A/N: I remember reading a story about the Yankee Stadium being torn down and Alex wanted to go to their last game but found out the tickets were sold out. I feel terrible that I can't remember the author, but I loved the story. So...this was inspired by that. Just something random, nothing exciting. Please review, even if you hate it.
"Really? Could this day get any worse?" Alex huffed as she fell back onto the bed in their hotel room.
"Don't say that. Because it probably could. At least we got a hotel room. "
Alex sat up on the bed and watched as Bobby brought their luggage in from the hallway of their hotel. The day started off to a good start. They had flown to California to help assist in a murder in which the suspect was also thought to have murdered three others in New York. They had arrested the man on all counts of murder. After filling in their captain, they were put on the first flight to New York which turned out to be a flight that had a layover in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NYPD would do whatever was necessary in order to save a few bucks.
Their plane from LA was delayed because Traffic Control was having difficulties getting all the planes coming in landed, and the one's which needed to take off in the air. They had gotten a bit backed up and they sat on the runway for a little over an hour. Because of the delay, their flight to New York was already up in the air, 500 miles away from the airport, when they landed. To say Bobby and Alex were frustrated would be an understatement, and judging by the groans and glares the flight attendants were getting from the other passengers who were supposed to be on the same flight, they weren't happy either.
Because their luck seemed to be working in that direction, it turned out that was the last flight to New York for the day. Because Alex didn't feel like sleeping on either the hard chairs of the airport, or their equally hard floor in which millions of people walked on daily, they went into downtown Minneapolis to try to find a hotel. Because the Twins were playing in town that weekend, and there was a convention for Physical Therapists, many of the hotels they tried were booked. They finally found on in downtown St. Paul that had just one room left with two queen beds. Without hesitation, Alex put her credit card on the counter, "We'll take it".
Now they were in their hotel room, trying to keep themselves busy for the next five hours before it was time for them to go to bed.
"We could go catch a movie." Bobby suggested. He shifted his body towards Alex who was lying on her stomach on the bed.
"There really isn't anything good out."
Bobby found the remote sitting on the table where he was sitting and flipped the TV on before he continued thinking.
"What about a show? I think I saw Cirque Du Soleil's tents."
Alex sat up at his latest suggestion, crossing her legs underneath her. "You know, I've always wanted to go to that. How much are the tickets?"
"I think they're around $150 dollars."
Alex's shoulders slumped and she fell back onto the bed sighing. "I don't have $150 dollars. Hell, I don't have five dollars."
Bobby let a small smile form on his face as he turned back to the TV. They were watching the 5 o'clock news, and during commercials, he saw one for the Minnesota Twins.
"We could go to a baseball game." Bobby suggested, nodding toward the TV screen. "Actually, now that I think about it, I think they're playing the Yankee's tonight."
"Really? Let's go. I haven't been to a game all season."
"Me neither. I have...a friend, who uh, lives in Rochester. He's got season tickets...right above the Twins' dugout. I could give him a call -"
Alex flew off the bed so fast, it startled Bobby. "Yes. Please, give him a call. I would love to sit right above the dugout and not have to resort to the cheap seats in the nosebleeds."
Bobby let out a soft chuckle. "I can't promise anything, Eames. The...Yankee's games are a...big deal for a lot of teams."
She waved him off. "Just mention that we're two stranded NYPD Detective's stuck in Minneapolis tonight in need of something to do."
"Guilt him into it. Good idea, Eames."
"I wouldn't call it that. I'd say it's more...you pushing him towards a 'yes'."
Shaking his head, Bobby pulled out his cell phone to call his friend.
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Half an hour later, Bobby and Alex were on the monorail which would take them to the Twins Metrodome. Bobby was able to convince his friend to let him have the seats for the night, after a lot of groveling.
"Bobby, it's the Yankee's you're talking about. It's not as if it's Cleveland!"
"I know, Tim. But my partner and I, we're stranded in Minneapolis for the night..and you know we're from New York. Eames loves the Yankee's and hasn't made it to a game all season..."
"All right, all right. But you owe me big. You're lucky it's only the first of three games. The Yankee's are going to murder us anyways."
Bobby laughed at that. "Well the Yankee's players are the most paid in Major League Baseball."
"Yeah, yeah. That's why you guys always win. Anyways, I have to get going. But just remember that you're going to be sitting around my second family, a lot of them are season tickets holders too. They're hardcore Twins fans."
"Yeah, I know Tim. No Yankee's cheers, I'll let Eames know."
"I'm serious Bobby. Their hatred of the Yankee's is no laughing matter. Just remember you're in Twins Territory."
So after giving Alex all the ground rules, 'No A-Rod cheers, No Jeter cheers, No Twins suck cheers, No Yankee's cheers,' he gave her her ticket. Row 2, seats 5 and 6, right above the Twins' dugout. He convinced her to take off her Yankee's shirt she had and put on a regular T-Shirt, but wasn't able to get her to take the hat off.
"Why do you have a Yankee's hat, and a Yankee's shirt with you anyways?"
She adjusted the hat on her head, and looked up at him. "Well I brought the shirt because I usually wear it to bed. And now that I think about it, I did wear it one of the nights we were in LA..."
Bobby shook his head, smiling. "I guess it's a good thing I convinced you to take the shirt off."
He glanced down at her again, and a huge grin broke out across his face. She looked up at his with her brows furrowed, confused.
"What?"
He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. He kissed the top of her head before, "You look pretty cute in that hat."
She looked in the windows of the monorail and was able to catch her reflection. She adjusted her hair, and hat and smiled.
"I do look pretty cute don't I?" She turned back to him and gave him a small tender kiss.
Just as they broke apart, the door to the monorail opened and they got out. They had a few blocks to walk to the Metrodome, but they didn't mind. All around them there were Twins fans. They seen shirts with all players on them ranging from 'Mauer' to 'Morneau' and 'Cuddyer'.
Bobby tugged on Alex's hand as they walked and he pulled her close to whisper in her ear.
"Is it bad that I don't know any of their players?"
"Don't worry. I'm not too familiar with them either." She leaned back away from him, and settled into a comfortable pace with him. "I do know Joe Mauer though. He's a very good player."
"Joe Mauer..he's...?"
"The catcher." Alex finished for him. "He's a good batter. His average is like .4 something."
"And you know all this...how?"
Alex blushed a little and gave him a small shove. "I may have a small crush..."
"On a Twins player?" Bobby was laughing now.
"Hey, they aren't too terrible."
"When was the last time they won a World Series?"
Alex paused a moment, thinking. "I have no idea. I don't pay that much attention to them to know that."
"Just Joe Mauer?" Bobby teased and Alex rolled her eyes.
"I never should have brought it up."
As they neared the tickets window, they skipped past it to the Metrodome doors. They gave their tickets to the man who smiled, and handed them back. They found their seats with relative ease, being the Metrodome was pretty small and one large circle. They went and sat down next to another couple who was about their age and gave them appreciative smiles.
"Where's Tim and Angie?" The woman who was sitting next to Alex asked. She had a Twins Jersey on for their catcher Joe Mauer and her husband had one on as well for another player, 'Joe Nathan'. She had blonde hair that was starting to grow darker that just touched her shoulders. The diamond on her ring finger shone in Alex's eyes and she marveled at how large the diamond was.
Bobby leaned over Alex to talk to the couple. "They lent us their tickets for the night."
She nodded and put her hand forward. "I'm Susan, and this is my husband Ryan." She leaned back so her husband could offer his hand before she leaned forward again, cutting him off. "I take it you are Yankee's fans?"
Alex watched her point towards her hat. "Yeah. We're actually from New York."
"Really?" She pushed herself forward just a tad more in her seat, eager at where the conversation was going. "I've never been there. Always wanted to go of course."
"It's beautiful. I would urge you to visit sometime." Bobby said.
"When in New York are you from?"
"Well I'm from Brooklyn and Alex here is from Queens. But we live in Rockaway now."
"The city?" She asked.
"A little outside of it, but yes."
She nodded her head. "I'm sorry, I don't think I caught your names."
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I'm Bobby Goren, and this is Alex Eames."
From up above, they heard a voice yell to them. "Yankee's suck!"
"There it starts," Bobby laughed, looking at Alex.
"You'll probably get a lot of that, sorry guys." She pointed to Alex's hat for the second time. "You're apparel doesn't help much. You're in Twins Territory."
Alex leaned back in her chair, and muttered, "So I've heard."
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They sat there for twenty more minutes before the national anthem was sang and the ceremonial first pitch was thrown. Well, there was actually about three ceremonial first pitches, but after the last one the game finally started. It started out pretty slow with the Yankee's up to bat first. Derek Jeter hit a pop fly out into center field where Carlos Gomez caught it with ease. After, Damon hit a grounder to first and was also ruled out. Mark Teixeira was up to bat next and he hit a grounder past the short stop Nick Punto and successfully made it to first. Alex Rodriguez was the final batter after he hit a pop fly to right center field where the fielder Michael Cuddyer caught it.
"Well that was a terrible inning." Bobby commented after Denard Span got a hit to first, and Joe Mauer got him to second. With Mauer and Span on first and second, Justin Morneau took the plate and hit a home run to send them all home.
"It's still early in the game." Susan said from beside Alex. "Even if the Twins get seven more runs next inning, they'll find a way to screw things up. They always do."
Alex laughed at this, before she leaned in closer to Bobby. "You see the guy playing third base?"
Bobby looked at the 3rd basemen, Brendan Harris. "Yeah, what about him?"
"My brother, Steve, he went to school wit him. Played baseball with him."
"You're kidding, right?" Bobby leaned back to get a better look at Alex.
"Nope. He grew up in Queens."
"You're brother went to school with a Major League Baseball player?" He was surprised to learn this.
"Yeah. I doubt he'd remember my brother though."
"Wait," Susan entered the conversation and leaned forward to see around Alex. "What about your brother?"
Alex pointed at Harris standing next to third base. "Brendan Harris. My brother played baseball with him in high school."
Susan squealed. "No way!" She turned to her husband and shook him. Rolling his eyes, he turned to her.
"What? I'm trying to watch the game."
"Alex, her brother went to school with Brendan Harris."
"Good for him." He turned back to the game without another word.
She waved her husband off, frustrated with his lack of interest. "He's a new player. But he's actually pretty good. He plays every so often. It's between him and Crede. They switch off every now and then."
The game continued on and by the seventh inning stretch, the score was ten to three, with the Yankee's up. Alex and Bobby were cheering of course every time the Yankee's would score and they were receive glares from everyone around them. Except Susan. Ryan was getting frustrated with them as well. Bobby could tell because whenever Alex stood up to cheer, he would glare at her out of the corner of his eye and put his head in his hands. They stood up for the seventh inning stretch and sang along to 'Take Me Out To The Ballgame'.
"Do you want to leave early to beat the traffic?" Bobby asked. The score was ten to three, and he didn't think the Twins would be making a remarkable comeback.
"Bobby, we took the monorail, remember?" She teased, leaning in and putting her arm around his waist.
"I know that. I mean the people...traffic."
She raised and eyebrow and laughed. "People traffic huh? Sure...how about after this inning is over?"
It was the middle of the seventh inning, still the seventh inning stretch. Alex looked up at the screen on the side of the dome and saw what they called the 'Kiss Cam'. The camera would go on a couple, and the couple would share a kiss. There was a circle in which the couple would appear with pink and red flowers and hearts around them. Alex chuckled when some of the people would lean away from the camera when they didn't want to kiss the person. Or when they'd be watching and it would take a few seconds for it to register in their brains that it was them on the screen.
The same thing happened to Alex when she noticed that her and Bobby had appeared on the screen. She looked at it for a few seconds before she hit Bobby on the arm and he turned towards her to question her actions when she put her hands on his cheeks and pulled him in for a deep kiss. She was laughing in the kiss and could hear the crowd cheering them on. She pulled her hat off and put it in front of them to jokingly give them some privacy. When he pulled away, she looked up at the screen to see them for a second and then it went and switched to another couple who were still laughing at Bobby and Alex.
"What was that?" Bobby asked.
Alex pointed to the screen. "We were on the 'Kiss Cam'!"
Bobby looked towards the screen and watched with amusement as the couples would kiss. There was one where a woman kissed the man sitting next to her, and then the camera shifted to the right capturing her and other man who she leaned towards and also gave a nice kiss on the lips. He shook his head and laughed at them.
Alex leaned across him to see the woman sitting next to Bobby. "You better not think about doing that."
Bobby leaned back and put his arm around Alex. "Of course not. Only you."
She nodded her head and gave him a kiss. The rest of the inning was quick as the Twins were up to bat. Michael Cuddyer, Brendan Harris, and Nick Punto all hit three pop flys up into the air for three easy outs for the Yankee's. As the Twins ran out onto the field, and Derek Jeter got ready to hit, Alex and Bobby started packing up their things.
"It was great meeting you." Alex said, turning towards Susan and her husband who was pretending to be interested in something to the right of him.
'It was great meeting you too," Susan stood up and brought Alex in for a hug. "What do you say we meet at The Local after the game's over? They have the best Irish Whiskey around."
Ryans head snapped toward the couple and he looked like he was about to protest before he shook his head and returned to the game.
Alex turned to Bobby for his opinion and when he only shrugged his shoulders, she turned back to Susan agreed. "That sounds great. We're gonna get a head start since it will probably take us longer to find it than for you guys to get there."
Susan laughed a little and wrote her number down on a spare napkin. "Here's my number. Give me a call when you guys get there and I'll let you know where we are."
Alex and Bobby stood up and Alex took the napkin out of Susan's hand and placed it in her back pocket. "Alright, we will."
The began walking away from their seats with Bobby ahead of Alex leading the way up the stairs, holding her hand. Just as they reached the top of the stairs to leave, they hard Susan's voice call back to them.
"Be careful on your way! The way the game is going right now, I would suggest taking off that hat Alex."
They heard a few people above them booing them and some agreeing with what Susan was saying. A Twins fan walked by them muttering 'Damn Yankee's' and Bobby and Alex sighed and laughed at the situation they were in. They were going to get their asses kicked because of their choice of team.
Alex and Bobby waved to Susan, yelling 'Bye' and promising to call her once they reached the bar. Before they left, Susan had one last thing to say to them.
"Remember guys, you're -"
Instead of finishing her sentence, Bobby and Alex cut her off.
"In Twins Territory. We know..."
