Right! I realise I left on a bit of a cliffhanger last time! So I felt nice and decided to post! This chapter is a bit...odd...

Thanks to 5A7AH for helping me with this plot. I know you have fun, even though you say you hate Alex torture :P

Chapter 6: Mr. Tiddles

Gene was frozen in place, drinking in every detail. Her fringe had grown, it was now down to her chin. The braids fell midway down her back. They were messily done, little strands falling out everywhere. It appeared that they were tied together with yarn from the hair of a doll. Her skin was pale, probably because of months spent in this room. She had lost weight as well. The dress she was wearing swamped her figure.

As Gene stared, he realised, he had seen that dress before somewhere. Then it dawned on him. The dress must have been one of Caroline Price's dresses.

"Do you want to join?"

Her voice started him out of his reverie, making him jump and hit his head on a beam. Gene swore loudly, rubbing his head. Alex started backing away slowly.

"Alex," Gene said. "What are you doing?"

She looked at him, puzzled. "I was having a tea party."

"A tea party? What are you, four?"

Her eyes flashed in anger as she tried to cross her arms and tried to stand up in the small space. "I am not six," she huffed, her face pouting. "I'm five."

Gene just stared at her. "What?"

"I'm five," she repeated, still glaring at him.

"Right," said Gene, deciding not to ask. "Let's get out of here, Alex."

She peered at him curiously for a moment. "How do you know who I am? I haven't met you before. Besides, I'm not s'posed to go out with strangers."

Gene was seriously confused. What was she going on about? What did she mean, they hadn't met before? Gene wasn't able to ponder this, however, as she had taken a seat on a chair much to small for her and started to pour imaginary tea from the teapot.

"Alex," he said impatiently. He really didn't need this at the moment. He was supposed to be rejoicing that she was alive. However, right now he just wanted to leave. "What are you doing?"

"I invited you. But you're just like a typical grown up. Mr. Tiddles says that he doesn't want you at the table."

"And who, may I ask, is Mr. Tiddles?"

Alex pointed to a bear on her right. "Him. He says you're a mean man who smells like whiskey. He says you won't appreciate the fact that I finished the Rubik's cube with no help at all. So you can't join anymore."

She crossed her arms, looking smug. Gene just stared at her, his mouth hanging open.

"Right," he said slowly. "Well, tell Mr. Tiddles that teatime is over. You're coming with me."

"No!" Alex backed away from the table, moving as far back as the slanted ceiling would allow. Gene sighed, advancing on her in two steps. She tried to run around him, but he caught her. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder in a fireman's lift and walked to the trapdoor.

"No! NO! Let me go!" Alex yelled, beating on his back. "Mr. Tiddles was right! You're a bad man!"

Gene ignored her, struggling down the ladder with only one hand. Alex started kicking him. As his boot-clad feet touched the floor, one of her bare ones nearly kicked him in a dangerous area. Eyes wide, Gene quickly adjusted her so that her feet couldn't reach that spot.

He descended down the stairs, and by the time he reached the front door, her struggle had ceased. Instead, she was sobbing quietly.

Gene immediately felt guilty. After six months of missing her, the first thing he had made her do was cry. He put her on her feet next to the Quattro and wiped a tear from her face. "Hey," he said softly. "It'll be okay."

Alex sniffled, looking up at him, her eyes wide. "B-but I d-don't understand!"

Neither do I, Gene thought.

"Get in the car, and we'll figure it all out, okay?"

Alex nodded, getting into the car. Breathing a sigh of relief, Gene got into the driver's seat and raced away from the house as fast as he could.

~(*)~

Alex was scared. She didn't understand what was going on. She was reading when she heard the door open. Alex knew that this meant that she had to sit on her bed. There had been a man, a long time ago, who had explained the rules to her. If she heard the door, she must sit on her bed and not make a sound.

The problem was, she got bored easily. After a few moments of sitting, she dared to get off the bed to retrieve the Rubik's Cube. She loved it. Somehow, she knew that there were seven steps to solving it. Alex was sure that she had solved it once before, but couldn't remember when. So she had sat, absentmindedly twirling the colours until she looked down again.

She had let out a shriek of surprise and dropped the cube. She had solved it! Alex was so excited, she felt she needed a tea party to celebrate. Forgetting about the door downstairs and how she was supposed to wait on her bed, she had collected her toys to join her.

When the door in the floor had opened, Alex had stayed still. Usually no one came up, just a tray of food appeared. And that's when she realised, something was wrong.

She had already eaten. Her clock told her she had only eaten about an hour earlier. The person who brought her food never came back that quickly.

Then she had seen the blonde head emerge from the hole. That was wrong. The person who brought her food had light brown hair and a beard. She never saw the front of his face but she had caught his profile once.

The man had emerged, climbing into her room. He had stared at the wall and then started a slow turn. When he had reached her, he stopped and stared. He stared for a long time, making her uncomfortable.

Then he had been mean and taken her to his car. She was certain that the man who brought her food wouldn't like the fact that she was gone. The mean man would get in trouble. Alex couldn't help herself. She laughed at the idea of the mean man's mummy getting angry at him. He deserved it though.

The mean man glanced over at her when she laughed. She couldn't understand why he looked so worried, or so confused. Was there something wrong? Had she done something?

He turned sharply around the corner and she was thrown against the door. "Ow!" she complained. "That hurt."

The mean man didn't say anything, tightening his grip on the steering wheel even as he slowed down to park.

"Okay, Alex," he said. "We're gonna go inside where I work. But I don't want you to get lost, okay?"

Alex nodded, wishing he had at least let her bring Mr. Tiddles along. That way at least she could hold on to something that brought her comfort.

The mean man grabbed her hand and started to pull her along. He took her up lots of stairs until they finally reached an office full of men smoking and a woman typing on a typewriter.

The mean man punched the door open and everyone looked at it. As soon as they did, all motion in the room stopped. A man with highlights' cigarette fell out of his mouth, laying ignored on his trousers.

Only one man didn't seem to be surprised at the mean man arriving. He merely peered up and then looked down on paperwork that he was working on. She looked at the nametag on his desk. DI David Boyle.

Suddenly, the man with the highlights screamed, breaking the stillness. Alex laughed, not understanding why the office still were staring at her.

"Guv?" said a man with a perm.

"Price's old house. In the loft," the mean man grunted. "Shaz, take her to one of the interview rooms. I want her checked out by a doctor and one of those psychiatrists."

The room looked at him as he said that. The man, who was apparently named Guv, just raised his eyebrows.

"Get Viv to watch her, and then come back in her."

The lady named Shaz walked over to her and took her hand. "C'mon ma'am," she muttered, still staring.

The lady led her to a room with striped wallpaper and shut the door. Alex stared out the window, wondering what she had done to make them all stare like that. Maybe it would be explained. As she waited, sitting on the hard chair, she found herself wishing once more for Mr. Tiddles. She couldn't even talk to him. There was nothing left to do but wait.

~(*)~

Gene stared at his CID until Shaz came back.

"I found her," he said finally.

"She's been at the Price's this whole time? What all has she told you?" Shaz asked.

"I don't know. And nothing useful. She thinks she's five."

Chris dropped his cigarette again, this time making sure he picked it up right away.

"Five?" Ray asked. "How can she think she's five?"

"I don't bloody know Raymondo! That's why I asked for a psychowotsit!"

"How did you find her?" Shaz asked.

"The man who took her has started ringing me again, giving me clues to find him. He said this was step three."

"But why would he want you to find him?"

Gene just shook his head as Viv walked in the room.

"Viv. You were supposed to stay with her."

Viv, looking frazzled, shook his head. "Doctor's in there. He ordered me out."

"Did she do anything?"

Viv smirked. "She told me you were a mean man and that you're mummy was going to punish you when you got home."

Gene pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "Bloody great. I have a witness who can help with a case, and she's absolutely mad."

"She wouldn't talk to you anyway, Guv," Viv said, trying not to laugh. "She says she doesn't talk to mean men."

"Right. That is the end to this conversation." As his sentence finished, the phone rang.

Perfect timing, Gene thought.

"Hunt," he said.

"You should be thanking me, you know."

"Why would I be thanking you? She's completely mad."

"That wasn't me. I didn't know where she was until about a week ago. I thought she was dead as well."

"What are you talking about?"

"I had to give her up. Blackmail and all that. But to find out who made her go mad, you'll have to look at who owns the house, won't you? You're on to step four. Congratulations."
The other end clicked. Gene, less annoyed with the man than he had been in the past, put down the phone normally.

"Ray, Chris, Shaz, get looking on who owns the Price house now. I'm going to check on Alex."

He stormed out of the room, to the first interview room, where the doctor was emerging.

"So?" Gene asked rudely.

The doctor sighed. "She's not ill anyway. She's got some scarring on her chest. It says 'TOO LATE', and quite a few burns on her. Other than that, the only thing I could find wrong was that her toenail is half grown back and one of her molars is missing.

Gene nodded. This was all consistent with the recovery of what had happened six months earlier. "What about this...idea she has?"

"About being five? I'm no psychologist, but I do believe this was brought on by solitary confinement. The human needs social interaction. Otherwise they can go completely mad in only a few weeks."

Gene looked at Alex, who was sitting quietly in one of the chairs, her chin on her knees. "The psychologist will be here in a few minutes," the doctor said. "He can give you a better idea of where she's at."

With that, the doctor left. As he departed, Gene heard footsteps running up behind him.

"Guv!" Shaz panted.

"What is it?" he asked, turning.

"The..man...who..owns...the Price house," she huffed.

"Yeah? Who is it?"

"Evan...White."

to be continued...