AN: I feel so proud of myself! Two story posts on the same night! Go me! Here we are on the continuing journey of Bobby and Alex! Enjoy!

"I need you to do some leg work for me."

"What am I, your minion?"

"Fine. I'll do it myself." Bobby pulled the laptop towards him and started typing.

"Out of curiosity, what are you doing?" Bobby looked over the desks and said,

"Research."

"On what?" Bobby sighed.

"Look, I thought you weren't interested."

"I am interested; I just don't want to do all the leg work." Bobby sighed once more.

"Fine. What I'm about to tell you must be kept in the up most of care. It pertains to a fellow detective." The temp. leaned forward anxiously.

"Really? Oh this is going to be good." Bobby nodded.

"Now since you're new, you're coming into the operation a little later than everyone else, but that's ok. Now look across the room, Cooper, and tell me who you see that's familiar."

"Um…ok. Leroy, Heron, Monthur, Logan…"

"Stop there." Cooper looked over at Bobby.

"Logan?"

"Exactly."

"What has he done wrong?"

"Nothing. But I have news that he was spotted in a jewelry store looking at rings. He's planning on popping the question to someone, and we want to know who."

"We?"

"The family."

"The family?"

"Alex, me, parents, brothers, sisters, cousins…you know, the family." Cooper opened her mouth, paused, then said,

"Sure. But you make them sound like the mafia or the mob." Bobby looked back over the desks to his temp. partner with an exasperated look.

"Whatever. Think of it this way, for this operation, you're considered part of the family." Cooper nodded. "Plus, if you had been a horrible partner, I wouldn't have involved you. I wouldn't have done this with the last temp. I had."

"I think, coming from you, that's a compliment."

"It is."

"Cool."

"So what I'm doing is looking up his credit card information to see if he made any recent purchases that are a fair amount of money." He started clicking the mouse aggressively because it wasn't cooperating, so Cooper rolled over to his side and slid the laptop away from him.

"Here."

"Thanks. I managed to learn a lot since Eames became my partner, but there still are times that I don't get the infernal things." Cooper raised her eyebrows at him.

"You're a genius and you don't how to work a computer?"

"I prefer books." Cooper shrugged.

"Here you go. Credit history."

"Play lookout. I see if there's anything interesting…let's see…groceries…bird food…bird food?" Bobby shook his head. "I don't think I want to know."

"Could be innocent. Does he live in a house?"

"No, apartment. Unless the person he's seeing has a house."

"Maybe."

"Hm…what else?...here we go…a purchase from a hole in the wall jewelry store for an engagement ring with a diamond laid in the center with two other diamonds on either side. Fancy."

"For a cop? Very fancy." Bobby looked through the rest of the history. "Logan." Bobby clicked off and clicked onto the window he had minimized.

"So that's our suspect."

"He's not very pretty."

"Most of them aren't."

"Well that's just depressing." Logan finally reached them.

"Hey guys."

"Logan."

"Hey Mike."

"What are you looking at?"

"Our suspect."

"Even for a criminal, he has an ugly mug."

"We noticed."

"The wife gonna let you off tonight?" Bobby nodded.

"She expects me home by midnight." Mike snorted and said amused,

"You have a curfew?"

"No. That's when I want to get home by. Besides, we hardly stay out past 12. Except when we decide that it's fun to get drunk beyond our wits. Then my wife gets called to drag our asses back home. I'm so glad she understands that it's all your fault."

"Hey!" Cooper watched on amused, but decided that it was time to step in.

"So Logan, what brings you over to this side of the room?"

"Now? Nothing, we've got it all settled. I'll just head over to my piece of land now. Have fun!" Bobby rolled his eyes.

"So Cooper, what are you doing today after work?"

"Let me guess, you want me to pay a visit to this hole in the wall jewelry store?"

"Correct. But you won't be alone. Alex has been bugging me to let me get more involved in the operation, but she's not exactly easy to hide when following Mike. I'll call her now and let her in on the action." He pulled out his cell phone and pressed one. "Hey Alex!...I have something that you might want to do…Yes it's part of Operation Big Belly." Bobby covered the mouthpiece and said to Cooper, "Her words, not mine…Yes Alex, I'm still here…We can swing by to get you after work…Yes, Cooper's coming too…Uh-uh…I love you too…bye." Bobby hung up the cell. "She said to come by at 530."

"Peachy. Now we just have to pass time until five."

I&J7

Around rolls five…

I&J7

"Hey Cooper…Cooper Orrefors!" Cooper jerked her head up from her hand.

"I'm awake."

"Sure you are."

"Well, that's of no relevance now. Is it five yet?" Bobby nodded.

"That's why I woke you up."

"Right. Well, then, let's go."

I&J7

They go get Alex…

I&J7

"Thank God! I get to participate more actively now! That's what I'm talking about!" Alex was sitting in the front passenger seat with Cooper driving. Alex was adamant about that fact.

"Yes honey, I know you're perfectly capable of driving. But unless you want to deliver this baby in the back of the SUV, you'll let Cooper drive." Cooper had been content to just do whatever they told her; she valued her life.

"Well we couldn't have all the fun."

"Damn straight." Bobby decided to get right down to business.

"Ok. So Cooper, you'll be going in as a girl looking for the perfect ring because your boyfriend seems to be unable to pop the question. Alex, you're her best friend, there to offer advice seeing as you're already married. And I'll come in near the end to pick you guys up. I may be in earlier if I see something's going wrong." Cooper was perplexed.

"What could go wrong?"

"Logan could come back."

"Oh." Cooper pulled up at the corner and got out. Once she reached the other side, she waited for Alex to get herself out of the SUV with the help of her husband. Cooper waved at Bobby and started towards the jewelry store after Alex had managed to extract herself from the car; Alex close behind. Cooper paused and held the door open for Alex as they entered the shop.

"Hello!" A friendly voice greeted them. The voice belonged to an elderly woman who was dressed quite eccentrically. "How can I help you?" Cooper smiled at the woman and moved towards the counter.

"My boyfriend and I are getting quite serious, and I keep waiting for him to pop the question. But he still hasn't done it. So I've decided to take matters into my own hands." The woman behind the counter smiled.

"A take charge girl. I like that! Who's your friend?"

"Alex. She's here to give me advice from the other side of the fence." The woman smiled and leaned forward to see the rings. Alex obliged and showed her.

"Oh beautiful. How long?" Alex rolled her eyes so only Cooper could see and said,

"A year."

"Oh wonderful!" She gave another look to Cooper saying that she was going to be suffering extreme amounts of pain if she didn't get going, so Cooper decided that she should cut in.

"Ma'am? I would really like to look at this one." And they puttered around the shop, looking for the design that Logan had picked. Finally, Cooper had reached the end of her tether with the old woman and asked her straight out,

"I'm looking for a ring that one of my other friends described to me that he was looking for. It had a diamond in the center with two diamonds on either side, and it had sounded like a really good idea. I was just wondering if it would match with my skin. Do you know who he bought the ring for? He keeps telling me that once he proposes, he introduce us, but with him, you'll never know when that is." A look of understanding crossed the woman's face.

"Is he a detective?"

"Yes! That's my friend!"

"Well, he asked me to keep it secret just in case anyone comes, but for you two lovely ladies, I'll tell you." Everyone leaned forward. "The woman was Italian." Alex gasped and said,

"I knew it!" Just then, Bobby entered the shop.

"Hey Cooper. Honey." And he kissed Alex on the cheek. "We have to go if we're going to make that appointment."

"Sorry to have wasted your time."

"Nonsense darling. I hope you come back with that boyfriend of yours so that he can pick out a ring for you." Cooper smiled and said,

"I will." With that, the trio left the shop. Once they were back in the SUV, Cooper asked, "Ok. The fact that the woman that Logan bought the ring for someone Italian means something, judging by your reaction." Bobby nodded his head.

"I suspected as much."

"Still not telling the newbie anything!"

"Huh? Oh. The partner that Mike had before you came is the person we're talking about." Cooper raised her hands in a shrug-like manner.

"He's planning to propose to Carolyn Barek."

AN: Yay for me for posting...yay for you for reviewing! hint, hint.