Podie1 - Your welcome and thank you :) Yes, there will be a story for Blasters, but since that episode is later it's not going to be yet but it will happen. :D

Summary: A fun night is planned and Mike has to find somewhere to go.

Pairing: Mike/Alex

Series: M/A, sequel to The Art of Healing Bruises (this one doesn't really need you to have read them but Meet the Parents would be one to read if you'd like but not essential)

Spoilers: Blind Spot, Maltese Cross and any before those really.

Disclaimer: LOCI and it's orginal characters belong to Dick Wolf (genius that he is) and the characters original to this M/A series belong to me. I don't own any of the films and other TV shows mentioned in this fic either. So, from all this you can pretty much say I don't own alot.

Reviews: Pretty please?

A/N Just some more fun ;)

Bubbles and Speak

Joanna Bennett, the sister of Alex Eames, rounded the table and sat herself down on the nearest chair with a thud. Looking at Katie Eames, her other sister, she smiled. "So?" Her dark, slightly curly hair waving around as she bobbed her head a little to get her older sister to talk.

Katie looked at Jo, noticing the questioning tone and the undercurrent of excitement. "So, what?"

Here they were sat in a cafe' drinking cappucinos and Jo had to bite back the remark about Katie being too much of a goodie-two-shoes to be able to wriggle her way out of this one, "You know." The grin on Jo's face was bright and full of mischief. Katie shot her a 'bored' look and shook her head, the small bright ponytail wiggling behind her. Jo sighed as well, "I want to know all about this Adrian you've been seeing?"

"No." Katie said, shaking her head, picking up her mug and taking a good sized gulp of her coffee. That was not a conversation she wanted to talk about. Looking at Jo and her pleading eyes Katie had to shake her head again, adding another "No." Trying to make it sound like the final word. "No." She repeated, "I know you, you're a gossip. I tell you - the whole world knows."

Jo gasped, offended. Putting her hand to her chest as if to say 'Moi?' "I'm hurt, Katie, really hurt." Katie gave her a soft look to say that wasn't what she'd meant to do, "I wouldn't tell everyone." Jo pouted and then added quietly, "Just Alex." Katie laughed, stubbornly choosing not to respond but Jo knew her older sister all to well, Katie was the soft one and all information could be brought out of her eventually, "Come on. Just give me a tidbit."

"You promise you'll only tell Alex?" Katie asked, looking for confirmation and sounding worried.

Jo nodded enthusiastically, "Yes."

"Good, so I don't have to tell you until later because we're going to see her tonight." Katie said, sitting back and not taking the bait, feeling proud of herself too.

Jo blinked, "Huh?"

"Oh yeah, we're surprising her." Katie felt smug at the fact she'd just bested her sister.

"We are?" Jo stammered. "Why?"

Katie smiled, "Because I thought a little girly night would cheer her up. So we're getting some girls together and we're going to go round tonight to see her. I've already checked to see if she's free, she is, although she doesn't know why yet." Jo smiled, trust Katie to think of someone elses needs.

"How come I didn't know?" Katie shot her a look to say that it was obvious. "I'm not a gossip. I don't ruin surprises." Jo heard a noise behind her and turned to see an older woman, pensioner, sitting down quietly and enjoying a cup of coffee but looking at them as Jo's voice had raised in volume. Looking at the woman she repeated, "I don't!"

The woman just shrugged and Katie laughed.

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Alex looked at the clock and once again berated herself for clock watching. The day had gone slow, no leads, no possible explanation for anything just more paper trails and interview notes to write up. Not very interesting and all she could think of was going home to bed and sleeping. Curling up in her favourite dressing gown and watching an old movie with a glass of wine. That's what she wanted to do, she hadn't done that in a long time.

Looking across at Bobby, his back hunched forward as he gave his full concentration to the interview notes. "Bobby?" She called out to him politely, but he didn't respond. His pen eagerly scribbling away at the paper. Sighing in frustration and pinching the bridge of her nose she tried again, more loudly this time, "Bobby!"

However it didn't seem to get his attention. What was he thinking about? So after another beat of frustration she grabbed her pencil and tossed it at him. He shook his head and then shot her a look, "Eames?"

She smirked, "Just checking... and wondering if you're done."

Bobby smiled, he knew what she was doing, he looked at his watch and then back at her. It was 6.30pm, he smiled again, "You know, Eames?" She looked at him, "I've nearly done this... i-if you you want to go that's fine."

Alex looked at him, hesitating for all of 0.2 seconds before standing up and gathering some stuff together, "That's great. Thanks, Bobby." She shot out of the door like lightning and Bobby shook his head as he watched her go, amused. I had no idea Mike Logan was that exciting Bobby thought to himself before mentally shaking those thoughts from his head altogether. He was happy for his partner and he truly wanted her to be happy, with everything she'd been through it seemed she'd managed to keep hold of Mike so in Bobby's mind he knew all he needed to know.

Alex wasted no time rushing towards her car; reaching it she was mildly surprised when a hand touched her shoulder. Put she recognised the scent of the man behind her and the surprise just faded away. She turned to him and smiled, "It's rude to sneak up on a person you know?"

Mike made a shrugging motion with his face, "Is it?" She laughed, "You going home?"

She nodded, "Yes."

"So, how come you get to escape and I've got to go upstairs and file reports?"

"No comment." She replied with a smirk. Mike chuckled and leaned in so that his breath was on her face. She could smell the strong scent of coffee and there was a hint of something she recognised to be a hot dog; typical Mike. Lifting herself up, she finished the journey for him and gave him a small peck on his lips.

Mike was about to pull her back to him, his arm in mid-air when he heard his partner call out, "Logan? You coming?"

Mike rolled his eyes, "Have you met my ball and chain?" Mike asked Alex, who grinned. Mike was finding it a little difficult to get used to his new partner, not because she was so young looking or because of her skills (she had plenty) but it seemed she was even more insistent that Ross be kept in the loop than most.

"Maybe you should get to know her better?" Alex suggested, reaching for her car door handle. "I'll see you later." He kissed her gently on the tip of her nose and then quickly rushed after Megan Wheeler, who shot her partner a very amused smirk.

Alex heard Mike say "What?" before she closed the car door and she laughed a little at him; as if he didn't know.

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"Are you sure she really wants us to be here?"

Jo and Katie shared a knowing look and then turned to shoot a 'yes' look at Megan Wheeler, the woman who'd asked the question as she sat in the backseat of the car with Carolyn Barek and Jessie Grant, a dusty blonde haired woman who was the same age as Alex.

"Well, actually, it's more of a 'she doesn't have a choice'." Jo corrected, smirking as Katie unbuckled her seat belt and made a move for the car door but was stopped when a hand touched her shoulder. Turning back around she saw Megan looking at her with a strange, hesitant look on her face.

Megan looked towards Alex's house, "Why did you invite me?" It had been bugging her all afternoon, ever since she'd got a call from Jo.

"Ah, that was me." Carolyn replied for Katie, causing Megan to look at her instead. "I know the two of you have met and-"

Megan interrupted with a cool expression and calm voice, "You thought that if I got to know my new partners' girlfriend then Logan would be more inclined to get to know me?"

Carolyn had to give the woman credit, she was good. Carolyn nodded, "Something like that."

Jo chuckled, "Actually, it was more of 'you and Carolyn know Mike really well as partners and he's dating my baby sister so I want the gossip'."

Katie rolled her eyes, "Jo." Her tone of voice almost disapproving in sound. Megan raised one eyebrow and suppressed a grin, opting to smirk at the woman instead.

There was an amused giggle and Megan looked to it's source; Jessie. "You two girls really do crack me up. I've missed this." She was referring to Jo and Katie, since they were the two women she knew. Jessie didn't know Megan or Carolyn but she knew Alex, simply because they used to go to High School together. Jessie was 5'6'', blonde and her long legs made her look taller. "Come on, I can't wait to see the surprise on her face." She quickly opened the car door and the 5 women stepped out of the car, grabbing their bags and things, and then waited for Katie to lock the car.

Reaching the door and ringing the bell they were mildy surprised to see the confused Mike Logan opening the door. He looked at them standing at the top of the steps and as he frowned he took in their bemused expressions. Figuring he was mirroring their faces he eventually grinned instead, "Ladies! What you all doing here?" He asked, going for the gentleman approach.

Jo grinned, "We're here for Alex."

Mike nodded, "Yeah, I figured as much." He stood aside and they piled in to the house. Mike raised an eyebrow at Megan, "Wheeler?"

She held her hands up, "Don't look at me. It wasn't my idea."

As Mike closed the door Alex walked into the room, she had wet hair from taking a shower but she was fully clothed, but the wet hair already had Jo jumping to conclusions that she probably shouldn't have been leaping to. "Hi." She said to her sisters, surprised to see them for a moment before remembering Katie asking her if she was free.

Spotting Carolyn she said, "Hi." again and she smiled at Wheeler but her third "Hi!" was more of a controlled, reserved squeal of delight aimed directly at Jessie, who waved at her and quickly rushed over to her to give her a tight friendly squeeze. Mike looked a little confused but he was amused by Alex's reaction to this unfamiliar woman; to him at least.

"Hi." Jessie quickly repeated, pulling back and looking at her long time friend. "It's been a long time."

"Yeah, I know." Alex agreed, nodding. "I've been so busy."

Jessie looked towards Mike and smiled, turning back to Alex with a suggestive look, "I'll bet." She winked and turned back to Mike whilst still talking to Alex, pretending to make it sound secretive, "You can fill me in on the details of that later." Alex shook her head amusedly and looked at Mike, who was trying not to say anything on the subject.

Alex looked at each woman in turn and took note of the bags they were carrying. "What's going on?" She asked, puzzled but suspiscious.

Jo looked at Katie, and Carolyn lowered her head trying not to smile too much. Jessie answered, "We're having a get together and we're pulling you into it too."

"Basically, sweetie, we're crowding your house again." Katie told her with a soft smile. Alex looked at them, unsure about being involved in what obviously looked like a party - she was tired but there was something about getting to do this that made it so much more appealing; she hadn't done anything with her friends for ages, especially Jessie. She looked at Mike, who shrugged with his face and shoulders, and then she looked back at Katie.

"Alright, sounds like fun." Alex agreed, nodding at them and not resisting to laugh at Jo's unique way of celebrating victory by slamming her fists in the air and almost jumping into the air in excitement.

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Now, all of them were sitting in Alex's living room, which didn't look big enough to fit six women in it, some were having to sit on foot stools and the floor but it didn't matter so much. "So, since you girls planned this you must already have an idea of what we're doing." Alex said, hinting at a question and looking directly at Jo and Katie, knowing full well that they must have been the ones to plan this. Jo saw what Alex was doing and quickly pointed at Katie, who didn't see Jo's finger aimed in her direction.

"Well, we have some ideas but we're going to leave them up to you." Katie said, "We bought lots of things." Alex looked at all the bags now situated in the middle of the floor and nodded.

"I can see that."

"So," Megan started, her arms folded loosely across her chest as she sat next to Carolyn. "What have you bought?"

"Well, obviously there is the wine." Jessie said, matching Jo's enthusiasm. Alex chuckled at her, of course Jessie would want wine, she always wanted wine. Alex could remember when they were teens and they snuck into Jessie's house to pinch some wine from her mother. "And we bought films, games..." She let her sentence trail off, "Mostly, I just wanna talk about you and this handsome fella I met just a few moments ago." Alex looked away from her, trying to stifle the smile that was spreading across her face. Jessie looked around the room, "Where is he?"

Alex prodded her thumb towards the kitchen, "Getting some beer."

Jessie grinned, "So, come on! Fill me in."

Amused at her friends antics but unsure of how to respond to that Alex just shrugged, "I don't know what you want me to say."

As Jo laughed at her sister, Jessie continued on, "His name, for example."

"Oh, I can tell you that." Jo said, beaming, "That's Mike." Katie rolled her eyes, wondering if Jo had already been drinking before she'd picked her up, but Katie knew Jo and that was just the way she was.

"You girls talking about me?" Mike asked, walking into the room with bottle of bud in his hand. Alex turned to look at him and she slowly nodded.

"This must be like a dream come true for you, Logan." Megan said, causing Jessie to frown and Mike to become confused, again.

"How's that, Wheeler?" He asked. Jessie looked at Jo and mouthed 'last names?' - Jo shrugged.

Megan smirked, "Well, this living room is full of beautiful women." Mike grinned and nodded, looking at each woman in turn but allowing his gaze to rest on Alex. No doubt in his mind who the most beautiful woman in the room was.

"Now see!" Jo called out excitedly. "That's why you're here!" Megan frowned. Jo pointed to Mike, "This tells me something about him." Mike looked at Jo and then back at Alex, frowning again.

"It does?" Katie asked, confused.

"Yes!" Jo exclaimed, passionate about it to the point where Alex was beginning to feel embarrassed. "This tells me he's got a reputation for being a ladies man!"

Alex groaned, "What difference does that make?"

Jo looked at Alex and smiled, "Lots."

Alex looked up at Mike, who was standing near her, he shrugged. It didn't matter to him, it made no difference what so ever what reputation he may have had as a ladies man, it seemed that reputation no longer existed, in his mind at least. "Okay." Carolyn said, causing them to look at her as she spoke up for the first time. "What do you say we pick something to do instead."

"Yeah." Mike agreed, nodding, "Do something else." He looked down at Alex who was silently laughing at him. "What will you be doing?" He asked, after a moment, suddenly wondering what exactly was going to be happening and whether he should physically bolt out of the room or something. Alex shrugged.

"Well we've got movies." Carolyn said, Mike looked interested, "But they're not the kind of films you'd want to watch."

"Oh?" Mike asked, doubting he wanted to hear the answer.

Katie nodded, "Yeah, they're chick flicks."

Mike groaned, "Beautiful." He said, sarcastically.

"Yeah, I mean we've got 'Down With Love'-" Jo started but Mike immediately put his hand up to stop her.

"Please, you don't have to continue. I get it."

"'Will & Grace' is on soon we can watch that first." Jessie said, putting another idea into the mix. "I love that show." Jo nodded to say she agreed.

Alex looked up at Mike, "You don't have to stay if you don't want to." Mike thought about it for a moment and then nodded, quickly putting his bottle down on the table and moving to grab his coat off the hook. Alex looked at the others and then stood up to follow him, but since her living room is right next to her front door it meant they could still see her. "So, where are you going?"

Mike pulled his coat on, "Just gonna go find Munch and Finn, probably have a few beers-"

"-and get wasted?" Alex finished for him.

He grinned, "You never know." She shot him a look, "I'll be back later." He put his hand on her cheek and pulled her in for a sweet kiss, that she immediately deepened by wrapping her arms around his neck. His lips moved and traced her cheek until he reached her ear and then with his arms wrapped around her waste and he just held her close, whispering into her ear, "I'll definitely be back later." Alex tried to suppress the giggle that threatened to escape. Letting go of each other, she waited for him to leave and then locked the door behind him.

As she walked back into the room the other women looked at her and she shrugged, "What?" They didn't respond, "What?" Alex repeated.

Jessie finally spoke up, "Do you need me to take him off your hands?"

Alex frowned, confused by Jessie's sudden serious tone of voice and bizarre question, "No."

"That's a shame." Jessie said, looking disappointed before grinning wildly, "He looks like a great kisser!"

Alex rolled her eyes.

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TBC

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