Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, just having fun. I'm not making any money so please don't sue.

Author's Note: I love my reviewers! You guys are just so awesome! Rock on!

Sins of the Father

Chapter Fifteen: Without You

Alex had taken care of all the Wallace paperwork for Carver and sent it over to the Hogan Place ADA's office before heading over to the hospital with Captain Deakins. Bobby had called them a half hour ago saying that Grace was going to live after another long hospital stay.

"I shouldn't have let her in the interrogation room alone."

Alex looked over at her captain as he parked the SUV in the hospital parking garage. "What?"

He sighed heavily. "I told her if she could get in there I would hold you and Goren back so she could talk to Wallace. I should have had someone else in there."

"If there was someone else in there, Wallace wouldn't have confessed."

"Was it really worth it though?"

It was Alex's turn to sigh. She had seen what it did to her partner when they found Grace in the morgue. He had held himself together very well at Major Case when the paramedics showed up and strapped Grace to a gurney again. Deakins had practically pushed the larger man into the elevator with the medics, telling them that Goren was to go to the hospital with them. Alex didn't know what kind of state they were going to find him in when they arrived.

"Let's go ask Grace and Bobby if it was worth it." Alex stated.

She followed her captain inside the building. He asked the receptionist in the ER about Grace's whereabouts. She could see the shock on his face from where she was standing.

"What's the matter?"

Deakins rubbed the back of his neck. "Nothing. They moved her to a regular hospital room already. Said her doctor can fill us in on the details. She's in room 511."

They got onto the elevator and Alex pushed the button for the fifth floor. Deakins cleared his throat and shifted on his feet.

"Does Goren really care about this woman?"

Alex gave her captain a surprised look. He never pried into their personal life. "Uh, yeah, I think he does care a lot for her." Actually, she didn't think, she knew. For the five years that she had known him, the only personal effect he had on his desk was that Santa mug. She had made the mistake of the asking where he got the goofy thing and immediately regretted it when he told her his mother had actually remembered it was Christmas this year. The mug had been the first gift in years from his mom. But now there was picture of him and Grace in Central Park with snow and Christmas lights in the background.

"Does she care for him?"

She looked up at her Captain and saw that fatherly protectiveness that she only saw at grave times. As rough and callous as he appeared, he took pride in his detectives and over that past five years that pride had turned into a professional concern when hard times hit.

"If she didn't care about Bobby would she walk into a room alone with Wallace and wait out a confession with a pen in her chest?"

Deakins nodded his head. "Good point."

The elevator dinged at their arrival to the fifth floor. The doors opened and they came face to face with Goren.

"Where are you going?" Deakins asked. Alex had to bite her lip to keep from laughing.

"Grace is asleep. I was going to-"

"It's alright," Deakins laughed. "She's doing ok?"

Alex stepped off the elevator, followed by Deakins. Bobby looked tired but not as lost as he had in the previous hospital stay.

"Yeah, amazingly enough. They prepped her for surgery but the doctor said when they got her in there the injury wasn't nearly as bad as they thought. The pen missed her heart by millimeters so they just removed it, plugged the hole and sent her to recovery."

"How long did it take them?" Alex asked.

Bobby shrugged. "It couldn't have been more than thirty minutes before they told me she was in recovery."

"Did she wake up?" Deakins asked.

"Yeah, she did," Bobby laughed. "She asked where her pen was."

"That's a very Grace thing to say," Alex added.

"You were going to get food?" Deakins asked.

"Yeah, I was."

"I'll get it." Deakins offered. "What do you want? Chinese? Subs?"

"Uh, Grace wanted wanton soup."

"Chinese it is then. Anything particular you two want?"

Both shook their heads and Deakins got back on the elevator. Bobby gave her a curious look.

"That was awfully nice of him."

Alex gave him a slight smile. "He feels guilty over sending Grace into interrogation."

"He sent her in?"

"He gave her permission."

Bobby nodded his head and started back down the hallway. "Grace was asking about you too."

It surprised Alex but she knew it shouldn't. She had been around Grace enough now to consider her a friend. But the fact that she asked about her still startled her. "What did she want to know?"

"If you were alright or if Nicole got a hold of you too. Her memory on the last few minutes of the interrogation are little fuzzy."

"Carver said he's going to need her to testify at Nicole's case."

"The doctors said it was just the anesthesia that was muddling her thinking. She'll be able to testify. Once she realized that we all were safe she asked when the court date was."

They both stopped by the door and watched Grace who was sleeping, or at least appeared to be sleeping. Alex had found that the woman looked like she was sleeping so she could eavesdrop on the conversation going on around her. Alex looked up at her partner who had a mix of contentment and apprehension on his face.

"What's the matter, Bobby?"

He shrugged his large shoulders. "I just don't know if I can han...handle things like this."

In case Grace wasn't asleep, Alex pulled Bobby back out into the hallway. "What do you mean?"

He rubbed his hands over his face. "I don't know. I just...I hate seeing her in the hospital, again, because she's doing something that she thinks will help..."

"Help you?"

"Yeah. I'm the one who got her hurt and almost killed twice in six months time. Maybe it would be best-"

"Don't you dare say it, Robert Goren. I've watched you come in the next day from dates with countless women and none of them touched you the way this woman has." It was going to be a cruel blow to him but Alex couldn't stop herself from saying it anyway. "If you break it off with Grace then you're doing exactly what Nicole Wallace said you would."

Frustration flashed in Bobby's eyes. "Now wait, that's unfair."

"No, it's the truth. It was Grace's idea to go into the interrogation room today. It was her conscious choice to do that. You didn't make her."

"I was the reason why she did it though."

"But she did it. As for the first time she got hurt, that was inevitable. It could have happened to me, Bobby. All those times I meet you at a crime scene that could be a set up." Alex crossed her arms. "How can you even think about leaving her after what she said in the interrogation?"

"I checked her background, Alex. The child molestation, it was made up to gain Nicole's trust."

Alex shook her head. Men were so dumb sometimes. "Not that, Bobby. What she said about being in love. How it is was seeing everything in color instead of black and white. You saw the look on her face. She meant every word of that."

Bobby slumped back against the wall. "I don't know what to do."

"Figure it out soon." Alex snapped before walking into the hospital room. Grace was awake now and staring out the window. Alex looked behind her to see if Bobby had followed her but she heard his cell phone ring and him answering it. She turned her gaze back to Grace, who was still staring out the window.

"How are you feeling?"

Grace wrapped a finger around a red curl. "He's going to leave me, isn't he?"

Alex sunk down on the bed. "What?"

"I could still hear you, when you were out in the hallway."

"Grace, look-"

But Grace's head had turned towards the door. Alex followed her line of vision and saw that Bobby has entered the room. Alex stood up, bracing herself for whatever ill news he had received. His entire demeanor had changed from agitation to complete brokenness.

"What's the matter?" Grace whispered. Bobby flinched as if she had shouted the question.

"My, uh, my mom."

Alex took a step towards him. "What about her?"

"She, uh, had a heart attack. She's, uh, she's gone. I've got to, to go to-" and he promptly walked out the door. Alex turned to look at Grace.

"Go, Alex, go with him."

Alex grabbed Grace's hand and gave it a squeeze. "I'll be back."