The next morning Sarah and Keats were in the office by 8am. He watched as she cleared her desk; she had few belongings and it was a quick job.
Keats was almost glowing with pleasure. By the time she had woken up that morning he was already showered, shaved and dressed, ready to leave. She looked into his eyes, but she could no longer see the man she had come to know the night before. She and James had made love and lay in each other's arms talking all night, dropping off just as the sun began to rise. She had been certain the man she had read about in those files still existed, and she had been right. Maybe she could reach him again? Once they were in D&C maybe she could try to save him?
"Ready?" Keats smiled. "You have a busy day ahead of you; best get started nice and early."
"I don't think so, Jimbo," Gene pushed open the door from his office and strolled out. "Changed my mind. My DI is not up for transfer. Not today, not ever."
"Oh, I don't think so Hunt," Keats drew himself up to his full height. "It's done, signed off."
"Well I think that form might have accidently fallen into my shredder," Gene brought himself face to face with Keats. "Oopsie daisy."
"Sarah, we're leaving," Keats stared into Gene's eyes.
"Jenkins, sit your arse down, you're staying put," Gene countered.
"Get out of my way, Hunt," Keats snarled.
Out of nowhere Gene head-butted him and he reeled backwards. "How does that feel, Jimbo?" Gene launched himself at Keats and, taken by surprise, Keats fell to the floor. Hunt was on him immediately and the two rolled around, exchanging blows.
"Stop it!" Sarah screamed.
Officers began to drift into the room, alerted by the noise. They watched as the two DCIs tore into each other, knocking desks and chairs flying. The crowd began to react, cheering for Gene, willing him on to beat Keats into a bloody pulp. Gene had the upper hand, and was atop of Keats, straddling him when he was aware that the room had gone deathly silent. By the side of his head, he heard a click. He looked up to see Sarah pointing a gun directly at him.
"I said, stop it," she spoke slowly, quietly. "Get off him."
"Sarah…"
"Get off him Hunt or I swear I will shoot you right now."
He regarded her; her hand was not shaking, not as much as a tremor. She meant every word. Slowly, he pulled himself up and backed away, with his hands up. Sarah went straight to Keats to check his injuries, the gun still trained on Gene. Out of the corner of his eye he saw an officer moving to disarm her, he shook his head and the officer stepped back.
"How dare you?" She stood and faced Gene, the gun still levelled at him. "How dare you? The great Gene Hunt? The Gene Genie? Always there to help people along, to help them sort themselves out? Yeah? Well only if he feels like it. Only if it's not too much of a stretch, too much of a bother."
"Sarah," Gene began. "I only just remembered who he is."
"Oh really?" She spat. "Well good for you. He has to live with what you did to him, forever. You abandoned him to D&C. Like you've abandoned me. Everything that has happened, it's all on your head."
Behind her Keats began pulling himself up. He was bloodied and battered and for a second Gene thought he caught a glimpse of the boy that he had failed all those years ago.
"Lean on me, James," Sarah put her arm around him.
"I'm sorry," Gene said. "I hadn't been here long myself. I was a kid in a grown man's body. A child with a DCI badge and I didn't know what I was doing. And I couldn't bear to be challenged. I failed. I'm sorry."
Keats sneered at him. "I should thank you, Hunt. You showed me the truth. You showed me what a fraud you are. Now she knows you're a fake. You're nothing. We're going to take you apart."
"Stay," Gene appealed. "We can find a way to set this right."
"Come on," Keats leaned heavily on Sarah as they made their way to the door.
"Sarah!" Gene called. "Whatever you think he is, the man that walked into my office over fifty years ago is dead. He's not there anymore. You can't save him."
"Don't follow me," she replied. "Don't try to stop me, just leave us alone."
Gene watched as she helped the broken form of Jim Keats through the doors, down the corridor and out of sight. He looked around at his team, staring back at him, confused. He turned away from them and headed back to his office.
"Don't you lot have a bleedin' arsonist to catch?"
