Title: Red Threads
Author: Scribere Est Agere
Pairing: Goren/Eames
Spoilers: Everything
Rating: M
Disclaimer: These characters do not belong to me.
Summary: We have to stop meeting like this. A few clichés, and a few more.
/
Chinese folklore says there is an invisible red thread connecting those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break.
/
"I don't believe this," she says over the rim of her second drink. She says it quietly to herself, but her sister — head bent over the menu and back to the entrance — hears.
"What?" Liz glances up and sees Alex's expression. She twists around, follows her line of vision and smirks. It's a family trait. "Is that who I think it is?"
Alex just continues to stare. Liz shakes her head.
"Well, well. Look what the wind blew in."
The restaurant is busy and noisy and full of happy strangers and Alex is just starting to relax for the first time in weeks. Two Margaritas with plans for a third and nowhere to go but home to bed afterward. Alone. Nowhere to be tomorrow, either. Three Margaritas and dinner with her sister with no talk or thought about work and then he walks in.
Liz cranes her neck again.
"Stop that," Alex hisses.
"What? I haven't seen him in, like, two years."
Alex slides down a bit in her seat but doesn't look away. Liz is almost completely turned around in her chair.
"Wow. He looks—" She bites her lip.
"What?" Alex snaps in spite of herself, desperate for an impartial opinion of Bobby. Liz shrugs.
"Tired. He looks tired."
Alex closes her eyes. Tired. She shrugs, one shoulder.
"He's been through a lot recently. His mom, his brother, work stuff. I mean, he's pretty intense and he doesn't sleep well or eat right and…" God, listen to me. She forces herself to stop.
Liz just looks at her.
Four Margaritas and maybe dancing afterward if she can talk Liz into it and maybe a handsome stranger and nowhere to be tomorrow and goddammit he walks in.
And he's not alone.
"Who the hell is that?" Liz's eyebrows arch.
"Will you turn around, please?" Alex gulps the rest of her drink, glass clinking against her teeth, salt rubbing the inside of her lips. She shakes her head. Who, indeed. A woman. A woman with long, dark hair and wide, dark eyes. And lips. Red lips. Bobby has his hand resting lightly on her back.
"She's gorgeous."
Alex says nothing to this, because really, what can she say?
They're waiting to be seated and Alex has a sudden impulse to hide under the table. But she also doesn't want to let them out of her sight.
"Well." Liz finally turns back and settles herself. "Small world, huh? What are you having?"
Alex watches them walk to the other side of the room. Bobby pulls out her chair. When they're both sitting all she can see are glimpses of his head above the other patrons. She wonders what they're talking about, what they'll be doing after, if he'll take her back to his apartment or out somewhere, if he'll kiss her—
"Alex."
She starts. Liz is staring at her. "Didn't you just see him yesterday?" Her voice is teasing but her eyes are not. Alex glares. Then she shrugs as casually as possible.
"I'm just wondering who she is. She looks … familiar."
Liz snorts. "Yeah. She looks like every guy's fantasy. What are you having?"
Alex suddenly feels like crying. She fumbles with her purse, her napkin, the hem of her skirt.
"Well. This is certainly an interesting situation." She can feel her sister's cool, calculating gaze on her and Liz's voice has the same superior tone she used when they were teenagers and she knew she was right about something and it's just as fucking annoying to hear it now.
"There's nothing remotely interesting about this situation."
Liz leans forward. Alex looks up.
"Have you two been…involved?"
Alex laughs. Involved. Good god. If she only knew.
"I mean sexually."
"I know what you mean, and no."
"Do you want to be?"
"What?" She tries to look appropriately shocked and disapproving. "No!"
"All right, then get over it! Let's order already."
"I don't want food. I just want to go!" The words are out of her mouth before she can censor them, but once they're spoken she knows they're true. She can't sit here. She just cannot. She catches another glimpse of his head and her heart lurches.
"Jesus, Alex. And you tell me there's nothing going on between you two."
"There isn't. I just don't want to stay—"
"All right! All right."
"I'm just going to the bathroom and then let's get out of here, okay?"
"Fine! Fine. I'll take care of the bill."
She jumps up and realizes she's not steady, not at all, not with two Margaritas and no food and bad nerves to boot and god, she grips the edge of the table, steadies herself and totters away. Liz can only shake her head.
Once in the confines of the cool cavernous bathroom she forces herself to calm down, to breathe from the diaphragm, to attempt to sort out exactly what the fuck is going on. Bobby's on a date. Yes. Fine. Whatever. So? Who cares? As she studies her reflection, pale and drawn, she realizes with a sudden rush of insight and crystal clarity that she does. She cares.
She cares and because she cares and because she can't care she needs to leave. Now. If only she wasn't so dizzy.
She walks out of the bathroom and right into Bobby's chest. Red, she thinks. He's wearing a red tie. She doesn't think she's ever seen him wear a red tie in her life.
"Sorry—"
"Excuse me—"
"Eames?"
"Shit," she mutters.
"Eames!" His hand is under her elbow and her elbow is on fire.
"It's me," she says brightly, smiling, attempting to maneuver past his considerable form. The hallway is too narrow for comfort and he's not moving an inch and he's not letting go. He just stands there staring down at her like he's encountered his very own ghost. She puts a hand flat on the wall, tries to stand still.
"What are you doing here?" He's still holding her elbow. Still on fire.
"Uh…I'm here with Liz. My sister. Dinner." She sways a little. He's still not moving. Or is he? It's hard to tell. "You?"
"Uh…" She can't really read the expression on his face but he's still watching her intently and when she sways again he frowns. "Are you all right?"
"Fine. I'm good. We were just leaving, actually. Liz is paying and then we're leaving, so I should go, and I'll let you get back to your date—"
"Alex—"
"Seriously. I need to go, because my sister is really impatient and we have plans, so—"
He moves his hand finally, from her elbow down to her hand and tucks her arm under his arm and she gives in and leans against him heavily and he walks her back to her table. Liz is standing there, arms crossed, foot tapping, and when she sees the two of them she laughs, then quickly stifles it.
"Hey, Bobby," she says. "How are you? You know, I thought I saw you come in. Alex swore it wasn't you, but here you are."
"Hi, Liz. I'm good, thanks. How are you?"
"Great. Just catching up with Alex. She's always so busy with work, you know? I have to drag her out once in awhile. But, you're not here alone, are you?"
Bobby tenses. She can feel his hand tighten around hers, his thumb pressing against the pulse point in her wrist and she closes her eyes briefly. Spinning. Not good.
"No. An old friend, actually. Catching up as well."
"Right. Good."
They stand there, the three of them, staring at one another.
He leans down then, way down, puts his mouth very close to her ear so she can almost feel his lips there and he murmurs, "I'll talk to you later."
Then Liz takes her arm and waves airily to Bobby and pulls her away.
"Where are we going?" Alex asks as they drive.
"I'm taking you home, you lush. And next time I'm picking the restaurant."
"You think I planned that?"
Even in the dark Alex can see too much, can see her sister's face: exasperated, amused, concerned.
"I don't know what to think about you two."
/
He calls, of course, because he said he would. Not that she was waiting or anything.
"How are you?" he asks.
"How was the date?" she asks.
"It wasn't exactly a date—"
"If it walks like a duck—"
"Why did you go there tonight?" he says quietly.
She puts her hand across her eyes and tries to think.
"I don't know. We just…did. Why?"
"I felt weird when I walked in."
"Weird."
He laughs.
"And when I saw you there, in the hallway, when I realized it was you—"
He pauses.
"What?"
"Don't you think it's…odd that we both ended up there?"
"Coincidence."
"You think? I don't know if I believe in coincidence."
Alex laughs. "Then what?"
He's quiet for so long she thinks he may have fallen asleep.
"Have I ever told you the story about the red thread?"
She shifts on the bed and smiles in the dark.
"No."
"Remind me to, one day."
/