Infinity

By LMR

(Sequel to 'Can You Keep a Secret?')

Summary: Sequel to 'Can You Keep a Secret?' The Christmas after her secret Valentine struck, Alex takes Bobby to her family's place for the holiday, planning a surprise of her own. Rated K+ for innuendo and mild language. BA Romance/Humor

Hey, you! Yeah, I'm talking to you! You there that hasn't read 'Can You Keep a Secret?'. You can't read this yet! Go read CYKAS? (I don't feel like typing out the whole title for the likes 'a you!) before you read this one!) Otherwise you're just going to wonder why these wackos are ranting about PB & J sandwiches and ABBA! Don't you dare scroll down, you little hoodlum!

BTW: Thanks to Confused One for informing me after some research that there is in fact, no "inappropriate fraternization" policy in police departments, and apparently the brass really couldn't care less if their partners are all having affairs. Okay, so that completely squishes the premise of Can You Keep a Secret? Umm. Well, everybody else was doing it!

Chapter 1: A Partner is Family

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"Earth to Bobby," Alex said from beside him on her sofa. "I asked if you wanted to come with me to my family's for Christmas."

He scratched the back of his neck the way he did when he was nervous. "Uh, yeah," he answered. "I heard you, I mean," he added hastily.

"I know it's a big deal, Bobby, a big thing to ask," she said soothingly. "And I would understand if you didn't want to." She was stroking that little spot right under his ear that she knew would get her exactly what she wanted. "But it's our first Christmas together, together like this, I mean, and I want to spend it...together. You've already met Andrea, and she likes you a lot - no scary there. Nathan'll be there. You two should get along well, assuming you've gotten over your little Freudian jealousy spaz." He laughed guiltily.

Then she dropped the biggie. The one she knew perfectly well he wouldn't be able to say 'no' to.

"It would mean a lot to me, Bobby."

They left for her sister's house the next day.

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"There is something I should tell you, Bobby." She waits till she's got me trapped in the car.

"I haven't told my old man about us." She glanced sideways for a reaction, not taking her eyes off the road (much). Bobby was unreadable. "He was so proud when I graduated academy, then when I made detective. He's always been extra hard on me as a cop because I'm a woman, and he wants to see me make it in that world." She paused. "We know what we have, Bobby. But to a tough as nails cop like my old man, seeing it from the outside, he's going to see me being a female cop sleepin' with her partner. I wanted to wait a while so he could really see what we have, and understand that his daughter isn't just incapable of keeping it in her pants. Or rather, keeping you out of them." Bobby started to protest that no one could possibly think she was like that at all. "I know, Bobby. But he hasn't seen the way we are.

"He doesn't know, for instance, that I'm doing counterpoint before you actually get a chance to say that no one could think that I'm that kind of woman.

"He doesn't know that even though I did notice immediately that you are quite possibly the hottest man on the planet," she said matter of factly. "We got along like competitive siblings for the first year and a half . He doesn't know that we had some kind of mind-meld thing going on when we were still just friends, that we made this bond with our heads first, then our hormones. He needs to understand that this is for good," she concluded.

He nodded. She was right. If he had heard about this kind of relationship without knowing the people involved, his first thought would be Scum Cop / Weak Cop. If it were his daughter, he'd go ballistic.

Actually, if John Eames's reaction were anything like what Bobby Goren's would be in the same situation-

"Bobby, say something, you're scaring me."

"I was just thinking that you probably saved my life by keeping your mouth shut, that's all."

She smiled. "Relax, Bobby. Our own Captain said, and I quote, 'It's about freakin' time.' I think that's a good indicator of just what kind of relationship this is. Once he sees us together, he'll understand. Long as we keep it PG, anyway," she added with a mock warning glance.

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"Bobby!" This was Andrea, who rushed to hug him. By her, he was as good as part of the family. At least, Bobby thought. I get to ease into this by seeing her first instead of someone I don't-

"Bobby Goren!" Here it comes. This was a slightly built woman in her sixties who rushed up to hug him like she'd known him for years.

"Mom! Don't choke him!" Don't scare him, she was saying.

"We met just a bit when you came to get her after Nathan was born," she reminded him needlessly.

"I remember. Good to see you again, Mrs. Eames."

"What's your favorite food? We're having a ham for Christmas day, but I want to make sure we make something you'll like. Andrea's doing most of the cooking and-"

"Don't worry about that: Peanut butter and jelly's my favorite," he said disarmingly. Alex laughed a little. He kept that card front and center on his desk, and she'd caught him reading it occasionally. "But I like everything, really. I have an eclectic palate. I'll try absolutely anything." Alex remembered a comment he'd made once about a live-octopus Korean dish, and figured her family didn't have to worry about putting him off with food.

The clan filed in, the clan filed out, and as soon as he wasn't surrounded, Alex raised an eyebrow, and said, quietly enough that she could be sure no one else would hear, "Doin' okay, Bobby?" He nodded, but looked to Alex like he could use a breather. "I'm going to check on Andrea. I'll be right back." She got a nod before heading to the kitchen.

"Need anything from the store?"

"No, we're good, relax," her sister assured her.

"Rephrasing that, Andrea. Send me to the store."

Andrea raised an eyebrow, but knowing Bobby better than the rest of the family, she nodded. "Nathan'll be back from his other grandma's soon. How 'bout a couple more bottles of apple juice?"

"Owe you one," Alex mouthed as she headed back out into the main room. She put on her best I hate to ask face and headed toward Bobby. "Bobby, Andrea wants some more juice from the store before my little backache gets here. Would you go with me?"

"Sure."

"Thanks. 'Preciate it."

"I was about to say the same thing," he mumbled as they headed out the door.

"We'll be right back!" she yelled to the crowd. While her head was turned back, she ran right into someone in the doorway.

"Oh. Dad. Hi."

It might have been possible for Robert Goren to turn a few shades more green than he was at that moment, but not without massive doses of undercooked pork.

She hugged him quickly, then gestured to Bobby. "You remember my partner, Bobby Goren."

The men shook hands. "Good to see you again Officer Ea-"

"John," he said forcefully. "A partner is family, Robert." You say that now, Bobby thought ruefully.

"We were just going to run to the store. We'll be right back."

"Oh, well, I'll go with you. Been too long since I talked with you, Al. Be nice to talk more with you, too, Robert. Don't know much about you yet."

Okay, so the pork wasn't necessary after all.

"Well, we'll be right back, Dad," she started for the car again.

"Yeah, and you'll be surrounded, and I won't be able to talk to just you. Scoot, let's go." He herded them toward his own truck. Alex gave Bobby a mournful look. I'm really sorry about this.

Bobby closed his eyes. This can't get any worse, he thought

"Guests ride shotgun," John announced. I was wrong.

"Dad, don't embarrass him," she pleaded.

"Oh, good grief, Alex, I just want to talk to your partner. You're acting like a fifteen year old bringing home her boyfriend for the first time." They piled into the truck, and hoped John missed the wince on both their faces.

"So, Robert-"

"It's 'Bobby,'" Alex threw out, knowing Bobby never would.

"Oh, okay. Shoulda' told me that, Bobby."

"He's too polite to correct you, Dad. I'm not."

"Does she ever give you a chance to talk?" he wondered jokingly.

"Oh, don't worry, Si-John," he said, more relaxed than he felt. "I talk her ear off like you wouldn't believe. At least when Alex has something to say, it's useful. Or at least funny. I just kind of...um..."

"He can give you more completely useless facts than every edition of Trivial Pursuit combined," she finished proudly. "Did you know that Trivia is the Roman goddess of sorcery, hounds and the crossroads?"

"Um, no, I didn't," John admitted.

"And you never wanted to, didja'?" she said laughing.

And the entire time in the store and during the ride home, the three of them kept laughing. Bobby was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to pretend to John that he and Alex were just friends. Not that we're lying to him, he told himself hastily. We're just keeping some details out of the press.

"You're a good guy, Bobby. I'm glad you got stuck with my daughter," he said after they pulled back into the driveway.

Bobby managed to get Alex alone for a moment while John greeted the rest of the family. "When are we going to tell him?"

"We're telling him nothing. I'll tell him...well, I might as well tell him now." She read his face. "Relax, Bobby." She squeezed his hand and headed for the house. "Hey, Dad? Can I steal you for a second?"

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"Might want to sit for this one." He did. Alex could see Bobby pacing outside. She could tell he was trying to hear the conversation. "You like Bobby?"

"Nice guy. Great cop from what I've read, too."

"He is," she said seriously. "You can see how well we get along, what a good friend he is to me."

John Eames could plainly read the nervous look on her face. The look said very clearly, I would rather be getting abducted by aliens who pipe Neil Diamond into a microchip in your ear for twenty three days straight until you are begging them to move on to their second favorite torture, using human heads for ping pong balls... than be telling my father that I am having an affair with a man that I work with. (This is a loose translation.) She could see this, and wasted no more time getting to the point, and hopefully diffusing the ticking time bomb that was her father's head.

"We're not just friends, Dad." She hastily continued, refuting everything he was about to say before he got a chance.

"It's not like we just got drunk one night and did something stupid. We talked about this for a long time, it wasn't a decision we took lightly. We waited until we were absolutely sure that this was something worth keeping. We've been best friends for years. And nothing's changed at work. Our captain knows."

John Eames kept a poker face. "What did your captain say when he found out?"

"Well, he's the type who prefers that his partners don't get romantically involved. He told us he worries that it puts the partnership in jeopardy. He told us all that, then he said that in our case we should have gotten involved sooner and not wasted so much time."

She decided to leave out the part about the betting pool.

"He sees us working together every day, and he knows we can handle it. We're not teenagers, Dad. We have a mature relationship. Honestly, we spend pretty much every day acting exactly like we did in the store just then. This isn't just some affair.

"I love him, Dad. And it's for good." There. That felt like a good concluding argument. I think.

"Exactly how serious is this 'for good' thing?" he asked after a long silence. She glanced nervously around her father to see where Bobby was standing.

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Bobby paced outside the open door of the study, waiting anxiously for her to come back into the room. He had caught most of what she'd said. It sounded good. Convincing. But Alex had lowered her voice now, and he couldn't make out what she was saying. Little meanie.

She came out of the den with a small smile and largely unreadable expression. "He's a little grouchy," she said simply. "It'll be okay."

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Remember that this story wouldn't exist if it weren't for reviews. But don't let that sour you on writing reviews.

Does anyone know Nathan's mommy's name? Or Alex's mom's name? That would help.

Next time:

"You know," he said informatively. "She's half my aunt and half my mommie." He nodded. "Aunt Andie said that means any man who wants her better be good enough by me." He gestured to himself with his thumb, trying to look tough.