Dick Wolf owns and profits from these characters - not me.

It's a rainy Friday and Bobby Goren leaves work early for once - what could go wrong?

Pre-Untethered fluff.

A Rainy Friday

--Knock, knock, knock--

Bobby Goren stared forlornly at the heavy wooden door steadfastly mocking him. He wonder whether the doctor or lawyer who owned the gigantic house in this grossly upscale neighborhoods ever had time in his busy schedule to actually set foot in it.

--Knock, knock, knock--

Still no answer. He swore he had seen a light on in this house, unlike the four others he'd tried since a flat tire had left him stranded at dusk on the side of a suburban highway without a spare, in the pouring rain.

Correction, hailstorm. Bobby ducked under the eave of the house, cursing as he rubbed at the top of his head. The hailstone that had just hit him was roughly the size of a marble, it was still sending shooting pains down to the base of his skull. Looking out to the street, he could see the icy pellets bouncing off the pavement. He let out a massive sigh and leaned his back against the sturdy door. It was obvious no one was home, otherwise they would take issue with his nonchalant use of their entryway.

Bobby sneezed and pulled his NYPD-issued cell phone from his pocket to try calling Eames again. Flipping it open, he saw the error message he'd been getting all day and wondered what cosmic power was playing a practical joke on him. 'Unable to connect call. Please upgrade tower-interface software.' Why the hell would the NYPD provide their detective with phones that had outdated software?

As he powered off the phone and popped out the battery, hoping a soft reset would do some good, a devious smile crept across Bobby's face. He popped the battery back into the phone and powered it up, his cold and aching body hoping against hope that it would work this time, and his sense of self-preservation hoping it wouldn't.

Eames was going to be furious. She had been hounding him all day to go home early for a change, since they'd wrapped up their case yesterday and it was after all a Friday. He'd finally conceded after lunch, and he really had intended to go home. Right up to the point that the berserk Evel Knievel wannabe nearly took off his front bumper while going at least fifteen over the speed limit, right in front of a squad car no less, and the cop inside the cruiser letting it slide. His sense of justice outraged, he followed the kid on the motorcycle to his destination, which happened to be a mini-mart clear on the other side of town.

He entered the store after the kid, intending to tell him off, flash his badge and scare him a little. As usual, things didn't go according to plan and the next thing Bobby knew he was back in his car, chasing down the sticky-fingered, Evel Knievel biker who had ripped off several dollars worth of beef jerky, potato chips, and beer from the store after slugging the clerk in the face for trying to stop him.

The car chase turned into a foot race when Evel ran out of gas on the highway. Bobby pursued him through the wooded area that fringed the ritzy Shady Pines community. Unfortunately, Evel was almost as fast a runner as he was a driver and by the time Bobby caught up with him - the kid slipped on a patch of pine needles - he had dropped his personal cell phone and sported a scraped knee and ripped out pant leg from his own encounter with the slippery underbrush.

Bobby's only bit of luck occurred when a cop drove by just as he pulled the wannabe-Knievel back onto the main road, saving the detective from a two-mile struggle back to his car with the long-haired, complaining teenager. Handing off the juvenile delinquent to the cop, Bobby slowly trekked back to his car in the rain, only to discover his flat tire and missing phone. The rest was history.

Now he hit the 'send' key on his remaining phone, and his eyes widened when it actually began ringing. He let out a sigh of relief when Eames picked up on the third ring.

"Goren, what's wrong?" his partner's voice questioned.

"What makes you think anything's wrong? Isn't is possible I just want ... Ah hell, forget it... it's just…well…I could use a ride. I've got a flat tire and no spare."

"How can you not have a spare tire?" Goren was prepared for everything, why not this?

"That's a story for another time... a drier time. Can you just..."

"I thought you were going home," she said flatly.

Great. Now she's suspicious. How to best say this? With as little information as possible, that's how. "I was, and then I got a flat tire," he replied, clearing his throat.

"Bobby, you left here two and a half hours ago. What's really going on? You sound terrible."

"Well, I may have gotten a little sidetracked on my way home, but that's beside the point. I really do have a flat tire and no spare. And it's raining." He was tired, cold and exasperated, and hoped the phone connection was able to camouflage the whine he heard in his voice.

Eames heard him sneeze and could sense his frustration and discomfort over the phone. She rolled her eyes, deciding to give him a break... for now. "Where are you?" Eames quickly scratched down the address and then told him to stay put when she found out how far away from his car he was.

"Not that it makes any difference, I'm already soaked." Bobby looked down at his clothes plastered to his body as he wiped rivulets of water from his face.

"Well, then go ahead and walk back to your car, I don't care. You could use the exercise anyway."

"Hey, you know, when you speak into the phone like that I can hear you... and that wasn't very nice Eames, and not very funny Eames."

"You were meant to hear it, Bobby. But for once though, can't we just do things my way. I'll pick you up where you are right now." Eames sighed in frustration. "Oh, and then we can stop off for dinner somewhere... which you're paying for, by the way."

Not unless you're in a better mood by the time you get here. "Fine, sure, whatever. See you when you get here," There was a pause as Bobby sneezed again, "and Eames, please hurry."

Alex hung up her phone and slid into her jacket. She was just locking up her desk when Captain Ross passed her, also on his way out.

"Calling it a night, detective?"

"Yes, you too?"

"Yep, I have the boys this weekend. How 'bout you? Any exciting plans for the weekend?"

"Other than rescuing my partner, nope."

Ross groaned as he stopped in his tracks, "Do I want to know about this?"

Eames smirked as she shook her head. "Nothing for you to worry about, Captain. At least not this time. But you never know about Goren..."

"That's what scares me." Ross said as he shook his head.