Just to stop the confusion, this is still set in 2011. I changed my mind over what year it was going to be so I'm sorry for that. Hope you enjoy the first chapter of my sequel. Please review! :D Btw, the name Alexandra does actually mean 'Protector of Mankind' in Greek. And I got the tarro card meanings online so if they're wrong I'm sorry. :(

The Beginning in the End

Chapter 1

It had been 3 months since Gene had woken up in the hospital. 3 months since Alex had taken off to France to help out with a case over there. He'd never tell anyone, but he missed her. That coma dream had felt so real to him and he knew that things had changed. But he was too stubborn to admit it. And now sitting here, listening to another bloody doctor, he scowled at the thought of anyone noticing. Dr Jack Storm, the psychiatrist sat opposite him.

"So, Mr Hunt. How are we feeling today?"

"Great, just wonderful! It's been 3 months since they put my brain box through the blender and now I'm back!" He grinned, in spite of himself. Jack raised an eyebrow and looked back down at his paper.

"So the confusion is gone then?"

"Excuse me?" Said Gene puzzled.

"Your memory is completely returned? You're not having anymore strange dreams? Feelings that aren't yours? Seeing things?" Jack said smugly.

"I am just fine, thank you very bloody much!" Gene muttered back irritably.

"Now then Mr Hunt, if that is the case then, do you feel better now they're gone? Or do you miss them? Do you miss anything about them?"

"Oh yeah definitely!" He said enthusiastically. When Jack wrote this down he nodded at him to continue.

"The clothes." Said Gene. "I miss the clothes, and that's about it." Liar! His brain said accusingly, and he frowned angrily at the thought. Jack noticed this and stared at him curiously.

"Why the frown?" He asked. Gene narrowed his eyes at him, confused.

"What are you on about?"

"Why did you frown just now, when I was talking to you about your brain tumour?"

"Probably because I have to listen to all the crap that dribbles out of your gob!" Gene growled back. Jack smiled tentatively at him.

"Mr Hunt, you have been trying to intimidate me from the second you came into the room. You think you can bully your way back onto the job because you're the big man and you always get what you want."

Not always… Gene's mind thought. Jack continued,

"You think all this and you've been incredibly annoying. But you're forgetting one very important thing."

"What, that you borrowed your daddy's suit to piss me off in?"

"No. That I'm the one who gets to sign the forms that decide whether or not you are fit for duty." Jack said, simply. Gene's mouth fell open in shock.

"You what?" He cried out angrily. Jack smiled patiently back.

"Yes, Mr Hunt. So I could very easily tell the Governor that your still… How did they put it again? Ah yes, brain damaged." Gene stood up angrily and pointed his finger at Jack.

"Now listen here you psycho-babble-bullshitter," He growled angrily. "I am not brain damaged! I'm not still in dolly dream land, I don't think I'm married to Bolly, I don't own a club, I don't have a daughter and I'm not mega rich! Does this prove I'm not still brain dead?" Jack rolled his eyes and pointed at the sofa across from himself.

"Mr Hunt, please sit down." He said sternly, normally he was a patient guy, but this man was severely testing his limits. Surprisingly Gene sat down and placed his head in his hands.

"It's just so damn confusing. I was in a coma; I had a dream that felt so real that I thought it was reality! I felt things, said things, did things that I haven't in a long time! It changed me, deeply Jack. I still dream about it, about what it was like. And sometimes I almost wish that I could go back there. Things were so much simpler! And my life was basically perfect and I liked it. But now I'm back! I am the Manc Lion! The Guv! I just wanna dive back in, so will you sign the poncy bits o' paper already?" Finishing with a grin, Gene rubbed his hands together and looked back up at Jack; and was surprised to see him smiling. "What?" He asked.

"I'm glad you finally fessed up to what your brain has being yelling at me for the last," Jack looked at his watch. "Hour and a half we have been sitting here. So in that sense, I now pronounce you… Fit for duty!" Reaching under his chair, Jack pulled out Gene's gun and badge and threw them to him. He caught them and narrowed his eyebrows at Jack.

"I can go now right?" He asked suspiciously. Jack nodded.

"Yes you may, but you and Ms Drake will be having weekly therapy with me until further notice. See you in a week." Then stood up and opened the door to his office, gesturing for Gene to leave. But Gene wouldn't budge.

"Hang on a second! Why is Bolly having bloody psycho babble therapy too? She doesn't need any counselling, she could probably talk herself to death already!" He said angrily. Jack laughed.

"I am well aware that Alex is a psychologist. However the counselling is for the both of you as an evaluation after what happened last year." He said, still gesturing towards the door. Gene winced; he hated being reminded of that. The only operation that they had ever failed and it had been their biggest downfall yet. It had torn the team apart for a while, but things were better now, the boys and he were back on good terms and he and Alex were back to their flirty banter and 'eye sex' as Ray so crassly called it. He liked Molly a lot and heard about how her and Nick had been getting to know each other over the summer, whilst Alex was away in France. He wondered when she would be back; she had been gone the whole summer, just like he had except he had been in hospital for most of it and off duty for the rest. He actually missed her. Thinking about ways he could tell her he was back on the job, when she returned; Gene stood up, clapped Jack on the shoulder and walked out his office. Jack watched him round the corner and walk into the lift, doors sliding shut behind him. Then turned back into his office and sat down with a sigh. This is going to be difficult. He thought to himself.

XXXXXXXX

Alex sighed. She had only just got off the plane from Paris 2 hours ago and she had been sitting at this stupid park picnic-table with Shaz and Avalon – Shaz's 'psychic' – for most of that time. She didn't believe in psychics, not at all. Ha ha, that's funny! She thought, If Gene were here he would say, "Well, well, well Bolly, for all your psycho-babble-bullshit and you don't believe in the real psychos?" She sighed inwardly at this. Gene. God how she had missed that man when she went away. She remembered telling him she was going away while he was in the hospital. She remembered the lost look on his face, and even though he wasn't to sure who she was at the time, he had asked her not to leave him. She almost regretted what she had said to him next, tears coming to her eyes as her mind reeled back to that morning.

Alex walked down the corridor of the hospital, a cardboard container of tea in each hand. She saw Gene laying in his hospital room and, laughing quietly as she saw him talking to the ceiling. Then she knocked gently and pushed the door open with her hip. He looked at her as she came in and almost jumped a mile, scrabbling into a sitting position, as he tried to look normal as possible, in his current situation. Finally he stopped fussing and looked back up at her.

"Hello Bolls." He said smiling, Alex was rather dismayed as he seemed generally happy to see her; after all she had only come to give him her news, but she put on a happy front all the same.

"You remembered my name?" She said smiling back and handed him his tea.

"I'm wounded Bolly; you think I don't know your name after all our lovely chats and cups of tea?" He said with a signature pout, taking a gulp of his tea and giving an 'Ah' of approval. She laughed at him and smacked him playfully on his arm, taking a sip of her tea and nodding her approval.

"Well aren't you glad I went and got you a cuppa from Starbucks? Otherwise we would be drinking the hospital tea and you know what that's like." She said wistfully, raising her eyebrows and smiling cheekily.

"Yeah your right, that stuff normally tastes like horse shit!" He laughed back, smiling in spite of himself. She smiled back but he could see that her's was a sad smile, even though she tried her best to hide it.

"So what's on the agenda today Bolls? More photos or are you gonna tell me some kinky stories of yours?" He said with a smirk and wink, but they disappeared quickly as she looked up, her eyes shining. "Hey, Alex what's up? What's wrong?" She shook her head at him smiling quickly back, but it looked more like a grimace.

"Uh nothing Gene, absolutely nothing." She replied with a falsely bright air about her. "It's just that I can't really stick around today."

"Oh," He said, his mood dampening slightly. "Well will you be back tomorrow?" Alex didn't know why but something in the way he said those words and the look in his eyes made her think that he desperately wanted her to stay, but she brushed it off as guilt.

"No, I'm sorry Gene."

"Why not?" He sounded like a lost child, it made her feel so sad inside.

I actually have to go to France to help with a case. Apparently I'm the best for the job so our Super has transferred me for a while."

"How long?"

"Well… The rest of the summer." She said hesitantly. And she felt her stomach tighten as she saw his face fall, the bright mood crumbling into dust.

"Oh. Wow, that's erm, wow." Was that all he could think to say?

"I know, but I have to go. The super says I have to and I have to leave Molly with Ray and Maya. But I think her and Nick are getting along quite well so… yeah."

"Do you really? Why can't you just stay here? I only really know you out of all the people you introduced me to. And now you're going away? For 3 months!"

"I'm sorry." She looked down and so did he, both of them sighing in defeat.

Gene looked up at her and flashed a fake smile her way. Clapping his hands and rubbing them together he said in a business like tone. "Well Bolly, I hope you have fun and be sure to show us your tan when you get back." She felt a flicker of hurt run across her face but then, shaking her head slightly as if to clear the thoughts from it, Alex stood up.

"Well then Guv, see you in the fall." She said holding her hand out. He took it gently and held it in between his own.

"See you in the fall Bolly." And with that she took her hand from his grasp and walked out of the hospital room, pulling a wheelie suitcase behind her and a holdall on her left shoulder. He watched her as her heels clicked down the corridor, the sound getting further and further away as she turned the corner and disappeared.

As Alex zoomed back out of memory land, she felt a tear drip down her face; quickly she wiped it away and looked back across at Shaz and Avalon, who had just finished placing her cards on the table.

"You ready?" Said Shaz excitedly, almost bouncing in her seat.

"Let's just get this over with." Sighed Alex, her head lolling back in defeat as she waited for her 'reading'. With a nod, Avalon turned over the first card.

"Protector." She said slowly, as she looked at the card carefully. Shaz almost squealed in delight.

"See I told you!" She said excitedly, "The first card is literally your name." Alex rolled her eyes at her and Avalon turned over the second card.

"Ah, the lion's heart." She said with a smile.

"What now?" Said Alex, puzzled.

"I see a man with a lion's heart. He is close to you." Shaz gasped dramatically at this.

"She means the Guv, Alex!" She said, practically hyperventilating.

"What? Gene isn't close to me!" She replied defensively. But Avalon only laughed.

"You and this man have a very deep connection. You are inextricably linked." As she turned over the next card she continued. "This man was lost in a dream world; you brought him the light that showed him the way back."

"The Guv was in a coma!" Chipped in Shaz, "Alex talked to him everyday and he eventually woke up." Alex glared at Shaz.

"So what? The doctor told me that Gene would eventually wake up so it was just potluck that it happened to be the day I was talking to him!" Sighing, Alex flopped her head back in her hands and growled softly, "So can I go now?" Avalon shook her head.

"You've still got one more card." As she flipped it over, it revealed 'death'.

"Well that doesn't look to promising." Smirked Alex sarcastically.

"Your life is heading for a change. The man whose life you saved will strengthen the bond between you." Avalon nodded simply, as if this was normal. Alex mouthed 'Wha?" over at Shaz who shrugged, grinning like a kid at Christmas.

"Look, Ms Harmonia," She said, trying desperately to be patient. "I've just had a long flight and I would like to go home and change."

"Hold your horses Missy!" Said Avalon; reaching over to turn over the next card. But that was the last straw for Alex.

"Right," She said, finally losing her temper. "Thank you very much Ms Harmonia but I really don't believe in psychics." Standing up, she reached for wheelie suitcase and pulled her holdall onto her shoulder. She had just started walking away when Avalon voice made her jump.

"Were you pregnant?" Alex turned sharply around.

"What?" She said. But Shaz butted in.

"Ohmigosh!" She screeched in one big blur. "Yes that's totally right! Sweetie! You were pregnant in the Guv's coma dream!" Alex gave Shaz the death glare and immediately cooled it.

"Trust me Alexandra. You and this man are connected." Said Avalon, and picked up her cards, packing them away slowly. As she picked up the last card, Alex saw it said 'Love'.

Scoffing quietly to herself, she waved goodbye and muttered darkly to herself "Yeah I'll show you a connection. Bloody Shaz! You are so dead." And she carried on walking down the path. Her heels clicking as she went.

XXXXXXX

So what did you think? Please don't kill me. I promise we will have Gene and Alex interaction in the next chapter. I just needed to introduce the new characters and give a little explanation. Please leave a review xx :D