A/N: Shorter than usual, but the scene just decided it wanted to end where it did.

A/N 2: Incidentally, I've uploaded the next chapter of Sacrifice twice today, and still can't get it to show up on the site. I'll keep trying, but until then, at least you guys can know that it's done and soon to be posted

Four more sessions with Laura and a week later, Alex was finally starting to believe she might be able to pull herself out of the pit her panic attacks had created. She was back at work full-time - Goren, knowing she was determined, had made only a token protest - and although she was still on desk duty, she was no longer exhausted by the simple act of being awake and active. In fact, she felt almost normal again, she decided.

"Alex?"

She looked up from the form she'd been staring blindly at and saw that her partner was looking at her curiously. "Huh?"

"You ok over there?" he asked, looking at her with concern. "You look . . . distracted."

Shaking her head to clear it, she sighed. "Sorry. I'm just spacey today. Lack of sleep'll do that to a girl," she added with a smirk. Bobby flushed and looked away from her, and she mentally chalked up another point for herself. "Remember to breathe, partner," she said, standing up and stretching. "I'm going to go get some more coffee, you want some?"

"Yeah, please." Slightly embarrassed by her reminder of how they'd spent the previous night, he kept his eyes on the computer screen in front of him as he spoke; as a result, he missed the softening of her eyes as she looked at him.

"No problem." She reached in front of him to grab his mug, enjoying the way he jumped when she brushed against him on the way forward. "I'll be right back."

Alex smiled to herself as she wandered toward the break room. Her ribs were rarely painful nowadays and she didn't really need help to do anything, but he was still staying at her apartment. Neither of them had brought up the possibility of his leaving, and she was quite content to keep it that way. To her surprise, the last few weeks of sharing a living space with Goren had been . . . enjoyable.

If anyone had asked her before the attack whether she could live with her partner, she would have laughed them out of the room after making a crack about her apartment not being big enough to fit both her belongings and his personality, but sharing an apartment with him had come to feel routine. Normal. She thought she just might be upset if he ever got around to moving out.

We squeeze the toothpaste the same way, and we put on new toilet paper rolls in the same direction, she thought. And that's more than a lot of couples have.

. . . And that was quite enough of that line of thought, she scolded herself as she put down their mugs on the counter next to the coffee pot. Time to focus on real life - and luckily for her, in real life it smelled like someone had brewed hazelnut coffee today, instead of plain. Making a mental note to profusely thank whoever had done it, she filled her mug and then his.

"Eames!"

She jumped, startled by Goren's excited call from the doorway of the room. "Didn't I just leave you at your desk five seconds ago?" she asked with a grin. "You got news or something, or have you just had too much caffeine already today?"

"Samuel Barry!"

"Who?" she replied disinterestedly, mentally writing off his excitement and turning back to their coffee.

"The case I've been working on," he clarified, sounding like he couldn't imagine how she forgot such a thing. "We just got a tip, and -"

"Hold on, there," she cut him off. "I haven't been in on your cases except for paperwork for the past few weeks, remember?"

"Oh . . ." That gave him pause for a second, but then he waved a hand, dismissing her protest and moving up behind her. "Well, you can catch up without much trouble. We have to -"

She turned, holding a mug in each hand, and froze as she realized that he was almost on top of her. "Bobby . . ." God damn it, not again!

"The guy said Barry dumped the gun in Battery Park," Goren went on, not even noticing her protest, "and you and I need to -"

She could feel the same old fear starting to creep through her and she made a mental note to give him a good whack upside the head once she got him away from her. "Bobby, stop it," she repeated, reaching behind her to put down the mugs she had just picked up.

"Huh?" He looked confused for a moment, then seemed to discount her comment as he leaned forward, trying to drive home his point about the case. "We can take a couple uniforms and go down there, and . . ."

She tuned him out as she felt her breathing catch. No! she told herself firmly. Not again. You know he's not going to hurt you! What did Laura say to do . . .? "You have time to act," she reminded herself in a bare whisper, trying to channel the strength her sister-in-law insisted she had.

"What? Oh, is that my coffee?" he asked, abruptly changing topics as he tried to reach past her to take his mug.

Act, Alex! "Stop it!" she said again, this time accompanying the words with a hard shove to his chest.

Bobby stumbled back a step, splashing the contents of his mug over his left arm and leg as he tried to regain his balance. "What the . . .?"

Alex's lips twitched as she tried to hold back laughter. She wasn't sure if it was because she'd managed to break through the fear or just because he looked so adorably confused, staring down at his stained suit, but either way, in that moment Alexandra Eames felt pretty damn good. "Sorry," she managed, offering him her napkin and then getting out of his way, since now that she had beaten one panic attack, there was no sense setting herself up for another right away.

Something in her voice must have caught his attention, because he stopped dabbing at the coffee on his sleeve and looked up to study her face. A second later, his face took on a rueful expression. "I did it again, didn't I. Shit!" He raised his fist to his mouth and closed his eyes, silently calling himself every name in the book. "I'm sorry, Alex. I just -"

"Whatever," she said, having absolutely no interest in his apology at the moment. "You got caught up in the case, I know. It doesn't matter. But Bobby . . . did you notice anything different about it this time?"

He blinked. "Different?" He glanced down at the spilled coffee, then back up at her, a smile slowly spreading across his face as he realized what she was talking about. "You pushed me away."

She nodded, matching his smile with an even larger one of her own. She felt like she'd just taken a leap off the high dive and lived to tell about it. Damn it, she felt good!

"You stopped it?" he asked, almost unable to absorb such good news. "Alex!" Not bothering with more words, he caught her in a tight hug and grinned into her hair.

She felt her feet leave the ground as he straightened up. With a happy sigh, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him back, burying her face in his neck to stifle the semi-hysterical giggles of relief coming from her mouth.

There was a cough from the doorway.

His first instinct was to push her away from him, to avoid starting rumors, and he nearly dropped her before he realized how dumb that would be. Instead, he bent over slightly until her feet were back on the floor, the whole time looking over her shoulder at the amused face of his captain. "Uh, sir . . ." he managed, clearing his throat.

Alex's head popped up at the word sir and she tried desperately to stop laughing, but all she could manage was to put a hand over her mouth to smother the sounds while she stared at Deakins with wide eyes. "Uh . . ." She closed her eyes and tried again to swallow her giggles. This time, she was able to regain some control of her breathing and therefore her laughter. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Is this a private party?" Deakins asked lightly, carrying his own coffee mug into the room. "Or can I come in?"

"Sorry," Bobby said, echoing his partner as he motioned for Deakins to come in.

Alex, having reduced her giggles to muffled hiccups, grinned at their boss. "You just missed a watershed moment, Captain."

Deakins backed up a step and looked at the pair suspiciously, "Is this one of those things I don't want to know about, Eames?"

She shook her head as she burst out laughing again.

"She's a little giddy right now," Bobby explained, keeping his eyes on her. "I cornered her, and she shoved me out of the way."

Deakins blinked. "She what?" A second later, the significance of that action hit him and he gaped at her. "You didn't have a panic attack?"

"Nope."

"You're kidding me."

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I really didn't. But you better keep your distance, because I have no idea if it only works with Bobby or if I can break out of it with anyone."

Deakins drew an invisible line on the floor between them. "Understood, Detective. You realize that this means you can go back on the street soon?"

Surprised, she just looked at him. "No, actually. I, uh, haven't had enough time to think of stuff like that in the past, oh, thirty seconds."

"Funny, Alex," Deakins said with a roll of his eyes. "But I'm serious. This . . . this is really good news! You have no idea how glad I am to hear that we're going to get you back!"

Alex grinned and turned to Bobby. "I think he might be more excited about this than we are."

"Possibly. But just think of what Laura's going to say," he replied.

"Oh, man." She shook her head in cheerful disbelief. "The hoarde is going to descend on us when they hear about this and we're never going to be able to get rid of them!"

"Uh, the hoarde?" Deakins asked dubiously. "Do I want to know?"

"Her family," Bobby explained absently, still focused on her and his thoughts.

Deakins blinked. "You know her brother's girlfriend and you knowher pet name for her family? No, wait," he added, holding up his hand to ward off their attempts at an answer. "Don't answer that. It probably falls under the category of 'I don't want to know.' I'm getting out of here before I slip and ask more questions. Say hi to your father for me, Eames."

"Uh, sure." She watched, amused, as her boss fled the room, then turned back to her partner. "Bet you anything my dad shows up at the door the second the news gets to him."

Bobby sighed and nodded. "I'll start sleeping with my clothes on."