Your reviews made me smile and laugh and just generally be happy so thank you, thank you!

Fear

"What are these?" Gene whispered. Alex stared back at him, completely horrified. Why hadn't she put them away, under her bed or in her wardrobe when she had the chance?

"Alex."

Alex flinched as her name whipped out from Gene's lips, ricocheting around the hard walls of her flat like a bullet. Gene looked back at the letters.

"This is why you left, isn't it? To protect me."

Alex shut her eyes, trying to regain some composure. When she opened them again, Gene was sitting on her sofa, having arranged the letter in a line on the coffee table before him. Alex, hesitantly at first, walked over and sat down beside him. She switched some of the cards around.

"There. Now they're in order."

Wouldn't it be horrible if something bad happened to Gene?

You have three days to leave the Force. If you fail, we will kill Gene Hunt. If you tell anyone about this letter, we will kill Gene Hunt.

See how serious we are Alex? If you're reading this, we'll assume you didn't die. What a pity. That was one way to get you out of the Force after all.

The fact remains that you are still employed by the Met and Hunt is still alive. So, we will give you an extension. Hand in your notice by next Monday or we will kill Gene Hunt. If you tell anyone about these notes, we will kill Gene Hunt. This time, we will not make mistakes.

Stay away from Luigi's.

"You should have told me," Gene muttered, so quietly that Alex barely heard him.

"I couldn't. They would have killed you. They nearly did kill you."

"What are you talking about, woman?"

Alex explained, "This one here- the third one- I got whilst in hospital after being shot. When I regained consciousness, and before I read that note, I really thought someone was going to tell me you had been killed, that they had got to you some other way."

Gene remembered something. "The one you shot- the one who 'ad a gun to my head- he said something like 'she could have stopped this'."

Alex choked back a sob. "Oh God, Gene, he meant me! You could have died that day and it would have been all my fault!"

"So this is the real reason why you left," he said slowly. Alex met his eyes then looked away guilty, breathing "yes" as an admission.

"And this last one 'ere- this is why you stopped coming to Luigi's."

"No," said Alex, "I didn't get that until the day after Shaz's party."

"Which probably means that whoever this bastard is that's been threatening you," growled Gene, causing Alex's heart to soar as she realised he was on her side, "he might have been at Luigi's and seen you there."

"But why?"

"There could be any number of reasons why they want you out of the force," Gene mused. "You're a damn fine officer, Bolls, when you're not a complete fruitcake. Some scum or the other might want you off a case. It doesn't explain why they don't want you at Luigi's though."

"Or," said Alex as an idea came to her, "They may just want me away from you."

She cast her mind back to that botched undercover job with Bryson. He had known what she meant when she said Gene, could he be behind this? He wasn't at Luigi's but it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility that he could have had spies there or a mutual friend of Shaz's.

Alex had once thought the letters would lead her into the future, all though she couldn't imagine why that would be. She vaguely knew that there were chronological discrepancies in her life- her parents had not only died recently, but when she was a child too, all though she couldn't imagine how that could be. The yellow slips of paper reminded her of a girl with yellow hair. She didn't know who this girl was. She doubted she had ever known.

"Who'd want that?" Gene frowned. "And why?"

Alex suddenly leapt up and ran over to her window. She threw it up and stuck her head out, craning her neck as she surveyed the street below.

"Bolly, what the hell are you doing?"

Alex span round in a panic. "What if they know you're here? What if they kill you, just for being here with me?"

Gene got up and walked over to the window and stood facing Alex. "I'm not afraid, Alex."

"I am," she whispered.

Gene reached out slowly and placed his hand on Alex's chest, just above where her gunshot scar was. He closed his eyes as he felt her heartbeat thrumming through his fingers. They both let their minds wander to their fears, Gene with a gun to his temple, Alex with blood gushing out of her chest and Ray. Ray: friend, colleague, DI, murderer, shivering in a police cell.