Right! Chapter 2! First off, I owe Rolephant a public apology for taking the piss out of her in my author's notes last chap. :P I really couldn't write without her input, and help in naming this fic. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, and put on story alert! BTW. Chapter One was called Which of Us has the Colder Heart? I didn't put it up with the chap and i'd thought I'd let you know :)
Chapter 2: Give Me Novocaine to Dull the Pain of this Homecoming
March 1984
Gene stood, glaring at his blissfully male team. He was delighted when the new DI had come in, and was a male. DI Louis Hansen was nothing like Alex Drake, or even Sam Tyler. Hansen was tall, and dark-haired, with a strange eye colour. He willingly went with whatever Gene thought, and there were no rows in the office about anything.
As much as Gene liked this new DI, he hated him. Gene would never admit it, but he missed being bothered every day. It gave him a chance to let off steam. Now he could not do that until lunchtime, when he would go and get pissed at Luigi's.
Alex had not been to Luigi's since. He knew she kept in contact with Shaz, and was guessing that she was still in contact with Ray. The two were smart though. They never mentioned Alex in front of him. He had not heard a whisper of where she was or what she was doing since the day she had left her office.
Gene pushed Alex to the back of his mind as he stared at the team. "What's going on?"
"There's been another child found, Guv," said DI Hansen.
"Shit. Who?"
Hansen slid a picture of a little girl across the table to him. She was cute, dimples forming in her cheeks. Her hair was in bunches, a sandy blonde colour. Her eyes were green.
"Lisa Stanton. Great. Ray, Chris, go talk to the mother."
Ray and Chris walked off unhappily. They always hated to bring the bad news to families. They were no good at it either. Gene only made them do it, because they were the best, as they had followed Alex along when she used to do it.
Gene shook his head. Why did he keep thinking about that bloody woman? She wasn't going to ever return to Fenchurch East. She was out of his life forever. She had made sure of that. Didn't even say goodbye to him. He didn't know where she had transferred to. He tried not to care, but he couldn't help but wonder.
He wondered how Ray and Alex's relationship had fared. Gene hadn't known they were in a relationship until that night in Luigi's. He had been shocked. No one was whispering about the two, and usually CID gossiped like a bunch of old ladies. They had kept the relationship a secret until a few days before she had left, when they left Luigi's together. Even then, after that night, there were no whispers around CID about the pair. Why was it staying so quiet? New relationships were talked about for weeks!
Gene had cut off Ray. Ray seemed confused, but slowly worked himself back into the Guv's good graces when Alex left. She probably had some new posh boy wherever she was...
"Guv? Did you hear what I just said?" Hansen's voice cut through his reverie.
"What? No."
"I said, Plymouth had crimes like this about a year and a half ago. They think it could be the same person. They've requested to send up their DI and a DC to help with a collar on this. Is that okay with you Guv?"
"Yeah, that's fine. Let them know, and then let's go see the body.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Gene stood looking down at the small body lying on the slab in front of him. The little girls sandy blonde hair was loose and tangled, and bruises covered her face. Pity and revulsion filled him as he looked down on her. She was so tiny, so innocent, so dead.
"Any signs of rape?"
"No, Guv. The post mortem file is the same as the others. She hadn't eaten for at least a day, beaten, and strangled to death. Found wrapped in a red blanket."
"Plymouth had dealings with this bastard?" he asked, anger creeping into his voice.
"Yes, Guv. They sent over some of their files. All of their files match up with ours. Girls, between the ages of eight and ten, all with blonde hair. They were beaten and strangled, no signs of rape. None had eaten for at least a day before they died either."
"Right, call Plymouth again. Tell them to send their people up tomorrow. We don't want another girl to go missing."
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Alex stood at her desk, chills running down her back. She threw the letter down on her desk, but the words written on the paper were burned into her vision.
You looked so lovely in that coma, Alex. Pity you had to wake up. Maybe we could put you back in a coma.
Love,
Your two fans
She threw the letter in the trash, thinking. Martin Summers was dead. Who was writing this? It had said 'your two fans.' Who was stalking her now?
Her DCI's voice called out, snapping her out of her chilling train of thought.
"Drake! Get in here now!" Alex sighed. She respected Stotts, but he annoyed her. He was very advanced for his time, and even had a WDC on his team along with her. He respected their opinions the most out of the lot, and set them in charge of most of the cases.
Alex supposed she should be happy that he was like this, and that she was given a chance to show off her psychology, but she missed the archaic attitudes of Fenchurch East CID. She shook herself. Alex knew she couldn't go back to Fenchurch East, at least not while Gene Hunt was still the DCI there.
"Am I disturbing your train of thought Drake?" DCI Stotts asked. He always used her surname, his way of showing that he was above her, and she better not try anything funny.
"Gene could do that just by looking at you. He didn't need to resort to anything else," Alex thought, shaking herself again. She looked at her DCI.
"Sorry, sir." He stared at her for a minute, but she never got the feeling that his grey eyes stared straight through her, like Gene's had always seemed to.
"Right. Now you two may wonder why I called you in." Alex looked to her left in surprise. She hadn't noticed that WDC Bittner standing in the office also.
"WDC Bitter, you may remember the murders on those young girls a few years ago," he said, not waiting for her response. "I got a call from up in London, from DI Louis Hansen and it seems like they have been having the same problem we did. Hansen said, and I agree, that the likelihood of these being connected is very great. The murders are carried out in the same exact way, and all the girls the bastard chooses are the same. Blonde hair, aged eight to ten. I am sending you two up there to try and find the person behind this. It can be either ours or their collar. As long as the man is found, I don't care."
Alex looked at Bittner, who looked as though she knew who Louis Hansen was. "Excuse me sir, am I supposed to know a Louis Hansen?"
"Oh, I'm sorry Drake. Hansen worked here before you did. He transferred out of this office right before you transferred here. I told Bittner who he was, because she would know him."
"Where are we going to sir?" Alex asked.
"Fenchurch East," he said. "The DCI wants you up there tomorrow. You'll be housed in a flat above some restaurant across from the station."
Alex's stomach sunk. She couldn't go back to that place! She wanted to argue, but her instinct told her better. Sighing, she looked at DCI Stotts.
"Yes, sir. We'll leave first thing in the morning."
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Shaz looked down at the files of the two officers who were coming from Plymouth. Although her heart leapt in joy, her stomach sunk. The Guv was going to be even harder to work with.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Gene stared at the files on his desk. This had to be some kind of cruel joke. When he approved of the DI coming up from Plymouth he had not expected this. And she was bringing another bird with her! Just what he needed. If the DC was anything like the DI she would also yap like a demented Chihuahua. He sighed. Psychology had just entered his kingdom again, booting the door aside. There would be no more gut instinct. It would be evidence, and psychology.
"No," Gene thought. "I will not let her take over this office again. She is not on my team, she is not my DI. She will not be treated as such. She is a guest from another station. She will only be here a few weeks. And she better bloody respect me or I'll send her back sooner."
Gene opened his scotch bottle and poured himself a healthy measure of scotch. He swigged it back, grimacing as it burned his throat. Gene poured himself another. He was going to need it.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Alex sat in the car outside the station she prayed she would never have to go back to. This was the worst form of torture she could imagine, worse than being stuck in the Cale's cold store, or being kidnapped by Dr. Death. She never wanted to be under the reign of Gene Hunt again. He was cold, he didn't respect her. He didn't trust her. How could she work on a case with him?
She remembered the day she left.
Everyone had said their goodbyes to her. Some, like Shaz, were tearful, and some, like Ray, were stoic. Only one person seemed glad to see her go. As she walked out, it hurt that Gene had not even bothered to say goodbye to her. She knew she hadn't spoken a kind word to him in weeks, but she still hoped.
Alex knew deep down she was being silly. She overrode those thoughts however, with what the Guv should have done. He should have apologised to her. If he hadn't listened to that Jenette, they would have never been in this mess. It was all his fault. Alex had decided that long ago. And until he apologised for losing his faith in her so quickly, she wouldn't bother with him.
She remembered what he had once told her. "Unbreakable." Alex almost laughed. Unbreakable? That certainly was the wrong word for them! Alex had been pulled into the illusion that Gene had shown her for so long. She trusted him more than anything in this life, and at one point, had even loved him.
That day with Jenette had shattered the 'Unbreakable' illusion for her. They weren't a steel rod, a diamond that she had imagined. No. They were icicles. As soon as any change happened, they would fall to the ground and break. Yes, that described Gene's 'Unbreakable' illusion very well. Fragile little 'unbreakable' icicles.
She had gathered her things and walked out the door, unaware of the anguish in his face as she walked out the door. She walked out of CID that day, not realising the large piece of her left behind.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Alex couldn't get out of the car. She wanted to drive away and never return. She wanted to move to America. She wanted to jump in the ocean. Anything to stay away from this station. WPC Bittner looked at her.
"You ready ma'am?"
"Yeah. I guess so." Alex placed one booted foot outside the door, and got out of the car. She adjusted her white jacket so that it was straight. She checked her hair in the window, and turned to face the station, shoulders squared.
"Let's go."
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Ray had been tense ever since he found out the DI from Plymouth was coming up. Unknown to the Guv, Ray had been in contact with Alex since she had left. The Guv and the new DI were the only ones in CID who didn't know who the DI from Plymouth was. It was a secret that had mercifully stayed a secret in the office. No one wanted to anger the Guv with mentioning the woman he had fought with, loved, and destroyed.
Alex wouldn't admit it, but she wasn't the same without the Guv. He remembered a lunch that he, Chris and Shaz had had with her only a few months before when she was up in London.
"Hunt doesn't know I'm here?"
It pained Ray to hear Alex call the Guv by his surname. It seemed so informal, so professional.
"No," Shaz said. "CID is very good about keeping secrets about you."
Alex laughed, but it was a tired version of the one they used to hear in Luigi's. "Bloody miracle, that is. As far as I remember, you lot couldn't keep anything a secret."
"It's different without you ma'am," said Chris, still not being able to call her Alex.
"I expect it is. It's always different when someone leaves."
"No ma'am. That's not what I mean. I mean the Guv is different."
Ray and Shaz threw him warning looks, but he paid no attention.
"Different? How do you mean?"
"Dunno. He just seems more... reckless than he used to be. He's like he was up in Manchester before Sam came along. And DI Hansen doesn't do anything. He worships the Guv. Would lick the bottoms of his shoes."
Ray was surprised. He hadn't really noticed how perceptive Chris was lately. Maybe Shaz was a good thing for him.
"I don't know what to say Chris. I can't do anything about it. He wouldn't listen to me as his DI, why the hell would he listen to me now?" she asked, her voice bitter.
Chris had quickly dropped the subject after that question, and they moved to lighter topics. As Alex and Shaz discussed her wedding and the not-so-sordid details of the honeymoon, Ray studied her.
She looked more drawn than she did the day she left. Dark circles under her eyes spoke of sleepless nights that couldn't be covered by makeup. Her hair and makeup were done magnificently as always, but her eyes were slightly empty. The emotions didn't show as clearly as they used to.
"Did the results of Operation Rose do all this to her?" Ray thought. "Or is it just stress at work?"
The reason was never revealed. The lunch had wrapped up shortly after his thought, Alex claiming she had a meeting in half an hour. The three had said goodbye to their former DI, all in a glummer mood than when the lunch had begun.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Ray looked up as the clop-clopping was heard on the tiles outside CID. Shaz was sitting at her desk, so it wasn't her. The doors to CID opened and two brunettes stepped in the doors, one tall, and one short. The short one looked around nervously, she had obviously never been to another CID before. The tall woman adjusted her jacket and held her chin up higher, her expression a blank anxiousness. The doors swung shut with a slam. DI Drake had arrived.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Alex stepped through the hallway, her pace increasing because of the anxiousness eating away at her insides. She nodded at Viv, who looked delighted, and kept moving down to the double doors of the CID office. WDC Bittner was practically running to keep up with her.
She opened the door. Immediately all work in CID ceased as they looked up at the new arrivals. She looked at none of them. Instead her eyes were drawn to the back of the room, to the office inside the office. She stared directly into the eyes of Gene Hunt, daring him to say anything to her. Alex had arrived, and she would do her job the way she saw fit. And if Gene Hunt had a problem with that, then he could damn well forget about it.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Gene noticed the activity slacking off in CID before he heard the heels on his tiles. The door slammed open, and his breath caught. Standing in the doorway, dominating the attention, was Alex Drake. She stared directly at him, her eyes glinting with fire. He understood what she was trying to get across. He stared directly back at her. This was his kingdom, and no one would ever cross him. He was the Manc Lion, this was his pride. She would do as he said. Of that, he would make certain.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Ray looked between Alex and the Guv, noting the sparks flying out of both their eyes. He and Shaz exchanged nervous glances. The war had begun.
TBC... Apologies to Rolephant in advance because I'll probably end up taking the piss out of her again in some following chapter. :P