"Bolly…problem." Gene muttered urgently in Alex's ear.

"GO back t'sleep." She murmured groggily, opening one eye to see that the bedroom was still dark, except for the small chink of light coming from the open door, casting a shadow of something in the doorway in the bright gap.

A shadow in the gap?

"Bols- now!" He poked her gently on the shoulder in a hope to get her more awake. She sat up rubbing her eyes.

"What's your problem, it's," she glanced at the red alarm clock by her side of the bed "three fifteen…"

"Mum?"

Molly was standing in the doorway. In the darkness, Alex could just about make out the uneasy look on Gene's face as he spaced himself further away from Alex.

"It's honestly not how it looks, Mols!" Alex panicked.

"Really?" She asked, her quiet voice echoing in Alex's room. "Because it looks like you and Gene are in bed together."

Gene snorted. The girl was so like her mother in the way she could make the simplest of statements sound insulting.

Alex grimaced. "Gene can you…?"

Taking his cue to leave, Gene nodded and moved towards the door, brushing a hand on Molly's shoulder as he left the darkened room, presumably making his way to his own room.

"Night." Molly said sarcastically as Gene edged past her awkwardly.

"Mols." Alex warned in a disapproving tone, before patting the bed where Gene had been.

Molly thought for a moment, before padding across the room to the big soft bed. She loved that bed- it was the place she went when she needed some comfort, whether a nightmare, or a nasty text, or something rubbish had happened to her at school. That bed was where she could find her Mum when she needed her. When Alex had been in a coma, Molly had refused to let Evan change the sheets on the bed- it slept like her Mum. She'd spent every night on top of those covers, simply trying to find a way to be close to her Mum.

"We're not…I mean…he's not…we're not a…what I'm trying to say is…"

"You're not shagging Gene?" Molly offered, lightly.

"Mols! Don't let Evan hear you talking like that, he'll blame Gene."

Alex sighed as her daughter lay under the duvet in the warm patch where Gene had been. It was a cold night, so part of her was grateful for him having been there.

"What's wrong anyway, Mols?"

It struck Alex that it was unlike her daughter to come into her room. Before the week before, the night she'd screamed at her and told her to go away, Molly hadn't done that in years. Not since she was very young and had a horrific sleep pattern.

"Nightmare." Molly mumbled, rubbing her head into the pillow, as if she were burrowing.

"Oh come here, Mols." Alex pulled her daughter to her side of the bed, feeling her cold feet through her pyjamas and holding her tightly, stroking her arms and kissing her hair. "D'you want to talk about it?"

There was a defiant shake of the head, followed by Molly relaxing in her mother's grip. "In a minute." She murmured, leaving a silence in her wake.

Alex waited patiently- she'd found through experience it was better to let Molly tell her what was wrong than to force it out of her.

"You were in hospital again." Molly admitted finally after a deep breath. Her voice was fairly calm, she was speaking as a matter of fact rather than of something that had upset her before. "But…the doctors were going to switch your machine off. I told them not to, I cried and cried but no one would listen to me!" Her voice rose in a moment of panic, and Alex felt Molly shiver in her arms. "Not even Evan, he thought you were gone for good. And then they…well they…"

"Oh Mols, you know I'm here now!" Alex butted in, preventing Molly from having to say the obvious. It upset Alex to know that her experience was still tormenting Molly, and that she was having trouble with it. "I'm never leaving you again."

"You left me last week."

Alex held her daughter away form her for a moment to catch a glimpse of her face. "Did that bother you" She asked, confused. Molly hadn't normally been too bothered by Alex spending time away from home, but this time when Alex had gone gallivanting off to Manchester with Gene she hadn't stopped to think of the repercussions for Molly.

"Not really," Molly told her, "But don't say you won't leave me, because it's not true."

Alex thought of a way to rephrase her sentence. "I'll never leave you without warning again. I will never scare you in the way I did again. You will never be left alone again-,"

"I wasn't alone, I had Evan. He was almost as upset as me though."

"Molly."

Alex couldn't understand why Molly was acting in such a way. She'd never behaved like this before. Mind you, she'd never found Alex in bed with a man before.

"Does Gene being around bother you?"

"Are you shagging him?" Molly asked promptly.

"Mols, what did I tell you about saying that?!"

Molly giggled. "All right then, are you and Gene a couple?"

Alex gulped and sighed. "I don't know." She admitted, smoothing her daughter's hair.

"Seriously Mum, he's like, what, sixty?!"

Alex cringed at the tone of disgust Molly used when she said sixty. Sure enough, to Evan Gene was older, to the rest of 2008 Gene was older, but to her? To her he was the mid-forty year old boss who'd mesmerised her on the spot.

"It's complicated." Alex sighed. She could hardly correct Molly heavily saying "actually he's seventy-two, but whatever"!"

"But are you two…?"

"You don't mind, do you?" Alex asked, not quite answering her daughter's question.

"No, Gene's cool. And it's about time you found someone, and I suppose I'd rather it was Gene than that arsehole you were "friends" with a few months ago." Molly was referring to Luke West, a colleague of Alex's who'd been spending more time at the house with the family until a couple of months before the accident. Evan had loved him- successful, respectful and fairly well off. On the other hand (and the reason Alex had poured cold water on his advances) Luke seemed to have very little time for Molly. "Nah, Mum, I like him. As long as you're happy…but don't expect me to tell anyone at school!"

Alex grimaced in Molly's gaze. Well, at least this wasn't as bad as when she'd had to tell Evan she was seeing Pete. Oh that reminded her-

"Mols, don't tell Evan."

Molly looked at her mother for a moment, taking in the creases of worry around her eyes, the flush of embarrassment which was even visible in the dark of the room, and the pinched expression which aged her face. And she burst out laughing.
"Sshhhh!" Alex hissed, watching her daughter in hysterics, but being unable to stop herself laughing as well.

When Molly finally stopped, wiping her eyes, she spoke shakily. "Evan's going to kill Gene isn't he?" It was quite worrying to Alex to see the smile of hilarity on her daughter's face when she spoke of their godfather committing murder…

"I'm going back to bed." Molly told her Mum twenty minutes later, just as Alex was about to drift off back to sleep.

Alex sat up, alarmed. "Are you sure? Don't you want to-,"

"I think Gene would probably like to make sure things were all right." She smiled at her Mum's curious expression, and as she got up towards the door, pulling it open, Gene was revealed to be standing behind the white door, apparently having listened for a while to see if the girls were OK.

"Mess with my Mum, and I'll have to kill you." Molly threatened jokily, giving Gene a pretend shove as she moved past him in the doorway. "Night guys."

Making his way back into the bed- warm as Molly had been lying there- Gene chortled quietly. "She's a funny one, your lass."

Alex snorted. She hated to sound like the smug Mums she quite often read about in the newspapers, but people normally commented on how intelligent, pretty, and polite Molly was. Funny wasn't often used…

"So she's all right about it then?"

Alex smiled hugging her knees for warmth. "Yeah, she's not telling Evan anyway."

"And you tr-,"

"Gene, for a long time it's been Molly and I against the world. So yes, I trust her with anything."

Gene contemplated for a few moments in the silence. "You're going to have to tell Evan sometime you know. 'E's not going to be 'appy knowing Mols found out before 'im."

Alex sighed. "I know."

She too sank into the silence, pulling the covers up around her and lying so that she felt protected by the white duvet. "It would all be fine, if it was just you and me…in 1983."

"Careful, Bols that was almost poetry."

She gave Gene a playful dig, which of course hurt her more than him, causing him to chuckle in amusement.

"Don't damage yourself, or Evan will definitely kill me."

Gene pulled Alex closer to him body, her head falling against his chest where she could hear the slightly fast beat of his heart. She always had that effect on him- not that she'd know this.

"You know what I mean though? If we could just be…normal?"

"I've got an idea." Gene told her finally, murmuring into her hair as he stroked her shoulder with his warm hand.

"Go on…" She murmured back, smiling the way she always did when his body came into contact with hers. There was something so intimate (without being that) intimate about his smell, his warmth and his tone of voice when they spoke at this time of night. It was the only time he ever let his guard down. Ironic that this had been the same in their final hours in 1982 as well Alex thought.

"You want it to be us…I'm in need of a drink. Tomorrow night, Bollykecks, jus' you an' me, at the King's 'ead. A drink an' a meal, what d'you thin'?"

"Just the one drink?"

"Probably not."

"Sounds great then."

She smiled, because unknowingly, but probably intentionally, Gene had just made her heart flutter a little more.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alex was dreaming again. But these dreams were becoming weirder and weirder- though she could hardly remember them in the morning still. There was the odd smell in her nose again, but it seemed the only link. Except for Shaz talking through the thick fog.

"Switch you off…I cried and cried…wouldn't let them…doesn't believe me…won't let them do it…won't…"

But the words were a jumbled up haze, all Alex could make sense of was the fact it was Shaz's voice that ebbed and faded in the background of her dream, saying words not too unlike Molly's own nightmare…

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Alex spent two hours getting ready ahead of her dinner date with Gene. She had a shower, blow-dried her hair, curled her hair, perfected her make up, edited her make up after changing her mind about her outfit for the seventh time, and painted her nails.

She'd gone for a "skimpy" green dress that managed to make the green flecks in her hazel eyes pop further. Her curled hair lay around her shoulders in an attempt to bring back the familiarity of the relationship she'd had with Gene in 1982, and the pendant she wore around her neck had belonged to her mother. Another reminder of the eighties.

"Whoa!" Molly came into Alex's room unannounced, and gasped as she saw her Mum. Alex span round on the spot, and grimaced when she saw the shocked look on Molly's face.

"Do I look that bad?" Alex asked disappointed. She'd thought she'd looked all right- showing enough cleavage to impress Gene, but not enough to make her look cheap and showing off her pale calves nicely.

Molly laughed. "You look great! You just…don't look very mumsy…"

"Believe it or not, Mols, I wasn't trying to." Alex winked at her daughter, before turning back to the floor length mirror on the inside of her wardrobe door and smoothing her dress anxiously.

Molly sat on the bed amongst the heap of tops, skirts, jeans and dresses that were crumpled, their hangers lying forgotten on the floor. Unlike normal, Alex's room was a mess…meaning she was clearly nervous, and she cared more about this date than she was letting on to Molly.

"What time's Gene taking you?" Molly asked, absentmindedly putting clothes back onto hangers helpfully.

"He's not." Alex answered, reaching for her mascara and adding another layer to her already perfect lashes. "I'm taking a taxi and he took the car."

Molly paused and looked up from her clothes hanging, catching her Mum's eye in the mirror. "What?" She asked, bemused.

Alex laughed; she hadn't expected her daughter to understand it- at least not until it was all fully explained. "I mentioned something to Gene last night about things being normal, so he suggested we "met for a drink" like normal people. No I don't get it either." She sighed.

In truth she didn't really understand it, which disappointed her greatly. As a psychologist it was her job to be able to get inside people's heads and work out what they were thinking- but Gene was one she could never work out.

"Which bag are you taking?" Molly asked, going back to the coat hangers and interrupting Alex's thoughts.

Alex turned round and went and sat on the bed with her daughter, pulling her into a hug. "I was thinking either the black clutch or the grey clutch, which do you think?" She spoke into her daughter's soft hair.

"Umm…" Molly put the coat hanger down and looked in the direction of the handbags (at the bottom of Alex's wardrobe). "The black one I think, it'll go with your shoes- you are wearing the black shoes, right?"

Alex tittered. "Of course." Then, checking for one final time she spoke again. "You are sure you're all right about me doing this, aren't you?"

Molly pulled away from her Mum and turned herself round on the bed, making full eye contact. "I'm fine with it- I honestly am, Mum, stop worrying." Her blue eyes shone with fondness as she looked over her Mum's made up face. "Are you?"

Alex sighed. How like Molly to check her Mum was OK. "Yes." She laughed. "Yes, I am."

***

It had taken twenty minutes before Evan had let Alex leave- there had been much fuss over how dressed up she was for "just a drink" (which was of course all Evan knew of the situation). The taxi driver was tutting impatiently. "Your fella said The King's 'ead. That right?"

Alex felt a pang of fond awe for Gene. He'd even booked her taxi to take her to the right place.

"Yeah, that's right, how much-,"

"'E's paid for it, love. S'long drive though."

Alex simply smiled and sat back in her seat. Bless him- no wait, that's Gene I'm blessing…

It was forty minutes before the taxi driver pulled up outside The King's Head- a relatively outcast pub that Alex and Gene had visited a couple of times (it had better and cheaper beer than anywhere else in London).

Alex took a deep breath and tapped her hand shakily.

"You getting out, love?"

Alex laughed nervously. "Yeah…yeah I'm just…"

"You look fine. Any bloke would be lucky to 'ave you on 'is arm, love."

What a polite taxi driver! That was honestly the first time a driver had treated Alex like a real-

"Meter's running, love, I've got somewhere to be."

Oh. That was why.

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Gene gasped as Alex walked into the pub. He'd been halfway through his pint when the door opened, and for the fifth time that evening, he turned his head to the door in hope, but fully expecting his hopes to be dashed. But in the doorway was a goddess in a deep green dress which flaunted every aspect of her figure. And it was as if someone had thrown warm water over him- or as if the sun was suddenly shining through a pane of glass. The warmth he would previously have found at the bottom of his second glass of malt whiskey was apparent when he saw her perfectly made up face, the curled tresses of her soft sweet-smelling hair on her pale shoulders, and her calves as she moved gracefully towards him at the bar, before standing awkwardly as he looked her up and down in awe.

"Hi." She smiled, blushing at his reaction.

Gene grabbed a hold of himself. "Erm, hi. I'm Gene- Gene Hunt." He put a hand out in front of him, to shake hands with her. He'd almost forgotten his plan, and from the confused look on Alex's face, she had no idea what he was doing.

Alex laughed. "Yeah, I knew that Gene, I don't jump into bed with strangers you know."

Gene coughed something that sounded strangely like "Thatchorite wanker", but smiled. "Play nicely, Alex."

But Alex was far too confused. Play nicely? What?!

Gene rolled his eyes and sighed, before raising his fingers to waggle them like quotation marks. ""If we could jus' be normal". Bols I can' bring back '83. But we can do normal, righ'? As if we were two normal people, who just happened to walk into the same pub, and be mutually attracted to one another."

Alex smiled. He was being so thoughtful, so considerate. He was trying to make things easier for her, and she hadn't even thought about him. God, it felt like forgetting an anniversary or something. Not that she'd know, it was always Pete who'd forgotten their anniversary.

"OK." She smiled warmly and held out a hand to accept his handshake. "I'm Alex Drake."

"So Alex, tell me something about yourself." Gene told her over their first glass of wine, the barman having just brought over their menus.

The pub was cosy, snug even. There were about fifteen other drinkers in there, Alex and Gene having a table to themselves in the corner, away form the main area. The way Gene phrased his sentence sent half a shiver down Alex's spine- unknowingly he'd said exactly the same thing as Robert Shipman when he'd taken Alex for a drink.

Alex thought for a moment- but it was easier to be stuck for something interesting to say with Gene. In this case, Gene was already interested in her- they were just going through the motions.

"I have a daughter, Molly, she's thirteen. I'm a divorcee, my husband walked out when my daughter was only young. I'm a Detective Inspector-,"

"I've always 'ad a thing for women in uniform." Gene interrupted, smiling wickedly.

Alex giggled and rolled her eyes- he was able to be so smooth, and yet so goddamn subtle. It was more than a little comforting.

"What about yourself?"

Gene smiled, thinking for a moment. "I'm a Detective Chief Inspector," He smirked. Alex stuck her tongue out in retaliation to his cheap dig at ranking. "I'm forty-six, divorced, live in a fairly nice 'ouse, but it's being redecorated at the moment, I'm staying with a nutter an' 'er family-,"

Alex's sharp tutting cut Gene off. Her glower was enough to shut him up.

"Come on, Alex, anything else I need to know? Allergies, birth marks, psycho ex-fellas?"

Alex laughed. "It's funny you should mention them- I was actually shot in the head, sent back in time, first- well second but you don't really want to know about the first- second almost-relationship I had and the man turned into a psycho. He shot my boss and knocked me out. Hence I'm now here in 2008. I'm a time travelling goddess."

Gene nodded in acknowledgement. "It's funny you should mention that, I had that as my chat-up line."

Both ended up laughing this time- laughter so warm and real that people at the bar turned round smiling.

The barman came back. "What can I get you?" He smiled.

Gene looked at Alex and put his menu down. "Steak and ale pie do you, Alex?" He asked, turning back to the waiter. "Two st-,"

"Hang on!" Alex interrupted. "Didn't you once promise me sole?"

Alex loved the memory of that evening. Gene's ambiguity as he offered her sole- or had he meant soul? The very thought that he might have been offering himself to her warmed her through.

Gene smirked. "Starting again, Alex, plus the sole 'ere doesn' look fantastic."

The waiter frowned at Gene- the sole was a good seller, and the most expensive thing on the menu. How dare he suggest it wasn't any good?!

Alex grinned at Gene with a tilt of her head in the direction of the scowling waiter. "The pie would be great, thanks."

"Two steak an' ale pies please, mate."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So Gene, you said you're a DCI?" Alex toyed with the pastry on the end of her fork as Gene sat back massaging his stomach after the large plateful.

"Yeah," He groaned, stretching and reaching for his pint. "Used to work at Fenchurch East- you 'eard of it?"

Alex smiled, but carried on playing along. "Funnily enough I have."

Gene pondered her reaction, before continuing the conversation. "Police psychiatrist? Must be an interesting line o' work."

"Psychologist." Alex corrected, gritting her teeth because she knew- she knew- he'd done it on purpose. Just one more dig he could get in.

"S'what I said."

"Well yeah, I enjoy it. Getting into people's heads is interesting- there are so many criminals with warped minds-,"

"You mean nutters?" He smirked.

For once, Alex didn't want to be the stuck up stuffy lady who took everything so seriously. She didn't want to have to bite his head off for being horrible to people with problems.

"Yeah." She answered. "Yeah I guess I do. Don't you find that, though? As a chief?"

"Some'imes I think they're just after the attention-,"

"But wouldn't you say that in itself was a disorder of some kind?"

"Wha? Attention-seeking?"

"Surely if someone were able to commit a criminal offence just for attention of some kind- negative of course- wouldn't that make them-,"

"Bols." Alex realised there was a hand over her mouth. "You don't need to over-play the part of geeky copper."

But he didn't move his hand, and she didn't want to move it herself. She loved the feel of his warm smooth hands (not as smooth as they had previously been as there had been little call for his black leather gloves in 2008) on her skin.

"Are you going to move your hand?" She asked, muffled.

"Nope." Gene smiled.

Alex placed her knife and fork together on the plate in resignation.

"Not even if I shut up?" Gene shivered as her lips brushed against his palm.

"I'd be waiting a long time- but no, not even then."

Alex thought for a moment, then-

"BOLS! You licked me!" Gene quickly pulled his hand back, gazing in awe and disgust at the moister part of his hand as Alex laughed softly.

"Serves you right."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Can I get you anything else?" The barman asked after taking their main plates. Alex looked at Gene in protest, but knew what he was going to do.

"Pud would be great, what d'you do?"

The barman glanced over his shoulder at the chalkboard. "Chocolate mousse, profiteroles, treacle sponge, fruit salad, cheese platter, strawberry tart."

Gene glanced at Alex. "Well, I've already got the tar' thanks…I think the mousse for me, wha' 'bout you, Bolly?" It seemed all attempt at pretending not to know each other had disappeared.

"Gene, really, I'm not-,"

"I've told you before, I don' take birds out 'oo don' eat proper meals! Can't be 'avin' it with these skinny birds."

Gene rolled his eyes at the barman who looked bizarrely at the couple in front of him. What was a classy, attractive lady such as the woman in front of him, doing with an oaf like the man she was with? Where was the attraction in his loud guffaws, his cursing sentences and his authoritative figure? Mind you, if there was hope for this bloke, there was hope for anyone.

Alex sighed. "Fruit salad, please." She smiled a dazzling smile at the barman, who felt the breath knocked out of him. Alex, feeling awkward, could hear herself thinking that it wasn't the only thing that would be knocked out of him if Gene noticed.

"Cream with that, love?"

"Please."

"Whipped or runny?"

Of all the pubs. "Whipped, please."

Alex thought she heard the barman chuckle quietly as he walked away. She didn't particularly want to know what thoughts were running through his mind, and looking at her cleavage she self-consciously re-arranged her dress.

When she looked up, Gene was scowling. "What a tosser."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Anything else you want? Coffee, tea?"

The barman was back, clearing the plates away from the table after their dessert. The pub had emptied, and aside from the group of five old people playing a weekly poker game, it was just Alex and Gene left in the pub…with the barman.

"No, ta, just the bill."

"Madam?"

If he hadn't been balding, rounded, sweaty and too eager, the barman's persistence would have been slightly endearing. Unfortunately, he was the entire above, and more than bugging Gene.

"I'm fine, thank you, just the bill."

With a smirk after a quick look at Gene, the barman was gone.

"Bloody joker. What was 'e staring at? Is 'e a poof?"

"Gene, he was staring at my cleavage."

Gene eyed her suspiciously. "Maybe 'e swings both ways."

Alex hadn't had the heart to tell Gene he had chocolate on the corner of his mouth.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Lady Bols." Gene nodded as he opened the door of the V70 for Alex to get in. Fortunately the seats in the back were up, or neither would have been able to resist giggling.

"Thank you." She smiled and in the most ladylike way she could manage she slid into the cream leather seat.

Gene moved round to the other side fairly quickly as it started to spit. The rain was cool as it fell slowly down the back of his shirt where his collar wasn't pressed against it.

He groaned as he sat down in the car. "S' bloody freezing." He muttered, putting the key in the ignition.

They were very nearly "home" before the rain was pouring harder, the worst shower they'd had in about a month. The windscreen wipers were battling furiously against the lashings of rain that splattered all the way across the dark windscreen.

"Bloody 'ell." Gene murmured. "Now this is wha' I call rain."

Alex smiled. "You like rain?"

"Prefer it to drizzle. A good ol' thunder storm- that's what we need."

As he spoke, a loud crack of thunder echoed around the estate. Gene chuckled in appreciation. "Just call me 'oudini."

Alex meanwhile tapped her nails on the dashboard. She wasn't afraid of thunder, or lightning, but they made her a little nervous. It was something beyond her control- anything could get struck by lightning, purely on chance, and she had no way of stopping it. It was these sorts of chances Alex hated.

Gene seemed to notice she was quiet. "Y'all right, Bollinger Knickers?"

"What happened to "Alex" ?" She asked in reply, deciding not to go into detail. It was better to have her mind off the outside circumstances. Gene picked up on this and went along with it.

"New rule- we're outta the pub now."

"What everything goes back to normal?"

"Somethin' wrong, Bols?"

He'd noticed the sigh that escaped her lips before she had. There had been something inside her when they'd started acting like a couple on a first date…a frisson of excitement, a silly, girly, almost giggly reaction to every humorous comment he came out with. A spark.

Of course, it was pretty much how she felt every time they curled up together in Alex's bed, every time his soft hands braced her skin, and when their lips so much as brushed she felt sick and exhilarated all in one. But the idea of making everything so official- a date had been even better. Even sweeter. Even more exciting.

"Not exactly," She mused, her mouth drawn to one side as she thought of the best way to phrase what she so desperately wanted to say. In the end there was only one way to say it. "Thank you for a wonderful evening." She blurted out, blushing at the undoubtedly mocking reaction Gene would now present.

And he did. He laughed. "Come on Posh Knickers, that the best you've got?"

There was another loud crack of thunder, and a flash that ripped across the sky.

"Bloody hell!" Alex jumped out of her seat.

Gene roared with laughter. "That's the most scared I've ever seen you!"

"Hilarious." Alex scowled, her eyebrows drawn.

Laughing subsiding and the car slowing, Gene looked strangely at Alex. "You've got a problem with lightning? Sod psychos with guns, lightning?"

"You don't like hospitals! Ray said!"

"That's different." He bickered.

"'T'isn't."

"'T'is,"

Gene gave her a mocking look. This would go on for hours if they didn't stop now. He pulled into the driveway he'd pulled into many a time and parked the car on the drive.

Alex moved for the door.

"Wait!" Gene grabbed her arm before she could pull the handle. "You'll get soaked- wait a mo'."

She laughed in a way of appreciation, "I really do mean it, Gene. Thank you. It's been lovely- I can't believe you…" She trailed off.

"Go on." He commanded, his eyes dancing wickedly.

"…I can't believe you were so…thoughtful." She admitted.

"I'm not only an undeniable sex God with a remark for every occasion, you know Bols."

She looked at him in wonder. "I think I know that now."

"In fact, I'm almost hurt you thought I was incapable of pulling something like that off."

Alex snorted. "Hurt? You?"

"There you go again." He shook his head in mock upset. "You'll have to find a way of making it up to me…what would you do on a first date, Alex?"

There was another crack of thunder, but somehow the allure of Gene's eyes stopped Alex from jumping. Here she felt safe- it didn't matter what the chances were, he wouldn't let anything hurt her, and she knew that.

"Well, I wouldn't leap into bed with someone I hardly know…but I might…" Alex didn't finish her sentence, but leaned in and kissed the corner of Gene's mouth where chocolate mousse had previously been. She licked her lips in the most teasing way she could manage, before kissing him again, her moist lips on his dry ones, becoming breathless as her tongue found his.

"What about people you do know?" Gene asked when they finally managed to draw a breath.

"Shush." Alex's lips were crushing against Gene's again.

When they split apart again, Alex spoke. "Not on a first date, Gene." She winked, and got out the car, running the short distance between the car and the house.

***

Later as she lay in bed, Alex smiled to herself, waiting for Gene to come in. As she expected, there was a knock on the door, and Gene stood in the doorway, looking less happy than normal.

"Bolly…I can't sleep in 'ere tonight."

Alex furrowed her brow, but laughed, sure he was joking. "What are you on about?"

He scratched his neck awkwardly. "I've seen you shaking your bits around, wearing skimpy bits of nothin'…and frankly, Bols, if I 'ave to keep my 'ands to myself I'm not goin' to be able to cope. I'm goin' back to my room, let me know if you change your mind."

Gene turned round and left the room- though Alex couldn't see the grin on his face.

Sure enough, there was a knock at Gene's door four minutes later.