A/N: Well, we've gotten to that wonderful period known as "all my end-of-semester papers are due in 2 weeks," so I'm warning you now that my writing will probably be seriously slowed down from now until mid-December (er, if you hadn't already noticed, that is).

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"I wish he wouldn't do that," Alex muttered without looking up when Goren dropped his portfolio on his desk across from her a few seconds later.

"What? Talk about women?"

"Talk about women as if being female is a disease."

"You know he didn't mean any harm," he said, dropping into his chair and watching as she continued to scowl at a blank legal pad. "I think he just gets surprised when you come up with . . ." His voice trailed off as he realized he was about to step into dangerous territory and perhaps some tact was in order.

"What?" she said with a sigh, finally lifting her head to look at him. "He gets surprised when I come up with the good idea instead of you? Don't act like I don't already know that's what you meant."

He didn't want to have this conversation. Not here. Actually, not anywhere, since he knew she was right about Deakins. Although their boss treated them both with respect, sometimes it really did seem that he considered Goren to be the detective with the specialized skill set and Eames just the intelligent 'support staff.'

"Yeah, exactly," she said, watching the apprehension appear on his face and knowing what he was thinking. "Forget it, there's nothing either of us can do about it. Is it time to go home yet?"

"Home?" asked Logan with a snort as he approached her desk. "I thought you and Barek were forcing us to socialize."

"Oh. Right." She ran a hand through her hair and tried not to groan. "Is it time to go to the bar, then?"

"It is as far as I'm concerned," Barek said from a few feet away, shrugging on her coat as she walked toward them. "In fact, it's past time. Where did you want to go?"

"How about O'Malley's?" Logan suggested, naming an old-fashioned pub a few blocks away.

"Let me guess," Barek said, eyeing him disdainfully. "You're too manly to touch anything but beer or whiskey, either, right?"

"I wonder what he'd do if we bought him a cosmopolitan," Alex said with a grin.

"What's that?" asked Logan. When he received incredulous looks from his companions, he raised his eyebrows. "What? It's an honest question."

"O'Malley's it is," Alex announced, eager to get out of the building before someone made a joke they didn't want the rest of the squad to hear. "Let's go."

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As the quartet stepped into the darkened interior of O'Malley's pub ten minutes later, Barek turned to Goren and said, "I bet even you know what a cosmopolitan is, right?"

Bobby blinked. "Er . . . yes."

"He's actually a pretty good bartender," Alex told her.

"Yeah, from what you remember," Logan snorted.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, if you're talking about the night I think you are, you were already on the way to getting drunk when I called you at home," he explained. "Somehow I think that your memories of Goren's bartending skills would be a little fuzzy."

Alex glared at him as she felt her partner tense beside her. "You have a big mouth, Logan."

"That's it," Barek announced, crossing her arms and somehow managing to glare at all three of them at once. "Now you're just doing it because you know it annoys me." She made a show of stomping to the nearest open table and sitting down, watching as they all followed suit. "Now," she went on when everyone was seated, "the three of you have some weird thing going on. I'm not sure I won't be traumatized once I find out what it is, but you're going to have to tell me anyway."

Alex, carefully avoiding Logan's eyes, looked at Bobby and found him looking back at her helplessly. Great, all the explaining was going to fall to her - as usual. With a sigh, she turned back to Barek. "Logan and Goren don't like each other."

"I know that," Barek told her. "Try for something I don't know."

"Well, they don't like each other because of me," Alex went on obligingly.

"That's not -!" Goren said, appalled. "It's not your fault!"

She poked him in the arm. "Let me finish, would you? Now, as I was saying, they don't like each other because of me. Not because of anything I've done, mind you," she added, "but because Logan's a prankster and Goren doesn't know a joke when it hits him in the face."

"Hey!" Bobby exclaimed, giving her a wounded look. "I can recognize jokes just fine."

"Not when they come in the form of a box of chocolates, you can't," Logan told him with a smirk.

"Well, that was -"

"Boys!" Alex said, holding up her hand to stop them. "This is what I'm talking about," she said to Barek. "They don't understand each other. So anyway, the basic story is this: Mike thought it would be fun to make it look like I had a secret admirer. Unfortunately, he chose a really - and I mean really - bad night to put his plan in motion and show up at my apartment."

Barek looked from Alex to Bobby, raising her eyebrows. "Uh-huh. I think I'm starting to get the picture."

"You see, every now and then, when he's not paying attention, Bobby runs into this little thing called emotion, which is less than logical."

Goren cleared his throat loudly. "I'm sitting right here, Alex."

"I know," she said with a shrug. "If you've got a better explanation, feel free to stick your oar in any time." When he didn't answer, she smiled. "No? Good. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, he's not so hot with illogical thoughts."

"Such as jealousy?" Barek asked with a slight nod.

"Exactly."

"Ok, I'm with you so far, but tell me this: does he have the right to be jealous in the first place?"

The two men, surprised by the question, exchanged a puzzled look. "Who gets to assign that right?" Logan asked. "Because whoever it is, I need to give them a good talking-to about my last girlfriend."

"He does have the right," Alex acknowledged to the other woman, ignoring Logan's remark. "But only barely."

"Barely?" Bobby repeated. "Why 'barely'? And what do you mean 'I have the right,' anyway? I thought you were . . . completely against any kind of possessive behavior on my part."

"You two really just aren't following this, are you?" Barek asked disbelievingly, looking from one man to the other.

"Well I was fine until you started going on about jealousy and assigning rights," Logan said, crossing his arms defensively.

"Men," Alex said with a sigh. "I need a drink. Come with me to the bar, Carolyn?"

"Oh, come on," Logan groaned as his partner nodded and stood up. "First girls have to go to the bathroom together, now you have to go to the bar in packs, too?"

"We're going to talk about periods and childbirth," Alex told him mock-confidingly, patting his shoulder and giving him a teasing smile. "You don't want to be around for that."

Logan shuddered theatrically and said nothing more as the two women disappeared. When they were out of sight, he turned back to Goren and asked cautiously, "Did you know what they were talking about?"

"I don't . . . think so," Bobby replied slowly. "But I get the feeling I should have."

"Ditto," Logan said with a sigh. "Hey, you drinking tonight?"

"If I want. I took the train today."

"Me too." Logan raised his hand to signal a blonde waitress as she strolled by. "Hey, hon?"

The girl paused and looked at the two men, taking their measure within seconds - a skill she'd had to pick up fast when she started waitressing. They seemed nice enough, and although they were sitting at the table alone, two other chairs next to them bore signs of their dates. Guys who brought dates usually behaved themselves fairly well, and those that didn't behave, well . . . the dates were usually on her side when it came down to it. "Hi there," she said, giving them a smile as she moved closer. "You guys been served yet?"

"No, we haven't, Laurie," Logan said, reading her name tag and then looking up to give her an answering smile, "but we were hoping you'd help us out with that."

"Sure. What can I get you?" She hated people who used her name when they didn't know her, but the guy hadn't sounded offensive - at least yet - so she'd let it slide.

"Guinness?"

"Draft ok?"

"Perfect," he said with a grin.

Laurie forced herself not to roll her eyes at the guy's attempt at flirtation as she turned toward his companion. "And how about you, sir?"

"A Guinness draft will be fine for me too," Bobby said, cocking his head slightly to the side as he looked at the waitress. Her slight build reminded him of Alex's, although her long brown hair didn't. But there was something completely unlike Alex in her posture . . . something that caught his eye. She was standing a little bit too stiffly, as though she were being careful about where she allowed her weight to rest. "Are you ok?"

"Excuse me?" she asked, taking a step back.

"You're just . . .uh . . ." He waved his hand aimlessly. "You're standing with all your weight on your left leg, and you limp a little when you walk. I was just . . . wondering."

She looked to Logan as if to ask, Is this guy for real? He grinned and gave her a shrug.

"I'm fine," she told Bobby tersely. "Thank you for asking." And thank you in advance for not creeping me out any more tonight, mmkay?

"Oh. Ok. I didn't mean to, uh, disturb you," he said, annoyed with himself for scaring her. "Sorry."

"Bobby?" Alex said from a few feet away, watching the waitress beat a hasty retreat as she and Barek made their way back to the table. "What did you say to that girl? She looks like you goosed her."

He swallowed. "I didn't . . . I just asked if she was ok, that's all. Uh, what's this?" he asked as she set a martini glass down in front of him.

"Cosmopolitan," Barek said with a grin as she set an identical drink in front of Logan. "We figured you guys should give them a try."

"But it's . . . pink," Logan said, poking at the glass hesitantly, as if he expected it to poke back.

"And you're clueless," Alex said with a grin. "Try it, you might like it. You too, Goren."

"But we already ordered . . ."

"Guinness?" Barek supplied as she watched the waitress approach with two pint glasses. "For both of you? Could you be any more stereotypical?"

"Well, Mike could," Alex answered for him. "Believe me. You should see him do his He-Man act." She thought she heard a giggle from the waitress as the girl set the glasses on the table and headed back to the bar.

"His what?" Barek barely restrained herself from spitting a sip of hard cider across the table. As she managed to gulp down the mouthful instead, she noticed that her partner was doing almost the same thing with his beer.

"Why don't you ask him," Alex said decorously, taking a sip of her own beer. "He gets real pissed if he sees any guy other than himself lose his temper."

"Alex," Logan rebuked sharply. "Don't -"

He was cut off by Barek. "What's she talking about?"

"She's not talking about anything," he said quickly. "She's just trying to get me in trouble."

Goren snorted from his seat across the table.

"Oh, you don't get to laugh," Alex told him coolly. "Your act is as bad as his."

"I'm not the one who threw the first punch," Logan huffed. "I don't know why you're trying to blame this on me." He took a large gulp of his beer and glared at her.

"Wait, wait," Barek said, holding up both hands and looking from Goren to Logan. "You two got into a fight? Like, a fist fight?"

"They would have, if I hadn't put a stop to it," Alex told her. "But I managed to get them apart before it got bad. I swear, some people have no self-control."

Goren gave her a dirty look. "That's low."

"You hit him?" Barek asked Goren, unwilling to let go of this fascinating bit of information.

"I was provoked," he said shortly.

"Yeah, you were 'provoked' because you didn't get your way," Alex said, although her harsh words were belied by the way she leaned slightly into him and rested her hand on his knee, communicating that she was only teasing.

"No, I was provoked because . . . oh, never mind." He looked down at his Guinness, then at the cosmopolitan the women had brought him. "Is this cranberry juice in here?" he asked as he examined the pink liquid, reaching out and twirling the stem of the glass to avoid having to actually pick it up.

"Ok, so let me get this straight," Barek said, not bothering to answer his idle question when she noticed that Goren and Eames both appeared to have lost the thread of the conversation. "You and Goren," she said, nodding at Alex, "are . . . an item. You and Mike are not. However, my idiot partner has been doing his best to make your idiot partner think that you and he are an item?"

"That's about the gist of it, yeah."

"Numbskull," Barek accused her partner, smacking him on the arm. "Pick a fight with someone who isn't capable of killing you just by stepping on you, if you have to pick a fight with someone."

"He won't listen, trust me," Alex said. "He thinks this is funny - mainly because he knows I won't let Bobby kill him, so he's safe."

"I could if I wanted to," Bobby muttered from beside her. "I just . . . don't consider him a threat anymore."

"Yeah," Logan said with a snort, "because you set me up to be killed by Deakins instead."

"Hey," Alex protested, "he didn't do that on purpose, and he saved your ass from Deakins, when it came down to it. And he doesn't consider you a threat because I finally beat into him the fact that I'd much rather kill you than kiss you."

"Whoa," Barek said, faking a shudder, "let's not mention Logan and kissing in the same sentence, ok?"

"Why not?" Alex said, sensing an intriguing undertone in the other woman's speech. "I hear he's a pretty good kisser."

"What?" said Logan, dumbfounded.

"What?" echoed Goren, looking at her with slightly narrowed eyes.

"You," she said, pointing to Logan, "need to realize that women cops gossip almost as much as almost any other kind of women. And you," she went on, elbowing Bobby, "need to take that look off your face before I start thinking you don't trust me after all."

The re-appearance of the waitress preempted Bobby's reply to that. "Hi guys. Everything ok?" she asked, replacing the empty bottles in front of Alex and Barek with full ones and glancing at the untouched cosmopolitans in front of the two men.

"Everything's good," Alex told her with a smile, "except that our friends here" - she pointed to Logan and Goren - "are afraid to taste their cosmos. They claim they're too pink."

The waitress gingerly shifted her weight and offered the table her polished 'friendly waitress' smile. "Oh, the men always claim they won't like it - until they try it. Then, they're hooked. Go on, guys. I'm sure your ladies will buy you new drinks if it turns out you really don't like the cosmos."

The way the girl was moving didn't go unnoticed. While Goren nudged Alex's left shoulder, Barek caught her eye and pointedly shifted her own eyes toward the girl. "Are you alright . . . uh . . , Laurie?" she asked tentatively.

Laurie let out an exasperated breath. "I'm fine, just like I told your friend a few minutes ago. I twisted my knee the other day and it's stiff, that's all."

"Twisted your knee," Goren repeated sympathetically. "Wow, that must be . . . how'd you do it?"

"Rock climbing, upstate," she said, deciding that these people wouldn't let her go until she gave them an explanation.

"You know, I've always wanted to try that," Alex said in complete honesty. "It looks like it'd be such a rush, to get to the top and know you hauled yourself up all that way under your own power. Did you have fun, at least before you got hurt?"

The girl shrugged. "Uh, well, I'm not a big fan of heights, so I'm not the best person to ask."

"You don't like heights, but you went rock climbing?" Barek asked. "Talk about determination, I'm impressed."

"Yeah, well, don't be. I only went because my boyfriend wanted me to. It's not my idea of a fun pastime."

"Now that's a dedicated girlfriend!" Logan exclaimed with a grin. "I hope he was properly thankful."

Nervousness flickered in the waitresses's eyes for a moment before she hid it. "Oh, no, it's not . . . he doesn't need to thank me. It's just part of being with him, you know? I have to take the stuff I don't like if I want to have him."

Bobby gave her a thoughtful look and cautiously picked up his cosmopolitan. "Well, we'll let you get back to work. Thanks for the conversation, Laurie." He managed what he was pretty sure was a generically pleasant smile, as did Alex beside him, until the girl had turned and walked away.

When Laurie was out of sight, Goren and Eames looked at each other. "Did you hear . . ." she began.

". . . that she 'has to take it to have him'?" he finished with an affirmative nod. "Yes. You think it's . . .?"

"Makes sense," she said. "They kind of have the same air about them."

"Yo," Logan spoke up, waving a hand between them. "Would one of you care to share with the rest of the class?"

"Oh, sorry," Bobby said distractedly, then looked at Alex, knowing she could offer a more coherent explanation than he could.

Taking her cue, she looked at Logan. "What was your impression of that girl's relationship with her boyfriend?"

"Jackass," Barek supplied immediately. "He knew she was afraid of heights but made her think that she had to go rock climbing to keep him with her?"

"Right," Alex said with a nod. "Well, remember how I was saying that Claire Young's boyfriend seemed really clingy?" When Logan and Barek both nodded, she went on, "Well, at one point during the interview, he said something along the lines of 'her parents had to take him to have her.' That just seemed a little weird at the time, but listening to the waitress here . . . put it in context, I guess."

"Control freak?" Barek guessed.

"Among other things. I'm starting to lean toward emotionally abusive, now that I think back to what they were acting like when we talked to them."

"Well, great," Logan said, sounding slightly confused, "but what does that have to do with who killed her mo-" He abruptly broke off his own statement as the possibilities began to dawn on him. "You think the mother knew?"

Goren glanced at Alex, then back at Logan. "Judging by what the mother's friend told us this afternoon, it's a definite possibility."

"So . . . what?" Barek asked. "You want to leave off chasing down the parolee list and focus on friends of the mom and daughter, to look for motive?"

"I think," Alex said, speaking slowly to allow Bobby to break in if he wanted, "that that's starting to sound like a very good idea."

"Hey," Logan said with a shrug and a grin, "anything's better than ex-cons, junkies, and pond scum defense lawyers."

"Agreed," Barek said, laughing, as she hoisted her bottle in as toast. "To alcohol-fueled case-breaking!"