Loyalty

by Vermin_Disciple

Summary:

That's how they'd come to this, right enough. Because Gene Hunt had done what he always did, charging in without stopping to look or think.

Notes:

I'd completely forgotten about this until recently, when I started sorting through my old files. This snippet is what eventually evolved into Tin Star. My initial plan was to write something about young Gene from Harry Outhwaite's POV, and then after getting about 97 words in I decided I would rather write something about Gene's experience of the incident from his perspective instead. I liked the idea of this scene, though, so it did turn up as a remembrance of Gene's at the beginning of Tin Star, including the final line. Since it was 97 words long when I rediscovered it, I tweaked it into a drabble.

Like Tin Star, this is based on the story Gene tells Sam about his first partner in S1E4.

* * *

Harry knows who's pounding on the door and wonders why the bastard doesn’t break it down: it's more his style.

That's how they'd come to this, right enough. Because Gene Hunt had done what he always did, charging in without stopping to look or think. He'd always find a good excuse for it, after the fact. That’s why he's here now. Not to apologize for what he’s done, but to justify it to himself.

He opens the door just wide enough to shove the flask into Gene’s hands.

“You’ll need it,” he says, “when they find out what you’ve done."