Okay guys I am SO sorry with how long I have left it between updates…again! What can I say...my motivation left me to finish this story and it has taken months to get back into the swing of things and try and get back into this! So again…I'm sorry and now on with the story, this is just a bit of a filler chapter (which they all seem to be…I promise this is going somewhere) but the next chapter will have more plot! Oh and please read and review =] x

Chapter five:

'You're right' replied Alex as she followed Gene out of CID and down to Luigi's.

After sharing a couple of bottles of wine with Gene in Luigi's she then headed upstairs more sober than she had been for a long while and sunk into the sofa with a glass of whisky from the bottle she found in the back of the cupboard and finally allowed herself to think of Molly. Her baby, how was she coping without her mum? Alex closed her eyes and could still see the smiling face of her daughter on her birthday 'I will get back to you Molly. I promised I would never leave you' Alex sighed 'I know when the time comes it will be hard to leave Gene but I need to get home to you…to my baby' She pulled the blue blanket that was kept on the back of the sofa over her, she didn't want to sleep alone in bed tonight and fell into an uneasy sleep filled of dreams of Molly and Gene.

Gene on the other hand had stayed sitting in Luigi's long after Alex, then Ray and the others had left until Luigi told him to go. He wandered out to the Quattro looking up at Alex's flat window on the way he noticed her flat window was still on, yet it had been hours since she had gone up. He thought back to earlier, she had been a lot quieter and this wasn't the first time she had left Luigi's early when she wasn't pissed. He decided to go up and check she was okay, he told himself it was because he needed her on top form to solve this case but he knew he was just lying to himself. Really he just wanted to check she was okay, he knew what he felt for Alex was more than just work colleagues or even friends but he didn't know if she felt the same.

Gene walked back towards Luigi's and snuck up the staircase that led to the flats, hoping Luigi hadn't seen him. As he knocked on Alex's flat he was already regretting his decision. What if she was asleep, or in the shower, or just didn't want to see him. He turned to walk away as the door opened and Alex peeped round the side of the door.

'What do you want Gene?' Alex asked sleepily while opening the door wide to let him in.

'Sorry Bolls, didn't realise you were asleep…I er just wanted to check you were okay? ' Alex looked shocked to see genuine concern in Gene's face, for a moment she was speechless. Gene didn't do feelings and all that mushy stuff! He had told her that just the other week when she tried to bring up the topic of Sam and leaving Manchester. 'Only you left Luigi's pretty sharpish earlier, something wrong with the poncy Italian mush he feeds you?' And in an instant he was back to being Gene.

'I'm fine Gene, just tired' Alex tried to smile

'Okay' said Gene 'Don't mind if I stay here do ya?' He asked while taking his coat off and moving over to sit on the sofa.

'Course not Guv' replied Alex as she shut the door behind him, secretly happy he was here, well it would stop her thinking about Molly for a while. Alex went to refill her glass of whisky in the kitchen 'Want a drink?' she shouted through to Gene.

'Ta Bolls' He said while making himself comfy with his feet up on the table.

Alex came back into the living room, handed Gene a tumbler of whisky, sat down next to him on the sofa and took a swig of her own drink.

Half an hour later saw Alex and Gene sat watching an old Western video Alex had found in the drawer when the conversation had started to dry up. She still didn't know why Gene was really here, he wasn't that drunk but he seemed in no hurry to go. Not that she was complaining, it was nice to see this 'real Gene', where he was just content with watching a film rather than drinking copious amounts of alcohol. She felt herself relaxing beside him and the last thing she remembered was Gene saying that this is the good bit…

Gene was trying and failing to get into the movie, it was an old classic, one he had seen many times, but he couldn't relax properly, not with Alex sat so close to him. He tried many times to work out what to say to her but everything sounded stupid in his head. The truth was he was worried about her. She hadn't been the same since the Prices were blown up, in some ways she had been better, she had stopped arguing so much with him and most of the talk of going home, wherever home was, had stopped. But there was something else, she didn't always seem happy. He knew their relationship had changed, the incident earlier with the doorbell he swore he had seen a look of disappointment in her eyes, before she covered it up with embarrassment. But he didn't know how to go about it. This was Bolly, he couldn't muck this one up. He couldn't live with himself if he let her go or did something wrong.

Gene took his concentration back to the TV and realised the film was reaching the end fight scene 'Here Bols…this is the good bit' but before he could check she was watching he felt something land on his shoulder and stay there. He turned his head to see Alex fast asleep on his shoulder. He wasn't sure what to do, did he just leave her there or did he wake her up? His answer was made up for him when she slung one arm across his chest and moved closer to him. He was stuck, but he couldn't say he was not comfortable. Here he was with Alex asleep on him looking completely relaxed and content.

After about an hour Gene realised he could no longer feel his arm and the fact he couldn't reach his whisky had worn off a while ago. He also knew that he could not let Alex wake up in the morning and him still be like this. He slowly moved and lay Alex down onto the sofa, pulled the blanket back around her from where it had been thrown when he sat down and went to leave.

'Gene' Alex mumbled. He spun round straight away expecting her to have woken up but she was still fast asleep. He realised she must be dreaming of him which made him smile. He walked back over to her and bent down to kiss her forehead.

'Night Bols. Sweet dreams' Then Gene grabbed his coat and walked out of the flat and headed back to his car to drive home.

A/N Again sorry for the delay, hope you enjoyed it and I hope I have got Gene right, some parts of this I felt like I may not have got him quite right!