Gene was always waiting for the right moment to propose, but every time he felt like the moment might be near he always bottled out. The Manc Lion had never been afraid of anything until he met Alex Drake, although every time he thought about asking her to marry him his palms would sweat, his heart would hammer and he just couldn't find the right words. Nothing seemed special enough. He needed to prove how much he loved her but he just... couldn't. Granted, he'd never been great with words, always better at expressing himself physically, be that violence or... something else. He never believed in love until he met Alex. Then Molly came along. He hadn't believed he could ever have a proper family until he met her. And he never thought it would all feel so natural: Molly calling him 'Dad.' He'd even accompanied Alex to Molly's parents evening at school. Alex hadn't even asked, *he* asked *her* if it was okay if he tagged along and she'd been thrilled.
Gene had woken up early with Alex curled up like a hedgehog next to him. Dropping a kiss on her forehead, he made his way downstairs and set about making three cups of tea and some breakfast for his girls. He didn't think he'd ever made breakfast for anyone, not even his ex-wife but he found himself *wanting* to act like a domestic kitten for Molly and Alex. Naturally, his mind wondered to thoughts of proposing to and he barely noticed his girlfriend follow him into the kitchen until she wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled into his back.
"Are you okay?" she asked him, her voice still thick with sleep.
He turned in her arms and gave her a drowsy smile. "Course! Why?"
"It's just..." She looked into his eyes, her worried gaze burning into his. "You've just been so distracted and jumpy lately. You're not going off us are you? Living together?"
"Christ, no!" He hated seeing the anxiety in her eyes, her face, knowing that he had caused it. "I love living with you." He kissed her and then resumed his previous activity of making the tea.
"What is it then?" she pressed, as he handed her one of the cups. "Come on, talk to me."
He dropped his gaze and decided to change the subject. "I love waking up to you every morning, that's all. Couldn't sleep."
Smiling at him tenderly, she resolved to leave it for a while. "Softie!" she teased, then looked at her watch. "Shit! It's after seven. If I put the toast on can you go and see why Molly's not up yet, please?"
Gene had to admit it was unusual. Molly was normally an early riser, usually awake before him and Alex. He ascended the two flights of stairs to Molly's room in the attic, knocked once and when there was no reply, pushed the door open. She was still under the covers. He peeled the duvet from her face, took one look at her and yelled, "Alex!"
"What?" She flew the stairs, hearing the panic in his voice.
Molly did look dreadful, she had to admit. She was pale, clammy, feverish and coughing her lungs up.
Gene's heart was racing but Alex appeared a lot calmer. After a short conversation with Molly, Alex told him, "She just has the flu, Gene. I'll stay home with her today, if that's okay?"
He nodded, feeling sick. He hated the thought of Molly being ill and he hated leaving her when he had to go to work. He phoned Alex every hour on the hour to find out how Molly was and Alex kept reassuring him (in various states of exasperation,) that she was fine.
By three o'clock he couldn't stand it anymore, made his excuses and went home. He found Alex sat on the sofa reading 'Cosmo.'
"You're home early," she said with a smile, letting her eyes flutter closed as he kissed her cheek.
"Couldn't concentrate. How is she?"
Alex sighed. "She's *fine,* Gene. She's trying to sleep and her fever is down. It'll pass in a few days."
He sat beside her on the couch and she took his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"I want you to stay with her tonight," Gene said.
Alex opened her mouth to protest but he silenced her with,
"That's an order from your DCI." He was so worried but he hoped my giving her a command as her boss he might fool her.
"Okay, okay..." Alex thought back to when Molly had first appeared in 1982 and Molly had been so frightened she wouldn't sleep alone for weeks.
Not that anyone slept very well that night in the Hunt-Drake household. Molly kept kicking Alex in her sleep and even Gene couldn't rest, the bed feeling too big and cold without Alex lying by his side.
Both of them were up early, too exhausted to even say 'good morning' to each other. They found one another in the kitchen and cuddled, exhausted, as they waited for the kettle to boil.
"Missed you," Gene said, burying his face in her shoulder.
She smiled. "I missed you too." Drawing back to look at him, looking slightly nervous, her teeth making little indents in her lip she asked, "I need a favour. You see, Molly isn't well enough to go to school and I have a meeting with the Super this morning..."
Gene froze in horror. He'd forgotten her meeting was today. "No way! I can't look after a sick kid! Get Shaz over here..."
"I'll be three hours at most. Come on..." She laced her fingers with his and squeezed. "She needs her Daddy. She's been asking for you."
He sighed. He had been avoiding Molly; seeing her ill, shivering under her duvet scared him half to death.
"I'll give her all her medicines and make sure she's settled before I go," Alex promised.
"Okay," he reluctantly agreed, feeling terrified.
About half an hour after Alex had left (driving his Quattro, nevertheless!) Gene was sat on the sofa, reading yesterday's 'The Guardian' (Alex's, of course,) when Molly appeared, wrapped up tight in her dressing gown.
"Hi," she said, still sounding full of cold.
"Hi." Gene folded up his newspaper as she sat on the sofa next to him. "Couldn't sleep?"
She shook her head. "Please don't let Mum sleep in my bed tomorrow night. All she does is wriggle about and she elbowed me!"
Gene chuckled. "Tell me about it, I'm covered in bruises!"
Alex really was a restless sleeper.
Molly pulled her legs up under her and sat cross-legged, facing him. "Would you read to me?" She gestured to the paper. "I've got too much of a headache to read."
"Okay." He started to flick through; knowing Molly was kind of a news junkie. Alex was the same way it nearly drove him mad most nights! News, more news then soddin' 'Newsnight!' Sometimes he wished the girls were more into sitcoms. "What do you want? Finance? Sport?"
"Sport's fine," she said, shuffling closer, knowing it was what Gene would want.
He began to read aloud: the football scores, a cricket test match report, some rugby analysis, a list of horses running in each race at Perth and Fontwell... That was until he felt the weight of Molly's head on his shoulder. She'd fallen asleep on him. Smiling to himself, he put his arm across the back of the sofa and continued to read the 'World News' section until he felt his own eyelids droop...
Alex arrived home at midday and the sight that greeted her made her heart melt. Gene and Molly asleep on the sofa. It was the first time Molly had slept properly in days, she obviously felt so safe with Gene. Alex had no idea why Gene had been so worried about this parenting thing. She wasn't, not at all, not anymore and not with her Manc Lion by her side. They could definitely do this... together.