Title: Flavors
Summary: Oneshot. Alex buys a new kind of chapstick without consulting Bobby. What was once a normal partnership turns into something strange and fluffy.
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Alex or Bobby.
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During the winter, lips tend to dry out.
At least, Alex Eames' did. She'd gone to CVS the previous day and rifled through the entirety of the mind-bogglingly huge selection of chapsticks before finally picking out one that looked relatively harmless.
However, if there was one thing she'd learned while being Bobby Goren's partner, it was that he was extremely sensitive to smells. And this new chapstick… well, let's just say it wasn't the kind that had 'unscented' on the label.
"Eames!"
The sound of her partner's voice was enough to jerk her out of her edgy reverie. "Yeah, Bobby?"
"There's a fresh scene out on the parkway for us." He held out her coat. "You up for some new carnage?"
She smiled and wrapped her scarf around her neck. "Of course."
x
When they arrived at the crime scene, Alex began her usual shtick, talking to the officers who knew nothing so Bobby could examine the body in peace.
This time, however, she actually hit upon something – a guy had seen the girl on the side of the highway before she was murdered. The dude, the officer said, was so coked out of his mind that they'd brought him to the hospital. But it was the sort of evidence that she and Bobby made a living on, so Alex pocketed it for later inspection.
All of a sudden she felt – don't ask her how, she just did – she felt Bobby's olfactory senses pinning her down.
She didn't want to look at him. She knew exactly what he was thinking, and she didn't want to hear it.
x
Driving with Bobby at the wheel was always an experience for Alex. She usually drove, so Bobby could ponder things and cobble theories together without the distraction of, say, moose in the road.
Ah, Vermont. Now there was place she'd never visit again with him.
But Bobby driving today could only mean one thing, and as soon as he began to speak Alex knew she'd been correct.
"Eames."
"Bobby."
"You bought a new brand of chapstick."
"I did."
"You bought a scented kind."
"…I did."
"You know that interferes with my examining bodies."
"I do."
He pulled over on the side of the highway and looked her straight in the eye. "Then why'd you buy it?"
Alex took the tube out of her coat pocket and handed it to him in silence.
He read the label. "Root Beer LipSmacker? What the hell?"
"It tastes really good," she admitted sheepishly. "I just like it a lot."
"I like solving murders a lot too," he said, a bit accusingly.
Alex raised an eyebrow. "You try it and tell me you hate it. Go on, try it."
Bobby made a barely-perceptible face of disgust as he looked at the tube, so tiny you wouldn't have noticed it unless you knew him as well as Alex did. "You want me to use your chapstick?"
She crossed her arms. "Don't knock until you've tried it."
He looked up at her. "Ew."
"Then I guess I'll have to keep using it, then, won't I?" she said, smirking.
"Please. I have a better idea how I can figure this out without infecting myself."
Alex rolled her eyes. "Pray tell what it is."
Bobby kissed her lightly on the lips, then drew back and licked his own. "Oh."
He looked over at her. "Um, Eames?"
"Bobby."
"I kind of like this stuff."
"Really. What a surprise."
"I want to use it, but I don't want to contaminate myself."
"Then you have two options."
Bobby's ears pricked up. "And they are?"
"One, you could cut the top of it off."
He pursed his lips.
"Or," she said, grinning with a little gleam in her eye, "two, you could always kiss me again."
He smiled. "I think I like that better."
-Fin-
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A/N: Inspired by my love for LipSmacker chapstick and the entirely too-large selection of it we have at my local CVS. I dunno, I thought it was a funny idea. :)