Title: Lex Talionis

Author: E.Helena

Summary: After months of no leads and a 'back burner' approach to the investigation surrounding two hanging murders in Central Park, a potential break appears in a very surprising location. Sequel to 'Vengeance.'

Disclaimer: The characters belong to Dick Wolf, René Balcer and the actors who bring them to life. No harm intended, no money made.

Archive: Fanfiction - anywhere else, just ask

Feedback: Please! Encouragement and constructive criticism are always welcome.

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Lex Talionis – Chapter 1

Saw this luscious little frame I ain't lyin' fellas she was fine
The sweet young miss go gave me a kiss and I knew that she was mine
Took her to the limousine still parked outside
I tipped the chauffeur when it was over and I gave her my own ride
Couldn't get her off my jack she was like static cling
But that's what happens when body start slappin' from doin' the wild thing

Wild thing
She wanna do the wild thi-…

Alex reached out, slapped the snooze button, and rolled onto her opposite side with a soft moan. Sighing deeply, she drifted back to the outer edges of slumber. But the fraying threads of her erotic dream began to re-weave and she impatiently flopped to her previous position, punching her pillow once for good measure. Relaxing into the twilight of almost-sleep, the traffic noise from the street below morphed into the engine hum of the impossibly large limousine of her dream. Soothed by the monotonous sound, she melted back to the shadowy, warm lips working the sensitive spot behind her left ear. A whiskery jaw ghosted the soft skin of her throat. Phantom hands gripped her hips while her legs straddled firm thighs…

With a gasp, Alex snapped awake. Irritably, she kicked off her blankets before her mind and body could lure her into finishing her dream. 'Thanks, Tone-Loc, for planting those images of Bobby in my head,' she mentally grumbled while vowing to find that CD in her car and snap it in half.

Making her way to the kitchen, Alex silently offered up a sincere thank you to whoever had the inspiration to add an automatic timer to coffee makers. The rich scent of fresh brewed coffee offered hope that, with lots of caffeine, she might erase all vestiges of that dream and go on about a normal day.

The problem was that this wasn't the only dream, and all the coffee of the past few weeks had done nothing to obliterate any of the others. Alex really didn't expect this one to be any different – but she could always hope. And as she sat at her small kitchen table sipping her sweetened brew, Alex wondered when exactly it had all started. When had the occasional curious (and, yes, embarrassing) conjectures about her partner turned to full-blown fantasies? When had affection turned into lust? When had the pangs of something close to jealousy started to twist at the mere mention of his latest female interest?

'And how the hell could you let it happen?'

Alex jumped up from the table and emptied her mug into the sink. Coffee sure as hell wasn't going to help this. She briefly let her mind wander to the bottle of vodka at the back of her cabinet, but shook off that absurd impulse, opting instead to change into sweats and go for a short but brisk run before showering and getting ready for work.

An hour and a half later, she was striding into the eleventh floor squad room, fervently and unreasonably hoping that Bobby couldn't truly read minds as she sometimes suspected. His chair was empty but she was pretty sure he was around here somewhere. After all, other than that one time a couple of months ago, he was never late for work.

'And don't even let your mind go wandering again down the path of surmising why he was late for work. Besides, with Nicole Wallace back in town, where else would he be?' she thought bitterly.

Removing her jacket, Alex hung it on the back of her chair and looked around the squad room. She spotted her partner sitting in the conference room with his back to the door and, although partially blocked by his large frame, she could see that a TV and VCR had been set up in the room. Bobby seemed to have it on a freeze frame and was apparently so intent on the picture that he didn't hear her come up behind him.

"How long have you been here?"

His head swung around to look at her and she instantly recognized that gleam in his eye. Bobby had discovered something and he was dying to share it with her.

"You know those, uh… security tapes we requested? From Drew Harrington's building?"

Alex frowned at his level of excitement and nodded. She did remember requesting the tapes, but wondered when they had arrived and when he had time to view them.

"You won't believe who showed up on them."

"How long have you been here?" she asked again.

Bobby looked away to leaf through his binder and pulled out an eight by ten photo. "I, uh… I came back here… last night," he answered softly.

And Alex wondered why she hadn't already suspected that. Nicole Wallace had been in fine form the night before – playacting the refined socialite before turning a haughty attitude toward Alex to get her out of the room. Once she had Bobby all to herself, Nicole was all sex appeal and innuendo, until he shut her down and forced her into what would pass as a material witness interview. Not that it yielded anything of value as far as Alex could tell.

But Bobby thought it was worthwhile and that just added fuel to Alex's already burning anger over being vaguely insulted and summarily dismissed from the 'interrogation' of Nicole Wallace (he could call it whatever he wanted). They'd argued. He stormed off. She drove home, only to be surprised later by his knock at her door. They'd worked it out (with a concern and tenderness Alex had not expected from him), and then… he'd come back here while she'd gone off to bed to dream dreams she shouldn't be having.

"Eames," his softly urgent voice brought her back from her reverie and focused her attention on the photo he held in his hand.

"Lisa Hahn." She raised her questioning eyes to Bobby who only gave her a sly smile and gestured toward the television.

"Oh my god…" she was stunned. "Can that really be Lisa Hahn?"

Bobby rose from his perch and held the photo next to the grainy image on the TV screen. "Well, it's certainly… close enough to be suspicious."

Eames took another half step toward the TV and nodded in agreement. "What's the date stamp on that tape?"

"One week before Harrington's death," Bobby had already memorized the timeline. "A little more than a week after Harrington and Nicole separated."

"We need to find her," Eames pointed at the pictures.

"Which means…" Bobby paused. After the events of the previous night, he wasn't sure what to expect of his partner. "We need to bring Nicole back in."

"Better still if we could find a reason to lock her up and keep her here." Eames and Bobby both turned at the sound of the Captain's voice. "Fill me in."

TBC…

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A/N – This is not where I intended this story to launch, but sometimes they just do whatever they want. I also want to note that Lex Talionis will likely break this into a new series (away from the 'Sexual Kinetics' series, as one reader dubbed it). All bets are off as to where this will lead.