Something Old

Alex had well and truly lost track of time as she lay with Kim, recuperating from their unexpected antics. She didn't really care what the time was as long as Kim wasn't throwing her out. The perks of being tattooed after hours – they had the place to themselves until morning. She almost groaned as she realised Gene had told her to be home by midnight. Stupid pumpkin rule. Well, the witching hour was still a long way away. She was sure she could think of a way to extend the night before then.

"Ma'am?" Kim's voice was quiet and thoughtful. Alex turned her head slightly to look at her.

"Yes, Kim?" she said quietly. She noticed a nervous smile on Kim's face.

"I'm not going to get an angry Gene knocking on my door tomorrow morning with a portable filing cabinet, am I?" Kim worried and Alex closed her eyes, soft laughter flowing from between her dusky, smudged red lips.

"No, Kim, you're not," she promised. She felt Kim pressing her body a little closer. "Besides, you would just pierce his arse, he'd never dare."

"That is true," Kim agreed. She closed her eyes for a moment, exhaustion taking over her body. Shit, that has been one hell of an orgasm. She dared to lay a hand across Alex's chest and felt her heart start to beat a little faster. That sensation made her smile.

"And I'm not going to get an angry Robin on my doorstep with eight dogs baying for blood?" Alex asked and Kim burst into laughter.

"You know that's not going to happen," she said, "you're most likely to get a thankful Robin turning up to make you breakfast and polish your shoes for getting rid of me for the night."

They fell silent again until Alex shivered a little, her body temperature finally dropping after their moments of ecstasy.

"Are you cold?" Kim asked and Alex gave a reluctant nod.

"Just a little," she admitted.

"We should get dressed -" Kim began but Alex shook her head.

"Not yet," she whispered. She found herself drawn closer to Kim, warming one another as they lay together.

"I have to dress your tattoo," Kim pointed out and Alex laughed.

"Not yet," she repeated. She found herself idly tracing her fingers up and down the ink atop Kim's arm, skimming the letters that meant so much. 'I Survived'. There was a tiny pang of anxiety in the pit of Alex's belly as she realised that the words had a different meaning now; one Kim didn't even know. She hated giving in to the anxiety that came with knowing Kim was still alive. She was, wasn't she? She hadn't died in the months since her arrival, had she? Somehow Alex couldn't tell with Kim. What was it that made Kim different? Was it arriving as part of Fenchurch West? Or was Kim just 'special' somehow? There were other things, things that had occurred around her. Things Alex couldn't quite put her finger on. Things that set her apart from the others, even those who had been in her position.

Perhaps Kim had died in the interim, Alex considered. After a fall like that her chances of survival, let alone recovery, were minimal. She noticed there had been a true absence of messages or bleedthroughs for Kim. Perhaps her fate in the real world had ultimately been the one she'd longed for. Alex could only pray that was the case,. The thought of losing Kim was too much to stand.

Her mind went back to another night, another time, the lonely sadness on both sides that ultimately brought a close friendship to another level. There it was again, the memory that just wouldn't go away. For so long Alex had felt guilty about thinking if it so often. Now she could allow the memory back in full technicolor, guilt-free.

"I think this was a long time coming," she said quietly as Kim turned her head to look Alex in the eye.

"Pardon?" she asked.

"This," Alex said quietly, "I think we did well to wait this long."

Kim's face instantly turned three shades redder than before. Shit, shit, shit, why did she keep blushing around Alex?! She felt like a complete fool!

"It never did feel like it was just one night," she confided.

"No," Alex agreed, her lips twitching into a smile, "it didn't."

Kim bit her lip for a moment. There were questions she felt the need to ask but was a little afraid of the reply.

"What did the Guv say?" she asked eventually, "when you first told him?"

Alex closed her eyes and took a very slow, deep breath.

"Well," she whispered, "it wasn't the easiest day."

"i didn't think it would be," Kim said quietly, reaching for Alex's hand. It was a gesture that took Alex by surprise; Kim Stringer holding someone's hand? She almost made a comment but didn't want the girl to feel any more self-conscious than she already did so she simply squeezed it back and made Kim smile.

"It was a little more complicated that that though," Alex told her, "you see, Gene..." she sighed and shook her head, "unfortunately he'd had a little taste of what it was like to enter the Coma Club."

"Ahhh, an exclusive establishment," Kim agreed.

"And he'd had a... minor indiscretion of his own."

Kim found herself half-sitting up on surprise.

"He did?" she asked quickly. Alex nodded. "With who?"

Alex looked down, a little bewildered still.

"As strange as this might sound," she began, "it was with me. Another me. He did some fast talking and convinced her to listen to his..." she shook her head, "strange tales of other worlds. And I suppose the silver tongue works on all Alex Drakes across the stratosphere."

Kim stared at her, slightly aghast, unsure how to respond. She took a few moments and then decided to swear.

"Shit... bugger," she shook her head, "what happened? What did you say?"

"It was... difficult," Alex admitted, "we'd both been unfaithful, both lost and far from home. And we really had to agree to leave it at that. We had to accept it had happened. We'd been in the same boat. More or less." Alex began to trace the ink on Kim's arm again as she continued, "of course Gene seemed more pissed off that it happened to be you than the fact that I'd been unfaithful."

"That does not surprise me," Kim admitted.

Alex found herself linking her fingers between Kim's, drawing her hand up to kiss it gently, a gesture which sent a shiver down Kim's spine and brought an involuntary smile to her lips. She looked at her seriously as she said quietly,

"I think Gene was conflicted. There was the part of him that was picturing me doing things he'd only seen in top-shelf videos," she sighed, "and then the part of him that resented the fact that I'd been," she felt herself starting to blush, "doing them with you instead of Ginger Spice."

Kim tried not to laugh but the thought of Gene's dilemma was somewhat amusing.

"I do seem to remember him reaching for a cushion after the, um," she coughed, "christmas dare."

Alex smiled distantly as her fingers wandered to Kim's hair, roaming leisurely through her bleached crop. She could smell some kind of fruit-scented styling product and felt a little shiver as she realised the smell would always remind her of that night. She could picture herself smiling and blushing whenever Kim was a little too close at work. The thought was making her feel all kinds of excitement.

"Eventually we both worked through what had happened in other worlds," Alex told Kim, feeling awkward about using terminology that was better suited to Simon and Robin having a conversation about their favourite Red Dwarf episodes, "but I know that what happened with us..." she knew it, she knew she was going to start blushing. There was that sense of heat over her cheeks again. Damnit! "it was different to Gene's infidelity." She bit her lip a little as Kim caught her eye. "What was it you said about Robin and Jake?" she said, her voice wavering a touch as she whispered, "it meant something." Alex could see she wasn;t the only one blushing any more. Actually, that felt strangely good. She liked the fact that her words had such an effect on Kim. Kim deserved it, she deserved to feel good, happy, flattered, all of the above.

"For me too," Kim whispered, strangely shy.

"I never thought that I would see you again," Alex whispered, "after you -" she swallowed, "after you helped me home," she grasped Kim's hand, "which... I can never, ever thank you enough for."

"It's not something I need thanking for," Kim told her softly, "you had to get home, Ma'am." she swallowed, "and I think that's the reason I had to stay behind..." she closed her eyes, "...when Rob was shot in the jewellery shop, and the car hit me. You thought I'd been there too." she shook her head, "I had to stay, because I had to send you home."

Alex felt tearful as she stared at Kim lying by her side and nodded very slowly.

"Yes," she whispered, "I think you're right." She fell silent as she ran her fingers along Kim's decorated arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps from her soft touch. "And then one day," she whispered, "there you were." she saw Kim looking awkward and strained, "back in this world." she swallowed and stared at Kim. "You saved me."

"Not in time," Kim whispered, the truth still painful.

"He could have killed me, Kim, he could have done far worse than he did." Alex felt her heart starting to race again as she whispered, "I needed you and you were there," her mouth grew dry as a realisation came upon her, "you're always there." The times that Alex was lost or alone or in danger and Kim had been the one to help... it seemed as though the list was everlasting. It brought Alex the need to be closer to Kim again. She had to kiss her, there was no other option. There was no other way to express the way her revelation made her feel. She gently cupped Kim's face and tilted it towards her, laid her lips against Kim's and kissed her so softly, so slowly that Kim felt that the kiss might just last forever. Fuck, she wished that was possible. When Alex finally drew away she stared Kim in the eye and whispered softly, "my guardian angel."

"I think you're mine," Kim whispered back, the memory of the day Alex helped her home still so strong after all those years.

Alex's fingers moved gently back and forth against Kim's cheek.

"When you came back to this world... even though you were..." she swallowed. There was no need to spell it out; that Kim had been trapped by her actions to spend her days in Fenchurch West. "...Well, Gene was thrown. While you were a world away he could imagine me with any Spice Girl of his choosing. But when you were here..." she trailed away and frowned, "actually, he was more concerned that you had his car."

"That really doesn't surprise me," Kim told her.

"It broke my heart," Alex whispered.

"The car?" Kim frowned but Alex shook her head.

"To see you trapped by Keats," she whispered, "I didn't know how to help you."

"You couldn't ma'am, no one could," Kim whispered, her voice laden with emotion, "but you never gave up on me. Not you, not Rob... none of you. And little by little you helped me to break free," she bit back tears. This wasn't a night for sadness. She looked at Alex and whispered, "you had an interesting way of working on me, Ma'am."

Alex bit her lip and felt a tiny smile growing.

"I am sure that was the most inappropriate kiss I have ever delivered in my life," she said, her face reddening again.

"Ma'am, your face has turned red more times than a traffic light," Kim teased and Alex laughed.

"Do you see, Kim?" she said accusingly, "and you think you're the one with the crush!" She laughed out loud as she watched Kim's face changing colour, "Oh, so it's your turn to blush is it now, DCI Stringer?"

"As long as you never mention it to another soul," Kim warned, "it is not good for my credibility!" she had to smile as Alex laughed and linked her fingers through Kim's again. They fell silent for a few moments as Kim thought back. She wasn't sure she'd ever told Alex from her own side before. "I told Rob just after he woke up," she said quietly, aware that Alex's eyes were trained on her. "I-I thought he was going to be angry. I got pissed off with him for not being jealous enough." She could feel Alex trying not to laugh. "But like I said, things are different for us. It was never going to be a normal situation. And that's when we talked about..." she shrugged slightly, "the kind of thing Robin and Jake have. Back then it was all, you know... pie in the sky. Rob finds it hard to get that close to anyone. He was really lucky to meet someone that he felt that close to again."

"Even though it took about four of us to push them together?" Alex smiled, remembering Christmas.

Kim giggled.

"Poor Rob, he felt as though there'd been a big conspiracy at the time. But they were never going to get off their arses and do it, so -"

"They're not the only ones though," Alex said quietly, "are they?"

She noticed Kim looking away, slightly uncomfortably.

"Well, that's a very different case," she said softly.

Alex closed her eyes and rested her forehead against Kim's.

"I talked with Robin about it once," she said quietly. She felt Kim move back in surprise.

"About... what?"

"What happened with us," Alex told her softly, "I was worried that we needed to clear the air, but..." she shook her head, "it was just never an issue."

"He was teasing me about tonight," Kim told Alex, "making out that he wasn't going to see me until the morning."

"He's not stupid, that fiancé of yours," Alex told her.

Kim bit her lip.

"Is... is he going to see me before morning?" she asked.

Alex hesitated and gave a deep sigh.

"Gene says he wants me home by midnight," she said, "in case I turn into a pumpkin." She frowned. "Why is everyone intent on turning me into a pumpkin today?" she bit her lip. "However, he also set me a rather in-depth homework task."

"A what?" Kim frowned.

"He wants a six page essay on my favourite Spice Girl," Alex told her. She looked accusingly at Kim as she giggled, "this was one of the conditions of being here, young lady! I need to do my homework!"

"You haven't even started it yet," Kim teased.

"I always did leave it to the last minute," Alex smiled.

Kim bit her lip. She knew she shouldn't ask but she couldn't help herself. The clock was ticking and she couldn't let the evening end. Not yet.

"Call the Guv," she said, "and say you're staying over with a friend," she let her fingers wander around Alex's waist, "who is helping you with your homework."

Alex hesitated, pursing her lips thoughtfully. She looked at the twinkle in Kim's eye and her stomach did a somersault. Oh god, when Kim looked at her that way there was no escape. Not that she wanted to escape. Her face was flushing again.

"Well," she began slowly, "if you don't mind helping me revise the finer points of Posh Spice," she propped herself up a little, "then I'll see if I'm allowed to," she coughed awkwardly, "stay over."

Kim smirked, her heart pounding.

"The phone is over there," she pointed through to reception and Alex began to sit upright, "Uh, but just before you go -"

Alex hesitated.

"What?"

Kim smiled.

"Dressings."

Alex closed her eyes and laughed out loud.

"You, Kim Stringer, never change," she told her. She looked her right in the eye. "And I am so glad of that fact."