Author's note - After a conversation on MSN, me and Jazzola have decided to write an Ashes to Ashes story where we arrive in 1983 after having an accident in 2010, we are best friends and Detective Inspectors of the Metropolitan Police force, we are characters that join the CID team at Fenchurch East. Jazzola is Detective Inspector Jasmine Yates and I'm Detective Inspector Kayla-Louise Fisher.
Disclaimer - We don't own the rights to Ashes but if we did, and I'm sure Jazzola would agree, Alex and Gene would have been living happily ever after, anyway on with the story.
Jazzola's added author's note: Yes, I agree with Kayla-Louise on all of the above. May I add that we have been writing independently of each other- segments are by me, Jazzola, and some are by Kayla- and the whole story has been beta-read by my very good self. Any mistakes belong to me, so feel free to tell me about them. If we owned the rights to A2A, the Gene Genie would still be on our screens now.
Onward with the story! I hope you enjoy it :D
(Kayla-Louise as DI Kayla-Louise Fisher)
"Fisher!"
"Yes sir, what can I do for you?" I reply to DCI Trevor 'Dickhead' Jones, as he's affectionately nicknamed by us in the Force.
"Where's Yates?" DCI Jones enquires sharply, rolling his eyes as my best friend, DI Jasmine Yates, enters CID with a tray full of jam doughnuts. "What on earth do you think you are doing, Yates?"
"Going to get the rest of CID their daily intake of sugar, Guv," Jasmine replies, rolling her eyes and placing the doughnuts on my desk. "Come and get them, boys! Besides, sir, you told me to go."
I swear that Dickhead Jones has the worst memory this side of Timbuktu.
"That I did," Jones replies, abruptly remembering as he looks at both me and Jasmine. "Right, time to get organised around here. You two are out on patrol."
"WHAT?" This was supposed to be our lazy day at the station!
"Kayla, keep it down," Jasmine warns me, looking over at Jones. "Why, sir?"
"Well, it would stop the men staring at both your boobs for the day," Jones replies, staring at both myself and Jasmine before stalking over to his office and shutting the door in our faces. Jasmine clenches her fists. They have a little too much history, her and Jones.
"What bloody cheek!" I huff, glaring after our superior officer. "Come on Jaz, let's go our patrol, get out of here for a while. Your car or mine?"
"Yours, as I can't drive yet!" Jasmine groans, but the corner of her mouth twitches up. She's more than good enough to drive, but was refused her certificate for some reason.
"Oh bugger! I forgot about that. Remind me again why you can't drive?" I laugh, teasing her. I love the reason why she got refused- it's so typically Jasmine.
"I told the instructor that if he kept staring at my bloody chest, I would kill him," Jasmine replies swiftly, grabbing her coat and phone and walking out of the CID room. There are disadvantages to having a bra size befitting of Madonna. I follow her through the double doors, giggling my head off and waving at the boys as we go.
"Kay, what you are doing?" Jasmine enquires as I walk around the corridor rubbing my nose.
"I was waving goodbye to the boys…"
"Yes, James in particular," Jasmine interrupts, throwing back her head and laughing as I glare at her through my fingers. "Oh, scary, not!"
"Shut up! You're meant to be my best friend, not take the piss out of me!" I growl, elbowing her gently in the ribs as we go out.
"Aww, poor Kayla! Get a grip!"
We both know it's banter; neither of us are ever mean to each other for real.
"Charming, for that you can walk," I state, giving her a teasing smile as we walk out of the station and towards my blue BMW X1, my pride and joy. "Jaz, you coming or what?"
Jasmine smiles and runs up to me, hitting me on the arm as we reach the car together. I'm about to pull out of my space when she gasps, leaps from the car and run towards the station, reappearing two seconds later waving a radio in her hand. I slap my forehead, groaning to myself; we forgot the radio, not something to do when you're meant to be on patrol.
"We are such a pair of doofuses," Jasmine grins as we speed off.
We're barely ten minutes into the patrol when Jasmine's radio buzzes into action and I swerve to the kerb to listen in.
(Jazzola as DI Jasmine Yates)
"Alpha Lemur Zulu 135, hostage situation, down at the docks. DI Yates, I need you there, you're the only negotiator within miles."
I shudder slightly. We've all been nervous about the docks ever since DI Drake was killed there a couple of years ago. She's become something of a legend around here, after her full story came out, but I don't fancy going the same way. She left her daughter behind as well, her Molly- I have my Amber to worry about, ten years old and already far too headstrong for her mother.
"DI Yates to Alpha Lemur Zulu 135, received, making my way to the docks now. Over and out."
I plop the radio onto my lap and hold on for dear life as Kayla stomps on the accelerator, flicking the lights on for her since her hands are otherwise occupied.
The bright blue sky seems to mismatch the mood beneath it as a crowd of people cluster around a scruffy, thick-set man in a camel-coloured coat, a 1970's reject if there ever was one. I never knew the 70's but I know enough History to recognise the symbols of that era. I step forward, brandishing my trusty warrant card.
"Hello? I'm DI Jasmine Yates. Can you tell me your name, sir? I'm here to help you, we can take this at your own pace, I'm not here to hurt you or anything, I'm just trying to resolve the situation."
The man growls at me, jabbing the barrel of his gun further into the throat of the poor man he has hostage, who looks about to faint. He looks faintly familiar, and as I look closer I realise that he's an old friend of my ex's, Richard Birks.
"Sir? Can you tell me your name so that we can talk?"
The man leers at me.
"My name is Stuart Hunt, DI Yates. And I don't want to talk. I want- my- life- back," he sneers, jabbing the gun further in. Richard is taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself when he looks just about ready to pee himself, if he hasn't already. That might not be rainwater making that puddle they're standing in.
I call once again on my psychology training, the information I got from my degree at nowhere other than Cambridge University. It was hard getting a place with Amber in tow, but I managed it.
"Tell me why you feel the need to do this, Mr Hunt. This isn't the way out of anything, this'll just make things worse, and you don't need that."
Stuart cocks the gun. I hold my breath, thinking that I've failed, that Richard is about to die- but he simply brandishes it further and stares me straight in the eye, his own narrowing, a bright blue that reminds me more of Father Christmas than a nutter wielding a gun. I know there's not a lot of political correctness in there, but my upbringing wasn't very special either in that department.
"Are you going to bring my brother back?"
I let my breath out. Finally we're getting to the crux of this.
"Why, have you lost your brother, Mr Hunt? Did he die?"
Stuart nods wordlessly, pressing the gun further in. Richard lets out a whimper.
"He died, a long time ago. Back in the 50's- Coronation Day-"
I feel a presence by my side suddenly- Kayla has approached from the car, her warrant card in her hand, her hand brushing my arm. I'm still relatively new to hostage situations, and so I'm thankful for having her by my side. Stuart carries on, not looking at me, his eyes fixed somewhere in the far distance, maybe the picture of his brother's face in his mind.
"He was a copper, like you. In the Manchester force. And then he was killed. They never found his body until 2008. No closure for fifty-eight years, no knowing how he died, or where, or having a grave to mourn him over, for fifty-eight years, for about four times as long as he lived. He was nineteen, Jasmine. Nineteen, and he died, murdered by some bastard he was trying to collar."
Kayla murmurs something I don't catch, but I see what she's saying when I note that Armed Response are right behind Stuart, aiming for him, about to blow him out of existence.
"Mr Hunt. We can help you resolve this, we really can. At least you have closure now, you know what happened to him. Please. Just let the man go and we can help you, we really can-"
Stuart doesn't wait.
A flash. A gunshot.
I scream, ducking as Richard falls lifelessly, blood tumbling from a gun wound to his head as Stuart runs, dodging bullets from the Armed Response unit, twisting his body and firing at me and Kayla. Kayla grabs my arm, pulling me towards the car, but halfway there she yells, bringing her arm up to her shoulder, where I can see bright beads of blood forming already.
"Kay!" I scream, pulling her top away from her shoulder as the ambulance crew swarm to Richard and Armed Response chase Stuart, who is presumably out of ammo now. Kay brings her own hand away from the wound to reveal a graze and I almost faint with relief.
"Oh God, Kay…"
I lean back against the BMW and, unable to keep it in, bury my head in my hands and sob. Nothing can ready you for seeing someone you know murdered in front of you.
"Ssh," Kayla whispers, putting her hand on my shoulder, her dark hair brushing my skin as she opens the door of the BMW carefully and guides me in, handing me a compact and my make-up bag so I can salvage my mascara. I sniff and gladly take the proffered items, shifting over to allow Kayla access to the car as well. After all, she's the driver; I have a licence, but I don't use it a lot.
"It's OK, Jaz, you couldn't have done anything to prevent it. That Stuart nutter is too far gone, I bet he dabbles in drugs, he's practically a textbook case."
I sniff again, trying hard not to return to the station a snivelling wreck.
"Come on, let's get back, we have paperwork to write," Kayla sighs, putting the car into gear and giving me a goofy look. I giggle through my tears; Kayla always knows how to cheer me up, even after what I just saw.
(Jazzola as DI Jasmine Yates)
"What the hell happened back there?" DCI Jones yells at me as we walk in, his face an unattractive shade of peony and his eyes like a wild horse's. I want to turn and shelter behind Kayla, but that's not really a good thing to do in CID and so I keep walking and fix him with a professional, if glaring, stare.
"I did all I could, DCI Jones. There was only so much I could do without getting killed myself."
"You've failed that man, Yates, and he won't be the last!" Jones screams at me, his voice ringing in the silence that has fallen since our arrival back, before turning and stomping back to his office. Kayla and I stand in stunned silence before I break it by turning and running to the ladies', tears streaking down my cheeks, ignoring the calls from the other people in the foyer and Kayla's cries for me to come back.
I rush into the cubicle and bang the door shut, the TV in the foyer suddenly ringing in my ears as I hear the headline it's buzzing out, the widescreen's speakers eerily loud in my head:
"An armed man has killed a hostage he took at the docks earlier today. Despite police negotiator DI Jasmine Yates's efforts, Stuart Hunt killed a 24-year-old man, Richard Birks, who he was holding for an as of yet unknown reason. Hunt then evaded fire and the police search team looking for him. The general public is warned not to approach Hunt, who will kill indiscriminately."
I bury my head in my hands. How many people will die because I failed to reach Hunt?
"Jaz! Jaz, come out, it's me, Kayla. It's just me in here. You can come out… oh, what's that?"
I look up at the battered door as I hear the strong strains of "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel coming from my bag. Funny how some songs just seem to suspend your emotions because you know them and love them so well.
I whip out my mobile, the iPhone Amber insisted I got myself for Christmas, and answer.
(Kayla-Louise as DI Kayla-Louise Fisher)
"Mum?"
I can hear Jasmine talking inside the cubicle, her voice strained, the tinny sound from her phone's speaker travelling out of the plastic walls of the cubicles. Her daughter's light, sweet voice is unmistakeable; Amber calls me her auntie and we spend so much time together she and Megan are like sisters.
"Amber, shouldn't you be in school?"
"Mum, will you shut up for just one second, Jesus!" Amber replies loudly, a little waver finding its way into her voice. "We are in trouble…"
"Trouble? What have you and Megan done now?"
"Jaz, for goodness' sake, let me in the cubicle!" I beg, pounding the door. "Let me in!"
Jasmine opens the door and rolls her eyes at me as I stop my knock in mid air with my hand balled into a fist. "Amber, baby, what is going on?"
"Well… we decided to help the police by going and looking for ..."
The rest of the sentence is lost on me, but from the way Jasmine's face becomes gradually more and more shocked and incredulous and worried as she goes on I'm guessing it's not good.
"JESUS!" Jasmine screams sudden;y, grabbing the sink to stay upright, the colour visibly draining from her freckled face.
"What is it, Jaz?"
"We have got to go, Kay, now! Amber, where are you?"
"By the docks, near where that DI Alex Drake was shot," Amber replies tremulously, sounding like she's about to faint. "Mum, please hurry…"
Jasmine drags me out of the toilets, urgency written all over her face, her eyes watery but her mouth set in a tight line of resolve- and we bump into none other than DCI Jones, who is waiting outside for us (which on its own is bordering into creepy). I glare at him and Jasmine pulls me away from him.
"Where the hell do you think you are going?"
"Going to help our daughters," Jasmine replies. I still don't know the full extent of the situation, but I can tell from how the normally fairly laid-back Jasmine is acting that it's not good. "We have to go, it's urgent-"
"You're not going anywhere, you have duty here!"
"Our daughters are being held at gunpoint I think we have every bloody right to go, sir!" Jasmine yells, finally losing her cool and then yelping in shock as she remembers that I don't know that minor detail yet.
"WHAT?" I scream, staring at Jasmine, the reality of her words not sinking in at all. "Who has the girls?"
"Stuart Hunt," Jasmine replies calmly, wiping tears from her cheeks with a shaking hand as she starts walking towards the exit, dragging me with her. "Got to go now, bye."
"I told you already, you do not leave this building without my permission! I don't care if your brats are in trouble- should have kept your legs closed!"
Rage pelts through my head; a red-hot surge throws itself behind my eyes, scorching my head with his power.
Before Jasmine can do anything, I run full pelt at Jones and smash him to the floor, my fist singing as it makes contact with his skin. I hear his head smash into the hard cold floor and the crack of his nose as I punch him in his face, fury etched onto my face, Jasmine screaming beside me.
"Shit, Kay! Calm down!"
"No! Nobody says that about Megan or Amber, he don't know shit about what we went through!"
"I know, but beating the crap out of him won't help Megan or Amber, will it?"
"No, but it bloody felt good," I reply, wiping my hand on my jacket and walking out the station and towards my car, leaving Dickhead Jones slumped on the floor and nursing his bloody nose, whimpering, his eyes following us and probably, knowing His Pervy Highness, on our arses.
No sooner has Jasmine closed the passenger door, I slam my foot onto the accelerator and speed off across London. Jasmine's hand hovers over the button to press for the siren in the corner of my eye; I shake my head and she lets her hand rest on her lap, still shaking uncontrollably. I can tell she knows I'm holding back the tears; out of the two of us, by unanimous vote, I am the stronger one.
We arrive at the docks and instantly I pull out my gun and get out the car, Jasmine following suit.
We both make our way along the riverbank cautiously, eventually arriving at the point where the Lady Di used to be moored before DI Drake's death and the place we were told to come to. I almost scream, hearing Jasmine's muffled gasp behind me as we see Stuart holding onto Megan, the gun pressed into her temple and Amber on her knees just in front of Stuart, tears falling thick and fast from the light blue eyes that she inherited from Jasmine; seemingly, the eyes of the dead Hunt brother.
"Stuart Hunt, drop your weapon!" I demand, my gun pointed determinedly at Stuart. "Drop your weapon now and hand over the hostages."
"Now I have you trying to talk to me as well. DI Yates didn't help matters earlier- who says you can now?"
"Look, I don't care if injustice was caused to you fifty-eight years ago, get over it!" I yell, the red mist beginning to descend again. I know I get angry far too easily, but this guy is holding my kid and my best friend's kid prisoner, now is not the time for discipline.
"NO!" Stuart screams, jabbing the gun further into Megan's skin, his whole body taut and riled. "See here, DI Fisher, DI Yates- I have your precious daughters here and I can quite easily blast their little heads off while you watch, you got that?"
"Oh yeah, I got that, you fucking loon!"
"Kay, calm down, we need to keep him calm, not irritate him," Jasmine states, looking over at Megan and Amber and seeing fear in their little faces. "It's OK, girls. It'll all be OK, don't be worried, we can resolve this."
"Oh, listen to mummy dearest, the one that got an innocent man shot because she's a useless copper!" Stuart taunts, a grin sliding over his grey face as he sees me going up a notch on the rage scale.
"Right, listen here you- nobody talks to my friend like that! Not even drugged-up, living-in-the-past idiots like you!"
"You seem tense, DI Fisher- I wonder why that is?"
"You don't know anything about me!"
"Oh I do, I know about you and Jasmine! I knew the guys that you dated eleven years ago- how they took your innocence away at just sixteen…"
"I suggest you shut up right now, what is in the past stays in the past, but with you it's always in your mind's eye, because you have nothing better to do than scare innocent ten year old little girls!" I scream, not even taking a breath in between.
(Jazzola as DI Jasmine Yates)
"Little girls," Stuart sneers, his finger twitching on the trigger. Kayla makes to grab Megan, her maternal instincts coming through, and Amber yelps as Stuart grips Megan's hair tighter and pulls her towards the barrel of the gun, the harsh metal stick that killed Richard Birks and tarnished my name and conscience forever.
"Meg, stay still," I mouth to her, and although Megan looks petrified beyond anything I've ever seen before she nods and closes her eyes, maybe waiting to be rescued, maybe waiting for the bullet to blow her brains from her young skull, for her young and promising life to be pulverised in a second.
"Why are you doing this, Mr Hunt?" I say, stepping forwards. Time to earn your respect back, DI Yates.
"I'm doing this because it's my God-given right to do this," Stuart hisses. He prods the gun further into Megan's head and Kayla tenses again, looking as though she would like to rip Stuart's head off with her bare hands.
"And you think this will bring your brother back?"
Stuart stops so abruptly he might have been shot.
"Gene? No, he's gone. Gene's gone, poor sod. Gone forever, gone somewhere I'll never find him. Why would I want him back? He'd just despair of me again. He was always better, always the one who bore the blows from life and Dad, the one who worked hard and played hard and lived life. And then it was ripped away from him and- you know what? I wish it was me who'd died."
His grip tightens on Megan's hair. Amber gasps.
"So the only thing that I can do to keep the little shreds of sanity my brother and the drugs left is to punish the world for taking him and leaving me here alone."
His face is a dark leer, spittle dripping from his lips, his eyes rabid and wild. No wonder Amber looks as though she would celebrate the earth opening up and swallowing the lot of us- minus Stuart, obviously.
I swallow hard, feeling my pulse begin to pound at my wrists.
"Say goodbye!"
"NO!"
Just as Stuart turns the gun on Megan, Kayla runs forwards, shielding Megan with her arms, shrieking, pulling her daughter away as Stuart aims, a manic grin now sliding across his face-
"KAY!"
"MUM!"
BANG.
And my best friend falls, blood seeping from her body, her eyes closed, like a falling angel in my blurred eyes, the image stinging my psyche as Kayla lies on the ground, bleeding- dying.
"YOU BASTARD!" I scream, all thoughts gone- I just want to kill him, maim him, rip the gun from his weed-stained fingers and fire it at him again and again, destroy him like he murdered my friend-
"MUM, NO!"
And then the gunshot is in my swimming ears and Amber's cries are fading, the sounds of sirens, and there is steadily nothing, just black, just… death…
Amber… Kayla… Megan…
I'm sorry.
A/N: And there we go! I hope you liked it, and please drop us a review (I'll pass them on to Kayla as soon as they arrive). Thanks for reading! Jazzola :)