AN:

Title: Selfish But With Good Reason

Words: 1,162

Romantic Pairings: Gene&Alex.

About: Ashes To Ashes

It was as Gene Hunt sat on the sofa in Alex Drakes flat that he realised that she needed more padding, he wanted to feed her up and put a bit more skin on those bones. He couldn't remember that last time he'd seen her eat a proper meal, a proper fulfilling and sustaining meal. When she turned around he noticed the dark circles under her eyes, how exhausted she looked.

"When was the last time you had a good night's sleep, ey Bolly?"

She shrugged and placed the bottle of whiskey she had gone to get on the table.

"It's only five o'clock, are you sure drinking is the right thing?"

She turned and frowned at him "Since when have you thought that it's too early for alcohol?"

"Since you've not been eating"

There was Silence. She turned her back to him a little, putting her guard up in case he started to argue with her.

"I'm worried about you Alex"

Alex. The use of her first name, this was serious. He meant business. He put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.

"I know how it gets when you live on your own" he spoke calmly "Cooking for one person seems like too much effort, so instead you eat takeaways and then you feel disgusting so you have little things like soup or beans on toast, but that won't keep you going for long"

"What's all this about Gene?"

He edged towards her and planted a kiss into her hair "I'm going to cook us some dinner"

Gene got to his feet and wandered over to the kitchen, opening the fridge and frowning at what little she had in.

"I bet the only thing you've got in is that rabbit food you'd call cereal"

She half smiled and watched him continue to rummage through her cupboards.

"This won't do at all" he spoke, grabbing his coat and pulling it on "Well come Mrs Fizzy Knickers, get your coat on we're going down the shops"

She sat there looking at him, wondering whether he had some hidden intention with this.

"Oi, earth to Bolly!" he waved his hand in front of her face "You, coat, arse, move it, now"

She hauled herself up and grabbed her jacket, flashing him a quick smile as he rested his hand at the bottom of her back to steer her out of the flat.

'No going back now' he thought with a grin 'She's stuck with me for the evening'.

Gene didn't realise that food shopping could be so entertaining. He watched Alex as she walked ahead of the trolley a little, and his playful side took over. He walked faster and nudged her with the trolley, causing her to turn round.

"Sorry"

She turned away again, so he nudged her. She looked at him, turned away, he nudged her. She looked at him, turned away, he nudged her. This time she didn't just look at him, she moved to stand next to him before elbowing him in the ribs.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"Pushing the trolley into me" she laughed, linking one of his arms.

He liked this. He liked being close to her, it gave him a glimpse of what it would be like to be in a relationship with her.

"So what are we having for dinner then?" she smiled.

"We're having the Gene Genie special" he replied.

"Which is?"

"Steak and chips"

She laughed and rested her head on his arm. Gene had to fight the urge to kiss her; sometimes she just drove him mad. They finished the shopping and drove back to the flat, both carrying the bags up and placing them on the counter. Gene stood back and let Alex put it all away before he made them both a cup of tea. He sat down beside her on the sofa and they drank their drinks.

"So are you really going ahead with the whole feeding me up thing?"

He nodded and stretched his arms, putting one around her as he dropped them.

After a while of sitting in a comfortable silence Gene made their dinner and they sat in front of the television with their plates in their laps, light conversation between them about how much rubbish was on, nothing worth watching really. They opened a bottle of wine and sat laughing and joking, the time seemed to fly by and before either of them realised, it was half past eleven.

"I best be off Bolls, it's getting late"

"You should stay" she told him "You've been drinking, you shouldn't drive"

"You've been drinking too" he laughed "You shouldn't be talking"

She somehow managed to get to her feet "Won't be a second, just going to get changed"

He watched her go into the bedroom, listened to her opening and closing draws. After a few minutes everything in the bedroom went quiet.

"Alex are you alright in there?" he called out, but there was no answer.

Placing his glass on the coffee table he got up and went to see if she was alright. He smiled tenderly when he saw her. She was sprawled on the bed, half in her pyjama vest top, fast asleep. He sorted her top out then scooped her up into his arms, walking around to the other side of the bed, somehow managing to pull back the duvet and get her underneath.

"Night, night Bolls"

He got to the door before he heard her voice, asking him not to go. Please stay, she has mumbled, don't leave me there's enough room for two. That was all he had to hear. He couldn't say no to her. Gene slipped off his boots, trousers, tie and jacket before climbing into bed beside her. She had her back to him, not purposely it was just the way he'd placed her, but he faced her back. He edged closer and before he knew what he was doing he had kissed the back of her neck, then in between her shoulders through her top. She shifted a little, he didn't know if she was asleep or not, but she had pressed her back against his front just the slightest.

"Bolls, are you awake?"

She made some incoherent noise to acknowledge her consciousness. Slipping an arm around her waist he ran patterns on her stomach. He felt her push against him, but not in a way that he registered as telling him to stop. His hand wandered underneath her top and his thumb rubbed tiny circles just below her belly button. Suddenly she turned over, her forehead touching his chin.

"Gene?"

"Yes Alex?"

"What time is it?"

He looked across at the clock "Just gone midnight"

"Oh"

She reached up and cupped his face, tilting his head down and kissing him gently. Then there was movement. As their bodies pressed together and they made love for what was the first, but definitely not last, time.

Shall I continue? I have an awesome idea of how to twist this but if people don't like it now then I won't carry it on, it's just that I'm having a few other ideas that I can't really put into my big epic fic aha.

Thanks for reading

Please review XD ?