Title: The Lady Doth Protest Too Much
Rating: General
Word count: 905
Characters: Gene/Alex
Summary: Missing scene from episode 2.4, set after they return to the office, and before the arrival of Jackie Queen.
A/N: I appear to have been taken over by a romance bunny. I'm not quite sure how it's happened…
~*~
Firing up the flipchart wasn't nearly as exhilarating as the planning and set up that had bought them here to Gene's office in the middle of the night. Alex was pacing to keep her awake. Gene bent over the desk, the various possible avenues open to them marked out clearly, and each dead end just as obvious.
"Well, maybe the bug in his office will turn something up," Alex said, dejected.
"Yeah, or I could knock his teeth out and we could see if the Tooth Fairy's in on it too," Gene responded, standing up and rubbing the top of his nose. "Face it, Bols. He's got everything sewn up tighter than a duck's arse."
Alex stood beside him, looking at the chart again, tracing her hand down it. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the desk and groaning as she rubbed her forehead.
Gene, even getting to the point of exhaustion, couldn't resist the temptation to lean back slightly and throw a glance down at her backside.
"Stop looking at my arse," she said, without looking round.
He sniffed and shrugged, slumping down into his chair and leaning back, making no attempt to change what he was looking at.
"Well, there's no point looking at that chart anymore, and your arse is right in front of me," he said, stretching his hands behind his head.
She turned and looked at him over her shoulder, pursing her lips in that schoolteacher style disapproval that she did so well. It wasn't an incentive to stop looking, he thought.
She stayed there for a few more seconds, and he couldn't tell if it was through tiredness or if she was actually teasing him. He stamped on the second suggestion as soon as he thought of it; sure it was tiredness on his part to imagine she would.
After a moment, she pushed herself up from the desk and perched on the edge of it, in front of him, arms folded.
"There's got to be something. No one is untouchable," she said, sulking.
"He's been in the game too long to leave gaps," he replied, pulling his hands from behind his head and folding his own arms. "If anyone could have seen the chink in his armour, it would have been you and me, Bols, but it's just not there."
She fixed him with resigned gaze and shook her head, getting up and moving around to the seat on the other side of the desk. She wasn't wearing the long cardy any more, and he relished the slight wiggle as she moved.
He leaned forward as she sat back, crossing her legs and resting her hand on the chart. She sighed and shook her head again.
"I don't want to give up," she said.
"Not giving up. Just not seeing it from this," Gene said, patting the white paper near her hand.
Her big eyes were blinking quite deliberately now as she fought her tiredness. He held her gaze without any intention, just enjoying the weary but comfortable silence between them.
"You look knackered, woman," he said.
"Thanks. You look like shit yourself," she replied.
He raised his eyebrows and nodded. "We should go to bed," he said, and watched as she blinked a little quicker.
"What?" she asked, and he took a slow breath in, always enjoying the moments he managed to wrong foot her.
"Don't see anything else we can do tonight," he said, but made no attempt to move. He noticed that she was holding herself very still too.
"Oh, yes. sleep," she said, slowly realizing that he hadn't been making a pass at her. Well, not on purpose, anyway.
"Yes, sleep," he replied, feeling his body slump a little further onto the desk.
"This isn't pointless, you know," Alex told him, patting the chart again half-heartedly.
He put his hand over hers suddenly, watching her still at his touch, and feeling lazy warmth glow in his chest as she sleepily gazed at him. Not for the first time, he thought how much he wanted to watch her fall asleep in front of him. Not in his office, separated by a desk, maybe, but it was still soothingly enjoyable.
"You underestimate me, Bols," he said.
"You underestimate yourself, Gene," she said, her eyes closing.
He pursed his lips thoughtfully and stroked the back of her hand with his thumb.
"I do not. I fully appreciate my own prowess," he said, as emphatically as he could manage, feeling sleep beginning to take him too.
"Do you now?" Alex muttered, fluttering her eyes open briefly and smiling as she closed them again.
"Yup. You, however, underestimate it at every turn," he said.
"Oh, I don't think you've got too many surprises for me any more," she replied.
"You reckon?" he said, his head already on the desk.
"I do. I know who you are. I had you down before we even met," she said, and he raised his head a little to look at her as she spoke.
"You 'ave never had me, Alex. I'd remember," he said, raising his eyebrows in one last attempt to keep his eyes open, and failing. He dropped his head down again.
"You certainly would," she told him, and he could hear the devilish smile in her voice as sleep crept up on him, taking him to dreams he had enjoyed before, but never yet while he held her hand.