Once again huge apologies for the delay in this chapter, if anyone is still remotely interested in this fic then I hope you enjoy it! Thank you to all of you who have read, reviewed, favourited and alerted my fics!
I still don't own ashes to ashes.
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Alex gazed at the sea of destruction in front of her, she could hear screams coming from the building and she swayed slightly as her alcohol addled brain tried to make sense of the situation. Then she remembered.
'Shaz!' She grabbed at Gene's arm pulling him around to face her. 'Shaz and Chris they're in there, I told them we would meet them inside, oh God.
Gene felt his blood run cold. Chris and Shaz… in there. He turned to face the collapsed building again; the very centre of the club had collapsed almost entirely into itself, nobody who had been stood in that area could have survived. He felt a wave of nausea rising up inside him, they were just kids, had barely even begun to live their lives yet.
'Gene.' Alex pulled him back to her, her eyes speaking the words she couldn't bring herself to form.
'I know.'
The whir of sirens could be heard now, as the first ambulances and fire engines began to arrive. Gene strode over to the first fireman.
'D.C.I Gene Hunt, the buildin' collapsed about ten minutes ago, looks like a bomb blast.'
The Officer nodded, before barking instructions to his men, three of them making their way cautiously into the building whilst the rest began to tackle the fires.
'I'm goin' in there with them.'
The Officer turned back to face him. 'You can't, you don't have the correct training or equipment, it's against the rules.'
'Two of my finest officers wer in that buildin' so don't you dare start tellin' me about the soddin' rules.'
The Officer shock his head. 'I'm sorry but you just can't, you need protective clothing and…'
'So give me it.' Gene looked the man square in the eye. 'My officers are in there an' I'm goin' in there ter find them, with or without yer poxy equipment.'
The man regarded Gene steadily, eventually giving him a terse nod before removing his own helmet and passing it to Gene, who raised his eyebrows.
'We don't carry spares you know, this is the best I can offer.'
'Thanks mate.'
He made his way back over to Alex, stripping his coat off and handing it to her.
'I'm gonna go in an' try ter find 'em, stay 'ere.'
'No Gene you can't.' Her eyes flashed in panic. 'You don't have the training or-'
'Bloody woman, just stop fer once with yer poncey rules an' regulations. I'm goin' in there ter find them, okay.'
Alex let out a shaky breath. 'Fine, then I'm comin' with you.'
'No, you stay 'ere.'
She huffed in anger. 'Just because I am a woman doesn't mean I am any less capable than you Gene! You have no more training than I do for this type of situation, if you're going in there then so am I!'
He placed a restraining arm on her shoulder. 'No yer not. It's bad enough that two of my team are in there, I'm not gonna let you make it any worse by raisin' the number ter three. Stay 'ere Bolls.'
She sighed, as much as his blatant sexism and misogyny angered her at times she was also touched by his concern for her safety.
'Fine, I'll wait here.' She grasped his arm as he turned to walk away from her. 'Just be careful… please.'
He met her eyes for a second before looking away again. 'I'm not a fairy.'
She gave up and collapsed down onto the cold ground watching Gene walk away with a sinking feeling in her stomach.
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The seconds slowly ticked by and Alex felt as if she had been waiting for what seemed to be an eternity when she heard him.
'Ma'am? Wot are yer doin'? Wot's 'appened?'
She turned to see Chris his face filled with horror as he took in the scene in front of him. The collapsed building, emitting thick clouds of dark smoke.
Alex leapt to her feet. 'Chris! You're not in the building! Shaz, where is Shaz?' She gripped his arm urgently and as she watched the colour drain from his face she knew the answer.
'She's in there.' He gasped out. 'She forgot this.' He waved a small brightly coloured clutch bag at her. 'Left it at the station, I said I'd run back fer it, so she didn't…' His voice broke as he tried to choke back the emotion. 'So she didn't get cold… walkin' back ter the station fer it, oh God she's in there.'
He lurched away from her. 'I've got ter find 'er.'
'No Chris!' Alex grabbed his arm once again. 'The Guv's in there, he'll find her, please just stay here.'
He shook his head. 'You don't get it ma'am, you think I'm just a daft kid, you all do, but the way I feel about her… I can't be without 'er, I can't.' He broke down, hot tears splashing his face.
Alex pulled him into a tight embrace. 'I know how you feel about her Chris, we all do, we see the way you look at her.' She stepped back so she could look him in the eye as she fought not to cry herself. 'The Guv is in there okay, he will find her, but she needs you to wait out here for her, she needs you to be here to hold her hand when they bring her out okay?'
He nodded, slowly sinking to the ground. 'I can't be without 'er boss, I can't.'
Alex mirrored his movements. 'I know Chris.'
He looked at her. 'How could you possibly know how I'm feeling?'
She looked into his eyes, willing him to understand. 'Gene's in there.'
He blinked in slow understanding. 'You… you an' the Guv.'
Alex nodded, feeling the tears building again. 'I love him Chris.' The realisation hitting her like a ton of bricks as she sat there on the freezing pavement, thick smoke choking her lungs. 'I love him and I never even told him.'
'Bolly!'
Alex's head snapped round to see Gene staggering towards her, his face and hair thick with ash. She jumped up and flung her arms around him, not caring who was watching.
She pulled away. 'Shaz?'
Gene shook his head. 'Couldn't see anything, couldn't breath.' He lowered his eyes to the ground. 'Couldn't do nothin'.
Chris seized his coat sleeve. 'You didn't find her? You just left her in there?'
'Chris.' Alex placed a warning hand on his arm.
Chris ignored her, his eyes wide with fear. 'You're supposed to be the Guv! You always fix things, why can't yer fix this?'
Gene still had made no reply, Chris's words hitting him like a kick in the gut. He had failed, his job was to protect his team, to keep them safe, to be strong when they weren't and he couldn't, he was stood outside while better, younger men did his job for him.
Chris dropped his coat sleeve as if it were dirty, shaking his head. 'If you can't find her then I will.' He tried to peel off his own jacket, the tight denim sleeves catching around his wrists as he blinked back furious tears.
'Chris don't.' Alex began.
'Detective Constable Christopher Skelton stay where you are.'
Chris stopped his struggle with his jacket, shocked by Gene's sudden transformation into his authoritarian role as his Gov.
'You wouldn't ask a fireman ter 'elp you out wiv an armed blag so you just sit back down and let them do their job.'
Defeated Chris sank back down to the ground. Alex joined him, shivering slightly. Gene rolled his eyes and tugged his coat more firmly around her shoulders.
The hours dragged, each time a body was carefully removed from the ruined building a fresh wave of dread filled them only to be replaced by the helpless not knowing.
Alex was resting her head gently on Gene's shoulder, assuming he was too tired and concerned about Shaz's safety to protest at such a public display of affection when she saw it.
A fireman carrying a young woman, no more than a girl really. The girls face was turned towards his chest but Alex saw the shock of short black hair, now filthy with ash.
'Chris!' She tugged his head out of his hands.
He was on his feet in an instant. 'Shaz.' Heart pounding as he ran to the fireman, carefully turning the woman's head and gazing into the familiar face.
He couldn't speak.
'Is she…' Alex had arrived next to him.
'She's alive, but she needs to get to a hospital now, you should follow on behind the ambulance.'
Alex nodded her thanks not trusting herself to speak. She turned to ask Gene about getting to the hospital but saw he was already forcibly removing a uniformed officer from his patrol car.
'Oh stop bein' such a poof, you'll get it back in one piece!'
'Probably.' Alex finished under her breath as she and Chris hurried over to him.
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They had been sat on the hard plastic chairs of the waiting room for several hours before there was any news.
'Christopher Skelton?'
Chris looked up, his eyes swollen and with exhaustion. 'Wot's 'appened? Is she gonna be okay?'
The doctor smiled. 'She was very lucky, a broken arm, cracked ribs and severe smoke inhalation. She's under sedation now, but with no complications she should make a full recovery.'
'Can I see 'er?'
'Of course, although she won't be awake for several hours yet.'
Chris nodded and the three of them rose to follow the doctor.
Her face was paper white, marred only by the livid bruise beginning to form over her right eye. Alex saw Chris bite his lip in horror as he took in his fiancé.
'It's just bruising Chris, all superficial damage, she's still Shaz, everything will be okay.'
He nodded sinking into the empty chair by her bed.
Gene cleared his throat, the first sound he had made since entering the hospital and jerked his head towards the door.
Alex nodded. 'We'll leave you alone with her now Chris, we'll come back tomorrow when she's awake.'
Chris nodded again although Alex doubted he had heard a word of what she said. She turned back and followed Gene out of the door, neither of them speaking until they had left the hospital.
Gene leant against the wall outside the hospital, allowing his head to rest against the cool brickwork and letting out a small groan before lighting the fag he was suddenly desperately craving.
'You should get yourself checked out Gene, you inhaled a lot of smoke and those things won't help.'
Gene glared at her. 'According ter your all too frequent complaints I'm more than used to inhaling large amounts of smoke so I don't need some poncey arsed doctor tellin' me wot we all already know Bolls!'
'Gene smoke inhalation is extremely serious, you know that the number one cause of fire related deaths is smoke inhalation, it can cause air ways to collapse and-'
'I think I would have noticed if me bloody air way 'ad collapsed Bolly, now stop jabberin' on 'an' get in the car, we need ter get some kip before we catch these bomb setting bastards.'
Alex rolled her eyes but did as she was told, settling into the passenger seat of the car. 'So you assume that the two bombs were related then?' She asked a slight frown crinkling her forehead.
Gene closed his eyes. 'In the mornin' Bolls, can't go makin' any assumptions till I've slept, eaten an' hopefully shagged you.'
'It's just that the targets don't fit together, a car in a quiet area, with a minimum amount of potential casualties and then a popular night club, it just-'
'I said in the mornin' Alex.