1A/N: Unfortunately, I own no right, title or vested interest in or to Dick Wolf's LO:CI characters, but certain thank him for sharing.
For the Faithful Readers and Especially the Faithful Reviewers of "Friends, Cops and Robbers," Bammi1, 08CRC08, Shellster, HouAreYouToday, JNP, justawritier, lallyb1743, blucougar57 and Kurdt, who encouraged me to continue the saga, I give you the sequel:
Finding My Son, Finding Myself
It was 7:30 Monday morning. As usual, Alex was picking Bobby up for the ride to work, double parked outside his apartment, waiting. A beat cop had sauntered over, ready to hit her with his attitude, as the front door to Bobby's building opened and he bounded down the stairs. He saw the patrolman heading towards the black SUV and hollered to him.
"Hey man, it's all right," he said, flashing his gold shield, "She's my ride."
The cop raised his hands, as if to motion he was "backing off," and yelled to Bobby, "Sorry 'bout that Detective – have a good day."
"You too," Bobby answered, as he climbed into the passenger seat and swung the door closed.
He smiled at Alex, chuckling "I think we just ruined his day."
Alex returned the smile, "You look pretty happy for a Monday morning! Have a good weekend?"
"Yeah it was good! You shouldn't have cut out of Carucci's so early on Friday night. A couple of Sanchez' friends came in at around 1:30 and we hung out for a while and went to play pool. I didn't get home 'til almost 4."
"You party animal you," she teased, giving him a sly glance. "I don't know about you, but I was exhausted on Friday. Anyway, if Sanchez' friends were anything like him, I don't think I could've taken it."
"What? He's a good guy!"
"If you say so," she said with a doubtful look. "He didn't drive home, did he?"
"Nah, one of his friends did."
"Well, anyway," Bobby continued, "I slept until around 12:30 Saturday afternoon, then spent a couple of hours at the new Barnes & Noble that just opened up down the street, then I got together with Lewis Saturday night – went to that new Thai place on 28th."
"Quite a busy social calendar," she joked. "You sure you have enough energy to work today?"
Bobby laughed, "Plenty. I stayed in all day yesterday and started reading through the stuff I bought on Saturday. I think the only time I got off the couch was to answer the door for the pizza guy."
"You had pizza without me?" she teased with a fake pout, as she turned into the parking garage with a screech.
"I –I I tried calling you. There was no answer. We should have maintenance check the air in the tires."
She looked at him, perplexed – it took her a moment to catch up to his disjointed thinking, but then automatically answered, "I was at my sister's for dinner. Lemme' pull it over there right now so Tommy can check 'em."
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Bobby and Alex exited the elevator at the 11th floor. They could hear the murmuring among the staff – all still buzzing about the events of Friday night, especially Bobby's heroics and Sanchez' aim. As he and Alex reached the end of the hallway leading to the squad room, all heads turned and several of the guys shouted their congratulations, "Way to go, Goren!", "Good job, Bobby," and "Nice goin', Goren!"
Bobby smiled, his head, as usual, tilted to one side, holding up his hands, saying "All right, all right...thanks, guys." Alex looked up at him, smiling. She knew his bashful side. Anyone who'd ever seen or been on the receiving end of one of his interrogations would never believe it, but this cocky-bordering-on-arrogant man had a huge shy streak when it came to certain things – and receiving accolades was one of them. To Alex, his humility was one of his most endearing qualities.
As they reached their respective desks, Alex tucked her purse away in her bottom drawer and, with a frown, surveyed the pile of files that was still left on her desk from Friday afternoon. "I'll get your coffee," she offered.
"Thanks," he said, while settling in and getting his desk organized for the workday ahead. He turned in his chair to look at Deakins' office –it was empty. Swiveling his chair around back towards his desk, he momentarily caught a glimpse of Det. Morris. The somber expression on Morris' face caught Bobby off guard – "Wasn't everyone just smiling and cheering a few minutes ago?" he thought to himself. Morris' eyes met Bobby's for a split second, but he just as quickly averted them and returned his attention to a file he was reading. Bobby thought to himself, "I'm gonna' go talk to Morris a little later – maybe he thinks I'm pissed off at him for not getting back to me with the info on Vasquez when I needed it Friday – yeah, that must be it."
He smiled up at Alex as she returned and placed his steaming hot mug of coffee on his blotter.
"Here ya' go," she said, adding on the extra warning, "Be careful – Johnston made it today!"
Bobby laughed as he reached for the stack of papers from is "IN" box.
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Morris sat across the room, hoping that his face wasn't giving away the anxiety he was feeling in his stomach. He glanced up every now and then, trying to steal glances at Bobby without being caught...again. It had been a terrible weekend for him, constantly wrestling with his conscience.
He had lain awake for good portions of the past three nights, battling with his decision; he couldn't fight the feeling that he was, somehow, "sabotaging" Bobby. At one point on Saturday, he had almost talked himself into coming back to the office and retrieving the "confidential" envelope from Bobby's desk. Bobby would be none the wiser and life, as he knew it, would go on without interruption.
But Morris couldn't do it. He stuck with his decision. Bobby had a right to know. "Hell," he had thought to himself, "If it was my kid, I'd wanna' know."
So, now, there was nothing he could do except wait for Bobby to open his top drawer and discover the envelope that would change his life forever.
END Chpt. One