A/N: Please be nice as this is my first Ashes to Ashes fanfic, so read and review and tell me what you thought! Jazzola :)

The door opened. The sound filtered through.

Alex paused for the briefest of seconds. Something hammered through her, something that she only just understood; the longing for life, for freedom, for the worlds she had lost and found, and mixed in with it her love for her daughter and her Guv, her Gene, and the happiness she had felt in Fenchurch CID…

The door opened all the way, and Alex stepped in.

Just as she stepped, Gene cried out behind her.

Alex swerved, yelping herself, and tried to push the door open again, to reach Gene, but it refused to budge; it pushed her into the Railway Arms, knocking her back, and Alex pushed herself into it and tried with all her force to open it, screaming and beginning to let tears seep down her face and pummelling the smooth glass with her clenched fists. Nelson watched silently, his enigmatic smile in place on his gaunt cheeks, waiting for the flash of light that he could see fizzling away where Gene Hunt had been standing outside…

Alex vanished, with a burst of bright white flooding Nelson's eyes, her hammering on the door vanishing and the sound of her ragged, desperate breathing and muffled sobs fading away in his ears.

"Another time, mon brav," he murmured to himself, turning away to serve a thirsty customer.

Alex opened her eyes slowly, feeling light flood them and the warmth of the sun on her skin. Someone was panting next to her, but she couldn't figure out who without looking round at them.

"Ow…" she murmured as she sat up, rubbing her head and looking at where the sound was coming from.

Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the scene around them.

Gene was lying next to her, staring around with wild, wide eyes at the area, which was hauntingly familiar to Alex but strange and foreign to him.

"Oh my God…" Alex whispered, pushing herself over and clutching Gene with both arms. "Gene, we're… we're back in my world. In 2008. I'm home, Gene… I'm home… But I don't understand…"

"I haven't got the faintest bloody clue either," Gene muttered, too stunned to even make one of his better retorts as he took in the scene of the completely unfamiliar city in front of him. His eyes were wide and amazed as he saw people walking past the alleyway they had somehow landed in, talking on their mobile phones, talking and laughing, girls walking past with their twenty-first-century fashion and boys on skateboards and headphones plugged into their ears.

"Well, are we going to sit here all bloody day, then?" he managed to whisper as Alex stood up and looked over herself critically.

"No. Do I look like a prostitute?"

"No, you look like an office worker," Gene said simply, feeling too disjointed and out of place to even add in one of his characteristic one-liners. That and his Bollykecks had just kissed him… Overall, he was in complete and utter shock.

"Bolly, what the hell's going on?"

"We're in my world," Alex replied swiftly, putting her hand up to her head and feeling the scar from the bullet on her scalp. It was the first time she had felt it, and she smiled slightly as she pulled Gene up, catching him as he staggered.

"Are you going to stand up on your own two legs or not?"

Gene nodded wordlessly and turned towards the entrance of the alleyway, his eyes taking in the scene but not as panicky as before. Alex couldn't believe what was happening.

"Oh my God, Gene…"

She shook her head, laughing slightly as she pulled him out, slipping her hand into his and taking it as a good sign that he didn't remove his palm from her grasp. Secretly, Gene cursed himself for being a puff, even though he was enjoying the feel of Alex's smooth skin on his, and walked out after his DI.

A group of revellers strolled carelessly across the street, yelling drunkenly and happily, and through their cries Alex managed to decode one phrase.

"Happy New 2009!"

"I thought you said 2008?" Gene asked, looking round at Alex with his stormy blue eyes still wide with shock and disbelief. Alex shook her head.

"Come on, I was only a few hours off… Where are we?"

Gene looked round, his eyes roving the street signs nearby, and gave a little chuckle.

"Take a look for yourself, Bollykecks," he grinned, spinning her round to see the sign, Alex took one look and gave a little laugh herself.

"Fenchurch!"

"Yeah, Fenchurch. Ring any bells, Bolly?"

Gene smiled at the sign once more, and turned back to Alex, his eyes questioning.

"So what now?"

Alex turned and took a look at the train station a little way away, pulling Gene towards it and turning back to him as she did so.

"We're going to my home. We'll stay there for the night."

Alex pointed to the sky. It was dark, with the stars speckling the ink-black sky and the street lamps dully lit outside the alleyway they had exited. Gene frowned at the sky.

"I've seen too many bloody stars recently, Bolly."

Alex allowed herself a laugh and walked into the station, Gene on her heels and eager to avoid being lost in this strange new world.

A/N: OK, how did it go? Please tell me, I would be so thankful for some feedback and some pointers if you have any! Thanks. Jazzola :)