A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! One more chapter to go; it'll be a few days before I get it posted but it will be soon.
Enjoy!
St. Francis Mercy Hospital
Wingate, Brooklyn
There was only one St. Francis Mercy in Brooklyn so it wasn't hard to direct the ambulance to it. Besides, there were only two hospitals close to Canarsie with ER's; St. Francis was the second. His left hand was throbbing from the puncture wounds done by Nicole's nails; they had given him some pain killers for it, but they were only Tylenol. An EMT named Travis told him he was going to need stitches once they arrived. He only nodded.
With a slow stop, the ambulance parked in front of the ER and the back doors swung open. He could see the cop cars that had followed pulling up behind the bus. Getting out of the back, he looked around and saw the other ambulance already there. A couple of doctors along with the EMT's were pushing the stretcher that held Nicole Wallace strapped down to it into the hospital. Around her neck was a brace to keep it straight; they didn't want her to accidently break it.
Two uniform officers followed him into the hospital that was already swarming with cops from Logan being there. Searching the ER waiting area, he didn't see Alex anywhere. She had told him before his cell lost reception that Mike was in surgery. They could be on a different floor by now. In recovery or…He shook his head. He didn't want to think of Mike being in the morgue.
"This way, sir," an officer told him, leading him to an open Triage room where a nurse was waiting.
The nurse went through the usual vital check as the officer took out his report book and pen. After he got weighed and his height taken, the nurse sat him down in a chair and hooked him up to the blood pressure machine.
The officer waited until he was seated to start his questioning. He had yet to give them his full statement. Opting instead to get into an ambulance and getting to the hospital as quickly as possible.
"So, tell me what happened, Goren?" the cop asked as he stared over at him.
"140 over 90," the nurse said as she checked his blood pressure. "Heart rate's high too, 115. Do you smoke?"
Looking over at the nurse, Bobby gave a nod. "Yeah."
"You have high blood pressure. Medication-"
"Can we deal with that later," he told her as he turned back to the cop standing in front of him. Raising his left hand, he said, "I tried to pull her up, she wanted to fall."
"So you're saying it was intentional?" the officer asked as he wrote that down. "She jumped?"
"More like fell, but yeah. It was intentional. She kept fighting me, crawling at my hand as I tried to hang onto her," Bobby told the cop as the nurse un-wrapped his hand and looked at his wounds.
"You've got some deep punctures," the nurse told him. "We'll set you up in a room once one becomes available."
He was trying not to pay too much attention to the nurse as he kept his focus on the cop. His head was starting to hurt and it was hard to keep from jumping out of the chair in search of Alex. Rubbing at his head, he felt the sweat coating his hair and forehead; the adrenaline he'd been feeling for most of the night was still running through him, making him feel hot and easily irritated.
"Why were you there?"
Bobby opened his eyes and stared at the cop as he asked, "What?"
The officer glanced to the nurse who was writing something down on a chart. "Why were you there? Why was she there? The building was locked and abandoned."
As he stared at the cop, he realized that he was going to have to lie. Bobby didn't want to lie, but he knew he had to in order to prevent other questions. Questions like why did he hold Nicole captive? Why did he drug her and tie her to a chair? Why did he point his gun at her and fire off a round? That last part couldn't be proven because the last round he put in his gun, making it the first round to be chambered, was a blank. He had only used it to scare Nicole. The next one, however, was a real bullet; one that he didn't have to use. Clearing his throat, he told the officer, "She wanted to talk."
The officer gave him a skeptical look as he asked, "To talk?"
Giving a nod, he said, "Yeah. She uh, she said she had something she wanted to tell me. That's where she wanted to meet. So, I went."
"And you didn't call the police?" the officer asked as he wrote all that down.
Bobby rubbed at his head as he thought about his answer to that. Finally, he dropped his hand and answered, "I am, or at least, I was…a cop. I didn't think about it. And I figured I'll call afterwards."
"She's a wanted felon, Goren. You know that."
"I know," he said with a sigh of defeat. "I'm not saying that I made the best decision. I just thought I could handle it. That's all. I wasn't expecting her to try and kill herself in front of me." Bobby looked up at the cop and told him, "That's why she wanted me there."
The officer wrote that down as he said, "She wanted you to watch?"
He gave a nod and felt slightly guilty for lying. It wasn't all a lie, but the reasons he was there and how it happened were all lies. Bobby knew it wouldn't matter how it was put on paper; the only other person who was there was currently unconscious and a known and wanted killer.
"You can go back out into the waiting area, Mr. Goren. We'll get to you as soon as possible," the nurse told him as she got up to leave.
Bobby stood and asked the officer as he passed, "Need anything else?"
"I'll run this by my partner and see if he has anything. I'm sure a couple of detectives will be here shortly to talk to you as well."
He watched as the officer walked through the waiting area and over to the reception desk where his partner was standing with a cup of coffee. Bobby realized that the officer was a rookie, his partner had Sergeants strips on his uniform. The senior cop was letting the rookie take the lead on this, letting him conduct the interview alone. That told him that the senior officer didn't think there was much too it. The Sergeant would believe anything he told them.
It didn't take long, only a couple of minutes, before his name was being called. Bobby hadn't even sat down when he was once again being lead into a room. He was given a couple of shots in his hand to numb it before the nurse started to stitch the wounds. There were three deep punctures; the rest was from where she scrapped down his arm and hand. They weren't deep and didn't need stitches, just bandaging. His hand was also swollen and bruised.
"I heard there was a cop brought in earlier," he said as he watched the nurse put a needle into his hand. "He was stabbed."
She nodded as she kept her eyes focused on the task. "Yeah, but I can't tell you anything."
"His name's Michael Logan. He was my partner uh, a few months ago."
The nurse stopped then and looked up at him. She searched his eyes before looking at the closed door before going back to her work. "He had a stab wound to the left side of his chest."
"It resulted in hemothorax…He was bleeding internally. The last I heard, he flat-lined." When the nurse glanced up at him, Bobby explained, "I was on the phone with his new partner, Detective Eames, while they were in the ambulance. I lost the call. Just, all I need to know is if he's still alive."
She sighed and said, "I honestly don't know. Last I heard, he was in surgery."
Bobby took that as a good sign. If Logan had died, he was certain everyone who worked in the hospital would've known. Things like that, a cop dying, wasn't a secret. "What floor?"
"Second," she told him before setting the small tools down and covering his hand with a sterile bandage and ointment. "There, all done."
Once he left the room, he had to sign a few forms and get a prescription. He passed by the two uniform officers who followed him to the hospital and didn't get stopped by either one as he headed to the elevator. As he waited, he heard a voice call out to him.
"Goren?"
Turning his head, he saw Captain Deakins coming up behind him. The man looked like he hadn't slept in days. There was a black eye-patch over his right eye and he remembered that the captain had suffered from a bout of Bell's palsy recently. He immediately straightened as he reached out to shake the man's hand.
That move caught Deakins off guard, but he quickly recovered and shook it. "I heard what happened."
"About Logan or me?"
Deakins smirked slightly as the elevator doors opened and a couple o doctors got off. "Both," he told him as he stepped into the car and waited for him to join him.
Once the doors slid shut, Bobby said, "I'm starting to remember."
"Oh, yeah?"
He watched as the numbers changed and the doors slid open again. Stepping off, he told Deakins as he looked around the hall, trying to figure out which way to go, "It's not everything, but it's enough. I remember what happened in the motel room; not the actual acts of what happened while I was drugged, but everything leading up to it. Brenda was the one who drugged me at Carmel Ridge."
Deakins stopped him with a hand to his chest as he started down the hall. They studied each other for a moment and then he said, "We'll set up a time later. You can come in and we can all sit down and hear the details. Right now," he trailed off as he nodded down the hall, "let's see how Logan's doing."
He could do that. Bobby let it go as he started to walk in-step with Deakins down the hall. It didn't take long to find the waiting area, or Alex. She was sitting in a chair, staring up at the ceiling, and looking ready to kill someone. Walking up to her, he gently tapped her knee. The moment she saw him, she got up and hugged him.
Then just as quickly she pulled away with a whispered apology, "Sorry."
Gripping her by the shoulders, he told her, "Don't be. Come here." He led her away from the others and once they were around the corner, he pulled her into a longer embrace.
Alex relaxed against him and started to shake.
Leaning down, he asked, "Is he still in surgery?" She gave a nod into his chest and he let out a deep breath of air.
"They revived him right after I lost the call," she said; her voice was tight and strained, making it hard to listen.
"He'll be okay. The fact that he's in surgery and not dead yet is a very good sign. If he was going to die from internal bleeding, he would be gone already." He was quiet for a moment as he just enjoyed Alex holding him and knowing she was okay. "How did it happen?"
"We thought the house was empty but there ended up being someone hiding in there. We're thinking he was just homeless. There were drugs found on him, so he was probably high and out of his mind when he attacked Mike. He shot him once and then Barek shot him when he came at us with a knife. He didn't make it; they pronounced him DOA when they got him here."
Bobby felt her shake and held her tighter. Even though the homeless man had nearly killed Logan, there was no pleasure in killing another human being. "How's Barek doing?"
"She's okay. It was a clean shoot." Alex stepped back enough to look up at him. She studied him for a long moment, much like Deakins had done. She narrowed her eyes and said, "You're acting more like you. Are you remembering?"
Using his right hand, he cupped her chin and tilted her head up towards his. Smiling softly, but painfully, he dropped his head all the way down and kissed her. There wasn't much he remembered, but what he did know was how much he loved the woman in his arms. He felt her arms tight around his neck, pulling him down closer as she pushed against him, and kissed him back with so much passion it nearly hurt. It was hard to break the kiss, but they were standing in the middle of a hospital hallway with people walking around them.
Sucking in a deep breath, he stared into her eyes and saw the relief and love radiating back at him. "I know that uh, that there's still a lot we have to deal with."
"Bobby," she said as she placed her hand on his chest, "don't worry about anything we might have to deal with until later, okay? I'm just so happy to have you back."
He cupped her face again, loving the feel of her skin in his hands and actually knowing how much she loved him, and him her. It felt like a great weight had been lifted. "I'm not all back," he told her as he kept her close despite where they were and who saw. "There's a lot I still don't remember, but," he sighed in frustration. "I don't know. It's…I get these thoughts and feelings, and suddenly, it's clear, you know. There's no…bombardment of memories. It's gradual. Like tonight, you told me that Logan been stabbed and I thought, not Mike. He saved my life, he's my friend. It was just there and I was thinking it without realizing what was going on. Or, I'll say something out of nowhere about something that happened years ago and…" he trailed off as he shook his head. "I won't necessary know all the details, but I know that it happened."
Alex smiled as tears filled her eyes. "That's great."
"And here, now, with you," he told her as he leaned down and kissed her again before pulling back. "I know how much I love you, Alex."
"I love you too," she whispered out as her voice shook. "It'll all come back. All it takes is time."
He dropped his hand and gave a nod, "I know, but it doesn't matter if I remember everything or not. We still love each other, and that's really all I care about right now."
Alex started laughing and he was confused before she said, "Since when did you get so sappy, Bobby?"
He smiled and shook his head, feeling slightly embarrassed but actually happy about it. "I think I'm just tired. You know how I get overly emotional when I'm tired." Bobby realized what he said and smiled some more. "See, it just comes out when I'm least expecting it."
Alex pulled him down for another quick kiss before telling him, "As long as it keeps coming. C'mon," she said as she took his hand, "I think we can find some pretty decent coffee somewhere. Let me ask the Captain first if he wants anything, then we can get out of here."
As they entered the waiting area, the door to the surgery wing opened and they all stopped to look at the doctor who walked out. Bobby wrapped his arm about Alex's shoulders as she leaned against his side and waited.
The doctor looked tired and ragged, but he wasn't avoiding eye contact and Bobby took that as a good sign as he asked who were there for Mike Logan. When everyone raised their hands minus a couple of people across the room, the doctor smiled slightly and asked, "Family?"
No one dropped their hands and the doctor looked skeptical, but he told them all, "He's out of surgery and he'll be moved to recovery soon."
"Oh, thank God," Alex said as she let out a deep breath and turned into him; she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him as he continued to listen to the doctor.
"That does not mean he's out of the woods yet. He's still critical and we're going to have to watch him very closely for the next couple of days. He lost a lot of blood and his lung was damaged. We'll be monitoring him for any blood clots or further internal bleeding, as well as his breathing. He had to be placed on a ventilator."
"When can we see him," Detective Barek asked from across the room.
"Once we've got him in recovery and he's stable, I can let one in at a time. It'll be a little while, couple of hours." The doctor answered a few more questions and then was pulled aside by Deakins for a one-on-one.
Bobby tugged Alex along with him and started for the elevators. It'd be awhile before they could see Mike so he figured they could get that cup of coffee and maybe eat something. He checked his watch and saw it was past three in the morning.
"Can I come along or do you two want to be alone?" Barek asked as she stepped over to elevator.
He looked to Alex who shrugged, saying, "Sure. I was thinking of getting some food somewhere."
Barek got on the elevator ahead of them and said, "I know of a diner around the corner that's open 24/7. They have great coffee."
No one spoke much as they headed out of the hospital and down the street. Alex was still attached to his hip and he figured it was because she missed having him close. It was fine by him, he missed her too. Once in the diner at a booth in the back, he closed his eyes and leaned back as he felt the exhausted of the day weighing down on him.
They all ordered coffee and something off the breakfast menu as they sat in silence. Barek was the first to break it as she said, "I heard you're remembering."
"A little, yeah," he said as the waitress returned with three cups and a pot of coffee. Bobby waited until she was done pouring before asking, "Refills are free, right?"
"Yep," she said as she went to walk away.
"Could uh, could you leave the pot, please?" Bobby asked before she could leave the table. "I'm sure we're going to finish it off and there's no one else in here."
The waitress hesitated for a moment but then sat the pot down and walked away.
Looking over at Alex, he saw her grinning and shaking her head. "What?" he asked as he picked the cup up with his right hand, and feeling the awkwardness of it, before taking a sip of coffee. He saw the sugar next to him and immediately used his injured hand to slide it over to her.
"Oh, nothing. It's just that you do that all the time," she told him as she picked up the sugar. "Thanks."
Bobby thought about it and remembered that he did do that all the time. And he also remembered that Alex liked sugar in her coffee.
"So, Goren," Barek said after she added cream to hers and took a drink. "What happened tonight?"
He looked over at her as he asked, "You mean with Nicole?" Bobby shook his head as he told her, "I'm not…liable to discuss it with you. It's still an ongoing investigation."
Barek raised her eyes as him and asked, "Where is she?"
Without missing a beat, he answered, "In the hospital."
Bobby didn't know anything about Barek, having first met her in the interrogation room. He knew that they had never worked together and that she was new to Major Case; so, he had no reason to trust her. He didn't know what think of her, or how to approach her just yet. What he did know was that he didn't need to answer to her. And so, he wasn't going to.
Alex shifted next to him and he looked over at her. He'd been staring Barek down and realized was being intimidating. Not meaning too, he tried to relax as he waited for his food.
"Captain Deakins said you remember what happened in the motel room," Barek told him as she leaned back a little in the booth.
"Then he also told you that he's going to set up a time to meet to go over it. I'm sure he'll want to get it all down on paper and make it official by having my attorney present." Bobby picked up his cup and took a sip as he heard the door to the diner open. Looking toward it, he saw two people walk in, a man and woman, and he immediately knew they were detectives.
Setting his cup down, he didn't wait for them to come to him as he got up and went to them. He looked back to Alex and shook his head, knowing she would want to follow. Stopping in front of the two cops, he offered his hand and introduced himself to them.
They told him that they had to talk. He gave a nod and left the diner.
Out on the sidewalk, he pulled out the pack of cigarettes and lit one as they started their questioning. He gave them the same answers he'd given the uniform officer at the hospital, never hesitating in his responses even as he lied about how he got there and why Nicole was there.
They finished their questions, but then Detective Martin asked, "If we question Miss Wallace, will she tell us the same?"
Bobby shrugged as he told the guy, "Probably not. She told me before she stepped off the ledge that if she died, she'd see to it that I'm held responsible."
Detective Martin looked to his partner and she continued to stare at him like she didn't believe him. That was fine with him.
He stared right back as he finished his cigarette and dropped it to the sidewalk. "Anything else? My breakfast is getting cold."
Detective Sanchez finally spoke up as she continued to stare unwavering at him, "There's not going to be a questioning of Nicole Wallace, Detective Goren."
Bobby stilled as he stared at her, feeling a heat of pain and rage clench his chest. "Don't tell me she died."
"Not yet, but she might as well be" she said before telling him, "she's in a coma."
He didn't know what to say or think of that as he gave a nod. That wasn't something he expected. Nicole was in a coma. Bobby cleared his throat and went to speak when nothing came out. Giving it some thought, he realized that he would be looked at by IA who would determine if he could be in anyway held accountable. He knew he wouldn't be; he did try to keep her from falling, but she wouldn't let him pull her up. He had to drop her; and he made sure he had dropped her so she wouldn't be killed instantly.
But, he did take her there. He did hold her captive in that building and made sure she went to the roof. He endangered her life. And, in a way, he forced her to make the critical move that landed her in a coma. That was why he had to lie. He was responsible. If IA found him responsible as well, he would no longer be able to be a cop. They would take his badge away.
So, in the end, he would rather lie. Nicole wasn't going to ruin his career because she couldn't let him go of her obsession with him. He wasn't going to let her.
Bobby finally gave a nod and turned to walk back into the diner. There was nothing left to be said. Alex had been watching him through the window and she was watching him now as he walked down the aisle back to the booth. His food was waiting for him, it was cold, and he no longer felt like eating it.
"What is it?" Alex asked as he picked up the coffee pot to refill his cup.
After taking a sip of the hot coffee, warming himself up from standing out in the cold, he told her, "Nicole's in a coma."
Alex's eyes went wide in shock as she continued to stare at him. "Are they saying it's your fault?"
Bobby shook his head but inside he just didn't know. "I'm sure IA is going to look into it. I guess I'll know what they're saying soon enough."
"Bobby, what did happen?" Alex asked.
Shaking his head, he told her, "You know I can't talk about it. It's best if I wait until after IA gets done snooping around. If I don't talk about it, they'll have no reason to talk to you about it. The only two people who were there were me and Nicole."
"And Nicole is in a coma," Barek said. "She's the only one who can tell her side, and she's unable to. That pretty much makes whatever you say the truth."
Bobby stared hard at the detective as he said, "You got something to say, Barek? Just say it."
"I know what you told Logan on the phone," she told him. "And so does Logan and Eames."
He looked from her to Alex and then back to Barek. "Hearsay isn't reliable testimony, and when it's taken out of context and without the knowledge of what was actually going on, it's even less reliable."
"You told Logan you couldn't let Nicole kill any more people because of you," Barek said as she leaned on the table. "Where am I taking that out of context?"
"Barek," Alex said with a hint of warning in her voice.
Bobby held his hand up, telling Alex to back off and that it was all right. "It's alright, Alex. I know how it sounds, but you weren't there," he said to Barek. "You weren't there and you had no idea what was going on, or what my motives were. I had no intention of killing Nicole. What happened to her was by her own doing. The only thing I did was try to save her…and I did that. She's still breathing right now because of me."
"Then what did you mean?" Barek asked and he could tell that she needed to know his answer to that.
He didn't know why, but he felt he had to tell her. It wasn't a secret why, but Bobby thought that she should've already known the answer to that question. "I meant I wanted justice, Barek. I wanted her to be held responsible for her crimes. I wanted her locked up in prison for life, or on death row. That's what I wanted." He picked up his cup and downed the rest of the coffee before digging into his pocket and pulling to some money. He tossed enough on the table and got up.
"Hey," Alex said as she went to get up.
"I'm going back to the hospital," he told her as he headed for the door. "You can stay and finish eating if you want."
Bobby didn't wait to see if she would follow him out of the diner or not, but then he realized he didn't have to. He stopped walking and turned to see her coming after him. "I knew you were going to follow me. You're becoming predictable," he teased as he waited for her to catch up to him.
"So are you. I knew the moment Barek asked her first question that you were going to bolt; it was only a matter of when," she told him as she once again wrapped her arm around his waist as they walked down the sidewalk toward the hospital. Then, after a moment, she said, "I hate leaving food like that. I should've at least gotten it to go; I'm starving."
"Then go back and get it," Bobby said as he stopped walking. "I'll wait."
Alex hesitated and he told her to go once again. She told him she'd be right back and started back to the diner.
Bobby & Alex's Apartment
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
As it turned out, they were unable to see Logan that evening and since they weren't technically his family, they all had to leave and come back during normal visiting hours. Bobby thought it was all bullshit, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Mike was alive and fighting and he was going to be okay, that was what mattered. He and Alex were both physically and mentally exhausted when they arrived home, so they didn't waste time in showering and getting into bed. He had taken a pain pill earlier and it didn't take long before he was fast asleep.
It was hours later, as the sunlight poured through the blinds, when he rolled over in bed, draped his arm over Alex's waist, and asked, "What house?"
Alex was just waking up as she shifted against him and moaned against the light. Burying her face into his chest, she said, "Wha?"
Chuckling at her sleepiness, moved his hand along her back and asked, "The house you were at last night. What was that about?"
She let out a deep breath against his skin and he felt the tinkle it sent down his spine. Bobby was starting to have trouble thinking properly, but he was interested in knowing. "Alex?"
"It was where Nicole was hiding out, or at least where we think she was hiding out at."
"Did you find anything?" he asked as his hand caressed her neck then her shoulders.
Alex shifted against him again but didn't answer. That didn't sit right with him; if they found nothing she would have told him that. Her silence told him that wasn't the case. They found something, and she didn't want to tell him what that was.
"How did this happen?" she softly asked herself.
"How did what happen?" he asked as he trailed his thumb over her chin and lifted her face up to his so he could kiss her.
Alex moaned into the kiss and once he broke it so he could kiss over her neck, she answered, "This," she said. "Us going back to being us like nothing happened."
Bobby stopped kissing over her neck as he told her, "That's not what we're doing. Something did happen; we're not ignoring that. The reason we're going back to being us is because there never stopped being an us. This, it's so easy, Alex. This is something we don't have to think too much about."
Alex cupped his face between her hands and brought his lips to hers. Everything else was forgotten as they lost themselves in each other; this time, Bobby didn't hold back in showing her how much he loved her.
Awhile later, after he showered and shaved, he sat in the kitchen nursing a cup of coffee and reading the morning paper when Alex walked in talking on her cell. Bobby dropped the paper as he heard his name being mentioned.
"Bobby's doing better," she spoke into the phone. "He's more himself and I'm sure he'll be up to it." Alex glanced over at him as she grabbed a cup and filled it with coffee. "We can make it, Captain. Two o'clock, I got it." She hung up and pointed at him, "Two o'clock, Major Case."
"My meeting with the Captain?" he asked as he took a sip of coffee.
"And Barek, Carver, and McCoy," she told him as she went over to the refrigerator. "We have the take-out from this morning. Wanna heat it up?"
"Uh, yeah." Bobby got up to refill his cup and glanced at the time. It was noon now. "You don't have to go if you don't want to."
"Other than visiting Logan, there's nothing else I've got planned for the day." Alex reached around him and opened the microwave to put in the take-out boxes. "Besides, I've got tons of paperwork to do for this case."
"I thought you had the day off," he said as he sat back down at the table.
Alex leaned against the counter as she waited for the food to heat up, telling him, "I do, but that doesn't mean I have to take it. I want this over with as soon as possible."
Bobby didn't put up a fight about it as he raised his hands and said, "Alright, whatever you want." He picked up the paper and went back to reading it as Alex sat down.
She pushed the paper down and handed him a box of food. "Eat."
Taking the box from her, he did as he was told. Halfway through eating his food, he looked over at her and said, "Alex, I really want to know if you found anything in that house."
Alex took a bite of her omelet as she looked up at him. He could tell she was a little apprehensive but he needed to know, especially now that he knew she was keeping it from him. She reached around her to the jacket she had slung on the back of the chair last night. Digging into the inside pocket, she pulled out a handful of Polaroid pictures.
The moment he saw what she had, he stilled and dropped his fork to the table. Getting up, he took the pictures from her. He remembered there being a Polaroid camera in the motel room and wondered about it. Now, as he looked through the pictures, he knew. He also knew what had happened during the time he couldn't remember; when he had been drugged.
"They were in an envelope addressed to a reporter."
"She was going to release these to the press?" he asked, mostly in shock and to himself. Bobby really wasn't expecting an answer. "Why? What stopped her? She had all the time in the world to send them out."
"I wondered that too," Alex said as she slowly got up out of the chair. "I think she wasn't expecting you to not remember anything. You changed her plans. Instead of releasing them, she decided to hang onto them."
Bobby couldn't stop looking at the pictures as he finished her thought, "Until she could use them against me, once I did regain my memory back or…or when the opportunity presented itself. She could've used these for anything…Blackmail." His hands started to shake as he flipped through them again. Looking up at her, and feeling the pain in his chest and tears in his eyes, he said, "You saw these."
"You were drugged."
'Yeah, and according to these, it was more than just what they injected me with," he angrily said as he tossed to pictures across the room, toward the table. The air caught them and they went flying, scattering all over his floor; some face up, others face down.
Alex stared down at the pictures littering his floor and asked, "There was no trace of drugs in your system."
"There wouldn't be," Bobby said as he paced over the floor, feeling his rage for Nicole growing faster and hotter in his chest. He remembered it being there, on the table, and he had gotten rid of it before he had passed out again. The possibility was there, but to be confronted with it as actually happening infuriated him. If he had been found sooner, he would've had it in his system. He would have been crucified by the press. Taking a breath, he told her, "It only would've been in my system for two days, at best. Twenty-four hours in my blood, one to ten days in my saliva, and two days in my urine…They didn't do a urinalysis test at the hospital, they only took my blood. But, even if they had, after two days it was out of my system. The only thing they can test now to prove that I ever had cocaine in my system would be a hair sample."
Alex was quiet for a moment before saying, "They collected hair at the motel."
Bobby stilled and looked over at her. He rubbed at his head and asked, "Mine?"
"Yes; I remember it being mentioned in the physical evidence report. There was no reason to test it. It's just sitting in evidence," she told him as she bent down and started picking up the pictures. "Bobby, this means nothing. We know you were drugged and that they did this to frame you. Nicole wanted to ruin you like you ruined her. She just couldn't use the truth like you did; she had to invent all these lies to destroy you. It didn't work," Alex told him as she held up the photos and tossed them on the table. "There's nothing she can do to you now. You beat her."
"There're those," he said as he pointed at them. "What're you doing with them anyway? Why aren't they in evidence?"
Alex looked away and rubbed at her forehead, something she did when she was uncomfortable talking about something. "Logan took them."
Bobby stared at her for a moment and said, "He took them? What…before he got stabbed he collected them, you mean?"
Alex sighed and returned her eyes to his. Sighing, she said, "No. He took them after he got stabbed. They're not in evidence because he put them in his jacket pocket."
Mike was protecting him? Shaking his head, he stepped away and said, "Mike wouldn't tamper with evidence."
"Well, he did," she told him as she looked down at them.
Bobby realized what that meant for her. She had taken them from Logan, and kept them herself. "You tampered with evidence."
"You don't deserve any of this, Bobby. And, they're not the truth. There's no reason for them to be looked at by CSU." Alex looked back over at him and he saw the tears in her eyes.
He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe what they had become. Alex took evidence to protect him, so did Mike, and what did he do? He had lied to the police. He left a laugh shake out of his chest. God, they were all deep in it now. "I can't believe this." Bobby shook his head and walked over to pick up the pictures. He grabbed them and took out his lighter.
"What're you doing?" Alex asked as he walked over to the sink.
"I'm going to burn them," he told her as he flicked the lighter open and ignited the flame. Looking over at her, he asked, "What'd you think?"
Alex stared at him for a brief second, the debate of how wrong this was written all over her face, before she shook it away and gave a nod.
"Are you sure?" he asked as he held the pictures over the flame.
"Yes, I'm sure," she softly whispered to him.
Bobby hesitated for a moment and then set all the pictures on fire. He dropped them into the sink and let them burn into ashes. Staring down into the withering plastic, he told her, "I hope this doesn't change us…who we are, as cops, as people."
"This wasn't about being cops, Bobby. This was about being people who love each other."
He looked over his shoulder at her and felt a smile on his face. "Thank you."
"For what?" she asked as she walked over to him and leaned against his side.
Bobby tilted his head so he could catch her eyes. Once she looked at him, he told her, "For loving me this much."
Alex gave a nod and looked down as the last flame destroyed the last remaining picture. "We destroyed evidence, Bobby. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about this."
"I know," he told her as he backed away from the sink and pocketed the lighter. "Neither do I." Bobby left Alex in the kitchen as he headed to the bedroom to change for his meeting with Captain Deakins.
TBC…