Goren and Eames walked toward the parking lot with Logan and Barek. Barek said, "We're going to Delaney's. We'll meet you guys there."

Eames grinned. "Ok."

Logan hesitated for a moment, then looked at Goren. "Hey, Goren, I'm sorry I was an ass earlier. You played a hell of a good game."

He held out a hand, which Goren accepted amiably. "Forget it, Logan. I do understand the competitive spirit," he said with a smile.

Barek added, "Yeah, but the asshole component doesn't have to surface every time we play Stabler's team. See you guys at the bar."

They separated and headed toward their respective cars. Eames slid behind the wheel of the black SUV and looked at her partner as he got in beside her. "You're a good player," she said.

He shrugged. "I played baseball in high school."

"I would have pictured you as more of a football player."

"I played that, too."

"You don't strike me as a jock, Bobby."

He smiled sadly. "I wasn't. But it was easier to be on the ballfield than it was to go home."

She looked at him for a moment before she turned the key. She had to admit…no matter how well she knew her partner, there was always more to know. There were many complicated layers to this guy, and she wondered if she'd ever touch upon them all…

She turned the key and he said, "Eames, there is something Logan said that got me thinking."

"A bug on the windshield can get you thinking."

He grinned and went on. "He called you my bodyguard."

"Your what? Since when do you need a bodyguard?"

"He said you always run interference."

"Oh. That. It's just that…well, no one really knows you like I do, and it makes me mad when they say things that aren't true about you. I would just rather they all shut up since they don't know what they are talking about."

Goren quietly watched his partner as she drove. "Stop staring at me, Bobby."

His voice was soft. "Thanks, Eames."

She hadn't expected that from him. "For what?"

"For caring that much."

She laughed. "You don't have to thank me for that. Friends care about each other, and that's what we are…friends."

She pulled into the parking lot at Delaney's. They got out of the car and headed toward the building. "We are friends," he said almost absently, as though he was realizing for the first time something he had known intuitively for years. He rested his hand lightly on her back as he opened the door and let her enter the bar first.