are you sure you got the correct attachment in the email." Maura responded, lifting the lid of her laptop on her desk by the bed. Opening up her mail client she searched the sent folder for what she had sent Cora last night. It was what she expected.

"Maura, you aren't intentionally writing that chemistry between Josephine and Maura.. I mean Moira? Seriously? Don't you read how head over heels they are for each other?" the editor tried to glean from Maura's end of the phone any kind of joking that Maura could be doing. She didn't hear any. Cora's brows ruffled and her thoughts wandered. "You have to get those two together, for the reader's sake."

"Well actually they are straight. They are just really great friends. Soul mates even." Maura corrected.

"Maura you can't tell me that some coworkers share beds with one another in their moment of need? Friend's sure - but on top of that I would never die for my friend, just so you know." Cora ranted.

"She didn't die, she just jumped in front of a fired bullet to protect her out of instinct and got injured." Maura countered matter-of-factly.

Cora sighed again and typed notes to the side of the copy she was editing. "Well you really need to write them a little less enthralled in each other then because this is really confusing."

"I'll work on that. I'm thinking about bringing back some of Moira's colleagues from medical school or even somebody in her past she even eloped with and promptly annulled marriage to. Moira was quite the feminist and activist in her day. She had some wild oats to sew and some pretty impulsive moments. She had a nudist phase for quite a bit of her early twenties."

"Ha! That's really hard to believe. Moira just seems like a very no nonsense medical professional with her wildest moment being smoking some weed at home, after a particularly hard day at the FBI Laboratory." the young editor grinned while picturing that very scene with that character.

"Actually Moira smoked some weed in the lab - with one of her employees." Maura pondered what she had just said, too much of her life was bleeding into this story and it was too easy to pull from, but she realized she may need to be careful.

Cora's jaw dropped. "No frickin way!"

Maura's cell phone buzzed and she noticed the origin caller as Jane. "I apologize Cora, I have to take this call." She didn't wait for a response and switched to the other call.

"Jane?" Maura answered the phone eager to hear her friend's voice.

"Hey Maur, I landed and I'm sweating my ass off here. Paris' summer is milder. Look I'm sorry about what I was joking about on the bridge. I think I'd just been in shock that you never told me you had been married."

"No offense taken Jane."

"Honestly I can't imagine that Maura. Though I wish I could have known Maura the mauler." Jane smiled thoughtfully.

"I was young and carefree then, and really focused on gender equality. Aspects of lack of logic really fire me up. I'm actually surprised you never had some wild oats to sew or reckless moments given that you are such a daredevil in your field." the writer questioned.

"Don't try to change the subject on me Maur, your life was much more interesting than someone who went into law enforcement at age twenty. We usually avoid misdemeanors when we can." Jane commented sarcastically. "Especially those of the nude horseback riding variety." Jane spoke with a hushed side whisper.

"Actually more interesting was likely Edward and I's romp after the shotgun wedding. There was a suite he had reserved while completely drunk and it ended up being a red room." Maura began.

"Maura! Stop! No, thank you I don't feel like hear.." Jane protested, physically placing one finger in one of her ears while still listening with the other hoping her friend would stop.

Maura continued likely not hearing "You see Jane, in the book Fifty Shades.."

"Stop! Maura don't I can't hear you...na na na nanaa..oh look it's Cameron, got to go, I'll tak to you tomorrow after my first day!"

"Honestly Jane you really are childish when it comes to intimacy and sexual intercourse." The medical examiner droned on despite the dark haired woman's protest even after Jane pressed the button to hang up.

The blond miffed, that her friend hung up mid sentence, started to text Jane.

"Really Jane?" she typed angrily.

"Gross, Really Maur?" Jane typed furiously back.

"Grow up."

"I'm not the one who had a shotgun wedding. ;)"

Maura couldn't stay mad at her.

"Fine, I'll talk to you tomorrow." Placing the phone down she clicked open the scrapbook she made on her laptop and scrolled through the pictures. She landed on the divorce party. In the picture of her and Edward she also saw Jane to the left of her in the front of the fridge getting a beer.

That shotgun wedding and hotel red room sure was a story Maura hadn't shared often. Maura barely ever told stories of her past. Especially that part of her life. It really didn't match her professional persona, plus Jane only ever really knew socially awkward friend Maura - not wild and sexually uninhibited Maura, who sometimes occasionally wrestled. Not to mention Jane was extremely prudish whenever Maura even started to talk about anything even minutely sexual.

Edward was a really sweet guy and an amazing Philanthropist. Tilly really thought Maura was bad influence for her son and she didn't blame her at all. It felt really awkward to hear someone question her about Edward and call him Mr. Isles. That seemed really foreign and incorrect to her ears. She analyzed the thought of being married now. She tried to reconcile her persona now with Maura the mauler. She giggled to herself envisioning the ridiculous sequined singlet and then laughed out loud imagining Jane's response to such a view, especially when Jane describes her fencing lame as making her look like a large tampon. She was so glad she didn't tell Jane that is what it was called, otherwise she would have field day with that.

Her hotel room phone rang and she lifted it to answer. "Dr Isles. We have a Monsieur Dunn calling, shall I connect him?"

Maura smiled having just reminisced and was eager to ensure that their divorce was recorded in legal records, but it was surprising he would reach out by phone. "Absolument merci."

After a few minutes the line static emerged.

"Maura?"

"Edward? How can I help you?"

AN: read, review, repeat ;)