Ok, before you start reading this fic I'd like to say a few words.
First: Obviously I don't own the characters (I wish!), so don't make a fuss about copyright stuff (nobody really does but, ya know, just in case...)
Second: This is my first Law&Order: Criminal Intent fiction, so I bet you read better ones. Still, I just felt like writing a short story about my favorite show.
Third, and the last: My native language is Portuguese, not English, and I never lived in any English speaking country. So if you find loads of punctuation and spelling problems, please, try to understand. To correct this problem, I've been working along with my friend Vernon (from Missouri, US) who's an English teacher. He just sent me some material and I should start studying it this week.
'Thanks a bunch' for your attention... hope you like the story!



Her Little Secret

One Plaza, NYPD
Thursday, October 27th, 4:47 p.m.

The suspect glanced at Eames one more time before answering the other cop's question.
"I was in my apartment all day when I got a call from the police warning me about Liza's death. And no, I have no idea who might have wanted to kill her" he looked at Eames again. She replied the look as if allowing him to do it. She knew he was looking all over her body, so she sat on the table, leaning to her right, facing the suspect. It was all part of the plan. Goren was also aware of everything. He had actually asked her partner to act like that. It would keep the suspect's mind in somewhere else and knowing that Jerry Mulligan wasn't that smart, it would be easier to make him say something.
"And you're sure you didn't talked to Liz Hales that day?" Eames asked.
"Yes, I'm sure" he looked at her again and smiled maliciously.
Right after that Goren walked around the table until he stopped behind Mulligan. Mulligan didn't care... he kept flirting with Eames who was now sat at a chair facing the stupid suspect.
"POW!" yelled Goren at Mulligan's ears. Mulligan almost jumped out of the chair!
"That's the last noise you're gonna listen when those mobsters blow your brains out!" he gave him the Goren look. "I think you'd better start talking".
"I'm done here" Eames left the room.
There was no way out for Mulligan. He was trapped and since the good-looking cop was already gone, it was no good to keep trying to gain time. He was doomed anyway. Calling a lawyer, confessing his participation in the crime and trying to make a deal with the D.A. was his last chance and he didn't miss it.


One Plaza, NYPD
Friday, October 28th, 6:58 p.m.

Goren and Eames had arrested both Michael Lewis and his partner Jerry Mulligan early that day. Jerry had given up hiding and told everything about the way they planned to kill Liza Hales and how they did it. The rest of the day was used to prepare their reports and finish all that boring paperwork. It was the part Goren hated at most, but he couldn't complaint much since Eames was pretty good at it and made things easier for him.
Eames... she was right in front of him, sat at the other side of the table. She was concentrated, reading something. Goren couldn't help to think about her... not only about Alex Eames herself, but how much of a better cop he had he became since they stared working together, six months ago, approximately. They made were a good team. She gave him the space he needed to focus on his profiler skills while she managed to follow the protocol and still help him. Besides that, she had a pretty sharped sense of humor.
Goren looked at her again. Her coat was hanging on the back of her chair and her arms were showing. There was something about those arms... besides the fact the muscles were quite defined his partner's arms had something special that could keep any person looking at it for a while. They had tried this before. First time was when they arrested that Talbott guy, the lawyer who killed his girlfriends. Since then, every time the suspect was a man and they wanted to keep his mind busy, Eames lent some of her 'female natural skills'. It had worked pretty well.
Goren was wandering about his partner and he was so down to it that he didn't even realize she saw it.
"What's up?" she surprised him with the question.
"Oh, uh...what?" he 'woke up'.
"Anything wrong? You seem... far away"
"No, nothing. Are you done already?"
"Yeah. All I have to do is print it and then we sign it"
"Cool. It's been a long day, I want to get rid of it"
"In a minute"
She printed the reports and they signed it. After that they drove back home. Goren dropped her at her place and went away. He was a bit weird that evening...more than the usual. She meant to ask what was going on but she could bet no answer would come, so she didn't even bother.

The following day would be free... unless if something came up, of course. But anyway, Eames decided she'd do something to please herself that Saturday. Yeah, she would seize the day and do her favorite thing after working. She'd go swimming.



Saturday, October 29th, 10:26 a.m.

Goren was bored. Extremely bored! It wasn't an easy thing to happen but now he felt like he'd go crazy if he didn't find something to do. He didn't stop walking form one side of the living room to another. The truth is he was debating whether call and ask Eames for lunch or not. If it was on a week day that would be fine, but he didn't want to give it a wrong impression asking her out for lunch on Saturday, a free Saturday. He just felt like spending time with her. Talk about work and other things and maybe later go see a movie. Heck, he hadn't felt like that for ages! It was scary, though. Spending time with someone reveals a lot of one's personality... the tone of the voice, the body language, the conversation itself... but hey, he had spent most of his time with her for last six months. Even though they hardly ever talked about their personal lives she probably knew more than he thought she would.
He gave it up. He grabbed the phone and dialed her number, only to hear the answering machine, "Hi, this is Alex Eames. You know what to do after the beep. I'll return your call ASAP". "Damn it!" Goren cursed to himself. Now if he really wanted to see her, he'd have to use some of his profiler skills to figure out where she could be.





Saturday, October 29th, 11:53 a.m.

Robert Goren entered the gym and quickly located the pool the receptionist said Alex should be. He got closer to it and saw his partner swimming. She was the only one there. Nothing knew, who would go swimming on a chilly Saturday morning? Anyway, he decided to sit down and watch.
She was swimming crawl style and did perfectly. Body straight, arm and legwork mathematically coordinated. Once again Goren couldn't help observing her arms. But this time he also noticed her legs. They matched.
Eames didn't notice Goren's presence until she got out of the pool. She grabbed her towel wrapped it around her body after removing that ugly cap from her head. Wearing that was the only thing she didn't like about swimming. It made her look like an ET!
He stood up and came in her direction.
"Hey!" he greeted.
"Hey!" she smiled at him. Drops of water were still all over her skin. "Anything wrong?"
"No. Everything's fine".... awkward pause.
"How did ya find me?"
"You weren't home so I figured you were out to do something related to sports, since it seems to be one of your favorite past times. Then I remembered you told me there was a gym near to your place. After that it was just following the instincts and be nice to the receptionist. But... I had no idea you liked swimming" he smiled at her.
"Well, I was part of the swimming team back in high school and now I do it as often as I can" she smiled back at him.
"Why you never told me that?"
"I don't know... you never asked"
"Good point... anyway, are you hungry?"
"Yeah, I could eat something"
"Wanna go grab a bite?"
"That sounds good. Just give me a minute" she said and turned back going to the girls' locker room.
He had never asked her out to lunch. She always did it. She grinned to herself trying to figure what was on her partner's mind while taking a quick shower. At the same time Goren awaited for her, standing by the pool. That would be a nice afternoon...