The Christmas bug has bitten. Here's a fluffyish story with Gene and Alex :) Got another story on the go at the minute, but hit a brick wall with it so decided to give something else a go :) So if you fancy giving that one a read anyway, it's called Fancy a Nightcap... can't beat a bit of shameless advertising ;)
Hope you enjoy anyway, and please review, they're muchly appreciated :)
Oh and thanks to theoofoof for checking it over, my grammar is rubbish at the minute!

One Christmas Eve, Alex Drake walked into Fenchurch East with a smile on her face; for the first time since she'd arrived in the strange world, she was looking forward to it. She didn't know why she was looking forward to it; she knew she was more than likely going to spend the day on her own in her flat watching the television. But, for some unknown reason, she found herself in the Christmas spirit. Snow was falling and there was already a small layer on the roads, and she found she was excited that a proper winter was about to take place. She pushed open the doors to CID with the intention to put everyone else in the Christmas mood – including their lord and master – when the shout came from the man himself mere seconds after her arrival.

He stormed out of his office with a look of thunder on his face – quite obviously aimed at his DI – and arms almost flailing as he expressed his disapproval of her apparent festive mood.

"What the 'ELL 'ave you done t' my bloody office Drake? In fact, what the 'ell 'ave you done to the entire bloody station?"

Alex laughed, she couldn't help herself. "It's Christmas Guv! I'm bringing a bit of spirit into the place, you know; boost morale around the time of year when we shouldn't have to work?" Alex had left Luigi's early the previous evening, claiming she had a headache. But then she'd slipped out around the side of the restaurant, unnoticed by her fellow officers, armed with a Christmas tree and many, many other decorations to secretly put up in CID. She'd even managed to find a few bits of mistletoe and hung them in several places in the station.

"There's mistletoe in my office Drake." He turned in the direction of his office, pointing furiously at the plant hanging from his ceiling. "Mistletoe! I am NOT a poncey twat 'oo needs a stupid bloody kissin' plant in my friggin' office! What the 'ell do you think you're playin' at?"

Alex opened her mouth to answer his question but was interrupted by Ray, Chris and Shaz opening the doors behind them. Shaz grinned as she saw what Alex had done with the place whilst Chris and Ray stared wide eyed, knowing how big a mistake their DI had made. "Aww Ma'am it looks great! You went ahead with it then? 'as it gone down okay?" Alex stood shaking her head, trying to get the young WPC to shut up but Shaz seemed oblivious. "It was a fab idea Ma'am; it's always nice to be in the Christmas spirit!"

Gene turned to face her, fury shining from his blue eyes. "You mean t' say, Granger, that you knew about this 'n let 'er go ahead 'n do it?" Shaz froze, not knowing what to say. She was unnerved by the anger on her Guv's face and sighed with relief when Alex spoke up.

"Oh Gene, leave her alone. This was my doing; I just asked her if she thought it was a good idea. We both agreed that it'd be good to make CID look brighter at this time of year!"

"Drake, this is a police station, not Santa's bleedin' Grotto! Take it all down, NOW!"

He turned on his heel, storming back to his office when he heard her speak again.

"No." He stopped and turned back around, staring at her. She was stood with her arms crossed over her chest; a look of pure anger on her face. Ray, Chris and Shaz scuttled away to their desks, Ray muttering under his breath but just loudly enough for everyone to hear, "she's really gone 'n fuckin' done it now."

"What did you just say t' me Drake?"

"I said no, Gene."

He walked back towards her, so near she could feel his breath on her cheek. "That's Guv to you, DI Drake. Are you disobeyin' a direct order from your senior officer?" He was practically growling as he spoke, anger seeping out through his words.

"So what if I am? What are you going to do? Suspend me for putting up a few Christmas decorations?" She paused, no longer shouting but prodding him in his chest. "You really are pathetic Gene. It's bad enough working this time of year anyway without having to work with a miserable, bastard Scrooge like you!" CID was silent, apart from the heavy breathing of the two furious superior officers. Alex feared she'd gone too far this time, expecting the worst from her Guv, but she still stood tall. What she didn't expect was to see the look of defeat on his face. He stepped away from her, rubbing a hand over his face and then brushed past her, leaving a silent CID in his wake. She turned around; a spurt of guilt ran through her as she called his name as though asking him to come back. He didn't. She sighed, regretting everything she'd just said. The look on his face almost killed her, the defeat in his eyes, the look of… hurt? She walked towards her desk avoiding the stare from Shaz, kicked the table leg and sat down, pulling some paperwork towards her to try and distract her from what had gone on.

"'e'll be back soon Ma'am." called Ray, "'e's probably gone fer a walk t' stop 'imself from kickin' yer 'ead in!" Alex ignored him, deciding it was for the best. Shaz glared at him and shook her head, telling him to shut up but he just shrugged, unable to understand why the argument had affected her so much.

Three hours later, Gene still hadn't returned to the office. Alex had been sat looking at the same piece of work for the past two hours, unable to concentrate on it and constantly checking the clock. Eventually, she threw her pen down on the desk, verbally growled out her frustrations and held her head in her hands. CID had never been quieter; the team trying to keep their heads down as they noticed their superior officer getting more and more irate, waiting for their leader to return. Shaz finally took the chance to speak to her Ma'am, carefully approaching her table whilst aware that one wrong move could make her completely blow her top and muttered quietly to her.

"Why don't you go and 'ave a look for 'im Ma'am? It's not doin' you any good sat 'ere is it… I'm sure 'e'll 'ave forgiven you by now." Shaz gave her a small smile and nodded towards the doors, pushing her to go find him. Alex gave a grim smile, picked up her jacket and followed Shaz' advice.

Chris looked over at Shaz once he knew for sure Alex was out of hearing range. "What's 'er problem? She should know by now the Guv 'ates Christmas!"

Shaz rolled her eyes; men could be so stupid at times! "You really are blind aren't you? Anyway, can't you blame the Ma'am for wantin' t' make things more Christmassy? It's depressin' workin' this time of year."

"Well yeah I know that Shaz, but why was she so stressed after the argument with the Guv? They always argue, I'd 'ave thought she'd be used to it by now?

"You'll work it out some day Chris." She turned back to her typing, leaving Chris to confuse himself over their conversation.

Alex stepped back out into CID and into the cold fresh air. The snow was falling thick and fast now and was getting colder and colder. She sighed with relief seeing that the Quattro was still parked outside the station. "He can't have gotten that far then." She muttered, pulling her coat tighter around her. She decided the first logical place to check was Luigi's. She made her way across the road, managing not to slip over in her heels and down into the warmth of the restaurant. Luigi was stood in his usual place behind the bar, and beamed when his favourite customer come through the door. "Ah Signorina Drake! A lovely surprise! A bit early for you though yes?"

Alex smiled; he was always such a happy man. "I'm just looking for Gene, Luigi; you haven't seen him have you?"

Luigi frowned, giving Alex a grim smile. "Ah yes, Signor Hunt came here earlier. He looked very angry; he had whiskey and left quickly. You two have been fighting again, yes?"

"I'm afraid so Luigi. Do you have any idea where he went? He's been out a while."

Luigi shook his head, his frown deepened. "No Signorina, he left without speaking. You go find him? Tell him you love him like I know you do and make things better!"

Alex's eyes widened, frantically shaking her head in disagreement. "No, Luigi, he's my boss. A friend. I'll go have a look for him." She turned around, heading back out of the restaurant with Luigi calling after.

"You no fool me Signorina!"

She almost ran up the stairs, trying to escape Luigi's comments. She took a deep breath when she reached the top and concentrated on finding him, on apologising. She headed in the direction of the nearby park, hoping that he'd gone to hide in there. It took about half an hour, but eventually she spotted him sat on one of the benches near the frozen lake. The snow was at least a couple of inches thick now and there were a lot of people playing in it in the park. She made her way over to where Gene was sat and quietly sat next him. Surprisingly, it was Gene that broke the silence. "You're friggin' mental t' be walkin' around in those bloody shoes in this weather Bolly."

Alex smiled, thankful he was still able to make a joke. "Yeah, well, if someone hadn't done a magical disappearing act then I wouldn't have had to come out in it."

"'ow long did it take yer t' find me?"

Alex shrugged, leaning forward onto her knees to match Gene's position. "About an hour. This was the second place I checked." She looked at him, cheekily smiling at him. "First place I checked was Luigi's of course."

Even Gene managed to smile. "Yer know me too well Bolls. Anyway, yer gonna try yer psychological bollocks on me now then?"

"It's psycholo-" She automatically started to correct him, but then stopped and stared, surprised he'd managed to get it right for a change. "You do actually know the difference don't you Gene?"

"Course I do yer dozy tart, I just like windin' yer up." He leaned back against the bench, rubbing his hands together. Alex looked at them, noticing how cold he actually was.

"Gene, you're freezing, why are you still sat here?"

He shrugged, "'s just nice t' 'ave a bit of fresh air, t' get away from that place for a bit."

"Your hands are blue, it's not healthy, you really need to-"

"Stop tryin' t' mother me Alex. I've already 'ad one of them, don't need another one."

"Sorry, yes, you're right. I'll shut up." He stretched his legs out in front of him, shoving his hands in his pockets for warmth.

"Makes a change Bolly. Anyway, I'm surprised you 'aven't asked why yet, but you've probably figured out that yes, I do 'ate Christmas."

"Really? You didn't make that obvious at the station." She grinned when she saw him smirk. "I'm not going to ask why, I'm sure you'll tell me eventually. Are you doing anything for Christmas anyway Gene? Going back up to Manchester?"

"Manchester? 'ell no, there's nothin' t' go back to up there. What're you doin'? Got some poncey posh guy t' share it with?"

She rolled her eyes again. "No Gene, contrary to want you think, I'm not sleeping with a different man every week you know." She sat back against the bench, crossing her arms and shivering in the cold. Gene looked at her, shaking his head.

"'ope someone's bought you a new coat fer Christmas Bolly."

"Doubt it, haven't got anyone to get me one."

"I'm sure there'll be some rich twat around t' buy yer one?" He moved away from her slightly after seeing the look on her face. "Alright Bolls, no need fer the death glare. I know you don't 'ave a different bloke every week." He watched as she shivered again and stood up, holding his hand out to her. "C'mon, get up, I ain't gonna let you freeze out 'ere."

"Now whose mothering who?" She took his hand though; he tugged her up from the bench and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She tried to ignore the fluttering in her stomach from his touch as they headed off back in the direction of the station, Gene keeping her close to share body heat. "You can actually be quite sweet when you want to be, can't you Gene?"

He looked down at her, frowning slightly. "Sweet? Gene Hunt is not sweet. I just don't want yer gettin' cold."

"But you're allowed to sit in the cold and freeze for hours on end?"

"I can do what I want Bolly. Don't want you freezin' yer tits off, wouldn't 'ave anythin' nice t' look at then. Well, other than your arse."

Alex hit him in the chest with a fair bit of force; laughing and watching him cringe and rub where she hit him. "Cheeky bastard."

"Told yer I wasn't sweet." They walked the rest of the way back to the station in peace, Gene only having to catch Alex once or twice when she fell in her heels, mumbling under his breath that he hoped someone had bought her some decent shoes as well as a coat. She stopped him outside the station, asking the question she'd contemplated asking for a while.

"Are you actually doing anything on Christmas Day Gene?"

He shook his head nonchalantly. "Probably get pissed with a bottle of whiskey in front of the tele."

"Well, if I'm only doing the same thing…" She stopped under his scrutiny, his blue eyes staring into her hazel. She forced herself to concentrate. "Why don't you come to mine for a bit? I can cook us a dinner, turkey and all the trimmings if you're lucky, and then get pissed together? Beats being alone." She shrugged as though it didn't matter to her, when really her heart was beating ten to a dozen.

"Do yer 'ave any decent whiskey?"

"Well, no, but I can get you some in?"

"Sounds like a deal. But let me bring the puddin', birds are shit at choosin' puddin'."

"So that's a yes then?" She tried hard to stop herself grinning.

"It's a yes DI Bolly-Kecks. Yer'd better be a bloody good cook though!" He walked up the steps smiling to himself after hearing her laugh.

"You really are a cheeky bastard Gene Hunt!" She smiled as he turned around and winked at her. Christmas might well just have gotten even better than she thought.