A/N: Sorry that it's been such a long time since I updated last, had a bit of writer's block (sighs) Hoping to get the next chapter up by the weekend as I know what's going into that now but no promises I'm afraid.

Thanks again for all the lovely reviews!

Oh and a little Brummie translation may be required here. Cantin' – Talking. Please tell me if there's anything else people don't understand.

Disclaimer: None of this is mine.

XxX

Chapter Two – Nellie the Elephant

Somewhere in the background a clock was counting down the seconds, ticking moments away with every movement of the slender arm that clicked around the face.

It echoed slightly in the silence, piercing into the thoughts of the pair, both backed up against the mildly warm radiator thanks to a blip in central heating.

Nellie shivered, drawing her knees closer up to her chin. "Yow's gonna send me 'ome in a minute ain't yow." She sighed quietly, her fingers twisting her blonde locks nervously.

He glanced down at her, moving slightly so that his back was digging into a less painful part of the radiator.

"Says 'oo?" He asked, taking another mouthful of his whiskey, the liquid filling him with a warm glow that only alcohol could ever achieve.

"Well I gotta go 'ome some time ain't I?" She murmured, her eyes drawn upwards to the glass, the office almost deserted but for the few plonks who hadn't managed to squeeze themselves into the boiler room.

He shrugged "Yer want to go 'ome?"

"No."

"Then you can stay 'ere."

Silence descended for a while and then Nellie smiled.

"Me dad likes westerns." She murmured, staring around Gene's office, her eyes alighting on the posters.

When he failed to reply she carried on "Me dad got us thrown out," She sighed, slightly less enthusiastically. "Gaffer said sommot 'bout Lucy's diamonds an' the coppers so Dad moved us 'ere."

"Yer like London?"

"No." She stopped and then glanced back up at him "Yow's not from round 'ere either."

"No. From Manchester me." He muttered almost proudly.

"Ahr." She nodded "Yow bet up me Uncle yow no that?"

He glanced down at her, tipping his whiskey back, his throat burning. "Toby Whitley. Yeah I know that."

She sighed heavily "He day kill 'em yow no." She muttered, sounding a little angry. "There weren't any need to knock 'im up."

He shrugged "If it bothered yer so much, why come an' see me?"

She chewed her lip thoughtfully, her fingers intertwining around her skinny knees. "Cos…" She stopped "Cos I knew if 'e came to 'urt me I cud 'ide behind yow." She finished with the slightest hint of a grin.

He thought about this for a minute and then he smiled, laughing softly "I'll look after yer," He murmured gruffly to her, holding out a rough hand "No one'll 'urt you Nels."

XxX

Alex stood, her back to the whiteboard, the pen that she'd been waving about agitatedly moments ago still clamped between her fingers.

"Ray?" She hissed, rounding angrily on the unfortunate DS "Where the hell is he?"

Ray shrugged, his feet propped up against the desk as he craned his neck to get a better look at the swing doors. "Ain't got a clue boss."

Alex rolled her eyes, turning around and staring aggressively at the board, as if somehow she could take out her frustration on the shining white surface.

Thankfully, the board was spared for at that moment with a crash that would wake the dead, Gene Hunt strode through the doors, Chris trailing dejectedly behind him.

"Where the hell do you think…?"

He cut her off with a look "Sortin' out Nels, where the 'ell d'yer think I was Bols, mars?"

She tutted at him and moved back towards the board.

"Right!" Gene barked, turning around to face the department "I want all ears on this yer got that?"

"Yes Guv." Came the sigh and on went the show.

XxX

"I day do it! Why the 'ell…"

The man was cut off by a whack around the head, his forehead slamming off the wood for the nth time.

"We know yer did it Toby. Why don't yer just confess yer a murdering bastard?" Gene shot at him, his voice eerily calm for a worrying but unknown reason.

Toby looked at him for a moment, the silence deafening but for the tick of the tape recorder as it tracked the seconds.

"Cos I dayn't." He murmured finally "One of them kid were me cousin. I ain't gonna kill me own cousin are I?"

Gene smiled, a slightly snake like quality creeping across his lips "We got yer fingerprints Toby. Courts aren't gonna like that are they?"

The room lapsed into silence again, Toby chewing his lip nervously.

"I wanna lawyer."

Gene shrugged "Take yer pick." He offered "Raymundo, go get this pounce the bloody phone directory."

Ray laughed, smacking his victim around the head once more for good measure as he left the room.

Gene grinned maliciously and lent over the table, so close the Brummie could feel smell the alcohol on his breath. "Yer ain't gonna get off this one Toby." He muttered.

Then he was gone.

XxX

"Toby Whitley is thirty-three, no known children but several nieces and nephews in the area." Alex sighed, consulting her notes. "He moved from the Birmingham area in '75 and a year later most of his family followed."

She turned back to the board as an agitated sigh rose from the rest of the room.

"As you can see from the chart he has had four known convictions for possessing cocaine and is a suspected supplier to the surrounding area. In June last year he was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the murders of four children between five and ten in the West End area. Although his fingerprints were found around the scenes of most of the crimes he was let off by the jury. Michael Bailey, another Midlander was arrested four months later and charged."

Gene growled quietly, his eyes flashing slightly. Alex glanced in his direction.

"Do you have something to add, Guv?"

Gene shrugged "Bailey was a bastard and everyone 'ere knows it but 'e didn't deserve what 'e got."

The rest of the men murmured their agreement.

"'e was a scapegoat ma'am." Shaz piped up from the back. "A division needed to 'rest someone."

Alex nodded "So we know Michael Bailey didn't do it." She glanced down at her notes. "And it can't possibly be him this time anyway."

Gene stood up, marching over to the board and jabbing the blurry picture of Toby Whitley that was blue tacked crookedly to the surface.

"Right, I want some plods over to the area, see if anyone's seen the bastard lately. If they 'ave I want them pullin' in." He paused and glanced around at his DS "Ray, I want you an' Chris to come with me to the 'ouse. Bring yer guns."

Alex glanced at him suddenly feeling very overlooked. "What about me?"

But Gene didn't get time to contemplate this one as milliseconds later Viv burst in through the door, strangely out breath.

"Mr Whitley Guv, I think he wants his little girl back."

XxX

Jeremy Whitley was not a happy man. He knew a kid had been killed up on the common and now his little girl was missing.

So it can be expected that on seeing Gene Hunt marching down the corridor at him, his thoughts were not particularly wholesome ones.

"What the fuckin' 'ell d'yow think yow's playin' at?! Me wife's out of 'er tree worryin'!" He exploded as soon as the DCI was in relative shouting distance.

Gene stopped, a frown etched deep into his weather beaten features. "Chris," He bellowed over his shoulder at his DC. "Go and fetch Miss Whitley from the canteen would yer."

He then turned his burning gaze on the man in front of him. Like Nellie, he was pitifully short, his stark blonde hair sticking up in disorderly tufts from his forehead. He hardly looked over twenty-five.

"Yer daughter, Mr Whitley, is now a key witness in this murder inquiry." Gene spat authoritive at him, easily towering over the Midlander.

But Nellie's father wouldn't be dwarfed so easily, especially not by a copper. "She's only a babby, yow car keep 'er 'ere!"

"'fraid we can Mr Whitley. Yer see, she thinks she might be in danger from someone. Wonder 'oo ay?"

Whitley growled slightly "Me brother 'ad nothin' to do with it Mr Hunt." He roared as the doors opened and Nellie emerged from behind Gene.

Her father grabbed her hand almost roughly, yanking her to his side. "They ain't 'urt yow 'ave they bab?"

"Nah Dad, they's bin real nice. Jus' bin cantin' ferra while." She stopped and glanced up at him. "Yow brought me elephant?"

He nodded, drawing a small, grubby grey elephant from his jacket pocket. One of the eyes had fallen out and been replaced by a cross stitch and its ears were not in a good way. But it had obviously been horribly loved.

She grinned "Thanks." She smiled, hugging the toy close and smiling up at Chris "This is Nellie too." She beamed.

He smiled back at her "Take care of 'er love."

Whitley shot him a glare, staring at his daughter suspiciously and then glowering back up at Gene. He paused for a moment and then sent a gob of spit flying towards the floor, finishing its journey as a bubbling mess at the DCI's feet.

"Yow leave me family alone 'unt." He snarled as he pulled Nellie around and almost frogmarched her out of the station.

Gene turned around to his DI, a scowl permanently engraved into his face.

"See Drake, lovely people."

XxX

Luigi's was quietening down, Chris and Ray completely stoned in one corner, Shaz giggling every now and again, half at her magazine and half at the looks on the two boy's face.

Gene stared around at them, rolling his eyes good naturedly. "Puffs." He muttered to himself, taking another swig from the wine bottle Bolly had plonked on the table next to him a few hours previously. She'd told him he looked like he needed it – she hadn't known just how much.

He turned back around when he realised she was staring at him, her blue eyes sparking with drunk curiosity.

"Why are you so bothered about all this Gene?" She asked quietly, her words slurring slightly as she lent forward.

He could feel her breath on his face, the warm glow tickling at his heartstrings. She was far too close for comfort, somehow the drink made her able to do this, break through his first defences – catch him off guard.

"They're kids." He replied gruffly "S'not like other shit."

She shrugged, her hand suddenly coming down on his, her fingers dancing absentminded patterns against his skin. "I reckon," She mumbled, swaying slightly on the bar stool. "That you're hiding something."

"Oh yes Bolly." He muttered sarcastically.

She nodded at him, suddenly looking very school teacher like (albeit a very drunk school teacher). "Yes, and I think that it's something that happened when you were very, very small." She concluded with a slight flourish.

Gene couldn't help smiling at her. There was something he found horribly sweet about Alex Drake when she was drunk. Maybe it was due to the fact her brain wasn't quite engaged enough to work out who she was talking to. Poor sod probably thought she was still talking to the Martians.

"Well Bols, yer want ter know what I've deducted from all this?"

She stared at him intensely, her ocean blue eyes suddenly searching far deeper than he was happy with. He shifted slightly, staring at her hand, still resting on his.

"Yes?" She breathed, her breath still dancing against his cheek, the alcohol rolling off it.

"That you're very drunk." He murmured finally "And for that reason yer should be in bed Bols." He sighed finally, standing back up and letting her hand fall back to the work surface.

"I'll see yer tomorrow." He muttered as he headed towards the direction of Luigi and the nightly bill.

"Sleep well Bols." He allowed himself to murmur, so softly it almost never hit the airwaves.

Stop. His brain mumbled sleepily She's still far too good for you Gene.

XxX

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