Hello, readers! As it's the Geniverse's birthday (6/6/20(11)) I thought I'd update ;)

Chapter 9

Molly walked back to the house, letting the rare sun warm her face. Every step she took away from the park added to the nervousness that was developing inside her. She had told herself that she was going to just go back to grab her bag, but now she needed to work up the confidence to go to her mum's flat.

Molly let herself into the house quietly. The rest of the house would be asleep, except maybe Kate. She was an early bird, but the rest of the group preferred the night. As Molly made her way into the kitchen, she realised that she was still the only one moving in the house. She glanced at the clock. Kate might be gone by now, actually. She hadn't realised she had spent so long in the park.

"What are you looking at?" said a voice behind her, startling her.

"God dammit Tom!" she hissed. "Do you just stalk me so you can scare me?"

Tom grinned. "It's fun to see you jump, but no I don't stalk you. You're just too lost in your thoughts to notice your surroundings."

Molly just huffed irritatedly.

"Do you want some toast?"

Molly shook her head. Right now her stomach couldn't handle food, no matter what it was. Tom set to work on making his own toast, and her stomach turned even more as she saw him putting Marmite on the slices of bread. She had never been a fan of the stuff.

"So what were you thinking about?" he asked, taking a huge bite out of the slice of toast.

"I went to the park this morning."

Tom frowned. "How long have you been up?"

"Since about five."

"You beat Kate! Congratulations!"

Molly smiled and then turned serious once more. "I got apprehended by Hunt. He pretty much begged me to go see my mother." She decided to leave out the details of the money until much, much later. In fact, it was probably best just to forget about the forty quid altogether.

"He said the exact same thing I did last night, didn't he?"

Molly nodded. "But see, there's a difference. Last night, I hadn't come to a decision like I have today."

Tom looked at her intently. "What did you decide?"

"I need to see her," Molly whispered. "But I can't. I can't face her now."

Tom pulled her over to him, wrapping his arms around her and placing a gentle kiss against her cheek.

"You can do it, Ira. It's just confidence. Fiducia."

"I've got none now."

"What if I go with you?" he offered. "Would that help?"

Molly considered it. "It might," she said softly.

"Then it's settled. I'll go with you. Shall we go?"

Molly looked at the clock. "Tonight. By the time we get there, she'll be at work."

Tom nodded. "Tonight it is. In the meantime, what do you suggest we do?"

Molly looked up at the ceiling to where her satchel was.

"Something that doesn't involve drawing like a loon."

"You take all the fun out of things, Tom," she said teasingly.

"I've an idea. Why don't we go to Holland Park?"

"That's a half hour walk from here," she protested weakly.

"So? You've been to Hyde Park and back this morning."

"Yeah, and that's almost an hour each way!"

"So what'll another half hour do? Just get some proper walking shoes on instead of those bloody Converse!"

"Oi! Don't you dare say anything against these shoes!"

Tom gave an exaggerated sigh. "Oh great. Now we get to hear how wonderful they are," he said teasingly.

"They are wonderful. Just because you can't understand the brilliance of shoes doesn't mean that no one else can."

"Ooh, touchy," he smiled. Molly playfully punched him on the arm.

"Ugh. Can't you guys at least wait until normal people have eaten breakfast?" Jimmy said, his voice still thick with sleep.

"Sorry, mate," Tom said, laughingly. "We're just off anyway. Molly's grabbing her bag and we're going to Holland Park." He pretended not to notice Molly glaring at him.

"Good," Jimmy said. "It'd be better than walking into a room and finding you two snogging again. Get it out of your systems at the park."

"No guarantees there, sunshine." He turned back to Molly.

"You aren't taking your bag?"

"I'm not going."

Tom just grinned. "Don't make me force you."

"And how would you do that?"

Molly instantly regretted asking the question. Tom took two steps forward and then picked her up in a fireman's lift.

"Put me down!" she shrieked.

"I will on one condition."

"I think I can guess what that is," she grumbled.

"If I put you down, you get your bag and meet me in this spot in three minutes. Or we just go now."

"Let me get my bag," she said grumpily.

He set her down on the ground and she went up to grab her bag. Molly was careful to be quiet around the still sleeping Ella, but as she was going down the stairs, decided to jump from the fourth step up. She landed in front of Tom with a big THUD and grinned.

"I thought we were going to the park," she said smoothly.

Tom laughed and followed her out of the door. "Race you there," he said, starting to run.

"Oh you bastard!" she called.

Five minutes later, they both stopped, panting for breath. "Okay," Tom said. "Bad idea."

"You think?" she panted back.

"Well, who got to the sign first?" he asked.

"Me," Molly said. "Then you called out, begging me to stop."

"Lies," he said.

"Nope," she replied, taking off her bag and putting on his shoulders. "Catch me if you can!"

With that, Molly took off running, leaving him in the dust behind her, trying to control her hysterical laughter.

~(*)~

Alex Drake rolled over in bed to look at the time. She sighed. It was time for her to go back to work. She had wallowed enough. As much as she loved her daughter, as much as she wanted Molly back, she needed to try and focus on something else. She needed to throw herself into work once again.

Alex got out of bed and moved over to the shower, turning the tap as far as it would go. Even then, the water was still only lukewarm and it merely trickled over her body. Maybe she did need to find a new place to live. If, no, when Molly came back, they couldn't live in a one bedroom flat. They'd need somewhere bigger.

Alex stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself. She'd talk to the letting agent this afternoon. Gene would let her out early, she was confident. After all, it was only her first day back. They wouldn't task her too much.

As she dried her hair, Alex stared at it in the mirror. It really was time to get rid of the perm. She vaguely remembered a time when it was straight and all she had to do with it was throw it into a ponytail. Maybe she wouldn't wear a ponytail now in the eighties, but she could get her straight hair back. Alex measured where the perm ended in her hair. If she let it grow out a few more weeks, natural hair should hit her ears and she could get it chopped there.

Alex absentmindedly started playing with the curl that served as fringe. A quiff, she thought.

Alex smiled. Perfect. She'd ring the hairdresser as well, and get this abomination off her head as soon as possible.

She did her makeup, the greyish purple eyeshadow a far cry from the electric blue that she once used. Her whole appearance here had changed. Batwing tops and kitten bows had transformed into long blouses and shoulder pads. She wore her white jacket interchangeably with a suit jacket. Today she pulled out a grey polo neck jumper with red lines crossing on it. It was never one of her favourites, but it was there. She paired this with black trousers and a red belt. Grabbing her suit jacket, she suddenly felt ready to face the world once more.

Alex walked down the stairs, feeling different than she had ever since Molly had crashed into her world and disappeared once more. Today was going to be a good day, she could feel it.

However, that feeling disappeared as soon as she entered CID. It was a flurry of activity; even Ray was busy. She ignored her desk, going straight to Gene's office. He looked up as she entered.

"Bloody Hell. What brought you in?"

"Missed it," she shrugged.

"Heard from Molly?"

Alex shook her head, swallowing the lump in her throat. A look of fury flashed across Gene's face before he spoke again.

"Suppose you want to know what's going on?"

"Well, that would be helpful, yes."

"We broke up a guns ring yesterday. Currently, we're signing out all the bloody shooters we got. Some of them have been screwed up as well."

"How do you mean?"

"Firing pin blocks and hammer blocks have been taken out. They can shoot if you drop them. Knowing this lot, I had Bammo and Terry take all the bullets out last night."

Alex nodded. "So what do I need to do?"

"Catch up on everything you've missed. There's a stack of files on your desk."

Alex sighed inwardly and nodded. She hated paperwork so much. Still, something told her it'd be much worse in the future. Inwardly steeling herself, she decided to go make a cup of tea before sitting down to the mundane chore. Alex set her suit jacket on her chair and walked to the kitchen, stopping by Poirot's desk. A gun lay on the floor, half hidden by a rubbish bin and the desk. She picked it up and studied it. Realising it wasn't police issue, she set it on his desk for him to clear away into evidence.

Alex walked into the tiny kitchen and started to prepare tea. Shaz walked in behind her. "It's good to see you back, Ma'am."

"I'm glad to be back, Shaz, save for all this paperwork."

Shaz smiled. "I could have made your tea."

"Oh, no. I'd rather be doing this at the moment. It's paperwork and CID or making tea and talking to you."

"Choice is obvious," Shaz said with a grin. Alex laughed.

"It is!"

"GRANGER!" Gene's voice yelled suddenly.

"I better go, Ma'am," she said.

Alex nodded. "Good luck."

Shaz grinned and rolled her eyes.

Alex poured the hot water into her mug and threw a teabag in, letting it steep. She'd get to work when she was good and well ready.

Finally, the milk and sugar was added and she couldn't put things off any longer. Sighing to herself, she stepped out of the kitchen, turning to go to her desk.

A loud BANG sounded through the office. There was a pain in her abdomen and she heard the shattering of her mug on the ground. Then there was only the sound of silence as she felt herself falling.

~(*)~

Molly and Tom sat in Holland Park, backs against one of the trees.

"You drawing again?" he asked her lazily, his eyes shut.

"Yeah," Molly said, tracing a squirrel that was sitting in front of her. "Is that a shock?"

"Nah. What time is it?"

"Ten thirty."

"That early? I could take a nap!"

"You could always take a nap, Tom Dellucci."

Tom shrugged and nodded. "True."

"I've got an idea. Why don't we go for a walk down to the tennis courts?"

"Cause there's nothing more exciting than watching people grunt as they hit a ball," Tom replied.

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"Nah. That sounds fine, Molly. Let's go."

He was on his feet in an instant, offering her his hand. Molly took it and stood, brushing herself off before taking his hand again.

Slowly, they walked down to the tennis courts. Tom held his hand up over his eyes to block the unusual sunshine.

"Wait a second," he muttered. "What's Jimmy...Shit. Something's wrong. Something's very wrong."

As soon as Tom stopped speaking, Jimmy was there, out of breath and panting.

"What's going on, Jimmy?"

"Molly," he gasped.

"What?" she asked.

"Your mum..."

Molly felt her stomach drop.

"Shot at work..."

A lump made its way into her throat.

"She's...in surgery...at St. Bart's," he continued. "Luigi said he heard someone say it didn't look good," he finished apologetically.

The world was silent. Her world may have frozen when she was twelve, but now it had just crashed. She was losing her mum again, and this time, there would be no getting her back.