A Town Like Alex

Disclaimer: I'm only using characters from the BBC's Ashes to Ashes for fun. I don't own them and didn't invent them.

Author's note: This is a sequel to One Another's Shadow and is for all of you who asked for it. I hope it lives up to your expectations. Thanks to Lucida Bright for being the excellent beta reader that she is.

"Alex, we're going to have to leave this bed sometime," he said softly into her hair as his arms tightened around her. There were other ways to spend a Sunday but he couldn't think of a better one.

There was a sleepy moan of contentment as she entwined their fingers. "I don't see why."

"Hmm. Yes, I'm sure I had a reason. Give me a moment… I'll think of it again…" He squeezed her gently and tried to tickle her palm.

A loud ringing interrupted them.

"Bastard phone."

"Tsk. Your language, Bollykecks. You must be associating with the wrong sort," he grinned and reluctantly let her go. Groaning, he threw back the duvet, sloped across the bedroom and grabbed his bathrobe on his way out the door.

She heard him run down the stairs and snatch the phone up.

"Hunt. What?"

Alex gave a snort of laughter. Some things never changed. From what she could make out, he was talking to Ray and she knew that they were going to have to go into work. Sighing at the unfairness of it all, she stretched and tried to blink the cobwebs away. Squinting at the clock she saw they'd had less than three hours sleep. Worth it, though. Her eyes fluttered shut and she smiled as her hand drifted over his pillow. The bed dipped beside her and his warm hands enclosed hers again.

"We've been called in. Armed blag at a bookies went tits up early this morning."

She snapped awake. "Anyone injured?"

"The blaggers are all dead and one member of the public."

A small frown of concern creased her forehead. "This is, what? The third armed robbery in two weeks?"

"Yes and all of them at bookies which were closed, too. The Sweeney had wind that this one was going down and someone must've fucked up big time if a member of the public and all the blaggers are dead. Anyway, Ray doesn't know what's going on, but some serious looking head honchos have shown up and want to speak to us about it."

"Now?"

"Now."

She sighed again but reached up to trail her fingers down his face. "Thank you, love. Especially for dinner and everything since dinner. On Friday."

He leaned down and kissed her slowly. "32 hours of having you all to myself. Can't complain." He paused for a moment. "Except, of course, I will. How could they do this to us?" He didn't exactly whine but it was close enough.

"Duty calls, sweetheart."

"Bugger duty. I want my woman. Warm… and clever … and sexy …" He punctuated his words with kisses, making her moan with approval. "Thank you too, lovely. It was fanbloodytastic. Not bad for a two month anniversary."

"Think of another anniversary for tonight," she replied, kissing him once more as she got out of bed. "Then we could celebrate all over again."

"Can we celebrate fish?"

She laughed. "I suppose so."

"Then I've got one already. Two months since we finally had Dover Sole."

"Hurrah for Dover Sole." Her eyes sparkled at him and giving him a warm smile, she vanished into the bathroom.

Gene flopped back onto the bed with contented sigh. Life was good.

Alex didn't have any work clothes with her so Gene left her at her flat as he hurried on into CID. They had arrived into work together a few times but it always went unnoticed. Most of the time they were the first in, so there was nobody around to see anyway. However, they still kept their private life very much to themselves and found that they enjoyed their working relationship all the more for it.

As she changed in her flat she thought back over the last two months. Although, she had to admit, their relationship was almost a year in the making and wasn't only two months old. Since first arriving in Fenchurch, she had practically spent every waking hour in Gene's company. Apart from a rare day off here and there, the longest they had been apart during the day was her twelve-hour stint in Manchester. As they had their waking hours well covered, they were making up for lost time on the sleeping part now. After the O'Brien case, Gene's spent his fortnight off sorting out his house during the day and making damn sure Alex was in his bed during the night.

It had been a memorable and special time between them, where all the annoyances of work were not allowed to intrude. Alex adamantly refused to talk about anything work related with him and he was barred from phoning the office. For the first time ever, Gene had a proper break and much to his surprise, he found he liked it. It would have been even better if Alex didn't have to leave each morning but they could always plan a holiday together soon.

She found that being acting-DCI wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be, largely because DI Crane stayed in CID to compile all the O'Brien case notes. While he was there, it was agreed that he would be the DI for CID. Ray and Chris were keen to help Alex as much as they could so they tolerated the ever so polite Crane. After all, he would probably be joining them full time so it would be best not to make an enemy of the man. They liked him well enough but his manner was rather standoffish. They didn't realise that all that was really wrong with DI Crane was that he was painfully shy. He couldn't make jokes, was always polite and was rather quiet. It took time to get to know him properly and so far, the only person who had succeeded, was Alex. The others, in a show of solidarity for CID, tolerated his rather fussy little ways and hoped that when the Guv returned, he'd shake Crane off his lofty perch.

Gene's absence was noticeable and everyone missed his commanding presence, but they adjusted, safe in the knowledge that the Guv would be back soon. Alex wondered how they would handle the news that soon Gene would not be their Guv at all.

Her eyes fell upon a new suit hanging in her wardrobe. They had bought it for him on Friday and he had left it in her flat because it was a reminder of what he was about to face. The suit was a three piece, which was bespoke from Norton & Sons and had taken six weeks to make. It was single breasted and made from the finest dark navy wool with a hint of a light blue pinstripe running through it. The waistcoat was backed with blue silk and he had also bought a blue shirt with a dark navy and blue silk tie. For such a beautiful suit, it was a shame that they had their first argument over it, just before he had returned to work after his break.

Gene had asked her to come with him to get a nice suit for his interview. He wanted something that was well made, so went to a menswear shop to pick out something but nothing was appropriate. He looked through the racks of suits with disdain, getting frustrated when everything he picked up looked cheap to him but the price said otherwise. So, she suggested they should leave the shop and go to Savile Row. Gene was horrified and he had, point blank, refused to even set foot on the street.

He shot her a disgusted look. "I'm no posh poofter and you can fuck off if you think you can dress me up like a fucking ponce.

Alex didn't react and bit the inside of her lip, placing a particularly nasty polyester suit back on the rail.

"Okay," she nodded calmly, even though she was inwardly seething. "You pick out what you like as you seem to know what you want after all. You've managed to find nice things before. Anyway, I've got to go and get my hair done. I'll see you later." She kissed him and left him standing in the shop without so much as a backwards glance. She didn't have to go to the hairdressers but she was furious, and hurt, and at that moment she simply had to get away from him.

Even though she'd sworn she'd never hit him again, Gene figured that a slap would have stung less than her soft kiss against his cheek. Feeling like a complete and utter bastard for snapping at her like that, he shoved the two jackets on to the nearest rail and left the shop.

..

They had an almost silent dinner in his kitchen that evening. Eventually, he fished in his pocket and pulled out two samples of dark navy fabric. "Pinstripe or plain?"

Alex looked at him over her wine glass. "What's this?"

"Sample whatsits from the tailors."

She took of sip of her wine. "I see. Whichever you prefer. They're both good."

"You're angry."

"Yes, and I'm also rather upset, if you must know."

Gene picked at his food. "Sorry, Bolls. I shouldn't have -"

"No, you shouldn't have."

He bit back an irate retort. "Don't do this…"

Alex said nothing for a moment. "Let me see if I understand this correctly. You say sorry and like a magic word, everything is fine with us?"

He sighed, irritation growing. "That's how it goes. I'm sorry and I mean it. We're fine. End of."

"Do you know what fine is, Gene?"

He rolled his eyes and huffed. Bloody women.

Ale glared at him. "Fine means fucked up, insecure, neurotic, and emotional. There's your fine."

"And that's what you think I am? Cheers, Alex. Thanks." His scowl was so fierce she could hardly see his eyes beneath his brow.

She sighed in exasperation. He was still the same touchy Gene when he wanted to be. "I didn't say it about you. I was talking about us. Our relationship. You can't tear a strip off me in public like that, say you're sorry, and then state we are fine. We're not fine and your apology is not accepted."

Gene bristled at her tone. "Fucking hell… what do you bloody want? On one hand, you say you want me but when I am me, you want something else. It's doing my fucking head in. Make up your mind and stop jerking me around."

She took a deep breath and willed herself not to lose the cool and give him the satisfaction. He was spoiling for a fight on his terms and that wasn't happening. "I don't think, Gene, that this is about what I want at all. It's about you and your crazy notion that I want you to change. As I recall, you asked me to go shopping with you. You asked. You saw nothing in that shop which was suitable, yet for a reason best known to yourself, you freaked out when I suggested Savile Row. It's the only place I know where we could find the type of suit you said you wanted. If that was somehow misconstrued as an insult to you then really, you should find a better way of expressing your annoyance, rather than embarrassing me and making me feel like a complete and utter idiot in the middle of a shop. I was only-"

"Enough, Alex" he said quietly, staring at the table.

Alex could see that her words had hit home. He could sit there and glower all he liked but she had made it clear that he was not to humiliate her like that again.

Gene still picked at his food and pushed bits of it around his plate. Alex calmly sipped her wine and continued with her meal, even though it nearly choked her to swallow.

"I can't be Evan White."

She shot him a dangerous look, thoroughly unimpressed with the petulant tone in his voice. She wasn't going to respond to that ridiculous comment. She knew he was looking for an ego boost and she wasn't about to coo over him and reassure him that he was the man she wanted. Utter nonsense. Her fork stabbed another pea and a piece of carrot. She was just about to raise it to her lips when his foot nudged her leg gently.

"None of my usual 'get out of jail free' cards are going to work here, are they?"

"No."

"I don't know why I snapped at you in that shop today."

"Not good enough." Alex knew that he had a reason for blowing up at her and she wasn't going to let this go until he told her what it was. She had been nothing but honest with him and told him that she was angry and upset. Told him why. The rest was up to him.

He sighed. "I can't -"

"You can."

Gene's shoulders sagged and he rolled his eyes. Fuck it. "I don't want them to see Gene Hunt dressed up in a posh suit, fooling nobody apart from himself. I'm not supposed to give a shit about this Superintendent job. At first I didn't want it but now I do. And because I do, I'm sure I won't get it. I'll be there, all dressed up, and they're going to turn me down flat because they can look right through the fancy clothes and see the liability. The blundering, clapped-out, Northern flatfoot that I am, dressed in clothes that are out of my league. I never even knew a suit could be too posh for someone like me. Now, how fucking pathetic is that? Manc Lion, my arse."

Her fingers curled around his and she held his hand gently for a long moment. "The pinstripe is lovely. It always did suit you the best."

"Alex-"

"That was all you ever had to say to me. I understand. Apology accepted."

He swallowed, seeing the supportive understanding in her eyes. "Thanks, Bolly. And I am sorry. Really."

She leaned across and kissed him. "Gene, you are going to get that promotion and you must believe in yourself. I wouldn't let anyone say those things about you. I can't let you say them about yourself either. Nothing is too good for you."

"But-"

"No buts, Superintendent Hunt. No ifs. No ands. No maybes. You are going to walk into that room as if you own it and don't walk out again until you get what you came for."

He smiled at her. "You have been listening to me after all."

"Now and again. But I don't intend to make a habit of it."

"Cheeky tart." His hand caught hers properly and he pulled her to her feet. "Dessert?"

"What's on the menu?"

"Lots of lovely sweeties," he grinned, his hands curving over her bum, pulling her against him.

"Mmmm… good. I love sweeties," she sighed into his neck and then giggled as he lifted her up. They never made it up the stairs and a trail of clothes marked their route from the kitchen to the sofa.

Now, six weeks later, Gene had his new suit. She ran her hand over the material and remembered it on him in the shop, the tailors fussing around him and snipping away any minuscule loose threads. He was beautiful, and her heart skipped a beat at the recollection. She knew he liked it too, even though he had banished it to her wardrobe.

Alex pulled on her white jacket and caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. So this is what happiness looks like. She touched her fingertips to her own reflection, tracing the smile on her lips.

The phone rang, interrupting her musings and she reached around to pick it up.

"Hello?"

"Drake?"

She jumped at the volume. "En route, Guv."

"Via fucking Paris, is it? No wonder you're taking your own sweet time… Jesus…" Gene griped and slammed the phone down.

Alex laughed. God help her but she loved him. Maybe they wouldn't be too long in the office and maybe, if she was very lucky, she could tempt that irascible DCI into trying on his suit for her this evening. The phone rang again and she could practically feel the impatient vibes from it. Wise to that particular trick and knowing that it would undoubtedly cost her an eardrum if she answered it, she left it ringing and vanished out the door.

.oOo.