TITLE: A JUDAS KISS

Author: Tubbie at T or what used to be PG

BETAed by Linda (ever vigilant and ready beta)

SYNOPSIS: Conversation.

Spoilers: Events covered In the "Wee Small Hours"

COMMENTS: Alex and Bobby discuss The Letter.

DISCLAIMER: Everything relating to Criminal Intent is owned by Dick Wolf and NBC productions. Yadda, Yadda, Yadda.

Alex Eames sat and stared at the glass in front of her. She hadn't touched her drink. She had wanted answers to her very grueling day. And those answers would not be found in the alcohol and water in front of her. The ice having melted long ago, the amber swirls of the dissimilar liquids taunted her. Was this how her partnership now existed? She no longer the 'ice' to Bobby's '100 proof?' She was thinking in abstracts. Thanks Bobby. She smiled at the idea that some of his processing tools had rubbed off on her.

But the positive feelings were short lived, as she continued to review the court room events that blindsided her earlier this day. Betrayal, so damnable, the worst of sins. The icy abyss in the ninth and lowest circle in hell. The damnation due the person guilty of treachery against those to whom they were bound by special ties. Well, according to Dante anyway. She needed to talk to Bobby Goren. Her partner, friend and person whose back she had stuck a knife in. Guilty of treason. The verdict to be delivered by Bobby, two choices banishment, exile from their partnership or mercy and a second chance.

Ok, Alex stop kicking your own ass. This is a salvageable situation. This incident won't kill this team. It might leave an open wound, but wounds heal. Time would heal this. It might leave a scar, but it can be fixed. Take a step back. How had the other side attacked? The best defense was a strong offense. The judge's boys targeted Logan first. That was like shooting fish in a barrel. Only Logan had been cleared of the files they pull out, and the new allegations had been shot down by Barek, Logan's newly assigned partner. Great his partner of what? Like two weeks? And she already had his back. Good, good for them.Could I have done the same for Bobby that early in our partnership? No, stop with the self ass kicking.

Then they tried to smack down Barek, as if she was a misfit at the FBI and dumped over at NYPD. That attack was also woefully lame. Then Bobby. But they didn't attack him directly like they did the other two detectives. Why? Did they really think they could get something useful out his mentally ill mother? No, not likely. The direct method had failed on their first two targets. So instead of accusations or trying to out smart Bobby, maybe going for the gut, getting something to unnerve him would work. A distraction involving an emotionally charged issue would drive his attention away from his work on this case, away from the judge. Well, that backfired immediately. Bobby channeled those emotions into preying on the judge's ego and getting a confession out of him. That had pissed the judge off extremely.

But in court they had caught me off guard. The resignation letter. It wasn't aimed at me; it was another stab at Bobby. Christ, had they figured out he had abandonment issues or was the assignation of his character by his partner one more emotional load they hoped would snap him?

Wait, what if they thought this would emotionally mess with me? My apparent duplicity to this partnership? They knew, damn it they knew it would distract me. What they didn't realize I would shove it aside for later. We both would put it on the back burner and attend to getting the job done. Was that what they were aiming for…Did they know, or think they knew, how to break this partnership? Those sons of…. Screw them, this partnership is real damn it. This is worth fighting for. I should have told Bobby about the letter. It was so long ago I had forgotten I had even written it. There is a paid-off clerk somewhere whose ass has an appointment with my foot.

Alex was still staring at her watery drink; hadn't registered the apartment door opening; closing and the footsteps headed her way.

"Bad day at work?" Bobby queried as he removed her glass from the table and continued into the kitchen.

"Bobby I…" Alex began.

"Didn't hear me come in? That's ok." Bobby was pouring her a fresh drink and one for himself. "I didn't expect my partner to be staring at an untouched drink in my kitchen at this hour. I guess this means you need to talk?"

"Yeah, more importantly do you even want to talk with me?" Alex sounded unsure she would get a positive reply.

Bobby didn't understand the hesitancy in her voice. "Since when would I not want to talk with you?" He sat down next to her and placed her drink down. He could feel she was wound up.

"You might want to hit that," he gestured at her drink, "before you continue." She was ahead of him on that one.

"Could you tell me something Alex?" Her eyes looked up from her glass, "Could you sum up today in one word?"

She nodded "Betrayal"

Bobby's eyes widened "Maybe two words?"

"Judas Kiss. I betrayed you. I let them have another stab at you and didn't even raise a hand to defend you." Alex could not hold eye contact with him; she looked into her drink.

Bobby couldn't believe she thought she had betrayed him. "I would sum up today as Faith."

Alex looked up at him plainly confused.

"Faith. Faith reaffirmed. You had my back when I went to the judge's house. You knew I had tunnel vision on my mission; you had the forethought to get Carver. Three officers of the court hearing a confession, much better than a lone detective with a grudge. You being here now, after today, is hard proof of having faith in this partnership."

"Bobby, I could you see you from the stand you were hurt, and rightly so. I let you down."

Bobby now stared into his own drink. He lifted and downed half the glass, then let out a sigh from the heart of his being. "I was surprised by the letter. I think you were too. I never really gave any thought that you might have asked for… I wasn't hurt by the contents; I've read and heard statements like that before. You said in your letter basically what all my previous temporary partners in Major Case had said or implied. You were right. As you said I am an acquired taste. And you've proved you have what it takes. You have the palate to enjoy that flavor." Bobby reached over the table to capture her hand and hold it firmly. "I know it upset you and it distressed you for one reason. You could care less about how the testimony you were giving would reflected back on yourself. You, my partner didn't want to hurt me. Me, you wanted to spare me. That's the hurt you saw. I was hurting to see you hurt. You wrote that letter at the beginning of our pairing, you changed your mind, something clicked and you decided to stay." Bobby smiled a smile that he hoped would convey that everything was all right. "I would have felt betrayed if you wrote that letter last week."

"Bobby, I just didn't know you then. It was stupid of me; I should have just given our start up more time. I realized I was looking for ordinary behavior from an extraordinary individual. For you to act the way I expected you to, was wrong on my part, once I realized that, and understood I could accept you the way you are, I concluded I wanted this partnership. I wanted it then and I still want it now."

"Alex, I want this partnership too, I need you. What good is being 100 year old scotch that no one wants to drink?"

She smiled back at him. "You're more like spiced rum."

He was good with the day's events. He was trying to make light of the day, it was his way of coping right now. She was feeling better too. However, they were both still hurting.

"I was thinking over your withdrawn resignation letter, and it actually will be a plus for you." He finished his glass.

Alex gave him an incredulous look.

"Our fellow police officers find our partnership a mystery. Maybe they think this assignment was a punishment for you, some kind of take it or else situation. You were stuck with me to avoid being sent off to something worse. Or you just came in blindly following me no matter what. But they can see now you had the same concerns that limited the other officers who went before you. Will that help them figure us out? I doubt it. There is a big difference between you and them. You could see beyond what they couldn't. To be able to step back and decipher a crime scene removed from your daily life is one thing. Nevertheless, to take something this personal and close in, step back, and figure it out, that takes a very rare talent. That's the caliber of company I want to keep. So today was a bonus for you. You earned some street creeds."

He rose and headed back to the kitchen for a refill.

"Great, if I knew shanking your partner would get one street creeds I could of slash my way up the ranks long ago." Alex got up and followed him.

"Alex, you are extraordinary in a very special way. They tried to break us in an ordinary way." He turned and opened his arms wide. "Their tactics were annoying."

She was flooded with relief from their embrace.

"This," he began as he stroked her hair and hugged her tighter, "is all that matters at the end of the day."

Alex looked up and he leaned in for a kiss. As their lips parted, she grinned. "Yup, definitely an acquired taste."

Fin