Disclaimer: Anything you recognise belongs to the BBC/Kudos. Anything else, including mistakes are mine!

So, this is the final chapter that I had pre written, and I must warn you that I have a complete block now, so I have no idea when you'll get the next chapter! It's a lot easier to write them when they're not together than it is when they are!

Big thanks to warbs1981 for beta duties.

Part 5 of 5

(Prompt – Truth)

Nothing But The Truth

Friday 16th April 1982 - Morning

Opening one bleary eye, still half asleep, Alex glanced over to try and see the clock on the nightstand before realising that she wasn't at home. She groped around for her watch, her arm hitting something solid which fell to the floor with a crash, making her jump.

"What the bloody hell…?" Came a gruff voice from her left, causing her to freeze in place, before slowly turning her head and coming face to face with Gene. She blinked as the last vestiges of sleep drained away from her; the previous night and the early morning interlude flooding back into her mind. She took a moment to take in his sleep-rumpled hair and heavy lidded eyes, realising how much she had wanted to see him like this again since the first time. A blush rose in her cheeks and she turned away, her stomach jumping with a sudden bout of nerves.

"Sorry," she murmured, "I knocked the champagne over."

"Never waste alcohol, Bolly, have I taught you nothing?" Gene's voice was calm. To hear him speak you would never know that his mind was whirling trying to think of something to say, of how to act; in fact anything that would stop her from running away again.

"I…We'd better get up," she said, moving to climb out of the bed, before realising that she was naked and quickly pulling the covers up to her neck.

Gene's eyes hadn't left her since he'd first spoke and so he was treated to the sight of her long, lean and very alluring body for just a moment, before she hid her body from view.

"It's a bit late to be covering up now, Bols," he said finally, casually reaching across her for his trousers, pulling out his cigars and lighter.

Her eyes widened as their naked bodies touched under the covers, her stomach tightening in response to the slight brush of skin against skin. With another blush she swung her legs out of the bed, barely missing the shards of glass on the carpet from the broken glass.

"Shit," she muttered, looking around the room before remembering that she'd arrived barefoot. She spotted his boots lying on the floor and reached for them, pulling them on; still trying to hold the covers up against her chest.

A quick glance around told her that her nightshirt had been flung across the room and that if she wanted it she would have to walk across the room naked. Shaking her head, she grabbed Gene's shirt off of the end of the bed and pulled it on.

Without a word, she stood and headed for the tiny en suite bathroom, reaching out to grab her ruined nightshirt as she passed.

"Wait," said Gene, watching her get ready to bolt, just like last time. She turned slowly; one hand clutching the silk she'd been wearing the night before, the other holding his shirt tightly around her.

"What?" She asked softly, a vulnerable look on her face that made his stomach twist painfully.

"Put your nightie down, Bolly," he said quietly, waiting until she had done so before letting his gaze rake over her dressed only in his boots and shirt. "Christ, you're gorgeous," he murmured, wanting to keep the image in his mind forever; not knowing if he would ever see her like this again.

He stared at her for so long that she almost moved to turn away, but his words seemed to have frozen her in place.

"Come here," he said, knowing that this time he wasn't going to back down, shrug it off as a mistake. They'd come too far now.

"I can't," she whispered. "We can't. You know it as well as I do. It was a mistake last time and it was a mistake this time. You were right, this is all my fault. I pushed for the truth and now I can't handle the consequences." She stayed where she was, a look of almost fear on her face as he pulled back the covers and climbed out of the bed. She tried to tear her eyes away from the sight of him walking toward her, completely naked, but her eyes seemed glued to him.

He could see her confusion, her fear of what was happening between them and as much as it scared him too, he wasn't willing to walk away this time.

"It wasn't a mistake, Bolly," he said gruffly, lifting her chin so that she was looking up at him. "Not then and not now and you bloody well know it." She tried to pull her chin out of his grasp but he held her firmly in place. "I don't know it, Gene. All I know is that things were just getting back to normal between us and now they've been smashed apart again."

He let go of her chin and she turned to leave again, but before she could move, he'd gripped the edges of the shirt and pulled her close, his heart pounding. "If you're leaving because you don't want me then that's fine. If it's because you just needed an itch scratching last night and now you've changed your mind I'll accept that too." His gaze roamed her face, dipping down to her soft, pink lips and back up to meet her eyes.

"But I want to hear you say it."

Alex's brow crinkled in confusion. "Say what? I've said all there is to say…"

"Tell me you don't want me, Alex, look me in the eye and tell me that whatever it is between us, is gone now. You asked me for honesty last night, now I'm asking for the same back. Tell me and I'll walk away. We can forget what happened last night and go back to how we were."

Looking into his eyes, Alex was shocked at what she saw in the deep blue depths. There was no game playing, no trickery or avoidance, just openness, a rare glimpse into his very being and it called to her. The part of her that was sick of being sad and alone, of having no one there when she woke from the nightmares, and of not having him know how she really felt.

"Whatever it is between us…isn't gone, Gene," she said quietly, reaching out to tentatively place her hands on his chest. "It was never gone and I doubt it ever will be."

She stepped in closer, feeling him loosen his hold slightly on her shirt. "I do want you, I always have…" She saw it then, the relief in his eyes at her answer, the lines on his face softening as he lifted one hand to caress her cheek. "Bolly…"

"But that doesn't change the fact that we can't be together. Our jobs, the team, it's not professional."

"Bollocks to professional!" He said suddenly angry, startling her as he moved away. "And bollocks to the team. If they can't accept…this, then I don't even want them on my bloody team! As for the job, well I think we're both old enough to be able to handle working together and being …together." He paced back to the bed, suddenly cursing and sitting down heavily on the edge, grabbing his foot.

For a moment, Alex was too stunned by Gene's outburst to even notice that he was hurt, and then she saw the blood beginning to drip onto the carpet. "Gene?"

"S'nothing, Bols," he said, grimacing as he saw the shard of glass sticking out of the arch of his foot.

"Oh god," she said softly, rushing to his side and carefully kneeling down before him, taking his foot between her hands and inspecting the damage. "I'm going to have to try and get the glass out, then it will have to be cleaned and dressed and…"

"Don't start fussing, Bolly." He replied gruffly, trying to slap her hands away. "I was shot, and I managed just fine. This is only a scratch!"

Alex raised her eyebrows at him, before returning her attention to his injury. "Yes I'm sure you were very brave and I'm suitably impressed by your manliness…"

"Shit!" Gene swore as she quickly pulled the glass out. "Give a bloke some warning before you do that, Bols!"

"Sorry," she murmured, although there was a smirk on her face as she looked around for something to staunch the flow of blood with.

"Here," he said, reaching over and picking up her nightshirt, watching as she took it and held it gently to his foot.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Gene turned his head to look at her. "So…" He said finally.

"So…" She replied quietly, looking up at him, her chest tight with a mixture of fear and excitement. Even just having woken up, she thought he was gorgeous. Rough around the edges, no nonsense, bad tempered, and now it seemed, hers.

"So, we're doing this, me and you?" He asked, silently praying to anyone that might be listening that he didn't fuck it all up.

She held his gaze for a moment, tilting her head, before giving him a small smile. "Yes, we're doing this," she whispered, leaning forward to plant a soft kiss on his lips. "Me and you."