Author Note: I know...I have other stories I'm not writing quickly enough, I have one-shots to finish. But when inspiration hits, well, sometimes you've got to run with it. I'm not entirely sure where this story is going, so we'll have to see, but it's exciting me a little bit.

Jane trailed her toes along Maura's ankle, her arm draped across her back. The soft purrs deep in her throats filled the silence. Maura turned onto her side, pulling the blanket with her as she edged closer to the fireplace.

"Don't," Jane said, wrapping her arms around Maura's shoulders and shifting her body until skin touched skin. "I hate when you move away after we have sex."

"I'm hot," Maura said, reaching out to the fireplace and closing the grate.

"I know." Jane proceeded to nibble her earlobe, placing one knee over the other side of Maura's body and cupping her breasts. She pressed her lips to the sensitive skin beneath Maura's ear, trailing kisses down her shoulder blade. "You're. So. Fucking. Hot."

"Again?" Maura asked, sighing. "I know our anniversary usually makes you particularly interested in my body, but I didn't realise an engagement would increase that further."

"Insatiable," Jane said, lowering herself against Maura's body and resting her elbows down on the floor. She chewed her bottom lip. "That's the word you're looking for. I'm insatiable, and why wouldn't I be? Two years together and you still surprise me with how amazing you are."

Maura raised an eyebrow, a light chuckle escaped her lips. "There was nothing unexpected about my proposal."

"I know, but that doesn't chance it. You amaze me and sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky."

"I think it's the other way around," Maura said.

"Nu-uh." Jane shook her head from side to side, her long, dark curls tickled Maura's skin. She rolled onto her side, her body still pressed against Maura's, her leg draped across Maura's Lower body. "Do you ever wonder what life would be like if we'd never met?"

A crease formed between Maura's eyebrows. "No, never."

"Liar."

She sighed. "I try not to."

"Why?"

"I don't see any reason to consider something that isn't reality." She turned onto her side. The heat in the room barely decreased despite putting the fire out. Maura placed a hand against Jane's cheek. "All that matters to me is this.

"Maura."

"No." Maura grasped at Jane's hand, forcing it away from her thighs and back up towards her chest. "Any time I think about it, it makes me sad. My life changed because I met you."

"You're still in the same job," Jane said. "You've moved house once. The only difference is that we're together."

"Isn't that reason enough?"

"I suppose."

"You make me happier than I could possibly have imagined."

"Aww, shucks." Jane let go of her hand and covered her face. "Now you're gonna make me cry, again."

"I don't want to think about what life would be like if we'd never met, because I know my life would be poorer for it."

Jane tossed her head back, a smile spread across her face. "You've already got a yes, Maura, there's no need to persuade me again."

"Wasn't trying to," Maura said, untangling herself from Jane's side and blowing out a couple of nearby candles.

"Is that my cue to shut up and go to sleep?" Jane asked into the darkness.

"It's your cue to kiss me," Maura said, crawling across the makeshift bed and over the top of Jane.

Edging closer, Jane's voice filled the air. "Yes, siree!"

x

Maura woke with a start, her heart pounding against her chest. She opened her eyes and reached for her cell phone. Her hand collided with a table she didn't recognise, she lifted her fingers higher and answered her cell.

"Isles," she said, rolling onto her back. She listened to the voice on the other end of the line, momentarily wondering why Jane wasn't on her own phone beside her. "Thank you."

"Work?" a voice asked from the other side of the bed. Maura froze. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, then opened them again. When did she climb into bed? And why was there a skylight above her head? She turned, stealing a glance at the person beside her. A head of short, sandy blonde hair surfaced, bright blue eyes stared back at her.

She screamed and jumped out of the bed, her cell phone tumbled to the floor beside her. "Who are you? Get out of my house!" A draft coated her skin, she glanced down and grabbed a blanket from a nearby chair. "Why am I naked?"

The man climbed out of the other side, the bedsheets slipped off his body revealing a very tanned, very naked body. Maura swallows a lump in her throat. She turned around, the whole room was completely different. The décor had changed; the windows were different. Her bathroom door was not where it should have been. Something wasn't right.

"Calm down, Maura," he said, his voice gruff, an unfamiliar accent.

"Where am I?" she asked. "Why did you bring me here? What's going on?"

"I was gonna ask ya the same thing, why ya so upset? You're the one who invited me over last night."

She wrapped the blanket tightly around her chest. Last night she was with Jane, on the floor of her lounge. Last night she got engaged to the woman she loved. Her finger was empty. She marched out into the hallway, her toes grew cold from the tiled flooring under foot. She stared out across the balcony at the living space, taking in every little detail of her unfamiliar surroundings. She didn't know where she was or why she was there, but she certainly didn't invite the man over.

"Come back to bed, love," he said, a mixture of accents made it impossible for her to place his voice. He followed her out into the hallway.

Turning, Maura covered her eyes. "Please put some clothes on."

"Oops, sorry love," he said, cupping his genitalia. "Bit o' morning wood, always happens with a beautiful lady like yerself."

Maura gritted her teeth and glanced through her fingers. "I need you to tell me who you are, and what I'm doing in this house."

"Very funny, love, you always said you weren't one for comedy. I don't know what you were on about, you're hilarious."

"I'm not using comedy, I'm serious. Where's Jane and how did I get here?"

"Jane? Jane who?"

Breathing in slowly, Maura clenched her fist. "Answer my questions before I call the police."

"Alright, alright," he said, holding his hands up. Maura glanced down, then covered her face again. He returned his hands to his groin. "Sorry, love, won't happen agin. My name's Otto."

"Otto who?"

"Otto Torbjörn."

"Where are we?"

He narrowed his eyes. "You going senile, love?"

"Where. Are. We?"

"Your apartment."

"My..." Maura paused. She glanced over the mezzanine, across the first floor of the duplex apartment. For a moment, she wondered if she'd banged her head and had somehow returned to an earlier part of her life. But she'd never been there before, and she certainly didn't know a man named Otto who sounded like he came from many different countries. The apartment was very modern, yet filled with various pieces of historical and contemporary artworks. "I don't understand."

"It's pretty simple," he said. "You live 'ere. You invited me over for sex, we had sex, fell asleep, now ya don't seem to have any idea who I am or what either of us are doing 'ere. That sound about right?"

She nodded slowly and stepped towards the edge of the balcony. His summary of her current situation did nothing to appease her worries. She didn't recognise the apartment at all, and if it wasn't for her collection of Tanzanian artwork hanging up on the far wall, she would have assumed it was Otto who was senile.

"You got a case?"

"Err." She gripped the edge of the metal balcony. She'd always wanted a duplex apartment with mezzanine. The phone call returned to mind. "Oh. Yes. I do."

"I'll let myself out," he said, slinging an arm around her waist and trailing kisses across the side of her neck. She grimaced. It didn't matter how attractive he was, or how close his naked body was in that moment, she couldn't betray Jane. Even if it looked like she already had.

She changed quickly, barely stopping to eat a plate of eggs Otto had prepared for her while she showered. She didn't speak, but she could feel him watching her. She felt sick. Not least because he still hadn't put any clothes on. The apron around his waist was not enough to blot the image of his entire body from her mind. Nothing made sense.

"See ya later, love," Otto shouted after her. She opened the door. "Don't forget ya keys."

She found a set by the door and scooped them up, barely glancing back at the unfamiliar man as she ran out onto the outdoor balcony. She got halfway down the stairs before turning back. If this was her apartment, her home, then she needed to know exactly where she lived. She retraced her steps and tried the key in the lock.

"Back so soon?" Otto asked from the couch, crossing his bare legs and covering himself with his hands.

She nodded, ignoring the man's incessant need for nakedness, and searched the living space for something of use. She picked up a book on gunshot wounds. "I forgot this."

"Right," he said. "Call me if ya want a booty call later."

"A…a booty call?" Maura grimaced and backed out of the door. "Bye, Otto."

She stood out the front, staring at the door, taking in every piece of information she could find. Twenty-six. She stalked up and down the balcony, moving past several other apartments. They all looked relatively similar from the front door. Eventually, she ran down the stairs and headed in the direction of what she could only assume would be the parking lot.

A dozen or so cars filled spaces, and not one of them looked like her Lexus. She checked her keys, and after pressing the unlock button a couple of times, watched a blue-grey Acura's lights flash. She tossed her bag into the back seat, thankful it had been easy to find, and set off to work, analysing every little detail of her journey.

x

At the crime scene, Maura walked through the long grass in the front yard of a small house, conscious of the damage the morning dew would do to her Jimmy Choos. The footpath had vanished under the excess foliage. Inside the door, she placed covers over her shoes.

"Morning, Vince," Maura said, stepping up beside Korsak.

He turned from his conversation with a man in a suit, and stared at her, narrowing his eyes momentarily. "Doctor Isles, it's Detective Korsak."

"I," she cleared her throat. "I apologise. Detective Korsak."

He resumed the conversation he was having, barely motioning towards the room where Maura assumed the body was. She followed his direction. The overwhelmed scent of decaying flesh hit her as she entered the room. The floorboards under foot were damaged. In a hole beneath them, lay a corpse.

"Do we know how long she's been here?" Maura asked, crouching down and pulling out a flashlight. She shone the light across the room and her heart leapt. Jane. She stood up and walked carefully around the outside of the hole in the floor. "Jane!"

"Err, do I know you?" Jane asked, her eyes creased at the edges.

"It's me," she said, a lump forming in the back of her throat. "Maura."

"Oh," Jane said, smiling. "You're the Queen of the Dead."

Gritting her teeth, Maura's hand shook at her sides. "Doctor Maura Isles."

"Sorry." Jane shrugged. "Probably shouldn't have called you that."

"You don't…recognise me?"

"Should I?"

"No." Maura breathed in slowly, her chest heaved as she let out her breath. The strength of her voice disappeared. "I guess not."

"Pretty gruesome, hey," Jane said, waving her hand around the room.

"Yeah." Maura cleared her throat again and flashed the light over the body. "I…you really don't know who I am?"

"Nah." Jane followed Maura back toward the doorway. "The house has been empty for a couple weeks. Nobody knows how she got here."

"You're still a detective, though, aren't you?"

Jane scoffed. "Err, yeah. Last time I looked."

"But you don't recognise me."

"I don't understand why you keep asking me that," Jane said. "I've only just transferred to homicide. I don't know everyone here yet."

"You…" Maura's voice drifted off. She turned off the flashlight and slipped it into her pocket. "You were in the drugs unit?"

"Yeah, coming on ten years."

An uncomfortable feeling settled into the pit of Maura's stomach. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to gather herself. When Jane touched her shoulder, Maura let out the briefest yelp.

"You okay?"

"I'm sorry," Maura said. She opened her eyes again. "What year is it?"

"Twenty-seventeen."

"And you've only just joined homicide."

"That's right."

"Okay." Maura rans her hands across the front of her dress and thrust one out in front of her. She forged a smile. "Welcome to homicide, Detective Rizzoli."

Jane took her hand, but didn't shake it. "It's Detective Burton."

"I'm sorry," Maura said, dropping her hand at her side and rushing out of the room and back through the overgrown garden.

She stopped at her car. She leaned against the door, her heart raced faster than usual. She felt sick. Nothing was right. How had everything changed overnight? The cold night air filled her lungs with icy breath, making her chest ache. She stood upright once more, straightened out her dress, and returned to work.

Author Note: I would apologise...but the idea is the idea and who am I to tell my brain the idea needs changing?!