DISCLAIMER: Rizzoli & Isles and its characters are the property of Tess Gerritsen, Janet Tamaro and TNT television network.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To sunsetwriter[at]mindspring.com
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For GGF… ;-)

Tortoise Interruptus
By sunsetwriter

Jane Rizzoli knew that Maura Isles was good with her hands, but she didn't think she had ever appreciated that fact quite as much as she did at this very moment. Maura's talented fingers were driving her to heights of ecstasy that never knew possible.

Another flick of Maura's thumb and Jane couldn't help but cry out in pleasure. The hum in her ears and her own ragged breathing drowned out the sound of sixteen tiny toenails tapping across the hardwood floor of the bedroom.

Another flick drew a whimper from Jane accompanied by another whimper from the floor beside the bed.

Maura's hand stilled which caused a whimper from Jane for an entirely different reason.

"Why are you...?" Jane all but whined as a small, furry body landed on the foot of the bed with a soft thud.

Jane raised her head to see Joe Friday, looking like she was about to pounce. Crouched down on her front paws, butt in the air, tail wagging, doggie smile on her face. "Joe, nooooo, it's not play time. At least not for you."

"Rrrrruff," Joe answered, causing a chuckle from Maura.

"Joe! Down! Now!" Jane said rather harshly. Joe stood upright, drooped her tail, and hung her head dejectedly as she slowly turned and jumped back down to the floor.

"Aww, Jane, you hurt her feelings," Maura said, moving her hand completely and peering over the edge of the bed to see Joe's sad little face looking up at her.

Jane whimpered again. "I'll make it up to her later," Jane replied. "Now, where were we?" she asked, attempting to pull Maura back to her.

"But, she doesn't understand what she did wrong," Maura said, starting to sound a bit sad herself.

"Oh, alright," Jane conceded. "Joe! It's OK, come here, girl."

The little dog's ears perked up and she scampered back toward the bed. One leap later, she was sitting next to Jane, panting softly.

Maura smiled, kissed Jane, and turned her attention back to previous matters at hand.

Joe continued to sit and watch the two of them. As Jane's breathing became slightly erratic again, Joe stopped panting, cocked her head curiously, and made a small noise, that could only be dog-speak for 'huh?'

Jane cut her eyes over to her canine companion and tried to ignore the stare. Joe tilted her head in the opposite direction and began to pant again.

Jane sighed. She reached down and stilled Maura's hand with a sound between a groan and a growl. The noise made Joe cock her head back to the other side and stop panting again.

"Maura, stop."

"Why?"

"I can't do this with her looking at me like that."

"Jane, she's a dog. I don't think she really understands what we're doing," Maura replied as her hand began to move again.

Jane turned her head to look at Joe again and the little dog winked one eye.

"OK, that's it," Jane said as she reached for Maura's hand again. "I'm sorry, Maura. I think she knows exactly what we're doing." She cut her eyes to Joe again. "And she wants to watch."

"I don't mind if she watches…" Maura said with a smile.

"I do!" Jane said emphatically. She reached over and ruffled the dog's fur. "You little pervert."

Joe sniffed, stood up, turned in a circle twice and laid down next to Jane, snuggling up to her. Jane and the dog both sighed simultaneously.

Maura chuckled and reached down to tug the sheet over them. Settling back down next to Jane, on the opposite side from Joe, Maura said, "How about I make it up to you tomorrow night? In my bed."

"Why your bed?" Jane asked as she put an arm around Maura.

"Because tortoises can't jump."

Maura had often cautioned Jane that her sharp tongue was going to get her in big trouble one day. But today, Maura had never been more thankful for that same tongue and the way Jane was using it to drive her to complete distraction.

If Jane hadn't been so intent on what she was doing, she would have smiled. Anyone eavesdropping on them could assume that Maura was having a religious experience due to the number of times she had said 'oh, God' in the past fifteen minutes. Or, they could assume that they were doing exactly what they were doing. Jane didn't really care, she was just having a hell of a good time.

A soft 'clunk' against the doorframe of the bedroom door distracted Jane for a moment and she raised her head.

"It's just Bass," Maura said breathlessly. "Don't stop."

Jane lowered her head again and Maura arched her back in response.

A few moments later, Jane heard another 'clunk', this time much closer, as Bass' hard shell hit the nightstand beside the bed. Before she could look up again, Maura's hand landed on top of her head. "Don't stop," Maura repeated, holding her head in place.

She could hear the tortoise moving around on the floor beside the bed, but Jane complied with Maura's request and tried not to let it distract her.

She was succeeding, much to Maura's delight, until Bass began rhythmically bumping his shell against the side of the bed and making a loud, almost gutteral, croaking noise.

"What the hell is that?" Jane exclaimed as she sat up and looked over the side of the bed.

"Just ignore him," Maura pleaded.

Jane shot her a look as the tortoise continued his bellowing. "Really?"

Maura heaved an exasperated sigh. "I guess it is a little distracting…"

"I'll say. What on earth is wrong with him?"

"I've never heard him do it before…" Maura hesitated for a moment. "But, if I'm not mistaken, the noise he's making and his behavior are typically a ritual associated with copulation."

"Copu-?" Jane looked appalled. "You mean he's doing a mating dance?!"

"One might call it that," Maura said sheepishly.

Jane grinned. "We made your turtle horny!"

"I don't know that it has anything to do with us, Jane. And he's a tortoise."

Jane smirked. "Then why is your tortoise bangin' on the side of the bed? While we're… you know…" Jane emphasized her last remark with a waggle of her eyebrows.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence," Maura said as Bass quieted down.

"Yeah, right," Jane answered with another smirk. Then she leaned over the bed and, in her best breathy imitation of Maura's voice, said, "Oh God, oh God, oh God…"

Bass promptly started bellowing again.

"Hah!" Jane couldn't control the bark of laughter that escaped her.

"Oh, God…" Maura said one more time, but this time it came out like a groan – and not a groan of ecstasy.

Jane continued to chuckle and then positioned herself back where she started, intent on picking up right where she left off.

"What are you doing?" Maura asked.

"You told me to ignore him," Jane answered with a smirk. "I can't think of any better way…"

"But that was before I realized that he was… aware of what we were doing," Maura said, anxiety creeping into her voice.

"You didn't seem to mind Joe being aware of what we were doing."

"Well, now I know how you felt," Maura admitted. "It's a little disconcerting. I imagine it akin to the feeling of having your own child walk in on you."

"Yeah," Jane agreed. "Frankie and I walked in on Ma and Pop one time…" The memory caused an involuntary shudder throughout Jane's body. She sighed and moved up to lie beside Maura. "Aaaand… that just killed the mood for sure."

Maura couldn't help but smile.

Jane chuckled as she turned toward Maura. "So, I have a perverted dog and you have a horny turtle. Where does that leave us? The locker room at work?" When Maura looked horrified by that idea, Jane added, "The back seat of a car?" Then she frowned. "Yours is too small and mine's just disgusting."

"Maybe Vince would dog-sit," Maura offered.

Jane gave her a look of disbelief. "So, what am I supposed to say? 'Hey, Korsak, wanna play-date with Joe so Maura and I can have our own play-date?' We'd never live it down. And that would spill the beans in a big way."

"We'll just have to think of something…"

"But, Jane-"

"I'm sorry you have to cancel your date, Frankie," Jane said to her little brother. "But if you want that gold shield, you gotta make sacrifices sometimes."

Frankie huffed and turned to leave, practically running into Frost and Korsak as they entered the squad room.

"Something the matter, Frankie?" Korsak asked as the younger Rizzoli stomped past.

Frankie threw Jane a petulant look over his shoulder. "Thanks to my sister, I'm never gonna get laid again," he answered as he stomped down the hallway.

"Well, little brother, join the club," Jane replied under her breath. When Korsak's eyebrows rose a notch, Jane realized that she must have spoken louder than she intended.

"Trouble in paradise?" the older detective asked.

"What does that mean?" Jane responded defensively.

"We thought you and the doc finally- ow!" Frost began to speak, but Korsak elbowed him sharply as he gauged Jane's reaction.

Looking back and forth between her two fellow detectives, Jane was now giving them a withering glare. "Finally… what, Frost?"

Korsak gave Frost a cautious look to make sure he was going to keep quiet this time. Then he turned back to Jane. "We thought you and the doc finally had a successful double-date. You know, dinner with two nice guys." He didn't clarify that he had also heard the two women had ended up leaving together, leaving their bewildered dates at the restaurant.

Thinking that paranoia had gotten the best of her and she had truly misunderstood Frost's remark, Jane calmed down a bit thinking their secret was still safe. She shook her head. "Nah. It didn't go exactly as planned." There. That wasn't really a lie.

Still rubbing his side where Korsak had elbowed him, Frost said, "Well, sometimes things have a way of working out for the best…" Jane and Korsak both shot him a look and he quickly jumped out of elbow range. "What? I just mean if they didn't like their dates, they shouldn't see them again."

As they all turned to go to their respective desks, Maura's assistant walked into the squad room and handed Jane an envelope. "Dr. Isles asked me to give you this."

"Thanks," Jane said as she took the envelope and sat down at her desk. Frost and Korsak watched with curiosity as Jane tore open the envelope and examined the contents.

She pulled out a note in Maura's handwriting folded over a keycard from the Four Seasons Boston.

Meet me for a night of no interruptions…