Author's Note: This is set about a month before "Perfect End to an Awful Day".
He glanced up at the clock, where the hour hand was just pointing to six. She began the countdown in her head. The red clock hand ticked its way up to 12, one, two, three…
"Eames, I'll see you tomorrow."
Her partner stood up, stretched to his full height – always an impressive sight – gathered his coat in one hand and brown folder in the other, and smiled at her. She returned the smile.
"Have a good evening, Bobby."
"Yeah… yeah, I will." He smiled again, a smile with more than a hint of anticipation, and strode off towards the door, coat swirling behind him. She smiled, rolled her eyes, and began tidying up her papers.
Bobby Goren, the last man on earth you would expect to start preaching the benefits of a good work-life balance, she thought with amusement. Well, that wasn't strictly fair. He hadn't preached anything. It was just so unusual for him to leave work on time for personal reasons that it had caused some discussion in the bullpen. Goren's seeing someone… No! Really? Who?… Some girl from Interpol… Interpol? Where the hell did he meet her?…What's she look like?… Red hair, tits out to here… Jesus. You mean Goren actually goes home to a woman? And so on. Eames had adopted a policy of not saying anything about it, refusing to be drawn into discussions unless she was asked, except when it seemed Bobby might actually overhear, when she would run interference for him, knowing he preferred to keep his private life private. She understood. She was the same.
Well, I would be if I HAD a private life right about now, she thought with some annoyance. Not that she disliked Sienna Tovitz. The younger woman had made a big effort to be friends, and she had responded, being frankly curious to find out exactly what it was that enraptured her partner. If you were going to try to think of a perfect partner for Bobby Goren, the words "Fourteen years younger", "half-Russian" and "odd sense of humour" wouldn't necessarily figure, and whilst Sienna was certainly smart and strong-minded, she didn't have the genius-level IQ most people would expect you'd need to go out with Goren and not go crazy.
But then, she thought, perhaps the age gap was what made it work. Attempting to keep up with Bobby Goren's train of thought was sometimes a challenge, even for her. Perhaps it was easier if you started with the expectation that you might not always get each other's frame of reference. That and it was obvious that they were pretty happy physically together… the number of times he'd come in to work recently, clutching the largest coffee the local Starbucks had to offer, looking even more unshaven and sleepy-eyed than usual, but annoyingly smug… more than once, she'd had to bite back a sarcastic comment.
It was just that if she was honest, she was jealous. Not of Sienna, exactly. She loved Bobby dearly, he was her closest and most beloved friend as well as her partner, but twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week of him would be too much. She appreciated him more after being around other people who didn't appear to read minds, recite obscure facts as if from nowhere, and start sniffing at dead bodies. But damn it, for as long as she could remember, she'd had the consoling thought that at least she wasn't the only one whose work with Major Case made it difficult to find someone. Now, she had the annoying thought that if even Bobby could find time for a relationship, why the hell wasn't she herself getting any? Ah well. Time to leave; maybe an hour at the gym would help her work out some frustration. She gathered her belongings, and paused.
Damn, I forgot to ask Bobby about whether he's going to that briefing tomorrow. She sighed. Both of them hated these things, no matter how much Sienna might try to persuade them that this guy, the consultant her department had brought in, was different (i.e. didn't send you to sleep). Still, at least one of them had to go in the interests of good interdepartmental relations, plus there was a rumour that the Russian mafia was beginning to make its presence felt in New York. Perhaps she could persuade Bobby to go on their behalf on the off-chance that Sienna might be there too. She grinned at that. Perhaps I can even find where he keeps his spare key to that bathroom downstairs and hide it first, she thought evilly, and lengthened her stride towards the elevators. If she moved quickly, she might catch him in the car park.
As she came down the steps towards where he usually left his car, she realised she was in time; it was still in its usual place. She came round the pillar towards it, about to call out his name, and then realised she'd just done the one thing you didn't do if you knew your partner was about to meet his girlfriend at the end of a long day; remember something suddenly and go after them just in time to interrupt their reunion.
The two of them were behind the car, wrapped tightly round each other in a long kiss. Both had their eyes shut; one of Bobby's huge hands was buried in Sienna's hair, holding her head still, the other was round her back, pressing her tightly against him. Sienna's arms were wrapped around his waist; they were almost motionless, silent, the only slight movement his lips on hers. She could see Sienna shuddering slightly, drawing in a deep breath… quickly, Alex backed away behind the pillar and mentally kicked herself. Okay, I can ask him tomorrow. Damn! She retraced her steps, aiming to get to her car by another route, one that wouldn't embarrass all of them. She was annoyed to notice that she was both slightly aroused, and extremely frustrated. That's it. I HAVE to find a date sometime soon. The hell with it. There must be one single, straight, non-psychopathic male my age SOMEWHERE in a city this size.
She got about three metres away when her pager went off. She glowered at it, and hit the "Receive" button. It kept beeping. Damn thing's broken… then she realised, it wasn't hers she could hear. The beeping got louder, and she wasn't at surprised when a few seconds later, Bobby appeared round the corner, arms akimbo, fiddling with the pager, with Sienna in tow behind him (grooming her hair back into place, she couldn't help noticing).
"This had better be good, we've just finished for the day," she said in reply to the page.
Deakins' voice came back in reply. "Sorry, Eames, I'm afraid you've only just started."