Chapter 1

A period of adjustment.

That was the phrase that came to mind.

Gene watched CID from the door of his office. There had been a lot of changes in a short space of time and he was just starting to get a firm grasp over proceedings again. It was mid-march and Alex had been back home for two months now. Gene was only just starting to believe that she really wasn't going anywhere again. She no longer had a physical presence in the real world; her body dead and her life at an end. She was committed to Gene and Fenchurch East now and she wasn't going anywhere. While there was still a part of her struggling with the sacrifices she'd made and those she'd left behind Alex had fought long and hard to find her way home to Gene and was doing her best to make the most of every minute.

There new house was now half-decorated. Gene was still finding splashes of paint In unexpected places but they were settling well into their new home. This time it really felt like their home instead of belonging to Alex with Gene being some kind of lodger with benefits. They had yet to start making wedding plans and as yet they hadn't braved the subject of children again but there was no rush, not for anything now. Alex was at no risk of developing a serious case of the vanishies. They had forever together.

It had taken some getting used to seeing Alex in a younger body again, not to mention one that had been inked. Not that Gene was complaining. He got to learn Alex's body all over again, inch by inch, off by heart. She was a bit too skinny but he had plans for that involving his famous fry-ups and frankly depraved uses for squirty cream. He was also learning all over again how much he loved her being back at work. Her department had been re-established and since she had returned she had taken two of his four new recruits off his hands. Having her presence around was wonderful for both personal and professional reasons he always knew she was just down the corridor if he needed a psychologist's point of view, while the knowledge that he could run into her at any time around the building made each day a little more worthwhile.

He hesitated to admit it for fear of cursing things but for once life was good.

An example of his new and improved life came when his computer made a strange noise which caused him to swear and complain about new-fangled technology with bells and whistles until by process of elimination he discovered that it was trying to tell him he had a new email. He didn't approve of all the technology bollocks that they were being forced to incorporate into their daily work but the fact that Alex's name was in his inbox quelled his techno-hatred for the time being.

"The one worthwhile use for the information superhighway," he mumbled to himself.

He clicked on the message and read the text that appeared.

"Gene," it began, "currently testing out the new photographic technology acquired by the emerging narcotics division. Please see attached photograph for further indications of the importance of the new equipment. Alex."

He scrolled down and waited as the picture formed very slowly, line by line; his face growing hotter and more surprised with each row of pixels that appeared.

"Bloody hellfire, Bolly," he breathed as he fanned himself with a nearby copy of Computers for Dummies. He made sure that he studied the image thoroughly for some time to make a full evaluation before he typed back slowly –

"DCI Drake, I do not believe this is an authorised use of police technology. Please have the photographed objects ready for inspection at around 10 pm this evening." he looked all over for the 'send' button, tried hitting the monitor a few times, finally located it and sent the message. That was his evening sorted out, anyway.

He found himself staring into the office again. CID too was beginning a new era. There were new faces, and new starts for the established ones. DC Marci Fell and DS Jake Dawson were settling in well. They were both DOA so they had none of the hang-ups that knowing you were in a halfway-state brought and just lived their lives as though they'd always been there. Marci was a bright and compassionate soul with a very real skill for dealing sensitively with members of the public. Despite bearing a very strong similarity to Scary Spice she wasn't at all scary by nature to anyone... except for an amorous Eddie, that is.

Eddie tried to convince himself that he would win her over eventually and to persuade himself that it was not a rejection and she was probably just already bonking Jake. But Jake was more interested in starting a relationship with the chocolate vending machine in the corridor than he was with Marci they were firm friends but there was more chemistry between Gene and the large bottomed canteen worker then there was between the two of them.

Jake was a very hard worker. He dedicated himself to his job. Ambitious and keen to move through the ranks, he was always the first to volunteer for the nastiest, messiest tasks to prove his worth. Despite his dedication to duty he had a perfectly innocent look, his blonde hair slicked backwards and his attire looking like something straight out of a squeaky-clean boy band's latest appearance on top of the Pops.

Gene was glad he at least kept the two recruits with brains. Alex could deal with Bozo One and Bozo Two.

He saw Simon arrive, talk to Jake and Marci for a moment, laugh and then exit the office. That was another bizarre change, Gene thought to himself of Simon's increasing acceptance of his place in the world.

The revelation of Simon's parentage had thrown more than a spanner in the works; it had deposited a ruddy great toolbox full of them there. Gene was never going to make an attempt at being a father figure to Simon but their genetic connection had given him a great deal to think about… what it meant for the world for one. Sam had spoken about Simon being the bridge between the two worlds Gene hadn't figured out the implications for that yet.

Simon's personal situation had also changed radically. After longing for months and months to be reunited with Robin the shock of his relationship with Kim had thrown Simon completely. He didn't know how to get over a love that he'd spent more than a year waiting for. Initially it had managed to smash an already broken Simon to splinters but after Robin's death things had been different. While he still held hopes that maybe one day Robin would draw closer to him again there was another side of Simon that truly couldn't feel angry and bitter any more, and with Gene confirming that Kim would almost certainly be unable to ever return to Fenchurch East Simon didn't feel threatened by her any more.

For the first time, Simon was starting to embrace life at Fenchurch East. He was getting stuck into his work, making new friends and had finally be given his own 'local'. The closing of Bask was a double-edged sword while on one hand Simon felt flattered to have his own equivalent of the Railway Arms and finally felt on the same level as Gene and Alex he really missed having a place to go. Bask had been his hangout from his first night in Gene's world. It was going to be hard to replace that.

Gene knew not everyone was having a time of good fortune. Robin was doing his best to keep himself together after finding himself taking up permanent residence in Gene's world and being separated from Kim. He spent the days wearing a mask that he only let drop in private but the bags under his eyes told Gene he wasn't doing as well as he tried to make out.

Gene finally had an understanding of what it was like to be separated from someone by the line that ran between life and death. It had taken decades but he finally knew what it was like to be in the position of someone who'd been afflicted by this cruellest fate. He was lucky that Alex had returned he couldn't say whether Robin would ever have the good fortune to be reunited with Kim. It seemed unlikely.

Almost on cue, just as he was thinking about his difficult situation, Gene sported Robin working his way through CID towards his office. He knocked on the door and Gene called him in.

"Sorry," Robin began, "I just needed to confirm the time you needed the dogs down at the docks."

"Ship's getting in at half five," said Gene, "we'll get in place by four."

"Sure," said Robin.

Gene hesitated.

"Was that it?"

"Well... well, yes."

"You could have lifted the bloody phone and called for that," said Gene.

"I tried, your phone was engaged," said Robin.

Gene glanced at the screen and saw his computer was still online.

"Looks like I've found a use for this internet thing," he said, "keeps unwanted phone calls away.

"Unwanted thanks a bunch," Robin scowled. He sighed. "The heady days of dial-up," he said.

"Dial what?" frowned Gene, "You been ringing adult chat lines?"

Robin closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Doesn't matter," he said. Even if he'd tried to explain it, Gene was busy opening another email from Alex and whatever the contents Gene seemed to need to read it very thoroughly. Robin walked back to the door. "See you later then." He turned and left, closing the door behind him. He waved politely to Marci and Jake as he walked through the office and avoided Bammo who was hoarding water balloons for some purpose Robin was sure he didn't want to know. Just as he was about to leave the department he realised he hadn't asked Gene how many uniformed officers he needed with the dog unit for the operation. "Bollocks," he sighed and took a step back towards the office but quite suddenly froze in his tracks as something caught his eye and stole his breath away. The wording on Gene's door has spontaneously been replaced.

DCI Kim Stringer, it said.

"I don't..." Robin began to whisper, not even knowing how to end that sentence. He swallowed and stared, blinking just once, and then the words were gone. Oh god, now what? Was he hallucinating? He hadn't been sleeping well, that was true. Too many nightmares. But even so, he was so sure he'd seen it –

There was no sign of her name now. Gene's office was correctly labelled once more, with Robin's trembling hands the only confirmation that those words had ever been there.

"Shit," he breathed, unable to comprehend what had just happened. His question for Gene was swiftly forgotten… All he could think about was getting out of there, ASAP, before he had the chance to start thnking too much about what he'd seen.

~xXx~

She hung the 2012 calendar on the wall, placed the photograph on her desk and turned with a cold stare to the door where she saw the backwards letters of her name emblazoned across the glass. It was her big day. She should have had people congratulating her and celebrating with her. There should have been pride in her heart as she made her way up the ladder. But for the way she felt, they might as well have stuck a robot in her chair.

Her eyes flickered to the photo on her desk, but only for a moment. Stare too long and she'd end up in pieces. Instead she turned the photograph downwards so that she wouldn't have to see it again just yet and turned down the temperature in her heart a little further. The colder her heart, the more the ice numbed the pain.

He shell was growing tougher and harder. No one was getting inside of it.

There was barely anything left of Kim Stringer.

Just a hard woman in clunky boots who couldn't stand to feel any more and the nightmares that plagued her the night before.

~xXx~

"DCI Drake, it appears that you have continued to issue me with pornographic material," Gene typed, taking about four minutes to find the 'Y' button, "proper penalties will be issued after I've had time to fully examine the photographs."

He sent the email and stood up, fairly reluctantly. He'd had a pretty interesting day, learning the benefits of the World Wide Web. Unfortunately it was just about time to get back to the real world and do some work. He looked at the clock and grabbed his coat. He had to get things moving and head to the docks before the immigrant smugglers sent their latest shipment halfway up the country in an unmarked lorry and allowed them to disappear into the ether.

~xXx~

The doctor couldn't believe his eyes. They had to be deceiving him. There was no way, no way on earth that room could be empty so he checked again but saw the same thing; an empty room, devoid of its patient. His damn eyes, they had to be playing up.

He rubbed them. He looked again. He gulped. Then he raised the alarm.

"What's happened?" he heard a voice shout above the din.

"What's the matter?"

"What's going on?"

The doctor swallowed hard.

"He's gone," he said.

~xXx~

A/N: Told you there'd be a nice normal chapter today! Just a quick recap of where things are before things start to get serious in the next chapter. I also posted the start the 'interlude' fic about Robin's 6 weeks back in the real world. However, forgive any worse than usual typing bloody conjunctivitis, everything's blurred and I'm about as good with eye drops as Rachel from Friends :P

ETA: Something odd's going on, FFnet is taking out certain symbols and punctuation so as I just read through this chapter after uploading it several sentences looked unfinished or some bits made no sense. I have no idea if it's tkaing them out of previously posted chapters too or just ones that are newly uploaded (it has removed ampersands, some dashes and even a couple of speech marks!) but please forgive anything that makes no sense that I've missed/