A/N: Here's Jimmy's chapter. After all the Captain isn't blind. Ideas for the next chapter would be welcome. I want another confrontation between Alex and Bobby, but don't know yet how or where or what the trigger for it could be. Enjoy!

Part six

Partners who were at odds wasn't new to him. As a Captain he'd seen a fair share or partnerships gone wrong and end. This one, he hadn't expected. Alex and Bobby's partnership was strong and consistent. There was nothing that could break them apart or so he thought. He was going to find out what the problem was. He couldn't ignore it any longer. Depending on what was going to be said he would put them on desk duty. After all when a partnership was at odds, it could become dangerous in the field. He wasn't going to risk their lives.

Who to talk to first, Alex or Bobby? It was probably best to talk to Alex first. If he talked to Bobby first, Alex would probably guess what was going on and would come up with an excuse. After talking to them both would he decide if it was necessary to talk to together.

Walking into the squad room on Monday morning after a meeting, he spotted Alex at her desk. Bobby was nowhere in sight. Probably for the best. Knocking on her desk as he walked by he called to her. "Eames, my office please."

"Something wrong, Cap?" Alex followed her boss into his office, closing the door behind her.

"You tell me." Deakins put his coat on the rack. He chose not to sit behind his desk, wanting to put his detective at ease.

"Excuse me?"

"I've watched you and Goren last week and something is wrong. There's a strain on your partnership. I'm worried. I waited to see if you two would resolve the problem. Clearly that hasn't happened. Apparently it has even gotten to a point where you feel like you have to avoid him. I think it's time we talked about it because if this goes any further I'm going to have to take actions."

She should have known he would have noticed. He was too good of a Captain not too. She had thought he would have confronted them with it, but now he was already talking about repercussions. Even if it hurt to work with him, she did not want the partnership to end.

"Tell me what's going on, Alex." He sat down in one of the two chairs in front of his desk.

Alex copied his move and slumped in the chair. She really did not want to talk about this with her boss, but he had a right to know. It was interfering with their job. "We… I'm mad at him." She sighed. "I really don't want to get into this, we can solve this."

"You're going to have to and I doubt you're going to solve things. I mean it Alex. If you don't tell me more, I'm going to have to split you two up."

"You can't do that!"

"Then tell me what's wrong." He didn't want to split them up either, but as a leader you sometimes had to make decisions that were in the best interest of people even if they couldn't see that.

"I can't tell you everything. Some of it is very personal."

"Fine, then tell me what I need to know." He wondered if maybe Goren and Eames were involved and he hadn't seen the signs.

"He hurt me…bad." Before she could explain how, Deakins interrupted her.

"Physically?" He didn't want to ask the question, but knew he needed to.

"No!" She exclaimed. Bobby would never hurt her physically. "No." She said again to make sure he understood. It was difficult to explain how Bobby had hurt her without going into specifics. He didn't need to hear how wonderful Bobby's hand had felt on her and how at night she could still feel those hands. Could still feel how gentle he had been with her. She did not need to go down this road in her Captain's office, otherwise she would break down in tears. "He made it clear I didn't mean anything to him."

Standing up she signalled the end of the conversation. Deakins looked at her and saw she was trying hard to regain control over her emotions. Things were really messed up between his detectives even more than he initially thought. Bobby had really done a number on her. He nodded to her and she quickly left his office. He stood up and followed her with her eyes through the squad room. She passed her desk, to the hall way, probably to go to the ladies room.

Time to talk to the other half. He saw the detective walking out of one of the exam rooms to his desk. "Goren, my office, now."

The look on his Captain's face warned him this wasn't going to be a pleasant talk. Hesitantly he stepped into the office and closed the door. This time Deakins sat behind his desk. With Goren he needed to emphasize their positions. Goren seemed to react better to authority. If he suspected the conversation would turn personal he would become uncomfortable. Goren didn't deal with that very well with that.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush here. You and Eames are not functioning the way you used to. It needs to be solved, otherwise I'm going to take actions. You will be separated. I wanna know what's wrong." He wasn't going to tell his detective that he had talked to his partner already. That was unless this conversation made it clear that he had to tell Goren.

"It's nothing we can't solve." Bobby tried.

"I'm not buying that. This has been going on for a week now. Alex is avoiding you, Goren. How are you going to solve it if she won't even talk to you?"

He didn't know Deakins had noticed. He was right though, he couldn't do a thing. "I'm…. I'm not sure."

"Talk, Goren."

Bobby stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I said some things I shouldn't have said. I blew the partnership we had, but more importantly I ruined the friendship we had. I don't know if I can fix this." That was actually the first time he'd voiced that thought. After talking to Lewis that weekend he'd come to the conclusion that he might had to accept the fact that Alex and he could be history. "I felt like she was provoking me and I lashed out. I told her she was nothing."

Looking at Goren, Deakins couldn't help but feel sorry for him. The man standing in front of him wasn't the tall strong and confident detective he knew. His head hung low, his shoulders slumped, before him stood a defeated man. He didn't know if he could help his two best detectives out. He couldn't take Goren's words back for him. He couldn't order Alex to talk to her partner.

He really didn't want to do this, but there was no other option. Sometimes drastic measures is what it took. Hopefully this would cause some sort of positive reaction from the both of them. "Effective immediately you and Alex are no longer partners. You will partner up with Barek and Alex with Logan."

Bobby nodded, he could understand the Captain's choice. He didn't have any other option. He and Alex were no longer partners. Defeated he walked to the door. Grabbing the doorknob, Deakins spoke again.

"I don't want this to be a permanent solution, but I will make it one if I have to."

TBC...