Dr. Rodgers does the paternity test that reveals the identity of Bobby's biological father. What if those results passed through Eames' hands before they got to Bobby? This diverges every so slightly from canon.
Thanks for all the encouraging reviews for The Fix Up. Here's another fic that's been hanging around my file too long.
Law and Order Criminal Intent belongs to Dick Wolf and others and not to me. - Dix.
She Lies
Robert Goren tells the truth. He never lies, not to deflect judgement, decrease blame, or wriggle out of the uncomfortable.
He tells the truth to murderers, suspects, and witnesses. He tells the guilty that they are caught, but also that their next actions may have power to redeem those they love. "You can save your children, if you'll confess. They won't have to testify at your trial." It's not much, but it's sometimes enough to close the case.
He tells his friends the truth too. After a while, most people who know him well are careful what questions they ask. Sometimes people don't want to hear the truth. It's why he can't keep a girlfriend, because it doesn't matter whether she asks: "Do you like this dress?" or "Are you in love with me?" his answer will be honest.
Alexandra Eames thinks she tells the truth but for some reason, on the job, anyway she is always deflecting, decreasing and wriggling.
//
"Did Goren shove him against the car?" Deakins asks.
"I didn't see that." Eames says.
//
"What happened to the perp?" Ross asks.
"He slipped and fell." Eames says.
//
"Does Detective Goren purposefully implicate men who he believes are inadequate husbands or fathers?" The defence lawyer asks.
"You'd have to ask him." Eames says.
//
Bobby's phone was ringing when Alex got back to the squad room after lunch. She picked it up. "Detective Eames, Major Case." She said. She listened, said thanks and set the phone down. She pulled a piece of paper off Goren's stack and wrote a note. Then she headed for the elevator.
//
There was a square yellow note in the middle of his desk blotter when he got back from lunch. It was written in Eames' careful hand. "ME has results. Back shortly. AE"
They were waiting for a tox screen, which might prove a theory or open other avenues of investigation. It had been more than a week in the making and they were both peeved at the lost time. The ME's office has been busy. Volume was at its peak due to a crime wave and staffing was suffering due to the simultaneous heat wave. Those things combined had turned the usual wait, which was days, into almost two weeks. He swept an open hand across the paper, collected it into a crumpled ball and dropped it into the trashcan as he sat down.
Goren never considered that someone from Rodger's staff had taken the initiative. That someone bucking for a promotion had called to advise the detective that the results of the paternity test he was waiting on was complete. Doctor Rodger's told him the work might take as long as six weeks. He believed her estimate. She's told him she wouldn't let anyone else touch it. He believed that too. So it never occurred to him that the results Eames would be given would be his own and not those relating to one of their open cases. If he'd known, he might have done something besides sit at his desk and chronicle the minutes until her return.
//
Eames knocked on the Doctor's door just as Elizabeth took a bite of salad. She set down her fork, walked to the door and yanked it open. Eames took in the lunch laid out on the desk and the peaceful aria playing on the CD player and mumbled, "Sorry, someone said the results are ready." Rodgers shook her head slowly. She didn't say anything. She was still chewing. When she swallowed, she said "Tox results on Fitzgerald? That's what you're waiting on right?"
"Yeah, it's been nearly two weeks." Rodgers shrugged. She crossed the room and pulled a file out of the stack on the cabinet. She flipped it open and scanned a form.
"Sorry," She said snapping the file closed, "We're backed up. Looks like the call was some sort of screw up. Results aren't complete yet. I'll have a word with Schmidt. Sorry to waste your time." Eames eyed the desk again. Tray marked "In" - empty, Thai veggie salad in a Styrofoam container, iced green tea in a glass bottle, paper napkin, plastic fork, tray marked "OUT" a couple of files and a single white envelope marked GOREN in Rodger's precise block letters. Eames knew the phone call wasn't a screw up at all.
"No problem. Sorry to interrupt your lunch." Elizabeth shrugged relieved. Eames turned to go then turned back as though she'd thought better of it. Rodgers was settling in her chair. "That envelope for Goren? I can take it with me - save him a trip." Rodgers met her gaze and held it. She was a better judge of the dead than the living. She felt cornered; wanting to keep her promise and at the same time not arouse suspicion. Finally, she relented and reached for the sealed envelope. She held it out and Eames took it from her.
Alex didn't look at it until she was in the elevator. It's exterior held no clue to its contents. It was a long white envelope with a single page or maybe two folded inside. She thought about tearing it open. She thought about the look of betrayal that would cross his face if the envelope arrived open and the contents disturbed. She thought about all the times she'd let him keep his secrets. She remembered all the havoc in his life and then in her own because he had secrets. She thought it might serve him right if she pried this one from his grasp.
She thought about how easy it would be to tear open the envelope, read the contents and then put them into a new nondescript envelope and hand it to Bobby. He'd never know and for once, she'd be ahead of the curve. It would be nice for once to know what was going on without hearing it second hand or after she had the drop on him.
The elevator jerked to a halt on five and the doors slide open. Danny Ross stepped inside giving her a nod as he did. She dropped her hand to her side to conceal the envelope. She did it without thinking. It was one thing to violate Goren's privacy herself, but she'd do anything to prevent Ross from doing it. When the door slid closed, he said. "Anything new on the Fitzgerald case?"
She shook her head. "No, still waiting on the ME for tox screen results. Once we have those we may be able to catch a break." He looked her way and nodded.
She fingered the envelope and considered all those times she'd gone out on a limb for Goren. And she remembered her father's words after graduation. "One thing they don't tell you," he said, "You protect your partner, you're really protecting yourself. It isn't the Commissioner or the chief of D's who'll have your back when some bust goes bad. "She considered their partnership and decided that Bobby was allowed one more secret.
When the doors slid open on eleven, Ross headed for his office. Eames could see Goren when she turned the corner. He watched her progress. When she'd closed the distance, she dropped the envelope face up on her desk, his name visible, and sat down.
"ME had this for you."
Goren looked at the envelope and then at her but didn't say anything.
"You working on something I don't know about?"
Bobby shook his head slowly fear rising through him.
"So I can open this then?" She said picking it up.
Bobby cleared his throat. "It's personal."
"Personal." Her head bobbed. "Coming from the ME's office." There was an edge to her voice. She gave the envelope a snap to drive the contents to the far end. It was really a threat.
"Eames," He said his voice low in warning.
"It's personal. I hear you. But from my point of view." She waved the envelope and leaned in. "Last few times things got personal around here for you, my career took a beating." and she thinks - I nearly shot you but doesn't say more.
"I hear you." He said giving her words back to her but gently.
"You can't protect me Bobby. Let me protect myself."
He nodded. "I'll think about it."
"OK" She tossed the envelope his way. He picked it up gingerly and turned it over looking at the flap for signs of resealing.
"ME say anything?" He asked.
"Nothing about that and nothing about the tox screen. They're backed up."
"Well I have a couple of ideas what we can do in the mean time."
"Alright lets get to it."
He slid the envelope into his binder and into a mental compartment clearly labelled "later". And opened the file on his desk.
//
When later finally came, he was sitting at home on the couch with the dregs of a bottle of scotch in the last clean glass in the house. It was barely an ounce. Barely enough to celebrate or console, but it would have to do. He downed it in a single gulp and reached for the envelope. He slit it open carefully and slid out the sheet of paper. His heart was pounding and his palms were sweaty. He thought fleetingly about destroying it without reading it. But he'd already spent considerable time convincing himself of the necessity of the truth. He flipped open the page and there it was.
Paternity Confirmed.
"Shit," he said and stood up letting the paper fall out of his hand. He opened and closed his fists and paced the length of the small room. Son of a serial killer and a schizophrenic. "Shit."
He was sure he'd thought it though before he went to see Dr. Rodgers. He was sure that knowing would not only help him to understand, but also ease the pain he'd suffered growing up. He was sure knowing would help him to move forward, but now all he understood was what he really wanted. He really wanted to be free of his past and knowing wasn't helping that at all. He needed an outside opinion. He needed to tell someone.
His first thought was Declan Gage. They hadn't kept in touch since the kidnapping, but Dec had been at his mother's funeral and had left a couple of rambling phone messages since. Maybe he could help wade though the mire of this mess. He dug though the desk drawer and turned up Dec's business card.
He punched in the number but found it was Gage's office number. The answering machine voice announced Dec's office hours and then gave a polite dismissal. "Please call again during office hours." Bobby hung up the phone disappointed. He was ready to tell all and now he had no one to tell.
He thought then about Eames. He wondered about satisfying her curiosity. He thought about her reaction. She has been endlessly loyal - through everything. This could destroy that. There was only one way to know. He dialled her number.
"Hello." He heard her voice and nearly hung up.
"Hi"
There's a pause, he didn't say anything and she didn't say anything.
"Do you want to go for a drink?"
"It's too late."
He glanced at the clock and saw that she is right. He heard her yawn.
"I opened the envelope."
"Breakfast" she said. "I could manage that."
//
In the restaurant, he slid the envelope across the table as soon as she sat down. She didn't' touch it but turned over her coffee cup and the server who was making the rounds filled it and topped up Goren's.
"Did you go out last night?" Eames asked after the server goes away with their order.
He shook his head. "No."
"But you didn't get much sleep."
"No."
"It must be quite a bombshell." She didn't want to read it. She didn't want to hold it in her hands again. She wanted him to tell her.
"Maybe." He said and wondered if the shock wave will destroy what's left of their partnership.
He touched the envelope again pushing it in her direction. She picked it up and turned it over.
"Are you sure?"
Bobby nodded. He watched her squeeze the envelope open, pinch the single sheet with two fingers, and slideit out carefully. He watched her read it. He watched her understand what it was and what it meant. He saw her hands tremble and a shadow pass over her face. She folded it again without meeting his gaze. It took her two tries to get it back in the envelope. She took a deep breath and finally looked up at him. Her coffee has grown cold. There was the glint of tears in her eyes.
She didn't know which question she should ask first. "Are you nuts?" came to mind but its wholesale inappropriateness made a chuckle rise in her throat which she has also had to squelch. "Why would you pursue this?" was next and after that: "Do you think she went with him willingly?" "Is he Frank's father too?" It was all too sordid and she didn't really want the answers to any of those questions. So she asked the one that was most important.
"Are you ok?"
The server came back, pre-empting his reply. She put the loaded plates in front of them and set a bottle of catsup between them catching the envelope with a sticky red stain.
Alex looked at her plate, but for the moment, hunger had departed. Goren picked up his fork. "I knew before I asked the question what the answer was likely to be. " He said. He set the fork down. "But it still came as a shock."
Eames nodded. "What else?" She said.
He shrugged. "I thought it would help to know for sure."
"And does it?"
"No - not really."
She nodded picking up her coffee cup. She made a face at the cold coffee.
He looked away. "I wondered if it would make a difference." His eyes drift back to her face. "A difference for us."
It took her a moment to respond. "It's the past, Bobby, ancient history. And nothing you had any control over."
Something inside him comes undone at her words and he feels for the first time in a while - relief.
//
So they avoided repercussions from the initial bomb blast, but the reverberations echo around him later and threaten his career and by association hers - again. But Eames does what she's always done where he is concerned. She has his back and so sometimes that means she lies.
"Is his father a serial killer?" Ross asks.
"This is the first I've heard of it." She says.
Fin
Thanks for reading. - Dix.