A/N: Wow, sorry this update has been such a long time coming. Thanks for sticking with me. Real life got in the way, including a move back to my true home town. All stressful, but gradually it should be worth the effort.

There are always a few errors that creep in, and I hope there aren't too many in this chapter. It hasn't been beta-read, which means I expect a few errors will have crept in. And you always seem to notice them after you hit enter!

Please feel free to review. But please also remember that fanfic writers are not professional writers, meaning things are never perfect, however, all constructive views are welcome. Reviews are what feed us, so please don't be shy. ;)

I hope you enjoy.

Chapter Eight: Suspicions.

Vince Korsak was far from happy. Given the report from Sean Cavanaugh the day before he was sure they were missing a vital piece of the puzzle. A piece which only Agent Dean could provide them. It was time to suck up, eat humble pie and ask the FBI for further information. Steeling himself he made his way the FBI man's room at the hotel and knocked.

Jane awoke feeling more relaxed than she had the entire time they had been stranded. And looking around she was surprised to see that she had slept late. Maura was already up, getting some water hot on the stove, using the cast iron kettle she had found behind the woodpile the day before. Noticing that Frost was also still asleep, Jane decided to leave him be, and got up to make her way to Maura's side. "Morning," she said, yawning and stretching.

"Good morning," Maura replied, and when she looked at the Detective, Jane could see the lines of worry had also eased on her friends face. "I found some beef jerky in the cabin foodstuffs, so I'm going to soak it in boiling water to clean and soften it for breakfast."

Jane grimaced slightly, but knew they couldn't afford to be too picky when it came to nutrition. "Not the most appetizing breakfast I've ever had," she admitted aloud, although Jane was sure her face must have given her thoughts on the matter away.

Maura nodded in agreement. "I must confess it is not something I thought I would ever find myself eating."

Frost must had been woken by their talking, even though they kept their tones low because he shifted in the bed and said. "Please tell me I'm not dreaming and that we're in a cabin."

Laughing slightly Jane answered. "Nope, not dreaming, and if you feel up to getting your scrawny ass out of that bed, you could go and check the fishing lines."

At that Frost got up and gave Jane an incredulous look. "You're one to talk about having a scrawny ass. I've seen more meat on a gnat!"

"Frost," Jane mock growled. "You don't want to be going there."

Jane was sure she heard Maura mutter. "I think it's a nice ass."

However, before she could comment further Barry smiled and made his way to the door. "I'll check the lines after I've visited the latrine. And I hope you're not desperate to use it cos I might be some time." With a smirk, he let himself out of the cabin before Jane could respond. It was only then that it registered her bladder was full and that Frost had outmaneuvered her into using the latrine first.

Seeing the look on Jane's face Maura barely managed to suppress a giggle and quickly hid her mouth behind her hand. "Sorry," she offered when it became apparent that Jane had caught her.

"No, it's alright," Jane admitted after she tried and failed to pin the Doctor with a disapproving look. "It's good that things aren't so tense around here, it will make the whole thing a lot easier on all of us."

Smiling Maura went back to dealing with their breakfast. "Agreed. And if we have caught some fish, then we can afford to eat well for a day or two."

She poured the now boiling water into the one of the rough wooden bowls that Jane had carved at the previous campsite, the jerky was already sitting ready. Refilling the kettle with some snow, it was put back onto the stove ready to heat the water for some tea. Moving to the bed, Maura had just set the bowl down when Barry came back in with a triumphant look on his face. "We have fish, two big ones. I've hung them in the shed for now, I'll clean them once we've eaten."

Everybody visibly brightened. "That's great news," Jane admitted. "Let's hope we can keep this up for as long as we need."

Making her way outside to the latrine, Jane suddenly realized that jerky for breakfast didn't seem quite so bad after all.

Agent Dean looked surprised to see the Boston Detective at his door. "Vince Korsak. What can I do for you?" He finally asked in a measured tone.

Showing Gabriel the papers in his hand Korsak said. "We need to talk about this serial killer. Somehow I think it has something to do with the disappearance of our people."

At that statement Dean's eyebrows rose in surprise. "I'm not quite sure what you mean," he offered carefully.

Vince was more than up the the FBI's challenge. "Oh, I think you do, and I think we need to get inside so we can talk about this in private."

Several emotions seemed to cross the younger mans face, as though he were debating with himself about what he should do. Eventually he stepped aside with a sigh and said. "Then you'd better come in."

Once they were both inside his room Gabriel motioned to the two chairs, and sitting in one he reached over and picked up the phone. Dialing room service he asked Vince. "Coffee?"

At the Boston Detectives nod he soon had the drinks order placed, and setting the phone back down, he sighed and said. "I guess it's time to let you know everything we know."

"Overdue if you ask me," Vince groused under his breath, but didn't try to stop Dean from talking.

Chewing the jerky was hard, but after it had soaked in the hot water it was certainly more palatable than it would have been otherwise. Once they had eaten and cleared the mess away the three of them sat along the edge of the bed to decide what they would be doing that day.

"I'll deal with the fish, and then I want to check the traps," Barry said.

"Then maybe Jane and I could sort out the shingles on the roof?" Maura suggested.

"After that we could set about exploring the immediate area," Jane added. She was keen to see if there was any related stuff to the cabin that they could use. So far, they had managed to find various helpful implements, and if they were able to add to the tools they had already found it would make their lives at lot easier.

Jane was was brought out of her musings by Maura's enthusiastic response. "Yes, often these older cabins would have an area dug out somewhere close to the cabin to keep foodstuffs cool underground. Given the age of this structure I would imagine that there would be something along those lines close to hand. If our fishing and hunting goes well we'll need a secure place to store the meat."

Jane smiled as they all got up ready to start the day. "Then let's get this show on the road."

As predicted the shingles were ideal to patch the roof properly, and Jane was pleased that the tarpaulin had suffered no damage from being on the roof overnight. The previous evening Jane had managed to fashion a rough handle for the head of the hammer. Remembering the way the head had been fastened in the hammers that her father had used for his plumbing business, Jane even managed to work out a small wedge that helped secure it in a better manner. Careful to avoid catching herself on the old rusty nails that were present, there were enough loose of the aforementioned nails in the shed to fasten the shingles securely to the roof.

Pleased with her efforts Jane sat back and blew out a cold breath of air. "Well, that should do it." She stated rather unnecessarily to Maura.

The Doctor smiled up at her friend. "You did say you'd be the guy."

For some reason that comment struck Jane as being very amusing and she couldn't help but laugh out loud as she made her way carefully back down to terra firma. "I did didn't I."

For a long moment they just stood there looking at each other. Both women were aware that their feelings were showing, more than they had even done before. It was as if being in this situation allowed them to just let things happen naturally. Maura was the first to make a move, and she said tentatively. "Jane, I… I wanted to say that you mean the world to me," without thought she and Jane had taken a step closer to each other. "We're best friends, and yet somehow that seems so inadequate because we appear to be so much more."

They were so close now Maura could easily make out the muscles in Jane's neck move as the Detective swallowed hard, before she answered. "I love you Maura."

Simple, yet profound. Those four words were all it took for the emotional barriers to come crashing down, startling both women with the intensity of their feelings.

"I love you too," Maura whispered as their lips inched closer, breath mingled and finally their mouths made contact. The kiss was brief, nothing more that an affirmation about how they both felt. Yet it was a kiss that expressed every sweet desire and hope between them.

Resting her forehead against Maura's Jane finally got her mind to catch up with her actions. "You realize Ma is going to pitch a fit with this knowledge don't you?"

Laughing at the thought Maura could only nod slightly in agreement. "Maybe she'll be gentle on us given that we will have been lost in the wilderness for some time." Suddenly Maura sobered, and pulling away slightly she looked up. "You're going to be all right telling your Mother about this new development?"

Jane reached out and gently brushed a strand of hair away from Maura's face. "Yeah, I know we won't be able to do much towards expanding these feelings while we're out here, but I have no intention of hiding how I feel once we get back home. I don't want to hide how we feel from Frost either. Will you be okay with that?"

Maura smiled and leaned forward to capture Jane's lips into another kiss, this one showing a bit more desire than the last. "Does that answer your question Detective? "She added teasingly once they broke apart.

"Oh yeah." Jane breathed out huskily. Lightening the moment she said. "So, you think I have a nice ass?"

Maura had the grace to blush slightly, and was pleased that it was mostly hidden because her cheeks were already red from the cold. "Ah, you noticed that slip this morning."

Jane looked at her fondly. "Yep, and I happen to think that you're pretty nice in that area as well."

That comment took Maura by surprise, she hadn't been expecting Jane to be so forthcoming with her affection, given that normally talks about personal feelings was not something Jane did easily. "You do?" She asked in an astonished tone.

"I do," Jane confirmed. "Why else do you think I'm so bad at hitting you in the butt when we need to get moving to a crime scene."

"Oh," smiling, Maura's face scrunched up in thought. "I just thought it was something you did with everybody." The M.E finally admitted. Although when she gave the matter some consideration Maura realized she hadn't seen Jane perform that manoeuvre on anybody else. either at home or in the precinct.

"Only you," Jane nodded in confirmation, "and believe me when I say I would have done it a lot more, but I managed to stop in time. It's a pretty tempting target. I really had to restrain myself so you didn't feel uncomfortable."

Maura's smile got even wider. "Well, you have my permission to not hold back any more."

Matching Maura's smile with one of her own Jane said. "I think I could live with that Doctor Isles."

"Good," Maura sealed the promise with another kiss, this one searing in its intensity. Finally she dragged herself away from temptation. "We," her voice was a bit hoarse, so she cleared her throat and tried again. "We should start to look around to see if we can find a cool store once you've put the hammer and spare nails away."

Jane looked a bit dazed, and for a moment Maura wasn't sure the Detective had heard her, but Jane shook her head as if to clear her thoughts before she said. "Yeah, shed. Then cool store. Right. Okay."

When Jane started to walk away Maura couldn't help the giggle that escaped as she said. "Ah Jane."

The other woman stopped and looked back confused "Yeah?"

Maura pointed in the opposite direction to the one Jane was going. "The shed's this way."

"Oh Yeah. Right. Shed. Got ya!" Still stunned by the way she had felt after Maura had kissed her, Jane couldn't even summon up the energy to feel embarrassed by her lapse in concentration. Stumbling slightly Jane changed course, and as she walked past Maura she finally came out of her stupor when the M.E hit her across the backside. Narrowing her eyes she hid her laughter and said. "Paybacks Doctor Isles. Paybacks."

Maura didn't hold back her own laughter, and soon the sound of two people happy in each others company could be heard echoing over the frozen landscape.

When Barry Frost returned to the cabin he tried to work out what was different to this morning. Before he could pin it down though, Jane saw the hare he had in his hand.

"Whoa Frost, you're on fire today, two fish and one hare. We'll be set for at least a couple of days." Jane made her way over to inspect his prize catch.

Grinning proudly he held up his bounty. "A big one as well. I've moved the traps so they're in a fresh spot, don't want to be taking all the animals from just one area."

"Maura found a cast iron cooking pot complete with a lid in the shed this morning, once it was cleaned up she realized it was still usable." Jane gestured to where the M.E was standing.

"Yes," Maura confirmed as she came to take charge of the meat. "It should cook this hare nicely for our lunch, then we can have the fish for dinner."

Removing his gloves, coat and hat as he warmed up Barry said. "Sounds good to me. How did your morning go?"

"Got the shingles done," Jane told him. "We haven't been able to find a cool store yet though, we thought we'd have another look this afternoon. Are you up to joining us?"

"You betcha," Frost confirmed as he was handed a cup of tea. Soon the smell of meat cooking wafted through the cabin. Looking around he continued, "Do you think we can look out for something to use as seats, it's a bit awkward having to perch on the edge of the bed every time we want to sit down to eat."

Jane nodded as she sipped on her own tea. "I think there is a good tree a few yards from the shed, using the two man saw we found we should be able to fell it fairly easily. Once it's cut up it will be wide enough to use like short bar stools for the time being." What Jane failed to say was that she had her eye on another tree that she thought they could fashion into a type of bench to sit on. That was a low priority though, food and staying safe had to be their main concerns.

Once they had eaten they concentrated all their efforts on locating the cool store. It took an hour of careful searching, but they were rewarded when Barry found the trapdoor under an old brier. Making sure they didn't cut themselves on the thorns, Jane and Barry widened the hole until they could easily see the wooden structure at their feet. Bringing over the lamp Maura had brought, they carefully pulled on the handle. The door didn't open easily, but after some more earth and dirt had been cleared away they finally got the structure open.

Jane sniffed the air. "It doesn't smell rancid," she concluded. "A bit musty maybe, but that's not unexpected considering it's underground."

"What are the steps like?" Maura asked.

Lifting the lamp for a better view Jane replied. "Earth and stone from the looks of things. They should still be stable."

"Better than wooden ones," Maura conceded. "But still, please be careful."

"We will. Wait for us to come back up. I don't expect any nasty surprises but we don't know how big this thing will be."

Nervously Maura stood by as Jane and Barry disappeared into the depths of the underground structure. After what seemed like an indeterminable amount of time later both reappeared looking happier.

"Well?" Maura asked, her eyebrows raised in query.

Jane smiled. "There's canned stuff and meat down there. I'm not sure what's going to be usable, but we're bound to be able to make use of some of the food."

Maura sighed in relief. It wasn't perfect, and they'd still have to hunt for food, but now it wasn't quite as damning a situation as it had been.

"Come on," Jane said, wrapping an arm around Maura's waist. "I think we've done enough today. At least we can relax some, knowing hunger isn't going to come knocking on our door for a couple of days."

Maura knew the taller woman was right, they had earned the rest, and it would go a long way to help their overall position if they weren't constantly pushing their bodies. Snuggling closer to Jane she allowed herself to be led back towards shelter and warmth.