Hee hee, who knew I had such a knack for torturing Eames? Woo hoo for me!

Disclaimer: They ain't mine... Ugghh...

This chapter is for Oliviafan, so she doesn't keel over and miss the whole story.

Bellevue Hospital

Wednesday, January 23rd

1:31 pm

When Deakins, Mike, Carolyn and Carver rushed into the emergency room, they immediately spotted Bobby pacing the floor of the sterile room anxiously.

"What's going on?" Deakins asked hurriedly, and Bobby shrugged his broad shoulders.

"They won't say anything except there was a lot of damage done to her eyes," Bobby mumbled, running one shaky hand through his graying curls.

"All we can do now is wait," Carver stated, and each person found a stiff plastic chair and sat down. But Bobby continued to tread the floor, with his colleagues watching him warily.

4:00 pm

Three hours passed before a doctor finally appeared in the waiting room, his green scrubs splattered with blood, making Bobby's stomach lurch.

"Alex Eames?" the doctor called, and all of the men stood up, except for Mike, who was pinned to his chair by Carolyn's sleeping form.

"How is she?" Bobby and Deakins asked simultaneously, and the intimidated doctor took a half step backwards before regaining his professional demeanor.

"Well, the good news is that most of the cuts were superficial and did not require stitches. Her wrist was broken in several different places, so we had to put a cast on it and put it in a sling. Now for the bad news." Bobby bit his lip and scrubbed at the stubble on his chin, inhaling deeply. "The person who attacked her used a combination of mace and other chemical agents that we weren't able to wash away fast enough."

"What does all of this mean?" Bobby asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Will Alex be okay or not?"

"It means that hopefully, with time and constant care, her eyesight will return. But from a medical standpoint, there is a good chance that she will never be able to see again."

Bobby inhaled sharply and took a staggered step backwards, mumbling to himself. Deakins ran a hand through his silver hair as the doctor continued. "Hopefully that will not be the case. But if it is, when she's released from our care, she will need to live with someone. Does she have a boyfriend or husband that she can stay with?"

"No," Deakins sighed. "She was married, but her husband was killed in the line of duty about eight years ago. Her parents live out west, but she's not very close with them anymore."

"Well, she's not going anywhere for at least a week, so hopefully you can find someone by then. Now, would you like to go see her?" Bobby looked at Deakins, who turned to the doctor and said, "Yes, we would."

Then they looked back at Mike and his sleeping partner, who waved them off, saying, "Go ahead. I'll bring her in when she wakes up."

Bobby and Deakins nodded and followed the doctor out of the waiting, down the hall, and finally they came to a stop in front of her room. "Bobby, you go ahead and go in," Deakins said, squeezing his detective's shoulder. Bobby nodded and disappeared into the room, while Deakins turned to the doctor and spoke softly.

"Most likely, he's going to be the one taking her home and watching out for her." Stephen nodded.

Bobby slipped quietly into the cool hospital room, his stomach unclenching slightly as he came closer and closer to his partner's unmoving form. Even in the dim light, he could see the angry red cuts that decorated every inch of her skin that he could see, and the bandages that covered her eyes were all too visible against her pale face.

"God, Eames," he murmured, standing over her bed. He reached one trembling hand out and covered her small hand that rested on her stomach, gently stroking the back of it with his big thumb. He looked around the room and spotted a chair, then he pulled it as close to the bed as he could, slowly sinking down into it.

Deakins shook Stephen's hand, then walked into Alex's room, his footfall silent as he slipped inside. Bobby was sitting in a chair that was pulled up as close to Alex's bed as possible, with his head bowed and his shoulders slumped in defeat. He took another step, and Bobby jumped in the chair, whirling his head around to identify the source of the intrusion.

"It's okay, Bobby," Deakins said softly, appearing in his line of vision. "It's just me." Bobby breathed a ragged sigh and returned his focus to Alex, and Deakins saw the way he was carefully covering her right hand with his own big hand.

"How am I going to tell her?" The question was so quiet, Deakins wasn't sure he had heard him clearly. "Tell her what, Bobby?" Bobby raised his head to look at Deakins, and the older man flinched inwardly at the redness of his eyes and the tear streaks on his cheeks. "That she might never see again. That her career at Major Case, and as a cop, may be over," he whispered hoarsely, and Deakins sighed.

"It's not going to be easy, Bobby. But that may be just be the case. And if it is, she's going to need us to be strong for her, and help her as much as we can. We can't give up on her."

"I'm never going to give up on her," Bobby said ferociously, and Deakins smiled slightly at the big detective's protectiveness of his injured partner. Patting Bobby's shoulder, Deakins said, "I know you won't, Bobby. You care about her too much."

Then he walked out of the room, and Bobby exhaled deeply, gently running his thumb along Alex's brow. "I'll never give up on you, Eames," he murmured, settling back into the hard chair. "Never."

TBC..

A/N: Okay, for the ones who aren't crying and throwing rotten veggies at their computer, I promise it gets better. We just need a little torture on the way... Blue understands me, dontcha blue?