Chapter Nine

Simon left Gene's office with his head in a spin. The deluge of information had sent him into a complete state of confusion. He barely felt the strange energy as the door opened in front of him before his hand even made contact with the handle. There were too many things on his mind for the strange moment to even register.

His gaze travelled around the office from one side to the other, scanning the faces of all the lost souls who'd found their way to Gene's side.

His eyes settled upon a smiling Susannah, her hand stretched out in front of her with an excitable Alex studying it with glee. He was presuming that Kite was showing off her engagement ring. Well, either that or Alex had a secret finger fetish.

"Beautiful!" he heard Alex declare as he wandered towards them, "what a stunning setting!"

"He got those two pimps to serenade me as he slipped it on my finger," Susannah told her, "you know, just after we arrested them at The Singing Brothel? 'Sing while you shag'?"

"Oh, right," Alex nodded, aware of their catchphrase.

"The timing of the raid was perfect!"

"Well, nothing says 'I love you' like a pair of singing pimps," Alex said a little sarcastically.

Simon smiled as he reached them. He could see now what Gene meant about giving them a life. Susannah had received the opportunity to rise through the ranks, to fall in love, to get engaged - all things she'd never had the opportunity to do before she died. In that moment, a lot of things fell into place for Simon. Of course there was no way he was going to tell her she was dead. There was no way he was going to take this life away from her.

"I heard about you and Malcolm," he said, "congratulations."

"Thank you, Sir," smiled Susannah.

Simon's brain went into overtime. Neither in 1985 nor in 2010 had he discovered Malcolm's surname and it was beyond the point of polite questioning now. The time to ask would have been when he first came round in the office and he could have feigned memory loss. However, finally an opportunity presented itself.

"So what will you be after you get married?" he asked Susannah, "DI…?"

"Kite," said Susannah.

Simon frowned.

"Oh."

"I'm keeping my maiden name."

"Bollocks."

"Pardon, sir?" frowned Susannah.

"Bollocks… I mean, bollocks… to tradition!" Simon flustered, "go ahead and keep your name! Good for you!"

Susannah got to her feet and brushed a hand through her dark hair.

"While you're here," she began, "I tried to call drugs squad about your transfer. They didn't seem to have any record of you."

Simon hesitated.

"Uh…"

"That's because," Alex interrupted, "it's been decided that Simon's going to stay on in CID instead."

"Well we still need the papers," frowned Susannah, "which station did you transfer in from, Simon?"

Simon began to feel nervous and wished he was better at thinking on his feet.

"Um, it's…"

"Fenchurch West, wasn't it?" Alex interrupted.

Simon glanced at her gratefully.

"Yes, it was," he said, still a little anxious.

"Don't worry about it, Susannah, 'll chase them up." Alex told her, "Why don't you go on home early and get ready for tonight."

"What's tonight?" asked Simon.

"Our engagement party," said Susannah, "will you be there, Sir?"

For second Simon flinched. Tonight was supposed to be his own engagement. Presuming Robin had accepted, of course.

"Maybe," he smiled thinly."

Susannah hurried away to take advantage of her early finish, leaving Simon and Alex alone. As Alex turned to Simon she could see from the look in his eyes that Gene had delivered the promised talk with him. There was something different in his expression now. Something he could never go back and change. She gave him a gentle smile and asked,

"Are you OK, Simon?"

Simon nodded slowly and gave a faint smile.

"I kind of knew," he whispered, "on some level."

"It will get easier," she said quietly, "the knowing."

Right now, Simon couldn't see how but he nodded anyway.

"Thank you for talking Hunt round," he said quietly, "I needed to know."

Alex nodded in agreement.

"You deserved that much," she said. She stood up, sliding off the desk where she had been perched and said, "you really should come tonight. I think it would be good for you."

Simon looked down.

"I don't know," he said quietly, "I don't much have the stomach for engagement parties right now."

Alex frowned. It seemed a very random thing to say.

"Why not?"

Simon gave a very deep sigh. His visit to the jewellers seemed like a very long time ago.

"Doesn't matter," he said.

"Simon," sighed Alex, "if you can't tell me who can you tell?"

Simon glanced at her. Despite a relatively small time in each other's company he felt a close bond with her that stretched over different times and realities. He took in a deep breath.

"I was asking Robin to marry me tonight," he whispered.

Alex looked at him in surprise, a flicker of excitement across her face. As much as she pretended otherwise, she was a romantic at heart.

"Simon!" she smiled, "that's wonderful!"

Simon hung his head.

"No it's not," he sighed, "it was wonderful at ten o'clock this morning when I was standing in the jewellery store and practicing my script in my head. It stopped being wonderful when my future fiancé crashed the car we were in and now we're trapped fifteen years in the past, with our bodies and the ring stuck in a car wreck or a hospital years from now, with Robin declaring me a figment of his imagination!"

Alex began to feel a little deflated as she realised just what the situation was doing to Simon. This time it wasn't being separated from his partner by time that was destroying him - it was being separated by levels of acceptance.

"Simon, I'm sorry," she said quietly.

Simon stared at his hands.

"Now I'm in a time where we still couldn't get married even if we wanted to, which Robin doubtlessly won't, considering this is 'all my fault' for telling him about my coma."

"He's scared and confused," Alex placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at him sympathetically, "just like you were. Just like I was. "

Simon began to feel very tired. His chest ached as he found it harder and harder to breathe, the situation weighing him down.

"This morning I had it all planned out," he said quietly, "nice meal, music, roses…" he put his head in his hands, "and then I got the call. Next thing I knew I was climbing into the passenger seat to try to stop Robin doing something stupid… didn't succeed, did I?"

Alex didn't know what to say to make him feel any better. She looked at him sympathetically and wished she could offer him more than a friendly smile and hollow reassurances. She looked at him seriously.

"Sometimes things down work out quite the way we planned them," she began, "but that doesn't mean they don't work out in the end." She looked at Simon's sad expression, "I hope you do come tonight. It might be just what you need."

Simon nodded slowly.

"Maybe," he said quietly.

Alex gave him one last smile before setting off to find Gene and discuss with him the idea of buying Malcolm a replacement suit as an engagement present, leaving Simon alone with him thoughts.

Before he had a chance to workout where to go from here, a TV set in the corner of CID spluttered into life. As static gave way to picture, the garish pink exclamation mark in the corner and amateurish presentation caught Simon's attention. It was an all-too familiar sight from his teenage years. On screen was a newsreader, delivering the day's headlines while behind her stood a man in an oversized rabbit costume, waving at the camera and occasionally making exaggerated hand gestures to replace facial expressions in response to the stories the newsreader was telling.

"Oh my God," Simon breathed, slowly walking towards the screen, "L!ve TV…"

He recalled watching the station for hours when he was supposed to be studying. He often cited this as his reason for success in his A-Levels, endless hours of bad TV.

As he approached the screen, the newsreader's voice came through more clearly and her words struck Simon's ears.

"…And finally, ambulance crews are on the scene of a car accident thought to involve two police officers, in connection with a raid on a known drug baron."

Simon froze. Those were words he hadn't been expecting to hear. He watched as the rabbit cupped its face in its paws, signifying mock surprise as the newsreader continued.

"One man has been pulled alive from the wreckage, bu-" she began but a bolt of static cut her off.

"Hey!" Simon cried, slapping the sides of the TV in an attempt to bring her back but the static only grew stronger. "Come on…" he whacked the TV on top of the set and mumbled, "bloody analogue cable" before watching as the static cleared and found the news had finished and Topless Darts was starting in its place. "Shit!"

He stared at the screen, wishing and praying that the newsreader would return, with or without News Bunny, to give him some further information but all he could see were a lot of body parts on display that he had no interest in.

Shaken, he backed away from the TV and thought about going back into Gene's office to ask for a second measure of scotch. In all the events of the last few hours he'd almost lost sight of the situation he found himself in.

The news report brought it very closely home to him once again.

* * * 0 * * *

* Just in the very, very slim chance that there is another big L!ve TV fan reading this, News Bunny is an anachronism; I know he didn't appear until 1996 but I just loved the vision of News Bunny cupping his face in horror at the news of Simon's crash and he was such an iconic part of the channel I had to put him in!