Disclaimer: Despite repeated hints to the BBC, I still don't own Ashes to Ashes. I don't own Donizetti's opera "L'Elisir d'Amore" either.

Thank you to much to everyone who's read, and especially those who've reviewed, my first attempt at A2A humour. Your support is so much appreciated. Please let me know what you think of this long second chapter.

Those of you in the UK – enjoy 9.00-10.00 tomorrow!

By 12.30 the next day, CID was nearly deserted. Most of its members had headed over to Luigi's in anticipation of a free buffet and piss-up. Only Chris, Ray and Alex remained in the main office, and Gene in his own office. Although none of the other three would have admitted it, they had all remained to keep an eye on Chris. He had been looking at the same file all morning without turning a page, and by silent agreement everyone else had left him alone.

Alex had gone out to get a cup of tea. Chris glanced over to the Guv's office. Gene was on the phone.

"Ray."

"Yes, mate?"

"When you were thinking of joining the army - "

"Yeah?"

"You got a form, didn't you?"

"Boss tore up my form, but I've got another. The recruiting office gave me two, in case I made a mistake writing out the first."

"Where is it?"

"Right 'ere, in my desk."

"Could I 'ave a look?"

"Sure." He rummaged in his desk for the form and passed it over to Chris, who unfolded it and read it intently, a new look of determination dawning on his sad young face. He looked up.

"Could I keep this?"

" 'Course you can. Don't expect to want it again. But you're not thinking of joining the army, are you?"

Chris's face hardened. "Not much to stay 'ere for, is there? I thought - new start, new people, new places - "

"Sounds like you want to join the French Foreign Legion, mate," Ray said unsympathetically. Bloody hell, Chris in the army? He wouldn't last a day.

Chris looked at the form again. "I'll need a sponsor. Would you sign it for me?"

Ray looked very cunning. "Sorry, I wouldn't do because I've applied to join before. Ask the Boss."

"Thanks, Ray. You're a mate." Chris picked up a pen and rose from his desk. "See you in a bit. Need somewhere quiet to fill this in." He walked out of the office, leaving Ray hoping that he had done enough to spike his guns.

But if the Boss countersigns his application, then I'm the Flying Dutchman.

By the time Alex had returned with her tea, the office was empty and her phone was tinkling frantically. She ran to her desk and grabbed the phone before it could stop ringing.

"DI Drake."

"It's Shaz. Oh, I'm so glad I've caught you, Ma'am." Shaz sounded nearly in tears. "I'm in your flat. Luigi gave me the spare key, I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not, but what are you doing there? Why aren't you at your party?"

"Please, would you be able to come over here for a minute? I really, really need your advice."

"Of course I will. Give me a moment to clear it with the Guv, and I'll be right with you."

"Thank you so much, Ma'am. But please, don't let anyone else know I'm here."

"I won't. 'Bye."

Alex hung up and set off down the corridor. Never mind the Guv. It sounds as though she could be having second thoughts. Trust Chris to go missing just when he's needed. I've got to find him before I join Shaz.

-oO0Oo-

Not in the Records Room. Not in the Evidence Room. Not in the Collators' Den. Not in the Super's office. Not in the Interview Rooms. Not in Lost and Found. Not in the canteen. Not in the typing pool.

Alex was loping back along the corridor to check the main office again when she encountered Ray, emerging from the mens' room.

"Ray, have you any idea where Chris is hiding? I need to find him, urgently."

Ray rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Dunno. Might be in the locker room. Said 'e wanted peace an' quiet to fill in - " He checked himself, but not quickly enough. Alex pounced like an owl with a fieldmouse.

"Fill in what?"

"Er - "

"You said Chris might be in the locker room, filling in something. What?"

Ray was cornered. "I - er - "

"Answer me, Ray. That's an order."

"Er, Chris knew I had a spare application form - "

"Not your army application form?"

"Er, yes, and - "

"Good God, and you let him have it?"

"Yeah, but - "

The look in Alex's eyes at that moment had scared tougher men than Ray. He backed into the sanctuary of the men's room, but Alex followed him, grabbed his lapels, and slammed him into the wall. Unfortunately Gene was at a urinal. He modestly turned his back on Alex.

"Bloody 'ell, Bols, if you wanted a glimpse of my treasures, you only 'ad to ask."

Alex ignored him. "You stupid, stupid man!" she snarled, ramming Ray into the wall, so hard that Gene winced in sympathy. "Have you any idea what you've done?"

Ray made a wheezing sound that indicated that he wanted to speak, and Alex loosened her grip. "I know 'e wouldn't last a day, but 'e wouldn't listen to me," he gasped. "I gave 'im the form an' told 'im to ask you to be 'is sponsor. I knew you'd talk 'im out of it. He won't get the application past you."

Alex released him, and he slid down the wall a couple of inches. "Ray, what a wonderful, clever man you are." She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. Ray saw the murder in his Guv's eyes and backed out of the room in terror.

Alex turned to see Gene, his business finished, standing, his hands in his pockets. She was between him and the door.

"Please, teacher, may I leave the room?"

"Gene. I need your help. Find Chris and bring him over to Luigi's as soon as possible. It's important. He's probably in the locker room."

"What's in it?"

"The chance to stop Shaz marrying the wrong man. To stop her emigrating to the States with the Mince. To save Chris's heart from being broken."

The blue eyes narrowed. "What's in it for me?"

"The undying gratitude of two young lovers."

"Not good enough, Bolly. You try to cop a look at my best jewels - "

"I did not!"

" - an' then you beat a colleague to pulp an' assault 'im, before my eyes. If I'm going to help you after that, you'll 'ave to make it worth my while."

"Oh, damn you, Gene Hunt. I've got to get across to my flat, Shaz is waiting for me, but we must find Chris, now."

He pouted. "So?"

"A bottle of Luigi's best single malt." His eyebrow raised. "Two bottles." The eyebrow curled at the corner. "In my flat, after work." The curl continued. "Oh, all right. With me in the red basque you saw in the vault at Edgehampton."

His eyes came out on stalks. He brushed past her and out of the door, and hurtled down the corridor at a speed that the Quattro could not have bettered.

"CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!!!!!!!"

Well, well. So I'm a more attractive proposition than the single malt, am I? Filing that thought away for later, she raced off in the opposite direction to grab her jacket and keys before dashing across the road to the flat.

Chris and Shaz, the things I do for you.

-oO0Oo-

She found Shaz, sitting on the sofa, dressed in a smart two-piece suit, looking utterly woebegone.

"What's up, Shaz?" Alex flopped onto the sofa beside her and poured them both some wine. If this was going to be the heart-to-heart that she suspected it might be, they would both need it. "Wedding nerves? Don't worry, we all get them. I remember when I married Pete - "

Shaz turned tear-filled eyes on her. "Oh, ma'am, it's all going wrong!"

"Oh, no, it isn't." Alex was deliberately obtuse. "I looked in at Luigi's before I came up here. Everyone down there is having a great time. They're just waiting for you and Vince."

Shaz looked tragic. "But Chris isn't there, is he?"

"No," Alex acknowledged. "But would you expect him to be?"

Shaz burst into tears. "He should be there to stop me!" she wailed, burying her face in her hands. "But he said yesterday that he didn't care any more!"

Damn Luigi and his bloody potion. "But, Shaz, real life isn't like the final scene of The Graduate, with Dustin Hoffman stopping Katharine Ross marrying the wrong man," Alex said very seriously. "Have you considered that Chris isn't there because you've hurt him too badly? The last few weeks have been hell for him, forced to watch you swan around with Vince, having the good time that he can't afford to give you. It's not surprising if he can't bear to see you getting ready to marry another man."

Shaz's sobs stilled as she considered the implications of Alex's words. "But if he still loves me, why did he act like that yesterday?"

"Chris is like a wounded animal crawling away to hide," Alex said gravely. "He's putting all his remaining energy into dying. I know for a fact that he wants to leave here and change his life. He's joining the army."

"What?" Shaz looked up, horrified. "How do you know?"

"Ray told me."

"But he can't do that!"

"Why not?" Alex was remorseless. "He has little enough reason to stay here. You stood by him after he was unmasked as the station traitor, and that gave him the courage to carry on. Now you've abandoned him, and he's lost the trust and respect of his colleagues. Why shouldn't he decide to put everything behind him and start over?"

"But - the army!" Shaz was aghast. "He could be killed!"

"Very likely." Alex decided to pile on the agony. "Especially as he has nothing to live for. He'll probably volunteer for all the most dangerous jobs - mine clearance, foot patrols - "

"No! Oh, no, no, no!" Shaz clutched her head between her hands. "What have I done?"

"Very nearly broken a good man's heart, I'm afraid."

"God forgive me. We've got to stop him, Ma'am!"

"You've got to stop him. He may listen to you. He certainly won't listen to anyone else. But take it from me, Shaz - if you talk him out of it, it'll have to be because you really, really care about him, and you'll have to let him know that."

"I will!" Shaz was drying her eyes, and her face shone with purpose. "Where is he?"

"The Guv's bringing him to the party. Give me a minute to go down and see if he's arrived yet. I'll take him aside and tell him you want a word with him. And, Shaz - "

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"This is your chance. Use it wisely."

That's what Luigi said to Chris yesterday.

"Thank you, Ma'am. I will."

Maybe that means that the "elixir" could work after all, Alex thought as she descended the stairs. It must be nearly twenty-four hours since Chris drank it. And Shaz appears to have completely forgotten about Vince.

-oO0Oo-

"Can you keep a secret?"

WPC Janet Lonergan, WPC Donna Fitch, Sandy Milton, the Super's secretary, and two of the typists, Emma Lowndes and Julia Soames, were gathered around a circular table in Luigi's, sharing a bottle of house rubbish, their heads closer than a rugby scrum.

"What've you got to tell?" Emma demanded.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Janet said smugly.

"Come off it, you know you're dying to tell us," Donna goaded her.

"If I say, you've got to promise not to tell."

"Of course we won't." Sandy spoke for them all. "We're all mates here."

The others nodded eagerly. In their close proximity, they looked as though they were bobbing for apples.

"Well..." Janet looked around her audience. "This morning, Viv was called away and I had to mind the desk for twenty minutes. While I was there, a registered letter arrived for Chris Skelton, and I had to sign for it. It had been sent to his home address, but as he wasn't there, it had been taken here instead. I saw it was from Littlewoods' Pools." She paused for effect, and her listeners rippled appreciatively, like a miniature Mexican wave. "Well, I know they don't send out registered letters for nothing. I hid the letter, and when Viv came back I took it into the kitchen and steamed it open with a kettle." She paused again.

"And?" Julia said excitedly.

"Girls, he's won over nine hundred thousand! He's rich, filthy, stinking rich!"

"Whichever lucky girl bags him, won't have to worry about coming to work any longer!" Sandy cackled.

"And that stuck-up Shaz has dumped him," Donna exulted.

"All the more for us," Emma said meaningfully. "But does he know yet, Jan?"

"I re-sealed the letter and put it in the in-tray on Viv's desk with other post on top of it. He'll get it later. Gives us a chance to make an impression on him, before he finds out he's loaded. Let him think we love him for himself alone."

"May the best girl win." Julia held her hand out, and they solemnly clasped hands. She looked up. "There he is!"

Chris was descending the stairs reluctantly, with Gene behind him, chivvying him on. Janet waved to him.

"Hey, Chris! Come and sit with us!" Donna pulled a chair over from a neighbouring table, and the girls moved up to make room for him.

"Like something to drink?" Sandy poured some wine and thrust the glass into his hand.

"Isn't he lovely?" Emma crooned, putting an arm around his neck and kissing his cheek.

"Hey, Em, leave some for us!" Julia pulled him into her capacious embrace.

"Leave him alone, he's mine!" Janet grabbed him in an affectionate rugby tackle.

"Bloody 'ell!" Chris just had time to gasp as the girls engulfed him. "Must be the potion! It's working at last!"

Gene stood in the centre of the room, his hands in his pockets. The Manc Lion, the Gene Genie, the Number One seduction machine in the western world went unregarded while his divvy DC disappeared beneath a tidal wave of feminine affection.

"New aftershave, Chris?" he said sourly.

"No, Guv, just the usual, Hai Karate." Chris surfaced just long enough to gasp the words before Donna pulled him under again. Luigi bustled out of the kitchen carrying a plate of spaghetti, and stopped dead as he took in the scene before him. His jaw fell open and he dropped the plate.

"Caro Dio e tutti i Santi!"

Chris surfaced for air again. "Luigi, your potion's great!"

Gene became aware of Alex standing at his elbow. "Bolly, are you in any way responsible for this?"

"No, I'm not." He rapidly decided that his supicions had been unjustified. He had never seen her look so gobsmacked. "What the hell's going on?" Before Gene could respond, she marched over to the bar, where Luigi had taken refuge.

"Luigi, what was in that stuff you gave him?"

Luigi crossed himself. "Signora, I swear by all the saints, it was just an ordinary half-bottle of Médoc, one of a carton of twenty bought from my regular supplier."

"Well, you'd better do a product recall on the rest of the carton and keep them under lock and key," Alex snapped. "That stuff's highly dangerous."

"Chris!" Shaz stood at the top of the stairs, white-faced and tearful at the sight before her. His head bobbed to the surface again.

"Shaz! You too? It is working! Don't go away. I can explain - "

"She can wait." Janet pulled him under again. "Time you learned about life from a real woman."

Alex signalled to Shaz to wait outside, and Shaz nodded and ran out, tears running down her face. Alex strode over to the seething mass and grabbed Chris's arm.

"Chris. Chris. Listen to me."

Chris surfaced again, absolute terror in his eyes. "Bloody 'ell! Not you as well, Boss? The Guv'll kill me for hitting on 'is bird - "

So I'm his bird, am I? Another thought to file away for later.

"Chris, I can assure you that I have no interest in you whatsoever, except to deliver you a message from Shaz. She's very upset and she wants to see you. She's waiting outside."

"Yeah. Sure. At once."

"Excuse us, ladies," Alex added, "but this is police business."

The girls knew better than to argue with their DI, especially with Gene standing right behind her, and they reluctantly released their captive. His clothes had been pulled all ways and his hair was so dishevelled that it was almost standing on end. He made his way to the stairs amid a respectful silence, pulling his hair and clothes straight as he went. He disappeared from view, and a hum of conversation resumed.

"Well, Bolly." Gene faced her confidently. "I've delivered your hostage as per our agreement. Isn't it time you started paying up?"

"Not just yet, Gene. I have to wait and see whether Chris and Shaz sort things out. Help yourself from the buffet and I'll get a bottle of house rubbish while we wait."

-oO0Oo-

Chris paused near the top of the stairs, feeling something bumping against his hip. He felt in his jacket pocket. It was the bottle Luigi had given him last night. He pulled it out. He had drunk most of it, but there were still a few mouthfuls left. He took one more swig for luck, rammed the bottle back into his pocket, and continued to the top of the flight.

Shaz stood waiting for him, her hands clasped nervously. Her face was tear-stained and her mascara had run, but he thought that she had never looked so beautiful.

"Chris." She could barely speak. "Thank you for taking the time to come out and talk to me." There was no sarcasm in what she said, simply a statement of gratitude. "I could see you were busy."

"Oh, that." He jerked his head awkwardly. "Don't know what's got into the girls today."

"Chris, why do you want to join the army?"

"Shit. Who told you about that?"

"The Boss. Ray told her."

"Yeah, it's true. I've filled in the application form."

"Why?" Her voice was soft and urgent.

He shrugged elaborately. "Thought I'd start over again, where there's nothing to reproach me. Complete fresh start. New people, new places, travel, excitement, adventure - "

"But you're needed here."

"Am I?"

"Yes. Your family, your friends, your colleagues, all the people you help in your job, every day of your life. Think of all the good you do."

"Yeah, an' think of all the bad," he said bitterly.

"That's all past now. Everyone here needs you too much to want you to throw yourself away. You'd go far away and we'd never see you again, maybe never even hear about you. Please, at least promise me you won't apply until you've thought about it again."

Their eyes met and locked. There was so much unspoken between them, that neither dared say.

"OK, I promise."

"Thank you." She relaxed a little. "Have you got the form there?"

"Yeah."

"May I look?"

"Sure." He fished it out of his jeans pocket and passed it to her. Their hands almost touched. She unfolded it and read it through, then refolded it, tore it across and across, and tossed the pieces around herself like confetti.

"Now you won't go."

He grinned awkwardly. "Won't 'ave a chance, will I?"

"No. Thank you for hearing me out, Chris."

He gulped. Isn't the potion working, then? This is when she's meant to fall into my arms and everything will be all right again. "Don't you have anything else to say to me?"

She seemed frozen suddenly. "Me? No."

He gave a howl of anguish, tore the bottle from his pocket, and hurled it across the road. The bottle, with the last of Luigi's precious elixir, smashed against the kerb.

"RIGHT! If you don't love me, I bloody well will join the army! I'd rather die on some foreign field than stay 'ere if I've lost you. Luigi lied. It hasn't worked!"

"You haven't lost me, Chris."

"Eh?" Her voice had been so quiet that he thought he must have misheard her.

"I said, I said - you haven't lost me." She was crying again. "I love you, Chris, so dearly. I love you, only you. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Shaz!" He opened his arms wide, she ran into them, and at last their lips met in a kiss so long and intense that it would have taken a jemmy to prise them apart. It lasted until a massive limousine screeched to a halt beside them and its occupant got out.

"Shaz? What's happening, baby? What the hell are you doing wrapped around him?" Six feet six of angry American towered over them like King Kong over Fay Wray.

Shaz looked up at him, still clasped tightly in Chris's arms. "Realising that I was about to marry the wrong man. I'm sorry, Vince. Please forgive me, if you can. Just remember, it's better I make up my mind now, rather than after I've married you."

Chris stepped protectively in front of her. "Don't touch 'er. It's her decison. You'll 'ave to accept that."

Vince looked as though he was about to annihilate them both, but with masterful self-restraint he stopped himself.

"I see, sweetness," he said stiffly. "Big step, going abroad and leaving everything behind for the sake of the man you love. Better to go for the devil you know. You two deserve each other. Pardon me if I don't join the celebrations, but I have a plane to catch. Tell the restaurant to send the tab to the Embassy." He got into the car, slammed the door, and drove off with a squeal of brakes and a cloud of exhaust.

"Vince, I'm sorry!" Shaz called tearfully after him.

"What are you sorry about?" Chris said quietly behind her. "All the things he could have given you?"

"No. Just for hurting him." She continued to stare after the departing car.

Chris suspected that only Vince's pride had been hurt, but for once he had the sense not to say so. "There go all the chocolates and dinners. The flash car and the jewellery. And all you're getting instead is a washed-up copper with a blemished record."

"Correction." Shaz turned and threw herself into his arms. "I'm getting the man I love."

-oO0Oo-

"Any idea 'ow much longer love's young dream is likely to take?"

"Do be patient a little longer, Gene. This is something that could affect the rest of their lives. Have some more vol-au-vents while you wait."

Gene's hunger was not of the kind that could be be assuaged by vol-au-vents, but fortunately at that moment Chris and Shaz appeared together at the top of the stairs, their arms around each other, wreathed in smiles. Chris looked as dazed as if he had had a near-miss from a freight train. Shaz clapped her hands for silence.

"I'm sorry, everyone. I've brought you here under false pretences. I'm not getting married today." There was a general gasp of astonishment. "This is a re-engagement party."

The place erupted into cheers and applause as Chris and Shaz went into another clinch and then descended the stairs, hand in hand. As they reached the foot of the stairs, everyone, except for the five girls, surged forward like a tidal wave to offer their congratulations. Chris nearly had his hand shaken off and Shaz was embraced and kissed so often that she felt like Miss World.

"Well done, Chris," Alex murmured in his ear as she kissed his cheek, while Gene looked on jealously. "You see, the potion could only work when you found the right words to go with it."

"Oh - that..." Chris still looked dazed, and Alex decided not to pursue the subject. Let him keep his illusions.

Viv came down the stairs with an envelope in his hand. "Where's Chris? There's a registered letter for him. Looks important. I just found it in my in-tray, under a lot of other post. God knows how it came to be there."

I think someone else knows too, Alex thought, noticing Janet's involuntary reaction. Now what's all this about?

"Thanks, Viv." Chris took the envelope. "Bloody 'ell, it's from the pools people." He took a knife from a table to open it, but the flap came undone at his touch. "Looks like it's been opened already."

Ah-ha, Alex thought, seeing Janet flush and the other girls shifting uncomfortably.

Chris took the letter from the envelope, read it, and nearly fell over. "Shaz! They say I've won nine hundred and two thousand, six hundred and sixty-five pounds eleven pence." He read out the figures as laboriously as a child. "We're rich!" His legs seemed to give way beneath him, and Viv grabbed a chair and lowered him into it. Shaz crouched beside him and read the letter over his shoulder.

"Oh, Chris!"

"I can get us a house, Babes. A car. Everything you'll ever need."

"And we can open a savings account with the best interest rate on the market," Shaz said firmly.

Easy to see who's going to wear the trousers in that marriage, Alex thought, money or no money.

Then the congratulations erupted all over again. Alex strode over to the quintet, who sat, disgruntled, at their table. "Better luck next time, girls. And as for you," she loomed threateningly over Janet, "a little bird, or rather a little Drake, could tell such tales about how you tampered with personal mail. So I'd keep very quiet, if I were you." Janet's face went the colour of ripe cheese, and she nodded convulsively.

Alex embraced and kissed Shaz. "Congratulations, dear. I know you've made the right choice."

"So do I," Shaz admitted. "Not the easy choice, but the right one."

Alex laughed. "Do you think life in a foreign country, with a man passionately in love with himself, would ever have been easy?"

Shaz looked at the ground and shook her head, then looked up at Alex again, her face bright with joy. "Thank you for everything, Ma'am. I owe you so much. You've stopped me making the biggest mistake of my life. Please, will you be my bridesmaid?"

Alex laughed again. "I've been married, so I can hardly be your bridesmaid, but I'd love to be your matron-of-honour, if I'm still here for the wedding." Before Shaz could ask any awkward questions about that, Alex turned and hugged Chris, murmuring in his ear, "So you see, Chris, Luigi's potion not only brings luck in love, it also brings riches."

"Bloody 'ell, he didn't say that."

"No, but remember you mustn't tell anyone. I just happened to overhear what he said to you last night." She glanced over to Luigi, who winked and changed the tape in the cassette player. Alex recognised the finale from L'Elisir d'Amore.

The opera Luigi played when he started all this. Come to think of it, what's happened since then has been pretty much like the story of the opera.

She listened to the farewell song of the quack doctor, who claimed that his bogus "elixir" had brought two young lovers together and made them rich.

"Prediletti delle stelle,

io vi lascio un gran tesoro

Tutte e in lui: salute e belle,

allegria, fortuno ed oro..."

She mentally translated it:

"You are favoured by the heavens

For I leave you this great treasure,

It contains all health and beauty

Joy and fortune, wealth and pleasure..."

Happy ending. A good thing, too.

She glanced over at Gene. Maybe it isn't the end just yet.

Chris was saying to Shaz, "Please can I, Shaz? Just this once? To celebrate?" Shaz nodded and smiled. Chris took a deep breath and yelled, "CHAMPAGNE ALL ROUND!"

"Make it Bollinger!" Gene added while the cheering redoubled.

"Always wanted to say that," Chris confided to Alex, just as Luigi trotted up with a tray laden with a magnum and glasses.

After that, even Gene had to concede to Alex that they should stay and join in the celebrations for a while. He decreed that, unless a call to action came from across the road, CID would remain where they were and make an afternoon of it.

After a couple of hours, Alex suggested that they should make the party swing by getting volunteers to sing along to the music pumping from the loudspeakers. Well, it'll do instead of karaoke. Luigi good-naturedly agreed to act as disc, or rather tape, jockey. Chris and Shaz, to Gene's disgust, duetted to "True". Nobody else could understand why Alex insisted in joining Luigi in a little duet from one of his opera tapes. When asked why she had chosen to sing it, she said archly, "It's from Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore. It just seemed appropriate. Luigi knows why. It's about a girl who prefers the man she loves to a richer suitor." But the moment that everyone would remember afterwards, was when Gene took the stage. He gazed at Alex as he burst into song.

" …She'll see I'm not so tough
Just because
I'm in love with an uptown girl..."

-oO0Oo-

Flushed and excited, the plaudits of the assembled company ringing in his ears, he slid into his seat beside Alex.

"Don't you think it's time I started collecting on our agreement, Bolly?"

She smiled. "I'll need to change. Give me ten minutes." He nodded, and she slipped through the crowd to the bar. "Two bottles of your very finest single malt to go, please, Luigi."

Luigi beamed broadly, produced the bottles from under the counter, then reached below the counter again and produced a half-bottle of Médoc. Alex groaned.

"Oh, no, Luigi, I think that's caused quite enough trouble, don't you?"

"Please, Signora Drake. Accept it on the house. For luck. After all," he lowered his voice, "it worked for Signor Skelton and Signorina Granger, did it not?"

Alex followed his gaze, smiling as she saw the lovers sitting together, their arms around each other, listening and laughing as Poirot murdered "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?".

"Thank you, Luigi, I'll take it."

She slipped unobtrusively though the crowded restaurant and up the stairs. Only Luigi and Gene saw her leave.

Gene must have looked at his watch at least twenty times during the following ten minutes. At last he judged that he had given Alex enough time. Luigi had tactfully turned the lighting down, and the audience was currently transfixed by Ray's roaring rendition of "Under Pressure". Gene was an imposing and distinctive figure, but years of experience as a detective had taught him how to make himself unobtrusive when necessary. He moved cautiously towards the door, praying that Chris wouldn't suddenly turn round and call out to him, and vanished up the stairs.

"Good luck, Signor Hunt," Luigi murmured.

Gene knocked at Alex's door, trying to ignore the unaccustomed butterflies in his stomach. The door opened, and she stood there, smiling. She had managed to find the purple silk blouse she had been wearing when they were trapped in the vault at Edgehampton. His blood ignited at the thought of what was underneath.

"Gene. Come in." She led him into the living room. The bottles of whisky, and a half-bottle of red wine, stood on the table. "Got your lighter?"

Now he was mystified. She had never yet allowed him to smoke in the flat. "Yeah, right 'ere." He fished it out of his pocket.

"Good." Without warning, she turned the lights out, and instantly he flicked the lighter on. He realised that she was recreating the conditions in the vault, as much as possible. His mouth went dry.

She led him to the sofa. At least she isn't making us sit on the floor, as we did in the vault. They sat down, and he stood his lighter in the centre of the table. He reached for the whisky, but she laid a hand on his arm.

"Not yet. Start with this." She poured out a glass of the red for each of them.

He eyed it suspiciously. "Why?"

She smiled sweetly. "For me, Gene. Please."

For that smile, he would drunk the whole bottle. They clinked glasses, and he tossed his glassful back in one. Not bad, actually. He set the glass down, and froze. She had undone the blouse and was slipping it off, with much wiggling of her shoulders, to reveal the famous red satin basque, shining in the glow of his lighter against the gleaming white of her skin.

"Oh, dear Lord, if this is a test, I fear I may fail…"

-oO0Oo-

Alex awakened to the unfamiliar sound of gentle snoring and the feel of satin sheets against her skin. It had been a long time since she had slept naked. She opened her eyes. Gene lay next to her, on his front, his head turned to face her, his hand resting on the pillow. She lay there, drinking in the sight, loving how sleep smoothed the severe lines from his face and took years from his age. Loving him.

I once had a vision of waking up to find him with me. That was after he'd rescued me from the cold store. But in the vision, I was in my pyjamas and he was wearing his black shirt, and he was completely covered by the duvet until he woke up. This is different. This is real.

It was not a moment to resist temptation. She reached out to trace the line of his spine, to caress his rough cheek, to stroke his long, slender fingers, until he stirred and trapped her hand within his own. His eyes opened, as blue as the sky, and he rolled onto his side and put her hand to his lips.

"Morning, Bols."

"It isn't yet." She looked at the clock. "Only two a.m." She listened. "Sounds as though the party's still going on downstairs. I hope Chris has had the sense to take Shaz away for a private celebration."

He kissed her hand again. "Before we continue with our celebrations, Bolly, tell me one thing."

Oh, God, is he going to ask me why I said that I come from the future?

"Depends what it is," she said guardedly, letting her fingers trace distractingly seductive patterns over his skin.

His eyes captured hers. "Why did you make me drink that very ordinaire vin last night? You know we drank whisky in the vault."

She relaxed. "That isn't wine. It's an extremely rare and potent elixir of love."

"Bollocks."

"How can you say that?" She ran a finger down his nose. "Chris drank some, and now he and Shaz are back together, and he's filthy rich. And look what it's done for us."

"I didn't need to drink a glass of poxy red wine to know 'ow I feel about you. Always 'ave felt, since I carried you into the station on the day you joined the team. An' I know you didn't need to drink it to know 'ow you feel about me. Have felt for a long time."

Alex was amazed. Was Gene Hunt, the man who hid his feelings under more layers of protective armour than a tank, who would sooner be shot than be caught revealing a tender emotion, openly confessing that he loved her? It was an event with a lower probability rating than Screaming Lord Sutch winning the next election.

She decided to risk taking the plunge. "True. You love me and I love you." She waited for his denial, but none came. He simply looked down at her, his blue eyes ablaze, then bent over her and kissed her gently. Maybe Luigi's stuff does have something in it after all. I'd better keep the rest of the bottle. "All the same, you have to concede that neither of us admitted anything until we drank it."

"Hm." He pulled her close, and she shivered appreciatively at the feeling of his warm skin against hers. "Looks to me like it was that bit of supportive red satin that did the trick."

She smiled, knowing that she would never convince him, and gave herself up to his embrace.

Several blissful hours later, with dawn's first light just beginning to show through the holes in the window blind, they lay entangled, with her head on his chest and him caressing her hair.

"So. This stuff we drank. A love potion?"

"S'right," she mumbled into his chest.

"So when do we win the pools, then?"

"Oh. I'm afraid we might have to wait a little longer for that. Maybe a lot longer. Sorry to disappoint you."

"Doesn't matter." He kissed her. "I've already hit the jackpot."

THE END