Really sorry for the long wait. I have been really busy and it's not the most exciting chapter, but it does get better. I promise to add more Galex in future chapters. Especially the next one.

And thanks once more to my trusty Beta AshGurl2897.

Chapter 3.

After several tormenting hours of tea duty for Ray and seventeen refills later, Evan White arrived, a little girl in toe. Just as Ray sat himself down, the little girl emerged by his side, her eyes wide as she looked upon the pink wafer in his hand. Giving a great sigh he got up, onto his blistered feet and stumbled his way into the kitchenette.

"Alex? Alex come here. I want to tell you something," Chris called as little Alex Price walked towards him. "Are you thirsty?" Chris asked, hoping to irritate Ray further. With a little nod, Chris called, "Ray? Alex is thirsty. Can you get her a drink?" Much to the team's delight as they burst into more fits of violent laughter.

Alex Drake couldn't take her eyes off of her former self. The young girl was sat in Ray's chair with her legs dangling over the edge, unable to reach the floor in her little blue jumper and matching skirt and shoes and frilly ankle socks. Alex Drake couldn't understand why she didn't remember any of this. But everything had changed now because she survived the warehouse event, and so Evan wouldn't have been called into the station, therefore Alex Price wouldn't be there either, which wouldn't have happened if she hadn't killed Layton in 2008. So, because of this, her past had changed. But one thing remained the same; Arthur Layton wouldn't be dead for another twenty-seven years. But she managed to save her own life, so maybe she could end Layton's.

Breaking her away from her thoughts was the sight of Evan White. She couldn't bring herself to look at him; it was just too painful, knowing of the betrayal he was capable of. She couldn't be sure that he was at the warehouse, but Layton seemed to think it was, so it was good enough for her.

"Good morning, Alex. How are you coping?" Evan asked, not even a hint of guilt.

"Fine, thank you," she said, still refusing to look him in the eye, "Nothing I couldn't handle. But I will catch Layton, and anyone else who I think is involved," she warned, wilfully avoiding eye contact.

"I bet you will. From what I've seen, you're unstoppable," he said, almost smiling.

"That's right. We're two steps ahead of him. I know exactly what I'm doing and he can't even see that we are right under his nose," she finished, finally getting the strength to look him in the eye with a piercing glare.

"Well, good luck with that," he said, giving nothing away.

"Oh, I'll find him. No doubt about that. I will catch him and make his life a living h-"

"Oh, hello Evan. It was kind of you to join us," Gene said, startled at the looks Alex was giving Evan. She really did hate him. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Morning, Mr. Hunt! And how are we this morning?"

"Fandabydozy!" Gene said,. "Now, if you will join me in the interview room, we can have a little chat and help us catch the scum of the earth," he said, holding the door open for him.

"Isn't DI Drake joining us?" he asked, slightly afraid of being alone with DCI Hunt.

"Oh, no. She has got some other business to attend to with DS Carling. DC Skelton will look after the little lady and you can come with me," he said, smiling over to Alex Price as she made her way through a rapidly decreasing pile of pink wafers, a grin on her own face which was spluttered with pink crumbs.

--

"So. What exactly are we looking for?" Ray asked, looking into the hallway of the house Alex grew up in.

"Evidence," she said firmly, still unsure herself.

"What kind of evidence then?" Ray asked, not certain of whether they would find anything.

"I don't know. Letters, diary entries, notes. Anything that screams Arthur Layton," she said, her confidence wavering.

"Whatever you say, ma'am," Ray called as he made his way upstairs.

"And don't forget to put everything back exactly how you found it!" she called after him.

"You sound like my mother. Don't worry, I can be discrete," he said, receiving a raised eyebrow from Alex.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So, Mr White. When was the last time you saw Arthur Layton?" Gene asked, jumping head first into the deep end. He had a point to make, and The Manc Lion didn't pussy foot around.

"Can't really remember. It was about a month after he was arrested," he said, blatantly lying to him.

"And how well would you say that you knew Mr. Layton?" Gene said, trying to resist punching him in the face. From what Alex had told him, Gene would have had no trouble killing the man.

"Well, I had visited him once or twice in prison for Tim and the case. He's not my friend or anything. I could never befriend a man who is capable of murder."

"Really?" Gene said, risking his real reason for questioning him.

"No. Why would I?" Evan said, growing nervous as he started to fidget.

"No reason. If you had seen him, it would be easier for us to pin point his whereabouts. It would help us out. Are you sure?" Gene asked, giving him one more chance to come clean.

"Absolutely certain," Evan stated, giving nothing away.

--

"Can I have a cup of orange please, Sir?" young Alex asked, looking up at Chris.

"Sure you can, little miss," he said, getting up and over to the kitchenette, throwing a smile at Shaz.

"Is he you're boyfriend?" Alex asked as she wandered over to Shaz' desk.

"Yeah, he is." Shaz answered, surprised at the girl's quick observations. Just a simple smile and she had already picked up on their relationship.

"Is he a nice man?" Alex asked, sitting down on the floor with her legs crossed and her elbows resting on her knees, looking up at Shaz, her eyes full of questions.

"Yes, he is. Chris is a very nice man, aren't you Chris?" Shaz said upon noticing Chris' return. Chris, however, just blushed his deepest red and wandered sheepishly over.

"There you go, Alex. If you want any more, just let me know," and without giving her a chance to answer, he practically ran out of the squad room and down the corridor. As young Alex dragged her eyes back to Shaz, Alex Drake's desk caught her attention. On top of its surface was a red vase overflowing with purple lilies.

"They are DI Drake's flowers, Alex," Shaz said, noticing the look of awe on the girls face as she stared at the lilies.

"Is that the woman with the curly hair? Did her boyfriend send her them? He is a nice man. I like him," she said, turning to face Shaz once more.

"Yes, that's her. Who's a nice man?" Shaz asked, intrigued.

"The Gene Genie is a nice man. He saved me, remember," she said, looking at Shaz if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And what makes you think he's her boyfriend?" Shaz asked, interested to see where she was getting all her information and her naïve views on relationships.

"Because she makes him smile. He does a lot of shouting, but he is nice to her. He doesn't smile at you or your boyfriend or the pink wafer man. Just her. I think he loves her. Does she love him?" she asked, only to be confronted with a dumbfounded expression on Shaz' face.

"Yes, I think she does. You're a smart little girl aren't you? How do you know all that?" Shaz asked, confused at how much information she was able to gather in the short period of time she had been there.

"Just a good guess. I want to be a policewoman when I grow up. Do you think I will be good at it?" she asked, going all serious all of a sudden.

"I think you will be a great police woman when you're older, Alex."

--

"Ray?" Alex said, noticing the movement behind her.

"Yeah?" he called from upstairs, suddenly making Alex slightly nervous.

As she turned around, she was faced with an empty living room. Searching the house was proving pointless. They had found nothing and didn't expect to find much more. It was so frustrating knowing he's guilty and not being able to do anything about it. What puzzled Alex most were the words that Evan once spoke; that he talked about writing love letters to Caroline and the newspaper clippings from that fateful day, but neither had been found among his possessions despite the amount of time they had spent there. Maybe he was lying, but it seemed highly unlikely, but so did the possibility of falling in love with Gene Hunt. So that proved to Alex that in this world, anything was possible, she just had to be patient.

"Ma'am?" called Ray, making Alex suddenly optimistic that their journey hadn't been a complete waste of time. She rushed up the stairs to find Ray in Evan's bedroom. "Can we go yet? There's nothing 'ere and we're wasting our time," he said, noticing the disappointment on Alex's face, he added, "we could always check later on in the week or something."

"Yeah, okay Ray. Let's go," she said reluctantly as they made their way downstairs. Alex knew that Ray was right and she could do with a rest. There was only so long that Gene could question Evan without sounding too suspicious; afterall, Gene wasn't the most tactful person in the world.

--

"So, Alex, what's your favourite colour?" Chris asked, hoping to appear friendly to Alex Price while Gene tried to probe Evan about his attempt at murdering Alex Drake and his involvement with the car bomb.

"Blue," she said, feeling uncomfortable.

"But that's a boy colour and you're a girl," he stated, not understanding.

"What are you saying, Chris?" Shaz asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

"Well, she should like pink. That's what all girls like."

"Well, I don't. You don't have to be a boy to like blue. It's just a colour," Alex said defensively, daring Chris to continue his questioning, resulting in Chris becoming embarrassed and change the subject.

"So, what do you wanna be when you're older, Alex?"

"I want to join the Police Force," she said, challenging Chris to argue with her.

"But that's a-" Chris started, then stopped because of the jab to his ribs that he received from Shaz, "wonderful idea. I bet you'll be dead good at it," he said, hoping to not sound like a complete idiot. "It's very hard work you know?"

"Evan said that I could do whatever I like, because I'm special."

--

"So, do you have any idea where he might be hiding?" Gene asked, hoping to find out just the slightest bit of information.

"Well, have you tried his boat?" Evan said, hoping to at least sound useful.

"Yeah, we have. Nothing there," he said with a sigh, noticing a hint of delight from Evan.

"Well, I think that he has a place up in Shadwell, you could try there."

"Been there, done that. You're not proving very helpful, Mr White," Gene said, a slight menace to his voice.

"Well, I don't really know either. You just said that you wanted to see me, and I wanted you to help find that horrible man."

"Oh, we'll find him. It's just a matter of time."

"Good to hear. You know, Tim once mentioned that he has a flat over in Islington. You could check that out I suppose. No idea where though," Evan said, giving them a little clue so he seemed genuine, but you didn't have to be a genius to figure that he was lying and trying to waste their time. Either that, or he got satisfaction from knowing more than the police.

"So, just for the record, you haven't seen Arthur Layton since 'about a month' after he was arrested?" Gene said, using air quotes.

"Yes, that's correct. Can I go now?"

"Exactly why did you meet him that day? Timothy Price was the barrister, why would you need to go and see him?"

"Tim sent me. He was busy at the time. Probably making that video we saw," he said, absolutely no remorse in his tone.

"But, what I don't understand, is that I saw you visit Arthur Layton the day before Tim and Caroline died in the Wormwood Scrubs."

"I did not," he said, becoming flustered.

"Why would you lie?"

"I'm not!" He said, starting to panic as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Well, it was either him or another inmate. I don't suppose you got an Auntie Mayble locked up in there for GBH?" He said, getting more and more angry at the lies that Evan was feeding him. "Thought not."

"I was visiting a man named Stewart Brown," he said, so matter of fact, even though he had chose one of the most common surnames in the whole of England.

"Well, I'll get someone over there," he said, daring him to speak the truth, but was aware that Evan might think he is being targeted so he added, "your Mr. Brown might know Arthur. We need to build a profile in order to track him."

"A profile? I didn't think that was your kind of thing, Mr Hunt,"

"Yeah, well, DI Drake thinks it's a good idea, and we don't have much to go on," he admitted.

"Oh, so you are giving in to the demands of a female DI? Why? Is there something going on between you two?" he asked, genuinely curious. But before Gene had the chance to reply, he heard a pair of heels echoing in the corridor accompanied by the sound of another pair of what could only be a man's; Alex and Ray were back. Hopefully, they got more out of this morning than I did. Bastard lawyer.

"I think that's all, Mr White. If we need you again we will be sure to give you a call," you slimey git.

--

"Well, hello there little lady," Gene said, greeting Alex.

"I thought Alex Price was 'little lady'?" Ray asked, slightly confused.

"She is," he clarified, leaving Ray even more confused as he kissed Alex briefly on the lips and added "So, how's your day been?" Gene asked his DC and his DI.

"Well, it was a waste of bloody time, that's what," Ray replied. "And I'm off to see Chris because well erm..." he trailed off, noticing Gene groping Alex's bum and deciding his breath was wasted because neither of them were listening. "I fancy him rotten and i'm going to suck his cock in the interview room. So, I'll be off then," he said, hoping to get their attention.

"Ok then, Ray," Alex said, kissing Gene once more.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and if you could spare another minute to review, that would be brilliant. I now accept anonymous reviews so anyone - member or not, can leave a review, so don't hesitate to voice your opinion, good or bad.