A/N Glad people liked the last part - and there was me feeling bad for treating Chris (yes, I know he's not real) like that. I'm not entirely happy about this one - the Bank Holiday completely screwed everything up for me - but here goes...

Snapshot Eight

"Well?" Gene asked, sounding more confident than he felt, and turning a little in his seat, resting one arm on the steering wheel.

Alex gazed at him for a long beat, trying to figure out exactly what she was supposed to be reacting to. He had virtually manhandled her into the car earlier - well, he would have manhandled her if wasn't being so damn protective of her. If she thought she'd dampened that protective streak before she'd been wrong; it was back with a vengeance and what was worse, he seemed to have roped most of CID into it as well. The more noticeable her bump, the worse he had become. And he'd refused to say where they were going. Not even when she'd asked for the third time and he'd replied that telling her would 'spoil the bloody surprise' - at which point she'd admitted defeat and stopped. He was still being rather vague now. "About what?" she asked finally, causing his expression to change from expectant to exasperated.

"The house," he said, pointing out through the passenger side window of the car.

Following his directions - which he'd given as if it was the most obvious thing in the world - she gazed out to her left, to the building in question: a neat, well kept, house, one of many on a tree lined street. "It's a house, Gene," she said turning back to him and only then, when she'd witnessed the reaction to her words on his face, did the proverbial penny drop.

"It's not Buckingham Palace," Gene growled, unable to keep his voice even, "But I figured, since you're pregnant but won't marry me, it might be best if we at least live together!"

She hadn't realised he was hung up about the whole marriage thing; they hadn't discussed it since that night, the night he'd proposed, but he'd seemed happy with her answer back then. The subject hadn't arisen again until a few weeks ago when they'd finally 'come clean'; well, were forced to come clean thanks to Chris. Was marriage suddenly back on the cards because everyone now knew? The inevitable questioning had started not long after the congratulations and it had been Ray - of all people, because she was expecting it to be Shaz - who had broached the subject by offering his services as 'best man' in a manner that really wasn't kind to herself. Gene had brushed the question off, rather harshly she had thought but, then again, nothing that Ray's comment hadn't deserved, and no one had dared bring it up again. "I didn't say I wouldn't marry you," she said, sighing softly.

Gene turned his gaze quickly to the road ahead, avoiding hers. He hadn't meant to speak so sharply to her but she appeared completely unimpressed by all the trouble he'd went to and everything that he'd planned to do, and say, had just vanished. So he stared ahead. He'd wanted to do this for her, for them. To show her what she, what they, meant to him because the words were so bloody hard to say. But finances had constrained him, making him painfully aware of how very different they were and in so many ways. And wondering if those differences would be too great.

Alex tried to catch his eyes but his gaze was lost to the quiet street ahead, his face set hard. She had been expecting him to refute her words but he seemed to be letting it go - was there something else going on in that head of his? He was so infuriating at times, always had to take charge, always had to make the decisions. And now he was making her feel like she was at fault. "And I didn't ask you to buy a house," she rebuked, her voice rising to match her frustration and annoyance with him.

"It's my job to provide for you!" he hit back, matching her tone and meeting her gaze once more, seeing the same fire in her eyes that he knew was currently pulsing through his own. She was so bloody infuriating at times. She might not have agreed to marry him but she had admitted to loving him and, to his own surprise, that had been a good enough trade off. He really couldn't see the problem; she loved him, he loved her - they were going to have a kid, going to be a family. And a family needed a home. His place wasn't big enough and there was no way in hell his child was going to grow up above a bloody trattoria. Problem solved.

"I don't need providing for," she retaliated, trying to rein her voice back in but failing. She saw the spark in his eyes diminish with her words before they fell to the floor of the car and she knew she'd hurt him, a swift left hook just as round one had started. She should have expected this really; it was an alpha male response and that was Gene in a nutshell. And it was the norm for him to avoid his feelings, hiding behind gestures instead - and this was a pretty big one. The proverbial penny dropped for the second time in minutes. He was nervous about her reaction to the house; whether it was because he'd went behind her back or the actual house itself she couldn't be sure - maybe it was both but she'd put money on the source of his mood being that he didn't think the house - and therefore himself - was good enough. Twenty-first century thinking and decades of feminism begged her not to let him get away with this, even if he was being quite sweet, but she crumbled anyway - she could blame it on raging hormones if her psyche ever tried to call her on it. Sliding her hand across the divide between their seats, she found his, clenched into a fist and resting on his leg. She worked the gloved fingers free with surprising ease, squeezing his hand when she had opened him up, his eyes now on their hands. In this world, however it had come to exist, she really did need him; in this world she'd always needed him. And he'd always been there for her. "I just need you, Gene."

He softened at the tone of her voice, meeting her gaze, relaxing a little at the reconfirmation of her feelings as he allowed the faintest of smiles to grace his lips as her eyes smiled back at him. Maybe her initial response had been because he'd surprised her and he'd taken it completely the wrong way. Not that he was going to admit to that - and she probably wouldn't make him either. Maybe they could make this work. "Well, I come with the house."