Thank you for your reviews last time! I really appreciated them because I was very unsure about it!

The next three chapters are brought to you by picking up overnights at work and spending those eight hours staring at a computer and watching people sleep... (Seriously, doing that from 11pm to 7am makes for a loooooooooong shift...)

Chapter 10

Alex lay in bed, hearing Gene snoring gently next to her. She had the day off today, something that she rejoiced in. Ray had really been too much the day before, and if she had to see him again today there was no telling what she would do. She was certain that Dannell wouldn't appreciate her incapacitating his DS, and Gene wouldn't like her hurting his friend.

Sighing, she got out of bed, pulling her dressing gown over her naked form. She and Gene had been up most of the night, but she was never able to sleep past eight. Gene might sleep until noon, something he had picked up from long nights of stakeouts. She had been a mother once, however. She had gotten used to a few minutes of sleep here and there. She could function on four hours of sleep as well as ten hours.

Alex walked out of the bedroom, going to the kitchen and making coffee to start the day. She could never drink tea in the morning. It just wasn't bitter enough to wake her up. As the coffee brewed, she went to the sofa, stretching out on the couch and turning on the television. As usual, there was nothing on in the morning, and she walked over to the video shelf to find something to watch. They had acquired a mass of videos in the past several months, mostly so Gene wouldn't throw the telly out the window at sheer despair in daytime television. She looked over her favourites, but decided against one of those. If Gene came out, he would complain, and she didn't want to listen to that this morning. Instead, she decided to put on a western. She didn't really mind them, and if Gene woke up, they could watch it together, without arguing. Alex didn't mind getting in a blazing row with him – the make up sex was fantastic – but it wasn't quite what she wanted to be doing on one of her rare days off.

Alex put the cassette in the VCR and poured herself a cup of coffee, waiting for the adverts to play through. It gave her the time to make a somewhat decent breakfast and Gene might wake up to the smell of food.

However, as the opening theme to the movie started, he was still snoring loudly and she sighed, smiling. Nothing was going to wake him up at the moment. It'd be a film to herself then.

Alex grabbed her breakfast and coffee, and went to sit down on the sofa. She was just settling in when she saw a small pad of paper on the floor. She didn't recall seeing it before. It must have fallen off the shelf when she picked out the film. Curiosity piqued, she walked over to the pad on the floor and picked it up. Alex started to read through it, shock and fury beginning to course through her as she continued. She wanted to put it down, but she couldn't. She couldn't stop herself from reading it.

When she had reached the final page, she was in a full rage. Breakfast and film forgotten, she stormed to the bedroom, throwing a pillow at Gene to wake him up. He snorted awake, staring at her in confusion.

"What did you do that for?" he asked, his voice still thick with sleep.

"Exactly how long have you been planning this?" Alex spat, throwing the pad of paper at him.

Gene picked it up frowning, his face growing horrified as he realised what it was. However he quickly changed the fear to anger. "How dare you read that?!" he yelled, standing and putting his dressing gown on.

"It was on the floor! I went to pick it up!" Alex yelled back.

"That's private information!"

"About conspiracy to murder three men in cold blood!"

"You were their hostage too! Surely you can realise that they need to be ended!"

"Not ended, Gene. They need to go to jail." Her voice was carefully calm, and she could see Gene's consternation at the sudden pitch change. However, it just made him angrier, instead of calming him, as she hoped it would.

"If they go to jail, then they get free! When they get out, where are they going to go?!"

"You are talking about using live bait, Gene!" She was yelling again, and gave a hysterical laugh. "Jesus Christ! I thought we were supposed to protect each other!"

"We are!"

"THEN WHY AM I THE BAIT?!" she bellowed, wishing she had something else to throw at him.

Gene stared at her, completely lost for words. "Alex..."

"No! You don't dare try to excuse yourself! Gene...I've lived with you for three months! And all this time, you've been wanting to use me as bait?! 'Don't worry Alex, I'll never let them get you.' That was all just an act! You've been hoping for them to get me! You were probably thrilled when I went missing for ten weeks!"

"I could never be happy when you're missing!" Gene yelled back, his whole posture defensive. However, Alex wasn't having any of it and continued to yell at him.

"You couldn't be happy with me gone, but you want me to be bait! You want to sit on your arse and watch me get kidnapped by those bastards again!"

"I'd keep you safe!" Gene protested.

"How?! You say you'll protect me, but you want to throw me to the wolves! Is the only thing you're going to protect me from if they decide to try and rape me Gene? Will you let them beat me within an inch of my life again? Will you just sit and watch as they laugh in my bloody face?"

Alex stared at him, her chest heaving. She was so incredibly angry at him, but no words were able to convey her anger. At the moment, she wanted to hurt him, to see him suffer. She had thought that he loved her. But now, he had just been keeping her close until the time was right. He had made her believe that she meant something to him, but in the end, he was just using her in his twisted plot.

The anger was overwhelming her. She was shaking with the effort of trying not to punch him, which she knew would be completely useless. Gene would stop her fists before they had ever reached their targets. If she did that, she would end up in tears against him and she couldn't have that. As it was, she felt a lump rising in her throat. She blinked back the burning sensation in her eyes, but cursed as she felt one hot tear fall down her cheek.

Gene reached up, looking concerned, to wipe it away, but she slapped him away.

"Don't you dare, you bastard. I want you out of here," she hissed, not daring to talk any louder. If she did, her voice might tremble and give her away even more.

"I didn't write it, Alex," he said, looking desperate and hurt, but still stiff-back and angry. "I would never use you as bait."

"I've seen the notebook, Gene. It's your bloody handwriting. Don't even try to lie to me now!"

Gene rocked onto the balls of his feet, seeming to try and keep his temper in check. His fists were clenched at his sides and a vein was pulsing in his temple. "Fine, Alex. I'll leave. When you realise what a twat you're being, you can call me back."

"Get your clothes on and get out," Alex said, her voice icy cold.

With that, she left the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. She waited with her arms crossed until the door opened again, Gene now clad jeans and a button up shirt, with a bag hanging over his shoulder. He barely looked at her until he reached the door, where he threw the notebook back at her.

"I don't know what that is, but it sure as shit isn't my handwriting. Besides, Alex, you should know by now that I would never willingly put you in the line of fire."

He seemed to want to say something else, but his jaw clenched instead. Gene turned on the ball of his foot without another word, leaving and closing the door behind him.

Alex stared at the door for a long moment before looking at the notebook. It was his handwriting. She had seen it long enough to know what was and wasn't. However...

Alex stared a long moment at the form of the 'G's' and the 'J's'. Usually, the curve in the bottom of the letter was a sharp thirty-degree angle. Those in the notebook seemed a bit wider than thirty degrees. She noticed that the circles on the O's seemed a bit more round as well than they did before.

Could it be from all the months spent imprisoned? Alex wondered, unsure if his handwriting would change merely from him not using a pen for eleven months.

Before she had time to ponder long, however, the door to her flat burst open. Two men walked in, looking as though they owned the place.

"Alex!" Nigel said, an easygoing yet maniacal smile on his face. "Long time, no see. Seems to me that I owe you for the last time we parted. I had a nasty bruise for a while."

"Seems she owes us, Nigel," Tom said, looking at her evenly. "We were so hospitable to her last time and she just ran away from us."

"I'm not going back with you!" Alex yelled, backing into the bedroom where her gun lay on the bedside table.

Tom merely sighed, as though she was a rather annoying child. "Don't take another step, Alexandra."

Nigel pulled a gun out of his jacket.

"As much as we don't want to shoot you, we will not hesitate to do so."

Alex stared at them, debating. This was all part of Gene's plan, wasn't it? Lure the men here, use her as bait, and then run to the rescue? However, was that plan still valid now that she had thrown him out? Or did he have to be present for it all to work out? She didn't particularly care to get shot, but she didn't want to get captured without a fight, either.

Sighing heavily, Alex raised her hands, as if in surrender.

"Okay, okay. You win. Just...don't shoot." She took a step backward and stumbled, falling to the floor. On her was down, Alex knocked the gun off the table towards her. She picked it up and rolled onto her back, pointing it at the two men. "I'm not going," she stated flatly.

Nigel smirked, but Tom merely sighed as though he was bored. "This isn't an action film, Alex. We're not going to have a mad shootout before something blows up behind us. In real life, there are no antagonists and protagonists. There's only pain, suffering, and traitors."

"Was Poirot a traitor?" she asked, her gun still held high.

"Poirot wasn't a traitor. But we weren't talking about ourselves, Alex. We were talking about someone who's betrayed you."

"What do you mean?"

"Bless!" said Tom. "She still doesn't get it. Do you really think that after eleven months, we'd just toss Gene into the Thames?" Tom shook his head. "We wanted you Alex, so we set Gene free to fetch you."

"He would never," Alex whispered, the past seven months running through her head.

"Maybe not a year and a half ago, but starve and torture a man within an inch of a life, and who knows what he'll become? Gene Hunt became our little pet," Nigel said, the smug grin never leaving his face.

"But...Poirot tried to kill him."

"Gene was never supposed to be seen by anyone but you. By going with Danell to the station, he took on the responsibility that he might be killed," Tom said with a non-committal shrug.

"But he named you." Alex was sitting up, her gun still pointing at the men, but it was slowly being lowered in disbelief.

"He had a small lapse, yes. No doubt his freedom made him feel a bit stronger. Poirot shooting him put him back in his place."

"I don't believe you," Alex whispered, her gun now lax in her grip. "Gene wouldn't."

"Oh?" Nigel asked, pulling a radio out of his pocket. "Come on up."

Alex was rooted on the floor, unable to believe the story they were telling her. Nigel still had his gun on her, but it was pointed lazily. After what seemed like an eternity, they heard her front door open and shut. Gene walked into the bedroom, his hair slightly ruffled and he sleeves pushed up to his elbows. He looked at her, a hard glint in his eye, completely closed off from her.

"Gene," she said, pleading with him.

He stared at her coldly in reply. After a moment, he spoke. "Put your gun away, Alex. There's no point in fighting anymore."

Alex was furious now, the rage flowing white-hot through her veins. She never recalled a time when she had felt this pissed off, not even when she had found out that Pete was cheating on her. Alex dropped the gun and stood up straight. Tears were burning in her eyes and fell freely down her cheeks, but she no longer cared.

Alex marched over to Gene, staring at him in cold animosity. Before she knew exactly what was happening, her fist was flying up at his face.

His hand caught her wrist before her fist made contact, and he stared at her dispassionately.

"Enough," he said firmly, but she tried to hit him with her other hand. He caught that one as well, and put both of her wrists together, holding them in one strong hand.

"I said, enough!" She saw his hand fly up in the corner of her vision, but before she could do anything, the palm of it hit against her temple.

There was a blinding pain and the feeling of falling before the whole world faded to black. Then there was nothing but the cold.

(To be honest, this chapter took me by surprise too, but I guess Gene hides his secrets rather well, eh?)