9:29 PM

She danced around a little, enjoying the end of the Sister Sledge classic while finishing her dusting. Best of Soul 70's – no better cleaning music than this, really. After all, what's the point of cleaning if you can't shake your booty a little when you do it?

Fun though it was, especially the shakin o'the booty, she was grateful to be almost done. As the next song came on, she realized it was not one of her favorites and decided to vacuum. Don't wanna miss any of the good stuff; plus, it's getting late. The last thing I need is to deal with aggravated downstairs neighbors.

She was just getting started when she felt a strong pair of arms grab her from behind. Startled, she jumped and yelled. There goes the good will of the neighbors. She turned to find a very chastened Bobby.

"Eames, I'm sorry I scared you. You just looked so…"

Shutting off the vacuum, she crossed her arms and gave him her best inscrutable face. "Go ahead, Goren. Say cute and see how far it gets you."

He decided to try and mitigate his error, seeing as how he valued his life and all. Notes to self: 1. Never grab Eames without permission 2. Never even think the word cute in her presence. She knows.

"I had no intention of referring to you as cute. Hot, sexy, grabbable. Those were the adjectives that I was thinking, Eames." He tried to sound both insulted and sexy, in the hopes of throwing her off the cute trail. Smiling, he took the vacuum from her and put it away. "I'll vacuum in the morning, okay? The next one's a good one." He gave her a come-hither look. "Dance with me."

"Bobby, there's barely room to walk in here, much less dance."

In a moment, he had the coffee table and his chair pushed into the kitchen. She smiled to herself. Never let it be said the man's not stubborn and resourceful. He was in front of her, pulling her into his arms, just in time for the next song to begin.

Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Love was changing the mind of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away

He started off slowly, a simple two step, keeping her held close to his body. Alex had always been impressed with Bobby's skills on the dance floor, especially for such a large man. You'd think any dance partner would be concerned about losing toes to those big feet, but his grace made that worry irrelevant. Dancing with Bobby was simply fun, and boy did she want to have some fun.

Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing.
As we danced in the night,
Remember,
how the stars stole the night away,
yeah yeah yeah.

As the intensity of the music increased, so too did their tempo. It was nice to simply relax and let Bobby lead, laughing along with her as he spun her around. She was nearly dizzy, and a little out of breath.

Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day

By the time they got to the ba duda part of the song, she was laughing too hard to continue. She fell to the futon, grabbing his tie to bring him down with her. It was an awkward fit for him, but he was too busy smiling at her to notice.

"I should be angry at you, you know, Eames," he said, removing his now-loosened tie and jacket, tossing them on the floor.

Still laughing, she was a bit confused by both his careless actions with his clothes, and this statement. "Why?" He was still smiling, so she figured she couldn't be in it too deep.

"Leaving me alone with that woman. 'Call me if you need a ride'. And that shit-eating grin on your face. That was cruel, Eames. Really cruel."

Ruh-roh. He has that look in his eyes. Okay, the best defense is a good offense, right? She made her voice all honeyed sweetness and sympathy. "Oh, poor Bobby. Did the scary lady hurt poor little defenseless you?"

"No actually, she wasn't as bad as I expected. But this isn't really about her, Alexandra. This is about you abandoning your partner in his hour of need. That was not very nice of you." He was now unbuttoning his shirt, making Alex swallow in anticipation, and just a little bit of fear. "I think you should either apologize, or accept your punishment."

She raised one eyebrow. "I think you should kiss my ass, Goren."

"Maybe later." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

She laughed. "Well, since I have no intention of apologizing, what, precisely, do you intend to do to 'punish' me?"

He grinned, tossing his now unbuttoned shirt to the floor. Suddenly, he was upon her, doing the thing she most hated in the world, enraging her even as she laughed.

"Robert..ha..Goren..you..better..stop..ha..before I..ha..get really..ha..mad."

"Not until you apologize."

She resisted the temptation to knee him in the groin. He knew how much she hated it when he did this to her. Escape now, kill later. "Bobby, ha..stop..tickling me..ha.. right..this..ha..minute!"

He stopped, but just long enough to meet her eyes. "Are you sorry you left me in that woman's clutches, Eames?" He feinted as if to tickle her again, and she fought back with her best weapon, well, next to her mind, anyway. She kissed him, long and hard, and felt him let go of her arms, which he had pinned to her sides. Though the idea of pushing him off of her was alluring, he was now using his second best weapon. He was kissing her back, and those tickling hands were now…doing something else.

They pulled back a little, both now completely out of breath. "Truce?" she gasped. "Truce," he agreed, "though you really don't fight fair, Eames." She removed her tongue from his ear long enough to say, "I'm sorry," then went right back to her task.

Gotta let him win one every once in a while.

A/N – I was going through fluff withdrawal syndrome, and this is the result. The song is Earth, Wind & Fire's "September", and it is my opinion that anyone not inspired by it to immediately shake what their mama gave them needs help. Okay, I can't seem to link the video, but you can do a search for it. Trust me, the costumes alone are worth the effort. Thanks for reading and reviewing!