A/N: Thanks again to everyone for their reviews!! I really do appreciate it! And like I said before, don't get used to all these quick updates. I'll be unable to post as frequently after this Sunday. Okay, on with the story.

Enjoy!


Bobby strolled into the diner and smiled at the older Italian woman behind the cash register. "Gina, good morning."

"Bobby," Gina grinned widely at him. "Isn't it too early for you?"

Bobby shrugged and leaned against the counter. "I'm meeting someone here. Uh, is there anyone seated over by the exit?"

Gina's eyes sparkled with amusement. "A woman."

Bobby glanced toward the back of the diner. "Blond and beautiful?"

Gina threw him a warning glare. "You be nice to her."

Bobby nodded and felt his cheeks blush. "Always." He headed toward the back of the diner. As soon as he rounded the corner, he saw her. She was looking over a menu and when he got a little closer she glanced up. "Alex," he greeted as he slid into the booth. "I guess we're going to have breakfast after all." He took his jacket off and sat it next to the wall.

Alex stared at him wide-eyed as she glanced toward the front entrance. "I'm--"

"Meeting someone?" Bobby raised a brow at her and smirked. "So am I." He picked up a menu and looked through it. "Have you been here before?"

Alex was still eyeing him. "No."

Bobby nodded. "They have good food. I live just around the corner, stop in here about once a week. I think I've had everything on the menu at least twice," he mused. He glanced over the top of the menu and caught her stare. "So, you lied to me. This," he gestured around, "is not a hot bath."

Alex just shrugged. "Can't a girl get breakfast before she goes home?"

Bobby fought with the idea of either keeping this going until she figured him out, or to come right out and blow both their cover. It was getting hard keeping his trap shut. "You're not a girl, Alex. You're a woman; and to repeat what I said last night, you're a woman that could very well kick my ass."

Alex leaned back in the booth and looked him over at that serious acknowledgment. She was looking like she was contemplating bailing or making a scene to get him out of there. Just when Bobby thought she was going to jump ship something sparked in her eyes and she shook her head. "What with the tattoos, cocky attitude, and nicely trimmed facial hair you look like the real deal Holyfield."

Bobby grinned and leaned a little closer to her over the table. "I pegged you for Vice the night I offered you the job."

Alex leaned over the table until they were almost touching. "And here I thought you were helping a poor woman out of a desperate situation."

Bobby chuckled and kept his gleeful grin. "Well, if I was wrong…I wouldn't have regretted it if I had." He sat back in the booth. "I really am a nice guy."

"So, I shouldn't believe Rick when he said that you were crazy?"

Bobby thought about that before shrugging. "I, uh…have to present myself in a, uh…certain way around Mack and the guys. If they think I'm crazy they leave me alone, and I don't have to deal with the drugs. Mack won't let me deal with the drugs. He thinks if I get high I might kill him."

Alex was nodding and finally smiled. "At least you got a way to preserve yourself, and your cover. I've known guys who've gone too far."

"Me too," Bobby agreed. He eyed the counter as his thoughts wondered. The last person he needed to think about was his ex-partner.

"Is everything okay here?"

Bobby looked up at Gina and nodded. "Yeah, we're fine." He glanced at Alex and saw the same sadness in her eyes that he felt in his.

"All right, what can I get you? The usual?"

Bobby shook his head and gestured toward Alex. "Ladies first."

Alex ducked her head to hide the blush, but he caught it in time. "I'll have the home-style breakfast special with a side of fruit."

"How'd you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled, and coffee."

Bobby nodded and put the menu back in the holder by the wall. "I'll, uh, have the same. T-thanks, Gina."

Gina smiled and left the two of them alone once again.

"The usual?"

Bobby smirked as he tried to relax. "I told you I come here at least once a week. Gina knows me by name." He caught the question in her eyes. "My cover name, of course. I'm not stupid."

Alex raised her hands. "I didn't say it. So, Robert Donovan, I'm Alex Harding."

Bobby extended his hand and shook her hand. "Well, Miss Harding," he said as he tried to shift the conversation. "You're good with the job?"

Alex was starting to relax as she gave a slow nod. "It's tough, but…yeah. I'm ready to move on though. You can only take it for so long before…" she left the rest unsaid.

Bobby was nodding. He felt the same way. "Same here." After for years as a Narc he was ready to get the hell out. Try something different. It wasn't that he wasn't good at what he did, but it wasn't challenging enough for him, and it was getting too dangerous for him now. Doing surveillance was one thing, going undercover for a year was something entirely different. With surveillance he had twenty guys watching his back and the dealers didn't know who he was. Now, he was alone with one outside contact and he had criminals for friends. "But, it's kind of difficult now," he said with a laugh.

"You knew it was going to be difficult; why take it?"

Bobby gave the table his undivided attention as he rubbed at his jaw.

She was watching him closely. "You didn't."

Bobby glanced up at her and tried to force a smile that wasn't coming. "Let's just say the Captain made an offer I couldn't refuse."

Alex chuckled at 'The Godfather' reference. "Penance?"

Bobby shrugged a little. If only she knew. "It's more complicated than that." He shook his head and leaned on the table. "I'm glad it's you, 'cause if it was Maggie…I would've had a heart attack."

Alex grinned at that and watched as Gina returned to the table.

Gina placed the cups down and then settled the pot of coffee on the table. "Your orders will be right up."

Bobby smiled warmly at her and then turned back to Alex. "What 'bout you?"

Alex filled her cup as she said, "I thought before I left, I'd have some fun."

"Has it been worth it?"

She looked up at him and gave a sincere nod. "Yes, yes it has. I'll probably miss it."

He couldn't say the same, wished he could. Bobby took the coffee pot and filled his own cup. Taking a cautious sip, he added two creams to it. "The, uh…rules we're supposed to establish…I only have a few."

"Which are," Alex asked before she took a drink of her coffee.

Bobby leveled her with his eyes. "The drug angle, don't touch it. Everything else is fair game."

Alex was nodding. "Kind of figured that was part of it."

Bobby sat back and shook his head. "I'm serious."

"I know." Alex leveled him with a stare as well. "You've spent almost a year with these guys; I'm not going to do anything to cause you problems. What's the other one?"

Bobby looked her over for a moment. He'd only known her for a day, and he felt like he could already trust her. It was a troubling feeling. "Before you do anything, you talk it over with me."

"Is that a two-way street?"

Bobby didn't hesitant. "No."

Alex looked ready to protest.

Bobby held up his hands and leaned over the table. "Look, we're not…typical partners in this. We're not working the same thing. My operation," he emphasized. "Has more value than your busts in my opinion. If I think something might jeopardize it in anyway, I should have the right to call your guys off. And what I do has no weight on what you do. So, no, this isn't a two-way street."

"Don't you think that's unfair?"

Bobby sighed in frustration. "You can argue what's fair with me after I take down the big guns, until then, fair isn't my main concern, Alex."

Alex looked as if she wanted to say something when she glanced over his shoulder and sat back instead.

Bobby looked over and spotted Gina coming with their food. He straightened and allowed room for their plates to be sat down.

"Anything else I can get you two?"

"No," they said in unison.

Once she was gone, Bobby glanced at Alex. She still looked displeased with what they'd just talked about, but she didn't say anything as they started eating. It wasn't until she was done with her food that she spoke.

"So, we're not partners in this?"

Bobby swallowed the coffee he had in his mouth. She was eyeing him and waiting on an answer. "Not…specifically, but we are going to have to trust each other."

Alex's features were stern as she picked up her jacket and purse. "Trust, that's what partners do, Bobby."

Bobby leaned back and watched as she got up and stopped beside him. She took something out of her pocket and laid it on the table.

"And that is a two-way street." Alex removed her hand from the table and left the diner.

Bobby stared after her then turned back to the table. The three hundred dollars he'd given her was sitting in front of him. He grabbed the money and his jacket and took off after her. As he passed Gina, he tossed the bills onto the counter and nodded his thanks before he left.

Out onto the street, he searched around for Alex but through all the people and cabs going by Bobby didn't see her anywhere.


He loved picking his days off, which was everyday. Bobby didn't have to show up for work at the club until the evening hours unless Mack told him otherwise. That gave him the whole day to get everything done that he needed. Today, he was on a subway en-route to Long Island City. His car was ready.

And finally being able to drive again was keeping his thoughts of Alex and their breakfast date at bay for the time being. He was fully focused on getting to the shop; his adrenaline was already spiking through the roof just thinking about getting behind the wheel to his car.

The car had been in the shop for over a month having been involved in a wreck. A rival gang member of Mack's had spotted him and gave the passenger side of his car a good once over. He had come out fine, but his car was another story. Lewis nearly had tears in his eyes when he had it brought in.

They had spent a little over two years putting the classic car together in Lewis's shop and to have to have it brought in with the whole passenger side looking like it'd just come out of the junk yard was indeed a very sad day. But now, he was finally getting it back.

The subway train came to a slow stop and Bobby quickly jogged through the tunnel and out onto the main street. He was only five blocks from Lewis's shop so he didn't bother with a cab.

A cold rain started to come down a block from the shop. He jogged through the open garage doors and right into the back where the office was. It was empty, per usual. Lewis hardly ever hung around in the office for very long. However, there was an envelop waiting for him on the desk, right where it should have been.

He opened the envelope and out dropped a key chain in his hand with two keys on it. Bobby left the office without ever speaking to anyone, not even Lewis who he spotted buried half-way under a '64 Lincoln Convertible.

Stepping through a set of doors and into the show room, he spotted his car already by the garage door, ready for him. "It's good to have you back," he whispered under his breath as he slid into the 1966 Pontiac GTO. He grinned widely as he heard the engine roar to life.

"Oh, baby, baby, baby." Bobby let the engine roar to life one more time before he pressed the button to open the garage door.

This was why Fin never let him drive when they were together. Once he was on I-684 headed north, he made the hour and a half drive to Carmel Ridge in thirty minutes flat. He couldn't help it; as soon as he got behind the wheel of something with a V8 engine he couldn't do anything except go fast. And thankfully, he knew how to drive like that without doing something stupid like crash.

The nurse greeted him at the front desk like always. Bobby smiled warmly at Doris who was on the phone as he signed-in.

Doris hung the phone up and smiled back at him. "Aren't you a day early, Bobby?"

Bobby shrugged weakly as he let the pen drop back to the paper. "I have plans tomorrow. Is she doing okay today? I called yesterday and she sounded…agitated."

Doris rolled her eyes at that. "I would have been agitated too. She got a new roommate, Miss Eleanor Brown; she's bipolar."

Bobby frowned and glanced down the hall. "Did she know about the roommate before, or…did Dr. Schimo wait until last minute to spring it on her?"

"He told her every day for two weeks, I think that she didn't want to accept it. She's used to being on her own."

"Uh, thanks, Doris," Bobby said as he headed down the hall. His adrenaline was still pumping from the drive up that he took the long way around to the room to try and wear off some of it. He didn't bother taking off his leather jacket. If his mother saw the tattoos on his arm, even though they weren't real, she'd freak.

By the time he was opening the door to his mother's room, he was feeling less wired. Bobby looked around the room and found it empty. Okay, not in there. He checked the schedule on the door and realized that on Saturdays from one to two in the afternoon his mom was in the Arts & Crafts room, painting.

Bobby walked around the place until he found the room he was searching for. It was a big room with open windows. He could hear the birds chirping and smell the rain. Near one of the windows, he spotted the woman he was looking for. His mother's short grey hair was curled and framed around her face. Her makeup was light and blended well into his natural colors. She was looking stunning as always. "Ma," he leaned down and kissed her cheek.

Frances was stunned at his sudden appearance at her side. "Bobby! You're here early."

Bobby grabbed an empty chair and sat down next to her. "I can't make it tomorrow, so I came today. What's that?" He asked as he pointed to the picture she was painting.

"Oh, just the scenery. That's our subject for…Why are you all wet," Frances suddenly asked as she picked up a brush and dipped it in blue.

Bobby nodded as he watched her start to paint the sky. "It was raining, what subject was last time?"

"Anything we wanted. I think I painted…" Frances trailed off as she looked over at the woman next to her. "Eleanor, this is my son, Bobby. He came all the way up here from the city."

Bobby smiled at the other woman and glanced at the picture she was painting. The sky was a bright pink while the trees were yellow. "Wow, that's very colorful."

Eleanor just smiled at him as she continued to paint.

Bobby returned his attention back to his mom and found that she was staring at the picture. "Are you and Eleanor getting along, Ma?"

Frances looked at him like she was seeing him for the first time that day. "Bobby?" The questioning in her voice wasn't hard to miss.

Bobby felt the sadness fill his heart as he smiled at her. "Yeah, I'm here. Hey," he said as he picked up her free hand and kissed the back of it as he cradled it in his hands. "Do you need anything?"

Frances looked around the room and shook her head. "I'm getting tired."

"It's almost two." Bobby looked at the clock. "Want to go back to your room? I'm sure the doctors won't mind if you go back a little early."

"Well," Frances sat the brush down. "It's hard to say. Seeing how there are three of us now, it might not be possible. Besides, it feels warm in here, I'm fine.

Bobby closed his eyes and nodded. "You're right, I should have thought about Eleanor. We have to wait for her, right?"

Frances nodded as she picked the brush back up. "Of course, she's a wearing a dress."

Bobby nodded. Of course.

An hour later, Bobby left his mother's room and found Dr. Schimo in the cafeteria. He nodded to the doctor as he sat down across from him at the table. "Doctor, I wanted to speak to you about my mother."

Schimo shook his hand as he asked, "What exactly do you want to discuss?"

Bobby leaned over the table as he explained, "Her thought disorder, it's worse than before. I mean, I talked to her yesterday and she was a little disorganized but nothing like today."

Schimo nodded in agreement. "It's due to a couple of things. She got a new roommate for the first time in ten years. And, the medication she's on now is good at handling the delusions but not her logic. We're trying to figure out which one will conquer both, but I doubt it'll happen. So, which would you rather her deal with, the delusions or jumbled thoughts?"

Bobby sighed as he leaned back in the chair. "Neither, but…I sure as hell don't want her to suffer anymore delusions. I'm used to the thought disorder. I can understand what she's trying to say most of the time."

Schimo took a long swallow from his soda before smiling at him. "You sometimes take on the different speech patterns yourself."

Bobby stared at the doctor. "Only when I have to, like when I'm talking to Schizophrenics. They respond better to someone addressing them in their own way of speaking. With my mom, if I want to ask her a question I do it in the middle of saying something else."

"Distractible speech, that's her specialty. It's no wonder you do it all the time."

Bobby rested his head on his balled hand. "Yeah, and me being a detective helps. Questioning is a huge part of the job. But my mother's experiencing more than that. She's suffering from tangentiality, illogicality, and she forgot that I was even there at one point."

"The lapses in memory is from the medication, but she always had a severe case of disorganized thought. It's just heightened now because of the new medication and stress."

Bobby rubbed at his face and eyes. "Like the introduction of Eleanor into her life."

"Exactly. It'll get better for her soon."

Bobby could only nod in agreement. There wasn't much he could do. "Okay, thanks for talking to me."

"Why are you a day early? Ever since I can remember, you come every Sunday."

Bobby sighed in frustration and got up. He didn't like having to explain himself all the time. "I've got plans."


Bobby hardly let any thing affect his job, nor his cover. But, he couldn't stop thinking about Alex as he drove back to the Bronx. His mind was occupied with what she'd told him at the diner. In order to do his part effectively he couldn't be complicated with anyone. Not even another officer. He thought she'd understand that, thought that she would agree to his terms. He should have known she'd be stubborn about it and reluctant to be kept in the dark on his end of things.

There was nothing he could really do about it now. It was his decision to bring her in if she was with Vice; and he was glad for it. He didn't regret it one bit. Maybe he was being the stubborn one. Tonight at work he was going to have to have a serious talk with Alex. The first thing he was going to have to do was apologize.

Trust; they were going to have to trust each other. And Alex had been right. Partners did that, friends did that; and they weren't either of those two things. That was going to have to change.

He shifted gears and once off the interstate he had to focus on the streets; the rain had made the buildings and streets look grittier than ever. Pulling into the underground parking garage a block from his apartment, he got out and made his way toward his apartment. It was nearly five, and he had to get ready for another night at the club.

TBC…