Again thanks to everyone who's still reading, especially the people who continue to review.
Chapter 5
She stood hesitantly in front of the building of Fenchurch East police station, wondering whether she should go in or not. After a few minutes her curiosity took the upper hand, and she started climbing the steps towards the main entrance. The front desk was unmanned, as the desk sergeant was probably down in the cells sorting out a problem. This enabled her to enter the building without being seen or stopped by anyone.
She was a woman of average height, a brunette with shoulder-length hair. She wore tight-fitted jeans and a loose green top, her black heels clacking on the floor as she walked through the long corridors of the station. The brunette came to a standstill as she approached the double doors at the end of the corridor. Again, she hesitated for a moment, asking herself whether she should go through them or not. Behind those doors, undeniably, lay the heart of Fenchurch East CID. She took a deep breath, and pushed through the doors with one swift movement.
CID was an oasis of silence. Chris was sat in his chair, his head lolling back and his mouth slightly ajar, as he was fast asleep. Ray had put his feet up on his desk, and was 'reading' something, most probably a dirty magazine. There were a few more men around, but they were all minding their own business, and nobody seemed to have noticed her coming in.
The woman made her way over to Ray's desk, and snatched the magazine from his hands.
"I see your reading material 'asn't changed a bit Ray," the woman said, with an unmistakeably Mancunian accent.
"What the bloody 'ell!" Ray started, but he fell silent as he looked up and saw his magazine snatcher.
"Cartwright! Wha' are you doing 'ere?"
"Thanks Ray, you're ever so kind. I'm doing very well, and yourself?" Annie replied, the undertone of sarcasm could be clearly heard.
"No need to get defensive 'ere. You just scared me 'alf to death."
"Yeah sorry about that. You were completely lost to your surroundings, and I just couldn't help me self." She grinned.
Ray turned around. "Oi Chris, look who's 'ere. Chris…CHRIS!"
Chris didn't respond, so Ray grabbed the magazine Annie was still holding, and threw it at the sleeping form of his colleague. This made Chris jump up, causing him to fall off his chair backwards, landing head-first on the floor.
"Ray, what did you do that for?" he asked with an indignant voice.
"We have a visitor, but you didn't wake up when I called you, you div!"
"Hiya Chris, good to see you again," Annie said as she smiled at him.
"Yeah you too Annie." He said. "So what brings you to London?"
"Research for a case I'm working on. Couldn't go back to Manchester without saying hello, now could I?"
"So how have you been?" Chris asked.
Ray felt this was his cue to leave. He didn't do 'small talk'. That was a poof's thing as far as he was concerned. So he left Chris and Annie to it, and went to sit in the little CID kitchen.
"You're married?" he heard Annie exclaim in disbelief.
Ray shook his head. "Show-off," he mumbled to himself.
"Chris, where's the Guv?" Annie asked. "I'd like to see him, too, before I leave again."
"Him and DI Drake are both out at the moment, but they should be back soon I think."
"So what's this DI Drake like then? Any good?"
"Oh she's really nice, and very good at what she does. Drives the Guv crazy sometimes though."
"She?"Annie looked surprised. "You have a female DI?"
"Yeah, only female DI in the MET apparently." Chris nodded.
"Well, I definitely want to meet her." Annie sounded curious.
She didn't have to wait long, because soon she heard two pairs of footsteps rapidly approaching CID. One, the sound of a pair of men's boots, the other, the clacking of a pair of heels, definitely a woman. She turned around as she heard the double doors swing open, and she took in the sight before her.
There he was; Gene Hunt, her Guv. Or at least he had been for many years. He hasn't changed much, she thought to herself as she continued to look at him. He'd lost some weight, and he had swapped his camel coat for a black one, but apart from that he still looked the same. Then her focus switched to the figure standing next to him. She was beautiful, and tall, nearly as tall as him - with dark brown curly hair that bounced off the sides of her head. Together they made a very good looking pair.
Though at this moment, Gene looked as though he'd seen a ghost.
"Hello Guv," Annie said nervously.
It took Gene a while before he replied. "Christ on a bike, you're the last person I would've expected to turn up here Cartwright." He finally said.
Alex nudged him in his side, and he didn't even have to look sideways to know what kind of look she was giving him. It was her 'don't be such a bloody Neanderthal and say something nice' look. So he composed himself, coughed nervously, and continued.
"Good to see yer Annie, what brings you here?"
"Research actually. DCI Weston send me here to pick up some files at Scotland Yard, and I thought I'd stop by here before going back to Manchester."
Before Gene could continue, he heard Alex cough suggestively.
"Oh yeah, let me introduce you two. This is DI Alex Drake. Alex, this is WDC Annie Cartwright."
"WDS actually Guv, got promoted last year." Annie corrected him.
Gene was momentarily stunned into silence by that new piece of information. "Oh, uhm..yeah well done Cartwright. Nice work."
"Thanks Guv." Annie grinned.
The two women decided to ignore Gene's slightly embarrassing behaviour, and shook hands.
"Nice to finally meet you Annie, I've heard so much about you." Alex said and smiled.
"Really?" Annie looked surprised. "It's really nice meetin' you too, though I have to admit I hadn't heard of you until half an hour ago."
"That's absolutely fine," Alex laughed.
"Come on, I'm sure we've got a lot to talk about," she said as she grabbed Annie's arm. "Let's go into Gene's office, it's a lot more quiet there. Are you coming as well Gene?" she called out to her DCI, who was still standing by the double doors, completely gobsmacked by everything that had just happened.
"Yeah coming Bolls," he said as he made his way over to his office to join the two women.
"So you've been bumped up to DS now." Gene said as they all sat down in his office.
"Yeah, about a year ago." Annie smiled. "I was really surprised, never saw it coming to be honest. I thought that after Sam…" she breathed in deeply, as she took a moment to compose herself before continuing. "I thought I wouldn't get very far without him, since he always supported me, and told me I could do anything I wanted. He instated confidence in me, and without that support I felt lost."
"Nonsense Cartwright. As much as I hated to admit it at first, you're a bloody good copper, even for a bird, and you didn't need a nancy boy like Tyler to tell you what yer worth!"
Annie smiled shyly at this slightly odd phrased compliment. "Thanks Guv, that really means a lot to me."
"You haven't seen any of them in a while, have you Annie?" Alex asked.
Annie shook her head. "Not for about three years now. Haven't seen any of them since they moved to London."
And then it dawned on Alex why the whole situation was so uncomfortable; they probably hadn't seen each other since Sam's death. She felt very stupid all of a sudden, for joining them in Gene's office, intending on joining in some ordinary 'what have you been doing lately?' banter.
She quickly got up and made her way over to the door.
"Where are you going Bolly?" Gene asked. A slight undertone of panic could be heard in his voice.
"I'm going to make myself useful and work on the case for a bit. I'm sure you two have a lot of catching up to do, so I'll leave you to it." She replied. "I'll see you both later," she said with a smile, before she closed the office door behind her.
Alex sat behind her desk as she tried to work on the case, but she found it hard to concentrate. Her thought kept drifting off; she thought about Sam, and about her own life and everything that had changed. It wasn't long, no more than fifteen minutes later, when Annie exited Gene's office. She walked over to where Alex was sitting, to say goodbye to her before she left.
"Leaving so soon?" Alex asked.
Annie nodded. "Yeah, I won't take up anymore of your time. I've heard you're very busy with a case you're working on."
"Yes that's true. But it's not as if we're really getting anywhere with it at the moment. It's very frustrating." Alex replied.
"Well, it was very nice meeting you Alex," Annie said as she stuck out her hand.
"Really nice meeting you too Annie," Alex replied as she shook her hand.
"Wait, how long are you in London for?" Alex asked, just as Annie started walking away.
"I'm here for another day. Why?"
"Come and have a drink with us tonight at Luigi's. We'll be there around 6. It's only across the road from here." Alex smiled.
"Okay, I will. Thanks for inviting me Alex."
"No problem. See you tonight then!"
"Yeah, see you tonight. Bye," Annie said. And with that, she turned around and left.
Later that day, Alex was sitting at a table in Luigi's by herself, sipping a glass of his ridiculously overpriced fizzy water. She waved to Annie who had just entered the restaurant, and motioned her to come over.
"I'm glad you came Annie. How was the rest of your day?"
"Pretty good," Annie said, as she sat herself down opposite Alex. "Read through a few case files, and I think they're going to be very useful for our investigation."
"I'm glad to hear that." Alex smiled. "Would you like a glass?" she asked, pointing towards the bottle of sparkling water. "If you want something stronger, I'm afraid you'll have to ask Luigi."
"No, water's fine." Annie answered as she poured herself a glass. "So did you get anywhere with your investigation today?"
"Nothing whatsoever. It's so frustrating, because we've practically no leads. No family to interview, as they all live in Saudi-Arabia. And I think both the husband and her friend have told us everything they know. I'm afraid we're reaching a dead end with the investigation." Alex sighed.
"I can imagine that must be frustrating." Annie nodded in agreement. "So where's the Guv?" She asked, changing the subject.
"He's picking up my daughter Molly, as we're going to have dinner here tonight," Alex said, glancing at her watch. "They should've been here by now."
"Picking up your daughter? Does that mean you and the Guv are…together?" Annie looked surprised.
The look on Annie's face caused Alex to burst out laughing. "Yes we are as a matter of fact. You didn't know?"
"No I didn't, I swear. Nobody's told me anything; and like I said, I haven't seen the Guv or any of the others for nearly three years."
"How come you didn't keep in touch?" Alex asked. "To be honest, it surprised me that Gene didn't have any contact with you. You are after all his best friend's wife."
"I don't know, I suppose everyday life just got in the way." Annie shrugged. "But I have to say I'm surprised to find the Guv in a serious relationship. Didn't think he'd want anything like that again after his wife left him. Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about the relationship the two of you have, but just in general. I didn't expect it."
Alex laughed. "That's perfectly fine, I understand. Before we got together, I didn't think he'd be a relationship kind of person either. And neither was I, to be honest. But from the moment we finally gave in to our feelings, it just felt right. I can't really explain it."
"I understand," Annie said. "That's the kind of connection I had with Sam. It was there from day one, but it took a long time before either of us acted upon it. It's something you can't explain, it just is."
"It's a very rare thing, I suppose." Alex said. "I never thought I could feel this way. Especially with a man like Gene. Normally, men like him aren't even my type." She grinned.
"He's changed a lot since I last saw him." Annie said. "His divorce and Sam's death both affected him badly, but he's changed beyond recognition now, in a good way. And I'm guessing a big part is down to you, Alex. Though I'm still finding it hard to imagine Gene Hunt with a baby."
This last remark caused both women to laugh out loud.
"Believe me, a year ago I would've found it unthinkable," Alex laughed. "But he really has changed, like you said, and I've faith in him. I'm sure he'll be a great dad; perhaps a bit strange at times, but great nonetheless."
That night, as they were lying in bed, Alex found it hard to fall asleep. She just couldn't stop thinking about the events of that day.
"Gene, tell me about what happened after Sam died," she said.
"Why, what is there to tell?" Gene asked as crept up behind her to spoon her, placing his right hand over her belly.
"I'd imagine there's a lot to tell. It was undoubtedly an important moment in your life, and you went through a lot of changes. But you never talk about any of it."
"S'difficult to talk about Bolls, I'd rather not think about it too much," he mumbled.
Alex placed her hand over his, gently rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb.
"Perhaps it'll get easier if you talk about it. Don't think of me as a psychologist, but just as Alex, your partner, your lover. Please let me in Gene, let me be part of that period of your life."
Gene sighed as he rested his chin on her shoulder, half-burying his face in her hair.
"S'gonna be a long story Bolls, and it won't be easy. I've done some things I'm not particularly proud of."
"It's alright," she reassured him. "You don't have to tell me every tiny detail. Just tell me as much as you feel comfortable with."
Gene took another deep breath, and started talking.
"By the time I arrived at the river, they were already busy pullin' the Cortina out of the water. Took me ages to get there, since we were in the middle of an investigation, and on top of that Sam had taken me bloody car. They didn't find his body, must've drifted away they said. So we started searching. Annie was in a right state, didn't know what to do with 'erself. I tried to comfort her, but you know me, I'm not very good at that sort of thing. So in the end I sent her home, she was no use to the investigation, plus we had that whole 'conflict of interest' thing to worry about. New Super was very big on following the rules an' all.
We had to stop searching after a week, t'was no use."
Gene swallowed hard, before continuing. "Sam was officially declared dead. I sorta helped out with planning the memorial service, along with Annie's parents. She was in no fit state to do anythin'. The service was nice, was all a bit soft if yer ask me, but I'm sure that's how 'e would've wanted it. T'was busy too, felt like the whole of GMP was there.
Annie was signed off on compassionate leave, but she didn't want to 'ear of it. Went back to work straightaway, claiming she'd go mad sitting at home all day. But she wasn't herself; distracted, frail and emotional. Never seen anyone looking that pale, and that's saying something, coming from someone who's seen a lot of stiffs in his time.
Few weeks went by, everyone was pretty much in a crappy mood round the clock. Even Raymondo looked genuinely upset, even though he and Sam never got on that well. Then everything just went tits up. The missus left me about 3 weeks after Sam's death. She'd been meaning to do this for a while, but held it off fer a bit because of the memorial service an' all. Bu' she said she couldn't pretend any longer, so she packed her bags and left."
Gene paused, needed to digest everything he'd just said.
"That must've been awful Gene," Alex sounded genuinely sympathetic.
"T'was me own fault really, I was a lousy husband. To be honest, I'm surprised she didn't leave me sooner. From that moment on, my life was pretty much one big shithole. Didn't enjoy doing me job anymore. Sam might've been a big pain in the arse, but I didn't know how to work properly anymore without him. Ray and Chris aren't bad at what they do, but let's be honest, they're a couple of divs, and they need someone to watch over them. Normally Cartwright would be of use, but at that time, she was just as useless as the rest of them. So I decided that it was best for me to transfer. Wasn't an easy decision, mind. Never thought I could leave Manchester behind. It's my city; grew up there and lived there all my life, knew every street corner and back alley, and all the scum and lowlife it housed."
"So what made you choose London?" Alex asked, urging him to continue.
"Tis a big and impersonal city Bolls. Easy for a newcomer to make a fresh start, since you don't stand out, and nobody notices you."
Alex nodded in agreement. That was definitely true.
"So what happened then?" Alex encouraged him to continue.
"I made the request to be transferred. They said it would take about 3 months, so I would have to continue working in me old job for the time being. Didn't mind it that much since I knew it would be coming to an end soon anyway. They were right, cause I came down 'ere about 4 months after Sam's death. I told everyone I was transferring straightaway, best to get it over and done with an' all. Ray said he'd transfer with me almost immediately, and Chris followed suit not long after that. Never asked them to come with me, t'was their own initiative. The most initiative they've probably ever showed."
That last remark made Alex chuckle. "So how did the rest of your team take it?"
"They weren't happy, but accepted it pretty quickly. Annie was upset though. Never thought she were that fond of me to be honest."
"Did she say anything?" Alex asked.
"Didn't say a word to me, but I could see she was upset. Felt I needed to talk to her, though I'm not good at it. Talking about your problems if for women, poofters and Sam. But since he weren't there, I had to do it myself."
3 years earlier
"Cartwright, my office!" Gene called through the open door.
Annie sighed, as she got up and made her way to the Guv's office. She walked slowly as she tried to keep herself together. She was whiter than a sheet of paper, and the dark circles under her eyes showed she hadn't slept well for weeks. All eyes were on her, as nobody understood why she had been called into their DCI's office. It wasn't as if she had done anything wrong, quite the opposite. Over the past few weeks, she had buried herself in her work, and had hardly uttered a word to anyone.
She walked into his office and closed the door behind her. "You wanted to see me Guv."
She didn't even pose it as a question, just stated it as a fact.
Gene, who had been sitting behind his desk with his feet up, swung his long legs off of his desk where he'd previously rested them, and looked up at her. For a moment, he said nothing, and just took in the sight of the woman before him. She didn't look remotely like the Annie Cartwright he'd got to know over the years. The Annie he knew, was a cheerful young woman, whose happiness and positive outlook on life seemed to radiate off of her, and swept a breath of fresh air through CID. The woman he was looking at right now, didn't look like she had a wave of optimism or cheerfulness left in her. The spark in her eyes had gone, and the bright blue colour had been replaced by a dull grey one.
"Yeah, er..sit down Annie." He said nervously, as he motioned at the chair at the other side of his desk.
Annie sat down, but didn't look at him. Instead, she just stared at her hands, waiting for Gene to speak.
"So how are you holding up?" He finally asked.
"Alright, I suppose," she answered. "Just getting on with my job. Got a lot of files organised over the past couple of weeks. Was long overdue so I'm glad that's all sorted now."
Gene sighed. This was going to be even more difficult than he had imagined. Having a conversation with a bird who poured her heart out was relatively easy, just nodding in agreement and a few sympathetic looks would usually do it, but this was something else. It was obvious that Annie wasn't herself, but she didn't seem eager to talk about it. She hadn't even looked at him since she'd stepped into his office.
"I didn't ask you in 'ere to talk about work. If I want the files organised, I can get some plonk in to do that." He said. "I want to know how you're feeling."
Annie just shrugged her shoulders, and continued to stare at her hands.
"Annie, look at me."
She finally looked up, and as their eyes met, he could see that tears were already starting to gather in hers.
"Annie, love, don't cry.." he started, but it was too late. The floodgates had opened, and the young woman was slowly falling apart before his eyes.
Gene did something he hardly ever did; he walked over to her and put his arms around her, as she silently cried into his chest, her frail body heaving frantically from the sobs.
"It's alright love. I know you're hurting, but it'll get better with time. I miss 'im too."
It was the first time he had admitted it, that he really missed Sam. He'd not so much as thought it, let alone said it out loud. But it was true, he missed him terribly. He felt a few tears burning in the back of his eyes, but forcefully blinked them away. Hugging a woman was one thing, but he couldn't possibly cry. He hadn't gone completely soft.
"It's not just that," Annie said, as she pulled away from Gene to face him, the occasional sob escaping her. "I miss him more than I've ever missed anyone else, it hurts my body and soul, and I feel like that pain's never going to go away again. But there's more."
She paused for a moment, stuck in an inner conflict over whether she should confide in her DCI or not.
"What's the matter love?" Gene asked.
Annie took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm…p-pregnant."
"Flaming Nora," Gene mumbled. "S'bad enough of Tyler to abandon you, but like this!"
"He didn't abandon me Guv, he died. It's not his fault," she sniffed.
Gene rummaged in his pocket, in search of a handkerchief. Finally he found one, and handed it to Annie, who gratefully took it and blew her nose, after having dabbed her tears away with it first.
"Please don't tell anyone what I've just told you," she said.
"Why don't you want anyone to know? At some point, they're gonna find out anyway."
She looked at him with pleading eyes. "Just don't, please. I don't want their pity."
"Don't worry, I won't say a word." He reassured her.
He stood up and patter her on the shoulder. "Now you stay 'ere, and I'll get you a cuppa. You look a complete mess Cartwright, can't let you go out of the office looking like this, or the rest will think I've been bullying ya."
Annie managed a faint smile as she looked up at him through watery eyes. "Thanks Guv."
"So I respected her wish, and didn't tell anyone." Gene concluded the story.
"My god, that's awful. I can't imagine what she must've gone through." Alex said. "But there's one thing I don't understand; when I asked Jackie about Sam and Annie, she said they didn't have any children."
"Like I said, she didn't tell many people, and I kept me promise, so not many people knew." Gene answered. "The last time Jackie saw Annie was at the memorial service. She wrote Sam's obituary for the paper, but that was it. Annie moved to the other side of town, away from the people she knew, and to live closer to her parents. She needed a fresh start too. I asked her if she wanted to come down to London as well, you know, to keep the team intact, but she refused. Didn't want to leave Manchester."
"I can understand that. Starting over in a new city in her situation would've been extremely difficult." Alex said.
"Luckily she had her parents to turn to for support. Plus she got a widow's pension so she would be alright, financially at least."
"So what happened afterwards?" Alex asked.
"I only saw her twice after I moved away." He said. "Once when the little 'un was born, and at his christening. She even made me 'is godfather. Can't think why though, I was bloody useless." These last words were mumbled in an almost embarrassed tone.
Alex shifted in the bed and turned around so she was facing him. "What's done is done, and you can't change the past." She said as she lightly brushed her hand across his cheek. "The fact that you're acknowledging your own mistakes is really quite something. It's more than most people manage to do."
"Yeah, well it doesn't really change anything, does it Bolls?"
"It might. You could talk to her, and apologize. She'll appreciate that, and I'm sure she won't hold any of it against you."
"You think Bolls? She's my best friend's wife, and I buggered off when she went through what was probably the lowest point in her life."
"She knows you were hurting too Gene, and that you didn't do it on purpose. And let's face it, she probably wouldn't have visited you if she'd still been angry with you. Just talk to her. I know it's hard, but I'm sure you'll both feel better afterwards."
"Alright, I promise I'll talk to her Bolls."
"Good."
"I think we'd better try to get some sleep now. Busy day tomorrow."
Alex yawned. "Good idea, I'm exhausted."
"Night Gene," she said as she snuggled closer to him, and was asleep within minutes.
"Night Bolls," he said as he kissed the top of her head.
Gene, however, didn't sleep. He couldn't. He kept mulling over everything he'd just said to Alex. Never before in his life had he ever been so candid about his thoughts and feelings. Whenever he was with Alex, she managed to conjure sides of him, which he didn't even know existed. It was scary and comforting at the same time. Now completely awake, he stared at the ceiling, while listening to the steady breathing of the sleeping form lying next to him. It was going to be a long night..
TBC