Um. Hey :) I may have not updated this since March. Possibly (it can't be that long; surely?) Whoops... I started to change this chapter into Gene's POV and I never finished it and then the months ran away. I'm so sorry guys! If anyone is still reading this; enjoy :)

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She is quiet as I take her to Luigi's. My anger at the father that neglected and hit her is irrational. She's just a kid I knocked over and suddenly I feel about her the way I've only ever felt about my team and, once upon a time, my wife? I don't understand.

Well maybe a part of me does but I am really not thinking about that.

When we arrive in Luigi's it is virtually empty apart from a few couples, something I am thankful for. I watch, slightly amused, slightly confused by the ease at which she speaks the Italian she speaks to Luigi, although even I notice the pauses that give away it isn't her mother tongue. She gives a slight grin, probably at my expression which I know is an incredulous one.

"Ah, Mr Hunt! You finally bring someone culture to my restaurant. Why she with you?"

"I knocked her over in my car. I want a double scotch." I reply without emotion and ignoring Luigi's disapproving expression I leave her chatting to him and go over to mine and Bo-. My table. Christ, it's been over two years now and I still think like she's still around. I need to get a grip.

I hear her laugh and I look up; Luigi passes her a menu and disappears behind the bar. She walks over to me and sits down in Alex's chair. My chest tightens. I ignore it.

"What are you going to have?" She asks me, looking uncomfortable.

"Nothing. I'm just having a Scotch." I reply unhelpfully.

"Err, ok." She looks worried and I realise she doesn't know what to order. I decide to help.

"Alex always used to say the Carbonara was good. Never tried it myself." I offer.

"Thanks." She grins and her whole face lights up. Then something flickers in her eyes and it's like the light inside her has been turned off. I wonder what she is remembering.

Luigi came back with my scotch and turns to Alice. "Che cosa Hanno?"

"Avrò la Carbonara per favore, sta prendendo atto che, tranne il suo scotch." I recognise very few words in her sentence, please, Carbonara and Scotch. She rolls her eyes at Luigi and I get the feeling they're sharing a private joke.

"Buono, buono." He replies and is about the leave when Alice speaks again. In Italian... Are they determined to make sure I don't understand or something?

"Luigi, ho pensato che stavano andando? Sono venuto qui qualche tempo fa, mi sembrava di avere l'impressione che fosse stato lasciato un sacco di soldi, e tu eri tornare in Italia" She asks.

"Sì, ma ho deciso di tornare. Faccio meglio i soldi qui e dove mi sono trasferita a non erano molto amichevoli, ci fu un altro ristorante in città, e tutti passavano di là. Così sono tornato." He replies, glancing at me.

"Oh, Ok." She smiles easily and Luigi leaves.

I look at her suspiciously. "What were you talking about? I don't understand the eity lingo"

"Italy." She replies, looking slightly shifty.

It occurs to me that she probably has no idea what the 'eity lingo' is but I can't be bothered to explain myself to this kid who is unbelievable complicated and so much like Alex that it hurts. So I just reply rather inadequately. "Oh."

Neither of us spoke for a while, both of us lost in our thoughts.

"Was Alex the psychologist friend?" She asks, suddenly. She looks at me, her blue eyes piercing.

"Yeah, she was." I reply, then go quiet and look down at my scotch. My team get Alex is a no-go area but for some reason she doesn't.

"Godetevi signora," Luigi interrupts, bringing her dinner.

"Grazie Luigi" She smiles up at him. When he leaves she orders me; "Tell me about her."

"She was a right posh pain in the arse" I say firmly; meaning to leave it at that.

There is another silence in which I avoid her gaze and she eats her dinner.

Then suddenly I can't not talk about Alex because all I've done since she left is stay quiet and there is something about this kid that inspires my confidence. I know that I can trust her so I talk.

"She wouldn't take no as an answer, she came out with all sorts of psychiatry bollocks,"

"Psychology" She reminds me.

"She always used to correct me when I called it psychiatry too. She had a daughter called Molly. I don't know why she wasn't with her but she was always fighting to get back to her." I frown a little, and then continue "She did some really stupid things, once she locked us in an underground vault."

She laughs and I grin "Why were you in an underground vault?"

"It's a long story." I say evasively. Which in all fairness it is.

"How did you get out?"

"Chris, Shaz and Ray came to let us out."

"Chris and Ray?"

"DC Christopher Skelton and DI Ray Carling. Shaz was a uniform. They've... left too." I pause, feeling tired. Maybe talking wasn't such a good idea. I can feel the all too familiar ache in my chest re-awakening.

"What was it like in the vault?" She asks, looking desperate to know more.

I think for a long moment, there are so many words I could use. "Hot," I settle on finally. "Bolly took her shirt off." I keep my face blank but inwardly I am smirking.

"Bolly?"

"That's what I called Alex. She contradicted me, went against my orders, she was always convinced she was right. Thought she was above us all." I talk and part of me is angry, why can I never say the important things; the true things?

"Sounds like you really got on." She mutters sarcastically.

"I trusted her, and in the end she trusted me too. She was a good person under all that crap."

"What did she look like?" She asks and I freeze.

I don't know what to say. I can describe her easily, she is imprinted on the inside of my eyelids and she haunts my dreams every night, just out of my reach, sitting at her desk but whenever I call for her she ignores me, or walks off towards Keats. Besides the words never came to me the way they did to Bolly or Sam for that matter. I'd never do her justice. So I settle on the plain simple truth. "She was beautiful" I say in a low voice.

She pauses and stares forlornly down at her plate, seemingly lost for words. Something that surprises me because for the afternoon I have known her she has never been short for words before. "I'm sorry"

"What for?" I ask, surprised. If it's for reminding me of Alex Kid don't worry. It happens on its own enough anyway. If anything you've been a distraction.

Emotions flicker over her face. I can't read any of them and the slight feeling of unease I have been carrying around ever since I knocked her over increases. There is something about this girl that unnerves me.

"For causing you so much trouble. I'll go now." She says, looking sad, tired and, oddly, incredibly nervous. She stands and turns to go.

"No." I say loudly, shattering the quiet atmosphere of the restaurant. "Where will you sleep?"

"Somewhere."I'm not a police officer for nothing and I actually did listen to Bolly when she twittered on about body language. That girl is lying through her teeth.

"Where do you normally sleep?" I probe, watching as her eyes flicker over the mural behind my face, my face and her empty plate but never my eyes.

"At friends' houses, in churches, soup kitchens. All over the place." She says breezily.

"Well you won't tonight. There's a flat upstairs, you can sleep there." I say firmly, ignoring the twinge of doubt of how bad someone could make this look.

"Luigi" I call out loudly. "Kid is going to use the flat upstairs tonight. That ok?"

"Of course Signor Hunt. Buona notte."

I make my way towards the flat, knowing she is behind me without having to look. For the thirty or so seconds it takes us before we reach the flat I pretend it is Alex behind me. Pretend it's just another night when we'd taken a bottle of Luigi's house rubbish to her flat and I'd crashed on her sofa. Just another night...

"Who lives here?" She asks, looking round, her face questioning.

"No one. I sometimes come up here." I tell her shortly. Not telling her that I come up here when I am utterly pissed and I crash on her sofa and just for a while I can pretend she's still here.

"Did someone live here then?" She asks. Her eyes are drooping and I can tell her tiredness is slowing the quickness with which she normally links things.

"It was Alex's flat." I say heavily. "The bedroom is through there."

She looks at me for a long moment, takes that little breathe people always do before they speak but she doesn't say a word.

She does through to the bedroom and I can hear her opening drawers and things. I wonder what she'll choose to wear. She's quite tall so she wouldn't have too much difficulty finding something she can at least wear at night.

When she comes out she's wearing some slightly ill fitting pyjamas with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

"They were the only thing I could find that I felt like wearing." She says defensively "All her other night clothes were too," she pauses "grown up."

I laugh at that and think of Alex and it doesn't surprise me this girl doesn't want to wear any of Alex's clothes "I'll sleep in here tonight Kid." I pause and say somewhat awkwardly "I won't trouble you, I promise."

"Of course, I know that." She gives me a tired smile. Then she frowns slightly and I wonder if she's thinking the same as I am; this is not a very satisfactory arrangement.

"Good night Gene."

"Night Kid."

::

I don't speak Italian. I can ask for water. That's literally it. It's off Google translate. It roughly means:

Good evening, how are you?

You speak my language?

Yes, we learn it at school.

Did he really knock you over?

That Mr Hunt. He is a menace.

What are you having?

I'll have the Carbonara please; he's having nothing, except for his scotch.

Luigi, I thought you were leaving? I came here some time ago, I seemed to get the impression you'd been left a lot of money, and you were going back to Italy.

Yes, but I decided to come back. I make better money over here and where I moved to they weren't very friendly, there was another Restaurant in town, and they all went there. So I came back.

I left out the stuff like si and buono which mean yes and good; basically stuff that I thought you could get.