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Chapter 9: Recovery

Alex slowly came to awareness, miserable. It was just another day in her prison, in the darkness. Not even being surrounded by the things of her youth could console her. She had no idea how long she'd been here, but she missed company terribly.

Suddenly, she realised that she could see light through her eyelids. The light had burnt out before she fell asleep. Had the man replaced it while she was sleeping?

Slowly she opened her eyes. Confusion overwhelmed her as she was met with the sight of the women's locker room. Even more confusing was the fact that the bear from her room was laying next to her. She remembered the bear well. It was the one her father had named 'Mr. Tiddles' as a joke. It was her favourite toy when she was five. She never went anywhere without it, until it had gotten a rip. She had been too afraid to take it anywhere after that, even though her mum repaired it perfectly. Eventually it just sat on the shelf along with other toys, until Evan moved her out of the house. He had never let her take those things, instead giving her all new ones.

Alex stood. Had Gene found her while she was sleeping? She looked down at herself, getting even more confused when she found that she was in her own clothes. She spent quite a while with Josh Burrows almost naked, clad in only her bra and knickers. When she had been moved, the new man had taken even those, and given her her mother's dress to wear. When did she change?

She looked at the scars on her body, frowning when she realised that they looked much older than they had the night before. Unable to help herself, she removed her shirt, staring at the letters that had been carved into her chest. They were paler than they had been.

Leaving the bear behind, Alex put her shirt back on and walked out to CID, confused when she found it completely empty. She went up to Viv's desk. The sergeant was being harassed by a civilian, so she waited until the civilian disappeared before she approached him.

"Viv. Where's Gene?"

Viv looked startled. "You woke up then?" he asked, as if talking to a child. "The Guv went out on a call, Alex. He'll be back in a little bit."

Alex stared at him a moment, wondering if he had gone mental. "Right. Thanks."

Alex walked back to the empty CID. She noted that there was someone new in her desk. "DI Boyle," she muttered to herself. "Best find yourself a new job."

She wandered into Gene's office. Looking up onto the corkboard, she saw a fragment of paper from an article that had been ripped down. She knew this hadn't been there before. Curious, she decided to go through his things to see if she could find what the fragment belonged to. After a few moments of digging, she found an article that had been clipped from the paper.

Met's First Female DI Brutally Murdered

Met Detective Inspector Alex Drake was murdered by the same killer that has struck the city three times previously. No body has been found as of yet, but police are searching...

Alex set the article down. She wasn't sure that she wanted to read about that. It was bad enough to see the scars without reading about it. Alex flipped to the next article, which was a tribute to her life. Ignoring it she looked around the office until something caught her eye.

An unused radio sat on Gene's desk. Praying that the batteries hadn't gone to shit, she picked it up and depressed the button.

"Gene."

She waited for several moments before he answered, sounding cross.

"Alex, I'm busy at the moment. Take Mr. Tiddles and play with Viv if you're bored."

Alex stared at the radio for a moment. "What the hell are you..."

Gene cut her off. "Alex. Don't use that kind of language!"

"Since when have you cared what comes out of your mouth?" Alex raged into the radio. She was confused, and Gene was pissing her off.

"Alex!" he snapped distractedly. "I will talk to you when I get back! Not before! If you're bored, go play with Viv!"

Alex threw the radio across CID. It hit the door of the office before falling to the ground and shattering. How dare he treat her like that?

"Bastard," she muttered.

Deciding to leave at that moment, Alex started to investigate what had changed since she went missing. Besides the new DI, it seemed the only difference to the room was the addition of several crayon drawings. Most of them were on Gene's desk. Alex grinned at the idea of him hanging up a children's drawing before kneeling to investigate.

As she knelt, a mess in the corner of his office caught her eye. Curious, Alex moved over to the mess, studying. A few crayons were scattered over what looked like a photocopy of a file. There were a couple drawings on blank sheets of paper, but mostly it looked like someone had scribbled on the file.

She picked up the first sheet of paper, trying to decipher the scribbles. She figured out the first letter and started to get excited. Finally she was figuring something out.

The first letter was an A, and the second was either a capital I or an L. As Alex stared the words finally appeared.

Alex Drake.

Something was wrong. And as God as her witness, she was going to make Gene explain. After she gave him a good slap.

~(*)~

Gene and the rest of CID walked back into the station, shoulders sagging. They hadn't found Riley in time, and by the time they figured out the address, the fire brigade had been putting out the inferno that the house had become.

Gene stopped by the desk to talk to Viv.

"How's Alex?"

"She's fine Guv," Viv responded. "She came up here asking where you were and has been in CID ever since."

Gene nodded. "Thanks Viv. I'm glad she didn't give you any trouble."

"No problem Guv."

Gene stalked off to his office lost in his thoughts until a rousing slap shook him back to reality. He looked up, amazed. Alex Drake was standing there, looking extremely confused and pissed off.

"Explain," she demanded.

"Alex?" he said softly, daring to hope.

She gave him a long hard look. "It would be best for you to just explain, Gene. I'm confused and getting angrier by the second. What the hell is going on?"

"Hang on, love. Answer me this. How old are you?"

"Thirty-three," she said, staring at him.

A grin of disbelief and amazement worked its way across his face. "You're back. You're really back?"

She frowned, not understanding. "When did I get to CID? And when did I get into my old clothes?"

Gene walked her into his office, pouring them both a scotch. Alex accepted it silently, waiting for an answer. Before speaking to her however, he phoned for the psychologist to come down. He had to know if everything was going to be alright. Finally, he set the phone down and looked at her. She was staring at him, her face impatient.

"I found you a week ago."

"How long have I been missing?"

"Six months."

Her mouth dropped open. "Surely it hasn't been that long. And I don't remember you finding me."

Gene stared at her, wondering whether or not to tell her all that had gone on during the past week.

"These drawings. Who did these?"

"You did."

"Why would I draw pictures in crayon?"

"We had to keep you occupied somehow."

Alex frowned, staring at the picture.

"What do you remember, Alex?"

"I remember the light in the loft burning out. And going to sleep. And that's it until I woke up here."

Gene smiled softly, a gentle sadness in the curve of his lips. "When I found you, you thought you were five."

She looked shocked. "So I've been walking around for a week, thinking and acting like I was five?"

Gene nodded and her face changed from shock to horror. "Oh God."

"Psychologist said it wasn't unexpected with six months of solitary confinement. Speaking of which, we should probably have him talk to you."

Alex smiled. "Gene Hunt, listening to psychology?"

"Crazy old posh bird got me listening to it."

"Oi. A little less with the old, if you don't mind."

They stared at each other for a moment, their eyes locked. Alex broke the eye contact first, staring back down at her lap. He could tell that she felt embarrassed, finding out the way she had acted for the past week.

"Alex," he said cautiously. "Can you tell me what happened? You're the only one that's come out of this alive."

She stared at him for a moment. "I was terrified. I was late for work that day. I was running about fifteen minutes behind. I don't even remember why now. But an arm wrapped around my throat, and the next thing I know, I was tied up in a chair."

She paused for several minutes, and Gene could see her reliving the torture she had gone through. When she spoke again, her voice was soft and slightly tormented. "Every minute, for that hour, he did something for me. Mostly just burning different parts of my body to see how I reacted. Sometimes though..." she trailed off and shuddered.

"When I you said goodbye to me, he put me in another chokehold. He must have given me a sedative, because I woke up somewhere else. It had windows, so I could tell if it was day or night. Once a day, he'd give me food and document on his findings. We were all just an experiment. Then one day, I was tied, gagged, and blindfolded and taken to my...to the old Price house. While I was still blindfolded, they made me take off my bra and knickers and gave me a dress of Caroline Price's to wear. Then they put me up in the loft. And I sat up there for God only knows how long, until apparently, you found me."

"They didn't hurt you after?"

"No. Burrows just documented my recovery. He'd ask me how much pain I was in, to rate it on a scale. Like I said, all those people he killed were an experiment. He recorded the hour, filmed it. Sometimes from the room he kept me in, I heard the screams of the people he tortured before me. Sometimes it was my screams."

Alex retreated into silence, staring at the pencil cup on his desk. Knowing what she needed, Gene stood, and pulled her up from the chair, wrapping her in an embrace. He could tell that she was trying to hold in tears, but knew she was unsuccessful when his shirt suddenly grew wet.

Gene didn't dare say anything. If he said anything, he'd ruin the moment. He'd probably offend her. Gene had never been good about knowing what to say in these situations. However, Alex didn't seem to mind, silently crying into his chest.

Finally, she pulled away, looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me."

Gene smiled softly. "You've been through the wars, Bolly. It's only natural to come out scarred."

"It must have been awful for you, thinking I was dead."

Gene nodded. "It definitely wasn't the most fun thing to deal with."

Alex suddenly looked guilty and Gene realised that he must have said the wrong thing. Twat, he thought to himself. "It wasn't your fault what we all went through Alex," he said firmly.

She said nothing, merely nodding and continuing to look guilty. A sudden knock at the door heralded the arrival of the psychologist. Gene stepped out into CID, letting the psychologist have a little more privacy. Though today had been a shit day, he was in a fantastic mood. Alex was back.

The phone rang and Shaz answered it, looking up at him. She handed him the phone. "For you, Guv."

"Hunt."

"You should be thanking me."

"You killed one of my men."

"I gave you back Alex. And I got rid of the one who was corrupt."

"Riley wasn't corrupt!"

The man laughed down the phone. "Oh he was involved with more than you'll know, Hunt. Or maybe you'll figure it out. Maybe I'll tell you. But not today."

"Here's an idea. Why don't you just stop playing games and tell me?"

The man laughed again. "Fine. He released Evan. He forged your name on the sheet, and had Boyle release him. He had Alex Price wait outside the station for Evan. He gave them a car to get away in. Even now, they're on their way to somewhere where they won't be known."

"I don't believe you."

"Believe what you want, Hunt. Step six will be happening soon."

The man hung up the phone as the psychologist stepped out of his office. The psychologist pulled Gene into the kitchen.

"Her memory seems to be back, but I wouldn't have her dealing with too much yet. Any sort of trauma could send her into shock, causing her to revert back to her five year old state, or worse. Best to keep her on desk duty for a month or so."

Gene nodded, looking at the woman sitting in his chair and smiled. "No problem. I have every intent on keeping her safe."

The psychologist nodded his head. "Good. But make sure you keep yourself safe too. Alex calls you her constant. If something happens to you, who knows what will happen to her?"

Leaving him with that chilling thought, the psychologist exited CID.

to be continued