Palimpsest
One Alex Price, one Alex Drake. One little girl, one broken woman.
Gene can't comfort the woman. She's too confused, too angry, too disbelieving. He can't take care of his DI Lady the way he takes care of Chris or Ray or even little Shaz. They trust him; she doesn't. As the last of her parents disappears in fire and ash, she doesn't trust anyone, least of all herself.
So Gene makes a choice, and he crosses over into the little girl's mind. He takes her tiny hand into his large one and wraps his arm around her. She won't be alone. She won't cry by herself while her stunned godfather watches immobile, frozen by horror. She will be sheltered, safe. He can't stay with her forever, but his presence will remind her that when everything crashes down, there is still something to trust, someone to trust.
He carries the little girl to the station in his arms, and Alex is there, watching. He steals a look into her eyes, and he sees. His choice was right. His arms around the little girl were his arms around the woman, and his care for the child has healed the adult. He is satisfied.
Alex Drake looks empty, as if the fire burned away the fight that kept her going until the moment of the explosion. But there's something in her now that he's only seen once, during the moment in the vault when she finally let him take responsibility for her; the woman has started to trust him. Gene will nurture that trust until it becomes something strong that nothing can break, but for now, it's enough that the little girl is safe. And so is the woman.
She'll be all right, Gene knows. Bolly'll be all right.