A Shift of Axis Chapter 3, a law and order: ci fanfic

"A Shift of Axis"

Usual disclaimers apply.

Synopsis: Logan-Barek are back. Bobby-Alex lovers still need to read the Logan-Barek scenes I'm afraid, else you'll miss some important plot clues.

oOo

Chapter Three

"How the hell are we gonna hide this from everyone?" Logan worried as he and Barek hurriedly dressed.

Retrieving his sweat pants from the floor of the precinct's locker room, Logan put them on in lieu of his daytime trousers. The sweater was still lying on the bench, where he'd tossed it before Carolyn had stripped him and had her way with him. He smiled at the thought. He quickly learned she was a woman who knew her own mind and went after what she wanted. He never guessed it would be him.

"We simply keep our business to ourselves," Carolyn said evenly.

Logan envied her composure. He was still a mass of firing hormones. The sex with her had been great. Too great. He wanted more and if he was lucky enough to be offered more, he didn't know how they were going to pull off a continuing relationship and not get hauled over the coals for it. Worse still, transferred.

"Hey, I can keep my mouth shut, but we work with Bobby Goren, remember? He can sniff out your secrets by reading the pores in your skin."

Carolyn laughed and lightly touched Logan's bare midriff. The feel of her warm fingers on his still-sensitized skin grabbed at his groin. Freezing in the midst of pulling his sweater over his head, he threw caution to the winds and pulled her against him.

"Geezus, Holy… What're you doin' to me, Barek?" Swooping down on her mouth, Logan drank her in, shoulders hunching to mold her to him. It felt so good he didn't know how he was going to let her go home.

Coming up for air, Barek sighed, her eyes bright as she looked into his. "Bobby will be circumspect. As will Alex. Believe me. And if I'm not mistaken, they are either in the same boat now or very soon will be."

Logan shook his head, framing her face in his hands then running his fingers through her silken hair. "I think you're wrong. Bobby is too married to his work to have any energy left over for an illicit affair. 'Specially with his part–." He groaned as Barek stood on tiptoe to nuzzle his neck.

"Now who's fixating on the darling duo of Major Case Squad?" Carolyn asked, tonguing the hollow of his throat.

"Geezus, I just got dressed," Logan moaned.

"Hey, this is your fault," she said, pulling back. "I never fully realized what a handful you were until today." She grinned impishly, another very un-Barek mannerism. Logan was enjoying bringing out the carefree spirit in her.

"You provoked me," Carolyn said. "I had to investigate my discovery. And here we are." Logan growled as she sought and found that piece of anatomy now. "And it's even more interesting at the moment."

Lifting her off her feet, Logan pulled her up against him. "We're gonna do this again, aren't we?" he asked, burying his face in her neck.

oOo

Goren dragged in breaths through grating teeth, the harsh sounds mixing with Nicole's little mews of pleasure as she rubbed her face against his body. Devastated that Alex was witnessing his subjugation at Nicole's hands, Bobby pushed thoughts of his partner out of his head as he fixated on the light fitting suspended from his ceiling, clamping down on his body's reaction to Nicole's touch.

"Daddy feels so good," Nicole murmured, nuzzling his shoulder. She shifted on his lap and he grunted as her knee knocked his groin. Heaving against the rope that bound him to the chair, he dislodged her but she scrambled back, clutching tighter.

"Don't, Daddy," Nicole said plaintively. "Don't push me away. I'll be good. I'll do better." She hugged him tightly, then slithered off his lap to crouch at his feet, rubbing her head on his legs. Goren swore as she butted his groin, straining till he felt the rope lacerate his skin. Powerless to prevent her abuse, he drew upon his contempt for this woman to remain impassive.

He could hear Alex moaning and he shrank inside at the thought of what she must be thinking. But when she began to groan and weakly thrash upon her chair, Goren knew something was seriously wrong.

"…Bobby…" Alex' voice, desperate and pain-filled, punched through his own distress.

"Nicole!" Goren yelled, throwing his body against the rope again. "Alex. What's wrong with Alex?"

Nicole lifted her head and pushed the hair from her face. The crazed glitter in her eyes seemed to fade as she looked around in confusion.

"Nicole!" Goren schooled his panic into a more coaxing tone. "Nicole. Something's wrong with Alex. You need to see what it is." He swallowed hard. "Daddy… Daddy wants you to check on Alex."

"Bobby, you idiot! Why are you talking like that? I'm not a child." Nicole curled her lip at him, straightened and moved over to Alex. Pulling back Eames' head, Nicole peered into her face. "She's in a lot of pain again. I can give her another shot of anti-venom, but we should be moving on now anyway."

Goren frowned at the difference in Nicole, the switch back to sanity from her earlier delusion of being 'Daddy's little girl'. That lapse was more disturbing than Nicole in bitch mode.

"Do something for her, Nicole!" His body quaked as he disguised his fear for Alex' safety in anger. "There's not a rope in existence that will hold me back if she dies."

"I can help Alex," Nicole said, her mouth grim, "but I need something from you, Bobby. More co-operation to begin with. You're going to walk from your apartment to Rafiq's car like a lamb, because if you don't, Alex will suffer. Do I make myself clear?"

"Perfectly," he gritted. "But I'll clarify something as well. You'd better have your avenues of escape air-tight, Nicole, because the minute you let your guard down, I'll have you. And this time, you won't be slipping through my fingers."

"I'm all afraid, Bobby." Nicole rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "Rafiq? Go search the bedroom for some tweeds to throw on Bobby."

"Tweeds?" Rafiq spoke for the first time, his voice deep and cultured.

"Civvies, street-clothes, sweats. Whatever." She smiled at Goren. "We don't want him giving little old ladies on the stairs sensory overload, do we?" She sashayed up to him and bent down to hold her eyes level with his. "And one more thing, sunshine. I want you to kiss me, and mean it. Do that and I'll help Alex with another injection. But any half-hearted effort from you will mean a minimal effort on my part for Alex."

Nicole put her lips against his and waited. Goren considered his options. Head-butting her into unconsciousness, sinking his teeth into her and ripping out a chunk of flesh, even spitting in her face would give him a modicum of satisfaction, but he knew any retaliation on his part would mean Alex would suffer.

The sinews in his neck ached from tension as he moved his mouth on hers, clinically going through the motions while his eyes bored into hers. Nicole rested her hands on his shoulders and pushed into him. He allowed her to part his mouth, but he could have been kissing a blown-up sex doll, given his lack of emotion in the task.

Nicole pulled back in disgust. "Alex isn't missing out on anything," she said. "We're really going to have to work on that, aren't we?"

oOo

TBC…