The Fix Up
Goren shares confidential information. Eames reacts. This is a partnership story with a hint of BA. - Dix.
Disclaimer: LOCI belongs to Dick Wolf and others and not to me.
Tuesday morning after two days off, Eames was perched on the corner of Goren's desk thirty minutes before shift change. She was reading a copy of the Ledger, folded to a manageable size, and was swinging one leg back and forth. She was laying in wait.
Goren stopped in the hallway at the sight of her. Two detectives collided trying to go around him. There was swearing and an elbow that startled him back into forward gear.
Eames' work routine was routine. She never came in early for a regular shift. She always arrived punctually so the sight of her early and waiting was a surprise. When he got close enough, he said "Good morning" and she looked up. She tossed the paper to one side and slid off the desk. "You gave him my number." She said without returning the greeting.
Bobby backed up a pace. He was reacting not just to the low threatening tone of her words, but the dark look on her face as well.
"I uh." He managed.
"You gave him my number." She repeated.
He shook his head by way of response and she continued, taking another step closer.
"You gave my private - unlisted - home telephone number to your buddy Lewis."
Bobby grinned, pleased to finally understand. Unfortunately, Eames did not share his delight. "What possessed you to give him my number?"
Goren's expression faded as her anger flared. He looked down and away, anywhere but at Eames.
"Well?" She said.
He glanced her way. "He's been bugging me for it. I needed to get him off my back."
She nodded, her lips pursed in a narrow scowl. "So now he's on my back. You should have asked."
Goren nodded. "Sorry."
"Damn straight."
Goren put his hand over his heart. "I thought he'd ask you out - you'd turn him down and that would be the end of it."
She shook her head and started to walk away.
To her back, he said, "You did turn him down didn't you?"
Eames glanced at him over her shoulder, smirked and kept on going.
Bobby knew what it meant, but he needed confirmation. He slipped his cell phone out of his pocket and punched in the number for Lewis Body Shop. When Lewis came on the line, Bobby said, "What did she say?"
"Bobby?" Lewis asked.
"What did Eames say?" Bobby lowered his voice and gave each word special emphasis.
Lewis laughed. "She said yes."
"Damn." Goren said by way of reply and snapped the phone closed. He rubbed a hand across the back of his neck and then swivelled to take in the squad room.
Eames was lounging in Baxter's chair talking to his partner, across the desk. Goren put his binder down and slipped out of his coat. He sank into the chair at his desk. Eames and Lewis. Lewis and Eames. The thought of the two of them together made the muscles in his chest contract uncomfortably and muddied his usual clarity of thought. When she came back to her desk he said, "I'm sorry, Eames." She pulled out her chair and sat in it.
"So you said." She adjusted the seat height and began opening files on her desk.
Goren watched her. Then said, "You agreed to go out with him?"
She stopped what she was doing and looked at him. "Yes." She finally answered.
"So have you been or?" His questions trailed off.
"Yesterday."
Goren nodded. "So this'll be a regular thing do you think?"
Eames sighed. "You don't get it do you? " Bobby tilted his head. "This isn't high school. You can't be fixing me up on dates. He's your pal - who's the first guy he tells when he scores?" Goren's eyes opened a little wider. "No thanks, you know too much about me already."
"But you went out with him anyway?" Goren said digging deeper. It was an inconsistency she hadn't explained.
She shrugged and shuffled the papers around in the open file before answering. "He didn't get it either. I let him buy me coffee and I explained it to him."
Goren nodded. "So you're not going to see each other again?" His compulsion to know everything was hard to suppress.
"That's the point Bobby. It's none of your business." She said sharply. She registered the wounded look on his face and took pity on him then. "No, Bobby, no I don't plan to see him again."
Bobby gave her a shadow of a smile and opened his binder. He was relieved. He told himself it was because her anger had dissipated, but that wasn't really it at all.
Fin
Thanks for reading this. - Dix.