A/n So here it is! It starts out as quite a fluffy little fic, so enjoy it while it lasts ;)

Kudos to my looovelllyyy CalamityElle for batting around the ideas with and EmmyLou1983 for beta'ing.

I hope you're all happy to see this one back, and if you have a moment, reviews are pure love!

As always... Enjoy!

MBRB'xoxo

People they come together

And people they fall apart.

Noone can stop us now,

Cos we are all made of stars.

We Are All Made of Stars - Moby

'Happy Birthday!' Alex yelled, holding her arms up for a hug, a gift bag hanging from one hand and a patterned night bag in her other hand containing all her things.
'Thank you, lovely!' Annie squealed, accepting the hug immediately and beaming over her friends shoulder.
'How was it?' Annie's birthday had actually been the previous day - Thursday - but it wasn't the most convenient of days to have a party on and so she had spent her 18th with her parents and had arranged a fancy dress night out for the next evening. Her parents had gone away for the night leaving the house to her and her friends with the order of her having a good time and ensuring nothing got broken which she had gladly agreed to and told everyone that they were staying at hers that evening.
'Yeah, really good actually. We just went for a meal and stuff. Nothing amazing, but it was nice' Alex nodded and then held out her hand with the gift bag to Annie.
'Ohh thank you! You didn't have to' Annie told her, seeming genuinely surprised that Alex had brought her a present. Alex rolled her eyes with a small laugh.
'Everyone says that but secretly they're like 'gimme the gifts'' Annie giggled and shook her head.
'Leave me up here alone. Why not. Don't blame me when all the drink's gone!' The Essex accent floated down the stairs just before the face of Shaz appeared over the banister, grinning down at the girls in the hallway. They both looked up to see her and then Alex obeyed Annie's instruction of 'Come on' and followed her up the stairs and towards her bedroom where loud music was already blast from.

As Alex dropped her bag on the bedroom floor and crossed her legs beneath her on the bed, she looked Shaz up and down who was staring into the mirror and applying more product to her hair. She looked amazing in a lipstick red dress coupled with a black bolero style jacket. Her makeup was heavy; blusher sharply angled and eyes as smokey as Mr Robinson himself. She was the absolutely perfect New Romantic and Alex couldn't help but admire her costume.
'Shaz, you look amazing' she told her and Shaz turned from the mirror, clearly pleased.
'Aww, cheers Ma'am' Alex gave a playful frown at the new nickname that she'd been given since being with Gene. Apparently anyone that was with the Guv was their 'leader' as well, but as Chris had pointed out, 'Boss' didn't seem right for Alex and so she had been tarred with the brush of 'Ma'am'. She had been wrong when she had assumed it would wear off quickly. Very wrong indeed.
Annie, eager to open her present, waiting for the exchange to finish impatiently, bouncing up and down next to Alex on the bed.
'Open it then' she told her, turning away from Shaz who had now come to kneel down at Annie's feet, wanting to know what Alex had got Annie almost as much as Annie herself did. In the bag was one neatly wrapped, flat box and another bigger box. With a little 'eek', Annie tore the paper off the flat one and opened the box. Inside was a long black chain with a large, chunky silver peace sigh pendant. Annie squealed as she took it out the box and after looking at it a little closer, she hung it around her neck. The pendant hung perfectly against her 70s inspired mini dress, the silver standing out against the multi-coloured material.
'It's perfect!' Annie beamed, looking up at Alex. 'Thank you' Alex nodded as Shaz took a closer look.
'I thought it'd be good for tonight, but I know how you love all that 70's stuff anyway, so you can wear it whenever' Annie nodded happily as one hand traced the metal of the peace sign and the other picked up the other box. As she ripped open the wrapping, she laughed and gave Alex a happy smile and then turned the box to Shaz who had been craning to see what it was that Alex had got her.

'Brilliant!' she laughed, looking at the front of Annie's new cocktail maker and 'how to' book.

'Well you can't have an 18th birthday without a cocktail maker' Alex explained and Annie gave an 'of course not' of agreement as she leant over to give her friend a thank you hug.

'Thank you, darling' she said into her ear happily, then pulled back looking disapprovingly at Alex's state of Alexness. 'You'd better get changed, missy. Don't think that just because you brought me presents I'm going to let you off dressing up!' Alex brought a hand up in front of her mouth and in mock scandal.

'Me? Not dress up? I'd rather die' Shaz laughed and Annie rolled her eyes at her friend, pulling a head piece out of her bag.

'Shut up and get changed, Queeney' she said, throwing the headpiece at Alex's face and turning to finish of her makeup.

x-x-x-x

A while later and the three girls were making their way to Club 32 where they were meeting the rest of their friends. Phyllis had refused to tell them what it was that she was going to be dressed and despite their best efforts, she had remained solid and so they were all looking forward to finding out what the mystery costume actually was. Alex had explained to Annie that although she had tried her best, she had failed her 'mission' of getting Gene to dress up. Secretly, Alex was a bit disappointed that she hadn't been about to convince Gene to go in fancy dress - she had been looking forward to him being her King for the night - but she couldn't say that she was surprised. Gene wasn't one to show much enthusiasm for making himself look like a fool and so he had been Annie's only exception to the 'thou must dress up' rule. Ray had been unsure as to what he was going to come as, but they all knew what Sam and Chris were going to be due to Annie and Shaz sorting them out. As they made their way to the club, there seemed to be a plethora of people who were all wanting to wish Annie a happy birthday and even more that the girls spotted in fancy dress. The FaceBook event that Annie had created had picked up quite a few accepters and it hadn't surprised Alex at all - Annie was pretty popular due to her easy going and kind nature and judging by the amount of people that were out and about in their costumes, it was going to be a busy night.

Alex couldn't help but laugh along with Annie and Shaz as they walked up to the entrance of the club where the group were sat outside on the Ray and Gene were missing but the girls attention was more focused Sam and Chris who looked amazing in their costumes that the girls had sorted; Sam looking particularly dapper in his 70s boy costumes complete with black leather jacket, flared jeans and shirt with lapels that almost reached his shoulders. Chris looked just a little too comfortable in his New Romantic costume but his tone came out a little nervous as he looked at Shaz.

'Do I look alright, Shazza?' he asked. Shaz grinned as she came closer to him and turned his face towards her more with one hand so that she could inspect the makeup she had shown him how to do. The black that surrounded one of his eyes seemed to her satisfaction and she nodded happily.

'Fab!' she told him, smiling. Alex wasn't sure if Shaz noticed the blush that crept up into Chris's cheeks at the her approval, but she decided that it was very sweet of him. As Sam sat down and offered his lap to Annie, Phyllis moved over a little and trod the rest of her cigarette into the floor.

'So when're you two going to cut the crap and get together?' she asked the couple who were sat shoulder to shoulder. The question had crossed Alex's mind numerous times as she had observed the pair skirting around each other. There was a clear attraction but neither of them had admitted it and so they were still officially single even though most people just assumed that they were together because of how close they were. Going to a fancy dress party in complimentary New Romantic gear didn't exactly scream hate, did it. Alex could see that they were reluctant to answer the question, Shaz shifting awkwardly in her seat, and so she decided to turn the attention away from them for a minute.

'What are you then, Phyl? Cavegirl?' Phyllis looked semi-amused, semi-appalled.

'Shut it, you. I'm Jane. Looking for my Tarzan' it was the saucy, suggestive wink that she gave that cracked Alex up. It wasn't until her phone started ringing that she actually managed to hold back her laughter.

'Hello?' she rolled her eyes as Gene's phone voice boomed into her ear, nearly deafening her.

'Alright Madam Nutter? Where're you?'

'I'm by the door. Where're you?'

'I'm just down the road. Why're you laughing?' Alex had let out a burst of laughter as Ray came into view, his lopsided, cocky smile firmly in place and a piece of gum in his mouth. She hadn't expected him to make much of an effort with his costume but she had to admit that he looked pretty good. She didn't know where the hell he got it from, but his outfit was unmistakably a pirate, complete with eye patch and pirate boots that were folded down at the top. Annie seemed thrilled at his effort too, standing up from Sams lap and giving him a hug.

'Happy birthday, love. Might wanna let go though or Sammy won't have a girlfriend anymore' he shot Sam one of his cheeky winks over Annie's shoulder as she let go of him and slapped his arm lightly.

'Just Ray' Alex explained. Where did you say you were?'

'Just down the road. Come meet me' it was more of a demand than a request and Alex considered telling him where he could shove his orders, but she knew that she would end up meeting him where he wanted her to anyway and so settled for an eye roll and an overly heavy sigh.

'Fine. See you in a minute' She hung up the phone without saying goodbye and then told her friends that she'd be back in a minute.

'You lot go in. We won't be long' she grumbled, making her way away from the group and down the road to where she knew Gene would be.

x-x-x-x

Where the hell are you, you pain in the arse? xxx

She could feel the warmth that the drink she had consumed provided wearing off steadily and she had walked further than she had expected to in her search for Gene. It was pretty dark out and she wasn't really keen on walking much further on her own. Deep in her own semi-annoyed thoughts, she didn't hear the footsteps behind her. Her hands were suddenly pulled from her sides where they had been and clasped together at her back by one large hand, another landing on her shoulder to steady her.

'Stop in the name of the law.' She could have killed him. Turning her head quickly to shoot an angry look at Gene, the words died on her tongue as she saw Gene, yes, but not the Gene that she had expected. Instead she saw Gene Hunt, her Gene Hunt, dressed in a black shirt and black trousers with large aviator glasses over his eyes, a cop hat pulled low on his head and a pair of handcuffs swinging at his hip.

'Oh... my god' was all that came from Alex as her jaw dropped open slightly. Gene let her wrists go and pushed them into his back pockets and therefore pushing his chest out an his shoulders back a little. Needless to say, his pout was firmly in place.

'What happened to you not dressing up?' she asked him, looking him up and down again and again.

'If someone nags you enough, Price, then there comes a point when all you want is a quiet life' Alex raised an eyebrow.

'Is that so?' she asked him slyly.

'Don't you even think about keeping that up whenever you don't get your own way' he warned her, but he knew it was falling on deaf ears and anyway, it was a bit of a lie. He had intended to dress up from the minute he'd heard about it if only to surprise everyone. He knew that noone would think that he, the Guv, would actually dress up but he had decided that he would prove them wrong and it had been more than amusing to hear Alex practically beg him to dress up with her. But he had drawn the line at being her Anthony. Before him stood one hell of a beautiful Cleopatra and although he could appreciate her as the Egyptian Queen, he wasn't too keen on the idea of dressing up as an ancient Egyptian and following the queen of the Nile around all night. Looking down at her now, she had straightened her hair and brushed the fringe that she normally clipped out of her face down so that it made the typical heavy Cleopatra fringe, her eyes had been carefully made up by Shaz so that they were Cleopatra's signature dark flicks. She was wearing a short, loose plain white dress that brushed her thighs, brought in at the waist with a brown waist belt so that it looked like a sort of toga style dress. It wasn't the most masterful of costumes but she was most definitely the Ancient Queen and absolutely gorgeous. Gene glanced around them at the empty street that they were in and then wrapped his arms around the back of her waist, pulling her to him and dropping a soft kiss on her lips which she gratefully welcomed and returned.

As they pulled apart, Alex traced one hand lightly down the side of Gene's face, looking into the reflection of his aviators and laughing.

'Those are so distracting' she told him, tapping them twice. Gene batted her hands away and pouted.

'Oi, you leave them alone or I'll throw you in the cells for the night' Alex raised one eyebrow suggestively at his threat and then winked.

'Is that a promise?' her voice was low and Gene couldn't help but giving her the tiniest of smiles. It wasn't everyday that Cleopatra came on to you.

'Anyway. I think we'd better take a slow scroll back' she told him. At her words, Gene looked at her strangely thinking that it was just a slip of the tongue but her clear attempt at trying to hold back her laughter suggested otherwise.

'Scroll?'

'Get it? Scroll. Egypt?' Gene shook his head in what seemed to be an appalled manner and began the walk back towards the club, Alex looking overly pleased with herself.

'That was absolutely awful' he told her flatly. Alex just looped her arm through his and leant her head against his shoulder as they walked.

'It wasn't. You're in De Nile' there was a beat of silence after she spoke and then she couldn't hold back the bubble of laughter forming in her stomach any longer and she burst out laughing, clutching onto a very unimpressed Gene's arm. As they continued to walk, Gene had the feeling that he'd need quite a few drinks tonight. Alex's laughter eventually died away and a moment of silence surrounded them before;

'There's a Pharaoh few more where that came from, Guv' and the silence was shattered by her hysterical laughter once again and Gene's eye roll which was so big it could, very nearly, be heard.

TBC...