--
Alex stirred from her sleep when she felt the bed shake a little. She was lying on her belly, her head was turned toward Bobby, and her arms were tucked under her pillow. She opened her eyes, saw Bobby slowly creeping out of bed, and reached out to him. He stopped his movement when he felt her hand on his arm, so she slid closer to him, running her hand over his chest and pressing against it so he would lie back down.
Once he was on his back, she stretched out along side of him as he put his arm around her back and rested his hand on her waist. They were both still naked, and the sheet and light blanket were pulled up just to their hips.
"Where were you sneaking off to?" She kissed his chest then put her head back down.
"Uh, just...getting up." He squeezed her waist a little.
She leaned over him and looked at the clock. "You get up at five-fifteen?"
"I get up when I wake up. Today it's five-fifteen."
She noticed tension in his voice so he propped herself up on her elbow and studied his face. He wouldn't make eye contact with her.
"You still worried about all this?" She draped a leg over his and ran her foot along his calf.
He sighed deeply so she put her head back on his chest and waited for him.
"What happens now?" The caution in his voice made her smile to herself. He sounded so nervous, something she wasn't used to hearing in his tone.
"You mean, when will we know if I'm pregnant?" She slowly ran her hand back and forth across his chest.
"Yeah."
She propped back up on her elbow. "Well, the thing is, is that I'm still not on a regular schedule since I had Nathan. Before I got pregnant, I was like clockwork, every - "
"Twenty-three to twenty-five days." He finished her sentence for her. Her eyes widened and her jaw unhinged then grew into a wide smile. He smirked at her; so proud to have been able to shock her.
"I know you're a genius and all, but THAT was scary."
"And you mean to tell me that when you walk in to work each day, you can't tell the mood I'm in by the way I say 'good morning' or by the look on my face?" He dropped his hand behind her and began to make small circles on her lower back.
She thought about what he said and shook her head. "But still, Bobby...to know when I have my period?"
"What can I say, I'm just observant, and I pay attention to details."
She nodded and smiled. "Anyway..."
"Anyway..." He smirked again.
"Since I had Nathan, my periods have been erratic. Once it was nineteen days from the one before, then the next one was nearly six weeks later...and I have no idea when I'm ovulating during all this craziness."
"Damn."
"Yeah. So my last period was", she paused furrowed her brow while she counted back, "twelve days ago. So..." She trailed off and shrugged her shoulders.
"So we wait."
"So we wait," She concurred.
--
A few days later…a Saturday.
Bobby looked at his ringing phone, then flipped it open.
"Hi." He couldn't help the small smile that betrayed his need for discretion.
"I'm just calling you back. Am I catching you at a bad time?"
"No - no, not at all. Lewis and I are just working on his latest pet project." He leaned his hip against the car; Lewis looked up at his friend and shook his head.
"What's he have?"
His smile grew larger, he was picturing her face as she heard the mention of a muscle car. "It's a '68 Shelby."
"GT Five Hundred?!" He heard her excitement.
"Yup." He replied proudly.
"Don't even tell me it's a fastback."
"Okay, I won't tell you."
"Goren." She was exasperated.
He laughed. "Yes, it's a fastback, and before you ask…it's lime gold metallic."
She heard Lewis holler something and Bobby continued, "Lewis said you can come by anytime to take a look or lend a hand."
"Well, tell him thank you, but I don't want to intrude on your 'male bonding'."
He chuckled a little, then walked away from Lewis and spoke quietly, "Um, can I see you later?"
Alex thought of Bobby and what he must look like right then. She pictured him in old jeans and work boots, with a t-shirt under a flannel long sleeved shirt. She imagined his hair to be messy, and sporting a nice five o'clock shadow from not shaving for a couple of days. Her whole body flushed as adrenaline flowed deep inside her. My God, I've got it bad for this guy.
"What do ya have in mind?" Her tone was suggestive and he picked right up on it.
He walked outside to get further away from Lewis. "Now how am I supposed to get any work done with you talkin' like that?"
She gave him a sexy laugh and he felt his cock respond immediately as she answered him, "Oh, am I distracting you?" Then she added innocently, "I didn't mean to."
"Bullshit, you didn't!"
"I'm sorry. You know what, why don't you come over later and I'll give you a proper apology then."
"You're a naughty girl, you know that?" His voice was deep with arousal.
"Mmmm, and that's just the way you like me."
He sighed into the phone, "You're killing me here, Eames."
She laughed again. "I'll be waiting…" She hung up.
Bobby stood there for a few minutes to try to settle himself down. He knew Lewis would have a lot of questions for him when he went back inside the garage. After all, his friend knew about his crush on his partner. And now, after witnessing that phone call, Lewis was aware that there was more to the story.
Bobby casually strolled back into the garage. Lewis was waiting for him.
"So, how long has this been goin' on?"
Bobby studied his best friend. He knew he could confide in him, but he was still uneasy.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Lewis." He made his way over to the hood of the car, then leaned in to get back to business.
Lewis straightened up. "Don't give me that fuckin' bullshit, Bobby. I've known you long enough to know when you've got a girl. And based on what I just heard…let me tell you…you don't have a girl…this girl's got you."
Bobby paused and looked at his friend. He hesitated a little longer before he spoke. "Lewis, you have no idea."
Lewis opened a beer, than looked at Bobby for a few seconds before he spoke. "You know what I think?" He waited for Bobby to respond, which he did by nodding his head. "I think you and detective Alex have finally realized that there is so much more to life than just being work partners."
Lewis waited for Bobby to respond. "Go on."
"And…I think that you and she have finally done something about it…but now you don't have a clue about what to do next."
The words were out of Bobby's mouth before he had a chance to think, "She might be pregnant."
Lewis stumbled backwards and choked on the sip of beer he was taking. "Dude! I guess I'm right."
"Yeah, but what the hell do I do now?" Bobby leaned against the work bench and crossed his legs.
"What do you want to do?"
Bobby gave him a look of frustration. "You're not a fuckin' shrink, Lewis, don't try to play me like that."
Lewis took another sip of his beer. "No, man, I'm not tryin' to do anything. I'm hoping I can help you sort out what's goin' on up in that head of yours. Because if there's one thing I do know, it's that you must be having some crazy thoughts right now."
Bobby pursed his lips and nodded. "I know there are so many ways we can make this great, or fuck it up. And I do not wanna fuck this up."
"When will you know?"
"We don't know", Bobby waved his arm in the air, "long story".
"And what if she's knocked up?"
He started to pace. "No clue…either way, I have no clue as to what we're doing."
"Why is that?"
Bobby gave him an exasperated look. "Stop, Lewis."
"I'm just asking", he said as he shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know." He paced a few more times. "Listen, I gotta go." He didn't wait for Lewis to say goodbye, he just walked away.
--
Eames' place…later that night.
He rolled off of her and onto his back as he caught his breath. He looked her way. "You're incredible, you know that?"
She inched closer to him and pressed herself against him as she left small kisses on his chest. "Right back at ya."
There was so much he wanted to ask her but he didn't know how to start. He bit his lower lip as his brain took him far away from her. She noticed how still he was so she picked her head up to peek at him, and she knew immediately that he was lost in his thoughts. She put her had back down, wrapped her arm over his chest, and listened to his heart beat. She knew she had to give him some time.
Alex was aware that a lot of time had passed, she figured it was close to an hour. She decided enough was enough, they had to talk at some point. She shifted position but that didn't seem to break his concentration. Deciding on a more aggressive approach, she climbed over him to get out of bed then went to the bathroom. She was still naked when she came back in to the room and she noticed she had his attention. Before getting back into bed, she casually walked around the room, picked their clothes up off the floor, folded them neatly, then put them on her chair.
She looked back over at him and saw that his eyes were raking over her body. She gave him a smile and headed back to the bed. She began to climb back over him, making sure to scrape her body against his in the process. His arms came up and stopped her right on top of him, then he held her there in place. She snuggled down on to him and wrapped her arms under his back. "I love you." "I love you, too."
His arms tightened around her. "What happens if you're pregnant, Alex?"
"Then we have a baby." She lifted her cheek off his chest, then rested her chin there so she could get a look at him. He slid her off of him then rolled onto his side so they were facing each other.
"To us… what happens to us if you're pregnant."
Sometimes she really hated being the voice of reason. She didn't have all the answers but right then, he was looking to her for each and every one.
"We'll raise the baby together…if that's what you want. Is that what you want?"
"Is that what you want?"
Neither of them were willing to let their guard down.
"Hey…no fair. That's answering a question with a question." She stroked his cheek and let out a small giggle.
"How fucked up are we, huh?"
"I don't know…how fucked up are we?" She smirked at him, hoping he got her intent.
He chuckled. "Ah, another question."
He became serious again, "And what if you're not pregnant? What happens then?"
"Bobby…do you really need all the answers right now?"
He couldn't help his response. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." His patience with her flip-flopping on their status was wearing thin. He's abided by her wishes all along, but he felt he deserved more of an answer than he'd gotten in the past.
She attempted to move away, to get up, but he stopped her by holding onto her by her waist. "Please don't walk away from this conversation, Alex." He was still speaking in his usual quiet voice, but inside his anger was building exponentially.
"I'm not...ugh...just let me get up." She squirmed around and he released his grip on her.
"Wow." His voice was dripping with contempt. He sat up in bed and watched her as she went to her closet and threw on a robe.
"Don't be like that, Bobby." She spun around as she was tying the robe.
"Me?! Look at you! The second I ask about the future you jump away from me like the bed was on fire!"
"Can't we just take things one step at a time?" Her head was tilted and her hands were folded in front of her.
He got up and began putting his clothes back on in a fury. She dropped her head down and shook it.
"Don't shake your head at me! What I'm asking shouldn't be that hard for you to answer." He stared at her as he buckled his belt, then he sat down to put on his socks and shoes.
"Bobby."
He looked up at her. "What?! What is it, Alex?! Tell me now, okay. You tell me what you want out of this...out of us...right now."
She fought back tears. "I love you, Bobby, I do."
"That's not what I asked." He stood up and walked to the bedroom door. He turned back to her, but she was still facing the other way. "I love you, too."
He started out of the room but she called him back. He turned back around, leaned against the doorframe, and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
"I'm not goin' anywhere on us." She sat down on the end of the bed and crossed her legs. "It's just...I'm scared."
"Of me?" He was still angry.
"Of a lot of things." As she spoke, he watched her wringing the tie of her robe. "I'm not scared of you, but I am scared of us...of making that commitment."
"And...and you don't think I'm afraid of that?" His voice softened.
"I'm sure you are, but I'm also sure we're afraid for different reasons."
"So, talk to me. Tell me what's going on." He shifted from one side of the door to the other.
She shook her head. "Right now...I can't."
He looked at her for a minute before he spoke. "You've, ah, you've got to do better than that, Alex."
She put her head down.
He turned to leave, and this time she let him go.
--
