A/N I don't own anything of Ashes or Life on Mars

.

'aving 'oops

DI Alex Drake was in a hurry as she tore around the supermarket using her trolley as a weapon to scatter everyone in her path. She should be at the station by now, and in exactly one hour she had a scheduled meeting with the Super, and she knew he was going to promote her to DCI.

Life was good for Alex, she had a new man called Logan Simpson, and this evening Logan and Molly were meeting for the very first time, so she was food gathering for the occasion, except now she was wishing she had shopped online instead, she had forgotten how busy Fridays in a supermarket were.

Alex wasn't going to let it get her down though, ever since she had been shot at by a crazy called Arthur Layton , and somehow survived with just a graze to her temple, life had taken on a very precious quality, and she was determined to live it to the full.

She chucked all kinds of goodies into the trolley; wine, cherries, salmon, cream, a gooey chocolate cake, silly napkins with flying chickens, milk, butter, ciabatta, cheese- what else? She stopped to consider- spaghetti of course. Molly had instructed her to get good quality dried spaghetti but not fresh as apparently it was too floppy.

In the aisle lined with packets of a hundred types of pasta a man was blocking her way, swinging a basket dangerously and looking lost.

There was no way around him, shoppers with oncoming trolleys gridlocked the aisle.

'Excuse me' Alex called.

The man turned and looked at her. She was struck by the intensity of his eyes.

'Could you move?' she asked.

He looked around, 'Where to exactly?'

'Um- anywhere- just out of my way.' she replied cheerfully.

'Maybe I could grow a pair of wings and take off' he suggested, 'maybe I could scramble up and over' he surveyed the stacked shelves, 'looks a bit slippery but I'll give it a go if you want.'

'There's no need to be so sarcastic is there?' Alex huffed.

'Isn't there?' he asked. 'I only came in to this hell on earth to look for spaghetti, I didn't expect to pinned down by hordes of housewives.'

'I'm a detective not a housewife and you're not pinned down.' Alex said, as she spoke a supermarket assistant brought a huge Danish trolley full of boxes of pasta down the aisle against all odds and parked it adjacent to them, blocking things up even more- the assistant smiled in a demented kind of way at Alex before abandoning the trolley.

'A store detective?' the man said, 'Wanna detect me some spaghetti?'

'I'm not a store detective' Alex protested, feeling a black cloud settling over her sunny mood.

'Are you one of those secret shoppers then?' guessed the man, 'Don't worry, I won't tell if you don't- but only if you find the spaghetti for me.'

Alex frowned, she looked along the aisle at all the neatly stacked packets of spaghetti, 'Is there something wrong with you?' she asked, 'It's right there, you're spoilt for choice.'

'I want 'oops' the man pouted.

''Oops?' Alex couldn't help but giggle, 'Spaghetti hoops?'

The man pouted even more, 'How is that funny?'

'No-one eats Spaghetti hoops anymore.' Alex said, ' I think I last had them when I was about four, and my mother was furious with the childminder.' She grabbed a packet of the most expensive spaghetti and threw it into her trolley.

'Well I eat them' said the man, 'or I would if could find the bastard things.'

The aisle had cleared a little, the ravening hordes appeared to be targeting the bakery area. Alex felt slightly sorry for the man, he obviously didn't frequent supermarkets very often and he looked so adorably little boy lost. 'Come on, they'll be near the Baked Beans, I'll show you.' She pushed her trolley around him and set off up the aisle.

'Nice arse' the man said from two steps behind her.

Alex couldn't believe her ears, had he just verbally assaulted her? She turned and looked at him. He smiled and her heart stopped beating. Like some old long disused machinery given a jump start something between her legs clanked into life. 'Oh god, please no' she muttered.

'What is it?' he asked, coming along side her, 'Shoplifters at two o'clock?'

'I'm not a store detective!' she snapped.

'I know, you don't want your cover blown, but at the end of the day you're going to be several bars of Swiss chocolate down.' the man seemed amused 'Mind you, where he's stashing them they'll melt.'

Alex speeded up, the man matched her stride for stride, but when she attempted a sharp left they got snarled up a little.

'You need indicators on that thing' he remarked mildly,

'I usually shop alone.' she said haughtily, 'There you are.' she pointed down the aisle, 'All the Hoops you could ever want or need.'

'Thank you.' he said.

'I suppose you'll be able to find the sliced white on your own?' she said sarkily.

'Highly unlikely.' he said, 'Not used to this shopping lark, the wife did it.' he took his voice down a notch, 'Til she buggered off.'

'Probably got sick of being called "the wife".' retorted Alex, wondering at the same time why on earth she was secretly pleased to know his wife had left him. 'Anyway, I'd better go, I'm late- the bread is that way.' she pointed to the bakery section before gripping the trolley determinedly and heading towards the checkouts. She sighed as she reached the tills only to find that all the manned checkouts had long queues. She dithered at the self checkout behind a man with a multipack of loo rolls that had a buggered up barcode. After what seemed like an eternity the assistant stepped forward to help him. Alex sighed and looked around desperately. Time had gotten away from her, if she wasn't out of the supermarket within five minutes she'd be late for the Super.

'Could you open another till?' she begged the assistant.

'No operatives available.' the assistant replied cheerfully, 'There you go' she added as the loo roll man finished paying and rushed away, 'All yours.'

Alex put her Bag for Life on the bagging area.

'Unidentified item in bagging area!' shouted the machine.

'It's a bag' Alex whimpered, trying to scan her first item. The machine refused to scan and kept repeating 'Unidentified item in bagging area' as Alex looked up she saw the spaghetti hoops man whizzing through the 'Basket only' till that had somehow miraculously become freed up. Alex counted her items and became more and more flustered- shit- too many for the Basket till.

'Need a hand?' asked spaghetti hoops man; not waiting for an answer he lifted her Bag for Life and took her phone out of it, handed it to her, shook the bag and placed it back in the bagging area, the machine decided to play nicely and everything moved through smoothly, except Alex, who was shaking slightly with frustration and shame, while spaghetti hoops man packed her bag and then even her wine in a cardboard carrier.

'You should apply for a job here' she muttered as she paid, 'You'd be brilliant at it.'

'Already got a job.' he said, 'But I'll bear it in mind if it doesn't work out.' He placed all her shopping back in her trolley.

She tried to zoom ahead of him as they walked out of the supermarket but couldn't seem to get any distance between them.

'Fancy a coffee?' he asked.

'Sorry, I have an important meeting.' she snapped.

She speeded up, leaving him in her wake without a backward glance. But as she drove to the station she felt a little guilty; he had helped her after all, she salved her conscience by telling herself she had helped him too.

She made the meeting in the nick of time; the Super smiling happily at her, 'I'm so thrilled to be the one to inform you that the board was unanimous - you are the new DCI of Fenchurch D-division CID.'

'Thank you Sir.' Alex gushed.

'Your new DI should be arriving soon.' the Super said, 'Sorry to land this on you but Manchester recommended him most highly. I have to admit I'm slightly concerned that there may be a clash of personalities. He's…' the Super cleared his throat, 'rather old fashioned- bit of a maverick.'

'Oh' Alex said, 'Well, I've had experience with that type of thing before, hopefully I can deal with it.'

The Super pushed forward a piece of A4 paper.

Alex scanned the DI'S CV. 'He appears to get results.' she said.

'You may need to tread carefully' warned the Super, 'He's been demoted, he may have a little trouble coming to terms with it. If you want to head to your office I'll bring him along shortly- think you'll find your team have laid on a little celebration for you'

'Really?' Alex said, touched.

'DS Granger's idea' the Super said.

.

Alex wasted no time in getting stuck in to the cake and champagne Sharon and the others had laid on.

'Bollinger no less' she said, swinging her glass about, 'Thanks Sharon.'

'Congratulations Ma'am' Sharon grinned, 'Things are gonna change around here now you're in charge.'

Alex looked at the various men officers and narrowed her eyes, 'Pissed all over 'em' she whispered to Sharon.

'Ma'am?' Sharon sounded shocked.

'Not in a sexual way.' Alex said quickly.

'No' Sharon made a face and then giggled. 'Not a lot of eye candy is there?'

'Metro males working for the Met-it's very apt.' Alex took another large swig of her champagne.

The double doors opened and the Super appeared. Alex choked on her champagne when she saw spaghetti hoops man behind him.

'Please no!' she groaned.

'Here she is' announced the Super, 'Our new DCI. Alex, this is your new second in command, DI Gene Hunt.'

The bubbles in her lungs almost sent her into convulsions. She slapped her chest and tried to stand up straight, 'Um- hello.'

'Oh dear' Gene said, he walked around and slapped her back a couple of times, 'not used to the old Bolly?'

Alex got her breath back, 'I can usually handle it perfectly well thanks' she gasped.

'I always affect women that way.' Gene said, looking around bullishly. 'Glass for the new boy?'

Sharon produced a glass and filled it with champagne before handing it to Gene.

'You can't work here.' Alex went on the defensive, 'You'll drive me around the twist.' she turned to remonstrate with the Super but he had beaten a hasty retreat.

'Oh I think we'll get used to each other.' Gene said, 'I won't be here long anyway, I'm back on the up.'

'That's not what the Super said.' Alex sniped, furious at the length of his eyelashes, how dare he be so attractive? 'You'll find it impossible taking orders from me, admit it.'

'I might like it' Gene took a gulp of champagne and cut off a hunk of cake. 'Powerful women tend get me old juices going, especially ones that look like they've been storing it up for years. Never let it be said that the Gene Genie objects to women on top.'

'How dare you?' Alex spluttered.

'Quite easily, you know your trouble?' he asked, cramming in cake.

'No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me.' she said.

Gene sipped more Bolly to help down the cake and licked his lips, 'You can't take a compliment.'

'There was a compliment buried in there?' Alex shook her head, feeling somewhat dazed, how had this day, which had began so promisingly, gone so wrong so fast? 'Where are you going?' she asked Gene as he began to walk away from her.

'Little boys room.' he said, 'Wanna come? Or do I have to put my hand up and ask your permission?'

No, no, of course not!' she replied, rattled.

Five minutes later the fire alarm went off due to Gene trying to have a crafty smoke in the toilet. When the chaos had died down, Alex showed him his office.

'So Bollinger Knickers, what do I call you?' he asked, looking around the office.

'Well not that for a start.' she said, striving to keep calm, ' Officially it should be Ma'am, but you can call me Alex if you really must. Can I call you Gene?'

He had fired up his Met laptop and was busy downloading 'Angry Birds', 'Yes of course, I'll give you my private number, anytime you want a little chat…'

'I mean at work!' her temper was teetering on the brink. 'Maybe it would be better if I addressed you as DI Hunt.'

He winced visibly at the DI bit, immediately she felt sorry for him. 'What did they call you in Manchester?' she asked.

'Guv' he said.

She was amazed to find she felt even more sorry for him and tried to pull herself together. 'Oh, yes I see-er …a bit awkward. Look I'll call you Gene, you call me Alex.'

He nodded, ' Fine. Where do you get a proper drink around here?'

'Well we go to a little place called Luigi's after hours.' she said, 'Luigi is about a hundred, but his nephew does most of the work.'

'Fancy showing me?' he asked, gazing up at her.

'Showing you?' she stuttered, trying to look him in the eye and finding she couldn't. His stare was far too intense, like looking at the sun.

'Luigi's?' he prompted, 'Unless you feel the need to show me anything else.'

Her phone bleeped; she'd set the alarm to remind her she had to leave early to begin preparing the meal. 'I can't' she said, 'Not tonight, I have to get home.'

'Wedding anniversary?' he looked at her bare ring finger.

'Um- my daughter and my….um …er' she got cross with herself, what the hell was Logan? 'my man- they're meeting for the first time.'

He nodded again, 'Good luck. I imagine there'll be other opportunities for us to get to know each other.'

Yes.' she tried to look at him, no, still no good.

There was a knock on the door.

'Come in' yelled Gene.

Sharon entered, 'Phone call Ma'am'

'Thanks!' she gasped with relief. 'Are you going to Luigi's?' she asked Sharon.

'Yeah of course- it's Friday.' Sharon smiled.

'Can you take DI Hunt with you?' she asked, as she rushed out of his office.

'Yes Ok' Sharon looked at Gene, 'she's not normally so dizzy. What did you do to her?'

Alex took the phone call, it was Evan, away on a business trip, asking if she'd made DCI . She hardly took in any of his congratulations and sighed deeply as she put the phone down. She suddenly desperately wanted to go to Luigi's that evening. She shut her office door and began a mantra, 'Logan is kind, Logan is safe, Logan loves me.'

.

The evening went badly, the spaghetti was water logged and floppy, the cream sauce separated, and Molly played smart arse with Logan. To make matters worse, when Molly had escaped to her room and Alex and Logan were trying to salvage the remains of the night, Evan arrived back early from the business trip. Evan didn't like Logan either, he didn't like any man Alex brought home. He tutted at the war zone kitchen and began to stack the dishwasher nosily. Upstairs Molly played Rihanna at full volume. Logan gave up. Too easily, Alex thought.

'I'll see you tomorrow.' he promised.

She walked back into the kitchen, 'You can stop banging and crashing now.' she told Evan, You've achieved your aim.' she yelled up the stairs for Molly to turn Rihanna down or off. Then she grabbed her jacket.

'You're not going after him?' Evan said, 'Alex stop chasing- you scare them away!'

'You and Molly scare them away. You're like a pair of Yorkshire terriers.' she replied. 'I'm not going after him anyway.'

'Where are you going then?' Evan asked.

'To get pissed with my new DI.' she said. 'Bye.'

Luigi's was almost deserted except for D-division who were gathered around a table in the corner, making a god-awful din. Sharon was telling everyone to call her Shaz and sitting on DS Patterson's lap. DS Patterson looked as if all his birthdays and Christmases had come at once and his hand was disappearing under Sharon's skirt.

Gene looked up at Alex, his beautiful grey-blue eyes slanting slightly with the effect of the alcohol. He tapped his lap, 'Take a seat Bolly- sorry, Alex'

'In your dreams' she replied, forcing herself to look into his eyes. She was up for this. This man was a challenge, a gorgeous, terrible, unsuitable challenge. She grabbed the carafe and poured herself a drink before sitting down beside opposite him.

'Bring it on' she said under her breath. 'Welcome to Fenchurch Gene' she said out loud, raising her glass.

He raised his own glass and met her gaze, 'Yeah- bring it on.' he said softly, 'I've a feeling it's going to be very interesting.'