Sorry if the first chapter is a bit slow; it's basically setting the scene for the rest of the story. I've rated it M not because of this chapter but the others are a bit smutty, and for the language. It may be advisable to listen to Chicago's 'Hard Habit To Break' while reading this story, not just because it's a brilliant song but also it fits in really well with the story. The team are trying to investigate a huge drug case, and whilst Alex does the work Gene seems to push her further and further away. Constructive comments please.
Disclaimer - I sadly did not create these characters or Ashes to Ashes, Kudos and the BBC did. I do not own any of them, except those who don't appear in the show.
Alex sat in the front seat of the Quattro, her head resting against the window, raindrops dripping on the outside. The beginnings of a hangover were kicking in now, Ray and Chris were singing in the back along to Prince's '1999', which was playing full blast on the radio.
"You know what I 'eard? In 1999 there's going to be robots doin' everything, and people will fly to work. Brilliant, eh?" Chris said, and Alex rolled her eyes.
"If I were you I wouldn't hold your breath," Alex sighed.
It had been three months since her parents were killed - again. Thinking that would be her ticket home to Molly, she had focused solely on stopping the car from exploding for the months leading up to that event. When she had failed, and also found out it was her father's fault, Alex had taken it badly and the rest of the team had noticed, especially Gene.
"You alright, Bolly?" Gene asked, not looking at her.
"Yeah, I just want to nail this bastard and go home. Is that too much to ask?" They had been tipped off on a drug dealer who was apparently selling half of Columbia's worth of cocaine, amongst other drugs.
Alex tapped her foot impatiently off the carpeted floor, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Chris mouth 'period's due' to Ray. They both rolled their eyes. The car screeched to a halt outside of an decrepit, vandalised house and more music echoing in her head, ricocheting off her brain. One word left all of their lips - 'whorehouse'.
Gene and Alex left the car first, and Alex pulled the seat forward to let Ray and Chris out. Sometimes, she felt like they were two children.
"Do y'reckon that any of them will 'ave their tits out?" Ray asked, a playful smirk on his lips. Alex puffed air out of her lips and a quiet 'for God's sake' escaped her lips.
"I think the only tit in there will be you, Raymundo. Now bang on the bloody door!" Gene growled, slamming the car door shut so hard that Alex flinched. If only she'd had the sense to carry some paracetamol on her person; that hangover really had a hold of her.
Another police car quickly pulled up behind the Quattro, and three officers stepped out. Alex had suggested letting Shaz come but obviously Gene had not taken her advice.
"Oh right, sorry." Ray banged on the door full force. "Police! Let us in!" All he received from the other end was a 'fuck off'. Alex, Gene, Ray and Chris all looked at each other- there was only one solution for it. Ray took a few steps backwards and then took a kick at the door. It swung open, making loud contact with the door.
The first sight that greeted Alex were two naked bodies thrusting on top of each other. She raised her eyebrows and was greeted with two shocked faces staring at her. Gene was a lot more vocal about the situation.
"Carry on, don't mind us," Gene said, his voice laced with sarcasm. Ray and Chris both saw the offending sex culprits on the floor and Ray was doubled over laughing, whilst Chris looked in a state of shock. The man stood up quickly, and the prostitute ran off, presumably to find more clothes.
"Ya must 'ave 'ad to pay 'er a lot to shag you - I've seen more meat on a chipolata sausage," Gene grunted, looking at the man's privates. The man blushed, whilst Ray gave off a little snort.
"Bloody 'ell..." Chris gasped, clearly not knowing where to look. By the time he focused again, everyone had disappeared, and the man who had just been indulging in sex was looking for his jeans.
"Over there, mate," Chris said, pointing to underneath the table on which a record player stood, Hot Chocolate's "You Sexy Thing" erupting from it. He saw Alex pop her head round the door.
"In here, Chris," she called, frustrated. She waited for Chris to follow her lead, went over to a large rucksack and emptied it. About a couple of dozen bags of cocaine fell out onto the floor. Hearing footsteps, signalled at Chris to be quiet and then they both hid behind a cabinet, in which were various ornaments of West Highland terriers.
Through the corner of her eye Alex saw Gene holding onto a small, Latin-American looking man, while Ray was holding a petite, teenage-looking prostitute who was currently effing and blinding, and a couple of the other officers had hold of two other men - one tall, broad and bald, the other about her height with blonde, swept back hair. Needless to say they both looked very sinister. Three prostitutes had followed them and were screaming, and they all looked underage in Alex's opinion.
Alex stepped out from behind the cabinet and Chris followed.
"Christ, Bolls, hiding from these nonces! And I thought you were as tough as the 'ard skin on my foot!" Gene gasped, a twinkle in his eye.
"No, I was waiting for these 'nonces' to come into here so I could shock them. Believe it or not, Gene, I really don't want to be taken for surprise, whacked across the head and taken hostage!" Alex shouted.
"Lover's tiff?" The Latin-American man grinned, only to receive glares from both Gene and Alex.
"Shut up!" They yelled in unison, and Gene kneed the man in the stomach, and he doubled over, coughing.
"For God's sake, Gene, what did you do that for! Just take him into the car so we can interview him and get him sent down!" Alex stamped out of the brothel and saw another two police cars had pulled up- presumably for the small gathering of criminals.
"Deed that beauteeful woman weeth curly 'air just say she'd go down on me?" Señ or Wanker, asked, and Gene gritted his teeth.
"No, she said y' going down, down to prison where ya'll be eaten for breakfast and eventually down to 'ell where ya'll be spewed back up again! Now, follow my lead and if y'don't wriggle too much per'aps I won't beat the shit out of you later. Shit I said, like what's in your 'ead instead of a brain!"
Gene pushed the man and the rest of the team followed, loading the occupants of the brothel into the numerous police cars. After shoving everyone into the police cars, Chris and Ray scrambled back into the Quattro and Alex followed suit. Gene followed them in not long after, and they drove back to the station.
Alex sat at her desk, thoughts not entirely on the job. Gene was in a better mood today than most, and he'd occupied her thoughts a lot more than usual lately. Vastly.
He's not real, Alex, he's an imaginary construct induced by the impact of a bullet into your brain.
But he had took her hand, he'd protected her.
Psyches have been known to change information when under severe trauma, you of all people know that.
Someone took her hand though, and it wasn't Evan-
She jumped when Gene's gruff voice spoke.
"That bloke there, in the brothel, Bolly, he's called Oliver Yates and is about as Spanish as I am. Likes to pur'on the accent, thinks it pulls in the birds. 'e's a smarmy bastard, with a penchant for underage girls. Dumb and dumber with 'im, they're Reggie Oates and Donny Clark. Between them they 'ave the intelligence of an ant, but they're dangerous twats. And also, they're both fairies."
"What?" Alex asked, rubbing her head.
"They're bum chums, Bolls, poofs, benders-"
"I wasn't asking that, I know what a fairy is, however inappropriate your choice of word happens to be. What do they do? Have they got form? And, more importantly, who's going to interview them?" Alex sighed, exasperated.
"Reggie Oates 'as form for two counts of GBH, not that the sod on the other end didn't deserve it. We've never been able to get anything on Donny Clark, dunno 'ow. He's 'ardly brains of Britain. Raymundo 'n' me, we're goin' to interview them. You stay 'ere, Bolly, catch up on the paperwork. Ask 'er and Shaz might be able to give yer an 'and." Gene pointed at Shaz who smiled at Alex, and then he sauntered off, leaving Alex fuming.
He's just an obnoxious, pig-headed, bastard of a construct who despite you setting up the entire operation is shutting you out of his over-sized male ego. Nothing to worry about.
Shaz came and sat with Alex. She'd only been back a month since she'd been stabbed in October, but already was being an asset to the team. Alex had missed her tremendously since she'd been gone, and now that Shaz was back Alex was glad she had a female to confide in amongst all of this mess.
"You alright, ma'am?" Shaz asked, a placed a cup of tea on his desk.
Alex opened her mouth but then shut it. Best not to tell everything in your soul to anyone - imaginary form or not.
"I'm fine Shaz, actually no, I'm great. I should be in the interview room trying to nail that imbecile in there, but other than that I couldn't be better." She ran her fingers through her hair.
"It's okay ma'am, I'm sure they'll keep you filled in. I've sat in 'ere all day because the Guv wouldn't let me come wiv you all to arrest those pimps. Said I was still weak, needed a bit more time before I could come out wiv you all, but to be honest I just wanted to be in on the action," Shaz said and Alex felt sorry for her but somewhere felt herself respect Gene just a little bit more. Not enough to forgive him, but a little bit more.
"Well, Shaz, it shouldn't be too long until you're allowed out and about again. I'll put in a good word." Shaz smiled.
"That'd be great ma'am, fanks."
"Well, we'd better get on with this paperwork then, mountain to get through," Alex sighed, and immediately began with the top sheet. Then, the huge pile fell over, and Shaz winced at the amount of expletives that left Alex's mouth.
At twenty to eight, Alex and Shaz finally left the station and went to Luigi's and found the entire team was already there. Alex felt her temper rise again, but immediately swallowed the venom that rose up her throat.
"Over 'ere, Bolls! I've already ordered us a bottle of Luigi's house rubbish!" Gene shouted, obviously too pissed to realise she was fuming. Shaz went over to sit next to Chris, and he automatically put his arm around her.
Alex sat in the corner, opposite Gene and glared at him.
"What's the matter, Bolly? PMT? Shrunk ya best bra, not that that would be a bad thing o' course," Gene slurred and Alex had to resist the urge to punch him on the chin again.
"No, Gene, I have just spent two hours going through a pile of paperwork that was your responsibility with an officer who feels like she's being left out of the loop, because you want to relive your younger days and do everything without help! I set up the entire operation today, practically single-handedly. I never even got to sit while you conducted an interview, even though I'm a senior officer. You took Ray instead, and left me to do admin. Just remember, that I am your DI-" Alex screamed, and everything in Luigi's went quiet.
"Exactly, yer my DI, I'm your boss, which means I tell yer what to do! Sometimes it's like livin' with me ex-Mrs again!" Gene yelled, slamming his hand on the table and knocking the glass of wine over. By now, everyone in the restaurant was staring at Alex and Gene.
"And no wonder she bloody left you, because if she felt half as neglected as me it would seem like a very easy option, thank you very much! Now I'm going to go upstairs to the flat, and you can realise that the more you push those who care away from you, they eventually leave." Alex turned on her heel and stormed up the flight of stairs.
Everyone was still looking at Gene, and he retorted with a glare. The remainder of the restaurant but the team continued with their conversations, and the team stared at Alex. Gene saw their look of despair and realised how much admiration had grown for her over the past few months; he knew he'd made a cock-up. He just didn't want Alex in there, he needed to nail Yates.She didn't know what he was capable of: nobody did.
Gene put his head in his hands - just what he needed, his DI going AWOL. He probably should go and apologise to the moody tart, get her back on side, but he didn't have the energy anymore. He'd never felt the way he did now - an all-consuming feeling, eating him up inside. He knew he fancied Bolly - had done pretty much since the moment she walked into the station. But now... God he was losing it with old age.