A/N Originally, I'd intended that this story should be a one-shot. I was delighted by the wonderful response it got and so many of my lovely reviewers wanted me to continue with it, that I thought I'd give it a go. It seems to have taken on a life of its own now, so there will be more chapters. Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed!

I don't own Ashes to Ashes, I'm just borrowing some of the characters.

After the interview, Gene was taken back to his cell. Not surprisingly, declaring that he was in love with his DI hadn't been enough to get him off the charge of attempting to murder her. Gene hadn't expected that it would. He still couldn't believe that he'd actually said those words out loud. He'd barely admitted the true extent of his feelings to himself and here he was announcing that he loved Bolly to all and bloody sundry! He'd probably told the worst person possible too. It was obvious that Collins didn't like him and Gene didn't trust the other DCI not to blab. Then the Super would find out and he could split up the team. Gene kicked the cell wall in sheer frustration. He couldn't imagine not seeing Bolly every day ….Christ on a bike! What had happened to him?

Throughout his childhood, Gene had associated the idea of love with fear and pain. His mother had refused to leave his father because she said she loved him, in spite of the regular beatings that he inflicted upon them all. Gene had drifted into marriage and it had not been a particularly happy experience for either him or his missus. His wife had finally given up and left him, two weeks after Tyler died. He hadn't been sad that his marriage had come to an end. If anything he'd been more than slightly angry that she'd been the one to leave him.

Then there was Bolly. Gene had no idea precisely when his feelings had changed from a simple desire to get into her knickers to …that. He did know that there was no way that the Manc Lion could let those emotions show, though. He must not be seen to be going soft or he'd lose the respect of his team. It would be a cold day in hell when he could admit it to Bolly either. Gene had thought he was doing a half decent job of covering up his feelings with sarcasm and arguments. Until now. Now it probably didn't matter anyway. If…when…Bolly woke up, she might not have forgiven him for shooting her. Or not believing her. Gene was not sure which was worse.

xxxx

"The Guv said what?" Chris was doing a pretty good impression of a goldfish and it looked as if he might fall of his chair.

"That he loves DI Drake," Shaz repeated. "Skip told me when I came in. He heard the Guv shouting, as he was passing the interview room. "

"Poof!" muttered Ray, who clearly wasn't as shocked as Chris. He was surprised that the Guv had used that particular word, but he had always known there was something different about Hunt since Drake had arrived. Ray didn't do psychiatry or whatever posh bollocks it was that Drake was such an expert at, but he had noticed the spark between the Guv and his DI when they'd arrested Arthur Layton more than a year ago. Ray had thought that Drake would twist their DCI round her little finger. That was what birds did to men, wasn't it? To be fair to Drake, though, that hadn't been the case. Well, not most of the time, anyway! Ray had had to grudgingly admit that she was a good copper. He wondered how the Guv's declaration would affect the team if…when…Drake came back to work. Ray forced himself not to think about what would happen if the DI didn't wake up. Not only would they lose her, but the Guv would probably be gone too; serving life for her murder, if DCI Collins had anything to do with it.

Ray and Chris had managed to see Gene, briefly, just after he was arrested the previous evening. The Manc Lion was caged and pacing the length of his cell.

"I didn't do it! Well, I did it, but it was an accident. Jenette 'ad Drake at gunpoint.."

"Jenette?" Ray asked, before he suddenly remembered whom Gene had been with in Luigi's the night before Drake was shot. "The blonde, Irish, tart?"

"That's the one." Ray clearly heard the bitterness in Gene's voice. "She was involved in Operation Rose and wanted 'er money. She was going to shoot Drake! I fired my gun and 'it Drake by accident."

Chris and Ray simply looked at each other. The evidence against the Guv seemed overwhelming, but neither of them really wanted to believe that he was capable of deliberately shooting their DI. They couldn't help but remember what had happened back in Manchester, in 1973, the last time Gene had been accused of anything as serious as this. Only Tyler had really trusted that Gene had not murdered Terry Haslam and Pete Wilkes. When Sam had helped to clear the Guv's name and he had returned to the station, Gene had given the rest of them hell for believing he was a murderer. So if their DCI said that shooting Drake had been an accident, shouldn't they believe him this time, in spite of what it looked like?

Soon after that, the Guv had been taken away to be interviewed by Collins. Over the years, Ray had learned to trust his instincts and those instincts were telling him that there was something very dodgy about DCI Collins. The DCI had not let CID conduct a proper investigation into what had happened during Operation Rose, especially the shooting of Alex Drake. This was weird, since Collins had parachuted in from the Flying Squad and investigating robberies was what they did, wasn't it? After Chris and Ray had done a few house to house enquiries in King Douglas Lane, Collins had recalled them to the station and told them that their time would be more usefully spent on other matters; like reuniting lost property with its owners!

Ray glanced at his watch. Six pm. Good.

"Lunch time!" He announced and joined the mass exodus from the station to Luigi's.

xxxx

The atmosphere in Luigi's was far more subdued than it had been before Operation Rose. Shaz noticed that the Guv and DI Drake's usual table remained empty, as if everyone expected them to burst in at any minute. She really couldn't see that happening in the near future. Earlier, Shaz had taken her turn in visiting the hospital and there was still no change in Alex's condition. The nurse told her that DI Drake was in a very deep coma, but that Shaz should not give up hope. Then there was the Guv. Chris and Ray had told Shaz about what had happened in 1973, but the WPC couldn't get the image of DCI Hunt with a smoking gun, out of her head. The Guv had said he loved DI Drake. In her heart, Shaz was desperately hoping that this was true; she just wished she could get her head to believe that it had simply been a terrible accident.

"Before the Guv's interview, I told Collins what the Guv had told us about that tart, Jenette, and d' you know what 'e said? 'That pursuing that line of enquiry isn't a productive use of our time and resources.'" Ray's enthusiastic finger waggling would have impressed Alex. "And sorting lost property is? Christ!"

"It's as if Collins has got it in for the Guv for some reason. He wants him to be guilty," observed Shaz

"Yeah. It does look that way, doesn't it?" Chris agreed.

Ray decided to share something that had been bothering him. "I'm sure I've 'eard Collins' name for some reason. Y'know, before 'e came here."

The three officers thought about this.

"Bank statements!" Shaz exclaimed.

"What?" asked Chris and Ray simultaneously.

"Bank statements. Do you remember when we found out about Supermac? You told me that the Guv said that other people were involved too and that he'd got bank statements for four of them. I'm sure that 'Collins' was one of the names. I wonder if it's the same bloke?"

"I'll bet it is!" Ray was reluctantly impressed by Shaz's memory. "We need those statements. And something else.."

"What?" asked Chris

"I think we should try to find that Irish tart!"