Chapter 1

A/N: The rest of this story takes place about two years after CI ended. Eames is now captain and Hannah is the deputy chief (for this story).

The time gap between the prologue and this chapter will be explained.

Those SVU episodes with Eames never happened.

xoxoxo

March 2013 (~ One year later)

Friday - 12:15 pm

Captain Eames' office

Hannah pokes his head inside the door to her office. "Captain? Got a minute?"

Alex glances up from the expense reports. "Sure."

He holds the door open, and someone enters behind him.

"Bobby…" Her heart nearly stops. They haven't seen or spoken to one another since his last day at Major Case.

She feels her face turning red. Sure, she could blame the heaters in her office. It's March, and the heaters either work full steam or not at all.

She gets up out of her desk chair, glancing back and forth between them. "Wh—what's going on?"

"Captain Eames. Great to see you again." Bobby greets. His boyish grin appears and just like that, the butterflies are back.

"You need manpower, and Detective Goren's here to fill in," Hannah explains.

"Wow…umm, okay. Welcome back." She glances down and sees that she's gripping the edge of the desk. She lets go and folds her arms. Her palms are starting to sweat.

"Where's Detective Lee?" asks Hannah, looking toward the empty bullpen. "I want Bobby to meet him."

"Up in Woodbury with the ADA," Alex answers. "They're trying to get some of the former staff to testify in that embezzling case. We think a few of them were paid off."

Hannah nods. A call comes in on his phone. "Hold on a second. Gotta take this," he tells Bobby and Alex before stepping away.

"So, it's just Detective Lee?" Bobby asks.

"Yeah. We've got two officers and a detective we can pull from homicide if things get backed up. We've been trying to hire more full-time detectives."

Bobby nods and lowers his gaze toward the floor. Meanwhile, her eyes are on him.

Even though they haven't stayed in touch, he crosses her mind often.

She wondered how being away from the force would affect him. He's a little greyer, but it looks great on him. He's lost weight, so he kept up some exercise routine. She's not detecting cigarette smoke. He was working on cutting back.

Maybe I need a sabbatical.

"You look good." The words come out before she even realizes she said them.

Bobby meets her eyes. Another grin. More butterflies. "Thanks. So do you. So, how have you been?" he asks.

"Good. And you?"

"Doing great."

Hannah ends the call and rejoins them. "I was wondering about your lunch plans. I thought we could all get together and catch up. Get Goren up to speed. What do you say?"

"Sure," Bobby responds.

"I already made lunch plans. It's my sister's birthday," says Alex. "I'm supposed to meet her in 10 minutes."

Hannah nods, then glances at his phone again. "How about drinks after work? But it would have to be around 6:30."

"I have a date," Alex and Bobby say almost in tandem, then immediately look at one another.

"Leona's plane gets in around 6:45," Bobby explains to Hannah. "I'm meeting her, and we're having dinner."

"Oh, that's right…your partner. You mentioned her in our first meeting. What does she do?" Hannah asks.

His 'partner.'

Her heart sinks. Sure, she expected him to move on at some point.

"She's a journalist," Bobby answers Hannah. "She writes for a travel promotions company, a few publications, and also a blog. She gets paid to fly everywhere and review vacation spots."

Ugh! He's practically beaming as he talks about her.

Hannah turns to Alex. "And you have plans with Mark then, right?"

"Yes."

Maybe she was hoping to see a little jealousy in his eyes when Mark's name is mentioned, but there's nothing.

"Well, I'm happy for both of you. You've found love, and you deserve it. I guess we'll all catch up on Monday morning." Hannah turns toward Bobby. "You've got a meeting at IAB at 4:00 after your eval this afternoon at 2:30."

"Sounds good. Thanks for setting that up."

"No problem. Do you still want to grab some lunch?"

"Sure."

"How about the pub on the corner?"

"That works for me."

"I've got to make a quick stop upstairs. Meet you in 10 to 15 minutes?" says Hannah.

Bobby nods.

Hannah turns back to Alex. "Lieutenant Layton from IAB is covering this weekend. You're overdue for a free weekend. Enjoy."

"Thanks, sir."

Hannah leaves, but Bobby lingers like he has more to tell her.

Alex busies herself, locking her computer and collecting her things, including the bag containing a birthday gift for her sister. Then she occupies herself with checking her phone. She pretends to be absorbed in a text message to avoid eye contact. The text isn't even that long.

"Umm… Tell Liz I said Happy Birthday," Bobby tells her.

"I will. Have a good weekend. See you Monday."

"You too. Bye." He gives her one last smile before exiting her office.

As soon as he's out, Alex releases a heavy sigh and shakes her head. She gives him a head start for the elevator.

Later, she exits the building. With her eyes focused ahead, she sets out at a fast pace, wanting to meet Liz at least close to the time she had promised.

She hears footsteps coming up behind her and then feels a tap on her left shoulder. She stops abruptly, turns around, and nearly runs into Bobby.

"Oh—"

Dammit… And he smells great too.

"Eames… Sorry…Umm. I know you're in a hurry. I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch tomorrow. We should catch up. Just the two of us. Are you free?"

Might be the conversation they needed to have a year ago.

There are days when she desperately needs to find out what went wrong between them and days when she's afraid of what might be said.

Her heart is pounding.

Despite all of the heartache and disappointment she still feels, she misses him. She wants to grab him, kiss him, and feel his body against hers again and she almost doesn't care who from One PP happens to notice.

With her sister waiting, and no excuse ready… "Umm… I—I think so."

"Great! And your number's still the same?"

"Yes."

"I'll call you tomorrow."

x x x

Minutes later, Alex sits down at a booth across from her sister. "Happy birthday," she greets, taking the wrapped gift out of the bag and handing it to her.

"Thanks, Alex. I'm glad we could get together. How's it going today?" She starts picking at the corner of the wrapping paper.

"Not too bad. I still have to keep this on." She holds up her phone, sets it to vibrate, and puts it on the table. "Guess who I just saw?"

"Who?"

"Goren. He told me to tell you 'Happy Birthday.'"

Liz smiles. "Wow! That's a name I haven't heard in a while. What's new with him? Wasn't he writing a book?"

"I guess he finished and decided to return to Major Case. We haven't spoken in a year."

"The partnership's back. Sounds great." When she notices Alex's pensive expression, she stops unwrapping the gift and sets it down on the table. "Everything okay? You two are still friends, right?"

"Oh, we are. It was good to see him. It's just—"

The waiter walks up and they quickly look over the menu, pick out a lunch item and a drink.

When the waiter leaves, Liz looks at her sister. "Okay, spill."

She sighs. "Bobby and I… Umm… We had sex."

"Just…now? Because your make-up, hair, and clothes look great. Hell, I may need some pointers."

Alex laughs. "Right. Just outside of One PP for the world to see," she jokes. "No. It happened a year ago. A one-night stand just before he left Major Case. We never spoke about it again."

Liz's jaw drops. "Excuse me? A YEAR ago? And you JUST decided to tell me? I'm sorry, but 12, or however many years of hearing about this partner of yours, who you've always had a thing for—"

"I did NOT always have a thing for him," she interrupts. Her voice comes up a bit, prompting a few glances from the other tables.

"Start from the beginning."

Alex recaps the evening from drinks, dinner, and pool at Bert's to what happened at Bobby's place.

"How was the sex?" asks Liz.

She gives a nod and a smile. "Incredible."

"Of course. And then what?"

"We fell asleep for a couple of hours. I woke up and had to rush out of there. I went to get my car, which was still at One PP, then went to Inwood for Dad's physical therapy appointment. This was the day he conveniently 'forgot' his appointment, took off to visit a friend, and it took us hours to track him down."

"Yep." Liz rolls her eyes and groans. "I remember."

"But that morning at Bobby's place while I was getting ready, I found these notes shoved under his door from some lady friends."

"What did they say?"

"They wanted to meet him for sex. He told me a while ago that he wanted a serious relationship. It's not like I haven't gone out for a quick fling, but… the way the sex was that night, given our history, I assumed we both were on the same page. Besides, I didn't want to share him."

"I get it. Then what?"

"When I got home from Inwood, Bobby was at my place waiting for me. I told him I was exhausted and he left. That was the end of it."

"Didn't you call him later? Send a text?"

"No. I still didn't know what to say. He didn't call or text me either. I thought a face-to-face interaction would go over better, so I went to his place on Sunday afternoon. Thought I'd figure out what to say when I got there. But he wasn't home. Probably out with Lewis or one of his lady friends." Alex rolls her eyes.

"Maybe you should have left him a sexy note under the door."

Alex smirks. "Yeah really."

"And what happened Monday at work?"

"I approached him, and he brushed me off. Seemed angry. Wouldn't talk to me. It hurt. Things were awkward. Fortunately, we caught a pretty big case. We kicked a bunch of ours over to other precincts just because we needed our full attention on it. It was easier for us to fall back into our old routine. The friendship was back, but all we talked about was work, take-out food, or how exhausted we both were from working doubles. We finished the case, and Bobby left to work on his book. I didn't hear from him until today."

"You two should have talked or at least stayed in touch."

"I assumed he didn't want me."

"How did he seem today when you saw him?"

"Great. Like he just got back from vacation. He looks even better. And he's seeing someone. Her name's Leona and she's a travel journalist. Knowing Bobby, she's probably brilliant, beautiful, has seen the world, and speaks several languages." Alex sighs.

"Jealous?"

"I've got Mark."

Liz frowns. "Right. When he can find the time to squeeze you in."

"He's busy, Liz. He's a lawyer."

"Yeah, I'm married to one of those, remember? And mine's a senior partner at his firm."

"Peter's different. You have a great marriage."

"We've worked at it over the past 15 years. The two of you can too."

"Mark and I are just dating. I don't think marriage is in the plans."

"If he makes you happy, I'm all for it. Lately, it sounds like he's got more time for the job or his associates, than you."

"We're both workaholics."

"You still make time for him, and I think you've got it worse on the work-life balance end of things."

"We're having dinner tonight, and so far," she pauses to check her phone, "…no texts saying he can't make it."

Another eye roll from Liz. "Hey, but it's still early."

"I thought you were supposed to be encouraging this!" Alex tosses back.

"I really thought you and Mark would turn into something. He does like you. That I can confirm," says Liz.

"Oh… I forgot to mention that I'm having lunch with Goren tomorrow."

"His suggestion or yours?"

"His. He thinks we should catch up. Just the two of us."

"Ha! Interesting." Liz chuckles.

"Why?"

"You know…" She lifts her brows then smirks.

"We never got closure. Maybe that's what it's about."

"Or this Leona is a loser and he's not over you. He did decide to return to Major Case."

"He misses the puzzles," Alex explains. "That's just Bobby."

"Yeah, but he could have gone to homicide or narcotics."

"We're very short staffed. He's over me or that night meant nothing to him." Alex frowns.

"Stop that! I think there's more to the story than you know about. So, who's better in bed? Mark or Bobby?" Liz asks with a smirk.

"Stop," Alex chuckles.

"It's Bobby, right? Of course, it is. Come on, indulge me here. I could use some adult conversation. I'm covering the 5th-grade history classes this week, and still have to find time to deal with teacher complaints. I swear… 5th graders whine less."

"Where's Peter?"

"He had a few late nights this past week working on some case. He's off today and grabbing a few hours of sleep so he can take me out tonight for my birthday."

"Good."

Liz picks up her gift and continues unwrapping it until the paper is off, then examines the box. "Make-up brushes," she grins. She opens the box and inspects them. "Thanks. These are nice. I can't believe Moxie destroyed the last set."

"You named your cat appropriately."

"I did. She's still young. Hope she grows out of it."

"Hide your brushes."

"I will. Anyway, about this thing between you and Bobby…"

"What, Liz?"

"Call it a hunch, but I don't think it's over."

x x x