A/n: This is my first Rizzles fic, but these characters are so important to me that I couldn't get this story out of my head even if I did want to. It's been spiraling in my mind for weeks now and I am quite excited to share it. I hope that any readers will enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it, and I encourage criticism and compliments.

Jane took a deep breath in her car to steady herself. Her eyes closed as she prepared to step out onto her first crime scene since she'd been reinstated. She wasn't supposed to officially be back until the morning, but murder called. She'd be dealing with a new partner, who she'd heard only good things about, and a new Medical Examiner, who was an apparent robot according to her old partner, Korsak, and her younger brother, Frankie. Jane couldn't imagine that he would be any worse than Pike though, so she didn't find the thought all too overwhelming. She caught herself wringing her hands again, and formed hard fists as she inhaled her last calming breath, as her therapist had taught her, and, ignoring the ache in her fists, she put on her mask of assertiveness as she finally exited the vehicle.

All of Jane's nerves seemed to fly away from her as she pounded determinedly towards the yellow tape. Beat cops backed out of her way and raised the police line for her without question. She dressed quickly and in the dark, but was pleased to have grabbed one of her nicer blazers; first impressions did matter after all, and it was helping her keep her cool. The cold night air invigorated her senses and cleared her head. Jane was in her element. Finally.

As Jane approached the house she automatically started catalog the scene before her. She observed that the hinges on the white fence were bent at an odd angle, and the bushes below a window were less pristine than the ones that surrounded them. Once upon the threshold of the suburban home, Jane noticed that the scratches etched into the frame of the door were indicative of a silent break and enter, as opposed to the broken deadbolts that would have indicated a more abrupt or passionate, spur of the moment crime.

The killer is patient. Damn. Or a creep. Let's hope for creep. Patience was not one of Jane's strong suits.

She pressed forward into the living room of the house where the distinct smell of fresh blood embedded itself in her nostrils, and she went to intake the scene before her. Before she could get very far though, a man stood in front of her, blocking her view.

Jane tried to give him her best glare, but the way that he tried to smile at her through a cold sweat on his face reminded her of her brother, and how he used to act around the deceased.

"Detective Rizzoli," the man greeted and extended his clammy hand towards her. "I'm Barry Frost. I'm going to be your new partner. Wish we could have met under better circumstances." He glanced back at the body quickly and his dark skin seemed to pale a little more as his eyes darted back to meet hers. "I was gonna bring powdered donuts in the morning, Korsak mentioned you liked them, but..."

Jane looked at his outstretched hand just long enough for her new partner to question himself, but then she took hold of it and shook it firmly in her own. "What do we got?" Jane asked him and nodded toward the body, not completely capable of the civility required for introductions just yet, but also wanting to maintain her aura of control and professional politeness.

"Oh, uh... Looks so far like a B&E gone wrong. We're waiting on the M.E. before we can get into it. We've just got preliminary photos so far, and people talking to the person who called it in. Dr. Isles should be here soon." He looked sideways at her, looking like he wanted to speak but thought better of it.

"He should have been here before I was." Jane couldn't help but keep the annoyance out of her tone. "Wasn't I the last person that would have been called since I'm not technically supposed to be back until the morning?" She could tell that he was taken aback and regretted her harsh tone. It's wasn't his fault someone got murdered in the middle of the night, and it wasn't like she was sleeping anyway, so much as laying in her bed to stare up at her ceiling. "Sorry, I'm just-,"

"No need, detective." He put a hand up to wave off her apology. "She's here now anyway." He nodded over her shoulder and she glanced back to see a car worth well over a year of her salary pulling to a stop right behind her cruiser. Jane turned back to Frost, annoyed at the obvious show of wealth, and was about to joke about the cars men choose in relation to the concern of their junk size when his statement caught up to her.

"She?" Jane asked, but Frost didn't respond. He stood watching distractedly as the woman stepped out of her vehicle.

Jane rolled her eyes and willed herself not to turn around again, but her self control seemed impaired and she lasted only for a second before she turned and her breath caught in her throat.

Jane thought her own face was an impenetrable mask of cool, collected confidence, and that her Rizzoli swagger commanded crime scenes like no other, but the sure, high heeled steps of the woman currently walking towards the door of the house, and the effect they had on the surrounding officers rivaled Jane's own in a way she found to be intimidating, respectable and a third emotion that she didn't care to place right at that moment. Jane had trouble believing that the impeccably dressed specimen before her could be the new Medical Examiner. The Doctor dressed as if she were barreling down a runway in Paris before she got called to the crime scene. Her honey-blonde hair fell in perfect waves around her face and down her shoulders, her outfit exceedingly high-class. She maintained an aura of professionalism, but still looked out of place at a 1 AM crime scene, though her clothing wasn't what would be considered inappropriate.

Jane watched dumbstruck as the Doctor's steps didn't slow at all as she approached the police tape; as if she knew that one of the officers would lift it before she got to it. She was right, but her hand nonetheless lifted her M.E. badge towards the officer as she passed him, under the tape, without taking her eyes off the fence, then the bushes, and then the scratches on the door frame.

"Detectives," said the new M.E, as she brushed passed them with a small glance and polite smile.

Before Jane could even think of anything to say about the strange behavior of the newest arrival, the rest of the Geek Squad entered behind the doctor, and she began to order them about in a way that, to Jane, could be compared to a dance at the ballet; completely controlled, well-practiced and strangely beautiful. Jane admired the incredible coordination before she tried to get her wits about her once more. Jane shook her head to clear away her thoughts and her newfound dumbness, and she approached the doctor. Jane squatted next to where the M.E. knelt next to the body of a woman.

"So doc," Jane began, "what do we got?" Jane was greeted with silence as she watched the doctor's eyes move over the body and the bloodstains before her. Jane watched the doctor's hand reach out to move the dead woman's red hair out of the way before she placed two fingers to the victim's neck as if checking for a pulse.

"Likely premeditated break and enter onto the premises where this victim died of strangulation at approximately..." Jane watched as the doctor removed her gloved hand to check the time on her wristwatch. "12:17 AM."

Jane didn't pretend that she wasn't impressed and looked incredulously at the woman next to her. "All that from checking her pulse, huh?" she attempted a joke. A joke? No. Not a joke, but what? Focus, Rizzoli. "Some guess." Jane chuckled lightly and looked at her new colleague.

"I do not guess." The doctor finally looked at her, and Jane was once again rendered speechless as the intense gaze of the hazel eyes seemed to bore into her. "The hinges of the fence indicate that someone had trouble with the latch before they decided to simply jump the fence, their weight bending the old frame. The indents in the boxwood shrubs, the hedges outside of the window, are indicative that a person recently hid behind them to peer into this house, and the scratches on the door are consistent with multiple other break and enter cases I have cataloged that seem to be more silent than simply breaking in the lock. I do not guess... I've simply seen it before."

The doctor looked away near the beginning of her rant, but Jane didn't miss the fear flash in the doctor's eyes as she admitted the last part. The doctor began to catalog her evidence. "Susie, be sure to bag everything before returning to the lab, and do not let another beat cop step in any of these reddish-brown stains, they could be blood. I will not have another shoe print fiasco, or spend hours with police officers lined up in my morgue for me to swab their feet and analyze their shoe prints." The doctor stood and waited for Jane to do the same before addressing her. "After my colleagues have completed bagging their evidence, you are free to touch the body. I am going to go back to my home office to prepare my initial report on my findings of this scene and will await the arrival of the body tomorrow to begin the autopsy."

Jane felt like she was being spoken to like she was an incompetent child, and was beginning to realize why Korsak had called the new M.E. a robot. "Reddish-Brown what? Free to touch the-? Yeah, Doc, I have been on a crime scene before. It might surprise you to learn that I know how they work. Solved a few cases myself, actually, but thanks for the permission." Jane didn't feel the need to try to keep the bitter tone out of her voice, outraged at the other woman's rudeness. Jane saw confusion flash across the Doctor's face before desperation seemed to settle in while she stammered to Jane.

"Oh, I- No I did not mean to insinuate that you aren't- I just like to follow procedu-" the pair were interrupted by the sound of retching coming from outside of the front door. Jane looked up in time to see Frost wipe his mouth with a tissue, and looked back to the new M.E, who only seemed mildly disappointed at the man, but mostly concerned. Guess he does that a lot.

"Damn Frost, something you ate?" Jane asked lightly, trying to make it clear that she was joking, but he looked a little bit embarrassed anyway. "Oh, hey man, don't sweat it. More than half the guys at this scene used to toss their cookies at much less." He smiled at her then, and she could tell that he was kind and that she'd like him. She could read it in his eyes that he seemed to think the same.

Jane smiled back to him and glanced at the new M.E, but the doctor looked away from the pair. "I'm heading home. My team is finishing up with the evidence and I'd like to sleep before I begin the Autopsy. She's been deceased for less than an hour based on body temperature and rigor mortis, so your team should be at least... Five hours and twenty minutes based on past cases. I'm doctor Maura Isles, by the way." Maura smiled politely once more, but it didn't meet her eyes and Jane thought she saw a certain sadness mixed into the green. "Goodnight detectives." Maura waved and walked back from where she came, got into her car with grace, and eased away from the scene.

"Well she's..." Jane began but didn't finish.

"Yeah," Frost agreed. "She's something."

Maura sat in her office chair and attempted to focus on writing her preliminary report of the crime scene she'd just come from before she settled in for the night. She liked to work when the details were fresh in her mind, though it wasn't exactly necessary as her memory enabled her to recall every detail easily and without fault. That night though, she was simply incapable of concentrating on the task at hand.

Maura hoped that with the arrival of her new colleague that she might have the opportunity of making a friend, but that now seemed improbable. She had heard about Jane Rizzoli during the last four months of her new job. She had gleaned that the detective was a professional woman, much like herself, and that Jane had a drive for success and a pursuit of justice that one would be hard-pressed to find a rival for. Maura thought that perhaps their shared interest in finding justice for the victims might offer a segue into other conversations that would eventually build into a friendship.

With that thought in mind, she had approached the scene as she would any other, but couldn't keep herself from attempting to impress the Detective. She wasn't quite sure where she went wrong, but she knew that somewhere she had insulted Jane. Maura berated herself for her conversational ineptitude.

How is it possible for me to be able to attend Mother's galas and partake in doctorate speeches without incident, but I am unable to make it through one conversation with a potential friend without ruining everything? Maura knew why though, that she was able to behave amicably at social events but unable to converse appropriately with colleagues. Maura didn't care what the crowds at her Mother's art shows thought about her because she knew that they were all just as shallow a person as the next, and that she need only be polite enough to get through the evening. It was easy to talk to people who were interested in her family's money, but not in her, she was used to that. Maura was well aware of how esteemed her reputation had made her in the medical world, so her confidence while speaking to a full auditorium never wavered. She would never have the true desire to have a long term relationship with any of those people, but the longing she dearly had for a friend made her brain... Inept.

Maura had hardly ever been inept at anything in her life but she did not see a way around this fault. With a resigned sigh, she realized that she would likely continue her life the way it was, and tried to convince herself that it was enough for her. Her big, empty house was decorated just the way she wanted it, and she never had anybody to hog her blankets or sit in her favourite chairs. She could easily find a partner to fulfill whatever sexual desire she may have, and if the need for riveting conversation arose, she simply needed to log onto any of the multiple medical forums she was a part of and all of her needs would be fulfilled. She had a job to be proud of that she enjoyed immensely. So why did she still feel so... Inadequate.

Maura pushed herself away from her desk and walked out of her home office. She walked down the short hallway that led to her open concept kitchen/living room and stared momentarily at the empty couch before she decided to go to bed. Maura ambled up the stairs and into her bedroom walk-in closet to replace the shoes she had chosen back in their box, then she undressed. She turned off the light and tucked herself into her sheets and her thoughts strayed back to the detective.

Maura wasn't sure she had ever seen a specimen so well proportioned. Objectively speaking, Jane was beautiful. Her lean frame and height created an aura of confidence that was accentuated by the way the detective carried herself, and the raspy undertones of her voice raised goosebumps on Maura's skin. Jane's olive skin tone accentuated the shading on her face created by her strong, but not altogether unfeminine jaw and high cheekbones. She was very symmetrical. Maura grinned at herself for not finding one diagnosis for the detective, and except for the scars on both sides of each hand, Jane seemed to be the epitome of womanly strength and beauty.

Maura became aware of her hand drawing idle circles over her tense stomach and stilled herself. She took several deep breaths to even out her heart rate, which had begun to race, and she tried to push her thoughts away from Jane. She noted the clear signs of arousal that had occurred and fleetingly wondered at her new colleague's sexual preferences before she shook her head. Maura decided that even if the detective didn't want to be friends, she'd rather not tarnish her workplace professionalism with acting on her body's impulses. Maura began to meditate herself to sleep, but couldn't keep dreams of kind brown eyes out of her head. Sharp eyes, fearful, nervous and pained, but mostly kind, brown, and staring at her.