Death Roe 4x15

Goren looked up from the files at the sound of a kick reverberating down the hall. Concerned, he stood and made his way from the conference room to where the noise had originated. When he finally rounded the last corner, Eames was leaning against the now thoroughly in it's place vending machine. It was easy to see his partner was distressed.

Of course, now that he thought about it, Bobby probably should have been more worried when she hadn't come back from her breather 20 minutes ago. The pair had been working for hours (long after most of MCS' detectives had gone home) to unearth concrete evidence of Mrs. Mailer's long standing sexual abuse from her father. Carver had said it would add to his charges and further prove his motive before giving them a cheery wave and running home to his wife. They'd been poring over statements from neighbors and friends attesting to the man's aggressiveness and her erratic behavior. Eventually Eames had jumped to her feet, muttered about getting some air, and bolted. Goren's initial interest passed and he'd been reabsorbed in the documentation of the little girl's trauma.

Seeing her in this state reminded him, and he felt a tickle of guilt in the back of his mind. Sweeping his eyes over her unsettled figure, Goren sauntered over to her warily. Her head jerked up when she noticed his movements. Alex gave him an embarrassed smile, gesturing over her shoulder at the candy machine.

"It wouldn't give me my skittles." She offered lamely, letting her hair conceal her face. He nodded slowly.

"Right, and we all know that's a viciously punishable offense." Eames rolled her eyes, and a little of the tension seemed to fall from her shoulders. Noting this as a good sign, Goren took his position leaning on the opposite wall directly in front of her. He remained silent, waiting for her to collect her thoughts and make the first move. They waited several minutes, until she could finally get out her objections.

"It's shit!" was her first coherent sentence. "How could no one see the bastard was using her as his own living sex doll! And those people that just watched and did nothing—" She cut herself off with a guttural noise of frustration, smacking her hand hard against the side of the already abused snack dispenser. Goren remained in contemplation of her as she took steadying breaths.

The anger she was expressing wasn't just coming from horror of the chef's monstrous actions (though it would certainly be enough to warrant this response on it's own). Somewhere in her mind Eames was blaming herself for something, guilt mingling with the fury. Why she had this violent self-reproach wasn't clear yet, but he planned to find out.

"What's bothering you?" He asked succinctly. Alex sent him a warning glare and wheeled to face the machine. Goren tried to get it out better this time. "I mean, besides the shit he put her through."

"What, I'm not allowed to be empathetic?" She snapped without looking at him.

Getting annoyed at how she kept biting his head off, he said "Don't insult my intelligence. I can tell there's something else." Her only response was to put her hands on the display window, resting her forehead against the cool glass. A sense of terrible déjà vu overcame him as he recalled a similar moment after the Croydon incident two years ago. "Well?" He tried more comfortingly. His wonderings were confirmed when she began to speak again.

"I didn't like her," Eames admitted quietly, words muffled due to the fact her back was still to him. "At the beginning, I didn't like her. I didn't understand how she could be so accepting of Joshua's death. When I lost my husband," Goren blinked, "I was going out of my mind to get to the bottom of it. I didn't realize she was just so... defeated. And... I don't know...." Alex sighed, and he knew the next revelation would be the most difficult for her to voice. "She was too flirty for my tastes. I judged her. I looked down on her because she was overly sexualized, and I don't know why... exactly. I didn't try to understand her!" She finished with remorse.

"You're ashamed of your assumptions now you realize it wasn't her fault."

"Funnily enough, you getting in my head doesn't make me feel any better about this, Goren." Alex pointed out, though most of her venom had evaporated by now.

"Sorry," He said, hands held up in sincere apology and a small smile on his face. It grew once he saw it had coaxed one from her in the reflection. Crossing the hall, thankful for the practically deserted state of the squad room, Bobby gently turned her around to look at him. No evidence of tears, and the lines of her face were beginning to smooth. Bolstered by this, he jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Do you want to go, I can take care of the rest." Eames shook her head, though with a gratefulness on her features that reached her eyes.

"Nah, it shouldn't be much longer anyway. We have quite a case for them already."

"Thai delivers 'til two?"

"You read my mind."

Did you guys catch the foreshadowing for Vacancy and Amends? I tried to make it subtle, and I wasn't sure if Goren knew about her marriage before this, so I left that ambiguous. Hope people enjoy my post-eps, and keep reviewing!