I'm baaaaack! I've discovered that my muse is absolutely the best at arriving during study leave. The following story was thought up somewhere during Statistics and Biology revision :D

All characters you recognise are not mine.

BIG BIG BIG thankies to warbs1981 for beta duties :)

"With record breaking temperatures, meteorologists predict that the heat wave will continue until next week. People are urged to avoid spending long periods outside and in their cars."

Alex Drake sighed irritably, switched off the T.V and looked at the problem before her. Laid out on the coffee table were her favourite boots. Her favourite white leather, calf hugging boots that made her that much taller than everyone else. Problem was, they were broken. Not broken exactly, but the heel of the left shoe was wobbly. Picking up said shoe, she carefully manipulated the heel to see how much pressure it would take to fall off completely. Not a lot of leeway then, she thought as the heel made a complete 360 degree rotation. If Alex were to wear them, she was going to have to carefully place her heel down as she walked, or else fall arse over tit.

Flinging the shoe back onto the table, Alex made her way to her wardrobe to see if she had anything else to wear on her feet. Considering the weather outside, boots were not the perfect choice of shoe but Alex didn't think she had any summery-type shoes or shoes that would even be an acceptable substitute. Unfortunately she was right; all she had was the hooker shoes she'd arrived in. Although, they did make her legs look really good. She reminder herself to wear them next time she went out somewhere other than Luigi's.

Bleep, bleep, bleep.

The watch on Alex's wrist bleeped angrily, snapping her out of her thoughts of where such shoes would be appropriate. Unfortunately all that sprang to her mind was 'brothel'. Vowing to buy herself some new shoes in the near future, Alex swiped the boots off the coffee table and carefully hopped into them as she made her way to Fenchurch East.

God, it was hot. So hot in fact, that the pavement was actually steaming and that the idea of spending the day in a room full of 1981 constructs was becoming less and less enthralling. The idea of staying at home all day was becoming more and more tempting.

Taking a deep breath, and well aware that her top was already sticking to her back, Alex pushed open the doors of CID. Upon entering she noticed three things. The first two concerned the fan that was going full blast; it sounded like it was going to explode and was making absolutely no difference to the temperature of the room. At all.

The third thing she noticed was the lack of movement in the room. The heat seemed to affect everybody; it was as if someone had pressed 'slow mo' on the remote of life. Well, this life anyway. Ray had fallen asleep with a less than savoury magazine on his face, Shaz was showing Chris how to make a paper fan – Dear Lord, the boy had actually made a hat instead – and everyone else was either sleeping or smoking. Alex couldn't see if Gene was in his office; the blinds and door were shut.

Alex walked carefully over to her desk, making sure not to put extra pressure on her left heel. As she sank into her chair, she congratulated herself on making it to work without breaking her shoe. Her celebration was interrupted with a small, yet meaningful cough. Alex snapped her head up and saw Gene standing over her desk, gesturing to his office. Oh, bugger. Letting out a small huff, she tried to nonchalantly walk into Gene's office.

"Yes Guv?" Alex asked, plastering an innocent smile on her face.

Gene just scowled at her. Christ, he was in a bad mood today. "An' yer late again why? If yer hadn't guessed Sleepin' Beauty, just because the weather's shit it doesn't mean the scum of the earth are takin' holidays. An' neither are we."

Alex blinked at the ferocity of his onslaught. "I…I," She stammered as she tried to think of a good excuse as to why she was late. 'My shoe was broken' wasn't an excuse that was going to fly with Gene. "I'm sorry Guv." She said finally.

"Good."

Crabby git, Alex thought bitterly as she made her way back to her desk.

If she had looked down at that moment, she would have seen the pieces of paper that had fluttered to the floor when the fan had turned around. But she didn't, and she let out a small 'shit' as her left foot made contact with that paper and slid forward. Alex did manage to catch herself before she followed her left foot forward, but the heel of her left boot was now even more wobbly. Walking was going to be bloody nightmare. Ignoring the sniggers that were coming from Ray's direction, Alex hobbled to her seat, muttering thousands of curses at the makers of her shoes.They can survive being run over by a Timothy White's van but they can't survive some slippery case files? Bastard shoes.

What was she going to do now? She could hardly whip off her shoes and walk around barefoot. That would just be weird. Well, weirder than normal. I could ask Shaz to get me a pair from 'Lost and Found'. It doesn't matter if they use to belong to some homeless drug dealer. They'd be more comfortable than these at the moment. Wondering why she didn't think of this before, Alex waved Shaz over.

"Yes Ma'am?" Shaz asked, fanning herself with the paper fan she'd made earlier. "God its hot innit?"

"Yes Shaz it is. Now, can I ask you for a favour?"

Shaz leaned in slightly, excited. "Of course Ma'am!"

"It's a bit embarrassing actually." Alex suppressed a smile as Shaz's mouth formed a small 'O'. "Can you go to the Lost and Found and –"

Gene heroically swung open the door of his office, "Post office blag 'as just occurred ladies and gentlemen. A-team, mush!" He declared, as Chris and Ray stood up, eager to be getting out of CID.

"What did you want from Lost and Found Ma'am?" Shaz asked again.

"Oh, just a pair of –"

"Drake!"

Bollocks."Coming, Guv." Alex sighed, standing up slowly. It was probably just a routine questioning anyway. It wasn't like she was going to be running anywhere. Her shoes could last until then.

"Got a limp Drakey?"

"No."

"Yer walking like a prozzie breakin' in new knickers."

Alex pouted, "I am not!"

Gene watched her walk and raised an eyebrow at her, "Are too."

"Not."

"Are."

Alex scoffed, "You are so childish!"

Now it was Gene's turn to pout, "Am not."

"Are."

"Come on Guv!" Ray cut in, marvelling at how easily his two senior officers could fall into an argument. "Open the bloody door before Chris melts."

"Right!" Gene said. "Let's fire up the Quattro."

If she wasn't afraid her eyeballs would stick to her eyelids, Alex would have rolled her eyes.

A little short but plenty more to come :D