"Alex."

At the sound of her partner's voice coming from only inches behind her, she froze in the act of refilling her coffee mug. She'd managed to avoid being alone with him all day up until then; it wasn't fair that now, at four o'clock, she was finding herself cornered. Scowling down into her mug, she attempted to relax her muscles enough to keep him from noticing her tension.

She'd impressed herself with her ability to come off as lighthearted for the past few hours. True, after Goren's attempt at an apology the night before, she did feel a bit better than she had in the days before that. At least she knew where she stood with him.

On the other hand, that didn't change the fact that he'd had sex with Danielle Matthews and seemed to see absolutely nothing wrong with that. It had actually surprised her that he was able to change gears - and women - so quickly. The Bobby she knew wasn't a multiple-woman type. Then again, the Bobby she knew was also perceptive enough to know when he was dealing with a woman who was petty, short-tempered, or clingy. Or all of the above.

"Alex," he said again, taking another step forward and touching a hand lightly to her waist.

Forcibly pushing her musings out of her head, she went back to pouring the coffee and said without turning around, "What?"

"You're avoiding me."

"No, I'm not." Pulling away from his hand, she turned toward the counter and set down her mug so she could add sugar to it. "I've been sitting across from you all day. Kind of hard to avoid someone when you're doing that."

He sighed and closed the gap between them again. "That's not what I mean and you know it."

"Go away, Bobby. Let me get my coffee in peace. You can get on my case when I get back to my desk, if you must."

"With Mutt and Jeff looking on?" He laughed. "They'd let me get out all of five words before one of them jumped in and tried to divert my attention."

"What's wrong with that?" she challenged, picking up her mug and reluctantly turning to face him where he stood between her and the door.

"Since when do you need two FBI bodyguards?"

She gave him snide look as she tried to brush past him. "Since you started dating a women who likes to attack me, apparently. They're just trying to help."

He grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop before she could get out of the room. "She's not -"

"Don't even try it," she interrupted, slapping a hand over his mouth. "We've already had this discussion, remember?"

Determinedly, he pulled her even farther away from the door. "Doesn't seem to have been successful, though."

She stole a nervous glance over her shoulder at the doorway, praying that no one else would decide that now was a good time to refresh their caffeine supply, then tried to yank her arm out of his hold. "And whose fault was that?"

"I'll let you know when I figure it out."

"Damnit, Bobby!" Determined to get out of the room even if she had to drag him with her, she pulled her arm out of his grasp, dug in her heels, and made another break for the door.

Goren, who had just begun to relax, was too surprised by the movement to react for a second. By the time he got to her, she was halfway across the room, and, anticipating a strong resistance from her, he grabbed the only part of her he could reach - her wrist - and swung her around, trying to get her to face him again.

He'd misjudged the amount of force necessary to pull her back to him, though, and a startled Eames found herself thrown up against the wall instead of just pulled in front of him. "Ow!" she yelped as the corner of the mini-fridge that sat against the wall jabbed her in the hip.

"Uh, sorry." Not one to let an opportunity go to waste, however, he immediately closed the gap between them, using his arms to trap her against the mini-fridge. "You ok?" he asked quietly, lowering his head toward hers.

"I'm fine," she bit out. "Now let me go."

He inched forward another step. "I want you to listen to me."

"Bobby . . ." He was practically on top of her, she realized as his leg brushed against hers. And while her mischievous id was tempted to happily let him do whatever he wanted to her as long as it involved his warm touch, the more logical part of her reminded her that not only was she still angry with him, but they could be interrupted at any second. After a momentary struggle, the responsible part of her won the mental tug-of-war and she defensively crossed her arms between them and lifted her chin, glaring at him. "Stop it."

He opened his mouth to reply, but no words came out as his eyes locked onto hers and whatever they had been talking about faded into the background of his consciousness.

She realized with growing alarm that not only did he appear oblivious to their current whereabouts, but he was preparing to kiss her. In the middle of the break room. "Bobby, no!" she said sharply, putting one hand at the top of his chest and pushing, and the other hand on his arm, trying to pry it away from the wall.

"What's going on in here?"

The sound of a new, masculine voice pulled Bobby back to reality, and he jerked his head up in shock. "Alex . . ."

She just shook her head and shoved him away, ducking out from under his arm and promptly coming face-to-face with a fierce-looking Eddie Straub. "It's ok -" she began, only to be interrupted when he pushed past her, glared at Goren, and demanded again, "What's going on in here?"

"Nothing!" she said before her partner could even open his mouth. Not waiting to find out if things could get any worse, she grabbed the agent by the back of the shirt and started towing him out of the room, telling him as they went, "It's nothing, Eddie. We were fighting and he got carried away."

He twisted his head around to look down at her disbelievingly as she pulled him along. "That didn't look like a fight to me, Alex. It looked like he was -"

"He wasn't," she said quickly. "Getting in people's faces is normal for him. You should see him with a suspect. He terrifies them by just getting that close."

"You don't look particularly scared," he pointed out, reaching around to pull his shirt out of her grasp but still following her toward her desk.

"I'm not. Annoyed, yes, but scared? Nah. He wouldn't hurt me." At least, not physically. "Look," she said, suddenly more serious as she turned to face him, "don't make a big deal of this, ok? I'm not hurt or anything, and trust me, he's not going to do it again anytime soon."

"He -"

"- is probably standing in the break room wanting to die of embarrassment right now," she finished for him. "Give him a break."

"I want to hear that from him," he said stubbornly.

"And you can. Just not until the two of you have cooled down, because if I have to referee a fight in the middle of the squad room today, I'm going to kill you both and end it that way."

Kratzer, catching sight of them as they approached the desks, started to say something, then stopped when he saw the looks on their faces. "Guys? Is anything wrong?"

"Everything's fine," she said, dredging up a smile for him, then turning to give Straub a warning glare. "Right, Eddie?"

Straub, no fool, sighed and then nodded. "Right. Everything's just fine, Ted."


A/N: Hehe, Eames in damage-control mode is so amusing!