A/N: This is just a little oneshot I came up with, it's probably got no fact in it at all but I just wanted to write it. Enjoy! Jazzola :)

"Guv, we've got a call!"

Alex Drake burst through the double doors of Fenchurch East CID and marched straight up to the large, glass-panelled office which housed Gene Hunt, who at this moment in time was grabbing his coat and pulling his driving gloves off his desk along with his Quattro keys. In the rest of the room, Ray Carling and Chris Skelton also snatched up their jackets and hurried to the door with their two senior officers, Chris turning and giving Shaz Granger a goofy smile as they went out and Ray sighing at him and muttering "poof" under his breath.

The crime scene was a newsagent's which had been robbed, the owner held at gunpoint and the owner's wife shot in the arm trying to prevent the robbers from taking her solid gold bangle. She had been taken to hospital and was undergoing surgery to get the bullet out from her arm. The owner recounted what had happened, but was understandably worried to get to the hospital and disappeared after a few minutes.

Alex surveyed the scene, taking mental notes as to the wreckage; what things were displaced, where exactly the criminals had gone, what they had done with certain objects, anything that might help her build up a psychological profile of them and try to pin them down.

"Guv, can you write something down for me?"

Gene, on the other side of the room, gulped slightly.

"Uh… Raymondo, pen an' pad an' write down the lady's musings."

Alex gave him a curious look, which he didn't return, instead focusing on the broken window on one side of the shop.

"Alright then, Ray."

Alex began reciting things she could see, things that were obvious and not so obvious, watching as Ray struggled to get it all down and all the time thinking over Gene's hurried response, his reluctance and his expression when he had passed the task over to Ray; almost as though he was hiding something.

"You done, Bolls?"

"Almost," Alex replied, noting a few more things and trying not to snigger as Ray hurriedly rubbed out the "almost" he had just written down.

"Get uniform to cordon off the scene," she told Chris, who nodded and walked outside to give directions. "Gene, could you get me my gloves from the Quattro?" Recently, Alex had taken to carrying around a pair of rubber gloves in the car so as to be able to examine forensic evidence more carefully. Once again delegating the task to Ray, Gene bent down to see what Alex was getting at.

"That is a fingerprint on the glass surface there," Alex murmured, pointing it out to him. "It's not from the shop owner, I noticed a set of his prints next to the till and he has loops on all ten fingers, these are double whorls. They're the fingerprints of our culprits."

Gene nodded his approval and Alex handed back the pad Ray had given her, sliding on the gloves and pushing the notes into Gene's hands.

"Gene, could you just take note while I dust these?"

Taking talcum powder out of her bag, Alex proceeded to liberally flurry it over the prints and take the print on some Sellotape. Looking at the pen and pad in his hand, Gene thrust both into Ray's hands and hurried out to the Quattro, making an excuse about needing to "radio Viv about something".

"The Guv'll do anythin' to ge' o' 'avin to write or anythin'," Ray said quietly as Alex gave him a curious look, pausing in collecting the prints. Alex frowned.

"Why?"

"Never asked," Ray shrugged, taking the notes Alex told him to take and putting the pad down on the table. "Need a piss," he said simply, heading to the toilets at the back of the shop. Taking the opportunity, Alex got a good look at the Quattro and what Gene was doing; simply sitting in the front reading the paper, from the looks of things. Her brain now working overtime, she stored the prints and stood up, dusting off the knees of her jeans and walking back out to the car.

"Go' the prints, Bolly?"

"Yes," Alex said simply, looking round at him. "Your note-taking would have been appreciated, Guv, you sitting out here reading the paper didn't exactly help the investigation, did it?"

Once again looking evasive, Gene pushed the Quattro into gear as Ray and Chris appeared, motioning for Alex to get out to allow them access to the rear seats. Giving Gene a piercing look, Alex did so.

"Stop thinkin', Bolls."

"What?" Alex said distractedly as they sped back to CID.

"You're thinkin' again. Give i' a rest for a minute."

"If only you knew what I was thinking about," Alex thought as they turned a corner, her thoughts interrupted by "Ouch! Oh for God's sake, slow down Gene!" as she was rammed into the window again.

"Beer o'clock, ladies and gents, so mush before I change my mind an' 'ave you lot stayin' on unpaid overtime!"

The scurry of people rushing out of CID didn't mask the fact that Alex was staring straight at Gene amid the chaos, not moving, waiting until the room was empty and he was grabbing his coat before speaking.

"A word, DCI Hunt."

Gene turned, surprised slightly at her use of his official title but masking the surprise well as Alex walked into his office and sat down on the edge of his desk, motioning for him to sit down as well.

"Yes, DI Drake, what?"

"When I asked you to take those notes, why did you pass the task onto Ray?"

Gene looked away again, refusing to meet Alex's eyes.

"I 'ad other things to do."

"Like reading a paper you'd already read several times? I couldn't help noticing that you weren't reading it conventionally either, studying the pictures instead of reading the words."

Gene looked down at his hands.

"Bolls, this really isn' a good time-"

"It's as good a time as ever, Gene. Why do you have this aversion to reading and writing? It doesn't make any sense at all."

"You wouldn' understand, Bolly."

"Try me."

Something in Gene's eyes prompted Alex to say next, "You can tell me, I won't tell anyone else. You can trust me."

Warmth flooded his eyes, but he looked back down at the desk as he spoke.

"I'm… dyslexic."

Alex looked at him in evident surprise.

"You're dyslexic?"

Gene nodded wordlessly.

"And you didn't want anyone to know, is that right?"

He nodded again, hating her knowing even though he knew he could trust her.

"So how do you do paperwork?"

"I don'. I leave it to the rest o' the team."

"And so that's why Shaz is always doing it and the DCs and you're sitting in your office idly?"

"This doesn' get ou', Bolls. OK? If they find ou'-"

Alex reached out to put her hand on his arm, her eyes finding his as she put her other hand up to tilt his chin up. She could see how vulnerable he felt, how much he hated his disability, in his eyes, burning behind the stormy irises.

"I won't tell anyone. How much can you write?"

"Short words, short sentences. Can' spell either. 'Ad to 'ave 'elp in my graduatin' exams."

"So surely some people know about it?"

"People I lost touch wi' ages ago, Bolls."

"So that's why you always get psychiatry and psychology mixed up. Now I get it; you're not just ignorant, although you're probably trying to wind me up half the time; you can't remember the difference."

"Thanks."

"I meant it as a compliment."

The pair sat in silence for a minute, each digesting what the other had said. Gene leaned over to his filing cabinet and got out a bottle of scotch, pouring one for each of them and pressing hers into her hand as he sat back down. Alex accepted it, taking a swig as she watched him drink the entire contents of his glass in one mouthful and pour himself another.

"Put that down, I don't want you drunk in charge of a pen."

"What?"

"I'm going to give you a dyslexia test."

Part of the reason for what Alex said next was that she wanted to find out how severe his dyslexia was. The other reason was hidden deep inside her, somewhere in the very bowels of her heart.

"Come back to my flat, we'll do it there."

The other connotations of what she had just said came through too late, and Gene smirked as he reached out for his coat and walked towards the door.

"C'mon then. You comin'?"

Alex nodded, grabbing her jacket on her way out of CID and exiting next to her DCI.