A/N Very sorry about the delay folks. I do have a few excuses though, (not necessarily good excuses, but excuses none the less.) Being in the hospital, coming out and getting the flu. Then husband got the flu, then had some minor heart surgery. There's the usual, work, very busy this time of year in retail, Christmas, pure exhaustion, throw in a little writer's block, and there you have it. Anyway, sorry again.

Counterplay Chapter 26

Once in the sun room, Bobby turned suddenly to Alex, startling her.

"Bobby?"

Bobby was pacing as well as he could in his condition. "It's Painter, Eames."

Alex was confused. "What is, Bobby?"

"Painter. He's the one, Eames! He's the one who made me so sick! He—"

"Bobby! Slow down!" Alex told him. "You're not making any sense! How could Painter make you sick?"

"You mean other than with his 'counseling'?" Bobby said sarcastically. "The bastard did it, every time he sedated me. He practically admitted it!"

Alex looked shocked. "Bobby, I don't—"

"They found trace amounts of immune suppressant drugs in my blood. There shouldn't have been any. He stole some, and put it in my IV every time he sedated me."

"Jesus, Bobby..."

"He told me it wasn't chance that I got sick."

"Oh my God! Is he really that stupid?" Bobby gave her a look that said, yes, he could be that stupid. "Could he possibly have been just bragging, to make himself look tough?"

"Oh, he was bragging, all right. Bragging about how he almost killed me. But he didn't look so tough when he went screaming from the room!"

Alex couldn't help it. The image of Painter running from Bobby's room, scared out of his wits, cracked her up. She started laughing. Her laughter was contagious. Despite his anger, Bobby cracked a smile, remembering. When Bobby started actually grinning, Alex laughed even harder, till tears ran down her cheeks. Bobby started laughing, too, for no other reason than that Alex was laughing so hard. The more she laughed, the more he laughed. Neither could talk.

Finally Bobby said, still laughing, "Damn, Eames...that was the best laugh... I've had in...six months!"

"Me, too!" Tears still ran down her face.

A nurse came into the sunroom. "Is everything all right in here? Mr. Goren," she said very concerned. "Are you alright? Maybe you should sit down..."

"I'm okay," Bobby said. The nurse stared at them for a moment, then left. They both started snickering again, and Bobby said, "I don't know why we're laughing...it's not that funny.."

"I know," Alex said, . "It's just the image of that little runt...so what do we do now?" Alex asked.

"We bust that bastard's balls," Bobby calmly replied. "If he has any."

"Any ideas how we do that? Are there any witnesses?"

"Not that I know of. First, we have to find out if anyone saw him hanging or loitering around the pharmacy when he shouldn't have been there. Maybe you could check that out."

"I can handle that," Alex said.

"And don't worry about being discrete. I want him to start worrying."

"And what if there weren't any witnesses?"

"Then we play like there is one.. I'd rather try and find a real witness first. Either way that son of a bitch is going down."

Alex smiled. It was nice to see Bobby finally up and ready to fight. It wouldn't be long, she hoped, and the old Bobby would be back. God, it had been so long!

Xxxxx

A little later, Alex found herself in the pharmacy section of the hospital, flashing her badge around, and asking a lot of questions.

She spoke to Janice Lender, the head pharmacist, asking about Painter and if she or any of her staff had seen Painter hanging around the pharmacy.

"No, actually I haven't," Lender said, "but I will ask my entire staff."

"That'd be great," Alex told her. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to speak to them also, in addition to you."

"Of course," the pharmacist said, not particularly a fan of Painter's. "I shouldn't say this, but I hope you get that little prick."

Alex stared at her for a moment.

"Everyone hates him," Janice explained, seeing the look on Alex's face. "He's sneaky, ignorant, arrogant...you name it."

"I've seen him. My poor partner's the one who has to deal with him."

"Uh...if you don't mind my asking, why are you investigating him?"

Alex wasn't sure how much she should say, but she finally told her, "We think he may have played a part in my partner's continued illness. Possibly made it worse."

Lender shook her head. "He'll be lucky if he doesn't leave here worse off than when he got here."

Alex looked sad for a moment. "Well, I doubt that. He was in pretty bad shape when he arrived, physically and mentally. But he's a strong guy. He's doing pretty good now, and he probably knows more about psychiatry than Painter ever did."

"I've no doubt of that. Well, good luck. Like I said, hope you get him. I'll do what I can."

"Thanks," Alex said gratefully.

Xxxxxx

Later that evening, Alex reported back to Bobby.

"Well, except for the ones off today, so far no one I spoke to has seen anything suspicious, or more suspicious than normal."

"Meaning he hangs around there a lot?"

"Supposedly he's interested in one of the women who work there. She won't have anything to do with him, but he keeps coming by anyway."

"It might be enough," Bobby said. "Call Carver, fill him in, and get him up here tomorrow."

xxxxx

The next morning, Painter came barging into Bobby's room, nearly knocking over a nurse.

"Hey, watch it!" Bobby said, "you could have knocked her down--"

"Shut up!" Painter screamed, his momentum throwing him full force into a surprised and weakened Bobby, pushing him onto the bed. "And you!" he spat at the nurse. "Get out!"

The nurse looked to Bobby, making sure he was okay, and would remain so. Bobby nodded at her. "It's okay, Leisa. I'm okay, and I can handle things."

After she was gone, Painter turned back to Bobby. "You bastard! What do you mean having that partner of yours checking up on me? Huh? Huh?" He pushed on Bobby's chest, and Bobby pushed him away, standing up again to his full height. Painter shrank back a bit, but continued on his tirade. "You think you're okay?' He was furious. "You haven't seen anything yet, Buster. I'll fix you good!"

"You mean like you tried to do before, and failed?"

"Think you're so smart? There's no way anyone can prove I took those immune suppressant drugs. No one saw a thing, cause I was very careful. As sick as you were it wouldn't take much, and I took so little, it wasn't even noticed. You're just damn lucky you're alive today! If I'd have taken just a little more, you'd be fucking dead!'

"So what's your plan now?" Bobby said sarcastically. "You going to use talk therapy on me and bore me to death?"

"You smart ass. I've got a better and much more interesting way of dealing with you. I've had you transferred. In about an hour, you'll be on your way to the psyche ward. And you'll never get out! I've been writing you up lately, and have officially diagnosed you as both homicidal and psychotic."

"The only thing I'm homicidal about is the thought of killing you!" Bobby thought.

Unaware of this, Painter grinned. "I'll fix it so you never get out! And your life will be a living hell. I should've done this in the first place, instead of trying to kill you. This will be a lot more fun for me--"

"I've heard enough," ADA Ron Carver announced, coming in from just outside the door. He was followed by Eames.

Eames tried not to smile, but couldn't help it. "Doctor Painter you are under arrest for the attempted murder of a police officer...You have the right to remain silent--"

"You fucker!" he screamed again at Bobby as he resisted being handcuffed. "You set me up! You won't get away--"

"Anything you say can and will be used against you..."

"Shut up! I know what you're doing!" He continued as he was dragged out by the police, kicking and screaming the whole way.

"That should put him away for a while," Carter said smugly, then left to take care of all the details.

Alex and Bobby chatted a bit, small talk, discussing Bobby's release date.

"You know the irony of this?" Bobby asked, as things finally settled down. "Painter's going to be the one locked away in some mental ward."

"Now he'll see what he's put others through,"Alex said. "What goes around..."

"Yeah," Bobby mused. "But I wonder just how many innocents he's put in there?"

tbc