"Maura…Maura come on I said five minutes" an impatient Jane Rizzoli said from the other side of the bedroom door. The door finally opens and reveals Maura Isles in a form fitting, knee-length, fuchsia dress. I'm not into fashion or 'art' as she likes to call it…but damn that dress sure looks good on her. "Ready detective?" Maura asks brightly snapping Jane out of her thoughts. "Yep, let's do it".

They had been up and running at the crack of dawn when Jane got the call that a body had been found in the woods. She leads the way down the stairs and out of the front door of Maura's house. "We'll take my car" Maura gestures towards her Hybrid Toyota. "I am not riding in 'ol sparky" Jane grouches, crossing her arms like a defiant teenager. "The Prius is not electrified it merely has panels which are solar photovoltaic modules connected on a supporting structure, in this instance, the roof" Maura explains with a smile. "Yeah well, I'm still not riding in your solar volcanic whatever".

"You know solar energy does have many benefits" Maura offers as she slides into the passenger seat of Jane's car. Jane listens to Maura with half an ear while already wondering about the body that's been found. Dumping a body in the woods, on a hiking trail, is pretty obvious. Like they wanted it to be found. "…and it's very cost effective as well" Maura's voice filters back into her consciousness. "I'm sure it is Maur, you can teach me all about it later".

Jane stops her car next to a BPD unit and gets out, shielding her eyes from the morning sun with a pair of dark glasses. She looks around and spots Vince Korsak a few yards away. Maura is already making her way to the scene, medical bag in hand.

"Hey Korsak, what do we got?" Jane asks the Sergeant. "White female, mid-twenties, no ID". He walks then over to the body. "You and Dr. Isles were running again?" Korsak questions with a smirk. "Yeah, she had me promise to go with her after I made her watch some b-ball," Jane says rolling her dark brown eyes. "Seems like a fair trade-off to me" Korsak leads the way along the trail. "She's over here. Hiker found her and called it in." Jane walks around Dr. Isles to get a closer look at the victim. "She's not exactly dressed for a hike," Jane notes as she takes in the dark blue jeans and worn brown leather jacket. "Looks like she was strangled to death," Jane says leaning over the body slightly and noting the angry red marks around the victim's neck. "I'm not prepared to confirm that as the cause of death. I'll have to perform an autopsy first," Maura says as she rises from her position next to the body. She pulls off her gloves giving Jane a mildly disapproving look. "Lividity indicates that she has been dead at least four hours however." Jane shifts from one foot to the other not liking their odds. "Alright we gotta hope that her prints are in the system or something. Otherwise we have no idea who she is."

The rest of the crime scene was left to be processed by Maura's team as Korsak and Jane agree to meet up at the station. Jane spots Maura giving instructions to one of her techs and notes how the sun glints off her honey blonde locks. What am I doing? Geez, ogling Maura like a love struck teenager. Jane sighs inwardly as she makes her way over to the medical examiner. "You ready to go?" Jane asks. "Yes, perhaps we can stop at the café for some coffee?"

The car ride to the station is quiet. I wonder what's on Jane's mind, she seems preoccupied…then again we did just find a Jane Doe in the woods. Still, she's never this quiet. Maura's thoughts amble on for a few minutes longer until they pull up outside the station. She feels the same shiver creep down her spine every time she sees that sidewalk. The one where Jane shot herself to save those she loves. The one where she nearly died. The one where I nearly lost her…Maura shudders slightly at the lingering memories of that day. She's fine, she's right here and she is her beautiful, charming self. It was during the hours spent at Jane's bedside that Maura finally acknowledged her feelings for her best friend. She had always loved Jane but watching her fight for her life had made Maura realize that the feelings went beyond that of just friendship. She hadn't told Jane about her epiphany yet. It wasn't because she didn't want but rather because she didn't want to risk losing their friendship. Deep down Maura knew that she had to eventually share her feelings with Jane. But not now…not yet.

"Let me know when you have anything, yeah?" Jane asks as she steps onto the elevator. "Of course, I'll start the autopsy as soon as the body gets here," Maura confirms as she shifts her medical bag from one hand to the other. Jane and Maura's relationship has always been rooted in the trust and the knowledge that they had each other's backs. Of course, they have been times where it had been tested but in the end they always come back together. This is why Maura had doubt about sharing her more than platonic feelings with Jane. What if it crushed their friendship and severed the bond? She couldn't live with that.

"So we got nothing on the vic? At all?" Jane chewed the inside of her cheek as she looked through the sparse evidence they were able to collect from the scene. No ID, no purse, and no cell phone. Sure feels like a robbery. But why would that girl be out there at that time of night? "We'll have to hope Dr. Isles finds something on the body that can help us," Korsak sighs.

Jane had been back at work for nearly a month now. Several months after the attack on headquarters and several months of recovery. Although the physical recovery had been painful and relatively slow, it was the psychological recovery that was taking the most time. Most of Jane's nights were spent sleeplessly replaying the events and trying to figure out what she could have done differently. She knows the one thing she should've done since then though. Tell Maura how you really feel you coward. She'd realized that she wanted Maura to be more than just her friend. I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna ask her out on a real date. Jane takes determined strides towards the elevator dead-set on following through on her conviction before it decides to abandon her again. She sprints down the hallway to the morgue. "Maura, I gotta…ask you…something," she pants, more out of breath due to the moment than her short jog. Maura looks up at her from the notes she's making. "What is it Jane?" Jane takes a few deep breaths partly to regain her breathing pattern but mostly to build up the final bit of courage. "Would-you-maybe-want-to-go-out-with-me?" If Maura wasn't longing to hear those words for so long she may have missed them at the speed that they spilled out of the detective's mouth.

Maura was going to be cautious though. She didn't want to misread what was being asked. It could simply be a casual invite for a drink or two as they have done many times. "Sure Jane, that would be nice" she responds with a smile. She watches Jane closely to gauge her reaction. She seems slightly befuddled. "Uhm…okay…I'll pick you up at 8?" She enquires slowly. "Perfect. We haven't been to the Dirty Robber in a while."

Dammit! Maura thinks it's just a drink at the Robber. Crap, crap, crap!...Don't chicken out now Rizzoli, push through. "Maur, I was actually thinking we could go somewhere else. You know…on a…date," She whispers the last part. It brings a dazzling smile to Maura's face and it's all Jane needs to see to know that she'd done the right thing. "A date? With me?" Maura asks coyly. Jane gently nods her head to the side with a slight shrug of her shoulder. "Yeah, I think it'd be nice and I really wanna take you out on a proper date." Maura pushes back her chair and stands to move around her desk. "Jane…" She tentatively places one hand on the detective's shoulder the other wrapping gently around her neck to draw Jane's mouth down to her own. She brushes their lips together lightly and moans softly at the softness of Jane's lips on hers. Jane wraps her arms around Maura's waist her heart soaring at the feel of the woman in her arms. Maura pulls back slowly from the kiss staring at Jane's lips for a second before meeting her dark eyes. "I thought you'd never ask."