Disclaimer: Don't own and all that stuff

A/N: Sorry for the delay in updating, but life got busy with the start of the school year for my teens.

When Alex came into the living room Bobby was still flipping through her Cd's to choose some music. She set the coffee cups on the end table and sat on the end of the couch with her legs curled up under her. With a bit of humor in her voice she said, "Come on Goren, it's music not rocket science"

"I know. I was just looking to see if you had anything new."

"Well I don't, so pick something already before your coffee gets cold."

After getting the music going he asked "Do you want me to light a fire?"

"Sure, a fire might be nice tonight. It's getting cold outside." She sat there watching him as he built the fire in her fireplace. Alex couldn't help thinking back to the last time they sat in front of a fire.

Alex was laying on her side on the floor in front of the fire place. Her head was pillowed on Bobby's arm. He leaned down and kissed the side of her neck after gently brushing her hair back. "Mmm, you taste good." He murmured.

"Seriously Bobby, did you have to provoke TJ like that? And taking your badge off? What was that supposed to prove?"

"I would have thought that that was obvious." he said while continuing to nibble on the side of her neck. "I proved that he was a liar and a coward." Bobby pulled back on her shoulder so that she was laying on her back and stared down into her eyes. "Beautiful"

Alex knew that he was trying to distract her so that she wouldn't be upset with him. She reached up and held his head with her hands. "Bobby what if he had taken advantage of the offer and really hit you. You made a point of giving me your badge. I couldn't have done a damn thing to him if he hurt you."

"It couldn't have made my ugly mug any worse."

"Hey, I happen to love your mug and it's not ugly. You are one of the most handsome men I know."

"One of?" He asked as he started tickling her.

"OK OK the most handsome" Bobby leaned down and kissed her. It was hours before they sought the comfort of her bed. But those had been some memorable hours.

"Alex"

Bobby was waving a hand in front of her face. While her mind had been in the past, he had the fire started and had joined her on the couch. He was sitting on the other end , turned to face her with one leg bent up on the couch and his arm draped along the back.

"Sorry, I was thinking"
"What about?"

"TJ Hawkins" She said skirting around her real thoughts. "I wonder how his real prison experience is shaping up compared to his fictional ones from his books.?"

"It's funny that you should bring him up. While I was building the fire, I realized that the last time we enjoyed one together was during that case."

"Really" She replied. "I hadn't realized"

Bobby reached out with his hand and lightly tapped her nose with with his finger. "Liar" He laughed at the indignant look on her face. "I could see just by looking at your face that you were remembering that night the same as I was."

"Yeah well...You never did answer my original question?"

"And that was?"

"Did you have to provoke TJ?"
"Maybe not but it was kind of fun." He said with a grin on his face.

"Maybe for you." Alex grumbled. She grabbed his coffee off the end table and handed it to him.

"Alex" "Bobby" they both said at the same time and then they both grinned.

"Look Alex, I know that I screwed up... a lot."

Alex interrupted him before he could get any further.

"I think that we both did to different levels, but that is besides the point. Look, before you went up to Tates, we were pretty much living together right?" Bobby nodded his head but knew better that to interrupt her at this point, since it was mostly a rhetorical question anyways. "So if that had still been the case when Stoat approached you, would you have still kept me in the dark?"

"That's a good question Alex. I wish I had a good answer for it. The fact is that I don't know. I have tried to take myself back and see what would have been different if we had been together more then, and I just can't play it out in my head. I want to say that of course I would have talked to you before I called the Captain and that we would have done it together but I can't be positive about it. Does that help?"

"Not really." Alex was quiet for a couple of minutes and Bobby wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing right now. Suddenly she blurted out "Bobby, why did you leave me?"