Eames knocked on the bedroom door, but there was no answer. Quietly, she opened the door and stepped into the room. A small lamp beside the bed was lit. He was lying on the bed, arms tucked behind his head, watching the ceiling. He didn't move, didn't look at her…all he did was softly say "If I don't answer it means I want to be left alone."

"I thought you were sleeping and I had to check on you. You have a concussion and we need to be sure we can wake you, at least through tonight."

"Well, I'm not sleeping, so you can go."

She hesitated. "Bobby, we need to work this out."

"Work what out?"

"Us. If there still is an 'us' to work out."

"That's up to you, Eames."

"I believe the ball was in your court last, when you threatened to leave the partnership."

"Leave? I did no such thing." He sighed heavily. "If I lose your trust, I lose everything. There's no point in you staying in a partnership with a partner you don't trust. And me…" He shook his head. "You…hit low and hard when you told me…you'd leave. Threatening me like that…to get me to do what you want…well, that was just cold. I…I'll do anything you want…you just have to ask."

She sat down in a chair near the window. The storm was mostly over. The rain was falling lightly now, punctuated by intermittent flashes of lightning and an occasional distant rumble of thunder. "When she comes back, she does something to you. She…changes you. You…step away from us, Bobby. You go back to being just you. She has been trying to come between us, and she has been succeeding. I don't know how, whether it's you letting it happen, or me, responding to what you have become."

"What have I become?"

"You're…distant. And you make no attempt to bring me in, at all."

He pushed himself up onto an elbow to look toward her. "I…I try to…insulate you. It…bothers me, a-a lot, to…think…" He wasn't quite sure how to explain how he felt, especially without making her angry again. "She's evil, Eames. You're not. Evil soils everything it comes into…contact with. I mean, I know what we deal with, every day…what we see…what we do…but…she's a different kind of evil. She seeks to…consume…what is good…to turn good to evil. I…have been trying to protect you from that kind of desecration."

"And what about you, Bobby? What makes you different?"

He sat up and rested his arms on his knees. "I know what she is. I understand how and why she came to be that way. I…I am more like her than you realize."

"No, Bobby. You are nothing like her."

He twisted his hands together, staring down at the floor, away from her. "That's not true. She…she just made different choices. It was the choices we made in our lives that…made us who we are. She chose the dark path. I didn't. I…I was able to…change my destiny…by not letting my hatred consume me. I…turned my weaknesses into strengths, my hatred into…a deeper understanding of human nature. Instead of blaming my life on my past, I worked hard to…become better than my past." He rubbed his forehead. "You have no idea…there are lots of things…things I've never told you. Some I never will. If I have…if I've screwed up, and I know I must have to have pissed you off so royally, I…I was only trying to protect you…to keep you…" Words were failing him. "Eames, she means to destroy me, because she can't beat me. The only way she can truly destroy me, is to destroy us. I…I don't know how, or when, she figured that out. But she did."

"And you decided to keep all this from me…why?"

He looked at her. "You get so mad whenever you think I'm protecting you. Remember? You don't need a bodyguard and I should join the secret service."

She saw the smile that played at his mouth. She turned back toward the window. Finally, she looked back at him. "I give up, Goren."

He looked back toward the floor. "Then there's nothing I can do…"

She got up from the chair and walked over to sit beside him on the bed. "No, Bobby. You've done enough. You've protected me from Nicole and it's cost you dearly. She could have killed you tonight. I can't keep asking you to stop protecting me, because it just doesn't work. You're too bull-headed. So I give up. If it keeps you happy, dammit, protect me all you want. Just stay the hell out of my way while you do it. I'm sorry I hurt you. I really am. But I didn't know any other way to get through to you." She gently stroked his hand and his arm. "And no, I haven't lost my faith or my trust in you. There's no one in the world I trust more than you. Believe me."

He looked at her, confused. "So I don't have to join the secret service?"

She laughed. "No, you big bonehead." She rested her head against his shoulder, tucking her head under his chin. "So are we back to 'us,' Bobby? Can we go back to being partners?"

He let his fingers stray along her shoulder until he touched her chin. He turned her face toward his and asked, "Are you done being mad at me?"

Her face relaxed into a warm smile and she pulled back from him, reaching out to unbutton his shirt. He tipped his head to the side so he could see her face. "What are you doing?" he whispered.

She ran her hands over his chest until he closed his eyes and his breathing changed. Suddenly bracing her hands against him, she shoved, following his body down onto the bed. "I'm done…"

She claimed his mouth with hers and her body quickly followed.