** Episode tagging starting now (which is why it took so long; I was waiting for Rizzoli & Isles Season 1 that I ordered from Amazon ). I hope you guys have enjoyed it so far because I love writing it. This goes along with "She Works Hard for the Money" and I'm hoping that it turns out ok.

** I didn't get the rights to Rizzoli & Isles for Christmas even though I asked for them and the rights to owning Donnie Wahlberg, even if owning people is wrong. So yeah, none of the characters are mine except maybe the ones in Joey's world.

As Jane was driving to the scene of the latest homicide her thoughts wandered to D.C. and what Joey was doing at that moment. He had probably already met someone new and was busy doing whatever it was that a Homeland Security Liaison would do. So why was she still thinking about him and secretly wishing that he would call? As they pulled up to the scene with Jane's mother in tow Jane snapped back to attention on the latest case.

The homicide of a young college student, in broad daylight and on a large campus was not often a common occurrence in Boston. And this case was proving particularly confusing. The girl had lost her athletic scholarship but was still managing to pay for college; the only question now was how. Besides that they didn't have any evidence of who might have shot Danielle or why. Just as Jane was heading to go talk to the best friend again her phone rang.

"Rizzoli."

"Wow, Janie, you sound a little tense there. Am I interrupting a case?"

Jane felt her whole body tense up at the sound of Joey's voice but she tried to remain calm.

"Actually, yeah, and you're interrupting."

"You got two seconds to talk?"

"No, Joey, I don't think I do. What, you decided to wait two weeks and then call right when I'm in the middle of an investigation?"

On the other side of the line, Joey cringed. He hadn't expected a warm reception but he had also hoped that she would be a little happy to hear from him. Then again he hadn't spoken to her for two weeks.

"I'm sorry, Jane, really, I got caught up in this new job and haven't had a lot of down time. But you were the one who said you didn't want this to go anywhere."

"There is no this!"

"Two minutes, please? Can we just talk for two minutes and I swear I'll let you get back to your case."

"Fine. What did you call for?"

"Because I missed you. What's the case that's got you all worked up?"

"Shooting of a twenty-year old college student. Somebody just shot her in broad daylight."

"You got any leads?"

"Why, are you offering to help? Because I'm sure that you'll prove very useful from Washington."

Joey sighed, "Jane, I said I was sorry, I really did want to call, honest. I just didn't want to call with not a lot of time to talk. I guess I should have realized that just calling would have been nice."

"Yeah, it would have been. But it's not like we're together or anything and I was the one who told you we wouldn't be."

Jane knew she was fighting a losing battle by trying to stay mad at Joey. He sounded pretty exhausted and the fact that he had taken two weeks to call wasn't entirely his fault; after all, she was the one who had put a stop to anything happening after their one night stand.

"Do you at least miss me a little bit?" Joey asked.

"Maybe a tiny, little bit. With you gone I only have Frankie as a pain in my ass and he's just not as good at it as you were."

Joe smiled, satisfied with at least that. If he was going to convince Jane to try a relationship he was going to have to take baby steps and prove that not only was he ready but she was too. It might take a little poking and prodding but he knew that he could get her there.

"Look I just got to the best friend's dorm and am going to interview her so I have to go."

"OK. Are you going to answer the phone if I call you later?"

Jane shrugged and, realizing that he couldn't hear that, replied, "I don't know, you'll have to call and find out."

"OK, bye, Janie."

"Stop calling me that. Bye, Joey."

Jane smiled as she ended the call and stepped out of the car. So maybe he wasn't in the same state but he could still manage to make her smile and that was quite a feat.

This case was eating at Jane more than she would like to admit. It wasn't just that a young woman had been murdered; being around a college campus made Jane think about her regrets. She had rarely looked back on not going to college but this case was making her wonder just how much she had missed out. Sure, Jane wouldn't be caught dead in aluminum foil at an "ABC" party or whatever but all of the stuff she could have learned…it made Jane wonder if going to college would have been such a bad idea.

As the case dragged on and Jane was learning more about Danielle's double life she found herself thinking about Joey Grant and smiling. Sure, she had said that she didn't want to be with him but Jane was finding that promise more and more difficult to keep, especially after the phone call that afternoon.

As if he was reading her thoughts, Jane's phone rang.

"Rizzoli."

"How's that case going, Janie?"

Jane smiled, "Don't call me Janie, Joey. And it's getting sticky. It turns out that she was moonlighting as a hooker to pay her tuition. Her laptop was stolen so I'm waiting to check on that tomorrow morning."

"Sounds like you've been busy."

"Yeah, I guess. So what about you, working for Homeland Security? You haven't pissed anyone off yet, have you, because it would be a shame if you had to slink back to Boston with your tail between your legs."

Joey laughed on the other end of the phone, "No, you're the only coworker I've ever butted heads with, Janie. It's mostly been a lot of paper pushing, not nearly as exciting as you might think."

"Yeah, because working as a politician sounds so exciting."

Joey chucked, "Yeah. So can I take you answering the phone as a good sign? Maybe you're warming up to the idea of me?"

Jane scoffed, "Yeah, or maybe I'm just bored and can't sleep."

Jane's thoughts drifted to higher education and she decided to ask Joey his thoughts on the matter.

"Do you ever think that somehow we missed out on the college experience?"

"What?"

"It's just…this case got me thinking about college and, I don't know, maybe going would have made me a better detective. It's stupid but I got to wondering about it."

"Jane, you're a great cop and you don't need some diploma to prove that. No, I don't think we missed out on anything besides college parties and that sort of stuff."

Jane laughed, "You wish. Yeah, I guess you're right, though. Just with Frost and Maura both having went to college it made me wonder about what might have been."

"How about what can be? Am I going to get to see you the next time I'm in town?"

Jane pulled the phone away from her ear and yawned, not wanting Joey to hear how tired she was.

"I don't know, depends on when you're going to be in town. I think maybe I could squeeze you in somewhere between all my casework."

Joey smiled into the receiver, "Alright well I will definitely make plans to come back, and soon. I thought when I signed up to be a liaison that it would actually require me to come back every once in a while. And then I could just charm my way back into your good graces, Detective."

"Oh really, is that what you thought? Well I don't know that famous Grant charm hasn't worked in the past now has it?"

"If I do recall it has worked a couple of times. Remember the time I conned you into helping me with my math homework?"

Jane laughed, "Yeah, I do. And you didn't con me my mother forced me to help you. She said that you were a nice boy and that I should try and be civil. It's not like you ever were, though."

"Yeah, I was! I was the one who defended you to the nuns when you shoved Billy O'Reilly in the mud. I got detention with you, if you remember."

"You never would tell me why you got detention…"

"I went back and punched Billy in the nose. He shouldn't have talked to you like that."

Jane remembered it well. Back in freshman year of high school when Billy had asked her out and Jane had declined, Billy had decided to lash out and tell everyone in school nasty rumors about her. Of course, Jane wouldn't take that lying down so, in a fit of anger, she shoved Billy and he happened to fall down into mud. He had ran to the nuns and told them all about how Jane had "attacked" him and, somehow, Jane and Joey both wound up in detention.

"You hit him?"

"Yeah. O'Reilly was a tool and when I heard him bragging about how he had gotten back at you and gotten you in detention I couldn't take it. You know he told all of his friends that you were a tease and a bunch of other stuff."

Jane smiled even though Joey couldn't see it. Even though he had admitted to liking her for a while Jane still was having trouble reconciling this Joey with the one who had tried to pants her at recess in fifth grade. Knowing that he secretly defended her made her smile, even if she hadn't needed his help.

Jane couldn't keep the second yawn from escaping her lips before she moved the phone away.

"You sound tired," Joey said.

"I'm fine, it's just this case. I wish I didn't have to wait for the damn computer store to open."

"You should get some sleep, Rizzoli. I'll talk to you again soon, I'm sure of it."

"Don't get too cocky, Grant. I may have answered this time but that doesn't mean I agreed to any sort of relationship."

"Ahh but you will, Janie, you will."

And on that note Joey hung up the phone and leaned back against his bed. He smirked as he realized that he was slowly wearing Jane down and, by the time he was able to get back to Boston, he knew that he would have her convinced. As his eyes flitted shut Joey thought about what sort of grand gesture he could pull off to further woo Jane.

Jane woke up the next morning and got back to work on the case this time, with a little more spring in her step. She was reconsidering trying a relationship with Joey; after all, talking on the phone with him had been a nice way to end the evening. Sure he was in D.C. for the most part but maybe they could work something out. She was finding it more and more difficult to not think about him and that kind of interference wasn't good for her investigative skills.

Putting the remaining pieces of the case together was easier than Jane had expected. It turned out that the girl's "pimp" was her R.A. and he had killed her because she wanted out. Jane shook her head as she thought about it; girls pimping themselves out to pay for college was hardly the ideal. But at least they had saved one girl from the same fate as her best friend; additionally the guy responsible was dead. Jane was enjoying some take out with Maura when her phone went off, it was Joey, again.

"Aren't you going to answer that? It could be another homicide."

"It's not."

"Well who is it, then? I know it's not someone in your family because you would always answer those."

Maura gasped and smiled, "Is it a guy? Did you meet someone?"

Jane rolled her eyes, "No," She lied.

Maura tilted her head, "It is, isn't it? Why won't you tell me?"

"Because, Maura, you'll get all weird and start questioning me on the whole mess when I don't even know what it is."

"Isn't that what girlfriends are supposed to do? I mean, you're the only person I've ever really been friends with and I know that I don't have the best social skills but you can talk to me, Jane."

"And if there was anything to tell, I would. For now let's just leave it at that and, maybe, in a few weeks if there's something to tell, I'll tell you."

Joey sighed as Jane's phone went to voicemail which mean that she was either still working on the case or had picked up a new one. He hung up without leaving a message and figured that she would call him back when she got the chance. Joey decided to call his new friend from work, Zach, and see if he was busy.

"Hey, Zach, are you free? I was thinking about heading to a bar and watching the game."

"Sure, I guess I can do that. Parsons and Matthews are already at the sports bar on 9th street, want to just meet them there?"

"Alright."

With that settled Joey put on his jacket and headed to the bar. It was only a couple of blocks away and, even though it was a little chilly outside, Joey wanted to walk and clear his head. He only hoped that hanging with some guys would help take his mind off of the gorgeous woman who was a few hundred miles away.

** I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and sorry it took so long. Please R&R, your reading keeps me writing! Also if you have any one shot requests for any show just shoot me a message and I can see what I can do, I would love to write a few one-shot requests. 3