Alex POV

"Are you ready?"

I looked up at Bobby expectantly as I awaited his response.

He trimmed his beard this morning, and he's dressed in blue jeans and a dark green and black striped shirt, with a black t-shirt underneath. He looks rugged and manly and sexy as hell and I'm already counting the minutes until I can get him alone again.

Who knew it would be like this?

I mean seriously…he wasn't so far off with his tease of me being an insatiable nymphomaniac. Although I'm going to blame it entirely on him because I was certainly never like this before.

"As ready as I'm going to be," he replied as he looked down at himself and nervously ran a hand over the front of his shirt.

"It's going to be fine," I assured him, settling my hand on top of his.

"And if it's not?"

I can appreciate his apprehension. I've got a few butterflies myself.

But still…it won't be the end of the world if it doesn't go as I hope.

"Then we won't have to worry about attending any family dinners," I said easily.

Earlier, after making plans with Logan for four o'clock, I pointed out that we would have plenty of time to catch up with my parents for lunch.

"But it'll take at least forty-five minutes to get there," Bobby said after I made the suggestion.

There.

Our double-date destination.

"It's only ten o'clock," I reminded him. "We'll meet my parents at noon, finish by two, and that'll give us an hour to come back here and…whatever and then leave at three."

"Whatever?" he asked as a half-smile played on his lips.

"Well, I figure I'll need to reward you after spending two hours with my parents," I replied.

I might need a reward, too. Not that I don't love my parents, because I do, but still…I'm just hoping that my dad is on his best behavior. My mom, too. Sometimes she's worse than he is.

And I was tempted to procrastinate…maybe wait another few weeks to tell them, but my conscience has gotten the best of me, especially since I'm practically living with Bobby now.

Practically, I thought with a mental eye roll.

I haven't been back to my place in a week, and even then it was only to grab my mail and more clean clothes.

"Do I get to pick my reward?" Bobby asked playfully, obviously warming up to the idea of spending some time with my parents.

"Of course," I agreed without hesitation.

So I called my parents and arranged to meet them at noon in a little café on Staten Island. It's one of my dad's favorite places to go, and it's also about the last place in the world I'd expect to run into Ross, so I figured it's a win-win.

"You can't avoid your family if they don't approve of our relationship," Bobby reasoned in response to my remark about boycotting family get-togethers if my parents are rude.

"Watch me," I promised, and then I added with forced confidence, "But I'm sure it won't come to that."

We went into the café and I scanned the room briefly before spotting my parents at a corner table.

They were talking to each other as we headed in their direction and we were nearly to the table before my dad looked up. He broke into a grin and got up from the table.

"There she is," he said as he pulled me into a hug. "The best cop in New York."

"Dad…"

"Sorry. The best detective," he amended cheerfully.

"I didn't know you were working today, honey," my mom said, eyeing Bobby as she stood up. I moved past my dad, who reached out to shake Bobby's hand, and my mother quickly threw her arms around me.

"Good to see you, Bobby," I heard my dad say as I responded to my mother, "I'm not."

"Oh?" she questioned as the obligatory hugging came to an end and everyone sat down.

"No," I answered.

My mother stared at me for several seconds while I silently begged her not to say something stupid, and then she shifted her gaze to Bobby.

"Well, I'm glad you decided to tag along, Bobby," she remarked as she picked up a menu. "After all, you only get to see Alex…what, six or seven days a week while we're lucky to see her once a month?"

And there it is. Passive-aggressive at its best.

I felt Bobby stiffen beside me, but I put my hand on his thigh in an effort to keep him relaxed.

We're too happy. There's no way I'm going to let my mother ruin it. The funny thing is that I was expecting cynicism from my father more so than her.

Although maybe she's just ticked at me for not visiting more often, I decided.

And if that's it, then fine, but she's not going to take out her annoyance with me on Bobby.

"He's not tagging along. I invited him," I corrected firmly.

"I see," she said stiffly.

"You see what?" I pressed as my temper began to build. Bobby put his hand over top of mine, where it was still resting on his thigh. I guess he decided that maybe I'm the one who needs comforting.

"You blew off the last three family dinners, claiming that you had to work. It takes you days to return my calls. Last month, I set you up with that nice boy who moved in down the block and you stood him up, probably just to spite me, and…"

"What's your point, Mom?" I interrupted. "What does any of that have to do with you being rude to Bobby?"

"I'm just saying," she retorted. "You don't want to have anything to do with us anymore."

"I called you today, didn't I? I'm here, even though you seem determined to fight."

"And you brought your partner. Why? So you can fake the need to go to work in order to leave lunch early?"

"Mary," my dad said sternly.

"But you know what?" she continued as if my father hadn't said anything. "I don't really think it's us you're upset with. I think it's your life. You work all the time and I'm the only one honest enough to point it out to you that there's more to life than that damn job, Alex. And what kind of mother would I be if I sit back and do nothing while you let life pass you by? You have to get out there and…"

"Mary," my dad said again, finally catching her attention.

"What?"

My dad stared at her hard for a moment and then turned to look at me and then Bobby and then me again.

"She already said she's not working today. And that she invited Bobby," he said as a ghost of a smile passed over his lips. "Don't you want to know why?"

"Why what?" Mom asked him as she regarded him with irritation, probably for his interruption of her tirade.

But he kept looking at me and I know he knows.

Detective skills run in the family.

Because even though I'm touching Bobby, it's below the table, and our shoulders aren't even touching as we sit next to each other in the booth and it's not like I've never brought him with me to family things in the past.

But he's still sensing the difference about this particular time.

"Alex?" he prompted.

"Yeah, um…"

For the love of God, I'm forty-three years old and I can't seem to tell my parents that I have a boyfriend, I thought in annoyance, so I bit the bullet and just said it.

"Bobby and I are dating."

It was a little before two when we left the café.

"Is it wrong that I'm glad that's over?" I asked as Bobby put his arm around me, hugging me to him as we walked towards the car.

"It wasn't bad. Honestly, the scenarios in my mind were a whole lot worse."

"That's not surprising," I teased. "And yeah, it could've been worse. I thought my dad would be more upset with me for breaking the rules."

"Instead it's your mom who isn't sure about me."

"She just needs to let it sink in," I assured him, although I'm not a hundred percent sure that's true.

Her response?

"Another cop? Alex, have you completely lost your mind?"

"Mom, you married a cop," I reminded her, shocked that she would bring up Joe so quickly.

"And I worried every single day while he was at work. Why would you put yourself through that again?"

"Because I love him," I answered decisively, and that shut her up.

"She just worries about me," I told Bobby as I unlocked the car. "It's not about you. She likes you. She just doesn't want to see me hurt."

"Neither do I," he said, and then before I could walk around to the driver's side, he trapped me against the car with his body. "So do I get my reward now?"

"What do you want?"

"You," he said sweetly as he rested his palm against my cheek.

"You already have me. Be more specific," I encouraged coyly.

"You…forever," he amended, and then he slowly leaned in and captured my lips and oh my God…the white hot flood of pleasure that rolled through me was intense and all-consuming, and it has just as much to do with his words as his devastating kiss.

Forever.

I really love the sound of that.

Two hours after leaving the diner on Staten Island, we felt the subway train rumble to a stop at our destination.

During those two hours, we drove from the café to my apartment in Forest Hills so that I could do my weekly gathering of mail and clothes, and then we stopped at the market before going back to Bobby's place.

"We need bread," I commented as we wandered through the aisles. "And coffee. Bananas."

The domesticity of it wasn't lost on me.

"Whipped cream," he added.

"For what?"

He smirked at me as he directed us towards the dairy section.

"Is that for me or you?" I questioned in amusement as he snagged a can of Reddi-Whip.

I expected him to make a joke about it, but instead he spent the next several minutes detailing what he had in mind.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to follow through. Not yet anyway. By the time we got back to his apartment and put the groceries away, and found room for my clothes in his closet, it was time to head to the subway station.

Of course, that didn't stop him from torturing me during the forty-five minute train ride.

"I can taste it already," he whispered as we sat sandwiched together on the train.

"Taste what?"

"The whipped cream on your skin."

I usually have a response for everything, but his provocative comment rendered me speechless as my mind focused on conjuring up the image to go along with his words.

"You're thinking about it, aren't you?" he asked after a moment.

"Yes."

"Good," he said smugly.

I love that he's in such a great mood. I think the fact that the lunch with my parents is out of the way, and it wasn't a disaster, has loosened him up even more than he was before.

And tonight should be a lot of fun, spending some down-time with Logan and his fairy tale woman.

And then of course later, when we get back home…

Anyway, we exited the train at Coney Island.

I haven't been here since I was a kid, but for some reason this is where Logan suggested we meet.

It's an odd choice and yet I like it.

People and beach and food and beer and virtual anonymity.

Although it's less crowded now than it surely was even just a few weeks ago because the days are getting shorter and colder, but still…it's a beautiful night.

We walked down the block and over to the boardwalk and I spotted Logan, with his phone to his ear, leaning against a post. He was staring down the boardwalk, so it gave me a moment to look him over and I'm not ashamed to say that's exactly what I did.

Not because of any sexual interest but because I do really like him and he seems to have been on a roller coaster lately.

And something major happened at work on Friday because he and Ross spent a considerable amount of time behind closed doors.

But whatever happened seems to agree with him because I've never seen him more relaxed and content.

He's dressed in jeans and a dark blue Henley shirt and as he's talking, he's still staring intently off into the distance and he has a smile on his face.

"Good for you," he was saying, once we got close enough to hear. "Do I get details?"

Then he started laughing as he said, "No, Wheeler…come on, I was kidding!"

"Wheeler?" Bobby said under his breath. We came to a stop several feet away from Logan so as not to interrupt his conversation.

"It's not her," I replied.

"How do you know?"

"Is she who you heard on the phone this morning?"

"Well, no."

"Besides, he'd call her Megan, don't you think? Not Wheeler."

"Yeah, you're exactly right, Eames."

"Ha ha," I replied as I nudged him with my hip. "Undercover in a strip club, remember? I'm guessing her name will be something like Amber or Tiffany or Laci with an i."

"Are you being pretentious?" he asked on a laugh.

"I don't care if her name is Fluffy as long as she treats him right."

"Hey, Wheeler," Logan said as he finally caught sight of us. "I need to run, but we'll do it, okay? I think he's due for more serious vetting now that you're…well, you know. Being a guy about it."

He laughed again and then added, "I've got all the time in the world. Call me after work tomorrow. C and I will meet you two wherever."

He hung up and shoved his phone in his pocket, glancing again down the boardwalk and then walking over to us.

"C?" I asked as he shook Bobby's hand. He hesitated briefly and then gave me a hug, which took me by surprise and yet I'm okay with it.

"Eavesdropping, Eames?"

"I'm a detective," I replied with a smirk. "So…where is she?"

"She's putting our name in with the hostess. She'll be back in a minute," he said, and as he spoke, he turned around again, presumably to look for her, and since I don't know who I'm looking for, I watched his face instead, and I knew the minute he saw her.

So then I shifted my attention to the woman walking towards us.

I was expecting flashy.

Bold.

Overtly female.

A stripper.

But what I got was Carolyn Barek.

"It's Barek?" I asked in astonishment. "Why didn't you just say so? And why the misdirection with the strip club?"

"And Wheeler knows?" Bobby questioned, joining in my interrogation. "Logan…"

"Throw in a dead body and this'll feel just like old times," I finished as Carolyn approached, so that it was the two of them standing together, facing the two of us.

"It's great to see you guys," Carolyn said with an amused smile. "Bobby, Mike wouldn't tell me who your date was, but I'm really glad to see it's Alex."

So Logan kept our secret, even from her.

The better I get to know him, the more I like him.

"Yeah, well it's about damn time I stop keeping so many secrets," Logan said with a grin. "So now it's all out there. Goren and Eames are sleeping together…me and Barek are sleeping together…and no dead bodies tonight, alright? Let's just have dinner and a few drinks and enjoy ourselves. And I'll fill in all the blanks."

TBC...