A/N Okay kids, drastic life altering changes in our worlds since the last update, including but not limited to career advancement, health scares and the sudden loss of a beloved pet. Lots of sleepless nights, stolen moments between extra shifts and a self imposed deadline later, we hope you enjoy our creation.

P.S. Really, how great is it that they named the tow truck driver Big Mo? Honestly, that's how it's spelled on his jacket. No wonder he ships Rizzles.

~R&I~

It's positive.

Shaking hands, clutching tightly to the truth of her situation. Deep breaths, doing nothing to calm her or help rationalize what was happening.

Oh my God, it's positive.

A silent scream, fist to mouth and head sinking low beneath trembling hands.

How am I gonna tell Maura?

The thought was a slap in the face to Jane, as the reality of how completely she'd ruined everything sunk in with that reaction. It wasn't about her parents or her brothers or the possible father of her possible child, it was about what this would do to Maura.

The only person you've ever truly loved.

"Really?" She said to her reflection, because after everything that she had done, and all of the terrible choices that she had made, it all still came back to Maura. She was the only person in the world Jane had ever wanted to share everything with, the only person she ever needed no matter what she was going through. Maura would know what to say, would know what to do.

No matter how much it would hurt her.

With a sigh Jane returned to the kitchen, where the honey blonde was still staring at the email from Casey.

"Please come, Jane. Please." Maura read aloud, her voice a sad whisper as she looked at the detective.

In that moment, Jane Rizzoli felt the turmoil simmering beneath chestnut orbs as she looked at Maura before her, palms flat against the counter on either side the computer, waiting.

"I'm not going," the raven haired detective said in a flat voice, "I'm not gonna marry him."

"I'm so sorry," Maura said in the same sad whisper. There was no way the good doctor could convey what those few words meant to her without it sounding trite or presumptuous. It was as if the crushing sensation had lifted from around her heart enough to jolt it back to beating, but the sadness she felt for Jane was overwhelming. Yet the sense of dread still lingered. Even though Jane had just said she would not marry Casey, there was doubt in the back of her mind. Something would interfere, something always did. Because the karma of the daughter of a mobster would surely allow nothing purely good to last forever in her world, no matter how perfect it might seem.

"Yeah, me too. I'm not gonna leave everything to follow him around the world," Jane replied as she shook her head in defeat and fiddled with the white stick in her hand. It was never really about following Casey. If Jane were truly honest with herself, deep down she knew there would never be a wedding. The acceptance of his proposal was a safety net, a calculated risk that would hopefully force Maura to walk away and allow her to live a life safe in the arms of heteroville. It was easier to fall into his familiarity than deal with the implications of what it meant to feel what could only be felt for Maura. A woman. An amazing, intoxicating, irresistible woman that Jane sure as hell couldn't walk away from even if her life depended on it, and so she had tried like hell to push her away. Casey was a pawn, a pawn that had planted his flag and now would forever be a factor in their every day lives, someone who just wouldn't be part of the past but a constant reminder of her actions. Jane paused her thoughts to gaze at her clenched hands and what they weren't revealing. She felt Maura's eyes follow her own, the doctor's gaze the only one that had ever felt like a loving caress on the angrily scarred surfaces that were now twitching with uncertainty.

It only took a moment longer before they separated enough to fully reveal what she had been keeping concealed. The doctor felt her heart clench at the sight, confirming what her mind had already put together when she caught a glimpse of the pregnancy test as Jane walked out from the bathroom. When she looked up their eyes locked and Jane could see the crushing despair swirling within emotional orbs.

The detective had been shot. Stabbed. Pinned to a dirty floor by a scalpel wielding psychopath who had been obsessed with destroying her. Tied to a replica of her own bed where she'd been degraded by a maniacal stalker. None of that amounted to the level of fear she felt in this moment.

"What's in your hand." It wasn't a question, but rather a softly whispered statement from someone who really didn't want to ask the question or hear the answer, but had said it anyhow because she always put the other person first. Jane needed to talk, and no matter how completely it would crush what was left of her soul, Maura would listen.

"I think I'm pregnant."

"Casey or Rafael?"

"Really?"

Maura quirked an eyebrow in response, her defeated eyes meeting Jane's terrified glance.

How the hell did we get here?

~R&I~

One month, four days and twelve hours prior...

Jane had sat in front of her church (because clearly Jane Rizzoli would never voluntarily enter) asking God for a sign. She was confused enough to fall back on her Catholic upbringing, rattled by the emotions and feelings that Maura's touch had evoked. Nobody, ever, had made her feel so completely alive.

But she was also feeling guilty, ashamed of her response. Clearly that much raw passion, that depth of emotion had to be a sin, right? Only sin could feel so good, so right.

Right?

Even Casey, who had rocked her world just the day before, seemed dull, routine and mechanical once Jane had experienced the utter bliss of Maura's exquisite lovemaking.

So she had sat and prayed, asking for guidance, for a sign.

Feeling foolish, not sure what she had actually expected, she had given up and headed to work.

~R&I~

Maura, never one to press the issue or actually ask for anything she wanted, resisted the urge to follow Jane home. Instead, she had driven straight to her office, where she knew the dead were waiting.

Pulling into her usual spot in front of the Police Department, she may have just happened to glance around and be slightly disappointed to see that Jane's car wasn't there yet. As she exited the Prius, a dark sedan remarkably like Jane's drove past, driving her to such distraction that she didn't notice Big Mo until she literally slammed into him.

"Doctor Isles!" He barked in surprise as her travel mug exploded between them.

"I'm sorry Mo, I was just-"

"Just parking where you shouldn't have been?" The tow truck driver interrupted, clearly amused yet simultaneously annoyed as he used his shop rag to wipe his neck.

"I park here every day, Mo," the honey blonde countered.

"Well not today," he smiled, "you got one chance before I hook up the chains. Go or tow, baby," he cracked in a singsong voice, "Go or tow!"

Laughing at his own joke while cursing at the coffee shower the Chief M.E. had just inadvertantly given him, he stood on the curb and smiled as the Prius pulled out and headed for the garage.

Upon entering the Café, Maura had been surprised to see FBI Agent, aka Detective Frost's ex-fiancé, Anna Farrell. She was sitting casually just sipping her coffee and leafing through the file in front of her like it was the most natural thing in the world for her to be having breakfast in the Boston P.D. Café.

Like she hadn't manipulated the law to drive a wedge between Jane and I, or caused a rift in our friendship. Or put Tommy in jail. Or caused me to experience what it felt like for Jane to hate me.

Still more than a little angry over the whole incident, still feeling nauseated every time she thought back on that day, the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts made the only logical decision given the circumstances - she turned around, walked out of the building, and drove to Boston Joe's for her coffee.

~R&I~

More than a little nervous, Jane had arrived at work and made the uncharacteristic choice of pulling her car into the parking garage. Not because she was avoiding Maura, who routinely parked on the street. Nope, she just didn't feel like fighting with Big Mo today.

And that was all.

Really.

Then she snuck up the back stairs, far away from the morgue and the Café and basically anywhere else that the Chief Medical Examiner would probably be, and finally arrived safely at her desk.

"Forget something?" Detective Vince Korsak asked, peering expectantly over the rims of his glasses.

"Told you she'd forget," Jane's partner, Detective Barry Frost chimed in.

Of the millions of things that guiltily buzzed through Jane's mind in that nanosecond, the answer to what the men were asking was simply a blank slate, and her face said as much.

"Your turn to bring the coffee," Korsak helpfully supplied.

~R&I~

No amount of begging, pleading or whining had been sufficient to convince the men that it really needed to be someone else's turn to fetch the joe, so Jane had been forced to return downstairs, where she'd been surprised to see Frost's ex sitting at the counter.

"Hey, hi, Agent Farrell, remember me?"

Really, Jane? Could you make this anymore awkward?

"Hello Jane," the FBI agent responded with a smile, "How have you been?"

"Really good," the detective smiled, "Frost is just upstairs, I don't think he knows you're here?"

"Thanks, but I'm not here for him."

"Oh, okay, well nice seeing you," a confused Jane replied, then because she just couldn't help herself added, "Forgive me for asking, but why are you here then?"

"Relax Jane, I'm not here to bother your brother. I'm here for Maura."

~R&I~

Fresh no foam latte in hand, Maura had barely made it into her office before Senior Criminalist Chang had announced that FBI Agent Anna Farrell was requesting an audience.

Taking a deep breath, Maura had instructed Susie to show the agent in.

Smiling a little too brightly, the honey blonde had greeted, "Good morning Agent Farrell, how can I help you?"

"Call me Anna," the younger woman had replied, and Maura was surprised at how very soft and unsure the other woman's voice had been.

"Okay, Anna," the coroner had smiled, and was gratified to see a small smile in return. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Had Farrell just blushed?

If she had, she'd recovered quickly, and explained, "Those are my bodies on your table."

~R&I~

Jane had spent the entire morning avoiding the morgue, ignoring her phone, catching up on paperwork and building herself up to have the dreaded conversation with Maura later that night.

She hadn't mentioned seeing Farrell to Frost, as she hadn't seen the point in opening old wounds. Sure, they had seemed to be on friendly terms the last time she'd seen them together, but she hadn't asked and he hadn't offered and so, really, she hadn't seen a reason to pursue the topic.

"I'm here for Maura."

Why does it bug me so much that she didn't call her Dr. Isles?

"Hey Korsak?" she said, swiveling in her chair to face her old partner.

"Yeah?" he replied, his thick Boston accent evident even in that single spoken syllable, which made Jane smile as she asked, "Wanna get out of here and shoot some stuff?"

~R&I~

After the initial irritation, Maura had found herself actually enjoying having Farrell in her morgue. The FBI agent was quietly observant, not pushing for answers or asking for premature speculation.

Unlike some people.

Once it had been irrefutably proven that the murders were linked to Farrell's case, things had moved very quickly. Before she had a moment to think to say no, Maura found herself grabbing the overnight bag she kept in the car and heading upstairs to tell Jane that she'd be out of the country for a few days. Her stomach fluttered as she took the brief elevator ride from her office to Jane's, anticipation and nervousness at war with the urge to strangle the obstinate detective on sight being the source of her unease. Breathing deeply, she put on a bright smile and exited the lift.

Homicide was a ghost town this morning, not a soul in sight as she moved gracefully through the empty room and ended up at the Lieutenant's door. Smiling, Cavanaugh beckoned her inside.

"Good morning Lieutenant," Maura said with a smile, "where is everyone today?"

"Frost is in court, Korsak is putting a little time in at the firing range, and I think Detective Rizzoli is just avoiding me," he responded, "she actually went shooting with Vince."

"She's not avoiding you," Maura assured him, "she's just going through a lot right now. Give her some time."

~R&I~

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Yeah!" Jane screamed as she emptied the chamber of the ridiculously large firearm she'd chosen at the firing range that day, "That's what I call a weapon! You see the size of those holes?"

Smiling indulgently, Korsak responded, "Quite a weapon."

Rolling her eyes, Jane huffed, "What?"

"Nothing," he flippantly replied, in a manner that clearly stated that it was, indeed, something.

Jane glared, her force ten Jane Rizzoli badass staring down a perp glare.

"Doesn't work on me," Vince quipped, then added, "Wanna talk about whatever it is that you're avoiding?"

"Paperwork," she groaned, turning her focus onto reloading her gun and praying that he bought the lie.

"Is that what they're calling it these days?"

Clearly he's not taking the bait. Brave soul, Vince Korsak.

"I am holding a loaded weapon here," she snapped, then turned to unload another clip into the unsuspecting paper target that truly got the punishment that not even a paper target deserved.

"Whatever you did," the elder detective offered once the shooting had ceased, "I'm sure she'll forgive you."

Scowling, Jane slid her headphones back, challenging, "She who, Korsak?"

Undaunted, he replied, "Your mother? Doctor Isles? Who knows with you."

"Why would you assume it's Ma or Maura?"

"Because this mood appeared this morning, which means whatever you did happened last night," he explained.

"I didn't do anything!" she snapped.

"If you say so," he placated, "but Jane?"

"What?"

"If you're going to continue not avoiding, could you please turn off that damn ringer? I swear every time I hear that twilight zone ring tone I become a terrified twelve year old all over again."

Chuckling at his humor, she pulled the phone from her pocket and turned off the ringer, scowling as she noticed five new messages from Maura.

Returning the weapon, Jane said, "I don't know about you, but I'm starving. You ready for lunch?"

~R&I~

This wasn't Maura's first time on a private jet, nor was it her first time just jumping onto a plane at a moment's notice to fly off to somewhere that certainly hadn't been on her agenda when she'd started her day. But she could see that the young FBI agent expected her to be impressed, so she just relaxed into her seat and didn't say much as they taxied down the runway.

"Once we arrive, we'll be escorted from the airfield by government representatives," Anna stated, "then taken directly to their headquarters. We probably won't even see our hotel until after dinner, that okay?"

"Of course," the honey blonde replied, clearly too calmly for the agent's liking, so she added, "How long do you think we'll be there?"

"As long as it takes," Farrell confidently replied.

When Maura simply rolled her eyes, the younger woman expounded, "Two or three days."

Maura smiled, then said, "So, since we're going to be stuck with each other for the forseeable future, I have a very important question to ask you."

~R&I~

After an enormous, time consuming lunch at the Robber, Jane wasted even more time by stopping at her apartment to take an exuberant Jo Friday for a walk. As she'd walked the tiny dog, she couldn't help but remember walking her with Casey, and of how oddly the dog had seemed a completely different animal around the man. Jo was completely loyal to Maura, and got extremely pissed off when anyone other than her tummy rubbing bestie was in Jane's apartment.

More precisely, in her bed.

Truth of the matter was that the dog always slept with Jane, except when she had company.

Unless that company was Maura.

"What are you trying to tell me girl?" the detective asked the spoiled mutt, who in response curled up on the blankie that Auntie Maura had given her.

"Traitor," Jane grumbled, as the dog simply stretched out and went to sleep.

"Okay, fine, I'll talk to her," she told the snoring pooch, "Just get off my back already, huh?"

~R&I~

Anna looked terrified as Maura scooted a little closer, leaned in conspiriatorially and asked, "What's the status of your relationship with Detective Frost?"

Releasing a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding, the agent began to reply, stating, "The truth is -"

"Agent Farrell, The Director is holding for you," squawked the crackly voice of the pilot over the intercom.

Grateful for the interruption, desperately in need of a little space, she smiled as she rose from her seat. "Duty calls," she told the honey blonde with a touch of regret, "But we'll finish this conversation later."

~R&I~

Trying very hard to appear nonchalant and completely disinterested, Jane walked around and around the entrance to the morgue, trying like hell to see inside while trying even harder to look like she wasn't trying to see anything at all.

Maura's car was in the garage, which the detective knew because she'd parked right next to her when she'd returned from lunch. It was her last ditch effort to speak with her that day, to be alone and without interruption and just test the treacherous waters of this new aspect of their relationship.

Maura wasn't in the Café, nor did she appear to be in her office.

Hmmmm.

~R&I~

Agent Farrell had spent the remainder of the flight in constant communication with either the Director of the FBI or the officer coordinating their itinerary on the ground in Chile. Upon landing the predicted escort had been in place and they were hustled into the limo before promptly being whisked off to the job site.

Seven long hours later the exhausted pair were finally dropped off at their hotel and Maura suggested a glass of wine before they turned in for the night.

"I prefer beer," Anna had replied, "but yeah, I'm in."

They drifted into the charming bar that was tucked into a corner of the ornate lobby, smiling as they sunk into the incredibly comfortable chairs that flanked the enormous fireplace.

Drink in hand, a deliciously relaxed Maura asked, "Will you finish telling me what happened now?"'

"Well," the other woman began, her eyes uncharacteristically downcast, "I want you to understand that I love Barry, probably more than I'll ever love any man, but..."

~R&I~

"Where have you been hiding all day?" A very smiley, very sharply dressed Detective Frost asked Jane when she strolled back into the squad room.

"I wasn't hiding," she growled, "it was dead around here, so I got in some target practice."

Frost smiled.

"What?" Jane snapped, knowing what that particular smile on that particular face meant.

"Nothing," he said, eyebrows comically jumping before he went back to the report he was writing.

"Shut up," she said with a smile, then added, "hey, did you see Agent Farrell?"

"When?" he asked.

"Today, actually," she replied, "I saw her in the Café, this morning."

"Did she say why she was here?" Barry asked as he sipped his coffee.

"I guess she's working a case," the raven haired detective shrugged, "she said she was here for Maura."

Choking on that tiny sip of coffee, thanking God it wasn't a large swallow, he asked, "Are you sure that's what she said?"

At Jane's confused look he enunciated, "I'm here for Maura. Not I'm here to see Doctor Isles?"

With a puzzled expression, Jane admitted, "No, it was 'I'm here for Maura.' Which I found weird because, you know, it seemed too familiar. The last time we saw her it was "Dr. Isles', now its 'Maura'? Weird, right? Wait, why does that matter?"

"Jane, there's something I need to tell you," her partner began, "but you gotta promise me you're not gonna freak out."

Jane glared, certain that she was, indeed, going to freak out.

~R&I~

Maura sat quietly, processing the information that she had just received. Taking a sip from her wine glass, she noticed that the other woman's eyes were fixated on her mouth.

Uh-oh, I've seen that look before.

"Does Detective Frost know?" the honey blonde asked, her obvious attempt to keep the conversation safe fooling nobody, as Farrell gamely replied, "Yes."

Another nervous sip for Maura, another lustful stare from Anna.

"When did you tell him?" the honey blonde asked, trying desperately to keep anything remotely sexual out of the conversation.

"I told him over dinner the night Tommy Rizzoli was released."

"Well, that explains a lot," Maura replied, "I always wondered why we never saw you again after that case was closed."

It was Anna's turn to sip and stall. Setting her glass down, she sighed and said, "It was really hard to tell him the truth, but he took it really well. I expected him to walk out, you know? But he just hugged me, told me that he would always love me and that if I needed anything, ever, to just call." Tears shone in her dark eyes as she explained, and Maura's heart swelled with pride at the way her best friend's partner had handled the situation.

"He's a good man," the honey blonde said with a smile.

"Yes he is," the younger woman agreed, then nervously admitted, "so I did. Called him, you know, last week."

"Was it related to this case?"

"No."

Maura's stomach dropped as that single syllable hit her giant brain, everything clicking into place as she rewound her entire history of interaction with this woman in her mind, and oh my god.

"You knew Tommy was innocent all along, didn't you?"

"To be fair," Farrell explained, "I had the evidence that I needed to at least put him into custody. Once I got him talking, and especially after his little chat with his sister, I had the feeling that he really was innocent. However, he tried to kiss you, which pissed me off more than it should have, so I kept him locked up."

The honey blonde sipped her wine slowly, thinking back on the events in question and carefully considering what to say next.

"You broke us," she finally admitted, and it was cathartic to say the words out loud. "You put a document in front of me that forced me to lie to my best friend. I almost lost her," she said with a tiny hitch in her voice, "and the best you can offer is that you were pissed that Tommy tried to kiss me?"

"You were never going to lose her," Anna softly countered, "she's in love with you. And before you argue and tell me about Casey," she went on, smiling as Maura closed her mouth and backed down, "remember that you weren't there when she talked to her brother in interrogation. She was devastated because she thought you two were interested in each other, and not because you're not good enough for him if you know what I mean."

Maura did know what she meant, and oh my god the perfection of finally letting those feelings run their course last night had been nothing short of a religious experience.

Shaking off that particular train of thought, the honey blonde insisted, "Jane is in a relationship with Lieutenant Colonel Jones. He went back to Afghanistan yesterday, and -"

"She spent the night with you," Farrell finished for her.

At Maura's answering blush, the younger woman continued, "Look, I don't know what's really going on with you and Jane, but I do know this: she's got a boyfriend, you're single, and I'm so into you that it is extremely difficult to be this close and keep my hands to myself. So tell me that you're taken, or tell me that Jane is just confused but you're willing to wait for her because she is the one. Tell me that you're straight or totally not interested and I will drop this conversation and never speak of it again. Or," she said, her voice dropping an octave as she leaned in close enough to whisper in that perfect ear, "Tell me to take you upstairs."

~R&I~

"Really?"

"Yeah, she's gay," Frost carefully told his volatile partner, "and I could see it, you know? Looking back over our relationship, I always knew that as much as she loved me, she wasn't in love with me. After all of the hurt and confusion that followed the breakup, I realized that it wasn't anyone's fault, sexuality isn't a choice."

"How can you say that?" Jane snapped, then hotly added, "of course it's a choice!"

"If sexuality were a choice," he calmly responded, "you would be married to Maura and Casey would be nothing more than a high school crush you ran into at a ceremony a few years back."

Stung by the truth of his words, Jane wordlessly glared at him.

When he held her gaze, not backing down a bit, she buried her feelings and her memories and her instant fucking recall of every single touch on every single part of her body that Maura had brought screaming to life and said, "I'm sorry, I don't want to argue with you. I know it must have been hard for you, to find out that someone you loved so deeply was no longer an option for you."

"It's hard to be someone you're not," he said with a sad smile.

The compassion in his eyes was overwhelming for Jane, who felt the gravity of that statement more deeply than she could ever allow anyone to know. They sat in companionable silence for a moment, just being quiet and taking the opportunity to reflect on the truth in the conversation they had just shared.

"I'm sorry, I forgot you really do have a wealth of experience when it comes to this," she offered, "how is your mom?"

"My Moms are awesome," he replied, putting extra emphasis on the plural form, "and I'm not broken or damaged because of who they are. My birth mother is gay," he continued, "is it really such a surprise that my first love was as well? You know they say that most guys marry a woman just like their mother."

"You're a good guy, bud," Jane offered with a smile.

"Hold onto that thought," Frost replied, a bit of nervousness in his voice as his expression turned completely serious.

"What did you do?"

"You're straight, right?" he started, but her answering expression threw him as her mouth said, "Of course!" just a little too vehemently. Interesting.

"So, really, you can't get mad at me for telling Farrell, you know, when she asked," he continued, his head doing all kinds of awkward tilts and turns, "that you and Doctor Isles are definitely not a couple. Right?"

Watching him twitch, feeling the words that he had just spoken sink in, the reality of the situation that they were in came at her like a ton of bricks.

"Oh my God, she's interested in Maura?"

But she's mine!

Her partner simply nodded in agreement, then picked his jaw up off the floor as he watched her cuss her way to the elevator and angrily punch the down button, all the while looking like she'd just gotten bitch slapped by an unseen hand.

I don't care what she does, I'm in love with Casey, Jane thought, as images of their entire interaction with Agent Farrell played through her mind. She wondered how long the young agent had been interested in her best friend, though experience told her that Maura was a lust at first sight kind of woman. Everybody fell for Maura, instantly. And just a conversation, a smile, a whiff of that incredible scent that was indescribably Maura was enough to push one over the edge.

Yeah, you're not gay at all.

Shaking off the thought, determined to find Maura, she walked into the morgue.

"Maura's in Chile," Susie Chang had explained, as matter-of-factly as if her boss just hopped onto international flights every day.

Surprised, Jane had asked, "Umm, when did she, I mean, why did she," Jane sighed and took a calming breath, "when is she coming back?"

"When her work is done," the Senior Criminalist replied, obviously engrossed in whatever was under her microscope.

"Susie?" Jane had growled, her patience growing thin as a growing sense of dread gnawed at her, "why did she go to Chile?"

"The autopsies she performed this morning were connected to an international case," the Senior Criminalist answered, "so Agent Farrell made a call. The bodies were taken by federal officers, and Doctor Isles left soon after. She didn't call you?"

Jane was aware that Susie's mouth was making words, knew what those words were saying, but all that she pulled out of that conversation were the exact words that she spoke next.

"Maura left the country with Farrell."