Chapter 1

This Year's Model

Title: This Year's Model

Author: Andrea

Rating: M

Category: Goren/Eames romance. Eames POV

Disclaimer: Goren, Eames, Deakins, Rodgers and Carver aren't mine. The rest are

Timeline: Season 4

Notes: Thank you Dan, Karen, Julie and Dani for the beta reading!

Summary: Goren and Eames look into deaths that Rodgers thinks are connected

Spoilers: none

I was surprised when I walked into the squad room on Wednesday morning and found Rodgers sitting at my desk. She had four files stacked in front of her and I could see Goren was reading a fifth. I was immediately irritated. Not because Rodgers was at my desk but because I felt like I was being excluded. Did no one realize that I, in fact, was the senior partner?

"Eames," Goren nodded a smile at me as I slowed by his desk. "Sorry to start without you but Rodgers doesn't have much time."

"No problem," I lied. "Something up?"

"Well, I think so," Rodgers sounded perturbed. "But I can't get anyone to listen to me."

"And you thought we would?" I cocked my head at her.

"Well," her eyes flicked toward Goren.

"Oh," I understood immediately. "You thought my partner would. I'll leave you to it," I picked my cup up from my desk and turned on my heel.

"Eames, wait," I could hear the frustration in Goren's voice.

"I need coffee," I answered without turning around.

I took my time pouring my coffee, hoping that Rodgers would be gone when I got back. I gave a quiet sigh of relief when I re-entered the squad room and saw my chair was empty. I took a sip of coffee as I sat down so I wouldn't have to address what I thought would be an awkward moment, but Goren dove straight in.

"Eames, if Rodgers didn't have to get back to the morgue, you know I would've waited for you."

"She didn't want to talk to me anyway," I shrugged and placidly took another sip of my coffee.

"She tried talking to the original investigating officers, she tried the DA, she tried the Chief Medical Officer, she even tried the Feds, but nobody wanted to hear what she was saying. And, don't take this the wrong way, Eames, 'cause it's saved me more times than I can count, but you go by the book. Would you even have considered looking at a case she brought straight to you?"

I hate it when he's right.

"I hate it when you're right," I could feel my resentment draining away.

His face brightened into a smile at my admission. My solar plexus tingled in response. I hate it when he does that to me, too, but I kept that one to myself.

"I don't know what you're grinning about," I shook my head at him. "It sounds like upstairs has already decided there's no case here."

"There's a case here, Eames," Goren scooped up the files and nodded toward the interview room. "Let me show you."

It didn't take me long to see it. There was definitely a pattern, but it was the time span and geography that were the problem.

"I see it too, Bobby, but five murders in four states over twelve years...if it was a serial, there would be more. And we only have jurisdiction in two," I pointed out the most relevant issue.

I was so focused on his eyes as they scanned the files I didn't notice right away that Captain Deakins had appeared in the doorway. Goren's eyes followed mine when I finally noticed him standing there.

"Care to share with the rest of the class?"

"Can we have a few days first, Captain?" Goren started closing the files.

"I can't make any promises. If I need you somewhere else these cold cases will have to wait. Understood?"

There was only one acceptable answer to that question.

"Yes sir," Goren nodded in assurance.

"I'd rather hear that assurance from your partner," Deakins looked at me.

"We can back burner this whenever you say," I nodded.

Besides Goren, Deakins was the only person who treated me like the senior partner on a daily basis. I respected him for that and I respected Goren for never blinking an eye at it. I never pulled rank, with him or anyone else. Goren was always the one who said something when it needed to be said. That thought made me wonder if he'd said anything to Rodgers.

"When do you think we should mention that we don't have jurisdiction in all of these?" Goren lowered his voice to ask me once Deakins had walked away.

"We'll need more ammunition than this," I laughed ruefully. "But I have some questions first," I changed the subject quickly. "I understand these two," I picked up the two cases from the city, "But how did Rodgers come across these," I nodded toward the other three, "And even these two?" I held up the files in my hand. "They're twelve years apart. How did she make the connection?"

"This one," he pulled the 1992 case out of my hand, "was one of the first posts she ever assisted on with the NYPD."

"I guess your first rape/torture stays with you," I recalled the grisly details.

"You know how it is, Eames. There are some cases you can never get out of your head," he agreed. "So when a similar one showed up six months ago, alarm bells went off."

"But she didn't find any other cases in the city?" I wondered aloud.

"Nope."

"And how did she find the other three?"

"She asked some M.E.s she knows if they had any similar cases. When she got three more hits, she thought someone would listen."

"Yup, we're definitely gonna need more than this to get Deakins on board...and in the city," I cautioned.

"And in a couple of days," he didn't sound confident.

"Then I guess we'll have to divide and conquer," I started gathering up the files.

I photocopied what Rodgers had left us and hunkered down at my desk with my laptop. Goren headed over to the library in the off chance there were cases older than Rodgers' twelve year old one that were reported in the papers and were now stored on microfiche.

It took me about two hours but I found one. A body had turned up across the river in Jersey but they'd found a Manhattan club stamp on her hand. I was just picking up my cell to call Goren when it rang, startling me. It was him. How the hell did he do that?

"I got one, Eames." he dispensed with any sort of greeting. "About six months before the first one Rodgers has and it was on Staten Island."

"'91? And no one connected it to a case in Manhattan six months later?" I was incredulous.

"I don't have to dig any deeper to know why, Eames. I'll lay odds that the detectives who caught these cases were old school. Sure there were computers, but did anyone over 40 take them seriously? These guys probably took one look at the vics and assumed it was some kind of domestic - boyfriend loses it on his pretty girlfriend and when they can't make their case against the boyfriend, it just goes cold."

"I remember dealing with dinosaurs like that," I shuddered at the memory. "Never mind that computers didn't belong in policing. A woman? Perish the thought. Unless, of course, she's undercover in Vice."

"Some of those dinosaurs aren't extinct yet, Eames," he reminded me. "We'll still need more than this to take to Deakins," he sounded deflated.

"I found one in Jersey," I informed him almost gleefully.

"We need another one in the city," he reminded me.

"It is!" I assured him. "Let's meet for lunch and I'll explain."

As we ate, I explained to Goren that the victim in the case I'd found had been discovered across the river in Union City in November of 2001 with a very exclusive Manhattan club stamp on her hand.

"I wonder if the Jersey cops even tried to bring it to us?" Goren wiped his mouth. He always finished before I did.

"If they did, it probably just got buried on someone's desk. Or maybe they thought we had enough going on." I had to wonder how many murders had gone under the radar in the aftermath of 9-11.

"This is definitely enough to take to Deakins now," Goren began to slide out of the booth.

"Can I finish my lunch first?" I shook my head at him in disbelief.

"Sorry, I'll call and see when he's free."

Deakins couldn't fit us in until 4 which gave us enough time to lay out the mishmash of cases into a fairly obvious pattern. In Deakins' office, I did the talking. Sometimes in his enthusiasm Goren lost people, occasionally even me.

"If Rodgers hadn't assisted on that post..." Deakins shook his head when I'd finished. "And without the other two cases you found, you both know I wouldn't even have considered touching this."

Neither Goren nor I said a word.

"By all rights, this case belongs to the fibbies," he cautioned.

"Rodgers took it to the Feds," I reminded him. "They blew her off."

"Well, they'd take it now."

Goren and I both began to protest, but Deakins raised his hand to shut us up.

"Talk about a dog with a bone," he shook his head again and began to chew his cheek as he thought. "I'll warn you right now that if you start looking into the out of state cases someone is going to notice and they'll yank the rug right out from under you."

"The four cases we have jurisdiction in should be more than enough to make some serious headway. There are more cases out there – I know there are." Goren tried to appease him.

"I'm just warning you that if you ring that bell, I won't be able to unring it for you."

"We understand, sir," Goren stood up. "We'll tread carefully."

"We'll tread carefully?" I looked at Goren in disbelief once we were out of Deakins' earshot. "When have you ever treaded carefully?"

"That's why I have you," he smiled at me. "You keep me in check. You're the Yin to my Yang, Eames. That's why we're so good together," his smile broadened.

I wished he wasn't talking about work.

"And you're going to listen to me when I tell you you're going too far?" I didn't believe it for an instant.

"I will if you say something that will catch my attention immediately," he offered.

"Like a safe word?" I laughed.

"Don't laugh, that's exactly what we need. It's to keep the case safe, right?" he shrugged.

"And your ass," I chuckled. "Maybe we should use one all the time. And it's usually the person at risk who uses the safe word."

"I'll let you be in charge of my safety, Eames. I don't trust anyone else with it."

"You say that now, but are you really going to listen to me when I say stop?"

"I want this case, Eames, but you know what I'm like when I get inside my own head."

"I want this case, too, but I'm not taking on the Feds, Bobby. So we do this my way, understood?"

"Got it," he gave me his best innocent little boy look.

I was still unconvinced. I gave him a day or two at best before he pissed off the wrong person and our hard work was handed over to the Feds on a silver platter.

"So what word are we going to use?" he was still wearing his innocent look.

"You really want a safe word?" I thought the dressing down was the end of it.

"If you need to keep me on a leash to make this work, so be it."

"Can we please dispense with the top and bottom euphemisms," I was becoming exasperated. "When I say enough, it means enough."

"Okay, no means no," his boyish innocence was changing into a grin.

"Call Rodgers," I ignored his attempt at humor. "And I always have you on a leash," I muttered.

Rodgers wanted to celebrate so Goren told her to meet us at his favorite off duty, Kinney's, at 7:30. I hadn't intended to join them but Goren wanted to make sure Rodgers knew this was a team effort.

I quietly sipped my martini while Goren explained to Rodgers how we were handling the case. I thought she might want the Feds to take it now that we'd put more of the pieces together.

"Fuck'em," Rodgers brushed them aside with her hand, almost making me snort martini through my nose. "They had their chance. I have no problem keeping my mouth shut."

I raised my eyebrows at that, which didn't go unnoticed.

"I can when I need to, Detective Eames. I don't think I'm the one you should be worried about," she nodded towards Goren.

"She's already read me the riot act. I've promised to walk softly. She'll have the big stick," Goren assured her.

"Good luck with that," she laughed at me. After finishing her drink she slid out from beside Goren. "Will you keep me updated?" her tone had become serious. "I can't get this one out of my head."

"Of course," I promised.

"And you're going to stop by tomorrow morning to go over the new ones?" Goren confirmed.

"I'll be there with bells on," she fluttered her hand at us as she left the bar.

"One more?" Goren asked, noting my empty glass. "Review our strategy?"

After we spoke to Rodgers we would request the case files for the four New York cases. All we'd seen so far were the autopsy reports. How long it would take to go through the case files was completely dependent on how thorough the original investigating officers had been. Then we'd track down those officers to find out if there was anything that didn't make it into the case files. Then the part I hated the most, we'd talk to friends and family.

"Do you think he's been inside part of the time or do you think he's been active all of this time?" I wondered aloud.

"There isn't more than a couple of years between any of the cases we have. If he was inside, it wasn't for long," Goren pointed out.

"A serial active in the city for this long and we're just figuring it out now?" The thought sent a chill through me. How had no one seen it?

"Some profilers think there are serials who never get caught. Look at all the missing person cases. Who's to say some of them aren't victims of a serial killer? You can't feel guilty about it, Eames. We've been closing our share of cases."

"Get out of my head, Bobby," I glared at him and then drained the rest of my drink.

"You've been stomping all over my gray matter all day, Eames. I guess we can safely say this partnership is working. If we didn't know each other inside out, we wouldn't be able to work effectively."

"Yeah, I guess," I agreed as I stood up, "And we'll have to..." I began but the room started to spin.

"On two drinks?" Goren laughed as he put a hand on my shoulder to steady me.

"I haven't really been drinking a lot recently, you know, with the pregnancy and everything," I gave my head a shake. "I was warned that I'd lose my tolerance, but two drinks?" I was embarrassed.

"I'll take you home," he chuckled.

"I doubt I'd even blow over and I can barely walk," I took the arm he offered me.

We hadn't gone more than a couple of blocks when I began to feel queasy. All I could do was groan.

"Okay, my place is closer," Goren took the next right.

I managed to preserve a small smidgen of my dignity by making to Goren's bathroom before I threw up.

"On two drinks," I repeated, shaking my head as I joined him on the couch.

"You used to be able to hold your own against me," he grinned.

"Don't rub it in," I yawned.

"Take the bed," he nodded toward his room. "I'll take the couch. I'll be up for a while yet."

"You'll never fit in this couch," I protested.

"I fall asleep here all the time. Go."

"Are you sure?" I felt guilty.

"Go!" he ordered. "And I don't really fit that well in the bed either," he called after me.

As soon as I crawled into the bed I knew it was mistake. I was enveloping myself in Goren. I spent most of my existence trying not to think about my partner this way and here I was, lying in his bed, in my underwear, breathing in his scent. I could imagine the sheets brushing against my skin were his hands gently caressing me. How was I ever going to get to sleep?