Flesh and Blood

After they'd eaten some food Mike had continued to hold her whilst they were sat on the sofa. She told him about how the gun Chance Slaughter had pulled out his weapon and that it had an empty clip inside and he'd tried to reassure her that there was no way she could have known that at the time. He'd given her some advice on how to handle IAB tomorrow and she'd told him how it felt like time had slowed down just after she'd pulled the trigger.

But now she'd fallen to sleep and he was trying to get up from the sofa without waking her up. He kept a hold of her head whilst he wiggled himself out of the seat, and then carefully standing up, he placed her head gently back onto the seat where he'd been sitting. Luckily the seat was warm so the touch of cold wouldn't wake her up. He grabbed the afghan from the corner chair and covered her with it. Mike then went into the kitchen to get his cell phone from his coat, staying in there he dialed Bobby's number to let him know that she was alright, not just because he'd asked him to but because he felt that Bobby would be pacing all night if he didn't. He'd been grateful and Mike promised he would stay with her tonight to make sure she was alright, but then he was planning on doing so anyway.

Sighing, he walked back into the living room and carefully took a firm hold of Alex and lifted her up. Not wanting to wake her but he didn't want her to have to sleep on the sofa. He carried her into her bedroom and laid her down onto it gently. Thankful that she'd already removed her shoes, he just pulled back the covers and put her into it with the clothes she was wearing. Then, without getting inbetween the covers, he just laid down beside her; watching. Her face free of all the worries that had been written on them just an hour before.

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Alex tried to move but she couldn't. She was being pinned down by something across her stomach. Without opening her eyes she began to feel around for what it could be. All she found was something cylinder shaped, with hair on it. It took her a few seconds to work out that it was an arm, her sleep filled mind remaining a few seconds behind herself. Blinking from the intruding light, she finally opened her eyes and she could see her alarm clock on the beside table.

She was on her side, with someones arm draped over her. She struggled for a moment as she tried to maneuver herself onto her back. When she did she turned her head to the other side to see Mike almost spooning her, deep in a peaceful sleep. It didn't escape her thoughts that this was the first time he'd been in her room for longer than a minute, that she was aware of, and it was definitely the first time they'd slept together in the same bed.

But then, Mike had stayed on top of the bed covers whilst she was inside them. She couldn't help it, she smiled at the way that made her heart jump and the feelings it had just envoked within her. Despite herself, she reached out her hand and stroked his cheek with her fingers. Lightly tracing his cheek bone and watched with a grin as his nose twitched and his eyes, still closed, seemed to react to the contact by stopping the movement of REM.

Quickly removing her hand, she realised that she'd woken him up but she hadn't intended on doing so. She watched him as his eyelids slowly opened and then changed their minds as the light penetrated his pupil. She smiled as she realised that Mike was quickly becoming aware of his surroundings, physically, and was retracting his arm from where he had laid it.

Mike had not meant to fall to sleep there, he'd only meant to watch her for a little while and then go to sleep on the sofa. He didn't want to ruin the relationship they'd spent many weeks trying to build up and his eyes quickly flew open just to see Alex, who looked half asleep, smiling at him, enjoying his reaction.

He sat up, leaning on his elbow, resting his head on his hand and looked at her; unsure what to say. "I'm sorry, I..." he started but his sentence faded when her smile grew bigger. He was becoming increasingly aware of where they were and it wasn't helping his concentration any. He was extremely grateful he'd not actually slipped inside the bed covers.

"It's okay." she told him, smiling still, unable to stop.

"I swear I'd only planned to stay a little while and then..." she put a finger to his lips to get him to stop. He kissed her finger and she pulled it back. "How are you feeling?" he ventured, remembering the events of the day before.

She sighed, but it wasn't heavy like before, she seemed to be relaxed. "I'm okay. Better now I've been to sleep." she told him, "I still feel sorry that he had - he had to die but I know it wasn't my fault." she looked at him and smiled, "I think I slept better with you here."

He grinned and then shook his head. "Nah, you would've slept just fine if I'd left." she shook her head and then he explained. "Yeah, you told me that once you sleep, you sleep but once you wake up you can't go back to sleep." Alex smiled, she did remembering saying something like that to him. "Which is why I tried so damn hard not to wake you up when I carried you into here!"

Alex smiled and sat up saying, "Aren't you sweet?" her voice full of humor and she spoke in a sweet, yet sarcastic voice.

Mike snorted, "Yeah don't tell anyone..."

Alex held up her hands, "I know, I know, you've got a rep to protect." she laughed as he nodded. He could tell she was definitely feeling better, clearly a good nights sleep was what she needed, just to allow herself to process it without getting worked up about it. She was about to continue speaking when they heard a phone ring. "Is that yours or mine?"

Mike's eyes grew wide when he looked at the clock beside her, "Oh no, it's mine!" He began pulling himself off the bed.

"What? What's wrong?" Alex asked, not moving.

"That'll be Barek, we cut the interview list short yesterday so that I could come to see you and I agreed to go in early with her to get caught up." Mike was trying to straighten himself up, his clothes had become twisted during the night and it seemed that was more than a wake up call for him. Alex started laughing at him, as he began fiddling with his trousers and straightening his shirt. "It's not funny!" Mike protested. She stood up out of bed and finally noticed she was still wearing yesterdays clothes. Again. "Sorry." he told her when he noticed she was looking down at her clothing in confusion, "I didn't think you'd want me stripping you." he said, the Logan grin plastered firmly to his face. She raised an eyebrow at his 'dirty' thinking and tried to keep the amused grin off of her face.

"You're right!" she replied with a smirk, she then walked over towards her wardrobe and pulled out some clothes. She walked past him with a grin on her face whilst she said, "Your chances of seeing me naked are slim to none, buddy!" she teased him, laughing at the priceless expression on his face. She then walked into her bathroom, locking the door behind her. Trying to shake himself out of it, he walked out of her room and went to retrieve his coat from the kitchen where he had left it the night before.

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Alex was stood in a darkly decorated room with a table at one end. This table looked like the kind of desk a panel of judges would sit at. Alex was in the middle of the room, refusing to sit in the lone chair that sat in the middle of the room, facing the desk. She was stood up straight and the only sign of her nerves were her fingers tapping her thighs as she kept her arms straight. She hoped that it would be simple and over, she'd get her piece back and it all would be just kept on record. What she didn't want was them to say it would require further investigation; that usually meant that they suspected foul play and were unsure.

She suddenly wished that she and Mike had stayed in that bed together, wrapped up in blankets and his arm across her stomach. She actually like it but she could tell that Mike seemed on edge, knowing they weren't ready to be sharing beds together. She was interrupted from her musings when the door opened and three, very smartly dressed men walked into the room. Neither of them looking at her as they took their seats.

She watched as the man sitting in the middle, a thin, business-esque man wearing thin framed glasses, opened the folder in front of him. Her folder; she recognised the picture paperclipped to the front. "So, who do we have here?" another man asked, as if she was a number waiting in line. This man had a bigger build than his colleague in the middle.

"We have Detective Alexandra Eames, Major Case Squad, under the command of..." he checked the file, "Captain James Deakins." He looked at Alex for confirmation, she gave a curteous nod. "Badge number: 3798." the man at the other end was making notes on what was being said. Alex assumed he was taking the 'minutes' of this interview.

"We've interviewed everyone else who was at the scene. Now we just want to hear your version of events." The man in the middle told her. Alex had to hold back a retort when he said 'version'. Instead, she plunged straight into the explanation of events, ticking each one off like an itinerary, starting from the moment they were outside the court house to the moment she had fired her weapon. They were nodding as she was speaking and she couldn't decide whether that was positive or negativity nodding. When she had finished speaking she just remained silent whilst the man taking the notes caught up with what was being said.

"Why did you perceive Mr Slaughter to be a threat?"

Alex had to hold back the urge to roll her eyes at the man, she'd already said that, and personally she thought it was obvious. "Because he had pulled out his weapon and was aiming it at Anna Slaughter."

They looked at each other and then he asked another question, "You had no way of knowing the clip was empty?"

Alex couldn't help but wonder if they thought she was a pyschic, how could she know that? "No, I had no way of knowing." They looked at each other again.

"Did it not occur to you that you fired your weapon into a crowd of people?" he asked, almost insulting. Alex really did regret getting out of bed this morning but was thankful that she hadn't sat in the chair because that would've added to her feeling of being small right now. Alex raised her eyebrow at the man and she could feel herself sigh, even though she tried not to.

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Mike Logan, Carolyn Barek and Bobby Goren were sat in one of the interview rooms at the Major Case Squadroom drinking coffee and tucking into a pizza. Carolyn and Mike were going over interview notes and Bobby was filling out his, and Alex's, reports on the case they'd just 'finished'. Unfortunately it wasn't the best kind of result, and the case had been forced closed so the subject wouldn't leave Bobby's mind.

"They've had her for hours!" Mike said, rubbing his temple, as he flipped over another piece of paper. They'd all begun to get worried about Alex, which is why they were now in a seperate room from the bullpen to try to get some peace.

"I know." Bobby replied, "But there's... nothing we can do except wait." not taking his eyes off his work.

"Bastards." Mike muttered, not hiding his hate for IAB.

"Mike." Carolyn warned, looking at him.

"Well they are, Barek. You're not going to change my mind." Bobby finally looked up from his work to watch the exchange between the two partners.

"They have a purpose, imagine what it would be like if they weren't here. They help to uphold the rules and regulations." Carolyn reasoned, quietly.

"Whatever, they're just a bunch of suit wearing, meglomaniacs who think they can take one look at an officer and decide their fate. They have too much power, Barek, and trust me, I know." Mike told her, pointing to himself referring to his own experiences with IAB. "Alex didn't do anything wrong but they'll eat her up for it anyway."

"You're right." Bobby said, joining in the conversation, "She didn't do anything wrong. She'll be back here soon and then we can all get back to work."

Mike looked at him for a moment and then back at Barek. They shared a look of agreement, "Who knew you were such an optimist?" Mike asked, watching as his friend just looked at him for a moment.

When he finally answered they all smiled, "Eames taught me." he nodded. They were interrupted from speaking further when the door opened and Captain Deakins walked in. His face looked grim and he was holding his spectacles in one hand. He heavily sat down, rubbing his eyes and looking at each one of them in turn.

"You look like the bearer of bad news." Mike said, sourly.

"I'm afraid that I am." He told them, he almost looked depressed. "It seems that IAB have not finished with Alex at all."

"What?!" All three spoke in unison, the shock evident in the pitch that the question was asked.

"They've told her to go home, the situation is going to be investigated further. But she's also been told to minimise contact with anyone from Major Case." Deakins told them, sadly. "And... they've taken her badge."

"How much of - of a minimise?" Bobby asked, asking the question he knew that was all of their minds.

Deakins just looked at them and several beats passed before he finally spoke. "To the point of zero." He looked at Bobby and Mike. "That includes the two of you."

"They took her badge?" Carolyn asked, "So she's been suspended?" Deakins nodded. Mike's eyes were closed and he was sighing heavily. Trying to control himself before he exploded.

"I've been told it's all for her own protection." Deakins replied, nodding in response to her question.

"Yeah, right!" Mike exclaimed, obviously he didn't believe that fact. He then turned to Carolyn, "Now do you believe me?"

"Have you spoken to her?" Bobby asked, worried for the well-being of his partner. Deakins shook his head. "She's not allowed to speak to you."

"No, and I'm ordering each and every single one of you to not call her, that includes everyone who is a member of this squad. You are not allowed to make contact with her! Don't make this harder for her than it already is." He told them, in a commanding voice that told them he was being deadly serious. Deakins looked at Mike, and put a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry, Mike, that includes you too." Mike was angry and it was obvious to them all.

"Yeah." he stood up and headed for the door.

"Don't contact her!" Deakins called behind him.

"I'm not going to!!" Mike called behind himself as he shut the door and walked straight out of the squadroom. Deakins looked at Bobby, who just rubbed his face in frustration.

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TBC

I'm sorry, I couldn't help but throw in a little angst and catch you all off-guard. Don't worry, it won't last long... ;) I don't know if IAB could do something like that but as far as my story is concerned they do.

Happy Halloween to those that celebrate all things scary.