Some people mentioned that the link in the last chapter was incomplete- I think FF might have a block on putting links in chapters. So, for anyone still interested, go to Google, search for 'Den of Geek' and click on 'Let's Get Gene Hunt in Print'- should be a small button on the right side of the page. Or, there is a link on my profile.

Thanks, as always for your kind reviews. I know from the reviews that people have been looking forward to this chapter- CID finding out- so I hope it doesn't disappoint. As you'll be able to tell, the emotions here will ripple through the rest of the fic…

They looked up again, as Alex burst through the double doors of CID, but they didn't look away again this time. Her eyes were shining, her lips were upturned and her cheeks were flushed pink. She was happy, genuinely full of joy. What was going on?

"Don't all die from heart attacks," she began, which didn't really put her team at ease and furthermore made no sense, "but…"

"What is it, Ma'am?" Shaz asked.

"He's back," Alex whispered. Her team looked back at her confused. "Gene. He's here."

Most of the people present just looked at Alex in further confusion. Shaz however stood up and made to walk over to Alex, pity written all over her face. Alex noticed this and threw up her hands to stop Shaz.

"I'm not mad! I'll prove it!"

She turned and shouted Gene's name at an empty corridor.

She had dreamed it. She was going mad, unable to tell the difference between fiction and reality, unable to accept her bereavement. Then-

"Here Bolly."

She tuned to look up the corridor instead of down and saw Gene kneeling next to an unconscious Viv.

"He's OK," Gene replied to Alex's unasked question as he stood up, "He just got a bit of a shock that's all." Alex held out her hand and Gene took it. Together they pushed open the doors.

There was silence. No one spoke, the taps from Shaz's typewriter ceased. Alex was pretty sure no one was breathing. All eyes were on Gene. She tried frantically to read their expressions but there was nothing there. No anger, no joy, not even confusion. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea.

"You all look like you've seen a ghost," Gene joked but Alex could tell by the sudden tightening of his hand on hers that he didn't feel as blasé as he sounded. She squeezed back reassuringly.

"Mary, mother of God," said Shaz, the first of any of them to say anything.

"Not me, Shaz. Do I look like a pregnant virgin teenager to you?" Gene quipped and small smiles cracked across the faces of Ray and Chris. Shaz's face remained impassive.

"Tell them what happened," Alex murmured and the smiles vanished. The atmosphere was tense again.

"I got out," said Gene, addressing the room. "They were there, in that house, in the room I went into. They chloroformed me, tied me up and put me in a car. I was out of range when the bomb…"

The sentence went unfinished and he pulled his hand out of Alex's. Chris stood up and held out his hand.

"Guv," he whispered in awe and Gene accepted the handshake before pulling Chris into a hug. He worked his way around his colleagues, most of them shocked into silence to really speak to him, all though Ray grinned widely, before smothering his emotions to look more manly.

"I can't believe it's you. Welcome back Guv,"

"Cheers, Raymondo."

"Missed you. I mean-" Ray stuttered as Gene raised his eyebrows and Alex stifled a laugh, "We missed you. Place wasn't the same without you. In a professional way, obviously. We needed you to take control."

Alex now raised her eyebrows. Ray noticed.

"Not that you don't do a great job, Ma'am."

Chris looked confused. Ray elaborated, "For a woman, I mean."

Ray noticed Shaz was frowning and he decided he'd dug his hole deep enough and sat down, smiling weakly at Gene, who had turned his attention to the last member of the group.

Shaz was angry. Alone of all the officers in room, with the possible exception of Gene, she really understood how Alex had felt the past six months, separated from Gene, believing him dead. She listened to Alex as she ranted about her guilt for not crying and put an arm around her when she was finally ready to weep. She narrowed her eyes at Gene, this was all his fault, he had made Alex like that.

Then, for second, Shaz slid her eyes from Gene and across the room to where Alex was, still by the door. She saw pure happiness in every atom of Alex's being and felt her anger become squashed by it.

Shaz smiled as she was embraced by Gene. She was overjoyed to see him but could still feel a small pool of fury deep within her. She hadn't forgiven him completely yet, but as long as the Ma'am was happy, she could quell her rage.

As Gene went into Alex's office and Alex busied herself in the small kitchen, the others began talking.

"I think it's brilliant," said Ray, a manic grin twisting his features into something almost beautiful.

"Where d'you think he's been?" Chris asked.

"Dunno, but wherever it was, it wasn't through choice."

"You reckon?" said Shaz carefully.

"'Course," Ray snorted, as though it was obvious. "I mean, he's married to Drake. Would you be voluntarily away from a piece of skirt like that? I mean-" he blushed suddenly and Shaz giggled, despite herself. "Shut up, Granger. Even you think she's tasty."

XXX

Gene was quiet as he looked around his office, correction, Alex's office. He slowly reached and stroked a single finger across the width of the top of the filing cabinet without realising what he was doing. On the cabinet was a black cloth folded open, a picture of him, a tea light and a single white rose in the foreground. He pinched the petals. It was barely a day old.

The notice board with the articles and obituaries for Sam Tyler was still there but next to it was a new board dedicated to him, Gene Hunt.

He didn't read any of the cuttings on the board. He tried not to think about how Alex must have been feeling as she searched the papers for anything mentioning his name and her scissoring neatly around each article. Instead he walked behind her desk.

Her desk was neater than his had ever been. The huge, useless computer still stood in one corner of the desk but the random bits of paper and reports that had littered the desk when it had been his were gone. The only thing on the desk, save the computer and telephone, was a photo frame, containing a picture of them both. Alex was wearing a beautiful white dress, holding a bouquet of roses and was laughing at the camera. Gene had his arm around her waist and was ignoring the camera completely, choosing to smile at his wife instead.

Gene quickly stopped wiping his eyes just as the door opened. Alex stepped in carrying two cups of tea. Gene took his and sipped. She still remembered it was six sugars.

"Gene," Alex said, and Gene felt his heart drop. He knew that voice. It was Alex's 'we need to talk' voice.

"Bolly," he said, hoping that her nickname would placate her, "I don't know anything. They kept me locked in a room. No one said anything around me."

"Did they hurt you?" Alex asked, "I don't mean physically necessarily. Did they deprive you of sleep or food, humiliate you in any way-"

"No," said Gene, wincing. "Do you mean… no, no they didn't humiliate me. I wasn't physically hurt either."

"How did you get away?"

"I don't know," Gene replied, "Honest, I didn't. I fell asleep one night, next thing I know, I'm lying in the gutter three streets away from the lock-up, four streets away from our place. I'm on my way to our flat and I hear movement from the lock-up. It's you and I go in."

There was a look on Alex's face that Gene didn't like, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was that made him so uneasy. An uncomfortable silence span between them. Gene frantically racked his brains for something to say.

Alex said, "They kidnapped you, held you prisoner then let you go. Why?"

"I don't know," said Gene, feeling pathetic.

"Did they know you were a cop? They must've done, surely?"

"Yeah, why else would I have been in that house?"

Alex took a final gulp of tea then placed the empty mug on her desk. Gene hadn't touched his since the first sip.

"We received a message from the League," said Alex, "It threatened 'untold misery'. Do you have any idea what they mean?"

"No," said Gene, "No I don't."

"Gene, please."

Gene put his mug of cold tea down next to Alex's and gently took her by the shoulders. "If I knew anything, I'd tell you," he said, his silver eyes burning into her hazel ones, "I swear, I'd tell you." Alex closed her eyes and tipped her head forward and Gene pressed his lips to the top of her head, inhaling as he did so.