Disclaimer:All of the characters are the property of Dick Wolf. I thank him, the writers, the directors and all the great actors who brought them "to life" for our benefit. Any "liberties" I have taken with them stems from my fond admiration (and a few personal quirks I will seek "help" for).

AN: This story is not set within the accepted "canon" for the characters as it is only officially portrayed by the TV series. So I get to "fool around" with them in ways in which they've never been seen, stretching that to the limit and suspending the "reality" that is "fiction" to start with…now there's a contradiction in terms!!!

(And yeah Goren I know the proper word for that is oxymoron…by the way "Fancy an exchange of bodily fluids later?" is NOT a romantic or seductive suggestion)

I just love the scenes where Bobby and Alex do this…

THE WALK THROUGH

Alex Eames walked into the hallway of the apartment and glanced around as her partner Bobby Goren crouched on the floor. Rubbing his gloved hand on the carpet and sniffing it. She almost dreaded what he was going to say.

"Detergent" he said softly with an expansive gesture. "This has been cleaned in the last 24 hours" He rubbed his hand over it again. "Still damp in places"

"Uhuh" she said rifling through some items on the hallstand. "There's a pass here for The Skyline Club. Admit two…Saturday night. Must have been a private party. I'll check out the booking later"

Eames stepped into the kitchen. "Everything's neat and tidy in here". She opened the oven door. Nothing nasty or hidden in there.

Goren followed her in and reached by her to take the lid off the bin. "Someone forgot to empty the trash"

She watched him rake through the unpleasant looking debris and remove six beer bottles he stood on the counter.

"One half eaten vegetable spring roll" he murmured with his head halfway into the thing. "Some remains of egg fried rice and…" he sniffed. "Prawn chop suey. See? There are the remains of a few bean sprouts?"

Eames pulled a face as she pulled out with two fingers, a piece of paper from between a sports magazine and the centre roll from toilet paper.

"Someone isn't re-cycling as much as they should. I hate bean sprouts. Like white worms"

Goren looked at her "You should eat them Eames. Pound for pound they are one of the most nutrition rich sources of food on the planet. Full of minerals, vitamins and essential amino acids. These are from mungbeans" he picked one out of the trash.

"Sometimes called Chinese because of their use in Oriental cuisine. Especially that of the Kowloon area of Hong Kong. But many other sproutings are edible. Alfalfa, navy beans, sunflower and tatsoi to name but a few. But you do need to be careful. Some contain toxins like those of kidney beans and have to be well cooked before you eat them"

"Whatever" she shrugged. "The take away was for two"

Goren twisted round suddenly. "How do you know?"

"Says here on the bill" Eames muttered reading the stained scrap of paper. "Meal B. Two persons. From The Lotus Garden. That's just along the street isn't it?"

"Uhuh" said Goren unable to resist turning off the cold tap a little harder, which was dripping. "Does it have a time on it? They sometimes do?"

"Can't see for what looks like spaghetti sauce" she frowned. "Oh yes. Twelve forty-four am. Yesterday. Guess that got bought on the way back from the Skyline"

"Reasonable assumption" said Goren quietly, clutching his folder and going down the hall.

Eames put her head quickly into the bathroom. "Water in the bottom of the shower" she called. "Means it's been used this morning. And a condom wrapper in the trash"

She caught up to Goren in the bedroom. He was counting the number of freshly ironed shirts hanging from the closet door. Why that mattered Alex had no idea as she pulled back the bedclothes and switched on a UV light. Flickering it over the sheet to illuminate certain marks.

"Looks like someone hit for the fences at least once. Maybe twice" She picked up one of the pillows and sniffed it "Chanel Number 5?"

Eames passed it to Goren's gloved hand for him to smell. He sniffed twice.

"19" he corrected her

"You sure?"

There was a way Goren had of holding that folder told you he didn't always like his opinion or judgement to be questioned as he stepped back in the hall. Eames tossed the pillow and followed him into the living room. Unlike the rest of the apartment it was in something of a state of disarray.

The seat cushions of the couch had been lifted aside and left on the floor beside it. Like someone was searching for something. It and the high backed leather chair were moved aside. You could see the marks on the carpet where they normally stood and the coffee table was on one end by one of the numerous well-filled bookcases. They seemed to be untouched, though a cupboard beneath one of them was open.

Eames picked up a couple of scatter cushions from the floor and found between them a single stocking.

"I guess this is where some of the action happened or started," she said to Goren who was standing by the dining table hugging his folder and staring at something. With that little "chewing on his nail" gesture.

"There's a piece missing" he said waving his hand over a large jigsaw puzzle. "See? Blue of the sky? Must just have a tiny touch of green from the top of the Liberty statue torch flame"

"So the search could have been for that? Nothing to do with this?" she held up the black stocking.

Goren nodded.

"Even so" Eames inspected it more closely. "The lady is probably a little pissed. These look like good quality five denier silk to me and there's a run in them"

She pointed out the place near the top. "What you get with a ham fisted guy"

Her partner coughed awkwardly. "Seen enough?"

"Sure" Eames tossed the stocking on the jigsaw and reached for the SUV keys in her pocket. "Though why we have to go through this every Monday morning Bobby I shall never know. Why can't you just tell me what you did on the weekend like normal people do?"

Goren followed her from his apartment; mildly upset by the way she used the word "normal".

AN: What's really worrying is I could almost see this happening…and think it "normal" !!!