TITLE: Those who burn twice as bright Chapter 3
BY: Tubbie
RATING: T or what used to be PG
BETAed by Linda Sailor ( thank you )
SYNOPSIS: A Bar. A match. Two minds.
COMMENTS: Alex listens to a drunk and brooding Bobby.
DISCLAIMER: Everything relating to Criminal Intent is owned by Dick Wolf and NBC productions.Yadda, Yadda, Yadda.
Reviews Please do! Those that have reviewed, I thank you. Reviews Good Karma. Try it and see.
Alex looked back to the street before entering the apartment's lobby to see Lynn getting into a taxi.
"Good evening," greeted the night watchman as they entered. David was in his early thirties, tall, well built and a friendly person. He had a talent of reading people. He could pick up on their vibrations; like tapping on crystal glass to get a signature ping. He could feel the energies radiating from people. In his job that helped sort out the trouble makers. He knew these two were cops the first time he had laid eyes on them.
Bobby nodded and kept on a straight heading to the elevators. He was used to Detective Goren coming in at all hours. Burden of the job he supposed. He also knew if Bobby's partner was in tow, there would likely be a related major crime headline in the morning paper.
"Hi, Dave," Alex glanced about the empty lobby. "Quiet night?"
"Yup." David eyed Bobby's non-Bobby type movement across the floor. He dropped his voice as he asked Alex, "Need help with anything?"
"Got it covered, Thanks." Alex smiled back at him as she continued to the elevator. "Night, Dave."
David nodded. "Night detectives." Something was off. The vibe from those two. That was it. They didn't seem their usual serious and intent selves. They were more like, off duty? Yeah that was part of it. But there was another frequency ringing out from one of them? No, both of them. It was a positive vibe, somewhat playful, with a strong undercurrent, that they seemed to be aware of, but distancing themselves from. He was trying to verbalize a description of it. Amorous intent? That fit somehow. Come to think of it Alex was the only women he had ever seen Bobby with in this building. He bet himself the morning paper wouldn't have a crime headline that involved them.
Alex punched the floor number and the elevator doors slide closed. She looked to see Bobby leaning his weight back against the elevator's shining brushed chrome wall, arms folded, head tilted down.
"You know you owe me Alex."
Oh, that got her attention. He raised his head to look at her.
"You so owe me." He had a sly grin and a dancing glint in eyes. The look made Alex catch her breath. The elevator doors opened and Bobby swept into the hallway, pulling out his keys. After he unlocked his apartment door he tossed the keys on his kitchen table and began rummaging around in the kitchen.
Alex followed him quietly, locking the door and wondering what the debt is he wants to collect. She and her overnight bag took a detour to the bathroom. She shortly rejoined Bobby in the living room. The lights were off and the room was bathed in a low glow from several candles. He had pushed his short coffee table away from the couch. He was between the table and the couch with his arms resting atop the cushions. He motioned for her to sit down across from him.
"Forget to pay the power bill this month?" she asked as she removed her shoes, grabbed a pillow and settled into palace.
"You seemed to like the dark at the bar just fine." He smiled.
"You said I owed you?"
From below the table he pulled out two glasses.
"Yes, let's see. You said we could just go and relax.' Right?" He set a glass in front of her.
"Yeah"
"And you also said 'Just a temporary sober, it will go away. I promise.'" He set a glass in front of himself.
"Yeah, okay."
"And, 'I'll take you home and tuck you in.'" Before Alex could reply, he held a hand up in partial defense. "We'll skip that one," he placed the bottle of rum on the table, "for now."
"Bobby you have the head start remember?"
"I think the cold air shortened my lead. Plus I'm going to level the playing field. We are going to play a game of 'I never.' The rules are simple. We take turns saying 'I never did whatever' and if you have actually done whatever it is, you take a drink. If you are caught in a lie, then you have to finish your drink."
Challenging Alex to a drinking game was like waving a red flag at a bull. It got a fast reaction. "Bring it on. You are so going down, big guy."
"I never placed in the top 3 of the Police Training Combat Challenge." Bobby threw out that fact casually.
Alex had no idea he had checked so deep into her background. "New rule: You are not going quote everything in my file, because I'd counter with everything in your file. Fair?"
"Fair enough, your turn."
"I've never gone skinny-dipping." Bobby took a sip. "Co-ed?" Alex added. Bobby's look was answer enough.
"As an adult, I've never received a Valentine." Bobby waited for Alex to drink.
She shook her head. "I've never gotten any cards."
"Ah, but a Valentine doesn't necessarily mean a card. Any kind of a gift in celebration of the occasion."
"I see. Like the red rose that always shows up on my desk each February?" Alex would ask Bobby every year if he was the culprit, and every year he would deny placing it there. And that was true. He would compensate the head janitor on the night shift each year to do it for him. Alex eyed him as she sipped.
"I've never gotten a parking ticket."
Bobby took a drink. "I was 13 and drove my mom to the hospital. The parking wasn't my main concern. Besides they thought my mom had driven, so it was dismissed."
"I've never smoked a cigar."
Alex raised her glass "Nope. I've never smoked anything." and set it back down.
"I never juggled guys I was dating."
"Neither have I."
"You're bluffing."
"No, I don't date guys."
"Let's restate guys as persons of the opposite sex. So do you serial or parallel date?"
Bobby drank. "I've done both."
"I should make you finish that, for trying to weasel out of the question."
"I've never had a tattoo."
"Really? I find that hard to believe with your military time."
"No. If I need to prove it you can strip search me." That dancing glint was back.
"Maybe another time," Alex smiled. "I'll take you at your word."
"I've never..."
"Hold on," Bobby interrupted. "You have a tattoo."
"And you know this how?"
"I've seen it."
"Well that's a great trick. If I have a tattoo where is it?"
"Upper right shoulder. Now do you finish that drink or do I have to strip search you."
"I concede. But when did you see it? I wear clothes that hide it."
Alex began drinking, waiting for an answer.
"I saw it in a photo. Well, several photos."
"Photos." Her mind ran over all the police department photos, and pictures at home, and at the office that Bobby could possibly have access to view. She damn near spit out her drink. "Hey, that's not fair. That's from my file."
"You said I couldn't 'quote' from your file. I didn't. Did you know some Polaroid photos make really nice 8 X 10's?"
Alex looked at him in a way that he just knew she would shoot him, if her gun was near by. No, wait, she was a bit more pissed, in the hands on, ass kicking, and sort of way. Bobby was getting uncomfortable. Then Alex started laughing.
"That really made you sweat." She put a hand over her mouth to subdue the laughing. "I'm not mad. Really. There is no way you have copies of my undercover vice ID photos."
Bobby just smiled and filled Alex's glass back up. He was pretty smashed and getting tired. But the thought that he might actually see Alex more wasted than himself for the first time ever, keep him going. Funny what seems important when you're hammered.
"Ok, My turn " Alex now feeling a buzz and getting tired, forgot what she was going to say, so she popped off with. "As an adult, I never have worn pink."
Bobby raised his glass and drank. Alex looked surprised. "I have a powder blue suit that looks great with a pink shirt and matching cuff links."
Alex tried to imagine that. "I bet it does." Bobby nodded in agreement.
"Run out of questions Bobby?"
"No, but I think for you I might stop here, cause you need to finish that drink."
"What, I don't wear pink."
"I have proof otherwise." Bobby slid an 8 X 10 photo across to Alex. It was from her vice days. Her back to the camera, she was looking back over her right shoulder wearing a blue tank top, tattoo very visible, hair tussled and wearing pink lipstick.
"That's more of a frosted rose than pink." Alex replied. She then became very focused on
the photo, trying to remember when it was taken. It was a casual shot, but who had taken it? Then she realized something obvious. "Where, when and how the hell did you get this photo?" Alex wasn't mad, she was just confused.
Bobby stretched and leaned back, hands behind his head, linking his fingers together. "Remember Tristan, one of the crime scene guys back then?"
"Yeah, I do. Medium height, lean blonde, always carried two cameras."
"I think he had a thing for you. At least his camera did."
"Which begs the question how did you come to possess this?"
"Confiscation. Ole Tris was posting a bunch of girls on his web site. What was that site's name? Oh, right, Hooker Hotties of the Hood. He didn't have release forms from any of the girls. And undercover cops don't really need the PR."
Alex really wished she wasn't as smashed as she was at the moment. She had lots of questions, she thought, and was too fuzzy to processes them all. "This photo, no wait you said photos. How many are there?"
"Just a few." Bobby tried to look innocent about it. He had been meaning to tell Alex about this, but the timing was always so wrong. He knew she was a happy drinker and as things fell together tonight, this would be the easiest way for him to deal with her questions, of which he hoped there were few.
"I want to see them now, OK?" Alex began to extract herself from the floor into an upright position. Slowly, girl, you got to adjust for impairment' her inner voice said.
Bobby just as carefully, but a slight bit quicker, raised him self up. He then pointed Alex to the table he had tosses his keys on earlier. And then he disappeared down his short hallway to return with an 8 X 11 box that was commonly used to store case files. He set the box on the table and sat down. Alex clicked on the light over the table and joined him. She took the lid off the box and grabbed a hand full from the top and began spreading them over the table. Noticing the size and fullness of the box, Alex commented "Looks like he had plenty of material here."
She quickly studied the pictures and past them to Bobby to look at, as she gave a brief story with each one. Bobby was a captive audience. He marveled as she spoke of the events of each picture with detail and humor. He gleaned that her vice duty was tough and demanding work, but she had approached it with an open a positive attitude. By the time this short history lesson was over Bobby realized he had put away two more glasses of rum and probably was ahead of Alex in the drunken department again. Damn it.
"Wow" Alex looked back in the box. "So how many girls are represented in here?" Then the detective part of her brain began poking through her hazy mind. "Wait a minute, why do you have this box? Shouldn't it be in evidence lock up?" She was pulling out some of the larger photos.
"There is quite a collection in lock up. More than enough evidence for the D.A.'s office to be able to get their case points across. So much evidence that I felt Tristan didn't need to deal with a charge involving a police officer's pictures. Since he hadn't posted any of your pictures to the web, they technically shouldn't be included in this case."
Alex looked at him and then the box. She spilled the contents out on the table with some of the photos fluttering off on to the floor. Scanning over them Alex declared "These are all photos of... me?"
"Yeah" Bobby had a timid ring to his tone.
"Bobby, I've seen stalkers use less Kodak than this. Alex grabbed up two pictures and waved them at him. "These are more current than my vice ones."
"About 2 years old. There is nothing newer in there of you. Nor will there be any other unauthorized picture taking by Tristan. We had a talk. We came to an agreement. And you are no longer a person of interest in his life."
"You sound pretty sure of that fact."
"Well Tristan just needed to be clarified on a few things. His health would be in much less danger in Florida after his court affairs were done. And a little legal briefing for his obsession driven mind. Put it all in a perspective he could really understand."
"Legal as in..."
"Possession is nine tenths of the law. I have his photos."
"And you have me." Bobby shot her a surprised look.
"I'm pretty sure I know what angle of reasoning you used. And how you would have gotten your message across to him." Alex looked at Bobby, trying to think out how he unearth all of this, put it together and rectified the situation. "You could have told me."
"You had enough to deal with this last year. It was a small thing to keep from you. The guy is not a psycho. It was a small burden I thought I could lighten from your daily load. You didn't need to spend the extra time to deal with court and statements and having your causal vice photos in an evidence exhibit in an open court."
"Un huh. Instead they are in the Goren private exhibit here." Alex had the let's-see-how-you-are-going-to-explain-this-one look on her face.
"Did I mention I've taken up scrap booking as a hobby?" Bobby had the please-don't-shoot-me look again.
Alex smiled. "No, no you hadn't. But I suppose there are worst places this could be.You say everything is taken care of and I have nothing to be concerned about?"
Bobby nodded.
"Good enough. I trust you with my life every day. Please no more secrets."
"Not mad at me then?" Bobby hoped all was right.
"Not mad. Thank you." Alex yawned and looked at the clock. "Check out the time, I have got to get some sleep." She stood up and stretched, clicking the light off. As tired as she was the candle light was plenty bright. Bobby rose and the last two drinks hit him. Alex sensed this and resumed her earlier position at his side. "Did your temporary sober go away?"
"Un huh, right after I got up. Bathroom," he stated.
"I'll guess you are relaxed as well. Two out of three accomplished. Not too bad, Bobby."
He grinned.
At the doorway she let him go solo. "You're on your own." She pulled the door close and headed back to the living room, half way there before remembering she had left her bag in the bathroom. She figured by the time she check the doors, and got the blanket out for the couch she could retrieve her bag.
A relieved Bobby was heading to exit the bathroom door when he heard a sound. The shower was source of the noise. He pulled back the curtain to further inspect the situation. It was a buzzing? No a growling, no not quite that either, a rushing sound? That was it. Water rushing but there was no faucet on.
"Bobby you fall asleep in there?"
"No. Come in, there is something going on with my shower."
Alex entered the room to see Bobby running his hands across the tiles and placing his ear close to the wall a certain places. She could hear it as well. As she joined him the sound seemed to be changing, becoming a lower pitched and a louder disturbance. Bobby began backing away from the wall.
They both realized at the same moment as they turn to run that the noise was the sound of a water main about to burst.
