Chapter 11
Gene glared at Ray. "That goal was in. You know it was."
"Guv! It was five feet wide of the goal!"
"Dunno, Ray," Chris said. "It looked in to me."
"Well, you're a twonk Chris, so it doesn't matter."
"Well, Raymondo. Let's see you use your thinking skills that your wife brags about so much. If you say I made this goal, then you don't have all of CID's paperwork for a week."
Ray looked down at the ground. "It's in," he mumbled.
"Sorry, Ray. Didn't catch that."
"It's in!" Ray said loudly.
Gene smirked. "I thought so. And you called Chris here a twonk."
He walked away, Chris by his side. Their footie match was three on three. It was Chris, Viv and him on one team and then Ray, his brother and his brother-in-law on the other.
"God!" Ray's brother-in-law Jim said. "It's bloody cold Ray! Why did you talk us into this?"
"Cause you and Gene got us kicked out of the pub within five minutes and Carrie wanted us out of the house until at least noon. She says that we'll only get in the way of cooking Christmas dinner."
"There's a proper woman there," Gene said. "Knows her place." He winked at Ray, knowing he couldn't say his mantra on the perfect woman in front of said woman's brother.
"Well, my knackers are about to fall off!" Ray's brother Rich said. "We've been out here for nearly a bloody hour. Do you think Carrie'll kill you if you go back now?"
"I don't think so," Ray said. She said to expect dinner round one anyway, so if we go now, we can all warm up a bit before dinner. And she'll probably say we smell awful make us take a shower as well."
"Not together I hope," Gene quipped. "I've got better things to see in life than your todger, Carling."
Ray said nothing, knowing the Guv's sense of humour well enough now. "Let's go back."
Gene nodded. "As much as the ladies love my knackers, they won't be so enthralled if they're blue."
There was a general agreement around the group and they all walked over to the cars. Viv had to go back home, but everyone else was all going to Ray's. Shaz was joining them there about noon.
Gene pulled out, his tyres squealing. Chris was sitting in the back and Ray in the passenger seat. "Oh, I forgot to tell you two. Carrie made a new friend yesterday at a bookstore."
"Why do we care?" Gene asked.
"Because the woman had no family so she's our charity case for the year. So she's told me to lecture you about being nice, Guv, because, and I quote 'Lexi is a very, very sweet woman.' She also wanted me to beg you to not try to get in her knickers."
"I never try to get in a girl's knickers, Ray. They pull them off and throw them at me when they see me. It's my irresistible Gene Genie charm."
Ray laughed, but he knew that the quick tongue was just a front that Gene had put up. To CID he looked like the Guv of old, ready with a witty remark, pulling any bird he wanted. It seemed as though the Guv was finally over Alex. But only Ray knew that this was fake. Most of the rumours of Gene going off with different birds had been spread around the office by Ray himself. Gene went home most nights after a few drinks at Luigi's, going back to search for any more sign of Alex. So far though, there had been nothing. She had disappeared, and she disappeared well. But London was the kind of city where you could hide easily.
"What's her name?" Gene asked suddenly.
"Lexi Cook."
"Jesus. How young is she?"
"She's about Carrie's age and," Ray made air quotes, "absolutely gorgeous. She's a beautiful blonde with a good pair-sonality, if what I interpreted from Carrie is right."
Gene sighed. Blonde wasn't his type. Neither were people named Lexi. Although, Carrie didn't want him in Lexi's knickers, so at least she wasn't trying to pair them up. She had done that enough over the past year.
Gene slowed to a stop in front of Ray's house. Jim and Rich pulled up behind them and they bundled in the house. "Carrie!" Ray called. "We're home."
He started toward the kitchen as the rest of the group started taking off their jackets and shoes. "Sorry we came back so early, we got kicked out of the pub and... BLOODY HELL!"
Ray's shout made the four other men jump and they all ran to the kitchen. Gene looked around, seeing a blonde woman and Carrie. He didn't understand why Ray was staring at the blonde with a look of utter shock on his face. The blonde was staring back and Gene started to study her.
"Oh my god," he murmured.
She turned when she heard his voice. Alex looked like a deer caught in headlights. "Gene," she whispered.
"Alex," he said quietly. The group stood frozen for a moment until Carrie spoke.
"So you two know each other then?"
That broke the silence and everyone started talking, explaining their story. Only Alex and Gene were silent, Gene staring at Alex, Alex looking for a way out. Suddenly, she jumped into motion, pushing past Ray and Chris and running to the front door. However, she was stopped there as the door opened and Shaz walked in, child in tow.
"Ma'am!" Shaz said, stunned, but Alex had pushed past her. She started running down the street with Gene following her.
"Alex! You stop!" he yelled.
She kept running, turning the corner and looked over her shoulder. Gene had picked up his pace a bit, turning the corner and starting to close in on her.
"Come on Bolly! Just stop and talk to me!"
She didn't stop, but he got close enough to put his arms around her waist and picked her up off the ground, slowing down and nearly falling over. Alex started to struggle immediately. Suddenly, she got a flashback of Ray doing the same thing five years previously. Chris was holding his face, deep red blood covering his hand. Gene was in the corner, clad in only his pants, scarlet pouring out of his chest, unconscious. The memory stunned her for a moment and she stopped struggling, focusing all her attention on keeping herself in the present. She was not going to let her mind take her back. Gene was alive and well and he was holding her around the waist.
Once she got focused, she started to struggle again. "Damn you Gene. Let me go!"
"No! Not until you promise not to run away."
"Fine. Now let me go!" He let her feet gently touch the ground and dropped his arms from her waist. Alex promptly turned and slapped him on the face.
"What the hell was that for?"
"For holding me like that. How dare you! And I told you not to try and find me!"
"I wasn't really trying, Alex. It's more your fault for being in Ray's house for Christmas dinner!"
"I didn't know it was Ray's house! Caroline just invited me yesterday." They were yelling loudly enough that the whole street could hear, the row rivalling those of the past in CID.
"Yeah, I heard about you being this year's charity case. 'Spending Christmas all alone,'" he whined sarcastically. "Did you just whinge to her so she'd invite you?"
"I never met her before yesterday! She asked me what I was doing and then insisted I come over! What, was I supposed make up this lovely fantasy about how I was going to have a huge Christmas feast and Tiny Tim would be announcing 'God bless us, everyone!'?"
"So you just decided to come over to Ray Carling's house after a year of avoiding all of us?"
"I didn't know she was Ray's wife. The last I really knew Ray there was no way he was going to settle down."
"You mean you had no idea where you were going or what you were getting into, but you came anyway? Christ, Bolly! You never did have any common sense."
"Caroline was nice enough," Alex said defensively.
"And that's how people lure you in! You may be a psychologist but you're not that fantastic at reading people."
Alex was speechless. Eventually she made a noise of disgust and turned around, starting to stalk off. Gene grabbed her wrist.
"No. Stay for dinner."
"Gene, I've spent the past year staying away from you lot. I can't just come back for one day."
"Then stay. Just come back."
Alex shook her head. "I covered this."
"You mean in that bloody letter? You never even gave me a chance to respond."
"You know as well as I do that I was right. It's better if I stay away. What happens when you get hurt on the job? If I don't know, I can't go back."
"You won't."
"That's what they said last time. But, funnily enough, I remember staring out a window for a week solid. And, as strange as it may seem, I don't really want to go back to that!"
"You remember the last time?"
"I don't remember the first few days. I remember you coming in to talk to me and then the world was hazy for several days before it cleared and I could move again."
"So you were never as far gone as you were before!"
"The first few days, yes I was. And again, going near you increases my likelihood of going back. What would you do if I went back like that Gene? You'd come visit me, you'd dread it, but you'd stay devoted to me. Just like you did for four years. I'm bad for you. I'm bad for all of you. If I stay away, you get a life."
Gene stared at her, unwilling to say what he was thinking. He didn't want to sound soft and daft, but he felt like he needed to. "I don't want a life without you in it." He immediately cringed at how corny that sounded.
"No, Gene. I'm sorry."
"Alex, please."
He was pleading with her, and that made it hurt more. Gene never pleaded with anyone. However, she shook her head no and started to walk away, wiping the tears away before they started to flow.
"Let me take you home at least? I'm sure it's going to be a walk, and it's bloody cold."
"No. Not even a ride, Gene," she said without turning around. She could feel his eyes on her back, just staring at her, but she didn't turn around. She walked slowly down the road, freezing cold, but glad that she hadn't accepted the ride from Gene. She just wished that she had grabbed her jacket.
Tears were still falling down her face fifteen minutes later, but she let them fall without wiping them away. How could she still be so attached to this man after even a year? It wasn't right. They both needed to move on.
Alex looked up, seeing two people standing with their backs to her on a corner next to a parked car. She braced herself, wiping her tears, trying to not look like a total mess as she passed them. "Excuse me," she muttered.
"No," one of the women said. Alex looked up to see Shaz and Caroline standing in front of her. "We're not letting you go home," Shaz said. "You're going to have dinner with us, and you're going to play with my son Lee, and then at the end of the day you will go home. But not before. And you're not going to give us the crap about it being for the best either. Because everyone in that CID office misses you, Alex, Gene most of all."
"Shaz," Alex started, but Shaz cut her off.
"No bullshit ma'am. Now listen, I understand your reasons, but you've got to put your past behind you. Now, do you want a day full of laughter and family, which is what Christmas is supposed to be about, or do you want to spend the day drinking and being miserable? Let me make the choice for you. Now shut up and get in the car."
Alex stared at Shaz, wondering when the girl had suddenly gotten so strong willed. "You've been hanging out with Gene too much, Shaz," Alex said with a smile.
"You're not the first person to say that. Carrie told me that as well on our way over here."
Caroline blushed and looked down. "I'm sorry, Lexi. I didn't know..."
Alex held up her hand. "Don't blame yourself. You didn't tell me anyone's name and I didn't bother to ask. And I accepted to come over here anyway."
"Good," Shaz said. "Now get in the car."
Shaz continued her lecture in the car. "I hope you don't think you're going off and disappearing again, Ma'am. We all missed you and have been trying to find you since you sent us all those ridiculous letters at the beginning of the year."
"I told you not to!"
"And who of CID do you think is going to listen? Gene? Chris might, but he didn't even understand his. Ray wouldn't. You know how we are. We're all completely insubordinate, but we get the job done. We learned it from you, you know. At least I did."
"Are you yelling at Gene in my place, Shaz?"
"Only when he's being irritating, homophobic or racist."
"Which is all the time." The three women laughed, and continued the car ride, Shaz and Caroline talking excitedly, but Alex staying quiet in the back. This was what she had been trying to avoid for the past year. Now here she was, stuck for the day with Gene and Shaz and Ray and Chris. She had to disappear again. But where would she go?