DISCLAIMER: in the first chapter...

A/N: Thank you to all who reviewed and to those who've read but didn't. And remember, don't fight the pull from that bluish purple bottom... it's calling you!

HEARTS UNDEFINED

by bloodymary2

CHAPTER 10: Confirming suspicion…

Deakins first reaction was to pull them from the case.

Both of his detectives argued against it. After all, if the killer had his sights set on the pair, removing them from the investigation wouldn't achieve anything. It had taken some time, but the captain had finally conceded. He wasn't happy about it, though.

Jimmy had left it perfectly clear that they would be assigned protective details should he find it necessary. Knowing when to bow down, Alex and Bobby had both agreed to their boss' condition and went back to work.

Armed with a photo of their suspect, the best frame the computer techs had been able to obtain from the crime scene footage, Goren and Eames reinterviewed all witnesses and coworkers.

No one remembered seeing that man.

They revisited the florist responsible for their mysterious rose. Ronald, the delivery boy, had recognized the man, but was unable to add much that would help the detectives. The suspect had spoken little; there was nothing strange about his behavior and no indication of his profession by his appearance alone.

With no other options, the brass had decided to release the man's picture to the media, hoping to appeal to the population's good will. After that, it was sit and wait for the phones to start ringing.

And ring they did.

Two days glued to the phone, though, brought by nothing but empty clues that led to nowhere. Captain Deakins and Detectives Goren and Eames were reconsidering the move when another present arrived at One PP's eleventh floor.

No prints…

No indication to their suspect's identity…

Nothing but a bunch of pictures.

Of Alex and Bobby…

"Okay… I'm listening. What is your take on this?" Captain Jimmy Deakins stood facing both his detectives. His back was straight, arms crossed and his frown in place. There was anger simmering just beneath the surface of his composed façade and Goren could see that their boss was done with waiting.

Said detective squirmed a little on his seat and cast a glance Eames' way.

She ignored him.

Actually, she had been aloof since they had received the single rose almost two weeks prior and he was having a hard time reading her. Superficially, she didn't seem particularly affected by all this mess, but her altered behavior indicated otherwise. What, exactly, had gotten to her, was something Goren didn't even dream of guessing.

Reading her had never been as easy as reading the rest of the world.

He turned back to face Deakins.

"It's personal." The captain's frown deepened. Seeing this, Bobby shook his head lightly. "No… Not personal for Alex and me, but for him."

He pulled three pictures from his brown portfolio and showed them, side by side, to the other occupants of the office.

"With these killings… He wasn't trying to send a message or, or a warning. To him, it was personal. He is recreating a moment in his life that he considers of the utmost importance." He put the other pictures away and took a closer look to the one portraying the last couple found.

"The way he took time to position the bodies." He passed then the picture to Alex. "The way Jack is holding Melinda… He's…hum… protecting her. And she is letting him."

"He wanted that?" His partner had finally turned to face him.

"He chose strong people." Bobby met her gaze. "Lawyers, cops, doctors… Their careers were important to them. Any… Any kind of - relationship between these people would have been secondary in their lives."

"He disapproves that?" Deakins uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. Neither detective turned his way, though. Their eyes still held contact.

"No. He was probably one of those people… Until he met someone he… he thought he could share his life with." Bobby averted his gaze. His left hand continued to gesture, almost like it possessed a life of its own. "He wanted to believe it was possible to balance the two."

"Romance and career?" Something had shone in her partner's eyes before he had chosen to turn away. Alex wasn't sure she was supposed to have seen it; his understanding.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"But it didn't work…"

"Probably not." He sighed. "I think he's a lawyer; hence the first victims. He watched them a long time before acting." Goren leafed through some of his notes. "He was trying to determine if they had been really together."

Yeah, a lawyer…

Probably not anymore.

"He thought they were or was he… I don't know, disappointed that they weren't?" After so long working together, Eames found that following his trail of thought came naturally for her. Reading his posture, on the other hand, proved to be harder; she had yet to stop her intense analysis of her taller companion's far away look.

"They weren't together. If we could figure it out, so could the killer." He paused for a long minute before twisting his upper body completely to the left, so that Alex could fall to the center of his line of sight. "Suddenly he was reliving that devastating moment in his life…"

"He snapped."

Bobby consented.

"The torture was his twisted way of trying to make them see his point."

"Dangerous situations bring people closer together." A sad smile flourished upon his lips.

"The placing of the bodies afterwards is, to him, the way to allow them to be united in death, the way they never managed to do in life."

"And the rose?" Deakins' voice broke through the cocoon they had been submerged in until then. Alex and Bobby's heads snapped in his direction, recognizing in their boss' stare, incredulity.

"It symbolizes the love that the killer believed existed between them."

"Yes, that is good to know and all, if it's in fact what happened, but why contact you when he didn't with the others? Why the rose and the pictures of you two working together?" The fair headed man leaned his frame against his oak desk.

The tall detective shrugged.

"If he is trying to make us understand…" Uncertainty, speculation. Alex allowed her head to fall forward, blond hair obscuring part of her face. Still, Bobby could see her biting her lower lip, deep in thought.

"It is because he believes we could be in a position to understand. Better than anyone he has met until now." He paused, lowered his own head twisted some papers with his left hand.

There was a moment of silence.

"He thinks we are a couple…" Bobby's voice was low, almost a whisper

.

Two pairs of eyes snapped up to meet his in surprise, having clearly heard his statement, despite the volume with which it was spoken.

"Why?"

"Are you?"

While the small woman had a confused look etched on her delicate features, the captain had a hard look of disapproval on his. His jaw was clenched and his arms, once again, crossed. Seeing the lack of response from Goren, who had his body still twisted sideways and the honest confusion from Eames, Deakins relaxed a little.

"How do we flush him out?" The subject had been discarded, not to be mentioned again. Not yet anyway.

"We make him see we are not…"

Alex gave him a small nod, agreeing with his decision.

"No way." Deakins shook his head in the negative. "Are you two actually considering this through?" Their determined looks were answer enough. "You are going to invite a killer to come after you… A delusional man, who has tortured and killed six other people?"

"We know how he looks like…" Alex's words didn't falter.

"We have a pretty good idea of how he will strike..." Bobby closed his portfolio. "And we have to get him before some other couple catches his attention the wrong way.

Again, she nodded, backing her partner up completely.

Deakins only sighed.

He didn't seem to win any arguments against these two.

"Okay. But we do this the right way. That means surveillance, back up and some way to keep you both 100 safe." He had returned to his seat by the time he finished and, giving a final 'no-arguments-allowed' look, he added. "Are we understood?"

Yes, sir.