Notes: Bobby, Alex and I wish to thank everyone who reviewed. He was much cheered by all your good thoughts, and as you can see decided to turn away from the bright light that beckoned. g

Part 7

Six days later
Saint Hugh's Hospital

Some things would never change, Alex thought, as she looked up from the magazine she had been pretending to read and watched her partner interact with his nurse. She was his captivated audience and she was flirting madly with him, her eyes wide with admiration and he, of course, was lapping up every second of it.

She smiled in spite of herself, amused that even from a hospital bed he should have the power to charm the socks off any woman he chose. The gut-wrenching relief she felt at his recovery was still fresh enough to allow him a little leeway with these things. But her smile faded when he came to the part of the story that she'd been trying not to think about for the past six days and began downplaying it for all it was worth. Her relief suddenly turned to an overwhelming anger at the flippancy at which he spoke, and so when she interrupted it was with unusual vehemence. "Goren, that's not what happened at all. If you insist on telling it, tell it right."

He appeared a little startled at her interruption, but kept smiling as he winked at the nurse. "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, Eames, that's what I always say."

She threw the magazine down onto the bed table and glared at him. "Then maybe you should do us all a favour and shut up."

The nurse looked between her patient and his visitor and made a hasty decision to retreat. "I'll be back to check your dressing later, Mr. Goren," she said, backing out of the room.

Bobby ignored her and turned his attention to his partner. "Eames?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, *I'm* fine. *I'm* just dandy."

"Then what was that about?" he asked, honestly bewildered.

"What was it about? Are you serious?" she asked incredulously.

"Look, something is obviously bothering you, and it's just as obvious that whatever it is has got to do with me. So why don't we just cut through all the theatrics and you give it to me straight."

"Fine. Where are you?"

"Is this a trick question, Alex, because I gotta tell ya, I don't see the relevance."

"You don't, huh? Then let me enlighten you – you're in a hospital ward, in intensive care. Two days ago you were hooked up to a million tubes. Five days ago you were still unconscious and I didn't know whether you would even pull through. And six days ago you were shot in the chest."

"Alex, I know all this. I don't understand –"

"No, you don't, and that's the problem. You almost died, Bobby . . . if James Butcher hadn't been such a bad shot you would be laid out in that morgue instead of him, and yet you're laying there and joking about it, like it was nothing."

"That's not true," he protested. "I know how lucky I am. I was the one who was actually shot, remember?"

She took a series of deep breaths, wanting him to know how bad it was for her, but not wanting him to know the reason why.

"It's not something I'm ever likely to forget. Being soaked in your partners blood and not being able to do a damn thing about it has a lasting effect on a person." She stopped, aware that she was very close to giving herself away, but needing to say one more thing. "Don't you understand? I thought I was watching you die . . . and that's not something to joke about, not now, not ever."

He didn't want to think about how close he came to dying; his body still hurt too much to rehash those unpleasant memories, so he resorted to frivolity. "Keep that up, Alex, and people might get the wrong idea."

She stared at him in puzzlement.

"All that concern . . . they might think that you actually cared."

She froze in anger, and when she spoke her voice was filled with contempt. "Couldn't have that now, could we?"

Aware on some level that he had crossed the line he tried to make amends. "Alex – "

"I have to go," she said, and left the room without looking back.

"I'm sorry," he told the injured silence she left behind. "I didn't mean it."

TBC....