So, I'm back with another story...well...an old story. Why? For reasons I won't get into, I didn't like what happened in Avenging Heaven or how it ended (even as I was writing it). I'm not going to say it was bad or insult it; I know that it was fairly well liked at the time and it was a good reflection of my writing skills and process in 2010. But I'm trying to get the writing bug back after losing it many years ago and rewriting some old fanfic that I personally can't stomach rereading seemed like a good place to start. This version of Avenging Heaven is not trying to be better or worse, just different and something I enjoy more. And has definitely become an entirely different story. Unfortunately, you do need to read Only Scarlet Avenges Sable in order to fully understand what is happening here, but I think you could be able to read it as a standalone. I hope you enjoy it!
"Get a move on BollyKecks!" Gene yelled up the staircase. "Ray's just had a tasty tip off and we need to get there now, if not bloody sooner!"
"Jesus, I'm just getting my shoes on," Alex said, hopping down the last step as she pulled on an ankle high boot. She stood, looking at him levelly for a moment before she spoke. "I thought you said we needed to leave?"
"Mouthy cow," she heard him mutter to himself and smirked as she walked away. Alex knew that as she walked toward the scarlet Quattro Gene was watching her arse sway, but let it happen. She had been living with Gene for nearly two years, and finally, their relationship had gone to the next level again. She felt safe in his arms at night, finally able to be touched by another man.
It had been a long and difficult two years since she had been literally crucified. After Burns' trial, Annie had found her a psychologist to talk to. "It's not because I don't want to help," she had told Alex. "I do, and I feel like I am. But I'm not a professional. I'm a copper first and a psychologist second."
After much deliberation and a little bit of rage, Alex had agreed to see someone. Indeed, it had helped and her progress had gone from small steps to large steps to full strides. She had started by eating, going from a few bites a day to snacks to full meals. She didn't cower when people stared at her. She was able to start looking them in the eye.
Allowing herself to talk, however, was something that she still struggled with. Being punished for merely making a sound without permission had left her far quieter than she had been when she had first arrived. Even now, when she could carry on a conversation easily, she still tended to lapse into silence, sometimes before the conversation was done. The problem was that when this happened, her thoughts would trail as well. After six weeks with nothing but her own tortured thoughts for company, barring the hundred or so hours total when her colleagues were held prisoner as well, she found she tended to get lost in them.
Gene had been an immense help through everything, seemingly able to tell when she was in an introspective mood or actually getting lost in the dark memories. He helped to pull her out when things got too rough, and when she finally allowed him to touch her again, he would hold her when she cried. Of course, the embrace was always rife with threats of what he would do to her if she told CID about his soft side, but that usually made her start laughing, leaving the past where it belonged.
"Earth to BollyKecks," Gene's voice said, not unkindly. Alex startled out of her reverie, surprised to see that they were at the office already. She hadn't even realised that Gene had gotten into the car, much less that they had traveled the twenty minutes in rush hour to Fenchurch East.
Alex gave a small smile. "Sorry Guv, I was miles away."
He stared at her a moment before raising his eyebrows and pushing his lips up into a pout. "No shit. C'mon Ray's got…"
"A tasty tip off, I know," Alex said, rolling her eyes as she got out of the car. "You know you haven't mentioned what it's about?"
"That drug ring we're trying to break up. He got some info that might lead to the kingpin."
"You're right, that is tasty," she replied as they walked into the smoky haze of CID.
Alex had come back to work only four months previously. When she had, it was to a hero's welcome. The whole office had stood and applauded from her first step into the office, through the short journey to her desk, until long after she had sat down. Only at that moment did Ray start yelling "Speech!" and soon the entire room of men joined in on the chant. Thoroughly embarrassed, and hating to be the center of attention, Alex had quietly thanked them for the welcome back and for the due diligence in trying to find her. That had started another round of cheers, but eventually, Gene had come through the door silencing the room with a look. He had then yelled at them to start working for once and to leave her alone. After that, he'd marched into his office, slamming the door for good measure. Still embarrassed but extremely relieved, Alex had spent the day just trying to catch up on some of the major cases CID had worked through the year.
Now four months later, she was still mostly desk duty, something that honestly suited her fine. Two years ago, she would have argued vehemently against this arrangement, but she was still too nervous now to be alone at crime scenes, never mind interviewing suspects by herself. It was something that she was slowly getting better at and she hoped that in another few months, she might be able to be back to her full ability.
"Okay, Ray," Gene said as Alex sat down at her desk. "What's this new info?"
Never one to let down the opportunity to launch into a long-winded story, Ray adjusted his chair and pulled up a paper with a flourish. "Last night I was down in Luigi's, having a drink," he said with an affirming nod at Chris. Chris raised his eyebrows in response and Ray continued. "Well, Luigi comes over, tells me that I have a phone call. I was seeing this bird a few weeks back - lovely blonde thing she was, great tits…"
"Inspector," Gene said, a warning note in his voice.
"Right, right. So I get the phone and it's not the bird, it's Scummy Sammy, that one who's always getting brought in for nicking little things." CID nodded at the mention of Sammy. He was well known throughout the station for stealing to get a kip in the cells. "You all know he used to be high all the time, so his tips were only about sixty percent kosher, but he spent six months at Her Majesty's pleasure and since then has been keeping clean. He's been out eight months and everything since has been one hundred percent. Last night he told me that there's something big going down on Friday. He knew what he was talking about and I think we can trust that it's the truth."
"Where?" Gene said, being exceedingly parsimonious in response to Ray's overly long explanation.
"Do you remember Danny Moore?"
Alex pretended not to notice as the entire room looked pointedly in her direction, instead pushing her hair out of her eyes and pretending to scribble a note.
"It's going in his new construction site. He just finished tearing down another block of people's homes so there's some foundation work and little else, and it's fairly unguarded."
"And you think that our kingpin will be there?"
"Sammy didn't say that, but the way he acted made it seem like this was going to be a big one."
Gene stood in the middle of the room, thinking. His lips pushed up into a considering pout as he stared at Ray.
"And you're certain that this information is good?"
Ray shifted in his chair and shrugged his shoulders. "Like I said, since he's been out, he's been really reliable."
There was a tense silence before Gene spoke again. "Right. Ray, you start planning the raid. Drake, you and I are going to talk to Danny Moore."
Alex felt her stomach fall into a pit that she didn't realize was there. "He's hardly going to know anything, is he Guv?" she asked, trying not to sound tense. "He just puts the money into the land, he doesn't actually do any of the work."
"We already have a rapport with him, Drakey. We can get the plans much more easily if we go to him directly rather than talking to the leader of the site. Besides, we could be tipping everyone off if we show up to the building site now. There's a great way for the deal to get moved. Moore it is. Let's go. Mush!"
With that, he walked out of CID and down the hall. Alex sighed, grabbing her jacket and rushing after him. "Guv," she said as she caught up to him. "I don't know if I'm the right person to go interview him with you. With the history we have…"
"Alex," he said, turning to face her. The use of her first name in the station caught her off guard. It was normally something he reserved for home, unless he wanted to make a point. "I'm not going to let anything happen to you. What happened between you and him was ages ago, and in case you're forgetting, we're together now."
Alex gave a small smile. It was just a sign of how much Gene had grown to help her that he didn't refer to her as 'his'. He knew that the idea of belonging to someone, even in a romantic way, had been ruined by the six weeks she had spent in hell.
"Thanks, Gene."
"I think you'll find that at work, I'm called Guv, Bolly," he said with a wink and a grope of her arse.
She laughed, smacking Gene on his arm. "And I think that you'll find that at work, Guv, you can't grab my arse when you feel like it."
"I'm your superior officer, Bolly. I'll do as I like."
Alex laughed and sighed as she got into the Quattro. "What am I going to do with you?"
"I've got a few suggestions." Gene raised his eyebrows suggestively.
Alex just shook her head as Gene pulled onto the street. She was so lucky, she knew that. The psychological scars were just as real as the ones that puckered on the heels of her hands, but they seemed to be fading just as well. The dreams that had once woken her nightly were no more than an occasional nightmare. Things were going to continue to get better, she could feel it. Eventually the horrors of two years ago would remain in the past. She would be a fully functional DI again. She would be able to interview suspects without fear.
Alex knew that all of that was just around the corner. She just had to keep working for it. And with Gene by her side, she knew that she would succeed.
~(*)~
He wasn't sure why he was being transferred, but he didn't really care. Every minute that he was in the transit van, he wasn't in prison and that was the only thing that mattered. He took a deep breath of the air that somehow tasted different even though he was still in London and smiled. Might as well enjoy this before being imprisoned again.
Ryan wished he had been allowed his Bible to read. He wasn't sure where he was going and knew that even if it was only to the other side of London, the journey could be extremely long. Anything would be better to do than stare at the blank side of the van opposite him.
He closed his eyes and settled against the side of the van. It was better to spend the time in meditative prayer than just stare at nothing. Meditative prayer was when he did his best thinking, his best planning. He would reflect on his past transgressions, make sure to offer up a prayer and figure out what to do to not make the same mistake again.
Most of the time, however, he spent thinking about how everything went wrong with Alex Drake. He had been so close to saving her soul. She had barely been alive by the time they found her, and somehow the Animal had found a way to survive, despite the odds. He was both surprised and unsurprised. She had always been very stubborn and he supposed that she would be stubborn about dying as well. He assumed that she had gone back immediately to her whoring ways, but at his trial, it was evident that some of his lessons had stuck. She was soft spoken and timid, as animals should be. Her clothing could have been more modest, but it was a far sight better than the clothing she had worn the first time he had seen her.
Those changes may have stuck, but she still needed saving. He might be in prison for at least another forty years, but he was going to be a model prisoner. That way, when it was time for possible release, they would let him go. And then he would find her and save her.
Ryan had been plotting her second imprisonment with him since the moment he found out she was still alive. He had been too hasty the first time. This time, everything would be planned well. He already had the main parts of it laid out. The details would have to be ironed out when he was finally out. Ryan smiled to himself. He would make her pay.
Suddenly, he was thrown against the side of the van. It felt like it was teetering to the side and he realised it was going to tip. Ryan curled himself into a ball just in time as the van rolled to the top. He heard the crunching of glass and realised the windscreen must have broken on impact. Heart pounding, he untucked his body, and he pushed himself to standing. Ignoring the aching of his back and head, he stared at the doors of the van trying to figure out how to open them with his hands cuffed.
Two loud gunshots rang out next to the van, and he swallowed. This wasn't looking good. He could smell petrol in the air and the back of the van was filling with smoke. It must be on fire, he realised. There was no way out. He could feel the heat encroaching as the smoke thickened. Ryan closed his eyes and began to pray.
"Lord, it's not my time yet, please. I need to save Alex Drake. Don't let me die today. I need to save her. Don't let me die."