I must be mad, taking on another story but this one shouldn't be too long 6 or 7 chapters at the most. I will still be continuing with Tumble & Twirl, so if you're reading that - don't worry. This story is AU from the end of Series 2. (Is it wrong that in most of my fics I've ignored Series 3?) Anyway, please bear that it mind when you're reading.

Thanks to Gene'sGirl13 for checking this over for me. Any mistakes...it's her fault. Lol! (But I did name a character after her so she can't complain!)

Disclaimer: I don't own Ashes to Ashes. If I did, we'd have had a different ending! The franchise and its characters belong to Kudos and BBC and I am not making any money from writing this. The title is taken from the Andrew Lloyd Webber song of the same name from the show Jesus Christ Superstar, and I don't own that either.

Chapter 1 – The Morning from Hell

Alex Drake opened her eyes slowly and turned to look at the alarm clock on the bedside table,

"Shit!" she exclaimed as she saw the time; she'd overslept. Of all the days to sleep through her alarm, it had to be today. Typical! That just summed up her life at the moment. Quickly she clambered out of bed and carefully tucked the quilt around the still sleeping figure next to her. The air in the bedroom was cold; the heating having clicked off an hour ago so Alex rushed to the bathroom, eager to get under the hot spray of the shower. The warm water beat down against her skin waking her fully and easing the kinks that had resulted from her restless night. She washed quickly, ever conscious of the time.

Stepping out of the shower, the steam billowed around Alex in the small en-suite. She quickly dried off and then wrapped the towel round her. She swiped her hand across the steam-filled mirror and began combing her hair through. As she did so, she carefully examined her reflection. Her eyes automatically fell on the small scar on her forehead. She touched her fingers to it gently. It had been nearly two years since she'd been shot on that disused boat by Arthur Layton. Luckily the bullet hadn't penetrated and she'd come through the operation and fought off the infection that had set in. She'd still been in a coma for nearly a month though. Whilst she was out of it, she'd visited the same world as Sam Tyler; met and befriended the same people as him: Ray, Chris and Gene. Gene Hunt, now there was a figure she'd never forget. The faces of the others had faded slightly, but she could still picture Gene as clear as day. She still remembered the first time she met him, when he'd saved her from Edward Markham; there was that car, those boots and then him. She'd been so scared, she thought she'd gone mad but he'd made her feel safe. She still dreamt about him, even now after all this time. She could still hear him barking out orders to his team or slurring his words across the table at her after knocking back a few too many glasses of Luigi's house rubbish. When they'd first met she had thought he was a misogynistic dinosaur, but they'd quickly become friends and there was a point, before she left, when she thought that they were heading towards being something more but then…

A groan from the adjoining room pulled her from her thoughts. Opening the door she saw her daughter attempting to get out of bed.

"Woah! Where do you think you're going?" she asked, rushing over to Molly's side.

"I need to get ready for school," Molly replied, clutching her stomach.

"I don't think so young lady. You're in no fit state to go in today."

"I'll be fine, Mum," insisted Molly unconvincingly. "I've got a big chemistry test today; I can't miss it."

"You have been up all night being sick; you have a temperature and you can't have had more than 3 hours sleep. You're not well. Get back in bed. I'll ring school and explain. I'm sure you'll be able to take the test another day." Molly reluctantly agreed; she had to admit she didn't feel particularly well. "I on the other hand, have to go to work; I've got three cases on the go at the moment and to top it all off, my new DCI starts today. Not the best day for me to oversleep."

"I'm sorry," apologised Molly weakly.

"Don't you dare apologise. It's not your fault; you didn't ask to be ill. I'll ring Evan, see if he can call in and check on you at some point today. I'll try and get home at lunch time, but I can't promise."

Molly nodded, pulling the covers tight around her as Alex reluctantly picked up the phone; she hated having to rely on Evan. He was more than willing however, and said that he would call in on Molly about ten-ish and could stay until one, but he was due in court at two so would have to leave. Molly insisted that she would be fine on her own but it didn't stop Alex worrying as she flitted around trying to get ready. She picked up her grey pin stripe 'power suit', wanting to make a good impression on her new boss and returned to the bathroom to change.

She unfastened the towel and let it drop to the floor, her eyes catching the small circle of wrinkled skin on her stomach as she began to dress. When she'd first awoken, she had mentioned to doctors about her coma world, but they'd insisted it was just a dream induced by the trauma, and with no evidence to the contrary Alex had been forced to believe them. That was until the day when she'd been able to examine her body for herself and found the scar from the gunshot wound, inflicted by Gene's gun on that fateful day in 1982. When she saw that, even though she couldn't explain how, she knew it had all been real. Since she had woken, she and Molly had grown much closer and Molly was the only one who didn't judge when Alex told her about her 'coma-world'. She sat and listened intently as he mother recalled events and told stories from her time there. She said she didn't care whether it was real or not; if her Mum believed it then that was all that matters. When she had crawled into her mother's bed in the early hours of this morning seeking comfort after being sick, she had asked to be told, for the hundredth time, the story of how Alex and Gene had gotten trapped in the vault at Edgehampton. Molly had suggested on several occasions that they could possibly do some research to try and find out if Gene, Ray, Chris, Shaz and the rest of the team had actually existed, but Alex had been reluctant; at first she hadn't felt emotionally strong enough to deal with the consequences that something like that could bring, and now she was back at work she just didn't have the time.

Applying the last of her make-up she slipped quietly out of the bathroom, careful not to disturb Molly. She rushed to the kitchen and selected an apple for her breakfast; there was no time for anything else, she was late enough as it was. She also poured a glass of water for Molly and placed it on the bedside table along with a stern note instructing her not to eat anything and to ring if she needed her. Convinced that she'd done everything she could to make Molly comfortable she slipped on her shoes and rushed out of the door.

As she stepped out she was met with a gust of bitterly cold air and one look at her car told her she wouldn't be going anywhere soon; ice covered the roof and windows. She unlocked the car and started the engine, leaving the car running to help clear the inside of the windscreens, while she set about defrosting the outside. The policewoman in her told her it was a silly thing to do; anyone could come by and steal it, but she reasoned that she wouldn't be leaving the vicinity of the car, and the quicker it warmed up the quicker she could get to work. She shook the can of de-icer, less than half the can remained, but hopefully it would be enough if she used it sparingly. Armed with her scraper and trusty de-icer, she had soon cleared the front and back windscreens as well as the passenger side windows and she had just moved onto the driver's side when the de-icer ran out. Cursing herself for not being more prepared, she threw the empty canister back into the car and began scraping, taking out her frustrations on the stubborn ice. Finally the car was cleared and the interior was warming up slightly so she could get on with her journey.

As the Lexus glided smoothly through the estate Alex activated her blue-tooth and called Molly's school.

"Good morning, The Vale School; Barbara speaking."

"Oh Good morning, it's Alex Drake here. Molly Drake's mother; year 9."

"Oh yes Miss Drake, what can I do for you?"

"I'm just phoning to let you know that Molly won't be in today; she's been sick all night."

"Ah yes, Mr White rang earlier to inform us. I told him she will need to remain off school until she is symptom free for 48 hours." Alex let out a frustrated sigh; Evan had been near unbearable since she'd been released from hospital; fussing over her and Molly and taking control - doing things for her that she was perfectly capable of doing herself.

"Oh, okay. He didn't mention that he'd call. While I'm on, I don't suppose it would be possible to speak to Molly's chemistry teacher; Mr Tully?"

"I'll just check if he's available. One moment please." There was a few moments pause before a man's voice came through her headset.

"Miss Drake, Mr Tully here. What can I do for you?"

"Oh hi. It's just that Molly's sick and won't be in today but she's really worried about a Chemistry test that she should be taking today, and I was just wondering what she could do about that?" Mr Tully chuckled,

"Tell Molly not to worry about it. If she comes and sees me when she gets back to school I'll arrange for her to take the test one lunchtime. That should keep her calm her fears."

"Thank you Mr Tully," replied Alex as she slowed down to join a queue of cars.

"No problem. Look, I know how much Molly hates missing school, so I'll get together with some of her other teachers and send some work to her school e-mail address for her to do tomorrow if she's feeling up to it."

"Okay, that's great. Thanks again." No sooner had Alex hung up, her phone started ringing again. She glanced at the caller display. It was the office. She accepted the call,

"DI Drake."

"Alex, it's Megan. Where are you?" Megan was a Detective Sergeant and the closest thing Alex had to a friend in the office.

"I'm on my way; it's just been one of those mornings. Molly's been up sick all night so I overslept then I had to de-ice my car and now I'm stuck in traffic."

"Well I'd hurry up if I were you. The new boss is here and he's going to notice sooner or later that you aren't and he won't be happy." Alex sighed. This was just what she needed; to piss off her superior officer on his first day. "But to be fair," continued Megan, "he's doesn't seem to be happy about most things. He's like a bear with a sore head."

"Tell him I'm on my way. That I'm sorry, but I had a sick child to deal with."

"I'll tell him but I don't think he's going to care about your reasons. He's completely different to DCI Campbell; he's a dinosaur in comparison."

A/N: Hope that was okay and you're all eagerly awaiting more? Please let me know what you think by pressing the review button. Go on, you know you want to!