A/N: Two updates in one day! I am almost done writing this story, I just have to type it all up on here and post it. Don't worry though there is still much to come in the future, haha. I hope you all enjoy this story, and you'll have to excuse the mistakes I didn't have a beta on this chapter either. Anyway, please read and review!
One Police Plaza
Alex and Bobby walked into the bullpen, shedding their winter wear as they approached their desks.
"We still haven't established a connection between Mr. Branson and Thomas..." Alex said as they hung up their coats. Bobby shrugged, his mind working out the puzzle.
"I don't think we will, Eames," he finally said after they had sat down. Alex looked up in interest, stopping in sorting the papers on her desk. Taking a moment to think about it, Alex nodded slowly on agreement.
"Mr. Branson didn't know Thomas...but the killer may have known Mr. Branson," Alex said, letting out a sigh. "Ugh...that pretty much excludes nearly every person we have interviewed."
Bobby nodded, returning into his own head to think over the case. While Alex searched through the file for nearly the hundredth time, Bobby leaned forward, staring at the pictures that Alex withdrew. Every once in a while Bobby would take a picture from Alex's hand, asking politely with his baby-face and warm brown eyes as he held out his hand.
Alex was first to see her; she could sense the glare from across the room. First her body tingled, then the hair on her neck stood up. As she looked up from her file, Alex's eyes immediately fell on Patty. She watched her with a neutral expression, calmly receiving the cold stare Patty gave back. Finally, Alex returned her eyes to her desk, her expression unchanging.
"Bobby," she said, loudly enough to break through his thoughts. The edge in her voice was what truly penetrated Bobby's barricade of thoughts, and he looked up in a questioning look. She didn't meet his eyes, just raised her brows in slight irritation, still staring at the papers on her desk. "You have a visitor."
Bobby frowned at her obvious irritated state, shaking his head slightly in his own form of mild irritation. Did she not trust him? He knew she did, so why was she being so difficult? This was the worst; when she she was silently difficult, silently admonishing him, silently seething and brooding. Standing from his seat, Bobby waited to greet Patty.
"Hello, Patty," Bobby greeted with a polite smile. "Thanks for coming."
Patty smiled, nodding and tucking a box closer to her body. Alex frowned, feeling uneasy about this meeting. She was a little suspicious of the box, even though she was sure it had been checked when she came in, but she eyed it warily anyway before regarding Patty. She was considerably made up today; she wore more makeup than she had at their last meeting, her hair was done up nicely, and she wore very nice clothing. Alex noticed with bitterness that Patty was dressed like she was going on a date...with her partner. It annoyed her even more when Bobby led Patty to the conference room without even a glance at her. Watching Bobby's retreating form, she glared into his strong, muscular back.
As Bobby opened the glass door and let Patty in, he turned and looked back at his partner. He smiled apologetically at her, his eyes silently pleading with her. When he saw her fair face visibly soften, he gave her a real smile and turned to join Patty. As Bobby closed the door behind him, he felt a twinge of...loss? Emptiness? Sadness? He gave another wistful glance out the window of the room and at his beautiful partner sitting lonely at their desks. He briefly wondered if she felt it too.
Patty watched as Robert Goren's attention fell outside the room, and to her disappointment, his partner.
"So...is Detective Eames..." Bobby looked up at the mention of his partner. "...your girlfriend? I didn't know they allowed that here."
Bobby looked at her in pure confusion. Where had that come from?
"No, she's my partner," he said, shaking his head and chuckling lightly as if it were an absurd question. In truth, it should have been an absurd question, but to Bobby it was wishful thinking.
"Oh...you love her, though? You have feelings for her?" she continued, pressuring him. Bobby squirmed slightly, though he tried hard not to. It wasn't usual that a suspect or interviewee got to him like this, made him uncomfortable.
"Patty, what's the box for? Those aren't more pictures are they?" he asked, avoiding the question with one of his own, adding a small disarming smile at the end. Patty smiled as she looked down at the box, running a hand over the top of it.
"I brought it for you," she said, offering it to him. With brows furrowed, Bobby took the box from her and slowly lifted the lid. He frowned at the contents of the box. Inside were several pairs of winter socks on top of a stack of informational magazines. Bobby looked back at a smiling Patty. He shook his head, replacing the lid back on the box. How could he have been so stupid? He realized everything, it was crystal clear now. He understood, or at least mostly understood, why Alex was so annoyed with him, and he understood Patty's line of questioning. Bobby frowned.
'Women,' he sighed inwardly.
"Patty...I-I thought you had information on the case," he said, setting the box down between them. Patty smiled, shaking her head.
"I never said anything about the case..." she said, furrowing her brows in confusion even as she smiled up at him. Bobby frowned even further, shaking his head. That was true, but when they were talking on the phone he had assumed she had something on the case. However, it wasn't the case she had in mind. She was making advances on him.
"I just wanted to talk to you...and give you my condolences for your mother," she said with a smile of pity. Bobby snapped to attention, his face hardening, stony and cold. He hated pity, and how the hell did she know about his mother?
"Patricia, this is very inappropriate of you. You were involved in this investigation, a-and you have take my time during my work hours...y-you shouldn't have come..." Bobby said disapprovingly, shaking his head. Patty shook her head and laughed, waving it off with her hand.
"Oh, Robert, I suppose you're right." Bobby raised his brows at the unprofessional addressing of his name. "I shouldn't have come during your work hours, but I just wanted to see you. I'll go now, and see you later."
Bobby leaned back in his chair as Patty stood up.
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," he said firmly, looking up at her seriously. Patty began laughing again, shaking her head as if he was teasing her.
"Goodbye, Robert," she laughed, opening the door to the conference room.
When Alex heard the door open, her attention snapped from the website on her screen to the person emerging from it. She ignored the look Patty was giving her as she waited by the door, and without giving a reaction, Alex grabbed her laptop and the file in her arms. She saw that Bobby was still inside the room and went to join him, passing Patty by the door without a second glance. Just past the door, Alex paused on her way to the table. She turned to face Patty again. Shifting the things in her arms, Alex smiled politely, though the smile held a hint of venom for the other woman.
"Excuse us," she said sweetly with innocence, reaching for the door knob and pulling the glass door closed. She didn't stay to see the glare Patty gave her before slipping into her vulnerable grieving facade and turning to leave the squad room.
Bobby watched with amusement as the scene played out in front of him, shaking his head at his partner when she turned to meet his gaze. He watched as she silently sat down in her seat, setting her laptop down and handing him the file, having added some papers to it. Quietly and without mention of the meeting, Alex continued her search on the website. Bobby smiled, looking sideways at her.
"Don't you want to know what that was about?" he asked, chuckling lightly as Alex's eyes turned to him with her answer. She quickly masked her curiosity and shook her head.
"It was obviously meant for your ears only," she said without making eye contact and irritation building in her voice. "But whatever was said, Patty definitely left very smitten," Alex commented dryly, her eyes flashing as she stared at the computer screen. Bobby furrowed his brows, sighing loudly and putting his head in his hands, a sign of defeat. Alex watched in concern, no matter how annoyed with him she was.
"Patty...she...she gave me a gift," he started, shaking his head as he sat up and pulled the box closer, scooting towards her. He watched as she opened it and looked inside. "She asked about...m-my relationship with y-you...and somehow she knows about my mom."
Alex looked up with her brows raised, both in interest and concern. Patty had asked about their relationship? What did he say? And how the hell did she know about his mom?
"Are...are you okay?" she asked carefully, watching his face for a reaction. He merely nodded, too far in thought.
"This is her manipulation technique..." he said, shaking his head as he stared at the shiny grey tabletop, his fist going to his lips in his 'thinking pose.' "It's how she gets people close to her. It's how she got Thomas to treat her with a forced special kindness at the training sessions. She first appears vulnerable to draw you in and feel sorry for her. Then that's followed by her generosity."
Bobby looked at Alex, meeting her gaze as she listened to him. She nodded at him, thinking over the case.
"First with Thomas and the music gift card, now with you and the...socks..." she smiled slightly as she glanced in the box again. Bobby watched her with twinkling eyes, a smile curling on his lips.
"Hey, she also gave me magazines," he said with a chuckle. Alex shook her head at him as she smiled, leaning in closer.
"Did you check what she might have left inside the magazines?" she teased, raising her brows and grinning at his look of disgust.
"I'm not sure I want to now," he admitted, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. His heart leaped for joy when Alex let out a laugh that could have made the dreariest day a bright, good one. At least that's what it did for him.
"While you were in here, I looked up Thomas' MySpace. It appears he was about to release a CD titled 'I Can't Do Better Than You.' Patty probably thought it was meant for her..." Alex said, shaking her head in slight sadness. Bobby nodded, scooting his chair closer to her in order to see the screen better. "I haven't watched the video yet, I was waiting for you, and it's kind of hard to see. We may have to send it to get altered and enhanced..."
With that, she clicked to start the video. It opened up in the club with Thomas taking the stage, but the camera was set up behind him, facing the crowd. Bobby nodded in understanding as the video continued on.
"He likes to see the audience's reaction to him...that's why he sets the camera behind...He's a presentational performer and craves attention from the audience..." he explained, watching the video even closer. At the same time, both detectives leaned in to see a specific face that didn't look pleased; in fact, he looked angry. Thomas was singing to the woman seated beside the angry-faced man. Alex quickly paused the video, staring hard at the frozen footage.
"I remember seeing him at the club," she said, Bobby nodding beside her. "He was a guitar player..." Her eyes lit up as she turned her gaze to her partner, whom also had a lightbulb shining bright in his mind. "A guitar string may have been—"
"—the murder weapon, right," Bobby interrupted her, nodding as they were on the same page. The two immediately looked up at the clock in unison. 6:23.
"First thing tomorrow we can bring him in for interrogation," Alex said, nodding excitedly. It finally seemed they were getting somewhere.
"Great..." Bobby sighed in relief, leaning back in his chair in relaxation. He turned with a smile to his partner. "I'd ask you to drinks if we didn't have a suspect to interrogate in the morning..."
Alex smiled back at him, shrugging.
"I'd say yes if we didn't have a suspect to interrogate in the morning," Alex laughed. "I don't want to have to crash on your couch. You don't need me bothering you."
Bobby shook his head.
"You've done it before, Eames, and have never bothered me..." he said with a sincere smile. What he wasn't saying was that he actually enjoyed having her in his apartment when he went to bed and when he woke up. "And have I ever made you sleep on the couch?"
Alex smirked, feeling her skin involuntarily start to tingle as she thought about the few times she had slept over in his bed. He always insisted she sleep there while he slept on the couch. Shaking her head in answer of Bobby and to clear her head, Alex stood from her chair.
"No, you haven't. Do you want a ride home?" she asked, shutting down her computer and taking it under her arm.
"Sure. Let me lock up our desks and then we can go," he smiled, going to the door and opening it for her. As she passed him going out the door, she smiled up at him in thanks. Once she passed through the door, she heard the hinges of the door creaking as it closed quite closely behind her. Turning her head, she was overcome by the smell of pine, and a large, warm, electrifying hand found its place on the small of her back. Bobby was smiling down at her, and she couldn't help thinking this was how it was meant to be.
