Disclaimer: I only wish they belonged to me.

A/N: Okay this is almost pitifully short, but it had a life of its own and I couldn't ignore it. Set in season six because there is mention of the new captain. Dashed lines indicate flashback and solid lines are new sections. Please read and let me know what you think!


She'd always believed he could talk his way out of anything, but tonight she had been proven wrong. She thought back to how it had happened.

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They had finally solved the case they had been working on for weeks and were going to bring the guy in. He had pulled a gun and aimed it at Alex. Bobby had started talking and she had let him because he was good, and he had never let her down before. Apparently he had seen what was coming before she had because just as the gun went off he stepped in front of her.

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It hurt too much to cry, so she opted for pacing instead. Seconds felt like hours as she paced in the waiting room. She knew it couldn't have been that long though because neither the captain nor Deakins, who she had called on impulse, had appeared yet. Deakins walked in first, asking questions that Alex couldn't answer. She was frustrated and upset, not to mention terrified, and ended up yelling at him. Her yelling didn't faze her former captain who responded by pulling her into a tight hug. This of course was when Captain Ross had decided to walk in. For the first time since arriving in Major Case, Ross finally realized just how close his best detectives had been to their former captain; he finally knew why he had been met with resistance his first days in the Major Case Squad.


It had been nearly three hours since they had reached the hospital, and still they were waiting. Alex started to pace again, but Deakins pulled her back down in the seat beside him. This earned him a rather vicious glare that had Ross a little worried, but Deakins just shook his head and smiled slightly. Finally, a doctor came out to talk to them. Deakins did all the talking. The doctor's explanations were full of medical jargon that Alex didn't understand; and, if truth be told, she really didn't care to. All she cared about was Bobby, and all she wanted to know was that he was going to be all right. She just wanted to know that he wasn't leaving her because she knew she couldn't stand to lose him, not now. The two of them had gotten close over the past five years and she knew that she could never work with another partner after being partnered with him. Everything was a blur and the only thought that got through was that they were waiting again.


It was another two hours of tense waiting for Alex. She wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings anymore. Everything had faded and her only thoughts were of Bobby. In fact, she was so unaware of her surroundings that she didn't realize the doctor had returned and was talking to Deakins. She was startled when Deakins touched her shoulder: "You go." Alex stood up and numbly followed the doctor down a series of halls to Bobby.


The first thing Bobby Goren saw upon opening his eyes was his partner hovering above him and holding his hand: "If you ever do something like that again, I'm going to kick your ass."