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Maura sat on the cream sofa and slowly raised the cooling cup of coffee to her lips. Outwardly she appeared to sit and survey her new surroundings – her skirts neatly arranged and her ankles crossed demurely – but inside she felt a restless excitement.

Craning her neck she could just about peek out of the bay window into the street outside. Two young men were passing by, both deeply involved in an animated conversation. Maura watched as the taller gentleman with the flat cap gestured wildly, before breaking down into gales of laughter. His friend slapped him on the shoulder and they both passed from her field of view. A carriage rolled down the road at a brisk pace, causing a woman to hitch up her skirts in an effort to get out of its way and a gang of dishevelled children ambled along the street on the far side. It seemed that everyone in Boston had somewhere to be; somewhere to go. They were so full of life that Maura found they were completely at odds to any company she had been part of before.

So much was obvious from her very brief yet strangely exhausting introduction to the Rizzolis. From the overly familiar greeting to the demonstrative scene she'd witnessed in response to Barry's success, Maura's thoughts couldn't help but stray to her own mother and the stark differences between the two women. Where Constance Isles was cool and reserved, every inch the fashionable lady, Angela Rizzoli seemed warm and open, a welcoming motherly figure. The affectionate world she'd briefly glimpsed today could not have been further removed from the one in which she had grown up.

Full of professional and socially desirable relationships, Maura's life had been both culturally and intellectually stimulating. Her parents had given her every opportunity from a young age, leaving her free to pursue any avenue of interest she might have. When she struggled to find a university open to women, her parents had flown her to Europe and employed guides and tutors to teach her whatever she wished to learn. When she outstripped her tutors, she had been encouraged to take up research projects of her own. When she approached them with the intent to study medicine – her acceptance letter to the Boston Medical School clutched in a shaking hand – she had been greeted with ready agreement and a discussion of preparations for the move.

There had been no congratulations or out-pouring of pride, which Maura had not been surprised by. Her parents had asked what she needed and arranged it. Every possible eventuality had been accounted for.

And so it was. The fulfilment of Maura's intellectual and physical freedoms had always come at a cost – Maura had spent most of her life alone.

Her parents cared for her, she was sure, but open affection had never been their strong point. They were often so wrapped up in their own lives that Maura sometimes felt like an afterthought. The idea of Constance Isles hugging her as Mrs Rizzoli had done earlier was laughable. In fact, Maura realised, the thought of her mother hugging her at all was hard to imagine…

A small cough from behind broke her out of her daydream and she quickly turned her head. Jane was standing awkwardly by the door, hands clasped in front of her.

"Ma asked me to show you up to your room…" She said, cautiously eyeing the blonde.

"Oh… thank you," replied Maura, shaking her head a little to clear the recent thoughts from her mind. Carefully she placed her cup back into the saucer on the table and standing, brushed the non-existent wrinkles out of her skirt. She gave Jane a polite, but guarded smile – she hadn't quite forgotten the rebuttal of her handshake earlier. She didn't want to be caught out like that again.

Jane moved forward and pushed open the door to the hallway, "After you," she muttered holding it open for Maura to pass through. Maura inclined her head and Jane cleared her throat, not quite making eye contact.

As they stepped into the hallway, Jane quickly hurried to Maura's side.

"The dining room is through there," she pointed to the large double doors opposite the parlour. "The kitchens are out the back, and if you follow that corridor down there," she motioned to the side of the staircase, "you can find a study on your left and another sitting room further down on the right."

Jane paused as Maura stored this information in her mind; which the blonde was finding surprisingly difficult. The low, husky tone emanating from the brunette was oddly distracting.

"I… uhh… I'm afraid we don't have a library… but the study has a pretty good selection of books, for when you feel like reading." Jane broke in.

Maura turned her head sharply and her eyes widened in surprise.

"How did you know I like to…?" Maura began to ask, before Jane cut her off.

"When we came in… you were holding that book and… well I just guessed…" she tried to explain.

"Oh," replied Maura, at a loss for anything else to say. This woman didn't seem to miss a thing.

Before she could help herself she had blurted out, "But you shouldn't guess."

Jane wrung her hands, fearing she'd unintentionally been rude again, before Maura rushed to clarify.

"I mean, you really didn't have enough data to draw that conclusion... We've only been in each other's company for a few minutes at most and it would have been better for you to assemble all the facts before starting to hypothesise."

Jane stared at the blonde and Maura felt herself beginning to blush under the penetrating dark gaze.

"It's the scientific method," she finished abruptly.

"I was right though wasn't I?" Jane asked. "About you liking to read?"

Maura blinked. "Well… yes… but…"

"Then does it matter whether I used the 'scientific method' or my gut feeling to reach that conclusion?"

Jane unconsciously placed her hands on her hips, shooting a defiant grin at the blonde. Maura's breath caught before her brain kicked in and processed what Jane had said.

"What does this matter have to do with your intestines?" she asked, confused.

Jane's grin slipped, "Pardon?"

"Your 'gut feeling'... Is it painful? Do you have tenderness anywhere?"

Maura automatically moved towards Jane before the brunette finally realised her mistake and hastily stepped away.

"Oh," said Jane "No, I'm sorry. My guts are fine." She flashed a reassuring smile at the blonde. "I forgot you're new to these parts. It's just a saying. It means, uhh, to go on instinct. "

Maura tried to process this new information. "So this has nothing to do with your actual intestines?"

Jane shook her head.

"You're saying you go on instinct rather than scientific reasoning?"

"Pretty much… It's never let me down so far," she replied with a shrug.

"Interesting," replied Maura, considering this new approach. In her brief experience she'd always found emotions to be vaguely unhelpful in the pursuit of truth. The cold rationality of science had been her comfort growing up.

In silence they began to climb the stairs, Maura hurrying slightly to keep up with the darker woman's long striding steps, her brain still whirring.

"So I heard you're attending the Female Medical School?" Jane asked, briefly glancing back over her shoulder.

Maura tensed as she mentally prepared herself for the usual fight to defend her career choice.

"Yes," she answered warily, "I got my acceptance letter the other week. I start on Monday." Jane nodded without turning round.

Not sensing any resistance, Maura continued.

"I find the human body endlessly fascinating. There's just so much to learn about it. Did you know blood is red because of the presence of a chemical known as haemoglobin?"

Jane raised an eyebrow at the random fact the blonde had just blurted out. She couldn't stop the corner of her lip twitching as she saw Maura move her hands excitedly to make her point.

"Or that there are 270 bones in the human body at birth, but as we age, they fuse together so that we're left with only 206 in adulthood?"

Jane broke out into a grin.

"I must say I've never heard of feelings stemming from your intestines, but I haven't started my training yet…" Maura shot a sly look at Jane.

Jane let out a gentle laugh at the subtle dig the blonde had just made. The shorter woman hadn't seemed one for humour. Catching the look on Jane's face, Maura blushed and finished quietly, "I just find the entire practice so absorbing… To study it has been a dream of mine for a long time."

"Well I think that's really impressive Maura," Jane replied smiling.

"You think it's impressive?" Maura repeated.

"Well, yeah. I mean, you have to be really intelligent to get in there. I don't know much about medicine, but I know it helps people and that's good enough for me," there was a brief pause as Jane considered her next words carefully. When she spoke, they were laced with emotion.

"I think it's great that you're following your dream. Not many people get to do that."

Maura dropped her head at the sincerity of Jane's words. "Thank you," she murmured quietly, as Jane set off down the dimly lit corridor.

"The master bedroom is this way," the dark haired woman called, "Frankie already brought all your bags up. There are fresh sheets on the bed and a wash basin on the stand." She threw open the door. "Dinner will be at seven. There's a bell."

Maura nodded politely and stepped into the well furnished although rather musty room. It was pleasant enough, but she was pleased that she'd brought her embroidered throws and goose down pillows from home.

"If there's anything else you need?" Jane asked from the doorway.

Maura turned and smiled, "No, thank you very much Jane."

Jane nodded but seemed hesitant to move from her current position. She again began to wring her hands, which Maura now recognised as a nervous habit.

"…About earlier…" Jane began hesitantly and Maura cocked her head to one side. "I'm sorry that I didn't shake your hand."

Maura tried not to look surprised; she hadn't expected an apology.

"It's just that my hands…" Jane continued, "well they're not very pretty to look at and… I didn't mean to be rude or offend you…"

"I understand," replied Maura, but Jane didn't appear to be listening; she was intently staring down at her hands splayed in front of her, a look of disgust plain on her face. For the first time Maura caught a glimpse and was shocked to see two angry pink gashes marring each of Jane's palms.

She couldn't help but let out a startled exclamation, "Jane what happened?"

Looking up, Jane immediately withdrew her hands and buried them deep in the folds of her dress. Her eyes darkened and Maura instantly regretted asking.

"Just some stuff… I don't like to dwell on it."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be forward," Maura replied contritely.

"No it's fine… It happened a long time ago…" Jane didn't quite meet Maura's eye. The two women stood in silence for a few seconds before Jane started again. "Well if you're all set here, I should probably get going."

"Thank you Jane." Maura replied sincerely, hoping to catch the brunette's gaze.

Jane only nodded silently, and without raising her eyes from the floor, turned and gently closed the bedroom door behind her.

For a few seconds Maura stood in the middle of the room, her eyebrows drawn together and her forehead softly wrinkled with worry. Everything had been going so well and then she'd managed to make it uncomfortable. Once again she had misread social cues and overstepped her mark, scaring away one of the first truly fascinating people she'd met in a long time.

But those marks on Jane's hands…

Maura knew from the extent of the scarring that those were horrific injuries. The radial, ulnar and median nerves travelled all the way down the arms and to sustain that much damage to any one of them… Maura shuddered involuntarily; she couldn't begin to imagine that level of pain. It had been entirely tactless of her to draw attention to an obviously agonizing memory.

She sighed, lowering herself onto the edge of the bed. She couldn't help but wonder what had happened to such an interesting woman though. Jane had been one of the first people to hold a real conversation with her in a long time. She was quite frankly an enigma and now that Maura had embarrassed her, one she would never have the opportunity to figure out.

Maura's eyes fell on the pile of suitcases by the window. She really should stop thinking about Jane Rizzoli and start unpacking. She wasn't usually one to sit and speculate. Mentally admonishing herself, she quickly opened the lid of her largest trunk. With a methodical neatness, she began to sort through her belongings.

Despite her best efforts her mind continued to ponder a certain tall, dark mystery…

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

Dinner passed without incident. Maura sat alone in the dining room; Angela had brought in a tray of food and then left with nothing more than a smile. The food had been wonderful; Mrs Rizzoli was clearly a talented chef (Maura hadn't tasted cannelloni that good since she had actually been in Italy) but the soft clink of silverware in the empty room had been decidedly strange after such a stimulating day. She couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that Jane and Barry hadn't stayed for dinner after all.

With the sun beginning to set outside, the light in the dining room had started to dim and as Maura rose from the table Angela hurried in holding an oil lamp. With a nod she passed it to Maura and began to collect the empty plates from the table.

"I hope you found the food to your liking Maura?" the older woman asked.

"It was truly wonderful, thank you Mrs Rizzoli," Maura replied genuinely.

"I'm glad. It's an old family recipe, the kids could never get enough of it," she beamed as she picked up the last of the cutlery.

Angela straightened and turned to the blonde, standing just out of the way behind her, "If that'll be all for tonight Maura, I think I should be getting home."

The blonde immediately nodded, "Yes of course. Thank you Mrs Rizzoli."

"Angela, please," she reiterated with a motherly smile, proceeding Maura out into the hallway. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Have a good evening Angela," Maura called watching the figure retreat into the kitchen.

Holding her lamp out in front of her, Maura turned towards the staircase. Feeling suitably full she figured she could probably get in a few hours of study before bed. Despite the fact that she had already read her copy of 'Gray's Anatomy' from cover to cover twice, she had wanted to go over the chapter on the endocrine system just one more time…

Her head already deep in thoughts of the pineal gland and the pancreas, Maura failed to notice the shadowy shape at the end of the hallway.

"Maura?"

She turned abruptly at the sound of her name in that familiar husky drawl.

"Jane?" she replied, "You're still here?"

The tall brunette stood resting against the front door, seemingly even darker in the dusk half-light; her slouched posture an affront to every etiquette rule Maura had ever been taught. She found it quite enthralling.

"Yeah, I wanted to ask you something."

Maura nodded, at a loss for words.

"You said you have a few days before your school starts? Well, if you'd like, I could give you a tour of Boston?"

For a moment Maura could only stand mutely holding the lamp. Jane continued.

"It must be hard coming to a new city on your own. I thought it might be nice if you at least knew where you were going? I mean I know I'd like someone to show me around…" She trailed off and smiled at the blonde.

"It could be fun."

Maura replied quietly, "I'd like that."

"Great. Tomorrow then?" Jane beamed.

"Tomorrow," Maura whispered.

"It's settled. Have a good night Miss Isles," Jane said, finally eliciting a small smile from the blonde. With a wave, she pulled open the front door and disappeared into the evening air.

Maura remained transfixed as the front door swung shut with a soft click.

Maybe she hadn't ruined everything after all…