A/n Quite a short chapter here, because otherwise it'd be another massive one. And so the next one is going to be the penultimate chapter of this little fic of mine.

Thank you all SO much for the support and the lovely lovely reviews! Every single one puts a smile on my face!

The scales are starting to shift in Alex's mind, and I hope that I've made that clear in this pretty rambly chapter, but as always - enjoy!

MBRB'xoxo

Don't try to explain your mind,

I know what's happening here.

One minute it's love

Then suddenly it's like a battlefield.

Battlefield - Jordin Sparks

As the morning light filtered through her window, Alex cursed herself for once again forgetting to put her phone on silent before she went to sleep. After it beeped at her once more, she admitted defeat and groggily pulled the blasted device towards her, looking at it through bleary eyes heavy with sleep. Tapping on the envelope icon revealed that she had a message each from Annie Shaz and Gene and four from Peter.

Sorry! I fell asleep. How was it in the end? :) xxxx

Alex had figured that Shaz had fallen asleep as they had been texting and so wrote out a brief and non-commital reply saying it was okay then opened Annie's message.

There's a thing on at Club 32 tonight because it's bank holiday and under 17s are allowed in :) They check bags for drink on the door, but you and Shaz can drink at mine before if you want? Mum and Dad are away so I have a free house. Stay over ? :) xxxx

It sounded like exactly what Alex needed; a night out to take her mind off all the crap that Peter had been giving her and to just forget the entire week. She'd not spent time with Shaz and Annie for what seemed like forever but was in reality only a week or so. Since she had started at NMC, Caroline and Tim had got to know Annie and Shaz pretty well and trusted them which meant it wouldn't be an issue for her to go round Annie's for the night, so Alex wrote out a quick response asking for a couple details then moved onto the text from Gene.

Feeling better today, Pricicle? Don't walk into any doors - I hear it can be painful ;) xxx

Not for the first time since she had known him, she wondered what the hell it was that Gene was on about. He had a tendency to send her cryptic and strange messages; some of them she later found out the meaning of, some of them she didn't, but she'd learnt to just kind of roll with it by now. She text him back saying that yes, she was feeling better thanks and then opened the messages from Peter with a sigh.

Morning. I am sorry about last night, babe. I've thought of a way to make it up to you though ;) I'll see you about 11ish? Xxxx

Sleeping Beauty. Awake? Xxxx

Wake uuppppp. Text me when you're up, yeah? 11 still okay? Xxxx

God, you can bloody sleep :| wake up! I'll call you at five to if you've not text me yet xxxx

She glanced at the time and saw it was quarter to 11. She hadn't slept in that late for quite a while and guessed that the frenzied drive home had drained her of energy as well as scaring the crap out of her. If he was on time, he'd be here in 15 minutes and she was still half asleep and looking like hell. Fabulous. Her mind began to form a plan to time everything that needed to be done so that she was ready for his arrival, but as she got to 'put some toast on whilst doing my hair? That'll save time', she realised that she didn't honestly give a damn what she looked like at the moment. Peter was the one that was supposed to be in the dog house and ready to impress, not her. So why should she rush around on a Sunday morning making herself presentable for him?

Awake. See you in a bit x

She did ruffle her hair out into something vaguely resembling a hairstyle as she passed the mirror in the hallway on her way down to the kitchen, but that was all he was getting. The light dressing gown she had pulled on floated behind her as she walked and her slippers flumped on the kitchen tiles with each step on her way to the toaster and her thoughts now turned to more important planning; Marmite or jam? In the end she decided that jam would probably be best (natural sugars to kick start her insulin. Very sensible) and she absent mindedly hummed one of her Mums favourite songs as she pottered about the kitchen fixing herself a tea and generally ignoring the fact that Peter would soon be arriving.

'Travelled the wooorld and the seven seeeas, eeeeverybooodies looking for something. Some of them want to use you. La la. Some of them want to -'

Her impressively out of tune sing-song was interrupted when a knock on the door sounded out indicating her beloved boyfriend had arrived. With a slice of jammy toast in her hand, she walked down the hall and opened the door making sure that her expression made it completely clear she was still fuming with him. His face, however, clearly said that he was positively pleased with himself which both confused and annoyed Alex.

'I got you something' he beamed, his eyes continuously flitting between her face and down next to the door frame where she couldn't see.

'What is it?'

'Close your eyes' he instructed, eyes still flicking between her and the mysterious present.

'To be honest, I'm not in the mood for this sh-'

'Close you eyes!' Seeing that whatever it was he wanted to give her most definitely would involve her closing her eyes so that she could move on with the conversation, Alex relented and shut her eyes impatiently with a huff.

'What?' She sensed him bending down to pick up the something and could hear the scrape of fingers on a cardboard box.

'Move out the way, we need to get past' he sounded so pleased with himself and Alex felt her body being pushed lightly aside so that Peter could walk through to the living room, kicking the door closed behind him.

'Come on! Walk straight forward' she heard him call and she slowly walked towards his voice with her hands out before her so she didn't walk into any inconveniently placed walls.

'This is stupid' she moaned standing in what she was pretty sure was the doorway and crossing her arms across her chest.

'Okay, open' She did as instructed and her annoyance that she had felt disappeared as it was replaced with surprise. Peter was sat on her sofa in the middle of the living room with a massive grin on his face and a black and white kitten in his arms. The kitten looked from Peter to the room that it had found itself in. With large green eyes, it stared around trying to take in its strange new surroundings until it finally found Alex and stared at her.

'Her name's Molly. She's nearly six months old' Alex wasn't sure what to say. He'd seriously brought her a kitten?

'Come and meet her. She's yours' Yep. Apparently he had.

'I don't know if I can have a kitten, Pete' she told him. What the hell would her parents say? True, they did love cats and had always wanted a pet but they had always said that it would be inconvenient because they were always working and they moved around a lot; it wasn't fair to uproot a pet so often. Pete waved a hand dismissively.

'Yeah, you can. I phoned this morning and asked your Mum. She can't wait to meet her!' he scratched the cats head cheerfully, thrilled that he'd got her a present that he was sure she would love and cause her to forget the whole drive home.

'Oh' was all she managed to come out with, moving over to where the pair were sat to have a closer look at the cat in his arms.

'Her name's Molly' as she stood closer to him and Peter looked up to grin at her, Alex noticed that one of his eyes had what appeared to be a fresh dark ring around it. The kitten disappeared in her mind and she focused completely on the black eye that was still emerging.

'What's that?' she asked, leaning closer to him. She found herself sitting down next to him and pulling his face closer gently, examining the dark shadows under his eye. The smile faltered on his lips and he looked away from her eyes that he had been looking into.

'It's nothing'

'Pete...' it came out as more of a whisper than the scold that she had intended.

'It's nothing!' a little secret smile laced with bitterness formed 'Lets just say I walked into a door' Alex felt her heart drop and her stomach flip.

Don't walk into any doors - I hear it can be painful ;)

'Gene' the name came out in a horrified exhale and it was confirmed when Peter looked away from her again.

'When? Why?' Peter rolled his eyes.

'It doesn't matter, Ali. I'm a big boy' he looked at her as if he was annoyed she was asking him but a look wasn't going to stop her from finding out what the hell had happened.

'Yes it does. Tell me' Peter sighed.

'I saw him this morning and he said something about me scaring you so he'd scare me'' Peter told her dismissively and rolled his eyes. 'It's not as bad as it looks'

'I don't care if it looks like fairies and unicorns, he had no right!'

'Yeah well I told you that he was going to try and take you from me, didn't I' Peter told her, I-told-you-so written all over his face. Alex sighed and looked down at the kitten that had crawled into her lap and sat down as if she had known her for years. Alex absent mindedly stroked her dark fur as she tried to keep her breathing under control. She felt a soft finger on her chin and her face being brought up to look at him. His eyes were softer than she had seen for a while and she saw her lovely Peter again.

'Hey. Hey, it's alright. It doesn't matter. It's okay. You're worth it' he gave her a cheeky wink and Alex couldn't help the smile that formed on her lips before she looked down again, letting the silence stretch out between them as she thought of Gene punching Peter. She could feel the anger building in the pit of her stomach.

'He was completely in the wrong. Who is he to fight my battles for me?'

'Your battles? It was barely a battle, was it' Peter scoffed lightheartedly. 'And anyway. It's forgotten now' Alex looked at him as if he were delusional.

'Forgotten? Maybe by you, Pete. But it's not forgotten by me. I'm livid. I still can't get over what you thought you were doing or what you thought you'd achieve by driving like a freaking manic!' Peter was clearly taken aback by her sudden sharp tone and snappy words, but he tried to look sincere and apologetic.

'I told you I was sorry. It won't happen again and yes, I know it was stupid but I honestly thought that Hunt had been texting you all night. You'd be pissed off aswell'

'No. No I wouldn't because I trust you. I think you'd better leave to be honest, Pete' Peter was clearly not expecting to be asked to leave and his mouth opened and closed much like a goldfish for a second before he seemed to find words. Standing up, he spoke.

'I'll leave, but can you just tell me if we're going to try work this out? Frankly, I'm fed up of all this on/off/on/off crap' he sounded more tired than she had expected him to sound and he made his way over to the door. Alex stood and followed him, Molly in her arms, sighing heavily.

'I don't know, Pete. You're not the person that I thought you were and there are times that I really don't like what I see. But then there are times that I'm crazy about you' she frowned trying to sort her thoughts out. Peter opened the front door as he reached it and then turned to talk to her.

'Tell me' was all he said, bluntly.

'We'll try' she told him, not wanting to let him go completely but not wanting to commit to a yes or a no whilst she was still so pissed off with him.
Peter saw that she needed some time to sort her thoughts out and so just nodded.

'I'll see you later then, yeah?' Alex nodded this time, looking down at the floor and stroking Molly with one hand.

'Thanks for, you know. Her' she jiggled Molly a little and Peter smiled. He then leant forward to give her a soft kiss that she accepted and then shut the door behind him.

As Alex was left alone in the house once more (her parents had a tradition of going out for a morning coffee together every Sunday because it was their only day that they had free to spend some quality time together) she realised that she wasn't so alone anymore. She had been given a cat to keep her company. A cat. Yes, she was very nice and Alex could tell that she would quickly become attached to the little bundle of love her in arms, but a cat? It was a strange thing to buy someone as a 'sorry I could have killed you' present. The whole morning had been strange, to be honest. She had always told herself that she would never date someone who was so brutal and abrasive and she was starting to see that Peter was more sharp than he had first appeared to be. Alex had woken up that morning quite sure that she was going to break up with him and then go from there, but the side to Peter that she had seen had been a strange mix of the Peter that she really really liked and the Peter that she didn't like at all. And now she was here wondering what she was going to do again. She found herself making her way back into the living room where Peter had left her the cardboard box full of cat food and cat litter and little toys for Molly, but she ignored them all and sat down, stroking her silky fur. She had to admit it was nice to have someone there to just sit with. But then there was Gene. What did he think he was playing at punching Peter?! Acting all macho and thinking that Alex couldn't deal with her problems herself, needing the big bad boys to fight it out for her. She didn't know what she was more outraged at - Peters complete insensitivity or Genes show of machoness. Gene wasn't anything to do with Alex - he wasn't her boyfriend, he wasn't her brother or her bloody father, so why the hell would he feel it necessary to seek out someone who had upset her and put them straight?

And then she found the tiny voice in her head asking her; why did she care so much?

The qualities that she found herself loathing in Peter were qualities that Gene had expressed from the very first day she had met her. insensitivity? Check. Rude and bluntness? He had never been one to tiptoe around issues. Driving at ridiculous speeds? Always. But then again, he had never, not once, hidden these qualities from her. He hadn't given her the impression that he was charming and lovely, he had unapologetically been bold and abrasive, and over that they had formed a firm friendship. So perhaps it wasn't these characteristics in Peter that she was finding some loathsome? She had told herself that she would never like anyone who was like that, but then completely contradicted herself with her thoughts of Gene. Not that she would date him... Oh no way that would happen...

She was finding herself growing sick of her own thoughts and wanting to escape both Gene and Peter, but one of the big problems with your mind is that though you may be able to outrun practically anything if you go fast and far enough, you can never, ever escape your own thoughts.

As she realised that she had been sat in silence for far longer than she wished to, she tried to shake the boys out of her head and so came to two conclusions.

Peter. There were may things that she adored about the boy. But she didn't know if they were going anywhere. She didn't know if she wanted them to go anywhere... and that wasn't what good relationships were built on. Towards Peter she felt a lot of things, but love? No. Definitely not. She was in like with Peter, but wasn't she in like with a lot of people?

And then there was Gene. She knew for sure that she was livid at him. How dare he try to fight her battles for her as if she were too weak nd feeble to do so herself. And other than that? With Gene, she really really did not know how she felt. And it frustrated her more than anything she felt for Peter.

TBC...