It was Chris's birthday and to celebrate the team had decamped to Luigi's. Alex rolled her eyes at the predictability of it. She thought she'd overheard Shaz trying to persuade him to go somewhere different for a change but Chris had been reluctant to abandon his regular haunt. Perhaps he was worried that his colleagues wouldn't come unless the venue was familiar. Whatever the reason, here they all were, yet again, eating, drinking into the small hours and generally misbehaving, to the dismay of poor, long-suffering Luigi. The same scene that had played itself out on many occasions in the past.

And yet something was different. At first, she hadn't been able to put her finger on what exactly had changed. And then when she did identify it, she was reluctant to admit that it mattered. But there was no getting away from it; it seemed that she must have done something to piss off the Guv.

Of course, she'd managed to get under his skin pretty frequently in the past, but previously they'd always managed to patch up their rows by the time they'd got onto the second bottle. Tonight, though, the Guv was definitely giving her the cold shoulder. Earlier, she'd seen him at the bar and gone across to say hello but they'd barely exchanged two words before he'd left her to sit in the middle of a booth with some of his CID cronies. When she'd spotted a gap next to him later on, she'd gone over but he excused himself to go to the bathroom before she'd even sat down. The pattern had gone on all night; whenever she'd tried to approach him he'd found some spurious reason to escape. Alex couldn't think of anything she'd done to provoke such a reaction and it was beginning to irritate her. She wasn't sure why she was so bothered by his behaviour but she couldn't deny it was pissing her off. She drained her glass of red - she'd probably had more than she should already but what the hell - and marched across to where Gene stood with his back to her, determined to get to the bottom of whatever it was that was making him treat her like she was invisible.

True to form, when Alex tapped him on the back and walked round to catch his eye, he immediately started looking over her shoulder, into the corner, anywhere really other than at her. Alex couldn't hold back her anger any more. She grabbed hold of his chin, not altogether gently, and forced him to look her in the eyes.

"Gene," she hissed angrily, removing her hand from his face and using it instead to jab at his chest to emphasise her points. "What on earth is going on? Every time I've tried to talk to you this evening you've given me the brush-off."

Bugger, thought Gene, as he desperately tried to avoid her gaze. Rumbled. She was standing so close it was impossible to see round her and he reluctantly looked her in the eye.

Alex continued in an angry whisper. "You've spoken to everyone else here. You've even shared a joke with Scary Simon from Records. And yet I get the distinct impression you wouldn't so much as tell me the time if I asked you." She paused for breath, aware that she was beginning to sound - God forbid - somewhat needy.

Gene glanced down at the floor. This definitely wasn't going to plan. Perhaps he should have been a bit more subtle - engaged her in a little small talk at the beginning of the evening maybe, been a bit less obvious about trying to avoid her when she'd approached him. To be honest, he'd thought she wouldn't bother seeking him out more than once or twice, and he'd gotten a masochistic kick every time she'd come over to him. He'd been tempted to accept her friendly overtures, to succumb to their usual habit of arguing, disagreeing then eventually agreeing to disagree. But he'd held firm to his decision: that his relationship with Alex had to be confined to the squad room, for the good of his sanity. And now she was staring at him, waiting for his response, eyes flashing.

She wore a curious expression and if he didn't know better he'd have sworn she looked hurt. But she'd turned him down often enough for him to know she'd never be his, and perhaps it was time for a bit of honesty between them, even if it would dent his fragile pride. He figured a little awkwardness now would spare him a lot of pain and humiliation further down the road.

"You really want to know why I've been avoiding you Bolly?" he asked gruffly. "Well, I'll tell you. But don't blame me if you don't like what you hear." With that, he took her arm and led her towards an empty, secluded booth in the corner of the wine bar.

They sat close together, Alex waiting for Gene to explain himself. He wiped a hand across his face in an uncharacteristically uncertain gesture. He looked like he didn't know where to begin. Alex wasn't sure exactly what had prompted such insecurity from the Guv – he usually displayed confidence to the point of arrogance – but she was certainly intrigued. It suddenly dawned on her how little she knew about his past and his hopes for the future. With a start, she realized she wanted to know more, to understand what made Gene Gene. At that moment, she didn't care if he was an imaginary construct, a real human being or the man in the moon. She just wanted the chance to really get to know him better, before it was too late, before she had to go home.

"Well, Gene?" she prompted, as the silence between stretched uncomfortably. "What is it you think I might not want to know? Is it something I've done?"

He shook his head slowly and replied, "Nothing you've done, Bolly, no."

Exasperated, she asked, "Something I've not done then?"

He turned to look at her and a half-smile played on his lips. "You could say that, yeah," he said wryly.

"What, then? Come on Gene, I may be a DI but even I need a few clues to go on."

Gene toyed with his glass on the table. How could he explain without giving too much of himself away? "The thing is," he began. "The thing is, Bolly, that I don't want to do this any more."

"Do what any more?"

"This." He gestured around the restaurant, to their colleagues, to her. "This coming out every night, spending hours with you, here, in some feeble approximation of friendship. We're not friends, Alex, and we never will be. So I think it's best if we don't spend as much time together outside work in future. Starting tonight." There. He'd said it. She'd be out of his head and out of his thoughts from now on. So why didn't he feel better?

Alex was stunned. She was grateful Gene was staring down at the table top so he wouldn't be able to read the turmoil in her eyes. She sat still for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. His words hurt her. Cut to her very core, in fact. She hadn't realised until that moment how much she'd come to rely upon Gene's support and his ever-reassuring presence. Suddenly the idea of remaining at Luigi's for the rest of the evening seemed intolerable.

"Fine," she snapped, rising to her feet. "If that's the way you feel, I won't trouble you with my unappealing presence any longer. See you in the office on Monday."

He wasn't sure what he'd expected her reaction to be but he wasn't prepared for her anger. As so often, her temper provoked his own. He jumped up to face her, bringing them nose to nose.

"Off you go, then," he spat. "Go and play with your posh mates. Find a nice stately home to hang around in. Should've known you wouldn't stick around here for long with the likes of us."

Alex inhaled sharply, her anger rising with his. "How dare you!" she shot back. "You're the only one who cares about my so-called poshness. I don't give a toss about your accent or your background. But you just can't get over it, can you?" She was livid, anger humming through her. "Is that why we can never be friends, Gene?" she continued furiously. "Because I'm too middle-class for you and your flat-cap-and-whippet pretensions?"

"That is not the reason," Gene ground out. They were close now. He could seek the flashes of gold in her eyes, make out the smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, feel her angry breath on his face. "This is why we can never be friends," he growled as he closed the gap between them, crushing his lips onto hers.

Alex stood rigid, shocked at his actions, until instinct took over and she opened her lips to allow access to his marauding tongue. Her hand crept to the back of his head, wrapping her fingers through his hair and pulling him ever closer to her. She felt his arms reach around her waist, pulling her body against the length of his. The kiss deepened, tongues caressing, teeth nipping, until Alex thought she was on the verge of drowning in him and the sensations he was drawing from her. It was too much and she pulled away, desperate to regain some control.

Gene stared at her, his breathing as ragged as hers in the aftermath of their embrace. Surely she had been as affected by the kiss as he had been? Her face was flushed and her eyes were bright – she looked like a woman who'd been enjoying his attentions, and he was sure she'd responded in kind. So why was she pushing him away? Uncertainty clouded his eyes. Perhaps he'd been right all along; perhaps she didn't reciprocate his deepening attraction to her; perhaps she was more angry now than aroused. He braced himself for her onslaught.

Alex looked searchingly into Gene's eyes and read the insecurity displayed there. She was far from certain about the wisdom of pursuing a relationship with him but that kiss had left her reeling. She couldn't deny that she wanted him and it seemed, despite his earlier behaviour, that he wanted her too. She raised a hand and tentatively stroked his jaw. Passion flared in Gene's eyes and for the first time he allowed himself to hope that Alex might share his desires.

"What's it to be, then, Bolly?" he asked roughly.

Understanding the question, she dipped her head in a deliberate nod. "My place," she said.

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TBC

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