Sequel to Meet the Parents, as part of my Mike/Alex series

Summary: Alex struggles with the aftermath of the shooting Chance Slaughter

Spoilers: Season 5, Proud Flesh (which I haven't seen in absolutely ages so I hope there are no incorrect details)

Pairing: Mike/Alex (obviously) ;)

A/N: I'm not sure if they are OOC in this one or not, so I apologise now if they are.

Reviews: Yes, please and a huge thank you to all those that have already done so. :)

Flesh and Blood

"Isn't that what sons are for?" Jonas Slaughter coldly told Bobby Goren, the winter weather biting somewhat. Jonas pushed himself into the back seat of the car and Bobby watched them drive off suddenly thinking about his father, or lack thereof. He slowly turned around to the mass of people, media and cops that swarmed the steps of the courthouse. There was only one person he was looking for; his partner.

He couldn't see her at first, there was such a huge media circus surrounding the body of Chance Slaughter, who had been shot by Alex Eames when he'd pulled out a weapon with the apparent intention of shooting Anna, Jonas' wife.

The reason he couldn't find her was because she was not with the huge group of people. Bobby spotted her slowly walking towards the SUV, which was parked a little further down the street. He could tell from the way she was walking that she was in shock, he knew he had to get to her before she got in the drivers seat. Without a seconds hesitation he took off, chasing after her.

He was a little out of breath when he caught up with her, putting a hand on her shoulder, he gave it a gentle squeeze to reassure her the best way he knew how. Just showing her that he was there for her, if she wanted or needed the support. She turned to him and he offered her a small, apologetic smile. She nodded and put her hand in her pocket to retrieve the keys to the SUV, she pulled them out and handed them to him. Without uttering a single word she stepped into the passenger side of the car, although there was a small part of her mind still unsure it was safe to let Bobby drive at all but she knew right now she was the worst choice for being the driver.

The ride back to parking garage at One Police Plaza had been a quiet but not uncomfortable one. Bobby knew that Alex needed time to think about it, and to be honest he was once again impressed with her quick thinking and sharp mind. He'd only just managed to get his gun out of his holster as she was pulling the trigger on hers, steadily on the target.

Watching her as she took in a deep breath; he put his hand on her arm as she reached for the door handle to let herself out of the car. "Eames... are you alright?" he finally asked, breaking the silence that had been between them.

Alex nodded, trying to convince him if not herself, "I'm fine." she sighed, "There was no other way it would've gone down. It's alright." She opened the door and stepped out, mentally preparing herself for what would happen when she reached the second floor. She'd already given her piece to one of the officers on the scene.

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Captain Jimmy Deakins sat down at his desk and sighed. He was staring at the phone, the conversation he'd just had was one of the most interesting ones that he'd ever had. He'd just discovered what had happened at the court house this afternoon and was pondering how he was going to deal with this.

He felt extreme apprehension when he saw Alex and Bobby walk into the squadroom. Bobby looked concerned and Alex looked incredibly fragile, which was unusual for her. Sighing, he managed to catch Bobby's attention and indicated with his hand that the two of them should join him in his office. He saw Bobby say something to Alex, who immediately looked at Deakins with worry, or at least that's what it looked like to him.

They walked into his office and he rubbed his face before finally speaking to them, "I just found out what happened, Alex." She was standing extremely stiff and she just nodded. "As far as I know it was a clean shooting despite the new information that just arrived to me."

"What - what new information?" Bobby asked, concerned and curious. Alex looked at them both with a puzzled expression on her face.

"It seems that the gun Chance Slaughter pulled out had an ..." this was incredibly hard for Deakins to say, he looked at Alex, his face showing how sorry he was. "The clip was completely empty, there wasn't a single bullet inside." Both he and Bobby watched as Alex's face became completely pale, the shock evident in the way her eyes seemed to become glazed - trapped in her own thoughts as the news shook her. She slowly folded her arms tight to her chest, as if it could protect her from her feelings. She looked down to the floor; her hair shielding her eyes from view of either of them.

She could still hear Bobby talking and could vaguely make out what he was saying, "Doesn't that support the fact that he just said it to get h-his father off the hook?"

"Even if we could try and use that as evidence - the death bed confession is just too strong." Deakins said, reasonably dismissing Bobby's thought. They both looked at Alex, who had not moved from that position. "Alex, IAB will want to talk to you tomorrow but that's all, okay. So, go home and get some rest..." Just as Deakins was finishing speaking, Alex suddenly moved, unfolding her arms she quickly grabbed the door handle and loudly closed the door behind her as she left the squadroom with such a force that everyone had no choice but watch her leave.

Deakins looked at Bobby, "You should go after her." he told her. Bobby stood up and reached the door before changing his mind and turning back to Deakins.

"Where is Logan?" He asked, causing Deakins head to snap up after he'd just started to look back down at his report.

"Logan?" Deakins was confused. What did he have to do with it? "Conducting interviews with Detective Barek, why?"

Bobby nodded, "Uh, Captain I need you to - to call him and tell him what's happened." Bobby then opened the door and went off on his search for his partner, knowing full well that when she didn't want to be found, there was no finding her. Deakins looked at Bobby's retreating figure and felt himself mentally scratch his head in confusion.

"Logan?" He asked himself and then it was like magic as it dawned on him, "Oh. Of course. Logan." Grabbing the phone he immediately called up Mike Logan's cell. Deakins had spotted the interaction between Mike and Alex, but he hadn't known it had gone somewhere until now.

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Alex Eames was sitting outside on a bench, her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands. Trying to steady herself by taking deep breaths but it wasn't working. The only thing keeping her sane was the cold chill in the air and the feeling of numbing frostbite in her toes, it was somehow comforting to feel herself lose a sensation or two. Maybe she was going mad after all. She could hear the evening rush hour traffic brushing past her a small distance away and she could feel the breeze wash all over her, biting her skin as it did so, turning her cheeks a light pink when she finally lifted her face from her hands. She watched as police officers were rushing out of the gates, desperate to get home to their families, and some were rushing in about to start the late shift. She felt a familiar presence beside her and she turned to him, not smiling, showing no emotion she just looked at him.

Bobby had sat down beside her and was watching her intensely but he didn't know what to say. He'd expected her to be harder to find so when he'd arrived outside the building and found her in less than 2 seconds he'd almost had the wind knocked out of him in shock. "Eames, you should go home." he told her, he knew it was true but he also knew it was unlikely she would listen to that kind of advice. Without disappointing him, she shook her head at his suggestion. "Eames!" he tried again but she just sighed.

"I don't see why." she finally spoke, her voice coarse and thick with emotion. It was a tribute to her that she didn't even show any of that emotion on her face.

"I'll drive you." he told her with determination. She looked at him as if to say he was mad.

She snorted, "I let you drive once and suddenly you think you can keep the keys." Her attitude had returned somewhat but her voice still betrayed her feelings. Bobby offered her a small smile at the attempted joke but he was serious about driving her home but she shook her head at him, equally matching his determination. Although that's what made them such great partners, it seemed it was a pain when they were trying to win an argument.

"I'll call Logan." he threatened, "What's his number?" he asked, reaching into her pocket for his phone. She didn't try to stop she just looked away from him.

"I'll bet you've already got Deakins calling him up." she said, knowing full well she was right when her partner stopped dialing his phone and snapped it shut. They knew each other a little too well and Bobby realised that his threat wasn't going to work. He put her cell back into her pocket. She looked at him and tried to give him a reassuring smile, "Look, I'm fine. I had no way of knowing that it was empty and I'm not going to sit here making excuses or trying to reason what happened. That's a waste of time. It happened." She stood up, quickly, and walked away from him. Ironically towards the parking garage where she kept her car. Bobby hoped that she was going home.

He looked down at his cell phone and realised that Mike's number would still be there so he dialed it up with the intention of telling him where Alex should be.

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It had taken Mike quite a bit of time before he finally managed to get away from work, as desperate as he had been, Deakins had told him that under no circumstances was he allowed to just leave his partner with a list of people to interview. Although Carolyn took pity on him and she had shortened the list somewhat so that they wouldn't take as long, she intended for them to continue tomorrow morning instead.

Mike rang her doorbell several times before she finally answered. When she answered the door, he took in her appearance and his worry grew. Her hair was in a bit of a tangle, her skin was pale and her eyes were wearing red stains from the obvious tears she had shed, although he knew she'd never admit it. She didn't say anything, she just opened the door to let him in and then let him close it behind himself.

Worried, he followed her into the kitchen to see that she was cooking what looked like bolognese sauce. He knew that spaghetti couldn't be too far behind. "What are you doing?" he had to ask her something, anything, just to get her to speak.

"Cooking." was her one word reply, as she didn't look up from what she was doing.

"Yeah, I can see that." he said, sarcastically. He sighed, and looked around the room. He then pulled his coat off and hung it on a dining chair that she was clearing using as a seat, obviously not intending to leave the kitchen anytime soon. "Look, I don't know everything that happened... but it's not your fault." he tried to get her to open up.

"How can it not be my fault?" She finally turned to him, snapping. "Who's fault was it? Gods?" She watched him as his face showed her how much that hurt him and she immediately regretted doing it. "I'm sorry but if you really want to stay then expect to be shouted at because I'm not in the mood!" she turned back around to her cooking, putting the minced beef in a saucepan, letting it begin to cook.

He pursed his lips together for a moment, trying to control himself, thinking about how he'd handle the situation and he knew that he'd do the same, he'd lash out at people but this wasn't going to help her, so he tried to come up with a way to snap her out of it. "Hey." he said, a little forcefully, taking some strides towards her. Holding back the urge to grab her arms and shake it out of her. "I'm not in the mood either! Let's go talk." She turned to him and she could see the resolve in his eyes.

"Mike..." she started but he stopped her.

"Listen, it's not your fault. I know you know that."

"I'm the one that pulled the trigger!" she argued, pointing towards herself as if she was the worst thing on the planet.

"But he didn't leave you much of a choice. You had to act on what you saw and you had to act fast." he told her, refusing to back down. Looking at her for a moment he then added, "Something's burning." She quickly looked away from him and saw that the mince beef was completely browned off already. She switched the hob off completely and walked out of the room.

Sighing, he turned and left the room in search for her. He didn't need to look for long, he found her sitting in the living room, holding her head in her hands. "Not hungry anymore?" he asked.

"No!" she said, without looking up. He didn't like to see her this way, he crossed the small space of the living area and sat down beside her, close. Gently putting his arm around he softly pulled her into his embrace offering some kind of comfort. She hesitated at first but then she lifted her head up and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. He could feel her body tremble as she tried to fight the tears that were threatening to come up once again. He gently stroked her back trying to soothe her because he couldn't think of what to say that would help.

After a few moments he began to feel something strange happening to his ear. Was he dreaming that? No, she was nibbling on his ear with her teeth. "Alex?" he asked, feeling worried although he liked what she was doing, he knew she wasn't in the right frame of mind. She pulled back a little at the mention of her name and all he saw in her eyes was pure desire. She forcefully began kissing him, knocking Mike back a little bit. At first, he kissed her back, but that nagging voice at the back of his mind wouldn't leave him alone, so he tried to get her to stop. "Alex?"

"I want you." That was her only reply and it was simply mumbled into his mouth, and then she let go of his lips and began kissing his neck. He took a firm grip of her upper arms and pulled her away from him. "Don't you want me?" her voice was breathless, ragged and she was clearly becoming enthusiastic in what she wanted to be doing.

"Not like this." Was all that Mike could manage to say. He watched her as she processed that, she looked at him and all he could see in her eyes was hurt. He'd hurt her, he hadn't meant to but he had. "Listen, I do want you!" he smiled, "But not like this." She tried to pull away but he kept his grip on her arms. Tears were welling in her eyes as she looked at him. He was unsure if she was crying because of what had just happened or because of the original reason that had driven them into that situation; Chance Slaughter. "I do want you but not like this." he repeated. "This isn't right and I know you know that." Her body just seemed to slump against his and she began to let the tears fall and all he could do was hold her close to him as she cried it all out.

He liked to think that he'd come to know her really well and he knew that what was eating her up was that she'd taken a life for no reason and she tried to seek comfort in the only way she thought was possible at that point. Mike was more impressed with his ability to hold himself back than anything else.

He had held her in his arms for what felt like hours when she finally sat up straight and looked at him. She wiped her eyes and he offered her a smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't know what to say." he told her, and he hadn't, they'd just sat quietly, whilst he rubbed her back and kissed the top of her head.

She shook her head and gave him a small smile back. "You didn't have to say anything." he kissed her cheek and then pulled her back in a hug, resting their heads on each others shoulders.

After a small moment they pulled away from each other, "What'd you say we go make that spaghetti bolognese?" Mike asked, suddenly feeling hungry himself. She smiled and nodded in agreement. Standing up together they walked back into the kitchen to continue with the cooking she'd been doing before.

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TBC

( Reply to Podie1 - Yes, you have told me so, but I don't mind hearing it again ;) Thank you so much for stroking this writers ego. It helps me to continue. And yes I do plan to continue and even when this particular series ends, I certainly won't stop writing Mike/Alex fics. Oh, no, I start as I mean to go on.)