Came to me while I was in bed one night. I rejected it at first but it kept bugging me, so I wrote it down and this is what became of the thought of Alex and Bobby at the Christmas Party.

The song, 'Stop' by 'The Spice Girls' is blaring from the sound system mounted on the wall, and Deakins is up on the small stage, singing along at the top of his lungs.

'Stop right now, thank-you very much,
I need somebody with a human tou-oo-ch.
Hey you, always on the run,
Gotta slow down baby, gotta have some fu-u-n.'

The poor man doesn't know that this is being taped for the next day, going to be sent out through the e-mail system, and he's going to be lucky if it doesn't reach the Commissioners office.

Most of the people in the room are Detectives and their families, but a few are ones that have spilled into the room from the party up the hall. Those are the ones with the camcorders, probably 'borrowed' from someone in Tech. Rumors have been going round for a while that you can buy old DVD players from one of the guys down there, but most of them have just taken it to be an office myth.

"Look. Mistletoe Alex." He murmurs softly, shyly, in that way of his that makes her heart melt. She smiles and stands up on her toes to reach him, ignoring the people around her, the really bad karaoke. Oblivious to the people recording their every move.

Their lips meet and the world stops.

She presses her lips against his and closes her eyes, enjoying the clean, minty taste of his breath. He hasn't been drinking much tonight, and has smartly stayed away from the curry that's being served too.
Secretly delighted as he kisses back, she slips her arms around his neck, grinning like a maniac inside as she feels his hands loop around her waist.

Fireworks in their stomachs, because they finally feel complete.

The world comes back to them, sounds and smells fill their senses, and he hears someone yell, "Goren and Eames are getting it on!"
He leans into Alex more and flips the guy (Charles from legal) the finger.
This is it.
This is the one moment where he doesn't care if someone's getting hurt, or killed, or dying, because he has her and nothing can hurt him.
They break the kiss at the same time, taking deep breaths, looking into each others eyes and grinning at one another. The music sweeps over them, and they both stand still, each waiting for the other to say something. Finally, after what seems like a lifetime, Alex whispers,

"Merry Christmas, Detective Goren."

She runs off laughing. He feels everybody's eyes on him, and despite it, breaks into a smile that reaches from ear to ear, walking off to the bar to order a drink.

After the party has finished, after everyone's gone home to sleep off the effects of the alcohol that they've drunk, after the lights have been turned off by the cleaners, after the karaoke's been packed up, Deakins stands alone in the near the exit to the room. He plucks a sprig of mistletoe from its place above the doorframe and stuffs it in his pocket.
He was happy that his two favorite Detectives had finally realized that they were meant for each other, but was bemused that it had taken the two smartest people he worked with so long to discover it. Especially when everyone else in the squad seemed to know it. Oh-well, he'd gotten them together now.

With a tiny piece of mistletoe he'd shown two people they belonged together.

FIN