This takes place where the Law and Order: Criminal Intent Episode on February 2nd leaves off. Listen, y'all, I DO NOT own em, kay? And you cannot have this story for any reason unless you email me.
Detective Alex Eames leaned against door, eyes closed, listening as her partner ranted in the room behind her. She winced as a choice word flew out the door, directed at Robert himself, who had only stopped for a short moment to let the coroner in to remove the body.
The body of an asshole, she thought to herself, a flashback to the hurt look on the face of Julie Turner on the video camera. In Alex's mind, he deserved to die.
"Why am I so stupid?!?!"
She said nothing, but leaned on the door, shifting from one leg to the other. She did the calculation she had created long ago to figure out how much longer he'd need to vent, and realized it'd be two minutes tops before he'd be able to leave without wanting to do something desperate. Luckily, she'd slipped his gun out of his holster before he had realized it, or there may have been twice the mess to clean up in that room.
Sighing, Alex started to tap her fingers on the wall paper, looking around the room with a renewed interest. God, just like her mother's. It was the same musty feeling, the same carpet pattern, the same smell, and the same effect on her; the desire to run screaming from the room was almost too much.
Deakins raised an eyebrow in the bathroom's direction, giving Alex a questioning glance. Not wanting to be involved with the DA (many a time had thoughts run through her head involving him and a myriad of torture and killing devices), she simply shrugged closed her eyes again.
Two minutes. His breathing had slowed down, he was standing in one spot, and if he was saying something, Alex couldn't hear it.
"Wanna talk about it, Goren?" she asked quietly while sliding towards the left of the doorway, out of his vision. It was manipulative, she knew, something that annoyed Bobby profusely, but at that moment right there, she could care less. Alex could feel the anxiousness of the officers in the room to get him out of there.
The sound of his feet on carpet hit her ear and the next thing she knew his face, tired and weary and glaring, was next to her left shoulder. His right hand was leaning on the wall, and his other was in his pant's pocket.
"You knew I'd move. I hate when you do that."
"Yeah, I know. I'll repeat the question, do you want to talk?"
He sighed, his head fell back tiredly. "No, I think I'm gonna go home. Work out a little. Vent."
She nodded. "I'll cover for you, go."
"Thanks, Alex." His sad, slumped shoulder found the way to the door and out into the hallway. She hated when he was like this. It was almost like he had another personality. But this time, he'd reacted like it was personal. Was it a relationship he had had with Julie Turner? Or had he met any of them before? Alex just didn't know, and probably would never know, the way Bobby guarded everything about him or related to him closely.
"Go after him," said a deep voice next to her. She turned, seeing Deakins. "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
Alex nodded. And with that, left the apartment.
Alex knew where Bobby lived, and had for a while. Plastic bags he had brought in from home with the names of businesses in the area, a change of attitude when they reached the street, his eyes shifting quickly towards his apartment and back. Things he thought only he'd notice.
She got out of the parking lot, thanking something for it being busy so he wouldn't notice her. Out into a plaza, where within the few seconds she was out there, she was drenched, and up to his apartment. Alex let him take an elevator to his floor before ascending herself.
He was already hard at work by the time she got out of the elevator, which smelled of old women's cologne and things she didn't want to know. It wasn't that it was a bad section, on the contrary, one of the nicest placed she'd seen, but perhaps it was his sour mood that permeated everything in the building thus far.
Ringing his door bell, she realized how horrible she must look, wet and cold, and suddenly wished she hadn't just rung the doorbell. Before she she could do anything, however, rained on, exhausted, pissed off, and sweaty Robert answered the door, a surprised look on his face as he wiped a bead of either water or sweat out off his face.
"Long time no see," she said quietly, not being able to stop the grin that had started to form when she realized how hysterical the two must look at that moment. "Can I come in before I get kicked out of here for causing a flood?"
It was then she remembered something he had said to Julie. Something about knowing how aggravating it was for parents not to believe in something. And then later, he said he should've been able to recognize that anger.
Heh smiled slightly, the first on in a while, she realized, and let her in. Looking around, Bobby, she now realized, had nice taste.
"This is a really beautiful apartment, Bobby. It's gorgeous."
"Thanks." The thought of how he paid for it had just entered her head when he answered it. "Well, I don't have to shop as much as you, so-"
She roller her eyes,and started over to the punching bag, still swinging. "Care to vent some more?"
He nodded, a questioning look on his face.
"Bobby, you're not going to hurt me." She stood on the other side of the bag, barely able to wave both hands from around the back. "Come on, talk and punch. Or I'll start the questions?"
"Doesn't matter to me," he said, pulling his button down shirt off so he could punch better. His undershirt was already starting to get wet. He raised his hands, and stared at the bag.
"Okay, first question. . . " she barely felt the first punch, "why are you holding back?"
He shook his head, "Next question."
"Did you know Julie Turner before this case?"
"Know." Punch. "Of." Punch. "Her?" Punch, punch. "Yeah, but know her, no. Question for you. Why?"
"Just curious. You acted like you had something in common with her."
"I do." Another punch. "Semi-simular stories. My parents didn't believe in one of my choices. That, by the way, is all your getting out of me on that."
"I'm dieing with curiosity."
He punched some more, and Alex stared at the bag in front of her. "My mother died disappointed in me as a daughter and I was disowned, if that makes things seem a little easier."
He cocked his head to the side as he stopped. "Oh yeah? Whatcha do?"
She sighed. "My parents split when I was little. My mother was the upper class sort of woman who showed her money, and my dad just wasn't like her. So when they split, I just went with Dad. I needed the tattoos and the leather jackets and the beer." She stared at the bag. " My sister went with my mother, and I didn't hear from either of them for a while. Then, after I graduated, it seems my mother sent a rich, young man my way in hopes that I'd marry him then and there. I didn't naturally. So just a few weeks ago, that weekend you couldn't get me, I went to go see her in the retirement home. Elizabeth, my sister, found my number in the phone book, and called to let me know she was dieing. My mom asked if I was married, if I had kids, what I did for a living. So I told her, and she croaked after saying how much of a disappointment I was."
"You're not a disappointment, not to me, and definitely not to the precinct. Remember that."
"So what's your story? I told mine."
He puffed out some air. "Fine." Alex could sense the sudden stiffness in the room. His next punch caused her to have to change her footing. "My parents are just like your mother, no offense. I ran away young. They found me in New York, and I had to go back with em'. At the time I was fifteen. A month after I left the city, I got a call to go back up because my roommate was murdered. Turned out to be a drug thing, but I knew from then on I wanted to be a cop. So I told my parents." Alex actually slid in her shoes with that punch. "They laughed." The punches to the bag came rapidly now. "Didn't think I had what it takes to be one. Said I belonged behind a desk. They were going to pay for my entire college tuition if I went to a specific college and studied psychology."
"So you got angry?"
"Yeah left again. Got into school. And here I am." The last punch was harder than all the other combined. Her shoes, mixed with the wood floors and the water, didn't have enough traction, and Alex fell. Head on the hard wood floor, arms sprawled out, she stared at the ceiling.
"Oh my God." Robert kneeled next to her, leaning over her, his eyes wide open with terror. "I didn't mean to have that happen. Oh, God, I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry."
She sat up. "Bobby, it's okay. Stop that."
"I just keep messing up today, don't I?" He looked upward. "I can't seem to do anything right."
"You can do a lot right. Don't say stuff like that. You're fine. You're better than fine. Yo-" she looked down for a moment. "You're perfect."
Robert looked back over at her and Alex saw something in his eyes that she'd seen before, once or twice, when thinks where on the line, when one of them could've been killed, when they had stuck through things together.
She swallowed heavily as she looked down, concentrating on a scratch on the floor. "Don't look at me like that, Bo-Goren."
"Don't start using my last name like that, Alex."
"Fine, just don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like-like you. . . you. . . " Alex stood up, maneuvering herself out from under Robert and crossed to a window that looked out on the darkened street.
He got up and stood behind her. "Haven't you ever thought about it? You and me?"
She turned and looked in his eyes. "Have you?"
"More than you probably want to know."
"Bobby. Bobby, don't." Alex did think about it, quite a bit. "We're so good together, why would we screw that up?"
"Hmm."
Alex crossed her arms. "Listen, let's just forget abo-"
"I agree. You, ah, you don't want to get home too late. Insomnia can be a bitch."
"Yeah, insomnia. I'll see you tomorrow. Are you going to be okay?"
"I will be, someday."
She paused at the door and threw a glance back at Bobby, then left.
The first sound Robert heard as he entered the office the next morning was the sound of someone blowing their nose into a tissue. With winter and the constant amount of people crying around there, the precinct must have had their own personal order from Kleenex.
As he turned the corner he found a dead ringer for Alex standing near her desk, the culprit of the sniffling. Blonde hair was in a perfect coiffe, large pearl earrings, business-type suite. Perhaps it wasn't something Alex would wear, but if she ever decided to summer in the Hamptons, he knew what she'd look like.
"A-are you Detective Goren?" her wide, red eyes stared up at him. Her perfect eyebrows were raised. He nodded. "I'm looking for Alexandra, well I don't know her last name anymore-"
"Here's coffee, you can thank me by not being a pain in the ass, Goren," Alex sat down in her chair with a small grunt. She didn't look up, but rather started sorting through papers on her desk. "And you're right, insomnia is a bitch." With a glare at her sister's purse on her desk, she went on. "And who the hell's purse is this?"
"Mine, Alexandra."
Eames looked up at her sister, and her eyes became slit before she went back to work. "Elizabeth. What happened,Mummy dearest came back from the dead to complain about something else about me? And yes, the name's still Eames, and no, I refuse to date any friend of a friend of yours."
Her sister's jaw tightened. "It's not like that at all," she whispered. "Jamie, she's gotten involved wi-"
"Excuse me, but who the hell is Jamie?" Alex said quickly. Robert sat back in his chair, unsure to stay by to protect Alex's sister from her wrath or run in the opposite direction.
"My daughter."
"Oh, lovely to let me know I have a niece. How old is she?"
"Fourteen."
Alex looked up. "Glad to get notice ahead of time for her baptism."
"Alexandra-"
"It's 'Alex', Elizabeth. Nobody's called me by my full name since I moved out of our mother's house." She turned and pointed a finger at Bobby. "Don't get any ideas, Goren."
He raised his hands in retreat, but Alex had already turned back to her sister."
"So what about Jamie?"
"Jamie got involved with a guy in drugs or something. She finally just told me. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do from here. I-I asked them and they said they'd assign you to the case."
"What case?" both Bobby and Alex spoke at the same time.
Elizabeth cleared her throat, straightened her skirt, and started to play with her gloves. "You won't have to worry about going to Jamie's baptism, but the one she'll have for the child she's carrying. Jamie's pregnant."
Alex's entire attitude changed suddenly. She leaned forward in her chair. "So the bastard's in New York, now?" Robert asked her before Alex got up on her soap box.
"Yes," she sniffed "Left New Jersey right after she told him about the entire situation."
"I'll ask Deakins for the files," Robert offered quickly, finishing his sentence right as Alex stood up. "You stay and talk with your sister."
She sighed and sat back down, glaring at her partner's retreating back.
"Nice man," Elizabeth said quietly. "Very nice."
"Just don't seem him on his bad days," Alex said lowly, crossing her arms.
"I know I've never asked this before in my life, but, uh, how's Daddy?"
"Dad's dead, Elizabeth. I left a message on your answering machine when it happened."
"Oh," she looked at her hands. "I-I just thought it was a sick joke."
"Sorry, I arrest assholes on a day-to-day basis. I'm not going to act like one." She leaned back in her chair, taking a sip of the coffee she had gotten for her and Bobby to share. "Died in his sleep, which he deserved."
"That's good," Elizabeth said weakly.
"Yeah. Listen, do you want me to go back with you? I can see if I can be 'lent' to the precinct in town down there . . and Goren, if you want."
"It's not like that. They know who it is, some man from the city here who they say isn't that much of a threat."
"Well, he is now."
"Yes, well. . .I guess it wouldn't be that bad if you came down this weekend. . and Detective Goren could come down. Danny had our garage's second story and the attic remodeled, so they're guest rooms."
"Oh, so you did marry Danny?"
Elizabeth smiled. "Yes, high school sweethearts."
"Knew it."
The two sisters looked at each other and smiled genuinely.
"Eames." A file folder was slapped onto her desk by Bobby. "It's an acquaintance of ours. Dicky Osmond."
"Our dinner guest tonight?" Alex asked.
"Something like that. He hangs out every night at a rave."
"A what?" Elizabeth asked incredulously.
"A rave. It's like a club where you dance and do unmentionable things, Elizabeth," Eames said quickly.
"Oh."
"So is it time to play a little dressing up?"
Bobby grinned. It had been a while since the last time they had paired up to do something like this, and they had pretended to be a couple. "You betcha." He started to walk away, and then turned. "Oh, and you have the day off."
Alex's grin widened. "Those are the best five words you can say to me, Bobby. Come on, Elizabeth."
Robert stuck his hands in his pockets as he watched Alex leave with her sister. "I know three that are better."
"Hey, Charlie." Alex waved at the man in the lobby, who waved back as they went to the elevator.
"This is . . quaint," her sister smiled, a look of obvious semi-disgust on her face.
"Yeah, well, it's home."
As they got off the floor her sister smiled slightly. "It sort of reminds me of the L'Enfant, in a strange sort of way."
Alex's keys were in her door. "Well, it doesn't have an underground mall, but Al's Pizza next door is pretty damn good."
"I'll take your word for that."
"Your loss," she said as she flipped on the lights, bathing the room in florescent light. "Come on in."
Her sister smiled as she stopped in front of a picture of Bobby and Alex together. "Where's this from?"
"Uhhh," Alex stared at it for a moment. "A charity ball we were invited to."
"And this?"
"A wedding. A guy at the precinct."
Her sister smiled. "There's a large amount of them here with the two of you together."
"Yeah, that's what happens when he's your partner."
"Oh, you two are . . "
"No!" she said quickly. "No, not like that."
"Anyway, do you need to stay here, because you can. You can have the bed, if you want," Alex already was headed towards the closet to get the spare sheets.
"No, I'm going to go home. To tell Jamie." Elizabeth laughed. "She reminds me of you."
"How so?" Alex said slowly.
"Her attitude towards life. She's so optimistic about things."
"Um, tha-thank you, I guess." Alex went to the fridge. "Want anything?"
"I suppose. What do you have?"
"Well . . beer. . water. . tap water . . Hard lemonade. . more beer. . "
"Bottled water, if that's all right."
"Yeah, or I wouldn't have asked you."
They sat sipping their own drinks, both silent and throwing the occasional glance at one another, until Alex sat down her drink and cleared her throat. "Do you think there's a way I could meet Jamie, when this is all said and done?"
"Oh, yes. If you catch him, I'm definitely going to so she can thank you."
Alex leaned down slowly, and took Elizabeth's hand. "Not 'if', Betty, 'when'. I promise things are going to be okay very soon."
"I look like a goth slut, Bobby." Alex crossed her arms over her chest, very aware of how much skin was showing with the mesh shirt on and black bra underneath.
"You look fine. . for what we need. Look at me though," he pointed at his gelled back hair. I look like a pimp in this."
"That's what we're aiming for, here. You okay? You're looking kind weird."
"Gonna be, but I'm thinking right now."
Alex raised an eyebrow, and then scanned the dark and smoky bar. "See him?"
"Yup."
"Where?"
"Nine-o'-clock."
She turned to her left, eye narrowing. "I'm getting this bastard. Let's go."
She took Bobby's hand, who stared at it for a moment before processing what was going on. She started to slink her way past the table, a lazy arm brushing Richard Osmond's shoulder, a fingertip resting on the back of his neck for a moment before walking away. She took three steps away, and then around to give him a seductive smile
"Hook, line, and sinker," Bobby said coyly as they started to sway to music on the dance floor. "Nicely done, Alex, I think you have had practice. . . . .What's he doing?"
"Well, staring at me, for one."
"Well, of course he is. I'd be, too."
"Don't talk like that, Bobby," she looked down, hoping the dark masked her blushing. "Do you think I should go arrest him yet?"
"Yeah, sounds good."
Alex stepped back from Bobby, slapping him before charging off towards the bar, again brushing against Richard as she went to lean on the bar. Bobby turned, storming off towards their table from before.
Alex crossed her arms, an angered look on her face.
"Guy problems?" Richard leaned against the bar next to her.
"You don't know the first half of it." Alex shook her head with a sigh.
"Anything I can help you with? I'm sure I could show you a good time."
"I'm sure you can help me." She grinned. "You're Richard Osmond?"
"Dick, sweety," he smiled back. "Someone told you to come to me?'
"Well, 'Dick'. . . ," Alex took a step behind him. "I already think you helped me. You have the right to remain silent-"
"What the fu-" He tried to turn, but realized his wrists were in handcuffs and that he was pinned to the bar. "Oh come on, what did I do to you?"
"Quite a bit, actually, you knocked up my niece," Alex said harshly as an officer took him, the entire crowd watching in awe. "Come on, Bobby."
"Nice job," he said as he held the door for Alex. "Come on, I'll take you home," he slipped his jacket over Alex's shoulders. Alex smiled at him as they rounded the corner.
"Thank you," her smile turned into a worried expression, "I didn't slap you too hard, did I?" Her hand reached up to his face.
"No, Mom slapped a lot worse on a good day." Bobby put a hand over hers, and smiled, but after a moment dropped his. He cleared his throat. "I think we need to talk, Alex. And I think you know why."
Alex stared at him, unable to speak for a moment. "Can it wait until we're in private?"
"Yes."
The ride to Robert's house was silent, and stiff. An even further silent ride in the elevator, and dead silence on the walk into his apartment.
Alex wrapped her arms around herself, trying to make it casual as to not make Bobby notice. She stood near the door, unmoving, but watching Bobby as he left the room and came back with a set of gray sweatpants and a sweatshirt.
"You're cold," he said simply.
She mumbled her thanks, and went to the bathroom to get changed. The sleeves rolled back, as the same with the waistband on the pants, she entered the living room to find Bobby sitting down.
"Can we talk now?"
She nodded, sitting down on the couch next to him.
"I want to give us a try, now hear me out, Alex."
"Okay, let's hear it," Alex sat cross legged towards him.
He leaned forward, mouth open, and then paused. "Do you want to hear the full several hundred reasons or top three?"
"Maybe the several hundred later, but now, the three."
"Well, Reason Three, we both can relate on a level that's pretty hard to."
"Explain, please."
"My Mom, your mother. And you and I have gone through shit and seen shit that a lot of people have never even dreamed of. . . . and we've saved each other lives quite a few times."
"True."
"Reason Two. I'm physically attracted to you-"
"And vice versa."
He stared at her, a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.
"Bobby," she said lowly, "you're forgetting Reason One."
He exhaled slowly, and incredulous look on his face. "And Reason One," Robert took Alex's hand, a warm smile growing on his face as his eyes met her curious ones. "I love you."
Alex stared at him for a moment, and then smiled. "Good, cause I love you."
He sighed, falling back against the couch. "That was a lot easier than I thought." He looked over at Alex, who's faced was plastered with a large grin. "Stop that."
"Make me."
Bobby leaned forward and kissed her. After a moment, Alex leaned back. "Not fair."
"All's fair in love and war."
Alex climbed in front of Bobby, who wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"We're okay now, huh?" she sighed, content.
"We're better than okay," he whispered. "We're perfect."
The End
Detective Alex Eames leaned against door, eyes closed, listening as her partner ranted in the room behind her. She winced as a choice word flew out the door, directed at Robert himself, who had only stopped for a short moment to let the coroner in to remove the body.
The body of an asshole, she thought to herself, a flashback to the hurt look on the face of Julie Turner on the video camera. In Alex's mind, he deserved to die.
"Why am I so stupid?!?!"
She said nothing, but leaned on the door, shifting from one leg to the other. She did the calculation she had created long ago to figure out how much longer he'd need to vent, and realized it'd be two minutes tops before he'd be able to leave without wanting to do something desperate. Luckily, she'd slipped his gun out of his holster before he had realized it, or there may have been twice the mess to clean up in that room.
Sighing, Alex started to tap her fingers on the wall paper, looking around the room with a renewed interest. God, just like her mother's. It was the same musty feeling, the same carpet pattern, the same smell, and the same effect on her; the desire to run screaming from the room was almost too much.
Deakins raised an eyebrow in the bathroom's direction, giving Alex a questioning glance. Not wanting to be involved with the DA (many a time had thoughts run through her head involving him and a myriad of torture and killing devices), she simply shrugged closed her eyes again.
Two minutes. His breathing had slowed down, he was standing in one spot, and if he was saying something, Alex couldn't hear it.
"Wanna talk about it, Goren?" she asked quietly while sliding towards the left of the doorway, out of his vision. It was manipulative, she knew, something that annoyed Bobby profusely, but at that moment right there, she could care less. Alex could feel the anxiousness of the officers in the room to get him out of there.
The sound of his feet on carpet hit her ear and the next thing she knew his face, tired and weary and glaring, was next to her left shoulder. His right hand was leaning on the wall, and his other was in his pant's pocket.
"You knew I'd move. I hate when you do that."
"Yeah, I know. I'll repeat the question, do you want to talk?"
He sighed, his head fell back tiredly. "No, I think I'm gonna go home. Work out a little. Vent."
She nodded. "I'll cover for you, go."
"Thanks, Alex." His sad, slumped shoulder found the way to the door and out into the hallway. She hated when he was like this. It was almost like he had another personality. But this time, he'd reacted like it was personal. Was it a relationship he had had with Julie Turner? Or had he met any of them before? Alex just didn't know, and probably would never know, the way Bobby guarded everything about him or related to him closely.
"Go after him," said a deep voice next to her. She turned, seeing Deakins. "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
Alex nodded. And with that, left the apartment.
Alex knew where Bobby lived, and had for a while. Plastic bags he had brought in from home with the names of businesses in the area, a change of attitude when they reached the street, his eyes shifting quickly towards his apartment and back. Things he thought only he'd notice.
She got out of the parking lot, thanking something for it being busy so he wouldn't notice her. Out into a plaza, where within the few seconds she was out there, she was drenched, and up to his apartment. Alex let him take an elevator to his floor before ascending herself.
He was already hard at work by the time she got out of the elevator, which smelled of old women's cologne and things she didn't want to know. It wasn't that it was a bad section, on the contrary, one of the nicest placed she'd seen, but perhaps it was his sour mood that permeated everything in the building thus far.
Ringing his door bell, she realized how horrible she must look, wet and cold, and suddenly wished she hadn't just rung the doorbell. Before she she could do anything, however, rained on, exhausted, pissed off, and sweaty Robert answered the door, a surprised look on his face as he wiped a bead of either water or sweat out off his face.
"Long time no see," she said quietly, not being able to stop the grin that had started to form when she realized how hysterical the two must look at that moment. "Can I come in before I get kicked out of here for causing a flood?"
It was then she remembered something he had said to Julie. Something about knowing how aggravating it was for parents not to believe in something. And then later, he said he should've been able to recognize that anger.
Heh smiled slightly, the first on in a while, she realized, and let her in. Looking around, Bobby, she now realized, had nice taste.
"This is a really beautiful apartment, Bobby. It's gorgeous."
"Thanks." The thought of how he paid for it had just entered her head when he answered it. "Well, I don't have to shop as much as you, so-"
She roller her eyes,and started over to the punching bag, still swinging. "Care to vent some more?"
He nodded, a questioning look on his face.
"Bobby, you're not going to hurt me." She stood on the other side of the bag, barely able to wave both hands from around the back. "Come on, talk and punch. Or I'll start the questions?"
"Doesn't matter to me," he said, pulling his button down shirt off so he could punch better. His undershirt was already starting to get wet. He raised his hands, and stared at the bag.
"Okay, first question. . . " she barely felt the first punch, "why are you holding back?"
He shook his head, "Next question."
"Did you know Julie Turner before this case?"
"Know." Punch. "Of." Punch. "Her?" Punch, punch. "Yeah, but know her, no. Question for you. Why?"
"Just curious. You acted like you had something in common with her."
"I do." Another punch. "Semi-simular stories. My parents didn't believe in one of my choices. That, by the way, is all your getting out of me on that."
"I'm dieing with curiosity."
He punched some more, and Alex stared at the bag in front of her. "My mother died disappointed in me as a daughter and I was disowned, if that makes things seem a little easier."
He cocked his head to the side as he stopped. "Oh yeah? Whatcha do?"
She sighed. "My parents split when I was little. My mother was the upper class sort of woman who showed her money, and my dad just wasn't like her. So when they split, I just went with Dad. I needed the tattoos and the leather jackets and the beer." She stared at the bag. " My sister went with my mother, and I didn't hear from either of them for a while. Then, after I graduated, it seems my mother sent a rich, young man my way in hopes that I'd marry him then and there. I didn't naturally. So just a few weeks ago, that weekend you couldn't get me, I went to go see her in the retirement home. Elizabeth, my sister, found my number in the phone book, and called to let me know she was dieing. My mom asked if I was married, if I had kids, what I did for a living. So I told her, and she croaked after saying how much of a disappointment I was."
"You're not a disappointment, not to me, and definitely not to the precinct. Remember that."
"So what's your story? I told mine."
He puffed out some air. "Fine." Alex could sense the sudden stiffness in the room. His next punch caused her to have to change her footing. "My parents are just like your mother, no offense. I ran away young. They found me in New York, and I had to go back with em'. At the time I was fifteen. A month after I left the city, I got a call to go back up because my roommate was murdered. Turned out to be a drug thing, but I knew from then on I wanted to be a cop. So I told my parents." Alex actually slid in her shoes with that punch. "They laughed." The punches to the bag came rapidly now. "Didn't think I had what it takes to be one. Said I belonged behind a desk. They were going to pay for my entire college tuition if I went to a specific college and studied psychology."
"So you got angry?"
"Yeah left again. Got into school. And here I am." The last punch was harder than all the other combined. Her shoes, mixed with the wood floors and the water, didn't have enough traction, and Alex fell. Head on the hard wood floor, arms sprawled out, she stared at the ceiling.
"Oh my God." Robert kneeled next to her, leaning over her, his eyes wide open with terror. "I didn't mean to have that happen. Oh, God, I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry."
She sat up. "Bobby, it's okay. Stop that."
"I just keep messing up today, don't I?" He looked upward. "I can't seem to do anything right."
"You can do a lot right. Don't say stuff like that. You're fine. You're better than fine. Yo-" she looked down for a moment. "You're perfect."
Robert looked back over at her and Alex saw something in his eyes that she'd seen before, once or twice, when thinks where on the line, when one of them could've been killed, when they had stuck through things together.
She swallowed heavily as she looked down, concentrating on a scratch on the floor. "Don't look at me like that, Bo-Goren."
"Don't start using my last name like that, Alex."
"Fine, just don't look at me like that."
"Like what?"
"Like-like you. . . you. . . " Alex stood up, maneuvering herself out from under Robert and crossed to a window that looked out on the darkened street.
He got up and stood behind her. "Haven't you ever thought about it? You and me?"
She turned and looked in his eyes. "Have you?"
"More than you probably want to know."
"Bobby. Bobby, don't." Alex did think about it, quite a bit. "We're so good together, why would we screw that up?"
"Hmm."
Alex crossed her arms. "Listen, let's just forget abo-"
"I agree. You, ah, you don't want to get home too late. Insomnia can be a bitch."
"Yeah, insomnia. I'll see you tomorrow. Are you going to be okay?"
"I will be, someday."
She paused at the door and threw a glance back at Bobby, then left.
The first sound Robert heard as he entered the office the next morning was the sound of someone blowing their nose into a tissue. With winter and the constant amount of people crying around there, the precinct must have had their own personal order from Kleenex.
As he turned the corner he found a dead ringer for Alex standing near her desk, the culprit of the sniffling. Blonde hair was in a perfect coiffe, large pearl earrings, business-type suite. Perhaps it wasn't something Alex would wear, but if she ever decided to summer in the Hamptons, he knew what she'd look like.
"A-are you Detective Goren?" her wide, red eyes stared up at him. Her perfect eyebrows were raised. He nodded. "I'm looking for Alexandra, well I don't know her last name anymore-"
"Here's coffee, you can thank me by not being a pain in the ass, Goren," Alex sat down in her chair with a small grunt. She didn't look up, but rather started sorting through papers on her desk. "And you're right, insomnia is a bitch." With a glare at her sister's purse on her desk, she went on. "And who the hell's purse is this?"
"Mine, Alexandra."
Eames looked up at her sister, and her eyes became slit before she went back to work. "Elizabeth. What happened,Mummy dearest came back from the dead to complain about something else about me? And yes, the name's still Eames, and no, I refuse to date any friend of a friend of yours."
Her sister's jaw tightened. "It's not like that at all," she whispered. "Jamie, she's gotten involved wi-"
"Excuse me, but who the hell is Jamie?" Alex said quickly. Robert sat back in his chair, unsure to stay by to protect Alex's sister from her wrath or run in the opposite direction.
"My daughter."
"Oh, lovely to let me know I have a niece. How old is she?"
"Fourteen."
Alex looked up. "Glad to get notice ahead of time for her baptism."
"Alexandra-"
"It's 'Alex', Elizabeth. Nobody's called me by my full name since I moved out of our mother's house." She turned and pointed a finger at Bobby. "Don't get any ideas, Goren."
He raised his hands in retreat, but Alex had already turned back to her sister."
"So what about Jamie?"
"Jamie got involved with a guy in drugs or something. She finally just told me. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do from here. I-I asked them and they said they'd assign you to the case."
"What case?" both Bobby and Alex spoke at the same time.
Elizabeth cleared her throat, straightened her skirt, and started to play with her gloves. "You won't have to worry about going to Jamie's baptism, but the one she'll have for the child she's carrying. Jamie's pregnant."
Alex's entire attitude changed suddenly. She leaned forward in her chair. "So the bastard's in New York, now?" Robert asked her before Alex got up on her soap box.
"Yes," she sniffed "Left New Jersey right after she told him about the entire situation."
"I'll ask Deakins for the files," Robert offered quickly, finishing his sentence right as Alex stood up. "You stay and talk with your sister."
She sighed and sat back down, glaring at her partner's retreating back.
"Nice man," Elizabeth said quietly. "Very nice."
"Just don't seem him on his bad days," Alex said lowly, crossing her arms.
"I know I've never asked this before in my life, but, uh, how's Daddy?"
"Dad's dead, Elizabeth. I left a message on your answering machine when it happened."
"Oh," she looked at her hands. "I-I just thought it was a sick joke."
"Sorry, I arrest assholes on a day-to-day basis. I'm not going to act like one." She leaned back in her chair, taking a sip of the coffee she had gotten for her and Bobby to share. "Died in his sleep, which he deserved."
"That's good," Elizabeth said weakly.
"Yeah. Listen, do you want me to go back with you? I can see if I can be 'lent' to the precinct in town down there . . and Goren, if you want."
"It's not like that. They know who it is, some man from the city here who they say isn't that much of a threat."
"Well, he is now."
"Yes, well. . .I guess it wouldn't be that bad if you came down this weekend. . and Detective Goren could come down. Danny had our garage's second story and the attic remodeled, so they're guest rooms."
"Oh, so you did marry Danny?"
Elizabeth smiled. "Yes, high school sweethearts."
"Knew it."
The two sisters looked at each other and smiled genuinely.
"Eames." A file folder was slapped onto her desk by Bobby. "It's an acquaintance of ours. Dicky Osmond."
"Our dinner guest tonight?" Alex asked.
"Something like that. He hangs out every night at a rave."
"A what?" Elizabeth asked incredulously.
"A rave. It's like a club where you dance and do unmentionable things, Elizabeth," Eames said quickly.
"Oh."
"So is it time to play a little dressing up?"
Bobby grinned. It had been a while since the last time they had paired up to do something like this, and they had pretended to be a couple. "You betcha." He started to walk away, and then turned. "Oh, and you have the day off."
Alex's grin widened. "Those are the best five words you can say to me, Bobby. Come on, Elizabeth."
Robert stuck his hands in his pockets as he watched Alex leave with her sister. "I know three that are better."
"Hey, Charlie." Alex waved at the man in the lobby, who waved back as they went to the elevator.
"This is . . quaint," her sister smiled, a look of obvious semi-disgust on her face.
"Yeah, well, it's home."
As they got off the floor her sister smiled slightly. "It sort of reminds me of the L'Enfant, in a strange sort of way."
Alex's keys were in her door. "Well, it doesn't have an underground mall, but Al's Pizza next door is pretty damn good."
"I'll take your word for that."
"Your loss," she said as she flipped on the lights, bathing the room in florescent light. "Come on in."
Her sister smiled as she stopped in front of a picture of Bobby and Alex together. "Where's this from?"
"Uhhh," Alex stared at it for a moment. "A charity ball we were invited to."
"And this?"
"A wedding. A guy at the precinct."
Her sister smiled. "There's a large amount of them here with the two of you together."
"Yeah, that's what happens when he's your partner."
"Oh, you two are . . "
"No!" she said quickly. "No, not like that."
"Anyway, do you need to stay here, because you can. You can have the bed, if you want," Alex already was headed towards the closet to get the spare sheets.
"No, I'm going to go home. To tell Jamie." Elizabeth laughed. "She reminds me of you."
"How so?" Alex said slowly.
"Her attitude towards life. She's so optimistic about things."
"Um, tha-thank you, I guess." Alex went to the fridge. "Want anything?"
"I suppose. What do you have?"
"Well . . beer. . water. . tap water . . Hard lemonade. . more beer. . "
"Bottled water, if that's all right."
"Yeah, or I wouldn't have asked you."
They sat sipping their own drinks, both silent and throwing the occasional glance at one another, until Alex sat down her drink and cleared her throat. "Do you think there's a way I could meet Jamie, when this is all said and done?"
"Oh, yes. If you catch him, I'm definitely going to so she can thank you."
Alex leaned down slowly, and took Elizabeth's hand. "Not 'if', Betty, 'when'. I promise things are going to be okay very soon."
"I look like a goth slut, Bobby." Alex crossed her arms over her chest, very aware of how much skin was showing with the mesh shirt on and black bra underneath.
"You look fine. . for what we need. Look at me though," he pointed at his gelled back hair. I look like a pimp in this."
"That's what we're aiming for, here. You okay? You're looking kind weird."
"Gonna be, but I'm thinking right now."
Alex raised an eyebrow, and then scanned the dark and smoky bar. "See him?"
"Yup."
"Where?"
"Nine-o'-clock."
She turned to her left, eye narrowing. "I'm getting this bastard. Let's go."
She took Bobby's hand, who stared at it for a moment before processing what was going on. She started to slink her way past the table, a lazy arm brushing Richard Osmond's shoulder, a fingertip resting on the back of his neck for a moment before walking away. She took three steps away, and then around to give him a seductive smile
"Hook, line, and sinker," Bobby said coyly as they started to sway to music on the dance floor. "Nicely done, Alex, I think you have had practice. . . . .What's he doing?"
"Well, staring at me, for one."
"Well, of course he is. I'd be, too."
"Don't talk like that, Bobby," she looked down, hoping the dark masked her blushing. "Do you think I should go arrest him yet?"
"Yeah, sounds good."
Alex stepped back from Bobby, slapping him before charging off towards the bar, again brushing against Richard as she went to lean on the bar. Bobby turned, storming off towards their table from before.
Alex crossed her arms, an angered look on her face.
"Guy problems?" Richard leaned against the bar next to her.
"You don't know the first half of it." Alex shook her head with a sigh.
"Anything I can help you with? I'm sure I could show you a good time."
"I'm sure you can help me." She grinned. "You're Richard Osmond?"
"Dick, sweety," he smiled back. "Someone told you to come to me?'
"Well, 'Dick'. . . ," Alex took a step behind him. "I already think you helped me. You have the right to remain silent-"
"What the fu-" He tried to turn, but realized his wrists were in handcuffs and that he was pinned to the bar. "Oh come on, what did I do to you?"
"Quite a bit, actually, you knocked up my niece," Alex said harshly as an officer took him, the entire crowd watching in awe. "Come on, Bobby."
"Nice job," he said as he held the door for Alex. "Come on, I'll take you home," he slipped his jacket over Alex's shoulders. Alex smiled at him as they rounded the corner.
"Thank you," her smile turned into a worried expression, "I didn't slap you too hard, did I?" Her hand reached up to his face.
"No, Mom slapped a lot worse on a good day." Bobby put a hand over hers, and smiled, but after a moment dropped his. He cleared his throat. "I think we need to talk, Alex. And I think you know why."
Alex stared at him, unable to speak for a moment. "Can it wait until we're in private?"
"Yes."
The ride to Robert's house was silent, and stiff. An even further silent ride in the elevator, and dead silence on the walk into his apartment.
Alex wrapped her arms around herself, trying to make it casual as to not make Bobby notice. She stood near the door, unmoving, but watching Bobby as he left the room and came back with a set of gray sweatpants and a sweatshirt.
"You're cold," he said simply.
She mumbled her thanks, and went to the bathroom to get changed. The sleeves rolled back, as the same with the waistband on the pants, she entered the living room to find Bobby sitting down.
"Can we talk now?"
She nodded, sitting down on the couch next to him.
"I want to give us a try, now hear me out, Alex."
"Okay, let's hear it," Alex sat cross legged towards him.
He leaned forward, mouth open, and then paused. "Do you want to hear the full several hundred reasons or top three?"
"Maybe the several hundred later, but now, the three."
"Well, Reason Three, we both can relate on a level that's pretty hard to."
"Explain, please."
"My Mom, your mother. And you and I have gone through shit and seen shit that a lot of people have never even dreamed of. . . . and we've saved each other lives quite a few times."
"True."
"Reason Two. I'm physically attracted to you-"
"And vice versa."
He stared at her, a smile twitching at the corner of his mouth.
"Bobby," she said lowly, "you're forgetting Reason One."
He exhaled slowly, and incredulous look on his face. "And Reason One," Robert took Alex's hand, a warm smile growing on his face as his eyes met her curious ones. "I love you."
Alex stared at him for a moment, and then smiled. "Good, cause I love you."
He sighed, falling back against the couch. "That was a lot easier than I thought." He looked over at Alex, who's faced was plastered with a large grin. "Stop that."
"Make me."
Bobby leaned forward and kissed her. After a moment, Alex leaned back. "Not fair."
"All's fair in love and war."
Alex climbed in front of Bobby, who wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"We're okay now, huh?" she sighed, content.
"We're better than okay," he whispered. "We're perfect."
The End