Do not and never will own Rizzoli & Isles (one night with Angie Harmon would be nice though) they belong to Tess Gerritsen (lucky her). Some of the ideas in this story are blatantly stolen from her first book "The Surgeon".

One more little side note. I like the idea of making each episode separate from the other which gives me more leeway with my writing. I like the chance to make them become aware of their feelings in each show and the excitement of one not knowing how the other feels.

One of my reviewers suggested I start at the beginning (after I had already started at the ending, go figure) and I thought it was a very good place to start so as the timeless song says…"When you read you being with ABC…

The Beginning

Chapter 1

Jane Rizzoli had wanted to be a cop for as long as she could remember. She went to Boston College on a sports scholarship and got a degree in Criminology then joined the Police Academy, much to her mother's chagrin. Angela Rizzoli always wanted her eldest to be a lady, have babies and cook gnocchi for her husband and be waiting for him when he came home from work. That was not the life Jane envisioned for herself.

Jane was a woman working in a man's world but she always liked a good challenge. She knew to be accepted as a police officer you had to prove that you could hold your own and a woman has to prove it twice as many times. Jane spent 10 years on the street as a beat cop then applied for her Detective Shield and has been a detective for 3 years. She has spent most of that in the Homicide Division and she loved her job and was good at it.

After her partner Vince Korsak had been sidelined with a minor heart attack Jane got a new partner named Barry Frost and she was still breaking him in. Korsak was still splitting his time between desk work and field work for part of the day. She really missed him, but she wasn't about to admit that to him. Frost was a good cop but I really don't think he has a place in homicide. The guy gets sick at the sight of blood, even the smallest amount and she was constantly yelling at him to not contaminate her crime scenes. Korsak got a kick out of harassing him whenever the opportunity arose, the autopsy room was his favorite place to pick on him because Frost has yet to make it through an autopsy without throwing up. Maura has taken to just pointing at the sink and Frost would run to it.

Maura Isles is my best friend and the head Medical Examiner for the city of Boston, the youngest one ever. When I worked my first homicide, Maura had just become the head Medical Examiner so we spent time together working the case and became fast friends. We are the epitome of opposites attracting. She comes from money, I come from blue collar, she went to Ivy League schools, and I went to Boston College. I drink beer from a bottle and Maura drinks only the best wines. But somehow we still make it work.

Tonight we're all sitting at the Bloody Mary discussing our latest case which is a serial killer that we've nicknamed "The Surgeon". He defiles his victims in the worst way and removes what makes them a woman. While the woman is still alive he removes her uterus then slits her throat from ear to ear. The reason he has been nicknamed "The Surgeon" is because it is obvious he has medical training and uses medical instruments. So far we've found three women but are hard pressed to find anything that ties them together. So here we sit, Frost with his laptop and the four of us trying to come up with something for him to search for.

Korsak came back to the table with another round of drinks. "What about victims of crimes? Maybe all three women have reported a crime and he came back to get them. Naw forget it that would have come up in our initial search of their backgrounds. Wait! What if they didn't report the crime?"

"I see where you're going with this Vince." Maura suggested. "Have any of them been in the emergency room recently and by recently I mean within the last year or so." Frost's finger flew across the keyboard and Jane watched the screen to see what would pop up.

"That's it! Maura you're a genius, well we already know you're a genius but sometimes you have a good idea like now. You too Korsak great idea." She read from the computer screen. "All three women had been in the emergency room at Mass General and reported they had been raped. Rape kits were collected but none of them were able to identify their attacker." Jane stood up and walked over and kissed Maura on the cheek. "Thanks Doc, you'd make a good cop, either that or you've been hanging with us too much and you're starting to think like us. I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"Well it scares the heck out of me Jane. I don't want to start thinking like a cop. I like the way I think just fine thank you very much. What may have sounded like thinking like a cop was actually thinking like a doctor. I've seen women in the emergency room that come in to be treated for cuts and bruises and they are terrified to say anything. We actually have nurses that are trained to deal with rape victims. They talk them into the rape kits because without them it's impossible to prosecute when the man it caught. But it's quite another thing to talk them into reporting the rape to the police. No offense guys but the police departments do not make it easy for a woman to report a rape. When a woman reports a rape it's almost as if she goes through the experience all over again and more often than not she's talking to a man who doesn't believe her." She looked at both Frost and Korsak and both men would not make eye contact. "See even you two agree with me."

Frost looked down at his computer screen. "Who has access to this information? The Surgeon has to have access to this information, how else could he know they were already vulnerable?"

"Unless he's the one doing the raping and coming back to finish them off. Is there a time frame between the rape and the murders?" Korsak said quietly.

Frost's fingers flew across the keyboard. "The first one was a year between the rape and the murder. The second was 6 months and the 3rd was 3 months."

"Half." They all turned to Jane after she spoke. "He's cut the time in half between each one. How many women came in about a month and a half ago?"

Frost narrowed the search. "One and here's her information." He turned the computer around so everyone could see the screen. Jane wrote the information down. "But we can't just walk up to her door and knock. 'Excuse me ma'am we think your rapist is going to come back and cut out your uterus then slit your throat.' I'm sure that would go over well. And I doubt if the lieutenant would authorize 24/7 surveillance on a hunch."

"Let me talk to him and see if we can spare someone for that. The bigger issue is do we even approach the women or just watch them to catch him."

"Maybe I could talk to the woman as a doctor doing a follow-up. I may be able to get some information about her routine. I might also be able to tell her what is going on in a non-threatening way."

"That could work Maura and I'll go with you. Maybe being approached by two women would be better than having men involved. No offense guys." Jane looked between the two men at the table.

"None taken Jane but what if he's watching her now and sees the two of you? He may see you as a threat to his plan." Frost looked up at Jane.

"Well gee Frost, I'm a cop and I am trained to take care of myself and Maura will be with me so is it too much of a leap for your mind to comprehend the fact that I might be able to take care of both of us?"

"I wasn't thinking about the time when you are talking to the women, I was thinking more about the time away from work when Maura goes home or when she walks to her car after work. When she goes to the grocery store, or somewhere else? Who will take care of her then?"

"Don't you think I can protect her?" Jane felt her defenses going up. "You're pushing your luck Frost." She glanced over at Korsak and he had his usual 'go get him Jane' smile on his face.

"Jane I know you are capable of protecting her but this will be 24/7? When would you take a break?"

"Well Frost she has to sleep, maybe we could sleep at the same time, carpool to work and go shopping together. Do all the girlie things that Maura loves to do." She turned to Maura. "If it's for your protection I guess I could go shopping with you." She smiled at her. "Does that meet with your approval Maura?"

"I suppose if I have to have someone protecting me you would be the logical choice? Are you going to be moving into my house or just my life?" She wasn't sure that Korsak and Frost were right about her needing the protection but if she did she would want Jane to be the one doing it.

"That would be up to you I suppose. If you want me to move in I can or you could come stay at my place." She smiled apologetically at Maura.

"I do believe it would make more sense if you moved into my place. It's bigger and you already know the bed is comfortable in my spare bedroom. There's plenty of room for us to stay out of each other's way." Maura gave her a big smile.

"Hopefully we can catch this guy soon and you won't have to put up with me for very long." She smiled back at Maura.

"That's ok you know you can stay as long as you like." Maura just looked across the table at her friend.

Korsak nudged Frost's foot under the table then nodded towards Jane and Maura and Frost nodded his head and smiled. "So how long have you had this mutual admiration society going on ladies?"

Both women turned towards Korsak with confused looks on their faces. "I've admired Maura since the first day I met her. She's intelligent, funny, easy on the eyes and she puts up with me. What's not to admire?" Maura actually blushed from her friends praise. She wasn't used to people praising her. Her adoptive parents always expected her to excel and when she did she never heard them praise her for the things she did well. But when she came home with a less than perfect report card she never heard the end of it. Wait a minute! Did she say I was easy on the eyes? Does that mean she thinks I'm pretty? I'm going to have to figure out what some of these little things mean that Jane and her friends say like 'have your back', 'easy on the eyes' and other little things. "Hey Maura are you ok?" Maura hadn't realized that she wasn't paying attention to what they had been saying.

"Yes I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

"You spaced out there for a minute." Jane looked worried.

Maura reached out and touched Jane's arm to reassure her. "No I'm fine Jane, no need to worry."

Jane looked down at Maura's hand on her arm and smiled. "Is there a way we can do this without involving Maura? This could get too dangerous for her?"

"Sure you could go in alone and question the lady and tell her what is going on an offer her whatever protection we can." Korsak had a smile on his face. "As long as you don't go in there all gangbusters like you usually do."

"What are you saying Korsak? Are you implying that I couldn't handle this delicately? That I couldn't tell them that someone is going to be following them around for the next few weeks and then one day try to grab them, cut out their uterus then slit their throat from ear to ear and still not freak them out? So Maura when will you be ready to go?" Everyone around the table laughed. "What? I know my limitations. And this is not something I think I want to tackle alone."

"Whenever you are ready to go Jane but I think due to the late hour we should put it off until tomorrow so I can turn over my cases to someone else. Then we can sit down and talk about questions to ask this woman and how much to tell her. Maybe we can meet for breakfast or something. Or you could just run by your house and pick up a change of clothes and you can stay at my house and we could leave in the morning."

Frost and Korsak exchanged looks across the table again. "Yeah Jane why don't you just stay at her house and you can get an early start in the morning." Korsak was trying to keep from laughing.

Jane gave Korsak a questioning look. He was up to something and she couldn't figure it out. She looked at Frost and he had a sheepish grin on his face now too. She wagged her finger between the two men. "What are you two up to? Korsak what's up? You two are planning something and I want to know what it is. You don't even like Frost so whatever it is you're planning has to be something big."

"Trust me Jane we are not planning anything. We are just doing what we are trained to do and that is observe." Korsak just smiled at her.

"Well what are you observing that put those stupid grins on your faces? I still think you are up to something."

"Jane we are not up to anything." Frost looked at Korsak. "We're just getting a kick out of watching the two of you. If I didn't know better I'd swear you two were a couple."

"How much have you had to drink Frost? I think it's time to cut you off you're talking crazy. I think it's time to call this meeting to an end and head home. Korsak I don't even want to know what you are thinking because that grin on your face tells me it's not good." She held up her hand when she saw that Korsak was going to say something. "Ah ah ah, don't say a thing, I do not want to hear it. Maura do you still want me to stay the night or should I just pick you up in the morning?"

Maura hadn't said anything during the exchange between Jane and the two cops. What could she say? She just sat and watched the three of them and smiled at their playfulness. "No you can still come by tonight, it's still early enough for us to throw some ideas around before we go to sleep. I'll see you in awhile then." She said good night to Korsak and Frost and headed out to her own car.