A/N: Sigh, I'm having inspiration issues again. Reunion's ground to a dead halt and Kamikaze's not much better...and I'm barely eking out chapters for this baby. It's so frustrating to know where I'm going but not know how to get there!
A/N 2: Yeah so I know exactly two things about Barek: she used to be with the FBI, and she's got a bit of an attitude. Everything else I'm writing into her here is totally my imagination
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They arrived back at One PP around five, just in time to slip into Deakins's office and give him a quick recap of the strange interview.
"So basically, you've got nothing," Deakins sighed after listening to their rundown. "Except a list of yet more people to track down."
"Exponentially-growing interview lists aren't our idea of fun either," Eames reminded him irritably.
He held up his hands in a peacemaking gesture. "I know. Sorry. Have you worked out who you're going to go after first?"
"Her friends," Goren began. "We're going to call the friends first thing in the morning, since they're likely to be, uh . . ."
"Ladies who lunch?" supplied Deakins.
"Right, or else high-profile lawyers who spend their days in court or on the town," Alex said with a nod. "Either way, we gotta catch 'em early or not at all. The potential suspects the daughter gave us should be easier to run down, since we have their places of employment and they'll - presumably - be in their offices for the work day tomorrow. We'll do them after we've set up interviews with the friends."
"We need the husband, too," Deakins said. "And the names you pulled off that parolee list."
"Right," Alex said slowly. "Well, see, since we have way too many people on the list to be able to interview them all in a timely manner, we were hoping you could lend us another pair of detectives. Logan and Barek, preferably."
Bobby almost winced at the look that appeared on the captain's face, then fought the urge to hide when Deakins looked straight at him and asked pointedly, "Goren? What do you think of asking Logan and Barek to help?"
Alex, glad that Goren had already explained this to her and for once she wasn't in the dark, smothered a smile and watched her partner try to think of a response that wouldn't reveal to Deakins that he'd spilled the beans.
"I think . . ." he began slowly. "That if they're free, they would be . . . very helpful. Logan's, uh, well-intentioned, and Barek's smart."
Alex couldn't stop the tiny smirk that appeared on her face as she listened to him try to think of a compliment for Logan that he wouldn't choke on. "They're both sharp," she told the two men, "and better yet, they're both good interviewers."
Deakins hesitated a second, glanced again at Goren, who nodded slightly, then shrugged. "Fine, they're yours if they're willing, but I want to be kept completely up-to-date. Eames, why don't you go check with them before you leave tonight. Goren, I need to have a word with you."
Wondering how in the world Deakins could believe she'd let him get away with that dismissal, but deciding to take pity on him this time, Alex stood up, gave him an overly-bright smile, and sauntered out of the room without another word.
When the door closed behind her, Deakins turned to Bobby. "Well?"
He shrugged. "Logan doesn't take kindly to being accused of impropriety."
"Meaning . . .?"
"Meaning, uh . . ." He cleared his throat. "Meaning that unless I'm worse at spotting liars than I thought, he didn't do anything to her." Oh, Alex was going to owe him so big for this, he reflected as he gave the captain an earnest look.
There was a pause before Deakins sighed and said, "Okay, then. You're sure? You think it's ok to let him work with you two?"
"It'll be, uh, fine, sir."
"Fine. Thank you for checking him out. Now go find your partner."
Bobby didn't have to be told twice. With a curt nod, he was out of the office within seconds and heading for the other detectives' desks, where Alex was standing.
". . . don't know," Barek was saying. "Can the two of them be trusted not to kill each other?"
Alex glanced over at Bobby, smiled a greeting, and nodded to the other woman. "Oh, trust me, they know a hell of a lot better than to do that."
"Yeah," Logan said with an emphatic nod, "Eames works a mean pair of scissors."
"Huh?"
Alex rolled her eyes and leaned forward to whisper into Barek's ear, "I threatened to castrate them both with my scissors if they didn't stop fighting."
"Now that," Carolyn said with a grin, "is pure inspiration. I like you, Eames."
"Good, 'cause you're stuck with me and this big lug," she said, pointing over her shoulder to Bobby, "for the foreseeable future - that is, if you're up for it."
"So, what is it that you need us to do?" asked Logan, leaning back in his chair and looking from Eames to Goren and back.
"Interviews," Alex replied, "and lots of 'em."
Logan and Barek both groaned. "Why do you guys get to do the fun stuff?" Barek sighed.
"Because it's our case. When we back you up on one of yours, you can stick us with the grunt work. Besides, it's not like we're asking you to cross-reference databases, which is what we spent our morning doing," Alex said. "Who knows, one of you might end up interviewing the perp."
Logan snorted. "Not likely. Got a list for us?"
"Not typed up yet," Alex said. "If you guys want to have dinner with me and Bobby at my apartment tonight, we can divvy it up and discuss things then."
All three of her companions stared at her blankly. "Dinner?" Logan finally repeated dumbly.
"At your apartment?" added Barek.
"All of us?" Goren said as though he was sure he'd missed something.
Alex raised her eyebrows. "You guys have no sense of camaraderie, you know that? Yes, dinner at my apartment, all of us. I'll even do the cooking."
Logan and Barek looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure," they chorused.
"What time?" Logan asked.
"How about seven?" Alex said.
"We're going to need direc-" Barek began.
"I've been there before," Logan interrupted her. "You can ride with me."
Her eyebrows shot up. "You know where Eames lives? You've been there before? Am I missing something juicy?"
"No!" Alex almost yelled. Then, moderating her voice, she went on, "There is absolutely no juice here, got it?"
"Got it," Barek said with a crisp salute. "I'll hitch a ride with Logan and will cease any and all speculation until further notice."
Alex nodded. "Good. Bobby, let's go."
"Me?" he asked after taking a second to catch up to what she was saying.
"Yes, you. We need to go grocery shopping."
"I'm your partner, Alex, not a chef," he protested halfheartedly.
"Groceries, Bobby, or you're doing all the paperwork and getting all the coffee for the next week."
"Right," he said with a shrug and a grin. "Ready when you are."
"Man," Barek said, turning to Logan, "I have got to try that on you."
He grimaced. "I make better coffee than I do dinner."
"My place, seven o'clock," Alex reminded the pair before turning and heading for the elevator with her partner close behind her.
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Six forty-five that evening found Alex and Bobby in her kitchen, arguing over who was going to set the table for their soon-to-arrive guests.
"I'm doing the cooking," Alex argued, hands on her hips, as she stood by her kitchen sink. "You should do the setting up."
"You just dumped a pound of spaghetti into one pot and a jar of tomato sauce into another, Alex. There's no other 'cooking' to be done, except draining the pasta in ten minutes."
"I don't remember you complaining last time we did this."
"Last time we did this," he said with a smirk, pinning her against the counter with a hand on either side of her, "we ended up in bed, not eating the results."
"Bite me," she said with a huff, turning around in the circle of his arms to reach for the cabinet she kept her plates in.
He obliged, nipping at her earlobe.
"Bobby!"
"Mmm?" he mumbled as he kept his mouth busy.
She lifted a hand to try to push his head away. "Hey, quit it! If they get here and find us half-naked on the kitchen floor, so help me, I'm never speaking to you again."
"What about totally naked?" he teased, although with a sigh, he moved his mouth from her ear to her cheek, kissing it lightly.
"You're so dead."
"Dead partners don't set tables."
"Dead partners don't get fed, either."
"Slavedriver."
"You," she muttered darkly, pushing him back with one hand as she reached over to stir the pasta with the other, "need to go amuse yourself elsewhere. Clean my bedroom or something."
"Why, are they going to see your bedroom?"
She gave him a not-so-gentle elbow in the ribs. "Just go do something that doesn't involve bothering me!"
"Oh, fine." He reached past her head and retrieved the plates she'd forgotten to take out of the cabinet. "I'll set the table."
"Thank you." As a reward, she tipped her head back and kissed the side of his mouth before returning her attention to the pot.
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The buzzer rang just as Bobby laid the last plate on the table. "Bobby?" Alex prompted from the sink, where she was engulfed in a cloud of steam from the pasta she'd just begun to strain.
"Got it." And there went the rest of his private time with her, he lamented as he made his way to her front door.
"Damn," Logan said when he saw who'd answered thedoor. "I was hoping Alex would let us in."
"She's busy making your dinner," Goren said shortly. "Barek, can I take your coat?"
The brunette smiles. "Yes, thanks." Glancing sideways at her partner, she added, "I bet you hold doors for your partner, too, Goren."
"Carolyn," Logan muttered warningly.
"What?" she said innocently as she handed her coat to Bobby. "Just a simple question."
Well, Goren thought, this was an interesting dynamic. Maybe he wouldn't have to be the one to antagonize Logan tonight. "Alex is in the kitchen," he told the pair as he turned to hang up Barek's coat. Then, trying not to grit his teeth, he added, "You know where it is, Logan."
"Yep. Say, did she slip you a mickey tonight or something? You haven't tried to kill me yet."
"Pardon?"
"Nothing, nothing. Just wondering."
"Move it, partner," Barek ordered, poking Logan in the back. "Don't piss off the host before we even eat."
"He's not the host," Logan shot back. "Eames is."
"He's closer to being the host than you are," Alex said as she emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. "So I suggest you do as your partner says."
"Yes ma'am. Oh, wait." Logan glanced at Goren, then looked back at Alex and grinned, pulling a box out of his coat pocket. "Brought you a present."
She took a big step back and swung the towel at him defensively. "Oh, no you don't. Whatever it is, give it to Barek. I don't want it."
"But I thought you liked chocolate," he said, widening his eyes innocently.
"I bet if you stopped to ask, you'd discover that she does too," Bobby said, pointing toward Barek. "You really ought to stick to kissing your own partner's ass and leave mine to me."
"Bobby!" Alex managed in a strangled voice. "There will be no, uh, ass kissing of any sort tonight. Got it?"
"Got it," he said with an impish grin.
"Oh, Mike . . ." Carolyn said, deciding that no one was going to offer her an explanation for this strange conversation and that she might as well move on, "I happen to love chocolate." Keeping a completely straight face, she fluttered her eyelashes and snatched the box out of his hands. "Thanks, partner."