This is the 2nd chapter this bank holiday! Just a note which I should have mentioned when I posted yesterday but completely forgot..duh! is that on Coronation Day June 3rd 1953 a young PC called Gene Hunt was shot dead foiling a robbery and the world of Lfie on Mars and Ashes to Ashes was created. now if I was clever, which I am not, I would have G&A getting married on Jubilee day..never mind. here's the last chapter..enjoy

Chapter 32

Gene and Alex had been surprised to find Dempsey and Harry up and about helping get the table ready for breakfast. Sensing a slight atmosphere between the two of them, Alex had made Gene promise not to mention anything about last night to either of them. Noticing that Gene was itching to make at least one comment to Dempsey, Alex was relieved when Mrs Perry insisted that they got out from under everyone's feet and go and sit down to read the Sunday papers.

"Not a word" Alex warned, swiftly grabbing hold of the smirking Gene and shunting him out into the other room.

With the table finally set and all members of staff now present, if only in body as hangovers seemed to be a common ailment, the rest of the guests, or what could be described as human wreckage, started making their way down.

Ray was the first to appear, considering his physical state and a thumping head, he seemed to be in a rather perky mood. He happily joked amongst the staff and guests whilst taking his allocated place at the table. Next it was Chris and Shaz, Shaz looking pale and fragile took her seat wordlessly while Chris busily started swapping stories with Ray.

"Which one?" Chris whispered to Ray scanning the maids.

"The brunette with the curls and peachy arse." Ray replied enthusiastically.

"Nice one mate!"

"First bird I haven't had to ask to put on a maids outfit...she's the real thing!" he added with a grin.

"More fun taking it off though." Smirked Chris.

"Not half."

"Will you two shut up!" snapped Shaz holding her head in her hands massaging her temples. "I really don't want to hear about it."

"Well go and sit on the other side of the table will ya?" retorted Ray. Shaz gave him a hard unimpressed glare.

"Feeling a bit delicate are we Shaz?" Gene piped up from the end of the table "Get a fry up down ya that will sort you right out."

"Urrrgh!" Shaz grimaced at the thought of a greasy breakfast, she was already feeling queasy.

With Freddy, Harry and Dempsey taking their seats at the top of the table, Harry and Dempsey sat opposite Gene and Alex, there was only one person left unaccounted for.

It wasn't long before Leroy bounced in yelling his good mornings to all and sundry...with a girl in tow. Everyone stared at the girl struggling to remember who she was and where she had come from. They seemed to recall Leroy dancing with a dark haired girl towards the end of the evening, but nobody could remember actually speaking to her.

Leroy picking up on the big question mark in the room happily announced "Everyone, this is Julie, Julie these beautiful people are my brothers and sisters in the English police." He grinned

"Hello Julie." They all replied.

Julie nodded shyly and sat down with Leroy, he turned to her "So Honey, what do you want for breakfast?"

"Er...just toast please." She replied meekly.

"I'm so hungry I could eat one of those horses out there." said Leroy loudly, pointing in the direction of the fields.

"Oh, you don't eat horses do you?" asked Julie quietly.

"No honey, it's just a figure of speech." He reassured her "Bring it on." He rubbed his hands together in anticipation of the feast.

Alex leaned towards Harry across the table "Who is she?" she mouthed indicating with a finger.

"Don't no." Harry mouthed back shrugging. "Thought she was a guest!"

"No, we thought she was one of you lot."

Freddy, who sat at the head of the table in between Alex and Harry, interjected "I think she's Mrs Bagshot's granddaughter."

"Really?" exclaimed Harry her eyebrows rising. "She's grown up since I last saw her."

"Who's Mrs Bagshot?" asked Gene and Dempsey together.

"The church organist." replied Freddy

"Head of flower arranging, chief village gossip and all round busy body." added Harry.

"She sure is gonna be pissed when she finds out her Granddaughter is front page news." smirked Dempsey "Innocent village virgin gets corrupted by New York cop! That will get the tongues wagging."

Harry shot him a stern look, he quickly shut up realising he was wading into shark infested waters.

Mrs Perry had appeared as from nowhere and plonked two plates of full English in front of Freddy and Harry "Tsk, Tsk," she tutted "What did I tell you Miss Harriet, they're all at it...bed hopping. Those Americans just can't keep their hands to themselves." She turned to Dempsey and added sarcastically with a smile "Present company excepted."

"Er, thanks..I think." He frowned.

Gene resisted the urge to say something to Dempsey, he was desperately holding his tongue. "So what was she doing at the party?"

They all shrugged clueless.

"Knowing the Bagshots, she was sent to spy on us." Sighed Harry "It wouldn't be the first time, you remember at the royal wedding party we threw Daddy?"

"Oh Lord yes! How embarrassing. Took Bunty Roberts months to live that down...he was caught red-handed skinny dipping in the lake with the Health secretary's wife. Mrs Bagshot just so happened to be passing...God knows how, there are no public rights of way nearby the lake, she saw them frolicking around in the water and before any of us knew anything of it, the whole village had found out. They were almost lined up taking pictures of them. I could have sold tickets and made a fortune."

"Daddy!"

"It's true...and then there was that time dear old Camilla got sozzled on the home brew at the fate..."

"I don't think we should tell that one Daddy.."

"Oh yes, quite right, quite right." Freddy paused briefly "Come to think of it, another odd thing happened last night..."

By now all conversation had stopped around the table and all ears had tuned into Freddy Winfield's stories.

"I was taking my early morning constitutional around the gardens when I bumped into Mr Ellison..he's our head gardener..he was beside himself...very upset indeed."

Dempsey and Harry starting cringing inwardly, they had a feeling what was coming next.

"Someone or someones have totally ransacked his potting shed."

Dempsey and Harry could feel themselves shrinking, willing the floor to open up beneath them.

"Looks like a battlefield."

"That's dreadful." murmured Shas disapprovingly.

"It is," agreed Freddy "His prize Delphiniums which he was planning to exhibit at the county show have been destroyed. They had been swept off the bench along with the seedlings he potted up only that morning."

By now Dempsey and Harry's cheeks were flushing guiltily, Harry looking utterly shamefaced, not going unnoticed by Gene and Alex, it was clear they were the culprits. Gene gave Alex a little nudge of recognition under the table, he was itching to say something.

"Dreadful business, potting compost everywhere." Freddy carried on, "and to make things worse, it looks like he's going to require a new bench...for some inexplicable reason the wood has split..."

Dempsey tried hard to stifle a giggle which was building within him, Harry kicked him under the table.

"And one of the legs has a crack and lost a couple of screws...god alone knows what they were doing in there."

That was it, Gene couldn't hold his tongue any longer, he looked directly at Dempsey and grinned, "Sir that is terrible, sounds like a tragic case of de-flowering."

Dempsey couldn't take anymore "Skuse me." He mumbled suppressing the need to laugh with a cough. Pretending that a piece of food had down the wrong way, he beat a hasty exit to the nearby corridor...Harry scowling at him as he fled.

Gene felt Alex choke back a snigger next to him which set him off "I think I'd better go check on him...he may need me to do the Heimlich-whatsit on him..back in a mo." Gene leapt from his seat and dashed out hot on Dempsey's heels.

He found him in the corridor bent double with silent laughter.

"Not really into gardening meself." began Gene grinning broadly "But I have been tempted to get me dibber out on a number of occasions. Ha,ha."

"Ha,ha,ha" laughed Dempsey.

"Me Dad always taught me to be firm handed when bedding in." Gene was struggling not laugh

"Ha,ha,ha,ha." Dempsey's laugh was getting louder.

"I'm not going to make..., any jokes about sowing seeds..cos..ha, ha, that wouldn't be such a good idea, would it?" Gene was now creasing up himself "Let's just hope you went easy on the fertilizer mate."

"Stop it chief! Hahahaha, You're killing me." Dempsey was now aching with convulsive laughter.

"Looks like a blooming good night was had by all, apart from Mr Ellison and his flattened Delphiniums that is."

Gene and Dempsey were practically rolling around the floor roaring with laughter.

The laughter stopped abruptly when Harry and Alex appeared in the corridor, Harry was fuming, her face thunderous.

"Pleased you find it so funny Leftennant." She snapped "Told the whole world have we? Bloody hilarious."

"Harry." Dempsey tried to placate her, but it was a lost cause.

"I find it humiliating, but my feelings don't count in your childish world do they?"

"Harry..I..." Dempsey tried again moving towards her to try to comfort her.

"Don't touch me Dempsey!"

He stopped in his tracks, hurt forming on his face.

"We weren't laughing at you luv." Gene tried to back Dempsey up.

"Oh no?" Harry was shaking with anger "So glad I have provided excellent entertainment for the two of you." She glowered at them both in turned.

She felt tears pricking at the corner of her eyes, she couldn't cry in front of them, that would seal her humiliation. She ran down the corridor and up to her room. She flung herself on the bed and burst into tears.

Gene, Alex and Dempsey stood looking at each other in disbelief. Dempsey looked lost, he didn't know whether to go after her or stay well away.

"What do I do?" he pleaded to Alex. "I need to explain, but she won't let me."

Alex gave a nod of understanding "I'll go, let me talk to her...this is silly, even I can see you weren't laughing at her...she just seems insecure."

"How can I reassure her if she won't let me." Dempsey looked crestfallen, all he wanted to do was hold her and tell her what last night meant to him.

Alex raised a comforting hand to the top of his arm. "Leave it with me, She has to listen to reason. She loves you"

"Ha! Yeah right, she has a funny way of showing it."

"Believe me James, she does show it, it just so happens you happen to be unconscious at the time."

Dempsey thought back to the handcuffing incident, he gave a small smile as he recalled her talking to him when she thought he was asleep, "Yeah, maybe." He conceded.

"You just have to be patient. She needs talking to."

Dempsey nodded his thanks and brushed his hand through his hair "I'll be talking to the horses If ya need me..they don't yell back." Alex felt sorry for Dempsey as he slunk away.

"Poor sod." muttered Gene "He can't anything right with her."

"That's just it, I think he does do things right, for some reason Harry kicks against it."

Alex paused before knocking on Harry's bedroom door, this was going to test her psychological skills to the limit. She knocked "Harry it's Alex, can I come in please?"

"Okay." came the tearful reply. "Oh Alex, I'm so sorry for ruining your weekend." She sniffed as Alex walked over to the bed "So selfish of me."

Alex sat down on the bed "It's okay, you haven't ruined anything." She soothed.

Harry sat up, her face puffy her eyes red, clearly she had let herself have a damn good cry. "Why did he have to tell Gene? It was our secret...now he's ruined it."

"Harry, he didn't tell anyone, he didn't have to. Gene and I guessed."

Harry focused fully on Alex "How on earth did you guess that?"

Alex gave an awkward shrug "We sort of ..ermm...well heard you two last night...we're next door remember?"

"Oh my God!" Harry's eyes widened "You heard us? Did we keep you awake?"

"Fraid so."

"Hell! This goes from bad to worse." Harry whined

"It's fine." She soothed again "Only Gene and I know and that's the way it's going to stay." Alex gave a small sympathetic smile "I can understand you being angry at him, but he wasn't laughing at you, you know Gene's sense of humour, he kept feeding Dempsey joke after joke...you have to admit Harry, it was rather comical..your father thinking some vandals had demolished the shed when it was you two...erm having fun shall we say...I take it you did have fun?"

"Ha!" Harry's face brightened a little "I will leave that one to your imagination."

"I will take that as a yes then. So why the drama?"

Harry sucked in a deep breath "I honestly don't know. I think..." She took another breath while she thought of the right words "I think I imagined it to be..well more romantic...it all seemed a little sordid, like I was some cheap hooker."

Alex nodded in understanding "and you think that Dempsey might see you as a cheap hooker?"

"Maybe." She sniffed

"Okay, so answer me this, if it had been any man other than Dempsey would you have done it?"

"Lord no!"

"That makes Dempsey a unique case then. That's what scares you, he makes you want to step out of your comfort zone. Since he arrived in this country how many times have done things you would have never done before?"

Harry thought for a while, Alex was right, Dempsey had turned her preconceptions on their head, encouraged her to take chances, not to follow the rule book and to push the boundaries. Her feelings for Dempsey were a step into the unknown.

"Alex, you're a marvel. I had never thought of it like that...so I'm not slutty nymphomaniac?" Harry was joking now. A broad smile had returned.

"Not at all and by the sounds of it far worse has happened at Winfield Hall, if only these walls could talk." Alex checked her watch. "Is that the time? I'd better get packed, me and Gene set off for Jersey in an hour's time."

"Oh yes! I bet you have so much to do...Alex thank you."

"Don't mention it." Alex got to her feet and made for the door "You'll find Dempsey talking to the horses." Alex smiled and left.

Dempsey stood stroking the nose and ears of a grey pony over the fence. "Y'see pal, you got it right, you don't have to deal with them, I tell ya, it's complicated you're better off out of it. They bring a girl to you, you do your duty, then they take ya back to your field. That's unless you're a gelding, right now I think Harry wants to do that to me."

Harry watched him from the end of the stable block, she could hear every word.

"Y'see, it should be straight forward, you like a girl, you go out to dinner, a bit of music, a bit of dancing, a bit of romance...you build up to it...no not me, I get it all the wrong way about, don't mind tellin' ya, I screwed up fella...big time. Now she won't even talk to me. A classy broad like Harry, you can't screw up with, she deserves respect, to be treated like a Princess.. I'm not proud, I behaved like a lowlife last night. Have you got any ideas Fella? I'm all out of them."

"Perhaps we both should apologise." Harry stepped out from behind the wall. Dempsey turned to look at her.

"I'm sorry, Alex told me the full story." she said coyly.

"Yeah? You thought me and Genie boy were laughing at you, hell Harry, You really think after what we shared I would want to tell everyone?" His expression was deadpan, he wanted to tell her straight. "Did it occur to you I was laughing cos I was happy, that you put a smile on my face?"

"I'm sorry what can I say? I..I just felt like I behaved like a cheap tart, didn't want it to be like that, that's all, that's why I didn't want to talk this morning."

Dempsey softened "I ain't proud, it's not what I would have chose either...you just send me crazy." He smiled hoping that she would return it.

She did, a sweet warm smile "I think we both went a little crazy...blame it on the storm, too much electricity." there was a pause " Gene and Alex will be heading off soon, I think we'd better go and wave them off."

Dempsey nodded in agreement. He looked serious again "Promise me Harry, when we get back to London we have a proper talk, cos I can't go on like this."

"Me neither."

"So we're cool?" he gave her a sideways glance hoping that they had reached some sort of understanding.

"We're cool." She grinned with relief.

Dempsey offered her his arm, it was a small gesture, but Harry gratefully accepted, somehow it gave her comfort that they could work things out.

The group of wedding guests gathered outside the main entrance of Winfield Hall, thankfully hangovers had subsided and a more lively and upbeat mood had returned. Everyone had agreed what a fantastic weekend they had all had, some had even made new friends...Julie hadn't left Leroy's side since the night before and Ray made sure he got Agnes's phone number, Agnes had promised him faithfully that she would try to ring him every day. Chris and Shaz seemed closer than ever and everyone had betted on the next wedding being theirs.

Dempsey and Makepeace were all smiles again wishing the happy couple all the best, but they knew they had some serious soul searching to do, they couldn't just return to work and carryon as if nothing had happened. For now, they had made a deep connection and the rest would surely follow.

Gene and Alex beamed and radiated happiness as they thanked everyone of their guests in turn. They had had a difficult journey to get to where they were, but they had been truly overwhelmed by warm affection displayed by their friends and colleagues. Now they could go off and enjoy their two week honey moon in Jersey and hopefully not run into any American gansters or find bodies in wheelie bins.

As the group waved them off, the cans rattled behind the convertible car Gene was driving, clinking and clanking down the gravelled drive and they cheered wishing them the best.

But fate had more in store for them, there was still a matter of a trial to deal with and a corrupt New York cop.

The said Cop was sat at his desk burning the midnight oil poring over papers. Coltrane, the corrupt Assistant Commissioner of the NYPD drank whiskey, his face illuminated by the single lamp on his desk. This was becoming more of a habit by the day, him sitting at his desk in the precinct long after everyone else had gone home. He took a cigarette from the packet and placed it between his lips and attempted to light it, the lighter refused to work.

Coltrane huffed in frustration as the he tried repeatedly to get it to light. In annoyance he slung it in the bin. He went to open his desk draw to hunt for another one, but the draw opened so far and stopped, he tried to force it open. He bent down to see what was jamming it, he wiggled it backwards and forwards to spot the blockage. At the back of the draw there was a wad of paper stopping the draw on its runner. He reached in and fished out the item.

He looked at the item curiously; he had forgotten all about the envelope addressed simply "Simone". Without a second thought he ripped it open and read the letter:

Dear Simone,

Are you missing me?I guess you're wondering where the hell I am, don't worry I'm safe. I got a little heat on me and I've had to go some place out of the firing line for a while. I can't tell you where for reasons which one day will become clear. I just wanted you to know I haven't been given a pair of cement flippers.

They're looking after me, it's a little weird, but I'm getting used to it.

You've probably remembered, but I'm gonna tell ya anyways, it's Mom's 60th, I can't be there to celebrate with her, but I guess the family will put on a show for her. I was hoping you'd go in my place and take her something special, I've sent a small gift with some pals of mine, but I wanted to push the boat out a little, make a fuss of her y'know. I know you will choose something real special.

I know I can count on you and you will do this for me.

I hope to return home soon.

Love Dempsey xx

Coltrane thought for a little while as the information sunk in, he had just been handed a gift of his own. The corners of his mouth began to turn upwards as the realisation dawned on him, this letter had been in the hands of the English cop and his doll. His smirk widened into a broad, sneering grin, If the limeys had Dempsey's letter and they were from London, it figured Dempsey was also in London.

With pure elation he yelled "Gotcha!"

He was now on Dempsey's tail.

THE END

So there we have it, end of part two. I hope you have enjoyed this part as much as part 1, I don't mind telling you that writing this has been difficult, I promise never to write something as complicated again lol!

Now there is a Part 3 planned..as you might have gathered part 2 was turning into Dempsey and Makepeace's story..this was part of the plan. As we started 60/40 Ashes then went with pt2 50/50 we are now going the other way with part 3 60/40 Dempsey & Makepeace. It will still be a crossover story so G&A will feature, but as it will be D&M crossed with A2A it seems only right and fitting that TOAK PT3 should move to D&M's own section of the site, so if you would like to follow the adventures of D&M plus G&A then please add me to your author alert.

I will take a little break before starting part 3, so if you have enjoyed reading about D&M why not check out my fellow D&M fanficcers Krato and Haveunotthought's storys...they are fantastic reads!

Many thanks to those that have continued to read and review QQxxx