Roots and Seeds

a Law and Order: CI story

by RoadrunnerGER

Disclaimer: Dick Wolf still has not agreed to sell them, so they're not mine. This is just for fun and practice.

Chapter 14

The next morning Bobby had to get up very early to catch the first flight to Phoenix. In the early afternoon he and Bishop sat in the living room of Susan Chapel's house. Right across from their sofa Gwen sat in an easy chair. She wore casual clothes and wore a light blue headscarf .

"I remember you," she said. "You are the New York detective. Nicole said you might stop by."

"She came to see you?" Bishop asked.

"No, but she sent these." Gwen indicated the flower bouquet on the coffee table separating them: red gerbera and yellow roses.

"They are very pretty," Bobby said, smiling at the girl. "And she… sent you something else?"

"She sent me a get well card. There's a note for you inside." She reached into the depth of the chair beside her and produced the card. "She told me not to tell Allan and Susan."

Bobby took the card from her and read the two lines written on it in Nicole's handwriting.

Bishop glanced at him furtively. His features did not give his thoughts away. Then he pocketed the card and she noticed a picture on the back before it vanished in his jacket.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?" Susan Chapel asked right then from the kitchen that was separated from the living room only by a counter.

"Thanks, but no thanks. We appreciate it, but we won't stay so long. Thank you," Bobby replied. Then he turned back to Gwen, asking with a wink, "How are Susan and Allan?"

"They are nice," Gwen murmured, glancing at Susan who was oblivious to them talking about her. "They are very supportive, too. I can't go to school regularly because of my treatment. They are homeschooling me."

"That must be hard," Bishop said.

"Yeah. They love me. And I love them in return." Gwen grew thoughtful. "Nicole loved me, too."

"Yes, she did," Bobby agreed. "She still does."

"Is she okay?" Gwen asked tentatively.

"She just became a mother," Bobby told her, offering her a compassionate smile. "She gave birth to a little girl."

"That's good," Gwen smiled. "I hope she'll make Nicole happy."

"She will," Bobby assured her. His smile was sincere. "I would love to talk a little longer with you, but we have to return to New York. Goodbye, Gwen."

"Goodbye, Detective."

She got up and showed them to the door. Once outside Bobby got the card out of his jacket again and gave it to Bishop.

"Tit for tat. Blood for blood," she read aloud. When she turned the card around she saw the old picture of a teenager. That had to be Bobby's nephew. "How did she find Donny?" she asked as she handed the photo back to her partner.

"She didn't," he told her, looking at the picture. "Nicole doesn't have Donny. If she did she would have sent a new picture of him."

Bishop's cell phone chose that moment to receive a text message and announce it with a beep.

"DNA, from the hair," Bishop read. "It's Nicole's."

"Of course. She left one strand of her hair for that purpose."

"This is just a game to her," Bishop concluded.

Bobby nodded. So much was obvious. He looked at the envelope Donny's photo came into.

"It's World Cup. This letter is postmarked in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Nicole's sending us on a scavenger hunt."

"What is in Pittsfield?" Bishop wanted to know.

"A white whale." He grew thoughtful, remembering the lecture he had visited back then. "That's where Melville wrote Moby Dick."

He got into their rented car on the passenger's side. Bishop would drive. She appeared to be as happy with that task as Alex was. While they returned to the airport Bobby could think about the old case, see Nicole in the lecture hall, talking in front of the students.

The descent into madness is usually preceded by obsession. Moby Dick, she had told them. What characterizes Ahab's obsession? I just fancied it was man's unrelenting pursuit of his own potency.

Yeah. Nicole always had a sense for dramatic performances.

xXx

It was evening when they arrived back in Manhattan and after filling Ross in on their new information and deciding to go to Pittsfield first thing on the next morning, both detectives were glad to head home.

"Everything calm to the point of being dull," Alex reported to Bobby when he came into the living room. She held Ronny in her arms and had just finished feeding him. Before she could shift his position he already burped. Alex chuckled. "Feeling fine, sweetheart? C'mon, give mommy a kiss." And she lifted him up to give him a peck on the forehead before she laid him down in his baby carrier.

When she turned to Bobby he already was close to her and smacked a wet kiss on her forehead.

"Bobby," she scolded gently only to crane her neck and kiss him passionately.

"So… what's new?" she asked when they broke their kiss and he sank into the cushions beside her.

"We'll go to Pittsfield tomorrow. The card Nicole sent to Gwen was postmarked there."

"What's in Pittsfield?"

"That's where Melville wrote Moby Dick."

"Oh."

For a moment they sat together in silence before Bobby said, "Declan left the hospital."

"Really?" Alex was suspicious. "Didn't you say he'd have to stay for a few days?"

"That didn't stop Nicole either, did it?" Bobby sucked in a sharp breath. "When we came back from Phoenix Ross told us that Declan demanded to be released. He also refused personal security. As we can't force it on him he just left and has not been seen ever since."

"I don't think that that is wise, given the fact that Nicole just tried to kill him. He could be surprised again at any time."

"Well, Declan is an excellent profiler… and he's old enough. He should know what he is doing."

"So are you and you still got trapped in Nicole's web last year."

His brown eyes changed to a dark chocolate tone when he now looked at her.

"She had the best bait possible."

Alex swallowed a sudden rush of anxiety as memories flashed before her inner eye. She had been at home, together with Carolyn Barek. They had something to eat, they had wine… and the next thing Alex knew was that she was caged. Metal bars enclosed her prison and on the other side of the room was a similar cell holding Carolyn. They had a camp bed and nothing more. Alex even was chained to her bed that was screwed to the floor. And then Nicole entered the room, explaining to them that they were hostages and Bobby the ransom to buy them free. Alex had been flabbergasted. She had heard a lot of crazy stuff from the Australian poison mass murderer, but that took the cake. Nicole was serious. She injected Alex with a poison and offered Bobby to buy the antidote from her… with naturals. And that was how Nicole got pregnant with Bobby's child.

Awkward silence filled the narrow space between them and loaded the atmosphere. When she could not stand it any longer Alex asked. "Have you eaten?"

"A little, on the plane," he murmured, but his insides rumbled audibly at the mention of food.

"But you wouldn't mind dinner, huh?" she chuckled, wrinkling up her nose as she thought of the food usually served on planes. "We had pork roast with corn and gravy. There's a portion for you in the fridge. Just put it in the…" microwave she wanted to say but he already darted to the kitchen.

So Alex decided to bring Ronny upstairs and when she returned from tucking him in Bobby sat and ate his dinner. Sitting down on the sofa Alex took a deep breath and just said what was on her mind.

"If you ask for my honest opinion, and that's what you do, I have to tell you that I have my doubts about taking Naomi in." She saw his frown and held up one hand to silence him. "But I agree with it."

"You do?"

He sounded so incredulous that Alex could not help but laugh out loud.

"Yes, I do. I love you, Bobby. I want you to be happy. And you are Naomi's father. So what did you expect me to do? Say no? And then you'd bring her home anyway?" She chuckled. "I know you could never walk away from a child of yours. You are absolutely right. She has family and that is where she belongs. She belongs with us. And I'll welcome her in our family."

"Thank you, Alex," he said, almost choking on his corn with emotion. "That means a lot to me."

"I know," she said, favoring him with a warm smile. Then something entirely else crossed her mind. "Did Ross say when Declan left?"

"In the early afternoon, I think," Bobby said. "Why is that significant?"

Alex shrugged. "No idea. Or maybe… maybe I somehow expected him to want to talk with you before he leaves. I don't know."

"You're the one having a hunch this time?" Bobby smirked.

"I don't have a hunch," Alex chuckled. "I don't even know why I asked. I guess I'm bored."

"You're bored? Don't you have enough to do with our baby boy?" he teased.

"Oh, he's not keeping me as busy as Neal. And you know that that's not what I meant. My mind needs stimulation, Bobby." Smirking she tapped two fingers against her temple. "It feels like the wheels in there are getting a little rusty."

Bobby laughed.

"Stimulation, huh?" His mischievous smirk suggested that he did not think about her brain. Accordingly his arm rose and was placed on the sofa's backrest. His hand found its way over the curve of her shoulder to her chest where it started to caress her, his fingers trailing around the firm mound of her breast.

Of course Alex knew that game, too, so that her hand did not waste its time with his chest. Brushing over his considerable pride made him gasp and she used the golden opportunity for a challenging kiss that drew the wind out of him, leaving him panting. Her chest was forgotten. Now his hand clawed in her blonde hair, pulling her close for another crushing kiss. Both of them were breathing heavily when he let go of her, but his excitement even rose higher when she caressed him through his trousers.

Smirking at him she reached for his belt now. With skilled hands she unbuckled his belt and fumbled his button open. Slowly she opened the zipper.

"Whoa! Aleeeex!" he panted when she advanced further.

Alex chuckled. Then she wrapped her arms around Bobby's middle and urged him to shift his position until she could shove his pants down. Having him fully exposed now, his feet trapped in the fabric of his suit trousers, aroused her, too, and she bent down to go ahead and caress him with her lips. But as soon as her breath washed over him he moaned with pleasure. His moan grew deeper when she started to peck him and more drawn out with every lick she let follow.

Closing his eyes Bobby leaned back and let himself drift away on the waves of pleasure she elicited from him. His breaths became shorter and heavier until moans mingled in and grew to groans. The stronger she held his hips to prevent him from thrusting the harder he clawed at the sofa, doing his best not to explode too fast. When he finally could not hold back any longer he released with a cry of pleasure.

Once he regained his senses enough to recognize where he was and what had just happened he blushed a deep crimson.

"What?" Alex asked, smirking at him.

"Your parents…" he mumbled.

Alex laughed out loud.

"Don't you think that they made their own experiences?" she chuckled.

Slowly Bobby recovered which was not so easy looking at his beautiful wife. Alex glowed with the pride of motherhood and love and Bobby found it very, very hard to withstand. Suddenly he noticed a change in her stance and when he searched eye-contact with her he saw that she became earnest again.

"When do you want to go and take Naomi home?" she asked.

"I thought you would come with me."

"I… can," she agreed hesitantly. "When do you want to go?"

"Hmmm… We'll have to go to Pittsfield tomorrow… I'll have to see when we'll be back."

"We can still go afterwards," Alex suggested. "Why don't you call me when you quit for the day? Then we could meet at the hospital."

Thoughtfully he nodded.

"Okay. Then that's settled," Alex stated. She smirked at him mischievously. "Now let's have some more fun before the two of them keep us busy day and night."

Bobby's eyes widened with surprise and excitement as she reached out for him to pull him up and lead him to their bedroom.

tbc…