DISCLAIMER : I do not own Ashes to Ashes or any of the characters. Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read and review this fic. – Mrs P.
Last Orders
"A word in your shell like pal," Gene said wearily as he glanced over his latest arrival.
"Why am I dressed like someone out of Miami Vice?" The young man queried.
He had just noticed the clothes he was wearing, and was trying to make some sense of it in his bewildered state.
"Oi, Alice in Twatland, my office, now," Gene roared.
The young man found himself obeying unquestioningly, as he entered his DCI's lair and cautiously took the seat offered to him.
"Right then, what's your name?" Gene inquired as he retrieved two glasses, sat down behind his desk and started to pour generous measures of whisky into both of them.
"DI Bryan Freeman and this is MY office," the young man said with fading certainty.
"I'm the king of this jungle pal, and this is MY office," Hunt asserted.
DI Freeman glanced around and slowly took in his surroundings, it all looked the same and yet so different, he rubbed at his forehead as he tried to make sense of it all. Gene felt a small stab of pity for him, as he recalled the others who had come before him in such a state. He's just just like Sam and Alex, he thought. No, he shook his head in a silent act of defiance, he couldn't dwell on them now; there was still a job to do and at least he now knew why he was doing it, and what it had cost him.
"I must be going mad, and I'm seeing things, that must be it. Nothing else makes any sense. I've been stressed lately; I've been working too hard, not sleeping. I just need to get a good night's sleep, that's all; I've just been so tired," DI Freeman wittered on as he sought to find an explanation for his strange situation.
He suddenly put his hands to his face as if he'd remembered something terrible and then his eyes grew wide with fear.
"Oh God, I only wanted to get some rest, I was just so tired," he said shakily.
"'Ere, get that down yer," Gene said as he pushed the tumbler of whisky across the desk.
Freeman took it gratefully and knocked it back in one, he spluttered slightly and bowed his head as he muttered on incoherently.
"Best yer go and get some kip, we can start work tomorrow," Gene said with as much sympathy as he could muster.
He shouted instructions to Terry and Poirot for them to escort Freeman to Alex's empty flat. It would suffice until something else could be sorted, and it wasn't as if she needed it now he reasoned, although it didn't stop the sting in his heart.
Gene sighed as he rocked back in his chair; he silently wondered how long he could go on living in limbo, when he longed for the peace that going to the pub for one last time would bring him. But he also knew that he had a job to do, and it was one he could not forsake. He had a higher duty to those who needed his help and he couldn't just walk away. His reverie was broken into by the ringing of his desk phone; he picked up the receiver.
"DCI Hunt? This is Superintendent George Clarence, I want you to come up and see me right away. I'm in Supermac's old office, so look sharp." A commanding voice boomed out from the other end of the line.
"I don't know any bloody Superintendent George Clarence," Gene muttered to himself as he rose from his desk and headed out of his office.
His suspicions were aroused after Keats. Who was this new man, and was he friend or foe? He headed off down the maze of corridors and climbed the stairs, all the while contemplating what awaited him in Mac's old office. He soon found himself outside the door, that bore a new, dazzlingly shiny nameplate on it, and he knocked hesitantly.
"Come." A voice boomed from the other side.
Gene pushed the door open as a blinding light poured out of the room.
"Ruddy hell!" He gasped as he shielded his eyes.
"Not even close." A friendly looking older man said as he beamed back at him from behind his desk, and gestured for him to take a seat.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to dazzle you; I just like to let the light in. Now then DCI Hunt, Gene, let's talk shop." Superintendent Clarence said as he glanced over a pile of files on his desk.
The light had faded down to a warm golden glow, and Gene found it strangely comforting. He moved to take a cigarette out of his pocket, but noted the prominent No Smoking sign and thought better of it.
"Forgive my forthrightness, Sir, but who the heck are yer? And what's all this about?" The Manc lion growled as patience was never one of his virtues.
"That's your trouble right there, Gene. Don't you know that all good things come to he who waits? My name is Superintendent George Clarence and I've been sent on a special errand by, well, shall we call him, the Commissioner? Yes, I think that's fitting. What you have achieved here is quite extraordinary, and it has been noted in the highest of places. But the Commissioner feels that you have shouldered the burden for long enough and more, shall we say official arrangements are needed. There is a need for this place, we all recognise that and you have done sterling work here, but there is a need for a little more, well order, for want of a better word."
Superintendent Clarence paused to let Gene take in what he was saying. DCI Hunt sat silently scowling as his brain processed it all, and then he turned to his superior officer, his blue eyes burning with anger.
"So, it's thank you and good bye then, is it? I'm gonna be replaced by some jobs worth, who doesn't give a tarts furry cup about the poor sods that roll up on the doorstep, so long as they get their just desserts" he spat out, his mercurial temper rising.
"Please, Gene, let me explain; I gave the best years of my life to the police force, and you know what? I'd do it all over again, and now I can. That's my idea of Paradise, you see. There are many others like me, and they have all volunteered, willingly," Superintendent Clarence said with a proud smile.
It was all starting to make sense, and Hunt nodded with grateful understanding.
"Isn't this what you were making a silent wish for, Gene? You long to join your friends in the pub, don't you? You know now, only too well, what your role in this world has been, and what you are up against. You must know that Keats isn't the first of his kind, or the last; he'll always be back in one form or another. We have to give everyone a fair chance; there can be no favourites and no mistakes. Everyone that enters this world looking for redemption and resolution should have the chance to find peace," he paused and leaned slightly forward on his chair, his eyes meeting his companion's with a sympathetic smile.
"I think you wanted to have the career you would have had, had you not been cut down in your prime, and you got your wish, didn't you? Now you get to finish one last job and help DI Freeman, and then you will be free."
He reached over and put a comforting hand on his companion's shoulder.
"Gene, they found your body in 2008, just like DI Drake said. They gave you a proper burial, and you have a headstone now, they even found your killer. Justice has been done and you can be at peace." Clarence's eyes were filled with compassion; his voice was soft and comforting.
Gene's eyes filled with tears but he couldn't quite manage to let them spill forth, he just clamped them shut for a moment of quiet reflection.
"It's over?" He asked in a small but accepting voice.
"Well, almost, there is the matter of DI Bryan Freeman. Oh, and there's one other thing." Clarence shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
"What?" Gene queried with a puzzled expression – What else could there be?
"It was brought to the Commissioners attention that we had been in receipt of a new entrant, who wasn't quite ready for her new home, shall we say. Although this is a highly irregular occurrence, special dispensation has been granted for said person to return to your team, until such time as you can both enter the Railway Arms together," Superintendent Clarence explained.
It couldn't be, could it? But there was only one woman that Gene could imagine talking her way out of a one way ticket to eternal rest.
"DI Drake?" His voice was as close to breaking as his heart had been when he'd sent her on her way.
"Yes. I know you did what you had to do, what you thought was right, but in this case your judgement was clouded. We all have free will Gene and no one can move on until they are ready. Alex isn't quite there yet, and neither are you. It has to be said though, that DI Freeman has lots of issues, and I reckon that when you've both done untangling them, it'll be time for last orders at the Railway Arms," Clarence said with certainty.
"DI Drake, Alex, where is she?" Gene asked as he tried not to show how desperate he was to see her again.
"There's a place over the road, Luigi's, I believe it's called, although not for much longer I suspect. The proprietor recently left in somewhat of a hurry, he finally got the call to return home, as I understand it. Anyway, you will find her there. Well Gene, I think that concludes our business for now, I'll be around though, if you should need me." Superintendent Clarence stood up and moved from behind his desk so they could exchange a warm handshake.
"Thank you, Sir," Gene said as he hastened to the door but something stopped him in his tracks and he turned back to ask one more question.
"We'll forget again though, won't we? I mean about who we really are, and what this world is?"
Superintendent Clarence sighed.
"Well, you didn't really forget before, Gene. You just didn't want to remember, there is a difference. Anyway, when the time is right, you will know, both of you. It is worth a moment of pain for the reward that will come to you, believe me," he explained with the sincerest and warmest of smiles.
DCI Hunt gave an accepting nod and headed off with a spring in his step, as the weight he had long carried on his shoulders suddenly became much lighter.
Gene almost skipped down the stairs to the doorway of Luigi's restaurant; he could hear the muffled sound of music playing. He pushed the door open and stepped inside, his bright blue eyes scanning around to find DI Drake, but she was nowhere in sight.
"Bolly? Alex?" He called out tentatively, but no reply came.
There was only the click of the record player as another song began to play…
"Sometimes when I feel low
And things look blue
I wish a boy I had, say one like you.
Someone within my heart to build a throne
Someone who'd never part, to call my own
If you were the only girl in the world
And I were the only boy
Nothing else would matter in the world today
We could go on loving in the same old way
A Garden of Eden just made for two
With nothing to mar our joy
I would say such wonderful things to you
There would be such wonderful things to do
If you were the only girl in the world
And I were the only boy."
[If You Were the Only Girl (In the World) - Written by Nat D. Ayer, with lyrics by Clifford Gray.]
Suddenly, she was before him, and she held out her hand invitingly.
"Dance?" She asked as her eyes drank him in.
"To Perry Sodding Como? It didn't exactly end well last time, did it?" Gene asked, recalling their last attempt.
She looked hurt and he lowered his head, unable to meet her eye.
"Alex, I…"
"Shush, none of that matters now; it was another time and another place," she said softly as she pressed her body close against his.
"Anyway, I have a feeling things are going to go a lot better this time around," she purred in his ear as she wrapped her arms around him, he put a strong arm around her waist, and they began swaying gently in time to the music.
They let everything else fall away, and for a moment, it seemed that they might actually be the only two people left in the world. Alex held on to him like they'd been separated for years, instead of a few hours, but then, she'd been in an eternal place where time had no dominion.
Gene breathed in her scent, and a peaceful feeling began to wash over him, when suddenly, he remembered something.
"Oh Bugger!" He exclaimed.
"What, what is it?" Alex questioned with alarm.
"We've had a new arrival, a bloke called Freeman, and I told Terry and Poirot to take him up to your flat," he explained.
She couldn't help but grin as she had some knowledge of the matter already.
"It's alright; I met them on their way over and had them take DI Freeman up to Luigi's old flat. I spoke to the new landlord, and apparently this restaurant is being leased to a French man, called Henri Gautier, but he doesn't want the flat, so Freeman can stay there and I can keep mine, if I want to," she nuzzled in close to kiss Gene's neck.
"A bloody frog?" He said with disdain.
"Mm, apparently he's going to turn this place into a bistro and wine bar, so it's a new era all round," Alex explained as she continued her tender ministrations.
Gene moved to claim her lips with his own, but stopped just short, as he recalled something.
"What was it Jimbo said I had? Oh yeah - A curious uncertainty about the opposite sex, that was it," he said curling his lip in disgust.
"Well let's see if there's anything curious or uncertain about this," he leaned in and brushed Alex's lips softly with his own as he slowly deepened the kiss.
They wrapped their arms around each other, their bodies pressed as close as they could be, until they reluctantly parted to catch their breath.
"Nope, there was nothing curious or uncertain about that," she said with a wicked glint in her eye.
"Bed?" She asked.
Gene smiled mischievously and with a raise of his eyebrows, he replied.
"Bed."
The End.