Thanks for all the reviews so far. Here's hoping chapter two lives up to expectations!

I made the mistake of listening to 'I know him so well' after i'd watched the finale. the lyrics had me in tears...they seemed so Galex-y. Might have to use them at some point.

"I came back."

He'd retreated to the safety of his chair and the comfort of his scotch. She'd taken up her usual perch on the other side of his desk, making her dress ride up and showing him what would have otherwise been an incredibly distracting amount of thigh.

"I came back Gene."

"I can see that. Never were very good at following my orders. Insubordinate, that's your problem." He wasn't giving her eye contact, reverting back to banter instead of really communicating. His entire identity had been deconstructed, he'd lost four friends in the same day and one had come back from the dead, sort of. There was no wonder he wasn't sure of himself but he didn't need to be the Lion of Fenchurch East, not for her. She'd turned back from the gates of heaven for this man, this complicated, infuriating, heroic man but she wasn't hurt by the way he was acting. He needed to put himself back together…she hadn't even fallen to pieces yet, not really.

"Don't you want to know why?"

"It's not why that's boggling my mind Bolls. It's how." He knew she was an impossible woman but some things, like coming back from the great beyond, just took the piss.

"I asked." It was a good bloody job he was already sat down. The shock of her admission combined with everything else would have brought a lesser man to his knees.

"You asked to leave your great reward? Typical woman, never bloody satisfied." It wasn't satisfaction that had motivated her return, not that she'd turn him away again, they were both past the flirting and plausible deniability.

"Once I'd seen the others…I tried to look out of the window but there was nothing, just white. Nelson turned on the TV for me and you were there in the road on your own…then Keats appeared he was taunting you, mocking you for being alone. How could I be at peace after seeing that? I've been lonely my entire life Gene. I was orphaned at eight and my relationship with Pete lasted less than two years…that included dating, pregnancy, marriage and divorce."

"Must have had a good lawyer to get shot of him that quick." He didn't care what lawyer she'd had, it made no difference to the here and now but he had to say something, however meaningless.

"My godfather put me in touch with one of London's best…he'd have done it himself if he hadn't had a big murder trial. My point is…being alone for that length of time, having no friends, no significant relationships aside from Evan and Molly, parts of me withered away to nothing and I didn't even realise it had happened until I came here. There's a reason prisoners get put in solitary…being deprived of contact, of a connection with another human being, it's a kind of hell. I couldn't watch you go through that, not when I knew it would all end again, that whoever came to you would eventually find out their truth and maybe yours then move on…one way or another…that until somebody knew everything and still chose you, you'd always be waiting for people to leave you behind."

"'M a big boy Bolly. I'd have managed…an' it's not like I need my liver."

"Whether you need it or not there are still better things to spend your wages on than whisky."

"Like Dover Sole?"

"I…well yes I suppose but I was thinking more along the lines of a car."

"Mercedes Benz 190 D." If Gene expected that to mean anything to her, he'd be disappointed. She'd only ever watched Top Gear for the banter, challenges and celebrity guests. He sounded pleased, so it must have been a decent enough model, but there was only one thing she needed to know.

"Red?"

"Yes, red. All your clothes will still go with the bloody car." That wasn't why she'd asked but she doubted he'd appreciate knowing his colour choice said something about what he wanted people to think of him. Her psychological profiling, while useful, was hardly something Gene found endearing, especially when she used it on him.

"Well that's the most important thing isn't it, how I look next to the car." Or bent over the bonnet knowing the way his mind works.

"Obviously." The conversation petered out into a comfortable enough silence. Sure there were things left unsaid on both sides but there were no threats, no storm clouds on the horizon…it was just a matter of timing.

"Nelson told me that there was a job waiting for me here if I wanted it."

"You went about half hour ago you dozy mare. That knob-jockey turned up on his todd leaving the department three short, of course there's a job for you, your bloody job."

"He didn't mean my job at CID. He was talking about something…larger." Alex looked at the floor, unsure exactly how Gene was going to react but knowing it was going to be bad. "Keats is gone now, gone for good…" Even though she left the sentence unfinished he could fill in the gaps.

"So you're going to pick up where he left off, spend your afterlife trying to take me down…" The thought of the two of them being in opposition forever made his insides twist painfully.

"No! I couldn't, not after everything…how could you even think I'd do that?" Great. He'd got Bolly back and hurt her feelings within ten bloody minutes. At least now he knew why he had all the social skills of an awkward teenager.

"Don't know if you've already forgotten Alex, but what I think is more complicated than even you can get your pretty little head around. How am I supposed to know what's going on?"

"It's not just your thoughts, it can't be. Everybody who comes here must add their experiences and memories…and when they leave what they've shared with you and others stays behind. Ruth and Vic Tyler came from Sam's head. The Prices came from mine, the Drakes too." The coincidences that had been niggling at him for months finally coalesced into the truth of who she was. Gene understood with painful regret just why she'd taken the deaths of the Prices so hard, why she'd been so angry at Caroline for going over the side with that Evan bloke. If he hadn't forgotten who he really was he could have helped her instead of just watching her hurt. Sam confided in Annie, it was why they'd been able to leave together…but Alex hadn't told anybody…until she told him and he'd sent her away.

"You're Little Alex Price…and that Drake lad's…"

"Molly's father."

"Poor kid."

"Me or Molly?" Alex knew he saw her bottom lip tremble and had to stop him before he said something sweet and the dam broke. "No, don't answer that…I'm pretty sure I'll start sobbing soon and if you're nice to me it'll just happen all the quicker." She cleared her head and her lungs with a deep breath. "Nelson said I already knew what I had to do, that I knew before I even came here."

"What happened?" Sam had been knocked over by a car, then he'd jumped off a GMP building. Gene had no idea what Alex had been through before she woke up on that boat in that dress.

"Arthur Layton shot me in the forehead in the hull of the Princess Di." Her voice might have been emotionless but she was trying too hard not to flinch at the memory of the bullet and subsequent visions. "He'd tried to blackmail Evan over the affair with my mum…it can't have worked because he held a busker hostage while I was doing the school run with Molly. He asked for me by name. I was a hostage negotiator. I helped people who were trapped, I helped them find an escape route. That's what I said to Layton, that's what Nelson meant. I'm sure of it."

"So you are going to be taking what's left of my team to pieces."

"No, no. I'll help people understand, help them go home or go on…but only when they're ready…I'm not against you Gene. I'm on your side. I am your side."

"Doesn't sound like it." This was what she'd been afraid of, that he wouldn't see how they could work together, couldn't understand the opportunity Nelson had given them.

"Don't you get it Gene? Whoever comes along, whoever leaves, whatever happens…you'll have me. You'll always have me." It was as close to the three word declaration as she could bear. It was far too soon for that. Even though she'd known about him for a year or more before she'd met him and she'd fallen into his world what felt like two years ago, they'd only kissed an or so hour ago and in some very important ways, he'd probably always react like a nineteen year old from the fifties. As four letter words went, love was the one he probably used least and the one that upset him the most.

"You're not going to leave again?" There was hope and fear and a dreadful longing clawing at his insides. He didn't want her to hear it in his voice, whether it was there or not, whether she'd let it pass without comment or not. He'd been completely exposed, light had been shone in all his dark corners and everything was raw and tender. Gene had never felt more naked and he was fully clothed. She slipped off her side of the desk and took up a perch on his, ensuring their legs touched.

"As long as you're in this world I will be too. I belong here now."

"Sam thought he belonged with me." Alex didn't call attention to his slip, it was what she'd really meant anyway. Gene studied the bottom of the glass he held with his fingertips but he wasn't thinking about booze. She'd already gone away twice…nearly left him so many more times on top of that, he might survive her leaving again but it didn't mean he wanted to. She slipped her fingers between his and the glass, giving his hand what she hoped would be interpreted as a reassuring squeeze.

"I know I belong here. The man who supplied the explosives that killed my parents shot me, the psychologist who Sam sent his tapes to, and sent me to you on the very day that your grave was found, that can't be a coincidence, it's too significant. It's almost like Sam came back to say his goodbyes and prepare me, like it was important that I knew you well." She glanced down at their joined hands then back to his face.. "Maybe I always knew I'd stay here. I called you my constant. You said we were unbreakable. We both felt…a connection." That was true enough, they'd gravitated towards each other because of more than sexual attraction, they'd felt a strange kind of kinship. If she was meant to be in his world, work with him…

"Bolly I swear to God, if the word 'soulmates' comes out your trap I'm going to do something regrettable." There was no fighting the smile so Alex didn't bother trying, not when Gene's comments betrayed a train of thought that ran on parallel tracks to hers, especially when the term she would have used was 'kindred spirits', which wasn't half as romantic as 'soulmates'.

"No regrets Gene, not a single one." Gene felt the strange tug on the corners of his mouth, he knew he was smiling and just this once, he didn't care.

"Good. C'mere." Alex followed the gentle pull on her hand that urged her closer until the only way she could be nearer to him was to sit on his lap. The pull didn't stop. With a small laugh that warmed his cockles, she did what he so eloquently asked her to, leaning against him and dangling her legs over the arm rest while his arms encircled her.

Her right hand lay over his heart. It was still beating, very nearly racing, even though they both knew the truth. A question she hadn't even been consciously mulling over was answered, his body was still alive. A now cherished memory stirred and she chuckled.

"Somethin' funny?"

"The first day we met…the room where the radios are kept…my hand was in the same place it is now."

"I remember," he murmured. There was no need for him to speak up, his mouth was inches from her ear, but the soft rumble of his voice and the memory in question turned the atmosphere from private to intimate. He recognised the changes in her face; flushed cheeks, wide eyes, slightly parted lips. Even Stevie Wonder would've seen that she wanted it, him, them, he only hoped he was worth giving up heaven for.

"Fandabbydozy." His left hand moved slowly from her hip, following the curve of her waist upwards until he was cupping her breast, thumb grazing the hardening peak through her dress.

Now then Bollinger Knickers, are you going to kiss me or punch me?

"Gene…"

"I'm not askin' Alex."

He didn't need to.

She kissed him, gently at first, her hand going to his cheek as she let herself act on selfish impulse, let herself follow her feelings for the first time in the best part of fifteen years. The kiss deepened by mutual need as much as mutual consent, both of them wanting to taste the other, until Alex's world contracted to how aroused Gene was beneath her and fighting the urge to do something about it, something she shouldn't even have been thinking about doing while there were people on the other side of the office walls. Gene broke the kiss to shift her weight, making him more comfortable. She shifted again, although with the effect it had on him it may as well have been a grind.

"'Bigger in every department'?"

"Pack that it before I forget you're a lady…somethin' at least one of us should remember."

"This from the man who has called me every kind of tart under the sun?"

"Want me to stop?" Did she want him to refrain from using worst of the racist, homophobic and sexist language? Yes. Did she want him to be anything but himself when he was talking to her? No.

"Don't stop…you know it's not true, I know you don't mean it. It's practically a pet name…part of your admittedly rather direct charm. "

"You're not exactly subtle sweetheart." He glanced at the top of her thighs where her dress had ridden up, not entirely unhelped by him it had to be said. Her charms were hidden from his gaze but only bloody just. God knew what view the pictures on his wall were getting. "Jesus woman, if you hadn't closed those blinds you'd be flashing your knickers to the entire bloody department right now."

"You know Gene, hand on heart, I honestly have no clue if I'm wearing any."

It was the first time she'd ever heard him laugh.