Spending an eternity looking after the souls of coppers that passed into his kingdom had for a time seemed like Gene's job. Over time he grew to know that everyone and everything has a time to pass on, even himself. He should have known better than to cling on to life. Others had tried it but he, ever the authority figure, had ushered them on.

DI Harris had been an annoying git to begin with, just as Sam and Alex had been, if not more. The longer the DI had spent there the more he became resigned to the fact that he was not going back to his own time, the strange land of iPhones and equality to all that was lost on Gene. The Gene Genie always knew he would never belong in that future. Eventually the time came for Harris to take a trip to the pub and the cycle began again. Every time it ended at The Railway Arms.

The void that his loyal teammates – Sam, Ray, Chris, Shaz...Bolly – had left behind could never be filled by anyone else. When he had watched them leave, move on to a higher place, he hadn't been able to bring himself to follow in their footsteps. He was the guardian, king of his kingdom. And oh it broke his bloody heart to have them leave him after such a long time together. Of course, he wouldn't admit that to anyone. That was the trouble with forgetting everything for such a long time. He'd grown too close to people, formed attachments he should never have allowed to be developed.

He could see everything now. The veil had been lifted. Bolly-Knickers had helped him come to terms with his previous life and what he had set out to do. Sometimes events would grow hazy, distorted, almost gone from his mind. Until he put his hand in his pocket and felt the familiar numbers of his badge. Maybe Alex had given it back to him for that purpose. So that he would always remember what she had done for him, and exactly who was waiting for him.

He carried on for a few more years, always the Guv, always watching over the lost souls of coppers. And always, when he was the last one left in CID at night, he would sit at his desk and think, running his fingers over his badge, gaze drifting to the black and white photo of a skinny lad who needed fattening up pinned on his wall. Lonely. He'd always maintained that he was not a sissy poof but that could never make the gaping hole go away.

He missed the old days and sometimes pondered if ignorance of the truth would be a better existence. It wasn't the same. Sometimes he thought he'd hear them just beyond his office door, Ray leering about some bird he'd pulled and Chris replying with a stupid comment. Shaz would come up with a cutting remark and then Alex would chime in with some psychiatry babble. No, wait, psychology.

Bolly.

It had surprised him how much her departure had affected him. In the beginning she had driven him mad and she'd continued to do so over the next couple of years, only then he began to adore her. He never admitted it to her, just like he'd never let it show that he loved to see the fire in her eyes when they fought over police procedure or whatever else she got her knickers in a twist over. Gene Hunt was not a fairy, prancing about shouting out his feelings. But in the end it had made him lonely and he hated being the lonely man. His team carried on around him and so did he but it never hid the truth. He was missing something, or someone. Someone who had kept him grounded, bantered and argued with him while always looking delightfully bloody gorgeous. Even when their relationship had been strained because of that bastard Keats planting the seeds of doubt in her mind and he'd pulled himself away from her...he always adored her from afar. When the truth had been revealed he had known then it was time to let her go. And now he was so goddamn tired of this solitude.

"See you around, Bolly-Kecks."

There was always a place for him at The Railway Arms and now was the time to take it. He had built this life for himself, the life he would have wanted if he had not been cut down so damn young. They would all be there when he'd decide to go. And so would Bolly. Her kiss had promised him that much. Such a sweet promise left by her lips, leaving him wanting more but knowing he couldn't. Not yet. She needn't have said that she would be waiting for him. Other things were left unsaid but maybe, just maybe, if he took this chance they could be said. He didn't want to feel so lonely and tired anymore.

So the time came. He took an early retirement, said his goodbyes, left it all behind. A new Guv would take up his mantle, the new guardian of the souls. It had never been a 'forever' deal for Gene. Everything and everyone has a time to die; he'd just been holding on for longer than he should have done. That knowledge was what brought him to the Railway Arms.

Nelson greeted him with a toothy grin. "You coming inside, mon bruv? Always a place for you."

He said nothing. Just bowed his head and stepped forward, not daring to spare a glance back. It was time to let go of this world. He had made sure his kingdom would be left in the safe hands of the new Guv.

A woman was waiting for him. Cropped dark hair, a bright inviting smile, hazel eyes, dressed in a fitted, very short white dress. How bloody typical, Gene thought. A scantily clad angel. Behind her, sitting all around a table, were five very familiar figures. One in a leather jacket.

"Gene." She brought his attention back to her.

"I believe we have unfinished business, DI Drake," he said with a cocky smile.

Her warm throaty laugh was like music to his ears. God, he'd missed her. He enveloped her into his embrace, drinking in her scent. That same posh, probably French perfume she always wore. No longer the lonely man.

"My Bolly."

Ok, first fic in a while but after the finale I just HAD to write something to make myself feel better and make sense of what could happen after :P I understand that it's been assumed that Gene forgot everything but I decided that, hey, let's see how it would turn out if he remembered. Also, I appreciate that this idea has been done a fair bit since the finale but I wanted to write my own take on it :)