Chapter 6

Alex walked into One PP followed by Bobby, who meandered in about 5 minutes behind her, but beforehe had evenreached his deskDeakins walked up to them. "I got your travel vouchers."

"Yes!" said Alex.

"Actually, Eames, can I see you in my office?"

Eames excited expression was replaced by a quizzical one almost immediately. "Yah, sure Captain."

She followed Deakins into his office where a gentleman was sitting on one of the visitors' chairs. Deakins shut the door and blinds behind them.

"Eames, uh," Deakins rubbed his neck. "This is Jason Manning from IAB."

Eames immediately got a furtive look. Jason got up and held out a hand that she didn't take. He was in his mid 40s, balding, and was a little on the short chunky side.

"Like I was saying earlier, I've got the travel vouchers, but-"

"Due to the recent…situation," interrupted Jason Manning, "You will not be allowed to travel with Detective Goren."

Alex looked immediately to Deakins. "What?" she asked, afraid of the answer.

"You can't go with Goren," said Deakins letting out a long tense breath.

"What do you mean, I can't go with Goren?" said Alex with her eyes bulging. "Wait, let me rephrase. Goren's going, and I'm not. Is that what you're saying?"

"Eames, it was out of my control-"

"Detective Barek will be traveling with him instead," interjected Manning almost too business-like.

"What!" she shouted incredulously before turning to Jason Manning with a sweet smile. "Could you please excuse us?"

Manning nodded and left the office.

"I'm not allowed to travel with Bobby?"

"Alex, you must understand what it looked like to IAB."

"We were cleared-" she began.

"Alex, you two were just under investigation. What did you think they would say when I asked for two tickets to Paris and Stuttgart with your names on them? Alex, I'm sorry. I really am."

"And so you're sending Barek! They're not even partners- where's Logan in all of this? Couldn't he go instead?" Alex was going crazy. She wanted to rip all of her hair out in frustration.

"Eames, calm down. That wasn't my decision either."

"They must be out of their fucking minds!"

"Alex," he said softly. "This isn't the time to get jealous."

"I'm not-"

"Yes, you are. And it's totally understandable, but there's nothing I could do. I already pissed off a lot of people by keeping you two together; this is IAB trying to regain control."

Alex realized there was no fighting it. "Fucking butt-munches," she said exasperatedly.

"Tell me about it," he said, rubbing his forehead.

Steam still spilling from her ears, Alex turned for the door. "Well, I guess I'd better go tell Bobby."

"You should. And Alex," he said, "Chin up."

"Yah, sure, Captain."

Alex slammed the door behind her as she walked back to her desk and Bobby, who looked up from the itinerary he was given.

"What was that all about?" he asked.

Alex threw herself into her chair. "IAB won't let me go."

"What?"

"You heard me," she said irritably.

"Hey, Goren!" came a shout from across the room. Barek was making her way towards them with a nervous smile.

"Hey," he replied, his attention still on Alex.

"Guess we're travel buddies," she said, pulling up a chair and straddling it.

"Eh, oh…" he turned to Eames. A lot of curse-filled whispering ensued in which a combination of putting the puzzle pieces together and Alex talking gave Bobby the full scope of the situation.

"Shh!" she whispered quickly. "IAB won't let me go- she's going instead," she said in a harsh whisper while Barek distracted herself.

"What!" he shouted incredulously before turning to Barek with a sweet smile. "Could you please excuse us?"

"Yah, sure," she said as she rolled backwards in her chair back to the desk it belonged to.

Bobby turned back to Alex. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to stay and canvas the auctions and music shops to see if the instruments show up. I'm also going tointerview the families of the vics as well."

Bobby looked sad. "Well, ok... I could always not go."

"You have to…Damn IAB…"

"Fucking butt-munches," he said bitterly. Alex laughed out loud.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"I said the exact same thing to Deakins."

"We've been spending way too much time together," he said, relaxing.

"Tell me about it. Next thing you know we'll be dressing the same with out planning it."

"I think someone would notice," he said, smiling lightly.

"Probably." For those blissful few seconds Alex was far removed from her anger and frustration, far removed from the thought of Barek getting to trip to France with her partner instead of her, far removed from the case, and far removed from the outside world.

She was yanked from her state of bliss by Barek's reappearance. Taking their relaxed attitude as a sign they were accepting visitors again, she had wandered back over.

"Robert, do you think I could get a ride to the airport with you tomorrow?"

"I don't know." He turned to Alex. "You driving?"

A muscle in her eye twitched. On top of all that, she was still his damn chauffer! "Yah, I suppose," she said to Bobby before turning to Barek with a sigh. "Yah, sure."