A/N: The two lines in italics are taken from the episode Zoonotic; Season 2.

Chapter Twenty-Eight – Epilogue (Major Case Squad)

"We've got another new partner for you coming in tomorrow, Goren," Deakins told him.

The use of the word another was stressed slightly. Bobby nodded, knowing that his captain was probably getting frustrated with looking for new detectives to come in and replace the ones that left. It hadn't been that many, really. And he didn't think the first one should count. He had left for reasons not to do with trying to work with an unconventional detective.

But Bobby at least took comfort in the fact that his case closure rate spoke for itself, and the captain hadn't kicked him out of the unit. This must mean that his skills were appreciated at least.

"Your new partner's name is Alex Eames," Deakins informed him. "Eames will be the senior partner."

Bobby nodded again. This was no surprise either. He was new to the Major Case Squad, and compared to many of the other detectives in the unit, he was even pretty new to the NYPD. He had been in the army first, which had resulted in younger detectives being the senior in his partnership with them. He didn't mind. In fact, he preferred it, since they didn't either look to Bobby to lead or try and get into a pissing contest. This allowed him even more freedom to practice his unconventional ways.

"What unit is Eames transferring in from?" Bobby asked.

"Vice," Deakins replied. "I hope it will work out between the two of you."

"I hope so too," Bobby replied sincerely. He was quite ready to finish playing musical partners.

Deakins went back to his office, leaving Bobby lost in thought. He'd never been partnered with a woman before. Then he realized that Deakins hadn't actually said that his new partner was a woman. Alex was just as easily a male name as female. But as with many uni-sex names, the gender one associated with the name tends to be the gender of the first person you meet with that name. And Alex to him would always be the little girl from his childhood.

Bobby wandered into the captain's office with a certain apprehension. He was about to meet his new partner. He went in and closed the door, turning his attention to the other two in the room.

The first thing that he noticed was that Alex Eames was indeed a woman. A quite attractive woman too, he noticed appreciatively. He also noticed that he towered over her in height, although this wasn't particularly uncommon, given his height. It wasn't until later that he would realize that she was almost ridiculously shorter than him despite extremely (in his opinion) high heels.

"Robert Goren, Alexandra Eames," the captain said, indicating each of them as he spoke. She offered a hand for shaking, which Bobby accepted. Her tiny hand was nearly enfolded by his, but he did notice that she had a strong grip.

"Pleasure to meet you," she said smoothly.

"You as well," he replied.

Something was nagging at him. He wasn't sure exactly what it was. But it felt as though he was forgetting something important. He would have to think about it later.

Bobby had finally found a long-term partner. The two of them worked well together, despite a slightly rough start. The first day, Bobby had finally figured out what was bothering him. He couldn't help but wonder about the girl he had known in his childhood, and some small part of him had wondered, hoped, that this could be her. He never had found out what she'd done after high school after all. And she had blonde hair, but short now, and her eyes were the right colour too. She was petite too, just like his Alex.

Bobby had brushed the thought aside. She was hardly his Alex anymore. In any case, it was highly unlikely that it was her. He had pushed away the very idea, chocking it up to the way the name always made him think of her. He wondered briefly where his Alex was, and if she was happy. For all he knew, she was married with a couple of kids and a white picket fence. Or spending her days in biker bars. Or any number of things in between. But the idea of the two of them ending up working as partners was highly far-fetched. He just needed to try and make this partnership work.

After a few weeks, his new partner was simply Eames to him, and the idea was forgotten. That was nearly three years ago.

This particular day had reminded him though. She had mentioned before that her father was a retired cop, and had mentioned a brother and sister too, but he hadn't made the connection. It was funny how such an offhand comment could bring it all crashing back.

Goren and Eames had been searching a murder victim's apartment. They had come across a poster in his daughter's room depicting a sports car.

"How many eight-year-old girls you know who like sports cars?"

"Besides me?"

He had grinned and continued the search when he suddenly paused again to look at her. Surely it was just a coincidence? Luckily, she was watching him knock the cut-out of the wall back, and didn't see his expression change. He quickly looked to the wall, and, catching sight of the box within the hiding spot, his mind was once again captured by the case.

It wasn't until later that Bobby remembered the offhand comment she had dropped. He half wished he hadn't recalled it, because now his head was spinning with the possible ramifications. Could it really be…?

"No," Bobby said out loud. In any case, it had been many, many years since they had last communicated. Even if this was her, she probably didn't even remember him. It had probably been years since she'd thought about him. He had thought about her occasionally over the years, but why would she want to think of him? He was sure that she never had a cause to.

In fact, Alex had thought about Bobby a lot less than he had thought of her. She had gotten caught up in the college life, her relationship with Joe, her new friends, trying to prove herself as a woman in the NYPD… She had fallen in love with Joe, married him, and then lost him; leaving little room in her heart or mind for childhood friends. Unknown to Bobby at the time, she had transferred into Major Case after coming off of bereavement leave. Where his heart had skipped a beat at meeting her, she had simply been trying to appear as if she wasn't holding on to herself by a thread. He could very well have declared who he was and her expression likely wouldn't have even changed, as it was really just a mask anyway. As it was, she hardly cared who her new partner was; she certainly wasn't thinking of someone she hadn't even thought about in years.

As for her hardly thinking of Bobby over the years; it wasn't that she had cared for Bobby less than he had cared for her. It was simply a mark of the fact that they were very different people.

It was not a matter of he loved her more and she loved him less. They had both had their hearts broken by their separation, likely by the very same amount. But whereas Alex had been able to pick up and move on, Bobby had not. Alex had recovered from their separation, slowly at first, but eventually her heart was as undamaged as if it had never been broken. She had been able to love again, and she certainly had loved Joe. He could make her laugh no matter how angry or upset she was. Most of her memories of Joe were of them laughing together. In fact, when they had argued, it was quite often caused by him taking life less than seriously.

But, because it was who Alex was, she had once again picked herself up even when she thought it was impossible to go on from the grief. After a year, she was able to think of Joe and smile, without the searing pain of loss overshadowing the glow of happiness she felt at fond memories of him. And because it was what Joe had wanted, and because it was who Alex was, she thought she might be able to love again. Not yet, maybe not for many years to come, but someday. If she were to meet the right person, then perhaps.

On the other hand, Bobby had never recovered from losing his best friend. Not that anyone who didn't know him very well could tell. Where Alex had opened her heat again, even though it was painful, Bobby had closed off the part of his heart that belonged to her. But opening oneself up fully is the only way to recover. Bobby had instead closed off the part of him that belonged to Alex, and would always belong to Alex. Because that was who Bobby was. Once someone had gained his affections, he could never let them go, not completely. But that also meant that he was never really free to love someone else. It was one thing to love someone for the rest of your life, even after they were gone, it was quite another to never let them go at all. As a result, he never loved again after Alex, although he himself didn't know why.

Though they had loved each other the same amount, it had been different love, because they were different people. This difference in character had also led to her recovering and him not. Though of course, not even they really understood it themselves. So Alex rarely ever considered Bobby again because she had let him go; Bobby rarely ever considered Alex again because she was not present in his day-to-day life. Both appear to be moving on, but only one truly was. Not being reminded of a person is not the same as true moving on, which is in turn different from forgetting. Neither Bobby nor Alex had truly forgotten each other.

And this was why they only needed a bit of a reminder.

Bobby thought of her mentioning her retired cop father, her sister, and her brother; and wondered why he had never asked their names. He supposed it had never really mattered before. But how to find out if it was really her? And what to do if it was? Well, he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. If he came to it. His bigger concern was how to raise the subject with her at all. He could hardly just ask her. "Hey Eames, do you happen to remember if you had a friend named Bobby when you were a kid? Because if so, I believe I'm that friend."

Bobby snorted at the very idea. How on earth would she react to that? He ended up scanning his memory, thinking about everything he knew about her to try and determine if his partner was really the girl he remembered. He fell asleep thinking of her, which led to a rather odd dream.

Alex had been in it. And so, for reasons Bobby couldn't fathom, had Lewis. When he woke up, he couldn't remember the particulars of the dream anymore, although different images continued to flash through his mind's eye even after he woke up.

Bobby sat up in bed, looking around wildly. "That was bizarre," he muttered. He had always had extremely bizarre dreams, and so he had soon forgotten about all the strangeness in his dream and fallen asleep again.

Bobby didn't know what to do. It seemed so unlikely that she could really be his friend from so many years ago. But the similarities were there, along with coincidences he just couldn't ignore…

But he had no idea how to bring the subject up with her. It probably wasn't her anyway. What would she think if he asked and it wasn't her? Best case scenario, she would say no and let the subject drop. Then again, what if it was her? Even if it really was her – maybe she didn't remember him. But he knew after having that ridiculous dream the previous night that he wouldn't be able to let the idea go, not now that it had even planted itself firmly in his subconscious.

He finally came up with a solution as she got up to leave. He would leave her a note. If it wasn't her, or she didn't remember him, she would never know who it was. And if it was her… He didn't know what to do if it was. But it would be up to her at that point.

He quickly scrawled the note and left it tucked under the picture frame she left sitting on her desk. Looking back from the elevator, he saw the note still sitting there and wondered if he should go back and get rid of it. But he could deny that it was he who left it and she would never know… He left. It was a mark of just how nervous he was that it never occurred to him that she might recognize his handwriting.

Unknown to him, the second elevator opened, revealing the very person he was thinking about. She had forgotten something in her desk. She went back over and opened her drawer, and her eyes fell on the note tucked under her picture frame. She opened it and read:

I'll build you a tree house in a palm tree.

Bobby rushed up the next day and checked his partner's desk. The note was gone. He began looking towards the elevator every ten seconds until he saw her heading towards him. His heart beat rapidly in his chest as he struggled to act normal.

She sat down, took a sip of her coffee, and opened her laptop. He glanced up from his notebook. She didn't mention the note.

By the end of the day Bobby was sure. Either it wasn't her, or she didn't remember him. She hadn't mentioned the note all day. Eventually his heart had stopped hammering every time she went to speak to him. He was disappointed, but what had he expected? They weren't children anymore. It's probably not even her, he told himself firmly.

Bobby was packing up his things at the end of the day, leaving only a little late for once. He thought that his partner had already left, but then she was standing in front of him. "I think you dropped this," she said.

He took the paper from her. "No, I don't think so," he started to say, but when he looked up she was already walking away.

He looked down and unfolded it, thinking that maybe it was his after all. He looked down and read:

…and we'll have to have lots of books!

He looked back up with a wide smile across his face. He folded the note up and tucked it into the pocket of his suit, lengthening his stride in hopes of catching up to her.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who read this story!