I do not write angst! I hate angst! I never write angst!

That said, this plot bunny was hopping around in my head and it made me write this.

Misleading

By LMR

Summary: Goren is thrown upon finding Eames has been misleading about her family history. "Angst" Not cannon with anything else I've written. BA 'ship

xXx

Seeing a dead body sucked. That was more than enough misery for one day as far as Shelly Wu was concerned, so she wasn't thrilled when two detectives showed up at her door.

"Come in, I guess. I'm sorry the place is such a mess. I've been dep... well, um, sick." Miss Wu looked at the floor, clearly wishing she hadn't said that. "Do you want some water or something? That's pretty much all I have right n... um."

"Water's perfect," Goren said quickly, obviously trying to make her feel like a better hostess. He looked at Eames expectantly.

"Nothing for me, thanks."

"I don't know how I can help. I saw the body. I called 911. I don't know who it was, and I've already told the officers everything I know, which is nothing." She sighed. "Look, I'm really having a tough time getting all my stuff together so could you please... I don't like having people with my home in this state." There was a look of shame on her face, and she seemed to be debating how much she could tell them.

"It's okay, we don't. It's the depression, isn't it?"

She took in a shuddering breath.

"The Prozac," he noted, gesturing to an orange prescription bottle, picking it up lazily.

She recoiled visibly. "I prefer to call it by it's technical name. People get the wrong idea when you say the P-word. They think you're weak or pathetic or something." She looked down at the tile, turning red.

"Okay, fluoxitine then," he conceded, clearly startling the girl. "And Abilify. You have unipolar depression?" He was doing that thing now that Eames called the "I'm not threatening, really! back lean," eyebrows raised in friendly curiousity.

"Yes, I do," Wu said, snatching the orange bottle back and looking at Goren with some trepidation, clearly wondering how the heck he knew that.

She looked between the two, clearly worried about their perceptions. Eames imagined that being made as mentally ill by the police might seem a little frightening. She gestured openly. "No judgement from us."

Wu snatched the pills sharply out of Goren's hand. "That's what everyone says... at first." Her eyes still seemed gaurded and they could see that she needed convincing.

Goren looked up at her from the pills on the table. "I do understand," he said finally. "My mother, well, she takes L Dopa; Thorazine. She has schizophrenia." He gestured gently moving the back of his hand toward her.

The relief was evident on the woman's face. "You do understand then." She looked at Eames skeptically, mistrusting.

I'm going to have to say something. How on earth can I say this without giving too much away? she wondered. An idea occured to her, and she steeled herself up. Bobby is going to have a fit"It's in my family, too," she conceded finally. Bobby looked at her quizically, but didn't say anything, instead taking another sip of water, glad to have something physical to do to distract him. She glanced at him, wondering just how bad this was going to be. She kept her head down, eyes firmly fixed on Wu and away from Bobby. Looking at him right now would only make it harder, and she knew her partner was likely to have a... an undesirable reaction, let's say, she figured ruefully.

"My brother-in-law's..." she looked at the ceiling, thinking. "Mother," she finished. "Has a mental illness."

Goren nearly choked on his water. What the hell did she just say?! He would have to force himself to regain his composure for the rest of their talk with Wu. It's wasn't going to be easy. She had to throw it out there like that

"I can understand why you don't want to talk about it," she implored. "I don't like talking about her with strangers. Sometimes it's hard to talk about even with friends." She glanced at Bobby. His face remained unreadable. "So we both really can empathize with that."

Through the whole interview, Eames kept stealing glances at her partner, hoping he wasn't going to loose it. I really shouldn't have said that. Not that way.

xXx

Standing outside the car door, Goren tried hard to keep his expression neutral. "You never told me your 'brother-in-law's mother' had a disorder." She could hear the quotation marks.

"Didn't I ever mention that?" she said flippantly as she opened the door and slid inside. He followed.

Now he was rubbing his temples with his hand. "Just... the way you threw it out there. I just wasn't expecting that."

"I could tell," she said, her voice still flat. "You nearly lost it right there."

He made a growling noise, exhasperated. "Well, the way you said that... I mean, yeah it's tec- It was just- Give me some warning before you pull something like that."

"Okay, so I was a little... misleading, I admit, but I never lied," she insisted, buckling up. "It's not my fault you're so quick to crack-"

"Umph," he grumbled in response, surly.

"Well, it's true, okay?" she said with finality and a note of defensiveness. "So stop groucing," she added, growing weary of his fussing.

A few seconds passed and she bit her lip, frowning down at the steering wheel, thinking. "Do we have any more witnesses to talk to today?"

"No, just paperwork at the station." Knowing what she was getting at, he fumbled around inside his jacket, pulling out a small leather pouch from the hide-away pocket of his suit. He ran his finger through the pouch, swiped out one of the small objects inside.

"Good, I hate not wearing them." She examined her partner's serious, somewhat annoyed face. "Oh, stop that. I told the truth, didn't I?"

Goren shook his head. "If you say so."

"What, I thought you liked word games? And, anyway, you're allowed to laugh now." She jostled his leg a little and coaxed a smile from him before slipping the smaller of the two bands back onto her finger and starting the car.

xXx

How many times does a girl have to tell you? I never do angst!