The title is taken from the Sheryl Crow song from her first album. This is my first ever post-ep piece of fanfiction and it's for... you guessed it - Blind Spot. I don't own Criminal Intent nor do I own the characters, the song or anything else related to the show. Please read and review, I want to know what everyone thinks. This isn't like the others that have been posted.

Everyday Is A Winding Road

Alexandra Eames was finally back at work, and she was annoyed. She knew it would take time for her to feel like herself, everybody was telling her the same thing and that was the thing that was annoying her the most.

Ever since she had come back to work everybody who saw her would stop and ask how she was doing. She didn't think it fair that everyone was walking on eggshells around her. Even her partner, although Alex felt she should be more understanding towards him, he had been through alot when she had been kidnapped... but she just felt that that was part of the problem. He seemed to be giving extra effort at protecting her and ensuring that she was alright. She knew it was sweet but it was also aggravating her, and it shouldn't be.

So here she was working her first case back with Robert Goren as they sat in the conference room looking over interview notes and trying to shed some light on the events that led to the crime. But as she was reading she was becoming tired, clearly the effects of getting to sleep more had altered her sleeping pattern more than she had expected. When she realised it was late she looked at her partner and gave him a small smile. "I'm going to go, get some sleep and we can look at this tomorrow." She spoke as she stood up and she waved him off as she went for her coat. He followed her and stepped near to her and smiled.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" He asked, she looked at him with annoyance, more than she had intended.

"No, thanks. I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." She pulled her coat on and shot him a look that was supposed to finish the discussion.

"Eames, it's late.." Obviously, the look didn't work.

"Yes, it is. Obviously, that's why I'm going home." As she spoke, he started using his hands to help communicate what he was trying to say as he stuttered in response to her aggressive attitude.

"Y-you don't - don't know what..." he didn't finish but she knew what he was trying to say and that just made her angry.

"Look, I will be fine. I've gone home by myself many times. I'm not some kid, you don't need to look after me." She was raising her voice and she knew it, she stopped and looked at him. He looked hurt and she felt bad for him for a small moment but she was too angry to care, she turned and walked out of the squad room with such a force that no one would've dared follow her.

That force, that fury, that storm followed her all the way home. It was in her driving, it was in the way she opened and slammed her car door and her front door and it was evident in the way she threw her keys down. She flicked the switch and blinked at the light before taking her coat off, which she also threw down as opposed to neatly hanging it up like she always did.

"I take it your pissed off." A deep voice cut through the cloud of her mind and she jumped visibly at it's sound. She turned around to see Mike Logan sitting in a chair. Ironically, the chair her father favoured when he came to visit. "What happened?" She looked at him with a stern look, she was not impressed.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came by to see you. I was in the neighborhood. Which one do you want?" He replied, standing up from the chair and facing her dead on. She didn't like the ready-for-battle stance he was taking with her.

"How did you get in?" She asked him, ignoring his comment.

"I'm a cop. How do you think I got in?" His sarcasm was unappreciated and she sighed.

"Leave." One word was all she felt she needed, she was too tired for another confrontation, she'd just had one with her partner, she didn't want one with a friend, she was afraid of what she would say. She stepped aside to ensure he had access to the door but Mike didn't move. "Did you hear me? I said 'leave'."

Mike shook his head slightly, "No can do. I came to see you." Alex pinched the bridge of her nose and realised that she may have to play it on his terms until she got him near the door.

"Why? It's late and I'm tired."

"So you're gonna sleep?" He asked, in a tone that told her he didn't believe that's what her plan was and before she could ask he explained it. "Because I noticed that you've taken up some... drinking." He pointed to her kitchen where empty bottles were and she knew it.

"You've been snooping!" She asked, incredulously and angrily.

"Hey, it's what I do." His deep voice was raised a level. "You don't usually drink do you? So I'm wondering what would make you turn to alcohol. I've got some ideas."

"How would you know that I..." She interrupted but he did the same.

"I know what alcohol does to you. Trust me, I've seen it... I've felt it. You don't want that." He looked around the room and that back at her. "Alex, you've been testy lately, a little quick on the temper and not too friendly to alot of people including Goren." She turned away from him and picked her bag up off the floor, she didn't want to listen to what he had to say about anything. What would he know? She began unpacking it's contents, even things that really didn't need unpacking. "I guess I hit a nerve by mentioning your partner."

She turned quickly and looked at him with venom. "How dare you come in here and think that you've got me figured out and that you understand. You don't understand." She turned back to what she had been doing, not wanting to argue, not wanting him here, she wished he would disappear but when she turned back around he was still there.

"I tell you what I do understand." He spoke quietly but he looked directly at her. "I understand that you went through something that people shouldn't have to go through and by all accounts you should be dead considering who took you. I know that you know the reasons behind the attack, we all do and I know that it must eat you up that it was your partners' mentors' daughter that did that to you. That it was about him all along." She shook her head in disagreement but her face was screwed up, trying to deny something she knew to be true.

"No." She spoke clearly trying to make a point and she looked away from him.

"Oh, come on Alex, if it were me I'd be mad too that I was taken to just to get my partner out the way, just so she could have something to talk about with her Dad. You were just a pawn in her eyes and probably her fathers' too." She was shaking her head trying to hold back the tears.

"It was about him." Mike whispered to her. "It was all about him. Not about you."

"Why?" She turned to him and Mike looked at her regretfully, she hadn't been able to hold back as many tears as she would've liked. "Why are you doing this? I don't want to talk about it. I don't want anyone's help."

"I'm doing this because whether you want the help or not, you need it. Trust me, I know that you think you don't want help. I've been there, done that, didn't want to speak to anyone but you've got to Alex. Don't become me, it's not who you are." He scratched his head and turned away from her for a moment and then looked back at her. "It's okay to be angry at him." She looked at him, the tears had stopped and all that was left was the storm.

"I'm not angry at him." Alex knew that Mike meant her partner. "It wasn't his fault, he didn't know they were like that, he didn't see it."

"Is that what you've been telling yourself? Is that how you've been making it better? Is that what the alcohol is for?" He looked at her, "You're right it wasn't his fault but still it was because of him that you were taken, it's okay to feel angry about it." Alex was finding it difficult to believe that this was Mike Logan, why was he trying to help her? She didn't like that he was very close to the truth, it was making her anger intensify.

She spoke with a raised voice to try to get her point across. "Shut up! You don't know anything. Please... leave." Mike shook his head in reply. "Please." Her voice had turned into a whisper by the end.

"I can't. I can't let you drink yourself to sleep, I can't let you do this to yourself." He was edging towards her, making her want to back away but she couldn't get herself to move. "If you weren't angry at him you wouldn't be treating him the way you have been. Losing your temper at almost everything he does, he doesn't even know." She had her hand on her face trying to stop the tears that were freely flowing, she wasn't like this and she was letting Mike see her weak side and she didn't like it. "It's okay to be mad, it's okay to be angry, what happened to you was unforgivable and you didn't deserve it. It was all about him." He whispered to her again trying to get a reaction off of her. She suddenly lashed out at him that he didn't see it coming.

"Stop it. How dare it be about him." She was hitting Mike squarely in the chest and shoulders and he was allowing her to. "Why! Why did he... why did they have to take me!" The tears were falling like the rain from a thunderstorm and Mike was just stood there, not saying a word, just letting her beat the crap out of him. "Why couldn't he see... Why me! Why! Why! Why!" she stopped hitting him and collapsed into his arms and he held her, he just held her whilst she cried. The truth had come out in her rage but now that it had he'd run out of things to say, he'd gotten the reaction he'd been going for but he didn't know how to make it better, and he probably couldn't.

He'd started the healing process but for now the rest was up to Bobby Goren, he had to talk to her and she had to talk to him.

And he also knew that he was going to be very bruised tomorrow.

finished... or not?

What do you think? Should I continue? Please let me know.