DISCLAIMER: I do not own Rizzoli & Isles nor any of the characters from the show. I am writing this purely for entertainment, not profit. Rizzoli and Isles are property of Tess Gerritsen and TNT.

Full disclaimers on Chapter 1

Chapter 8

"Jane…" Maura whined.

Jane chuckled.

"Patience, my dear…" Jane admonished.

"It seems as if you don't want me." Maura pouted.

Jane dove for a deep, sensual, unhurried kiss.

"You have no idea how much I want you…" Jane whispered, her eyes lost in pools of hazel.

"Then why don't you want to be with me?" Maura asked, her voice low and sultry, taking Jane's bottom lip between hers, hungrily.

"I want to be with you as much or more than you want to be with me…" Jane offered with a smile, her hands hotly running through Maura's body at her reach. "And we will have our moment… I just want to make sure I am not rushing you into anything… We work together… I agreed to keep things quiet at least until you establish yourself as you requested. Keeping my hands off you is already hard as it is… The last thing I want is for this to become awkward in any shape or form for you…"

Jane always surprised Maura on how she could focus on Maura. Maura had already teased that Jane was more of a gentleman than any of her relationships before. And she was not exaggerating.

Maura had been in Boston for a bit over three months now. They didn't see each other off work as much as both wanted – Jane's working hours in Homicide were crazy. Jane was new in Homicide – her experience had been built in Vice – and after her transference a bit over a year ago, she was still conquering her space, something not easy in a men's club. She had been lucky to having been partnered with Vince Korsak, a generous veteran who had her back. But both worked their asses of.

Maura worked hard, of course, but the Medical Examiner's Office was staffed to run 24x7 with shifts, differently than the Homicide unit in BPD.

Jane made a point for them to see each other whenever their off-work time allowed, no exceptions. Maura felt she was cherished, respected, cared for, loved even. Maura had slept with men and women before for way less attention and commitment than that. And none of them had Jane's intensity, passion, focus, determination, or her ethics and grit. So she had been kind of looking forward to get intimate with Jane, and was just venting her frustration.

"Besides…" Jane added, sighing. "We are in the middle of this crazy case. I don't want to have any other concern on our minds when we finally make love, okay? Let's get this wrapped up so we can take a few days off and be away from everything for a weekend, just the two of us with the two of us."

Maura sighed, frustrated, but agreed. She had to admit it felt different to be so considered by someone.

They had been in a frustrating chase, that had started just a few weeks since Maura had arrived. A serial dubbed the Surgeon, who killed couples, severing their necks almost to the point of decapitation.

The killer was smart, leaving no evidence behind, and although the corpses count had been increasing, they had been no closer to catching him.

Except for that specific line of cases, Maura's Medical Examiner career in Boston had been great. Whenever she was partnered with Jane and Korsak, they had been fast and efficient to solve every case, no exception. That is, except for the Surgeon.

Every new body that showed up – or bodies, since they always showed up in pairs – made them feel like a failure. Maura had talked to Jane about it, and she knew the feeling was shared and common across the three of them.

Maura was sure she had combed everything there was to comb on the bodies, and that she had found everything there was to find. They all had been immobilized with duct tape, and the analysis of residual adhesive showed to be from the same batch. All women had been raped. All victims had their throats slashed by a very sharp object, almost severing their heads. Maura's suspicion was a sharp scalpel was used, but there was no way to prove it. Except that the cuts on all victims were precise, showed no hesitation, and were all made by what appeared to be the same type of sharp blade. And then there were the teacups. Empty teacups had been found in every scene. No trace of contents or saliva, as if they had not been used. All of them were part of teacup sets belonging to each couple. And the only trace was sweat of the male victim on the bottom of the saucer. It was not a lot to go by.

Maura was also sure Jane and Korsak had pursued every avenue that could be found on the suspects. They have talked to anyone who could have seen something, watched countless hours of video surveillance, all to no avail.

The Surgeon was a shadow that they felt not one inch closer to catching.

The last couple had been found less than two weeks ago, and that Monday there were a few people Jane and Korsak were planning to talk to. Maura hoped they would talk to someone who made a difference, and that before another couple of victims showed up.

"Detective Korsak?" Maura asked, entering the bullpen, not seeing Jane.

"Hey, Doc…"

"Any news from your interviews earlier today?"

"Nothing solid, at least. Rizzoli is doing a follow up, but I suspect it is only because she can't stand staying still." He shook his head, dejected.

"I did some research, and I think I found one example on how teacups might have been used before…" Maura tried.

"That is interesting, we didn't find mention to it in any of the cases in our jurisdiction or in CODIS."

"You wouldn't. My research found it in crimes from the nineteenth century…" Maura offered. "They used the teacups as alarms. Balancing it on someone they wanted to make sure didn't move or escape. If the teacup fell to the floor, it would alert the perp the person they were surveilling had become free enough to move."

"That is interesting… If our perp is doing the same, it is one more strong indication he is working alone..."

"I'm not sure how it gets you any closer to identifying him…"

"It does help to form his profile…"

Korsak's phone buzzed with a message, interrupting him.

"Gotta go, Doc. Jane got something. Later!" Korsak offered, standing up and rushing to the elevator, leaving a stunned and concerned Maura behind.