It had been two months since Alex had woken up from hospital, Chris and Shaz decided to postpone their wedding until she woke up so she could attend. They all knew in their hearts it would not be the same without her. Alex was still not yet at work, she'd been round to Shaz's and Chris' most evenings as could not face to go down to Luigi's. Luigi looked after her like a father and she was eternally greatful; bringing her dinner, doing her shopping and tidying the flat for her. However, she was making progress and could go a five minute walk to the shop if she needed to, eventually she started getting her independence back and was due to go back the following month. She'd seen the odd bit of Ray and Viv when they popped round on the occassion to wish her well. All in all, she'd seen Gene twice. Once, it was after she woke up and they couldn't look at each other in the eye let alone have a propper conversation. They both felt their was a lot of unfinished business that would undoubtedly get brought up in their next argument at work. She'd been feeling awful lonely, the only reason he went to visit her in hospital was because Chris and Shaz were due for a fitting and the rest were at work. He picked her up to take her back to the flat. She remembers it now, as clear as day..

Gene cautiously stepped into Alex's hospital room with a lump in his throat and his heart beat was vastly increasing. She didn't notice him at first, she was busy sitting on the bed packing her few items into her bag ready for the lift home, she had no idea Gene was coming to pick her up. She looked up as he awkwardly coughed.

Her face was a mixture of emotions; dread, shock, anger and upset. "Where's Chris and Shaz?" While saying this, she played idly with the zip on the bag to keep her gaze away from him.

Gene didn't know whether to be glad she hadn't shouted and threw him out of the room straight the way or upset that she couldn't even bare the thought to look at him. "Fittin'. Erm, I'll.. I'll be taki- takin' ya' 'ome- if, if.. that's alright?" He stared awkwardly at his shoes in fear of rejection.

She looked up and felt hurt to think that the sheer sight of her made him look away in disgust, he couldn't even look at her. She looked at the clock on the wall and thought 'this is going to be a long ride home', finally after sighing and choosing her words carefully she spoke. "yeah, we erm.. we best go".

He looked up and their eyes met for the first time since the shooting. Gene just simply replied "K". He wanted to say much more, tell her how sorry he was, in that moment he though she never looked so beautiful; clear of make up and hair roughly tied back in a hair bobble, now she was dressed in some of her own clothes that she hadn't worn in a while, 'some of the others must have been to see her, shit. Why didn't I come? I didn't think she'd be up for visitors'. To be honest, he knew it was a shit excuse but he honestly didn't have the faintest idea what to say to her, he couldn't face her this early yet, now he regretted it from the bottom of his heart. When Alex looked into his beautiful eyes she knew he couldn't have hurt her purposely regardless of what it looked like. She just wanted to leap up from her bed and wrap her arms around him, tell him she was sorry but she knew that was impossible.

She stood up from the bed in pain but tried to cover it, she couldn't stand letting Gene see her weak. Alex went to grab her bag from the bed but at the exact same time Gene did. Gene's huge hands landed over the top of Alex's and they both paused looking down at their hands together, they both looked up at the same time. "Alex", not 'Bolly' or 'Bolls' but Alex. At that moment she pulled her hand out from under his and instantly though 'God, he actually hates me', she felt as if her heart was going to break into two. She turned away and simply replied "Don't" followed by a sigh.

xXx

In the car, there was an undeniable awkward silence. They both knew it but as the car pulled up to Luigi's Gene gave a sign and turned the engine off. He looked to the left at Alex who was twiddling her thumbs..

"Right then, let's get you in"

She couldn't face anymore of this awkwardness so she tried to get away from him as soon as possible. "No, it's erm.. I can manage, thanks"

He sighed louder this time and shook his head, she was purposely trying to make things harder for him and he decided not to fall for it. Instead he got out of the car, walked around it and opened the passenger door. He held out his hand for her but she didn't know what to do, first she was surprised by his chivalrious guesture then. she tooked his hand. Alex slowly raised herself out of the car careful not to her herself and Gene put his arm around her waist to steady her walking and prevent her from falling over. This made Alex's heart rate increase rapidly and head feel dizy.

xXx

After a tourterous walk up to her flat Alex pulled away and took the keys from her bag and slotted them into the lock. Before opening the door she turned to Gene who wasn't expecting the look he saw on her face.

"Why?"

Gene didn't directly know what this was a question to, it could have been to many things. He automatically asumed it was the shooting.. "I'm, ya' know, ya' know I din't, I couldn't- not you". He uttered the words before he had time to think and instantly wished her could take the last two back.

"Not that", a single tear fell from her eye down her cheek bone.

"Please don't cry Alex, not anymore"

"You didn't trust me!" She screamed the words in his face as more tears fell from her eyes and she threw both fists against his chest sobbing uncontrollably.

"I know 'n' I'm sorry, so so sorry" he needed to stop her from lashing out so enveloped his arms around her fragile frame, one hand stroking her hair and the other rubbing her back. Alex stopped fighting and her tears started to soak Gene's shirt, her arms were caught against his chest as she didn't have time to move them down before he pulled her to him. She felt herself getting angry for allowing Gene to comfort her so she pulled back.

"No. No, you should go Guv" she purposely emphasised the 'Guv' and it stabbed at Gene's gut with pain.

"How could I trust ya' when ya' lied t'me Drake?!" He could give as good as he got, that's why they always clashed. Shaz always thought of them as a match made in heaven, everybody else thought he must be mad to get involved with her; they were always at each others throats.

"I didn't" tears started to roll down her cheeck again but this time when Alex tried to defend her confession, Gene didn't despise her, he felt a twang of guilt.

"Ya' know somethin'? When I said I thought we 'ad a connection 'n' you said we did, I almost believed ya'. Wha' a twat I was ay?"

"No, Gene! We do" she was almost pleading with her to believe him but really she knew it should be the other way around, he should be pleading for her forgiveness. After all, he was the one that didn't trust her, cut her out and overall SHOT her.

"Prove it"

"What?" she was flabbergasted, how was she supposed to prove such a thing as that?

"Kiss me Alex" he held her gaze through his long eyelashes and formed his usual pout.

"Excuse me?" Alex didn't know what to say or do so. Gene stepped closer to trap her against the still closed door to her flat but Alex moved back so she was flat against it. He continued to step closer then he got as close as he could without physically touching her. He put his hands around her face to cup both of her cheeks and wiped the remaining tears away with his thumbs. She opened her mouth slightly and gasped as Gene slowly bent his head down towards her getting closer and closer to her lips. He saw Alex had closed her eyes and that was his sign that she wanted this. Just before their lips touched they heard a loud thumping getting louder and closer so the moment had gone and Gene backed off to the other side of the wall and leant against it. It was Luigi running up the stairs to see Alex and make sure she got home alright. He couldn't help thinking he had interrupted something but continued to head towards Alex and give her a huge hug, hand over the flowers and chocolates to welcome her home. While Alex hugged Luigi back she watched over his shoulder as Gene stared at his feet for a few seconds then turned to leave without a word. Just as Luigi pulled back, Gene was already done the stairs.

The clicking of the kettle brought Alex back to the present day. She finished making her cup of coffee and walked to the sofa to put the television on. Usual crap on tv, she'd been so bored this past week. She wasn't particularly looking forward to going back to work - Gene would be there and there was only one month left. The thing she was looking forward to however was Chris and Shaz's wedding which was only next week. She allowed her mind to drift off to some happier thoughts and a few hours later she fell asleep.

TBC.