She shrugged, a little surprised that he had been bothered enough to comment on it. But then again it had been a long day and dealing with this type of personality never sat well, even on good days. He could be feeling a little sensitive.
"I don't know. I just try to get through it as quickly as possible. Plus…" she stopped and smiled, knowing he would be curious enough to ask her to continue. Sure enough, he turned his head toward her.
"Plus what, Eames?"
"I know with you here guys aren't too likely to do much more than strut. They're practically harmless."
He smiled a little at that. Then Diego came back in and ruined the mood. He was holding up a notebook and grinning triumphantly. Alex got back on her feet and Goren followed. She reluctantly stepped out from behind Bobby and stood a little in front of him, knowing Diego was unlikely to hand the book over to him instead of her.
"Here it is," he announced unnecessarily as he handed the book over to Alex with a flourish.
"Thanks, Diego," she said with a small smile. She handed the book to Bobby and he quickly found the information and asked her to hold the book while he got out his pen to copy it down. Once they were finished Alex handed the book back to Diego and the two detectives began to make their way to the door.
"Hey wait a minute! Aren't you forgetting something?" Diego called out. When Alex turned around his face showed complete surprise.
"What? Oh yes, right you are. Thank you very much for your cooperation, Mr. Montalban." She twisted back around but his voice stopped her.
"What about your number?"
"Sure thing. Got a pen?" Goren quirked his eyebrows at her as Diego searched but she just grinned at him. Finally Diego asked the young man within the glass booth for a writing utensil and came back jubilant with the pen poised over his hand, ready to write.
"I'm ready," he stated. Alex nodded.
"Ok then. It's 9-1-1."
Diego faithfully wrote down the digits and looked at them for a moment before understanding dawned on his features. It was all Alex could do not to laugh out loud and she turned to see Bobby holding back a smile.
"Hey! That's not funny. What's your real number?"
"Well that's the thing, Diego. I haven't been completely honest with you. I'm not in a position to be giving out my number. You see, I…"
"Oh I see, all right. You two are involved, aren't you?" he accused, looking back and forth between Goren and Eames.
Alex just looked at Diego, unable to believe he had actually said that. Goren glanced over at Eames and decided to have a little fun.
"You told him you'd give him your number? After all we've been through?"
He drew back like he was going to throw a punch and then dropped his arm and took two steps toward the door before abruptly pivoting and turning to face Alex and Diego. Alex was looking slightly aghast but also a little amused while Diego looked scared.
"This is about earlier, isn't it? One little fight and you're what, ready to toss me aside, just like that? I don't believe this! Fine…" he turned to Diego, who had become increasingly more nervous with every word Bobby spoke until he fairly shook when Goren turned the full force of his stare on him.
Bobby proceeded to step closer to Diego with every word and finally backed him against the wall.
"If you want her, you can have her, but I'm going to keep my eye on you. And if you ever hurt her so help me…" And he pointed his finger into Diego's chest and stormed out of the building without a backwards glance.
Eames didn't buy his performance for a minute, embarrassing as it was. The door stayed open from the force of Bobby's push and she had the feeling he was standing right outside listening. She went to face Diego and almost laughed aloud when he took a step sideways at her approach.
"I have to apologize for my er, um, partner. He didn't mean what he said."
Diego took another step to the side and raised his hands in front of himself.
"Hey, no, no problem. I was just kidding. He knows that, right?" She saw Diego look behind her and when his eyes widened she knew Bobby had come back in through the still-open doorway. She decided to get a little payback.
"He tends to get a little jealous and possessive. I'm sure you know the type…can't live without me. Anyway, thanks for your help. Have a good night." And she turned to find herself face to face with Bobby who looked like he might be fighting amusement over hearing her last comment about him. She pretended to pout and crossed her arms.
"Oh…I thought you'd left me?" she accused, giving him a mock glare.
He bent down so he was at eye level with her.
"No, I couldn't do that. I'm sorry I exploded like that. I can't bear the thought of you with this guy," he nodded in Diego's general direction but maintained eye contact with Alex. "Can you forgive me, maybe give us another chance?"
Her mouth twitched but she kept a straight face and shook her head.
"Well, I don't know. Let's talk about it in the car."
He offered her his arm and she placed her hand upon it and let him lead the way back to the car where she proceeded to poke him in the shoulder as soon as they were settled and on their way. She couldn't help but smile as she drove.
"What was that for?" he asked.
"You took the words right out of my mouth."
He grinned and then shrugged.
"I don't know. The opportunity presented itself and proved too tempting to resist."
"I thought he'd give up after he got my 'number'," she said with a shake of her head.
"Some guys never learn, especially us 'jealous and possessive' types."
She refused to dignify that with a response, settling instead for changing the subject.
"So are we going to drive by the address now, or would you rather look it up and see what we can find out about whoever lives there first?"
"Well let's drive by now and see what we can find out about the area and then we'll look it up and discover what we can before we knock on any doors."
As Alex settled into bed a little while later the phone rang. She shook her head and grinned as she picked up the handset.
"Hello, Bobby. You miss me already? It's been what, 45 minutes since I dropped you off?"
"Hey, Eames. I found out a little about our friend Jun-Thai's trip tonight. The place he got dropped off at is the home of one Lon Wheaton."
"Should I know that name?"
"Well…he is the Managing Curator of the Walter G. Lowman Gallery downtown."
"Oh. So do we have any idea why Jun-Thai was there?"
"Not really. Could be they're just friends. Hold on a second, I think this might be it."
And then silence reigned. Alex was used to this and simply snuggled down further into the covers and closed her eyes, cradling the phone to her ear. She had just fallen asleep when Bobby started talking again.
"Hmmm…so he's going to the benefit, huh? Well then we'll just have to go, too."
"Hmmm…what? Benefit?"
"I'm sure you've heard about it. It's the one that's being held next Friday."
She managed to wake up enough to rack her brain for the relevant information. When she remembered what it was she bolted upright in her bed, wide awake.
"Wait a minute! Isn't it a thing where you have to wear a costume? Don't I get a say in this? Goren? Goren!"
"Yes, Eames?"
"We can't go to that."
"Why not?"
Why not, indeed? Well it's best to go with the truth here, Alex decided.
"For starters, it's been sold out for weeks. Also there's the fact that it's too close to the date to get a decent costume. Next we have to consider that Deakins may not approve of us working undercover at a party. And finally I don't want to go."
"You don't want to go? Why not?"
If he was in front of her she would have hit him for daring to sound as amused as he did.
"Lots of reasons. There'll be tons of people there, making it difficult if not impossible to keep our guy in sight the whole time, especially if he's in costume. Plus, when you have that many people in a room crowd control is an issue and we don't know that someone there wouldn't recognize us and blow the whole case. Not to mention the fact that there's no way we can get a hold of tickets this late in the game."
She knew she had made a similar point about the tickets already but she felt the need to impress upon him the futility of pursuing this. For a moment he said nothing and Alex felt hopeful that she had won him over.
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Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended. I just own the plot. Thanks for asking.
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing this story. The comments I've gotten have been great! Thank yous are below:
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