A/N - Ok so I'll admit it; I'm a longtime lurker first time poster, so be nice per-lease. This is totally un-beta'd so all mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer - Nope, don't own anything. Well, except for Ken.

Setting the scene

Alex sat at her desk looking over the paperwork for the fifth time in the past two days, checking for anything within the witness statements that they may have looked over or regarded as insignificant. Nothing. A man was kidnapped in the middle of the day and they had nothing. Alex sighed with frustration as the phone began to ring; she stared at it for a few minutes, as if the concept of a ringing phone was a foreign concept to her and then picked up the receiver.

'Fenchurch East CID, DI Drake speaking'

'DI Drake, this is DCI Ken Foster from West Midlands Police speaking'

'Err… hello sir erm how can I help you?' she asked nervously, glancing at the Guv's office. Having a telephone call from another station doesn't normally bring good news.

'Well news has got round that you have a missing persons case that you are having trouble with, and it seems like it has all of the hallmarks of an open case we have had here.'

At this point she was giving him her full attention, which didn't go unnoticed by a certain DCI who had been covertly watching her all day.

'So what are you suggesting sir? That we send one of us up to you to get the files? Or that you brief us over the phone?...' she trailed off already knowing that they were silly ideas and wouldn't be beneficial to the case at all

'No, I was thinking more along the lines of I'd send two of my officers down along with the files to aid you with getting a collar.'

She looked up in time to see Gene walk out of his office and towards her desk, knowing that he would have to have the final word she replied:

'Err that's very kind of you sir but I can't make the final decision, let me just pass you onto my DCI.' She held her hand over the receiver whilst she briefed Gene on who it was and what they wanted before handing it over to him.

'Ken you old fart what is the weather like in your neck of the woods?'

Whatever the reply was must have been a sarcastic comment the way that Gene was chuckling.

'So you wanna send two of your finest down here to help us poor damsels in distress?... well I'm sure that we can accommodate them if they play nicely. When shall we expect them?...tomorrow?...ok what time?... brilliant cheers Ken bye.' With that he handed the phone back to Alex and strode to the middle of the room clapping to get their attention.

'Right you useless bunch of tossers, looks like tomorrow we are getting some new friends to play with. So go home and get some kip tonight because tomorrow we are going to do some proper work. Now piss off.'

And with that he turned around to get his coat whilst the rest of the team scarpered so they could put an end to the sluggish day.

Walking into Luigi's; Gene wasn't sure whether he was surprised or disappointed to see most of CID there; even though he gave them a not-so-subtle hint to go home and get some rest so they could return bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning, ready to impress their new arrivals with their eagerness. He laughed to himself, who was he kidding? This rabble? Eager? Nah would never happen; they had to be spoon fed every bit of information. Well except for Alex and Shaz; even though he'd never admit it, they were impressive coppers.

He sat down at his usual table, their table; so confident that she'd join him that he didn't even look up. Instead he lit up a cigarette and waited for her to come to him; which, after two minutes of waiting, she did. Placing a scotch in front of him and a bottle of house rubbish and a wine glass in front of herself, she sat opposite him and filled a glass before silently toasting him and gulping the whole glass down in one.

Many hours and wine bottles later; they sat in companionable silence, each thinking of the smutty things they'd like to do to each other behind closed doors. Getting too carried away, Alex started to blush and unintentionally move towards Gene which brought him out of his erotic daydream. Moving to accommodate his growing arousal, Gene knew he had to start a conversation so he would have some blood flowing around his body at the end of the night.

'Why'd ya do that earlier Bolls?'

Snapping out of her pretty fantastic daydream Alex responded.

'Do what Guv?'

'Ya know earlier, you told whatisname… Ken that you couldn't make a decision if they could send two of their own down here.'

'Oh that. Well I knew that if I did make a decision then you'd get you arse in your hands like normal and to be honest after the day we've had, I just couldn't be bothered with having to defend myself in another argument when its not worth it.'

'Nah that's not it. You've just fallen for the Gene Genie's charm is all. You want a man to take all your problems away, not one of these posh nancy poofters you usually go for.'

At that she scoffed and stood up.

'I' she poked herself in her to chest to emphasise her point. 'am going to bed. And you' she now pointed at him 'should do the same.' She swayed off before he could get a smutty comment in about leading the way.

He stayed seated and ordered another drink before he drove off to his flat to get some much needed sleep.