A/N So... this'll probably be the last part. Still, twelve chapters is not bad considering this started off as a one-shot, is it?

A/N 2 Apologies once again for the time taken to update. Big thank you to everyone who took the time to leave a review, especially those who did so consistently; your encouragement and feedback was always appreciated and usually had the desired effect.

Snapshot Twelve

Gene sat in his office absently flicking through the sport pages; it was preferable to the pile of paperwork that littered his desk but his mind wasn't even on the paper, it was on her. He missed her around the office; her brains, her wild theories and outlandish ideas. He missed the arguments, the bickering, the solving cases together. He just missed her full stop. Before she'd gone on leave he could barely remember how it had been without her on his team and he didn't like this, now constant, reminder. And, of course, he worried about her; though he was glad she was no longer putting herself in any kind of work related danger, he could no longer keep a surreptitious eye on her. That morning he'd left her half asleep in their bed; she'd had a restless night, more than usual, so he'd gently kissed her good-bye with a murmured promise of going home for lunch - mostly so he could check up on her. If she was suspicious of his motives she never mentioned it. But lunch was more than an hour away.

"Cup of tea, Sir?"

He glanced up at Shaz's voice to find the WPC holding a mug in one hand and a plate of biscuits in the other: pink wafers and Garibaldis. He was thankful for the interruption - the girl was a mind reader at times and he really needed to find her a better role within CID. "Ta," he said warmly but without smiling.

Shaz unburdened her load on the only gap she could find on the Guv's desk but rather than leaving straight away she hovered, a little unsure and a question hovering just as uncertainly on her lips. DCI Hunt gave a gesture that suggested she should spit out whatever was on her mind or leave so she plumped for the former. "I was thinking of calling round to see DI... Alex after work - would that be okay?"

Gene frowned slightly at the question. He'd never, in all of his career, invited colleagues into his home - they were entirely separate entities. But now it wasn't just his home, it was Alex's too, and that line between work and home was becoming ever thinner. Letting Alex into his life meant he had to make sacrifices elsewhere - whether he liked them or not. And obviously Shaz was being mindful of the changing situation. He was saved from answering by his phone ringing and as he picked it up, he indicated to Shaz that she should stick around; he'd have that chat with her about her future in CID.

"I don't want you to worry, Gene - but it's time."

Her voice was eerily calm but it did nothing to prevent the sudden spasm in his stomach that her words had caused. As his heart struggled in vain to escape through his ribcage, the resulting blood flow required for such a procedure almost deafening, he managed to eke out a reply: "Now?" It wasn't time now - they still had two weeks to go. This couldn't be good, could it? All the very worst thoughts, all the fears, that he had tried so hard to overcome now reared their ugly heads once more making a mockery of Alex's suggestion not to worry. What had they said in those bloody classes she'd dragged him to and why hadn't he paid more attention instead of just making jokes that had made Alex laugh but had resulted in them being asked to leave. Taking a deep breath he tried to do what she had asked and not worry; she seemed calm enough and she'd been through this before.

"Yes, now. The contractions started a while ago but I need to get to the hospital now."

"What?" Gene shouted incredulously down the phone, his surprise and concern swiftly replaced by an anger that even shot down those ugly, dark thoughts, banishing them back to where they belonged. "Then why didn't you bloody tell me sooner?" That spasm in his stomach twisted violently as he continued on, knowing that it wasn't helping but unable to stop himself. And he was far too distracted to notice the attention of his team that his raised voice had suddenly garnered.

"I'm telling you now, Gene!"

There was an anger to her voice that he'd never heard before, one that was almost primal in its tone, and he knew it wasn't just his words that had caused it - though his reaction had probably not helped matters. She needed him and all he could do was shout at her. "I'm on my way," he said as he stood, hanging up after she had, somewhat sarcastically, thanked him. Christ, the birth was going to be a nightmare; now he knew why she'd been so adamant that he be there - she was going to make him pay. Make him pay for knocking her up in the first place. Make him pay for being such a selfish bastard at times. Make him pay for not having to carry their child for months on end and then have to endure labour too.

A discreet cough from the other occupant of his office drew his eyes away from the phone. He found Shaz staring innocently at him from the other side of his desk, far too polite - or maybe too afraid - to ask the question that was so obviously on her lips. A cursory glance through the windows of his office found similar expressions upon the faces of his team. "She's having the baby," he confirmed quietly to Shaz, a wave of calm gently, and finally, washing over him with the words and a smile creeping onto his lips: this was it. Alex might shout and scream at him from the moment he stepped into the house to pick her up and continue on until the baby was out; she might squeeze the hell out of his hand (he'd have to make sure it wasn't his darts hand) just so he could experience every excruciating moment with her; and she probably had a hundred other demands in store for him - but it'd all be worth it.

Shaz smiled quietly to herself; she'd never seen the Guv like this before - was this what Alex saw in him? "Then you'd better go, Sir," she prompted eventually as her boss stood there with possibly the stupidest - and maybe the only - grin she'd ever seen plastered on his face.

He drew himself out of his thoughts at her interruption and nodded in agreement, straightening out his smile in the process. Grabbing his jacket, he hastily slung it on and stepped outside of his office, taking a few steps before completing a U-turn that the Quattro would've been proud of and heading straight back inside. Grabbing his car keys from Shaz's proffered hand with a muttered thanks, he retraced his steps. "Raymondo, you're in charge - don't screw up!" he bellowed at his acting DI as he headed out of CID.

"Yes, Guv," Ray shouted confidently, his eyes finding Shaz stood in the doorway of the Guv's office; his first duty, he decided, would be to find out what had just happened.

Gene barely heard Ray's response as he was already out through the double doors, leaving them swinging behind him, and his thoughts were decidedly somewhere else. Everything was going to change. Nothing would ever be the same again. Some people might say, and he knew a couple of his team would agree (though never to his face), that his life was now over but he would disagree; it felt as though his life was, finally, beginning. He was going to be a Dad. And he couldn't stop himself from smiling once more.