Chapter 4-
The evening was a laugh, Chris, Ray and Gene had a competition to see who could handle the most alcohol, of course Gene won with Ray coming second and Chris a honourable last. The whole crew now sat at a table, Chris was being sick in the toilets and ray looked pale, but Gene was sitting with Alex not even tipsy, she was surprised at his intake of alcohol and asked "Why do you have so much alcohol? Your killing your lungs!" she said shocked. "Because Bolls, you only live once and they say alcohol is good for the human body!" "Actually Gene they say it is good in moderation" she shaked her head in disbelief at the childishness of Gene. He replied pleased "Well the Gene Genie can handle anything!" he said with a large grin on his childish face.. Alex shaked her head in disbelief and muttered "Well in the future you'll all know different" she sighed. "What did you say Bolls?" Gene asked "Oh, nothing" she said innocently.
She took the last sip of her red wine and said "Ok, I am going…" she stopped because Gene had the said the exact thing at the same time. She continued but was shocked to hear him finish with her again "…Am going now" she looked at him gob smacked as he did to her. The whole table had their eyes flicking in between them both, and there was a wave of understanding and confusion between the women and men- the men didn't have a clue, but the women knew something was going on. Alex got up and said her goodbyes, quickly glaring at Gene before leaving with a swish of her hips. Gene stayed for another ten minutes but then also left, heading towards the station.
He walked through the back door, down the corridor and into his office. Alex was sitting on his desk waiting for him. "God Almighty Gene that was a close one!" she sighed at his stupidity. "Sorry, sorry I remember now, you told me you would leave first then I would follow about ten minutes later!" he said guiltily. She sighed and continued "Ok, we had better get this sorted. I was surprised that you felt the same way… about the bloody light in that office!" Both her and Gene went to the office and grabbed a spare bulb to put into the cover. Gene stood on to the desk screwing the bulb in while Alex stayed on watch, if they got caught they would be in big trouble.
When Gene had finished they switched the light on and the room was blinded by light "Bloody Hell, its like a Christmas tree in here!" Gene shouted covering his eyes from the blast. "No, its probably your eyes they probably need testing" "Bolly, my eyes do not need testing!" he shouted back walking out the room she followed and said "I am going to try and get a bit further into that case" said Alex walking to Gene's office, he followed her while lighting a cigarette, she groaned "If you want to do your dirty habits, that will affect your fertility, do it somewhere else please, because it is disgusting" Gene replied "Why have you ever been concerned about my fertility Bolls? And it is not dirty, I am not the only who does it!" Alex turned bright red but replied "In life, there are things people want, and if you ever get a wife they will probably want to have kids and I know everyone smokes that's why I am concerned" she said. This time both of them turned red but she continued looking at her paperwork.
She thought Gene was across the room staring at her, when suddenly she sighed "Why are you looking at me Gene it is very annoying!" she said through gritted teeth. She looked up to see that it wasn't Gene but a stranger where had Gene gone? The man started to talk "Alex, I can get you home, to see Molly and out of this world" Alex jumped back, how did this stranger know all of this? "I am like you Alex, I was sent back through time for reasons I and you don't know, but I can get you back, I used to be a police officer" "You mean you know about Operation Rose?" "Yes Alex, but you have to be committed if you want to get back" "But it involves corruption" "Yes, but you want to see Molly don't you? Wouldn't you do anything to see her again?" "Yes" "I will be back to see your final decision soon Alex, be warned, by the way now I know your name you ought to know mine- Martin Summers" the stranger left the room while Alex was still trying to collect hr thoughts. Tears streamed down her face and she got her coat and was about to walk out of Gene's office, when he came back in.
He looked at her and was about to say goodnight, when he saw the tears streaming down her face. "What's the matter Bolls?" he said with a screwed up face. He walked over to her and put his arm round her shoulder. For the first time in his life Gene wasn't embarrassed, but Alex was, so she just replied with "N…oth…ing" she said quickly walking out the door with no second glance.
Gene's face screwed up with agony, he couldn't go to Luigi's because Alex would think he was stalking her, but he was hurt, of course she didn't love a Obese, nicotine stained alcoholic. For the first time in years he felt wetness around his eyes and he collapsed into his desk chair. He knew what he had to do there was three options 1. Show her how much I love her 2. Show her how much I love her and reduce alcohol and cigarettes 3. Leave her alone she doesn't want you. After a few hours of thinking this over he decided option 2, he couldn't stand option 3 it was the best because she probably didn't even like him, but it broke his heart to think of even letting her go. So he got up and locked his alcohol in the cupboard, he chucked his cigarettes in the bin and decided at that moment that he should also try to lose some weight. Maybe he should go to the gym? No that was too embarrassing. He would try and walk a bit more and try to eat better, and any Gym's were for lifting weights, not losing weight! He stayed in the office to around 12.00 and decided to leave and head home, he would need to be fresh in the morning.
When he got home he took a quick shower, and went straight to bed avoiding the kitchen where he kept his alcohol supply. When he woke up he groaned, but he wanted to get into work early today because he wanted to see Bolly. He got into his car and headed towards work, he parked it telling a warning to Viv that if it was even scratched he would murder him. He walked into the office where Chris, Shaz, Ray and ~sigh~ Bolly. "Wow, how did you all get in so early? Didn't you go to Luigi's and get hangovers?" he asked surprised. "No, Guv we thought you wouldn't notice if we came early" Shaz said embarrassed. "Notice what?" he asked. "Umm, nothing" Shaz said while getting stared at with furious expressions from Ray. "No, go on tell me" Shaz went bright red and muttered "We did get hangovers, and we all have horrific headaches, but you understand don't you Guv?" she said hopefully. "Well, I believe that Alcohol overdose is bad" he shrugged. Everyone in the office was staring at him with open mouths, even Chris who took longer than the others to catch on, understood that Guv was going crazy. Alex went over to the boss and shook his head "Are you sure you don't need a doctor Guv?" she said shocked. But what shocked her more was the fact that he didn't grab her arm and pull it of his head, he was calm and seemed happier. "Well, I decided to reduce my alcohol intake and stop smoking. The whole office except Alex laughed at what they thought was a silly joke, but Gene was staring into Alex's eyes and she knew it was about the awkward conversation they had last night. "You actually listened to me" she said stunned. Everyone in the office stopped laughing and stared at them.
She walked out of the room, she needed some fresh air, what was happening?
Gene just stood their, did she know? Did she care? Did she love him? He walked into his office and closed the door, he felt as though his heart was ripped in two. He felt as though he was going to cry again, but he held back the tears, he didn't want Ray and Chris to see he was crying. He wondered if she did love him, his immediate response was a no, maybe he should just give up?
