Disclaimer: I dont own any of these, please don't sue. Thank Dick Wolf. Check chapter one for a slightly longer disclaimer.

authors note: Thank you for reviewing. I didn't mean for them to come off as so stiff. In my mind I was writing them still in work mode, serious mode, professional mode, I hope I loosened them up some in this chapter. Thanks so much, enjoy. Sorry its so short.

Chapter 2: Sea Legs and Gray Geese

Together they had consumed more than their fair share of booze. The stresses of work had already melted away and they could finally start to be themselves again, out of 'cop mode'.

"They think we need to learn to work as a team?" she gestured to the empty bottles of beer between them.

"Look at all we've done together. And without even breaking a sweat!" her hand fell and toppled a bottle to the floor. It shattered around their feet and Alex stood quickly to start cleaning up, too quickly.

She swayed but caught herself on the edge of the table. A waitress came over to start cleaning up the mess.

"I'm so sor…" she was cut off by the waitress. "Don't worry miss, it happens all the time."

Bobby stood up and got his wallet out to pay for the drinks. Alex was still just hanging on to the side of the table; she looked like she was hanging on for dear life. Worry for his partner sobered him up in any situation and this one was no different.

"Hey maybe I should take you home. What do you say?" standing behind her ready to catch her he made another suggestion.

"How about we just go back to my place? Deakins is supposed to send me that fax; we can read it together and sleep this whole night off, separately of course."

She let go of the table and slowly but surely turned around to face him. She nodded and her eyes drooped.

"Come on Eames, get your land legs back, we've got some walking ahead of us." He got behind her and gently pushed her towards the door.

"Walking? It's only to the curb to get into a cab." She shuffled outside.

"Yeah, and I'm not about to carry you. Shuffle faster." He hailed a cab and opened the door for her and sat down beside her. Within moments she was asleep, face pressed against the glass.

Once safely in his apartment he woke her up.

"Eames? Eames?" he shook her shoulder slightly.

"Hmm… what?" She opened her eyes and realized she was actually in his apartment.

"How did I get up here? Last thing I remember is you saying you weren't going to carry me. What changed your mind?" she stood up to head towards his kitchen, off to find something else to drink, something by the name of Vodka. The brief moments of slumber made her realize she wasn't nearly drunk enough.

"Well it was either I carry you or the cabbie carries you. I think you are taller than him so I made one of those tough decisions. Leave you in the car and pay the cabbie to go have his way with you in an alley, which by the way is probably what he would have done, or break down and carry your sorry drunk ass up here."

He noticed her frustration as she opened up what seemed like all of the cabinets in his kitchen without even finding a drop of alcohol. He opened the one cabinet she could never have looked in, the one above the fridge.

"Here, is this what you're looking for?" he handed her the bottle of vodka and then got out two glasses.

"I knew you were hiding it somewhere." She took the two glasses and the bottle back into the living room. He followed and decided he had become far too sober and she had too by the looks of it.

She poured each of them shot of vodka to start with and raised her glass to him. He did the same but added, "To team work."

"To team work." Their glasses clanked together.

About 40 minutes and half the bottle later Goren received a fax. Taking the paper down on the couch he read it to himself then handed it to her.

A grin spread across her face.

"Want to try, just for practice?"

"I don't see why not." He undid his tie and threw it on the floor.