The Long and Winding Road: pt. 4

By: The Confused One

Rating: This chapter. I would call it PG or even
PG-13. Nothing too terrible here.

Pairings: Bobby and Alex from Criminal Intent.

Warnings: Let's see, there is a little bit of cussing
and a few snippets of discussion about injuries.
Nothing too graphic though.

Feedback: YES! Please send all the feedback to the
feedback whore at Charmed1500y...

Archive: Yes to Amorous. Anyone else? Just let me
know where it's going.

Summary: If you haven't noticed, I've just about given
up giving story summaries in this thing, their pretty
much chapter summaries now. LOL Well, here is the long
awaited chapter where you get to find out what has
become of Bobby. I'm pretty sure there isn't anything
in here that is too shocking.

Disclaimer: Don't own anything. Only wish I did. No
money is being made. Please don't sue. Thanks.

Bobby Goren woke up extremely disoriented and with
bright lights in his face. It took a couple of
minutes before he even knew that there were people in
the room with him. A couple of nurses stood around
him checking monitors. He suddenly realized that he
was the one hooked to the monitors. A man walked in
within moments as the nurses left. He quickly
realized that the man standing over him was a doctor
of some sort. Bobby's eyes were slowly beginning to
focus on their own. The doctor smiled and asked, "I'm
glad to see your awake Mr. Richards."

Bobby was completely confused now. He suddenly
realized that he didn't recognize the name. He was
hurting most everywhere. He weakly asked, "Is that my
name?"

The doctor frowned. He answered, "Yes, your friends
say your name is Victor Richards. Is there anything
you do remember?"

Bobby thought hard for a moment before replying, "I
remember lots of things, just not about my life."

The doctor nodded. He soothingly replied, "That's
understandable. Mr. Richards along with your broken
and bruised ribs, your broken right arm, broken left
wrist, a few broken fingers, bruised knee you have
retrograde amnesia."

The diagnosis registered in Bobby's brain. He knew.
He had other questions. He wanted to know what he
could about himself. Bobby interrupted, "Just great.
Did I have any id or a cell phone or anything when
they brought me in?"

The doctor looked a little surprised. He didn't
generally have patients this assertive, especially
after just waking up. He fumbled, "You didn't have
any of those things on you when you arrived."

Bobby nodded. For some reason he wasn't sure he
trusted anything that was going on. He didn't like
the feel of the place, this doctor, and without even
meeting them he didn't trust these supposed friends.
Forcing himself to a sitting position, Bobby began
looking around. He immediately realized he wasn't in
a real hospital. He asked, "Where am I?"

The doctor continued fumbling through his answers,
"St. Mary's Mission in New York City. You've suffered
an extremely dangerous and damaging blow to the head.
We were closest."

Bobby nodded not quite letting the last part sink in.
He distractedly asked, "Can I see my friends?"

The doctor nodded. He replied, "Sure. I'll send them
in. Maybe they'll be able to trigger your memory and
answer some questions for you."

Bobby nodded not quite sure he believed him. Within a
couple of minutes two Spanish men walked in. One
began, "I'm Luis Lopez. He's Martin Domingus."

Bobby nodded before asking, "Alright. What happened?
Why am I here?"

The other one, Martin, replied, "An associate of ours
went up to meet you. Look, Mr. Thompson…"

Bobby immediately interrupted, "Mr. Thompson?"

Luis quickly answered, "We gave them an alias at the
front counter. This place will take anyone and won't
ask questions. Your name is Robert Thompson. This
associate of ours, Santos, and you fell off the roof
of a building."

Bobby's eyes widen. He couldn't believe what he was
hearing. He asked, "We fell off a building? How is
he fairing?"

Martin jumped back in, "Yes, the two of you fell off a
building. We're not sure what happened, but he's
dead. Look, Thompson, we don't want a war. We've got
enough fucking trouble. It would be nice if you kept
your boys off of us."

Bobby's face was a mixture of total confusion,
revoltion, anger, fear, and panic. Someone dead, no
matter what the circumstances didn't sit well with
him, and it was even worse when he didn't know said
circumstances. Collecting himself in an instant, he
replied, "That would be doable if I knew for sure I
wasn't being lied to, and knew who or where these
people who supposedly work for me are."

Luis nodded. He replied, "This whole damn thing is
our fault. We want to offer you protection with our
boys until you get your memory back."

Bobby arched his eyebrows. He replied, "I don't think
I'll be leaving here anytime soon. I think I'm
alright."

Martin and Luis exchange a look. Luis informs Bobby,
"The fucking cops know about it by now. The bastards
are probably going to be everywhere within a couple of
hours. They're going to find Santos' body.
Especially since you can't remember what happened and
you're a drug lord, they're going to pin it on you
man. We all need to get out now, unless you want to
go to jail."

Bobby wasn't sure if he should trust these guys, but
he wasn't any surer that he wanted to take the chance
on going to jail. He didn't have a clue about who he
was or what happened, and he wasn't sure he wanted to
take any chances. He figured for the moment he could
follow these guys, at least for as long as he still
couldn't remember anything. Bobby nodded in
resignation to having to break out of the clinic. He
just hoped that his head was healing right, and that
his memory would return soon. He was taking an awful
lot on faith. He replied, "We're on the first floor
right?"

Martin replied, "Yeah, the only floor."

Bobby smiled his devilish grin, "Let's go out the
window. No one will even notice we're gone for a
while."

Martin and Luis both nodded. Bobby painfully unhooked
himself from the machinery. Hobbling over to the
window, Bobby gritted through the pain. The three men
took off out the window. Bobby dryly saying as they
left, "First thing, I can't stay in this gown. I need
some clothes."

Martin replied behind him, "We'll get you some clothes
once we're at the house."

Bobby was still had questions. As they reached the
car, he relented and asked more questions, "Where's my
stuff? I know I wasn't on that roof without a single
thing on me."

Martin quickly answered the question, "In the back
there. We were able to salvage your piece. It was in
a shoulder holster. You also had a few bucks in a
pocket. Your cell phone is in pieces. Sorry. It
would have made it easy to get figure all of this out.
That was all you had on you."

Bobby nodded. Getting into Martin's parked car Bobby
noticed a woman entering the clinic. A memory of them
together immediately flashed into his head. The woman
was running just behind him. He was chasing someone,
and she was gaining on him. She yelled, "Stop!
Police!"

The quick memory confused him. A name kept sticking
out in his head, Eames. He wanted to place the
mystery female cop, that he somehow seemed to
remember, to the name, but he couldn't be sure. He
couldn't even begin to understand what he was seeing.
To be on the safe side, he called up to the front
seat, "You were right. There's heat here."

Luis asked in confusion, "Damn it! You saw
something?"

Bobby hesitated. He didn't feel like explaining his
memory to the two men in front of him. He replied,
"Yeah. I saw a badge."

Martin instantly replied, "They'll never catch us now
anyway."

The car immediately sped out of the parking lot just
in case.

Alex and Nikolas walked up towards the front counter.
Nikolas was trying to keep Alex from getting her hopes
up. He pessimistically warned, "This is the last one
Detective."

Alex nodded. She understood and appreciated the
sentiment. She was desperately hoping that this would
be it. Alex flashed her badge to the secretary as she
walked up. Pulling out Bobby's picture she cut the
chitchat, "Detective Eames. This is officer Smith.
Have you seen this man?"

The secretary began to get extremely fidgety and
nervous. She stammered, "Y-yeah, he-he was brought in
hours ago. There's not any-anything wrong is there?"

Alex began absorbing the news. She was almost in
shock at learning that Bobby was indeed there.
Holding back her pure joy she kept her voice low, "No,
no he's not in trouble. He's my partner. We've been
looking for him. You-you just said that he was here.
Someone brought him in? Are they still here? Is this
man still here? Is he alive?"

Nikolas sensing that Alex was overwhelming the poor
secretary interrupted by saying, "We'd just like to
know everything you know."

The secretary nodded. She replied, "He's being
treated by Dr. Harris. He's a neurologist. He's very
good. Your partner has suffered major head trauma,
but it looks like he's going to be just fine. They
took his friends back to see him a while ago. Beyond
that, even his room number, you'd have to ask Dr.
Harris."

Alex nodded. She instantly asked, "And where can we
find this Dr. Harris?"

The secretary stopped and began thinking a second when
a doctor entered the waiting room. The secretary
arched her eyebrows and answered, "You're in luck.
That's him, right there."

Alex nodded again. Mumbling a thank you she was at
Dr. Harris' heels before Nikolas had even spotted the
man. Alex asked, "Dr. Harris?"

The doctor who had been talking to Bobby earlier
smiled and replied, "Yes, that's me."

Alex flashed her badge again as Nikolas joined the
two. Alex quickly got down to business, "I'm
detective Eames, and this is officer Smith. We're
looking for this man."

Harris studied the picture for a moment before
nodding. He answered, "Yes, he's one of my patients.
Is this about how he got here? Are you here to
interview the two men that brought him in? Cause they
claim it was all an accident, and that they left
someone there to talk to you guys."

Alex wasn't sure how to answer his questions. She
decided to be diplomatic, "Sort of. He's my partner,
Robert Goren. I've been looking for him. What can
you tell me about his condition?"

The doctor seemed to relax slightly. He answered, "I
didn't trust those men that brought him in. The said
his name was Richards. He's suffered extreme head
trauma, but he's awake now. The majority of his
injuries are stunningly minor. He broke his right
arm, left wrist, and a few fingers. He bruised his
knew rather badly, almost dislocated it. His shoulder
was dislocated when he was brought in. He had a
couple of bruised ribs, and a couple of broken ribs
too. He was lucky they didn't puncture a major organ.
The worst of his injuries is the swelling of the
brain at the moment that is causing quite a severe
case of retrograde amnesia. He doesn't remember
anything about his life. Did he happen to do some
study of psychology and the brain?"

Alex wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or cry. A
sort of panic welded up inside her. Things were going
to get really, really bad if he started to get pieces
of his memory back alone. Mentioning Ryan or Hayley
might destroy everything they had worked so hard to
build. Worse yet, mentioning Ryan in front of the bad
guys might get him killed. She replied, "Yeah, he
took some classes. Is he giving you that much
trouble?"

The doctor shook his head no. He replied, "Oh no. He
just seemed to be calm and understand his condition
better than anyone else I've ever treated."

Alex nodded again. She replied, "He's like that, but
you mentioned amnesia…"

Nikolas, who had been listening, bit his tongue
letting Alex get some information before he butted in,
but they were now getting into a serious conversation.
He interrupted, "Weren't we told he was with the men
who brought him in? We should probably go ahead and
go see him."

Alex nodded realizing that he was right. She looked
at the doctor waiting for him to take the lead. She
replied, "You can explain his condition a little to me
while we walk."

The doctor nodded and began to lead the way to the
room. He replied, "Retrograde amnesia is caused by
severe psychological trauma or by swelling of the
head, due to extreme head trauma. Mr. Goren's amnesia
was definitely caused by head trauma. As the swelling
decreases over the next few days, even weeks, he will
regain his memory. His childhood will probably be the
first things to come back, but it is generally fairly
quickly followed by the present. So be warned, and
don't be discouraged when he doesn't recognize you."

Alex realized they were at Bobby's room. She nodded
preparing herself for the worst. She was intrigued by
what was to come. She knew that she didn't know even
half of the horrors that Bobby experienced as a child.
She wasn't sure she was looking forward to watching
him have to relive it, but she was definitely prepared
to help him through it, like everything else in his
life. Even worse, she knew he didn't remember them.
He was going to make himself crazy because of it too.
She knew that for sure. She also knew she was going
to have to plan things just right if she wanted to
keep the truth about them and the kids under wraps.
She softly replied, "Thank you. I think you should
know, his childhood, it's going to rough. He's
probably not going to be the easiest patient."

The doctor looked at Alex a little concerned. He
asked, "Things are going to becoming pretty fast. If
it's that bad, it's probably going to take longer, his
subconscious will probably stall it not wanting to
overload his mind."

Alex nodded again. She bit her lip before replying,
"For his sake, I kind of hope it does."

Alex was getting more and more interested in talking
to Bobby again. This would be Bobby without the
emotional baggage. She wasn't sure what she was going
to find. She hoped that it would at least be someone
she recognized. Alex opened the door expecting to see
three people in the room. She stood in the doorway in
shock. The room was obviously empty. All she could
think was how close she was to finding him, yet so
far. Nikolas moved past her looking around the room
checking it out as Alex just stared. The doctor was
in shock too. He stammered out, "He-he was here. I
swear he was here just a little while ago."

Nikolas took a deep breath. "They went out the
window," looking at Alex now he asked, "Why would he
leave?"

Alex and Nikolas stared at each other for a minute
before Alex began focusing again. She weakly replied,
"They've lied to him. They probably told him that
he's one of them, and that they all need to get out
before we get here."

Nikolas looked confused. He asked, "He'd believe
something like that?"

Alex was angry now that he would be asking such
questions. Raising her voice Alex defended her
partner, "He doesn't know who he is. All he knows is
that these guys supposedly know him. He trusts them.
He has to trust someone, and right now he has no one
else that he feels he can trust. He's confused."

Nikolas was a little surprised at the anger in her
voice. He realized that she was right. He quietly
back peddled, "I'm sorry. I had to ask. I'm trying
to understand."

Alex regretted yelling at him. She knew he was just
trying to help. Once again, she had to fight back the
tears. She had been so close. She couldn't take
anymore. She couldn't lose them both. She wouldn't.
Ryan had been hard enough. She couldn't lose Bobby
too. It would just be too much. And she had been so
close. She had almost found him. She damned the gods
for being so spiteful.

Suddenly Alex realized that Nikolas was staring at
her. She had been so lost in thought. She hadn't
realized Nikolas had been talking. Giving Nikolas a
confused look, she asked, "Sorry. What was that?"

Nikolas asked again, "What do you want to do now?"

Alex thought about it momentarily. Swallowing the
lump in her throat she replied, "We go looking for
Goren. They might be holed up in Santos' estate. It
gives us an excuse to go in now."

Nikolas watched confused as Alex walked out of the
room. He followed, leaving the confused doctor to
stew.

Catching up to Alex at the car. Nikolas stood back
long enough for Alex to wipe away the tears. After a
moment, he dared to walk forward a little. He asked,
"Eames?"

Alex, who had noticed his presence the whole time,
still refused to turn around to face him. Now that he
had caught her crying, even if she had been able to
stop most of it before he got there, it still left her
feeling a vulnerability that she didn't want. She
didn't feel like she could afford to have. Yet,
despite that, and against her better judgment, Alex
rambled, "If I hadn't. If I hadn't gone home. We
would have gotten here before they left. I'm sure of
it. I'd know where he is. I'm so worried that
something else is going to happen to him before I can
get to him. I had to go home. I had to check… I had
to get some sleep."

Nikolas looked away. He quietly tried to reason with
her, "You had been up for over twenty-four hours. We
were both exhausted. You weren't any good to him like
that. Hell, in my opinion, you're still not any good
to him. You're tired Eames. You can see it. The
exhaustion is written all over your face, in your body
language. You can't punish yourself for having to get
a little sleep. We'll find him. Believe that. He's
alive. So we'll find him. It's just going to be a
few hours later than it could have been, but we'll do
it. This. This was not your fault. I'm the one who
pushed you to go home like that. You seem to have an
idea of where to look now. So we'll do that. We'll
go look there. There's no need for doom and gloom
panic yet. They won't hurt him. They went to this
much trouble saving him, and helping him get out.
They think he's one of them."

Alex nodded, knowing that despite everything, Nikolas
had a point. She turned around to face him now. She
ordered, "Come on. Get in the car. We've got to go
talk to Deakins."