A/N: Apologies for the huge gap between posting chapters. Thank you to those of you who left reviews. I have a vague idea for a plot for this fic so i'll post them up as and when. All errors are my own. Bobby, Eames and recognisable characters belong to who they belong to, Eloise and Matteo are my own creations.

Four.

"How long have you and your Eames been partners?" she asks him. She sees the briefest of frowns wrinkle his brow.

"She's not ...mine …and we've been …partners for…six…seven years" there's the faintest slice of irritation in his voice. She refuses to feel intimidated by this.

"Can't you remember?"

"It feels like she's always been there" he confesses eventually. She quells the urge to smile.

He feels comfortable with her.

That's a good sign.

"But you don't trust her, not completely"

"Do you trust anyone Eloise?" he parries.

"It's not really worth it. They get old, they die or they just laugh at me when I tell them who…what I really am. Mostly they think I'm delusional and that's when they leave"

"I haven't"

"We've just met Bobby but you will," They just look at each other.

"They always leave Bobby whether they want to or not" she tells him quietly. They stare at each other for what feels like an eternity. It's Bobby who breaks eye contact first. Eloise uses the opportunity to move a little further away from him; under his scrutiny she begins to realise what a butterfly feels like when its pinned to a board. She moves back to his bookcase, using the opportunity to grab back some equilibrium.

"You have no photographs of anyone here…not a single one…" the revelation doesn't really surprise her but it gets away from the subject of herself. For a moment she thinks that he won't answer. She hears a long slow exhalation of breath instead and then his heavy footfall. Once again he's standing beside her but careful to remain a respectful distance.

"And that's a problem because?" She turns. She has to look at him.

"Family Bobby…where is your family?"

"Dead or not worth caring about" he answers quickly, almost inaudibly. She hears the pain in that sentence and it saddens her beyond belief.

"Do you…did you have…anyone?" he gently prods. He watches her expression change very slightly.

"Once upon a time" she admits. He understands the message, that's all he's getting from her.

She's tired of feeling like the participant of a weird dance that she doesn't know the steps to.

"They're all gone now" she says faintly. She straightens up.

"I think I need to get out of here" she tells him and he looks at her in surprise.

"It'll be dawn soon…" Bobby frowns. It can't be any more than two or three in the morning. He glances at his watch. It's almost three.

Already?

"I can sense the dawn a long time before anyone else" she confides. It's a curse, she always knows when the sun is going to rise, and it's like a warning sign.

"Of course" he answers.

He walks with her to the door. He wonders whether he'll ever see her again. Belatedly he remembers.

"If you want to, I'll be around" she replies almost apologetically. She then steps on tiptoe and presses a kiss on his cheek; her lips are cold and for some reason it surprises him.

"Take care" she whispers and she's gone.

The memory of her lingers with him. He spends the next day alone in his apartment just remembering, speculating and questioning. What he witnessed challenges all that he believes in. By the time Monday arrives, he has convinced him that it was all an elaborate hallucination, that somehow his beer had been spiked and it had been just one weird mind-bending trip.

He's at work bright and early and before Eames. He's nursing a cup of coffee and ignoring the queasy churning it creates in his gut. He should know by now the effect that the coffee has on him but he never learns. He's a creature of habit.

"Good weekend?" she queries as she shrugs off her jacket and hangs it up. She turns her head to see her partner lift his head from the report he's been reading.

"It was…interesting…" he admits and the tone of his voice catches her interest.

"Yeah? Interesting how...oh please…I don't think I want to know" He smiles and closes the file and watches her sit down opposite him.

"Just interesting…how was yours?" She huffs out a sigh that he recognises.

"The same" He nods.

He can safely say that his weekend definitely hasn't been 'the same'.

Eloise paces around her subterranean apartment. Normally she guards her privacy almost jealously but since befriending Bobby, it begins to feel like a prison. She retreats into her tiny kitchen and opens the refrigerator.

She freezes as she feels awareness frisson through her. She pauses and she can hear a single heartbeat. Slowly she straightens up and calmly closes the door. She turns.

"Matteo…." She sighs in irritation "have you forgotten how to knock?"

The man is lounging in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest. His was not the heartbeat that she heard. She flicks a look of disinterest at the person beside him, her heartbeat she heard as clear as day. She's petite; shoulder length blonde hair that she's positive came from a box. She has dark brown eyes and it's those that snag her attention. There's no emotion there.

Curious.

"The door was open" he tells her. It wasn't but she doesn't remind him. He knows full well that she locks her door, but it's Matteo. She walks towards him. She's aware that the blonde is watching her with keen interest and she wonders whether she knows.

She doesn't. Not yet. She fixes him with a cool glance

You're planning on telling her? Do you think that's a good idea? She watches him straighten up. She flicks another look towards his companion. Something tells her that sharing their secret with her wouldn't be a good idea at all but telling her friend that was another matter altogether.

I haven't decided yet. His tone is waspish, bordering on childish and she bites back a smile.

"As …lovely…as it is to see you, what do you want?" she asks instead.

"I'm just checking in…haven't seen you for a little while. Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine Matteo…yourself?" She watches him exchange a long look with his companion and she feels something clench in the pit of her stomach. It's not jealousy, she outgrew her jealousy of Matteo's women a long, long time ago but there's something about this one that has her senses on high alert.

"I wanted to introduce you to Nicoletta" he tells her.

"Nicole" the women corrects him and Eloise detects a faint accent. She's not American and she wonders whether she's English….or maybe even…Australian? The women holds out a hand and Eloise feels obliged to take it. She feels Matteo's keen gaze boring into her.

You want me to like this one Matteo? She's feeling bold.

She regards Nicole's dead, dead eyes.

Because I don't.

TBC....