An Thank you all so much for the incredible support for this and welcome to the penultimate chapter! Thought are, as always, greatly appreciated so if you have time I'd love to hear what you think!

Enjoy!

MBRB'xoxo

It's a love hate relationship

You say you can't handle this.

But there's no way to stop this now.

So shut up and kiss me.

Shut Up and Kiss Me - Orianthi

'Sounds to me like you're attracting trouble, missy' Annie giggle as she applied a thin line of liquid eyeliner to her top lash, expertly flicking it outwards at the edge. Shaz laughed as Alex gave a half amused half exasperated nod of agreement. Both of her friends had agreed that Peter had been very sweet to buy her the bizarre present of Molly but that he had been a total arsehole on all other counts. As she had tried to tell them her thoughts, she realised that she wasn't speaking very clearly and what she wanted to say was becoming jumbled and confused in much the same way that they did when she was thinking them, but she did get across very clearly that she had no bloody idea what was going on in her head and so her friends had tried to give her their opinions and then handed her a drink to help her try and forget the day and focus on the evening.

'Anyway, who's going to be there tonight?' Alex asked. She had been told that these events at the club were pretty popular and so expected it to be an allround good night, but she didn't know who it was that was actually going to be there.

'Pretty much everyone' Shaz shrugged, spraying herself with perfume from a deep burgundy bottle. Alex accepted her vague answer and carried on fiddling with her hair so that it fell it natural looking waves past her shoulders.

'Well as long as I don't see either of those bloody boys then I'll be okay' she told them, taking another sip from her vodka and orange juice. 'I don't think I'd be able to refrain from ripping out either of their throats' Annie and Shaz laughed. It was clear that their friend was in desperate need of a good night out to forget all her problems and they were only too willing to provide.

x-x-x-x

An hour and a half later, and Alex was feeling decidedly cheerier, dancing to the music that blasted through her and made her insides pump with the beat. The girls had finished getting ready as they drank so that they were on the comfortable side of drunk which would keep them buzzing for the evening. Annie, being able to buy drinks, snuck her friends drinks whenever she could and the three girls were enjoying the atmosphere of the evening. There was a nice blend of people that they did and didn't know so that they didn't feel like they were at a crappy school disco, nor did they feel completely isolated from any conversations. And to top it all; Alex had seen hide nor hair of either Peter or Gene. She only hoped that she would be able to say the same thing by the time the evening had ended.

'Here' she heard Annie say into her ear. Alex turned around from where she had been dancing with Shaz in the middle of the dance floor to see Annie holding out brightly coloured tube to each of them, well hidden from view by the throng of dancing teens.

'Test tube shots? Awesome' Shaz grinned, taking the red one from Annie and unscrewing the top then waiting for her friends to do the same.

'Yellow or blue?' Annie asked Alex, holding out one of each to her. Alex hadn't had this particular drink before and so blindly reached out for the blue one with a smile. One the count of three, each of them tilted their heads back and tipped the contents of their tubes into their mouths, swallowing quickly. Alex was pleasantly surprised at the taste of her shot, looking down at the tube to see that it was blueberry flavoured. Shaz seemed happy with the taste of hers, but Annie winced and coughed as she lowered the tube from her lips.

'Jesus, what the hell was that?' she grimaced, inspecting the yellow tube. 'Caffeine!? God, note to self; stay away from the yellow ones' she frowned. The girls threw the empty shots in Annies bag to get rid of them and continued dancing, refreshed by the buzz in the back of their throats by the extra shot of alcohol. As one song died away, Call Me Maybe replaced it and Alex rolled her eyes. She hated the flaming song, but when she had found that it didn't matter what was played when you were having a good time with your friends. Shaz bounced around next to her, taking her hand and lifting it above their heads, moving them from side to side in time with the music. Annie beamed at her friends, twirling her hands around her in a mesmerising pattern. Alex had quickly discovered that she loved the way Annie danced when they were out. It wasn't the typical way that every other girl around them danced, instead it was a strange mix of modern with a kind of hippie, sashaying twist; all graceful twisting hands and closed eyes as if she were becoming part of the music. She didn't know how to describe it, but whenever Annie got onto a dance floor, she attracted a lot of attention from guys for her beautiful and captivating movements. Alex wasn't sure how it was that people saw the way she danced but to be honest she didn't care. She loved the feel of the music pumping through her and she twirled under her and Shaz's joined hands then spun Shaz around so they were facing eachother again and allowed her hips to sway and her body to move as it wanted.

They danced for what seemed like forever, ignoring the people around them and simply enjoying eachothers company. Shaz and Annie could see that Alex was cheering up more and more, relaxing and forgetting the inner conflict that had been raging all day. Annie would wonder off occasionally, returning to the middle of the crowd with a drink in her hand or a couple of shots that she would hand around. Because of the steady supply of alcohol, Alex could feel herself tottering on the edge of drunk, eventually tipping ever-so-slightly over the line and throwing her head back with laughter as Shaz pointed out a particularly hideously dressed teen that had just walked in.

'I'm just gonna get some air' Annie yelled over the music, indicating the door and her friends nodded, following her through the sea of bodies and towards the fresh air that they could feel drifting through the entrance. Shaz and Alex giggled together as they followed Annie who was absorbed in her phone that she was looking at. As they reached the doorway, they walked past the couple of teens who were sat on the stone stairs smoking and laughing and then stopped. Annie finally looked up from her phone with a massive grin on her face.

'Sam's here' she told them both, clearly delighted that she'd be able to see Sam.

'Where?' Alex asked, glad that Annie seemed pleased.

'He said to meet him round the corner by the cash machine. You two gonna be okay if I go get him quickly? Be back in a minute' Shaz and Alex nodded their consent with confirmatory 'Of course's and 'yeah, go on's'. Annie smiled a thank you and walked away from them both to meet Sam.

'Reckon Chris'll be with him?' Shaz asked Alex, sitting down on a bench and leaning against the wall that it was next to. Alex gave Shaz a knowing smile and raised an eyebrow.

'And why, pray tell, would you want to know if Chris is going to be with him?' Shaz blushed a little, dropping her gaze to the floor.

'No reason' Alex gave a doubtful 'hmmm' and sat down next to her friend. 'I think he likes you too, you know' she eventually said. She had seen Shaz and Chris skirting around eachother for weeks and she wondered why they didn't just put an end to the waiting and get together already, but then perhaps barrelling into relationships wasn't the best way. Maybe that was where she had gone wrong. Shaz looked up at Alex shyly.

'You think?' Alex was about to reply that yes, of course 'she thought', but she was distracted by Annie, Sam and Chris that were coming towards the girls. Annie and Sam were holding hands, but both were looking at Chris and listening to what he was saying. But they only held Alex's attention momentarily as her eyes flicked to the figure that was behind them and her blood boiled.

''Scuse me' she mumbled to Shaz, standing up from where she was sat and pushing past the three figures between her and Gene.

'Evening, Misses Woman' Gene greeted her and then noticed the fury in her eyes and quickly decided that this was something that he didn't want to have to face with his friends watching on. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he steered her away from their curious eyes down the street a little and then down the mouth of a wide alley. The whole thing caught her by surprise and she found herself there before she had time to really protest. People were passing them coming to and from the club so it wasn't particularly private, but Gene didn't care who saw the argument that was clearly going to arise, as long as she didn't make a fool of herself in front of her closest friends.

'Where the hell do you get off smashing peoples faces in?!' she finally began, furious at the man - boy? No that sounded wrong. Forget it - in front of her. 'Pete turned up at mine this morning with a black eye. A black eye. And he 'walked into a door'' she frowned, putting one hand on her hip and waving the other infront of her face. 'Like anyone actually walks into doors, Gene. And oh, funny thing, you text me that very morning telling me to be careful of doors. Jeez, I'm not stupid. Two and two. Oh. Eighty-bloody-five?! Why didn't you tell me you were going to find Pete and beat him up on my behalf?' Gene, for the first time since she had started yelling at him looked like he was going to answer her, his mouth opening to form words, but whatever it was he was going to say was cut off by an angry thump to his chest and Alex continuing her angry rant, seemingly unaware that she had even asked a question.

'I'll tell you why, because you knew I'd go apeshit. You beat up one twat on my behalf and I idiotically let it slide because I thought you were doing it because he's a prick, not for some pathetic macho show. But then you give my boyfriend a black eye and greet me with ' - she put on a deep 'Gene' voice which very nearly caused him to burst out laughing - 'Evening Misses Woman' and expect me to be like, 'Oh Hi Gene. You're not a wanker at all'' Gene stood listening to her, standing tall with his hands in his pockets and a blank expression on his face. God, this girl could talk. Her hands were flying around her to punctuate each point and he had thought that she'd belt him with one numerous times. If he had known that hitting Peter would cause him this much earache, he'd have passed him by when he had heard him badmouthing Alex that morning. Well, that was a lie. He'd have done it twice as hard to make up for the aggro he was getting now. Clearly she hadn't been told that part of the story though. People passing the alleyway looked at them as she screamed, muttering about what could have caused the argument. One teen gave Gene an amused wave as he passed which Gene acknowledged with a nod of his head. When he realised that she had paused for breath, her chest heaving in her clinging black dress, he sniffed haughtily looking just past her for a while before looking back down at the livid girl in front of him. A beat of silence and then;

'You coming to the match on Friday then?' Alex's jaw clenched at his words and her eyes flashed with annoyance. She took a small step towards Gene, tilting her head up towards him so that they were nose to nose and inches apart.

'You are the biggest prick I have ever, ever met Gene Hunt. You think you're so impressive with your 'Captain' and your little followers calling you 'Guv'.' She raised an eyebrow and let her lips quirk, tilting her head every so slightly, letting out a tiny huff of bitter laughter. 'Well you're not. You're nothing. Nothing but a teenage boy who can't control his fists' Gene looked down at her not sure if he should be amused or annoyed so instead just ... looked. His silence confused Alex. She had been sure that they would be screaming at each other by now, words cutting deep and volume rising higher and higher. But instead she was faced with something completely unexpected; utter calmness. He was the image of defiance just as he always was, but he wasn't reacting in the way that she had thought, wanted, him to. She had hoped that Gene would prove her right by screaming and yelling at her, confirming that he really was just a thug and that she was completely wrong about him having a well-hidden side that held a more sensitive and comforting Gene. She had meant every word she had said, her annoyance at both Gene and Peter pouring out into one almighty rant that she was no longer sure who it was directed at. She had expected nothing less than for Gene to stand there like a bloody concrete pillar, listening and doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just...taking it all. And that pissed her off more than anything because it meant that the part of her that knew that Gene wasn't just a bully and an aggressive thug was creeping into her brain and giving her a very loud 'What did I tell you?!' speech which was causing the part of her that hated Gene to retreat and dwindle significantly. She found herself bringing her hands to the side of her head and stamping a foot in frustration, eventually looking back up to him.

'Do you know how much you've messed my head up? Do you?! Won't you leave me the hell alone? Get out of my mind and piss off to annoy someone else!' she released the sides of her head and watched as she brought her fists down on Gene's chest, pounding his torso once, twice, three times before he finally broke his stoney stance and grabbed her wrists, pulling them upwards so they were between them both, raised as if she were defending herself from him but she knew that he was so much stronger than her and she was completely under his control. She then felt her breath leave her body and she realised that she wasn't sure if it was caused by Gene having pushed her backwards so her back had hit the wall behind her, his hands still holding her wrists, or because of the fact his face now seemed so much closer to hers than it had before. She was pretty sure that it was the latter - she hadn't hit the wall with much force, certainly not enough to really force the air from her lungs, and his intensely close proximity really was rendering her completely breathless. Her wrists were now pinned against the cold brick wall either side of her shoulders and his eyes were piercing her, pinning her in place like a butterfly to a cork board far more effectively than his physical restraints did.

'Have you been drinking?' the question seemed completely out of the blue and she could feel his breath on her face making her skin tingle. All she could do was nod, her eyes flitting to his lips momentarily and she felt herself swallow and part her lips ever so slightly.

'You talk more shit when you're drunk than you do when you're sober' he spoke softer than she thought she had ever heard him speak and she was painfully aware of him moving closer to her. Finally, he could get no closer and his lips met hers, greeting her with the tiniest of kisses, just a feather touch that completely contrasted everything else about him. 'And I didn't even think that was possible' she felt the movement of his lips against hers as he spoke and then felt him increase the pressure as he finally moved forward and kissed her properly, moving expertly against her and drawing her into an earthshaking kiss, the likes of which completely blew Peter out of the water.

If there was one thing that Alex had been expecting less than for Gene to let her rant wash over him, it was for him to then pin her against a wall and kiss her until her knees grew weak. And if there was one thing Alex expected less than that to happen, it was for her to wriggle one of her wrists free from his grasp and wrap it around his neck, pulling him ever closer.

She wasn't sure how long they had been standing there; it could have been anything from a minute to half an hour, but their kiss was stopped as unexpectedly as it had started.

'You whore'

Alex recoiled from Gene like a wound spring and her eyes to Peter who was standing in the mouth of the alley, his arms crossed, jaw set and his head shaking from side to side slowly.

'Pete' his name tumbled from her lips in a gasp but he was already storming away from the pair and down the street towards the club. Alex turned to Gene with horror, her eyes welling with tears. Without saying anything, she turned from him and stepped forwards to make after Peter, but she felt Gene's hand catch her wrist yet again and turn her back towards him.

'Alex...'

'Let go, Gene' she spat. 'Let me go' with her last word, she brought the hand being held by him up and then slammed it downwards forcing him to release her. It struck Gene that she looked stronger now than he ever thought he had seen her; shoulders set solid and jaw set forward a little, oozing fury. Their eyes met and stared for a second before she ripped her glare from him and spun on her heels, leaving the alley in a flurry of skirt and hair.

'Pete. Wait!' She called after the retreating figure of her boyfriend. Peters pace didn't falter as he stomped away from her.

'Fuck off, Alex' he threw over his shoulder.

'Pete! It's not what it loo-'

'Not what it looked like?!' that seemed to grab his attention and Peter finally stopped, spinning round to face his girlfriend, clearly absolutely livid 'Because it looked like you had your tongue down Hunt's throat to me. How was that 'not what it looked like'?!' He screamed at her across the street to where she stood a couple meters away from him.

'Can we do this somewhere else? she asked, acutely aware that every drunk and sober teen around them had stopped to listen into the argument.

'We can do it right here, right now' he yelled. 'Do you know how many people told me to stay the hell away from you?! One week into a new school and you already had a reputation as a slut. I really should have listened to them, shouldn't I?! Would have saved me a hell of a lot of aggro! Should have let Hunt have you from the start' She could see from the corner of her eye that a couple holding hands had actually stopped walking to see what was going on.

'Gene didn't want me from the start!' she felt her anger bubble, mixing with the alcohol that she had consumed, the argument not quite managing to sober her up.

'Well he clearly does now! He's welcome to you! The cheap slut and the macho bully of the school. You'll make a fantastic pair' Peter screamed, finally turning away from her and walking into the club through a cloud of smoke that was being emitted by the smokers by the door. Alex knew that she could either stand where she was and cry her eyes out at the pure humiliation of it all, or go and get smashed.

She chose the latter.

x-x-x-x

Seeing as she was unable to buy her own drinks because she was underaged and wouldn't be served, she walked into the throng of dancing bodies, swaying her hips more than she had before and raising her hands up above her head. As she had predicted, it wasn't long before a reasonably good looking boy came up to her, pressing himself against her back and swaying with her. She felt the urge to gag at his closeness, but plastered a smile on her face and turned to him, continuing to dance. From there, it was easy enough to motion that she wanted a drink and yell 'double vodka' at him and soon enough a small glass of clear liquid was placed in her hand. As soon as it was, she threw the sharp drink to the back of her throat, winced, and then began to walk away from the guy who had brought it for her. She felt him grab her arm and tried to shake him off, turning to shout at him but seeing one of the security guards instead. He held her wrist out to inspect and nodded, looking less than impressed.

'Didn't think so' he said at her lack of wristband which meant that she was over 18. 'Out you go' he pulled her to the door and shoved her out of it, leaving her on her own on the street. It had all happened so quickly that Alex was quite startled to find herself in the dark night without anyone. She'd lost track of Annie and Shaz when she had gone to speak to Gene and hadn't seen them since.

Gene. Oh god, what had she done? Well, she knew exactly what she'd done. She'd stopped lying to herself. Despite being completely humiliated by the way that they had broken up, it was a weight off her shoulders to find herself suddenly free from Peter and able to do what she wanted to with who she wanted to. But still, it was a bit of a shock to the system and she found that the tears in her eyes were suddenly spilling over and running down her cheeks in silent sobs. Stumbling a little, she made her way over to a bench and slumped down, resting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. It felt like she had been crying forever when she felt someone sit down next to her and eyes land on her. Turning her head to the side slightly to glance at who it was, she wasn't too shocked to see that it was Gene; she could sense him from a mile away.

'Oh god, leave me alone Gene. You've already ruined my night' she climbed to her feet the best she could and started to walk away from Gene but he was a whole lot quicker than her, putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her from leaving him .

'That's a nice thing to say after sharing a kiss with someone, Pricey. That's a really good chat up line' Alex spun and tried to bat him away from her but only succeeded in overbalancing and stumbling over her own feet. She didn't see Gene's eyeroll as he kept her upright and then bent down a little to pick her up in his arms.

'What're you doing. No. Stop. Stop it' she wriggled in his arms a little as he made his way towards his beloved red car but she soon stopped as she realised that she quite liked it where she was. He easily slipped her into the passengers seat and then climbed in his side, starting the engine. A thought suddenly struck Alex and she sat upright quickly, panic in her eyes

'No. No. You can't bring me home! Not like this. Fuck, Gene no stop. Wait' her words were a mess of worry and drunkerness but Gene just glanced over at her with amusement and shook his head.

'I'm not bringing you home, you daft tart. I'm bringing you to Annie's. That's where you're staying isn't it? I got her spare key off her earlier.' Alex felt a wave of peacefullness pass over her and she nodded, relaxing back into the seat again, her eyes drifting closed.

x-x-x-x

'Wakey wakey, Pricicle' She grumbled in protest against the light and being awoken. Through bleary eyes, she could see that she was in Annie's living room on one of her oh so comfortable sofas. Gene sat next to her, his coat taken off and slung to one side as he held a glass of water out to her.

'Drink this before you fall asleep again and choke on your own puke'

'Thanks for that' she moaned, sipping on the ice cold water that slid down her throat, refreshing her from the inside out. The pair sat in silence for a while as Alex continued to sip her drink and Gene watched her. Eventually she grew weary of the silence and looked over at him.

'Tonight was strange' she said with raised eyebrows. Gene let out a puff of laughter and nodded in agreement.

'That's one word for it'

'Why did you kiss me?' she blurted. She hadn't exactly been expecting the words to come out and clearly Gene didn't either, but she really needed to know. Gene seemed to consider it for a second and then shrugged.

'Because I've wanted to for ages' That was certainly not what Alex had expected to here and she dropped her gaze from him for a second, a very small blush creeping onto her cheeks. Not really sure what to say, she looked up at him again and a ghost of a smile crossed her lips.

'Still want to?' she whispered. Gene's response was a nod. A simple nod and a change in his position so that he was moving closer to her again, greeting her lips with another of his beautiful kisses that Alex was pretty sure she'd never get used to.

But boy would she like to try.

Time seemed to ebb and flow around them once more, becoming unimportant and insignificant and Alex found herself wondering why she hadn't surrendered herself to the thought of Gene earlier.

It wasn't until Annie and Shaz came stumbling in giggling that the couple realised that they were no longer alone.

'Seesh, not on my sofa!' Annie joked, throwing her keys at the living room table and missing spectacularly.

'About time!' Shaz yelled, rolling her eyes dramatically and then turning to Annie, falling a little as her sudden spin overbalanced her. 'I thought we were gonna make pasta?' she asked Annie who nodded and made their way to the kitchen to cook some drunkern food. Alex and Gene exchanged looks and after a moment of silence, Alex couldn't hold back the bubble of happiness forming in her stomach and collapsed against his chest with absolutely blissful laughter.

'Does this make me your new Peter then?' Gene asked her when her giggles had finally died away. Alex looked up at him shaking her head firmly no.

'Nu-uh. You're my new Gene. Is that okay?' she told him softly. Gene gave her the charming crooked smile that she loved so much.

'That's more than okay' he told her, snatching one more kiss before pulling her up to grab a plate full of the pasta Annie and Shaz were making, not letting go of her hand until it was absolutely necessary.

TBC...