Chapter One – My Hero

Alex Eames yawned for what must have been the fiftieth time that morning. The German chocolate flavored coffee with a double shot of espresso she bought on her way to work did not seem to be doing its job. She didn't normally spend money on gourmet coffee. There was plenty of coffee available at One Police Plaza, and it was mostly free.

Desperate times, however, called for desperate measures.

She and Goren had caught a difficult case involving the kidnapping of a Hudson University coed, who happened to be the daughter of one of the mayor's top executives. What made this case difficult was not its intricacy. It had been an easy solve. The young lady was kidnapped by a distant relative looking for a few extra dollars. She was recovered after a S.W.A.T team raid on an apartment in Yonkers.

Seeing the girl bound, gagged, and chained to a radiator is what made Alex fall apart. She had been able to remain detached up to that point.

Nightmares had plagued her for the next three nights. Vivid sensations of the horror she experienced first-hand replaced rest with terror, dominating virtually every moment of REM sleep. Last night marked her first night of sleep nightmare free since the raid, but her body still needed to catch up on the rest it missed. Alex thought that gourmet coffee would stave off her body's effort to recuperate until a more convenient time, but now she had the drudgery of paperwork to contend with.

"Don't look like you're having too much fun there, Eames," Captain Danny Ross playfully chided as he sauntered past Eames' desk, coffee mug in tow.

Eames chuckled lightly, wiping away tears that had formed as a result of her yawn.

"In Ancient Greek culture, yawing was believed to be a result of the soul attempting to leave the body in an effort to rest with the gods in the skies," Robert Goren stated without looking up.

"Remember our rule," Eames inquired as she politely folded her hands and placed them at the center of her desk.

"What rule," Goren asked, removing papers from a manila envelope.

"The no quirky facts before eleven o'clock rule."

Goren looked at his watch. "It's 10:57."

"So I still have three minutes," Eames retorted, not missing a beat.

Goren looked up at her for the first time that morning, cocked an eyebrow, shook his head, sighed, and returned to his work.

"Don't look at me in that tone of voice," Eames cried, wadding a piece of paper and tossing it at her partner's head.

"Ding, ding, ding. End of Round One," a familiar voice cut in.

Eames turned around in an effort to face the source of the voice. "Well look what the cat drug in," she snarked.

"Glad to see you too, Detective Eames," Mike Logan stated sarcastically, sticking a hand in his pants pocket. "Goren," Logan nodded in his direction.

"Logan," Goren acknowledged with a nod, nose still buried in paperwork.

"Heard you guys got the collar on that kidnapping. You found her in Queens," Logan questioned sitting on the edge of a nearby desk.

"Yonkers. Four days ago," Eames responded, straightening a stack of papers. "Are you sill working at the 2-7?"

"Yeah," Logan replied, "I had the choice of either riding the desk here at OnePP or filling in at the 2-7."

"That's your old precinct, isn't it," inquired Eames.

"Yeah. I'm filling in for a detective who went on maternity leave," Logan said.

"Are you and your partner getting along well," Eames asked, shooting her partner a quick glance. He was too engrossed in his work to seem to notice.

"The guy I'm with now was partnered with my old partner before I…left."

"So it's all in the family?"

"Pretty much," Logan said with a chuckle.

"I thought you were reassigned a partner after Wheeler left?"

"Falacci. She decided that MCS wasn't for her. She put in to be shipped to SVU. Worked out last I heard. Ross wanted to put me at a desk for the time being, but I asked to go over to the 2-7 when I heard there was an opening. It's not permanent though. I'll be back in about four months. That's when my partner should be done overseas."

"Logan. How are things at the 2-7," Ross asked, taking a sip from his now full mug of coffee.

"Going good, Cap," Logan answered, standing up.

"I hope they realize that you're still on loan," Ross joked, giving Logan a slap on the back as he passed between the desks.

Logan watched Ross walk into his office. "He seems chipper this morning," Logan said after Ross shut the door behind him.

"I know. It's kind of scary," Eames replied.

"I give it until lunch," Goren chimed in, placing the pen he was using in a container on his desk.

Logan smiled to himself as the elevator door closed in front of him. He had visited One Police Plaza for two reasons. The first reason was fairly innocuous. There was some paper work that needed to be dropped off pertaining to a case he and Green were working on. It wasn't mandatory that the papers be dropped off in person, but doing so allowed him to accomplish the second goal of his visit: to make a date with Alex Eames.

He had been thinking of her a great deal lately, and he wasn't quite sure why. He had always thought that she was cute, but had never thought of her anymore than that until recent times. He couldn't have done anything about it before he transferred out of the Major Case Squad, but now that he was working at the 27th Precinct, 'fraternizing' with her wouldn't be as taboo.

Logan felt somewhat awkward asking Alex out in front of Goren. He'd heard talk of an affair between the two since he joined the MCS. He'd seen no evidence of it himself; even while working several cases with them. He was sure that the same kinds of rumors had gone around about him and the three female partners he had on the squad.

"Bobby, what just happened here," Eames asked in a hushed tone as she leaned forward.

"It looks like you're going on a date," Goren said, clicking his pen.

"Is that what it sounded like to you?"

"Yes. He asked you what you were doing for dinner tonight. You said that you weren't doing anything. He invited you out. You said yes. He didn't invite me, and I was sitting right here. So in my book, that's a date."

"Everything happened so fast."

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"I haven't been able to have any thoughts on it, really," Eames said, her voice slightly excited, but still quiet. "How did I end up going on a date with Mike Logan?"

"We've been over this," Goren countered impatiently, sitting his pen on top of a stack of folders.

"I know. It's just that…I don't know how to respond to any of this. I'm excited to have a date. Lord knows it has been a long time. But with Logan? He's about the second to last person I would think would ask me out."

"Who's the last, pray tell?"

"You, of course."

"I would have thought Captain Ross."

"Ok. So Logan is the third to last. The Captain is the second to last, but that's besides the point. I don't think of Logan in that way. And now he thinks that I do. And now we're going on a…a date."

"You could always cancel," Goren offered.

"I can't to that," Alex countered, "Then he would think that I didn't like him."

"But you don't."

"Not in that way, but I do think that he's a nice guy. If I turn him down, he might think that I hate him. So I can't turn him down…But I can't go on a date with him either. Are you sure that this is supposed to be a date."

"Goren. Eames. Quit yakking like two schoolgirls and clock out for lunch before I shove more paperwork on you," Ross grouched as he locked up his office.

Goren shot Eames a 'what did I tell you' look as they both stood and made their way to the elevator.

"You've been grinning like a Cheshire cat since we left OnePP," Detective Ed Green snickered at his temporary partner, "What for?"

"I've got a date."

"Figures. Briscoe told me about you," Green reprised glancing at Logan briefly before returning his attention to the road.

"Whatever Briscoe told you was probably true, but I'm not that kind of guy any more," Logan defended, lifting his hands in surrender.

"So you've mellowed out in your old age?"

"Watch yourself, Green," Logan warned, giving Green a playful nudge.

"So who's the lucky lady?"

"Her name is Alex Eames. She's a lead detective at MCS."

"Eames. Is she the one who was kidnapped recently?"

"That's her. Tough as nails, though. And not a bad looker. We're going out tonight."

"Got any big plans?" Green stopped the car on the side of the street near a hot dog stand.

"Dinner. Maybe a trip to my place, if she's up to it." Logan opened his door and stepped out onto the sidewalk.

"I see," Green said incredulously as he shut his door and approached the street vendor.

"I'm not that kind of guy anymore," Logan yelled after him.

"You've been having nightmares recently, haven't you," Goren stated as a matter of fact. He sprinkled more cinnamon into his pumpkin flavored latte. Eames looked down at her still steaming apple cider, biting at a piece of dead skin on her chapped lips. "I knew that you shouldn't have gone on that raid."

"You guys needed me," she defended weakly, reaching in her pocket. Goren watched as she applied a fresh layer of lip balm. "I'm fine. I just got a little shaken up, but I'm over it."

"You would tell me if you were…not fine…right?"

Eames' eyes connected with the deep gaze Goren was giving her across the table. She tried to break eye contact, but his eyes pursued hers, his head slightly tilting to his left. She felt an inexplicable lump rise in her throat.

Alex felt both grateful and angry at Bobby at the same. She was grateful for his concern toward her. Several members of the squad had gone out of their way to tell her how her kidnapping had deeply shaken her partner. He had been her hero, refusing to give up when everyone else presumed that she was dead.

But she was angry at him. His concern forced her to deal with feelings that she did not feel ready to conquer. It was easier for her to push the feelings of fear and vulnerability away than to face them directly. But there was Bobby, holding her heart in his gentle hands, subtly showing her parts of herself that she would rather remain blind to. He was exposing her heart, not to hurt, but to help. He was helping her to resolve her feelings about the kidnapping in the same way he helped her to solve Joe's murder. And for that she was grateful to him.

Eames swallowed hard and nodded. Goren broke his gaze, allowing her to look away.

"I'm sorry," he apologized offering her his napkin. Eames shook her head, wiping her tears away gingerly with her index fingers.

"I'm okay. It's PMS." Goren sat back, appalled. "It as a joke," she reassured him, "No reason for your ears to get red."

"What," vocalized Goren.

"Your ears turn red any time I talk about anything that has to do with menstruation." Goren's ears were almost scarlet now.

"They do not," he retorted indignantly. Eames reached into the pocket of her jacket, opened her compact, and turned the mirror Goren's direction. Eames noticed a flicker of a grin play across his lips and disappear as quickly as it had manifested.

"Who had the pastrami on rye," interrupted the waitress. Goren signaled the waitress, moving his cup out of the way. Eames removed her fork from the utensil wrapping in preparation for her salad.

As they ate, Alex's thoughts wandered to her impending date with Mike Logan. She still wasn't entirely certain about how to feel about it. She was elated that she was going out, but at the same time it was difficult for her to get excited about going out with Mike.

She thought he was nice to look at, and he had always been kind to her. Mike seemed to be kind to almost any woman he encountered, though. She knew that he'd had a reputation in the past for being a womanizer, but she had seen nothing to date to indicate that he was still that way.

Alex smiled inwardly as she thought of how smoothly he'd asked her on a date. He was so smooth, in fact, that she was still somewhat unsure of if they were actually going on a date.

"Stop being dumb, Alex," she thought. "Men still find you attractive enough to take you out on dates."

"I had a good time tonight, Mike," Alex professed with a grin. Mike's smile broadened, he had been smiling most of the night.

"I'm glad," Mike said, quickly glancing Alex's direction. The date was better than he could have hoped for. The conversation was light yet interesting. The restaurant's service was impeccable, and the food was excellent. Alex's smile was as radiant now as it had been when he first picked her up at her house. "I had a good time with you."

They were on their way back to Alex's house. Mike had decided not to invite her back to his apartment because he did not want to give her the wrong impression. He wasn't sure if she would invite him in or not, so he planned for not.

He stole another glance at her while they waited at a stoplight. She looked incredible tonight, he thought. She was wearing a playful maroon colored dress that came just below her knees. He wasn't sure what she had done with her hair; all he knew was that it made her look good. Half of it was in some kind of pony-tail looking thing while the other half was down, brushing her neck.

As he pulled into her driveway, he felt a brief wave of nervousness sweep over him. He was not sure how the rest of the night was going to go. Although they were completely comfortable talking to one another, they had not made any physical contact the entire night, except when he helped her put on and take off her coat.

"I'll get that," he said, his hand lightly brushing hers as she reached for the door handle. Mike exited the car, hurried to the passenger's side door, and opened it. Alex gracefully stepped out of the car. He walked Alex to her door, ignoring the butterflies that began to flutter in his stomach.

"Thank you," she said when they reached her front door. Mike smiled down at her. She smiled up at him. He leaned down and kissed her, placing his hand on her back. He pulled away, with his hand still on her back, and smiled.

"Good night," he breathed, running his hand down her arm and squeezing her hand as he walked away.

"Good night," she said, returning the squeeze. He looked at her one more time as she unlocked the door and entered her house.

Alex heaved a heavy sigh as she shut the door behind her. She could hear Mike's car turn over and she saw the flicker of headlights play along her living room wall.

She felt a tinge of excitement as she relived the moment she and Mike just shared. She smiled, bringing her fingers to her lips.