Hey you guys, thanks for the reviews (they were more positive than I expected and had me jumping for joy!) but I really need input on a plot! Right now all I have is romantic fluff but I wanted to add some heart-wrenching agony (hence the angst). Please give me ideas and I'll see what I can mold into a story! Thanks again! Oh, and let me know if I make any mistakes. Like I'm not sure if Eames has a brother and a sister-in-law, or a sister and a brother-in-law—I've seen both and I don't know the show well enough to say. I know it's sad, but I've only seen a few episodes from season 4.

The Opera

Alex was trapped. She had been spending one of her free evenings watching The Marriage of Figaro when part way through the performance, a nasty feeling started to rise in her stomach. As she looked around the audience, three dark forms were leaving through the exits. Chiding herself, she turned back to the performance. They were probably just going to the bathroom. The Opera House was certainly large enough that the probability of three audience members heading to the bathroom at any one time was likely. But she found out too late that she was wrong.

Only seconds after the three had left the room, there was an explosion from the top balcony on the right side of the theater. Chaos ensued. A sea of terrorized people frantically searching for safety prevented her from hearing anything but screaming. She knew there must have been more explosions; shards of glass and wood flew over the torrent of fear caused by the falling ceiling. A huge ripping sound came from above, as the main rafter broke, weakened by the explosions and unable to support the weight of the roof and chandelier. And as soon as it had started, it stopped.

She had been out who knows how long. She felt light-headed and dreaded that fact that she knew she had to open her eyes at some point in the near future. She really didn't want to see the theater full of bodies smashed by what use to be a place of relaxation. She knew she was still alive, but that didn't mean anyone else was. She felt extremely warm and there was a weight pressed against her waist. The rafter must have caught her on it's decent to the ground. She couldn't move it off of her and had difficulty turning even a few centimeters to the side. She needed to call for help, even if she wasn't injured, other people were, but she couldn't find the voice to call out. The more she struggled, the more her present fatigue got to her. She stopped struggling, and gave up, resigned to wait for help. But as she opened her eyes to survey the damage, she was shocked to discover that she wasn't in the theater at all.

Goren had woken up when the warm figure in his grasp had started squirming. Eames was having a bad dream. He checked the clock quickly; he had only been asleep twenty minutes and she not much longer. No matter how much he wanted to save her from the frightening world she was in, he couldn't help but feeling like she needed comforting. He let her sleep through he trauma, but he was there to help her through.

Their roles reversed as they sat in the car. Usually it was Goren lost in a mental reality and Eames was there to hold him in the living veracity. But now Eames was lost in her mind, unable to find her way back and Goren was holding on, trying to help her, but knowing that she might lose her reason for being there. He hated when he was brought back to reality by Deakins or the radio or even Eames at times, just before he was about to figure out why he left in the first place. Now it was Eames's turn to explore a psychological universe and discover what she needed before being brought back to the car.

Finally, she opened her eyes. "Hello, sleep well?" Goren, as usual, knew the answer. Eames went stiff in his arms.

"What the hell…? Where are we?"

"Still on the stakeout. So, what was so horrifying that you kept squirming and moaning?"

Realization hit Alex as she turned to face her partner. Not only had he let her sleep through a nightmare for no particular reason, but he had been holding her. No wonder she couldn't move under the weight around her waist; Bobby was large enough to snap her in two with one hand if he felt like it, let alone keep her from turning in his grasp. And more to the point, she realized there was more than one reason why she had started sweating. She was glad she was facing away from Goren at that moment, there was no way she could have hidden the slight color that came to her cheeks. "Uhh…what?"

"Never mind. It's just that you fell asleep and I was w-wondering what you w-where dreaming." Goren knew he was stepping into territory that she didn't want to share with him and he couldn't help but feel embarrassed.

Alex let her head fall back on his chest. Is he still holding me? Yes… She couldn't hold anything from him. In slight aggravation, she filled him in on her dreamland trip to the opera. "I think a lack of sleep and too much case work have affected my head."

"What opera were you watching?"

"The Marriage of Figaro. I don't even know the story! It could have at least been an opera I know about—like Carmen!" Bobby laughed at that. She knew he would; it was a daily occurrence for him to laugh at her jokes. It was never loud or rolling, just a touch of joy large enough to make him smile and chuckle a little. Alex loved those moments when she could make him laugh. It made her feel good to give joy to someone as different and solitary as Bobby. Sometimes she even found herself forcing out the jokes just to see him smile even though she believed he was smiling more out of habit at times like those, but it still made her happy.

"You mean to tell me that you've never seen The Marriage of Figaro?" Alex shook her head. "Well, I hope you're not busy on Saturday night then."

Alex gave him an indignant stare. "I have an extra ticket." She knew he didn't, but decided not to press the issue. She rarely turned down a chance to figure out another side of her partner. And to tell the truth, she'd rather be with him at the opera than stuck at home watching TV, or worse, going over cases.