"Sophie?" Bobby called as he moved down the alley, his gun carefully pointed to land on Nicole wherever she may be. He was worried when she didn't answer him, finally he realized that there was a sound coming from the ground to his left.

"Might want to call her an ambulance," Nicole's voice echoed through the dark alley. "Or you could chase me, it's really up to you."

Bobby knelt down next to Sophie, trying to assess her injuries, there was a lot of blood coming from somewhere.

"Where?"

"Abdomen I think."

Sure enough there was a steady flow of blood soaking through her tight jeans. Her face was beginning to go pale, almost waxy in the harsh orange streetlight. Bobby glanced back to Nicole, his gun still in hand as he pressed his free hand against the wound to help curb the bleeding.

"Get the villain or save the girl?" Nicole continued to taunt.

"It's okay—," Sophie whispered, her eyes were beginning to droop while her arms went slack. "It's okay, Bobby. Go aft—g—"

"Shit," Bobby muttered tucking his gun into the back of his jeans before reaching for his cell phone to dial 9-1-1.

"How touching. Bobby, I think you might really have feelings for this girl." With that Nicole was gone, disappearing into the shadows yet again. But at that moment it really didn't matter.

He tried to do what he could to stop the bleeding, applying as much pressure as he could while waiting for the paramedics to arrive. She slipped in and out of consciousness, never lingering long enough to speak to him, just for her eyes to glance up at him before shuttering close again. It seemed as though a lifetime had passed waiting for help to arrive, but in a blink of an eye Bobby realized that a paramedic was pulling him back so that they could load her onto the transport. Someone led him to the back of the ambulance, directing him to a seat so that he could still watch her.

"Sir, are you family?" a large woman asked as Sophie was quickly wheeled behind a pair of swinging doors.

"What?" he finally answered.

"Are you family?"

"No, she's—she's my—" Bobby faltered. What was Sophie to him? She wasn't his lover, not yet anyway. Was she his partner? On this job at least...

"That's all right," the nurse nodded, taking him by the arm and leading him towards the desk. She had seen shock often enough to realize that the tall man in front of her was hurdling towards the symptoms. He seemed unaware of the fact that his hands and clothes were covered in the young woman's blood. His expression was frozen, desperate as he tried to think of something he could do to help. "What can you tell me about her?"

"Uh—"

"Her name?"

"Sophie Rooks. She's a federal agent, shot in the pursuit of a criminal."

"Age?"

"31—I think."

For the next few minutes Bobby did his best to answer the nurse's questions but was rapidly becoming distracted by the blood drying on his hands.

"Detective Goren, why don't you go clean up?" the nurse suggested, carefully patting his shoulder. She directed him to the men's room before going on the hunt for something he could wear.

The restroom was poorly lit, one bulb flickering on and off, all of which went largely unnoticed by Bobby as he made his way to the sink. His hands were covered, stained an unsightly red, for the first time he ventured a glance in the mirror almost surprised that she was still alive considering how much blood seemed to be on his skin and clothes. He was tired, worried, and inexplicably angry. The rage was curling up inside of his stomach, he could feel heaviness in his arms as they began to shake. Suddenly he had formed a fist and began to hit the blue tiled wall just below the mirror.

He still felt numb but it was as though the rubber band had snapped, the image of Harris's face flickered in his mind then of Sophie laying on the ground, how pale she had looked in the ambulance. He could love her.

With a groan his movements stopped, the tile was shattered, his own blood staining the wall. It felt hard to breathe as he leaned back, turning the tap back on to clean the fresh wound. Sophie would need him. Harris was long gone by now, he found a way to justify working with Nicole, there would be no way for him to return to the FBI now. She was going to need someone to be there, it might as well be him.

"Let's take care of that hand," the admitting nurse guided him towards a nearby bed, setting a scrub top down next to him. "You care about her?"

"More than I realized," Bobby admitted blankly as the woman cleaned the cuts with antiseptic before wrapping his hand.

"You've had quite the night."

"He blew her cover…" Bobby shook his head, trying to make the dots connect. "He almost got her killed."

"She's going to be all right. A chopper is coming to transport her back to the city. I'll make sure you're ready to go with."

"Thank you," Bobby nodded, relishing the soft squeeze the nurse's hand.

"Get changed, it won't do for her to wake up and see you like this. Although I'm sure she'll just be happy to see you."

Bobby pulled of his shirt, removing the wire Sophie had placed so gently only a few hours earlier. He hissed unconsciously at the feel of his chest hair being ripped off with the tape. Pocketing the device he pulled on the scrub top before reaching for his cell phone.

"Captain? It's Goren, I have a problem here."

x-X-x

Emergency hysterectomy.

The words rang in his head. As soon as the chopper landed she was whisked off to surgery and he found himself in another waiting room, albeit slightly better lit one. It was the middle of the night, leaving Bobby completely alone with his tortured thoughts. She never wanted children, but that didn't mean she would be happy to wake up and find out what had to be done. Harris was her emergency contact, there was no back up.

"Hi," her voice startled him but looking up to see Eames standing there with two cups of coffee gave him a great sense of relief.

"Eames, how did you—" he stood up and hugged her.

"Ross called, told me what happened. You okay?"

"Yeah. Just waiting, she's been in surgery for an hour now and Nicole got away."

"I heard—Bobby, what happened to your hand?" Eames questioned, noticing the fresh bandages on his left hand.

"Physical altercation with a wall."

"I'd hate to see the wall," despite himself Bobby smiled.

"How are you? How's your head?"

"Fine. I'll be back to work in a few days."

"Me too," they smiled before lapsing into silence. "I really like her."

She nodded, resting a hand on his forearm.

"Detective Goren," a nurse was waiting for him in the doorway, "could you come with me please?"

"Go ahead, I'll be here," Eames reassured him.

"Doctor Miller wanted me to fill you in," the young nurse explained, leading him down a hallway.

"How is she?"

"She's in and out of consciousness right now. The surgery went well; we removed the bullet, but there was quite a bit of damage and they had to perform a hysterectomy."

"Does she know yet?"

"Yes. You can sit with her for a while if you'd like. Someone will be by shortly to give her something to help her sleep."

Bobby nodded his thanks before slipping into the room. Sophie looked rather calm, dazed almost as she stared out the window.

"How'd it go?" she asked, not turning to look at him.

"John, Gregory, and Fred have been arrested. Nicole and Harris both got away." Sophie nodded, still not looking away from the window.

"They told you?"

"Yeah. I'm so sorry, Soph," Bobby said weakly, his hand covering hers, finally causing her to turn and meet his gaze. Her eyes were tired, just like his; neither of them had expected the night to go this way.

"It's all right," she replied in a detached tone, "I never really wanted kids anyway, it's fine-"

It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself, Bobby simply remained silent; what do you say in this situation? At that moment it didn't seem to matter, she just clutched his hand tighter.

"What time is it?"

"A little after 1, the nurse said they would be in to give you something to sleep."

"Good, whatever they gave me before is starting to wear off," she sighed, "thanks for hanging around."

"Nowhere else I would be."

They sat quietly while the nurse came in and injected the sleep aid into her IV.

"Will you—would you stay until I nod off?" Sophie asked softly, looking up at him.

"Of course."

"Wow, that stuff works fast," she mused, her head beginning to lull a bit. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"I'll be by in the morning, okay?" Bobby pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

"Okay. I'm going to miss sleeping with you tonight," she whispered as her eyes drooped shut.

"Me too," he replied gently. After a few minutes, when Bobby was sure that she was asleep, he got up and went back to the waiting room where Eames was still waiting for him.

"Hey, how is she?"

"Asleep. She'll be okay, the surgery went well."

"Good. Come on, Bobby, I'll give you a ride home."

The partners left the hospital, both unaware of the figure lurking in the shadows, waiting.