You Lousy SOB!
Bobby Goren slouched into his apartment, put his keys and badge on the counter near his phone and turned to go into the rest of the house when it hit him. Literally, hit him. Right upside the head.
"You lousy, rotten, selfish son of a bch! How could you make me worry like that? How could you ignore me for all this time then tell me you did it to protect me? I ought to beat the stuffing out of you for that. Damn you, Goren, damn you! And then you tried to tell me in front of the Captain? Have you lost your mind? The least you could do was send me a rose. One single stinking yellow rose so I'd know you were alright. Was that so hard to do?"
Alex Eames had two pillows, one in each hand and she was wailing on him as she pushed him back toward the living room. The blows didn't hurt, but they kept him backing away from her so she wouldn't get hurt while she let him know how much he had hurt her.
Not that Bobby didn't know that, not that he didn't care. He'd tried hard to keep her from having more trouble than ever because of him. He could stand the Chief of D's attitude, the low lifes that he'd encountered. What he couldn't stand was seeing her mad at him and hurting because of him. His legs encountered the back of his sofa and he fell, grabbing her and the pillows and everything as he went down.
She landed on top of him. "How could you do that to me? To us? We're partners, damn it!" she demanded tears in her eyes.
"I'm sorry, Eames. I really am. I figured if I kept you out of it the Chief would let me come back to Major Case and we could still see each other. He would think we aren't more than just partners, that I could do good work on my own and then he wouldn't be looking for anything but a partnership from us. I thought it was the safest way back to you and what I messed up."
"You hurt me, Bobby. Like you've never hurt me before. I thought you were gone for good."
Bobby grinned at her not feeling like grinning at all. "I'm a tough fellow to keep down, Eames. You know that. But there's no way they're going to keep me down. Not when I have the best things in my life to work for. You and my job. Nothing's going to stop me from coming back. I've been talking to Ross all along and he's helped me see what I've been doing and where I've been going wrong with the Chief. This is how we're going to get me back there."
"He's been in on it?"
"The whole time. After Tates, he came here and talked to me almost all night. I didn't want to listen, but I did then I went undercover. He said he'd keep you out of it if he could. I guess he can't keep you in line either."
Alex hit him with a pillow again and he play ducked from it. "You really are going to have to play nice with me, if you want me to keep you around as my partner." She warned.
"Yes, Alex." He said meekly.
She gave him a suspicious look and climbed off the mountain of man and pillows. "I wanted to smack you right there in the cell for holding back on me but with Ross right there…."
"He can be a bit of a pain, can't he?" Bobby quipped relaxing and sitting up. "Alex, please say you're not mad at me any more? I want to be able to come back and work as your partner again, but I won't….i-if you don't want me to."
"Are you serious? After all you put me through don't expect to get off that lightly, buster. First thing Monday morning, I want you at your desk and I expect a big coffee every morning for a month for starters. You got me?"
"I got you. Thank-Thank you."
"For what?" Alex huffed.
"For looking out for me, for worrying about me, for being my partner, for….everything. I'm one lucky man and I know that."
"Damned right you are. I'll see you Monday, Goren. And keep that beard off. You look like a mountain man with it on."
"Yes, ma'am." Bobby said cheekily.
Alex glared at him for a minute, threw both pillows at him and marched back outside. Once out of his sight she leaned against the wall and caught her breath. He was back and he was okay. And she aimed to keep it that way.
Bobby kept both pillows against his chest and stomach where they'd landed and blinked back the tears of relief and joy. He still had his job, he still had a chance and he still had the best partner he'd ever had. He really was one lucky SOB and he knew it.
COMPLETE