From a tumblr prompt mini-fic meme...thing...

Things you said at 1am.

With a quiet tap of her knuckles against the wooden door, Jane hesitantly stepped into the office of the newly appointed Chief Medical Examiner. "Doctor Isles?"

Startled out of her concentration, the seated woman looked up sharply at the woman in the doorway. "Detective Rizzoli," she greeted.

Jane stood there, her hands wringing together, displaying her nervousness.
A smile tugged at the corner of Maura's mouth as the thought that Jane seemed just as anxious as her crossed her mind. "May I help you?"

Roughly clearing her throat, Jane began, "I wasn't sure if you were planning to be here most of the night, but if you were, I was wondering if you'd like to grab a coffee at the diner down the street?"

With a glance to her large watch, Maura looked back up curiously. "At 12:30am?"

"It's okay if you'd rather not, or if you weren't planning to stay much longer," Jane backtracked. "I figured I'd probably be here awhile. My mind doesn't rest very well when a new case comes in. I thought…" She paused. "Maybe we could talk about the case, just in a different environment?"

Maura hesitated and then laughed nervously, looking down and brushing the back of her hand across her forehead.

Immediately Jane realized she'd made a mistake in extending this invitation. "You know what? It's fine. We can just do it another time. You're probably ready to go home to your boyfriend or husband or dog or something."

"Tortoise," Maura automatically replied, looking up to find a confused expression on the detective's face.

"I'm sorry?"

"I have a tortoise. African spurred. And no significant other. Just Bass and me," the medical examiner said.

"Bass. What, after an old boyfriend?"

Maura smiled. "No, after William Bass, the famous forensic anthropologist who founded the body farm."

Jane's left hand immediately rose and hooked around the back of her neck. "Yeah, yeah, of course." After a moment, she pointed backwards with her right thumb. "We'll just do coffee another time. Or not, if you don't have any interest at all." She began to slowly back through the doorway. "Anyway, I'll leave you to…whatever your plans are."

As the brunette began to turn around completely and leave, Maura quietly called out to her. "Detective, wait."

A hand gripped the doorway and Jane leaned back to look through the doorway, her head and hand the only visible parts of her body. "Yeah?"

"You just rambled a bit there and made several assumptions. You didn't really give me much of a chance to accept or decline your invitation."

"Oh. Right." She stepped back fully into the doorway, but remained silent, swallowing hard.

"I don't drink coffee this time of night, but I suppose I can make an exception. I'll just have mine decaf though."

"I retract my invitation," Jane replied, horrified.

Maura's stomach lurched and she knew the expression on her face showed how much that statement hurt.

At the look on the other woman's face, the detective apologized. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I was just joking. I didn't mean…I just…" She sighed. "Decaf coffee is a sacrilege."

A hesitant smile crossed Maura's face.

"Sorry. I forget that you're new, so you would have no idea how much I joke around, or that I'm a coffee addict," she said. "And I probably shouldn't tell you that since you're a doctor and all, but now I have. Hi. I'm Detective Jane Rizzoli of the Boston Police Department and I have a coffee addiction."

"Well, admission is the first step to recovery," Maura said, trying to hide her smile as she reached for her purse on the floor and rose from her chair.

"I have no desire to recover," Jane replied.

Maura couldn't help but laugh.

"So do you think the murder weapon is like…a 2 by 4 or something?"

"I don't guess," Maura replied. "I haven't examined the body yet, so I'd prefer not to speculate."

"Wait seriously?" Jane raised an eyebrow and took a sip of her coffee. Her elbows were on the table, the mug cradled between her hands.

"I'm a scientist by nature. I need evidence to support any claim that I make." Maura shrugged lightly as she stared into her coffee cup, swirling around the spoon she'd yet to remove.

"What about people?" Jane asked quietly. "Do you make any claims based on your observations of them?"

Maura's mouth twitched slightly as she met the brunette's curious gaze. "I can make the observations, but I prefer not to claim anything about a person until I am absolutely certain I have enough evidence to support it."

"Hm, okay." The detective paused as she lowered her coffee mug to the table and folded her arms across each other. "Tell me some observations you've made about me."

The other woman blushed and looked down.

"Fine, I'll go first," Jane said. "When you're in control of the situation, talking to your staff or telling us about the forensics you've found, you're confident. You know exactly what you're doing and how to do it, but you're uncomfortable around people in social interactions."

Nervously, Maura dropped her hands to her lap, continuing to look down.

"People call you Queen of the Dead and you pretend like it doesn't bother you, but it does," Jane said. "And for the record, I've nearly bitten off every officer's head who's said that within earshot."

A hard swallow.

"You're clearly a genius. You wear extremely fancy clothes, but personally I don't see how most of them are comfortable. Tonight I learned that you don't have a boyfriend or husband." Jane squinted as she observed Maura across the table. "Based on what I know of your education and work experience, I'd assume you're between the ages of 35 and 40, but probably closer to 35."

Maura breathed in deeply and tears gathered at the corner of her eyes.

"It's also obvious that you're beautiful," Jane said finally, quietly. "And I'm also willing to bet you're on the verge of crying right now."

Maura laughed, almost involuntarily. She swiped her index fingers across her closed eyes, wiping away the beginning pool of tears.

"See?" Jane replied with a sympathetic smile.

Finally the medical examiner looked up, eyes shining brightly with lingering tears.

"Want to know another thing I've learned based on all my observations?" Jane asked, making sure Maura wasn't going to look away.

Maura's lack of response indicated a yes to Jane.

"I think we're gonna be friends."