Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, I'm just having fun -- they belong to Dick Wolf.

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Flash Point

Chapter 1

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Alex stood in the hotel gift shop and looked in disbelief at the only swimsuit selection that was even remotely close to her size: a skimpy, neon red, vinyl-looking number, with a postage stamp-size bra top and a bottom only a few inches shy of thong status. Get real, Alex – the hotel buyer obviously thought that anyone of this size would be under the age of 18. Could you really go out in public in that thing!? she asked herself.

Well, if wearing this silly suit was the only way she could take advantage of that beautiful hot tub in the hotel's courtyard, then the answer to her question was a resounding Yes -- she was not going to forego a soak in a hot tub if she could help it. And so she splurged and paid the outrageous price for what she knew would be a one-time wearing, and hurried back to her room to change.

As she travelled back up the elevator to her room, she mused that she was grateful to find herself in this predicament at all. An unexpected delay in a case had necessitated their impromptu overnight stay in Buffalo. All the inexpensive places in town were booked solid (something about a large dog show in town for the week), and so she and Goren found themselves sitting pretty in a deluxe hotel – well, deluxe by NYPD standards, certainly – with spectacular indoor gardens surrounding a slate pool and a spacious hot tub. Since they had expected to fly right in and right out, neither of them had an overnight bag along. An occurrence like this would usually only require a toothbrush from the front desk, but that hot tub represented a little luxury that she just couldn't, wouldn't pass up.

Back in her room, Alex rummaged through the tissue paper and retrieved the impossibly small garment. After changing, she shrugged back into her shirt and dark jeans, draped a pool towel around her neck, and padded down to the elevator in bare feet, clutching an extra towel to her chest. She didn't bother to bring any reading material – she envisioned just closing her eyes, drifting and relaxing until her fingers and toes turned into prunes. She was eternally grateful that Bobby told her he was looking forward to catching up on his reading this evening, and had declined over dinner to do anything afterward. One sight of her in this ridiculous getup and she'd never live it down.

She approached the pool area and breathed a sigh of relief after a quick glance at the empty hot tub. Well, she should have expected as much. They had finished work late in the day, which had meant a late dinner, and now at this hour there was of course no one to be seen in the public areas of the hotel. Well thank heavens for small favors, she thought, at least I don't have to worry about being seen by anyone. The closest lounge chair was several yards away, and she dropped her towels on it. She quickly stripped off her shirt and wriggled out of her pants, and sighed and shook her head as she looked down at her exotic-dancer-like garb. Oh well, it can't be helped.

She reached up to twist her hair into a knot, high enough to keep her hair out of the water. She then adjusted her top as best she could since it was far too small, ran two fingers of each hand under both sides of the back of her bikini bottom to reverse its inevitable rise up her buttocks (this suit definitely thinks it's a thong), and started towards the hot tub. As she turned, she heard a small watery noise, and her head instantly whipped the rest of the way around.

She froze in horror.

Bobby was emerging from what must have been a prolonged submersion, shaking water from his head. Spluttering a little, he wiped the water from his face before pushing his soaking hair back.

And opened his eyes.

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To be continued…