Thanks to Bolly-Dolly and Catsteen over on TRA with the prompts for this. Dedicated to all the Pit Ladies.
Disclaimer: I don't own Ashes to Ashes.
"You know, it really will be Operation Burning Ring if you get caught up there"
Alex kept watch from her vantage point at the door, every now and then appraising the not-unattractive view of her long-legged DCI standing on their Superintendent's desk. Bugging his office was risky and the implications of what might happen should they be caught didn't bear thinking about, yet Alex couldn't help but feel excited, mainly due to the adrenaline coursing through her veins. Her and Gene working as a team, them against the world. Unbreakable.
The bug in position, Gene jumped down from the desk and walked towards her. Standing right in front of her, Alex could smell the lager and cigarettes on his breath and felt strangely comforted by it.
"What now?" she questioned.
"Fire up the flipchart."
She nodded and they hurried down the corridor, back to CID.
They walked in silence back to the squad room. As glad as he was that he had, in her words, let her in, Gene couldn't help but worry about what would happen if their 'investigation' went tits up. Sean Irvine had already lost his life and he was just a PC who'd stumbled across his mate taking backhanders; Gene hated to think what sort of danger he might have put Alex in. He stole a look at her; she was 100% committed to exposing the corruption in the Met and since they'd been working together on this, she'd lit up in a way he'd never seen before. The fire in her eyes burned even brighter and despite the gravity of the situation they found themselves in, she seemed happier than he'd ever seen her. Happier and even more beautiful. Gene had given up chastising himself for thinking of her like that. Sure he still indulged in some idle doodling, but now it seemed there were two Alexes; his bolshie, infuriating, argumentative DI that he fantasised about shagging every which way until kingdom come; and the Alex he was with now, who was his partner, his equal, who he wanted to protect from the darkness of the world they found themselves in. It was precisely for this reason, he'd tried to shut her out, but as usual her sheer bloody mindedness had forced his hand. He grinned to himself, something he rarely did these days and something which obviously hadn't gone unnoticed by Alex as her cut-glass accent broke into his reverie.
"Don't let anyone catch you smiling, Gene, that really will raise suspicions!" she half-giggled, half-whispered, her eyes darting from side to side, checking there was no-one around to hear her.
"Cheeky mare, I don't have a lot to smile about these days. Not with you bending my ear about something every minute of the day." Gene teased her as they pushed through the doors of the deserted CID and crossed the room to Gene's office, going in, locking the door and closing the blinds.
Gene went straight to the locked bottom drawer of his desk and retrieved the flipchart, spreading it across the desk, before going to his filing cabinet and fishing out a bottle of whisky and two glasses. He poured them both a generous measure and handed one of the glasses to Alex, who clinked her glass against his before taking a large mouthful.
"Steady on, Bolls, we've got a plan to formulate, can't make use of your oversized brains if you're pissed, can I?"
Alex chose to ignore that comment and instead began reading the points they'd entered on the flipchart two nights ago when they'd come up with the plan to bug Mac's office. Getting the evidence was relatively easy; the problem was what to do with it when they had it. It was fair to assume that every station in the Met, if not the country, was riddled with bent cops just Fenchurch East, therefore how could they possibly know who to trust? Going to the press wasn't an option either; not only would Gene never allow the good name of the Force be dragged through the mud, but even if he was willing, both their careers would more than likely be over. Alex knew that whistleblowing policies were far less developed in 1982 than in 2008, which meant there wasn't a clearly defined process for officers to follow if they suspected illegal behaviour. If she and Gene could uncover the corruption in the Met, they could blaze the trail for the future, cleaner Met.
The thought of Gene as a pioneer for a better Met was something she'd have balked at a year ago, but now she knew him so much better, Alex couldn't think of anyone else who'd be better for the job. She looked at him, pacing up and down behind his desk, swirling the whisky in his glass. Alex could almost see the cogs in his brain turning, as he tried to think of a way to protect the Force he cared so much about. Protective. Caring. Two other unlikely words she'd come to associate with Gene Hunt. More often than not, the anger and bluster with which he ruled CID was fuelled by an overwhelming urge to protect something or someone; the public, property, his own officers. Alex knew she felt safer being near him and felt ashamed when she thought about how she had doubted him. Now she understood why he'd shut her out, it was for her own good, for her own protection. What Gene didn't quite understand was that she was there to protect him.
Since she'd tumbled into this world, the separation from her daughter had been the hardest thing she'd had bear. Molly was the centre of her world back in 2008 and Alex wondered if her need to protect Gene was her maternal instinct being discharged onto him, in the absence her child. Certainly that explanation seemed more acceptable to Alex than the far simpler idea that she was falling for him. Alex certainly knew which was more likely, all the signs were there; she found herself fantasising about him at night, her skin tingled if they brushed past each other, she gazed into his office during the day, wondering what he whether he was actually working or playing Pong.
"BOLLY!" Gene's booming voice broke into her thoughts. "Are we going to sit here all bloody night? You've usually come out with a dozen ridiculous suggestions based on your psycho-twattery by now!"
Resisting the urge to correct him, Alex looked up at him, his piercing blue eyes revealing the merest of glimpse of uncertainty.
"The thing is Gene, we really need to know who we can trust, there's no point gathering this information if we can't take it to anyone. Is there no-one even at GMP who is as straight as a die? Someone who'd take this and investigate it thoroughly?"
"Not bloody likely, most of 'em are taking backhanders. The ones who aren't wouldn't lift a finger to help the likes of me."
"I doubt that's true, Gene. Not when it comes to something as serious as police corruption, surely?"
"Maybe not, Bolly but we can't risk asking people and then have them drop us right in the shit. We're in deep enough as it is."
Gene had stopped pacing and slumped down wearily in his chair. Alex moved around the desk and perched on the edge of it, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"It'll be ok, Gene. We'll think of something."
"Will we, Bolls? I'm beginning to think we're on a hiding to nowhere. It's all right for me, a few more years and I'll be retiring anyway, but you've got your whole career ahead of you. If Mac or any of those other corrupt bastards discover what we've been doing, they won't hesitate to get rid of us. You understand that?"
"I do. But we have an opportunity to stop this corruption in its tracks and we can't just give up. We owe it to the public, to our team, to each other."
Alex's voice had fallen almost to a whisper as she uttered the last three words. She felt the muscles in Gene's shoulder twitch almost imperceptibly, yet it was enough to know she'd gotten a reaction. He looked up at her, the hardness in his sapphire blue eyes melting away as they met her green ones, mottled with flecks of brown.
"You don't owe me anything, Bolly. Anytime you want to walk away, you can. I won't stop you."
"We're a team, Gene. You said it yourself, unbreakable."
Gene gazed at her for a second longer and could have sworn she moved a fraction of an inch closer, before he broke eye contact and cleared his throat.
"Right... umm... look, I don't think we're going to come up with anything tonight, so why don't you get off home, Bolls. Still got scum to catch tomorrow."
Alex considered this for a moment. It was about 10.30, still relatively early for CID.
"Drink first?"
"The team will be half cut by now, don't fancy playing catch up whilst watching Ray get knocked back by some bimbo and that prat Chris serenading Granger."
"Bottle of single malt at my flat?"
"I'll get me coat."
After a brief (by their standards) argument over whether or not leave the Quattro at the station (Alex winning by threatening to withhold the aforementioned whisky if he drove), Alex and Gene made their way across the round and around the corner to Luigi's. Since they'd discovered Mac's involvement in the corruption, they'd spent less and less time with the team and it had been playing on Alex's mind.
"Gene, if we aren't going to tell the team what's going on, we at least ought to spend more time with them. They're going to know something's up, probably already do."
"Do you ever stop thinking? We're on the way to enjoy a single malt and the cogs are still turning, just give it a rest for the night, eh?"
Gene's tone was light and jovial and Alex felt the weight of the world lift from her shoulders as she linked her arm through his. She felt like she fitted next to him and it was comfortable, familiar. As they reached Luigi's and walked past the restaurant door, it struck Gene that it no longer felt odd to go up the stairs to Alex's flat instead of heading into the bar. He wished he could go home with her every night. Ponce, he chastised himself silently.
Reaching Alex's front door, she fumbled in her handbag for her keys, fishing them out but dropping them before she found the one she needed. As she looked around and then bent down to get them, Gene had already beaten her to it, starting to get up as she bent down, Alex's forehead colliding with his shoulder as she did.
"Ow!" Alex yelped as she pulled away, clutching her head just above her left eye.
Gene jumped, more from being startled by her cry than the thump on his shoulder, pulling himself to his feet and looking momentarily awkward.
"'Ere, Bolls, let me have a look." He gently took her wrist, moving her hand away from her head and gently rubbed him thumb over the red mark above her eyebrow, "You'll live, you've got a hard head!"
He looked down at her as she giggled at his comment, her cheeks flushing from embarrassment and also the close proximity of him. She could smell his aftershave and the cigarette smoke that clung to his long black coat. She met his gaze as she had earlier in his office and this time he didn't look away, merely reached behind her and put the key in the door, opening it in one swift movement.
She took his hand and led him into the flat, dropping her bag by the door and shrugging off her coat. Gene mirrored her actions, letting her keys fall into her bag as he went past. Entering the living room, she turned to face him, saying nothing as she looked at him. Gene had a good idea of where he wanted the night to go, his groin twitched just thinking about it, but he couldn't quite believe that she felt the same.
"Whisky, Gene?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, thick with desire and her pupils dilating by the second. It told Gene all her needed to know.
"Stuff the drink, Alex."
He stepped towards her, arms wrapping around her waist as he moved in to brush his lips against hers. The kiss itself didn't take Alex by surprise, she'd been wishing he'd do it since the moment in his office, but she was surprised by his softness. She'd always imagined that if anything ever happened between them it would be hot, frantic, primal, even. But feeling his slightly chapped lips caressing hers, increasing the pressure slightly as he felt her respond, Alex knew that this was what she really wanted from him. It wasn't just a kiss, it was an expression of the mutual respect, feeling, maybe even love, between them that had built from the spark of electricity that had ignited when they first met.
She parted her lips slightly and ran her tongue gently along his top lip, feeling him relax into her as she did. She moved her hands up the front of his shirt, around his neck and threaded her fingers through his hair, pulling him closer to her. He took her cue, sliding his tongue into her mouth and moving against hers. When they broke for air, she pulled back slightly, taking in his bruised lips, knowing she looked the same.
"Alex?" Gene's voice was low, questioning.
"Yes." She answered, her tone definite, leaving him in no doubt as to what she wanted. His lips came crashing down on hers, this time with the passion and ferocity she had fantasised about, his hands running up and down her spine, over her rib cage and ghosting her breasts.
Their lips still locked, hands wandering, they moved towards the bedroom, Alex loosening Gene's tie as they went, undoing the first few buttons on his shirt and running her fingertips lightly along his collar bone. She felt him shiver with delight and he pulled her more tightly against him, his growing hardness pressing into her thigh.
He broke their kiss, motioning for her to sit on the bed, as he knelt down and took her booted left foot in his hands. Caressing the back of her knee with his index finger, he then took the zipper of the boot in left hand and gently lowered it, pulling it off slowly to reveal her stockinged foot. Repeating the action with her right foot, he then knelt between her ankles, the tip of his fingers running over the soles of her feet, around her ankles and up her calves.
The sensuality of his movements took Alex's breath away and she pulled him towards her, capturing his lips with her own. His hands moved up the outside of her thighs, pausing to toy with the lace top of her stockings. Alex moaned as his fingers found the silky sensitive skin of the inside of her thighs, tracing circular patterns that made her writhe with anticipation. She popped the remaining buttons on his shirt and slid it off him, revealing his broad muscular shoulders. Tearing her lips from his, she made to plant butterfly kisses down his neck and along the line of his shoulder.
Gene could barely believe he was half naked in Alex's bedroom, listening to her breath hitch in her chest as he touched her. He'd waited so long for this, a night he never thought would come and now he didn't want it to end. Her lips were so soft on the sensitive skin of his shoulder, every touch making him harder. He pulled her to her feet and lifted the silk blouse she wore over her head. He stared, almost mesmerised by her as she shook her hair free and it settled around her shoulders.
Gene swallowed hard as he noticed the pink of her nipples peeking through her cream lace bra. She was utterly flawless to him and he wondered what the hell she saw in him that had brought them to this point. He whimpered as she reached out to unfasten his belt and drew his fly down, her little finger grazing his erection as Alex looked up at him, her bottom lip between her teeth giving her a look of mischief that almost tipped him over the edge. She pushed his trousers down his legs and he kicked off his shoes and socks. She looked him up and down, able to appraise him as she had longed to earlier when he was standing on the Super's desk. His black boxers were in stark contrast to his skin which looked milky white in the moonlight streaming through the window.
Alex reached behind her back and unfastened the zip of her skirt, shimmying it over her hips as it pooled around her ankles. She gasped as Gene reached out tracing a line from her throat down between her breasts and over her stomach. He moved towards her, kissing her forehead in the place she'd bumped it earlier, trailing kisses down her cheek, towards her earlobe and down her neck. She pulled him down to the bed so that he covered her, Alex's hips grinding against his, longing for him to touch her, to take her to the edge. Gene was taking his time, however, kissing slowly down to her breasts, reaching behind her as she arched her back and he unclipped her bra, tossing it to the floor.
He trailed his tongue down the valley between them, flicking a thumb across each nipple before taking one in his mouth, sucking, licking and grazing it as Alex let out a wanton moan, the wetness increasing between her legs. She reached inside his boxer shorts, pushing them down over his hips and took his length in her hand, working him up and down as she flicked the pre-cum over the sensitive head. Gene gasped as she reached lower, massaging his balls and every so often trailing her little finger over the sensitive area behind them.
Knowing if she continued he wouldn't last, Gene continued his assault down Alex's body, showering her stomach with kisses before running his tongue underneath the waistband of her tiny French knickers. Her hips bucked towards him, as he unclipped her stockings and rolled each one agonisingly slowly down her legs, before removing the belt and knickers.
He stopped for a moment to take in the view of her naked form writhing on the bed, her heavily lidded eyes yearning for him to take her. Running his hand over her stomach, he smiled as she squirmed and twisted, begging him to touch her. Neither of them had said a word since they'd started. There was an understanding between them. The game-playing was over. It was now Alex and Gene against the world. Unbreakable.
Moving his hand lower, he ran a finger over her glistening folds and gently pushed a finger inside her, pumping gently before added another and bending them forward to hit the sweet spot. Alex let out a deep guttural moan as Gene pushed deeper, flicking her clit with his thumb. She bucked as he worked her, applying just enough pressure and friction to bring her almost to the edge but never quite tipping her over. He leaned over her, taking a nipple in his mouth, grazing it with his teeth and lapping at it with his tongue in the same rhythm he applied with his thumb to her clit. Alex was barely consciously of anything other than Gene bringing her closer and closer, her breathing getting shallower and shallower until she came hard, her muscles clamping down around his hand, a wanton scream releasing itself from her chest.
Gene continued flicking and circling his thumb over her clit, watching and feeling every muscle in her body spasm and twitch in response to him. When she could take no more, she somehow muster the strength to pull his lips to hers, kissing him with such force and ferocity, he thought he might come there and then. He had to have her now and thrust into her, feeling her muscles stretch to accommodate him, still twitching from her recent orgasm.
He remained still for a couple of seconds before moving gently into an out of her, gradually building a rhythm. Alex pulled and clawed at the skin on his back, wanting him closer, harder, deeper, wanting to take all he had. Sensing her need, he lifted her legs, placing one over each shoulder and thrust harder and harder, a primal groan escaping his lips as he did. He felt himself starting to lose control as both of Alex's hands came between them, one massaging his balls, the other working her swollen clit. Gene didn't think he'd ever been more turned on as they both panted and screamed their way to simultaneous orgasms. Releasing her legs from his shoulders, Gene collapsed onto the bed beside her, pulling the duvet over them as he did.
Neither of them spoke, there was no need. Everything that needed to be said had been made clear through their actions that night. Gene pulled her protectively towards him as she snuggled into the crook of his arm, her forehead resting against his bare chest, as they slipped into a comfortable slumber. SuperMac and the rest of them could wait, tonight was just about Gene and Alex.