New Partner Day
by bammi1 & Runner
Summary: All of you who may recognize the combination of "Day" in the title and 06:00 am in the first line may be assured that this is NOT a coincidence. We just don't have a groundhog in here. :D
Disclaimer: No, we don't own them. We don't own the movie either.
A/N: Something funny about our favorite duo. Enjoy!
Ch1
The digital numbers flipped onto 06:00 a.m., the radio crackled to life and started with an announcement:
In New York City's war on crime the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the Detectives of the Major Case Squad. These are their stories.
doing doing
A music piece followed, shaking Detective Robert Bobby Goren out of sleep. Bobby plopped back down in bed... this wasn't how he wanted their first day as partners to start... With him getting a royal headache, due to the play they were airing on the radio, right when the alarm started.
First day... new partner... everything had to be perfect today. He definitely didn't want this to be another missed chance with a partner, he had already been through too many. All he knew about his new partner was that his name was Alex. Damn it, this time it was going to work.
After his morning shower he shaved. It was not necessary to greet his new partner with three day's stubble. When he finally was dressed he looked like the prototype of a high profile case working cop: moderately elegant and trustworthy. Yes, he could go like this. He skipped breakfast because he was, yes, kind of nervous, and headed for his car.
Of course, first thing, the car wouldn't start. Great! He fiddled around a bit, checked his watch, and decided he couldn't wait. Now he didn't even have time to walk to the subway, he'd be lucky to make it if he ran.
So he took off as fast as he could, inwardly cursing because he would now be all sweaty due to the run, but he had to be at One Police Plaza in time. One last corner, then he would head downstairs. When he rounded it, he ran right into a young woman, more precisely into the leashes of the five dogs she was walking.
Bobby, and the woman both fell in heap, half on top of the dogs, half the dogs on top of them. Next thing they knew, they were all tangled up together, both trying desperately to escape. Finally, they both burst out laughing.
"Sorry," Bobby started, a little embarrassed.
"It's okay," she said, blushing a little.
As both tried to stand up, helping the other, the dogs jumped on them, knocking them both down again. Now both laughed, a little less heartily this time, as Bobby checked his watch again. He tried to untangle himself from the leashes, but the more he tried, the more dogs climbed over him. He was actually tied up, and more than a little mussed.
"Wait, wait," the woman pleaded. "You'll never get loose when you wriggle around like that." She tried to calm him down while she disentangled the leashes.
There he went.
A bit clumsily he got up again. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "You're okay?"
"Yes. You were in a hurry. Off you go, off."
She shooed him away and he ran to the subway station.
The train was just getting ready to leave.
"NO!" Bobby yelled. This is not going to happen, he thought, just making it into the car as the doors slid shut - catching the end of his jacket, stopping him dead. Bobby sighed, and started pulling at his jacket. Finally it came loose, or at least the part in his hand. The rest was still caught in the door. Again Bobby checked his watch. Still might make it, he thought. Then catching his reflection in the window, although not exactly the impression I was trying to make...
During the ride he tried to clean himself up a bit. He sighed as he looked at his appearance.
This will impress him, he thought. And I don't even want to know what Deakins will think. What chance is there that there's another jacket in my locker at the crib?
At his final destination he left the train and sprinted up the stairs, then over to Police Plaza, passing the Five Boroughs sculpture, and heading into the headquarters.
As he entered the plaza, one of the detectives stopped him.
"Hey Goren!" Noticing Bobby's disheveled look, he said sarcastically, "going undercover?"
Bobby thought about cleaning the guy's clock, but for lack of time decided against it. Besides, what kind of impression would that make on his new partner? And first impressions did count. Taking another look at his clothes, knowing his face was dirty and his hair all mussed, Bobby decided, undercover it is! At least that's where he'd tell his new partner he'd been.
Entering the squad room he looked over to Deakins' office where the blinds were drawn.
Maybe he made it in time? He got the other jacket out of his locker and just stopped long enough at his desk to read one of the notes left there, then he continued to his boss' office.
"Good luck," one of his colleagues mumbled, not to Bobby but to his own partner. "He'll need it."
Could the new detective be so bad? They would not partner me with a bloody rookie, would they? Hell, no, this is Major Case after all...
Straightening up he knocked and entered Deakins office.
In his nervousness, he completely forgot about his appearance, which hadn't changed much even with the fresh jacket, and strode in confidently.
Deakins stared at him. Good God, Goren, can't you even try? he thought.
Bobby stopped short, looking at the petite blonde standing in front of him.
Deakins sighed, "Detective Goren, meet your new partner, Alex Eames. Alex, this is... Robert Goren."
Bobby held out his hand. Very hesitantly, Alex held out her hand in return, squinting in alarm at the dirty mess in front of her.
Suddenly Bobby remembered, "Oh, I'm uh... I've been... undercover..."
Deakins raised one eyebrow in astonishment. Undercover? He isn't even working a case...
Alex on the other hand was quite surprised to hear him stutter.
This was when Deakins' phone rang. He answered the call and his features became even sterner.
"Your call," he said, scribbling down an address. "Rodgers is already there. Call me before you talk to the ambassador."
"Well, uh, partner, you ready for our first case?" Bobby asked.
"Yeah... I guess so," Alex wasn't at all sure she was ready, but she went with it. "Do you do cases simultaneously?" she wondered.
"What?" Bobby said, "what do you mean?"
"Well, you show up here still in your undercover clothes for another case. Major Case must be tougher than I thought!"
"Oh, yeah... sometimes," Bobby stammered.
"And do you also work with K-9s? Cause you kind of smell like a dog," Alex wasn't sure if she was impressed... or what.
She has a good nose, Bobby thought. I'm curious to find out if she'll use it at the scene, too.
xxx
Arriving at the junkyard, the scene of the crime, and being shown the way to the dead body, they couldn't help but notice the various smells.
"Ah... lots of smells! Now we're getting into my territory!" Bobby murmured.
Alex squinted up at him in dismay, as they crossed the distasteful smelling junkyard, approaching the victim's remains.
"What do you...ewwww! What are you doing?"
Bobby was kneeling next to the body, his nose almost in the man's face. "Beer," he said. "German beer, Köstrizer Schwarzbier, by the smell of it."
Eames backed up a few feet. Oh, dear God! she thought. What have I gotten myself into?
Next Bobby searched the suit of the man. Then he bowed closer over his abdomen to examine the stab wounds. Cautiously he poked them with his gloved hand.
"Trying to do my job again, Goren?" M.E. Rodgers teased. She knelt right across from him.
"Cause of death?" Bobby asked innocently and, to be honest, rather absently.
"I can tell after the autopsy... but most likely you're fingering it," she replied. "Are you finished?"
"No," he said, shifting his position to look at the legs and shoes.
Fingering it? Alex thought. Oh my God! He's holding the man's intestines!
"Uh, Goren…"
"Call me Bobby," he interrupted.
"Sure, whatever... I'm going to be sick!" Alex ran for the nearest trash can, where she spent the next few moments throwing up last night's dinner, leaving Bobby and Rodgers staring after her. A few moments later she was back. "Sorry," she told them. "I'm not usually that squeamish." She glared at Bobby.
Oh no, Bobby thought. There goes the next one. We might set a new record... 38 minutes, he knew after a look at his watch.
"This," he pulled a card out of the victim's wallet, "explains his liking of German beer. Edgar Schreiber, ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany."
"Uh, oh," Alex said, "we'd better be very careful with this one." She didn't know what to make of Bobby, if he knew boundaries, protocol… "We need to be very careful, Goren…"
"I told you, it's just Bobby, and I understand all that."
Eames sighed. "Okay... Bobby" She was then graced by the most beautiful smile she'd ever seen.
As fast as it had flashed it was gone again. The next second he seemed to be in a far distant place, absorbed in his work.
"So, Eames," he said, putting the wallet into an evidence bag. "We have a stabbed diplomat in the middle of a pile of junk, smelling like a German pub. Looks as if someone really did not like him. He was tossed away like an old shoe."
"So where to next, Sherlock?"
If she was expecting a reaction, he didn't get it. He knew she was trying to get to him, a little test to check out those rumors. He shrugged it off, he was used to it
"I'd say the German Embassy. See what we can pick up from them, where he lived, who he hung out with, where he spent his off time... And then we'll take it from there."
"Sounds like a plan," Alex said. "And you can call me Alex."
"It is a plan, Eames. Come on, let's get over there."
So Robert Goren and Alex Eames officially began what was to become a long and very successful partnership… having no idea what lay ahead of them.
xxx
When they reached the embassy they had already been announced. One employee guided them to the office of Schreiber's boss, Ambassador Johann Schilling.
"You can do the talking," Bobby offered Alex with a small smile.
Alex stared at him for a second, not at all sure of what, if anything, he had in mind. She was used to going in with a plan. But, she figured she'd go ahead.
"Mr. Ambassador? I'm Detective Eames, this is my partner, Detective Goren." They both showed their badges.
Schilling offered his hand. "And what, Detectives, can I do for you?" he said, talking to Alex but looking at Bobby.
"We're here about the... about one of your diplomats, a Mr. Edgar Schreiber. I'm sorry to say he was found murdered this morning."
"This news has already reached us, Detectives," he said. "Please, take a seat. So we can talk."
"Thanks, sir," Bobby said and sat down in one of the very comfortable chairs opposite of Schiller's desk.
"Well," Alex said, wondering if Bobby was going to say anything at all. "We thought maybe you could help us with... our case."
"Of course," Schilling said, his gaze still fixed on Bobby, "whatever I can do."
"Do you by any chance know where Mr. Schreiber was last night?"
"I'm sorry," Schilling told her. "I don't know his professional schedule and am not at all involved in my employee's personal lives. Perhaps you should check with his secretary... or his driver."
"His driver…" Alex took a note.
"Schreiber's secretary, Miss Weidhase, will give you all information you'll need, including his address, an apartment owned by the embassy.
"Thank you, Mr. Ambassador."
Bobby turned in his seat to look around the office. Suddenly he stood again, strolling over to the wall to look at several photos on the cupboard.
"Isn't that you and Mr. Schreiber?" he asked, while Alex was in mid-sentence, "on a fishing boat?"
Schilling looked startled. "Oh... that... Well of course there are various functions we must attend together. That was an official engagement. What I meant was I didn't know him outside of work."
Bobby gave a little half smile and nodded. Alex looked again at her partner, giving him a little silent thumb's up. Score one for my new partner, she thought.
"Okay, Mr. Schilling," Alex turned again to the ambassador. "You don't associate with your employees outside of work. Could Mr. Schreiber have come to you, as his employer, for some kind of help? Was he in any kind of trouble?"
Schilling gave her a somewhat smug look. "My dear, that is why we have counselors on our staff, to assist with those kind of things. So, to answer your question, no, Mr. Schreiber did not come to me for help. He did not come to me for money. And he did not come to me for advice about women. He did not come to me all. In fact, we saw very little of each other, even here."
In the meantime Bobby examined a collection of model ships on the shelves. He was just about to pick one up when he was stopped by Schilling.
"What the hell are you doing there?"
"Me?" Bobby answered in a confused voice. "I'm just admiring your little ships here." He grinned sheepishly. "When I was in the army a friend of mine was in the marines and was serving on such a ship," he added. "So, you're trying to tell me that you never exchanged some private words with Mr. Schreiber?"
"Dummer Bulle," Schilling mumbled into his nonexistent beard. "Wie oft soll ich es denn noch sagen?"
„Bis wir es glauben können," Bobby replied in German, with a cute American accent.
Schilling looked at him, frowning deeply.
"I don't have to remind you where you are, do I, Detective?"
Alex did a double take. What? He's speaking German? She shook her head, a little smile on her face. Now, she was impressed. She continued on relentlessly.
"Mr. Schilling, I believe my partner asked you a question. Did you or did you not exchange words in private with Mr. Schreiber?"
Schilling was starting to get a little angry. "And I believe I told you, Detective, that I did not see Mr. Schreiber in private. Now, if you have any more questions..."
"Nah," Bobby threw in. "You can't tell me you never talked about anything off the job. Is he married?"
"Yes he is."
"See…!? That's what I meant. You just don't know you did."
His small smile never vanished. It made Schilling nervous.
"We'll be going now, Mr. Ambassador. Und vielen Dank. Sie waren uns eine große Hilfe."
Schilling bid them goodbye and they left.
"What did you tell him?" Alex asked when they were out in the hall.
"I just said, thank you, you've been very helpful." Now he offered her a breathtaking smile. "Our first suspect."
"You count him as suspect?" she wanted to know.
"Right now everyone's a suspect." He grinned, leading the way over to Schreiber's office.
tbc…
