Eames listened to someone speak on her cellphone, and looked at Goren meaningfully, before saying, "Thank you, yeah, hang on a sec, okay? I gotta grab a pen..." She held the phone against her ear with her shoulder, and jotted something down. "You're a lifesaver. Really. I can't thank you enough." She clapped the phone shut and set it down on the desk, then picked up the piece of paper.

"Sounds like he hacked it."

"She did. Weird password, though."

"What is it?" Goren straddled a chair and sat down.

"bafluff."

"Bee Ay Fluff?"

"Yeah.. Whatever that is." She shrugged.

"Uh.." His eyes shifted to her laptop, then he shook his head.

"What?"

"Nevermind." He coughed to hide his smile.

They sat in front of the laptop, Eames nervously rubbing her thumb against her forefinger.

"I can't type, Bobby, so ... you're gonna have to do the honors. First you need to change the password and the email address."

"Why?"

"So this person can't revert the file."

"Right." He set to typing and waited for the email. After the email change confirmation, he then changed password. "Okay."

"Good." She sighed. "How... how do we do this?"

"Should I just delete it?"

"No!" She grabbed his wrist. "What if that.. what if that deletes us?"

"Okay. Okay, good point." He took a deep breath. "I'll just.. open a word doc and upload it, replacing the original file."

"Okay, but maybe we should make the rewrite kind of similar? But just edit out the.. the stuff that shouldn't have happened?"

He looked at her, his brown eyes intense. "Alex.."

"Bobby, this is the only way."

He swallowed. "I'd do anything to change what happened... but ... you're alive. And you will be okay. I just.."

"I know." She said quietly, and looked down. "I'm scared too. For both of us. But.. it's ... it's silly, isn't it?"

"It probably won't even work."

"We're getting all worked up for no reason." She laughed, and he smiled. It was the first time she'd laughed, really laughed, since the accident.

She went to lie down for a nap.

"What about the story?" He'd asked.

"You go ahead and write it. I trust you." She smiled at him sadly. It was a longshot. A silly, childish hope.

Bobby's vision blurred. Before him stood two Alex Eames.' Two, beautiful, amazing wonderful Alex's. She sighed, and pulled him into her apartment.

"How does a man of your stature wind up so thoroughly drunk only two hours after getting off work?"

"It's a plot device. And... I'm committed."

"I see that." She looked at him. He was drunk, and a bit disheveled. "Come on then, let's get you to bed."

He stood before her obediently, letting her small fingers unbutton his shirt, sliding lightly down his chest. He had tried to unbutton it himself, but failed. She pushed his shirt over his shoulders, where it fell to the floor with a soft whisper. As she reached for his belt he grabbed her wrists.

She looked up at him, her lips parted, preparing to ask a question, but she stopped.

He slid his warm hands up her arms, and held her shoulders. He moved closer to her, and pulled her against him.

"Bobby, I.."

"Shh.." He kissed her, gently at first. As she raised her arms to encircle his neck, the kiss became more passionate.

They reluctantly stopped when her cell phone rang. It was Deakins with a new case. They exchanged a look that belied something new: fear.
It was an ugly case, and Goren suspected the killer was still in the building.

"He gets off on watching us. He's still here." He looked around, to see if there were any places the killer could be watching from. "Maybe he doesn't need to watch us... maybe just being here is enough..." They exchanged looks, and Eames pulled out her cell phone.

"Carver gave us the go ahead." She nodded to her partner, and they both took off. The landlord tried to stop them, but they referred him to the ADA, not without a trace of smugness. Goren opened the door of one apartment, and as they made their way through, Eames signalled him that each room was clear. Suddenly, she stopped, her gun held tight before her. She nodded towards a door, and Goren moved towards it, fast. As their suspect tried to jump out and attack Eames, Goren slammed him back against the door, the knob hitting him hard in the back. The man groaned and sank to the floor, where they cuffed him and hauled him out.

"I think that's the fastest you've ever solved a case, guys. What was it, fifteen minutes after arriving on the scene?" Deakins smiled at them, his arms crossed as he stood in front of his desk.

"No, no, definitely twenty minutes at least," Goren said.

"Well, the guy's a creep. A dangerous creep. I'm glad you're both alright."

Goren looked at Eames. "So are we, sir."

She looked back at him, smiling slightly, though she cocked her head slightly in confusion.

Wanna see how Goren tackles the rest of the fic?