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(Prompt - Orange)

Moth To A Flame

Date: Thursday 5th November 1981

"I just don't understand why we all have to go?" Alex asked, frowning at Gene, who sat behind his desk staring up at her. "Yes, Bolly, I think you've mentioned that a couple of hundred times since I told you this morning, and the answer is still the same! The Super wants us all there putting on a united front, out meeting the community, showing our faces. I thought you'd be pleased, this sounds like one of your bloody fruitcake 'future of policing' ideas!"

Alex shook her head. "I'm all for police getting out into the community and mingling with the public, God knows the Met could do with the positive press, but why do I have to go as well? Can't you just take Ray, Chris and Shaz and leave me out of it?" She knew that her voice was teetering on pleading and hated it but it was the very last thing she wanted to do with her evening.

"No. The Super mentioned you by name. He wants a senior female officer present, and as I recall being told half a dozen times, you're still the only one! It's something about letting the public see that we're not just a bunch of sexist pigs, a boys only club, that women can join the Met and rise up in the ranks, that kind of thing."

"Hmm, best not take Ray then," she said sulkily, her shoulders dropping. "It just doesn't seem like the kind of thing that CID should be involved in, surely uniform would be better at that sort of thing..." She trailed off as Gene held up his hand.

"Let me say this once more, Drake, and then we are not discussing this again because you are really giving me the hump! We; Fenchurch East CID, are going to the Fireworks party at Regents Park, there will be a police stand there next to the Ambulance service stand as part of some bollocks community policing program. Uniform will be there as well and we are to mingle with the public as well as keeping an eye out for any general nastiness. I am going, so are you, as well as Ray, Chris and Shaz. End of story. Now go and do some bloody work, or make a cuppa or file your nails or do anything else you want as long at it's out of my earshot!"

They glared at one another for a long moment and Alex barely resisted stamping her foot, as she spun around and stormed out of his office, slamming the door behind her.

~~

Gene leaned against a tree a little way back from all the festivities and the stands that were set up around the edges of the park. He pulled out a cigar and lit it, his hand cupping the flame of his lighter so it didn't go out. He'd been in a foul mood ever since Shaz had told him that Alex had gone home with a headache and said she would meet them there. "If she doesn't bloody well show up I'll tie her fancy French knickers around her throat and throttle her with them," he muttered to himself.

He caught sight of Ray hanging around the ambulance stand and chatting up the female paramedics, and Chris and Shaz talking to some parents who had their children with them, but no sign of his bolshy DI.

Alex stuck to the outskirts of the park as much as she could, trying not to jump every time there was a crack from the fire or a rocket flew up into the air and burst into a shower of multi coloured sparkles that rained down harmlessly on the crowd below. She cursed Gene, the super, the Met and anyone else she could think of whose fault it might be that she'd had to drag herself out here tonight. Catching sight of the red ember of a cigar being smoked, she stalked off in that direction.

A flash of white caught his attention and he saw her come sweeping through the trees, the same annoyed look that she'd had on her face all day. He frowned when he saw what she was wearing, a coat very similar to his but in white. She looked amazing in it, almost regal and he blew out a breath as she reached his side. "You took your time, Bolly, I thought you were trying to back out and I was going to have to come and get you." He looked her up and down again. "And what's this?" He asked, gesturing to the coat.

"Well if you'd have come and got me then I wouldn't have had to get the tube and I would have been here a lot earlier!" She retorted, cringing slightly as a loud firework went off on the other side of the park. "And this, is a coat." She did a quick turn before fixing him with a look. "Yours is really warm so I wanted something similar but I thought that if I got a black one we'd look like a pair of undertakers, so I went for white." She looked around nervously. "Now, how long do we have to stay and will we be back before Luigi's closes?"

He tilted his head, seeing how jumpy she was, almost scared. "We have to stay until the end and it finishes at 10 so we have enough time to get to Luigi's, providing you don't get the tube back." He paused. "What's the problem, Bols? You're acting a bit strange, even by your standards."

She looked down at the ground, pushing the dead leaves around with the toe of her boot. "I don't like fires, or loud bangs, or fireworks, at all," she said quietly. "I think I've seen quite enough of explosions since I've been here, don't you?"

Gene let out a sigh, cursing himself for forcing her to come when she was obviously afraid. He remembered the fireball that she'd witnessed, the car containing the Prices and took a step toward her. "Shit, Bolly, I forgot about that, why didn't you say?"

"Because I'm a Detective Inspector with the Metropolitan police and it's ridiculous to be afraid of such things, that's why!" She was furious with herself as she felt tears spring to her eyes, and waiting for the mocking that was sure to follow.

"Listen, Bolly, a few years ago, Ray got caught in the blast from a car bomb. Outwardly, he was fine, but inside..." He sighed and wished, not for the first time, that Sam was still alive, he was much better at this sort of thing.

"Anyway, I've seen him here tonight, laughing and chatting up anything with tits and he seems fine, but when no one is looking, I see him, the expression on his face and it's the same as yours. You should have told me."

She'd forgotten about Ray's ordeal, remembering the way that Sam's voice had gotten very quiet when he'd described what had happened in 1973. "I'll be fine, Guv, I just want to get it over with and try not to embarrass myself, the force or you, by breaking down like a weak little woman." she managed a small smile.

"You are not weak, Alex, by any stretch of the imagination," he replied, catching her eye and holding her gaze for a few seconds. "Right, come on then, let's go and get this over with and the first round's on you when we get back!"

Her smile widened and she braced herself as they headed back to the party, her fear lessening as they chatted to the families and other police officers. She didn't think it was the talking that made her less scared though, she thought that it might have been down to the fact that Gene's hand was resting lightly on her back, seemingly guiding her, but also comforting her, making her feel safe, with him, as always.