Title: The World You Thought You Lived In
Summary: A girl ends up dead because DI Sam Tyler wasn't where he was supposed to be, and Gene Hunt demands an explanation.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. The following story is for fan entertainment only.
Every morning was the same. He'd been having a nightmare. A full blown delusion complete with polyester bell bottoms and pubs without tellys. Where cops were crooked because it was the only way they knew how to operate and there was no such thing as procedure. He'd open his eyes to expensive furniture and high tech gadgets that was 2006. Maya would be sleeping softly beside him, her face buried in the silk sheets. But Sam knew even before he opened his eyes that the nightmare wasn't over. As much as he tried to ignore them, his surroundings made it clear that nothing was right. It was everything he wasn't. He could feel the springs in the cheap pull out cot prodding his back. There was no warm body beside him, only the smell of stale cigarettes and spilt vodka. But he let himself enjoy the delusion a bit longer, still trying to convince himself in that half awake half sleep stake that he was still sane.
A loud inconsiderate pounding on the door shot through him like a bolt of lightning. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, annoyed at the interruption. He knew it was the Guv before he even opened the door. There were only three people he would ever expect to be at his door. Annie's knock was polite, and Chris's knock was dull. This knock was obnoxious. Sam opened the door to reveal an equally, if not more annoyed Gene Hunt. Sam wasn't surprised that the older man could be more annoyed even though he was the one doing the waking. Before Sam could even get the door open, he found himself pinned to the wall next to the bed.
"What the bloody hell are you thinking!?" Gene spat, so close Sam could feel the heat from his breath. Not giving Sam the chance to answer, Gene shoved harder. Sam tried to think, he couldn't remember. He didn't know what he was talking about.
"Answer me, boy!" the authoritative tone wasn't helping. Sam scrambled to remember what he was doing earlier that day. He had been at the station last he could remember, and then he had woken up here. Everything was a blur.
"I…I…" Gene threw him to the ground.
"The girl's dead Sam. Where the hell were you?" Gene pulled Sam up again.
"I can't remember" Sam's lack of explanation only infuriated Gene more. He was about to connect his fist with Sam's cheek, but he hesitated when he saw the look on Sam's face. Pure confusion and panic.
"He was at your location. He killed another girl"
Memories flooded back to Sam like a punch to the stomach. He was supposed to be waiting at Riley's Pub for a serial killer, Thom Giles, that they had been tracking for the last two weeks. All his victims had been found at 5 different pubs. There was no order in which location he killed, but they were always two days apart. They had all the locations covered, they were supposed to catch him tonight. But Sam wasn't there. He had heard his mother again. He had wanted so badly to wake up, and he had followed his mother's voice until he didn't know where he was. He had forgotten about Giles and somehow had found his way back to his flat.
"Oh my god" Sam said in horror. It was his fault another girl was dead. He fell to his knees, hands shaking. "I don't know what happened. I was there. I was ready."
"Then why the bloody hell did you leave!?" Gene had him by the collar again, but this time he didn't stop himself. Sam barely felt the punch.
"No, no…I was there... I was waiting!" Sam pleaded. Gene had him pinned again.
"So you were there when he raped her, then? Were you there when he slashed her throat open and she bled to death on the cold pavement, eh?" Gene's voice had taken on and eerie calm.
Sam couldn't answer. He could barely breathe. He didn't know what happened. He couldn't explain himself, but he knew that it was his fault.
"You best be explaining yourself, Sammy boy" Gene pressed Sam into the wall harder. Sam couldn't take anymore, he was overwhelmed. He sucked in a sharp breath and he felt hot tears fill his eyes.
"I can't! I can't explain anything! I don't know why I'm here! I can't explain why any of this is happening! I'm not supposed to be here! I supposed to be four and playing with toy cars! I was in an accident! I was looking for Maya! I have to help Maya!" Sam was screaming hysterically with tears streaming down his face. He tore away from Gene, who was taken aback by his DI's sudden outburst. Sam started throwing anything he could get his hands on, tearing the apartment apart.
"This isn't real, she isn't real!" He hurled a mug at the blond girl on the TV screen, sending glass around the room. "I want to wake up, now! Why won't they let me wake up?" He threw an empty beer bottle and just missed the head of his DCI.
Gene grabbed Sam's arm, twisting it behind him and pining him against the wall once again. "Calm down" Gene warned.
Sam continued to struggle for a few seconds, but soon gave up. His knees gave and Gene let him slide to the floor. He looked at Sam's sobbing form in confusion. He was unsure what to say next.
"I just want to wake up" Sam continued to mutter through his sobs. "I'm not crazy Gene. I was never in Hyde. I was in the future. I was a DCI. Why do you think everything I do is so radical to you? Just believe me, please"
"What did you mean, you want to wake up?"
Sam drew several deep breaths to try and calm himself before he spoke again "I was in an accident. I'm in a coma"
"Are you in a coma, or from the future?"
"Don't belittle me!" Sam went to get up, but Gene grabbed is arm.
"Wait. You understand why I can't believe you Sam. You aren't making any sense here. You're a bit off you rocker"
Sam stared at the older man, desperately wanting to be believed, but not sure how to convince Gene, let alone himself.
The DCI was waiting for a verbal response from the smaller man, but instead was met with a more physical one. Sam pressed his lips to the older man's, wanting to surprise him.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Gene shouted, pushing the other man away.
"Would I have done that if this was all real?" Gene didn't quite see Sam's reasoning.
"What does you being a fairy prove?" Gene was growing more and more confused by the minute. "And what about Annie? I thought you fancied her?"
At the mention of Annie, something changed in Sam. He knew who he was, where he was supposed to be. But Annie, if he was right about this world not being real, than she wasn't real either.
"Annie" Sam said softly. Gene looked at him quizzically.
"You know, the bird—"
"I know who she is" Sam interrupted. He scrambled for an explanation to convince the Guv he was neither a 'fairy' nor insane.
"I ah, I thought you were her" He tried, "Has a bit much to drink last night"
Gene stared at him, not fully believing him and still angry about Giles' latest victim. If Sam was telling the truth, the obvious thing to do was make sure he didn't spend another second as a DI. But he knew the younger man was good at what he did, as unconventional as he was, and he wanted him to stay on his team and he had a feeling there was a good reason Sam had disappeared last night.
"You ever go to the pub instead of your post again, you'll end up like that girl, got me?" Sam nodded and the DCI left without another word, leaving Sam to try and ignore the guilt caused by the loss of a life he wasn't even sure was real.