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 reviews. I'm a little sad that you don't like Naomi. Okay, she's a little difficult, but they still have to get to know each other. Special thanks to Bammi1 for beta-reading. Enjoy!

Chapter 19

"Did you see her?" Alex wanted to know after Bobby explained to her what happened to Jo Gage. Once more they were sitting on the sofa, this time on their own at home in the Rockaways. Alex had not taken no for an answer and packed their stuff to move back home with the help of her parents while Bobby went to see Jo at prison.

"Only very shortly," he said. Naomi lay in his arm and drank her last bottle for the day. "I didn't want to disturb her, so I only stood by the door when Dr. Baines went in to check on her."

"So she's quite bad off, huh?"

"Yeah."

Naomi had finished her bottle and yawned.

"You tuck her in," Alex told him. "If I'd try to put her to sleep she'd only cry again."

That made Bobby chuckle. "She'll realize that you only want her best."

"Yeah, I want her to sleep peacefully… so that we can sleep peacefully. Do you hear me, young lady? Learn your lesson from your brother and sleep."

Bobby grinned. "You will sleep, sweetheart, won't you? C'mon." He carried her up to the children's room, changed her diapers, tucked her in, and went back down about fifteen minutes later. When he sat down with Alex he noticed how tense she was.

"What's wrong, Alex? Are you worrying that she'll scream again?"

"A little," she admitted. "But that's not what was on my mind."

"So what was?"

"Do you think that Jo could have tried to frame you? She's in prison. She was in a coma… I heard about prisoners taking revenge, but she neither appeared to be that resentful toward you nor could she direct other people's actions while she was in the coma."

"I don't think that it was her."

He sounded tired, but when Alex searched his gaze he looked alert. Obviously it was more an emotional exhaustion. His huge sigh now testified to his weariness.

"So, who do you think it was?"

When he now met her gaze he also looked tired.

"You'll help me with Ross, right?"

"Sure I'll help you," Alex agreed. "Don't be silly. So who?"

"I'll need you in interrogation, too, but I also have to ask you to leave in time. I'll have to do that on my own. I'll have to confront him."

Deep emotional pain stood in his eyes and a single tear rolled over his cheek. So Alex reached out for him to pull him into a huge hug.

"I'll do whatever is necessary," she murmured into his ear. "You know that, don't you?"

"Hm hmmm."

Soothingly rubbing circles on his back she held him close and hummed a calming melody until she felt him relax in her arms. She could not help but sigh, too. Life with Bobby Goren sure was interesting and fulfilling, but it could also be demanding.

xXx

Taking a deep breath Bobby sat down in his chair in the interrogation room while Alex leaned against the wall right beside the door. Last night they had made a plan and this morning they went to Ross to suggest it. He was not pleased at first, but their arguments were substantial and so he agreed with their plan.

When he went to make the call they were asking him for Ross still looked skeptical. He was a man of solid evidence. Whenever Bobby Goren came to him and said that he would solve and close a case in the interrogation room, getting a confession, it made him uneasy. He trusted his detective's abilities, but it still left him anxious if they did not have enough evidence to prove their case up their sleeves.

They did not talk. They had done all the talking at home and in Ross's office. They understood each other without words.

Bobby took a deep breath to calm himself. He did not like his working theory, but it was the best they had and the most logical. Now he just had to prove their point.

He did not like it.

"I appreciate you coming." From outside they heard Ross speak as he approached interrogation with their prime suspect.

"Does… does Bobby know I'm here?"

Bobby's insides constricted when he heard Declan Gage ask the captain who answered, "He asked for you."

Now they had reached the room and Ross gestured Declan inside.

"Bobby?" Declan said upon entering, and Ross closed the door behind him. A glance over his shoulder revealed that Alex was there, too. "Oh… your partner's here, huh?"

"Yeah," Alex confirmed coldly. "I was just telling him how you think I'm responsible for killing his brother."

Declan chuckled. "Well, that was one working theory."

Pushing herself off the wall Alex asked, "But why would I do that now? When I need, what did you tell the captain, some… terrible trauma?"

"Well, you've had those, haven't you?" Declan said, rather cheerfully. "In spades. PTSD, pat of anger." He huffed, amused. "It's all there."

"It's still there, alright," Alex agreed, standing right in front of the profiler, facing him down. "But not toward my partner." And husband, she added to herself. Don't go there. Stay professional. She turned to Bobby, "If you think he can help you, you're both out of your minds." Shooting one more angry look at Declan Alex left the interrogation room.

"Does she remind you of your mother?" Declan asked once the door fell shut behind her.

"C'mon. Knock it off." Bobby knew he had to play, but that did not mean that he liked it.

"Or Nicole?" Declan pushed and cackled. "No, I wouldn't think so. I mean, those two women you never knew quite what to expect," he made quite a show of taking off his hat and putting it on the table, "but that's what made them so exciting, isn't it?" Expectantly he looked Bobby up and down. He refused to react yet. "It's tough, you know, staying engaged when you are always two steps ahead of everyone else in the room."

Bobby sighed. "It's not Eames."

"Why? She lacks the nerve, huh?"

Do you really think my wife would do that to me or are you just trying to tease me? Bobby became quite annoyed and did his best to hide it.

"No."

"Imagination then. What did Reagon call it, um…" Declan chuckled, fishing for words, "the vision thing?"

"That was Bush."

"Was it?" Declan tilted his head, honestly confused. Then he laughed, "Talk about your father issues."

"Well, are we talking about father issues?"

"Isn't that what it's all about? C'mon, Bobby! You waited a year to check, uh, Brady's DNA. Why?"

The rather challenging why hang in the air between them and demanded an answer. Bobby's stomach rolled, but he had no choice.

"You knew about my paternity test. How come you to say something to the captain?" he accused his former mentor.

"You told me that in confidence. You… Don't change the subject! I… I get lost when you do that!"

"I wasn't afraid of the test," Bobby told him calmly, almost disinterested.

"Well, that's right!" Declan exclaimed. "Because you always knew! I mean, the moment you met Mr. Brady you, you, you… did it all make sense?"

Expectantly Bobby looked up at him. For the whole time Declan had remained standing but Bobby refused to rise to the bait.

"Your whole life your mother's husband never showed you love. And your mother, despite everything you did for her, she preferred that… cankerous brother of yours to you." He was talking himself into mild agitation. "Why would that be?"

Declan challenged him with a prodding nod.

"She knew that I could take care of myself," Bobby told him, knowing that that would annoy his former mentor and pull him deeper into their game. So he topped it off, "She worried about him."

"Yeah, she did. Didn't she?" Declan mused. He seemed to be content with analyzing Bobby's early family life. "So you did what you could for him. You put him back in touch with your mom… at the end… and what did he do? Hm?"

Bobby offered him an undecided, thoughtful look, bordering on appearing lost.

"Hm?" Declan pushed and continued when Bobby did not answer, "He betrayed you. He tricked you into putting your career on the line for a nephew you never even knew existed. Alright, alright…" Now Declan took his jacket off, put it over the back rest of his chair and finally sat down opposite of Bobby, clearing his throat. "There's a theme here. Bobby, did you ever ask yourself why?" Leaning on the tabletop Declan prodded Bobby for a response. "Why nobody ever came through for you? You think it was your fault?"

"Yes, I've thought that," Bobby told him what he wanted to hear.

"It isn't, you know. They failed you. You did everything you could for them. And more."

Tentatively Bobby nodded. Then he made the gesture more distinctively. Declan was not the only one who could put up a show. Then, as if it was hard for him to admit he said, "Thanks."

"Just like I did for Jo."

"You think you did everything you could for Jo?"

"I did the best I could," Declan defended himself. "I'm a single parent."

In Bobby's opinion he was being cynical. Sure, Declan had been traveling around the globe, always on the hunt for serial killers or interviewing murderers to refine his profiling skills. From what Jo had told him one of Declan's ideas of entertaining his daughter was giving her the name of a killer and getting the details of his crime from her in return. She had no friends because all she could talk about were crime scene investigations and psychological assessments. As soon as they talked more than five sentences the others would feel like they were being analyzed and left Jo standing alone.

So much for doing the best he could…

"You told me that your relationship with her has never been better," Bobby said, fixating his former mentor accusingly. "And… she's in a coma."

Declan rested his left elbow on the tabletop and tapped his bottom lip with his index finger.

"I didn't want to upset you," he said. "I know you two were close in your way… and… you had enough going on."

"You're good. Hm… For a man with diminishing capacity you still hold your own." Bobby got up and wandered around in the corner of the room.

"Diminishing capacity?" Declan asked back. "What are you talking about?"

"Jo's refusal to see you," Bobby asked him bluntly, "is that what pushed your mind over the edge?"

"Oh, you think I've lost it?" Declan seemed to enjoy himself. "I'm a tenured professor now." Supporting his tilted head on his peculiar spread left hand he made quite a professor like appearance. "I lecture. I write books."

"You forget to wash your hands," Bobby shot back. "You eat candy right out of the wrapper."

"Oh, am I a bad boy, huh?" Declan chuckled.

"You ate month old Christmas dinner." Bobby stood beside the table, eyeing the man intently. Even for his trained eyes he did not look like someone who lost his marbles. But if he was sane… That thought was even harder to bear. "What's the matter? The thought that the food has turned never came to you?"

"I get busy with my work…" Declan simply said, holding up his hands in an innocent gesture. He always was good at gestures. The profiler also knew that Bobby would use reading his body language to influence their game.

"Executive function."

So Bobby did not take the bait. "You wanna do the Wisconsin card test?" Declan spat. "The strobe?"

"I don't need to. Your frontal lobes have blown out. Okay? It's too much formaldehyde, drug abuse…"

"Genetic roulette," Declan interrupted Bobby's flow. "That could be a factor."

"Man with your knowledge," Bobby said. "Must have been excruciating to know what your future was, you know. You lost your judgment. Your lack of ambition… there's no meds for that."

"There is occupational therapy," Declan followed Bobby's lead. "I'll make, uh, hm, phhh," he struggled for words, "um, collages." He chuckled without real amusement.

"You know… you do that already."

By now Bobby had lost all semblance of compassion. Leaning forward on the table he got into Declan's face in his best suspect intimidating posture. Declan actually looked worried if not to say scared.

"You cut and paste… pieces of my life together."

Bobby's voice had just the hint of pain in it and Declan reacted to it at once.

"Very good, Bobby!" he praised. "Maybe now…"

"You did this, didn't you?" Bobby wagged his index finger at him. "You killed my brother!"

"No, no… That was Nicole."

Smiling smugly at the detective Declan leaned back in his chair.

Thoughtfully Bobby shifted his position a few times before he straightened up to face Declan down.

"How did you find her?"

That clearly amused Declan, "Ha, ha! My latest book! I wrote about women serial killers. Like Jo, like her. I knew she'd find it, then find me."

His manic laughter chased chills down Bobby's back.

"She tried to seduce me, Bobby!" Declan cheered and slapped Bobby's middle with the back of his hand in horrifying amusement. "I think you and I may be the only two men who said no to her. It's the only way to engage her."

"Yeah… And once," Bobby sat back down, "once you engaged her…?"

"I convinced her that I… was furious with you… about Jo. She said she missed having a partner."

Drawing in a slightly shuddering breath Bobby closed his eyes. He was not sure if he could finish this interrogation. Could he bring his former mentor down like he had planned with Alex? Could he get him to confess completely? It was so hard to bear. His chest tightened and pressed the air out of his lungs.

Forcing himself to open his eyes again Bobby said, "And my brother? That was her idea?"

"I let her think so. I knew she could get at him. She said it didn't take much, a little smile, a little prick…"

Making a pained face Bobby shook his head. It was all he could do to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. His emotional agony choked up his voice, "You… son of a bitch!"

"He was going down anyway," Declan insisted with an air of absolute ease. Obviously he believed he had done Bobby a favor. He had to explain himself, "Bobby, I didn't want him taking you with him."

"You did this for me?" Bobby felt as if his heart had been ripped out of his body.

"No…" Declan took off his glasses. "For both of us. After Jo I had no one. And you, you…" Helplessly he waved his hands. It looked as if he wanted to embrace Bobby. "You're the son I've never had. When… when I saw you at your mother's funeral you broke my heart. I wanted you to engage again. So I gave you a puzzle… to solve, to play!"

"A puzzle?" Tears almost drowned out his voice and his features contorted with emotional agony. "You think that I needed her to get back in the game?"

"Precisely."

"You saw me at the wedding, too! What did you think? Did you think?"

Bobby had to fight not to lose his composure. He sensed how his body tried to tremble with tension, but he denied himself to give in to his grief.

"I'll tell, Bobby." Declan was unapologetic. "Let me tell about Nicole first. So she poisoned Frank, followed our plan… and after she had accomplished that, naturally she turned on me, but I was waiting." His gaze became dreamy with the memory. "You should have seen her, Bobby. When she realized it was finally her time she looked up at me with those big doe eyes of hers and she said, Tell Bobby he's the only man I have ever loved." He snorted. "As if a monster like that would be capable of love. You know…"

He paused, eyeing Bobby curiously. A fatherly smile played around his lips.

"I'm curious, you know. Who… who are you gonna miss more? Nicole? Or your brother?"

"Who else," Bobby panted. "Who else did you kill? Donny?"

"Your nephew?" That thought seemed to repulse Declan. "No! I wouldn't have done that, even if I would've found him. I… How would that have helped you?"

"Helped me." Bobby could merely mumble. "Helped me." Unable to digest that he tried to at least get order in his thoughts. He felt numb. How could Declan do that? How could he actually believe he did him a favor? Tears still lurked but he could not shed them.

"You still don't see, do you?"

All Bobby could do was shake his head.

In an attempt to make him see his point Declan reached out for Bobby and cupped his cheeks with both hands.

"Ssss… You're younger than you know. You…"

Wrenching his head free Bobby fought the urge to throw up. Not so long ago he had married. He gave his life a new purpose… outside the Force. He loved his job, it was a passion, but it was not the center of his life anymore.

"Frank," Declan tried to convince him. "Nicole. Me… huh… dead weight. I wanted you to have a clean slate."

Incredulously Bobby looked at him.

As if it was the most natural thing Declan added, "You're free… now."

Unable to comprehend that Bobby stared at his former mentor. That was not true. It could not be true. No way was that true.

"Bobby… You're free!" Pleased with himself Declan leaned back in his chair.

Free. Bobby shuddered. Free. What the hell does he think about Alex? Do I want to know that? Would he have tried to free me from her, too? The babies!

His throat was corded up. If he knows that Nicole has a child with me? It was too much. Bobby felt nauseous. Shaking his head he tried to clear it. With some effort he pushed himself up from the chair.

His voice was cold as ice he told Declan, "Put your arms behind your back."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm arresting you. Now turn and put your arms behind your back."

"Bobby! What are you doing? How can you arrest me? What for?"

But Bobby did not listen. Furiously he stepped forward, ready to push Declan against the wall. When the profiler backed off he snarled, "Declan Gage, you're under arrest for the murder of Nicole Wallace…"

"Nicole?" Declan burst out. "You're not serious! You can't be! How's it murder? I defended myself!"

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be used against you in a court of law." The words left Bobby's mouth without him even noticing. He had spoken them so often that he functioned on auto pilot.

"Bobby! You can't do that!" Declan finally realized that he had lost their game. He realized that they were not somewhere at a diner but in a Major Case interrogation room. He realized that he was doomed to die in prison.

"You have the right to an attorney during interrogation. If you cannot afford…"

Finally Declan snapped out of his trance… and reacted completely unexpectedly. Bobby's lecture was shattered by the chair smashing through the mirror. Glass shards rained down on Bobby and Declan as well as Ross and Alex, Bishop and their new assistant district attorney, Lionel Coates.

How it happened Bobby could not even tell. Suddenly he found himself in Declan's arms, a big shard from the mirror pressing against his throat. He could already feel blood trickle down his neck.

Overcoming their initial shock the detectives and captain regained their senses and their guns flew in their hands. Assuming combat stance they aimed at Declan.

"Let go of him!" Alex yelled. "C'mon! Drop the glass!"

"Drop it!" Bishop shouted, too.

"Dr. Gage!" Ross tried to reason with him. "You have no chance to walk out of here. Just let go of Detective Goren."

Declan laughed manically.

"Maybe you should drop your guns, Captain," Declan said. "My hands are not as calm as they used to be."

"Declan," Bobby murmured, careful not to move at all, scared that the shard would do more than just break the skin. "You reached your goal. You… freed me. You… can let go now."

"No!" Declan screamed with breaking voice, pulling his arm back to stab.

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

Bang!

Shots from all three cops thundered. Bobby heard them, but he did not know what happened. Pain spread from his shoulder through his whole body and he staggered. Then he saw the blood, a second before he stumbled and crashed down onto the floor. For a few more seconds he fought for his consciousness before darkness took him.

tbc…