Disclaimer: They're not mine but I do play with them.
A/N Any errors or inconsistencies are my own.
Ch.10 Almost the Whole Ball Game
Previously on Law and Order: Criminal Intent...
Bobby and Alex exchanged a glance; more convinced now than ever that the evidence was leading to only one conclusion. Alex subtly nodded her assent and Bobby took a deep breath, preparing to tell a fantastic tale.
Staying curled round Alex, Bobby gestured for Mike and Megan to get comfortable. "Take a seat, guys... Alex and I want to tell you a story... it's... it's all about something that happened way before either of you joined Major Case. Once upon a time, about six or so years ago, there was a lost, little boy. His name was..."
Logan and Wheeler looked stunned.
Mike recovered first. Perching on the edge of his seat, he fixed his gaze on Bobby asking "A kid? You're sure? How can a kid be responsible for all this mess?"
Bobby smiled and securing Alex's hand in his own, he gave it a gentle squeeze as he centered his attention on Mike. "You gotta remember what we're dealing with. This kid is highly intelligent, bright and practised at pulling the wool over people's eyes – thanks to his Dad..."
Megan still looked a little sceptical. "You sure you're sure, Bobby? I trust your judgement but still... a kid?!"
Bobby looked like he'd been expecting not to be believed from the very moment he'd worked out who was behind this complicated, exotic ruse. And a ruse was exactly what Bobby believed it to be. The reason though... the reason for the elaboration and complication was not yet clear. And nor would it be until Bobby and his mini-me met face to face. Mano a minor. At least, that's what he thought...
Alex jumped into the pregnant pause. "This kid is way beyond his years, Mike. He might only be seventeen now but he's seventeen going on forty. And he feels like he's got unfinished business. With Bobby." She squeezed back; lacing her fingers through Bobby's a little tighter. "I kid you not... no pun intended... this boy is a complex individual, a product of a very pressured upbringing and a Father who was a role model in all the wrong ways possible. I get the feeling... stop me if I'm overstepping here, Bobby... that this is all about fathers and influences and..."
Bobby continued the thought reflectively, "...and I'm probably the male with the most influence in his recent years, apart from the Father who only tried to create a being in his own fevered image of perfection."
Turning to Alex, he tugged gently on the hand he held, pulling her closer... and closer. "I think you got it, Alex..." he breathed, excited brown eyes sinking into hers, as he leaned in for a salutary, celebratory, deliberately sexy kiss.
'God, he gets me every time... each time he gets this close I forget how to breathe! What am I – a teenager??!! I should...mumbph... stop thinking Alex!!! Enjoy... feel...' The kiss itself looked perfectly acceptable to Megan and Mike – chaste even. But Bobby had a way of letting Alex know just what he was thinking. It was definitely 'in his kiss'... the way he nibbled gently, traced softly, sucked just a little suggestively, sipped seductively... and all before he made any attempt to seek entrance.
Mike cleared his throat emphatically and very obviously, "Uh, guys? Bobby? Alex?", gave up trying to reach the stratosphere – since that's certainly where they were by now, the way the kiss was going – and stuck a couple of fingers between his teeth, giving his best New York 'Cab' whistle.
Megan coughed suspiciously, trying – and failing - to cover her laughter at Bobby and Alex's matching sheepish faces. Mike out and out grinned. He liked seeing Bobby like this. It was good for him. Alex was good for him. Idly, he watched as Alex removed lipstick from Bobby's lips with her thumb as he rested his forehead on hers, getting his breath back. It sure looked like their relationship was going from strength to strength. He wondered just how serious it had gotten and new better than to ask. Bobby would never be one for locker-room talk and Alex wouldn't be likely to share that with Megan. Time would tell.
"You two finished?" he asked, arching an eyebrow high over one eye, "'Cos we've still gotta work out how to get this guy... uh, kid... before he does anymore damage to your currently less than stellar reputation. You don't need anything else adding to your police jacket, unless it's another commendation..."
Alex shot Mike a murderous look, hackles rising, about to launch into very vocal support of her Partner... until Bobby squeezed her hand, letting her know 'it's okay', he wasn't taking offence at Mike's comments.
Wryly, Bobby retorted "It's going to take a lot more than another reprimand for me to beat your record, Mikey." Mike tried to look wounded, but in the face of Alex and Megan's giggles, he really couldn't pull it off.
"True enough... Are we quits now?"
"Quits, Mike." Bobby cast his eye over their little group and settled on the quietest, "Megan, what are you thinking?"
Megan looked kinda surprised to be brought into the planning like this. After all, she wasn't as tight with Bobby and Alex as her own partner was. Still, it intrigued her – the situation and the chance to meet the kid who, so far, had bested the great and good Bobby Goren.
She mused a little while, mulling over what Alex had said and what she knew, so far of the case, keen to provide an insight that Bobby, and the others, would value.
"If, as you say Alex, fathers and sons are at the root of all his misguided and misdirected activity...and I think you are right...then it's possible he's waiting for his 'Dad' a.k.a. you Bobby, to call him out on his behaviour."
Megan sat back, having delivered this little nugget, a mere seed of an idea requiring a little tender loving care, a little water, to germinate into a full-on theory. Bobby looked intrigued by the concept and sought unspoken agreement from Alex and Mike. Alex looked approvingly at Megan, impressed at her development since partnering with Mike. It seemed the two of them were very good for each other.
Mike turned to Megan, proudly delivering a gentle fist-bump to her shoulder. "I think Freckles has a point there, Bobby. If you think about it, he's been escalating all his escapades until you couldn't ignore him. Classic teenager... don't you remember behaving like this when you were a younger, just to get a little attention from the parental units?" Immediately the words left his big, thoughtless mouth, Mike winced and tried to frantically back-peddle, looking Bobby straight in the eye.
"Gees, I'm sorry Bobby... didn't think before I spoke and slipped a size nine straight in..."
Alex smirked a little sympathy and a little enjoyment at Mike's discomfort. "It's okay Mike, Bobby's not so freaky about his family history since he's been enjoying the love of a very good woman. That's fair to say, isn't it Bobby?"
Bobby smiled, one of the genuine ones that crinkled his eyes at the corners and quirked his lips endearingly. "Fair, Alex...and completely true." He turned his attentions to Mike.
"Don't sweat it, Mike. My family history reads like Shakespeare comic-tragedy with the accent on the tragedy. We all know it but I'm learning to concentrate a little more on the here and now. But I think Megan is right. He's acting out and it's time to call him on it."
Alex caught on. "If it is who we think it is, and if he still has the same needs and wants as he did when we met him, then I think I know exactly what will can entice him out into full view."
Bobby seconded Alex's opinion. "There is one thing I can think of that was so important to this kid at the time. The one thing he wanted above all and the one topic we bonded over. If I send this kid an invitation that shows I remember, that I haven't forgotten him, I think he'll be intrigued enough to come meet me."
Mike frowned, "It all sounds great, Bobby but how are you going to get a message to him and his friend? So far, he's done all the contacting and the trail leaving."
Megan and Alex leaned forward, intrigued to see how Bobby would overcome this small but critical obstacle. But it was Megan who supplied the answer.
"He's what? Seventeen? Then he's got the one thing no teenager would be without..." The over-forties brigade stared at her with various degrees of perplexity. "Oh come on Guys... a cell phone! He's got to have a cell phone. And if it's on a plan, then we can trace it and the number and that's how you send him your invitation. SMS."
Alex sat up a little straighter, tucking her hair behind her left ear, visibly thinking. Could it be so simple? To send him a text message and resolve all this angst?
"Mike shook his head in disbelief. "Nah, he's not gonna make it that easy for us, is he?"
Megan shook hers more vehemently, leaning forward, gesticulating eagerly. "Yes. He is. Remember Mike... Bobby..." Here eyes swivelled between the two men, under Alex's thoughtful gaze. "He wants Bobby's attention. He's bright but he knows you're brighter, Bobby. He's going to leave an avenue open that means you can come to him. He's going to expect you to find a way."
Megan turned to Bobby, entreating hand outstretched, "He's going to expect that you won't dismiss the obvious hidden in all his clever antics..."
Bobby rested his elbows on his knees and his chin in one hand, eyes half closed, head cast to his left, thinking it through. "You could be right, Megan. I'm so used to seeing Machiavelli in the actions of humankind that it often takes some else to see the obvious in someone's actions."
Alex brightened, reaching for her cell phone, dialling the tech desk at 1PP, "Let's see if our little suspect has joined the 21st century media frenzy... Hey, JJ, can you search all cell phone providers for a phone plan registered to..."
The next morning at 1PP
Alex strode into the conference room where the others were gathered round the evidence board. "Hey guys, I got the full details from the tech guys... so we got cell number and an address... and from the address the DMV records..."
"and the hip bone's connected to the thigh bone..." Mike's surprisingly melodic voice intoned. "Yadda, Yadda... give us the number and we'll see if Bobby can manage to send a text message to the wunderkind..."
Megan held her hand out for Bobby's phone... "Hand it over... and I'll type." Megan stood expectantly, waiting for Bobby to hand over the unit. Alex looked at Bobby's just slightly pouty belligerent little boy face and had to a laugh. "Megan, despite the rumors in the bull pen, he can manage a text message. Granted, it's that or talk and he doesn't do text speak but apart from that, he's pretty competent."
Bobby wasn't sure whether to go with the compliment or address the slur on the abilities of his gender and in the end, chose to rise above. With a pleasant smile at Alex, which only held a mild promise of the retribution to be extracted later, he turned to Megan. "I can manage to use this thing to send a message. Just ask Alex..." He left that one hanging as two heads swivelled to observe the delicate rosy hue on her cheeks. And the pink tongue that darted out in Bobby's direction with the speed of a five-year olds taunt.
"It's just... the message will get him where we want him... time and venue etc... but I really want to do something that really gets his attention and lets him know I remember him. Give it a personal twist..." By now Bobby was gesticulating wildly, big hands wind-milling and long legs pacing a track round the conference room.
His partners watched as Bobby thought his way through how to get his quarry to somewhere appropriate for the conversation they needed to have. Somewhere that would mean something, have relevance and would show him that he'd not been forgotten over these past years. In fact, Bobby had never forgotten this bright boy – and never would.
He turned back to the room and, deliberately making eye contact with Alex, Megan and finally Mike, he said "Mike, you still have a lead on Yankees tickets?"
He looked a little puzzled but agreed nonetheless, "I do. Sure. When for...and why?"
Bobby thought about the first carefully and ignored the second. "They have a Sunday game this week. Against the Angels, right, Mike? Can you get tickets for that?"
"Sure, no problem. You want I get four?" Mike was already wincing at the potential outlay – he hoped expenses would cover it – and the more costly drain on the goodwill of his supplier. "And again I ask...why?"
Alex jumped in, "Because apart from Mensa level IQ's, difficult childhoods and a unique view on the ways of the world there's one other thing that our two bright boys have in common. And that, my co-conspirators, is baseball."
A/N2 This chapter is a little short but essential to the finale. Thanks for your patience with the story and for the reviews so far. Keep them coming. Thanks, Claire.