Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own Ashes to Ashes or any of it's characters. They belong to the BBC and Kudos.

Author's note: This story is meant as an overview, a general idea of the lives of Gene and Alex after the events of series 2. Some aspects of this story might be developed into separate stories later on.

Changes

by

Philippa

Chapter 1: Gene

"Well, how do I look?" Alex asked as she appeared from behind the curtain of the fitting room.

"Yeh not lookin' bad Bolly", was all he said.

He eyed her up and down as she stood there in front of him. Truth be told, she looked absolutely stunning in the black dress that she'd just put on. She was 4.5, nearly 5 months pregnant now, and in Gene's eyes she'd never looked more beautiful.

"So you do like it a little then?", she asked, still slightly unsure of his thoughts.

"It looks really good on you", he answered. But then again, she could wear a bin bag and still look gorgeous, he thought to himself.

"So Bolls, 'ave you got any more stuff in there that you need to try on, cos it is nearly lunchtime".

He was getting impatient now. Shopping wasn't his thing, and they'd been in this store for more bloody hours than he could remember. He still couldn't believe that he'd let her talk him into going shopping with her. But then again, there were many things going on in his life at the moment, that he had a hard time believing were actually happening.

First and foremost the fact that she'd fallen for him, and the fact that he'd fallen for her. Of course there'd always been the undeniably physical attraction towards his DI. But then again, no man in his right mind wouldn't be attracted to her, unless he was a bloody poof. But apart from that he'd never thought anything would ever happen. At first he wasn't even sure he liked her that much. She was a posh mouthy tart, a pain in the arse, and a complete and utter fruitcake. They argued non-stop, and he'd wondered whether she even liked him.
But gradually, their relationship started to change. He'd started to respect her immensely. After all, she was so very clever it sometimes scared the life out of him. She wasn't the only female DI for nothing. The arguing though, never stopped. Looking back, they'd always been bickering like an old married couple from day one, but he knew that she enjoyed it just as much as he did. He was pretty sure she felt the same way he did, though neither of them ever acted upon it.
There had been plenty of opportunities though, all those late nights drinking and talking at Luigi's. One time something nearly happened, but he had been stupid enough to call it a night before things spiralled out of control. And instead of him, Alex had ended up with some stupid Thatcherite wanker. He had been extremely jealous, though he'd never let it show. After that everything returned to normal. More late nights at Luigi's, a lot of talking, and even more alcohol. They were both within their comfort zone, and they both made sure it stayed that way. No sparks. Until..

It had all happened after he'd accidentally shot her. She'd been unconscious for over 3 weeks, and during those weeks he had barely left her side, wanting to be there when she woke up. And when she finally did, he felt strange. It was a slightly uncomfortable, but not completely unpleasant feeling, and he didn't really know what to do with it. Alex had been in a very confused state upon her awakening, and she remained like that for a few days. Luckily she hadn't been mad at him for shooting him, and was well aware of the fact that he hadn't done it on purpose. That was good enough for him, he couldn't have bared the guilt otherwise.

Since she obviously wasn't going to press charges against him, there was only the case of him shooting Martin Summers left. But after Alex had stated officially that he'd done it in order to protect her, charges against Gene were dropped and he was completely off the hook.

After Alex had been released from hospital, 'it' had happened. Gene had kindly offered to pick her up from hospital and drive her home. Of course she had refused, telling him that he didn't need to make a fuss, and that she could just call a taxi. Naturally he wouldn't think of it, and had taken her home late that afternoon. Arguing that she was capable of walking up the stairs to her flat, he'd refused to let her do that, and carried her up the two flights of stairs. He couldn't help but feel guilty, even though she'd told him she didn't blame him for anything. It was still his doing that had made her end up in that hospital, and he couldn't shake off those feelings.

Even back at her flat, he didn't leave her side. He made sure she was settled in nicely in her bedroom, even offered to drag the television in there, but she told him not to. She'd probably be too tired to watch it anyway. Afterwards he'd gone down to Luigi's to order some food, which Luigi then kindly delivered at her front door. They'd eaten together. He'd wanted to leave to let her get some rest, but she'd asked him to stay. She could do with the company.
Up until this day he still wasn't sure what had upset her so when she awoke, but he, too, had felt that she shouldn't be alone.

So they'd shared a glass of wine, just the one for a change, since Alex wasn't actually allowed alcohol because of the painkillers she had been given. They had talked about a various range of topics, what had been going on at CID in her absence, funny things that'd happened at Luigi's, even some bickering over Gene's taste in films. It was just past eleven when Alex had said she was tired and would like to go to bed. He'd taken her hand to help her off the sofa, and that's when it happened.

Neither could remember who had initiated the kiss, and they didn't care. It had been soft, gentle, just like he had imagined it would be to kiss her. After the kiss had ended, both felt slightly awkward, but at the same time it also felt right. Gene had said goodnight to her, and promised to be back in the morning to check up on her before work.

Gene had gone home, but didn't sleep. He simply couldn't. His mind went over the events of the day that had led them to that moment. Neither of them had been drunk, for which he was very glad. At least they couldn't blame it on some stupid, mindless, drunken action. He just hoped that Bolly hadn't been too drugged up with painkillers, otherwise he feared she might start blaming last night's events on that. Though she wouldn't, or would she? Gene wasn't sure. He felt insecure, a feeling he didn't come across very often, and he didn't like it. Half the time he had no idea what went on inside her head, so God knows how she would react in the morning. She would probably have a very good explanation for it all, releasing her psychobabble on him, and driving him completely bonkers.

So after pondering over this all night long, he actually dreaded going over to Alex's flat in the morning. He felt nervous, his throat went dry as he knocked on her front door. For a moment he feared that she wouldn't open the door, would refuse to talk to him. Lucky for him, the door opened. For a few seconds, both just stood there, neither one of them quite knowing what to say. Eventually Gene broke the silence.

"Morning Bolls, feeling any better?"

"A bit dizzy from the painkillers, but apart from that I'm fine". Alex smiled at him. "Would you like to come in? I've made coffee".

He'd barely set foot in her flat, when she jumped at him. This time she was undoubtedly the instigator of the kiss. It caught him completely off-guard, and it took him a few seconds before he realised what was happening, before he started to kiss her back.

After this flying start they sat down and had coffee together. But it wasn't long before they were all over each other again. Kissing each other like their lives depended on it. Not long after that he'd taken her to bed and had made gentle love to her.

And that was it, he never left after that. Sleeping over at her place, because it was 'closer to the station and all', both knowing that in fact they just couldn't stand being apart.

For a while they had kept it quiet at work, though everyone found out soon enough. It was just too obvious. The way Gene entered CID, whistling. How most mornings, Alex walked in with a huge grin on her face. There was no way of hiding it, and frankly, they didn't want to.

Everything had been going quite smoothly for months. No major crimes happened, everyone just did their jobs, and went to Luigi's afterwards as usual. Gene and Alex were inseparable.

It was early summer when everything changed.

All of a sudden her daughter, Molly, had shown up. One afternoon he'd come over and let himself into her flat, only to find her sitting on the sofa, hugging a little girl. He had felt confused. To him it seemed as though Molly had appeared from nowhere. And he couldn't get a straight answer out of Alex about Molly's previous whereabouts. It seemed odd that her godfather had just dropped her off without any previous notice. On top of that, Molly had arrived without any personal belongings. In fact, she only had the clothes she was wearing upon arrival. But he didn't dare to ask any further. Alex had never seemed happier, and to him, that was all that mattered.

Since Alex's one-bedroom flat was obviously too small, Gene had suggested they could stay at his flat, if only temporarily. He had never felt at home in his flat, he'd never even bothered to move in properly so many boxes had remained unpacked. But with the arrival of Alex and Molly everything changed. It was as though life had finally been breathed into his flat, and he immediately felt more at ease there. The three of them had done up the flat a bit. Cleaned it thoroughly, unpacked all the boxes, and bought some nice things for the spare room to make it look more like a girl's room for Molly.

Gene had been quite taken with Molly from the beginning. He wasn't the kind of man people expected to be good with kids, but for some reason they usually seemed to like him. This went for Molly as well, she seemed to like him too, and he was very glad. She had settled in nicely in her new life with her mum and Gene, though sometimes he caught snippets of strange conversations between her and Alex with strange words like 'blackberry' and 'iPod' emerging from their whispers.
He dismissed this as a case of hereditary fruitcake-ness, and paid no attention to it.

Just as life had seemed to have eased again, it had been time for the next big shock.

One afternoon, towards the end of summer, Alex had stormed into his office. Without saying a word, she'd shut the door and started to close the blinds of his office.

"Bolly, slow down, what's going on?", was all he said.

She was behaving very oddly, even for her.

"We need to talk, but promise to keep your voice down".

Gene hadn't known what to do, so he decided to just sit back, and let it come his way.

Alex stood in front of his desk, fumbling nervously with the hem of her top. She didn't say anything.

"Well, come on then Bolls, what's the matter?"

Alex had taken a deep breath before she finally started speaking.

"Gene, what I'm about to tell you may come as a shock to you, but I'm asking you to stay calm and not overreact".

Again, nothing happened. She was obviously waiting for his reaction.

"Don't keep the suspense going any longer Bolls, just spit it out".

He was getting slightly impatient now, but he felt it was important and didn't want to pressurize her too much, so he just let her be.

"Gene, I'm….pregnant".

It had taken a while for him to let the message sink in. He'd looked at her. She'd been standing there, hugging herself, trying to avoid her eyes from meeting his.

He hadn't known what to say. How on earth do you react in a situation like this. Gene was never a man of many words, especially when it came to showing his feelings. He was afraid that a stupid attempt at trying to say the right thing would ruin everything. So instead he just got up out of his chair, walked over to Alex and took her into his arms. He had no idea how long they'd been standing there, when she finally mustered up the courage to ask him:

"So what do you think?"

"I think it's great Alex", was all he said.

That's all the confirmation she'd needed at the time. The fact he hadn't shouted, or hadn't done anything else stupid. Using her name, something he rarely did, only showed her that he'd really meant it.

And now they were here, in this bloody maternity store. She'd been trying on every possible outfit they had on offer. He still couldn't believe she made him go shopping with her.

What was it she'd said again? Something along the line of:
Thanks to you my clothes don't fit, and now we've got this stupid dinner party to go to and I've got nothing to wear. Very nicely put.

Finally she came out of the fitting room again, lucky for him she was wearing her own clothes this time, meaning the shopping torture was finally coming to an end.

"Finally made up yer mind then, eh Bolls?", he asked her.

"Yes, I've found a few outfits I quite like". She smiled at him

"Of course you're paying for all of it", she added with a mischievous grin.

"Now why doesn't that surprise me", was all she got in return.

After that he remained silent for a moment, while Alex hauled all the clothes out of the fitting room.

"So uh, Bolls. Does this store sell fancy knickers by any chance?"

Alex looked up from the pile of clothes she was dragging towards the counter.

"I think they do, why?"

"Let's buy you some then", was all he said as he pushed her towards the lingerie section.