It is one of the blessings of friends that you can afford to be stupid with them

"Give me the beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in the rock and roll and drift away." I was singing the song at the top of my lungs kind of jumping around dancing as I laid out dinner party supplies on the table. I was happy that the CD player was turned up so loud that I couldn't hear my terrible singing.

I was looking forward to this evening - a dinner party with friends. Emil was running late, so I was home alone, laying out plates, and utensils, and serving pieces, and setting up a bar with glasses and liquor and mixers.

"Day after day I'm more confused, but I look for the light through the pouring rain…" I was lining up wine glasses, still singing, when someone touched my shoulder from behind. I jumped a bit, turning surprised to see Bobby standing behind me.

"Your front door was unlocked." He mouthed the reprimand to me. I couldn't quite hear him over the music. I took the bottle of wine he had brought as a gift and set it on the table.

"Give me the beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in the rock and roll and drift away…" I kept singing, a little less loudly, but smiling all the same. I was looking forward to having a house full of people tonight. I was happy that I had finally managed to goad Bobby into coming. It had taken more than a week to convince him. I knew he was still quite skeptical about the whole thing.

Bobby Goren wasn't exactly the dinner party type. He was not the type of man who stood around someone's living room, drinking a glass of wine, chit-chatting about the day. He was more at home in a crime scene, more accustomed to murder. Sometimes I thought he was a little too accustomed, for he seemed to treat murder as if it were simply about solving some mystery or puzzle.

I recognized that Bobby seemed to prefer to live inside his head. Unless pressed, he did not seem to interact very often with others outside of the job. I didn't necessarily think this was a fault. I enjoyed his cerebral nature, and I did not want to fundamentally change him. I respected his serious side, I appreciated his dry funny side, and I admired his intellect. But, I thought that on occasion he needed to stretch his chit-chat muscles and maybe try to lose himself a bit in the hum-drum of some mundane human interaction.

"Beginning to think I'm wasting time, don't understand the things I do, the world outside looks so unkind, so I'm counting on you, to carry me through…" Bobby completely surprised me by singing the next verse along with me. He was smiling, and took over setting up and organizing the bar area. I couldn't help myself, I laughed aloud, loving that he was throwing himself into my plan to have an evening of fun.

"Give me the beat boys and free my soul, I wanna get lost in the rock and roll…" We were singing together, loudly, me at least a bit off-key. At the end, I was laughing like a little girl, laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes.

I was surprised when the song ended to find Emil leaning against the door jamb. He hadn't been there a moment ago, so I figured he hadn't been there long.

"You two should keep your day job." Emil smiled, good naturedly and kissed me on the temple as he walked by.

"I think I might need a drink." Bobby said, after Emil had walked into the kitchen, and he poured himself a generous glass of scotch.

"I think I'm glad you're here." I said, wiping the tears of laughter from the corners of my eyes. It was fun to feel a little silly, to see that he allowed himself the luxury of feeling a little silly. I watched him down a generous swallow of his drink, and then he mock toasted me with the glass. And, I could tell, he was glad to be here too.

A/N: Thanks for reading, please feel free to review me and let me know what you think. I'm toying with where to take these...