The plod car was not elegant, or well-engineered, or hardy, nor did it have any of the splendour of Gene's beloved Quattro, but it was the car that was driving him to his destruction as he neared the secluded spot the CID gang had chosen for him to die in, the graveyard where Viv had been buried and he had spent hours after the funeral before returning to CID, mourning, murmuring his apologies, not even managing to stop short of tears. Gene took a sharp breath in as he remembered that day, the hot tears pouring down his cheeks a sharp contrast to the cool air and the iciness that he was feeling inside, the icicle that he would call his heart lodged uncomfortably between the stomach that could barely hold its contents as he crouched alone on the dew-laden grass, allowing the odd sob to escape from his chapped lips but holding himself in as he had always done for most of the time. What would his team have said, had they seen their Guv, crouched forlornly in front of the fresh grave, his hands resting on his face, trying to hide the tears that splashed from his sorrow-ridden eyes? The Manc Lion didn't cry. But he did feel sorrow and grief, and they knew that.
"We're 'ere, Guv," Ray said quietly as they drew up outside the graveyard entrance. Gene swallowed hard, one reason for that being that his throat was roughened with the sleep he had managed to get in the back of the car, the other being what he had to do now that they had arrived, which didn't go unnoticed by the people watching him, and nodded, which aggravated his throbbing head. He bit back his groan of pain and slid out of the car, the gun pressing against his waist coldly, a stark reminder of what he had to do.
"You can turn back now if you want," Annie said quietly as she closed the door, her eyes fixed on Gene's. He shook his head slightly, catching her eye and letting her see the determination behind his stormy blue irises, and began striding towards the clearing Ray and Chris and Shaz were heading to, secluded and private, the ideal place. Sam and Annie followed closely behind, and the sound of their feet against the brittle leaves on the floor was reassuring and terrifying at the same time. The gun knocked against his leg as he walked, and his resolve almost broke at the feel of the cold, unforgiving barrel on his warm, alive skin.
"C'mon, Guv, ge' i' over with," Chris said as Gene took the gun out and pushed the bullet in. My thoughts exactly, Wonder Chris, Gene thought as Chris positioned himself behind him with Ray, ready to catch Gene after the shot. Sam and Annie moved forwards as well, Sam looking Gene in the eyes as he took Annie's hand and spoke in a low voice.
"I know what it's like, Guv. I killed myself to get back to this place, I threw myself off the top of a building. It's not pleasant, but you just have to pull that trigger and you're back to Alex." He paused. "Alex Drake, by any chance?"
Gene nodded, wondering where this was going. Sam's eyes widened and he gave a chuckle.
"Alex Drake. I knew her in 2006," he explained, seeing the look on Gene's face. "She was collecting data from colleagues who had been through traumas like mine. I sent her a tape of me talking about being here, in this world, and she was going to write a book about it. I don't know if she ever did or if she had her accident before she managed to write it, but she might have done."
Gene managed a smile.
"You go back to her, Guv," Sam said softly. "Just pull the trigger and you'll be with her. What did you always say to me? "The Gene Genie goes where he's needed." Well, Alex needs you. So go to her."
Ray positioned himself more carefully as Gene held the pistol he knew so well to his own temple, and his finger found the trigger as he did so. He closed his eyes, not wanting the team to have to do that for him on his corpse, and took this body's last breath.
The explosive sound echoed round the clearing as Gene fell limply into the waiting arms of his five colleagues, blood trickling down his forehead and pooling in the shell of his ear, the gun dropping from his limp fingers and thumping onto the grass, the blunt sound a reminder of the act just committed by the gun's former owner.
The group gently laid their DCI's corpse onto the grass and stood back, taking in the vacant, almost peaceful expression on his face, the bloody, glistening wound on his temple, his limp body. Ray cleared his throat gruffly and turned away, not wanting the others to see the look in his eyes. Secretly he had been hoping that maybe Gene would follow them to the Railway Arms, but no, he had to go, the man Ray had admired and modelled himself on had left him and vanished.
"He'll be there one day," he reminded himself silently, turning back as Sam picked up a spade and passed another to Chris. Together they began digging, just to the side of Gene's body, giving him space and respecting him somehow just by keeping that little distance away from him. Annie, Shaz and Ray stood and watched, eyes flicking between the grave and Gene's limp form, all silent.
"Shouldn' 'e 'ave an 'eadstone or somethin'?" Ray asked after a while. Sam paused, flicking a little hair out of his eyes (Annie had wanted him to grow it out), thinking over Ray's suggestion.
"We'll get that sorted tomorrow. For now we just bury him."
Ray acknowledged the decision with a nod and bent down to pick up Gene's upper body as Chris stood back from the finished grave, assessing the size and deciding it was big enough. Gene had lost much of his characteristic beer belly in hospital, since he had been on a drip.
"Everyone ge' an 'old on 'im."
Annie and Shaz moved forwards as one, each taking a leg, and Chris gripped the opposite shoulder to Ray as Sam put a hand under Gene's head, not wanting it to loll as he was placed in his final resting place in this world, wanting the lowering of his cooling body to be a dignified matter, something Gene would be approving of if he was looking on.
"One… two… three…"
Gently, the group bent as one and placed Gene gently into the grave, arranging his body so that he was lying in a casually spread position, his legs crossed at the ankles, hands resting on his stomach, head slightly propped up on a ridge of earth deliberately left at the bottom of the grave. Standing back, the ex-police officers nodded at each other and began shifting the earth back into the grave, sticking a spade where the headstone would be so they knew where to place it when they came back. Annie gave a little sob as the ugly sound of earth on flesh echoed round the clearing and Chris wiped over his face with his dirty sleeve as he carried on working, burying Gene with all the dignity he deserved, knowing Gene would rather it was his own team than some faceless, nameless people he had never known.
Their work done eventually, the group looked round at each other, and quietly retreated as one, back to the sanctuary of the pub and their own thoughts.
Jolted from a quick doze by something sounding next to her, Alex opened her eyes, expecting someone to be walking past her to someone else in the ward or for it to be a nurse checking something on Gene's life support. Her bleary eyes noted movement at the door, and she lay back again, thinking that was it, trying to go back to sleep in the hope that she would see Gene again, whether in her dreams or for real.
"Sleeping well, Bolls?" said a familiar voice.
Reluctant to open her eyes, Alex simply remained as she was.
"Oi, Bollinger-Knickers, I'm righ' next t' you and I've jus' made a miraculous bloody recovery, the leas' you could do is open your eyes."
Alex started, her eyes flying open. Gene was watching her from the bed, the ventilator lying next to him, having been eased from his throat a second before. The marks from the plasters holding it in place were still visible on his cheeks and mouth, and a light dusting of stubble made him look rugged and rough, and the tubes still attached to his body gave an extra impression of illness, but his eyes were bright and fixed on hers.
"GENE!" Alex shrieked, her face turning into one huge smile, and she threw herself forwards and hugged him, pulling him as close as she possibly could, pressing her lips to his and running her hands through his hair, almost unable to believe that he had come back and brought her world with him. Gene managed to fend her off slightly, half-laughing, half-gasping.
"Careful, Bolls, I'm no' bloody Iron Man, I'm still sore!"
"Sorry," Alex whispered, the smile still plastered onto her face, pressing her lips to his again. He responded fervently, sliding his tongue into her mouth and beginning to caress her tongue, drawing a moan of pleasure from her.
"Mmm…" she murmured into his mouth, wondering how, even after two days of being unconscious and having a plastic ventilator tube in his mouth, he could taste so delicious. Gene smiled against her lips, his hands bringing her closer, gentle and eager at the same time.
"Mr Hunt!"
Gene broke off mid-kiss, turning as a doctor hurried over and took in the scene, his own face stretched into a relieved and wonder-filled smile, hardly able to take in what he was seeing.
"Welcome back!"
Gene grinned, the first genuine grin Alex had seen from him in what felt like such a long time now, and proffered his wrist to the doctor so that he could take a drip out from it, wincing as the metal slid out of his flesh. Alex slid up to sit on the bed next to him, a smile still adorning her face, but vanishing as she suddenly recalled Gene's words to her when she had seen him in her sleep.
"Gene… did you… did you kill yourself?"
He nodded.
"I told you I 'ad to kill meself to ge' back to you, an' I did. Raymondo flashed 'is badge at some doctors after I woke up, an' 'e go' a plod car to take me to the graveyard where Viv's buried. Fell asleep in the car, tha' was when I talked to you. Then we go' there an' Ray gave me my gun, I shot meself in the 'ead. My temple." His finger pinpointed the site for Alex's eyes, and she winced at the thought, the sound of herself being shot seeming to reverberate in her ears. "They were le' ou' o' the Railway Arms when Nelson 'eard I was in 'ospital. They'll 'ave gone back now, I 'ope. They said they would."
"Then they will have, they keep their promises to their Guv," Alex said quietly. Gene nodded his agreement.
"Wha' was 'appening 'ere? Did anyone call you?"
Alex shook her head.
"Nothing's happened, it was just you lying in that hospital and me sitting here day and night waiting for you to wake up. I'm so glad you're back… I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come back."
Gene caressed her hair gently, reading the emotions in her eyes.
"Ssh, Alex, sweetheart, I'm here now." Inside he wondered how long it had been since he had called anyone "sweetheart".
He loved the casual intimacy. He loved the funny stories and late nights that he had with Alex Drake. And, as she gently tidied his hair and tucked her hand into his, he knew that he loved her.
"Are you coming?"
Gene jogged up towards the exit of the hospital, having loitered a while looking at the chocolate bars and finally selected a KitKat Chunky, wondering what it would be like. They certainly hadn't been around in 1983.
"Comin', comin'. Sorry, Bolls."
Alex smiled at him and jangled his keys in front of his eyes, snatching them away as he tried to grab at them.
"Uh uh. I'm driving, you're still high on medication."
Gene grumbled, but accepted the sense in her words and followed her out of the hospital.
"I parked over here," Alex told him, leading him towards the east parking bay, past a little outcrop of the hospital.
Alex didn't even have time to scream before a hand clapped itself and a handkerchief smelling of evil, bitter chemicals over her mouth and she slipped into unconsciousness, Gene sinking down next to her, his faint groan the last thing she heard before her world was blackness and blankness.
A/N: Am I cruel or what? XD Sorry, guys! More to come soon, I hope. Jazzola :)
