She's Gone
Disclaimer: These are the property of Dick Wolf. Not me. It's all here, black and white, clear as crystal. That line is from "Willy Wonka". I'm covering my broke ass.
A/N- Language, and some making out.
Lynn and Bobby sat at their desks the next day, going over their notes on case they had just started. Lynn seemed distracted, in Bobby's mind. She usually wasn't like this. Maybe she did have too much to drink last night, Bobby thought. "Hey, um, are you okay?" Bobby tilted his head to the left, trying to make eye contact with her. Nothing. Hmm…Bobby threw his pen at her. Got her.
"Goren, all you had to do was say 'Bishop' and I would've looked up." Lynn looked back down at her paperwork. "You know, this pro? Her fingerprints are on file because she had taken the police exam." She looked back up.
"Yes, I knew that. Are you okay?" Her hair was messed up. No, not messed up – it was down. She had curled it and it flowed over her shoulders. Quite like Carolyn wore hers, yet on Lynn it looked…like she had rolled out of bed. Lynn just looked at him.
"I'm fine." She shook her head and jotted something down on her notepad. Mike walked in and walked over to Bobby and Lynn.
"Hey kid, Bobby. What's going on?" Mike leaned against the desks. Lynn avoided eye contact with him, blushing furiously. Bobby looked at her and then at Mike. He narrowed his eyes at him.
"Nothing, Logan. Want to get a cup of coffee?" Bobby looked at him pointedly. Mike caught his drift.
"Ah, sure. Hey kid, want something?" There was no denying it – he winked at her.
"Black, please." She smiled at him sweetly before going back to her notes. Thank you for not blushing again, Lynn thought to herself. Bobby led the way towards the break room. Mike reached for a cup.
Bobby spoke. "You slept with her." Mike raised his eyebrow at him.
"Yes, I did. What business is it of yours?" He put a lid on the black cup of coffee and proceeded to get himself a cup.
"She's too young for you." Bobby grabbed a cup off the stack as well.
"And I'm too old for her. I know. Look Goren," Mike turned to him annoyed, "she's a big girl. She knows what she's doing. I'm not going to hurt her." He picked up the cups and walked away leaving Bobby, for once, bewildered. He watched Mike as he handed Lynn her cup. He asked her something and she nodded her head. They both laughed and Mike went back to Carolyn. Bobby walked back to his desk. The bullpen was quiet for a while. There was a commotion at the elevators and an older woman stalked her way over to the middle of the bullpen, another officer trying to restrain her.
"I want to know – who the hell is Robert Goren! Where is he!" She looked around the bullpen, seething. Lynn looked at Bobby as he stood up.
"I'm Robert Goren, ma'am. How can I help you?" Bobby walked over to the woman.
"You're little bitch of a girlfriend killed my son! He was only nineteen! She killed him! My only son! Fucker!" The woman spit in his face and tried to push him. Bobby just looked at her, the pain apparent in his eyes. Deakins came out of his office just as the officer finally restrained the woman, putting her under arrest for the assault of a police officer. Bobby stopped the officer in the middle of reading the boy's mother her rights.
"Let her go." The officer looked at him questioningly.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, just let her go." Bobby pulled out his handkerchief and wiped his face off.
"I don't need your damn pity, Robert Goren."
Bobby started to walk back to his desk when he stopped and turned around. Deakins could see the look in his eyes. Carolyn saw it too. She held her breath. Mike got up to stand by him…just in case.
"Listen, ma'am. I understand your son is dead. But are you aware that your son, your drug-peddling son decided that it was best that he shoot the officer coming into his apartment? Instead of facing up to the things he did, he shot and killed that officer?" Bobby paused, a creepy smile pulling across his face. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket, pulling something out. Carolyn saw what it was and covered her mouth, a tear trickling down her face. "I want you to look at these pictures here. This is my fiancée, well that is to say this was my fiancée – your son killed her." He held up another picture to the woman's face. "This is my daughter. Your son killed her mother. She was only ten months old. She will never know her mother. You got nineteen years. Alex got ten months." Bobby took another breath and whirled around to point at Carolyn. "See this woman? This is Detective Barek. She was Alex's partner and best friend. Your son took that from her. I am really sorry about your son. I honestly am. I wouldn't be human if I didn't feel bad. But he took that wonderful woman from all of us. You need to respect that. Excuse me." Bobby headed for the elevators. Deakins looked at Carolyn and motioned for her to follow Bobby. The officer led the woman, who had the decency to look humbled, out of the department.
Meanwhile…
Carolyn ran out of the building, looking for Bobby's car. He left. Great. She held in her tears until she got into the cab. She gave Bobby's address to the cabbie and let everything out. The cabbie kept shooting her distressed looks, wondering if she was unbalanced or something. They arrived at the apartment. Carolyn paid the guy, over-tipping him in the process. She got off the elevator and pulled out Bobby's key, letting herself in. She looked around his apartment, reaching his bedroom last. He wasn't here. Carolyn sunk down on the bed, pulling out her cell phone. Straight to voicemail. That's just great, Carolyn thought. She laid down on the bed, feeling the tears start again. The ring box was still sitting on his nightstand, next to a picture of Alex. In this one, she was walking away from whomever had taken the picture and looking over her shoulder, smiling. The light shone through her hair, making it look like she had a halo. How fitting, Carolyn thought bitterly. She cried herself to sleep.
At The Same Time That Was Happening, This Occurred…
Bobby parked his car on the cemetery road. He jumped out of the car, tears welling in his eyes, but he dared not let them fall. He reached Alex's grave. Loving Daughter, Wife and Mother, her tombstone read. Bobby traced the word wife with his fingers. "Almost," he whispered to himself. The tears he willed not to fall didn't come now. He sat on her grave, silent. He ignored the beeping from his phone, letting him know he had, at best, seven million messages. He sat in the chilly April air for a while. It was dusk when he stood to leave. "I love you, Alex." Bobby turned and walked back to his car.
Later That Night, Part One…
Mike unlocked his door, letting Lynn in first. He had his phone to his ear. Nobody had heard from Bobby or Carolyn. Deakins finally sent Lynn and Mike home to check up on them. Lynn pulled on Mike's sleeve. He hung up the phone.
"I have to go to the bathroom." Lynn grimaced at him. Mike gave her a grin.
"Down the hall, first door on the left." He watched her walk away. Mike tried calling Bobby's apartment again. No answer. Carolyn's apartment and cell phone also yielded no answer. This is just fucking great, Mike thought to himself. Lynn emerged from his bathroom. She had put her hair up in a loose ponytail. This is not the time, Logan, Mike thought. God, she looked good. She was looking at him.
"Did you try all the numbers again?" She sat down at his kitchen table. His eye was still swollen a little. She felt her stomach lurch at the worried look on his face.
"I think we should go out –" Mike stopped mid-sentence. His phone rang to life. "Logan? Bobby, are you okay?" Mike listened, nodding as he did so. "Is Carolyn with you? All right. Call if you need anything else." He pulled the phone away from his ear. "He hung up on me." Mike put his phone down on the table and sat next to Lynn.
"Well, at least he called. They're okay?" Lynn poked his hand.
"Yeah, she's with him. Are you hungry?" Lynn nodded in response. Mike picked up the menus from his napkin holder.
"That's for napkins." Lynn smiled at him.
"I forget to by them, and this is handy. I'm sorry this isn't the actual date you were expecting. I do treat ladies nicer than this, I swear." He shook his head. "What a damn day this has been."
"It's okay. They're okay and you're going to order Chinese. I'm surprisingly easy to please."
Mike laughed. There was much that surprised him about her. She wasn't the arrogant woman people thought she was. She was very confidant, eager to work and wasn't afraid to go after what she wanted. She proved that last night. But right now she was falling asleep at his kitchen table. He stood up and scooped her up in his arms.
"What, may I ask, are you doing?" Her head flailed backwards and she kicked to be let down.
"Don't fight it. You're going to take a nap and I'll order the food. The food will come, I'll pay because this is a date if you want to get technical, and I'll wake you up when it gets here. You are not allowed to sleep at my kitchen table." He kicked his bedroom door open and plopped her on the bed. "Sweet dreams, kid." He turned to walk back out to the kitchen when he heard her small voice talking to him.
"Stay." She was soft, yet adamant. Well how can I argue, Mike thought. He slipped in beside her, kicking his shoes off.
"What's up?" He put his arm around her small waist.
"He's still really hurting, isn't he?" Mike could feel her turn her head towards him in the dark.
"Yes." She nodded. Mike forgot about ordering the food as he was comforted by the sound of her breathing. We're all still hurting, he thought as he drifted to sleep.
Later That Night, Part Two…
Bobby put his cell phone away and stood in his kitchen for a second. Carolyn was here; her shoes were here. He walked into the living room – no sign of her. He shrugged his coat off and stuck it on one of the kitchen chairs in passing. He opened his bedroom door. There she was. Carolyn was lying on his side of the bed, one leg hanging off of it and her coat was still on. He walked over to his side and gently shook her. Her eyes fluttered open; they were bloodshot. His heart lurched for her. He could feel the tears he banned coming back again. "Carolyn, let me take your coat off." She nodded and sat up, leaning her head on his shoulder. He could feel her tears seeping through his dress shirt. He sighed heavily and removed her coat. "Sorry to have made an example of you earlier." She nodded into his shoulder, her breath catching each time she inhaled. He sat there for a minute, wondering what he should do. She wanted what he wanted. Comfort. They were both fucked. He put his arms around her and rested his head on top of hers. Her tears kept coming, enough for both of them. His eyes went to Alex's picture. The tears came then. Carolyn brought her hands up to her face, burying her head in his chest. She tried to say something, but he couldn't hear her. He pulled back.
"Where…where did you go?" She looked up at him, her tear stained face full of pain.
"To the cemetery." She nodded, as if he said to the mall or to the grocery store. She leaned against him again, her tears slowing down. He held her closer, his tears coming faster now, like he had to make up for Carolyn slowing down. She moved her arms around him, clutching the back of his shirt. She looked up at him.
"If it were me, I'd have slapped her. I don't know how you handled that, Bobby, really." She shook her head and swallowed hard. "Everything was going better. She had no right doing that to you." He shut his eyes tight as she brushed the tears off his cheeks. He stood up suddenly, walking to the window. Carolyn laid down on the bed, her head pounding furiously from all the crying. It felt like a second full-time job. She started drifting off to sleep again, Bobby still staring out the window. She heard him click the lamp off and climb in bed next to her. She turned to face him.
"Carolyn?" He pulled her to him.
"Yeah?" Her face was in front of his. She reached out a hand and brushed his cheek, which made her start crying again.
"When's it going to be all right?"
She shuddered. "Bobby, I don't know." He reached over and brushed her cheek, then leaned in and kissed her. She kissed him back. They stayed like that for a while. Then they just clung to each other.
A/N: Next chapter's going to get a teensy bit risqué…just a warning. Note to The Confused One – I took our conversation into consideration…I'm getting my cake and eating it too. Boohoo650 – don't panic. :) This chapter was written while listening to Broken Social Scene's "Anthems For A 17 Year Old Girl" on a loop. Read this and listen to that song and you'll get what I mean. Thanks for the reviews.
