Five days later, they got a call about another body.

It was the first time that it happened while they were having sex.

Morning sex, to be precise. Monday morning sex. Something that Jane was unexpectedly enthusiastic about, given her well-advertised feelings about the concept of mornings otherwise. Jane was firmly on the record as unwilling to do just about anything before her first coffee of the day, but the exception, it would seem, was Maura.

She'd do Maura before her first coffee no problem.

Maura herself had always been a morning person so being gently roused well before her alarm by soft, hot, openmouthed kisses against her throat and chest was entirely welcome. Each morning, Maura would quietly hum her approval and before she could even open her eyes to the day, she'd feel Jane's weight on top of her and Jane's knee pressing insistently between her legs.

Maura had not been out for her morning jog in a week but she was fairly certain she was nonetheless hitting her quotas for cardiovascular exercise.

That morning Jane had clearly woken particularly keen because Maura was stirred out of her slumber by the insistent press of something else entirely. Her confusion was fleeting and she smiled as she remembered the night before: she had surprised Jane with an undoubtedly excessive collection of toys she'd ordered online the previous week, right after Jane had so thoroughly worked her over with the strap she already owned. While Maura was hardly the type to be upset that those items had previously been used with other women, she did think it prudent to have a selection available at both their homes. She was also very curious to experience the wide range of options and configurations available to those who chose store bought over homemade. It was a scientific pursuit, essentially. A very enjoyable one.

To Maura's relief, Jane had nothing negative to say about Maura dropping hundreds of dollars on sex toys. Whether it was as a result of their conversation about money when they'd gone suit shopping or just a response to the sheer amount of possibility laid out in front of Jane, it didn't really matter to Maura. They'd gotten started right away, with Jane selecting a dildo better designed for both their pleasure. Maura didn't engage in much scorekeeping in the bedroom but it had still gratified her that, for the first time in the week and a half that they'd been together, Jane came more times than Maura.

As Maura reached behind herself and ran her fingers studiously along the length of silicone that was currently pressed against her, she realized that the morning's selection was very much about her pleasure. After that first night at Jane's apartment, Maura had been left with a renewed appreciation for the classics, so to speak. She'd put a lot of research into her purchases, and after an hour of reading reviews she'd selected a model she was very optimistic would provide her exactly the kind of pressure and friction she needed to make the missionary position as enjoyable as it was romantic.

Between the choice of toy, the still very early morning light streaming in through her windows, and the way that she was being kissed along her shoulders, Maura could tell that Jane intended to take her apart slowly. Jane wrapped an arm around Maura's waist and eased her onto her back and Maura, still only barely awake, was more than happy to be guided into place. Their early morning sex was when she found herself feeling the softest, when she was most willing to submit to whatever Jane wanted, which was easy since what Jane wanted was only ever to make Maura feel good. Her limbs were slack and still heavy with sleep as Jane moved into place on top of her, one hand dipping between Maura's legs to caress softly, fingertips gently parting her to stroke her clit. Maura stretched languorously, lifting herself into Jane's hand and raising her rear off the bed just enough for Jane to push a pillow beneath her. She settled back comfortably, her eyes still mostly closed as she heard the quiet click of a bottle cap and the slick sound of Jane's wet hand running along the length of the toy.

As she continued to leisurely attend to Maura's clit, Jane pressed two fingers of her other hand, now wet with lube, against Maura. Maura shifted her hips upward, encouragingly, and Jane slipped inside easily. Maura exhaled slowly as Jane's fingers quickly disappeared into her, luxuriating in the feeling before finally opening her eyes fully. She smiled at Jane.

"Always so ready for me," Jane murmured, sliding out and in oh so smoothly, to illustrate her point. Maura grinned, stretched again, pushed herself lazily against Jane's hand.

"Good morning to you too, darling."

Maura really hadn't been planning on dropping a pet name but it slipped out instinctively, catching them both by surprise. Jane went still for a moment and Maura watched as the corner's of Jane's eyes crinkled just slightly.

"'Darling,' huh?" Jane drawled, removing her fingers and shifting her position to bring the head of the toy against Maura instead. "We decided against 'babe?'"

Maura drew in an anticipatory breath as the toy settled against her, then looked up at Jane with momentary confusion. She remembered their brief relationship roleplay in Giovanni's garage and expelled a short laugh.

"If you don't like it, I can—"

Jane cut her off by sinking the full length of the strap into her, converting the rest of Maura's sentence into a long, wordless groan. Maura's hands flew up and around Jane, fingertips digging into the taut, lean muscles of her back.

"I like it," Jane said softly and leaned down to press a deep kiss to Maura's lips. She remained still, her pelvis flush against Maura's, offering the time needed to adjust to the intrusion. Maura's research had not been in vain because the toy was perfect. It settled inside of her exactly as she'd hoped and she conveyed her approval by returning Jane's hungry kisses. She felt decadently full, the stretch around the base offering the exact test of her limits she'd wanted. It was like she and Jane had slotted into place like pieces of wood in Japanese carpentry, designed to fit together without the aid of hardware or adhesive.

Knowing Jane wouldn't proceed without a signal, Maura squeezed her thighs against Jane's hips. Without breaking their kiss, Jane began to rock her body into Maura's, setting a slow and persistent rhythm. The strap pressed and dragged all the places it was needed, and Maura moaned unreservedly into Jane's mouth, having become very aware of how much Jane liked it when she did.

It seemed absurd to Maura that she'd ever been upset about not being the first woman in Jane's bed. It was almost as if Jane had done an accelerated learning program before getting together with Maura, like she had completed her certificate in Sex with Women in record time and was now ready to apply her skills practically. This was a stupid analogy, but an accurate one. Of course, had Maura indeed been Jane's first, she was certain it would have been terribly romantic. Without a doubt, they would have both enjoyed the journey of learning their way together, but the version of events where Jane showed up and right away gave Maura the best sex of her life was better. If it wouldn't have been so gauche she might've sent out a few gift baskets.

Jane, who knew exactly what she was doing, had woken them up with enough time that nothing had to be rushed. The sun was still barely up and they moved together with a sensuous cadence, building something slowly and haphazardly, taking gluttonous detours and indulging in various side quests. When Maura eventually grew impatient, she sucked a deep bruise into Jane's chest, one that ensured she'd have to button up her shirts all week. Jane retaliated by rolling her hips in a rhythm intended to keep Maura on the brink, just irregular enough to keep the pressure from building, just steady enough to make her beg.

Maura was about to do just that when the ringing began. First Jane's phone, then hers. Jane swore effusively while Maura groaned in utter dismay and instinctively grasped at Jane, trying in vain to hold on to what she knew had to end.

"Don't go," Maura sighed as her arms slid from around Jane's shoulders, falling back against the bed in a gesture of forfeit. She meant it but she didn't; it was just something she had to say, to acknowledge their loss. But she looked up to find a stormy look on Jane's face that told another story, one of a challenge issued and accepted. Before Maura could fully process it, Jane was on her knees between Maura's legs and hauling Maura's ass into her to keep the entire length of the toy deep inside her.

Maura gasped, her legs wrapping around Jane's waist on instinct. Jane leaned forward, effectively pinning Maura into the mattress, and reached for her phone without making any attempt to withdraw. Maura's mouth went dry as she realized what was about to happen.

"Jane. Jane. You cannot speak to dispatch while you're still inside me. Oh my god. Are you listening to me? Ja—"

Phone firmly in hand, Jane abruptly pressed her palm tight over Maura's mouth, converting the rest of her name into a muffled whine while also foiling any possible attempt to sit up. Jane answered the call.

"Rizzoli."

Maura's eyes nearly bugged out at how composed Jane sounded. The detective's voice betrayed nothing. She delivered her name in the same gruff, clipped tone she always did, all while her hips once again pumped away, delivering short, hard strokes that still managed to touch something deep inside Maura.

To her immediate embarrassment, Maura found herself outrageously turned on by the unprofessional conduct. She had been since the moment Jane reached for her phone. Her own phone continued to ring on the other side of the bed, far out of her reach. Dispatch wouldn't leave a voicemail—the operators were trained to just hang up and call again until the phone was answered. Eventually, if they couldn't reach her after a certain number of calls, they'd try another medical examiner. Maura wasn't actually sure how many calls it took because she'd never missed more than two in a row.

"Mhm. Body. North Point Park on the path by the water. Got it."

Jane shifted her hand from its place, but only to press two fingers against Maura's lips instead. Maura suppressed a moan and opened her mouth, dutifully taking Jane's fingers all the way down to the first knuckle. Her eyelids fluttered as she pressed her tongue along the length of Jane's fingers, tasting the way the odd sweetness of the lube mixed with her own arousal.

Jane had figured out almost too easily that Maura had a bit of an oral fixation in bed. With previous lovers, the first few weeks had always been fun, but had typically involved a fair amount of trial and error to figure out what works. With Jane, there had been an initial shock over finding out that Jane wasn't a prude, and from then on it seemed like every instinct they had about the other was immediately proven correct, revealing a hidden or unexplored desire.

Clearly, Jane was banking on that now and she wasn't wrong, either.

Jane was, unbelievably, all business, assertively relaying some instructions on how she wanted CSR to treat the scene. By all accounts she was entirely unaffected by Maura's tongue wrapping itself wantonly around her fingers, her lips pursing as she sucked and lathed eagerly. Maura was both relieved at how well Jane could keep her composure and incensed that she couldn't get a rise out of her. Maura bit down gently and was rewarded with a hard buck of Jane's hips. In the distant recesses of her mind, Maura noted that this was an unusually involved call from dispatch. Her phone had stopped ringing briefly, but then it started up again.

"Oh thanks, Diane," Jane said breezily. Through her haze, Maura could see that Jane was pressing her finger over the receiver of her phone every time she wasn't speaking. She watched Maura carefully as she kept driving into her, keeping a steady and maddening pace. "Yeah, it was a long time coming."

Maura rolled her eyes. Jane pulled her fingers free from Maura's mouth and the smug grin as Maura lifted her head to chase after them was Jane's only outward reaction. Maura's head fell back against the pillow and she watched Jane hungrily, no longer even offering the pretense that she wasn't enjoying this. Without words, she gave herself over and her silent communication must have been crystal clear, because Jane dropped her hand to Maura's neck and watched carefully as Maura sucked in a sharp breath.

Maura knew, despite the growing ache deep inside her, she should put a stop to this. It was inappropriate at best , but the lurch in her stomach as soon as she felt Jane's hand come to rest over her throat emptied her brain of any objections. She could hear the sound of their union grow even wetter at just the thought of what Jane was silently suggesting. Beyond shame, beyond caring, she writhed beneath Jane and nodded her consent.

Jane's hands were large and her fingers were long, she could easily reach the carotid artery on either side of Maura's neck without putting any pressure against her windpipe. She stroked her fingers against Maura's throat until she shivered.

This element of their sex life, accidentally discovered then thoroughly researched, was something Maura had never done with any previous partner. It hadn't even occurred to her. In fact, she was embarrassed to want it as badly as she did, as a doctor especially, but she'd never felt safer than she did with Jane, and that was clearly what this was about. The prospect of doing something dangerous with someone she trusted so completely, of offering such vulnerability to the same hands that had both saved her and killed for her, was intoxicating.

She'd gone red when Jane brought it up, but it had helped that as soon as they'd broached the topic in earnest, blissfully entwined on Maura's couch one evening, Jane had jumped up and demanded immediate access to the anatomical bust in Maura's study. She'd pulled Maura to her feet and nearly pushed her down the hall, where watched as Jane took firm hold of the anatomy model's neck and leaned in to inspect her grip, consulting Maura frequently, shifting her hand until the placement was just so. The intensity on Jane's face as she carefully ensured the correct position of her fingers had been one of the more arousing experiences of Maura's life. She'd found herself sinking to her knees and pulling down the front of Jane's threadbare sweatpants before she was entirely aware she was doing it, Jane's hands tangling in her hair as Maura demonstrated her appreciation.

Since that evening, Maura had found Jane slipping out of her study a few times since, but they hadn't yet put her practice to work. Now, looming over her, Jane wore the same expression she'd had that first evening. Maura wrapped the fingers of one hand around Jane's wrist and squeezed in encouragement.

Still splitting her focus between the phone and Maura, Jane looked pointedly down at Maura pelvis and Maura understood her instructions perfectly. She slid her other hand down her abdomen and began to stroke her clit. Jane winked and mouthed a silent ' good girl ' before speaking out loud into her phone.

"Yeah, actually, she just can't get to her phone at the moment, but I'm with her and I'll let her know."

Maura bit down on her lower lip until she could taste it. This was absolutely absurd, completely audacious, but Maura was well past the point of caring and a moment later her phone finally stopped ringing. Maura's fingers spun tight circles against her clit as she lifted her hips to grind shamelessly against the silicone buried inside her. The hard work of staying silent was making her eyes water and she prayed that Jane wouldn't misunderstand when the tears started streaming down her face.

Maura was close.

Jane applied firm pressure to either side of Maura's neck.

The first moment was just the visceral thrill of taking a risk but the next few were a heady and exquisite sort of delirium. As a doctor, she understood the physiology exactly, but the actual sensation was beyond her comprehension. It was like being filled with warm static, white noise reverberating through her whole body, a fuzzy taste on the tip of her tongue. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

"We can be there in thirty."

Jane released her grip, having held it only a short few seconds. Blood rushed back to Maura's head and her body was set on fire and Maura was coming hard, completely silent. She released her grip on Jane's wrist to tightly clasp her palm over her mouth, her other hand still working furiously between her legs, her expression pained as she suppressed every natural reaction to moan out loud. She bucked and wriggled against Jane's unrelenting stroke, the effort required to not cry out somehow only increasing the strength of her climax. When she collapsed back against the bed, she opened her eyes to find Jane still on the phone.

"Maybe even sooner, actually," Jane said with a grin.

Twenty-eight minutes later, Jane and Maura pulled up to the scene.

Given the nature of her work, the many calls from dispatch that came in the middle of the night, Maura had a lot of experience looking very composed on short notice. She could go from a deep sleep to photoshoot ready in twenty well practiced minutes.

Showing up composed at a crime scene after having sex, however, had always been a bit of a weakness for her. This time she'd managed to leave with two matching shoes on her feet but she didn't feel nearly as put together as she would have liked. Jane, whose morning routine took five minutes whether they'd been called to a scene or not, was no help. On the short ride over to the park, Maura had given Jane what was, based on the detective's Cheshire grin, a very unconvincing lecture on what could mildly be described as proper phone etiquette.

The body quickly turned the mood somber, then frustrated. The victim was found by the water, blood soaked through the front of his shirt, which Maura had pulled up to reveal a sloppily sutured incision down the middle of the chest. The body had clearly been dumped from the paved path of the park, toppling down the slope until it landed in the thick grass that grew by the water, obscured enough that it had been there since at least the previous day.

Jane was acting like they'd found confirmation of a serial killer. Maura, meanwhile, had more questions than answers.

"This one is different , Jane," Maura said with exasperation, throwing her tools back into her doctor's back with more force than necessary. She found herself feeling especially defiant after being so thoroughly the opposite in bed. "The body was dumped postmortem. The incision shows clear evidence of hesitation, the suturing is completely different than the previous victim. It's not the work of the same person."

Jane, who was pacing impatiently around just outside the longer grass, threw her hands up to the heavens in utter disbelief.

"You're telling me that the last guy showed up without a goddamn liver and this guy shows up without a fucking heart, and it's not connected?"

"Don't put words in my mouth. I'm simply saying the pattern isn't as clear as you think. Whether they're connected or not I don't know, but I can tell you in no uncertain terms that whoever cut into this man was not the same person. The cuts are completely different and it's absolutely not psychologically sound for the intensity of the mutilation to increase while the killer's confidence decreases."

"So it's an apprentice. Or a partnership," Jane huffed. "Or…the weirdest underground organ harvesting ring I've ever seen. But there's no way this is a coincidence."

Maura had been about to respond, planning to begrudgingly admit that yes, it would be an unusual happenstance but would it kill Jane to wait until the evidence bore out, when she saw Frost running up the path to meet them. The young detective was out of breath when he reached them and he leaned over, hands pressed just above his knees as he took a few deep breaths.

"Phew, sorry," Frost said. "I was at Tufts talking to the pharmacist there about their drug lockup being broken into and then traffic was brutal. And parking…" he trailed off, making a vague gesture that implied a great distance.

Jane looked over with interest at the mention of the drug lockup. "Any leads?"

Frost shook his head, pulling in a few more deep breaths. "No, they were only missing pain meds, the usual kind of shit, oxy, percocet. I took all the information down but I think it's just drug related, not our guy." Frost nodded his head in the direction of the body, swallowing hard. "What's going on here?"

"He had his heart cut out," Jane said.

"He has a surgical incision consistent with open heart surgery," Maura corrected sharply, right on Jane's heels.

"You know, some people were worried you might get along better at the crime scenes now," Frost said dryly. He peered over at the body, taking another deep breath, but this one was more likely for nausea management. He kept his usual distance.

Jane folded across her chest. "She's just mad because she can taste the instant coffee already."

Maura got up from her crouch next to the body and primply removed her gloves. She ignored Jane's comment, deciding to take the higher ground.

"Nothing's going to get resolved out here," Maura said simply. "Let's just get the body back to the morgue."

There was another difference between this body and the others, and Maura found it during the trace evidence exam that precedes the actual autopsy. Where the two previous bodies were entirely devoid of anything of note, Maura found a small smear of dried blood pressed deep into the underarm hair of the deceased and no wound in the area that it could have come from.

Maura quickly prepared samples for two different tests: the first a DNA test and the second a blood typing test. The results of the first would take at least a day but with the second they could know if the deceased had the same blood type as that collected from his underarm. Those results would come back in less than half an hour. Jane watched the whole process, her eyes glued to the swabs like they were her co-holy grails.

"It could just be the deceased's own blood," Maura said, but it wasn't to be contrarian or start a lecture about not leaping to conclusions. She simply didn't want Jane to get her hopes up.

"It probably is," Jane admitted. "That's way more likely than anything else. I can't imagine the killer cut himself by accident and didn't notice, none of the work seems that sloppy."

"Well," Maura began skeptically, looking down at the messy incision over the heart. "This work does actually seem sloppy, like I said. This is rushed and panicked and poorly done." Her collection of the two samples complete, she beckoned over the patiently waiting Susie Chang, who approached the examination table while giving Jane the widest possible berth she could. Jane looked quizzically at the criminalist before looking over at Maura. Maura merely shrugged and handed off the samples.

"Thank you, Susie. Let me know the moment we get the type test done."

"Absolutely, Doctor Isles," Susie said and departed quickly. Jane watched her all the way out of the lab before turning back to Maura.

"She's weirder than before, right?"

Maura nodded. "Yes, so much so that it's apparent to me, even."

Jane shook her head and looked back down at the body. Maura put protective gear on over her scrubs and changed into a new set of gloves in preparation for starting the autopsy proper. Jane got into a gown as well.

"Okay, walk me through it," Jane said. "And for the record, I believe you. Even I can see how this isn't the same work as Pearson's liver surgery."

"Thank you," Maura said genuinely, satisfied at having her expertise respected. "If you look closely at the incision you can see that it's quite jagged, not done by a sure hand. And up at the top you can see evidence of where there were a few hesitation cuts before they finally managed to make a deep enough incision. None of that was present with the previous victim. The scalpel work on Pearson's hepatectomy was confident and clean."

As if to demonstrate, Maura grabbed her trusted number ten scalpel from the tray and smoothly made her Y incision. More accurately, she elaborated on the already existing incision on the body, adding the ascenders to the top of the incision before lowering her scalpel to continue the long line further down the chest. She flicked a glance up at Jane, who watched without flinching. As she often did, Maura felt proud of her for it; while Jane had never really been squeamish about dead bodies, she had, for obvious reasons, some hangups about scalpels.

"I can see the difference," Jane said. "What you did is smooth and straight, and whatever happened before it ended up kind of crooked."

Maura nodded, a weird sort of pleasure warming her stomach at Jane's eye for detail. "Yes. It was done haltingly, which makes it uneven. The smoother the cut the better it heals, not that it seems that healing was part of the plan for him."

Maura lifted up the circular saw that she would be using to further open the cavity and Jane gave a single nod before taking a few steps back. A few minutes later, when the messy work was done, Maura sighed.

"It's gone."

"The heart?" Jane sought confirmation they both knew was unnecessary. There was nothing else Maura could have meant.

"Yes. I can see the marks from the rib spreaders. It looks like it took more than one try to get them properly in place. The work inside is equally messy."

"Amateur hour, huh?" Jane stepped back over to the body, peering down into the chest. Maura frowned uncertainly at her assertion.

"No, that doesn't seem right. Things are technically correct. The site of the incision was exactly where it should be. The removal of the heart was done precisely as one would do for a donation. It all just seems…conflicted. Like they knew what they were supposed to do but they didn't want to do it." Maura blinked twice, a little surprised at herself for theorizing. But as soon as she said it it was the only thing that made sense. She looked up at Jane, shaking her head slightly. "It's like they were coerced."

Jane looked surprised, and whether it was by the revelation or the fact that Maura was the one presenting it, Maura didn't know. She placed her hands against the table and leaned forward, dropping her eyes away from Maura's and down to look inside the chest cavity, searching around as if it contained answers.

"I feel like this one's going to drive me crazy, Maur," Jane muttered softly. Though Maura had been suspecting it, this was the first time she could clearly see that these murders were getting to Jane. "Every new piece makes me feel like we know even less. What the fuck is going on." Maura had a fairly strict no profanities policy in the morgue but she didn't have the heart to chastise Jane about swearing, not with the way the detective's shoulders slumped and her elbows wobbled a bit, as if they weren't going to hold her up much longer. Maura knew how acutely Jane felt her responsibility to stop these deaths, if they were in fact connected. She knew that Jane was sleeping restlessly, both because she always did when the bodies started piling up, and because Maura was now there to see it firsthand.

It occurred to her then that the early morning sex was probably as much Jane making a best case scenario out of her sleeplessness as it was a result of the hot and heavy beginning of a new relationship. Her heart broke a little.

"Jane," Maura said gently, waiting for her to look up before continuing. Jane looked tired for only a moment before her eyes hardened in that self-preservationist way they always did. Maura frowned. "You can't internalize this as a personal shortcoming. There's so little evidence so far and what we do have is baffling."

"Yeah, I know." Jane's tone was distant and unconvincing. Maura could feel her slipping away.

"Let me continue the autopsy. Maybe we'll luck out."

Maura didn't really believe in luck but she knew it was the kind of thing one said, especially to someone who did. Jane nodded.

Over the next few hours, Maura conducted an excruciatingly thorough autopsy with nothing to show for it. Jane stayed for almost all of it, only stepping out occasionally to connect with Frost or Korsak or to assign Frankie another task. Maura insisted several times that Jane could go attend to more important things but Jane stayed to the bitter end, still morosely observing as Maura returned the last organ to the chest cavity.

"Well that was a waste of time," Jane said dejectedly as Maura finished the grim work of reassembling the dead. Maura sighed, feeling the tiniest bit annoyed about having had Jane hover throughout the autopsy. It was normally fine—Jane would help flip the body, she would ask questions and theorize out loud, and Maura could quietly appreciate the way Jane's highly deductive brain worked through the threads of an investigation. But this time Jane had spent most of the time huffing and sighing and looking dispirited, and it was more than a little irritating. Maura had been very sympathetic when Jane was doing the stoic, suffering detective thing but the whiny, impatient Jane thing wasn't quite as moving. She was starting to feel personally attacked for not being able to produce any further evidence in her autopsies, and frankly, these murders were getting to her too.

"I told you several times I'd call you if I found anything interesting," Maura said while closing the body, not entirely caring that her tone came out abrasive.

"Yeah. Which is what Frost said, which is what Korsak said, which is what Frankie said." Jane held her phone aloft. "Look at that, no missed calls."

A couple years ago, Maura might have missed the sarcasm. Not anymore. She huffed loudly and looked up at Jane.

"Jane, you—" Maura cut off abruptly as she took a closer look at Jane's phone, leaning forward across the examination table. "Is your…Oh my god, it is." Maura looked from the screen to Jane, her mouth open in shock.

"What?" Jane said, her tone exasperated.

"You made the picture of us kissing your lock screen?"

"Oh," Jane said, turning the screen towards herself. "Uh, yeah. I figured you'd seen it already, it's been a few days." Maura stared at her, dumbfounded, and Jane shrugged defensively. "I dunno, I like it."

Jane spoke as if it was so obvious and so ordinary that she would do something so sentimental, like it didn't run contrary to her entire recorded dating history and overall general demeanor, as if the fact that she was openly risking her peers seeing it and teasing her mercilessly for it wasn't one of the more romantic gestures of Maura's life.

Maura's icy irritation thawed a bit. Jane was so, so infuriating at times, but she was also Maura's, and she was often wonderful. Maura exhaled slowly through her nose, releasing the tension that had accumulated in her shoulders from when Jane had pouted her way through the autopsy.

"That's very sweet." She made her voice soft. "Let me make you another list of medical supplies. Besides the rib spreader there's a couple other new things that would have been needed."

Jane nodded. "Thank you." She hesitated before continuing a bit awkwardly. "I know there's no one better at this than you. I'm frustrated, but like…in general. At like…" she gestured around to complete her thought.

Maura rolled her eyes but offered a smile. It was not Jane's best work but it would suffice for an apology. Jane smiled back, fondly, and looked as if she was preparing to say something else.

The abrasive sound of someone loudly clearing their throat disrupted the moment.

"Uh, ladies, sorry to interrupt."

Jane whirled her head around and cursed under her breath. Maura had to crane her head around Jane's body to be able to see for herself, and when she did, she stiffened. The anger that overtook her was swift and fearsome. Standing in the doors of her morgue, staring at her detective, was Agent Gabriel Dean of the FBI.