Alex swiftly flitted her tiny arse through Gene's doors, sliding it along the desk until it reached a comfortable destination and parked next to a half empty packet of cigarettes and a glass of whisky. The Guv himself didn't seem amused by this, choosing this time to slam them into what he hoped to be a sound-proof office and taking long strides towards her until their noses could touch. Alex didn't flinch. She didn't break her cocky expression. She just stared as he did.

"When i got involved in your little game," He began, his breath tickling her lips. "i was prepared for the ups and downs, the down right weird. I do not, however, sign up for humiliation in front of my team."

"Are you referring to our relationship as a game, Hunt?" She replied coolly, already ticked off.

"You better not do anything of the sorts again, Drakey, or i'll have you off every case with a snap of me bloody fingers."

"Ooh, threats. The typical Gene Hunt way of clearing up any problems that he faces." She found herself mocking. "Well i have news for you, i am not scared of a foul-mouthed, bitter-smelling, whisky-drinking bully like you."

"I'm getting really tired of this." Gene sighed.

"Tired? Tired!? Oh, you want to talk to me about being tired?" She flipped out suddenly, jumping from her seat and throwing her arms about in fury. "Do you think i'm here because i want to be? No! I have a daughter! She needs me and maybe, just maybe, i need her! Do you think that..."

And then she was cut off as his lips pushed harshly against her own, feirce yet accurate and apparently desirable. Alex tried her hardest not to offer herself back, trying not to go down that road again. Why was he doing this to her...?
Eventually, she pushed him away with a gasp, falling backwards an inch and wiping her mouth.

"What was that?" She managed, eyebrows pulling together into a frown that shaped her face into an angry point.

"Shuttin' you up." Gene appeared to shrug, not indifferent but embarrassed. She'd never seen him like this before. "Just one last time, an' all. Just to remind me of better times. Now get out my office and forget about it all. Forget everythin'. It's unprofessional, and i will not be in your bloody firing line."

"So what happened to all those threats, of taking me off the case? What about this 'game' you referred to?" Alex wondered, baffled and almost crazed by his lack of consistency.

Gene leaned past her to reach for his whisky and nodded his head towards his door. "Get out. Get back to work. This 'game' is gettin' in the way of proper police work. I won't stand for that. Either turn back to how it used to be, or just get out. Your choice."

*****

"What did he mean by 'how it used to be or get out'?" Alex spoke to herself from the side of Gene's office where the notice board was kept. When she had left his domain, she hadn't done as he had said and carried on with her job. Instead, she had come round here to consolodate with her brain, try to understand what had happened. Technically, sexual harrassment. She hadn't wanted to be kissed, especially as rough as that had been. It was almost as if...

Alex decided it was time to use that psychology she had almost forgotten about. Okay, so, step 1...

I began this relationship, because even though he'd kissed me back, he didn't want to interfere... he was a gentleman about it.
He always had a twinkle in his eye, like he'd wanted this ever since i had arrived in 1981.
His face when i was under the gun with Joe Cutts, he was torn. Completely beside himself because he wasn't able to save me.
I was the one who stopped this relationship from blossoming further. I was the one who decided enough was enough.

"Turn back to how it used to be, or get out." Alex repeated. "Either turn back to how it used to be... or get out. Out of his office. Out of his life. Or... turn back to how it used to be." Suddenly very aware of his blushing cheeks, Alex made a rash desision there and then, jogging round the corner and back to his office. That Manc Lion poster felt scary now, his angry face representing his emotion at this very moment. Alex felt disgusting.

She knocked on the door, aware that the otehrs were staring and had probably heard everything that had gone off in there already.

Gene opened the door, as the shutters had been closed and he had no idea that it was her. When he saw her, his face dropped into an even sourer grimace, but he allowed her to enter never-the-less. "This better be about police work."

"Sort of." She lied, shrugging. She sat on his desk again and he sighed.

"Alex," She shuddered. He'd never really called her by her proper name before. "Get off me desk, yer skirts too short an' i can't help me male instincts."

"Please don't try to hide your true feelings behind a mask of sexist garble that you've been brought up to believe is right."

As she has hoped, he looked taken aback. But before he could say anymore, she began to speak again.

"Look, i've been doing some thinking..."

"Oh dear God what has happened to the world?"

"I'll ignore that and continue. I've been thinking about how things ended between us, and how they used to be. And i've come to a desision."

Gene shrugged, now a cigarette in one hand. He didn't know what the hell she was talking about and that much was obvious.

"I love my daughter very much. I want to see her very much. But as long as i'm stuck in this place, i guess the only other thing that really made me feel happy was being with you. And if that means we have to get back together, than so be it. Because, despite how i act and seem on the outside, i guess i do love you, Hunt. And i don't want to be the one who hurts you like i have just realised already happened. Please push all of that to one side, and sort this mess out." She stopped, perhaps for breath, perhaps for a reaction. "Well?"

For a few seconds, Gene said nothing. Then he adjusted his tie, cleared his throat and looked at the clock. "Time is it?" He asked.

Alex glanced over, confused. "3:02pm, why?"

"well, it's just, err..." He shuffled. "We got something celebrate an' the others won't be at Luigi's for ages yet. Fancy dinner?"

"But what about the case?"

"Screw the case, Ray'll sort it. Come on."

So Alex took Gene's outstretched hand in what she imagined to be an oh-so cheesy moment in her life, but what did she care? She was stopping the hurt and the pain, maybe even the accidents, and enjoyed life as it was now instead of living in the past... future? However she looked it it, she knew that this had to be the right way to go about it.

After all, Molly was stood in silence in the corner. With a smile on her face.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yes, we have finally reached the end, my friends! Thank you for staying with this fic - and thanks to those of you who stayed through this AND it's prequel (Everything Is Significant). I hope this satisfied some Galex Shippers for now, and thanks again. xxxNTxxx