Author: SilentG
Title: Forever Your Girl
Fandom: LO:CI
Pairing: B/A
Rating: T, M
Spoilers: Lady's Man, Season 8
Archive: Anywhere – no need to ask – just attribute, and let me know if possible
Disclaimer: Not mine
Summary: One-shot Lady's Man post-ep. She'd never again feel his hard, hot body half under her, his gaze directed up at her with love that he couldn't quite hide, his knuckles absently running up and down her bare arm. Now with an M-rated coda.

A/N 1: My Lady's Man post-ep; I finally thought of one! Especially after "Loyalty", I firmly believe they were in a relationship by the end of Season 8. I have read with enjoyment and no doubt internalised many of the wonderful elements of the many brilliant Lady's Man post-eps – if any authors or readers find anything in mine familiar, it was no doubt unconsciously absorbed and regurgitated. I salute and thank those authors.

I'm calling this a one-shot, but I'm not totally ruling out another chapter telling what happens next. No promises though.

FOREVER YOUR GIRL

She awoke with a start. The dream was so vivid… "Bobby," she whispered mournfully while still half asleep, then, sadly, "Joe." Opened her eyes with surprise to see Bobby's beautiful face fixed on her sympathetically. The guilt she felt showed on her face she was sure, and dismissing him with a mumbled 'morning', she tried to make a quick escape to the sanctuary of the bathroom.

The night before, after Mulrooney was booked and processed and their paperwork was done, Bobby had cornered her in the situation room where he'd backed her into a corner that first day, grasped her shoulders, leaned down and, looking deeply, seriously at her, told her that she was going to come home with him that night and he was going to take care of her. She'd been so tired and demoralized that she'd actually agreed.

After he'd fed her, they'd both showered, and she'd worked off a bit of her stress sniping at him, he'd sent her to his bed. When he'd knocked on the door a few minutes later, she'd been inordinately happy that he'd wanted to come say goodnight to her. But when, instead of sitting on the corner of the bed, he'd pulled back the covers and slipped under them, she'd protested. "Don't worry, I'm not making a pass at you," he said with unaccustomed gruffness, "But tonight, I'm taking care of you and you're letting me." He slipped his left arm under her neck and pulled her flush against his left side. "We both need this," he added unnecessarily.

She'd fallen asleep gently but firmly ensconced in his arms, and she awoke in the same position. Her body had awoken to him in its own way, to her dismay. She felt every hair of his left leg as it brushed against her bare ones, and as she flexed her body to try to lever herself out of his embrace, his hard erection twitched against her hip. His hot hands seemed to burn through her camisole where they rested chastely on her waist, and his torso, firm and taut beneath a white tee-shirt, was almost unbearably alluring.

"Don't," he whispered, searching her face until she turned reluctantly back to him. "Don't go away, Alex. We can talk, can't we? You can talk to me."

Can I? The harsh words had almost passed her lips before she stopped them. She saw from how his face fell that he'd seen them form themselves in her mouth. When she didn't speak, his face regained some of its hopefulness. "You thought I was Joe," he stated. He squeezed her waist. "It's OK," he whispered. "All this – everything with…" he grimaced as if choking on Mulrooney's cursed name, "It must have brought back a lot of stuff."

It would be so easy. She would nod and hang her head, mumble something melancholy but stoic through the curtain of her hair, and this man, this wonderful man who meant more to her than any man ever had, this beautiful man would stuff down whatever had been bubbling up the past few days, give her an awkward half-hug, get up and make her breakfast. And everything would go back to the way it was. And she'd never again feel his hard, hot body half under her, his gaze directed up at her with love that he couldn't quite hide, his knuckles absently running up and down her bare arm. She'd never have to even consider exposing herself the way she was considering exposing herself right now.

But as terrified as she was of laying herself bare before him, she didn't want things to go back to the way they were. She wanted more of what they'd had last night. And more and more and more and more.

But she couldn't look at him as she did it, so she did give in to one temptation; she turned her head towards the mattress and hid behind her hair. "Brought back a lot of stuff?" She asked with her usual snark, "You have no idea." She looked back at Bobby, who smiled and sighed at her sadly. Alex closed her eyes. "I had a dream. It was – some time, after Joe died, and…" she shook her head. "I don't know when, exactly, but you and I were at that bar." She knew she didn't need to say which bar. "We were sitting and talking, but not – not about my marriage. It was, it was a date."

She squirmed a little, trying to relieve the anxiety she was feeling. What was he thinking? She risked a glance at him, and found his face sleepy and sensual. He was so beautiful! She couldn't look away. "A date?" he asked. His touches, restless but innocent, had begun to grow more insistent.

"Yeah," she said, grinning shyly. "In the dream, it was as if Mulrooney had never existed." She didn't stumble over his name. "It was nice. Not just because of that, but because – because…" She couldn't bring herself to say it. How wonderful she'd felt sitting next to him. The way he'd played with his mother's ring as he held her hand. How safe and sexy and loved she'd felt. The sound as her heart slammed every other door but his.

"Because?" His face fell again as her eyes teared up.

"When I woke up, for a second I thought that everything had been a dream. Not only the dream, but our partnership, Major Case, Joe's death, Mulrooney…" She dwelt unwillingly on that feeling. The almost physical pain of everything she'd shared with Bobby spiralling away. The shock as she realised, in a fraction of a second, that she no longer wanted her husband. The longing she felt for what she'd shared with Bobby in her dream to be real.

"You thought Joe was still alive." His face filled with sadness. She knew he mourned for her, for the pain he thought she was feeling. Did he spare any of that sadness for himself?

She couldn't stop herself. Seemingly of its own accord, her hand roamed his upper chest, feeling his firm pecs (that she swore she'd never cared about before in any man) and drifting up to caress the crook of his neck. She followed its progress with her eyes, too shy to face him. "I wanted it to be you." She finally lifted her gaze to see him regarding her with wonder. "I was so happy, when I opened my eyes and realised it was you."

"Alex!" Her name came out a choked whisper. Bobby's body tensed, his grasp grew almost painful, and a thousand intense emotions played across his face.

"Bobby." This was the moment of truth. "I love you," she said matter-of-factly. "I know you love me, but…" She was fairly sure she knew the answer to the question she was about to ask, but still, she had to hear it. "Do you want me at all?"

O.O.O.O.O

Want her? Only a thousand different ways, one of which was embarrassingly obvious at this particular moment. Didn't she know that?

This whole case he'd been in agony, and hating himself for it. For being so petty. For bullying her over Mulrooney, just because he felt threatened by the little pisser. For feeling equally threatened by the ghost of Joe Dutton (which he'd hidden from her, thankfully). Mulrooney and Dutton. What kind of a man was he, preoccupied by his own irrational and surely unwelcome jealousy when his partner needed him so much?

He'd watched her keep it together in the evidence room, and after. He'd made a decision then, to reach out – even if she resisted – and to take care of her the way she needed to be taken care of, even if it was just for one night. Even if it was awkward, even if it brought up things they would never be willing to address.

He'd felt guilty too, for how happy it had made him to hold her while she sniffled unobtrusively into his shoulder before drifting off.

This morning, when she'd said his name so plaintively, his heart had soared. When she'd then whispered the name of her dead husband, that same heart dropped to his stomach. He'd tried to be happy that his presence had evoked a relationship of trust and love. He'd felt for her… her embarrassment, her sorrow. He'd begged her to open up to him.

For a moment, he'd thought he'd have his many past examples of emotional distance thrown in his face, but no. What he'd gotten instead was…

"Want? You?" He couldn't resist grasping her waist and pulling her fully on top of him. Her happy laugh and expectant, hopeful look filled him with joy. "Isn't it obvious?" He was a little bit embarrassed, both by his condition and his bold words, but… c'mon!

She shrugged and tried to hide her face in the crook of his neck. "Yeah, but," she mumbled, "Some guys…"

He pressed his face into her hair and breathed into her ear, and was pleased when she shivered. "Alex. I want you. Very, very much. Do you want me?" He couldn't resist infusing the question with the coy boyishness he knew she'd recognise from so many interrogations. When she pulled back to look at him her lips were pursed in faint annoyance. "And you're right… I do love you," he said by way of appeasement.

She smiled, rolled both her eyes and tossed her head. "Yes Bobby, I want you," she said, the unexpected seductiveness in her tone undoing him completely.

A/N 2: I haven't forgotten about What Happens In Vegas, and I didn't have the Finale Flu – actually I had the regular flu. Also, I have bedbugs, which I have been devoting all my spare time and some of my work time to trying to get rid of. Also, I noticed recently that all the scene dividers in my fics are gone! It makes some of my fics – The Sensual World in particular – way less readable. I guess I'll have to put them all back, but the task seems too daunting to me right now.

WORDS: 1930 UPLOADED Sunday, May 16, 2010

Edited Monday, August 2, 2010