The Temptation Of Goren: Part Six

Before I continue, I'd like to thank a few people. These people took the time out to review TTOG (which is a labour of love, I assure you!). I would like to thank: blucougar57 – She's not quite dead yet!

KellseyKisaragi – Okay! Okay! –appears nervous-

TriStateCopFan – Bobby in pain. Sure, go ahead and laugh! Lol! You are brilliant and thanks for your reviews.

Lallyb- Okay! Have it your way! Not that I'm complaining...

SmileyBlueEyes – GO SUPERCOP! Lol!

Aiden Burn – Sure, she's a Mary-Sue. But she's me and I'm sleeping with Bobby! Hurrah!

And finally...

Squeak. My best friend from High School. May happy chances bring us back together next year at university. Thank you.

xxx

(See earlier disclaimers. I got a mixed reaction when I asked whether Maria should live or die. Well, I came to a decision. Happy reading, loyal followers!)

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Bobby knelt beside Maria, wounded badly from the gunshot. His eyes were watching her, his ears receiving her moans of agony, but his brain wasn't responding to the signals that told him that she didn't have much time if the ambulance didn't arrive soon.

'Maria? Maria, can you hear me?' he breathed softly. Maria's eyes flickered open; her normally bright blue eyes dulled a slate grey from the pain.

'Bobby,' she croaked, reaching for his hand. Bobby took her hand and held it close.

'It's going to be alright, Maria. The medics are on their way,' Bobby said, reassuring himself more than her. Maria forced a smile.

'If I die Bobby…' she began, then started coughing, hacking, as blood spattered out onto her shirt. Bobby felt the tears rise out of anger.

'You aren't going to die, do you hear me? I won't let you die!' Bobby whispered angrily, brushing two renegade tears from his cheek. Maria smiled weakly.

'Bobby, you have to listen. If I die before the medics get here, I want you to promise me that you'll look after my aunt. She cares about you and she'll always treat you with respect,' Maria gasped. Bobby squeezed her hand.

'I promise, Maria. But you have to promise me something.'

'What's that?'

'That when you get better, you'll marry me,' Bobby said seriously. Maria sighed and touched his face with her free hand. Eames, who had been watching and listening, felt two hot tears run down her face. They love each other so much, Eames thought as she desperately clung to her cell.

'I promise, Bobby Goren,' Maria whispered. She lay back and sighed, closing her eyes on the battle ground. Bobby fought the tears as they came; raining down his hot cheeks where she had kissed him only an hour before.

'Please, Maria,' he choked,

'Please don't leave me behind.'

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Bobby didn't notice the medics arrive. Didn't notice when Eames put her arm around his shoulders and told him it was time to go. Didn't notice that he had stood up and walked out of the kitchen. He did notice, however, Maria's pale cheeks being covered by a blue blanket to keep her warm.

'Her favourite colour,' Goren whispered. Eames looked up at her partner.

'What was that?' she asked. Goren shrugged.

'Maria's favourite colour. Blue,' he replied distractedly, looking on as the medics lifted Maria up onto the stretcher and loaded her into the back of the ambulance. It roared off, sirens squealing. Bobby looked down at Eames, who was peering at him in a concerned way. Bobby choked back his pain and wiped his face.

'Come on, we've got some explaining to do down at the precinct,' he murmured, heading out to Eames' SUV. Eames nodded and watched her partner lumber out as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Worried about Goren, but unsure of how he would react if she asked him about it, Eames kept her mouth shut and jumped in the car, started the engine and began the silent drive back to Police Plaza.

Upon arrival, Bobby jumped out of the car and began hailing down a cab. Alex grabbed him by the arm.

'What do you think you are doing?' she hissed as a cab pulled up. Bobby looked down at her blankly, as if Alex had asked him a ridiculous question.

'Maria is in hospital, Eames. Your niece is in hospital. Dying. She was shot because she didn't want them to hurt me. She's dying because of me and if I'm not there if she... if she...' Bobby trailed off, turning away as he angrily brushed his cheek. Alex moved close to him and wrapped an arm around his waist.

'Bobby, I promised to take care of her. Three days after she arrives in the country and I couldn't prevent her from being shot. How do you think I'm feeling?' Alex whispered to her partner. Bobby looked down and saw the obvious pain in Alex's eyes. Understanding her point, Bobby waved the cab away. As he watched it drive off, Bobby turned to Alex.

'So what do we do about this?' he asked her desperately. Alex swallowed the lump in her throat.

'We'll be professional. We'll go back to the office, report to Deakins, then file the appropriate paperwork. Then after work, you'll pack your briefcase with the same neatness you always do. Then I'll drive us both to the hospital and we'll both check in on Maria,' Alex replied flatly. Bobby forced the anger that was rising in the pit of his stomach. She's your partner, for God's sakes! he shouted at himself. She's right. She's Maria's aunt, whatever pain you are feeling, she's feeling it too. You know she's right and whatever you do now will NOT help Maria. It's too late.

Bobby gave Eames a half-grin.

'O.. okay then,' he stuttered. Alex shot him a questioning look, but Bobby didn't feel like answering it. He felt dead inside. The wind around him seemed to blow right through his solid frame as he followed Alex back in HQ. When they arrived, Deakins was still on the floor, pacing worriedly. He jerked his head up as Alex and Bobby approached, opening his mouth to speak. Alex made slitting movements to her throat and shook her head furiously as Deakins watched Bobby head over to his desk and sit down, rubbing his forehead in the same way he always did when he was thinking. Deakins pulled Alex aside.

'How's he coping?' he whispered, watching Bobby pull out some forms and begin to fill them in. Alex bowed her head.

'Not well. It was difficult stopping him climbing in the back of the ambulance and going straight to the hospital. Then when we got here, he tried to hail a cab to go after Maria. I managed to persuade him that there was nothing he could do, but he's hit rock-bottom. I could see it in his eyes,' she replied, shooting a side-long glance at her partner. Deakins followed her gaze. Bobby was furiously sharpening his pencil. It broke three times and on the fourth, Goren slammed it down on the desk and buried his face in his large hands. The captain faced Alex.

'You need to send him home, Eames. Make him stay there. Pick him up after work and take him to see Junior Detective Eames, but no more. When Goren's like this, he can't be reasoned with,' Deakins instructed Eames. She nodded, unbuckling her bullet-proof vest and hanging it up.

'What if he won't listen to me?' she asked absently. Deakins chuckled.

'Eames, face it – you're the only one Bobby listens to. If he won't listen to you, we've lost our super-detective.'

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Bobby wandered to his desk, feeling lost and alone. Eames was standing with Deakins, whispering intently. Bobby knew that they were talking about him. It wasn't hard to work out that when your partner makes funny gestures with her hand across her throat and shakes her head, then gets pulled aside that she's about to be spoken to about the state of your mental health.

Bobby massaged his forehead. It had taken every ounce of professionalism he had to stop himself jumping into the cab and roaring off to the hospital to keep vigil at Maria's side. But Eames was right. He couldn't do anything now.

Bobby still heard the echo of the gunshot, the memory of Maria shoving him out of the way as the cartel member raised the gun. Bobby rummaged through his paperwork for an incident report as his memory played everything back in slow motion. How the bullet had hit Maria squarely in the chest, how the impact had jolted her violently backwards, how she had given Bobby a terrified look as her eyes had rolled back in her head and she had slumped to the floor with a clear thud...

Bobby's pencil broke, dragging him blessedly back to the present. Groaning, he reached for the sharpener he kept on his desk. As he rotated the pencil, Goren felt the surge of anger towards the cartel he had felt as he listened outside the door. She was, IS a damn fine officer, Goren thought, as the pencil snapped again. Grumbling, he removed the broken lead and tried again. She was doing her job. They had no RIGHT to do that to her... the pencil broke again.

Cursing under his breath, Bobby shook out the lead and repeated his efforts. She is somebody's baby... she's MY baby! How dare they try and take her away from me? Do they LIKE causing people pain? Unaware that he was turning the pencil at a furious pace, Goren's pencil snapped for a third time. Thoroughly angry by this point, Bobby pulled the lead out and threw it across the room, trying for a fourth time.

Did they think that by taking her away, I'd just lay down and die? That I would let it rest because I had nothing left? Didn't they reckon that I would hunt down every one of the bastards until I had shot them all, until they paid for the suffering they caused me?

The pencil snapped.

Bobby looked at it for a moment. Slamming it down on his desk with a sharp bang that made the other officers jump, he buried his head in his hands. He was well aware that Eames and Deakins were watching him. He didn't care. If they were going to think that he was losing it, he might as well play the part. If Maria died, he would have nothing left. For most of his life, Bobby had felt a hole inside of him. When he had met Eames, that hole had been partially filled. But there was always a part of him missing. When he had saved Maria from the mugger, spoken with her, taught her to dance... Bobby smiled. He had found the missing piece.

'Come on,' Eames' voice drifted into his head. Goren looked up. Eames stood at the side of his desk.

'What?' he asked softly. Eames jangled the keys to the SUV.

'I'm taking you home for a sleep, Bobby. You can't fool anyone; you are in no condition to work at the moment. I'll finish the paperwork'- Eames said quickly as Bobby opened his mouth to protest –' because if you keep going with that pencil, you're likely to completely demolish it.'

Goren closed his mouth. She was right. As usual. He bowed his head.

'Alright,' he replied gruffly, defeated. Alex nodded. The trick was to be firm with Bobby. If he thought he could get his own way, he would. Alex handed him his jacket.

'I'll pick you up after work and take you to see Maria if you promise me that you will not leave your apartment,' Eames said seriously, like a school teacher talking to a pupil. Goren shrugged into his jacket and nodded glumly.

'Sure,' he said. In all truth, Bobby didn't feel like arguing. He didn't have a lot of energy. When Eames had proposed that he go home, he was half glad that she had said it. He was sure it wasn't her idea, though. Deakins would have put her up to it, but she wouldn't have done it if she didn't think that he needed it. Bobby stood up. He could always count on Eames to stand up for him. Alex tapped him on the arm.

'Come on, big guy,' she said softly.

'Time to go home.'

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Bobby slumped on the couch with a mug of coffee that Eames had made for him before she had left to go back to precinct, after promising him repeatedly that she would call him if she got any news of any changes in Maria's condition. He had planned on going to bed for a nap, but his hyper-active mind was racing at a million miles an hour. He got up off the couch and dug out the battered CD Maria loved so much. He read the title.

'Beautiful Life, huh,' Bobby snorted. As far as he saw it, if life was so beautiful, why was it trying to take Maria away from him?

He opened the CD player and popped the disc in. As he wandered back and collapsed on the couch, the words that Maria had hummed to him in bed on their first night together poured out of the speakers. Bobby found himself crying silent tears as Guy sang of loving someone and not being able to tell them because of being too afraid that they didn't feel the same. Bobby listened as Guy sang, telling of how things finally came to a head and expressing his love for the girl.

'God, you don't know how right you are,' Goren whispered to the stereo, as the last bars of Kryptonite finished. The phone gave a shrill ring, causing him to jump. Goren sped across the living room and grabbed the phone.

'Yes? Detective Goren here.'

'Goren, it's Eames.'

'God, Eames, is it that late already? I didn't notice the time. Are you on your way to pick me up?'

'No Goren, I'm not. I just got a call from the hospital, informing me about Maria's condition.'

Goren squeezed the phone tightly, his large knuckles turning white. Shaking all over, he swallowed.

'And... and... and?'

'And... she's stable. She's going to be fine.'

A/N: Thank you all for your reviews. For those interested, the music I refer to in this story comes from the Australian artist Guy Sebastian's second album, Beautiful Life, a brilliant collection of contemporary R'n'B and jazz. For those interested (overseas) you can order it through Amazon. I do not own the rights to it or him (I wish!), but I highly recommend it. Never fear, I will be including a soundtrack list at the finale. This is not it.