Finally, after many minutes of goodbyes and hugs between Shaz and Alex, they were sat in the Quattro.

Gene suddenly remembered his mental notes and turned to Alex, clearing his throat.

"Alex," he said warily, not sure how to word his question to her without making her annoyed or leaving him sounding like a prat.

"Yes?" she asked as she turned to look at him, she found him looking at her. 'Oh god he looks so handsome sat there with his tie hanging lose and his chest just visible above the few buttons he has undone... My god stop thinking like that' she thought, quite scared at her own mind for thinking such thoughts.

"Um, who is Evan and Layton, and how can they have just found you when you have been here with us all along? I mean, you did tell people you were leaving, didn't you?" he rushed out. Luckily Alex caught every word but these were the questions she did not want to answer.

"Well..." she began thinking that she would keep to the truth as much as she could. "Do you remember that I had an accident before I came here?"

"Yes." said Gene, still not sure if he had done the right thing by asking her.

"Well, Layton caused it and Evan is my godfather, and I didn't tell anyone I was leaving... well not my family, well what is left of them."

"Why did you not tell your mum and dad?" said Gene. As soon as the words had left his mouth he regretted speaking them. The look in her eyes said he had just put his foot in it big time.

"Well they weren't there to tell, they passed away in a car explosion when I was little," she finished with tears in her eyes, trying her hardest to hold them back. She was not going to cry in the car with Gene Hunt sat next to her.

"I'm sorry, Alex." he sighed, just realising why she had cried and drank herself in to the back and beyond after the Price's car bomb. This also explained why she had fought so hard to save them and why she had been devastated when she didn't get there in time.

The rest of the car journey was spent in silence. Alex was still sad from remembering her parents deaths. Gene was a bit scared in case he said something that made her upset again so he just kept quiet. He was upset with himself after that comment because the light that had come into her eyes as soon as Chris had confirmed that a Molly Drake was waiting for her had gone out as soon as he had said anything about Evan and Layton. Gene didn't know much about Molly apart from that she was Alex's daughter and was staying with her dad and godfather while she was in London. He thought that Alex must have been a single mother and that was why she was headstrong and desperate to get back to her daughter. The only thing he didn't understand was why she had put in for a job in Fenchurch East when she didn't want to leave her family behind.

After about an hour and a half of more silence, they finally pulled up outside the hotel at where they would be staying. They checked in to find that they had separate rooms but they where side by side in the corridor.

When all the unpacking was done, Gene went for a walk while Alex just stayed in her room. She hadn't thought about the time after the Price's for a while now; she was still thankful to Gene for bringing her out of her bender that had seemed to go on after having to watch her parents die again. She still missed them of course but had thought less of her father than her mother after finding out that it was her father who had plotted the bomb under the car, hoping to kill her younger self and her mother. All this was brought on by her mother having an affair with a lawyer named Evan White, who was indeed the godfather of herself and her daughter, Molly. Both were supposed to be waiting for her to come home, back to 2008. Of course, Gene didn't know that she had come from the future; he would have surely called the men in white coats to come and get her if she had told him.

Meanwhile, Gene was wondering what was up with Alex. He'd never seen her so happy at the fact she had been found. She had changed a lot since coming to Fenchurch East... she had become less posh and if it was possible - ballsier. He knew that she was a good copper but sometimes thought that she didn't belong there, her methods were not from that time. As he made his way back towards the hotel, he kept thinking about how much Alex was like his old DI, Sam Tyler; the very reason he was in Manchester after the daft prat had drove his car into the river. She kept talking about 'getting home' just like Sam had done before that railroad case. After that case he had come back more alive than ever and never talked about going home or his normal ramblings.

When he finally got back to the hotel after thinking the whole way back about Sam and Alex, he was in desperate need of a drink. So he made his way to their floor and knocked on her door.

'There is only one person I know who knocks like that' Alex thought to herself as she made her way across her room. After taking the chain off and opening the door, her previous thought was proved to be correct.

"Wanna come for a drink Bolly?" he said.

"Yeah, sure" Alex replied. After grabbing her favourite white leather jacket and her purse from the bed, she went back to the door, stepped outside and locked it before walking down towards the stairs with Gene next to her.

"I'm not going down the stairs, Bols" said Gene.

"Come on" Alex sighed as she walked down the corridor. God he loved the way her hips swayed when she walked. He'd love to take her jeans that looked like they were painted on and bend her over the bed in his room and...

"Gene, are you coming or are you just going to keep staring at my arse?" she asked but with a hint of humour in her voice as if she didn't care. No, that couldn't be right, could it?

After making their way downstairs, they walked into the hotel bar and took a seat at the bar. After getting their drinks in they started to talk. They mostly talked about Gene's time in Manchester but as they got drunker, the conversation changed its course.

"So, how did you meet Sam if you've never been to Manchester before?" Gene slurred, quite drunk after six pints of bitter.

"I never met him, just worked on his case." Said Alex, just as drunk as Gene but hiding it better.

"Well, you didn't know him then, not at all. You can't tell a person by the tapes and shit they leave behind." Gene told her, not very bothered that he was drunk and telling Bols everything about Sam and Manchester. He'd even told her about the time when he been thought of as a murdering scum-bag by nearly everyone in the force, even Chris and Ray had thought he had done it. But Sam didn't and went against the stand-in DCI to help clear his name.

"He was a good copper and the best friend a bloke could have, but he was also the biggest pain in the prissy arse I've ever met. Or so I had thought, but that was before I met you, Bolly." He said quite loudly, not bothered who heard. "To Sam Tyler" said Gene, raising his glass as did Alex. She let the remark about her being a prissy pain the arse slide. She was too drunk to argue.

"Gene, come on. We better go; we have a big day tomorrow" Alex said, dragging Gene of his bar stool and guiding him off towards the lift.

When they got inside she pressed the button that would take them to their floor. After stepping out of the lift and directing Gene to his room she waited before he had his key in the door before turning towards her own room.

"Alex" She heard him murmur. As Alex turned, she saw a gleam in his eyes as he made his way over to her quite well after drinking that much. He took her face in his hands and pecked her on the lips before pulling back and looking at her, eyes wide open. 'Bugger it' she thought 'he won't remember it, he's pissed' before leaning in and kissing him, which he returned without hesitation. He pushed his tongue inside her mouth as she continued to kiss him with just as much force as he was using on her. When they took their lips apart, he left his hands on her face as they tried to breathe at a normal pace which they both failed at. After finally regaining their breath, Gene looked into Alex's eyes.

"Alex..."

"Yes, Gene?"

"Love you."

"Love you too" 'he could not have just said that' Alex thought to herself he didn't even like her, they couldn't hold a conversation without shouting at each other... well, unless they were both pissed.

"Do you mean it?" Gene asked.

"Yes. I have loved you since you saved me from that creep when you first met me." She told him, meaning every word. 'He won't remember this he's too pissed to remember it.'

"Well I guess we should go to bed."

"Yeah, see you in the morning."

"See you then."

And with that, they both turned to their own doors, let themselves in, undressed and got into bed. Both thinking 'they couldn't have meant it... could they?' Before Gene went to sleep he vowed he would remember this in the morning, unaware that Alex made the same promise on the other side of the wall.