Thank you for all the reviews! Please keep them coming and any tips on how to improve it. :)

...

Chapter 5

"What exactly did we do Bols?" Gene's tone had changed and, if Alex wasn't mistaken, she could see the hint of a smirk on his face.

"You know what we did Gene." Alex folded her arms across her chest and glared at him.

"We did lots of things. We arrest some bastards, we did some paperwork, we..."

"Don't play games Gene. You know what I'm talking about and now Shaz knows so what are we going to do?" Alex tapped her foot impatiently. Gene remained silent for a few minutes, apparently weighing up their options. The looks Alex sent him did nothing to hurry up his response.

"We should have a drink." He concluded.

"Is that your answer to everything!" Alex huffed and shook her head. "I think you'll find alcohol is what got us into this problem in the first place."

"Well I'm not complaining Lady B."

"Gene." Alex warned, snatching the bottle of scotch from his hand and placing it behind her.

"Alright, calm down woman. Granger was off her face, just tell her it was a dream; works every time." Alex smiled. Sometimes Gene really surprised her; he always made out he was just another chain-smoking, alcoholic police officer but he was quite sensible when he wanted to be. "Oh good, she smiles. Now run along and pass on the good news to Granger."

"No, it's okay. She already thinks it was a dream." Alex mumbled, passing the bottle back to Gene who grabbed it out of her hand and unscrewed the top.

"What?" Gene stopped pouring and glared at her. "So you were getting those posh knickers of yours in a twist for no good reason."

"Actually..."

"Well, well, well, can Drakey not cope with out the Gene Genie?" Gene interrupted. "You after a repeat performance?"

"Shut up." Alex rolled her eyes and stood up, walking towards the door. She wasn't sure why she'd come running to Gene, normally she would have gone along with Shaz's idea and made sure no-one found out that, in fact, it wasn't a dream and the whole event had been dominating her thoughts all day.

"Oh come on, it's my birthday next week, call it an early present."

"No." The pair fell into a comfortable silence, staring at one another. "Is it really your birthday?" Alex eventually said. She mentally kicked herself for asking the question. Here she was, a police psychologist, falling for the oldest trick in the book.

"Yes it bloody is."

"Oh... right." Her reply was unconvincing and she still doubted Gene but she wanted to escape the office before he started talking about 'carrying on where they'd left off'. Nodding slightly and sending a small smile in Gene's direction, Alex left the office and attempted to carry on with the stack of paperwork that had barely decreased in size since she'd arrived that morning.

...

Alex joined the rest of the team in Luigi's that night. Gene had been called to a meeting with the Super and she didn't fancy spending the night on her own. The idle chit-chat was a welcome relief from the intensity of the past few days; even Chris attempting to light his finger doused in Sambuca was making her laugh. The drinks were flowing much slower than the previous night, to the relief of a rather stressed Luigi.

When the group ended up calling it a night Luigi hurried over to Alex and dragged her back to the bar. He pointed towards the phone and raised his eyebrows, smiling. Alex waited for him to disappear round the corner before picking up the phone and tentatively placing it against her ear.

"DI Drake." She said.

"You've been checking up on me." She'd have recognised the voice of her DCI anywhere and laughed into the phone.

"I don't know what you mean, Guv." Alex played innocent but she knew what he was referring to. Gene grunted, Alex could hear the clink of glass against glass in the background and then the phone went dead. She stared at it for a moment. She should have known that asking Viv about Gene's birthday would have ended up getting back to him; Gene had a knack of knowing everything that went on the station. It turned out the Gene was telling the truth and it was indeed his birthday next week, although no-one knew exactly how old he was; apparently their DCI wasn't keen on birthdays.

...

A loud knock on the door, followed by a lot of shouting stirred Alex from her slumber. Turning over in confusion she glanced at the clock on her bedside table and leapt out of bed when she noticed just how late it was.

"Drake, you come and open this door now or I'll kick the bloody thing in!" Gene's voice echoed around Alex's flat. She rushed through her flat and pulled the door open. Gene opened his mouth to carry on the tirade of abuse but stopped as he took in the sight of his DI dressed only in an old shirt that left nothing to the imagination. A small cough disrupted his thoughts. "As annoying as you are, we've got crimes to solve and that psychiatry stuff you do would get them solved a lot quicker."

"Give me two minutes and I'll be there," Alex let the door swing open as she hurried into the bathroom, "And its psychology." She added before slamming the door shut and jumping in the shower. Gene stood still in the hallway, unsure whether he was suppose to wait for her or make his way back to the station. Deciding he could probably annoy Alex more by sticking around, he stepped into the flat and closed the door behind him.

Alex had never washed so quickly and sighed in relief when she heard the door shut, confirming that Gene had left her to it. She hastily applied her makeup and attempted to tame her hair before exiting the bathroom and making her way to the kitchen; covered only by the small towel wrapped around her.

"Oh shit." Alex turned round and was in danger of dropping the towel as she stared, aghast, at her DCI sat on her sofa, his mouth hanging open.

...

:) Lxx