Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except the mistakes as this is un-beta'd.

Guess who re-watched A2A recently? A little 3.07 ending rewrite if anyone's still out there for this…

The Sound of my Soul

The abrupt knock at the door caused a gasp from Alex that contained both surprise and frustration in equal measure. Gene's entire body seemed to stiffen slightly against hers in reaction to the unexpected interruption and that, more than the knock itself, caused Alex to fall out of the hazy moment that had entirely enveloped her. He withdrew from their embrace, not completely but enough to break the intense intimacy they had just been sharing. His eyes remained trained on the floor and his head angled away from her as he spoke:

"You gonna get that?" A quiet murmur that may as well have been a shout for the jarring effect it caused her.

The tangible feeling, the most tangible feeling she had felt in months, ever since she had woken from her coma within a coma, slipping through her fingers by the millisecond. All it would take was her stepping out their hold and it would be gone forever. Gene had told her once that this world was all about timing but timing had never felt as if it had been on their side. There'd always been interruptions, complications, half-moments and semi-realised truths. But not this time. She had no idea how she was ever going to get home. After Gene's revelation about Sam's disappearance she did not even know if she could get home but she knew she didn't want this evening to end here. She didn't want to go to the station tomorrow, to see him and wonder what if the timing had been different.

"No." She answered at last, her breathy response dancing its way across his face and causing him to look back up at her.

The surprise and uncertainty only dancing in his eyes for a moment before they returned to the steadfast, unreadable expression they had held before. That gaze drawing her right back into the moment as if the knock at the door had never happened. Drawing her in closer and closer until her mouth was over his and her lips were parting for him. It was a barely-there kiss, feather light and soft but something akin to relief dropped inside of her. He kissed her again, there was more pressure than before but still just as soft and that feeling continued to drop. Drop and spread, thrumming along veins, spreading to every corner of her body until she almost wanted to sag with the sheer release of it – that something in this world finally felt utterly and entirely right.

Alex pulled away slightly to look at him. Gene Hunt was gentle. If she hadn't been so overcome with it all she may have even laughed. The man that could be so brutish, so thuggish and violent could make her feel like the most expensive and delicate glass. He made her blood boil when they were arguing and she'd always supposed if it ever spilled over into sex that it would be the same – passionate, fervent, and angry. That it would arise from the heat of the argument and be uncontrollable. But this was not that in the least. It was passionate perhaps, at least she strongly suspected it was about to be, but it was also more than that. It was deep-rooted in a connection that made her feel irreversibly joined to him, an invisible rope bounding her to him that was truly unbreakable.

Before she had consciously registered what was happening she realised she was leading him by the hand in the direction of her bedroom. She was still facing him, walking backwards carefully, and meeting his considered gaze with each step. As they passed by the front door it remained thankfully silent. Alex had been determined there would be no more interruptions this evening and it appeared her will alone had made sure of it.

Once inside the bedroom he continued to kiss her in the same slow and lazy way. Her body felt almost molten against him, she had no doubt he could have moved and moulded her in any way he pleased at that moment but he did not – he seemed content just to stand there and kiss her. The relief from their initial contact had dispersed leaving her limbs feeling contrastingly heavy and light all at once. An emotion akin to peace or contentment settled deeply in the pit of her stomach and if she had taken a moment to consider this Alex was sure the strength of the feeling would have astounded her.

He removed her clothes with deliberate and unrushed movements – her jumper and vest first and then dipping to one knee to help her out of her leggings. His weathered, rough fingers slid back up her now bare thighs and came to rest on her hips. The sudden lack of motion forced her eyes open and she cast them down to see him intently studying the blemished piece of skin on her stomach. The physical and constant reminder of exactly what could happen when they did not trust each other.

His focus on the scar was understandable, he was not used to it as she was, had not seen it every day for the last year, he had not seen it at all in fact since the day she had finally woken up. But more than that his attention to it seemed right, necessary even. It represented the things, past and present, that had tried and failed to tear them apart and was now taking centre stage in their literal joining. She would not be surprised if she woke up the next morning to find the scar completely gone, faded to absolute nothingness overnight. There was no need for it now. They no longer needed the reminder. They had got there on their own.

Once he had risen to his full height again, she pushed him lightly on the chest. He acquiesced to her request immediately and took a step backwards. If he had any doubt in his mind that she wanted this to happen he did not show it on his face. Though perhaps she moved to quickly for the doubt to really formulate. Before he could comprehend what was happening she had removed her underwear – just as slowly and purposefully as he had with her outerwear only moments before.

She dropped down onto the bed and reclined back onto her elbows laying herself out bare before him. He looked at her with such an intense need in his eyes that the power of it all made her feel heady and light. To have such control over a man like him was no easy thing. It was always a powerful struggle with the two of them – from the explosive, violent fighting all the way down to the jovial bickering – always a battle with an ever-changing victor, a constant revolving upper hand. But in that moment there was no denying the command was hers even with him looming over her, his impressive height magnified against her plane position, his fully clothed body in contrast to her nude one.

He made a move towards the bed and her stomach spiked in anticipation. Finally it was happening. But just as quickly as it started the movement stopped – the abrupt halt making his stance awkward for a moment before he readjusted it.

"Do you trust me?" He asked seriously, so goddamn seriously she wanted to laugh in his face.

Would any other man ask a woman who had put herself in such a painstakingly vulnerable position if she trusted him? She didn't laugh though. She knew it meant too much to him, too much to them both, as ridiculous as it was. He had revealed so much of himself to her that night. Trust was what it was all about for him and at last she was beginning to truly understand that. And so she considered him earnestly for a moment before replying in the same staid tone:

"What do you think?"

"I think I don't know what you want." He answered after a moment's heavy silence.

Contrastingly she knew exactly what she wanted with a newfound clarity she had not had in years or perhaps ever at all. Alex pulled herself effortlessly up onto her knees and reached forward to bring him closer to her. She felt the scratchy starch of his shirt against her bare skin and it caused another wave of desire and expectation to ripple through her. She wound her fingers around his silk tie and tugged on it a little. The action caused a trademark smirk from him and she used his momentarily lapse in concentration to her advantage pulling him harshly down upon herself until he had her trapped underneath him on the bed.

"Let me show you exactly what I want Gene…"

End.