12.08.05: A bar that serves decent Margaritas, 11:00pm

"You look tired."

"I am. The interrogation today.. it wore me out." Eames sipped her drink, and closed her eyes for a moment. Goren watched her, with compassion and a hint of concern.. and a hint of curiosity.

"Let's change the subject, then." He smiled, and she smiled in return. He too looked tired. His hair was messy, and 3 o'clock shadow was the understatement of the year. "Why'd you become a cop?"

".. I dunno, my dad was a cop. I wanted to help people." She shrugged, and smiled. "Why, why'd you become a cop?"

"It was the natural next step. I was in the army.. law enforcement was an obvious choice. Besides, protect and serve sounded a lot better than shoot to kill." He shrugged his large shoulders, and looked at the table for a moment.

When he looked back up, she could tell he had reorganized his thoughts, and was ready to fire another question. Somehow.. she knew he hadn't changed the subject at all.

"You didn't become a cop because of your dad, Alex." He watched her, before lowering his gaze. "Your dad couldn't have wanted his little girl to be working vice... walking around dressed like a hooker catching johns. And who was that helping anyway?" He looked up in time to catch the fire that lit her eyes briefly.

"Who was that helping? Are you kidding me?" She sucked in her breath and realized that he'd baited her. "Bobby..."

"Why'd you work that beat for as long as you did? I mean, I know you're tough, but you're no masochist." He laughed softly. "I just don't get it."

"How long has this been bugging you?"

"Since I read your file."

"Jesus.." She let out a low whistle. "It's been nagging you for five years?" A smile was beginning to play on her lips.

"Will you tell me?" His face softened into an appeal, but she ducked her head and shook it slowly.

"I dunno." She licked her lips and looked up at him again. "If I didn't do something good I would have done something bad." He didn't reply, just raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to elaborate. "Guys would drive around my neighborhood, near my high school... asking girls if they needed rides. I'm not talking about pimps and drug dealers. These were white guys, with nice cars, and wedding rings." She sighed. "If I didn't become a cop and clean them up the legal way, I would have taken it upon myself and cleaned them up in a decidedly illegal way."

"Oh?" He sipped his beer.

"Bondage, castration, and asphyxiation. I had it all planned out."

"It's reassuring to know that my petite blonde partner is, deep down, a man hating serial killer."

"Shut up," She laughed and threw her balled up straw wrapper at him.

He knew she'd left out a chunk of her story, but ... pressing a woman who carried a gun, and had apparently hated a certain breed of man so much as to push herself into a miserable job for years.. well, that was just asking for more trouble than he was really willing to deal with at the moment. He thought about what she had just told him, and as he looked up, he realized she'd lighted on the same thing.

"Alex.."

"One of them.. his ... personalities.. one of them has a real beef." Her face tensed with thought.

"He had it all planned out."

"He didn't hit her anywhere else, just the face."

"Probably with the sole purpose of making her quiet."

"One of them was angry at her for rejecting him and everything he wanted so horribly, and another..."

"Was angry at her for accepting abuse he had forced on him." He rested his face in the V of his fingers and thumb.

"That's a gamble."

"I like these odds."