Ok I know this chapter is incredibly long but I suddenly got back into this story and couldn't stop writing and I couldn't find a convenient place to stop anywhere near the middle so here it is!
Alex knew that she had to tell everyone at IDU the truth. Even though they'd probably all worked it out anyway after yesterday's meeting with the Assistant Commissioner and then her tears in the rain incident. She knew this was going to cause problems, these people had all trusted her when they'd come on board and now the team was falling apart.
She was adding the final touches to her make-up when Gene entered the bedroom. Alex had completely ditched most of Martha's clothing and decided she wanted her old style back. Her clothing was more bright and stylish and her make-up was far more daring. She looked more powerful in a way, Gene thought.
"You really sure you want to do this?" Gene asked as he slipped his arms round her waist.
"I have to, I'm not giving in," Alex said forcefully.
"We're gonna need one heck of a big collar to save IDU though," Gene said, his sayings and even simple sentences were becoming more like the old him every day.
"Yeah, yeah we are," Alex agreed, feeling herself less confident now, this wasn't going to be easy.
"We need a big case, if we can prove the unit can really solve identity crime well then maybe we can save it," Gene continued.
"I believe in them Gene, we will do this," Alex assured him, kissing him quickly before leaving the room.
They arrived together as usual and the look that graced John's face seemed to be getting worse every day. Alex had noticed everyone was staring at her, waiting expectantly for her to say something.
"Ok, I know you've probably figured this out already but the Assistant Commissioner told me yesterday that IDU is going to be closed down," Alex said, making to continue but she was cut off.
"Well we all know why, don't we," John muttered under his breath.
"You got something you want to share with us all DI Bloom?" Alex questioned sternly.
"Well I was just saying you know if you'd told the truth none of us would be in this mess," John retorted.
"Watch it mate you're talking to a DSI, she's your superior," Gene warned.
"Yeah alright mate," John said threateningly, "it's not just her, ever since you turned up you've had her wrapped round your little finger, she does everything with you and the rest of us have been kicked aside. It's as much your fault too."
"You can talk," Gene argued, getting angrier now, "you're hardly the cleanest person here are you, Brendan?"
John clenched and unclenched his fists trying to restrain himself from attacking Gene.
"John just cool it yeah," Jose warned, seeing the way John was reacting.
"Your undercover file provides a pretty good read," Gene smirked as he took a step forward, not noticing as Alex began to get nervous, knowing Gene causing a fight wouldn't help their cause.
"John," Tessa said cautiously as he too moved forward.
He had to keep his temper under control but this wasn't exactly one of John's strong points and noticing the smirk that was still plastered over Gene's face he could take it no longer and lunged at him.
Jose immediately moved forward trying to pull John back away but his attempts were futile as Alex begged Gene to stop. Gene and John seemed to have had it in for each other since day one; it had only been a matter of time before they cracked.
"Gene please stop, this is getting us nowhere," Alex pleaded.
The fighting continued, Gene proving to be stronger and better than John but that didn't stop him. Gene hadn't noticed as Alex had approached him and she was now standing pretty much at his side. Gene was quick to notice that John meanwhile had moved back and angled his arm to punch Gene and he moved quickly to duck out of the way but in the process John's fist hurtled forward colliding painfully with Alex's left cheek.
Both immediately stopped when they realised what they'd done. Gene was frozen to the spot as tears began to spill down Alex's cheeks and she turned away from them, making her way towards the exit.
"Bolly," Gene eventually called after her, making to go forward but Tessa stepped in his way.
"I'll go," she said, knowing Gene had already done enough damage.
"Jose can you bring me some ice down please?" Tessa asked, knowing full well Alex would be receiving a considerable amount of bruising.
Tessa managed to catch up with Alex not far down the corridor, she was still clutching her cheek, the tears still coming as they headed outside. It was a completely different day to yesterday, the sun shining down on them, clear blue skies above them.
"Can I have a look at that?" Tessa asked, indicating Alex's cheek as they sat down.
Alex merely nodded, self-conscious as she slowly removed her hand from her face. Tessa tried not to grimace as she observed the considerable amount of swelling and bruising that had already appeared on Alex's cheek.
"How bad is it?" Alex asked, knowing that look.
"Not that bad," Tessa said, hoping Alex would believe her.
"On a scale of one to ten?" Alex asked again.
"Ooh," Tessa said, trying to think of the right answer that wouldn't upset Alex.
"Tessa," Alex said firmly.
"Um, eight," Tessa said carefully.
Alex tried not to cry again as she realised how weak and vulnerable she must look to anyone who saw her now, especially to those who she was trying to prove to that IDU needed to be kept open.
"Alex," came Jose's voice as he jogged over to them with an ice-pack wrapped in a tea towel.
"Thanks Jose," Tessa smiled appreciatively, Alex looking down, not making eye-contact as she tried to hide her face.
"I thought I'd tell you, John's stormed out and Gene wants to see you," Jose said, directing his speech at Alex.
"Tell him I need a bit of time, I'll talk to him later," Alex said, her voice barely more than a whisper.
"Ok," Jose agreed, his voice showing sympathy towards his boss.
As he jogged off back inside the building Tessa placed the ice on Alex's cheek where the swelling was the worst, Alex's hand immediately shooting to the ice pack, insisting she hold it herself.
"It wasn't his fault Tessa," Alex finally spoke up after about five minutes of silence.
"Yeah well you know John," Tessa started.
"No not John, Gene," Alex cut her off, "he'll blame himself I know he will but it wasn't his fault. He was protecting me, John was bad mouthing me and Gene's so used to using his fists to get what he wants he just reacted badly."
"You can't believe a single bad thing about that man can you Alex," Tessa said, not really trusting Gene completely herself.
"Because I love him," Alex confessed to her, "I know it must seem crazy and ridiculous but I love him."
"It's not my place to judge Alex but if you love him then I'm not going to stand in your way, you two seem to have something pretty special." Tessa smiled.
"Yeah, we do," Alex agreed.
Half an hour later and Tessa had vacated the bench next to Alex as she noticed Gene approaching them.
Alex had already forgiven Gene for getting involved in the fight with John, she knew that she needed Gene and couldn't bear the thought of losing him again.
"I'm sorry Bolls," Gene said as soon as he sat down.
"It's not your fault," Alex replied quickly.
"It is though, I should never have wound the bastard up," Gene said, getting agitated again.
"Gene," Alex said calmly, as she placed a reassuring hand on his.
"Is it bad?" Gene asked, knowing it would be but he needed to see.
Alex carefully moved the ice from her cheek, the swelling had gone down slightly but it was still bad.
"I am so sorry," Gene repeated.
"Gene seriously stop apologising," Alex said kindly as she replaced the ice pack.
"I love you Bolly; you know I'd never hit yer on purpose or get you injured like that?" Gene said, his voice anxious.
"Of course I do," Alex acknowledged, smiling at him even though it hurt slightly as the muscles in her cheeks tensed.
"What are you going to do about fighting for the unit?" Gene asked carefully.
"Hmm, maybe tomorrow, I don't really feel like any more fighting today," Alex said and Gene wrapped his arm round her shoulders comfortingly.
No more words were exchanged as Gene took Alex's hand and led her to the car, driving her back to her apartment in silence.
Alex was lucky that throughout the day the swelling went down considerably and the bruising didn't look as bad. It looked better too once she'd applied a thin layer of make-up to disguise it. This still wasn't going to stop the inevitable questions from Molly once she got home from school.
"I could always phone Evan, ask him if he could have her tonight?" Gene suggested noticing Alex was getting slightly shifty.
"No, it's ok really," Alex insisted as she stopped pacing the room and sat down.
They heard the keys turning in the lock of the front door and Alex immediately began getting panicky again.
"Mum, Gene," Molly called out as she dumped her bags in the hallway and hung her coat up.
"In here Molls," Alex shouted back.
Molly was surprised; her Mum was never usually back when she got home from school. Something was wrong it had to be, she didn't expect her to be home so soon.
"Mum is everything," Molly began but she stopped when she entered the room and sensed something wasn't right, "What's going on?"
"Molls," Alex started but Molly had already noticed.
"What happened to your face?" Molly asked as she quickly moved to sit down next to her Mum.
"It's not as bad as it looks really," Alex started.
"What happened?" Molly repeated.
"DI Bloom," Alex started, "he accidently hit me."
"How?" Molly asked inquisitively, anger evident in her voice.
"Molly," Alex said, hoping her daughter would back off as Gene put his hands in his pockets, knowing this was his fault.
"He wasn't aiming at me, he didn't realise I was there," Alex babbled.
"Who was he aiming for?" Molly asked continuing her interrogation.
Alex didn't answer but she knew one thing for sure, Molly would make a bloody great copper if she ever decided to go down that road. Molly waited a while before finally figuring it out; there was only one person her Mum would stand up for in a fight, Gene.
"Why didn't you do something?" she turned her questions to Gene.
"Molls it wasn't his fault," Alex said, placing a reassuring hand on Molly's arm, "Bloom got angry, aimed a punch at Gene, Gene ducked and Bloom hit me, it's really not a big deal."
Molly went to speak but Alex put her hand out and silenced her.
"Please can we just move on now?" Alex asked softly, hoping Molly would leave it be.
Molly merely nodded, hating the fact that just days after getting her dead mother back she'd already been injured again.
"You got homework?" Alex asked her.
"Mum," Molly moaned.
"Go on," Alex smiled as Molly reluctantly stood up and headed for her room.
It may be a slightly shorter chapter next time! I don't like fics where Alex ends up hurt and I've never written something like this before and I didn't really like it but I knew John was going to break sooner or later and it had to be now! Please review and keep on reading!