"I'm sorry Robert," a nurse told him five minutes later. "Your mother is in a group session right now, and you know how strict they are about no interruptions. Would you like to leave a message?"

Damn! He'd been so busy worrying about what his mother was going to say when he called that he'd forgotten about the time zone difference. "Uh, no, that's ok," he told the nurse. "Will she be able to return the call later tonight?"

"Oh, sure. I can't give you a time, but I'm sure she'll get back to you as soon as she can - probably after dinner. By the way, she's been talking about you nonstop today."

"Has she?" he asked politely. Somehow, that no longer surprised him. "After dinner is fine," he told the nurse. "Thank you."

"Of course. I'll have her call you as soon as possible."

"Uh, right. Bye." As he hung up the phone, Bobby closed his eyes and groaned. He'd gotten a reprieve from talking to his mother, but now he was left with nothing to occupy himself with while he waited for Alex to return.

"So," he sighed, looking down at the dog sprawled over his legs, "what've you got planned for the rest of the day?"

Canis raised his head long enough to give Bobby a disinterested look, then lowered it again and appeared to go back to sleep.

Ok, so the dog was planning on sleeping. Actually, that wasn't too bad an idea for Bobby's afternoon, either, considering how little he'd slept since he'd gotten Alex's call.

He was about to stand up to head for the bedroom when he realized that he had no business in there anymore. "Damn," he muttered, slumping back down on the couch, which he knew to be nearly a foot too short for him. Well, not much he could do about that. "Shove over, buddy," he told Canis, pushing the dog off him so he could take off his shoes and swing his legs up onto the couch.

Canis, who weighed nearly a hundred pounds but firmly believed that he was a lap dog, waited for the couch's occupant to stop moving, then promptly resumed his position on top of him, managing with uncanny accuracy to land a paw right in Bobby's groin as he stretched out as though the man was just another cushion.

Bobby considered pushing him off, but decided after a few seconds that the dog wasn't heavy enough to interfere with his sleep. Raising a hand to scratch Canis's ears, he settled his head back against a throw pillow and closed his eyes.

It was past eight when Alex finally trudged up the stairs to her apartment, propelled at that point only by her thoughts of Bobby and of cuddling into her nice, warm bed. The family meeting had gone as well as she could expect something so unpleasant to go, but she felt even more numb now that it was over than she had before it, if that was possible.

Her thoughts turned to Bobby and the chilly way they'd parted earlier in the afternoon. It wasn't fair to fault him for not wanting to accompany her, she knew that, although somehow she still wanted to. But she was determined to let go of it; she needed him now to recharge her emotional batteries, to act as a buffer between her and the pain of her mother's death.

Autopilot took her to her door and through the process of unlocking and opening it while she was busy with these thoughts, and it took her a few seconds after she got inside to realize that the sound of the door closing behind her had brought neither man nor dog running to investigate. That was odd, for both of them. Had Bobby gone out?

She moved further into the apartment, unsettled by the silence, then stopped short at the sight that greeted her: Bobby was stretched out on his back on the couch, his feet dangling over the edge, and Canis, as though copying the position, was stretched out full-length on top of Bobby, his head tucked against Bobby's shoulder. Both appeared to be deeply asleep.

Well, that explained the lack of reaction to her arrival.

She smiled, hardly even aware she was doing it, and set down her purse as quietly as possible. Despite his claim that he'd napped on the plane, she knew Bobby probably hadn't slept more than an hour out of the last twenty-four, and she didn't didn't want to disrupt him now that he'd finally conked out.

Besides, he looked adorable there, napping with her dog, who was nearly as long as Bobby was tall.

Adorable, yes, but probably uncomfortable as hell, she realized, remembering how he'd often complained about sleeping on her couch during important cases in the past.

Why hadn't it occurred to her to consider where she was going to put him at night before inviting him to stay with her? Probably, she decided a second later, because she'd been so preoccupied with thoughts of her mother that all that had registered with her was that it was Bobby, and her unconscious already knew where he slept.

God, she was tired. She looked toward the bedroom, where her bed was singing its siren song, then back at the sleeping man on the couch.

The couch really was too small for him.

She had no right to ask him to share a bed with her, and all her good sense said that she shouldn't ask him to.

Screw it. She wanted him there. Needed him there. "Bobby," she whispered, moving closer to the couch. Canis responded by lifting his head, but Bobby didn't move. "Bobby," she tried again, a little louder, as she rested a hand on the dog's back to support herself as she leaned over him.

Canis gave her what she would have sworn was a reproachful look, whuffed at her, and hopped off the couch. His movement finally woke Bobby, who blinked up at her and mumbled something unintelligible.

She had no idea what he'd said, so she just gave his arm a tug. "Come on. You can't sleep scrunched up on the couch."

Still more asleep than not, he allowed her to pull him to his feet and followed her to her bedroom, but stopped short at the edge of the bed. He may not have been fully awake, but he was awake enough to know he wasn't supposed to be there.

Alex, whose eyelids were growing heavier by the second, turned to look at him. "What?"

"This isn't . . ." He stared at her confusedly. "I shouldn't be . . ."

"You don't fit on the couch, Bobby. Just use the bed," she told him, sitting on the edge of the bed to take off her shoes. "The dog'll probably come sleep with us, too."

Who was he to argue with her impeccable logic? he decided as his sleepy brain began to clear. With a tired nod, he did as ordered, slipping under the covers fully clothed.

Alex did the same, automatically sliding closer to him until they were both lying on their sides, nearly nose-to-nose with each other.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving his tacit approval for her movement, and rested his head on the pillow next to hers. "Was it bad?"

Taking a deep breath, she dropped her head into the crook of his neck, which, she realized after a second, bore the comforting smell of her dog as well as Bobby's own comforting smell. "Not terrible," she said quietly. "It just . . . hurt. I'm so tired now . . ."

He nodded understandingly, his chin brushing the top of her head as it moved. "Go ahead and sleep," he said into her hair. "I'll be here."

"Mmm." She matched his arm around her shoulders by throwing one of hers over his side. "I know you will."

The ring of his phone startled them both out of their sleep. Alex stiffened in his arms and opened her eyes to find him looking down at her. "It's mine," he murmured, absentmindedly kissing her forehead as he pulled away. "Go back to sleep."

She obeyed with alacrity, and by the time Bobby was on his feet and opening his phone, she was out again.

He moved into the living room as he checked the caller ID. It showed the number of Pine Brook; that meant it was probably his mother returning his call. "Hi, Mom," he greeted her, keeping his voice low as he looked over his shoulder to peer through the bedroom doorway at Alex's sleeping form.

"Bobby?" Frances replied. "Are you there? I can hardly hear you."

"Sorry." He moved further away from the bedroom and allowed himself to speak a little louder. "Alex is asleep. I don't want to wake her up."

Choosing to overlook the obvious question of why her son was with a sleeping Alex, she said, "How is she doing, honey?"

"Uh . . ." He thought about that. "She's really upset. I think she's glad I'm here, although she hasn't actually said so. She's been . . . clinging to me."

"Clinging?" Frances echoed, sounding genuinely curious. "What do you mean?"

"Well, she . . .uh . . ." He suddenly felt like a teenager trying to avoid telling his mother about his first girlfriend. Well, he reminded himself, it hadn't ever happened when he actually was a teenager. Life was just catching up with him. "She trusts me," he eventually said - a bit of a hedge, but still true. "She won't cry in front of her family."

"But she cries in front of you?"

"Yes," he said simply. "She doesn't like it, but she lets it happen."

"Hmm,." Frances wasn't unaware of the tension in her son's voice, but her intuition told her that if whatever he was hiding was bad news, he wouldn't be hiding it. "You're both ok, though? Nothing else has happened to her or to you?"

"We're both fine, Mom. Tired, but fine."

"Oh, Bobby, did I wake you up? I didn't even think . . . it's hours later where you are, isn't it?"

"It's ok. We . . . I mean I . . . it was more of a nap, anyway." We? What kind of idiot was he to let something like that slip to his sharp-witted mother? Bobby wanted to kick himself.

"A nap," she echoed neutrally. "Of course it was, sweetheart. I'll let you get back to it, then. But please, do call again. I want to know you're both ok."

"Sure, Mom. I will. How are things with you? Win any more poker games?"

Frances laughed. "Not between last night and now, but the girls are just waiting for me to finish this call before we start one up."

"Well, don't let me keep you from your gambling. I'll give you a call within the next few days, ok?"

"That's fine, dear. Say hello to Alex for me."

"I will. Good night."

"Good night, honey."

He closed the phone and, deciding that sleep was more important than any other calls he might receive, he set it down on Alex's kitchen table rather than bring it back to with bedroom with him.

"Everything ok?" Alex murmured, turning her head to look sleepily over her shoulder at him as he slipped into bed next to her.

"Yeah. Just my mother saying hi."

"Mmkay. You goin' back to sleep?"

"Yeah." He wrapped an arm around her waist, pleased to find that she snuggled closer to him in response.

"Bobby?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you."

There silence for a few seconds, and then: "Alex?"

"What?"

"Stop thanking me. This is where I want to be." He tightened his arm around her. "Now go to sleep."