A/N: I clicked the fast forward button again.
Bobby sighed as he rolled over in his bed, his eyes coming to rest on the picture he had swiped from Wilma's photo album. He wouldn't have taken it, but it was a copy and she had told him to take the ones he wanted … after all, it may have been her wedding to become Mrs. Wilma Tutuola, but he was her brother and should have some personal photos around his apartment. It was a candid of Alex and Bobby dancing at Wilma and Fin's reception. The unknown photographer capturing a grinning Alex as Bobby dipped her down near the floor at the end of a song.
The ceremony and following reception had been four months prior to this particular sleepless night. Wilma and Fin were happy in their new marriage and everything seemed to be working perfectly.
And then she popped up. The devil's playmate: Nicole Wallace. Of course, she kept on insisting she was named Elizabeth Hitchens – but Bobby knew. She knew that he knew … but she still kept up the damn game of cat and mouse. It was almost like a dance – how their mind games worked. He'd advance, she'd retreat, then she'd come up and side step him on the right, when he was expecting her on the left.
Damn bitch.
No one had seen it coming. The extradition request from Australia … the murders in Thailand. Nicole was gone before Bobby and Alex were able to put the pieces together. She was gone, leaving this … thing gnawing at Bobby's mind constantly in her place.
He needed to do something. Deakins had given him the next two days off – but what the hell was he supposed to do with two days without work? He could call up Lewis and spend the afternoon with him and Johnny … but they'd end up asking about his job and why he was acting so quiet and 'moody'.
Bobby knew that Wilma had trouble sleeping through the night. Maybe he could spend some time talking about things with her? She had her Ph.D. after all. Maybe it would help him gain some perspective on recent events.
His mind made up, Bobby threw back the duvet covering his lanky body, and turned on the bedside lamp. Soon he was dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt, the Burberry jacket Wilma and Fin had given him for his birthday thrown on over his clothes. Within ten minutes of getting out of bed, he was out the door, on his way across town.
---
"I just don't understand why he won't talk to me about it!" Alex complained over the piping hot cup of lemon tea. She look over at Wilma, who was stirring in the milk she had just added to cool it down. "I mean – he's been my partner for over a year and this is the result? He … he just infuriates me sometimes! Everybody makes mistakes."
Wilma nodded, finally looking up to meet the other detective's eyes. Alex had sought refuge at Wilma and Fin's new townhouse (just a few doors down from her own) after the devil's whore had disappeared. "Alex, try looking at this from his perspective: this woman came in – a genius in her own right – and just ran mental laps around him. It's not very often that someone finds Robert Goren's secrets and weaknesses … and she did it in spades."
Alex sighed, sipping her overly honeyed tea, "I know. But it just … infuriates me that he won't talk about it!"
Their conversation was about to continue when there was a hesitant knock on the door. Wilma got up to answer it, only to find the topic of their conversation standing on the other side. Wordlessly she let her older brother inside, bolting the door shut behind him.
When she had him situated next to Alex at the table with a cup of black tea warming his hands, Wilma reclaimed her seat with a sigh. "Okay, lay it on me. The doctor is in."
Bobby furrowed his brow for a second, "Where's Fin?"
His sister waved the question off by pointing in the direction of the bedroom, "Sleeping. Unlike some of us, he can actually sleep through the night."
"I wonder if he can sell whatever it is that lets him do that," Alex remarked.
"You mean the sleeping pills he takes after the really tough cases like the one they just closed yesterday?" Wilma asked. "Now, Bobby, Alex, you two need to talk."
"What?" Bobby questioned, "Why do we need to talk?"
The other woman rolled her eyes, "Why are you showing up on my doorstep at two in the morning? Now: what happened with this case? This Nicole Wallace sounds like Satan's newest playmate."
Bobby nodded empathetically, taking a drink of the bitter tea to calm his nerves, "She is. Killed a man to get one of her lovers into a position of power at the university – then killed the other one to keep him quiet about her plans."
"She scared you, both of you." It wasn't a question that Wilma posed, but it did open the doorway to understanding between Alex and Bobby.
"Yeah," he whispered. "She – um – she got a hold of my social security number and my birth date … looked up everything about me that she could."
"Francis?" Bobby nodded.
"What scared you most, Bobby?" Wilma prodded, taking in how concerned Alex was about her partner.
His eyes flickered up to meet hers before turning to look at the diminutive woman beside him. "She's … so similar to me, Will. She said we were the same … and in so many ways we are."
Alex shook her head, her hands resting on either side of Bobby's face, "You listen to me now, Goren. You are nothing like that woman. Your childhood helped make you one of the best detectives I've ever known. She let hers make her a thief, a murderer and a liar. Don't you dare compare yourself to her."
"What scared you the most, Alex?" Wilma's soft voice broke through the agonizing stillness that had enveloped the pair.
Unshed tears filled Alex's eyes as they held on to her partner's gaze forcibly. "The thought that she could take you away from me," she whispered to Bobby, the tears finally falling down her face.
Bobby gathered his partner into his arms, letting her rest her head on his shoulder as she cried for what almost had been lost. His heart twisted in his chest at the idea of losing either woman with him. At the thought of his sister, Bobby's eyes flickered up to meet hers. She smiled slightly at him, motioning that they could sleep in the spare room, or let themselves out, before turning to walk down the hallway and join her husband in the land of Nodd.
"Alex," he whispered into her hair, "She didn't take me. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."
She pulled back slightly and sniffed, her bloodshot eyes meeting his. "Good. I don't think I want to train another partner to know me as well as you do. You get me Skittles when I'm PMSing and make me cake."
"Chocolate cake with whipped cream frosting," Bobby specified.
She nodded, smiling slightly, "The best chocolate cake with whipped cream frosting in the world."
"Glad to know I'm good for something other than solving crime." He meant it as a joke, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth, both could sense the truth of the statement and it frightened them.
Alex leaned forward in his arms, wrapping her own arms around his neck, "You're good for lots of things other than solving crimes, Bobby."
"Other than cooking, name one."
Knowing that he needed the reassurance her words would bring him, Alex snuggled deeper into his arms, "You make a great pillow, blanket and heating pad all in one."
Bobby chuckled, "Come on, Partner, I'll walk you home."
She snuggled deeper, refusing to let go of her hold now that she was finally comfortable. "Only if you don't plan on leaving before the sun's up. I'll even let you make me breakfast in the morning."
Bobby smiled as he carefully stood with his partner in his arms like a child. "Deal, Eames. I'll keep you warm tonight and make you breakfast in the morning."
"It's a wonder you're not already married, Bobby," Alex mumbled as she succumbed to the sleep that had evaded her until she could hear this man's heartbeat beneath her ear.
True to his word, Bobby didn't leave Alex turning the night. He didn't sleep either – well, not that he remembered, anyway. His mind was still heavy from everything that had happened with Nicole … but now he had this wonderful woman to look out for him. And for that he was very thankful.
A/N: The idea behind both Bobby and Alex seeking Wilma out after a difficult case actually came to me because two of my friends just had a major falling out - over a guy, no less - and I'm the buffer. Lucky me.
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