Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing *Mwah* and special thanks to my Beta reader Skywise for soldiering on after her nasty dose of Swine Flu!!!

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Gene stirred in his sleep the unfamiliar feeling of an arm draped over his chest causing him to wake up fully as the slow realisation of his present situation dawned on him.

The room was dark and the clock by the bedside read 3:03 a.m. Gene acknowledged that he must have nodded off because, despite his initial wariness, the feeling of lying on the bed with Alex in his arms had been strangely calming to his senses and he had soon followed her into a deep sleep. However he now felt a more pressing need and he gently extricated himself from Alex's sleepy embrace to go and answer that call of nature.

Finishing up in the bathroom Gene decided he could do with a quick drink of water and maybe a smoke before heading back to bed, although he wasn't sure if he should get back into bed with Alex or pitch up on the settee for the rest of the night. With all these thoughts whirring through his mind and whilst fumbling for the light switch, Gene stumbled into the kitchen bin and upset the contents all over the floor.

Finally finding the switch he blinked, adjusting to the light, and listened to see if the noise had awoken Alex but, hearing her softly sighing in her sleep, Gene applied himself to the task of cleaning up the mess from the bin. The rubbish was soon scooped up and Gene wasn't really paying attention beyond feeling disgusted at picking up the cold fat he had trimmed from the steak earlier, when his eyes were drawn to a scrap of torn paper. He could see his name typed in block capitals and he picked it up for closer inspection. All he could make out was '...TO GENE HUNT THE FURTHER AWAY MOLLY WILL BE'

Seeing the name of Alex's daughter alongside his own was enough to pique his interest, so he began rifling through the bin to try and retrieve the rest of the letter. Finally Gene felt he had found all the pieces and, arranging them in the proper order, he began to read…

As Gene read, words and phrases leapt out at him :

..... by "this world" I mean of course 1982 . . . .

.... you will thank me for breaking . . . the bond between you and Gene Hunt . . .

... he is more dangerous than the bullet in your head . . .

.... we were hospital neighbours . . .

.... you have eyes for only one man . . . Gene....

"What the bloody hell…" Gene muttered to himself.

He quickly read the letter again, his mind desperately trying to make some sense of it all and he mentally replayed the conversation he'd had with Alex when he asked her to tell the truth about herself. The sound of her voice as she'd answered him came flooding back

"I'm from the future…" she had said, and it sounded as crazy in his mind now as it had done when she first uttered it.

Gene was fumbling around the kitchen, looking for something stronger than water to drink, when his thoughts led him to the drawer full of tapes he had glimpsed before. Taking out the tape with the earliest date on it he put it into the nearby tape machine and pressed play.

"My name is Alex Drake."

Gene rolled his eyes and lowered the volume. Although he was mindful not to disturb Alex, he still needed to try and get some clarity on all this before he confronted her with what he'd found, Alex's voice on the tape continued…

"I've just been shot and that bullet has taken me back to 1981…."

Gene didn't really hear the rest as his mind was working overtime. This was madness! Nothing was making sense and he wasn't sure it ever would again.

"I'm not going to die, I'm coming back to you Molly."

The tape ended leaving Gene feeling that his world had been shaken to its very foundations. He made his way over to the settee and slumped down, sipping at the large scotch he had poured, but fixing this was way beyond the powers of even a fine single malt.

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Alex blinked slowly, rousing herself from her pleasant slumber. She was disappointed, but not entirely surprised, to note Gene's absence from her bed. She carefully stretched out and glanced at the clock, noting that the time had just turned 6 a.m.

Gently easing herself out of bed she slowly made her way into the living room trying to be quiet and not disturb Gene if he was still asleep. However as she rounded the corner she saw Gene sat on the settee with his head resting back. Hearing her enter the room he jolted himself upright and fumbled for a way to start.

"Alex we need to talk" was the best opening he could think of, not exactly original but it would get the ball rolling.

Alex took in Gene's dishevelled appearance and the obvious unease in his voice.

"What is it?" she asked feeling increasingly nervous and worried.

Gene got up and retrieved the letter fragments from the kitchen along with the tape player and in it the latest of Alex's tapes that he had been listening to. He placed them down on the coffee table in front of her as if he were about to begin one of his interrogations back at the station.

"I want you to make this lot make sense to me Alex because right now I don't know which bloody way is up! You know I thought we could forget about that little outburst before…all that 'I'm from the future' bollocks, thought maybe we could just put it down to the red army being on the march again or just the bloody fact that you're a woman but now I honestly don't know what to think"

Gene slumped back down on the settee next to Alex his hands rubbing at his face. Alex, who had remained silently shocked throughout Gene's presentation of the evidence against her, began trying to formulate a response in her mind. She wondered how on Earth she could possibly explain everything and if Gene would even be able to bring himself to listen if she did.

Risking a glance at Gene, Alex found his amazing blue eyes staring back at her. She thought, and not for the first time, that she could lose herself in those eyes; the intensity of his glare both thrilled and frightened her and she swallowed, trying to find her voice.

"I don't know what to say, well I mean I do but I don't think you want to hear it, not really" Alex fumbled.

"Oh I do Bolly I really, really do" Gene said fixing her in his penetrating glare.

Alex took a deep breath in preparation and began

"Alright but you have to promise me you'll let me get it all out, no interruptions no matter how ridiculous or just plain crazy it may sound, let me just get it all out"

Gene slowly nodded his response as Alex launched into a lengthy explanation, beginning with how she had come to know of Sam Tyler through the tapes he had sent her after emerging from his coma and his experiences in 1973; how she had met him only once before his suicide in 2007. Then onto her own situation and how she had come to be shot by Arthur Layton; how she had awoken in 1981 and about her connection to Tim and Caroline Price and Evan White; finally recounting her involvement with Martin Summers and restating her determination to keep fighting to get back to her daughter. Alex finally finished talking and slumped forward, her head in her hands.

Gene had remained silent throughout, his face an unreadable mask. He had hoped that Alex's explanation would somehow straighten everything out in his mind, that her words would bring clarity to the craziness but it was a vain hope and he was more confused now than ever.

"Don't know about you Bolly but I could do with a drink and a bacon butty" he said finally, rising from the settee, giving himself a shake and heading into the kitchen.

Alex lifted her head from her hands and looked up in bewilderment.

"What? Nothing to say?" she asked - shocked at Gene's muted response.

"Nope! Not yet anyway. Not on an empty stomach." Gene called from the kitchen already busying himself with breakfast preparations.

After eating breakfast in silence Gene had excused himself saying he wanted to take a bath and freshen up. Alex hadn't tried to get him to talk as, among her many other emotions, she was just glad that he hadn't fled after listening to her story. Maybe there was a small chance that she could get him to believe her this time.

Gene sank back into the hot bath hoping it would have the desired calming effect on his body but thoughts of being naked in Alex's bath, and of the many times she would have occupied this same position naked herself, kept creeping unbidden into his mind. He felt inappropriate, if not entirely unwelcome, stirrings and tried to push the thoughts away only to find himself thinking about Alex's tapes and he began replaying part of the last one he had listened to in his head.

"Gene Hunt. Why is he always in my head? I will admit that of all of Sam's constructs he was the one that intrigued me the most and when I met him in the flesh, so to speak, I confess I was surprised at just how magnificent a beast he was. The Manc Lion indeed! Those eyes and eyelashes, those hands and long fingers, those long, long legs….anyway…this is my version of Gene Hunt not Sam's. I doubt very much that he saw him in the same way I do…even if Gene did often refer to him as Dorothy! No this will not do. I won't be distracted by Gene Hunt…I will repeat the mantra 'Gene Hunt is not sexy' ten times before bed as penance…well on second thoughts maybe not before bed!"

The tape had tailed off at that point to the sound of Alex's giggles. Gene thought she had sounded more than a little drunk throughout but still it was something hopeful to hold onto amidst the madness.

A knock at the door snapped Gene from his reverie and went some way to dampening his ardour

"Gene I'm sorry to disturb you but I really need to use the toilet" Alex said, sounding very apologetic.

"Alright Bols just a minute" Gene said, raising himself out of the bath and flinging a towel around his waist.

Alex couldn't help but blush as Gene opened the door and moved past her allowing her access to the bathroom. The sight of him naked but for a towel that barely covered what it should made her feel heat in places other than her cheeks.

Gene was just thankful that his body had calmed down before he opened the door, now was not the time and anyway she was recovering from a gunshot wound, he would be strong in the face of temptation - for the time being at least!

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Later that day they were seated on the settee, avoiding conversation by feigning interest in the television - Alex desperate to know what Gene was thinking and Gene thinking about Martin Summer's letter, especially the part about Alex saying his name in her sleep, when suddenly the familiar theme tune to Doctor Who rang out from the T.V. Gene let out an exasperated sigh got up and switched it off.

"Oh! Leave it I like Doctor Who" Alex protested.

"Maybe I might've done if I thought it were science fiction and not a bloody documentary!" Gene said flopping back down on the settee.

Alex turned to look him in the eyes unable to hold back any longer.

"Where do we go from here Gene?" she asked, still clinging to the small hope that somehow they would be able to get through this.

"It's funny. I were just thinking about my Uncle Fred, daft sod he was. He married this woman - Irene. Everyone warned him against it cause she was a lush and a slapper, d'ya know they had five kids and I'm not sure any of 'em were his! But he wouldn't hear a word against her, worshipped the ground she walked on. Me Mam said to him one day 'Fred why don't you just get rid? And I remember his answer to this day… cause he was somewhat of a philosopher was Fred. He said 'if it comes to a choice between living a beautiful lie or accepting the ugly truth I'd choose the lie every time.'"

Gene finished and took a swig of the single malt he'd poured earlier.

Alex was unsure how to respond. She supposed that what he was saying was when you love someone you only see what you want to see, no matter what the truth might be. Did that mean that Gene loved her? That he was going to just ignore the things about her that he couldn't cope with?

"Gene, I can't begin to imagine how difficult all this must be for you, but thank you for listening, for staying, for being my constant" Alex finally managed as she reached over to take Gene's hand in her own.

Gene closed his hand around hers and managed a small smile which she happily returned.

"Funny thing is Bolly, some of it does actually make sense…I mean the things Sam used to come out with, the things you've said…well I don't know! What I do know is that I'm here now and so are you…as for the rest of it…lets just take one day at a time eh?"

"And you can do that can you? Just carry on as normal after all this?" Alex questioned, knowing it wouldn't be easy but also feeling a terrible weight had been lifted. She wouldn't have to lie to Gene anymore but she would still have to tread carefully.

"Well tomorrow's Sunday and then I'm due back at the station on Monday, so yeah it'll be business as usual for the Gene Genie! I said before that it's you and me Bolly, it's you and me…we're in it together."

He reached over and took Alex in his arms and she wrapped her arms around him pulling him as close as her tender side would allow. It was in that moment that Alex thought there was a lot to be said for choosing the beautiful lie…for now at least!