Author's Note: This is the sequel to Something Changed (and kind of to Dead Man Walking too, which ran in parallel for some time).

Brief recap: With Keats back in 1996 after a short spell running riot in Arthur Layton's body in 2011 he's struggling with some of the more human emotions he's brought back with him. He's also struggling with some things he learnt in 2011 especially discovering that he is related to… someone (the answer, if you haven't read it, is tucked away in chapter 21 of Dead Man Walking, entitled "Dads, Destiny & Dead Watches")

Gene and Alex hit upon their ultimate plan to take away Keats's power – to get him demoted in an official capacity so that he loses his soul-stealing ability and his invincibility giving them an opportunity to finally get rid of him, but they still need to find a way to strip him of his DCI title.

Meanwhile Simon's downward spiral into depression, drink and tranquilisers continues, Shaz is about to start working for Fenchurch East after being saved from her mid-90s screwdriver-murder by Alex and Kim has finally found happiness after falling in love with Shaz…

Usual disclaimers apply, I don't own A2A. Just borrowing it to keep me sane! Also, this story will be very dark in places and the rating will change from T to M at some point. Also, some months ago I did hours of extensive music research of the charts in 1996 for this story (I have used a little artistic license and used ones from later on in the year too!)so watch out for that! I hope you enjoy the story! -x-

~xXx~

Prologue

Alex gripped the sides of the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. There were dark circles around her eyes and her face looked paler than a polar bear who'd just been freshly whitewashed. She swallowed hard, trying to hold back another wave. Breathe deeply, Alex, she told herself. One breath, two breaths, three…

The feeling was dying now. She closed her eyes and carried on breathing in deeply. Almost there, she thought. Almost got it under control.

"Bolly! Would be nice to get to work this side of the millennium."

She closed her eyes and groaned. That's what she needed that morning, Gene's driving. She gathered herself together and began to call out to him,

"I'm just co-" but that was as far as she got before the nausea overpowered her again and another wave crashed into the sink like a tidal wave.

"Drake, what are you doing in there?" Gene called out, starting to sound exasperated, "How much make up d'you need? You entering a beauty contest? Looking for world peace, literacy and free conkers for all?"

Alex panted heavily as she hung over the sink, hoping that was the end of it. Her stomach hurt from the retching, her throat was raw and she felt wretched and exhausted. Turning on the taps, she swilled it around and tried to clean up the mess as best as she could then tried to tidy herself up a little too. She splashed her face with cold water, swilled her mouth around with mouthwash and quickly put on a little lipstick. When she looked at her reflection it looked no better than the last time she'd stared in the mirror but it would have to do. At least her stomach had stopped rolling now.

"I'm coming," she called out, slightly unnecessarily as she opened the bathroom door and joined Gene in the lounge.

"Bloody hell, Bols, there'll be no crime today, you'll scare the crooks into hiding," Gene commented.

Alex looked down.

"Let's just get to work, shall we," she sighed.

She'd been feeling off for some time now. It had been about a month… maybe more. It started with tiredness, a general feeling of being run down or under-par. At the time she'd thought it was the stress of Shaz arriving back on the scene. Then her appetite seemed to die, but she thought that was from the worry of Keats waking up. Since then a couple of weeks had passed in which she'd felt no better. She started downing vitamins like they were sweets to try to get some energy back but it didn't seem to do any good, and now stomach issues appeared to have emerged on top of everything else. She was falling apart.

She tried to hide how she was feeling from Gene, she knew the conclusions he would jump to. Ever since the day she faded out and back, if she so much as sneezed he started to panic that she was going to wake up in 2011. She did her best to avoid his eye every time he commented that she was looking peaky and changed the subject quickly.

But there had been things that worried her. Things she was keeping from Gene. It was bad enough that she was worried, the last thing she needed was for him to be on high alert too. The occasional voice filtering through, the bleep of a machine, dreams of home – all the things that had stopped for months, ever since she had made the decision to stay with Gene over going back to Molly.

Why were they starting now? She wanted to stay, she knew that. She wasn't fighting to go home, but she felt as though her presence in 1996 was starting to fade and weaken. Something wasn't right and she couldn't explain it.

But at the same time, it didn't feel like before. She didn't feel the same. This was… different. She wished she could put her finger on it, then maybe she could stop it from happening.

"Can we just get to work?" she asked quietly.

"Not yet," said Gene, "emergency stop to Latte Land first. Getting a black coffee into you. Wake you up a bit."

Alex felt her stomach churning again at the thought of trying to drink a black coffee and swallowed back a wave of nausea.

"Do you mind if I don't?" she asked weakly but Gene was already too far ahead to hear. With a sigh she followed him and reluctantly climbed into the car. If she made the journey without an environmental disaster then it was going to be nothing short of a miracle.

~xXx~

No sooner had Kim arrived in CID than the phone rang. She answered it while trying to shrug off her coat.

"Hello?" she listened for a moment, her face growing anxious, "….oh bloody hell. No, they're not here yet." She listened again and peered out into the car park to look for Gene's car. "I don't think so anyway." She listened some more. "He's not here either," she said. She closed her eyes as she tried to figure out what to do for the best. "Alright," she said, gathering her strength together, "Alright, I'll go. I'll be there in ten minutes. tell them not to do anything until I get there."

She threw down the receiver and reversed her jacket-removal.

"It's going to be one of those days," she muttered as she started to run from the building.

She rushed down to the car park and climbed into the car she'd bought just a week or so earlier. It was about time she had a set of wheels, she'd thought. So urgent had the call been that all her focus went on getting to the scene of the crime. She didn't notice anything else going on, not the car that was following her – the car that was always following her – nor the billboard that changed to 'WAKE UP' as she passed it. She didn't notice the man that had been tailing her for the last two weeks; watching, brooding, sulking and planning. Nor did she notice that the 'WAIT' message at the pedestrian crossing was now saying 'WAKE'.

She didn't notice the Give Way sign changing to WAKE UP.

She didn't notice the sign above the doors of Sainsbury's changing to 'SHE'S COMING ROUND'.

She didn't notice the Boo Radleys' Wake Up Boo blasting out of the car radio as she drove.

All she focused upon was getting there, before anyone got hurt.

The day felt heavy and something was in the air.

It had only just begun.