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.
A/N: Thank you for your nice reviews. It makes me happy that you like it. Enjoy.
chapter 18
Alex had no idea where Bobby had gone. He stormed out of the squad room and where he went next she could only guess. She just hoped that he would not do anything stupid.
Hope he'll just head home, she thought and, taking that thought as a reminder, got her cell phone out to call her mother and tell her that she would not be back as soon as she had expected.
"What's going on?" Bishop asked when she returned to their desk to try and phone Declan Gage.
"Bobby… he noticed that we did a background check on him."
"He did not look pleased."
"Well, he wasn't."
While Bishop dug into her files again Alex tried the only telephone number she knew for Declan Gage and was lucky. He agreed to be there in about half an hour.
"I've got to have something done," Alex told Bishop. "I'll be right back."
With that Alex left the squad room. She was back right in time to see Declan enter a task room together with Captain Ross. Bishop waited for her by the door and both women stepped inside, Bishop pulling the door closed behind them. Alex sat down at the table, opposite of Ross, while Declan remained standing.
"Dr. Gage," Ross started. "We would like to go through your attack again. Can you please tell us what happened?"
The profiler was bending over to closer examine a photo of the dead Frank Goren tacked to the pinboard.
"There is not much to tell," he said, still studying the picture. "I was asked to give a speech at John J. and that was what I did. Hmmm, so I just finished my lecture and when I was going down the staircase someone bumped me and, uh…" he straightened up to look at the autopsy photo next, "I woke up in the hospital."
"Before you said that it was a woman," Bishop corrected him from where she was standing at the other end of the board.
"Did I?" Declan appeared to be confused. "It happened so fast."
"While you were giving your talk, did you notice anyone or anything out of the ordinary?" Bishop shot her next question.
Before she could quite finish Declan spoke up, "I do not look at my audience. I lecture from notes." He dropped in the chair right beside Alex. "Now I stay glued to my cards, or I go off on tangents, you see?"
"Dr. Gage, before all this, were you in touch with Detective Goren?"
"Didn't I see you at his mother's funeral?" Declan took his hat off and smashed it on the tabletop. "I also saw you at the wedding, didn't I?" He paused, looking Ross up and down challengingly. "You moved off Nicole Wallace as a suspect," he queried. "Why?"
Just for a second Ross hesitated. "The postmark on Nicole's heart. The heart was removed before you were poisoned."
Well, they got Declan's attention with that. Thoughtfully he watched Ross, evaluating what the captain was hinting at. He frowned.
"It's not Bobby," Declan said. "It's not possible."
"You're sure?"
"He's certainly not the one who bumped into me. That I would have noticed!" Indignantly he measured Ross with an intense gaze, then he scooted forward in his chair. "He is caught… in a trap! Set up by someone close to him. Maybe even you." With the index finger of his long, slender hands, he pointed at Alex.
"Excuse me?"
"You care about your partner," Declan mused aloud. "Deeply. That's why you married him. And you know more about him than…"
"I don't need to listen to this," Alex panted and got up from her place, glaring daggers at Declan. "You can have the room." And with that she stormed out.
"Oh!" Declan said, dryly amused, watching her disappear in the hall with his gaze.
Ross did not think that that was funny. "That was uncalled for."
Declan did not react to the captain's accusatory tone.
"We have to look at all the options, Captain," he explained, curious excitement carrying in his voice. "Now we're back to Bobby. Now why would he snap? Why now? Hm? In midlife. Any psychopathology would have manifested itself earlier. Or…
"Or, Doctor?" Ross prodded.
"Or lay dormant until some sort of inciting incident." He let his words hang in the air for a moment. "It would have to be something major, something that shakes his foundation to the core." Studying Ross he waited for a reaction that did not come. "But this looks like revenge. And everyone in Bobby's life, including you, me, Eames even, has to be…"
Ross's cell phone beeped
"…a suspect. That doesn't surprise me, actually."
Ross looked at his cell, alarmed.
"Genius can be very difficult," Declan continued while Ross got up, still studying the phone, "to live with." Annoyed he looked at Ross who just left the office.
"Are you even listening to me, Captain?" Declan shouted, but the captain already was out of earshot.
xXx
Alex did not know where she was going either, but the moment she stepped out of One Police Plaza she saw Bobby head back in. His expression alarmed her. He appeared to be furious and she could not resent him that. She hesitated to follow him, because she thought he was angry at her, and rightly so. Still he would have to accept that she and Ross could not act differently. They had to rule him out.
It worked for me but not for Ross, Alex thought. The captain really believes that it was Bobby, doesn't he?
Looking at the direction Bobby had vanished into Alex tried to decide what she should do. He really was in a bad mood. Where could he have gone? Tentatively she turned back to follow Bobby… and saw that Ross was on his way to the morgue in a hurry.
Oh, shit! Alex thought, rushing after him.
In the morgue, Bobby was raging, trashing the autopsy room.
"This is my life!" Alex heard him scream painfully when she still was several yards away from the door. "You promised me that this would be confidential! You promised me!"
Ross was right in front of her. Upon entering he barked, "Detective!"
Bobby stopped, letting his arms drop on his sides. He still looked angry… and hurt.
Ross turned to Rodgers, "Are you alright?"
"Fine," the medical examiner confirmed. "I… I dropped my tray. Nothing is broken or damaged."
"Let's go for a walk," Alex said to Bobby, tentatively reaching out to touch him, but thinking better of it. When she turned to leave Bobby followed her without further ado. Alex waited until they were out on the street before she tried to reason with him.
"I was trying to clear you."
"Good tactic," he grumbled.
"But there's an insurance policy on your brother, payable to a Swiss bank account in the name of William Brady."
Bobby was stunned. "But… This is an insurance policy on Frank?"
Her look clearly gave her thoughts away. Yes, it was. Bobby felt as if he got punched into his stomach, getting winded. The air left his lungs in a rush as he struggled to come to terms with what Alex implied.
"Someone's gas lighting you," she said, looking up at him, searching for a sign of recognition or realization, but there was nothing.
"That's what Declan said." Bobby's voice sounded toneless. He still was torn between betrayal, rage, trust, and love.
Alex looked at him pleadingly, unsure what to think, searching for answers but Bobby looked as helpless as she did.
"Why don't we go back to my parents? Now that Nicole is out of the picture we won't have to stay there. We could move back home."
Bobby just stood and stared straight ahead, uncertain of what to do. Alex got a feeling that he was not going to make any decision soon.
"C'mon, Bobby," she said. "Let's go."
Coaxing him to her car was not difficult at all. He simply walked along by her side, letting himself be pushed into the passenger seat without any fuss. So she climbed into the driver's seat and drove themselves home to her parents' house.
"Hey, Alex!" Helen Eames rushed down the stairs to greet her. "I'm so glad that you're back!"
"Why? What's wrong?" Alex asked, sounding alarmed.
"Ronny is a little angel," Helen gasped, "but the girl, Naomi… she just doesn't stop. I don't know what to do! She doesn't stop, she doesn't stop!"
From upstairs a bloodcurdling scream waved down to the small group.
Oh, no… Without hesitation Alex ran up the stairs. In the guest room that they had changed to a children's room Naomi lay in her cradle and screamed her lungs out. Quickly Alex stepped to her side and picked her up, rocking her gently in her arms and humming a soothing melody.
Naomi screamed.
"Are you hungry, sweetheart?" Alex asked. Out of the corner of her eye she saw her mother stand under the door. "When did she eat?"
"She didn't eat much," Helen told her. "She only suckled a bit on the bottle, but each time I tried to feed her she wouldn't drink."
"Then she must be hungry." Alex was worried for the little girl who was still screaming. "Mom, please hold her for a moment."
"Sure."
While her mother held the child Alex shrugged out of her jacked and opened her blouse and bra. Then she took Naomi back in her arms and brought her into position, but the girl would not drink.
"What's wrong with you, baby?" she purred. "C'mon, Naomi. You need to eat, hm. C'mon."
"Maybe she's sick?" Helen suggested.
"I don't think so. She's just an excessive screamer." Once more Alex changed Naomi's position and shoved her head against her chest, pushing the firm nub between her lips.
Naomi screamed.
Alex sighed.
"Let me hold her for a moment," Bobby suggested.
"And how do you want to feed her?" Alex wanted to know. "I can hear her little stomach growl. She must be hungry, but she wouldn't eat."
Invitingly Bobby reached out for Naomi. "I thought that's what breast pumps are for," he teased.
Scowling Alex shoved the girl in his arms and went to make Naomi a bottle. Bobby followed her what she did not even notice at first, because Naomi had stopped screaming.
"That's not true, is it?" Helen was stunned. "She must feel that you're her father."
"Now let's see if you can feed her," Alex teased, "Mommy."
"Very funny."
Still Bobby sat down with her on the sofa, gently pushed the nipple of the bottle between her lips… and Naomi started to suckle.
"I can't believe it!" Alex rolled her eyes. "Okay. You'll feed her and I'll go to look after Ronny."
"Okay."
Smiling lovingly at his daughter Bobby leaned back into the cushions. Right at that moment it did not matter how she was conceived. Naomi was his daughter. Half of the DNA she carried was inherited from him, a fact that no one could change.
Naomi drank happily and in the blink of an eye the bottle was emptied. Grinning happily at her Bobby put the bottle aside and tickled her stomach. She burped and when he put her down on a nest of pillows she yawned and fell asleep.
When Alex returned about fifteen minutes later she found them still on the sofa. Incredulously she looked down at Naomi who was still sleeping. Sighing she dropped down in the cushions on the other side of her husband.
"How did you do that?"
"I don't know," Bobby admitted, grinning at her and pushing a strand of her blond hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry."
Oh, man. He always is sorry. What is it this time? "Why?"
"For reacting like I did. Is Ronny sleeping, too?"
"Yes, he is." For a moment she just sat and gently let her hand run up and down Bobby's right thigh. "I'm sorry, too."
"But you don't have a reason to be sorry," Bobby said. "You were right. I know that." He took a deep breath. "Honestly, if I were leading the investigation I would have suspected me, too."
"We had to rule you out, Bobby, and I'm not sorry that we did it behind your back, that's our job. I'm sorry that we had to add that to the stress you're still under."
"I understand that, Alex. It's okay."
"No, it's not… but we had no choice."
"I know." Smiling lovingly at her he kissed her forehead. "It just doesn't mean that it did not hurt."
"I'm sorry."
"Stop," he ordered her harshly. "Stop apologizing or we'll still be doing it tomorrow."
"Okay."
Craning her neck she found his lips and breathed a kiss on them. She felt his hand slip behind her head and his fingers thread into her hair. Tenderly he held her in place when he intensified the kiss. Passionately he exerted more pressure and moved his lips in a light massage. Then he pushed his tongue out, prodding Alex to open up to him, and when she did he dove in to taste her. She responded by twirling her own tongue around his and pushing for entrance herself. When he let her in she explored his teeth and the roof of his mouth, reveling in his masculine taste.
"Whaaah!"
"I thought she's sleeping!" Alex panted when they separated.
"That's what I thought, too." Bobby looked over his shoulder at Naomi who fell silent. He chuckled. "Maybe she just doesn't want to share my attention."
"Reminds me of someone…"
Awkward silence lay between them for a moment after Alex's careless remark. She did not want to remind Bobby of Nicole, but now it was said and she could not take it back.
"Yeah," he finally said. "There's still something we'll have to find out, though."
"Yes?"
"Sure. Who is trying to frame me?"
"Who's got a motive?" Alex rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Whoever planned this scheme put a lot of effort and time into it. Who's so persistent?"
"I have an idea…" he mused.
"Really? Why didn't you say so earlier? We could have checked him out right after the scene in the office. C'mon, Bobby. Who is he?"
"He's no he."
xXx
How often he had been at prison during his career Bobby did not know. Countless times he had visited and interrogated inmates. This time he came to visit a friend.
At the entrance for visitors he put his cell phone into a box and passing a metal detector he entered the prison. From there he was led to the prison's hospital ward.
And that was where he was waiting now.
"Detective Goren!"
When he looked up he saw a dark haired woman in blue scrubs and a white doctor's jacket, a stethoscope around her neck, come through the barred door to the infirmary. "You're here to see Jo Gage?"
"Yeah," Bobby confirmed. Chills ran down his back. Suddenly he had an uneasy feeling at the thought that Jo had to be treated at the infirmary.
"You should have called," the doctor said.
Thoughtfully Bobby nodded. "I was afraid that she would tell her father that I would come for a visit, so…"
"That's highly unlikely," she told him. "She's still in a coma."
Coma? The chills became colder and an icy hand seemed to grab for his insides.
"Extreme blood loss deprived the brain of oxygen," the doctor explained. "Psychic just cleared Jo for visitation."
Bobby's confusion was obvious, so she took mercy on him and gave him the details, "The morning of her father's visit we found her in her cell. She had bitten her tongue off."
It was like a kick in the guts.
For a moment Bobby was speechless. When his brain finally kickstarted again he made some connections. Confirmations would be great.
"Where can we talk in private, Dr. Baines?" he read from her name tag.
Judging his expression she realized that it would be better if she talked with him now.
"This way," she told him and led the way to her office.
tbc…