AN: Set immediately after "Semi-Detached" (the one with the druggie shock jock and psycho caregiver Nelda). Sigh … I didn't know what else to do.

Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be. Let's move on.

Homebound
By Gatekeeper

Bobby paused on the steps outside Barry's building, arrested by the sight of Alex leaning against the car, eyes closed and head tilted toward the heavens as if caught in the middle of some particularly determined prayer. Her entire body was still knotted with the tense anger he had seen inside the apartment, but he had expected that. Knew that he deserved it, after letting himself get so dangerously unbalanced by a case.

But … he thought she'd left him, abandoned him to a taxi and the riptides of his own psychoses. He would have deserved that, too.

He slowly continued the rest of the way towards her, letting himself be drawn by the gravitational pull he always felt towards her presence. The planet to her sun. When he was close enough that he knew she could hear him, he softly said her name. "Eames." Alex.

Alex's eyes flew open at the sound, flinching as if he'd hit her, and Bobby couldn't help but wince himself at the response. He had lost more trust than he'd thought, and she wasn't yet ready to let him try and earn it back. She straightened, looking away before their eyes could quite meet, and all he could do was wait.

Alex moved around to her side of the car, rubbing a hand along the back of her neck. "What, you didn't want to ride with 'Nellie'?" Weariness fought with bitterness in her voice, both clearly pulling her down with them. "Or were you hoping I'd drop you off for a visit?"

"No." He slid into the passenger side, every movement careful. "Thank you … for still being here."

She shut her door, a bleak expression still on her face. "Sure." Beneath the sound of the engine starting he heard her mutter, "Until the next time."

Bobby knew that Alex hadn't meant him to hear that part, and that it would be wisest all around to simply pretend that he hadn't. But it was impossible to stop the kick of panic that spiked its way through his chest, the same one that always appeared at the thought of losing Alex to any kind of 'until.' After four years, had she finally come to the end of her patience with him?

He watched the thousand tiny shifts of her face as they drove, weighing words and possibilities and consequences. In the end, the simplest were all he dared. "Next time?" he asked quietly.

Her eyes flicked toward his, almost startled, then focused back on the road. "I can't predict when you're going to let the next psycho bitch wrap herself around your heartstrings," she snapped defensively. "So 'next time' is as specific as I can get."

Bobby's expression cracked a fraction, allowing some of the rawness to leak through. It was more pathetic than she realized – the heartstrings he allowed the women to tangle didn't even really belong to him. "You could have requested I be taken off the case."

"We." Alex's correction was automatic, making Bobby's chest tighten. "And I thought about it. But …" She shook her head, and he could see fresh sorrow in her eyes. "It's not like it's something I can run away from."

Something? Or someone? And how could he be so grateful for something that hurt her so much? Oh, Alex.

Alex abruptly pulled over to the side of the road, turning to stare at him with wide, shocked eyes. "You've never called me that before," she whispered.

Bobby's heart stopped. "Alex, I …" He paused, catching himself this time. "I can … stop, if you'd like."

She let out a long, low breath. "No." Her eyes darted back towards the windshield, but her words remained almost a sigh. "Keep calling me Alex, Bobby."

The sound of his name, gentle on her lips. The sweet glue that held him together. "I'm sorry, Alex." His hand moved, almost but not quite brave enough to bridge the gap. "For … everything."

She gave a small, distinctly unhappy laugh. "It's not your fault. You need a challenge." Her eyes closed as she leaned her head against the steering wheel, voice dropping to a murmur again. "You can't help that I'm not it."

Bobby's eyes narrowed, his entire attention snapping to her last words. "What?"

Alex's entire body tensed, and as she lifted her head she could almost see her try to drag the control back up around her. "Nothing." She moved to start the car again, voice businesslike. "I'll write the report tomorrow, okay? Neither of us should worry about it until then."

"Alex." He said her name more loudly, scooting close enough that he could lay his hand over the one of hers that held the key. "These women … aren't a challenge. They're …." He tilted his head, searching. "… safe, for someone like me."

"Safe!" Her head whipped around, eyes blazing as they met his. "They try to rip your heart out any time we get near them."

"But they don't." Because it was already gone, held in Alex's hands even thought she didn't know it. "And … certain people are difficult to live with. Difficult to … love." He lifted a hand, laying his fingers in a feather-light touch against her cheek. "The healthier person leaves, like my father. It … gets to be too much."

Alex sucked in a sharp breath, eyes locked on his. "Bobby …."

"You're my life." He felt his voice, already reduced to a whisper, start to crack. "I … don't know what would be left of me if … I chased you away."

In a heartbeat her lips were pressed against his, the surge of heat flooding his nerve endings as her hands pulled him as close as could be managed in the awkward spacing of the front seat. He clung to her, any barriers instantly giving way to the electric insistence of her tongue, the silken softness of her lips as they moved against his. The scent of her filled his nostrils, the taste searing his memory banks as precisely as the feel of her thigh beneath his hand.

No matter what happened, his mind would not lose this.

They pulled away just far enough to allow breath, foreheads touching as their heartbeats fought to return to something approaching normal. He felt Alex's hand smooth along the curve of his cheek, and he opened his eyes to find her lips curved into the gentlest of smiles.

"You couldn't get rid of me with a crowbar, Bobby Goren," she said quietly, certainty in every word.

He returned her smile, wondering at the utter miracle of the moment. Eventually, they would have to separate far enough for Alex to drive them back to the station, for both of them to figure out the logistics of loving a partner that actually returned their feelings. But for now ….

Bobby pulled her closer, words a breath against her lips before he lost himself in her again. "Lucky me."