Authors Note: Welcome to my latest story :) not sure what you guys might think about it – and I'm pretty sure it's never been done before. Anyway, don't forget to leave a review! A big thankyou to Everyonerunsfromsomething for 'beta-ing' it for me - I owe you big time! :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Ashes to Ashes :(
The Adventures Of Alex
Chapter One-Welcome; We Have Reasoned Rules And Endless Entertainment
Her mother had once told her that life was like a metaphor.
Life was an abstract noun – something that couldn't be pointed to or drawn. She once claimed to know the meaning of life, but her mother had sighed at her and told her that they were two dependent variables. Without life, there wouldn't be a dictionary to tell you the meaning of anything. Without a meaning, there wouldn't be life; everything needs a reason to be.
Life was also very confusing. As a child, her father had described life as a bus. It had seemed odd at the time – and it still seems odd now – but it did make some kind of sense. In this scenario, you get on a bus at the beginning of you journey, at birth, and ultimately get off the bus at the end of your journey; when you die. However, those are certainties. It's what happens on the journey that matters. Sometimes you will encounter problems – but all that was supposed to end once you died.
Not for Alex Drake.
The limbo state between life and death had brought her more problems than the entire thirty-five years that she'd lived. Battling with her subconscious to find an answer to the world she she'd thought that she's created was only small to what was happening now.
Alex had been shot causing her to wake up twenty-seven years into the past. She had then fought hard find a way back to her daughter. Then she had been betrayed and her partnership with Gene had been tested to the brink. To top it all off, Alex had fallen in love.
Then, she had been pushed into Heaven from the one place she felt whole – by the only one she ever loved.
As a child, the Bible had always said that Heaven was the safest place to be; it was guarded by beautiful angels and watched over by the Lord himself. It was said to be white – showing purity and innocence. It was said to be a happy place – everybody found someone that they loved.
It was not supposed to be like this.
The heartbreak was tearing her apart. Every night she would lay with her eyes wide open, thinking about all their missed chances. Memories were like daggers; slicing any sign of happiness or content by reminding her about him.
There were no more tears left to cry. There were no more emotions to be displayed. She was just a hollow log, waiting for somebody to notice.
Chris, Ray, Shaz and Alex had entered The Railway Arms exactly ninety six hours ago. For the first twenty-four hours, they'd all slept; the final few hours in Purgatory had been exhausting. One by one they'd come down to meet everybody else.
Except Alex.
She was on her fourth day of staying in her room. She hadn't eaten or drank – not that anybody needed to, but it felt weird not to. After thirty six hours the crying had stopped but the sobbing hadn't. After forty eight hours she'd stopped moving about. Finally after seventy four hours, she'd stopped talking in her Dictaphone. Now, at ninety six hours, Shaz, Sam and Annie were starting to worry.
Shaz had kept quiet about her suspicions, but the longer Alex stayed in her room, the more Shaz believed that she was right; the Guv wasn't going to come into the Pub. Shaz couldn't get used to seeing the Ma'am like this; she was usually so confident and full of life.
Sam hadn't seen his friend like this before. Although he'd known Alex as the hard working single mother battling a career in the MET, it wasn't like her to cry over some guy. But then, Gene Hunt wasn't just some guy – certainly not to Alex.
Annie, who didn't know Alex very well, wasn't sure what to do. Naturally, she was worried about her – anybody would be – but she didn't know how somebody could cry for that length of time.
Sam glanced up at from his whiskey glass towards the stairwell. "I'm going up to see her," he called out to the rest of the group. Annie and Shaz smiled at his bravery, but Chris and Ray seemed to be oblivious.
Alex heard a faint knock at her door and it snapping her from her slumber. Breathing hard, she called out suspicious, "Who is it?"
"It's me," A deep voice replied. "Sam."
Alex sighed heavily and rubbed her heart, "Come in." After all, what was the harm? He was probably going to lecture her about eating and drinking and looking after herself – she could handle that.
The door squeaked open slowly and eventually Sam's figure came into view. His eyes raked over her skinny frame and crumpled nightwear. He noticed that her hair, surprisingly, didn't actually look to bad. However, her beautiful face was streaked with red lines and teary blotches.
A crooked smile made its way onto his lips, "Boy, Alex. You've got it bad." Sam wondered over to her bed and perched on the edge, awaiting a response.
Two large hazel orbs, looked up at him from beneath her long, dark eyelashes; Sam could see what Gene saw in her. "What?" she replied, pressing her lips into a taut line.
"Love," Sam said teasingly. Looking at her confused face, he expanded on his answer, "The others don't know, do they? They don't know that he can't come in – and that's why you're upset. You're in love with him."
In spite of herself, Alex smiled for the first time since listening to all Genes' one liners in Luigi's about a week ago, "Yes. I guess I am."
Sam placed a hand on her shoulder, "Well, then – I've got something that will cheer you up. Meet me downstairs in twenty minutes."
Eyes swivelled, heads turned and mouths gaped. Striding confidently across the pub floor, her movements were deliberate and attractive. Silence fell like a blanket over The Railway Arms. Nothing moved a muscle or seemed to breathe; this was Alex Drake like nobody here had ever seen.
Her legs were encased with the tightest dark blue demin jeans she'd managed to find in her wardrobe. Continuing her favourite dress theme from the eighties, she had a pink satin top that clung to her slim, curvy frame and revealed her soft tanned skin on her left shoulder.
Dazzling the onlookers with her best smile, she flipped her newly curled hair over her back and turned to allow her gaze to fall on the Pub door. She blinked, showing off the peacock blue shade that cover her eyelids - but a sudden panic was rising within her.
Before anybody could say anything, Nelson appeared at the bar. "Hello Alex, I'm Nelson, the barman her at the Pub. Have you read the package in your room?"
Alex, a delicate crease appearing her brow, turned sharply to Sam, who nodded reassuringly at Nelson and showed Alex to her seat.
"You see, Alex, there are rules here – and you've already broken one," Sam whispered quietly, glaring at the other Pub occupants who were leering at her.
An alarmed glint appeared in her eyes, "What?"
"It's okay. I've spoken to Nelson and he's decided to let it pass by for once. However, you're on supposed to break the rules." Sam looked at Alex, and for the first time since he'd met her, he saw her as Gene did. Beautiful. Caring. Strong. Concerned.
"What rules?" Alex asked carefully.
"Don't worry, there's only three. Number one: You must believe in the Pub." As an afterthought, he added for her benefit, "Like you believed in Gene's world." Alex nodded. "The second: you're not allowed to cry – Heaven is supposed to be a happy place. The last rule...you see that door over there? The one you came through? You're not allowed to open it."
Frowning, Alex questioned him, "Why?"
A dark shadow fell across Sam's face, "Just don't." He snapped at her, "It won't take you back to Gene."
A grateful smile appeared on Alex's face as Annie set a glass of red wine on the wooden table in front of her. "Thanks," she whispered, taking a small sip while watching the others carefully.
Chris and Ray were sat opposite her, flicking the beer glass mats at each other. Shaz caught Alex's eye and grinned at her. "Hey, Ma'am. How're you feeling?" She enquired, reaching for the bottle of white wine.
"I'm okay, thanks Shaz. Just coming to terms with my losses, I suppose." Alex smiled weakly. In truth, she was starting to feel much better after Sam had come to see her in her room when she'd finally admitted her emotions regarding Gene.
"Losses?" A frown started to show on Shaz's face. "I know you had a daughter, but did you have another...wait," a little light was gleaming in her eyes, "you were in love with the Guv, weren't you Ma'am?"
Annie nudged Alex and winked at Shaz, "I think we all know the answer to that...except for Chris and Ray, maybe."
"Well, I think it's sweet. You two deserve some happiness."
An unwanted sob escaped Alex's lips and before she knew it, Annie had taken her hand and practically dragged her from the Pub, past everyone and out through a back door into the dark.
Once Alex had recovered, she gasped.
Behind her was a streetlamp, flooding the road with electric light. Houses were lined down the street, stretching out for as far as she could see.
"It's really something, huh?" Annie questioned, looking at Alex.
"Yeah," she replied in a stunned voice, "where are we?"
"Behind the Pub. This is where everybody lives. You're number nine-oh-six, meaning that you're located on the ninth street, house number nine. Sam and I are 901 - so you guys can pop over anytime. The houses are very nice – you can make it whatever style you like." Annie paused and looked at Alex carefully, "and the psychologist in me says that you're going for the eighties look."
Alex smiled in response, "naturally, but with a few modern things – I did have a hard time without the internet!"
The girls shared a laugh. Annie was content that Alex was trying hard to become the confident woman that Shaz had been telling her about. The psychologist in her knew that making jokes was one way to push aside the grief.
"Go on, Annie; tell her about it. Nelson said it was fine," called a voice from behind them. When Annie had a warm look in her eyes, Alex knew it was Sam.
"Tell me what?"
"That there's a secret street," Sam replied, stepping out of the shadows. "Here, let me explain in better detail – a noughties copper to another noughties copper." At this reference, Alex grinned again. "Basically, there are twelve streets with around fifty houses on each one. At the end of each street, there is – ironically enough – a phone box. When you step inside, you can wish to be anywhere in any time. However, there is a thirteenth street that only Nelson knows about. Well, me and Annie as well, because we found it by accident. Anyway, we call it 'Dream Maker Street'."
At this revelation, Alex snorted, "'Dream Maker Street'?"
"Yeah, Nelson said that he wants to talk to you about it – he's waiting by your house." With that, Sam and Annie left Alex alone with her thoughts.
Standing in the cool winter air, Alex made a mental note about the things of Heaven she'd learnt so far. To start off with, nobody actually had to eat or drink, but many people found it weird not to. Alex was glad of this because she didn't feel like eating very much – even drinking red wine reminded of her him.
Secondly, there was the bloody door she'd come through. Logically, if she went back through it, she should return to Gene. However, Sam had seemed very haunted by it for some reason, and Alex wasn't going to test fate.
Thirdly, there was this strange street. What could be so important about a street that Nelson wants to talk to her about it? Nelson didn't really spend that much time with individuals in the Pub – there were just far too many people.
Another thing that bothered Alex was the coppers here. Apparently, according to rumour, there were different 'Heavens' for different professions. Alex just hadn't found out whether that was true or not yet.
As she ordered her thoughts, Alex started to walk along to the ninth street. It was beautiful. And it looked just like a normal street. There were flowers growing next to the paths and a few benches where people could enjoy the view. When Alex arrived outside her house, she realised something significant.
Her house was number nine - oh - six. She'd died at nine - oh – six. Sam and Annie's house was number nine – oh – one because that was the day Sam had gotten hit by the car. Great, now she'd be able to accept and forget her death. Maybe that was the point?
She glanced up, and saw Nelson coming through a side gate. He had a beer glass in one hand and was cleaning it with a cloth in the other.
"Alex!" he called, "I need to talk to you."
Alex nodded and lent against the wall and waited for Nelson to approach her. "Yeah, Sam said something about that."
Nelson carefully placed himself next to Alex. "Yeah, Mon brave. I talked to Sammy boy first about you – I hope you don't mind. But you're a special case, Alex. I've never seen anybody quite like you – and neither had Mister 'unt. Although he can't be reached once you're in the Pub, I actually have contact with him. Sadly, I can't let you talk him."
"The rules," Alex sighed regretfully.
"Yeah. Anyway, I've never seen anybody take being in Heaven this badly before. So, Sam and I have agreed that you can have access to Dream Maker Street. However, there are some rules. Number one: you can't change your appearance – face, hair or size. You also can't create people...unless that, because of fate, they were destined to be in your life." Nelson noticed the strange look on Alex's face, "You'll know what I mean when it happens."
"Thank you, I understand that is an amazing offer."
"You're welcome, I know Mister 'unt would approve. Now for the directions. At the end of the twelfth street, there is a wall. From the top, push in the eighth brick, the ninth brick and the twentieth brick. The wall will disappear – this is Heaven after all – and that is Dream Maker Street." Nelson stood up and disappeared through the side gate. "Have fun!"
Alex frowned; wasn't anything ever straightforward?
She rose from her position on the wall and shoved her hands in her pockets. A sound of paper crumpling up met her ears and she pulled it out. In messy hand writing was a message:
'Sam told me about you and Mister Hunt. Now I can tell you something important. Gene Hunt is one of many Guardian Angels that operate throughout the country. However, due to a mix up with reports and files several decades back, Mister Hunt was send to the wrong time. His death was a result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. He should have been sent to 1969 (when he would have been born) and you two should have met somewhere different, not when you were an eight year old child. Nelson.'
Perfect, Alex thought with a smile, Lets have some fun messing around with the time-space continuum.
Authors Note: Well, it wasn't that bad, was it? It should start to pick up a bit on the next chapter so look for it!
20/10/12 - There's also a poll on my profile :) could you please check it out? xx thanks!
Finding Answers xx