(A.N. I'm thinking this whole series might be a slight AU. As if the entire series of Law and Order had been a little longer. And star jelly, you're in luck, because I was about to post this when I read your review.)

The next time Robert Goren ran into Declan Gage, drinking Earl Gray at an outdoor cafe, the older man was close to tears. His shoulders shook with the effort, his body bent double, his fingers white on the edge of the wrought iron table. The old man was laughing.

"God Goren, you weren't there. Harry Baker came to me," he stopped to let another giggle fill him.

"The boy Stabler warned me about?"

"Completely baselessly, but yes," Declan managed to sit up, his long body folded comfortably in his chair, occasionally shaking with mirth, "he came to confess something to me."

"Should I be hearing this?"

"What? Oh, would you stop with this nonsense. Baker is only a threat to your career, not other people. That boy is brilliant Goren. Positively brilliant," he sipped his tea and looked up," He came to confess that he was feeling obsessive over a girl."

"What girl? Don't play around with this Declan, she might be in danger."

"In danger of his arousal maybe."

"Excuse me?"

"He's attracted to her, Bobby. Like a teenage boy is to a teenaged girl. That's all. Your friend..."

"He's not my friend. He knows Eames."

"Whatever he is, your colleague Stabler, he's crushed his boy. He thinks he's going to kill her just because when he looks at her, he gets flushed, his palms sweat, he can't speak to her directly. He defended her ridiculous notion that Jack the Ripper was a woman. Poor boy is smitten."

"You can't know that."

"Don't be ridiculous Bobby. I've dealt with plenty of killers, far more than you. I trained you, didn't I? This boy is not a killer. Sure, sure we all have it in us, the capacity to kill. But I don't think this boy ever will," he sighed, swigging down the rest of his tea, "Besides, he's been avoiding her like the plague since he discovered his attraction. Postively ludicrous, of course. I told him so," he leaned forward, conspiracy on his thoughts, "he's never had a father figure, Bobby. He's always been alone, always hounded as the next Jeffrey Dahmer. Still ridiculous. With that level of charisma and intellect, he's far closer to a Charles Manson," he smiled at Goren's discomfort, "None of the girls he's known has ever lived up to his intellectual standards. She's his first love."

"Sociopaths don't love."

"Precisely. Which is why he's not a sociopath. He doesn't dream of cutting her up, doesn't think about her blood all over his hands. He just thinks of her. And the worst part is, she's totally unremarkable. She doesn't deserve a man like him," he sobered from the dreamy eyed look of glee he'd had, "We need to talk about something else, Bobby."

"Jo?"

"No. Not my daughter. You always ask about her Bobby. Harboring a crush? No, someone else?" he smiled again, skipping into the next topic of conversation with relative ease and the attention span of a rabbit, "I want you to talk to Harry Baker."

"I'm not sure if thats the best idea."

"Why? Meet the boy, Bobby. He's a good boy," he shook his head, "Y'know, they were saying the same thing about you. Saying you couldn't be trusted, that you had all the hallmarks of a young serial killer. That when you hit thirty-five you were going to kill, that it would all be on my head. He reminds me of you."

"Fine. I'll see the boy. I'm not promising anything."

"He's meeting with a young man from the BAU today. Dr. Spencer Reed or other. I think you've heard of him. I think thats the kind of place for him. Criminal profiler for the FBI," he smiled at Goren, "what you could've been if you hadn't joined the NYPD."

"I'll talk to him, Declan, but I can't promise anything."

(Read and Review)