Chapter 1:

Alex Drake felt her side start to ache as she ran, her loose curls flying behind her. She had long lost sight of the man she was chasing as he ran through the twists and turns of the streets.

Behind her she heard someone shouting her name but she knew she mustn't let Markson get away. She knew that if she lost him now the whole surveillance job would be for nothing and another girl could be in danger.

"Drake! Drake stop!" She could hear Gene's distinctive roar behind her and felt his hand grip her arm as she ran.
"They have him, stop running, for fucks sake…." She slowed and spun round colliding with him, his hand still firmly gripping her upper arm.

"Fuckin' 'ell, Bols, are you trying to kill me? Ray has got him. When you took off sprinting they went the other way and cut him off at the park!"Alex gripped her side, panting hard as she bent forward trying to catch her breath.

" I just couldn't bear to think Markson would get away…so I ran, and I think I twisted my bloody ankle…"
She looked down at her boot clad legs, holding the offending limb as it began to throb.
"Bloody 'ell, Bolly you are a liability, come here." Gene huffed as he swept her up in his arms, despite her insistence that she was a big girl and really was sure she could walk.

"It's not for your sake, I can't bear to hear a woman whine on about her feet, and plus I would be gutted if you couldn't get back into them leather boots of yours!"

He looked down at her, his face grumpy and sullen as always but his eyes with the twinkle that only she ever seemed to notice and began the walk back to the car, his strong arms firmly around her back and cradling her legs.
Alex tried not to think about the fact that she could feel the smooth skin of his forearm and wrist against her exposed back as her shirt had rucked up.

She thought about the last time he held her like this, when they first met.
He had carried her into the station thinking she was just some toffee nosed tom with a big mouth and a cracking arse.

Alex smiled to herself, how long ago that felt, how different she felt now about this man. She had always thought he was archaic, a dinosaur, a bully but every now and then he would surprise her.
Like now, like the way he made her feel when he held her…she looked up at his face, strong, determined and there was something else…was that amusement?
He looked at her and his face changed again. "What you smirkin'at Drake?" He barked, setting her down as they reached the Quattro,

"Christ sometimes I am too chivalrous for me own good." He grumbled, slapping her firmly on the rump before walking round to his side and getting in without a look back at her shocked expression.

Hours later Alex stumbled back to her flat above Luigi's, hissing each time she placed one foot in front of the other. Unlocking the door and pushing her way in, shrugging off her white leather jacket, she rubbed at her aching shoulders with one weary hand. It had been a very long day and she was shattered. Knowing the others would no doubt make their way to Luigi's for an after work session, the only thing Alex really wanted to do was have a bath and sleep.

Food and company could wait.

Sinking deep into the hot soapy bubbles, Alex finally started to feel like a woman again, she ran her hand along her slippery thigh under the water and wiggled her toes. Leaning her head back she thought back on the day's events, thrilled that that shit Markson had been caught.
Ever since that first girl had been found, bound and gagged by the docks, Alex hadn't been able to relax. Girls too young to understand, girls like her Molly.

She dunked her head under the water, hoping the hot water would stop her feeling her tears before they fell on her cheeks. Molly. The only thing that stopped her committing to this life, this time.

As Alex's face slowly emerged from the bubbles, coughing and pushing the foam from her eyes and lips with an equally soapy hand, she heard a banging at the front door.
Slipping out of the water and grabbing a towel to wrap round herself Alex cursed as she made her way to the door, roughly toweling her hair as she went.

Gene Hunt, tall, broad and serious loomed in the door frame, still looking back the way he had come as Alex opened the door.

"Right, come on Bollyknickers, we've got drinking to uuuhhh…" his cocky demands stifled in his throat as he turned and was faced with his DI, dripping wet and barely covered in her towel "drinking, um Bols, we are downstairs and…"

"I was having a bath Gene, thought I would try and wash some of the days crap off me before I tried to eat anything…if that's ok with you?" she replied bruskly as she walked back into the flat, shying away from the cold breeze that blew from the hall.

"Come in" she called behind her, adding "if you must" under her breath.

Gene had been in the flat often enough . Luigi had pushed him up the stairs more times than he could remember when he was too drunk to get the keys in the Quattro, but somehow now, it was different, it smelt different, better obviously and he liked that there were signs of Alex's stunted domesticity everywhere.
She had vanished into the bedroom and Gene wandered round, picking up books, judging them briefly by their covers before putting them back.

Making his way to the kitchen he poured himself a large vodka (she didn't have whiskey, he'd checked) and stood, leaning against the counter, his legs stretched out and his fingers idly fondling an item of clothing he had found on the work surface. It was silky and expensive feeling, and cool to the touch.
Just like Bloody Alex, that -expensive and cool. Gene smiled to himself, wondering if she was silky all over.

Emerging from the bedroom, Alex had pulled on her skin tight jeans and a baggy top whicj insisyed in slipping down at one side, revealing a tantalising bare shoulder. Scuffing her hair up, still slightly damp, having not bothered to try and dry it properly, she halted seeing Hunt in her kitchen.

He was somehow too big, too broad to fit in such a tiny domestic space. She felt her stomach do an unexpected back flip as she cleared her throat, alerting him to her presence. Shaking her head, Alex tryed to relax and clear the images out of her mind Alex walked into the kitchen, manoeuvring round Gene to pour herself a glass of wine from the fridge before shooing him into the living room, where he slumped on the sofa as she perched on the edge.

"So Bols, you gonna let the Gene Genie take you downstairs and get you thoroughly pissed? You know Ray and Chris are down there and frankly I would rather arm wrestle Geoff Capes than go back down on me own...the pair of them are driving me to drink!"
Alex choked a laugh into her glass "Gene, I am fairly certain that you were drinking long before you met those two!"

Gene seemed to sour at this, memories of his life before he moved to London flooding back uninvited, and he finished his vodka before responding. "Drink is a part of the job Bols, I have seen you put 'em away enough."Alex got up and, Gene watched her walk to the kitchen, returning with 2 bottles of wine.

"Well if they are being that bad, Gov I don't think I want to go down…stairs I mean" She added hurriedly as Gene caught her eye, eyebrows aloft as he took the bottle from her hand and filled his glass.
"I only meant, I mean I am not that hungry and we could just have a drink or…" The flat suddenly felt too quiet, too full of just him and just her.

Reaching over she turned the television on, the sound down low, really just a distraction, something to stop her thinking about how close Gene was, and how desperately lonely she felt when she thought about him leaving.

Xxx

They had finished the two bottles Alex had, and Gene had slipped, not unnoticed by the rest of the team down to Luigi's, returning with a bottle of red and a bottle of whisky.
They spent the evening companionably, drinking, talking about past cases, Gene animatedly regaling her with tales of his adventures in Manchester, both avoiding talking about the personal aspects of their past lives.
Gene concealed how much of a failure he felt moving to London, away from his wreck of a divorce and Alex trying desperately to think of something other than taking Molly on the school run as they found solace in each others company.

When the transmission finished on the telly and was replaced by the test card the living room awash with empty bottles and Gene's cigarette stubs, he heaved himself up, mumbling about going home,
"Work tomorrow Bols…fuck! Work in 6 hours!" He made his way heavily to the front door.

Slumped in the doorway he turned, one hand above him on the door frame, his head resting on his upper arm, gazing drunkenly at her. Alex leant back on the open door, relaxing, the back of her head against the cool glass, trying to stop her head from spinning.

The combination of too much wine and the close proximity of Gene all too much for her. She couldn't seem to think straight, her eye being drawn to his mouth as he messily licked his bottom lip.
He looked back at her, enjoying the view, then ruining the moment as he stumbled from his stationary position. She laughed as she leapt forward to try and steady him, her arm shooting out round his waist as she tried to hold him upright.

Suddenly it didn't seem funny anymore, her arm circling his hip, drawing him to her as his hands made their way into her hair. His mouth fluttered against hers as he dipped his head to kiss her.