Sorry for the wait guys! A nice little surprise at the end of this one too!

Thanks to AshGurl2897 for beta-ing this too!

Chapter 7

"Drake! You get back here!" Gene bellowed, hoping to stop Alex from leaving.

"Why? Why should I do that? Hmm?" Alex replied, staring right at him.

"Because if you don't, you will never step foot in there again," he said, hoping to persuade her.

"And that's a bad thing, is it?" she said, walking towards him.

"It is if you want to keep your job," he stated.

"Well, what if I don't?" Alex said, reaching Gene. "What if I never want to see you again?" she spat.

"Well, you'd be missing out love" Gene said, trying to hide the hurt from his voice.

"Shame," she said, turning around to leave once more. As she began to walk forward, Gene held her shoulder back, forcing her to turn around.

"Reconsider, Alex," Gene said, adopting a softer tone.

"Get off me!" she said, shrugging his hand away. "And don't even think about following me," she finished, marching out towards the exit.

"You need two weeks notice, Drake," Gene said.

"Don't make me laugh," she said, before leaving the building. Once the doors had swung closed, Gene slumped his shoulders, and headed back to the squad room.

Upon opening the doors, he managed to knock Chris to the floor, noticing the glass cup next to him. Nosy bastards!

"As of today, DI Drake will no longer be apart of this team. But, I suppose you already knew that, Christopher," he said, disgust written on his face.

"But Guv!" Shaz said.

"But Guv nothing, Granger. Her decision is final," he said daring anyone to question him. "And even if she did want to stay, I would have fired her anyway. No one speaks to me like that. You hear?"

"Yes, Guv," everyone chorused.

"Good! Now off to work!" he said, retreating into his office.

For two hours Gene battled with his conscience on whether to go and see Alex. He sat at his desk, the blinds drawn closed as he slowly drunk himself into a stupor. On the other side of the door, sat in silence, were his cubs.

"You go ask him," whispered Shaz.

"Why should I? You are the one who wants to know," Chris replied. "Oi!" Chris called, throwing a paper aeroplane at Ray, "Go and ask the Guv."

"Fine, if it'll shut you two up," he sighed, getting up and readying himself for the lion as he walked the dreaded steps to his office.

He knocked waiting to be allowed entry but came no reply. So just to put his mind at rest, he knocked again, louder.

"Well, come in then you dozy pillock. The door ain't gonna open itself, you know?"

"Sorry Guv," he said, hanging his head.

"Well, spit it out then! Whaddaya want?" he spat, acting like a spoiled child.

"Well, it's gone six, Guv. Can we go to lunch?" Ray asked, not too sure he wanted the reply he was about to receive.

"I'm not your mother, Raymondo; if you want to go eat, eat!" he said, pouring himself another glass of whiskey. "I'm just your DCI, you don't need to answer to me," he said, sarcasm oozing from his lips. "She certainly didn't," he added, sighing into his glass.

Ray was caught between joining the others or whether to listen to his Guv. Deciding with the latter, he closed the door and asked, "You wanna talk abou' it, Guv?"

"Do I want to talk about it?" he said, mockingly "Do I want to talk about it?" He repeated, standing up, leaning against the desk as he squared his sergeant in the eye.

"Nevermind. Sorry Guv, I'll be going then," he said, leaving his office. As he closed the door behind him, the squad room was filled with the sound of Gene's desk being overturned, its contents falling to the ground. The sound shocked every soul in CID as they shrugged on their jackets and scampered out into the street, heading for the comfort of Luigi's.

"I hope DI Drake comes back," Shaz said, walking down the stairs to the restaurant.

"Me too, Shaz. For all our sakes!" Ray replied, worried about his Guv's behaviour. "I'll go check on him later, he can kip over mine tonight. Shouldn't be alone when he's like this," Ray added, getting a sympathetic look from Chris. "I'm not going to shag the man, Chris! He's the Guv! Our Guv. If he is 'avin' a hard time, we stick by him, that's what mates do!" he said, getting defensive. "Besides, if he's in a bad mood, we all suffer. I wouldn't like to think he took his anger out on us like he did with his desk," he added.

Five days had passed since Alex had left CID, everyone still hoping for her to return; one person in particular. He would come in everyday and just sit in his office, saying nothing to nobody. And everyday he stared through the blinds of his office, his eyes resting on her empty chair, hoping for the angel of his aching heart to return. She may be furious with him now, but she'd come around, she always did. At least that's what he kept telling himself anyway. With her gone, the place felt different, cold somehow; the walls felt bare, nothing felt the same, even winding his DC up didn't have the same effect. The truth was he was losing the world he had come to love most, starting with the person that brought it together in the first place. He'd survived forty-five years without her; surely he could manage a few more. Twenty-eight of those years had been spent in the force, his true family and up until the day she arrived, he didn't think he would need anything else. She appeared before him, dressed as a prostitute, a prostitute that turned out to be a police officer, a police officer that turned out to be the woman of his dreams, dreams that rapidly disappeared the moment she left and returned in the form of nightmares. There would be times he would wake from a restless night, clinging to any chance that she was still with him, but every morning he dragged his feet along the deserted corridors of CID until he reached his office where he headed almost immediately to his filing cabinet where he kept his whiskey - the whiskey she bought him and his cigarettes. And so everyday he would stumble in, pour his poison and light his cigarettes, hoping for a better day than the last. She said she had loved him once. Who was to say that she couldn't love him again? That was the question that he would torture himself with, asking it over and over again, knowing that he would never be able to answer it. Only one person could truly answer that question but he couldn't ask her, it was too late for that. Gene would never be able to hear the words he longed for because she was gone and the worst part was, she was never coming back.

He kept reliving that moment, the minute that she turned away from him and stepped out of his life, for good. A small part of him always wondered why he didn't chase after her, fight for the only thing worth fighting for, but a bigger part of him knew exactly why. She never truly belonged with him, never really understood what it was like to be him, despite her being able to read him like a book. She could look at him as if reading the pages of his life, skipping past the parts she didn't like. In many ways, that is exactly what Gene Hunt is; a great book waiting to be discovered but you never knew exactly how great it was unless you were prepared to read it, something only Alex had achieved. She had taken that battered book down off the shelf and swept away the cobwebs as she stared at the blurb with great interest and intrigue but the problem was, she was never able to grasp the story. The second problem was the missing parts of the story, the blank pages at the end. These pages needed to be filled with the great memories that they were going to make together with the people that he shared them with. Truth be told, those pages would remain blank because Gene Hunt was alone and had no one else to turn the pages to reveal the mystery within. They could have finished the book together and could have became a bestseller, but only if she'd let him.

This man sat in his office, waiting for the hour to come when he could put on his coat and walk out of those doors, but time seemed to stand still, stuck in limbo as awaited her return. Gene looked around the squad room to pass the time, watching his officers work, knowing each of them were worried about him, but each secretly knew that none of them were capable of filling the gap that DI Alex Drake had left. They could try and piece together the remaining parts of his broken heart but would never succeed because one piece would always be missing, and that piece belonged to Alex, forever.

Looking down at his desk, he realised he was due a new member of staff to start tomorrow to take over DC Lewis. Gene didn't know if he could handle a new member, not after losing Alex. The bloke seemed nice enough; eighteen years old, no kind of previous record and brought up in a working class family. He reminded Gene of himself when he was just starting, something Gene could cling to right now. Part of Gene needed a fresh start and would quite happily start again, afresh. After all, he had nothing to lose. Why could nothing go right for me? Just this once! Was all Gene could keep thinking as he poured glass after glass of his whiskey until he was faced with an empty bottle. Well that's just bloody great that is, he said, knowing nobody could hear him. Standing up, he walked over to his filing cabinet, looking for another bottle, trying to ignore the little red velvet box that he planned giving to Alex along with the words he would have spoke, asking her that all important question. If only. It appeared that Gene had drunk his full supply of alcohol and slammed his cabinet shut, angry at himself for not having any more.

His watch told him it was nine o'clock and he could no longer put going home off so he shrugged on his coat, pocketing his hipflask and left his office. As he stood in the squad room, he caught sight of Alex's desk, still unable to believe she had left his life. On her desk was a photo of Gene holding Molly, both grinning. He picked it up, his thumb brushing over her face as his eyes pricked with tears. He fought back the tears in his eyes, blaming the alcohol for his emotions and sat at her desk. His team had asked to clear her desk and take her belongings to Luigi's to pick up, but Gene had refused. It proved a comfort, knowing that part of her still lived in the squad room. He looked through the drawers, noticing all the paperwork she had shoved away, all of which untouched. Smirking to himself, he got up and made to leave.

Upon standing up, he turned towards the exit and stood in the doorway was Alex Drake. For a moment, Gene thought he was dreaming, but then she opened her mouth.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Hmm?" she said, marching over to him, cardboard box in hand.

"More importantly, Bolly, what the hell do you think you are doing?" he said, raising his voice.

"I am collecting my things. The things you were just rummaging through," she said, matching his tone.

"Was not! They are in my squad room, you have no right coming in here! You're not part of the team anymore, Drake. You wanted that, and once again you got your way. But if you realised you made a mistake and want to come back, its too late, I don't want you on my team. Not now," he said, secretly hoping she would contest.

"Don't need to worry about that, Gene. I have no desire whatsoever to come back on your little team," she said, making it perfectly clear as she slammed the box down on the table, narrowly missing Gene's fingers.

"Here, allow me," he said, pulling the drawers from her desk and throwing the contents into the box.

"Gene! Leave them alone! I'm warning you," she said, staring at him. Gene took absolutely no notice and walked away, box in hand, throwing it into the corridor. Standing in the main corridor, a figure walked through the double doors and was heading towards him.

"Who the 'ell are you?" Gene said, venting his anger out on to the young man. Before the boy got to answer, Alex appeared behind Gene to see what all the fuss was about.

Looking on at the boy, Gene caught sight of the look Alex was giving him. She stood, rooted to the spot, her eyes fixated on him as the boy stood there, looking at them both, unsure on whether to approach them or back away. Agreeing with the former, he walked towards them and held out his hand.

"Err, hi. My name's R-"

"Robert," Alex said, almost breathless. Gene looked from Alex to Robert and back again, wondering if he had missed something. All of a sudden, Alex Drake ran towards the young man, encircling him in her arms. Robert didn't know what to do, he just stood there, letting the woman hug him. Finally letting go of him, she mouthed the word sorry, unable to actually speak.

"Well, that's the best welcome I could have asked for," he said, looking from Alex to Gene. "You must be DCI Gene Hunt," he said, extending his arm once more.

"That I am. And you are?" He said, angry at the effect a complete stranger seemed to have on Alex.

"Oh, sorry. I'm you're replacement for DC Lewis. My name is Robert Drake."

Hehehehe...