Right first off I am SO sorry for the delay, uni took over my life with dissertations, then revision, then exams, so I have literally not had time to finish this chapter off! But FINALLY finished my degree on monday and have got this chapter out =] hopefully the next chapter will be up within a week! Thank you to De Vienna for beta-ing duties!

I do not own Ashes, just using the characters for my personal fun =P

Chapter two:

They walked up to the second floor in silence, both lost in their own thoughts and both knowing what they would find when they reached the body. Gene could already hear Alex's brain ticking away, what did she have to think about before they had even seen the body?

As they reached the second floor is soon became apparent where the body was, Alex pushed past Gene and moved straight over to the body, beginning to talk straight away.

'Definitely the same as the others Guv, signs of assault, can see the marks on her wrists and ankles where she has been tied to something for a period of time' Walking around the body she started again 'Been hit over the head with something, which is in line with the other attacks, was probably knocked out in order to get her away from the nightclub before anyone realised what was going on.'

Gene knew better to interrupt her in full flow, and this gave him the chance to wonder what was happening between him and Alex. Ever since those two lawyers had been blown up and little Alex Price had gone to live with Evan he had noticed the change in Alex, Yes she was still the same mouthy, disobeying, psychology talking (yes, he knew what it was called, but was more fun to wind her up!) But she seemed more settled, there had been no more talk of leaving, whatever was eating away at her before had gone, he wasn't sure why things had changed, but he was glad.

'Guv?' Gene looked up, Alex was standing there staring at him, shit had he missed something while he was looking at her, rather than what she was saying.

'Sorry, what?'

'I said' Alex spoke while giving Gene a look, she knew exactly what he had been doing while she was doing her job 'we need to get her to the morgue, see if the cause of death was the same as the others and get the missing persons files out, we need to identify this girl, her parents are probably worried sick missing her and especially with the press coverage this case has got….and stop looking at my arse!'

'I wasn't looking at your arse' Gene mumbled, of course he had, who wouldn't with the arse she had 'Nothing to look at anyway Boll's told ya before and I'll tell ya again, I don't wanna see your bony arse' This was a complete lie, there were many times he found his gaze drifting to Alex but who wouldn't be attracted to her….

The drive back to the station was a quiet one, both Gene and Alex thinking, one look at Gene and Alex knew that they needed to double the efforts they were putting into this case, she could see that another victim, another young girl had been taken and that this was affecting him more than Alex thought it would. She thought back to a conversation (or rather argument) they had had a couple of days before her parents died when she had suggested he didn't have kids, it got her mind working overtime, and of course thinking of Molly. Molly who was never far from Alex's mind, this case bringing up the fact that this person needed to be caught and soon, how could she cope with the fact that in a couple of years that could be Molly, if she ever got home to see her daughter grow, how could she cope with having to hear the news that her precious daughter, her little girl had been brutally attacked and killed, for no apparent, straight forward reason!

Alex took a steading deep breathe to stop her emotions getting the better of her, the last thing any of the team needed now was her getting upset, she would have time to think of Molly soon.

Gene looked over as Alex took this deep breathe, to see her with her eyes shut tight, shit, he wasn't good with emotions and all that stuff, and he didn't really want to make a balls up of it, he was just getting used to this different Alex, yes they still argued all the time, but he loved that, to watch her get all worked up!

Alex and Gene banged through the double doors leading to the CID offices, Gene storming straight through to his office, letting the door to his office bang shut, before opening it again and shouting 'Tea, five sugars' in Shaz's direction and slamming the door again.

Alex, followed Gene into the office and finally sat down, chucked her white leather jacket over the chair and picked up a pile of papers that had been dumped on her desk before she got to the office.

Shaz wandered over 'Here you go Ma'am' and handed over a mug of coffee

'Thanks Shaz' replied Alex, before moving the pile of papers to one side, pulling a new piece of paper out and began scribbling down everything she could remember about the body and her ideas.

Alex was engrossed her thoughts she didn't hear Ray and Chris come back or Gene come out of his office, and only realised when he was stood in front of her leaning over to get a good view down her top 'Can I help you Guv?'

'Coroner called, he's done with the body, off down there to see what he has to say'

'Okay, Ray, Chris, Shaz can you go through the missing persons files from the last week, we need to identify this girl'

'Okay Ma'am' replied Shaz and straight away got out the files and began searching through.

'Shaz is wasted as a WPC Gene' Alex replied as they walked out of the office 'Look the only one of them actually working, she does more work than Ray and Chris but yet she is the one still in uniform!'

'Alright, alright, keep your knickers on' Alex sighed 'If it's bothering you that much I'll try and get something sorted…now can we focus on the case please, this murdering bastard needs to be caught today…I'm not telling someone else that their little girl is dead!'