"Ocean's Two"

Copyright 2006 Penn O'Hara

T -- M

Usual disclaimers apply.

Set during and immediately after the episode "In the Wee Small Hours", Season 5.

A/N: Please forgive any transgressions of a bad memory. I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, but that doesn't mean I remember it exactly.

oOo

"There they go," Eames murmured, resuming her perusal of the laptop. "Ocean's Two."

Carolyn chuckled, watching the tall men stride with equal purpose down the corridor. "And we miss out on the fun." Carolyn Barek knew the young perp. would be no match for the combined arsenal of Goren and Logan and felt cheated she would be denied seeing the youth squirm.

"Boys' clubs…" Eames shook her head, her lips thinning. Her hands poised over the keyboard, then she looked up, tossing the hair from her face. "You know, we should swap partners for a day."

Carolyn looked hard at the petite blonde, not knowing Alex Eames well enough to gauge if she was joking. Deciding to take middle ground, she laughed. "No thanks. Logan amuses me too much, and yours… well, I still don't quite know how to take him."

Pursing her lips, Eames shrugged, then went back to her laptop. "No foul, but it could be diverting."

Pulling up a chair, Carolyn settled at the desk, intrigued. She had the impression that Eames and Goren were so tight and well-suited they could have been joined at the hip. "Why do you suddenly want to get rid of Bobby?" Carolyn asked, her eyes intently watching Alex.

The laptop lid went down and Eames leaned on it, giving Carolyn her full attention. "I don't want to get rid of him. I just thought… well, it might make him appreciate me more. Take me less for granted."

"Didn't you try that with Bishop?"

"Yes, but that was a leave of absence and he understood my reasons and knew I'd be back." Eames tilted her chin and laced her fingers together on the laptop. "This… this little exercise might make him wonder. Wonder why I'd suddenly want to work with Logan. Instead of him." Eames smiled, obviously warming to the idea.

Carolyn wasn't so sure it was a good plan. She frowned. "Is there a problem? With you and Bobby?"

Eames hastily shook her head. "No, not at all." She smiled again, her eyes alight and coaxing. "I just thought we would all get a different perspective on things."

Looking back down the corridor where the two men had disappeared, Carolyn tossed the idea around. She enjoyed working with Logan. A lot. He could make a dull day interesting with his quips and outlook on things – a kidder – except when he got down to business. She liked his casual style. But Bobby Goren had a reputation for being unorthodox and that could be… well, interesting. Worth experiencing first-hand anyway.

Carolyn looked back at Eames and nodded. "You sell the idea and I'll back you up, but I don't like your chances of convincing the powers that be."

"Leave it to me," Alex smiled confidently.

oOo

Two days later…

Carolyn squirmed on the passenger seat of the police issue vehicle and tried to ignore the appraising look Bobby was giving her. One of his hands was on the steering wheel, the other drumming a light tempo on the dashboard of the car. She'd already given him a quick glance and the memory of those raised brows and piercing eyes were imprinted on her guilty conscience, even though this hadn't been her idea.

"Shouldn't we be going in?" she croaked, then cleared her throat. "Officer Barnett will be wondering where we are."

Bobby raised a finger, punctuating the air as he spoke. "I'm still confused." His brows flattened into a frown. "Eames and Logan had to take off together because–?"

"Mike needed Alex's computer expertise," Carolyn blustered, calling upon Eames' hastily engineered alibi. "He's hopeless with 'em. I'm not much better. Alex offered–"

"I know she offered. I just don't understand why."

The man's ego obviously couldn't get around the fact that his partner would drop him so easily. "Look, I just do as I'm told. Deakins informed me I'm riding with you today, so–"

"Do you?" Bobby moved in closer and the temperature in the car rose, the cabin space contracting as if resized in a compactor.

Carolyn inched nearer to the passenger door, clamping on the urge to bolt. "Do I what?" she said, hating the slight tremor in her voice.

"Do you do as you're told?" Goren swung his face around and Carolyn pulled her chin into her chest. "Do I… make you uncomfortable?" he asked, wonder in his voice.

Lifting her eyes to meet his intense ones, Carolyn swallowed hard. "At the moment, yes. You're in my…er, personal space."

Bobby pulled back hastily, flinging his hands wide, and Carolyn took a deep breath of relief, taking in a heavy trace of his after-shave. "Sorry. Won't happen again," he promised. "I tend to forget myself. I… I like to examine my subjects under a microscope. Even the living ones."

He went back to drumming his fingers on the dashboard, his lips pursed. Carolyn gazed through the windshield of the car, taking in the activity of the local cops setting up crime tape and herding onlookers away. She didn't understand what Goren was waiting for.

Carolyn sighed and tried again. "Shouldn't we be going in?"

Bobby shook his head, coming out of his reverie and flapped a head dismissively in the direction of the large house that was now their crime scene. "We were ordered to wait for the M.E. Must be held up in traffic."

Searching for something to say, Carolyn tried for inane. "Your after-shave. What is it?"

"Huh? Ah… dunno. Eames gave it to me for my birthday. She's given me so many. I just grab a bottle in the morning."

Carolyn felt her eyebrows shoot up. "I was told you have a nose that can identify any smell, any brand of perfume–"

Bobby rocked his head in her direction and grinned. "It's been on me since six this morning. I can't smell it any more."

"It's nice," Carolyn murmured, the fragrance reminding her of a cosy study filled with leather-bound books, a burning fireplace warming an expensive port and a large shoulder on which to lean. Maybe she should give Mike some after-shave for Christmas. A good expensive brand, one that she liked, to get him off his cheap dime store product. He could do with some pampering, considering he wasn't big on indulging himself.

Bobby jigged on the car seat and Carolyn jumped, her heart in her throat. The man obviously couldn't keep still and it was fraying her nerves. "Maybe we should just go in and look around while we wait," she suggested.

oOo

Watching Goren almost push aside the medical examiner, Carolyn couldn't understand why Bobby had insisted on waiting for the doctor. He pushed and nudged at the victim and got in the M.E.'s way more times than she could count.

Taking pity on the doctor, Carolyn stepped up to Goren as he hunched over the victim's body.

"Barek, what do you–?" Bobby straightened and spun around, jabbing Carolyn in the stomach with an elbow.

Her audible 'oomph' was drowned in Bobby's rapid apology, his hands closing over her shoulders as she doubled in two. "My fault," Carolyn gasped. "I shouldn't have sneaked up on you like that." She looked up in earnest, trying to assure him he wasn't to blame.

"No, no. It was my fault entirely." He smiled sheepishly. "I'm too used to Eames staying out of my radius. She learned the hard way, too. Here, here…" He dragged her across the carpet of the vic.'s bedroom to seat her on a delicately ornate chair, then hunkered down if front of her, his face stricken.

Carolyn took in the sight of a six-foot-plus male at her feet mentally berating himself, and her breath caught in her throat. His concern was endearing and her hands being massaged by his large warm ones was comforting. Carolyn began to have an inkling of how… protected Eames must feel while working with this man.

"I'm okay. Really," she insisted and he smiled in relief, the action lighting his eyes with a warm brilliance.

"Good. Good. Let's get back to work then."

Carolyn had to admire his thoroughness.

Goren scoured the bedroom where the body had been found, then moved out into the hallway in both directions, darting back and forth, peering at the carpet, walls and doorknobs, then tripped down the stairs leading to the entry and lower floor rooms. He alternated between long thoughtful silences and quiet murmurings, speaking out loud only to elicit responses from her or the attending police officer.

Satisfied, he left Barnett in charge again, and swept out of the house, his coat billowing behind him. Carolyn trotted to keep up, appreciating the picture of confident purposeful male striding past the gaggle of uniformed police. If the perp. had decided to hang around for the show, he or she should be quaking in their boots at the sight of a detective who left the scene as if he'd already solved the murder.

She caught up with him as he patiently held the car door open for her and wondered if he gave Eames the same courtesy.

"Any insights?" she asked, looking up at him as she folded herself into the car.

"None," he said, and secured the door.

Carolyn felt her jaw drop and her eyes widen with disbelief. So much for her powers of character-reading. Staring straight ahead as he drove back to One Police Plaza, Carolyn had no idea what to say and Bobby wasn't exactly forthcoming.

"I'm sorry I wasn't much help to you back there," she defended herself, not fully realizing why she had to.

Goren thudded his foot onto the brake, the car swerving into the kerb and skidding to a halt. Carolyn hung onto her seatbelt, just preventing herself from slamming into the dashboard.

'What did you notice?" Bobby prompted.

Carolyn searched his earnest gaze, seeing no hint of remorse for his erratic driving, only a genuine need to hear her thoughts.

Looking in hindsight at the picture of totally ordered bedroom, lack of evidence of violence and the ill-fitting suit the male vic. wore, Carolyn was unsure what recommendations to put forward. She grasped at the best suggestion that fitted her perspective of the crime. "It looked staged," she said.

Goren grunted, gazed ahead briefly, then swung his gaze back to her. Carolyn watched him hesitantly, fearing he might consider her inadequate or inexperienced.

Bobby nodded rapidly. "Good observation." He raised a finger then dropped his hand back onto the steering wheel. "A good observation," he repeated.

Carolyn felt oddly pleased with his slight praise.

oOo

Entering the bull pen of One Police Plaza ahead of Goren, Carolyn immediately searched for Logan. She found him, and Eames, at his desk, relegating two other detectives with one of his anecdotes, punctuating his story with a jabbing fist. Eames was perched on Mike's desk beside him, one arm leaning on his shoulder, smiling down at him.

Carolyn didn't know whether to run to Mike and hug him just for being him or belt him over the head for having such a good time without her. She settled on frowning at Eames in disapproval for being so comfortable with her partner while Carolyn felt so at odds with her detective-for-the-day.

Alex slid her arm from Logan and smiled at Goren. "So, how goes it?" she asked amicably.

Bobby grunted, ignoring her, and bypassed them all on his way to his desk. Carolyn stopped at the group and grimaced.

"Well?" Logan asked with a shit-eating grin.

"Um, I'm not sure," Carolyn said honestly and settled herself behind her desk, frowning at Logan.

Her big easy-going partner smiled back and blew her a kiss. Carolyn's frown deepened and she yanked open her drawer, her fist closing over a box of Tylenol in desperation.

In her opinion, the day had not gone well.

oOo

TBC ... Bobby's POV.

Chapter Two

"Barek… little girls' room," Eames ordered, and Bobby looked up from his desk to see Alex wave her hand at Barek and start walking without her.

"But there's no–" Barek began, half-rising from her chair with a medicine box in her hand.

"Locker room, then," Alex tossed behind her, grinning.

Bobby frowned, watching the two women head out of the crowded room, Barek trailing and still spluttering. Eames was getting too bossy of late. Cheeky, even. She was still all professionalism when they were on a case, and exhibited her usual deference when in public, but back in the squad building, when the day ended and the badges came off, she slid into a quiet familiarity that was… Relaxing? Bobby couldn't find the right word, but he knew it felt strange and… good at the same time.

Catching Logan's approach, Bobby dropped his head, pretending an interest in the handwritten notes scribbled in his folder. Logan was still grinning and alarm bells rang in Bobby's head. That was two too many people amused at the predicament in which Bobby found himself.

"So, how'd it go?" Logan asked, perching on Bobby's desk. "Whaddya think of Barek?"

Bobby shifted in his seat, refusing to look up. He flipped over a page and studied it intently, hoping Logan would get the hint.

"Goren!" Logan snatched the page out of Bobby's hand and whisked it behind his back.

Bobby's nerves jarred at the other man's audacity, but held onto his temper, lifting his chin and allowing himself the luxury of a small sneer. "She's good in bed. Whaddya want me to say?" Bobby immediately regretted the outburst, waving a hand in apology and sunk his neck back into his shoulders. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean–" Squinting at Logan, Bobby thumped his elbows onto his desk and leaned on them heavily. Logan was looking suitably shocked, but not contrite.

"Whoa! Where did that come from?" Logan back-pedalled.

"It's just… this new case… doesn't fit. Nothing adds up."

Logan's eyes glinted and Bobby could see him suppressing another grin. "The Great Goren stumped," Logan crowed. "Now that will be the day." Logan slapped Bobby on the shoulder and straightened from his desk.

Revelation flashed behind Bobby's eyes and he jumped up from his chair, sending it careering behind him. He put himself in Logan's path and stayed there.

"Mikey boy," he said, "let me buy you a coffee."

oOo

The air in the park was crisp if not clean, the birds in the trees industrious if not happy with their existence in a huge habitat within an even bigger concrete metropolis. They made do, just like the humans had to.

Nursing a paper cup of coffee, Bobby ignored the birds' chatter and incessant rustling above and fixed his gaze on Logan, seated on the park bench with him.

"So, whose idea was it?" Bobby asked.

"Eames'," Logan answered unabashed.

Bobby nodded, guessing as much but his feeling of betrayal was more acute when presented with the proof. "Why?" The next obvious question.

"She wanted to pull you out of your comfort zone, appreciate her more–"

"Appreciate? This…! This isn't a marriage. It's a working partnership. You don't appreciate–"

"Hey, Bobby! Listen to yourself! You do walk all over her, lift a hand and expect her to be there, bounce off her when you got a dilemma tyin' you in knots. The whole precinct knows it. I've only been there a short while, and I know it."

Leaning forward, Bobby rested his elbows on his knees and hung his head. "We gel. We complement. We get the job done. That's all we–"

Logan chucked Goren on the arm, and Bobby cringed at the familiarity. It was one thing using the tactics on a perp. in an interview; it was another getting them thrown back at him, especially by someone who was more comfortable with himself and where he was at than Bobby would ever be.

"She's a woman, Bobby," Logan persisted. "Believe me, that's not all. She wants warm and fuzzy."

Bobby swung his head round, eyes widened in shock. "Warm and fuzzy?"

"Yeah, man, can you do it?"

"Can I–?" Bobby was floundering here. He was in a nightmare; he was convinced of it. He was going to wake up soon, and it will be nothing but a bad dream. He shook his head and squirmed on the seat, but nothing happened. No blinding disclosure that he had only been asleep.

Logan was still sitting there grinning at him. "Can you do it?" Bobby asked. "With Barek?"

"Sure I can!" he said, and Bobby hated the sound of confident assurance in the other's man's voice. "Why, I rub her back for her when she's all knotty, an' massage her feet when we've been hittin' the pavement too much and I duck good when she gets mad at me and starts lettin' her fists fly."

Even aware his mouth was wide open in shock, Bobby couldn't find the wherewithal to close it.

"Bobby, Bobby," Logan chuckled, apparently taking pity on Goren at last. "Just give her a little of something. Anything. A crumb, even. That'll make her happy, she'll take you back, and we can all get on with our lives."

"But how–? Why is Deakins allowing this?"

"Are you kidding? He's pissin' himself with joy at you workin' from the back foot. He'll keep this going for as long as your suffering gives him pleasure."

"Is Barek in on this?"

"No way! Hey, I wanna be appreciated too, ya know. I'm tired of being the one doin' all the warm and fuzzy. It's her turn to give a little."

"But why… why the staged 'murder' this morning?"

"That was Deakins' idea. He wanted a test situation where he can do an evaluation on her. He figured pairin' her off with you was as good a time as any. He'll be interviewing Barnett and the M.E. on her procedure first, then he was gonna get to you when we spilled the beans. You beat us to the punch."

Bobby shook his head, not liking any of this. "Barek's nobody's fool, Logan. She already smells a rat."

"No one's sayin' she is. It'll go in her favour on the evaluation if she twigs to it like you did. But as for the other… Just take it on board, buddy," Logan assured him, clapping Goren on the shoulder and Bobby cringed again. "See where it takes you. See how long Eames can hold out on you. And don't forget about the reward at the end."

Bobby felt his jaw drop again. "Reward?"

"Yep." Logan dipped his head and winked. "I'm countin' on it."

oOo

The squad room was as they left it, with the exception that the girls were back from the locker room. Bobby had to wonder what went down in there, but figured he'd never know.

Logan stayed at Bobby's side until they hit Eames' desk and then Mike stopped and bent down to murmur in Eames' ear. Alex stretched her neck and smiled warmly in response, and Bobby, alert to the conspiracy, suppressed the pang of resentment that threatened to bloom. He swung around to look behind him at the desks Logan and Barek occupied and caught the pinched look on Barek's face. Eames obviously hadn't 'spilled the beans' to the other victim of their little charade.

Alex had her hand on Logan's sleeve and was dusting off a piece of lint, or pretending to. Bobby decided to put a stop to the nonsense, if for no other reason than for Barek's sake. He had two choices. Move Logan out of Eames' vicinity or the other way around. He figured the latter choice would be the easier one and it might give him an opportunity to test Logan's 'warm and fuzzy' theory.

"Eames…" Bobby stepped up to her desk, one hand in his pocket, the other beckoning. "Stand up. I want to show you something." He edged back toward his own desk.

Alex rose slowly looking at Logan first, Bobby second. "All right. I'm game."

Bobby closed a hand over her arm and steered her round his desk, settling her into his chair and flipping the files on his desk across and back again as if searching for something. He bent over her, creasing his brow, going for confused unawareness. His ribs butted her shoulder and he stayed there, pressing in slightly to see how she would react. Bending over more, he aligned his chin with her cheek, then cocked his head so that he could study her closely, a small smile twitching his mouth.

Alex licked her lips. "Ah, where, Bobby? What're you showing me?" She pulled her head back slightly and her eyes lifted to his, then skittered away.

His smile grew wider. He'd done this with his perps. and it was guaranteed to make them uncomfortable, but with Alex, he had a different type of discomfort on his agenda. Bobby came in closer and Alex' head went down. Bobby's lips collided with the hair against her cheek and he breathed in its perfume and played with its texture.

"Nothing. Nothing at all," he whispered, stroking his cheek against hers once, then straightened to search out Logan. He lifted a brow at the other man and Mike grinned back, holding up both thumbs and mouthing 'way to go!'.

Bobby noticed Barek watching and defiantly jerked his chin at her. Her mouth twisted in disapproval as she leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest.

The game suddenly soured for Bobby as he realized he was playing his friend, a woman who took the heat for him without being asked, kept him grounded without being thanked, and this was how he repaid her. Two strides took Bobby past Eames' chair which he thudded back under her desk, then he surged for the exit.

Logan's shout of 'Hey, Goren!' didn't slow him down.

oOo

TBC … Alex' POV.

Chapter Three

Gripping the edge of Bobby's desk, Alex battled to control her trembling. Whatever Bobby thought he was doing – had done – had shaken her more than she cared to show.

Rising from his chair, she walked over to her own, pulled it out and tried not to analyze what prompted the anger he had exhibited in shoving it under her desktop. She smiled breezily at Logan and sat down, grabbing for her laptop and opening it with calculated unconcern.

Shit…shit…shit!

Realizing her fingers were crooked into claws, she flexed and wiped them against her trousers, then clicked on a few links and pretended to concentrate on the computer screen.

This was what she wanted, for chrissake! Bobby to be aware of her as a woman. Even a little bit. She'd got what she'd planned but she was suddenly a basket-case. She hadn't expected herself to unravel at the reality of it.

There was a creak of the chair in front of her and Alex' hands jumped on the keyboard. Daring to look up quickly, she registered it was only Logan who'd come to sit in Bobby's chair, his dark eyes roving her face.

"You okay?" he asked, concern deepening his voice.

"Yeah, sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

"No reason, 'cept you're hammering at the keyboard there and as far as I could see, you were in an empty directory."

Shit! Alex slapped the lid shut and scowled at Logan. "Do you mind?"

"Yeah, kiddo. I mind." He stood and held out a hand to her. "Come for a walk with me."

oOo

"You told him?" Alex' heart thumped with embarrassment. Bobby knew!

Logan held out a placating hand and guided Alex toward the water cooler at the end of the hall. "I didn't exactly tell him. I just nudged him in the right direction."

"Oh, and what direction was that?"

"That you just wanted a bit more… attention." He bent to drink from the cooler, but didn't drop his gaze from Alex.

"Oh, I got attention, all right," she fumed. "In bucket loads, but he was so affected by the moment, he stormed out of there in a temper!"

"That's a good sign," Logan assured her, straightening and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "It means the moment got to him, too."

Alex sighed heavily. "I'm gonna go see Deakins and call this whole thing off. It was stupid of me–"

"Now, now, don't do anything hasty." Logan held up both hands and backed against the wall. "Did you see the look on Barek's face? She was ready to spit nails. I'm guessin' she didn't like you and me cosying up before Bobby got to you. I gotta work on that some more before I'm ready to call it quits."

"Logan, why don't you just tell her you're interested?"

"Why don't you? My partner is a lot scarier than yours. Have you seen the way she barely tolerates me? I'm betting men ten times better than me fail to get a smile out her. What chance have I got?"

"You're selling yourself short, Mike."

"Hey, I only seem to attract bimbos. Barek's an intellectual heavy-weight with more than five languages under her belt. She'd look straight past me in a crowded room." He leaned forward and dropped his voice a notch. "And the FBI aren't known for slummin' it. Even ex-FBI."

Alex had to agree with him, but she wasn't going to add insult to injury by voicing it.

Logan pushed himself off the wall and guided her back up the hallway. "Besides, you're in no position to offer advice. When Bobby comes back for Round Two, I may not be there to pick up the pieces. You gotta get a hold of yourself, woman."

Rounding the corner of the last corridor back into the bull pen, Alex sighted Barek standing in the middle of the opened double doors. Her arms were folded and her brow furrowed with irritation. Alex may have imagined it but she thought she also saw an annoyed tap from a black-booted foot.

"Here's your chance," Alex whispered without turning her head. "I'll leave you both here and you can treat her a drink at the water–"

"Not on your life." Logan threaded his hand around Alex' arm and pulled her closer to his side. "I told you. I'm no where close to crackin' this nut yet."

Barek's mouth thinned as they approached, failing to step back to let them through. "We got a call-out," she said tersely, eyeing Logan's hand on Alex' arm. "Considering my allocated partner today has gone AWOL, I guess you two have to handle it." She spun on her heel and headed back to her desk.

Alex glanced at Logan, extricated her arm and grimaced. "We'd best go see Deakins." She moved on ahead. "After me," she sighed.

oOo

Looking around at the charred, still smoking ruin that was once a three-story building, Alex waited for the fire chief to finish relocating his men before joining him. She watched Logan sift through the debris near a collapsed wall, the concentration on his face looking uncannily familiar. Other than their size, Bobby and Logan were as chalk and cheese, yet that look of fierce concentration, the planes of the face masking the machinations of enquiring, skeptical minds that accepted nothing at face value, was strikingly the same.

Alex knew that Bobby's distrust came from a faithless father. There was word around the precinct that Logan's chip on his shoulder stemmed from an abusive mother. Both detectives being 'damaged goods', they made it their life work to provide closure for victims of crime. Alex briefly wondered if she were doing Barek a favor in encouraging Logan's interest in his partner. Mike's checkered history was not conducive to lasting, well-adjusted relationships.

Interested to hear his observations, Alex approached Logan. "What've you got?"

"Very little," he said, his face disappointed. "The firefighters have found seven bodies already, but the destruction was so total that, at this stage, there's no evidence of accelerant or cause of the blaze. Because of its intensity though, it had to be both deliberate and helped along."

"Hence it got bumped up to us. I can't get McIntyre's eye. What's he got against female detectives?"

Logan's gaze narrowed on the smoke-blackened, exhausted fire chief. "He's not singling you out. I know these guys have to grow a tough hide like us, but I think this one's got to even him. There was a young family of five on the top floor, a newly-married couple on the middle and the ground floor housed the owners, an older couple in their sixties, maybe just starting to enjoy their retirement. Only the father on the top floor and the husband on the second weren't at home. Three levels of innocents destroyed for some psychotic's personal motive."

Alex tossed her head, doubtful of such an accurate summation. "You got all this from some cinders?"

Logan grinned, the transformation from brooding cop to boyish charmer breath-taking. "Nah. One of those fire fiends is a good pal of mine. He filled me in while you were tryin' to impress McIntyre with your level of patience."

Shooting Logan a look of, she hoped, well-deserved scorn, Alex moved over to what was left of the first floor staircase and laid a tentative hand on the charred upright. She imagined the children riding the staircase railing to the entrance hall below, the groom carrying his new bride up to their first home, and the retired lady of the house lovingly polishing the wood with linseed oil till it shone with a rich gleam.

"Those kids probably had a wonderful life, well-loved and nurtured," Logan murmured from behind her, "and now they're gone, cut down before they could even comprehend the evil in the world they shared." He sighed heavily.

"And you…?" Alex asked, sensing this was personal and he wanted to talk, air his thoughts and maybe exorcise some demons.

"I knew only torment. I've had that torment exposed but I have to carry it with me, revisit it in my nightmares, evaluate it in tortured moments when I question why it had to happen but still can't be rid of it because I keep reliving it. What kind of God cuts short the joy and extends the suffering?"

Turning round to face him, Alex put a hand on his arm and squeezed. "The same God that lets you awaken from those nightmares and shall guide you to bringing the perpetrator of this tragedy to justice."

Logan blinked several times at her then slowly smiled. "Wow! Where did that come from?"

Alex laughed softly. "I've no idea. This place got to me. You got to me." She wagged a finger at him. "It won't happen again. Now, let's go talk to McIntyre. You lead this time. I'll follow."

oOo

Bobby was back at his desk when they returned, but laden with case leads, there was no time for Alex to dwell on why he had disappeared or where he had gone. Logan divided up a list of names of visitors to the crime scene and friends associated with all three families so they could share the task of contacting them.

The most difficult part of the case was behind them – the initial interview with the grief-ravaged father and shell-shocked husband – and it was time for Alex to compartmentalize her compassion aside from her professional attention to the case. She allowed a small part of her to dwell on what Bobby might be feeling right now, but his refusal to look up from his scattered papers on the desk or acknowledge her presence tightened her nerves and started the slow boil of her irregular temper.

Barek had said very little, except to nod in their direction when they arrived, her eyes following Logan while he leaned over Alex and highlighted the names she was to contact. Carolyn spoke briefly to him as he seated himself at his desk and Logan murmured something back, but Alex didn't catch the exchange. She wondered what Barek's problem was. Their girl-talk in the locker room earlier had been limited to Alex' getting the gossip on the ride with Bobby. She was sorry now she didn't delve into how the other woman got on with her own partner.

Pushing the thought aside, Alex punched in the phone number of the next contact, and watched Bobby as he hunched over his desk. The thought of how she'd felt sitting in his chair revisited her: the way in which he'd reduced her to trembling jelly was embarrassing. Whether or not it had been a deliberate manoeuvre on his part, she vowed if he ever put her in that position again, she would fight fire with fire.

Some inner sense must have alerted him to her scrutiny. Bobby looked up, his chin still tucked into his chest but his eyes were soft with remorse. Alex' heart jolted, plummeted, then drummed rapidly, suffocating her with its intensity. He's mind-reading me!

The other end of the phone connection was answered and Alex closed her eyes on the sight of Bobby mentally flaying himself.

She spoke carefully and gently as she relayed the bad news to one of the fire victims' brother.

oOo

TBC … Logan's POV.

Chapter Four

Logan studied Barek's bent head as he tapped his mouth with his pencil. He was kidding himself if he thought she would be interested in him. She didn't look up, but if she did, he wondered if she'd smile at him or scowl.

It wasn't as if he was a love-struck teenager, but his usual girl-friends paled against her intelligence, strength of spirit, and dry sense of humor. In short, he admired Carolyn Barek and wanted to get to know her better. Talk about something other than their cases. Eat something besides hotdogs from a street-stand. If nothing came of it, then nothing came of it. But if something did…

He stopped tapping his pencil and began threading it through his fingers. His gaze ran along the line of her jaw to the dark shine of her hair tucked behind her ear. He thought it a shame that she bothered to straighten it when the heavy waves looked so… sexy.

When Eames came to him with the partner-swap idea, Logan laughed in her face. Alex gutted him with her own brand of snarl and explained she came to him first because she thought he would be the most receptive to the idea. That impressed Logan so that he stopped laughing and started listening.

It wasn't that he wanted to have a break from Barek, far from it, or that he thought Alex' motives were good ones. She couldn't sell him on the 'he takes me for granted' idea, but Logan had to admit he'd developed a healthy respect for the diminutive detective who could turn feisty one minute and be the calm in the storm the next.

Alex' explanation of motive to Deakins had been less personal and more professional. The Captain listened to her in silence, fixed her with a hard stare, then swung his gaze to Logan who had accompanied Eames at her insistence.

"You go for this?" Deakins asked.

Shrugging his shoulders and not knowing if he were branding himself an idiot or a new age sensitive guy, Logan simply nodded. "Yeah, why not?"

Smiling broadly, Deakins nodded to Alex. "Okay, then. But I'll be the one to let Goren know." He then frowned at Logan. "But you tell your partner."

Deakins went on to add he'd been wanting an independent party to evaluate Barek and Goren seemed a good choice. As they left Deakins' office, Eames didn't seem as surprised at her victory as Logan was, and offered to tell Barek herself.

Looking at his partner now, Logan was disappointed she hadn't put up more of a fight against losing him. He sighed heavily as he watched her making short precise notes on the legal pad on her desk. Flicking over the pages of a slim file, he observed the way her eyes flashed on an idea, only to frown when it didn't take her anywhere. She crossed out the note she'd written and slapped the file shut.

"What is it, Logan? Whaddya want?" she barked.

Rocking back on his chair, Logan nearly tipped it over. He grabbed the edge of his desk to right himself and smiled wanly. "Nothin'. I thought you might want some help though. Doesn't look like that case is givin' you any joy."

"You mind your own case and leave me to mine. We're not partners today, remember?"

"I remember." He tapped his fingers on the edge of his desk in a simple rock drum tattoo and looked around the room, waiting for her to disengage her lethal glare. He imagined her working FBI and bet she had them more than half-way straightened out in the two years she spent there. He didn't feel sorry for them either.

Barek mumbled something and went back to her file. Logan tipped forward in his chair again to better scrutinize her, not feeling guilty about not making the calls he allotted to himself, figuring Alex was better at that sort of thing than he was. He'd always left that side of the job to Barek anyway.

"Wanna ring my–?"

Barek's eyes flicked up and he mentally cringed at the battle-light in them.

"–contacts?" she asked.

Logan wondered what she'd do if he finished his sentence with 'bell'. Probably give him that look of pity she reserved only for him. He'd never had to work so hard on a woman before. If his self-assurance didn't initially work, the badge usually did and his sense of humor was always a fail-safe backup. Barek was impervious to them all. He guessed that's why he was still trying, riding the challenge until he saw where it took him.

"Now that you offered…" He grabbed his list of names and pushed it across the desk so that it butted up against her legal pad.

Barek straightened, looked at him, looked at the list, and pushed it back. "You get to do your own dirty work today. If Eames won't, don't go crying to me."

He leaned in and whispered. "She's doin' it. I thought I might lighten her load, but if you want me for somethin' else, I can make myself available." He gave her a warm grin, suddenly determined to get a smile out of her if nothing else.

Barek folded her arms across her chest and tilted back in her chair. Logan felt his eyes flicker and senses tighten at the way her breasts jutted forward with the movement.

"If we're swapping partners," she said, her eyes narrowing on him, "we should be swapping desks."

Reining in his involuntary interest, Logan clapped a hand across his heart, feigning hurt feelings. "I'm devastated. My partner doesn't want me sullying her view anymore. I don't think it's gonna happen though. Neat-freak Bobby amongst my kickin'-back mess. He'll probably take out an RO on me goin' anywhere near his desk."

"Now why didn't I think of that?"

Logan grinned and folded his arms in satisfaction. There was a frown across her eyes, but Barek's lips were twitching. Yep, definitely holding back a crack in the mask there. Barek was thawing after all.

"Now, Barek, you should do that more often," he said. "You look downright beautiful when you smile. My heart's all a flu–"

"Can it, Logan," Barek gruffed and pushed herself to her feet. "I gotta go see Goren. This case we're working on stinks from a mile away."

The humor dropping from him, Logan rose from his desk, rounded it and grabbed Barek's hand before she could move away. He was just starting to enjoy himself and he wasn't prepared to let her dismiss him so easily this time. Towering over her, he came in close, but she didn't back away.

Looking at his hand on hers, Barek raised her eyes to meet his without flinching, their glitter both a warning to him and a sign she wasn't intimidated by his heavy-weight tactic.

"What are you afraid of, Carolyn?" he asked, lowering his voice for their ears only. "What are you running away from? Harmless workplace banter? Healthy enjoyment of life? Intimacy?"

Barek's mouth twisted and her eyes flashed at him. "How about your juvenile brand of humor, Logan? Ya think?"

Logan's jaw gritted on the urge to verbally strike back. He hadn't deserved that. No way did he deserve that. Reeling himself in and refusing to relinquish her hand, he allowed his thumb to play against her inner wrist, stroking her pulse gently, the pressure almost imperceptible, rhythm slow and lazy.

"That wasn't nice, Barek," he growled.

She tossed her head and shifted, a swift motion that had his back against the edge of her desk and her between him and an escape route. Her other hand flashed out and seized his groin and squeezed. Logan felt the blood rush to his head and explode behind his eyes, before draining again. His knees buckled and he dropped her wrist to claw at the edge of the desk in desperation, his other hand flailing for a handhold as well. Jaw grinding against his teeth, Logan couldn't move. Couldn't call out for mercy. Could do nothing but fight the black roaring cloud of pain in his head.

"Now," Barek whispered in his ear, "before you cry 'workplace harassment', just think about what you were doing before I defended myself."

She released him and Logan grabbed the desk with both hands to keep himself upright. His knees weren't holding him on their own and it helped fight the urge to cup his injured area and embarrass himself in front of his colleagues. He hoped his eyeballs were back in their sockets, because Alex was looking at him oddly. Logan consoled himself she wouldn't have seen anything but Barek's back, so he felt a reassuring smile was in order right now. He tried, but felt sure it was nothing more than a pained grimace.

Patting his cheek with her fingers, Barek walked over to Goren's desk and Logan closed his eyes in relief.

Logan knew his nightmares tonight would be of what Barek would do to him if he ever tried to kiss her.

oOo

TBC … Barek's POV.

Chapter Five

Fuming with frustration, Carolyn felt like punching something. Logan was the obvious choice, but he was already suffering. She stormed up to Goren, who appeared blithely unaware as he leaned back in his chair, his face innocently enquiring.

She could kill Logan. She really could. Of all the places to choose, the ways to go about it, Logan had to come onto her in full view of the squad, in a place where the coward couldn't follow through what he started. The big oaf didn't know it, but Carolyn would get down and dirty with Detective Mike Logan any time, any where, except for rush hour in the Major Case bull pen. She'd been fantasizing about him for months, preferring his blatant, sometimes crass masculinity over other men's tentative and less fearless approaches. But his timing was criminal. The idiot!

"Bobby, I want to check the body we found this morning," Carolyn snapped. No point hiding her temper around the unit's reigning body language expert. "Accompany me to the M.E.'s?"

It would be interesting to see if Goren would perceptively ignore the treacherous undercurrents emanating from her or foolishly wade into them. Bobby seemed to sniff the air between them, then nodded wordlessly as he rose from his desk. Barek spun on her heel and led the way out.

"Bobby?" Alex called from her desk.

"Not now, Eames," Goren murmured from behind Carolyn's right shoulder, making her jump. For all his size, the man moved like a cat.

They walked in silence until they approached their allotted unmarked police vehicle. "I'm driving," Bobby informed her quietly.

"Knock yourself out," Carolyn said, heading for the passenger side and stepping aside to let Bobby open the door for her. He was right. She was in no mood for negotiating Manhattan traffic courteously or patiently.

Pulling out into the onslaught of vehicles, Bobby shook his head vigorously, tossed a look at Carolyn wedged hard against the passenger door, and nodded. "Logan's being… stubborn about something," he said.

"Logan's being an idiot about something! A blind–"

"Men aren't renowned for seeing the obvious," Bobby stated.

"Is that your excuse?" she snapped.

His brows shot up. "Take a deep breath, Barek. Several. Give yourself a minute, then talk to me."

Carolyn opened her mouth to argue, then changed her mind, realizing it was good advice. Her heart was racing from left-over fury and the sensation of her hand on Logan's crotch and how he had filled her palm. She could still remember the basal thrill that shot through nerves vibrating with anger at his ham-fisted tactics.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take it out on you. It's just that he–" Carolyn cut herself off. How could she talk to Goren about it? He was a man! And bound to be biased.

"You hurt him," Bobby said, his voice gentle.

"He should have known better." Hating the fact that Carolyn sounded petulant to her own ears, she took another deep breath. Bobby was nodding again and Carolyn felt the rest of her temper ease from her.

"He put you in a place that was uncomfortable for you."

"I… It was inappropriate." Why was she telling him this? Perhaps because he was quietly agreeing with her, his big… warmness in the vehicle's cabin exuding calm and reason where Mike was crass and clueless.

"I did it to Eames," Bobby said, and Carolyn heard the deep pain in his voice, her breath catching at his admission.

"At your desk this morning." She recalled watching Goren lean over Alex as she sat in his chair, his face near Eames' cheek, his mouth on her hair. Carolyn shivered. Bobby had his own brand of seduction that was subtle and enthralling, a patient predator with a mesmerized prey.

Carolyn jumped as Bobby thumped his left fist against the steering wheel and cursed. "Men don't think sometimes," he said. "We just act. Sometimes it works for us, sometimes it doesn't."

"Alex would have you, Bobby. Everyone knows that. There's no one else she feels more comfortable with, more trustful of. She's only waiting for the green light from you."

Bobby was shaking his head and Carolyn felt like belting him. "It's that trust that scares me," he said. "I never want to betray it. But I could if I let her in–" He squeezed his eyes shut then swung round to look at her. "We were talking about you. And Logan."

Emboldened by Bobby's confession, Carolyn considered how much she was prepared to reveal. Looking out of the car window at the congested traffic, she saw that they were right in the middle of it, powerless to leave or surge forward. She felt like that with Mike. Unable to stop wanting him, but afraid to fall for him. Even if it were only physical, there were pitfalls, but if ever she should care for him–

"It wasn't so much what Logan did," she said quietly, "but where he did it."

"You would… welcome his advances? Under different circumstances?"

Carolyn smiled at the old-world terminology. Bobby was every bit the gentleman. It was small wonder Alex was champing at the bit, pushing for more from this man.

"Don't you get the impression Alex would welcome yours?" Carolyn asked, watching his profile carefully. "Under different circumstances?"

Pursing his lips, Bobby briefly closed his eyes, then shook his head. "I get a watchful quality from her. Nothing more."

"Then you're right. Men aren't renowned for seeing the obvious. Including you."

Bobby flashed a look at her, then turned his attention back to the traffic snarl. "There's even more reasons why I shouldn't. We shouldn't."

Carolyn sighed. "Yeah, I know them all. I've convinced myself, believing every one. But consider it. Who better to develop a deep driving attachment to, than your opposite number? Someone you admire, who makes you laugh, who looks good enough to get your heart racing and gives you the impression that they could wrap you against their big chest and make you feel safe. In your case," she stabbed a hand at him, "someone you could envelope in your arms and protect. And let's face it, Goren. There's not much time and too few opportunities to actually find someone outside the Force, where the differences in lifestyle and outlook soon kill those relationships."

The traffic inched forward and Bobby negotiated a crowded intersection. Carolyn allowed him to concentrate on his driving until he finally guided the vehicle into a narrow alleyway to the M.E.'s docking bay.

"Well?" she asked when he killed the motor. "Do I have a point?"

Swinging his big body around to face her, Bobby moved in close, maybe to make his own point. Carolyn pulled back as she felt that same raw tension that hit her earlier that morning. Bobby up close was all earthy male and smoldering with it, and Carolyn marveled that Alex hadn't just jumped his bones, damning the consequences.

"You don't know Logan well enough–" he began.

"Sometimes you don't have to." Carolyn cleared her throat, tossing her head in defiance. "I worked with the same partner for two years in the FBI and hitting the sack with him never even remotely crossed my mind. With Mike… well, it didn't take long at all. You just know, ya know?"

Bobby's eyes bored into hers, reaching into that part of her that was vulnerable and honest. "What are you going to do about it?" he finally asked.

Carolyn considered the question seriously and came to the decision to burn her boats and be done with it. "Now that Logan has tipped his hand, the great goof, I'll choose my moment better than he did, and… well, take it from there." As soon as she said it, she felt comfortable with the course of action, and grinned with foolish relief. "Yeah, that's what I'll do. What are you going to do?"

"After today's little… er, deterrent, he might run–"

"I was harsh on him, I know, but he should know better than to back a woman into a corner. Not unless he's prepared to wear the consequences. Anyway, a man who doesn't bounce back from a setback isn't worth having. Now… what are you going to do about it?" she repeated, refusing to allow Bobby to dodge the issue.

"Eames and I aren't going anywhere. There's plenty of time." He leaned across her and Carolyn's breath caught in her throat. Pushing open her door, he signified the discussion was at an end.

"That's funny," Carolyn managed to say, "I never took you for a fool, Bobby."

oOo

Used to working in sterile, humorless offices, Carolyn still considered a M.E.'s work bay more barren and less human than the FBI's worst. Dr Rogers appeared to have absorbed the ambience of her environment into her soul, looking pinched, washed-out and jaded. Logan had assured Carolyn before her first meeting with the M.E. that Rogers had a devious sense of humor and blushed delightfully when teased, but when in lecture mode, she was all business. Carolyn had yet to see Logan 'tease' the doctor. More often than not, he insulted her and if this was the banter that Rogers liked, then the woman had a macabre sense of fun. Choosing to work with the dead pointed to the same conclusion.

The doctor wasn't showing any professionalism at the moment, ignoring Carolyn's question so that she had to repeat it. "The body of Ted Edgley that came in this morning... I'd like to examine it."

Rogers reluctantly stepped back from the burn victim she had been studying and Carolyn had an unobstructed view of the corpse. A child, she guessed, judging from its diminutive size, but so badly burned she couldn't even guess at the gender. Carolyn now understood the M.E.'s down-turned mouth and humorless nature. There wasn't much to laugh at in a room full of corpses and the tragedy of the death of innocents was oppressive.

Rogers' eyes shifted to Bobby, who almost imperceptibly nodded. The M.E. glanced again at Carolyn then turned and led the way to the bank of cold units. Walking to the far end, she yanked open the lower drawer and stood back.

"You've finished examining him already?" Carolyn asked, surprised their case was already a statistic to the doctor.

"Er, I haven't started yet. Backlog." Rogers darted another look at Bobby.

Carolyn suppressed the urge to look back at the other gurneys and nodded, annoyed at the M.E.'s constant deference to Bobby but refusing to show it. "I'll take it from here," she said and moved up to the drawer.

Unsure of what she hoped to find, Carolyn ran a detached eye over the blue-gray body, relying on her instinct and sense of order to guide her. The crime scene had been devoid of clues, not surprising given some criminals' expertise in whitewashing their tracks. That left the body to give up the evidence. The even features, sunken chest and flaccid skin with no outward evidence of violence told no tale. Reaching out a hand, Carolyn stroked two fingers down the stubbled cheeks, acutely aware of Bobby at her elbow, silently observing.

"Do you shave before or after you dress?" she asked him, her eyes sweeping his face.

Running a self-conscious hand across his chin, Bobby shifted on his feet. "Shave? Uh…before."

Pursing her lips, Carolyn ran through the evidence as she knew it. Ted Edgely's house was neat and orderly, his suit off the rack but indicative of some taste, his shoes clean and polished. There had been no dust on the furniture, the bed perfectly made, the rooms devoid of clutter. Her research had already produced no next of kin, no maid service, and no girlfriend. All the evidence pointed to a meticulous hermit-like home owner, dressed to go out. Why then hadn't he shaved before he dressed?

She voiced her question out loud and Bobby's eyes flickered.

"What's going on?" Carolyn demanded.

Bobby hunched in his neck, his hand jerking as he swung round to search for the M.E. Frowning at her retreating back, he looked back at Carolyn. "The scene was staged," he admitted. "It was an evaluation. Your evaluation."

"When was I going to be told?"

"There was no time limit. Until you worked it out for yourself."

Carolyn felt her quick temper starting to rise again. "This stinks, ya know? Does every new recruit go through this insult?"

"Maybe," Bobby shrugged. "Pretty much."

Swinging past Goren, Carolyn strode for the exit. "Well, that sucks. Give me an up-front and honest male chauvinist like Logan anytime," she spat, leaving Bobby to bring up her wake again.

Damn men, she thought. Sometimes she felt men made more sense lying on their backs than trying to manage a situation.

This was one of those times.

oOo

TBC … Bobby's POV.

Chapter Six

Bobby caught up with Barek in the alleyway where their vehicle was parked. Processing the sight of her sitting rigid in the driver's seat, white knuckles curled around the steering wheel, he knew insistence that he drive was out of the question. Bobby knew he could get anything he wanted with irritating persistence, but he balanced that ability with tact.

Wordlessly folding himself into the passenger seat, he stared ahead at the blackened, grimed walls of the morgue docking bay as Barek maneuvered a tight three point turn and gunned out of the alley to pick up the New York traffic. Keeping his face a mask, Bobby retreated into a safer place where angry female detectives weren't in charge of a high-powered ramming machine.

Yearning to be back in the city library to where he had escaped this morning, Bobby used his imagination to transport him there. Reliving the ambience of its quiet, sentinel corridors of books, the anonymity of hiding himself in a nook that was big enough to be comfortable but small enough to be private, Bobby's fingers fluttered against his tense thighs, seeking the smooth cool brush of a heavy tome's page.

This morning, he had used the library to balm his disgust with himself for tormenting Alex at his desk. Now Barek had planted the seed of 'what-if' in his mind. What if Alex would accept his overtures? What if they could have a personal relationship as well as a working one, and it was every bit as comfortable and nurturing?

A deep burning in his belly wanted to grill Barek for any information or insight she had on Alex' feelings toward him. But he had alienated Carolyn and wasn't sure what he would do with the information anyway. The burning within him became a churning of probabilities and possibilities in his head. He needed damage control and he needed it fast.

"Carolyn–"

Her head snapped around and Bobby cringed as the stationary taxi in front of them loomed close and unavoidable.

"Brake!" he cried, then was propelled forward as she stamped her foot on the pedal.

He had no way of knowing if the use of her first name startled her or whether it was simply his audacity to speak to her that was inexcusable, but he learned his lesson. "Pull over," he demanded.

"Get–"

Barek didn't finish the sentence, but her eyes flicked to the rear vision mirror and she guided the vehicle to the curb.

"Out!" he ordered. Leaning across her, Bobby thrust open the driver's door and pushed her out, sliding along the seat to join her on the pavement. He took a deep breath as he gazed down at the dark-haired equivalent of a spitting hell-cat and held up a finger in front of her face.

"That was unsafe driving, Barek. You have a duty to the city to be a good example–"

"Get fucked, Bobby." She ground the epithet through her teeth then painted a false smile of sweetness on her face before reverting back to frowning hell-cat.

Bobby's hand quivered as he brought his emotions into lock-down. "I'm sorry you feel this way about the deception," he measured his words, "but it wasn't my idea. It is a department requirement in some circumstances to evaluate detectives' procedural strategies in solving–"

"Hell, Goren, I'm no fool! This isn't about my procedural strategies. This is about my pouring out my guts to you and you taking notes about my mental and emotional stability. I told the department mole I want to fuck my partner, for chrissake! That's gonna look good on my record."

Bobby felt his head shaking in disbelief. She had got it so wrong. 'I'm not taking notes. I want to…" He heaved a sigh. "I want to tap into your courage. I'm searching for the smallest justification to make the leap myself." Bobby heard his voice rising in desperation and shook the panic from him as a dog would mud from its coat.

Barek's jaw dropped as the battle bled from her eyes. Suspicion remained, but she no longer looked ready to go for his throat. "Shit!"

A scurrying pedestrian jostled Barek so that she fell against him. Bobby steadied her, his hands gentle on her upper arms. Maintaining the contact, he delved into her eyes, making his own reassuring and sincere.

"Let's walk," he suggested. "If we stay here any longer, we'll either get trampled in the crowd or arrested by a beat cop for loitering." Keeping a hand on her elbow, he shouldered into the pedestrian stream, parting the current to accommodate them both.

"You're serious?" Barek asked. "You want to go after Alex?"

He chuckled, surprising himself with his light-hearted response to something that was totally terrifying for him.

"If I do, I know who the loser is going to be."

"You're doing it again, Bobby. Selling yourself short."

He shook his head. "I can't be hurt anymore. Alex can. And I know she's tired of it. She's lost faith in the whole… intimacy game."

"Maybe. But she hasn't lost faith in you."

Bobby was afraid of believing her, but wanting it enough that he would swallow anything that matched what he wanted to hear. He took the fatal step.

"Tell me what you know, Carolyn. I want to hear it all."

"Hear what?"

Bobby lifted his chin to the smog-filtered sunlight competing with the concrete chill of the afternoon.

"What she requires of me." Clearing his throat, he marveled at how insecure he sounded. "How much she wants me, needs me…"

oOo

Shuffling his papers again, Bobby managed to send a file skidding from his desk to spill onto the floor, pages flying in all directions. Cursing under his breath, he bent from the waist and haphazardly scooped up what he could. He flayed himself inside, debating how to talk to Eames, how to begin any sort of personal conversation with her when he was more comfortable bouncing off his thoughts on a case.

He'd avoided eye contact with her since they got back to the squad, but he was painfully aware of her opposite him, avidly reading some copious journal in his handwriting that he couldn't remember giving her. Other than a half-hearted smile when he arrived back at the station, she ignored him. Having no startling conversational openers with which to banter, Bobby was at a stalemate.

Looking desperately across to Barek's desk, his heart sank. She was on the phone, speaking animatedly into the mouthpiece and making notes on her legal pad. No help there. Of Logan, there was no sign.

The sound of a yawn brought Bobby's attention back to Alex. She rubbed her nose, and tucked her hair behind an ear, before flipping over the next page. Bobby couldn't remember when or how it had happened, but one day it had hit him. Alex wasn't just a partner, she was an anchor, grounding him in the good; a compass, leading him to his best discoveries; his moon, reflecting his erratic uncoordinated brilliance. Was this the definition of a soul-mate?

It was now or never.

Not seeing any alternative other than to show interest in what Alex was reading, Bobby waved his pencil over the pages. "What have you got there?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

Alex looked up, her fine eyebrows lifting. "You should know. You wrote it."

No smile. That wasn't a good sign. Bobby jabbed his hand in frustration and twisted his face. "I know. I… recognized the handwriting, but–"

Alex slapped the stapled pages shut and poked a finger at the title on the front page. "It's your thesis on the parallels between works of crime fiction and real-life detective procedure. Remember? You devoted most of it to the study of Conan Doyle's character, Sherlock Holmes."

Bobby nodded vigorously. He remembered doing the research but he didn't remember giving Alex a copy. What was he thinking? Other men gave women flowers and chocolates. "You've finished with Logan?" he asked, wondering why she was on her own and not concentrating on the case at hand.

"Nah, just waiting for him to come back from the medic. He had a pain and wanted to get it checked out. We're heading out as soon as he has the okay." She sat back in her chair and folded her arms. "Can I do anything for you, Bobby?"

Goren opened and shut his mouth. Presented with the opportunity to dive right in, he hesitated. Despite Barek's reassurances, it just wasn't that easy. Alex looked closed and disinterested. If he didn't know better, he would say she was angry at him, but Alex never lost her temper with him. She had the patience of a saint.

"I was hoping we could catch up… later. When you and Logan are finished for the day."

Hesitating, her mouth twisted, then she nodded. "Sure. Is there a problem?"

"No, no problem. I just… wanted…" He flailed, looking for a way in, or failing that, a way out. "To… get your thoughts on my, er–" His eyes slid from her face and latched onto the paper on her desk. "… my thesis."

Alex' brows knitted, then she shrugged. "Sure. But I'm no English major–"

Lifting both hands in agitation, Bobby felt himself stumble further into incoherence. "I understand. Perfectly. Still, it might be… fun," he finished lamely.

Alex was giving him a strange look now, and he couldn't blame her. He honestly couldn't think of any circumstance where a woman might consider working through a dry paper, fun.

"Er, I guess," she said, then looked past him. "Logan. Hey. You gonna live?" Bobby hated the way Alex' face lit up upon seeing the other detective. He couldn't remember her ever looking that pleased to see him when he walked into the room.

"Yeah, I'm gonna live." Logan came to a stop beside Bobby's desk and grimaced. "I ain't gonna be smiling for a few days though. You ready to move out?"

"Bobby?" Alex looked a query at Bobby and he wanted to say, No, don't go. I'm not finished. I haven't even started! Instead, he nodded numbly, waving a hand as he bent his head to sort through the disorganization in the file he had dropped.

"Later?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, later," he mumbled, still refusing to look at her. Uncomfortable with his frustration, this unresolved insecurity hanging over him, Bobby was a quivering mass of indecision.

oOo

TBC … Alex' POV.

Chapter Seven

Alex trailed Logan reluctantly, nursing a confusion that developed from Bobby's strange behavior. That morning, he'd pinned her to his seat with an almost intimate touch, then ran out on her. He ignored her on his way out with Barek earlier, then baffled her with a conversation at their desks that seemed to go nowhere. Her interest sharpened at Bobby's suggestion that they meet after work, but then was deflated by his talk of analyzing his thesis.

Examining the emotions running through her at the moment, Alex concluded she was totally pissed with Bobby, resenting him for fraying her at the edges, wounded by his brushing her aside, and wary of his agenda for meeting her after work. This sort of erratic behavior was unusual, even for him. Maybe it wasn't fair to him to request this partner-swap, but even Bobby had to learn to cope out of his comfort zone.

"You coming, Alex?" Logan asked from the main door of the squad room. "Today?"

Alex hesitated then increased her stride. "Sure. I want to make the offices before closing time."

"Aren't they expecting us?" Logan cocked his head to the side as she joined him. "I thought you'd rung ahead and warned them we wanted information on our fire vic."

"I did, but the danger with that is employees skip out if they've got something to hide." She realized she was ahead of him, even with his longer step, and slowed until he caught up.

"Wendell had been retired, what… nearly a year now? If this fire was a crime of revenge by a co-worker, they've been stewing on it for a while."

Alex nodded. "Often than not, that's how it goes down." She looked up at him. "You think I'm wasting our time?"

"Not at all. Any lead is better than no lead." Logan's dark brows were set in serious line, the man shedding his humor when on the case. "We've exhausted the contacts for the honeymooners and the family on the top floor. My bet's on the owners of the building." He stopped walking and waved her forward down the corridor. "I'm right behind you."

"That's a nice change. I'm used to bringing up Bobby's wake," Alex smiled.

"Yeah, well, Bobby's not as opportunistic as I am."

Alex frowned, not liking his implication. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, Detective Eames, absolutely nothing."

Feeling her frown deepen, Alex stepped out and led the way to the car pool, unable to shake the feeling that an avid pair of eyes were watching her rear.

oOo

Once they reached the offices of Morgen and Trudgian, Attorneys at Law, where the fire victim had worked for twenty-one years before retiring, Alex noticed Logan wasn't the only one being 'opportunistic'. The open plan of the offices inhabiting the eighth floor was littered with desks with their occupants still hard at work. Heads raised in an undulating wave as the detectives followed the middle-aged primly-dressed receptionist through the workplace, and Logan attracted a lot of appreciative and tracking gazes from the female contingent. Alex' lips twitched at the women's blatant interest, but Logan seemed unaware of it, else he schooled himself not to acknowledge it. Both instances surprised Alex. She would have expected him to preen at the attention and even take advantage if the situation allowed it.

Feeling an imp of mischief, Alex decided to tease him as payback for his remark back at the precinct.

"You're turning heads here, Mike. What's the name of your after-shave? Lynx Look-at-Me?'

Logan's mouth turned up in a satisfied grin. "Nope. It's called natural pheromones."

Alex spluttered then crowed. The man wasn't as oblivious as he pretended. She had to agree with his jest though. Like Bobby, he had a bigness that suited his height and attributed to his standing out in a crowd. Once your attention was hooked, you noticed the brilliant sheen of the near-black hair, matured by salt and pepper temples, the lively glitter in his eyes and the generous mouth that was all the more interesting when he smiled. Though not classically handsome, Logan had a mix that drew you in and urged you to press yourself against that bigness in search of the heat banked beneath his clothes.

Alex shivered, remembering that's exactly how Bobby made her feel. His was more of a big teddy bear charm with an animal magnetism that made you want to hug him to you, take him to your bed and unleash the beast. Alex jumped as she felt Logan's hand on her upper arm, guiding her into one of the enclosed offices at the other end of the floor.

"Detective Eames, where was your head just then?" he murmured in her ear.

Smiling self-consciously, Alex shook her head. "You don't want to know."

Having already seen Logan's interview style with the firefighters and local cops at this morning's fire aftermath, Alex was interested to see how he handled the non-uniformed populace. His earlier easy-going and respectful acknowledgement of the fire chief's expertise at his crime scene, transformed in the office of John Lucas of Morgen and Trudgian into a subtly intimidating skepticism with a trace of arrogance.

When Logan asked Lucas a question he already knew the answer to, the detective played with the heavy silver ring on his left hand, pushing it back and forth against his knuckle. When the answer was important to him, he leaned forward and steepled his fingertips, elbows on Lucas' desk. Upon Lucas' answering a workplace infraction in the negative, Logan glanced sharply at Alex, his brows high on his forehead, a strong reaction to an obvious lie.

Alex made a note to play against Mike in the next department poker game. His non-verbal signals were a dead giveaway. Bobby had his own quirks, showing more interest in an interviewee's surroundings and possessions than the person. When the latter grabbed his interest, he would swing around and ensnare the person with a frown, pinning them to the spot until they caved. Any communication with Alex was concealed and minimal.

Alex nodded imperceptibly to Logan. She too was curious why Lucas pretended Wendell had an unblemished work record. According to her research, Lucas was the associate who signed off on the internal complaint that Wendell had been undercutting his billable hours for several months.

"Mr Lucas," Alex added, "a phone interview earlier between myself and an employee of Morgen and Trudgian indicated that Mr Wendell was cautioned on incorrect time-keeping."

"Oh, that." Lucas leaned back in his chair, nodding vigorously. "That's true, but we sorted that out. He got no more than a hand slap. I didn't consider it important enough to attract your interest."

"Everything is significant especially if it's deliberately omitted," Alex explained.

Logan was frowning. "An associate is under-billing his claimable hours and you don't consider it important?"

"I assure you, detectives, it was nothing more than an oversight on my part. Of course it's a crucial issue to the firm, just not, I assumed, to your investigation."

Logan pursed his lips then pushed back his chair, waiting for Alex to follow suit.

Taking the hint, Alex nodded to Lucas. "Thank you for your time," she said and preceded Logan out of the room.

"Interesting?" she asked him as they threaded their way back to the reception area.

Logan nodded. "Yep, and it's time I put some of those natural pheromones to use."

oOo

Hovering outside the firm's lunch room, Alex watched Logan at work charming three female paralegals into his confidence. Even the prim receptionist had joined them and bashfully smiled whenever he looked her way.

There was a male associate on his own in a corner and Alex could have tackled him for information, but Logan appeared to be doing so well, she felt he really didn't need her backup. Besides, she was enjoying the show.

Logan shed his brooding almost surly trait and took on an attentive awareness of the women and their needs. They blossomed under his sultry sensitivity, vying for his attention with mostly irrelevant information. Logan listened raptly to each anecdote, smiling in lazy appreciation, then moved onto the next.

Alex suppressed a smile, imagining Bobby there instead. His approach would be less suggestive – more warm protective interest, coming in close in that way he had, enveloping his target with an understated but no less potent charisma.

"Shit!" Alex swore under her breath. She really had to stop thinking about that man, or at best, comparing the two. She was being pathetically unprofessional and she needed to do her job. Plastering a smile onto her face, Alex headed for the unsuspecting associate halfway through an early evening meal in the corner.

oOo

The lift door closed upon the warm smile and lowered eyes of the receptionist and Alex rounded on Logan, unable to hold in the chuckle which had threatened to erupt since being escorted back to the main reception area of Trudgian and Morgen.

"You've got that one eating out of your hand," she said. "I would have unjustly stereotyped her as the office's loyal battleaxe when we arrived, and now she's all obsequious marshmallow."

"A marshmallow with her finger very much on the pulse of the office," Logan nodded sagely and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Wendell made enemies here and his so-called retirement was more of a forced eviction than a voluntary departure. It's all rumor and Janene says there won't be any paperwork to support it, but Wendell was given an ultimatum. Retire or have his workday made insufferable and his reputation as an under-biller published openly. No firm would touch him if that happened."

"If they succeeded in getting rid of him," Alex said, "why eliminate him altogether?"

"A common enough motive." Logan rubbed his thumb and fingers together in an age-old gesture. "Money. He took financial secrets with him. Secrets he threatened to expose unless his price was met."

Alex' brows raised, impressed with Logan's information. "You got all this from the marshmallow?"

"Yep. The paralegals didn't know that much, more in tune with the legal aspects of the firm's cases than its finances."

"So, what's with the combined effort in the lunch room? You played the paralegals as hard as the receptionist."

The Logan grin materialized, the case on backburner as his humor returned. "That, my dear Eames, was merely keeping my hand in."

oOo

Back at the precinct, Logan wanted to dictate his findings to Alex so that she could enter them on her laptop, joking that she could type faster than he could think and he could think faster than he could talk. Alex fobbed him off with the suggestion he needed the practice, wanting to get away with Bobby and hear what was on his mind. Besides, Carolyn was impatiently circling Logan and Alex was going to take the hint even if Mike wouldn't.

"You're on your own, Logan," she said without apology. "You got my thoughts on the ride back. It's been a long day so I'm calling it a night. Bobby?" She tossed her head, noticing Goren was still seated at his desk, poring over some paperwork, ignoring them. "You still want to see me?" she prompted, reminding him it was his idea they meet after work.

Bobby jumped into activity, shuffling a group of files into a pile and stuffing them under his arm. Alex groaned inwardly at the realization that he was going to talk shop. He smiled winningly and although she had missed that smile as well as the rest of him all day, it wasn't going to make up for his cavalier treatment of her today. Knowing that the whole thing had been her idea and she only had herself to blame, didn't help ease the torment.

Carolyn winked at her as they passed, but Alex merely rolled her eyes. A file slid out from under Bobby's arm and fell to the floor. Alex beat him to it, picking it up and hanging onto it. On the walk out of the squad room, she fantasized about what price she could make him pay to get it back.

oOo

TBC … Logan's POV.

Chapter Eight

Opening his locker in the precinct's locker room, Logan grabbed the gray sweats on the top shelf and tossed them beside his coat and tie on the bench behind him. Kicking off his shoes, he had his belt loosened when he heard a sound behind him.

Spinning round, he saw Barek round the corner of the row of lockers and amble toward him. She was still dressed in her street clothes of dark trousers, brown tank top, sans black coat, so she hadn't been in the gym, but he was surprised she wasn't half way home. When Alex had refused, Logan managed to browbeat Barek into doing his dictation and he thought she would have split before he thought of something to add.

"You still here?" he asked. "I thought you'd called it a day?"

"I haven't been compensated for playing typist for you yet."

There was no hint of a smile or crack in her usual somber exterior to help Logan gauge her mood, so he decided to take her seriously. "Hey, I promised to let you drive for a week," he said, finishing with his belt and adding it to the pile on the bench. "What more do you want?"

Logan's hands were on his trousers, waiting to slip them down and change into his sweats, but Barek wasn't getting the hint. He still had his shirt on and so wasn't totally exposed, but he debated how a co-worker would interpret his dropping down to his boxers in front of her. He was in the appropriate place for it and she didn't look like leaving, so he shrugged and turned his back on her and slid his trousers down his hips. Dumping them on the bench, he scooped up the track pants and slipped them on quickly, pleased that he'd accomplished a show of blasé maturity.

"I wonder what Bobby and Alex are doing right now," Barek mused, leaning against the locker opposite him. "I was going to beg a lift home," she bent her head to examine her nails, "but I didn't want to play gooseberry."

"Nothing's gonna happen there." Logan folded his arms together. "Bobby's not gonna make the first move and office gossip reckons Alex has been waiting too long to change the status quo now."

"You'll be surprised then." Barek flicked her eyes over him and went back to her nails. "I get the feeling she's waited long enough and Bobby just needed a nudge. I'm hoping that I've given him that."

Logan twisted his lips and went for the buttons on his shirt. Barek still wasn't leaving, intent on discussing the other two detectives with him when he wasn't really interested.

"You gonna work out?" he asked, unsure of her motive for being here.

"I hope to," she said, her voice low and sultry. Logan's fingers froze on the last button and he raised his head in time to catch sight of a very uncharacteristic sexy pout. It wasn't so much what she said but how she said it. And he'd never seen that… look… in her eye before. It was very un-Barek.

Barek took two steps which brought her into Logan's personal space, then put her hands on his and pushed them away from the last button. Grabbing the two ends of his shirt in both hands, she yanked it open, popping the button and sending it flying to skitter under a locker.

"I've always wanted to do that," she murmured. "Next time, I wanna do it to all of them."

Logan felt his jaw drop. He recognized what was going down but didn't quite trust it. He still believed that Barek would never be interested in him, and after his ignominious behavior with her in the squad room today and his subsequent paying a painful price, he had to think this was a trap. She was trying to extract more payback and he would bet there were twenty witnesses hiding behind the last locker waiting to watch his downfall. Failing that, she was wired for sound or worse, video. He wasn't going to fall for it.

"Hey, you shoulda told me," he joked, "I would've worn Velcro." He spread his arms in surrender, his shirt falling open. "Okay, Barek, I give up. You got me. I shouldn't have done that to you in the squad room and I'm sorry. You don't have–"

Barek reached up and slowly slid the open shirt from his shoulders, her hands warm and soft, nails teasing his skin, and Logan forgot what he was going to say. As her fingers met at his spine, she pushed in more firmly, kneading his flesh as she continued to his waist. Logan shivered uncontrollably, then her lips were on his chest and he groaned out loud.

"What are you–?"

He was again speechless, but this time because her mouth sealed his, soft but demanding, and the shock of it killed his next thought. He felt his heart falter then race as a bolt of adrenalin kicked him into high gear. Wrapping his arms around her, he leaned into her, instinct kicking in, his body accepting what his brain knew it shouldn't. A tug on his shirt brought him back to reality as he looked down to watch Barek undoing the cuffs on his sleeves.

Gritting his teeth against the rush of blood coursing hot through his veins, Logan backed away. "Carolyn, I'm sorry. Truly I am. It won't happen–" The rest of his sentence came out in an 'oomph' as she threw him against the locker, her hands languidly working his chest. Pushing her body into his, her fingers feathered back to his cuffs and expertly popped each button. A sinuous tug had both sleeves free of his arms and his shirt pooling at his feet.

Logan closed his eyes, realizing an apology wasn't enough. She was going to make him pay, so he'd best take it like a man.

"You guys can come out now," he called, his voice not much more than a hoarse croak. "I'm beat… I can't resist this woman, so if she's gonna put on the pressure…" He hissed through clenched teeth as her hands pushed his sweats down his hips and insinuated themselves into the waistband of his boxers. "I'm gonna… make a fool of myself. I'm warning… you all… in advance."

As her hand closed over him, Logan made a last ditch effort to resist. With a bellow that sounded inhuman to his own ears, he grabbed her wrists and held her away from him, bending low from the waist, heaving air into his lungs in great gulps. He'd never felt so out of control with a woman before.

"Carolyn… please…" he gasped.

Barek yanked her wrists free and cradled his head against her chest. He inhaled her unique fragrance, burrowed his head into her softness and was lost. If it cost him the respect of his co-workers and his career, again, he was going to steal this moment for as long as she would let him.

Coming up fighting, Logan straightened and folded his arms around her waist, hauling her off her toes against him. Balancing her feet on the bench, he pushed up her tank top and buried his face against the warmth of her stomach, his mouth tonguing her flesh, thrilled by the wake of goose bumps he left on her skin. Her hands were in his hair, nails raking through his scalp, frying already frazzled nerves.

His progress unimpeded and no shout of 'surprise!' yet to deter him, Logan's hands went for the clasp of her bra, making short work of it. His mouth closed over a full breast and he committed the experience, the ecstasy of it, to memory. Her hands were scrabbling at his boxers, pushing them down his thighs, the sudden cold draft counteracted by the heat of her palms on him. He groaned again, louder than before, and fleetingly thought that the precinct wouldn't need video to know what was going on.

If he was going to only get one chance at this, he was going to make it memorable for both of them. Alternating between gently teething and suckling her breast, Logan set his hands in motion, rubbing his palms over her ass before homing his fingers in on the button of her waistband to release it and the zipper below. A swift tug downward had her trousers around her ankles and his fingers slid under her panty line to find the slick heat that told him she was ready for him.

He shuddered as her hands on him drove him to the edge, wanting this for too long to be able to exercise much restraint now. Slipping her panties down her hips, his mouth followed their progress slowly and thoroughly. Barek's body quivered under his touch, her legs slightly parting and he couldn't resist. He drove his tongue into her and she collapsed against his chest with a strangled shriek, her fingers frantic in his hair.

"Mikey, Mikey–"

This was it, he thought. The final humiliation. The moment when they all jumped out to catch him at it and grind him into dust. Instead, Barek ripped the top over her head, flung her bra away, kicked off her panties and held out her arms to him.

Logan stood there, mouth open, still not believing that no one was stopping him and he was beyond stopping himself. Stepping in, he cupped her ass, lifted her and brought her closer and then lowered her onto him, holding her slight weight effortlessly. She slid around him as if made for him, her tight heat threatening to finish him before he'd begun.

"Sweet Mother of Jesus!" Surely they would call a halt now and his downfall would be complete, else he was going to be struck down by divine intervention.

His heart exploded with passion, body quivering as he rocked her on him, his ears filled with the sounds of her pants and his moans, until finally he felt her bite down on his shoulder and shudder around him. His own release was almost painful, it was so intense and volatile, and his shout was a mixture of victory and despair that he'd won the prize but it would never be repeated.

Dropping to the bench, he cradled Barek against him, his mouth pushing the hair from her face, so that he could consume her lips.

"You pick your moments, don't you, Barek?" he panted.

"Better than you do, Logan," she murmured against his chest.

He made a sound of derision. "This is where… you pull the rug out from under me… and tell me you got it all on tape. What's the ransom gonna be?"

He yelped as she thwacked him over the head.

"Damn you, Logan! What an idiot!" She struggled to free herself but he clamped his arms around her until she stopped, puffing from the effort.

"What?" he asked. "You aren't gonna hold this against me? This wasn't a set-up?"

She thumped him again. "How could you possibly think–?"

"How could I not? You heard me! I was convinced any minute I was gonna get sprung with my pants down." He felt his temper boiling without knowing why. The sparks in her eyes were probably a reflection of the confused anger in his.

She struggled on his lap again, and he pushed her back onto the flat surface of the bench and followed her down with his body.

"No one is hiding behind the lockers?" he demanded, unable to believe she seriously wanted this.

"No!" she shouted, still struggling.

"The room's not wired?"

"No! Of all the–!"

He pushed in closer, his lips barely touching hers, optimism sending his blood careening around his body again. "Then we can do this again?"

"No way!" But the way her lower body was straining toward his and the lack of real conviction in her voice gave Logan renewed hope. "Not on your–" He smothered the rest of her sentence with his mouth, driving in deep, glorying in a sense of power and recently found control.

"I think…" He lifted his head long enough to smile at her with a new confidence. "Myself… I think it would be a good idea."

oOo

Logan grunted as Barek stirred against him, his eyes opening to take in the steamy grunge of the precinct's small but serviceable sauna. No more than fifteen by twenty feet, it boasted one three-tiered bench seat and little else. The scenery didn't matter anyway. He would have huddled in a hell-hole for as long as he had Barek nestled up against his side like this.

He touched his mouth to the top of her head to convince himself she was real. She stirred again and murmured something he couldn't catch. In case it was important, he pulled back slightly to look at her and she moved against him, burrowing deeper into his side.

"Don't go."

He smiled in approval. "I'm not going anywhere, but I'm curious–"

"Here it comes," she grumbled, sighing heavily. "The post-mortem. Why do men–?"

He cut her off with his mouth, kissing the breath from her and was surprised by the immediate response in his loins again.

When Logan lifted his head, he butted his chin against her temple in playful satisfaction. "I've always wondered the same about women. But now I know where their heads were at. I wanna know how long you felt like this about me. The first time you felt like this about me."

"In your dreams, Logan," she said. "I'm not adding to that ego."

He cringed in mock hurt. "This ego was so convinced you couldn't possibly want me that I thought all of this was some form of revenge for coming onto you in the squad room."

"Not revenge." She moved against him, rearranging her limbs. "Just throwing caution to the winds after you played your hand earlier. And in answer to your question… a long time."

"A long time, eh?" He smiled in contentment. "Like the first day?"

She swatted him and Logan got the feeling that Barek considered physical blows some form of afterglow.

"No, not the first day," she said, nuzzling into his chest. "But maybe by the end of the first week. Does that please you?"

"Yep." Logan was in a rare state of euphoria, generated by the languid heat of the sauna and the knowledge that his prickly little partner was soft on him.

Barek pushed off from his side and coaxed him flat on his back onto the seat then positioned herself over his waist. Logan eyed her hanging breasts appreciatively and considered doing something with them.

"I wonder if Bobby and Alex got it all together?" she asked, flicking her damp hair from her face.

Logan grunted as his hands closed over her breasts, fingers teasing the nipples. "Them again. What's with this fascination–?" He grunted again as she ground her hips into his, stirring him to life.

"I like Alex," Barek said, "and I know what it's like to work with a man and want to jump his bones at the end of the day and not be able to do anything about it." She bent over to teethe his chest and Logan felt she could talk about the other detectives all she wanted for as long as she kept this up. "I just hope Alex can break down Bobby's barriers soon, before she gives up."

"Nuh, uh." Logan shook his head, half of his mind on the conversation, the other half below his waist. "She won't give up. She's a pit bull. Bobby's not gonna cave though."

"Why not? You did?"

"Hey, baby," Logan grinned. "I wanted to cave. Seriously cave."

Barek was nibbling his collar bone and rubbing those glorious steam-slickened breasts against his chest. Logan wished she would lose interest in Goren and Eames and get back to what was really important.

"What makes you think… Bobby doesn't want to?" she asked, finally sounding as disturbed as he felt. "Or won't?"

Logan couldn't think straight anymore, too engrossed with the feel of Barek all over him. "I don't know, and I don't care." His hands went down to knead her bare ass, pushing her into him, reveling in the newness and deliciousness of being able to do this to her. "Now, let's concentrate on my barrier."

"The one that's between us right now?" Barek smiled, doing a little wriggle on him that had him groaning.

"Yeah, that's the one."

oOo

TBC … Bobby's POV.

Chapter Nine

Tapping his fingers against his knee, Bobby stretched his neck against the confines of his collar. He flicked a quick glance at Alex, gauging the set of her mouth as she concentrated on driving her car through the late night traffic toward his home. She didn't acknowledge him, her chin set high, eyes focused on the road ahead, convincing Bobby he was in deep shit.

His quickly planned dinner together at his usual restaurant had been a disaster.

Once Alex had taken possession of the files he had been holding to his chest like a life buoy and thrusting them under the restaurant table, she seemed to relax, smiling easily, answering his questions about her nephew with enthusiasm and warmth. She even touched Bobby's hand several times when recounting the boy's antics and cute idiosyncrasies. So aware of her, Bobby could still feel the featherweight warmth of her fingers on his.

While they waited, he tried to relax, mindful he'd made a life-altering decision even though part of him wanted to keep things as they were. He lulled himself into thinking he had plenty of time: all night, tomorrow, next week even, to take his relationship with Alex in another direction.

But by the time their meal arrived, Alex had withdrawn from him, shut down to the point where, after only picking at her food, she suggested they call it a night. She hustled him back to the precinct and bundled him into her car and was breaking the speed limit to get him home and be rid of him.

"I… I'm… sorry you didn't enjoy the evening," he said, stretching his neck again. "The food wasn't what you wanted–"

"The food was fine." Her voice was clipped, her attention never wavering from the road. She worked her mouth as if she were finding it difficult to hold onto her temper.

Bobby tried again. "The menu was a bit restrictive. We could have gone somewhere–"

"I said, the food…was fine." She gritted out the words and he flinched, sensing conflict but unable to diffuse it.

"I should have let you go straight home. You were tired, it had been a long day–"

Her next words cut him off, pouring out in a rush. "You didn't need me there, Bobby. I felt like the fifth wheel. The waitress… what was her name?"

"Mandy?"

"I knew you would know her name." Alex almost spat the words. "She never introduced herself to me. She was all over you. Like a rash. I'm surprised she didn't ask if she could join us."

"I eat there regularly." Bobby hated the way his voice sounded plaintive, but his instincts told him to placate and play safe. "Mandy knows what I like."

"I bet she does."

"Alex–"

"Forget it, Bobby." She clamped her lips shut and stared back at the road. A sharp turn threw him against the side of the car and they were in his street, slowing down to stop outside his apartment building.

Bobby stared ahead, recalling to his mind's eye, the image of the Alex that complemented him. The Alex that was the other side of his coin. Not this distant, tense woman that he didn't understand. She was waiting for him to get out of the car, but he couldn't let her leave him like this.

"If you mean that remark of Mandy's about my preferring blondes, she was referring to the time Nicole Wallace came upon me at the restaurant. I left my dinner uneaten that day to follow Nicole out onto the street. Mandy remembered–"

"Forget it, it's not important."

"It is." He sighed heavily. "To you."

Neither moved, the air between them charged with a wary electricity that threatened to jolt them apart.

With an angry exclamation, Alex leaned back to grab his files from the back seat, but Bobby moved quickly and blocked her. He cupped his hands around her face, looking into her eyes, letting her see the respect, gratitude and closeness he felt for her.

"I care… about what's important to you," he amended quickly. In truth, he cared, period, but he was still afraid to reveal too much, for both their sakes. His childhood had taught him a hard lesson in showing his feelings.

"You said earlier you wanted to discuss something," Alex said, holding her head very still. "So far I've only heard about the bad day your… personal waitress has had and how all her customers, except for you, are pigs. How none of them, except for you, know how to be a gentleman."

Bobby tensed at the confrontation still hovering. His hands trembled on her face, then he flexed his fingers and pulled back.

Turning away, he almost missed her eyes squeezing shut and her mouth twisting in what looked like disappointment.

"We're here, Bobby," she said. "At your apartment."

She was trying to get rid of him now, and he hadn't yet accomplished what he'd set out to do. Alex was giving him an out, and the safe, smart side of him urged him to take it, but Barek's words surfaced as a mantra to give him the resolve to persist. Alex hasn't lost faith in you… she hasn't lost faith in you…

He swallowed hard. "Er, do you want to come in?"

"What? Inside?" Alex' face puckered.

"Er, yeah."

"For?" She raised her brows in confusion.

"For… coffee, I guess."

"You guess." Alex shook her head, expelled the breath she had been holding and looked out the window.

You idiot! Bobby mentally flayed himself, amazed at his ineptitude. He groped for the words to reach her.

"What would you do if I kissed you?'" he asked, blurting it out without finesse.

What did he just say? Hell, he was making a shambles of the whole thing.

Alex drew a sharp breath, her head snapping round to look at him, eyes wide. "What did you say?"

He reconsidered his words, but lying would injure her, and belittle him.

"I asked… if I could kiss you." And he realized it was true. He needed her permission to do something so out of character, so out of his comfort zone. He needed her approval before he could even attempt it. Needed to warn her.

"Why don't you… try it and find out?" she asked, her voice full of wonder. "Why do you have to ask?"

"Alex…" Bobby was in pain, frozen, unable to take it any further. Couldn't she make it easier for him?

"This is ridiculous!" Alex spun round and pushed on the driver's door. With a muffled curse, Bobby grabbed her, pulling her to him. His mouth clumsy in her hair, he rubbed his cheek against its silken smoothness, then gently pushed her away, framing her face with his hands again. His skin was imprinted with the feel of her, the drug that was her taking hold of his senses. This time, he coaxed her gently toward him, his mouth touching hers lightly, fleetingly, hardly daring to breathe.

Her almost imperceptible groan of 'Bobby' was lost under his lips and if he weren't holding her straining body against him, he wouldn't have believed the desperate yearning in the simple sounding of his name.

He echoed that excruciating need, pulling her more fully against him, purposefully keeping his mouth soft, giving her an avenue of escape at any time. His body shuddered with the effort needed to prevent his overpowering her, when all he wanted to do was take her, drive into her and make her his own.

"I won't break, Bobby," she whispered, pulling back. "I promise."

His eyes were shut tight on the tide of protectiveness that engulfed him. He'd received his answer. Far from being shocked or disgusted, her response had been unguarded, genuinely returning his fervor, encouraging him for more.

"A car isn't… the most suitable place–"

"If I let you out of here, Bobby, you'll come to your senses and change your mind," she whispered.

Smiling slightly, Bobby shook his head. "No. I won't."

Rolling out from his own side of the car, Bobby quickly joined Alex on the footpath, taking both her hands in his and lifting each one to his lips.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked, disbelief thickening his voice.

Her smile was sweet but fleeting, giving him the impression she was as terrified as he. "I'm sure," she said, her hesitation contradicting her words.

He stood looking at her, not moving, searching her face for any sign of duress, getting his own feelings under control so as not to hurry her.

She shivered and he berated himself for keeping her standing in the night air. "You're cold," he said, stating the obvious as he wrapped her in his coat, not taking it off, but cocooning her in it against his body.

In his haste to rectify his unthinking inconsideration, Bobby practically dragged her into the building, but she was laughing and shivering at the same time. In the dimly lit foyer, he looked again at her smiling face and felt overwhelmed by a raw emotion that he couldn't define. He couldn't process, identify and compartmentalize it like every other feeling he had. Instead, it slipped away from his head and gripped his heart, causing it to falter then start a heavy, powerful beat that reverberated through his frame, radiating out to the slight body held tightly against him.

Alex stopped smiling and gazed up at him, her mouth parted, eyes wide. He had never seen her so beautiful and so vulnerable to him.

"Alex?"

"Yes, Bobby. Yes."

She strained up to him and he closed his eyes, letting instinct draw his face to hers, his lips finding and capturing hers, his hands dropping his coat to clasp hers where they balled against his chest. Unwrapping her fingers, he entwined them in his and drew them up around his neck, removing the last barrier between them. Her body melted into his and Bobby felt absolute. The tension dropped from him, his heart beat for her, her breath became his and the complexity of his life became a simple issue of loving this woman.

The sound of an approaching siren finally punched through Bobby's consciousness, reminding him who he was and all the reasons why he had deliberately kept himself professionally distant from his partner. He reluctantly pulled away, but wouldn't release her, not willing to rebuild all of the barriers he had imposed upon himself.

Alex wouldn't look at him, concentrating on one of his suit coat buttons. She looked as flustered as he felt, and he was sure if he suggested it best they say goodnight, she would leave him and get in her car. It would be that easy, but he was finished with trying to avoiding issues that complicated his already problematical life.

Turning slightly, he coaxed her toward the flight of stairs that would take them to his apartment. They hadn't spoken another word, she, as well as he, knowing that words would only make the moment more awkward. Hand in hand, they took the stairs in unison, Alex looking ahead and at peace, Bobby looking down at the top of her head, not letting her out of his sight.

He knew words weren't necessary to guide them in what they would do in the privacy of his apartment; weren't needed to tell each other how they felt, when their bodies would show them. Words would be inadequate to express how complete they would be in a physical joining that would surely transcend into the spiritual. For him, anyway.

At his door, Bobby's confidence was shattered when he fumbled his keys, unable to insert the right one in the lock. Alex gently took the keys from him and unlocked the door, pushing it open but then hung back as if she were now unable to take that step.

Flustered again, Bobby shifted from one foot to the other. He wanted to drag her in there, lock the door and never let her out again, but instead his head spun round from her, to inside his apartment, to her again, the words tripping over themselves as he tried to invite her in.

"Alex… please… wo…won't…please, er, come in."

He stood self-consciously while she walked in, glancing round briefly before stopping in the middle of the living room. Following her, he jabbed a hand toward the sofa, unsure if that's where she wanted to be, and clueless as to how to recapture the moment downstairs.

Alex settled herself into the seat, and smiled tentatively up at him.

Stomach churning, his heart shriveling at his cowardice, Bobby strode past her toward the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" she asked, startled.

"To make coffee."

"I don't really need–"

"I promised you coffee," he said, and escaped.

Bobby came to an abrupt halt in the small kitchen, not seeing the uncluttered benches, or the high row of cupboards suspended above them, nor the gleaming stainless steel double sink. He leaned his palms on the bench where the coffee-maker stood, his shoulders hunched over his feelings of inadequacy. Only Alex reduced him to this state of schoolboy terror on a first date.

Taking deep centering breaths, Bobby pushed away from the bench, forcing himself through the making of the beverage, staring sightlessly at the machine as it went through its routine. What in Hades should he do now, he thought, watching the first puff of steam explode and rise, dispersing the aromatic scent of good coffee in its wake.

Forget the coffee.

Bobby considered going back into the living room, approaching Alex in apology for thrusting himself upon her downstairs, but she would think him a fool if he came out of the kitchen empty-handed after promising a drink. The machine gurgled and spat violently, expressing Bobby's contempt of himself.

She already thinks you're a fool for running away to hide in here.

Bobby wished he were filled with the same courage he felt in the foyer. He flung back his head, reliving the power and confidence Alex gave him while in his arms. He wasn't thinking then, he was feeling. No psychoanalyzing, only living the moment. It had been empowering; now he was a quaking mass of uncertainty.

Bite the bullet, man. Just go out there and take her!

Bobby was convinced it wouldn't be that easy. He had given Alex time to reconsider the wisdom of being here with him. She was probably ready to walk out and was just waiting for him to resurface to give her apologies and light out of there in relief that she'd been spared his inept advances.

Is that what happened in the foyer, man? She was struggling against your clumsy overtures?

Bobby had to concede that downstairs it had felt so right, so perfect, the moment could have lasted forever.

Get out there, man. Before she walks out on you for good and demands the partner-swap with that ass, Logan, be permanent.

To never be with her again, day by day, working beside her, walking with her, using her as his gravity in a skewed world that he didn't quite fit.

It was unthinkable.

Resolve clasped to him like a sword, Bobby strode out of the kitchen before he could change his mind. His gaze fixed on the blond head peeping over the top of his sofa, he targeted in on her, sweeping round the seat and bending down in one motion to take her hands in his and pull her to her feet against him.

"Whoa, Bobby! You've fair swept me off my feet! Streuth, I never guessed it could be like this. You're not usually an impulsive bloke."

Bobby shut down in horror, his hands thrusting hers from his, stepping back from the monster in front of him.

"Nicole…"

oOo

End of "Oceans Two"

TBC in "A Shift in Axis"