And here's chapter 4 and it's a small one but I wanted it seperate from Chapter 3 for some reason. (I like the number 4!)

Flesh and Blood

Alex had been told by IAB directly, they had called her in and although her father wanted to go with her, she had decided to do it alone. Not wanting anyone there to see her reaction to their decision. Concerned that if it turned out to be worst possible scenario she might've broken down there and then; she didn't need the embarrassment.

However it had turned out to be best case scenario, her badge safely back in her posession and her piece locked away, also in her posession. She was now at home picking up the remains of glass fragments that were scattered near to the wall of her living room. Although there had been water in the glass at the time that had splashed and left the floor and wall wet; it was now dry as a bone. She had not gone home in two days because her father didn't want her to be alone; he probably thought she'd do something stupid, that's what Alex believed anyone although he'd never be able to bring himself to say it.

She gasped as a sharp piece of glass pierced the skin of her thumb as she tried to pick it up. It stung a little as blood began flowing from the small prick that the glass had caused. She stood up and started towards her kitchen but she heard the doorbell ring and did a 180 turn to walk to the door instead. Reaching it she was careful not to get blood on the doorhandle. She opened the door and ... every other thought was lost.

She stood there staring at the man before her, she couldn't believe he was here so soon. One thought that managed to come to the surface was that she'd hoped to get the glass cleaned up before he had arrived.

She could feel her heart pounding and she couldn't decide whether to move or not. Would he move? Should I move? Looking at him she could see that he didn't know what to do either. She desperately wanted to pull him into a tight embrace and never let go, but she was still in there somewhere. She stood aside, and without words, invited him. He slowly walked in, never taking his eyes off her, she never took her eyes off him. She closed the door, briefly turning to face the door before turning back. The instant her eyes met his again he was immediately wrapping his arms around her. She could feel his hands on her sides, his arms so long that they almost wrapped around her fully.

She couldn't move. She didn't dare move and she certainly didn't dare speak. She just wanted to stay like that, in his arms, safe. His scent surrounded her and as she rested her head on his chest she could hear his heart beat. Nothing caused them to move until she realised that the blood from her wound was on his neck; his flesh.

As she pulled her hand away he took it in his and looked at her with a puzzled expression. She turned her head towards the mess on the floor and he was amused, breaking the silence he said, "So, you decided to take up some pitching?" She laughed, "What were you aiming for? Because if not the wall then you missed!" she was still laughing when he pulled her back into his arms. She appreciated the fact he didn't say something serious; that he didn't go all soppy on her.

Despite that she still wanted to say the words she wanted to say sinced she'd received her gift from him, somehow she knew that kind of stuff was supposed to come from her anyway, not him. "Thank you for the flowers." She could feel him shift slightly and she stood back a little to see his face, not taking their arms from around each other.

"I wanted to try my hand at old fashioned romance." he shrugged, "How did I do?"

She smiled at him, not taking her eyes off his, "You did great."

He looked pleased with himself and grinned. "Good." he then took her hand and led her to the sofa. Sitting her down, he grabbed a tissue from the box on the table and handed it to her. She used it to wrap around her thumb. "How are you?" he asked, his face turning serious.

"I'm alright now. It was a little touch and go there for a while but I'm okay." She replied, nodding. "I think Steve's little scheme helped a little."

Mike laughed, "Yeah, Steve is the man!" this caused Alex to burst out laughing, a really good laugh that she hadn't done since she'd fired her weapon on Chance Slaughter three days ago. Whilst she was laughing he began to wonder where Bobby was, he thought he'd have either turned up just before him or immediately after. "To be honest, I expected Goren to beat me here." He changed the subject after she'd settled down and was confused with the grin that formed on her face. "What?"

"He did beat you. Verbally, anyway." She replied with the grin still there. Mike tried to pretend to be upset but in truth he'd expected just as much. Mike just snorted his disapproval at being beaten before laughing with her over it.

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"I missed you."

They were in the kitchen attempting to make Lasagne together when those three words had been uttered by him; in a low deep voice. Alex's head shot up from stirring the sauce as soon as he'd spoken them. Once again, Mike had caught her by surprise as she hadn't expected any kind of admission from him tonight. She turned to look at him slowly only to see that he hadn't looked up, he hadn't stopped what he was doing. He was still chopping up some salad ingredients to go with the Lasagne.

Turning back to the sauce she continued to stir it to stop it from burning to pan. Keeping an eye on him through her peripheral vision she just said, "I missed you too." She saw his pretense of nonchalance falter a little but it was up within a second. She pulled the saucepan away from the heat and took the dish intended to bake the Lasagne in. She poured some sauce into the pan and then took some sheets of Lasagne and layered them over the top. Without looking up and without showing any sign of her intentions, she took a sheet and threw it in his direction.

She was more than satisfied when he finally made more of a movement. He hadn't seen that one coming and she was pleased with herself. She then poured more sauce into the dish and added another layer of sheets. Whilst she was doing that she felt something hit her on the arm. Looking down she saw a piece of cucumber at her foot. She looked at Mike who was trying to stifle a grin. Alex smirked and chucked another sheet of lasagne at him.

When he shot back with a tomato she'd ducked and it had hit the cupbard door instead. Letting a short, amused laugh she turned to him and picked up two sheets and tossed them at him. Since he'd turned to face her to fire the tomato, the pasta hit him squarely on the chest. He grinned as he grabbed a handful of lettuce and launched the whole bundle towards her.

As far as she could tell it was raining lettuce. Not wanting to be beaten she noticed the open jar of white lasagne sauce that had yet to be placed onto the dish sticking her hand in whilst Mike tossed another tomato at her. She used her arm to catapult some sauce into the air and it landed in his face. And although her hand was covered in the sauce too it still felt like a victory. Mike wiped his face with the sleeve of his arm and tried to give her that I'm-not-amused face, but it didn't work. Alex just started laughing at him. "Right, that's it!" he almost shouted, deeply. Grabbing the entire salad bowl, thankfully plastic, he crossed the distance between them and, gently, dropped it on her head. The contents of the bowl spilling out, falling onto the floor, and covering her hair and clothes

He then removed the bowl and put it on the counter. He was finding it hilarious that she was still laughing. Somehow, although unintentional, he'd not only cheered her up but he'd cheered himself up too. She took her sleeve and wiped some white sauce from his nose, still laughing though. He began pulling lettuce out of her hair. "I did miss you." she told him, sincerely, after her laughing had subsided.

"I know." he told her, "And I did miss you too." pulling the last piece of lettuce from her hair. With a grin he added, "Who won?"

"Let's call it a tie-breaker." she replied, giving him a gentle kiss. "Especially since you now have to make more salad." she laughed as he groaned. She kissed him again and he put a hand on the small of her back. She felt herself tingle at the contact and pulled away from him slightly. Smiling at each other, they parted and returned to the tasks they had been doing before they had had the food fight that Alex would probably later deny that she started.

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Let me know what you think.