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(Prompt – New Year)

Auld Lang Syne

Date: Thursday 31st December 1981

"Luigi's again? Really?" Alex shook her head. "You lot need to get out more, or else I need to get some non Police friends!" Alex sat back in her chair and let out a sigh. It was New Years Eve and she wasn't in the best of moods. She'd never imagined that she would still be here to see in 1982, in fact she'd dearly hoped that she wouldn't be, but here she was, still sitting at her desk, with her nameplate in front of her, being told that CID's big New Year party would be held, surprise, surprise, at Luigi's.

"I don't know what you're getting so worked up about, Bols. Luigi's is our local and it's close to the station if we get called back in." Gene shook his head. She always had to argue, even about something as stupid as where they drank. "I thought you'd have been pleased, at least when you've had enough you can just stagger up the stairs to bed, not like the rest of us who actually have to travel home."

Alex looked up at Gene who was perched on the edge of her desk. "Oh really, so when you get absolutely smashed out of your head tonight, you're going to attempt to make your way home, are you? Or is it more likely that once again I will be woken by the sound of you banging on my door so you can crash of my sofa?"

Gene looked mildly insulted. "I think you'll find, DI Drake, that we were using that sofa to crash on long before you turned up. I fail to see why we have to stop using it just because you live there now!"

"There is no 'we' Gene, you're the only person who ever still uses it as though you bloody live there!" She smiled as Shaz placed two cups of coffee on her desk and picked one up, sipping it, before wincing and handing it to Gene, taking the other one.

"Well that's because I told the others that they couldn't use it anymore. What kind of DCI would I be if I subjected my team to the sight of you first thing in the morning, Bolly? I might be a bastard but I'm not that much of a bastard!" Ray sniggered from behind his newspaper and ignored Alex's glare.

"Oh well as long as you've got the team's best interests at heart, that's okay then," she replied sarcastically. "Although that doesn't explain why I still have to be subjected to the sight of you first thing in the morning, does it?"

Sitting on Chris's desk, Shaz giggled. "They're like an old married couple," she whispered to Chris. "I hope we don't end up like that!"

"I'll have you know, Bolly, that you are the envy of women up and down the country for waking up to the sight of the Gene Genie, I'm usually long gone by then!"

"I would think that would be a relief for women up and down the country to not have to wake up to you, Gene," she replied with a smirk.

"I don't think there's any fear of us turning out like them, Shaz, I mean we're in love aren't we?" Chris said. Shaz just rolled her eyes at her boyfriend. Men were so dense sometimes.

~~

"Come on, Bols, join in, it's only going to turn 1982 once," said Gene pulling her off of the stool to stand in front of the television and watch Big Ben as it approached midnight. He rested his hands lightly on her shoulders as he stood behind her, trying to ignore the familiar, comfortable feeling that washed over him as she rested back against him.

"That's what you think," she mumbled, wondering how many 1982's she would have to endure. But she stood amongst her colleagues and friends, closing her eyes for a moment as she felt the warm, comforting presence of Gene standing behind her, the welcome weight of his hands on her shoulders. "Sod it," she whispered, leaning back against him and reaching for his hands, pulling them around her shoulders as Shaz started the countdown from ten to one.

Gene joined in the countdown but his attention was solely focused on his DI. Standing together like this, his arms wrapped around her, he felt like part of a couple for the first time since his divorce, and realised that a small piece of him had missed it, this casual intimacy. Then Big Ben struck twelve and a cheer went up around the crowded bar.

"Happy New Year DI Drake," he said softly, leaning close to her ear to be heard. Her eyes stayed glued to the screen for a few moments even though she knew there would be no magnificent fireworks display with the London Eye as its centrepiece. It would be almost twenty years until that happened. But standing here in Gene's arms, she felt that same sense of home that she'd felt on Christmas day. She smiled at his soft words and turned in his arms. "Happy New Year DCI Hunt," she replied, looking up at him, her heart beginning to race as their eyes met.

She tilted her head ever so slightly in invitation, wanting more than anything else, at that moment to belong in this world, with him. He froze as she looked up at him. The alcohol she'd consumed softened her eyes but he knew she wasn't drunk, and neither was he. He lowered his mouth to hers without a second thought, kissing her gently, oblivious to the revelry going on around them.

Alex felt Gene's soft kiss all the way through her body and returned it gladly, her lips parting slightly under his... A tug on her arm pulled her out of Gene's embrace. "Come on Ma'am, Guv, it's time for 'Auld Lang Syne'!" Chris shouted grabbing her hand and crossing their arms as they attempted to sing along even though they all only knew half the words. She saw Gene opposite her, his hands linked with Shaz and their eyes met once again. She gave him a smile, before laughing as Ray elbowed Chris for getting the words wrong.

Gene was struck for a moment by how completely beautiful she was when she smiled so naturally, and his stomach tightened as she directed it at him. He returned it, feeling genuinely happy for the first New Years Eve in a long time as they said goodbye to 1981. He was a little sad to see it go though, after all, 1981 had been the year that brought him Alex Drake.