Disclaimer: L&O: CI isn't mine, and neither are its characters.
A/N: Post Loyalty P2. Set during/after Season 10 really. This is from Alex's POV, so if she says 'He, his, etc.', that's Bobby. And if she says 'Her, she, etc.', that's Alex talking about herself. I know it's rather short, but it is just a small insight into Alex's mind really. Thank you for reading, and please review! ( :
I Don't Want To Mess This Thing Up
He was watching her.
And it wasn't abnormal, because he used to watch her all the time. When they first became partners, that is. She found it odd, but eventually she got used to it because that's how he was. How he still is. He observed people, so he could know the little things that defined people. His brain was a filing cabinet, and he has always had thousands on thousands of files.
Then, he stopped. He figured after being her partner for so long, he had her all figured out. Of course, he had been wrong (one of the rare times).
There'd been a time when everything fell on him. On them. His mother died, and then his brother; Nicole and Declan had tried to send him over the edge. They nearly succeeded. All of that, plus the fact that he lied to her to get his shield back, and that she had to fire him. It had all put a serious strain on their partnership.
But here they were, back on the NYPD bandwagon. And again, he was watching her. She couldn't help but wonder why. They'd been partners for over a decade, hadn't he catalogued all her mannerisms already?
So she made a choice.
She started watching him watching her.
And this decision sparked the most interesting observation she'd had in a long time.
His gaze upon her was not inquiring, not observatory the way it used to be. It was a new gaze; kinder, softer, and dare she even think it- nostalgic. But most of all, even though it was new to his face the gaze in general wasn't new to her.
Because it had been on her face plenty of times when she secretly watched him.
It was then that she thought they might have a shot at something more than the partner-friendship they had forged along the years.
LA FIN