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Chapter 3

A few hours later, Gene was sitting in their back garden, smoking a cigarette. He really was going soft, he thought to himself. No other woman could ever have made him smoke outside. But then again, there was no other woman quite like his Bolly.

He turned around and looked through the living room window. Alex and Molly were sitting on the sofa watching TV; Alex was absent-mindedly playing with Molly's hair, as the young girl was snuggled up close to her mother. Both were completely oblivious to the fact that he was stood there watching them. Just looking at them filled him with an intense feeling of happiness. Ever since he'd gotten together with Alex, he'd been experiencing all these kind of emotions he never knew existed. At first it had scared him, but he soon realised that there was no need for any of that. He knew he loved both of them with every fibre of his being, and even though he might never be able to actually say those words, he would make sure to show them how he felt, in every possible way.

Yes, Alex was a fruitcake, and Molly was so like her mother in every way, that together they would surely be the cause of many a headache in the years to come. But he didn't mind; he had never felt happier in all his life.

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting there, but his cigarette had long finished, and he'd started to shiver in the cold December air. He got up and quickly re-entered the welcoming warmth of the kitchen.

"Tea Bolls? Molls?" he asked as he poked his head around the corner into the living room.

"Yes please" it sounded in unison.

This made him grin. So much alike in every way, the thought.

The three of them sat in the living room for a while, just sipping their tea and watching television. It struck Alex how easily they had turned into a proper family unit in less than a year's time. Things had never been awkward between her and Gene, not even when they'd first started living together. When Molly joined them, she had expected that they'd be going through a rough patch for a while, but none such thing had happened. It was as though everything was meant to happen the way it did. For the first time in her life, Alex felt as if she really belonged somewhere.

She hardly remembered her early childhood, the years she'd spend with her parents. They'd both been workaholics, dedicated to their jobs, and Alex has spend a lot of time alone at her boarding school. After her parents' deaths, Evan made sure she got all the attention she could possibly need. He had dedicated his life to her upbringing. But no matter how stable and secure those years in his care had been, it had still just been her and him, not a "proper" family. It was something that Alex, deep down inside, had always craved.

So when she'd gotten pregnant with Molly, she'd hoped this would be her opportunity to finally establish that family she'd always dreamt of. But the dream was over before it had even begun. Pete turned out to be a lousy husband, and even worse of a father. It was something Alex had subconsciously known all along, but back then she hadn't wanted to see it. He'd hardly supported her at all during her pregnancy and when Molly was a newborn. By the time she was 6 months old, Pete had abandoned them, and Alex was left to fend for herself and her daughter. A not so perfect family yet again. But she had made it work, somehow. From then on, Alex had dedicated her life to her job and brining up her daughter, with the occasional help from Evan. Men hardly played a role in her life; her daughter took precedence over everything and everyone.

But now, for the first time in her life, she found herself in a situation that could be described as a normal family. Well, maybe not completely "normal", but it was the closest she'd ever get, and it was fine by her. For as far as she could tell, Gene had never known a real sense of normality in his life either. He hardly ever spoke about his past, but from the few things that he had told her, she knew that he'd had an abusive, alcoholic father, who used to drink his wages away, and made a habit of slapping him and his brother around, as well as his mother. As a psychologist, it certainly explained a big part of his behaviour. This was his first chance of a proper family life, too, and so far he was handling it all very well.

Molly was doing great too. The ease with which she had adapted to the 80s lifestyle had astonished Alex. Though teenagers still had their average teen problems, overall life in the 80s still seemed a lot easier; and it showed. She and Molly were closer now than they'd ever been. This of course had also a lot to do with the fact that Alex wasn't as career driven now, as she had been in 2008. Naturally she was still ambitious, and aimed at doing her job properly and thoroughly at all times, but the job just wasn't the centre point it once had been.

Next to her on the sofa, Molly yawned and stretched her arms above her head. "I think I'm going to bed now, I'm really tired."

"Okay, goodnight Molls."

Molly leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. "Night mum."

"Night Gene."

"G'night Molls," he answered, as he gave her a quick hug.

As soon as Molly left the room, Gene abandoned his favourite leather armchair, which he'd been sitting in for the best part of the evening, and joined Alex on the sofa. As he wrapped his arms tightly around her, she allowed herself to lean back against him, and rested her head on his chest.

"Hmm..s'nice like this Bolly," Gene murmured as he buried his face in her hair, kissing the top of her head lightly.

Alex didn't reply, apart from the content sigh that escaped her lips, as she closed her eyes and started drifting off to sleep.

However, her peaceful slumber was interrupted by Gene's voice. "How about we turn in soon as well Bolls?"

She tilted her head further back, so she could look him in the eye. "Good idea, I'd started to fall asleep already."

He planted a kiss on her forehead, and then motioned for her to get up off the sofa. "Can't let that happen Bolls. You made a promise back at the office, and I'm gonna hold yer to it."

She failed to repress a giggle as Gene drew her closer to him to steal a kiss. It was a long, passionate kiss, which made Alex weak at the knees. When he finally pulled away, she felt as if she could hardly stand up straight anymore.

"I think we should go upstairs now," she panted, still not fully recovered from that kiss.

"Thought yer'd never ask," her said as he scooped her up into his big strong arms, and carried her up the stairs.

The following morning, Gene strode into CID with such an air of confidence around him, that it was noticed by everyone, even Chris. To complete the spectacle, Alex followed not far behind, with the biggest smile plastered on her face.

"Looks like someone got lucky last night," Ray remarked, which made both him and Chris burst into a fit of laughter.

"You two really disgust me sometimes," Shaz said, as she turned around and walked over to Alex, who had just taken off her jacket, and sat down at her desk.

"Morning ma'am, how are you feeling today?"

"Morning Shaz. I'm feeling a lot better than yesterday, thanks." She replied.

"Good night was it ma'am?" Ray sniggered.

"Yes, as a matter of fact it was pretty incredible; not that it's any of your business of course," she replied with a smug look.

She turned her attention back to Shaz. "Any word from the coroner yet?"

"No not yet ma'am," she replied, "but I'm guessing we'll hear from him before noon."

The morning went by without anything eventful happening. Gene was in his office, making a few phone calls, Chris was folding paper planes and Ray was sat in his chair, catching up on some sleep. Shaz and Alex kept themselves busy by going over the witness statements yet again, to check them for inconsistencies, or anything out of the ordinary. They'd had no luck so far.

Alex was very glad to be getting some help from Shaz. She was a very bright girl, and definitely someone on whom Alex could bounce ideas off, in a way she couldn't with any of the other members of CID. For a while she'd been thinking about suggesting to Gene to give Shaz some more responsibility, and to make her a proper part of CID. To her surprise, when she'd finally told him about this idea, he had not only agreed with her, but also told her that he'd been playing around with that very same idea for some time now. So it was an easy decision to make. Shaz would start by getting more involved in the cases they were dealing with, and would likely soon be bumped up to WDC.

As it turned out, Shaz's prediction was right. Around half 11, Gene marched over to Alex's desk. "Get yer coat Bolls, coroner wants us down straightaway."

"We'll finish this later, okay?" she told Shaz, as she grabbed her coat and hurried after Gene.

They hurried towards the morgue, eagerly to find out what exactly the coroner had found. "Did he say anything about what he'd found?" Alex asked curiously.

"Didn't say anything Bolls, just told me to come down a.s.a.p."

Alex reached out to open the door leading into the morgue, as she felt Gene's hand over hers, stopping her from doing so.

"You sure yer fit to go in there?" he asked.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be? It's not as if I've never been inside a morgue before."

Gene stared at his feet. "It's just that when we found the body, you didn't react too well an' all."

"I'll be fine Gene, promise. Don't worry." She gave him a reassuring look, and continued to push down the door handle she still had her hand on.

"Good morning Gene, Alex." Harry, the coroner, greeted them. A tad too cheerful for someone who spends most of his time around stiffs, Gene thought to himself.

"So what did you find then?" Alex asked impatiently.

"Well, it was very interesting," Harry began. "I was checking for all the normal things, stomach contents, you know that sort of things. And I came across some very interesting things."

Not in the mood for mind games, Gene replied. "Just get to the point, will yer Harry."

"Oh right, sorry. As it turns out, this young woman was pregnant."

Both Gene and Alex were stunned into silence for a moment. They'd expected many an outcome, but this certainly hadn't been on either of their lists.

"Pregnant? You mean as in very early stages of pregnancy? That would be a possibility, seeing as she got married about two weeks ago." Alex said.

Harry shook his head. "No, nothing like that. My guess is she was around 3 months along already."

"Christ on a bike!" Gene exclaimed.

Harry nodded in agreement. "You can say that again."

"So this supports James' story about the mystery man she was supposedly in love with. The baby can't have been her husband's, since they only got married two weeks ago like I said."

"What are you thinking Bolls? You think someone found out she was up the duff, and killed her because of that?" Gene asked.

Alex sighed. "Well we can't be sure of course, but we should definitely consider it as one of the possibilities."

"Right then, thanks again Harry." Gene turned around. "C'mon Bolls, let's get going, we've got some investigating to do. And I need a bloody drink!"

"So do I, if only I were allowed to." Alex murmured to herself.

After arriving back at CID, Alex sank into her chair with a sigh. These latest discoveries had put their investigation in a whole new perspective, but it also meant that the possibilities and motives for Rana's murder were endless. Thus far, the investigation was going nowhere, and nothing pointed to that changing anytime soon.

"Shaz!" Alex called out in her direction. "Are you busy at the moment?"

"Not really ma'am, why?"

"Good, it would be great if you could go over the case with me again. The coroner's done some new discoveries, but I'm having a hard time fitting them into the story."

"Fab!" Shaz responded with a smile.

Alex quickly talked through the coroner's findings with Shaz, and they then both went to work, starting with reading the post-mortem report again, and trying to link them to the statements, especially James's and Nour's.

After a fruitless hour, Alex dumped the files into a pile on her desk. "I'm stuck Shaz. I don't know what's wrong, but my brain just won't cooperate today."

"It's ok ma'am, I understand. And besides, you haven't got much to work with so I can't really blame you. There's just one thing I was wondering about; are you planning on letting the men get DNA tests? After all, that way you'll know for sure that neither Nour or James are the father of that baby."

"Good thinking Shaz, that had completely slipped my mind. I'll make sure that gets done first thing tomorrow morning."

"But tomorrow's Saturday, you won't be in then, will you ma'am?"

Alex smiled. "Definitely not. I, will be sleeping in tomorrow. But I don't think a DNA test will cause any problems. I'm sure both men will be very willing to cooperate."

Due to the lack of things to do, most of CID had already scurried off, either to Luigi's or home, leaving Shaz and Alex alone in the office, once again.

"Let's make it an early night today, what do you say Shaz?"

"Good idea ma'am. Are you coming down to Luigi's? I'm sure the rest of the gang will be there already."

"Uhm, no I think I'm gonna head home. You know, catch up on some much needed sleep."

"Alright then, have a good weekend ma'am."

"Thanks Shaz, you too." Alex replied, as she watched Shaz walk away.

"Anybody home?" Alex called out as she stepped through the front door.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Molly replied.

Alex took off her jacket, and put it on a coat hanger, before heading into the kitchen.

"So how was school?" Alex asked, as she pulled Molly into a tight embrace.

"It was alright. I have to do a book report for English, and I still haven't decided which book I'm gonna choose."

"Well, I can help you pick one if you like Molls. But it'll have to wait until after dinner, I'm starving."

Molly went upstairs to finish her homework, and Alex had started making dinner as she waited for Gene to come home. He promised her that he'd only stop off at Luigi's for a quick pint with the boys, and that he would head home straight after that. Her thoughts drifted off as she made a quick bolognaise sauce – Molly's favourite. Even though she was used to her new life now, it still felt strange from time to time; almost too good to be true. She, herself, had changed a lot too. It wasn't just Gene who had become a lot more domestic, but she had as well. Back in 2008, she'd had Molly and her career, and not much else. But since she'd always been so busy, her and Molly never really had the kind of life they were leading now. Alex had always enjoyed cooking, but in her old life she almost never got round to do it, so she either whipped up something simple, or they ordered take-out. She'd never expect that she, a stereotypical liberated 21st century woman, could enjoy domestic chores as much as she did. She had found this revelation truly astonishing at first. Of course it wasn't completely surprising that she was changing; after all, she'd spend so much time in the 80s already.

Gene got home bang on time, just as Alex had finished preparing dinner. The three of them ate in the kitchen, and Gene and Molly did the dishes together, as Alex retired to the living room to sit on the sofa and put her feet up. The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful, as they were all tired; Gene and Alex from their long day at work, and Molly from being at school all week.

"So what would you like to do tomorrow Molls?" Alex asked.

Molly looked up from the book she was reading. "Don't know. We could go shopping I guess. What do you think?"

Alex smiled. "That is not a bad idea actually. I'm in desperate need of some new clothes."

"Yer always in need of new clothes Bolls, it's called being a woman." Gene interfered.

"Yes, thank you for that very insightful remark Gene. " Alex said as she playfully punched his arm. "But for your information, this time I really need them. None of my clothes fit properly anymore."

"S'okay Bolly, I was just teasing ya."

"I know," she nodded. "Unless you would like us to do something together Gene. We could always go shopping another day?"

"No, you go ahead. I think I'll go into work for a bit tomorrow morning."

At that remark, Alex gave him a questioning look. "Why? It's Saturday."

"There's a lot of work to be done Bolls. These past few days we've been focussing on that murdered girl so much, that we've pretty much neglected our other cases. Got some catching up to do."

Alex nodded in agreement. "That's true. The case has been very time consuming so far. Let's just hope all the hard work won't be for nothing."

"But 'ow about Sunday?" Gene asked.

Alex looked puzzled at this sudden remark. "What about Sunday?"

"Ya know, the three of us doing summat together."

"Oh yes of course," Alex replied. "What do you suggest we should do?"

"No idea." Gene answered. "What d'ya wanna do Molls?"

"Can I choose anything I like?" she asked."

"Well, as long as it's doable and within our budget, yes." Alex laughed.

Molly's eyes lit up with excitement. "Ooh, can we go to the ice-skating rink? It's not too far from here. I've wanted to go for a while now, but none of my friends want to come along, they all think it's lame." She rolled her eyes at that last comment.

"That's a nice idea Molls, though I hope you won't mind going ice-skating alone? I don't think it's actually safe for me to do that right now." Alex said.

"No that's okay mum. How about you Gene?" Molly asked.

"The Manc Lion doesn't do ice-skating Molls." Gene replied. "But I'll buy yer hot chocolate afterwards," he quickly added, as he saw the girl's disappointing look.

He was relieved to see her face light up again at that suggestion.

Alex couldn't help but smile. The two of them really had a funny way of communicating with each other. Gene was always teasing Molly, but in a very fatherly way, which was both funny and endearing to witness.

"Right, I think it's time for bed now Molls."

"But muuum!" Molly started to protest.

"No buts young lady. We've got a busy weekend ahead of us, and you need to be well rested. I'll come upstairs in a bit to say goodnight, okay?"

"Okay then," Molly sighed. "Night Gene."

"Night Molls," he called after her, as she made her way upstairs.

"So the Manc Lion doesn't ice-skate?" Alex said teasingly, as she snuggled closer to Gene on the sofa.

"That's right Bolls."

"Any particular reason why not?" She asked.

"Don't know 'ow to Bolls, I've never done it." He replied.

Alex started laughing. "The great Gene Hunt was embarrassed to tell a thirteen-year-old girl that he didn't know how to ice-skate. I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be laughing, but that's actually quite cute!"

"I'm not cute Bolls. The Gene Genie might be a lot of things, but cute isn't one of them." He mumbled.

"Well, I'm sorry to say Gene," Alex said, as she pushed a stray lock of hair out of his face, "but that was definitely a moment that could be described as cute."

"Bloody hell Bolls, what do I need to do to convince you that I'm not?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something."Alex said teasingly.

"Right, you asked for this!" he said as he jumped forward and pushed her down on the sofa, tickling her as he went.

Alex burst into a fit of giggles. "Aaah, Gene stop it please! I'm convinced. Please stop. You know I'm ticklish!"

"S'right Bolls. Now repeat after me: The Manc Lion is not cute."

"The Manc – giggles – Lion – giggles – is not cute! Happy now?"

"It's a start," he said as he bent forward to kiss her.

TBC

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