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Alex woke for the second time next to Gene Hunt.

She glanced over at his sleeping form. His arm was thrown possessively over her stomach, his hair flopping forward over his face, mouth slightly open. Alex felt a sudden rush of affection for the man sleeping next to her. He looked so different when he slept, younger, peaceful. His face was completely relaxed; the customary pout was for once absent and with it the façade of the Manc Lion. She felt privileged to be able to see him like this, with his guard completely down, she imagined few others had. The affection turned to lust as her eyes moved up and down his body, tracing his broad shoulders, the strong arms, down to his long fingers.

She wanted him. They had explored each other for hours last night before finally collapsing onto the bed, exhausted and spent. Now she wanted him again, would it ever be enough, would she ever get her fill of this man?

She wriggled out of his embrace to kiss him gently on the corner of his mouth, smiling as he twitched slightly. She moved to his jaw line, kissing her way down to his neck, nipping the soft skin gently. She felt his hands slide up her back, as he moaned, now fully awake.

She moved further down his body, trailing hot open mouthed kisses down his stomach, until she reached his rapidly hardening cock. She took him in hand, stroking him fully hard before replacing her hands with her mouth, taking him deep.

He gasped, feeling her hot mouth around him, fighting desperately for control. She released him, trailing her tongue teasingly along the underside of his cock, swirling over the head.

'Alex, please.'

She took him back into her mouth, bringing her hand up to cup his balls, delighting in his moans as she sucked, swirling her tongue over the sensitive underside of his cock.

'Alex… Alex I'm gonna…'

She took him as deep as she could, gently massaging his balls in one hand, the other firmly squeezing the base of his cock. She felt him shake as he erupted in her mouth, grimacing slightly she swallowed him, before gently releasing him.

She moved back up the bed and smirked as he lay there panting, seemingly incapable of speech.

Regaining some of his composure, Gene managed to rasp out. 'You won't be smirkin' like that fer long.'

Alex arched an eyebrow. 'What are you planning on doing to make me stop?'

He sat up, rolling her onto her back none too gently. 'This.'

He kissed her hard on her mouth, before turning his attention to her breasts. Kneading them, flicking his thumbs over her nipples until she cried out. He moved lower swirling his tongue over her belly button, feeling her shiver. Her hands were in his hair urging him on and he complied, lowering his head further to taste her. He flicked his tongue over her clit and she gasped.

'More.'

He slid two fingers inside her, curling them upwards, finding the right spot as he tongued her clit relentlessly. She screamed as he felt her convulse around him, fingers twisting his hair to the point of pain, until she collapsed back onto the mattress, limbs turned to jelly, a vacant smile on her face.

He flopped back down beside her, taking in her appearance. 'Told you.'

'Sod.'

xxxxxxxxxx

Alex sighed as she leant back in her seat, fighting the rapidly overwhelming urge to create an excuse to go into Gene's office. Visions of Molly danced in the corner of her eye, and she could no longer take the guilt. She wanted to lose herself in him. As soon as she was separated from him it seemed, all the doubts and uncertainties returned, and the guilt.

She knew it was irrational but she couldn't help feeling that by being with Gene she was betraying Molly in some way, as if she was turning away from her life with Molly to begin a new one with Gene. She was no longer spending hours obsessing over how to get back, she was spending hours with Gene, and when she wasn't with him she was thinking of him. He was like a drug, when she was with him her worries of returning to 2008 vanished, he was the only thing that mattered. But when she was away from him they swam back to the surface, and then she was desperate for another fix.

She realised her hands were shaking, she needed some air, she couldn't think straight. A glance at her watch told her it was almost twelve, Gene wouldn't mind her taking an early lunch, there was certainly nothing going on in the office that required her presence.

She rose out of her chair, grabbing her jacket and hurrying out of the suddenly claustrophobic room. Hurrying along the dim corridors, out into the welcoming fresh air. Taking deep breaths she began walking, without any real idea as to where she was going. She focused only on putting one foot in front of the other until all thoughts of Gene and her daughter were safely pushed back down.

She snorted, what kind of psychologist was she? Safely pushing her thoughts down? Definitely not the best way to deal your issues Alex. Who would she talk to though; they would think she was insane if she told them.

She stopped looking around; there was a coffee shop over the road. She began to walk over to it, deciding that caffeine sounded like a wonderful idea.

After paying what seemed an extortionate amount for her drink even by 2008s standards Alex was hurrying out of the door, realising she had been on a very long early lunch and hadn't actually told anyone where she was going.

In her haste she didn't see the tall man in the casually expensive suit, who was also too engrossed in his lateness to pay attention to the other person trying to use the small door at the same time as he was.

Alex walked straight into him, the flimsy lid of her coffee cup slipping off, causing the man she had walked into to become drenched in scalding hot, over priced coffee.

'I am so sorry.' She began, looking up at him, freezing as she recognised him.

'You stupid bitch.' Rowlands, wiped desperately at his ruined shirt with his hands. 'I have a meeting with my superiors in fifteen minutes, how am I supposed to face them looking like this?'

'I apologised, it was an accident.' Alex could see the barely retrained fury in his eyes and she suppressed a shudder, why could no one else recognise the anger in this man, the terrible deeds he was capable of?

'Oh an accident.' He snorted. 'Not content with humiliating me by dragging me into a police station now you're trying to sabotage my career as well!'

He took a step closer to her and Alex flinched, 'I think you should return to work now Mr Rowlands.' She pushed past him, eager to be away from him, virtually running the long walk back to the station. She was suddenly anxious for the comfort of CID.

xxxxxxxxxx

Alex returned just in time to witness Gene slam his phone down and aim an angry kick at his long suffering filing cabinet.

She turned to Ray, expression quizzical.

He shrugged. 'Don't look at me, think it was the super 'e was on the phone to.'

Sighing Alex strode over to the office, letting herself in and taking her usual place at the edge of his desk.

Without acknowledging her presence he poured himself a large measure of whiskey, throwing the fiery liquid down his throat. He sat back down at his desk, looking at her for the first time.

'That was the Super, we've got tonight to come up with something useful from your little surveillance op or 'e pulls the plug on the 'ole thing.'

'He's only giving us tonight? That's not enough time; I thought we would have at least a couple more nights.'

'Well yer optimistic I'll give yer that Bolly. 'E's not willin' ter give us all these extra men if we're not achivin' any results, so we've got tonight ter catch the bastard in the act, an' then it's over.'

Alex nodded, a sinking feeling in her stomach. The chances of another attack tonight were slim, it hadn't been long enough since his most recent victim for him to become desperate enough to risk another attack, and they hadn't provoked him into lashing out either.

She rubbed her eyes, she was exhausted, her head was pounding and they had a long, most likely wasted evening ahead of them. A small groan escaped her lips.

Gene stood up, placing an arm on her shoulder in an uncharacteristically gentle movement. With his other hand he traced a line across her cheek.

'You okay?'

She nodded. 'Yes, just tired, so tired of all of this.'

Gene felt his stomach twist uncomfortably. Tired of all of this, tired of him?

'Not getting' board of me already are yer Bolly knickers?' His tone was deliberately light, but Alex could see the fear in his eyes.

'No, not you Gene. Just this case. Girls that we can't protect, hours sat in a car waiting for something that isn't going to happen.' She brought her hand up to meet his. 'You're the one thing that's keeping me grounded, you make me feel safe, make me forget everything else.' You make me forget my daughter.

His face softened into that almost smile. 'Good.' He said gruffly. 'You… you make me feel… better… as well.' He was clearly embarrassed but had been determined to say it, he couldn't risk losing her, had to let her know she was important to him.

She smiled softly at him, hazel eyes warm, wanting him to close the gap between them and kiss her.

Gene glanced up and saw Shaz watching them, a mixture of curiosity and knowing amusement on her face. He stepped back. Alex turned round, glancing out of the window, she saw Shaz watching them and stood up, brushing non- existent creases out of her blouse.

'I'm um… I'm going to go back over the files on the three attacks, just in case.'

Gene nodded and she left, avoiding Shaz's gaze as she sat back down at her desk.

xxxxxxxxxx

Gene reached inside his coat pocket, withdrawing a packet of cigarettes and his lighter.

'You are not smoking while I'm stuck in here with you!'

'Wot else am I supposed to do? Three nights of sittin' 'ere doin' nothin' an' now yer won' even let me 'ave a fag.'

'Talk to me.'

'All you ever bloody do is talk Bolly, an' very little of it actually makes sense.'

He raised his eyebrows, pouting thoughtfully, a deceptively innocent expression on his face. 'I can think of much more interestin' ways fer you to keep me entertained than bloody talkin'.'

'Not in a million years Mr 'I wanna keep things professional'. Tell me something.'

'Like wot?' He grumbled.

'Oh I don't know. Forgive me for trying to start a conversation that didn't include an argument.'

'You like arguing wiv me, gets you all hot, I can tell.'

She snorted. 'You wish.'

'It's happenin' now.'

'I'm an adult Gene; I can control myself even if you can't.'

'Fine, we'll have a nice conversation then Bolly Knickers.' He paused, as if deep in thought. 'Wot's the filthiest fantasy you've ever 'ad?'

'You are impossible sometimes, you know that!'

'Wot? That sounds like a very nice conversation ter me.'

'Okay, you're impossible all the time.' Why on earth was she jeopardising her life with her daughter for this man?'

He saw that she was serious. 'Alright, I do like arguin' wiv you. I like the way you challenge me, when you tell me if wot I'm doin' is wrong. You always stop me from goin' too far, remind me of wot's right an' wot's wrong.'

She smiled, that was why.

'Gene…'

The radio crackled into life.

'Hunt.'

'Bloody A Division.' Gene grabbed the radio. 'Wot?' He barked.

'Granger's approaching your checkpoint, and there's a man walking behind her, looks like he's wearing some sort of mask to cover his face.'

'Don't let her out of your sight, not fer one second!'

'Roger that.'

They sat, both gripping the door handles, ready to move.

'He's grabbed her, looks like he's trying to pull her down the alley you're parked at the end of.'

Gene was up and out of the car before Alex could even blink. Heart pounding, adrenalin coursing through her veins, she followed him.

She was still several meters behind him, when she felt something hard and heavy hit the back of her head. The force of the blow knocked her forwards, and she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her, forcing something into her mouth so she couldn't scream. The arms were dragging her backwards now. She tried to fight him, but the world was spinning and he was too strong.

Dimly she heard a car door being opened, and then she was being pushed against cold metal, lifted upwards and dumped into the boot of the car. Where was Gene? Why wasn't he helping her? She heard the boot slam shut. The darkness swallowed her, she couldn't move, couldn't cry out.

Gene.

While everyone was watching Shaz, nobody was watching Alex.