Deviation from the Average

By Javawolf

Author's Note: I have little-to-no knowledge of the investigation process, so I'll claim poetic licence. I am however studying psychology, which is what drove me to write this fic. Please review, or I'll seriously stop posting.

Disclaimer: These characters belong to one Mr. Dick Wolf, the genius who created not one, but four hit television shows. I am merely showing my appreciation for his work by writing fanfiction. I make no money what-so-ever. Please, I beg you, don't sue me.

One Police Plaza

Major Case Squad

It had been 6 days since her partner had been suspended, and Alexandra Eames was just as miserable with his replacement, as she had known she would be when she first laid eyes on him. This replacement, Detective Leon Grim, was a self-loving, ass-kissing, boring fellow who never thought before taking action.

Just the previous day Grim had spoken freely of his dislike for one Detective Robert Goren, and had nearly had his right arm torn off by Eames. She had been almost hopeful that she too would be booted out of the building and suspended, except that her commander and leader, captain Deakins, hadn't seemed to care. In fact, he seemed almost pleased. It was a fellow officer who pulled her, thrashing and kicking, off of her new partner.

Now she sat at her desk positively seething, staring a hole into the piles of unfinished paperwork and recalling Goren's, for lack of any better term, episode. The scene played over and over inside her head without mercy.

She remembered the pain she'd seen in his eyes as she lay there bleeding on the floor of One Police Plaza, several people swarming around her putting pressure on her leg. The pain she felt had been excruciating, as though her entire lower torso has been set on fire. And yet Bobby... The way he looked at her in that moment. She knew he wanted to hold her until it was all better. Had Deakins not been holding him back, Alex felt certain he would have been there to comfort her. But he hadn't, and she was able to tell by that look in his eyes... It was killing him.

"Bobby." She whispered to him as he sat at his desk with his head in his hands. "You're working to hard, you'll kill yourself like this. Damn it, Robert, look at me."

Goren obeyed with reluctance. Alex frowned at the sight of him. He was obviously running on fumes. He looked as though he hadn't eaten anything since they'd opened this case. He sported incredibly dark circles under his eyes and the most miserable expression she'd ever seen on him before. Making a fast decision, she grabbed his arm and lifted him up out of his chair.

"Come, on. It's after eleven. You're going home to get some rest." Goren wrenched himself out of her grasp and sat again at his desk.

"I don't need it." He told her sternly with his eyes fixed on the work in front of him. "You go home."

"Are you stupid? You need sleep."

"NEVER..." Goren spoke fiercely, refusing to look at her but raising a hand in warning. "Just..." He sighed and lowered his hand back to write something down in his notebook. "Please don't call me that."

"What? Call you what?"

Bobby looked up at his partner with quiet frustration. "Stupid."

"Fine." Alex shrugged. She called him names all the time, only in friendly sport. He knew that, and it had never seemed to bother him before now. He knew how much it aggravated her when he refused to call her by her first name, yet he did it anyway.

Goren sat silently at his desk and Alex wondered if he was only pretending to read those files to piss her off. Deciding that it was exactly was he was doing, she scoffed.

"You make me so furious, Bobby." With a huff Alex turned on her heel, walked over to the lockers and got her coat. Goren sat at his desk in silence, his frustration melting into guilt. Deciding he didn't want to come in the following morning and have to talk her down again, he quickly stood from his desk and went after her to apologize.

"Eames!" He called pleadingly. "I'm sorry. Really." He put on his very best 'take-me-seriously' look. "You're right, I'll go home."

Alex stopped at the exit and looked back at him quizzically. She noticed immediately something was very wrong. Her partner had stopped dead in his tracks and was staring in horror at something past her. It was a look of child-like terror. He cowered from her.

"Bobby?" She asked hesitantly after looking behind her to find a blank wall.

It happened so fast, she didn't have time to move out of the way. Goren tore his gun from its holster and fired two shots at the wall. The noise seemed to surprise even him. Another officer tackled him, knocking his aim as the third and last shot went off, burying itself into Alex's leg. She cried out in pain and sunk to the floor, blood seeping through her pants.

Deakins rushed out of his office in a panic, looking from Bobby to Alex in disbelief.

"Call an ambulance! Now!" He shouted to the officer holding Goren to the ground. The instant the weight was off of him, Goren sat bolt upright and tried to reach his wounded partner, concern and worry easily readable in his expression. Deakins held him back, a grunt escaping his throat, as Detective Goren wasn't no light-weight.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He screamed. "You could have killed her!" Unexpectedly, Bobby collapsed to the floor, shaking.

"I'm sorry..." Was all he could manage to get out between the sobs.

It was the last thing Alex saw before allowing herself to lose consciousness.

Eames stared blankly at the chair across from her desk with a miserable sinking feeling. She couldn't even bring herself to concentrate even in the slightest on the mountain of paper work she had to do, describing the incident in her report. It simply wasn't something she felt she was the right person to be doing.

Something had to have been going on. Bobby was always a bit...odd. But he usually managed to hold himself together. She'd never seen him go over the edge like that.

"Making any progress at all?" Alex woke to a familiar drawling voice. Grim stood above her as she lay miserably with her head resting on her crossed arms. He smacked her in the back of the head.

"Wake up!"

Alex groaned. "Something up?" She said groggily. Grim frowned.

"Are you okay?"

(The narrator would like to take this moment to make it absolutely clear that Grim's concern is not real. He is merely being nosey. Alex knows this, and now you do as well.)

Alex sat up and stretched, suppressing a yawn. "I'm fine." She stood and looked towards Deakin's office, then at her watch.

"Goodnight, Grim." And she limped over to the lockers to collect her things.

"What, you're leaving?" Grim asked incredulously.

"Yes, I am. See you tomorrow."

Apartment of Detective Robert Goren

New York

Bobby sat alone in his apartment, surrounded by books and notes and files he'd taken home with him from his doctor's office the previous day. His depression only deepened with every page he read. He was 44 years old, living fairly comfortably in New York City, with a terrific job and great friends... Friends he'd been deprived all those years. Surely, this wouldn't happen to him now. It couldn't be happening now.

Tired and grumpy, Bobby threw the book he had been trying to read roughly back down on the coffee table. This was getting him nowhere. Letting out a frustrated sigh and raising his hands to his head to massage his temples, Bobby Goren had never felt more put-out. Or hopeless. For a long time, he'd always had Eames to talk to. Albeit, he rarely actually spoke, but still. In some way, he talked to her without saying anything, and she comforted him without being bothersome. They had a... well a partnership.

Bobby groaned softly, almost inaudibly. He had very well ended that partnership. He was a class A screw up. He done a damn fine job pushing her, everyone away. Deakin's had only suspended him, but hadn't specified how long until, or even if Goren would ever work another case. If he was lucky he might keep his desk, filing reports and signing things, Ex-Detective Robert Goren. It looked bad. Something deep down inside told him, after that last visit to the doctor, things are only bound to get worse...

Apartment of Detective Alexandra Eames

New York

Alex shrugged a robe on over her night gown and made herself comfortable on the couch while her popcorn popped in the microwave. She hit the power button on her DVD Player remote control, allowing the disk to load while she waited for her snack. She was going to watch a movie her dad had recommended. She didn't care much for her dad's kind of film. That is to say bloody, gory, alien movies involving a well built, Arnold-type hero sporting a very large gun. She had to admit, she was really in it for the popcorn. But it was a good way to relax, forget about her hectic week and enjoy a movie. Her mind wandered and she found herself gazing at her bandaged leg. It had only been a minor wound, her doctor had told her, and she could take the wrapping off in about another week. Still...

The phone rang, abruptly waking her from her stupor.

"Shit..." She mumbled as she reached to grab the phone off of its receiver. "Eames." She spat into the mouth piece.

"It's Deakins." Came a voice she recognized all too well.

"What is it? Grim get himself plowed again?" She said dryly, not hiding her dislike for her new partner. Deakins sighed loudly.

"No, Alex..." He said somberly. "I just got off the phone with Detective Goren's psychologist...I'm afraid I have some bad news."

tbc