~*~
"Right, let's get on with it," Alex said quietly as Gene clicked the door shut.
He looked at her grimly for a second as he turned and then moved over the desk while she started rifling through document folders on a sideboard.
"Anything with Artemis on it at all," she said, scanning down sheets of paper as quickly as she could.
"Thank you Bols, I'm not a ruddy goldfish, I can remember why we're here," Gene growled behind her.
She smiled slightly to herself. He hadn't wanted to come. Breaking into a 'toff's house' looking to steal top-secret documents was a last resort, but he was backed into a corner. If she knew anything about Gene by now, it was that he could be relied upon to step outside the lines when it was necessary. She heard him pulling open drawers.
"Aye aye. What's this, then?" he said, pulling a video cassette from a padded envelope.
Alex came to look at it. There was nothing on the long white strip along the side, but on a white sticker on top of the cassette, small, neat capitals in pencil said 'Ephesus'.
"Ephesus? Holiday video?" she said, taking it from him and turning it over.
"Well, despite it being chucked in the drawer, someone doesn't want it taped over – they've broken the tab," Gene took it back and pointed to the little square that should have had been covered by solid black plastic, but wasn't.
"Diana of the Ephesians," Alex mused aloud.
"Come again?" Gene replied.
"Diana of the Ephesians. She was worshipped in Ephesus," Alex said, raising an eyebrow. "She was also called Artemis."
Gene stilled suddenly, looking at the tape, and up at Alex again. He looked like he had just been told he was holding a bomb.
Click.
Their heads snapped towards the door simultaneously.
"Shit!" said Gene in a hoarse whisper.
"Over here!" Alex stage whispered back, snatching the cassette from him and pulling open another white panelled door, leading hopefully to another room, at the very least out of sight. Gene bolted after her, and pulled the door closed behind them as quietly as possible. Alex caught sight of the main door to the room open before her view was blocked by wood and the tall bulk of her DCI.
She tried to step back a little, but her backside bumped straight into a shelf. Straightening up, her shoulder also hit hard wood.
"We're in a stationary cupboard!" she whispered crossly.
"It was your choice of hiding place, woman!" Gene growled. "Shh."
They heard the occupant of the room sit down in the creaking leather desk chair, and the unmistakeable click and whirr of a phone dial.
"Hello?" said the male voice. "Are you alone?"
In the light that bled under the doorframe, Alex looked up at Gene and raised her eyebrows. Maybe they were ideally placed to hear something important. They were certainly very close to each other, she realized now. She could feel the body heat radiating from him.
"Tell me what you're wearing," the voice said.
Alex could see the side of Gene's mouth curl up in amusement. She realized with horror what they were about to listen to. It must have showed on her face because Gene put his hand up to her mouth softly and shook his head. She reached her own hand up in irritation to grab his wrist.
"Don't do that!" she hissed.
"Shut up!" he returned, but his hand slipped to her shoulder none-the-less. She let her hand drop from his wrist. She brushed his waist by accident, feeling him flinch slightly. She met his eyes in the half-light, noticing them dip down to her lips and back up again. The intimacy of the situation should have felt a little more uncomfortable than it did, but she trusted Gene. She needed to, she reflected, and not just because they managed to get into scrapes like this. He was something solid in this increasingly strange world.
"Take them off," the voice in the room said.
She watched Gene frown, and he looked down, his hair falling forward. He was beginning to look embarrassed, and she respected him for that. In recent months he'd resisted the obvious smutty remark around her, and she presumed it was because he'd made his point. Male sexuality had been asserted, but gradually he had allowed himself to just be a person with her, and she knew that was part of why she felt so safe to rely on him now.
"Are you touching yourself?" said the man in the room.
She pulled a disgusted face and this time she put her own hand to her mouth. Gene met her eyes again, something apologetic in them. He took his hand from her shoulder and lightly touched the fingers she pressed against her lips. It was a kind gesture, almost an apology itself for what was going on in the room.
"I want you to imagine I'm touching you…" the phone call continued.
It should have been as jarring as the rest of it had been, but suddenly Gene's eyes looked darker and deeper at her, and she felt her own soften at the look, his hand still slightly over hers.
He made no movement, and she sensed he was holding himself very still. Almost imperceptibly, she felt her own fingers slip from under his, but he didn't move his away, still touching her lips, but not to silence her, just resting there.
It was an oddly intimate touch and she felt a warmth beginning to glow in her chest in response. She swallowed slightly, the shifting of her lips as she did so seeming to break the spell a little, and Gene slowly drew his fingers across her lower lip and away.
She impulsively grabbed his hand, putting her thumb in his palm and squeezing slightly and feeling her heartbeat quicken unmistakeably. The air was instantly charged with electricity she wasn't expecting, like something had been waiting for her to reach out, or take a step.
She could tell by the rise and fall of his chest that he was breathing quicker, and as she closed the distance between them by a few more millimetres, she saw him gulp a little. She held her head there, moistening her lips, and bringing her eyes back to his. He didn't move at all, and slowly she became aware that he was waiting for her to act.
Despite the ridiculousness of the situation, she felt herself leaning further, until her lips just brushed his. She felt the warmth of his breath, and pressed her mouth against his, lips gently apart. He seemed stunned, stock still for a moment, and then she felt the pressure returned, and his other hand ran round her waist, pulling her into it with more confidence.
"You dirty whore," came a gasping groan from in the room, and the sound of a receiver being replaced in it's cradle.
Alex pulled back in shock, Gene swaying into her as she did, his eyes opening, but unfocused. She put her hands to his chest to steady him, and they both turned their heads to the door, waiting to see what happened next.
There was a cough, and the sound of shuffling, and then the main door clicked closed. Alex turned back to Gene, as he moved his face back to hers. Their arms were still entangled, and instantly there was awkwardness.
"Ah…" Alex managed.
Gene looked down and up again quickly and met her eyes, reading her confusion.
"Well, I'm not staying in a cupboard longer than I have to," he said, slipping his hand from her waist and opening the door.
They stumbled out into the room, Alex still clutching the tape. She looked back at Gene, who ran his hand through his hair and over his face, blinking now they were in the light of the room. A short look passed between them, now they could see each other clearly, and Alex noticed she felt faintly scared as Gene looked at her guiltily.
"We've got what we came for, I think," she said in a hushed voice, biting her lip.
He nodded, not quite meeting her eyes.
"Let's get the hell out of here," he said.
~*~