Author's Note: So much inspiration! So little time! Yeah, another drabble. I just can't stop writing these things! lol. Also, if you have an LiveJournal account, check out the comm run by yours truly lo(underscore)ficawrd. It's a comm for nominating your favorite Law & Order fanfictions for a little public recognition. What the comm really needs are judges and graphic makers. Well, now that that shameless self promotion is over, let's get to the fic shall we?

Title: Happy Thoughts
Author: GusTheMoose
Theme/Set: Beast/Criminal Intent
Rating: PG-13
Claim + additional character(s): Alex Eames/Bobby Goren, Nicole Wallace
Warning: Some strong language
Summary: There would be glimpses of her, like some sort of endangered species…
Bitch was not a strong enough word to describe Nicole Wallace in Alex Eames mind. Nicole Wallace was more than a bitch, she was a beast. A bitch was someone who got on your nerves because they were generally not a nice person. A beast made you see red with rage. Nicole made Alex see red. Nicole was a superior, condescending, and egomaniacal. On top of that she was a killer and killers weren't on Alex's People To Hug list.

Exotic, beautiful and deadly Alex would call Nicole a tigress, but Alex happened to like tigers and wasn't about to insult them (and compliment Wallace) by comparing the two. So, Nicole was a beast and an elusive one at that, but that's what made her such a great beast.

There would be glimpses of her, like some sort of endangered species. (Alex had a fleeting mental image of a bunch of hippie protesters holding up signs saying "Protect the Wallace" and "Save the Nicole Wallace".) A sighting here, a possible lead there and always just enough that it Alex and Bobby wouldn't forget about Nicole. The last one had been in Chicago, but Bobby's friend in CPD had exhausted all leads and come back with nothing. Nicole was obviously taunting them both and enjoying it.

And like any beast, just a glimpse had a lasting effect on them both. Bobby would be uneasy and distracted for days. Alex would be angry and spend a good deal of time damning Nicole to Hell and back. (Sometimes Alex wondered if the Devil would take Nicole in or not. He might be afraid of having competition.)

She hated seeing Bobby suffer the way he did when Nicole occupied his thoughts. When Bobby suffered, their partnership suffered, and so she suffered. The mere glimpse would screw everything up for weeks.

There was an upside to Nicole's beast status though and it always made Alex feel a little better about everything. All beasts were eventually hunted down and killed. So one day, down the road, she and Bobby would be curled up in front of the fireplace, with a nice mounted and stuffed Nicole Wallace head over the mantel.

"Eames, what are you smiling about?" Bobby asked, snapping Alex out of the lovely thought of beating a Nicole Wallace skin rug to clean it.

"Nothing Bobby, hand me the ME's report."