Author's Note: I want to do a quick one-shot and somehow, it evolved into a five-chapter fic. Maybe my muse is working up to a larger LOCI fic! That would be awesome! LOL! Anyway, I hope you enjoy my offering.

Chapter One

After ten years together, not counting the year that they kept in touch over e-mail, phone calls, and dinners, Alexandra Eames could not separate all of the emotions that she felt for her partner, Robert Goren. Sometimes, she loved him like a brother. Sometimes, she felt almost like a mother trying to watch out for her wayward son. Always a friend, even when she was furiously mad at him, which happened more often than she was comfortable with. Almost lover, but neither of them would ever risk taking that step, no matter how many drunken nights they shared together.

But all of those other emotions fell to the ground the moment Alex realized that she was in love with her partner. Ten years and all of sudden her heart and mind decide that she is in love with Bobby, wants Bobby, needs Bobby, and all because she entered a crime scene where her partner was cradling a tiny girl, no more than twenty months old, against his shoulder as he studied photographs, trying to get into the minds of both the victim and her husband.

It was a fairly open and shut case. The wife filed for divorce after discovering that the husband was cheating on her. He contested the divorce, but she pushed forward. Judge issues a divorce date, husband loses it and kills his wife, then himself. The only reason they were pulled onto the case was that the wife worked in the mayor's office. Still, they would go through all of the motions so that no thread was left dangling.

"Eames?"

Alex blinked, surprised to find her partner standing in front of her, the baby still on his shoulder. "Uh, yeah?"

Bobby quirked his head to the side in an attempt to analyze why she was distracted. He quickly ascertained that she was giving off no clues. "Can you take Ruthie? I need to look at the… b-o-d-i-e-s."

"Sure," she agreed, though her heart sunk just a little. Ruth had been her grandmother's name and was the name she had picked out for her daughter since she was a young girl. Now, it appeared she would never have a chance to have that little girl.

"Ruthie," Bobby coaxed, "this is my friend, Alex. She's going to stay with you for a bit, okay?"

"No," Ruthie pouted. She wrapped her arms tightly around Bobby's neck. "No! No! No!"

Alex rubbed the girl's back. "Can you show me your room, Ruthie? I bet you have some really great toys there."

Ruthie looked intrigued for a moment, but shook her head. "Stay. Bobby."

"Sorry, Bobby," Alex rubbed his arm, "looks like you're stuck baby-sitting. I'll go check out the b-o-d-i-e-s. I'll make sure they get lots of pictures for you."

"Thanks," he sighed.

Alex walked towards the murder scene. "Oh, and you might want to take Ruthie to her room; get her away from all this chaos and such."

Walking into the parents' bedroom, Alex noticed that the woman, Penelope Walker, was near the door, as if she had been trying to flee. The gunshots to her back seemed to confirm this. The husband, Kevin Walker, lay spread out in the bed, the gun he had used to kill himself and his wife still in his left hand. Alex sent a silent prayer of thanks into the universe that Kevin had spared his daughter.

Alex was instructing the photographer on several shots when she heard a commotion coming from the room next door. She hurried there to find Bobby backing up to the back wall, Ruthie in his arms, as a social worker attempted to take the little girl. "What's going on here?"

"My name is Sophia Kendall. I'm with OCFS. I'm here to take Ruthie to a foster home," the strict-looking woman informed Alex.

"I tried to explain to Ms. Kendall that Ruthie needs a little time," Bobby told Alex as he patted Ruthie on the back. "She seems to think ripping Ruthie out of my arms is the way to go."

Alex put her hands up between the two when Sophia opened her mouth to argue. "Okay, clearly this isn't going to get us anywhere."

Bobby jumped in before Alex could continue. "What if I take her? I can become her foster parent."

"That's not how this work," Sophia countered. "You have to be approved. You can't just take a kid because you're a cop. Do you even have room for her?"

"She can take my room. I'll sleep on the couch." He shrugged when he noticed Alex watching him with surprise.

Sophia sighed, impatiently. "She needs her own space."

Turning to Alex, Bobby's eyes filled with frustration and need. Alex's heart broke a little. Before she realized what she was doing, she told Sophia, "I can take her. I have a spare room that's set up for my nieces and nephews already. She's a witness!" Alex said quickly when Sophia objected once again. "We haven't concluded what happened here and she may need protection."

"I'll have to clear this with my boss," Sophia finally relented. She stormed off with her phone in her hand.

"Alex," Bobby exhaled, walking quickly to her, "thank you so much. I- I just couldn't picture her in a home with people that she doesn't know. Not after everything that she's been through."

She placed her hand on Bobby's arm only to hurriedly move it when she felt a spark shot through her. Instead, Alex placed it on Ruthie's back. "It's not a problem. But it's only going to be for a few days at most. It's a pretty open and shut case."

Bobby frowned. "At least, we can prepare her better."

"I'm going to make a few calls; see if my sister is able to come and watch Ruthie during the day." Alex stopped at the door. "Oh, and Bobby, you might want to stop at home and grab a few days of clothes at once instead of going back every day. Because if you think I'm doing this alone, you're out of your damn mind."