The night before the performance had arrived, and Fenchurch East CID was filled with, not cigarette smoke and chatter as usual, but music from Spamalot and the sound of people laughing and watching Chris make a complete fool of himself on stage, which, being a natural at it, wasn't hard. Gene was watching over his kingdom as usual, allowing himself to grin occasionally at Chris's attempts at being the chivalrous knight, and Alex was perched on the side of his desk, watching as well and occasionally calling out to Chris and Shaz with her instructions, assuming her roles as director and joint lead singer.

"This is such 'ard work," Chris sighed, mopping at his brow as Shaz mimed along to one of Gene's lines, her mouth moving to the lines coming from the VCR rather than Gene's voice but only for the rehearsals. Her long green dress flowed to around her ankles, showing a generous amount of cleavage on top; everyone had been surprised at what a difference the uplifting bra she and Alex had chosen a couple of days ago in a specialist lingerie shop had made. Certainly Ray had been a lot more pleasant to her, but that might also have been the fact that Alex had threatened to put him up on the stage himself if he didn't quit with the comments and give her a little respect for "having the balls to get up there and do it", which may not have been the best phrase but did the trick.

"Of course it is, Chris," Alex replied quietly as the knight stumbled into Gene's office and leaned against the desk, trying to get his balance in the knight suit. Gene stifled laughter and Alex re-adjusted the shoes to make him more like Sir Lancelot and a little less like Sir Clumsyalot, since he had to pick Shaz up at one point. If he dropped her, yes, it would add to the comedy, but it wouldn't help things in Chris and Shaz's relationship at all.

"Don' see why one o' the others could be doin' this instead o' me, Guv, I'm terrible at this," Chris muttered, and Gene shook his head.

"You're doin' fine, Wonder Chris. It's meant to be comedy!"

Alex snorted at his comment, which didn't seem to put Chris at ease but did amuse the listening members of CID.

"Don't worry, Chris. Despite your Guv's very encouraging comments-" she gave Gene a glare that would melt metal, but failed to melt the Gene Genie- "you are doing absolutely fine, following the script to a T and really putting vigour into your performance. I'm really impressed."

Chris looked mollified and returned to the "stage area" set up in CID to rehearse his bit with catching Shaz as she called to him.

"Give him some credit, he's got the balls to do it," Alex murmured to Gene as they watched him catch Shaz properly for the first time and then lose his hold on her, which was incredibly funny for some reason to the watching DCs. "Better than you, Guv."

Gene snorted. "I'm no' the sort 'oo goes around playin' silly buggers, Bolly."

Alex rolled her eyes at him, but didn't pursue her point further, knowing if she did he would refuse to sing. He was just a little grouchy and snippy due to the fact that Alex had banned him from smoking on the day of the performance, and although that day was tomorrow Gene was already being annoying and chain-smoking like a chimney.

"Cheer up, Gene. The performance will win for sure. Everyone else is doing the norm, not bothering to branch out, and we're doing something everyone will love. This time tomorrow you'll be about to get more pissed than ever before in your life, so suck it up, Gene. We've got a brilliant act, and they're doing this for us."

"Ma'am…" Shaz called just as she finished her tirade, peering into the office uncertainly. "Ma'am, I think the straps have come undone…"

CID were in no doubt as to what Shaz was talking about with that sentence, and the office was filled with howling laughter as Shaz gave multiple V signs at certain people and rushed out with both hands holding her cleavage up and one of Alex's hands on her back, her other busy dishing out signs she would never have given out at work in 2008. Gene stifled a grin at the ridiculous sight of his foul-handed WPC and DI and yelled at the people clustered round to fast-forward it to Chris's lines and see how he fared without Shaz.

He did well until the finale, which was when he was meant to pick up the papier-mâché sword rented for him and hold it aloft as Shaz clung to him like some kind of green-dress-covered spider; dropping both the sword and the prop substituting for Shaz didn't bode well for the performance.

"Swap 'ands, you div," Ray groaned, laughing along with the others but inside beginning to wonder if Elvis would have been more appropriate after all.

Watching from the equipment room window, Shaz sighed heartily and watched as her boyfriend picked up the sword again and tried the manoeuvre again, only to drop the sword's metal hilt on his foot. CID, being the sympathetic group of people they were, burst out laughing with fresh vigour at the sight of Chris hopping around on one foot and revealing quite an extensive vocabulary of swear words.

"I swear, ma'am, if 'e drops me on show night I'm gonna slap 'im right there, on stage," Shaz sighed, waiting patiently as Alex re-adjusted the straps and watching Chris's attempts at the finale. "You 'aven't got a fat suit I could wear, just in case?"

Alex laughed, but an idea had popped into her head with Shaz's words and she reached over to grab a cushion from one of the shelves, tucking it under the bum of Shaz's dress and rearranging it to look natural.

"There you go, padding! Just remember to angle yourself if Chris drops you, and you'll fall onto the cushion."

"Ma'am, you're a star!" Shaz grinned, reaching up to give her senior officer a hug and walking back out to resume rehearsals. At least it was a quiet day in the office, so they could get on with the rehearsals instead of having to run out on calls all the time.

Alex's smart idea paid off instantly; Shaz tripped on the papier-mâché sword that Chris had left on the floor.

"This is going to be a very interesting performance…" Alex murmured to herself, going back into Gene's office and snatching his fifth cigarette in the hour from his fingertips and stubbing it out herself.

Performance night had come, and with it, CID had arranged themselves in the audience or behind stage, waiting patiently to watch Fenchurch West's contribution to the Gala, which they had found out from one of the DCs there was to be the goriest scene of Richard III. The special effects were already backstage, leaving Gene in little doubt that his department would outshine them; the blood was ketchup, and the gore was a mixture of custard and red food colouring. Stubbing his forbidden cigarette out on the custard and dropping the butt into the tub to give Fenchurch West a nice little surprise (as well as cover his tracks), Gene walked over to where his own department was getting ready and Chris was being suited up and Shaz was checking her lines one more time.

"You ready, you two?"

Chris gulped, his face looking as though he would rather mud-wrestle with an angry bear than go onto the stage, but Shaz nodded and smiled.

"We'll do you proud, Guv."

"Don't doubt you will wi' that cleavage, Granger; now I know 'ow DI Bolly-Knickers out there does it!"

"Don't push your luck, Gene," Alex said dryly from behind him, holding out a microphone for him to take. Gene shoved it in his pocket and sighed as Chris fell over trying to do up his straps on his legs.

"For Christ's sake, Wonder Chris, you sit down or you fall over doin' the straps!"

Gene walked over and hoisted Chris up, plonking him down on a chair and watching as Chris found the straps a whole lot easier with his legs off the floor.

"Thanks, Guv."

"Just don't le' us down or you're buyin' me scotch for a month."

Alex rolled her eyes at her DCI and headed out with him to watch Fenchurch West's interpretation of Shakespeare, which seemed to involve a lot more swear-words than the original and at one point showed the main actor with a cigarette butt stuck to his head with custard, much to the amusement of the audience. Alex snuck a look at Gene, her eyes narrowing, but Gene was looking towards the stage with a self-satisfied smirk hidden behind his stony outer expression. Alex, recognising it, shook her head at him and went back to watching, thinking, I knew he wouldn't really do the whole cigarette ban…

"And that was Fenchurch West's interpretation of Richard III, I hope you enjoyed it!" the person doing the announcements yelled from the side of the stage. "Now can we have Fenchurch East readying theirs, please?"

Gene stood up abruptly and stalked round backstage in a swish of long coat, Alex following him and readying her microphone.

"Are we all ready?" she asked, looking round at the crew. Shaz nodded, her eyes alight, but Chris shook his head, gulping.

"You'll be fine, Chris," Alex said reassuringly, putting her hand on his arm and giving him a calming smile. Shaz leaned forwards and gave him a kiss for good luck, wrapping her arms round him with a "don't worry, baby, you'll be great!" Chris hugged her back and stood up slowly, making his way onto the stage as the music started up, deliberately made too early by Ray, who was looking forward to watching Chris muck it up.

"You ready?" Alex whispered to Gene, a little time bought for them by Ray pressing the wrong button on the machine. Looking round at him, she was surprised to see him looking away, his hand shaking a tiny amount as he held the microphone up to his mouth.

"Gene?"

He looked round at her, and Alex realised what was wrong.

"You've got stage fright?"

Embarrassed, Gene nodded, not expecting what happened next: Alex leaned over and put her arms round him, reassuring him as she had done for Chris but being closer than she had with him, smoothing her hand over the small of Gene's back and pressing her lips to his cheek.

"You better now?"

Gene nodded again, almost unable to believe what had just happened, and Alex grinned at him and detached herself, opening her mouth as the first lines of music came but tucking her hand in his as she started:

"Once in every show, there comes a song like this, it starts out soft and low and ends up with a kiss, oh where is the song that goes like this?"

The audience were howling with laughter, and peeking through the curtains, Alex could see that Chris was getting stuck in, waving his arms about and grinning goofily at the audience, the lip-syncing obvious but only adding to the comedy appeal. Gene took a deep breath and let his voice rumble out, deep and well-tuned and a perfect fit to Alex's light, trilling notes:

"A sentimental song that casts a magic spell, they all will hum along, we'll overact like hell, oh this is that song that goes like this."

For the first time, the Manchester accent was hidden, but Alex had guessed he might do that; it made the excuses a bit easier, anyway. Shaz looked ridiculous mouthing along to Gene's tenor voice, and the scene was comedy gold to those watching at the Gala- a young WPC mouthing to someone's male voice, and the goofy DC singing to a woman's airy voice. When it came to the finale, a couple of people had started choking due to laughing too hard, and Chris did drop Shaz but carefully, half-lowering her so that she landed comfortably on the cushion protecting her rear end. The act was clearly a success with the likes of the Metropolitan Police, anyway, even if Gene abruptly closed the curtain on the recovering Chris and Shaz as there were calls for an encore.

Alex turned and watched Gene as he stood, her hand still in his, as it had been for the whole performance, watching Shaz and Chris taking a bow on stage, and couldn't really help what happened next.

She reached up and kissed him full on the lips.

Gene, taken by surprise, didn't respond for a second, but when his wits had come back to him he pressed his lips to hers as well, closing his eyes as she closed hers, and putting his arm round her as the kiss grew more fiery and more passionate, becoming less of a "well done" kiss and more of a romantic kiss.

They only broke apart when Chris and Shaz were given a heroine and hero's welcome backstage by the rest of the crew, Ray failing to mention that it was him who started the music off early and nearly gave Chris a heart attack. Shaz bounded over to Alex and thanked her once again for the cushion, adding that Chris had been very careful when he dropped her and rushing over to hug Gene as well, getting a little over-excited in the moment.

"You were great, Guv!"

"I'm a man o' many talents, me," Gene replied with his usual cockiness, making Shaz laugh as she ran back to Chris and pressed her lips to his, drawing wolf-whistles from the others but nobody knowing that only seconds before it had been Gene and Alex doing that self same thing just seconds before.

Alex barely noticed the rest of the Gala; she was too immersed in the feel of Gene's hand privately in hers, hidden in the folds of his coat but still there, and the feel of his leg gently brushing hers as he leaned over and whispered in her ear, "Can I 'ave a cigarette now?"

Laughing, Alex nodded and watched as he lit one and took a long drag, his hands once again steady. An unbidden thought crept into her head suddenly: he looks so handsome when he's nervous…

Sighing at herself, Alex sat back and concentrated on the feel of her DCI's skin against hers and his warm palm pressed against her one, celebrating with the rest of her department as the announcement that they had won was made.

"Back to CID, Bolls," Gene called to her over the hubbub of people getting up and going out, some still calling for an encore of the "funny knight act" and others already planning how pissed they were going to get. Funnily enough, the victorious Fenchurch CID were included in that second group.

"Hang on, Gene, wait for me!" Alex called ahead, hurrying forwards in her high heels and marching into CID to the sight of the promised mound of alcohol and her department licking their lips and getting stuck into the beer. Gene marched straight up and grabbed a king-size bottle of scotch, his eyebrows travelling up his forehead as she took her time picking out the wine and walked over to his office, perching on the side of the desk as usual and filling a wine glass with dark red liquid.

"Cheers, King Arthur," she jokingly toasted, holding her glass aloft and being treated to a rare smile from Gene as he clinked his tumbler against it.

"Cheers to you too, Lady o' the bloody Lake."

And both drank.

Probably a bit too much…

A/N: And there you go! I didn't want to leave you hanging so I got up at 6 specially for you lot, hope you're grateful ;) Please review, I won't get them for a couple of weeks but they really, really are appreciated! I could've had two more hours of sleep, people, give me some love ;P Hope you enjoyed it, I loved writing it! Virtual chocolate for every reviewer and a girl's gratitude! Jazzola :)