Save A Prayer

Gene/Alex angsty oneshot. Not particularly canon. Inspired by, and includes, lyrics from the Duran Duran song of the same name. My first ATA fic, so be kind. Set during S3. Alex POV.

'Take a chance,

Like all dreamers can't find another way-

You don't have to dream it all, just live a day…'

This world was not where Alex Drake belonged. She belonged home, back where there was her daughter, normalcy, and her last vestiges of hope.

Back, where there was no Gene Hunt.

And wasn't that the greatest tragedy of all, that this man had come to represent home, in a way that the trappings of 2008 never had? Other than Molly, was there any part of her 'other' world she would truly miss?

But here, everything was now slowly beginning to rend itself apart at the seams, thanks to the arrival of DCI Jim Keats, who seemed determined to destroy Gene and everything he stood for. He had assured Alex he wanted to help her, but if she was completely honest, she wasn't assured.

Not really.

There was something about Keats that set Alex's teeth on edge. Behind his ineffectual, polite exterior, she sensed darker corners not yet exposed, a sharp bite behind the pleasant smile. She felt he saw right through her, right to the core of her…

Right to how she truly felt about Gene.

And that there was the real issue. Chris and Ray and Shaz, they had become her friends eventually, but she felt for DCI Gene Hunt reached far beyond the realm of platonic. He drove her to distraction with his misogyny and his racism and his bluster and bullshit, but when he wasn't there, she found herself longing for his presence.

Or just him

/

'And you wanted to dance, so I asked you to dance,

But fear is in your soul.

Some people call it a one-night-stand,

But we can call it paradise…'

That fateful dance in her flat had almost ended in her sleeping with Gene, finally giving in to the longing she knew had been eating away at both of them, but then the reality of truth loomed. Keats had placed it in her hand, had given her the seeds of proof she had been searching for.

If Gene truly was responsible for the death of Sam Tyler, she needed to know, she needed that truth…

Even if it shattered the reality of all she thought she knew of this man she loved…

'Don't say a prayer for me now,

Save it 'till the morning after…'