I Do Not Own Law & Order/Law & Order: CI/Law & Order: SVU

Alex squirmed as she tried to hold her bladder; which her nephew was tap dancing on right then, as she quietly directed Bobby on filling out the paperwork. Olivia was trying to act the fretting mother, which made Alex regret bringing her along. Bobby was holding Olivia's hand tightly, squeezing it reassuringly as he played the role of worried husband trying to sooth Olivia; not that Olivia was reading any of Bobby's ques right, and it seemed to be riling Olivia up. When the nurse finally got them into the back rooms, Bobby dropped the act.

"Receptionist, and the nurse were the most observant," Bobby muttered. "The receptionist kept looking at you."

"Could've been Olivia, the hysterics," Alex muttered then grimaced at a strong kick which had her squirming. Bobby shot her a questioning look, and she sighed as she propped herself on her arm and leaned back on the table.

"They're clean, this facility is clean," Olivia muttered.

Alex didn't respond, she knew what Bobby was watching for. She winced again as she squirmed again.

"Eames…" he started.

"I have to have a full bladder, or no ultrasound and we have to start over, and I don't want to do that," she sighed "Stop kicking my bladder!" she hissed when she got another kick.

"Doesn't work that way," Bobby muttered unhelpfully as he seemed to be examining the room they were in.

"What are you doing?" Olivia hissed.

"Hm?" Bobby hummed. She knew though, he was trying to get a feel for the area, the space, the location and the people who worked here. There was the sound of a door opening and Bobby caught Olivia then, holding her tight.

"It's alright, honey, it's alright, Alex is alright," Bobby said in a patient, soothing voice as he ran a hand over Olivia's back. Alex raised a brow at him and feigned meek, weak as she leaned heavily back.

"I'm fine," Alex huffed as she smiled reassuringly at Olivia who was now playing the distraught mother.

"So what has brought you in, Miss Goren?" the nurse asked.

"She's… anemic, and she fainted, she's been very pale lately," Bobby supplied as he hugged Olivia. Alex was gritted her teeth but sighed.

"I need to hear it from her, Mister Benson," the nurse stated.

"I've… been lightheaded, I fell, which was when Bobby and Liv found me… is the baby okay?"

"Let's get you situated to take a look, and I'll take some blood. Did you fall on your stomach?" the nurse asked.

"No," Alex replied smoothly as she wriggled again; she was going to pee her pants if this didn't hurry up! She jolted at the cold gel as she bit her lip.

"Are you always this pale?"

"Yes," she muttered honestly.

"Have you been having any problems, Miss Goren?"

"Like?"

"Lightheadedness, headaches, heartburn?" the nurse prompted.

"A twinge… in my hip?" she offered up honestly. It was an old wound from her time in vice, a pinched nerve she could never get to stop from irritating her. She knew it would sciatica was a problem, but she'd already spoken to her doctor about that. And she was screened for preeclampsia too, which were the two big worries with her age and pregnancy.

"Well, let's check your baby out," the nurse smiled kindly.

"Not mine," she licked her lips as she squirmed a bit. "I'm a surrogate."

"Are you the parents?" the nurse looked at Olivia and Bobby then.

"Yes…" Olivia said tearfully.

They talked a bit, and Alex glared at her stomach when her nephew kicked her bladder again. But then there was this… whooshing sound, steady, thumping, whooshing and Alex's head, against her will as she saw the screen. Her nephew was active as he kicked and stretched a bit. Alex bit her lip as she hid the surge of love and fierce adoration which filled her heart as she watched her nephew. A hand touched her wrist then and she looked at Bobby, the touch was subtle, nonexistent, and she saw him examining the screen intently.

"Looks like your baby is doing fine," the nurse smiled reassuringly. Olivia and the nurse were talking. Alex glanced at Bobby, saw him examining the screen intently but she tapped him and his attention snapped from the screen to her, and she smiled. His lips twitched as he looked back at the nurse.

She saw Bobby's wheels turning and Alex smiled tightly when she saw the nurse turning her attention on Alex.

"So you're a surrogate?" the nurse asked kindly.

"Well… Bobby's just… he's an old friend, and when he and Liv couldn't… I said I'd be a surrogate," she smiled. It was a close enough story to the truth she felt comfortable sharing it.

"So how's the surrogate doing?" the nurse asked.

"Fine…" Alex grimaced as she saw a baby kick her bladder. "In need of peeing," she admitted.

The nurse chuckled a bit. "To be safe, we're going to ask you pee in a sample cup, then I'll draw blood, and the doctor will be in to examine you," the nurse said.

Alex nodded as she was helped up, Bobby's massive hand was on her shoulder stabilizing her as she accepted the paper towels to wipe off the gel. She winced again at a solid kick on her bladder. Once she was cleaned up, Olivia offered her an hand down off the table, and then she grabbed the cup. The nurse guided Alex from the exam room as to the bathroom. She saw Bobby slip out of the room behind them, he was a massive alley cat.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" the nurse asked softly.

"Want to do what?"

"You have rights, as the birth mother," the nurse started. Alex was stunned. "Here, this is the name of a lawyer."

"Huh?"

"That baby in you, is yours," the nurse whispered quickly.

Alex was stunned into silence as she accepted the card the nurse handed her the card. She got another kick into her bladder which had her shoving the card into her pocket as she ducked into the bathroom to relieve her bladder.

Olivia wanted to scowl as they walked out of the appointment, Eames was anemic, and slightly stressed, they recommended iron in her prenatal care. But other than that useless, Goren played relieved husband nearly flawless, it was unsettling, and then they got to the SUV, Eames getting behind the wheel when Goren had turned off the husband routine.

"Nurse gave me a lawyer card, advocating for the mother's rights of the baby as a surrogate," Eames stated.

"So they have staff against surrogacy," Goren muttered.

"Doesn't mean they killed her, or are connected to Lillian's death, this was a waste," Olivia stated.

"No, Eames is going to eat more spinach and fish," Goren stated.

"I'm fine, Bobby," Eames snapped as she drove. "And it wasn't a waste of time. Lillian was only exposed at small moments, doctors, Lamaze classes, and trial prepping, she's not overly exposed. We should look at who had contact with her at the other to places…"

"You…" Goren strangled out.

"I'm barely halfway through the second trimester, I'm not signing up for those yet," Eames stated. "But we should check into them…"

"We should be looking at the surrogacy racket," Olivia stated. "Lillian didn't have enemies, or anyone who would gain from hurting her or the baby."

"The persons who… who did this, they aren't… it's not personal to Lillian, she's merely… a surrogate, the symbol of the rage. She represents someone to them, and they… they seek these surrogates out," Goren explained. "What happened to Lillian was not about… Lillian herself, merely, she is a surrogate."

"You're saying someone picked her at random?" Olivia muttered, unsettled at this implication. She had dealt with serial rapists, she had dealt with weirdos who would lash out at surrogates of their rage, but not like this. She was unsettled as she looked at Goren who was hunched into his seat watching Eames carefully; neither were talking up about anything and Olivia growled as she leaned back in her seat. She didn't like being out of the loop, and it felt like they weren't going to let her into the loop.

Fin was reading over financial reports, when Olivia stormed in, Bobby and his partner were walking in step behind her. Fin raised a brow when Olivia slammed down her jacket as she stalked away. Bobby frowned deeply but then Alex said something and he turned his attention on her, Fin sighed as he got up and chased after Olivia before Stabler found her and they wound each other up to go blow up at Bobby and his partner.

Olivia was at the pot, grumbling as she angrily tossed things down while making the coffee.

"Hey," Fin said calmly. "Fresh pot?"

"Yeah," she growled.

"What happened?" Fin asked as he leaned on the counter.

"Hm?"

"I know Goren, he's not the easiest one to get along with," Fin stated blandly. He was going to guess it was Bobby that was the problem because he didn't know Bobby's new partner, but the quiet blonde seemed levelheaded. And levelheaded, quiet folks were hard to dislike or be angry at in Fin's experience.

"They just… they, they cut me out, they won't even look at the surrogacy racket angle, they don't think we know anything about this case, and Goren and his… his… his theories! Eames just takes it like it's fact!" she seethed angrily.

"Goren was US Army CID, before he was NYPD, he's got a… knack, for profiling, he's eerily good at reading people, both in front of him and what's left behind," Fin stated blandly. "And when I worked with him in Narcotics, well, he had a perfect arrest and conviction record, Liv."

"So he's good."

"You're not listening, Liv, he has a perfect conviction record, in Narcotics. Twenty-seven arrests and twenty-seven convictions, big cases too," Fin stated and he had Olivia's attention as she blinked a few times then. "He's burned through more partners and had a perfect arrest and conviction rate, and he's a good advocate to victims, he's also been very good with junkies and the mentally ill, uncanny at getting their trust and getting them to talk."

"He doesn't care about our input," Olivia sighed.

"He won't," he shrugged. "Bobby's probably not going to trust your input at all. He knows how close we are to this case, he sees our objectivity is skewed."

"You don't think this is tied to the surrogacy racket?" she sighed.

"No, but I don't know, but he thinks this isn't connected, so I'd trust his intuition, it never led me astray in the year I worked with him. It also saved my ass more than once," Fin stated. "There was one case where… I dismissed the side piece as nothing but a side piece, but Goren, he saw her as a threat, the fact he saw her as the mastermind and head boss, it saved my ass when she had a gun to my head. The fact he had the hunch, when none of us did, and the fact he could connect dots we didn't see… I don't question what he sees or thinks, or how he gets his connections."

Olivia blinked at that.

"He saved my life, Liv, and downplayed it after the arrest as if he had done nothing more than just an arrest," Fin finished as he poured himself a hot cup of coffee. "So, I'm going to trust his hunches, Liv, they're never wrong in my experience."

Bobby climbed out of the car at the end of the day, rolling his shoulder, as he walked through the building. It'd been an exhausting day, and he didn't like playing husband to Olivia Benson. He didn't like things feeling out of the groove he and Alex had created over the last few years. He hadn't really noticed the ease with which he and Alex possessed, it was like a fine dance, well-choreographed, flawless, effortless, they played off each other with a complimentary rhythm.

Alex was complimentary to him, and he was relatively sure he was complimentary to her. Their partnership was rather easy, simple, effortless for as much effort as they put into it.

Olivia Benson had been… off kilter, uneasy, she didn't trust him and he could feel that. He also knew she didn't act well enough to play his wife or significant other, she was tense, uneasy, and not fluid and adapting. He didn't like it, or her, he didn't feel right around her, he felt judged and uneasy.

His phone rang, which had him groaning as he reluctantly pulled it from his pocket.

"Eames!" he answered frantically.

"Hey…" she sounded small then.

"Wh-What's the matter?" he stammered.

"Stupid hormones," she muttered, and he heard her sniffle.

"I'll be over," he decided as he hung up before she could argue; he'd grab the safety cravings he knew she'd have, and make sure she ate something tonight.

It took him two hours to get over to Alex's house, knocking nervously on the door he waited, he saw her open it with big red, puffy eyes, and a red nose as she stood there. The ultrasound photo was tightly gripped in her other hand, and he smiled tightly at her before shuffling into the room. Alex closed and locked the door; he went to her kitchen.

"I'm sorry… I didn't… I didn't know who else to call," she muttered. She was in a man's shirt; his still, and the running pants from today's little undercover operation.

"What's the matter?" he asked; he was pretty sure it had something to do with the appointment today. Alex had been off kilter since the nurse had pointedly handed her the sonogram photo whilst glaring at him and Benson.

"I just… he's here, he's safe, in me, and he's… he's not mine!" Alex burst into tears. Bobby blinked a few times, bewildered at her outburst as she stood there looking so small, and fragile. "I… I agreed… I'm not… and she just… my rights?"

"Alex…" he rarely used her first name as it felt too intimate. Bobby was forced to accept he had a greater attachment to Alex than he had ever anticipated, he would admit he was unprepared for his own attachment which had him keeping the line between professional and personal between them. He utilized her surname to keep the difference in his head, to keep their relationship safe in his head, but he always called her Eames. Also, Eames was a gentle, soft sounding name, and it embodied her in many ways.

"He's not mine…" she sobbed, and he came around to her, unwilling to touch her, unwilling to not touch her, he didn't know what to do though as his hands hovered awkwardly. Alex though threw her arms around his waist as she slumped against him. "I… he just… my rights!? I agreed! I'm not… he's not mine!"

Bobby carefully brought his arms around her as he stood there feeling helpless and useless. He knew that Alex was going through a lot, her body had been undergoing massive changes, her hormones, and brain were being altered and she was growing a small life in her. Of course she'd be attached to it, and being reminded she couldn't have that attachment had probably brought a war of hormones and her rational thought, and it was clearly a lot.

"It's not fair! It's not fair! I don't… I can't be a mother, and I accept that, but now…" she sobbed hard. "Joe and I… we… we were supposed to have this… this wasn't… I love my sister, I love my nephew… he's not mine, he's not mine! And I can't tell anybody this!"

"You told me," he muttered.

She was sobbing though and not listening to him. Once the sobbing subsided, he herded her to her couch, turning on the television before he fled to her kitchen to prepare something for her to eat. He would talk to her about this later. Bobby prepped the salmon and spinach, he made a sweet sauce to for her sweet tooth before checking in on her. Putting water by her he again fled to the kitchen to cook.

When he finished cooking, he put a plate in front of her, she looked at it then him before sighing.

"I'm not anemic."

"I'm being safe. I read you could eat these," he said softly. "And extra iron doesn't hurt."

"You're worse than Liz."

She was so small, so fragile, he watched as she flinched, her honey color hair staining the white pillow, and the swell of their stolen child in her skin. She squirmed as he traced the knife over her skin.

"You bitch…" he snarled.

Alex grimaced as she woke, her temple throbbing when she finally roused. Stretched out on her couch, a coat was covering her. There was the sound of sizzling bacon and coffee in her kitchen which had her peering over the back of her couch to see Bobby there. She watched him for a long minute, and he finally looked up to see her.

"A slice of that better be for me," she warned.

"Of course," he smiled shyly.

"About last night…" she started uncertainly.

"You… there is… a lot, but… I'm here," he said awkwardly. "For you. You're… my friend, Alex."

"Thank you," she whispered honestly. "I didn't… expect last night, the nurse giving me that thought…"

"This case is… brutal," he said softly.

"Yeah," she rubbed her temple. "Thank you though," she breathed as he came over with her cup of coffee and a plate of breakfast. She frowned at the spinach on her plate.

"Eat all of it and you'll get a danish and bacon," he reasoned.

"Sneaky," she muttered. "You'd better eat too," she warned. She knew he wasn't inclined to eat big meals, but she knew she had won when he reappeared with his own plate of food.