Eames entered the office looking taller than her small frame. She was ecstatic about the turn of events in her personal life, and knew that it would be very hard to keep this new giddiness out of her work. She quickly folded her right hand over her left to hide the evidence that would cause a stir in her office. She looked over to her desk and met eyes with her partner, who of course was studying her. She knew he saw the glint of metal that flashed from her finger, and she smiled at him
Goren being as inertly perceptive as he was knew the exact moment she came off the elevator, and picked up his head to study her. She seemed both elated and nervous, and he saw her cover the new ring on the forth finger of her left hand. When she reached their desks his eyes met hers and he smiled softly at her.
"Hey" she greeted as she approached her desk.
"Congratulations" he replied so only she could hear, and gestured to her hand with a nod of his head.
"So is this going to be an issue" she blurted out looking down at her hand at then at him for support.
"Are you happy?" he questioned her earnestly.
"Unbelievably" she answered honestly and flashed him her full smile; shestarted to shrug her coat off.
He smiled up at her, "then there will be no issue from me. However," he began as he glanced over her left shoulder "if you were hoping for discretion today, I think your luck just ran its course." And he nodded over her left shoulder.
"Ugh, Logan" she mouthed and raised her eyebrow.
He nodded back to her just as they were interrupted...
Mike Logan and his partner Carolyn Barek approached their counterparts from behind Eames as she had begun to shrug her coat off. He quickly noticed the sizable ring on her finger and nudged Barek and gestured with his head to Eames hand.He saw Eames hesitate with her jacket and figured Goren hand warned her about them. He saw the opportunity to have some fun.
"Let me help you out there," he smiled at his partner as he helped Eames with her coat. Barek not one to miss out on the fun grabbed her hand and began the act.
"Oh My" she said loudly and turned her body so the staff room could hear,"what do we have here"? She than held up Eames hand to show Logan and Goren. "It's beautiful".
"Wow, Eames, you really got your hooks into someone." Logan added loudly, and then looked over at Goren. "You okay with your partner getting hitched?" he added with a twinkle in his eye.
Goren examined Logan's face, and saw the playfulness there, and nodded. He also noticed the captain's door open as the rest of the office had begun to gather around their desks. He saw the captain take in the scene for a minute to try and dissect what was going on.
After hearing the numerous congratulations, and comments inquiring who the guy was, directed at Eames, Goren saw that the captain finally caught sight of the sparkle on her hand, and called out to her.
"Eames, and while I'm at it Goren, Logan, Barek, in my office" he said trying to diffuse the situations and get his staff back to work.
The four detectives looked from one to another and smiled. In the eight months since Logan and Barek had joinedmajor casethe teams had worked as a foursome any times.Thus real camaraderie had developed between them, and all knew that although being calling into their captains office was commonplace, this meeting would not have anything to do with any cases they were working on.
Logan smiled the most and clapped and then rubbed his hands together, "Well Lucy" he looked at Eames, "I think you've got some splannin' to do." as they all turned to follow her in the office.
Deakins studied each of the detectives face before addressing Eames. She had plopped herself in the chair in front of his desk "Alex, I guess congratulations are in order." And he offered her a hug. "I'm just a little shocked. Not that it's officially our business, but I didn't even know you were seeing someone."
"Thank you captain" she started as she released him from the hug "well I've been trying to keep my personal life uh separate and apparently it's been working."
The captain looked at the other three detectives in the room as he nodded his head to her. "No, I understand it's just with the amount of time I see you directly I figured if you were in a relationship this serious, I would have at least heard something." he said calmly and with a hint of sadness in his voice. He looked at her colleagues again and sat in his seat and further studied them.
"Captain, I didn't mean to leave you out of the loop" she started and turned around to look at her partner who was standing behind her for help with this. Goren shot her back a look that clearly said I told you so.
Deakins held up his hand to stop her from apologizing "No it's nothing for you to apologize for, I just have a theory."
"A theory" Logan quipped from his spot sitting on the side of the captain's desk" captain are you playing detective"?
"Well actually a little bit, I was one if you remember" He smiled at Logan. "See the thing is Eames you are a smart lady, and I highly doubt that you would have jumped into an engagement quickly, especially with your past" He stated. Eames nodded at him wondering where he was going with this. "Therefore, I assume you would have been seeing this guy for at least a year if not longer." Again she nodded at him.
Goren catching on quickly to the captain's logic interrupted in his usual detective manner. "I see where you're going with this captain, but I just wanted to add some conjecture." He paused for emphasis and Deakins nodded for him to continue. "Wouldn't her past make her more likely to jump into a relationship faster? I mean knowing what its like to lose someone in an instance, how fleeting life is, doesn't it usually lead a person to take risks?" he looked at Eames for an instance a sawthe exasperation with his ploy on herface and turned back to the captain for a response.
The captain only smiled. "See you sticking up for her, there; only further draw my conclusion to being more accurate". He saw Eames glare at Goren and continued. "What I was going to say is that if she was seeing someone seriously for a year, the likely hood, if this was a normal relationship that I would hear about it is very probable. One of you would have thrown in some comment about it. The fact that not one of you in this group has made one jibe at her about it in my presence makes me realize that this is no ordinary relationship. And by ordinary," he caught Logan's eye as he saw him ready to pounce at the words "normal" and "ordinary" and shook his head. "I mean that in the fact of a non office romance, which leads me to concur that this is in fact an office romance which you have kept well under wraps." He paused and looked at Eames and she was visibly blushing although trying well enough to keep her cool. "Now the question is who." He turned to look at Goren. "Initially all things would have pointed to you." He pointed at Goren. And Bobby raised an eyebrow at him. "Partners of the opposite sex do tend to fall for each other. And after she lasted as partner with you longer that a year, the rumors were all over this place about the two of you, and still are, but I've watched you and I haven't seen anything extraordinary about your relationship. You guys have trust and respect for each other and that's all that is there." Goren nodded to him and he took the assurance and continued. "So that leaves someone else in this office, but whom?" He looked to Logan. "It's not you." He stated quickly.
Barek sniggered "Could you imagine!"
"But the three of you would have to know who it is, and also with as overprotective, as the both of you are" he looked at Goren and then Logan, "It would also have to be someone that you like and approve of."
Alex jumped from her seat, "These two don't get to choose who I date. I am well capable of taking care of my self." She said animated and irritated.
Deakins smiled at her, "I am well aware that you wear the pants in your partnership with Goren, I am just saying that if he didn't think this guy was good for you, it would affect your work. It would be the same if he was in a serious relationship with someone that you weren't fond of. Jeez" he looked at her. "Control yourself, you know very well that your opinions mean a lot to each other."
"He's right you know" Logan smiled at Eames, "I'm just surprised it hasn't bothered Bobby more, I mean before you started dating this Other GUY Goren had you to all to himself, work-wise that is, I'm wondering…" He looked pointedly at Goren "How come you aren't more upset about this."
Goren just sat there quietly and gave his best boyish grin; he knew Logan was provoking him. "I think she made a good choice that's all, and I'm sure our partnership will survive." He looked at Deakins. "Really you have nothing to worry about."
Deakins wasn't really paying attention to Bobby's last statement; he looked as if a light went off in his head after remembering something. "You know Bobby, he has a point, with that, there was that…" he looked quickly at Eames trying to figure out how to phrase this so that it would only be relevant to Goren. "That conversation we had about your third year as partners. I assumed you had it in wraps, but if she started to date someone seriously about that time. You would have not been producing the results on cases that the two of you have" Deakins was cut off.
"What conversation?" Eames said her eyes flashing. "Bobby?"
Goren rubbed the side of his chin and scratched his head.
"No, No buddy, I am not a suspect in the interrogation room, you don't get to bide time to figure out what to say to me. Answer me now" She looked over at him expectantly.
Goren sighed looked at Deakins, who tried to offer an apology with his eyes. "Alex, this isn't the appropriate place to have this conversation." He tried to plead with her. "And" He addressed Deakins quickly "You should know better that I would not let that interfere with out cases."
Eames looked back at him, "If you and the captain had some kind of talk concerning me I think this is the best time for me to find out about it. After the trial we said that we would not keep anything like that from each other. We would be honest with all critical assessments of each other."
Barek who had caught on to the captain and Goren offered, "Alex, I don't think that it was a problem with your work that Bobby was having."
"What would it… OH" she started as understanding hit her. And she looked at him with wide eyes.
Goren knew they would have to resolve this now and he looked around the room. "Can we have the room a minute?" He gestured with his fingers never taking his eyes of Eames
Deakins nodded and ushered the others out.
As the door softly clicked behind Goren he approached where Eames was leaning and stood with his backside resting against the desk in front of her. "Yeah… Oh." He looked down at her and smiled softly throwing her words back at her.
"You told the captain?"
"Yeah, it was before we worked it out."
"So what exactly was that conversation like, hey captain I have a thang for my partner?"
He looked at her. "Yeah, That's exactly how it went." He smiled again at her this time with his boyish grin before continuing. "It was after our first encounter with Nicole, and I was having a pretty rough time removing myself from her head. The captain thought it might be good if I got to unwind a bit. So he took me out to thatbeat bar in his old district across townfiguring it was far away from Major Case to clear my head. And I suppose he figured if I got embarrassingly drunk enough it wouldn't reflect too poorly on me or him as we weren't in front of our own office"
"Except you don't get embarrassing when your drunk, you get introspective or child-like, and I'm going to assume the former considering the case we just came off of."
He smiled earnestly at her, grateful for how well she knew him. "Yes, I began telling him how worried you were about how far I let myself go inside of her head, and how far I let Nicole manipulate me in order to actually get what we wanted out of her. I then said something to the affect of had it been a different partner she might have won this battle over me."
Eames eyes filled with emotion, knowing how hard it was for Bobby to trust someone else, and she was grateful for this admiration from him. "He took this as a sign that your feelings then were more than friendly for me."
He nodded "More or less, he said if I had let anyone to be able to trust them that much, I had to have fallen for you."
"And he's assumed that since then you had it under wraps and wouldn't act on your feelings."
"I guess he figures since there were no changes in the way we function as a team that nothing had happened."
Eames nodded at him and played with the ring on her hand.
Outside the office the captain looked at the other two detectives who had taken seats on Goren and Eames desks right outside the office. The captain sat in Eames chair, looking at his hands.
"I think I may have caused a serious rift between my best."
Logan and Barek turned and looked at him as he spoke; Logan raised his eyebrow at the word best. "I'll think they'll be fine. If not you could just start calling Barek and myself your best."
The Captain looked at him and waved off the assessment that Logan had made. "Sorry, I've worked with those twoa hell of a lot longer, and until your solve rate equals theirs' the label sticks to them."
Barek smiled, "Sorry Captain, you bruised his ego."
Logan smirked and looked at the captain who had begun to look at a case on Eames desk. Not paying attention that he wasn't in his office he leaned back a little too farin her chair, and started tumbling. Logan grabbed his arm, but in balancing himself the captain caught his hand on a sharp edge of Eames desk, and broke his skin. After sitting up he began to rummage the top drawer of her desk for the first aid kept he knew she kept in her desk. Opening the second drawer he picked it up and started to clean up his small wound.
"Wow even Eames desk is rough" Logan joked, helping the captain open the band-aids.
The captain smiled up, and threw out the wrappers, and put the non used stuff back in the box, and then opened the second drawer to put the case back in. He hesitated though as a photo caught his eye. Looking at the two detectives in front of him he held it up for and explanation. "When was this taken?"
"Shit" Barek exclaimed.
Understanding rooted through Deakins as he stood up and strode back into his office.
Eames and Goren both were surprised as the captain barged back into his office followed by a nervous Logan and Barek.
Waving the photo in front of the two startled detectives in the office, the captain lashed into them. "Does this mean what I think it does?"
Goren and Eames looked at each other, thenat Logan and Barek, then finally back to their captain, and nodded.
Deakins rounded his desk and hit speed dial one. "Hey, Marilyn is Mr. Carver available now; it's a little bit of an emergency." Pacing back and forth he waited for the A.D.A to answer the phone glaring back and forth two the detectives in front of him
"Ron, Yeah its Jimmy, I need your consult over here. No it's not for a case for a possible issue with IAB. No, no... Just my biggest fear ever. Okay thank you; see you when you get here.' He shook his head at his two teams of detectives.
Ron Carver smiled as he hung up the phone. And leaned back at his desk and reflected for a minute. Pulling himself out of his desk he went over to his file drawers, he searched through for the file marked Goren and Eames, and pulled it out with the file behind it. He laid them on the desk gave a smirk, and put on his gloves and jacket. He picked the file folders off the desk andplaced them in his opened briefcase. Securing it he grabbed the handle to lift it and he sauntered out the door.
Silence penetrated the room which gave the detectives each time to reflect. Goren was happy as it gave him time to think of all the options that he could have. Eames was emotionless, and therefore unworried, and that made him happy. Barek and Logan had concerned and apologetic faces, he gave them a small smile to show that he accepted their apologies, and the resumed examining the captain. He was angry that was evident, but something else was there. He seemed… well he seemed proud… of this…almost father-like…well maybe there was hope…
After a long 20 minutes a tap on the door was heard and Carver entered the room. "Hello, Deakins...Detectives. What do we have here?"
Deakins inhales a long sigh. "It appears that Goren and Eames…well they went ahead and fell in love while everyone was speculating, and got engaged".
Carver tried to keep the smile from his face, but Goren caught the smile at his lips. "How many in your office know that you're an item?" he asked.
Alex spoke first. "The whole department knows, that I am engaged,thaks to these two clowns"she nodded to Carolynand Miken"but it alsoonly those clowns whoknow that it's Bobby I'm engaged too."
"Well you guys are aware of the non-fraternization policy correct?" Carver asked sarcastically.
"Of course, Mr. Carver, We do" Goren answered calmly. "Instead of doing this the hard way, just tell us what can we do, to continue our partnership."
"Well the rules are strict, written very well, and the percentage of exception is less than 1" Carver continued bemused, and Goren caught on that there was more he wasn't saying. "Once this new element of your partnership becomes common knowledge, I'm not sure it can continue." Eames however, didn't see the subtle hint Goren was shooting her to stay calm reacted.
"Rules, rules…! Let me tell you about rules." Eames shook her finger. "We have the highest solve rate in the entire force. We work long and hard, and most importantly well together. This job that we do is based on trust and the ability to read each other. Bobby and I we got lucky when we were paired, it only took us a little while to have the innate ability to do that. And in recognising this gift of being able to read each other so well, we spent a lot of time getting it right. And it's not really our fault that we realized if we were this compatible in our work partnership, what exactly was left for us to give anyone else. How could anyone take that away? Separate the two of us when we have brought the two of you, and everyone above you so much glory. We never asked for any of that glory, we never cared to have the spotlight on us, we never asked for anything, but I will tell you this, I'm walking away if we have to separate." Alex sat back in her chair deflated from her out burst and looked up at Deakins and Carver expectantly.
"You ever gonna stand up like that for us?" Logan said to Barek in an effort to try and lighten the mood in the room.
"Shut up" was the only answer that Barek could muster caught off guard by the emotion of the other women in the room? Bobby walked over to Alex and grabbed her hand in a show of support. He continued to be amazed at how much she was willing to fight for them. No one in his life ever supported him this way. He bent forward like a hinge to meet her eye with his so he could silently show her how touched his was. She met his eyes and smiled; he righted himself and looked at the A.D.A waiting for him to have some sort of resolution.
"Okay, so you are saying that the two of you would leave your post here if you were reassigned new partners." He looked at Goren hoping he would catch on.
Looking down at Eames and grinning knowing he needed to offer her some kind of return on the loyalty she had just offered nodded and said without a hesitation. "We will walk out the very instant, the order was made." He felt her give his hand she was holding a squeeze of thanks.
Carver turned to Deakins and said. "Do you feel in your professional opinion that the resignation of their employment would be a threat to the security and safety of the citizens of this city?"
Deakins looked incrediusly at Carver and then catching on replied. "Yes"
Carver looked at Logan and Carver. "Were you witness to your captains assessment of your colleagues and do you agree with it?"
Logan and Barek smiled at each other for a moment and then said simultaneously to Carver. "We do."
"Well then I will ask for you to sign this petition to the court that the partnership of Eames and Goren should not be dissolved even though they have violated the non fraternization policy."
Alex smiled pleased at how easy this was going. Barek leaned over to sign where Carver was pointing, but stopped. "What's the deal, this is blank?"
Carver laughed, and pulled out a thick document. "I know I was just having some fun." Actually this is something I took care of on my own four years ago. I like Detective Eames had figured out, that this partnership was unique in everyway. And the most important fact was that it was extremely productive. When all the rumors had started years ago, I wondered to myself what would happen if there was ever truth to these rumors. So I took the time to investigate the issue. I have had thisthe signed affidavit from the police commissioner for two years now.In it it statesthat no matter the terms of your personal partnership, you may continue in your professional one until your captain and yourselves decide otherwise." He handed the packet to Eames. "I just need your signatures."
Eames was speechless and she just smiled. Goren raised an eyebrow and said. "I suppose you are going to want us a little better behaved when we disagree with you in the future."
Carver smiled at him, "First I must say I was worried that I took the time to do this for nothing. You two have been extremely good at keeping up this ruse. AndI could say that you both owe me, but then I realized , I have the highest success rates of winning cases as an A.D.A, and in reality, my prominent future has been and will be largely attested to you. Besides we don't want life to easy. We may not always get along, but I feel that there has always been a lot of respect."
Goren nodded and shook his hand. He pulled a pen out of his pocket it and signed the document that Eames was now handing him back after applying her signature.
"So I guess Big Congratulations are in order." He pulled the hand shake he was sharing for Goren into a hug. After slapping the larger man on the back he pulled away and offered one to Eames.
"You're slyer than Bobby is." She smiled at him as she got up to envelope him in a big hug.
"I will suggest that you not overly make things public, it will now give your enemies a true place to hurt you."
Deakins who after beaming at them grabbed them both in a hug. Taking Carver's words into account he now looked seriously at them. "You two have made a lot of enemies, including fellow cops, not to mention that psycho Nicole; she's going to have a field day with this."
"We know." They both sighed in union. And then smiled at each other for the unity of their thoughts.
"We have thought this over. A lot, more thoroughly than you realize" Goren said with a smile forming to his lips as he gestured back and forth between himself and Eames. "I mean this is something concerning me, and you all know me now right?" He finished with a playful smile.
Logan sniggered, "Well he's right he isn't one to throw caution into the wind."
Barek nodded and smiled at Logan.
Carver seeing their exchange pulled out another stack of papers from his briefcase, and handed it to Deakins. "This might be premature, but I thought I might as well cover all the bases. Deakins looked down at the package and knotted his brow. He looked at Carver and shrugged his shoulders. "Good idea, but lets not give out any more ideas".
Barek was quicker than anyone suspected and grabbed the packet. "I saw the looks that your guys were given each other. This has something to do with us." She looked down at look back up outraged. "Well I never".
Logan took the packet off of her looked at it and smiled. "Thanks for the show of good faith."
Barek hit him playfully. "In your dreams."
Eames took it off the desk where Logan had tossed it. Bobby looked over her shoulder to read with her. Eames pointed at the document. "This is how rumors start, but I think Carver got it right?" she smiled knowingly at Bobby.
"Well If we are all done here, how about Deakins and I take you out for a celebratory dinner, and you guys can tell us how this all began. Logan, Barek, you hungry?"
They nodded and led the way out of the Captains office. Mike blocked the door way after exiting and yelled out the news to the office.
When Goren and Eames stepped out last they were met with cat calls, clapping, and a lot of hugging.