Chapter 11 – Train Station Revelation

"I'll take the train." Alex decided. She was determined. Nothing was going to stop her from getting to him. She had to see him. She had to get some answers. As far as she was concerned, that bullet had not been intended for her - but she needed to know the truth. What had really happened? Is it true that Gene Hunt would have really gone to his word and shot her there and then just for the sake of pride? It didn't seem a natural instinct for him. He wasn't like that. He wouldn't harm any woman on purpose. This had to be an accident; Alex had to be sure.

"Ma'am, please!" Shaz was following her through Luigi's. "Sleep on it at least! I don't think you're well enough for travel yet. You could get fired! We can't run the station without you anyway."

"You've done alright so far," Alex pointed out. "But i need to know a few things. If that man was innocent, we need to be able to prove it. Since he was the only person at the scene of the crime, he must have the relevant information to stop this madness."

"What if he lies?"

"Why would he lie?"

"To get off the hook!"

"He... he wouldn't lie to me." Alex shook her head, now trudging up the stairs of Luigi's bar and into the cool breeze outside. "And anyway, if i know him, then Gene Hunt is not a criminal. He was born to clean up 'scumbags' and tidy away the 'nonce's'. He was created for the purpose of doing right, and so he cannot, under any circumstance, be falsely accused of such things."

Shaz stopped now, apparently having given up. "Nothing i'm gonna say is gonna stop you, is it?" She asked.

"No." Alex smiled, also halting to turn around a little.

"Fine then." Shaz shrugged. "I give up. I can't follow you all the way to the station."

"And anyway, missus," Alex laughed. "You've got a wedding to attend to. Let me know how that works out."

Shaz smirked, tilted her head but apparently smitten. It was nice for Alex to know that life did really go on after she'd disappeared back to reality. But that was just it, wasn't it? What she had been experiencing before, that was not reality at all. It had been false, wrong. A dream within a dream. All sci-fi and twisted. Annoying, basically. Why couldn't things just go her way for a change? And then Alex took another look at Shaz's face and realised – maybe she was being selfish. Even if they were imaginary constructs, the products of a deranged mind, they still deserved to be just as happy as herself.

*****

She was at the train station. Taxi's cost too much and she knew no one with a car – apart from Ray and his old banger, but she hadn't had time to inform anyone on her sudden desire to travel up north. And a few hours of him singing gratingly to the radio did not seem to her standards.

In the end, the train seemed the natural and obvious answer. Quick, cheaper and much easier to relax in. All that was left was to decide what to do once she got to Manchester. Would there be a big court session, all in favour of Gene Hunt going down? Would she have to fight for him? Because she definitely would.

What if he didn't want to see her? Her own personal studies had shown that people suffering from depression don't want their victims to see them, because of the guilt and pain that tears them inside. What if he just sends her back again? Alex shuddered at the thought of rejection. She didn't want to be turned away. He couldn't go on living his life in the shadows – if that indeed was what he was doing. It was just a guess from the information Shaz had given her.

The train slowly came to a stop, the train that she needed to board to get back to Manchester. She stepped forward confidently, moving towards one of the cabins. There was a huddled of people silhouetted behind it, too many wanting to get off all at once so she would just have to wait. Patience is a virtue, her mother told her once when she was 7 years old.

Screw that.

The doors slid open carelessly, and Alex began to barge through the crowd, apologising but with such ignorance that it could actually be taken as an offence. To save face, Alex stared at the floor throughout the entire experience. She wouldn't be pinned as violent or impatient, this was an emergency for Christ's Sake! And then what felt like a brick wall slammed against her (or was she the one who ran into it?). Alex muttered her 'sorry'.

"Oi, watch it, or I'll break yer neck!" Came the response of the wall. Alex knew that voice, and she didn't need any amount of time to try and recognise it. Instead, she leapt up onto the wall, dragging it out of the crowd in a frenzied and warm hug. The wall instantly stiffened.

"You don't have to be sorry." Alex muffled into his familiar coat, hoping that he heard her. There was something wrong. It smelt different.

Gene Hunt had not returned her hug yet. She let go and looked into his tired eyes.

He did not look like the same man he had once been.