Edited, but un-betad as there seems to be some clamoring for smut. Feel free to PM me if there are glaring Americanisms (ie: Gene would never say that was a shoe, he'd call it a pineapple). I'll be happy to edit later for your future reading enjoyment.
Thanks!
--
Somehow, asleep, they worked it out.
At least that's what Alex thought. She woke a few hours later, Gene's leg weighing heavily across her lower body, his arm across her waist. His hand had slid under her shirt and rested lightly over her stomach. She curled into him, pressing her mouth against his chest before she'd even remembered the night before. They hadn't fought, she recalled. He'd just left, coming home hours later. Drunk, she'd assumed. She sniffed him, tilting her face up towards his. Whiskey and fags. No sign of another woman, that was good. She kissed his chest, her tongue tracing lightly over his skin as he moaned in his sleep. She imagined it must bother him, anyone thinking he was weak, thinking he was soft. Especially someone on his own team thinking it. But he wasn't. Not in the way he thought, they way he was worried about. She wasn't sure she could make him understand. This time he needed to do it on his own. She kissed him again.
She didn't know that Gene had lay awake after getting into bed, his back to Alex until he heard the deep steady breaths that meant she was asleep. Rolling over, he'd pulled her close, tucking his face into the crook of her neck, taking comfort in the fact that she was there next to him. It had taken a half-dozen pints and several glasses of whiskey to work it out, but he'd finally realized what he had already known. It occurred to him as he fell asleep that he really should tell her.
He woke when he felt her move next to him. At least she wasn't pulling away. He moaned when he felt her lips against his chest, her tongue on his skin. Maybe she wasn't too angry. He slid his hand over her thigh, between her legs and a quiet "Ah" escaped her as his fingers entered her. She was wet and inviting. Couldn't be too angry, he thought.
"Thought I was making you soft, Gene" she whispered, half asleep, but she pushed herself down further onto him. She could feel him hard against her leg.
"Not at the moment" he thrust his fingers into her, his thumb teasing over her clit as she rolled to her back, her hands tangling in his hair.
Alex whimpered as Gene withdrew his fingers and hooked his arm under her leg, lifting it to her shoulder. Catching her eyes for a moment, he captured her mouth, bruising her lip with his teeth. He wanted it to last, to take forever, but as he entered her he knew it couldn't, he couldn't. She was too wet, too ready and he was too hard, too eager. As she pushed her hips toward him he pulled back, breaking their kiss with gasp to draw breath. Alex dug her fingers into his arse and pulled him into her again, guiding his thrusts as he grunted and whispered, "No, god no. Please, not yet." His body screamed as he bit her shoulder and she climaxed, her orgasm ripping through her body. As Alex shook and shuddered against him Gene stopped fighting, giving in to her, giving in to his body, spilling everything he had, his face buried in her neck.
--
An hour later Alex crawled out from under Gene's sleeping form, bathed and hurried early to the station. They'd both fallen back to sleep almost immediately, still tangled in each other's arms, neither of them speaking. She wasn't sure she wasn't still angry about the night before.
As she walked through the doors Viv caught her attention as he hung up the phone.
"Inspector" he hung up the phone. "Possible kidnapping. Woman says her nine year old son is missing. Put him to bed last night, went to wake him this morning and he wasn't there." He raised his eyebrows.
"Taken from his bed?" Alex had a hard time believing it. "Suspicious. Address?" Viv handed her a slip of paper. "Wait a minute Viv, this says Sharon Wrenfield." He nodded. "As is the wife of MP Ted Wrenfield?"
Viv grabbed the slip back from Alex, looking at the address and nodding slowly. "Oh my. I think you're right, Ma'am."
"Shit. Viv, call DCI Hunt and tell him to meet me at this address." She turned to leave but turned back. "Who's in?"
"Just DC Skelton, Ma'am."
Alex ran towards the squad room. "And ring Hunt until he wakes up!" She shouted back at Viv.
--
Arriving at the house with Ray in tow, Gene found Alex in the dining room interviewing the missing boy's parents. He left Ray to search the house and nodded at Alex when he entered the room. He needed to talk to her, she'd got up and left without waking him, but now really wasn't the time.
"This is DCI Hunt," she introduced him as he came into the room. "Sharon and Ted Wrenfield. Their nine year old son David is missing." Ted Wrenfield reached across the table and offered Gene his hand, which he shook awkwardly. People rarely wanted to shake his hand. And when they did he couldn't help but not trust them. Maybe it's a habit for an MP he thought to himself.
"Don't let me interrupt, please. Inspector Drake will fill me in." She was sitting at the table, and he stood behind her.
Sharon Wrenfield had been talking when he walked in and Gene watched her as she went back to answering Alex's questions. The woman was clearly distraught and had been crying for who knew how long.
"No, I was asleep when Ted got home last night."
"I was late at the office. I came in around 1:30 am."
"Did you check on your son?" Alex asked.
"No. I don't want to wake him when I come in late, so I usually don't. It had been a difficult day. I had a nightcap and went to bed."
Alex turned to Mrs. Wrenfield. "Did you wake up when your husband came in?"
The woman shook her head. "No. I'm a sound sleeper."
"If you're trying to confirm what time I returned, you can ask our housekeeper, Kitty. She lives in the house. She was in the kitchen having a snack when I came in. She can verify the time."
"Thank you" Alex smiled kindly. "I will need to confirm a number of the facts you've told me, in order to determine what time your son might have disappeared. Can you arrange for all members of the household staff to be available to us?"
"Yes. Of course. Everyone who was here this morning is here. I asked everyone to gather in the downstairs kitchen."
"Together?" Great, Gene thought. Plenty of time for everyone to get their stories straight.
"Yes." Ted answered.
Alex stood. "I think that's enough for now. Can you take us downstairs?" Ted nodded and they followed him out of the room.
--
It was gone 2 by the time they'd finished interviewing the staff. There were five employees in the house at the time, and they took their time with each of them. Gene and Alex had spent another hour following Chris and Ray around the house, looking carefully at anything that might be evidence without disturbing it. Forensics had arrived and were working their way through the house as well. They had all noticed the large collection of prescription bottles on Mrs. Wrenfield's bedside table.
"No wonder she's a sound sleeper, eh?" Gene quipped.
When they'd finished their search the four of them gathered on the pavement, Gene looking up at the house. "Bloody big house" he barked to no one.
"Well, he is an MP. Suppose they must keep up appearances." Alex turned around to look. It wasn't so different from the house she grew up in and she felt a quiet melancholy sweep over her. Shouldn't dwell on it, she told herself as she turned and walked towards the squad car she'd parked hours before.
"Seems like showing off to me" Gene grumbled behind her. "Where you goin'?" He stood on the pavement, next to the Quattro. He didn't want it to sound tense, but it did anyway.
"I drove the car here" she challenged.
"Ray c'n drive it back." He nodded her toward his car "Give 'im the keys." He then walked around and got in, starting the engine while he waited for her.
Alex shook her head with an exaggerated sigh, glaring at Ray as she flipped the keys in the air. This was all his bloody fault anyway.
Ray rolled his eyes at Alex but missed the keys, and Chris had to stifle a laugh as they jangled to the pavement.
"Piss off and get in" Ray growled as he picked up the keys.
--
Alex bit her thumbnail as Gene sped away, driving much faster than usual and having to swerve to miss a biker and a parked car that had appeared out of nowhere before they'd gone three blocks.
"Watch what you're bloody doing!" she finally shouted at him.
"Keep quiet and let me drive!" he barked back.
Alex was beyond frustrated. "Is this why I'm riding with you? So we can argue about your homicidal driving habits?"
He scowled at her, swerving again to avoid a bus that had pulled out in front of them.
"Christ! Gene!"Her hands hit the dashboard bracing for the impact that never came.
"Shit" Gene swerved again, narrowly missing several pedestrians crossing in front of him before finally pulling the car to a stop at a random curbside.
"What the bloody hell is your problem?" We have a very serious case on our hands, Gene. A nine year old boy is missing, his parents are distraught, and you're driving like a bloody madman! We need to focus. You need to focus, Gene. Were you even paying attention back at the house?"
"Of course I was! Alex, I…"
"No. Whatever nonsense you've got in your head, whatever problem you're having with us has to be put aside. We will deal with it when the case is over."
He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I'm not goin' anywhere Alex. Just needed to think."
"And you need to think in a pub with a gallon of whiskey in your bloodstream?" She was shrieking, angrier than she'd let herself admit to being.
"Apparently" he mumbled, looking out his side window. He turned after a minute. "Is our entire relationship going to be based around me apologizing to you!"
"I bloody hope not Gene. We have better things to do." She softened a little. "Let it go for now, please. We can deal with it later. We need to find this boy."
He nodded. He didn't need any distractions either. "Fill me in then." He gunned the Quattro and she gave him all the details as they drove back to the station under more normal speed.
--
Back at the station the four of them worked through the information gathered at the Wrenfield's. There were three members of the staff they hadn't spoken to, but one was confirmed to be on holiday in Spain for the past week so they dismissed him.
"Why do they have so much bloody household help?" Ray asked, staring through a cloud of smoke at the whiteboard full of information. He'd been helpful, but Alex thought a bit more confrontational than necessary. Both to her and to Gene. Gene ignored it, scowling a bit when Ray got testy, but it was beginning to get on Alex's nerves.
"Can we please focus on the case Ray? It doesn't matter why. They do, so we have to talk with them. "
"Of course, Ma'am." His voice had a slight mocking tone.
"Thank you" she returned his tone then went back to the board. "We know Mrs. Wrenfield is taking some rather strong sleeping aids. So it's not unlikely that she would sleep through any noise an intruder would make. The housekeeper, Kitty, was probably around, but she sleeps in a room off the kitchen on the garden level so she might not hear any noise upstairs."
Chris interrupted. "Yeah. And I found an almost empty bottle of sherry in her room. She might not hear anything anyway." He waved his notes at Alex.
"Great. Thanks Chris. What about the rest of them?"
"Uniform's gone to pick up the other two staff members. Think they're gardeners, but they had they day off. " Ray went back to his notes.
Gene leaned against the wall with his hands in pockets, listening to the breakdown and staring at the board. Something wasn't making sense but he couldn't figure out what it was yet.
He was still lost in thought when Viv interrupted, handing Gene an envelope. "From the Chief Super's office, Guv" he raised his eyebrows.
"Bloody great" Gene sighed, opening the envelope and reading to himself as the discussion continued. After five minutes he stormed into his office and slammed the door shut, leaving everyone staring at each other, mouths agape.
After a minute Alex shrugged and followed him. "Be right back. Ray, you lead the discussion."
--
"Gene?" she opened the door and entered without knocking. "What is it?"
"Stupid bloody know-nothings upstairs have developed a new 'Code of Behavior' for the workplace. Did you know about this?" He snapped at her.
She shrugged. "I knew it was possible, but I didn't work on it. Can't be that bad, what does it say?" She reached for the sheet of paper he handed her. "Gene, this isn't that bad" she set it on his desk as he looked up at her from his chair, eyebrows raised.
"It's bad enough. No swearing, no pinups. They're not bloody schoolgirls. They only thing that'd be worse is if they banished fags from the office."
Just wait, Alex thought. "It's just a new set of regulations. All you need to do is post it in the kitchen and move on. These sorts of things never amount to any real change in behavior unless someone complains about it." She looked out his office window. "Which of them is going to complain that there is swearing in the squad room?"
"None if they know what's good for 'em." Alex sighed. "Fine. I'll post it in the kitchen. And I'll tell 'em the pinups have to come down by the end o' the week, but that's it."
"It'll be enough. Let's get back to work." He followed her out of his office.
--
It was after nine when they finished up, Gene ordering everyone home to get some rest, or to the bar to drink, their choice. Everyone chose the bar.
"Something's not right about this" he took Alex's hand as they walked down the street. Chris, Shaz and Ray were following a few steps behind them. "There should've been a ransom note by now."
"I know. It doesn't feel like any of the staff, but I'm still not sure about the parents."
Gene nodded, "But what's the motive? He wasn't sick, they aren't splittin' up, not that we can tell anyway. There's a piece missing."
"I don't think it would have been difficult to take that boy out of the house between the time his mother went to bed and his father came home, but at this point there's not telling who might've done it."
Gene nodded, silent as the conversation behind them came closer.
"Did you see the note posted in the kitchen?" He asked Chris. "No more pinups! No swearin'! I can't believe the Guv'd just lie down and take that. Not CID without the pinups."
"It's just new rules Ray, won't stop us from fighting criminals." Chris shrugged as Shaz hung on his arm.
"Yer just as bad as him! Goin' all soft because of a bird, both of you. Forget what it's like to be a real man."
Chris stopped and looked at him like he was crazy, but neither of them noticed Gene turn on his heel and take a step towards Ray.
"Do you need to take a poke at me, Ray?" Gene hissed.
"No Guv" he swallowed.
"Because from what I can tell you seem to think my judgment is a bit lacking lately."
Ray didn't say anything, but Alex saw his eyes harden a little as he shook his head.
"Good. Next time you question my judgment in front of any member of my team you'd better be swinging at me, because I will flatten you. Now I'm going to go home, with my bird, and shag her 'til she's bloody hoarse from callin' out my name. If you think that reduces the level of my manhood, I suggest you take a long hard look at what you'll be doin' with yours for the rest of the evening."
Gene turned, grabbing a stunned Alex by the hand and dragging her through the door leading to their flat, passing Luigi's entirely.
Shaz sighed dreamily as Chris pulled her towards the bar.
--
Half an hour later Alex was lying on her back, giggling, Gene's face buried between her thighs.
"Stop bloody laughin' at me" he growled, lifting his face to look up at her. "Yer s'posed t'be calling out my name."
She laughed harder. "I'm sorry! It tickles! You've got fuzz on your cheeks!" Alex propped herself up on her elbows. "And you're still dressed! How are you still dressed and I'm naked. This always happens! I will not scream anything until you've got your clothes off."
"Fine." He sat up. "'N your not naked, look. You've still got yer bra on." He leaned over her, eyes burning into hers as he slid his hand around her back and unhooked the lacy garment. Lying naked under him while he was still fully clothed was turning her on, and she hummed lightly into his ear. Her hands reached for the buttons of his shirt as his fingers gently tugged her bra straps down over her shoulders before he disposed of it by throwing it backwards over his, ignoring her attempt to undress him.
"Mmmmm. There" he kissed her shoulder, gently running his mouth over her skin until his tongue swirled over her already hard bud and she arched her back toward him with a quiet moan. "Now yer naked," he whispered.
Gene moved back, nipping at Alex's leg on the way as he stood at the foot of the bed and started to undress. He removed his tie, already loose and swinging around his neck. His eyes never left Alex as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt, leaving it hanging open as he unbuttoned his cuffs, shrugging it off when he'd pulled the ends out from the waistband of his trousers and letting it drop to the floor. He felt his cock twitch when Alex bit her bottom lip as he unbuckled his belt, pulling the leather through the loops slowly before it joined his shirt in a pile. Trousers and boxers followed quickly, and he couldn't help running one hand along his stiff length before he rejoined Alex on the bed.
"Fuck me Gene" she whispered as he kissed her forehead, her nose.
"Eventually" he growled into her mouth as he kissed her, his tongue thrusting aggressively as she wriggled her body upward against his.
Abandoning her mouth Gene sucked each nipple in turn, hard, teeth working on each one until Alex bucked under him, whimpering with desire, wrapping her legs around his back.
"Come on Gene, I want you right now." He could hear the desperation in her voice and raised his head to look at her with a satisfied smile.
"Scream, Alex" he grinned moving lower, his tongue reaching her clit, expertly exploring her folds, tasting her reaction as her hands held his head against her.
"Gene, oh god, Gene" his tongue moved inside her, driving her on as she writhed against his mouth, his tongue. "Oh god, almost there, please don't stop."
Gene lifted his head "You're close, Alex?"
"Oh god yes, just go back to what you were doing, please Gene!
"Good." He kissed the inside of her thigh, sucking gently at first, then harder, biting.
"Bastard!" She finally did scream "Gene Hunt!" He sucked harder on her tender flesh as she howled, her tone changing from anger to ecstasy as his fingers entered her, teasing inside, swirling her clit. "Gene, oh fuck, oh god. Bastard" she breathed.
As Alex felt herself on the edge, ready to burst, Gene stopped again and she cried in unsatisfied anguish. Before she had time to vocalize her objection he crushed her mouth with his and she felt him enter her hard and fast, thrusting deep as he pushed both her legs over, her knees practically banging against her ears.
"Scream Alex" he barked hoarsely as he drove into her, "My name, call my name."
"Gene! Oh god Gene! Yes! Yes, Gene yes!" and she kept doing it until her insides ached and she came clenching around him, spilling over him onto the sheets as he continued thrusting.
"Oh, very good Alex, that's good." She screamed again as he withdrew "Nooo!" but he turned her over, guiding his throbbing cock back into her heat, pulling her hips against him as he pushed in, driving up, thrusting harder "Again, do it again" it was a command this time. "Can't, oh god" she threw her head back, like an animal. "Not again, can't Gene, god Gene!" but she screamed and screamed until she climaxed again and, sweaty and shaking, Gene exploded into her, holding her tight against him as he emptied himself, finally collapsing together on the bed, Gene's head resting on her back.