A/N 1: Dear Warren: The "Acceptable Loss" web content almost broke the Fandom. nvm, I fixed it for you. Sincerely, SilentG.

Dear LO:CI Shippers: you can come back now, the coast is clear. Love, SilentG.

~.~.~.~.~

CHAPTER FIVE: HER TRUTH

"Do we need to talk?"

Alex carefully finished chewing before she answered him. They were on the sofa, sitting close, the remains of their meals on plates on the coffee table. Bobby had loomed restlessly behind her, takeout bags rustling in his hand, as she'd let them into her apartment less than an hour ago. He'd watched her with those warm shark eyes as she divided her cheeseburger and fries, putting half in the fridge. She'd begged his patience as she took a lightning-fast shower, twitched on the sofa trying not to let her mind wander too far while he took his turn.

She looked at him and smirked. "Do you mean, 'do we need to talk', or 'do we need to talk'?"

His face betrayed the appealing combination of admiration and surprise she'd seen a few times today. "Either or," he replied, shaking his head. Scrubbed clean and freshly-shaven, she found his lips even more alluring. Time stretched and dilated who knew how far as she allowed her mind to go places with his mouth.

His mouth. He'd kissed her earlier, just as she closed the door. She'd been expecting it, trying not to be too girly about it.

It was a magnificent kiss, soft and firm and overwhelming. He stooped down, offering to her exploring hands the curve of his big back, while she stood on tiptoe and almost was lifted.

Feeling his arms properly around her for the first time as a suitor felt like coming home. His size and strength making her feel cherished and welcomed, rather than trapped. As his lips moved over hers tensing and gentling, his earlier confession came to mind and she was overtaken by tenderness and excitement.

After he'd left her in the bathroom at 1PP, she'd struggled to integrate everything… his words, her feelings, the possibilities for their shared future. She'd returned to the bullpen 80% certain what her next move would be, but still not sure she believed it could really happen. And now the kiss they were sharing was like an affirmation that it was real and right.

Then he'd smoothly withdrawn, not a rejection but an intermission, a mere entr'acte while they both settled down.

"Well," she said, shrugging delicately, "I don't think we need to make chit-chat while we're eating if that's what you want to know." She popped the last of her half-burger into her mouth and chewed. "And I don't think we need to work anything out before we sleep together, if that's what you're driving at," she said matter-of-factly.

She patted his back as he choked on his soda.

"Is that what you were driving at?"

"Yup, pretty much," he answered between coughs.

She laughed a beautiful, musical laugh of delight. "See, I thought so."

o.o.o.o.o

But they did end up talking, a bit, while their food settled enough for exercise. In a soft voice, almost in her ear, he'd told her about that day outside his doctor's office, the tone and words curling her toes with lust, though they weren't even touching.

Brushing her fingers against his beautiful lips, she'd told him what she'd really been feeling those weeks he'd been away undercover, the subtexts as he's called them, the pink skin of his mouth twisting under her nails as he smirked.

Then he'd kissed her again, smoothly, easily. She was ready and not surprised, happy that it happened, happy it wasn't awkward. His diet Coke tongue met the water-cold of her mouth and she admitted him. She wanted to devour him, suck on his lips, play over the sharp corners of his teeth, but she allowed him to set a slow pace of soft movements and gradual exploration.

His hands went instantly and unapologetically to her breasts. It had been a while since she'd been kissed but oh, forever since she'd allowed herself to be touched that way… for so long aloof from anyone who didn't measure up. Something inside her ruptured and she was overwhelmed with arousal, such that she felt herself already trying to drag him off the couch. Bed, bed, bed, she chanted into his mouth as she tugged on the sleeves of his t-shirt.

He resisted and she was no match, and soon they were horizontal, her under him, but still at least half-clothed on her sofa. He groaned and bore down with his teeth on the cables of her neck when she squeezed his erection through the sweats he'd donned after his shower. Alex, he whispered, his voice beautifully broken. Please, she said.

o.o.o.o.o

Used to being a bundle of well-hidden nerves, Alex was calm as she straddled his huge, impossibly powerful bare body and filled herself with him. Earlier she'd decided to be completely certain and that decision had brought serenity.

Serenity was not what she saw in her partner… with the rest of him as taut and hard as the part he shared with her, his face was a study in distraught concentration.

"You OK?" She asked, half worried and half flattered.

"Shhh, Eames…" He barely got the words out through clenched teeth, and she smiled at the moniker. "I want to remember every second of this."

o.o.o.o.o

Her memory was not that good. When she looked back on their lovemaking just a few hours later, what she recalled was the smell of her almost-unscented soap on his skin; the perfect, beautiful angle and proud acorn of his cock as she bent to wet him with her mouth; the whimper that burst from him when she bent to rub her breasts over his chest, and the look on his face when the pressure and gentle touch of his thumb broke her to pieces atop him.

And most of all, how he'd laughed at her when she jumped out of bed to clean up right after.

He'd laughed!

Hadn't gone quiet, been offended, sarcastic, standoffish.

"Sorry," she'd murmured as she re-appeared, "I just had to…"

"I know," he'd replied, a jolly smile on his face, holding his arms out to her. She'd gone to him gladly, practically bounced into his arms, so so grateful.

He knew. Just like she did. They knew each other. That was why she wasn't nervous.

Coffee on, the city still completely dark, she pulled out her cell. Calm, she thought as she typed, she was calm. A perfect time to get done this tiny task, so they could both relax and enjoy the rest of their week. Enjoy each other. She hit 'send', heard her partner's phone vibrating in his jacket pocket.

o.o.o.o.o

Later that day, she'd been out putting gas in the SUV, and caught him looking doe-eyed at her through the windshield.

"What?" She asked when she got back in. She was trying not to grin… already knew the answer.

"Nothing," he said, sliding his cell phone back into his pocket, "Just reading."

o.o.o.o.o

The next time he said the words, he held his phone out to her expectantly, a jolly smile on his face. "I think," she murmured, drawing him to her, "I'm ready to talk now."

Ficcy the Writer says, "Eeeeeh, didn't expect the story to be this long."

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A/N 2: This was difficult. Mainly because I am practically 100% certain that a time machine, a cryogenic chamber, a purloined letter or two bad cases of amnesia are the only possible way G&E didn't hook up shortly after TBitBKC. It was just there in the cards, sorry Warren Leight & SVU. But if we must maintain the fiction that something kept them apart for another 15 months, then the foregoing is my humble (and admittedly unbelievable) offering.

I wish to thank sell, Carla, Alexia, IlovetowriteSMP, Emily, Jules & other anons who left much-appreciated feedback for which I couldn't thank them via PM.

WORDS: 1344 UPLOADED Sunday, May 5, 2013