Kavi- fear not, fluff is on the way…and you have no idea how difficult it is to write fluff in my current…situation…cough…however, I fear I must embarrass myself for the sake of my story…enjoy!

Chapter 12

Bobby had the back of his hospital bed all the way up so he could read, but he wasn't in it. He was sitting, fully clad in his pajamas, at a little table in the corner of his room. Alex was sitting across from him.

Alex had packed up and limped home the night before, but she was back bright and early the next morning with coffee, bagels, and case notes.

Bobby was still looking a little ill, but on the whole was much better. The surgery worked wonderfully and he was well on his way to a full recovery.

That didn't stop, however, a whole flock of nurses to come and care for him, see how he was doing, and constantly tell him to stay in bed and rest, which he was reluctant to do, no matter how tired he was.

A very pretty nurse with long blonde hair came in, followed shortly after by a very old nurse, with short grey hair. The blonde nurse sat a tray on Goren's bedside table. "Bobby, you know you're not supposed to be out of bed," she said with a reproving smile. Alex looked at him with a big grin on her face, and turned her chair around to watch the show.

"Sorry, Gretchen- case notes, gotta work. Thank you for the breakfast, by the way, it was lovely," he said with a puppy look in his eyes. Gretchen beamed at him.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Goren, you're orders are to be in bed," said the grey haired nurse in a scratchy voice.

"Linda, I'm fine here. I'm not running around, I'm just sitting here and reading. I'll get back in my bed later." His tone with Linda was much less tolerant. He looked over at Alex who had started to shuffle papers like she was getting ready to gather them and leave.

"I'm sorry," she said in a nice tone, very similar to that of Gretchen's. "I was just leaving anyway. I had something quick to discuss with him, but we're done now." She continued to smile at the blonde nurse. Linda looked like she was all for that plan and just as she was about to motion for Alex to get out Gretchen stepped in.

"Oh, Linda, it's ok, he's just reading," she said giving Linda a push towards the door. "But he knows he's got to get some rest," she beamed over her shoulder as they left. Bobby smiled and waved the two ladies out.

Alex sat there, her eyes still on the door. "The blonde is cute," she finally said.

"Shut up- very slick, by the way," he said, giving her due praise.

"You learn a fair bit about manipulation working at Major Case. And besides, it only worked because she likes you so much- you…how should I say this… Warmed her up for me?" said Alex giving him a smirk.

"Very funny," said Bobby with a return smirk. "When is Mike coming by?"

"Sometime before lunch- he put up a fight."

"I'll bet- at least Deakins agreed."

"Yep."

"So he'll be bringing all of the case files and info we have, then?"

"Yep."

"Good."

Five minutes passed as they worked. Alex moved her chair towards Bobby's to see some of his notes. Five more minutes passed, and Bobby moved his chair towards Alex's to see her notes… they continued to work.

Logan knocked on the door to Goren's room. "Goren, you decent?"

He heard a "Yah, come on in," and entered.

What he saw was not surprising, but he still hadn't been expecting to see it.

Bobby was sitting at his table, pouring over case notes and Alex was standing behind him, her hands on his shoulders as she read over them.

Logan coughed. Alex stood up straight and Bobby turned around in his chair, momentarily forgetting his injury. The movement was short lived, however, Bobby let out a "Shit," and turned his torso back around. "No better?" asked Logan.

"It's a little better, I just don't pay attention to it like I should."

"That's too bad," said Mike in an unconvinced tone. "I brought the case files. Remind me again, Alex, why you couldn't get them yourself?"

Alex held up her injured foot, which was now in a small blue cast.

Logan rolled his eyes and held out the folders to Alex. Bobby made to get up but Alex pushed him by the shoulders back into his chair. She then limped over to Mike and retrieved the folders. "Thanks," she said.

"Yah, 'welcome," he replied and then headed out the door. "See you two later."

"Bye," said Bobby. Alex limped back over to the table, sat down, passed one folder to Bobby, kept one for herself, and put the rest in the middle on top of the already enormous pile of papers.

Bobby carefully read the case file of the first victim. "No," he mumbled, "I couldn't have missed that…"

"What?" said Alex, looking over.

"The contact info…Peter found her…his sister…"

Tired of listening to Bobby babble she grabbed the folder from him and read aloud, "'Peter K. Ballons, Ada Nevil's brother, contacted at…' he was the first victim's brother." Alex looked up at Bobby.

"He was the one who found her-"

"Which is why his hair would have been at the crime scene," Alex finished.

Bobby looked at Alex. God, she was beautiful, but his mouth spoke- as if it had a mind of its own- before he could dwell on her pretty features. "If the scammer got his sister, he'd want revenge…" Bobby could have slapped himself. Ahg!

Alex nodded in agreement, but her mind was elsewhere as well. She looked at his shoulders, at the bit of skin not covered by his pajamas. "But why wait for 4 more murders before getting involved?" The words had escaped her mouth without a thought about them.

Bobby's eyes fell down to her hands, which were propped up on the table where she was writing notes. Her left hand was centimeters from his right. His fingers twitched. "Why wait-," he mumbled.

"-to come after us…" Their minds were making so many connections, but all they could bring themselves to do was talk about the case…

"Where is the murderer?" asked Bobby faintly.

"No idea," whispered Alex. And finally, after 4 years of working cases together, 4 years of on and off flings, they knew…