Eames parked on the street outside her building and turned off the engine. Logan leaned forward. "I'll see you guys Thursday, uh, well, I guess that's tomorrow now."

Goren turned to look at him. "Thanks, Mike. I appreciate everything you did tonight."

Eames rested her hand on his arm, which was propped on the back of her seat. "Yes, Mike. Thank you."

Logan smiled. "Not a problem."

He slid out of the car and closed the door. Eames turned to her partner. "Come on."

"Eames...I'm tired and I..."

"I have a couch. You are not staying alone tonight. So unless you'd really prefer we spend the rest of the night sitting here in the car, get out and let's go inside. It doesn't matter to me."

He hesitated. He really just wanted to...he wasn't exactly sure just what he wanted to do. His head hurt and, even more, he hurt inside, deep inside. That was a pain not even Eames could reach. There was a bottle of liquid analgesic at home with his name on it. Then he would be able to sleep.

She reached toward him and gently ran her finger down the side of his face. "Come on, Bobby."

With a heavy sigh, he found himself agreeing before he could think about it any more. They got out of the car and he waited for her to walk around to join him on the sidewalk.

Opening the apartment door, she gave him a gentle shove toward the bedroom. "You know where I put your clothes. Go get changed. You are not sitting on my couch dripping wet."

He looked down at his clothes. "I'm not dripping any more."

"Go."

While he was in the bedroom changing, she went into the bathroom, coming out with a warm, moist washcloth and a small box of first aid supplies. She set them on the coffee table and went into the kitchen. Spreading a kitchen towel on the counter, she emptied an ice cube tray onto it and folded it up. Refilling the tray and replacing it in the freezer, she picked up the makeshift icepack and returned to the living room. He had changed into a clean shirt and jeans and was now sitting on the couch. He had leaned back and closed his eyes. She set the icepack on the table, picked up the washcloth and knelt on the couch beside him. Very gently, she began to clean the blood from his face. "Look at you," she softly chided. "You're a mess."

There was a nasty purple lump over his right brow, his left eye was already bruising and the corner of his mouth was swollen and bloody. The left side of his jaw from his mouth halfway to his ear was also swollen and bruising. He had an inch-long gash near his hairline that was still oozing. He groaned softly as she ran the cloth over his bruises. Leaning over to open the first aid box, she pulled out a tube of antibiotic ointment, a cotton swab and a box of band-aids, assorted sizes. When she had finished, she returned the supplies to the box and her attention to him. He was watching her now and she smiled. "You're really going to be pretty tomorrow, after those bruises declare themselves."

He shrugged. "It...doesn't matter."

She gave that some thought. "No, it doesn't."

Even on his worst day, and she'd seen some pretty bad days, he was damned attractive. A few bruises didn't detract from that at all. She picked up the icepack and handed it to him. He placed it over his jaw, which hurt the worst, and leaned his head back, closing his eyes again. She sat back on her legs and studied him, not sure exactly what to do now. "Bobby...?"

He held up a hand and she fell silent. "It's been a hell of a night, and I'm exhausted. Can I please just go to sleep?"

"Do you think you can sleep?"

That was a good question. "Got any beer?"

She nodded. "In the refrigerator."

He got up and went into the kitchen. She moved to the corner of the couch and sat, tucking her legs beneath her. He returned, handing her a beer. She took it and watched him as he sat down on the other end of the couch. He was retreating from her, and she wasn't sure she wanted him to do that. "Why haven't you asked me anything about what he did?"

He looked at her, alarmed. "Did he hurt you?"

"I told you he didn't. But that doesn't mean the things he said didn't bother me."

"W-what did he say?"

She heard the hesitation in his voice. "Do you really want to know?"

"I-I'm not sure."

She watched him fidget uncomfortably. "I won't tell you if you don't want to know. We had a really bad day, didn't we?"

"Yeah, we did. And I'm s-sorry." He took a long drink, followed by a deep breath. "Bill saw...too much."

"Too much of what?"

"Of me. He knew the way to reach me was through you, and he hit hard and struck deep. I...I was so afraid he was going to do something to you."

"Why would he?"

He got to his feet, which she had been expecting, and he paced around the living room. She watched in silence. "Because Bill is a sadist. He gets off on seeing the pain of others, especially mine. If he thought it would get him anywhere, he'd have hurt you. The best thing you could have done was exactly what you did. You showed him a strong upper hand, made him think twice about what he was doing. You didn't give him the opportunity to seduce you, or worse." He stopped pacing and looked at her. "And you stood up for me, didn't you?"

"You know I did."

"Protected me..."

"Tried to."

"And you worried."

"I tried not to let him see that, but yes. How was Logan?"

He nodded. "He was...almost what I needed, but he was enough to keep me stable. He listened to me. He...understood." He returned to the couch and sat beside her. "He understood in a way you can't, Eames. He...he had a rough childhood, too. If I had been alone..." He shook his head. If he'd been alone, there was no telling how close to the edge he would have tread...or if he would have snapped and gone over it.

"That was a good move, calling him. I'm glad you did. When I thought you were alone..." She shuddered at the memory of the thoughts that had gone through her head. "I felt better knowing he was with you."

He nodded. "I was better because he was with me." He finished the beer, frowning. "But he's still not you."

Setting the empty bottle on the table, he sighed. Beer just wasn't strong enough and he prepared himself for another sleepless night alone with troubled thoughts and the memories that fueled his nightmares. Now, thanks to his damn brother, there were more of those memories to haunt him.

She reached toward him, tentatively. She knew he needed something from her, contact, reassurance, but she wasn't sure how much he needed, or how much he would accept. She was willing to give him whatever he needed. If there was one thing tonight had shown her, it was the depth of her feelings for him. Just the thought that something could happen to him, something totally beyond her control that would take him from her forever, had struck her a physically painful blow. There was no denying that she loved her gentle partner. And he needed her now...whether he was prepared to admit it to either of them. A gentle nudge might be all it would take for him to stop his retreat into himself.

Her fingers arrived at their destination and softly caressed his forehead. He closed his eyes. "Eames..." he said softly. "My pain...is someplace you can never reach. You...can't fix it. You can't fix me. "

"I would never presume to be that good, Goren. But in order to fix something it first has to be broken. Maybe you're a little bent, but you're not broken."

He opened his eyes to look at her. "You don't know that."

She met his eyes without hesitation. "Yes. I do. I know you better than you think I do. I know your pain is deep, but you can't say I can never reach it. After tonight, I'm halfway there."

She felt him tremble under her fingers and she leaned closer to kiss his temple. His eyes closed again. "What...what are you doing?"

"Showing you something that I learned when I was a kid."

She gently kissed the corner of his eye, then the cheekbone below it. He started to say something, but the only sound that came was a soft groan. Regrouping, he managed, "What...what did you learn?"

She slid her leg over his lap and straddled him so she could face him straight on. He gasped and opened his eyes. "Eames..."

"Shhh..." She leaned closer to kiss the lump over his right eye. "Sometimes..." She kissed his left cheek. "...you can just..." Another kiss on his bruised jaw, soft, lingering. He groaned again and brought his hands up to rest on her hips. "...kiss the pain away..." She slid her lips over to the corner of his mouth. With a groan of surrender, he turned his head toward her, capturing her mouth with his. She pressed her body into his as he responded to her kiss. He wasn't sure if her theory was right, but he was more than willing to let her try to kiss his pain away.

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He turned over and suppressed a groan. The bad thing about sleep was that when you woke up, every abused part of your body protested every movement. Slowly, he sat up on the couch and looked around. He heard movement elsewhere in the apartment and stood up, folding the blanket she'd placed on him and setting it on the pillow. He liked staying at her place because the pillow she always gave him smelled like her, and he seemed to sleep better because of it.

He went to the kitchen and leaned against the doorway, watching her. She turned from the stove to the refrigerator and almost dropped the eggs she was holding. "I didn't hear you get up."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

She put the eggs away and looked at him. "How do you feel?"

"My entire head hurts."

"You fell asleep on the couch and I wasn't about to wake you, so I left you sleeping. Did you sleep well?"

"I'm amazed I slept at all. I didn't expect to."

"But you did."

"Thanks to you."

"Now tell me how you feel."

He gave it some thought. "I feel...better than I thought I would for a long time. There seems to be some merit to your kissing theory."

"I told you," she smiled, turning back to the stove. "How do you want your eggs?"

"Scrambled is fine. I, um, I'm going to take a shower. Maybe my head will stop pounding."

"There's tylenol and ibuprofen in the medicine cabinet over the sink."

"Ok. Thanks."

He disappeared from the doorway. She finished the eggs and dished them onto two plates. As she set them on the table, the phone rang. She picked it up. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's Logan. I thought Goren wasn't going anywhere today, or is he just not answering?"

"He slept on my couch last night."

"Oh. How is he doing?"

"He's better today."

"Good. I was kind of worried about him. I, uh, told Deakins you guys took your phones swimming. I'll let you explain it to him."

"Gee, thanks, Mike."

"Any time."

"Everything quiet today?"

"Yeah. Things are always boring around here when you and Goren are elsewhere."

She laughed. "Nice to know we're missed."

"Well, I'm getting a dirty look from my partner. She thinks I'm avoiding my paperwork."

"You are."

"You girls are too smart. I'll talk to you later."

"Good-bye, Mike."

She hung up the phone as he came up behind her and slid his arms around her waist. She leaned back into him. "So, tell me...did I reach your pain?"

He sighed and rested his cheek against her head. "I didn't think anyone could. I thought I was in for a long stretch of sleepless nights and waking nightmares. But you chased all that away, at least for now."

"Does it still hurt?"

"Yes. But it's not a raw open wound anymore. Just a dull ache, and I can handle that."

She lightly ran her fingers along his arms and smiled when he trembled. Kissing the side of her head, he murmured, "You like cold eggs?"

She laughed. "Ok, fine, Goren. Eat your breakfast."

He gave her a squeeze before releasing her. He sat at the table and she ran her fingers through his damp hair before sitting across from him. He smiled at her, reflecting about how much better he really did feel. And it was all because of her.

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A/N: It's not over yet :-) Just wanted to toss in a bit of fluff first...