Lex Talionis – Chapter 5

"Nicole Wallace didn't do this."

"I take it you disagree." Captain Deakins directed his statement to a frowning Eames. She and Bobby had already gone one round in this debate, but he figured she was too emotionally vested to see his side of it.

"She's proven time and again that she's capable of something like this," Eames' retorted from her seat in front of Deakins desk.

"How would she have found out about Danny McKinnon?"

Eames squirmed a little in her chair. "She spent a lot of time with Lisa Hahn," she answered the Captain. "Sarah Moreno must have talked with Lisa before she died."

"Now, that part… I agree with." Bobby straightened from where he'd been leaning against the cabinet and took a step closer to her. The look she gave him still spoke of defiance and Bobby pursed his lips in frustration. "Look," he sighed and shuffled one step closer to his partner, intent on reasoning with her. "If Nicole knew about McKinnon, she… she would have used it. In the interview room." He paused and looked from Eames to the Captain, trying to gauge whether or not he was persuading them. "She'd want to see your first reaction."

Eames' eyes clouded with a hint of doubt and that's when Bobby knew he would be able to argue her over to his side.

"Eames," he tipped his head to one side and held her gaze. "What has Nicole been trying to accomplish these past few days? She wants to… to separate us. Drive a wedge into our partnership. Her game has been to divide and conquer, and she would know that this…" he picked up the now evidence-bagged newspaper article, "this would have the opposite effect," he argued gently. "Nicole would know that reminding us of Danny McKinnon, would only serve to put me more firmly by your side." Her eyes widened and Bobby backpedaled. "A-as a… friend. And partner."

The last vestige of anger faded from her eyes and her shoulders slumped in defeat. He watched Eames expel her resentment in one long sigh. "Great," she tossed her head to sweep her hair from her cheek. "Now there's someone else out there I can hate as much as Nicole Wallace." Bobby smiled. Even in defeat, Eames' snark was firmly intact.

"So, who sent the envelope?" Deakins asked.

"I think it's Lisa Hahn," Bobby glanced at Deakins then back at Eames. "Nicole told us. Hahn was interested in you. She sees you as having something in common with her. She may even be fixated on you." Bobby once again held up the evidence bag. "Sending this could be her invitation to form a connection."

"How are they supposed to form a connection, when Hahn can't even be found?" The Captain was sounding frustrated.

"We need to go back and talk with her family and friends," Bobby squared his shoulders. "We asked the wrong questions the first time."

"Because we were treating her as a victim," Eames' eyes held the light of understanding. "Not a suspect."

"Isn't she from State College?" Deakins asked and Bobby nodded. "The mountains of Pennsylvania in the middle of winter… better pack your tire chains."

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"Shit!" Eames' sudden exclamation punched through Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries that Bobby was listening to on his iPod.

After leaving Deakins' office, he and Eames had placed phone calls and made arrangements to drive to Pennsylvania the next day to re-interview Lisa Hahn's family and friends. With each conversation, they had to tactfully dodge the question of whether or not Lisa had been found. At this point, with no proof, friends and family would not be told of their suspicions.

Eames also had the foresight to make reservations for tomorrow night at a motel near State College, just in case. Mountains. Snow. Ski season. Somehow, sleeping in a cold, cramped SUV while snow-bound on Route 80 didn't sound appealing to her. Go figure.

Once all those arrangements were made, Eames decided she needed to burn off some of her pent up energy. (Bobby was about to correct her with the word 'anger,' but thought it best to let it go.) He decided to join her at the gym since it had been at least a week since he'd done anything more physically taxing than climbing the few flights of stairs at his apartment building. Ride of the Valkyries was the most invigorating piece of music he knew to help pass the boring task of jogging on the treadmill.

He pulled out his left earpiece. "What?" he questioned her outburst.

"I forgot to call Terry." Eames barely sounded winded after more than twenty minutes on the elliptical machine.

"Terry?" He cast about in his memory until he recalled the vaguely familiar name. "The guy you were seeing when you were pregnant?"

"Yeah," Eames picked up her towel and wiped her forehead.

"So…" Bobby realized his pace had slowed and he picked it back up. "You're back together?"

"Not exactly." She was flushed, and he was trying to figure out if it was the exercise or something else. Eames seemed to hesitate before shrugging and answering his question. "Unfortunately, or fortunately, the sex was the only thing that was ever really good between us."

Goren frowned. Fuck buddies.

"What?" She sounded irritated by his silence.

"You deserve more than that." Bobby ground out and kept his eyes averted.

"I agree. But this will do until more comes along."

"You know," he fought to keep his tone even, "you need to be careful with these guys."

"These guys? What guys?"

"The ones who only want to take advantage of you."

"What makes you think I'm not taking advantage of them?"

His frown deepened to a scowl and she laughed. "Bobby, I've already got a dad and two brothers. I don't need any more." She picked up her towel again and this time wiped her throat down to the neckline of her jogging bra. All that served to do was draw his attention to her bare midriff. "Besides, I know how to take care of myself."

He slowed his jog to a walk and then stepped off the treadmill. "Oh, really?"

Recognizing a challenge when she heard one, Eames brought the elliptical to a stop and lifted her chin. "Really."

Bobby wasn't done yet with his workout and he felt up for a little fun. "How long's it been since your last defensive training cert?" Her eyes narrowed but he still saw the gleam of accepting his dare.

"Two months."

Once they were on the mats, Eames couldn't suppress her grin and he smiled back at her. It was hard for either of them to take this seriously. They both knew that physically he could easily overpower her, unless she wanted to cause him some serious harm. He'd seen her take down men almost his size and knew she could take care of herself. This was all in the name of fun.

So, they mainly spent some time practicing defensive and offensive positioning. Throws and falls. He had Eames throw punches at his open palms, showing off her right cross. (Which may have been a mistake without padding because his hands were stinging.)

No matter how many times in the future Bobby would re-think the events, he would never figure out what prompted Eames' next move. She swung a right cross – hard – then spun on her left leg and caught his hip with the flat of her right foot, throwing him off-balance but not off his feet. His eyes widened and she grinned in triumph.

"Oh, I see. That's how you want to play it." He took a step back from her to center his weight, then lunged at her, reaching for her waist. Eames fists came up and he grabbed her wrists instead. (Looking back on it, he also sometimes wondered how she let that happen.) Eames twisted and pulled, and they struggled to the edge of the mats, neither one a clear winner. They both recognized a moment when, if Eames were truly trying to defend herself, her knee would have come up hard and fast. Instead, she only flinched and that gave Bobby enough of an advantage to step into her and pin her back against the wall. He held a slender wrist in each of his hands and the potentially dangerous leg was pinioned beneath his thigh.

At this point, Eames was laughing hard and squirming. But when Bobby refused to give her a break, she finally settled down and accepted her defeat with a huge smile and a resigned shrug. "I didn't want to really hurt you."

"I know," he acknowledged.

Her body had stilled and she was smiling up at him. Bobby's heart lurched at the sight of her so happy – right before he became acutely aware of just how they were positioned. He loomed over her. Her wrists were held against the wall and her free leg was draped over his knee. His thigh was snugged up against feminine heat.

Bobby swallowed convulsively with a suddenly dry throat. His eyes must have betrayed something because Eames' smile melted and she blinked in confusion. Her lips parted but no words came – just rapid little breaths and the tip of her tongue as it anxiously traced her lower lip. His gaze wandered down to the pulse point at the hollow of her throat. Her heart was racing.

"Eames…" he croaked, not knowing what he intended to say but fully aware that he didn't want to let her go. Her eyes seemed to be pleading for something, and Bobby couldn't help himself. He flexed his thigh muscle. Alex's breath caught and her hips rocked into the pressure. "Bobby…" her voice hitched, "please…" she whimpered.

He hesitated. Please, what? Stop?

But in his ears, her short, shallow breaths spoke erotic invitation. And he never would have believed he was selfish enough to do it again, but he was wrong. His muscle flexed against heat and her lids closed over the dark pools that were her eyes. Alex's head lolled forward onto his shoulder and Bobby buried his chin in her damp hair, breathing in the scent of her shampoo and sweat. He groaned low in his throat as he felt himself tightening where he was pressed against her waist, his flesh eagerly reaching for her.

"Alex…" he experimented with her name on his tongue and he heard her inhale deeply of the crook of his neck. Her fingers clenched and unclenched as if seeking to grasp fistfuls of him and Bobby released her wrists. His tee-shirt bunched into her hands and he heard another deep breath of himself flowing into her. His left hand threaded into her hair and held her damp, warm scalp as he too indulged himself with more of her scent. He moved to lean her head back when they heard the crash of a locker door from either the men's or ladies' changing room – he couldn't tell which.

Bobby reflexively jerked back from her and Alex didn't hesitate to duck under his arm. She jogged off toward the ladies' room without so much as a backward glance and the last he saw of her was her sweat-darkened hair swinging at her shoulders.

He looked dazedly around the gym and saw Pete Garcia walking in from the men's locker room. Pete grunted a greeting and waved at Bobby before heading over to the universal gym to adjust the weights for his workout.

Bobby spotted Eames' towel still draped over the elliptical machine. He walked over to retrieve it and, once he was in the locker room, couldn't resist holding it to his face and again savoring her scent.

It was going to be a long night.

TBC…

A/N – Okay, in this chapter I've probably gone way beyond 'unlikely' and stepped into the realm of 'implausible.' :-) I'd like to call out special thanks to raz0r.girl, gorengal, Scripted Starlet and InfinityStar for believing that I can actually still… you know… write!