Goren ambled along the path, cautious but not alarmed in any way. His eyes scanned the area, ever vigilant, but he was alone. Alone, but not lonely. Therein was the difference. In his life, he had always walked down a path no one else could follow. Son of a schizophrenic mother and apathetic father, brother to a man who could have had everything but threw it all away for nothing, an outsider to the world of normalcy...a life filled with failed relationships, broken partnerships, awkward interactions with the world at large...a lonely life.

He wandered down the path, watching the trees, the ground, the sky. It could be a forest path through the Catskills, the Poconos, the Rockies...he loved places that offered solitude. The hustle and bustle of the city throbbed with energy, and he thrived on that. But sometimes, he craved a solitude he could never find in New York, not even in the parks he loved. So he'd take off to walk along the beach, hike in the woods, sit on a mountain and enjoy a bird's-eye view of a world that did not judge him.

Coming to a clearing, he sat down on a fallen log, resting his elbows on his knees and looking at the ground at his feet. Dirt, leaves, bark, grass...but no insects. He loved to watch the busy scurry of ants and beetles, listen to the hum of bees and flies, study the activity of a spider in its web, search for the unusual—walking sticks, mantises, anything odd...anything that didn't quite fit in, like him.

But there were no insects here. He heard no animals moving among the trees. No squirrels chasing one another, no chipmunks, rabbits, or deer, not even a bird. He lifted his head and looked around, noticing the surreal silence that surrounded him, a complete silence that did not exist in the physical world. Not another living creature was to be found here. He had never been quite this alone. And yet, he still did not feel lonely, and that made him feel odd. Alone, but not lonely.

That thought derailed his mind from the path it had been meandering and slammed it onto another. Alex. Partner, lover, friend... If he could identify one relationship in his life that was not messed up, not a disaster in the making, one relationship that brought him a peace of mind and body he had been able to find nowhere else, his relationship with Alex would be it. Alone and lonely in a city pulsing with the lives of over ten million residents, he was a paradox. But when he was with her, the loneliness left. When he was with her, he felt like he did on the beach or in the woods. He no longer felt like an outsider in the world. She brought him in and let him participate in the world around them in a way he had not been able to manage before on his own. She never tried to make him into something he was not; she simply accepted him and she still loved him. She did not judge him or criticize him. And she was not afraid to correct him or contradict him. She stood up to him, no matter what, when the situation warranted it, but she did it in a way that never left him feeling rejected. Her words told him: You're being an asshole. Her eyes told him: But I love you anyway, stupid. She knew contradiction would bring doubt, and she never let him get that far. I love you anyway.

Never lonely...not with her. Here, he was alone, even if the loneliness that had chased him all his life was gone and he felt good about existing. There, he was often alone, but everything had changed the first time she told him I love you. Three important words that had always been hollow in his experience, until she spoke them. From her, they held real substance because he knew she meant it. She did love him. It wasn't a warped and twisted kind of love from a mind that simply could not mesh with its heart. It was pure and simple...just love.

He got up and continued walking. There seemed to be no night and day, no concept of the passage of time. He could have been here for hours; he could have been here for years. And again, his thoughts turned to her. He needed to get back, but he had no idea how to get there. He didn't know where he was in relation to where he wanted to be. All he knew was he wanted to be with her. She was the one who made everything in his life worthwhile. She was the one who held the key to his desires. He lived his life one day to the next; it never really mattered too much if there would be a tomorrow. Things would take care of themselves. Do your job and live your life, such that it was. He didn't really want to die, but he wasn't afraid to face his own mortality. His desire to live before she entered his heart could have best been described as marginal. Now, life held more for him than the job gave it. Now, he felt as though he were truly living. She opened up the world to him, and he wanted to experience it...with her. All that was left for him here was to find his way back to that world and to her. But he didn't know how to do that. He had been dropped into the wilderness of a foreign existence and left to flounder. As brilliant as his mind was, he had no idea how to find his way.

Logan looked around and shuddered. "Where the hell are we?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Don't worry about it? I'm supposed to find our way home, sweetheart. How can I find the way home if I don't know where we are to start with?"

She rolled her eyes. Faith was hard for a guy like him. "Just trust yourself, Mike. I trust you."

She started off down the path through the trees. Stunned, he shook it off and trotted after her. "That may be the biggest mistake of your life, Alex."

"Why?"

"Trusting me? Don't you listen to the scuttlebutt around the water coolers of the NYPD?"

"If I did, do you think I would have ever stayed partners with Bobby? I learned a long time ago to trust the man, not the rumors. I've given you that same benefit of the doubt."

He sighed as he fell in step beside her. "If he didn't love you, I would."

"You don't?"

"Not like he does. I have never loved anyone that way."

She turned her head to look at him. "What way?"

"If you don't know by now, he's doing something wrong."

"What has he told you?"

"Oh, no. I'm not going there. The confidentiality of the pub is a sacred trust. When you bond over beer, and then go and tell, you get your ass kicked. He's got a lot of power behind his punches, and I want to stay on the right side of him, thank you."

"Coward."

"Damn straight. I get into enough fights. I don't want to fight with him. I'm not that stupid."

"He's not a fighter."

"No, he's not. But that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to fight. Believe me, he's the guy to have on your side. You don't want to go up against him, I don't care what the odds are. And the more he's had to drink, the harder he hits. That restraint he handles so well kinda leaves and that just means trouble. It also means the fight'll be over in a couple of punches, but that's beside the point."

"You've been in fights with him?"

"No. I've been in the fights. He just ended them." He looked around. "Where the hell are we going?"

"To him."

"You know where he is?"

"Somehow, yes. I do."

"So where is he?"

She pointed down the path, to where it ended in a small clearing. Logan could make out a figure wandering around the clearing. He knew the silhouette and the gait. She smiled. "Give me a minute. Just stay in sight."

"Don't worry about that. I have no intention of wandering around here by myself."

He stopped near the edge of the clearing while she went on. She watched Goren move about as she approached, but she saw no sign of the restless anxiety that often plagued him. He was just...wandering, as though he was searching for something. ""What are you looking for?"

He turned to face her. "Alex," he whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"I came for you."

"Am I dreaming?"

"If you are, we're having the same dream and sharing it with him."

She indicated the man at the edge of the clearing and Goren smiled. "How'd you get him here?"

"They didn't really give him a choice. Don't worry. You'll pay him back for it."

"Over and over again, I'm sure." He tipped his head, a gesture of curiosity. "But why are you here? I had to come."

"So did I. You're lost, Bobby. I came to bring you home."

"Lost?" He looked around. Yes, he was lost. His eyes came back to rest on her. "I've always been lost."

"Not any more."

He stepped closer, close enough to touch her, which he did, tentatively. When she didn't disintegrate before him, he slid his hand along her cheek, into her hair, and drew her closer. As he kissed her, she slid her arms around his neck and returned the kiss. When he pulled back, she let him go. "You came here," he murmured. "For me?"

"Do you think there's anything I wouldn't do for you?" She sighed impatiently when his face grew thoughtful. "I meant that rhetorically. Have you done what you needed to do?"

"I think so. Sit down for a minute. I want to tell you something."

She sat down on the stump of a tree but he remained standing, moving in that perpetually energetic way of his. Sometimes she loved to just watch him, admiring his easy grace, among other things. Other times, simply put, he exhausted her. "I, um...I haven't had a good life. You know that. But there is something else I want you to know." He stopped pacing and looked at her. "It's been...different, since you've been in it. You've somehow showed me what a good life can be, and in the last year, it's only gotten better. I could be tempted to stay here. It's peaceful. I'm not on edge like I usually am. There's no one here to judge me, no pressure to fit in anywhere. There's nothing bad here, nothing to haunt me." He looked at the ground, hands in his pockets, and shifted from one foot to the other. "But you aren't here, either, and it's with you that I need to be. You know how much I keep to myself, how I prefer to be alone a lot of the time. That's the pattern of my life; it's what I'm comfortable with. But with you, I'm not lonely any more. Thank you for that." He looked up at her without raising his head. "I wanted you to know how much you mean to me, and what you are to me, in my life. I love you, Alex."

He held out his hand, which she took as she got to her feet. She continued moving forward, into his arms, and she kissed him. "I love you,too. And you have to know that you do the same for me, Bobby."

His mouth twitched in amusement. "Not quite, baby. You have a good place in the world. You have a family that loves you, parents who care deeply. You fit in as a cop. You'd fit in anywhere, and succeed in whatever you chose to do. I only know how to be a cop, but I really don't fit in, even there. If I wasn't a cop, you'd probably be arresting me. That's the only other world I understand. You're different than I am, but that's a good thing. You keep me in line."

"And between you and Logan that's a full time job."

He laughed. "Barek makes him mind his p's and q's."

"Only when she's around," she said with a small laugh that was music to his ears.

Logan straightened away from the tree he'd been leaning against as they approached him. He accepted Goren's outstretched hand and quick embrace. "I haven't even begun to calculate how many ways you owe me, man."

"That's all right, Mike. I'll accept your repayment terms."

"You feeling okay?" he asked with legitimate concern.

"I feel good. I may change my mind after we get back, but right now, I'm as good as I've ever been. Better, maybe."

Logan looked around. "It's nice here. Nothing to bite, sting or eat you."

"Says the consummate outdoorsman," Eames interjected.

"I never professed to even like the outdoors," Logan protested. He pointed an accusatory finger at Goren. "I went fishing last summer because he dragged me along. If you'll remember I got sunburned, eaten alive by mosquitoes, stung by a damn bee, hooked—how many times?"

"Eight."

"Yeah, hooked eight times, and bitten by three fish."

"You stuck your hand in their mouths."

"That's where the damn hook was. You told me to get it out."

"Not that way."

"I'd never been fishing before, moron. And I never will again if I can help it."

"You will."

"Maybe I should just leave your ass here."

With a suppressed snicker, Eames said, "Remember what I told you about eternity, Mike? I can make the rest of your life seem like an eternity, if you really want me to."

He looked at her, then back at Goren. "No, thanks. I'll pass on that. Come on. Let's go home."

They walked along with him down a different path than the one they had taken to get there, but no one questioned him. Goren looked sideways at Eames when she slipped her hand into his, and he tightened his hand firmly around it. He saw the small smile that touched her mouth, and he was content. He turned his attention back to Logan. "You know where we are?"

"I have no clue."

"You know where we're going?"

"Home. Well, back to the ritual hut, anyway. Then home." Hopefully, he added, "Right?"

Eames gave him another smile. "Yes, Mike. Then home."

He let out a sigh. "Good. I want a hot dog."

"A hot dog?" Goren repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, a hot dog. From one of the street vendors. A good friggin' hot dog." He looked Goren square in the eye. "You're buyin'."

Goren laughed. "I can handle that."

"You're buyin' the beer, too. And I'm thirsty."

He looked away, and didn't see the smile and wink Goren gave his partner. She leaned her head into his arm and squeezed his hand. He kissed her head, then looked at Logan. "Uh, Mike?"

"What?"

"You do know how to get us back, don't you?"

"Not a clue, buddy. I know how to get us to a certain point. Then I guess it's up to Reynaldo and his smoke to make sure we wake up. I don't know how it works. He told me I'd know the way, and damn if I don't. I have no idea how; I just know this is the way we need to go."

Logan was surprised that they didn't question him. In silence, they simply walked with him. They trusted him. He wasn't like Goren; he wasn't great with words. And even in his mind, he had no words to explain how that trust made him feel. For the first time in his life, he felt accepted, like someone actually wanted him around. His life was good right now, and a large part of that was because of these two people he called friends. And for once, thanks to them, Logan trusted himself, heading down a path he somehow instinctively knew they had to follow. They were on their way home.