Somebody to Lean On
Ross could barely hear the interrogation because Goren kept coughing. He coughed over the suspect's answers, he coughed over Eames' questions, and he even interrupted himself with coughing. With a frown, Ross walked around and gently opened the door to interrogation.
"Goren, a moment, please."
Bobby looked up, gave another cough, and slowly made his way out to the hall. Alex watched, knowing full well why the Captain had pulled him. She'd been trying to tell her partner to go home, or to the doctor, for days now. When the door was closed, she continued the interrogation.
"Goren, you're sick."
"I'm fine, Captain, just a cold."
Ross simply stared into the glassy brown eyes. "Go home, Detective."
"Captain, Eames—"
"Eames can handle things without you. This is not negotiable." Ross spun and went into observation.
Goren scratched his head and wearily walked to his desk, coughing sporadically along the way. He closed out his computer and gathered his things. Then he went home.
"Bobby?" Alex called, softly knocking at his apartment door. She heard movement inside and waited for him.
"Eames," he said as he opened the door, but his voice failed him. He turned and walked back to his recliner, leaving her to close the door.
"How are you feeling?"
"Great," he snarked, and then coughed until he was bent over with pain.
Alex studied him carefully. He'd been sick for a couple of weeks, now, but they'd both been working a case, and she hadn't really paused to give him a good look. Now she could see it. His color was off. Rosy cheeks, but pale around his mouth and eyes. Dark circles were around his eyes, and he looked exhausted.
"Did you take something?"
It took him a moment to process her question. He shook his head. "I ran out this morning."
Alex walked closer and put the back of her hand against his cheek. "It wasn't doing you much good anyway. Bobby, you have a fever."
He shrugged and turned away from her touch.
"You're wheezing."
On cue, he coughed, and again the pain spread like fire through his lungs. Alex winced just watching him. The coughing didn't do anything for his wheezing, though. "Bobby, can you tell me what day it is?"
He thought for a long time. "Thursday," he finally said.
Alex stared at him, worry apparent in her eyes. It was the right answer, but he took way too long to produce it. "C'mon, we're going to the hospital."
"No!" he whined, his miserable eyes pleading with her. "I just wanna stay here."
"Goren, you're gonna need more than over the counter medicine. It's after hours. You need to see a doctor to get a prescription. I'm taking you to the ER." She didn't add the part about how they may take one look and admit him. She was truly worried.
He groaned, but he slowly sat up. Eames found his shoes and helped him get them on his feet.
In the waiting room, Bobby collected the clipboard and sat staring at the form, struggling to read it and formulate answers. Alex took it from his hand and started filling it out for him. She got to the part about his insurance information and stopped. "Bobby, hand me your wallet," she told him.
Obediently, he leaned forward and pulled it from his back pocket. Then he handed it over without a second thought. Bobby coughed and turned his head to rest his cheek against the cool wall behind his chair.
She found his insurance card and transferred the information onto the document. Then she turned to him. He looked like he was almost asleep. "You have to sign it," she told him.
Bobby opened his eyes and sat up straight. After another coughing fit, he took the clipboard into his hands. Alex pointed to the line that needed his signature and put the pen in his left hand. Bobby seemed to have trouble even holding the pen. He scrawled his name, but it wasn't as crisp as his usual signature.
Alex gave him a smile and took the clipboard. She gave him his wallet and watched him tuck it away. "Rest. I'll go turn this in," she said.
When she returned, he was curled sideways in the chair. He seemed to be sleeping, except for the coughing fits and the occasional shiver. Alex reached out her hand and rubbed his back. She could feel him tremor every time he shivered. She was about to get up and ask for a blanket when the nurse called his name. Alex helped him to his feet and walked with him to the exam room.
He coughed even as they entered the room. The nurse helped him onto the exam table and raised the back so he was sitting almost upright. "You're pretty sick," she told him. "How long have you had this?" She spoke as she took his vitals.
"Long time," he choked out.
"At least two weeks," Alex answered for him.
"You're his wife?" the nurse asked.
"No we're partners, Detectives. I see him every day."
"Okay, and it's been two weeks?"
"At least."
"Have you been taking anything for it, Mr. Goren?"
Bobby seemed to be having trouble processing the question. She slipped the blood pressure cuff off and found the pulse oximeter. She put it on his finger, noted the readings, and quietly stepped out of the room. A moment later, she was back, and she carefully placed a cannula under his nose and adjusted the flow of oxygen for him. "Try and rest. The doctor will be with you soon."
The nurse stepped out, leaving Alex to worry about her friend. She folded her arms and watched him cough. He turned his head away from her and closed his eyes.
The doctor entered, making apologies about the wait. He listened to Bobby's lungs, and looked at his eyes, nose, and throat. "Is that oxygen helping?"
Bobby nodded.
"Mr. Goren, I'll have to run a few tests to be sure, but I suspect you may have pneumonia. I'll send you over to radiology and we'll get a chest x-ray. Then I will meet you back here with the results. You just relax. I'll have the orderlies take you over there on a gurney."
"He's been shivering a lot," Alex said. "Is there a blanket or something?"
The doctor smiled, opened a cabinet, and handed her a thin blanket. "Let someone know if he needs anything else. I'll see you soon."
The doctor left and Bobby groaned. "Great," he complained, and then choked.
Alex didn't respond. She knew he hated to be sick, and it looked like this time, he was very, very sick.
The tests confirmed it was pneumonia, and the doctor decided to admit him to the hospital. Both of his lungs had fluid building up inside, and the doctor didn't want to take a chance that one of Goren's lungs might collapse. He promised that once lung collapse was no longer a concern, he would discharge Bobby.
Now, with a mix of strong medicines and a steady flow of oxygen, he was drifting off to sleep. Alex sat at his bedside and called the Captain.
"Ross," he said in answer to the phone's chirp.
"Hi Captain, it's Eames."
"Eames, what's up?"
"They've just admitted Bobby to the hospital. He has pneumonia."
Ross sighed.
"He's already doing much better. The doctor thinks in a day or two they will send him home."
"I'm guessing the hospital was your idea?" They both knew how stubborn Goren could be, especially when he was sick.
"Yes, I brought him to the ER."
"I'm glad you were there for him. Keep me posted."
"I will, Captain."
He coughed, for the first time in over an hour. Bobby stirred, and opened his eyes. He took in his surroundings, and remembered why he was there.
"Bobby? You awake?"
"Eames," he croaked, and coughed again.
"You slept a while," she said, smiling down at him, her hand over his. "Are you feeling better?"
He squeezed her fingers. "So tired," he whispered.
"Then keep sleeping. You don't have to keep me company," she told him.
"You should go… home."
"I'm fine right here, Bobby."
"Don't need you to mother me."
"Well, as the last few weeks have proven, you don't know what you need. You get some sleep, Bobby, and I'll hang around as long as I feel like it. Okay?"
He wanted to argue, but he didn't have the strength for it. Bobby looked at her with great affection.
Alex bent down and kissed his forehead. "Sleep, Bobby. I'll be here when you feel like talking."
He coughed again, then nodded, closed his eyes, and drifted back to sleep.
Alex wandered the hospital, picked up a few magazines at the gift shop, and bought Bobby a balloon bouquet. She returned to his room and set the balloons in the corner where he could see them but they wouldn't block his view out the window.
After another venture out to find something to eat, she returned to Bobby's room.
She spent some time staring out his window, watching the lights of the cars on the street 8 floors below. It made her realize how late it was. Alex checked her watch. Turning back to Bobby, she looked him over carefully. He was still pale, but he looked more peaceful. Without the constant interruption of the coughing fits, he was actually getting some sleep. She ran a hand through his curls and bent down to kiss his temple. "Good night, Bobby," Alex whispered.
She turned off most of the lights and settled into the bedside chair to try and go to sleep.
His coughing woke her. This time, it was a more prolonged attack, like she'd been accustomed to hearing the last few days. Alex got to her feet and put a hand on his back, trying to soothe him until it was over. She handed him a tissue and he wiped his mouth.
Alex threw the tissue away and helped him straighten the tube under his nose. Bobby's brow was furrowed, and he put one hand over his chest.
"Hurting?" she asked him, and he nodded. "I'll call the nurse." She pushed the button and within a minute, the nurse entered the room.
"Something wrong?" she asked them.
"He's coughing again, and he said his chest hurts."
The nurse checked his lungs with her stethoscope. She glanced at his IV. She left the room and returned moments later with a new bag of medicine to attach to his IV. She replaced the old one with the new and then turned to Bobby.
After he had another episode of coughing, the nurse said, "Give it a few minutes, but that medicine should help. Call me if you need anything else." She left, and Alex took Bobby's hand in hers again. She looked down at him.
Bobby tugged at the cannula.
"Leave that alone, Bobby, you need it."
"It's annoying," he rasped.
"I know, but you leave it be, you hear me? What's annoying about it."
He turned his head away and back. "I just don't like it."
Alex gave him a sympathetic smile. "You want me to go ask the nurse if you can take it off?"
He looked away. "She was just here. She would have said." He closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of Alex's fingers as they slowly moved through his hair. After a few minutes, she drew her fingers away, thinking he was asleep. Bobby opened his eyes, searching for her.
"I thought you were asleep again." Alex returned her hand to his hair.
"No… I like that, it feels good."
"You're not coughing now, I guess the medicine kicked in. How's the pain?"
"Okay, good… Alex?"
"Yes, Bobby?"
He turned his head to stare at her. Suddenly, he couldn't say any of the things he'd wanted to. He looked at her closely, taking in her rumpled clothes and tired eyes. "You should go home."
"I don't mind, Bobby, really."
"I do. I don't want you…" he had to pause to catch his breath, "…to get sick, too. Please, Alex. Go home. Come back tomorrow."
"And you'll leave the…?" She gestured under her nose and he nodded. "And you'll push the call button if you're uncomfortable? Tell them what's going on?" Again, he nodded. Alex took a deep breath, and rubbed his hand with her fingers. "All right, Bobby. I'll see you tomorrow." She leaned over and kissed his forehead. Then she smiled at him.
Bobby smiled too. He closed his eyes and listened to her gather her things and leave the room.
In the morning, she arrived to find him sleeping peacefully without the cannula. Alex frowned. She sat down beside him and gave him a good once-over until the nurse entered the room. She checked a few things, then gently replaced the cannula on his face without waking him.
"I guess he took it off without your permission," Alex commented.
"Oh, I don't know. He got up earlier to walk to the bathroom. He may have just forgotten when he got back into bed."
Alex smiled. She wasn't going to buy that excuse. "Maybe," she said. Alex watched the nurse leave the room and settled back into her chair again. She read one of her magazines while she waited for him to wake.
After 45 minutes, there was a stir and a shallow cough. Alex smiled at him. "Good morning," she said.
"Hi. I thought you went home."
"I came back," she said.
"Oh… is it late?"
Alex checked the time. "9:30. Still morning."
He licked his lips.
"Are you thirsty?"
Bobby nodded. Alex found the water pitcher and filled it in the bathroom. Then she poured some into a cup and inserted a straw. She held the cup for him as he sipped through the straw.
"Thanks," he said, and his voice sounded almost normal.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"I don't know. Better, I guess."
"They said it might take a couple of days."
Bobby let his head sink all the way back against the pillow. He leveled his gaze on her, blinking quietly every couple of seconds.
"You going back to sleep?" she asked him.
"No. Not sleepy, now."
"Want to watch TV? Or I could read to you."
"What are you reading?"
She showed him her magazines. One was all about pop stars and their lives. The other was just a news magazine. Bobby tapped that one, and Alex willingly opened it and began to read from the headline article.
They'd read a third of the magazine when the doctor came by. He checked Bobby's stats and listened to his lungs. Then he smiled. "You've improved quite a bit from yesterday. You keep it up, and you could be home as soon as tonight." Bobby and Alex both smiled at the doctor. "As it is, you don't seem to need this anymore." The doctor removed the oxygen tube. He smiled at Goren, and then at Eames. "Did you eat anything?"
Both Bobby and Alex shook their heads.
"Are you feeling hungry?"
Bobby shook his head again, which caused a minor spike in Alex's level of worry.
The doctor gave him a reassuring smile. "Your loss of appetite is understandable. I'm going to order up a menu for you, and I expect you to eat as much as you can tolerate, all right?"
Bobby nodded.
"I'll be back this afternoon, and hopefully we can discharge you then." The doctor said his goodbyes, and Alex pulled out her phone and started texting.
"What are you doing?" asked Goren.
"The Captain wanted me to keep him posted." Bobby groaned. "Oh, relax," said Alex. "I'm just telling him the Doctor says you're improving and will check back this afternoon."
"So everybody knows I'm in here?" he asked miserably.
"Well, yeah. You couldn't go to work, and you know they are all wondering. They are Detectives, Bobby. Pretty good at putting two and two together."
He groaned again. "I don't like… for everyone to know my business."
"The only one who knows everything is me. Ross knows the important things, and everyone else just knows you're in the hospital. Now would you quit worrying about it?" She sent the text and returned to her magazine. Bobby listened until the nurse brought in a breakfast and lunch menu.
He made his selections and in 10 minutes, the breakfast tray had arrived. He was leery of it at first, but after they opened the lid and the room was filled with the smell of biscuits and sausage, he perked up a little. Bobby broke off a piece of biscuit and stuck it in his mouth.
Alex smiled, and he smiled back. He ate another piece of biscuit happily. He slowed on the third bite, though, and soon had abandoned eating altogether.
"What's the matter, you sick?"
He shook his head. "Just not hungry anymore." Bobby let his head fall back against the pillow and pushed the tray away.
Alex gathered up the rest and prepared it for the staff to take away. She moved the tray table out of his way and looked down at him. He had his eyes closed again. "You're tired now."
"C-can I have a drink?" he asked Alex.
"Sure, Bobby." Alex got his cup and handed it to him. He drank without assistance this time. When he was finished, he handed it back to her and she set it on the table. "You going to sleep now?"
"Keep reading," he told her. This time, he listened with his eyes closed. In fifteen minutes, he was asleep again.
Alex drove him home that evening. Bobby was alert in the car, but he leaned his head against the headrest and didn't say a word. She walked him up to his apartment, and that little bit of exertion had him wheezing again. Bobby headed straight for his recliner and flopped into a comfortable position.
"What can I do for you, Bobby?"
"Just… nothing. I'm all right." He said it, and then he coughed.
It was a violent cough, but Alex noticed that he wasn't buckled over with pain when he finished. He was really much better than before, even if he didn't think so.
"You've got to take two of these in an hour. I'll just hang around and make sure you get your medicine on time, okay?"
"You can go, it's all right."
Alex smiled at him. "Please, Bobby. That way you can rest and not worry about it. If you fall asleep, I can wake you in time to take your pills."
"Suit yourself," he said, waving a lazy hand in the air. He was wearing his dirty clothes from Thursday night, rumpled slacks and a button down shirt.
"If you're recovered from the trip up here, you should probably go change and get in bed."
Bobby groaned. "In a minute," he said.
Alex gave him a crooked smile. "I'll help you."
Bobby opened one eye and looked at her. "You'll help me… change?"
She shrugged. "If you want."
He closed his eyes and thought hard. Then his expression changed to confusion, and then to anger. "Look, if that's some kind of a come on or something, I wish you would just be clear about it. I'm not exactly up to decoding the language of love, or lust, or whatever right now."
Alex almost laughed. "Don't get your shorts in a knot." She stepped close to him and took his hand. "C'mon."
His expression was hopeful confusion, but he let her guide him to his feet and lead him to his bedroom.
"Take your clothes off," Eames ordered. She made his bed while he uncomfortably stripped down to his shorts. "Uh, I just have to…" he pointed at the bathroom, stopped to quickly yank a pair of fresh shorts out of his dresser, and then stepped out of the room quickly.
She could hear the water, and knew he was taking a shower. Alex smiled. He would probably feel a lot better after that.
When he returned, he was wearing his boxers and roughing a towel over his damp hair. Bobby paused when he saw her, suddenly realizing she'd never seen him wearing only his shorts. He tossed the towel over the side of the hamper and walked to his bed. He still wasn't sure what Eames had in mind. He was too tired to make sense of it. Bobby sat down, and soon she was beside him, shoving him back gently with the palm of her hand.
"Lie down," Eames said.
He pulled his feet up off the floor and snaked them under the covers. Bobby lay back, feeling the weight of his head against the soft pillow. Alex tucked him in.
"See? No ulterior motives. It's still too early for your pills. Do you need anything else?"
"Some water?" he asked.
Alex smiled at him. She touched his bristly cheek with two fingers. "Be right back," she said.
As Bobby slept, Alex sat beside him on his bed. Her time was divided between reading, watching movies on the little player in his room, and watching him.
He shifted in his sleep, and turned to his side. His forearm went easily over her thigh.
Alex watched him closely. He was sound asleep. His arm had just naturally moved to the place where it now rested. She looked down at his relaxed fingers, curled over her jeans.
It felt good, his touch. It felt good to know that he trusted her enough to relax so completely in her presence.
Alex twisted her torso, just enough to kiss him on the side of his head. "I love you, Bobby," she whispered.