Chapter 4
Alex walked from the fax machine back to her desk where Bobby sat with a laptop opened researching Strauss.
"Well Tricia's phone logs are pretty standard…besides several phone calls from Marcus the night she was killed that went straight to voice mail…nothing unusual…" Alex said.
"Strauss and Wilson always contacted each other via email," Bobby said.
Alex nodded.
"We have her laptop…we can check it," Alex said. "You find anything interesting on the good doctor?"
"Well he's one of the best surgeons in the city…friends with the deputy mayor—"
"I can already see Ross flashing the 'proceed with caution sign'," Alex said nodding toward the captain's office as Ross headed toward their desks.
Bobby turned his head as Ross hovered between their desks with his hands in his pockets.
"So I just got a call from ADA Casey Novak from sex crimes…says to keep her in the loop if we find new charges to bring up against Peter Strauss. Please tell me this isn't the Dr. Strauss I think it is," Ross said.
"There's similarities between this and another crime he was accused of," Alex said.
"But not prosecuted for."
"Strauss admitted to having rough sex with the victim from the SVU case," Bobby said glancing from Ross back to Alex. "The bruise on-on Tricia's wrist…it could have been from being handcuffed to…to a bed…"
Alex sighed, wanting to believe that Marcus and Tricia were really happy, even if part of her want was only to appease her own guilt for brushing him off.
"So you're thinking Tricia was seeing Strauss on the side?" Ross asked.
"Or he's someone she used to see. Marcus said they had a lot 'on and off' times the first couple years they were together…maybe Strauss wanted to start seeing her again," Bobby said.
"If they even knew each other," Ross said.
Bobby sighed and nodded, averting his eyes down to his blotter.
"We can always check the DNA from the Wilson case against what we found on Tricia," Alex said. "If it's a match…it's safe to say they've met. If not: no harm."
Bobby and Ross both glanced at her and nodded their agreement.
"I'll call it down to Rogers," Ross said. "You two have been at this a long time. Go home."
Ross walked off, Alex and Bobby watching him head back into his office and close the door.
"Talk about acting different," Alex said.
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Alex led the way into the apartment with Bobby close behind, who carried bags of Chinese food. They instantly heard the patter of Madison rushing toward them.
"Hey, babe," Alex said as Madison hugged her hip. "Did you have fun at tee-ball?"
Madison nodded vigorously.
"Nathan taught me how to slide," Madison said, proudly holding up her skinned elbow.
"I see," Alex said, smiling at how Madison and Nathan were beginning to remind her of her and her older brother.
Alex watched Bobby as he bent his head to glance over the splotchy scrapes along Madison's forearm and then gave him a small, don't freak out about this, smile when his eyes came back to hers.
Alex took the food from him and headed to the island across from Miss Eleanor to spread out the food. She smiled softly as she saw Bobby kneel in front of his daughter and cradled her elbow in his hand as he examined her arm.
"You okay?" he asked, catching her dark eyes.
She nodded. "I didn't even cry, daddy. I'm fine."
He gave her a smile and kissed her forehead. Madison wrapped her arms around his neck and he lifted her up as he stood straight. He deposited her on a chair next to Eleanor and then they all went to work on their dinner.
Afterwards, they said goodnight to Eleanor and then changed into more comfortable clothes.
Bobby and Alex let Madison stay up a little late, curled up on the sofa with them, and she eventually fell asleep with her head on Alex's hip.
Alex fought to stay awake as she leaned against Bobby. She didn't know how Bobby could still be so alert, while she felt as if she was only running on fumes.
"I'll go take her to her room," Bobby said into Alex's hair.
Alex straightened just enough for Bobby to get up and watched him as he crooked one arm under Madison's bent knees and secured the other around her back before he lifted her up against his chest.
As she listened to him carry their daughter down the hall, Alex stretched out on her side and closed her eyes, dosing in and out of sleep.
"You don't expect me to carry you too, do you?" she heard Bobby's voice and smiled.
She opened her eyes and saw that he was crotched down in front of her.
"What? You think that's too excessive?"
"Come on, Eames," he said, playfully tugging on her wrist.
She sat up with groan, while his thumb stroked the pulse point on her wrist.
"Sit back down with me," Alex said, fisting her hand over his and tugging back.
Bobby pushed himself up from the floor and plopped down beside her, wrapping his arms around her. She leaned into him and closed her eyes again.
A few moments passed in quiet stillness until Bobby said, "Are-are you sure it's a good idea for Madison to do the T-ball thing?"
"It's T-ball, Bobby, not exactly a contact sport."
"Sliding?"
Alex softly laughed.
"That had nothing to do with T-ball. That was Mad trying to keep up with Nathan…and did you see how cute and proud she was?" Alex asked. "She actually reminded me of me."
Bobby smiled. "Sh-she reminds me of you more than I think you realize."
"I'm just glad she and Nate are close…"
"So am I. I know that's important to you."
"Plus she needs something to do with all that nervous energy…I think this will be good for her…" Alex said.
Bobby nodded.
"Carrie's taking her to practice again Friday, right?" he asked.
"Yeah…"
"D-do you want to let Carrie keep Madison Friday night? A-and we could go out…or…"
"Like a real grown-up date?" Alex asked, resting her chin on his shoulder and looked up to see his face, trying to figure out where this random idea was coming from. Even when they were dating they never really went out on dates.
He gave her a half smile and a small nod.
Her own smile faded as she wormed out of his embrace and then sat up beside him.
"What's wrong?" Bobby asked.
"All this isn't because of Marcus, is it?"
"No, why…" he said with a confused shake of his head and then the light in his head honed in on where her thoughts were going. "…oh…Alex, I know he's no threat to me…I-I'm not asking this to prove something…I just…you know we haven't had a night to ourselves since, what, January."
Alex's face softened, but she still studied him while supporting her head in her palm.
"I don't get it…"
"What? I can't want to spend a whole night alone with my wife?" Bobby asked, turning slightly toward her.
"Not that…it's a great idea…I'll call Carrie tomorrow. What I don't get is that four months ago you went all territorial on me with that sign language interpreter—"
"Peter…I-I know you remember his name, Alexandra," Bobby said and then paused to watch a slightly annoyed smile tug at her lips. "And I acknowledged that…that I was out of line…I just…I was scared that I might have…p-pushed you so far away that you'd eventually stop caring…"
She reached her free hand over and clasped it to one of his.
"It was a rough time…but things were getting better and then last month with the Quinn case and everything with Joe…let's face it, you have some jealously issues. But now, with a nice, living man, who you know for a fact I have had sex with…you don't bat an eye…I don't get it."
Bobby sighed and shrugged.
"B-but Marcus didn't…didn't mean anything."
Alex glanced down and chewed on her lip.
"You're not really helping with my residual guilt, here," Alex tried to teased.
Bobby moved his hand to cradle her neck and gently forced her to look at him.
"I didn't mean to make you feel guilty. I don't think you did anything wrong—"
"Yes I did…I used him…and I don't even remember most of it…it's all a big blur," Alex said and then let her body fall back into the curve of his.
Bobby drew small circles on her back and searched for the right thing to say.
"We-we all do things…have done things that we aren't proud of," he said. "You were heartbroken; angry…he-he had to have known what he was getting into. That you weren't ready for anything more than…than what you gave him."
She nodded.
"He was looking out for me that night at the bar…probably so I didn't do what I did with someone who wouldn't be as nice about it. Sometimes I think it would have been easier if I had just gone home with some barfly or one of the asshole detectives that didn't see us as anything different from the girls we were arresting. Those last three weeks in Vice probably wouldn't have been as awkward…and God, he was so nice about it. I knew he was hurt, but he never brought it up…never said anything ill toward me…even wished me luck the night I left for Major Case," Alex said and then let out a long sigh. "Can we talk about one of your shameful one night stands, now?"
She felt Bobby snort.
"Let's go to sleep," he said.
He pulled her up with him and kept his arm around her as they headed toward their bedroom.