A/N- for those who asked for a second chapter- thanks very much and I hope you enjoy !

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Chapter two

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Is it real?

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Keats frowned as he looked in the mirror. There was a speck of dirt on his otherwise pristine shirt collar. He drew in horrified breath, how had that happened? The pupils of his eyes dilated and as their size grew the size of the imperfection on his shirt collar seemed to grow as well. It was enough to set the mood for the day. He couldn't bear to be unkempt but he had no spare shirt. Incandescent with rage, he left his office and headed to the incident room.

oxxo

Alex sat naked on the edge of the bath. Her intention had been to get in but she was sniffing herself. Her arms, her legs, in between her legs, her hands. Did she smell different? Was she imagining the faint but familiar fragrance that seemed to cling to her entire body? She was certain she wasn't; his smell was all over her. He had been there. Hadn't he? Had he? Like a groupie after meeting and being touched by her idol, she didn't want to wash ever again; it would break the only connection they had left. She wasn't imagining the abundance of clear fluid between her legs, and her innate sense of cleanliness demanded it be dealt with. So she stood up and got into the warm bath. As she let the foamy water flood over her body she lay back and closed her eyes, reliving the feel of his hands on her skin, his body pressed so close to hers.

Gene she whispered

oxxo

Gene was in his office watching Shaz with fatherly concern when Keats made his entrance. Involuntarily Gene tensed but forced himself to stay calm. His feeling of displacement and isolation increased every time he saw the creepy creature but he didn't know why; he'd never been scared of authority before, it wasn't a good feeling. But today there was more, the menace had intensified and Gene knew it was because Keats felt he was edging ahead; not only walking out of the incident room with Alex the previous evening, but being seen to walk out of the incident room with her, getting tongues wagging.

Alex appeared not long after Keats. Gene only risked a glance at her when he was pretty certain she wouldn't be looking his way, when Keats was leaning over her desk in a possessive manner. But their eyes met as she looked around Keats, and Gene was baffled. She was all dewy eyed, loving almost, he must have copped the residue of the look she was giving Keats; those eyes would harden in a moment, become angry, cold and distrusting again. But they didn't, they stayed soft and affectionate. Keats turned to look at him too, then he looked at Alex crossly, demanding her attention. Alex tore herself away and tried to concentrate on Keats, but Gene saw her sneaking another look at him, and her eyes softened yet again… just before all hell broke loose.

oxxo

'Don't!' she cried, 'Please don't, you can't! You're crazy!' she grabbed at his hand almost hysterically.

'Calm down Bolly, anyone would think you…..cared' he carried on walking, shaking her off .

'I do! I do care.' she called wildly, 'Gene, you can't do this, I'm scared.'

He turned and looked at her, just for a half second, then he was gone.

He had messed up over the following hours, trying to take charge of the prison riot and not succeeding; losing Viv in there, leaving him among the scum de la scum. Keats was finding it hard to suppress his delight. Chris and Ray caught the escapee Paul Thordy and Gene behaved in the worst way possible, beating the shit out of him. Fear for Viv strengthening each blow. The confusion on Alex's face somehow causing him to behave even more badly. He was so sick of being judged by her, of her lack of faith. But by the end of the second day Viv was dead and Fenchurch was a grey and desolate place, the corridors ringing with ghostly voices. He saw Alex huddled and weeping over Viv's helmet and slunk away, ashamed he had no comfort for her.

oxxo

In Luigi's the atmosphere was subdued and Luigi handed him a bottle of scotch and a tumbler without being asked. Gene went to his table in the corner; he sat hunched in his coat . No-one approached him.

'So you're going to sit there all night slugging that back are you?'

He looked up, he'd never seen her look so tired. Her tearstained face was pale and washed free of make up. Her hair was mussed up. Beautiful in a tragic sort of way.

'Yes' he answered, dropping his head again..

'Would you be more comfortable in my flat?' she asked.

He daren't look up in case she hadn't really said it. Why would she say it? Only a few hours before she'd told him she was close to hating him, and now she was giving him a come on at the most inappropriate time possible.

'So that's a 'No' is it?' she was persistent.

They had attracted attention. Shaz, Chris, Ray, Keats. They all watched the two figures in the corner. Gene sitting with his head bowed. Alex standing over him with her hand outstretched.

'Gene' her voice was exhausted, strained, 'I'll never ask again. This is a one time offer. Understand?'

He looked up and saw the hand.

'Bring the bottle if you want.' she said.

He stood, grabbed the bottle in one hand and her hand in the other. They walked across the trattoria, past the blurred faces of his officers and Keats.

She gripped his hand tightly all the way to the flat, even as she unlocked the door and led him in.

In the kitchen she took charge of the scotch bottle, poured him a drink and looked at him. 'When was the last time you had sex?'

'Bloody hell Drake!' he spluttered.

'When? Who with?' she demanded restlessly. 'Was it a prostitute?'

'How -dare- you?' he turned to go.

She grabbed his arm and he was amazed by the strength of her grip, 'Was it me?' she asked, 'Tell me Gene , I need to know.'

'You really need to see a head quack.' Gene said, shocked to the core, 'What do you mean was it you? If I'd fucked you you'd know about it I can assure you love, you wouldn't need bloody confirmation'

'Was it a prostitute, are you clean?' she asked.

He didn't tell her the last time he'd had sex was with a virgin. It had been too shameful, he'd felt so bad about it afterwards, deflowering a young girl in her early twenties. He hadn't realised until she'd told him he was her first and made terrifying declarations of love.

'Of course I'm bloody clean!' he said crossly. 'What the hell does it have to do with you anyway?' he tried to reach the door, but she held him.

'I had a dream about us.' she pulled him towards her, 'It seemed so real. I want to make it real. If this is all falling apart we haven't got time for pissing about.' her lips nibbled the side of his mouth that pouted the most.

He fended her off, 'Keats told you to do this.'

She punched him, not hard, just a medium strength punch on his chest, 'For Christ's Sake you stupid man! He didn't! Why the hell would he? It would make him furious to know we were doing this. He's trying to divide us. Breeding resentment and distrust between us. Why can't you see that? Ok go, just bugger off! All that talk about what a fantastic lover you are is just talk anyway isn't it? Of course I was dreaming, why did I ever think it was real? You're not that man, you could never be him, you're too ignorant and….. and pig headed.'

He just stood there uselessly in his coat, like he was waiting for a bus.

'Are you going then?' she challenged him, but immediately felt sorry for her harshness. He looked like a little boy lost. He was hurting so badly over Viv and she was shouting at him. How was that helping? 'At least take your coat off.' she said gently.

He removed the coat but instead of hanging it on a hook or folding it onto a chair he let it drop to the floor. Then she knew just how desolate he was. How everything was crumbling around them. She picked it up and hung it on the hook, brushing imaginary dust from it carefully. Then she turned back to him, took his hand and led him into the bedroom.

Neither of them uttered a word as she undressed him, but his eyes didn't leave hers except for when she was grovelling at his feet removing his boots and socks. She studied his feet, they were like his hands, uncommonly lovely and well manicured. She hadn't expected that. She usually found feet distasteful. She looked up as she eased down the trousers of his suit; he stumbled and his hand rested on her shoulder to regain his balance.

Gene stood in a daze. Maybe he was dreaming, maybe he was head down on the table in Luigi's and the others were watching him and taking the piss. But she felt real enough. If he was dreaming wouldn't she be dressed head to toe in leather and be slathered in red lip gloss ready for him to smear off with his lips and tongue? Instead her lips were swollen but bare of artificial enhancement, her freckles leapt at him, her hair stuck out in odd directions. She looked younger than the twenty something virgin.

Against all the odds something was stirring in his groin.

She ran a finger down his bare chest, carrying on over his stomach to his boxer shorts. 'Get into bed.'

He obeyed meekly, turning away from her, pulling the duvet up around his head. He knew she was undressing and didn't know how to look at her. What a tosser he was, a twat, a twonk. To lose his nerve with the only woman he wanted.

As she slid under the covers his heartbeat thundered in his head.

'This dream?' he whispered, 'I take it we were…in here?'

'Yes' her arms went around him.

He felt her nakedness behind him. Jesus she was completely starkers, nothing but wall to wall skin; his cock reacted, bouncing up out of nowhere.

'Turn round' she whispered.

'I'm no good to you.' he mumbled into the pillow. 'I'm broken. Unfixable.'

'Turn around.' she insisted gently.

He turned. Her hair was in his mouth, her lips on his shoulder bone, biting gently. She lifted her face to his and his mouth found hers after searching desperately for a second or two. She moved downwards slightly as they kissed and their nipples collided giving them little electric shocks.

'I don't have anything- Durex ' he told her.

'It doesn't matter.' she moved against him, 'Only we matter, I want you now and I take the pill anyway, if you're really concerned.'

'Hmm' he slipped his thigh between hers, feeling the moisture between her legs. She really did want him. She rode his thigh, her breathing heavy. She fed her left nipple into his hungry mouth, her hand other dipped into his boxers and she wrapped eager fingers around his cock, squeezing and stroking alternatively, driving all the shit of the past two days from his mind until the only thing that filled it was her and what she was doing to him.

Comfort and joy after such a terrible day, how the hell was it possible to feel so ecstatic he thought, as she climbed his torso and tore down his boxer shorts. She towered above him, flinging back the duvet so he saw her naked body for the first time. She was magnificent, her legs were open, one of them across his torso, the other kneeling on the bed, she grabbed his hand and put it between her legs, giving a tiny scream as he stroked her, his fingers slithering through the wetness.

'I need something stiff inside me.' she said.

'I've got just the thing' he replied, looking down at his massive erection.

'Amazing.' she smiled, her eyes wide.

'Bet it was bigger in the dream' he pouted.

'It wasn't actually, I thought you were exaggerating, guess I was wrong on that count too' she said as she positioned herself above him and began to slide downwards onto him, groaning with pleasure as his length slid into her.

At first his hands went onto her arse to pull her onto him further and he watched her working above him, then they moved around and began streaming frantically over her body, her tits, hers belly, her waist, back up to her face, his fingers entering her mouth, feeling her sucking at them, sucking her own juices from his long fingers. Her hands tickled as they moved like silken feathers over his chest and she leaned down to kiss him, her tongue exploring his mouth and tangling with his, their lips bruising with the force of their kisses. She cried out more loudly as she reached a speedy orgasm and he rolled her over onto her back, slipping from her briefly before forcing himself back into her, as if he couldn't bear them to be apart ever again.

'Harder' she urged, as he pounded her into the bed and her legs crossed over his back. He was still in a complete and utter daze, think there was no way this could possibly be happening, that he was making love to this infuriating, fantastic, sexy woman, he was really doing what he had dreamed of doing for years. Yet she was begging him to fuck her harder, and he felt about eighteen years old again, and not a bit like he hadn't slept for days. Every time he drove into her he felt more energised, more invincible, more capable of beating Keats. This was it, this was the team. Them together, joined at the mouth and other places, fitting so perfectly. He felt his come travelling up his cock and tried to hold back, his fingers went to her clit, frantically trying to take her with him, and she screamed even as he touched her because she had been so near to the edge.

'Oh-my -god' she whispered shakily as he carried on emptying himself into her.

'Alex' he said simply, breathlessly, collapsing onto her.

'Gene' she said in a stunned voice.

They lay in exhausted silence for a long time, he was still inside her, he didn't want to withdraw.

Eventually they disengaged and made it to the bathroom, In the bath she sat between his legs as he soaped her breasts, her belly and between her legs over and over, almost unable to believe she was giving him access to such wonders. Then they lay slumped in the cooling water, stuck together, too tired to move.

'So are we- better?' he asked.

Yes-all better.' she reached around and kissed the side of his mouth. 'From now on we work together. Rebuild. Block Keats out.'

'I'll tell you everything.' he said. 'Everything you want to know. You won't like it. I won't like it probably. But I owe it to you. I just had to know which side you were on.'

'Your side.' she said. 'Always your side. Tomorrow we'll talk. But now we need to get out of this bath and go to bed.'

oxxo

At Fenchurch East station everything became less ghostly. The night sergeant felt more at ease than he had for weeks. Someone had fixed that crack in the ceiling. He no longer saw stars winking at him Maybe things would be alright after all.

oxxo