Goren came out of the bedroom several hours later, groggy and aching. Decker had joined Logan and Eames for dinner, and they were just finishing. He stood at the end of the hallway and leaned against the wall, looking across the room at them.

"You look like something the cat dragged in," Logan commented.

"Do you want something to eat?" Eames asked as she started to get up.

Goren motioned for her to stay put. "I can get it," he assured her.

They watched him cross over to the kitchen. Eames looked at Logan and Decker before she got up and went into the kitchen after him.

He got down a plate and almost dropped it when his side erupted in pain. He set it down and pressed his hand against his side with a soft groan, leaning against the counter.

"Hurt?" Eames asked.

He straightened quickly and picked up the plate. She reached out and closed her hand over the plate, looking up into his face. He studied her eyes and released it. She smiled. He tried to offer a smile in return, but it came across as more of a grimace. Stretching up, she gave him a kiss, then turned toward the stove to dish out his dinner.

As she spooned gravy over the meat and rice on his plate, he stepped up behind her and slid his arms around her. She almost dropped it when he kissed her neck. "Feeling any better?" she asked.

"I'm okay. I'm just...mad at myself for leaving myself open like I did. But...nothing she's ever said or done prepared me for that."

"Sometimes people do unexpected things. You know that."

"I'm not going to spend my life expecting everyone to turn on me. I've gotten past that."

"I don't have a good answer for you, Bobby."

She turned and handed him the plate. "Thanks," he said with a small smile.

As he turned to get a fork, he said, "Lightman called me while I was in the ER."

"Oh? What did he want?"

"The same thing he's always wanted."

"To hire you?"

He nodded. "I told him I'm still not interested."

"How did he take it?"

"In stride. He wasn't surprised. But he called me a natural and offered me a couple of consulting jobs, questioning potential suspects and witnesses. I told him I would think it over. It's not a bad gig, and I like Foster. I could handle a few interrogations. What do you think?"

"You're good at it, and you enjoy it, so why not? Maybe that will keep you out of trouble."

He frowned. "I don't ask for trouble, Alex."

"I know. I'm just teasing." She touched his arm, reassuring him. "Eat your dinner."

He took his plate to the living room and sat beside Decker, who gently nudged him. "You feeling any better?"

"Some. Sorry I was so...difficult. Thanks for going with me...and for putting up with me."

"Don't mention it. I'm just glad you're all right. While you were sleeping, Turner called to see how you were doing. I filled him in, and he told me he talked to Tupelo."

"How did that go?"

"Considering that he was pissed as hell when he talked to them, not bad. They're charging her with felony assault of a Federal officer. She'll do time."

Goren looked at his plate, his brow furrowed. "Don't do that," Logan scolded.

"Do what?" Eames asked as she came out of the kitchen.

She handed Goren a cup of fresh coffee and a prescription bottle as Logan said, "Alan told him about Martino and he's looking remorseful."

She looked at Goren, waiting for an explanation. He set his plate on the coffee table, swallowed two pills with the coffee and handed the medicine back to her. "I'm not sorry she's going to get the appropriate punishment for what she did."

Eames relaxed a little. He had a definite soft spot for female psychopaths, she reflected, thinking of Nicole Wallace and Nelda Carlson, in particular. He had a soft spot for women in general. "Good. What are you feeling remorse for, then?"

His scowl deepened. "I..." he trailed off, searching for the right words. If he worded his explanation wrong, he was going to find himself in deep trouble with her. She knew him better than anyone, but sometimes, she took his words wrong and that was never fun for him. He had a feeling she was thinking about Nicole, and he didn't blame her, but this wasn't the same. "Martino wasn't a bad agent, but she let her passions control her rather than the other way around. That was what got her into trouble all the time. She didn't have a good handle on her, uhm, obsession. I have a feeling Greg has no idea how to handle her."

"Greg?"

"Her husband. They have an...open marriage. Neither gets upset because the other one screws around, and they both do it."

"Lovely."

He shrugged. "It works for them."

Decker grinned. "Is that something you guys would consider?"

Logan laughed. "It'd work out perfectly right here and now," he said to Decker. "I get her and you get him."

Goren laughed with them, holding his side as his rib protested. As glad as she was to see Goren laugh, despite the pain in his side, Eames was shocked by the suggestion until she realized they were teasing. "You're impossible, Logan," she said. "And you're ruining Alan."

The three men laughed again, and Goren gently pulled her down onto his lap. With a tender smile of deep affection, he whispered, "Not gonna share," and kissed her. Unexpectedly, she slid her arms around his neck, teased his lips with her tongue and deepened the kiss, which lingered.

Logan and Decker watched, glancing at each other intermittently, until she withdrew and sat back from him. With a mischievous grin, Decker asked, "Can I borrow your shower?"

Laughter erupted again among the men. Shaking her head, she looked at Decker. "I'm beginning to think you're more like Logan than I originally thought. No wonder you get along so well together."

She ran her fingers through Goren's hair. "You feeling better?"

He nodded, resting his hand against her waist. "I'm fine," he assured her. "Just sore right now."

"Well, I am going to take a shower."

She gave him another kiss, slid off his lap and walked down the hall. Goren watched her walk away, hunger in his eyes.

"Go," Decker urged.

"You know she wants you to," Logan added.

Needing no further encouragement, Goren got up and went down the hall after her.

Eames stayed for another ten days before she returned to New York and Major Case. Goren was back to work full time by then, and she felt comfortable leaving him in Logan and Decker's care. She took it upon herself to call him at night, once she was settled in bed. Sometimes he was home, sometimes not. The weekends she spent with him were never long enough, and she appreciated that Logan made himself scarce.

The consultation work that Lightman had for Goren ended up being regular work once a week, and those days, he always called her first. Stimulated and excited by a taste of the work he loved, she could practically feel the vibration of his excitement through the phone. A job with Lightman, she concluded to herself, would not be bad for him. But it wouldn't be good for them, and that was the one thing that prevented him from giving in to the human lie detector. He would be quite the protege, and she was certain Cal Lightman mourned the loss.

The two weekends before Christmas, she didn't go to Washington and Goren didn't come up to New York. The first weekend, she was working a case and couldn't get away. His weekend was busy with Lightman and Foster. The following weekend, she needed to attend a Christmas gathering at her sister's house and again he had a series of interrogations scheduled. Neither of them was happy about the enforced separation, but she had plans to drive to Washington on Wednesday to spend Christmas with him, and nothing was going to interfere with those plans. She would spend Christmas in the arms of the man she loved.

A couple of days before Christmas, Eames arrived home late. She had stopped to do some last minute shopping. Setting her packages on the couch, she hung up her coat and adjusted the thermostat. After changing into warm flannel pajamas, she returned to the living room, dimmed the lights and opened the curtains across the bay window so she could watch the snowfall. She dimmed the lights, turned the stereo on low and put in a CD of Christmas music.

To the melancholy strains of Blue Christmas, she removed her purchases from their bags and spread them out on the coffee table. Pushing aside the decorations for the tree, which she would get to later or the following day, she proceeded to wrap her last minute gifts.

She was almost finished when she felt a prickling at the back of her neck. She was being watched. Glancing at the bay window, which reflected back an image of the room around her, she saw nothing out of the ordinary. But it did not reflect the entire room, cutting it off before it got to the hallway and open dining area just in front of the kitchen.

Turning where she sat, she scanned the rest of the room...and there he was, standing at the end of the hall, leaning casually against the wall, looking impossibly fit and relaxed. He wore a dark blue suit and maroon tie. When she saw him, he smiled, and in his face she saw nothing but love and desire and happiness. Her heart swelled, as it often did when she looked at him, and she suddenly lurched to her feet and ran into his arms.

Her initial kiss of happy greeting quickly escalated as his hands roamed over her body and his kisses grew hungrier. She responded, pressing him back toward the bedroom as she yanked off his tie and let it flutter to the floor. His suit coat followed it, as did her pajama top and then her bra. Leaving a trail of shed clothing, they fell into the bed, desperate for each other and they held nothing back.

The room was cool, and she shivered as a random draft feathered over her damp skin. He pulled a blanket up over her and kissed her head. She snuggled closer to him. Many minutes passed during which the only sounds in the room were the howl of the wind outside and the muffled strains of Christmas music from the living room.

She ran her hand over his injured side, now healed and no longer painful under her fingers. He softly groaned at her light touch. Kissing his chest, she finally broke the silence. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought you wanted me to live here."

"Of course I do, but that isn't what I meant. Shouldn't you be in Washington?"

"Not any more than you should be."

She lifted her head and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean...the project is done. Signed, sealed and delivered just in time for Christmas. Alan even wrapped it in a big bow."

"So...you're home now? To stay?"

"Uh, not quite, but mostly. I have to go back a couple of times in January to work with Lightman and Foster. We weren't expecting to have the project done so soon. But after that, I'm done."

"What about your job here?"

"I'm back at my desk Monday morning."

She gave him a deep kiss, gently urging him back into a state of arousal. Much less frantic, they took their time and made it last. Afterward, as he drifted toward sleep, she gave him a tender kiss and whispered, "Welcome home."

fin.