Disclaimer: I do not know any of the characters of stories of Law Order: CI, no matter how much I did. They all belong to the creative mastermind Dick Wolf.

Note: This story takes place after the 4th season episode 'Gone'.

64. 64 boxes. Scratches out the eyes. "Bobby..." Squares. Paranoid. 64 squares. Chess is 64. "...Bobby..." On the run. Everyone's eyes watching him. "Hey Bobby!"

Goren looks up to find Alex across from him, attempting to get his attention while cleaning up her desk. Reality has a beautiful voice he thinks to himself. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I said I'm done for today. Here are the case files. I'm off to see my nephew and get those photos on my phone replaced." She smiles. He recalls accidentally deleting them before. Him and technology never seem to get along well.

"Sorry about that" he says, while having a discontent look on his face. Alex didn't need her detective skills to see that something was wrong. Her concern for Bobby seemed to be on the rise as of late. Ever since Nelda told her that he could lose it under too much stress. She was worried for him. A worry to frightful to think of.

"You feeling all right Bobby? You seemed sort of out of it lately?"

It takes him a few seconds but manages to squeeze out "Oh, I'm fine. I've just been bored. It's no fun trying to outwit a stack of paperwork" and his little boy grin before his mind can think of how things haven't been fine for him. That he's been feeling out of it.

Alex knew that there was more hiding behind that smile of his but decided not to push it. "Well...I'll see you tomorrow then." She bits her tongue in time to hold back what she really wants to say. "Night."

"Goodnight" Bobby responds. He watches her walk down the hall and around the corner to the elevators while her question settles into his mind. Am I all right?

At first, he's as curious for an answer as Alex. Am I really all right or is it happening to me? Trying to be honest to himself, he analyzes himself. An interrogation of his psyche.

He's in the interrogation room, him the detective, his mind the suspect. Except this time, all his experience and skill of getting answers out of the suspect is no good. With each question he asks, the suspect cracks and crumbles.

"What's wrong with you?" Bobby asks.

The right side of the suspect's face cracks and his cheek and part of his mouth falls onto the floor and table.

"What's happening to you?"

Again the suspect's body crumbles downward.

"Stop it. Stop it! STOP IT!" Bobby screams again and again until the suspect is only a pile of ruin. Bobby's mind is ruined.

He then jumps across the table to the debris, grabs at the pieces and tries putting them back together. With each desperate attempt, he is to no avail. "NO...NO...NO!"

Loosing all hope, he stops and falls against the wall and slowly slides down to the floor. The room darkens and is left there. He is there alone and powerless. He has lost.

He gets up to leave the room and face the dark power that now owns every part of him. He grabs the doorknob and closes his eyes, afraid to face what awaits him.

He slowly turns the doorknob and opens the door. As the opening widens, a light starts to roll in and occupy the dark room. As he stands there, eyes still shut, he notices something much different than what he expected. Instead of pain and despair, a certain comfort and peaceful feeling surrounded him. His curiousness got the best of him and he slowly opens his eyes. At first all he could see was the warm, bluish white light. Then he notices a small figure walking into the room.

Alex.

She looked at him with the most beautiful smile on her face and with out saying a word to him, she told him that everything would be all right. She walked over to the pile of pieces and picked them up. What seemed like a matter of seconds, she put every last piece back into its place, as though it was a simple jigsaw puzzle.

She then walked over to Bobby, who is still standing by the door with his hand on the doorknob. She grabs his hand and they walk out of the room.

He realizes that with Alex by his side, he will always be all right. Nothing bad could happen with her around.

A large smile spreads across Bobby's semi-unshaven face and picks up his pen and continues to finish the pile of paperwork left.

Fin.

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