It had been months. Bobby no longer wanted to work, or think. Unraveling the mystery of being framed by his own mentor was even a hard one for him to wrap his head around. After all these years on the job, being isolated and ostracized as a "nut-job", bound by his unrequited nearly undetectable obsession with Eames, and journey after journey through the most sick and deranged minds, Bobby Goren wanted to rest.

He was lifting out of a depression now, feeling better than he had in months, but knowing himself fully, he knew he was not 100%. He had started eating again, after he watched his weight drop to under 200 lbs, a size he hadn't been since he first joined the force. Something about "Nicole's" heart in a box, made it difficult to eat.

He had gotten some dogs from the shelter, to keep him company, after several weeks at home in the dark, he felt a burst of energy and rushed out to buy the dogs, convinced he could make a mock-family of sorts. He purchased 3 black German shepherds that he decided not to name. Something about their natures and their appearance appealed to Goren. Since the few months he had the animals, they each established a special connection with Bobby, and during the darkest times of his depression, when he found himself on the bathroom floor, with a razor to his wrists, he heard the dogs bark and make such a commotion he dropped the blade to go check on them. It was then he realized he still had the capability to care about something.

Today he was thin and drawn, dusted with black and gray stubble, connecting to the salt and pepper waves on his head. He pulled on his heavy black coat and headed out the door to meet Eames. He received the email from her earlier in the week and agreed to meet with her for coffee, this afternoon. He knew she was concerned. Goren admitted in his mind, he had been obsessively trying to imagine her new partner...her new life. He missed her, and since he had been feeling better than he had in a long time, he decided to meet with her.

He walked into the cafe, small but warm and spotted her immediately, she was always early. Eames sat looking out the window, steaming coffee in hand. He walked up to her table.

"Is this seat taken?"

Eames didn't see him at first, but then her eyes took the long way up and he took her breath away. He looked nothing like she had expected, his months of depression worn on his slimmer frame, his eyes distant and a bit sad, but glinting now at the sight of Eames. She tried to hide all of this.

"Bobby!" She chirped excitedly.

Goren took his seat, and leaned on the table, unable to wipe the first genuine smile in months off of his face.

"How are you?" he lowered his voice into that ember tone, that he used especially for Eames.

"Good." She lied, nodding her head slowly.

"Good." he repeated, unable to formulate a longer response because he was taking in the sight of her face all over again, like it was the first time.

Eames noticed his detailed eye on her, she had so much to say to him, but the words sat on the tip of her tongue, where they always stayed.

"I missed you."

The words came out his mouth, though they were supposed to stay in his brain. Too late. He wasn't even sure he really said it, until he saw Eames eyes unable to meet his and her face flush. She kept her lips pursed.

Now, he wanted to leave. Wished he had never came. His emotions welled up, and he pushed them down, but her silence was the deafening catalyst for his emotional swell. He felt stupid and her response was so...."Eames"...typically unintentionally rude. But then she saved him, in that moment, just as his emotions were about to drive him out of his seat and out the door.

"I missed you."

She said it back. A crack in the wall that dammed up her emotions.

Now, Goren was the one with nothing to say. The waitress saved them both, finally coming up to the small table to take Bobby's order.

"Anything I can get you, sir?" The slender red-head asked.

"Um, just a black coffee, with two sugars-please-oh and do you have any of those little dog bagels?"

"We do." The waitress smiled.

"Ok. and three of those, thank you."

Eames cut in, "Big lunch Bobby, I knew times must've been hard, but eating dog food now? sheesh!" she joked.

"No, no," he laughed, the first real laugh in months, "It's a treat for my dogs."

"You're a pet owner now?"

"Yeah, I am."

"I never imagined you with pets."

"Well, I never really had the time to take care of anything else before I quit-"

The mention of the quitting seemed to sting Eames, but Bobby pretended not to notice and continued.

"and really, they aren't my "pets" they're more like ...family, for me."

Eames said nothing, and then suddenly reached out and touched Bobby's hand, looking into his eyes.

"Then I would like to meet them." she smiled.

Goren wasn't expecting Eames to want to come back to his apartment, which wasn't clean, and he tried to do a quick mental assessment of if he left anything embarrassing laying about. He let her in, and they were met with three happy jumping German shepherds. Bobby was pleased by Eames genuine reaction to the dogs, she petted them each and smiled at them, playing in their hair and laughing.

"Oh, Bobby, they're beautiful...so...you."

Goren smiled. Sauntering over to Eames, the gray t-shirt and jeans under his heavy coat revealed. "Can I take your coat?"

He slid behind her and helped her pull her coat off, dusting his fingertips across her neck and shoulders.

"Thank you." She breathed the words, made light-headed by his touch.

"No problem" He breathed the words millimeters from the back of her neck, letting her coat drop from his hands onto the floor, he was under her spell. His feet couldn't move. He dared his hands to touch her side, letting his fingertips rest in the curves and dips of her waist. He didn't move them, or her, he stood behind her absorbing the sensation of her waist, imaging what the skin under her shirt felt like. To most this would be an innocuous form of touch, but for them, as partners, it was something else. There was no reason to touch her waist unless... he wanted to, and there was no reason she would let him unless... she wanted him to do it.

He didn't force more contact, though he craved it, afraid to push the normally reserved Eames away. This act itself, was out of her box completely. It wasn't until she pulled his hand from her side, to place it flat on her belly, and pull his body closer to hers from behind, that either of them noticed his arousal.

But now they were body to body, the massive knot in his jeans was hard to ignore. Bobby swallowed hard, but when he heard Eames exhale sharply at the feeling his manhood rock hard against her body, his control dissolved. He wrapped his long arm around Eames waist and pulled her closer from behind, arching his hips into her, tangling in his hands in a handful of her hair, he breathed harshly against the side of her face. She felt him tug on her hair and then heard a choked "Uh-My-Go-" and felt Bobby' s muscles tighten and shudder. He came in his underwear, his still-hard cock, twitching and sticky in his pants.

"Shit." he said under his breath, regaining composure and noticing the wet spot forming in his jeans. He didn't let go of Eames waist...couldn't let go. He caught his breath, and she turned around looking up at him still in his arms, he looked like a shy teenage boy. It had been so long.

"Sorry." he said through flushed cheeks, his eyes avoiding hers and hitting the floor. She said nothing, eyes filling with tears, and then,

"Promise not to leave?" she asked in the softest voice. It was all he needed to hear, all that could be said, they both knew exactly what it meant, and it doubled the size of his erection. Goren pulled Eames close and dove his tongue into her mouth, claiming her breath as his own, he picked her up, noticing to himself how incredibly light and small she was and feeling more aroused because of it. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he walked with their lips connected into his bedroom. They fell onto the bed together, Goren on top of Eames and exploring every inch of her skin with his hands. He pulled her clothes off down to her bra and panties and exhaled as his dick throbbed painfully in his jeans. He couldn't take it anymore. He released his sex from his pants, groaning audibly as he sprang free and felt the sensitive skin on his head brush across her navel and lower stomach.

Goren pulled Eames small thighs apart and tested her readiness for him, with his hand. Her folds were swollen and slippery, he thought of putting his fingers inside of her, but his pounding, leaking, erection changed his mind. He entered her, in one even stroke that left them both gasping for air. "I promise." the words left his lips, drenched in a mix of his guttural arousal and obvious devotion to her. He stroked inside of her now, to claim her as his woman, to mark her flesh, and leave his fluids behind. With each stroke he filled her, pressing his swollen head deep into her cervix, feeling both of them shudder at the intense pressure on their sensitive parts. With each stroke he pulled back nearly to the head, enjoying the extra tightness around her opening, feeling it flex and clench around his member as he made her anticipate him slamming back into her within the next few seconds. He used this same stroke but increased speed, and Eames began to wail. He kissed her face and murmured the words to her, "I promise."

Eames let her fingertips brush his sweaty face. "Give it to me." but they way she said it, wasn't sexual. He knew what she meant, give her the burden of his sorrows, of his past, of everything he could never say. She turned herself over, while keeping him buried deep inside her, which made him light-headed and he was happy when she was up on all fours, so he could lean on her. The position change was natural, and Bobby grabbed her hips, and moaned at the increased deepness entering her from behind gave him. He knew he wouldn't last.

She said the words again. "Give it to me." this time more sternly and she held her breath, bracing herself.

And Goren felt himself go cold, grab her hip, pressing harshly on her hipbone, and thrust into her harder than any woman he ever had. He started a rampage, more like an attack, that left him dripping in sweat, and pounding into Eames sweet flesh. He hammered his dick inside of her, pulling at her hair and groaning like a large animal. He hit her like a storm, but she asked for it, she moaned as she felt herself receiving him, communicating with her, as open as he had ever been, she felt his heavy testicles brushing against her clit, and the sting forming in her ass cheeks from clapping against Bobby's body. He crashed into her, continuing his assault, his hands pulling and tearing at her flesh, he was reaching a height she could tell, his strokes lost its rhythm, his grip on her hips tightened, he grit his teeth, let out a sob, and tore into her like a jackhammer, her nectar moistening his balls and thighs, no woman had ever been so tight, Bobby forced Eames flat onto the mattress with her legs spread and used his body weight to pin her to the bed. He thrust into her now, fucking her like a rag doll, absent-minded of her pleasure or pain, and focused on this outpouring of his emotions, the heat built inside of him and her moans, muffled from her face in the mattress, sent him over the edge, he snapped his head back, dove as deep into her as possible, and released stream after stream of hot fluid into her, so much so, it ran out onto her thighs, soaking them and the sheets.

He remained with his softening dick inside of her. Spooning her from the side, unwilling to pull out.

"We forgot to use protection." Eames said in a small voice.

Bobby's heart stopped.