It was one of those nights where, drunk or sober, loneliness just would not do. He wasn't looking for company, if he wanted company he'd buy a cat, but he wasn't looking for physical intimacy either. He could get that pretty quickly, sitting at the bar of the nights establishment of choice he never did have to wait long before a suitable woman came along. No, tonight Detective Robert Goron was in search of psychological and emotional intimacy and for that he always comes to her. Shifting the box from his right hand he rapped twice then smiled at the tiny form that appeared as the door swung open.
"Someone order a pizza?"
Brightening visibly at the sight of him she grabbed his shirt and pulled him inside, "I swear Bobby sometimes it's like your reading my mind from all the way over at your apartment." She said, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing tight. Flawed momentarily all he could do was stand there then move, as if dazed, to enfold her too. He had never touched her while she had been wearing so little. The stifling summer air forcing her into black shorty pajama shorts and a black singlet top, various pictures of Marilyn Monroe printed on the shorts.
"You're in a good mood tonight." He smiled, relishing the feel of her body against his and breathing in the smell of her before she moved away again.
"Yes. Yes I am." She answered. "Go sit down Bobby I'll go get some plates and the like." She waved him off towards the couch and left for the kitchen then added, "If half of this is cheese supreme Bobby you just might get lucky."
Settling back onto the couch he sighed letting his head fall back eyes closed, inhaling and taking in the scent of her apartment. It was intoxicating, a strange amalgamate of 'home', cleaning products and something distinctly Alex. Beautiful. He thought. Nothing has ever smelt quite so beautiful. Well almost nothing. Remembering the hug moments ago.He felt comfortable here in the familiarity of her apartment, everything neat and in it's place. He had, over the years of getting to know Alex, come to see her apartment as an extension of herself, something he could use to judge her emotional well being when she bricked herself up and decided not to share. If it was neat and orderly then that usually meant that she was allright, and how could anything ever be wrong in the world when Alex was ok?
"Damn it", he answered. "Looks like tonights not my night."
Her laugh, warm and feathery, floated from the kitchen. "Well the nights still young".
Is she flirting with me? He couldn't help the smile that rose.
Sitting forward again his eyes settled on the laptop centered on the table top befor him and before he could pull them away again and in that way we have of reading without actually reading he had found his name amongst the words of an open page.
An msn conversation.
Lexy: Hey Babe.
Adam: Hey. Listen can we talk?
An msn conversation between Alex and Jerkoff... Stop acting like a jeleous lover. She's not yours to be jeleous over... Fine. Jerkoff, Adam all the same to me.
Lexy: Of course. What about?
Adam: About your partner.
About Me?
Lexy: About bobby? Ok, what about Bobby?
Yeah, what about me?... Wait. No. This is tan amount to invasion of privacy Goren and Alex deserves better than that from her partner. Stop reading.
About to occupy himself with her itunes program his eyes crept down to Adams answer, promptly changing his mind.
Adam: I hate him.
Lexy: Excuse me!
Adam: Alex you're supposed to be with me! But instead you spend almost all your spare time with him. I can't ever look at you without seeing something of him! This isn't a relationship!
Lexy: For your information Adam, I don't have spare time. All my spare time is work time and the reason that work time is spent with Bobby is because he's my partner!
Adam: I know that! And I would be happy with that if that were all!
Lexy: What are you talking about?
Adam: Come on Alex! You keep clothes and personal bathroom supplies at each others apartments, you finish each others sentences. Both of you know without even looking up when the other enters or leaves the room, you call each other in the middle of the night for no reason at all. Hell you both get up in the middle of the night and go to each others places for no other reason than you couldn't sleep! You both can actually tell me with over 80 accuracy, for god's sake, what the other is doing any time of the day, any day of the week. You're using his name for you as your msn name! We both know if I ever called you Lexy I'd get an earfull for it!
Lexy: He's my bestfriend Adam!
Adam: Don't lie to me Alex!
Lexy: He is my bestfriend and my partner!
Adam: Leave him.
Lexy: WHAT!?!? Did you just tell me to leave my partner?
Adam: Put in a request for a new partner or we can't be together anymore.
Lexy: This is about the hospital isn't it? I knew that upset you more than you claimed.
Adam: You called for him! I was by your side from the moment I got there to the second you came to and the first name off of your lips, the very first person you called for was him!
Lexy: He is my partner and he was shot too Adam, who else did you expect me to call for!
Adam: Thats not all it is Alex I've seen the way you two look at each other! I've seen the way you two look at people who get within a five metre radius of each other! If looks could kill, Alex, that night at the police fund raiser he would have taken me to pieces like the Cenobites from a fucking Hellraiser movie!
Lexi: We're protective of each other Adam thats all.
Adam: No thats not all. Listen Alex, I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you but you're never going to be anybody elses while he's around and I can't share you with him!
Lexy: You're proposing to me on msn in the middle of an ultimatum!?!?
Adam: I can give you everything, Alex. Just choose me.
Lexy: "Just choose me..."?
Adam: If you chose me you wouldn't ever have to work again. I can offer you security and security for our children. I am the best and most saught after lawyer at my firm, your future would be assured.
Lexy: On the condition that I never see Bobby again?
Adam: Yes.
Lexy: No!
Adam: What?
Lexy: My answer is no. Fuck you Adam. Fuck you and the horse you rode in on! How dare you! I love what I do and part of that is because I love working with Bobby! My partnership with him is the most fulfilling relationship I've ever had and frankly I'd drop you a hell of alot sooner than I'd ever drop Bobby. So consider your ass dumped.
Adam: Excuse me?!?! What you're suppost to have with him Is just a work relationship, Alex! Instead It's like you're on call to him 24/7! He takes what he can from you then sends you home and this is the relationship your choosing over ours? You're his whore!
Lexy: What?!?! What did you just call me?
Adam: I'm sorry Lexy I didn't mean it. I'm just angry.
Lexy: Better his whore than your wife, Adam. So what does that say about you!?
Adam: You don't mean that!
Lexy: The hell I don't! And don't you dare call me Lexy! Ever! Only one man calls me that and you are not him!
Adam: I want to be him! No, thats not right. I want to be as close to you as he is!
Lexy: Well it's never going to happen!
Lexy: I told you about my unique relationship with Bobby when we started dating. I told you that as long as he and I are partners then he and I are a package deal. I told you that theres something within us that just clicks and that we are closer than other partners, it's what makes us good at what we do. I told you that we have a dynamic that is hard to understand from the outside and you said that you could handle that!
Adam: Well I can't!
Lexy: Well I know that now!
Adam: Alex, please just think about it!
Lexy: No.
Adam: Please!
Lexy: No. I told you when we first started dating, I used exactly these words if memory serves: 'Don't ever try to make me choose between my bestfriend and my boyfriend because you. will. not. win.'
Lexy: I don't ever want to see you again Adam. I think you know where you can shove my number.
"I knew I should have closed that window before letting you in." Bobby's head snapped up at the sound of her voice from the door way. Standing he rounded the couch to take the plates from her and put them on the coffee table while she turned and got the drinks.
"I'm sorry Alex. I don't know why I read it." He started, voice risen slightly so she could hear him from the kitchen. "I just saw my name and then what he said about hating me and I didn't stop reading." He was a mix of emotions in that moment. Guilt for having read her private conversation, saddness at the thought that she might not trust him as much after this. But even more so was the inflation of his heart at the thought that she had chosen him over Adam. He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her and run from her dissapointment at the same time. Falling back against the couch again, head back, he covered his face with his hands. When they fell away she was in the doorway again.
"Well, trust a man to dive head first into a conversation after only hearing his name." She laughed.
"It's ok Bobby. Really. It saves me from telling you at work tomorrow." She said, flashing that reassuring 'It's ok, we're ok' smile that was reserved only for him. They stayed that way for a moment she leaning against the doorframe, head tilted and watching him and he on the couch watching her watching him. Slowly he stood and made his way over too her, taking the glasses and putting them on the coffe table. Returning he took a hand in his and paused to study her, his heart pounding. This was partnership destroying territory and he hated that he couldn't read her better. Terrified that if he did something wrong, if he had read too much into their friendship, that she would hate him and leave. It was like walking in a minefeild, one wrong step and BOOM! For a fight with Alex would be nothing less than explosive.They would tear, he would bleed. Breathing deep he took her chin with his free hand and looked into her eyes. Terrified of the rejection he was so sure he would see there. It amazed him to see something completely different. Love. His eyes widened slightly at the realisation and she smiled, removing his hand from her chin.
"And the last horse crosses the finishing line," she whispered. "I think the rest of the station figured it out before you did." Curving her arms around his waist she laid her forhead against his chest and sighed. "Though I can't talk. It never occured to me that you might feel the same. I didn't think I was at all your type."
A sigh escaped his lips and she felt him relax dropping his lips to her hair. "Really?", he breathed. "What did you think was my type?"
"I don't know. Kate Moss?" She laughed.
"Who?" He asked with vague interest, he was much more focused on her. She squeezed him tighter at that and laughed again.
"I love to hear you laugh." He smiled. "The amount of times I've done something stupid just to hear you laugh..." he said kissing the top of her head lovingly. His hands finding there way under the fabric that seperated them, stroking the warmth of her back.
"Really?" She sighed. "I've always loved that you make me laugh."
A strange, bubbly noise brought their attention to the laptop and Alex led him to sit on the couch again. Then to his great pleasure, sat herself across his lap, wrappng his strong arms around her. She let her weight settle against his chest and rest her head against the beat of his heart, not once looking at the screen.
"What does he say?" she asked. Not sounding at all as if she cared.
Adam: Have it your own way. Just answer one question before we finish. How many men have you broken up with for him?
"He said 'Have it your own way. 'He just wants you to answer a question before you both stop talking."
"What is it?",she asked, nuzzling into his neck like a kitten. He squeezed her into him in response trying to feel as much of her against him as possible.
"He would like to know how many men you've broken up with for me."
Leaning forward she typed her reply, blocking the screen with her body and hitting send before setting herself to offline. Then, still obstructing his view, monovoured herself in his lap until she came to rest straddling his thighs, her hands clasped behind his neck. She looked into his face, becoming a little more serious.
"Is this something you're sure you want to know, Bobby? It might make this weird for you."
He considered for a moment then answered. "I'd like to know."
Leaning forward she nodded then layed her head on his shoulder again letting him see.
Lexy: 3. Well, 4 now.
"I've ruined 4 of your relationships?!?! Lexy I'm so sorry."
She nipped at his neck in response then said "None of thatI ruined my relationships by dating someone else when I loved you. Those relationships were doomed from the start and I knew it as a fact from day one."
She sat back again and captured his head in her hands. "Know that you haven't done anything wrong, Bobby." She looked into his eyes as she said this until he saw that she did not blame him and the distress on his features fell away.
Letting a hand drop between them she traced the line of his jaw with the fingertips of her other closing her eyes as he did to concentrate on the sensation. Then before she knew what had happened she was on her back against the couch, Bobby above her kneeling on the floor between her knees. Pausing he gave her time to object, time she instead used to pull him down by his collar meeting him half way. Both their bodies filled with life as their lips met, as if they had both only been existing until this very moment, their hands leaving trails of fire along each others bodies. They consumed each other hungrily, both afraid on some level that all of this had been a dream and that they would wake up soon. Alex pulled away first, breathe quick and deep.
"Damn my little lungs." She laughed.
Smiling he kissed the flesh above her lungs through the material of her top. "I think you'd have cute little lungs."
She laughed again. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." He whispered, lips brushing the material again.
"Well", she said kissing him on the top of his head then pushing him to stand ,"Now I feel a little better about them." Standing she took his hand then started towards the bedroom.
"But I think I could use a little Cardio/Vascular work out. Don't you?"