"So it went well?" Deakins demanded, pouncing on them as soon as he caught sight of them entering the squad room.

Eames shrugged. "Hopefully. We found some good stuff."

"A laptop, which is being cracked into as we speak," Goren supplied, "and some very interesting green pellets, which are also being cracked open, hopefully as we speak."

"What's the word from the suspect?"

The two detectives exchanged looks. "I believe his exact words were 'Fuck you both, I want a lawyer,' right Goren?"

"Something along those lines, yeah."

Deakins grinned. "Kid can't be as smart as he wants to think he is. No one with half a brain in their head wants to piss off you two."

"Yeah, well, he never exactly struck me as the humble type," said Eames.

Goren nodded with a half-smile. "She's got a point."

Deakins waved an exaggeratedly annoyed hand at them. "Like you wouldn't back her up even if she was dead wrong. Sometimes I wonder about you guys, you know?" He completely missed the stunned looks that appeared on their faces as he continued, "Go get yourselves some lunch. When's the computer due?"

"Depends," Eames said, recovering first. "Mostly on whether the kid used encryption or password-protection. The best the head geek could tell us was 'probably sometime today'."

Deakins, ever pragmatic, asked her, "Did you try to charm him into fast-tracking it?"

She smothered a smile. "Actually, I got the impression he would have been more interested in having Bobby charm him."

Goren opened his mouth, but Deakins held up a hand. "Stop. I really don't think I want to know whether your dedication to your job goes that far, Goren."

Unable to help herself, Alex burst out laughing.

Goren glared at her and deliberately stepped on the heel of her shoe as he followed her out of the office.

"Lunch?" Goren asked a few minutes later as they settled back at their desks.

She looked up from the file she'd been reading and grinned. "Only if you buy. It's your refusal to flirt with the tech guy that's going to slow us down, after all."

"I'm going to ignore that for now and get my revenge later. Pizza?"

"Sure."

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They had just begun to rip into their pizza when Bobby stiffened and let out a quiet groan.

She looked up at him. "Burn your mouth?"

"Not quite." He pointed behind her. "You've got a visitor."

Curious about who would be visiting her at work, she turned in her chair and found Mike Logan descending on them purposefully. She swung around to look at Goren. "Don't you dare . . ."

He shook his head. "I don't think it's me you need to worry about, this time."

She sighed. "Well, keep it that way. Only one pissed detective is better than two pissed detectives."

"I'm on my best behavior, Alex. Honestly," he added when she looked skeptical. "You think I want to screw this up for the umpteenth day in a row?"

"Good," she said, then turned to greet Logan as he reached her desk. "Hi, Mike. What can I do for you?"

Logan's eyes shifted from her to Goren, narrowed, and moved back to her. "Could I talk to you for a minute?"

She didn't move. "Sure."

"Not here," he added. "Somewhere private."

She glanced across the desks, wary of Goren's reaction. He appeared to be sitting calmly, politely ignoring their conversation. She didn't think anyone but her would notice how his lips were white and his pencil was in danger of snapping.

"I guess," she said, looking back at Logan. "But I want to be back here before my pizza gets cold or Goren steals my share." Knowing that her good day was about to go down the tubes, but having no idea how to avoid it, she stood and followed him away from her desk.

He led her into the conference room and shut the door behind them. "I want to know what happened after I left yesterday."

She pulled out one of the chairs and sat down with a sigh. "Nothing happened. We argued a little more, then he backed down and, uh, left." She was definitely not sharing with Logan how she and Bobby had spent the evening.

"Did he hit you?"

"What!"

She saw his jaw clench, then relax. "You heard me," he said.

"No, he did not hit me, damn it. You didn't believe me when I told you I could handle him? Bobby would never . . .!"

"I believe you think you can handle him. I also believe he's twice your size and if he goes after you there's nothing you can do about it."

"Oh, this is bullshit. Relax, Mike. He didn't hit me. In fact, he actually apologized eventually for the whole thing."

He glanced over his shoulder toward the glass walls, then pulled her farther back into the room. "Show me your arms."

She started to say no, then decided it was easier to show him that she had no bruises than to argue with him about it. She shoved up one sleeve and then the other, saying, "There. Happy?"

"Ribs."

"Excuse me?"

"He's smart enough to not hit you where it would be visible. Show me your ribs."

"There's no way in hell I'm showing you anything under my shirt," she said furiously, crossing her arms over her chest.

He rolled his eyes. "All I want to see is your ribs. You showed more skin when you worked Vice."

"Jesus Christ. I can't believe you're actually insisting that I just lift up my shirt here in front of the squad room."

"I'll stand in front of you. No one will see."

"You're insane."

"No, Alex, I'm worried. Just prove to me that I'm wrong, ok? And then I'll leave it alone."

She sighed. "Look. I will pull my shirt up exactly two inches, ok? That's all you're going to get. And I swear to god if word of this ever gets out . . ."

"It won't," he assured her. "Show me."

Wishing he would drop dead right in front of her, she slid her shirt up to just above her belly button and held it there for two seconds. "There, see? I'm clean," she said, dropping the shirt back into place. "Can I go back to work now?"

His hand slammed down on the table. "Don't lie to me!"

Startled, she took a step back. "What the . . . I'm not lying to you!"

"It's right there," he said, pointing to her right hip. "I saw it. I'm going to fucking kill him."

"Huh?" She peeked under her shirt in the area he'd pointed out and noticed for the first time that her hip was bruised from when she hit it against the counter yesterday. Damn, could this situation get any worse?

She looked back up at Logan. "He did not hit me. And you will not be killing him anytime soon. I tripped and hit my hip against the counter, that's all."

"Oh, you 'tripped'?" he sneered. "That's weak, Alex."

"You know what? Screw you. I'm telling you the truth. If you're not going to believe me, that's your problem." She stomped to the door and pulled it open. Just before she stormed through it, she turned and looked back at him. "And stay away from my partner, Logan. I'm warning you."

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It took him absolutely no effort to see that she was upset when she returned from her conversation with Logan. Her face was white and pinched and he thought he saw a tremor go through her. "What the hell happened in there?" he hissed, leaning over his desk and almost onto hers.

She opened the box of pizza and violently yanked a slice out, leaving half the cheese still attached to its neighbor. "Nothing. He's just an asshole who refuses to believe that you're not evil."

"Alex . . ."

She glanced around them to make sure no on was paying attention, then laid her hand over his. "It's fine, ok? Don't get worked up. Let's keep today fight-free. I'll tell you the whole story later." She kept her eyes on his for a long moment, then took her hand back and dropped her eyes.

He didn't want to hurt her. He didn't want to ruin this. And after last night, he was as sure as he was going to get that she and Logan weren't involved. All the same, it took all his willpower to not go after the man who had obviously shaken her up more than she was willing to admit. He gritted his teeth and forced his attention back to the form laying in front of him.

Alex let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. She'd been terrified that Bobby would lose his temper and get all three of them in trouble, but he appeared determined to do as she asked. "Thank you," she whispered, to which he responded with a short nod, not looking up. Finally able to relax, she took a bite out of the now-cold pizza.

"Goren."

The angry voice startled both of them. Alex frantically juggled her slice of pizza for a moment, trying to keep from dropping it into her lap. When she finally looked up, she had the overwhelming urge to bang her head into her desk, hard.

Logan was back. He was standing behind Bobby, arms crossed and face dangerous.

Bobby met her eyes across their desks and tried to silently communicate that it would be ok. Then he turned slowly to face the other man. "Yes?" he said, deliberately keeping his voice quiet.

"Get the hell up, you bastard." Logan's voice was low and furious.

Before Goren could respond, Alex was out of her chair and standing next to him. "Mike, I warned you."

"I don't care what you warned me about. You obviously aren't objective about this." He tried to lean past her to get at Bobby.

"Oh, and you are?" she shot back, leaning with him to block his access. "You're making a scene."

"I'm going to make more of one if he doesn't get his ass out of that chair and face me."

Moving with a placating slowness, Goren rose from his chair and looked down at Logan. "There, I'm out of my chair. Now, would you go back to your desk so Eames can start breathing again?"

Logan glanced at her wide eyes and tense expression, then looked back at Goren, who was regarding him almost calmly. "She's breathing fine with me here. Seems to me you're more dangerous to her well-being than I am." Taking a step closer, he poked Goren in the chest. "You like hitting someone who can't fight back? Huh?"

Bobby could only stare at him for a second. "You think I . . . what . . .?"

He was still gaping at Logan when Alex stepped in front of him, as if she could shield his large body with her own small one. "He didn't touch me," she growled. "I told you that. And if you gave as much of a shit about me as you're pretending to, you wouldn't embarrass us like this."

Logan's mouth worked silently for a few seconds. Finally, he threw up his hands with a disgusted look. "Fine. Fine! You want to protect him for a few more hours, knock yourself out. But this isn't over," he said, glaring at Goren. "She can't be your human shield 24/7."

Bobby saw it coming. He'd worked with her long enough to recognize the signs that appeared just before the last thread of Eames's temper snapped, and he reached from behind her to grab her wrist just as she started to swing. "Alex," he said quietly, restraining her as gently as he could. "No."

Unable to move her arm forward, she settled for elbowing her partner, hard. He grunted, but kept his hold on her. "You were just asking him not to make a scene," he continued in a steady voice. "You don't want to make one now."

She seemed to freeze as she processed his words, but he could feel her arm shake under his hand as she struggled to regain control of herself. Finally, she managed a jerky nod.

"Good girl," he said, releasing her wrist and moving his hand to the small of her back. "Let's go for a walk," he suggested, keeping his head down and his eyes on her for fear of reminding her of Logan's presence.

She nodded again. "Yeah. Fine."

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"Bobby," she protested as he pulled her into the elevator, "we can't . . . the computer could be ready any time."

He didn't release her arm, but he relaxed his hand enough that she could pull away if she wanted. "Yeah, well, right now I'm less concerned with that than with keeping you from getting suspended for hitting another detective."

A shudder ran through her. "I really almost did, didn't I."

"You definitely almost did," he said with a nod. "I thought I was supposed to be the one with a temper problem."

"But did you hear what he was saying?" she said, pulling away from him and nearly running out of the elevator when they got to the ground floor. "In public!"

"I heard." He looked around as they emerged onto the sidewalk and, seeing no familiar faces, took her hand. "We both need to calm down. Come on, walk with me. I'll buy you some nuts," he added, knowing that she found the scent of street vendors' candied nuts almost irresistible.

She'd really only managed to finish about half a slice of pizza before the blow-up; nuts definitely sounded enticing. "Promise?"

He leaned over to kiss her temple. "Promise."