Fic Title: Making New Plans

Author: I Love NASCAR

Fandom: CI

Pairing: Alex/Bobby

Date: February 3 2008

Feedback: please

Disclaimer: The only profit I receive from this story is the feedback you provide. All creative rights to the characters belong to Dick Wolf & co, not me.

Summary: My take on the 2007 season. Spoilers for several episodes. Takes place before my fic 'Untethered'.

Alexandra Eames lay back on the bed in the hospital examining room, remembering the last time she'd been there, after her kidnapping. Bobby had sat with her every night until they released her and then lived at her house for a week after. When she had nightmares, when she hurt, he was there. She remembered the first case she'd worked after coming back, when a cop had put a gun in their faces. He'd done anything and everything he could to get her out of the room, to get her to safety, even to the point of risking his own life for hers. She loved him, had for at least two years, and wasn't about to stop. She trusted him, but she'd lost that trust after his mother died. Out of necessity, she'd tried to gain it back, little by little, until she could work with him again, but this was the first time she knew they were back to where they'd been two years ago.

Robert Goren paced in the hallway, knowing he should call her family, but not knowing what to tell them. Even without closing his eyes, he could still see her collapse, out of nowhere, just pass out. He knew she'd been quiet a lot lately, but he assumed she hadn't forgiven him yet. It wasn't like Alex to say things she didn't mean so he always could judge how angry she was with him by the talking, or lack of, she did. He'd screwed up two months ago, he knew he had. His mother had just died, the man that could possibly be his father had just been executed, but it had been no excuse. He'd always been afraid of becoming like the father he'd known as a boy, a drinker who cheated on his mother every chance he got, but he'd cheated with a blonde he barely knew...and then let Alex catch him at it. He was sure she hadn't forgiven him because he hadn't forgiven himself. It hadn't just killed their relationship outside work, it had almost destroyed their partnership, and taken away what little family he had left.

He watched Alex's doctor walk back into the room and was torn between going in to hear what was wrong with her and staying out, giving her privacy.

"Alex," Angela Goddard addressed her as soon as she came into the room. "Your guard's still outside."

"He's concerned." One thing about Bobby was that when he did remember to pay attention to the people around him, he was a concerned, caring, considerate friend.

Angela nodded. "I ran your blood tests." She paused. "You said you've been sick a lot? Tired?" Alex nodded. "And missed a few cycles?"

"Yeah. I just thought it was stress though." With everything that had been going on with both her and Bobby, it was very possible that it was just stress, although her mind was going to the darker side of possibilities.

"It's not just stress." She saw the look on Alex's face and quickly continued. "Alex, it's good news. You're pregnant."

She didn't have to think twice; she knew who's baby it was. She hadn't dated in years except for Bobby; it had to be his. She was torn, happy about the possibility of having a child she'd wanted for years, not knowing how he would react to the news. The fear of having another miscarriage was always fresh on her mind, but she'd given birth to her nephew and he was perfect.

"Alex." Angela paused until she caught Eames' eyes. "The hormone levels are exactly where they need to be. My guess is that you've been killing yourself on work, like usual, and this is the baby's idea of telling Mom she needs to slow down."

Alex nodded. "I will."

Goren looked up as his partner came out with her doctor. "You okay?"

"I will be," she said cryptically, her head still reeling, thinking there would be time to decide what she wanted to do.

"Do you want...do you want me to come with you?" He wanted to offer to drive her home, but wasn't sure she would appreciate the sentiment. He did not want her to go home to an empty house, afraid of her passing out again.

She handed him the keys, giving him control, a rarity for her, but knowing she couldn't handle everything by herself. He looked at her, surprised and confused, but walked out with her, driving her home.

Alex settled back, allowing Goren to fix her some soup and Sprite after she got sick again when they got home. While he was in the other room, in the other side of the house, she called her sister, not knowing why, but knowing she needed to talk to someone.

Lauren Eames answered the phone on the third ring, the sounds of her son's favorite movie, Shrek, in the background. "Alex?"

"Hey." Alex closed her eyes, listening to the movie, almost able to quote it even over the phone. "How are you doing?"

Lauren knew instinctively what she was referring to and also that it wasn't the only reason for Alex's call, not this time anyway. "We're doing fine. I don't think Johnny really understands."

"Good." Her nephew was too young to worry about anything other than preschool and playing with his friends.

"Alex, what's wrong?" Lauren had a motherly tone in her voice when she talked to her little sister. "Is it Bobby? Are you two fighting again?"

"We don't fight." They just didn't say anything and therefore it was hard to forget things, to let them go. "I'm pregnant."

"That's great, Alley," she used the nickname Alex had as a child. "I'm really happy for you both. I didn't even know you were back..."

"We're not," Alex interrupted. "We're not back together and I'm pregnant and I'm going to have to tell him and he's going to want to stay because he is the father and doesn't think children..."

"Should be raised by a single parent. I agree it's not the ideal situation, but sometimes there's no other way." She thought briefly about kicking her husband out a month before. "You never told me what happened between the two of you."

"I caught him with another woman," Alex confessed. "Blonde, tall, thin..." She'd looked too much like Nicole Wallace to Alex's way of thinking, which might have been the attraction in the first place.

"Bobby?" Lauren sat there in shock, running her hand through her short hair. "No. No way. You must have seen it wrong. There's no way he would cheat on you."

"He did." Alex paused. "It was right after his mom died." She left out the part about his fathers, not talking about that to anyone. "I don't know what it is, Laurie. I've had guys cheat on me before, use me to cheat, it never hurt this badly." It wasn't just the relationship she'd lost, it was her partner, her best friend.

"Did he say anything?" It didn't make sense to her. In recent years, when she'd seen her sister with her partner, they'd seemed so connected. It seemed impossible that Bobby would ever do anything to hurt her.

"He said that people do stupid stuff when they're hurting. He apologized." She paused. "I don't know. Maybe Dad was right."

"He usually is...but I don't think he is about this, Alex." The entire family knew their father disapproved of Alex's relationship with her partner.

"I should have taken that transfer two years ago." She remembered debating it when she'd first felt herself falling in love with her partner, but even then it had been too late.

"You would have been miserable, Alex. The force is more than just a career to you...and you would have missed Bobby." She paused and then just said it. "Honey, when you two were together, that's the happiest I've seen you since Joe."

Alex couldn't deny her sister's words. The relationship hadn't been perfect, not even close, but she had been happy...she'd thought Bobby was too. "So what would you do?"

"I can't answer that." She paused. "The bottom line, Alex, is that it doesn't matter what I would do or what Dad would do or even what Bobby would do. You have to do what's best for you, what's best for the baby. I'd almost promise that it's the same thing for both of you."

Alex nodded, thinking of Bobby making soup when she felt bad, sitting up all night with her when she had a nightmare, and the way he'd caught her and held her when she passed out. "You're right."

"I know." Lauren smiled. "Call me tomorrow...and next time you're off, we'll go baby shopping." Alex smiled as she promised to do so and hung up.

Bobby came in, carrying a tray, looking worried but trying not to show it. "Sprite, no ice, and chicken noodle soup." He put the tray where she could reach it. "You should eat."

She took a few sips of the soup to make him happy. "It's really good. Thank you." She kept the glass of Sprite with her, it seeming to help her more than food.

"You've been sick a lot lately. Tired." He studied her, wanting to see something he hadn't before, something that could tell him his worst fears weren't being repeated. His mind kept seeing his mother at the onset of her cancer; he'd lost her, he couldn't lose Alex.

"I'm pregnant." She didn't know how to tell him so she told him straight-forward, her eyes looking into his, trying to determine what she saw there.

"Lauren?" He asked, thinking of how Alex had been surrogate mother to her nephew nearly five years before.

"No. Me." She paused. "Angela won't know for sure until I go back, but my guess is around twelve or thirteen weeks."

He sat there in silence, his brain going a thousand miles an hour in a hundred different directions, but they all came to the same conclusion. "I'm going to be a dad." He paused, looking at her. As angry as Alex had been, he wouldn't blame her if she pressed the issue and wouldn't let him be a part of the baby's life, but that wasn't the Alex he knew. She wasn't mean, wasn't vindictive, and they had started to heal, somewhat.

She nodded. "You're going to be a dad."

He let out a smile, classic Bobby, and kissed her cheek, knowing how much she wanted a child, being one of the very few people who knew about her miscarriage. "Congratulations."

She laughed for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. "You too."

He grew serious again. "What do you want to do? I want...I want to help. I want to be here. Do you...do you want to get married?"

She smiled. "Excellent proposal, Bobby." She tried to keep the amused look off her face. "But not right now. Not because I'm pregnant." He noticed that she didn't rule the idea of marriage out completely though. "But I do think maybe you should move back home."

He knew what she meant. They had been all but living together before his mother's death, before the night he'd messed everything up, and he'd moved back to his apartment to give her space. "I'd like that." The truth was there was nothing he'd like better.

"Angela said the baby's fine. The hormone levels are exactly where they should be. I just need to slow down a little."

He nodded. "You need to go on restricted duty, like with Johnny."

"Maybe not restricted, not yet anyway, just not late nights, be more careful. I don't think you'll have to get a new partner." She hadn't even thought about Ross yet and, while she knew she'd have to tell him, wondered how he would react and, not for the first time, missed their old captain.

He smiled, looking relieved, thinking about her temporary replacement, the only time they'd been apart in almost eight years. "Good."

Her eyes closed and she opened them again, taking a sip of the Sprite to calm her stomach, looking as tired as she felt. "Why don't you eat some more soup and then get some sleep?"

"Not really hungry." She couldn't deny that she was tired though and he gently took the glass from her, brushing aside some hair as she closed her eyes.

"Do you want to lay down?" He asked, her breathing letting him know that she wasn't asleep, not yet.

"Sitting up's better...not as sick."

He nodded, knowing she couldn't see him, as he tucked her in, taking the soup out of the room, bringing back an empty bowl in case she needed it along with some crackers in case she got hungry in the middle of the night. He lay down on the edge of the bed, away from her, but close enough that he could get to her if he needed, and then watched her sleep.