Alex POV

I stood and reminded myself to breathe at regular intervals.

But it wasn't easy.

Not when I could easily picture how things might've gone differently.

As it was, I was staring at Bobby as he sat on the bumper of an ambulance while an EMT dabbed at the raw stripe along his temple.

The spot where the bullet had whizzed past his head.

Half an inch lower and he'd be in the back of Liz's van right now.

Instead, her assistants were currently scooping up Justin Delaney, courtesy of Logan.

I glanced over my shoulder to where Mike was leaning against the wall, seemingly working diligently, just like me, to breathe.

"Detective," an officer said as he approached Logan. "I need your weapon."

"I'll handle it," I spoke up. I turned back to Bobby and gave him a meaningful look and then headed over to where an officer from the 7th was standing in an adversarial position in front of Mike.

"Ma'am, it's standard procedure," the officer argued, looking me up and down carefully as I approached.

"It's captain," I corrected. "And I'm aware of the procedure. It involves his superior officer taking charge of his weapon until he's cleared by IAB, so when I say I'll handle it, I mean I'll handle it."

"Yes, ma'am," the officer said, throwing up his hands and backing off. "I'll place the call to IAB."

"You do that."

The officer pulled out his phone as he walked away and then I met Logan's gaze.

"You okay?" I asked him.

"You mean is my heart rate back to normal? No, not yet."

"I guess now I have to believe that range qualification report, huh?" I remarked in an effort to ease the tension of the moment.

He barked out a rough laugh and said, "Not really. I was aiming for his shooting hand."

Which was a lie and we both knew it.

He'd gone for the kill shot.

It wasn't ever a cop's first choice, but if it meant saving another life, then it was necessary.

And judging by the wound on Bobby's temple, it had been absolutely necessary.

"I'd kiss you right now if I didn't think we'd end up on Channel 7," I told him quietly as he handed over his forty-five.

"I promise to make it a good show," he teased back.

But his expression was still grave and I watched him as his eyes strayed back to the ambulance.

"I knew I could count on you to have his back," I told him.

"I almost didn't."

"But you did. Take a minute to breathe and once IAB gets here, we'll go through it with them, and then you can go, okay?"

"No. We need to get over to Delaney's apartment. We think maybe he killed the last Jane Doe, too. We have to go through his stuff."

"Okay," I said with a slow nod. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Liz coming towards us. "Just take a minute first. I'll call CSU and have them meet us there once we're done here."

I put my hand on his forearm and squeezed for just a moment and then turned and went back to Bobby.

The EMT was just finishing up.

"It's a good thing you've got a hard head," I said, working hard to keep my voice from cracking.

"I do seem to have a bull's-eye on it," he agreed. "Yesterday it was a laptop…today a bullet…"

"Maybe you should start wearing a helmet."

"Not a bad idea, Detective," the EMT said as he packed up his supplies. "But for now, just keep that area clean and starting tomorrow morning, let it get some air, okay? Take ibuprofen if you need it."

"You need it," I said as together we walked away from the ambulance. "It makes my head hurt just looking at it."

"I'm fine," he replied in a low tone.

And he didn't just mean that he didn't want ibuprofen.

He was telling me that he was fine. So maybe my mask wasn't as firmly in place as I'd hoped.

Or maybe Bobby just knows me so well that he can see right through it.

I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around him…to rest my cheek against his chest and hear the thud of his strong heartbeat in my ear…but we had a job to do first.

"Tell me what happened," I stated once we'd moved about twenty yards away from where Logan was standing. Liz was just now leaving him, since her assistants had everything ready to go, and I watched her for a moment as she went over to Sarah and said something to her and then Sarah reached into her pocket. She handed over a pack of cigarettes, which Liz then gave to Mike.

He was definitely rattled.

Which confirmed for me just exactly how hairy the situation had been.

"Or do you need one of those first?" I continued, tipping my head towards Mike, who was shaking a cigarette out from the pack.

I didn't wait for his answer because the look on his face was enough, so I walked over to Mike and snagged one of the cigarettes and the lighter and then went back to Bobby.

Protocol says that the officers involved in a shooting shouldn't talk to each other prior to being interviewed by IAB, which was often times pretty unrealistic, since the officers would normally be alone together from the time of the shooting until the first responders arrived, but still…I'd follow protocol from here on out.

I'd keep them separated until their statements were taken.

I waited while Bobby lit the cigarette and took a few deep drags and then he started talking.

"I thought I had him talked down," he admitted in conclusion. "He told us that he was winning the competition. A million dollars."

"Are you kidding me? Somebody's footing a purse like that? It should narrow our suspect pool then, don't you think? How many people can afford that?"

"I don't know," he answered with a shrug. "But Justin won't be telling us anything."

"Logan says he thinks Justin killed the last Jane Doe, too. What do you think?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding his head. "I brought her up, and he didn't deny it. He didn't deny Erin or Sally, either."

"So he killed three of them."

"I think so. But obviously we can't question him about Jane Doe. If we don't find something in his apartment, we may never know her identity. You've been running her picture on the news for days now and no one's claimed her."

That kind of thing really bothers him.

I mean, it bugs me, too, but it really bothers him.

The idea that someone can go missing and no one cares. I think that for a long time, he thought that was how his life would be.

If something happened to him, no one would notice, and no one would care.

And I think by now he knows that's not true.

I mean, he'd better know or I'll have to kick his ass.

But I can still appreciate how important it is to him that this girl doesn't go unclaimed.

"We'll figure it out, okay?" I said soothingly. "You know I'm not going to ask you to quit looking, even after you've found the killer. The case stays open until all of the girls have been identified."

Shortly thereafter, IAB arrived, and I stood by each of my detectives as they gave their statements.

It was fairly cut and dried and Logan's weapon was returned to him almost immediately.

But it was still eight-thirty before I finally got the chance to do what I'd been wanting to do since I'd laid eyes on Bobby, with blood trickling down the side of his face as he sat on the back of that ambulance.

"Go get drinks, Stanley," I said, my eyes tracking Bobby as he walked through Pete's ahead of Mike.

"Huh?" he replied, but I didn't take the time to explain, or to wait and see if he followed my directive.

Instead, I got up and met Bobby as he approached the table. I wrapped my arms around him and held on tight. I felt him exhale and bring me even closer, and then his hand slipped up into my hair, an encouragement for me to pull back enough so that he could kiss me.

As if I needed encouragement for that.

Half an inch, my mind supplied as I kissed him thoroughly…almost desperately.

Half an inch and I would've lost him.

Or if Logan had been a split-second slower, or if his aim had been off…

"I'm okay," Bobby whispered after we broke off the kiss and I once again held him tightly with my cheek against his chest.

"I know," I replied. And then I took a deep breath, reached up to give him one more quick kiss, and then I moved away and sat down at the table.

"I thought I was the one getting the kiss," Logan joked once Bobby and I were both settled across from him, so then I stood back up and leaned across the table and, taking his cheeks my hands, I planted one square on his mouth.

"Thank you," I said as I sat back down and took Bobby's hand in mine.

"I…um…"

"You've rendered him speechless," Bobby commented. "If I'd known that was all it took, I would've kissed him weeks ago."

I couldn't help but laugh at his comment, and I felt a tremendous wave of relief, just knowing that today was behind us.

I'd wanted to go to Delaney's apartment with Bobby and Mike, but as we'd started to leave the scene, I'd gotten a call.

"Captain, we've had Angela in the room for more than an hour, and she's not saying a word," Yuille told me.

"Does she have an alibi?"

"I don't mean she's not confessing anything. I mean she hasn't opened her mouth. Not once. She's just sitting there."

"Okay," I answered thoughtfully. "Um…how big is she?"

"How big?" he questioned.

"Is she a large woman or average or petite?" I elaborated.

"Uh…I'd guess her to be about the same size as you."

"Are you two going at her hard? Or are you playing it nice?"

"We've been down both roads. We started out nice, and then she spit on Wyatt, and so we cranked it up a few notches."

"She spit on him?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Arrest her for assault. And when she's processed, take prints of her entire fingers."

"Cap, you've lost me."

"The ME found slight bruising on the victim's arm that appears to be finger marks from where the killer's hand was holding him down. The impressions indicate that the killer's hands are approximately the same size as mine, and you said she's about my size, so it stands to reason that our hands are similar, too. With the arrest, we can take her prints and see if Rodgers can match them up to the bruising pattern on the victim's arm."

I trusted him and Wyatt to get the job done, but his call had reminded me that we now had enough proof of Enzo's innocence to at least get him out of lock-up.

Reasonably, the charges should be dropped as well, but I'd settle for getting him out until we could confirm that it was Angela.

And since I was near the 7th, I decided I needed to make another trip so that I could take care of business in person.

I could brief Paulson on the incident that happened with Bobby and Mike, since his officers had responded, and I could also let him know about what Rodgers had found and let him make the decision of whether or not to spring Enzo.

And while I was there, I could check the progress of his LUD search.

So I'd had to part ways with Bobby, despite my prior daydream about getting him alone in the car for a few minutes while we went over to Delaney's apartment.

Instead, after giving concise instructions and sharing a pointed look with Bobby, I'd headed south to the 7th while he and Mike had gone to do the search.

And I hadn't seen him again from then until now, thus my enthusiastic greeting.

"I can't imagine why the reporters are talking about you," Stanley joked, having come back from the bar just in time to witness me kissing Mike. "And where is the doc?"

"She's on her way," Logan answered. Then he waggled his finger at me and said, "Next time give me a little warning, okay? I'll make it worth your while."

"I don't think there's going to be a next time," Bobby countered.

"This is all because Logan kept that guy from shooting Bobby?" Stanley asked with a grin. "I'm pretty sure I saved Bobby's life during that Hassan investigation, didn't I?"

Our conversation devolved from there as the post-adrenaline mood had us all feeling our oats, until suddenly Logan's voice broke through the laughter.

"What the…"

I followed the direction of his gaze and saw Liz through the open door of Pete's.

She was facing outward, and seemed to be yelling at someone, and then she glanced nervously in our direction before walking fully outside and letting the door close.

Logan was on his feet in a second, followed by the rest of us.

"No, wait here," he directed quickly. "What if it's Ross?"

Ross?

I hadn't even considered him.

I mean, I should have, but…

And only minutes ago, I'd been kissing Bobby like my life depended on it.

Wouldn't that just be the final nail in my ousted-from-Major Case coffin?

"I'll wait. I'm the only one who can't be seen here," I said, stepping aside to let Bobby go ahead of me. "Go."

So I moved towards the back of the restaurant and watched helplessly as Stanley and Bobby hurried outside after Mike.

TBC...