Disclaimer: Rizzoli and Isles and all associated characters belong to Tess Gerritsen and TNT. I am not making any money from writing about them.

A/N: Last week I had an "AHA!" moment, thinking it would be fun to write something from Bass' perspective. Little did I know that FinalCut beat me to it with what looks to be a LAUGH RIOT. :-) I haven't read it yet (just the first couple of paragraphs because I didn't want to be influenced by another voice) but it seems like a hit based on the number of reviews.

I think "my" Bass will be on the fluffier side, so I hope you all will like him just as much as FinalCut's version. Thanks for reading.

A Tortoise and His Girl(s)

Chapter 1

Bass was a simple creature.

He was about as low maintenance a companion as there ever was, but like his human, Dr. Maura Isles, Bass enjoyed the finer things in life: perfectly ripe and juicy strawberries, organic spinach, pure artesian spring water...

He didn't ask for much, was a great listener, and had been lovingly cared for by Maura for many years. Sure he wasn't as interactive as say Jo Friday, but Bass was a great friend. He looked forward to Maura coming home every night to tell him about her day while feeding him lettuce or bok choi.

As soon as he heard her key in the front door he made sure to give her a big grin when she came into the kitchen. Well, as big a grin as he could manage given his craniofacial structure - he settled for his mouth open wide while bobbing his head in greeting; Maura knew what he meant.

But things had been different lately; the last few weeks Maura had been staying out later and once in a while not coming home at all!

Sure Bass could take care of himself, but he wondered what was up.

He thought back to when it all started and realized that Maura really hadn't been behaving differently until that other human started coming around. Now what did Maura call her? Oh yes..."Jane."

For whatever reason this Jane was now a big part of Maura's nightly chats with Bass. Statements like, "Jane and I are running a marathon," or "Jane and I have to go undercover" dominated Maura's part of the conversation.

For the first time in his 30+ years with Maura, Bass felt something he never experienced before: jealousy. He started to see this Jane as...competition.

Instead of hearing about what a handsome and good boy he is, or how his eyes are so bright or his shell so glossy, all Maura seemed to talk about was Jane. Then there were those late nights...what was she doing? Her place was home with him and Bass was starting to get worried: was Maura getting bored with him? Was she going to give him up or trade him in for Jane? His little reptilian brain was on overload here!

Bass got so worked up over Maura's behavior that he couldn't eat, could barely sleep, and eventually became listless, hardly even lifting his head up when Maura came home at all hours of the night.

Maura noticed that Bass wasn't acting like his usual self and of course she was concerned, stroking his shell and talking in the sweet, soothing voice that was once reserved only for him, but he was starting to hear it more and more when she was on the phone with Jane.

Now the one and only time Bass met Jane didn't go very well. Here was this new person in HIS house...loud, boisterous, waving her hands around when she talked... Didn't she know that tortoises are sensitive to loud noises and sudden movements?

Bass let it slide because she was new; he's a nice tortoise and wanted to make friends, so he gave Jane his best smile equivalent.

He was so shocked by Jane's reaction...her shrieking and pointing...that he couldn't even eat the rest of his strawberry.

Maura scolded Jane but the damage had been done. Bass was not a fan of Jane from that first meeting, and now that (in his mind) she had become Maura's center of attention, he was jealous, angry, and hurt and slowly began to retreat into himself.

Bass felt bad that Maura was so worried, but because he couldn't articulate his feelings very well, he sunk into a downward spiral of depression and picky eating; even organic spinach had no appeal anymore.

As Bass got sicker and more listless, Maura became frantic. The one day his usual caregiver couldn't make it over to sit with him during the day, Maura brought him to work with her.

Bass was devastated - how could she do this to him? Taking him out of his home was bad enough, but to be on Jane's turf was unthinkable.

Little did Bass know that his life was going to change forever that day and that he would learn an important lesson about first impressions and being judgemental.