A/N Well here it is, the final chapter. I would like to say a huge thank you to DanaCartwright, HairMetalQueen-DI-Master-Tyler, zipmfxritt and Elliewellie for taking the time to review and encourage. Without them this wouldn't have happened. I hope it lives up to your expectations guys.

A/N2 Apologies to A2A fans. I did say in order for my story to work I would need to go off canon. Sorry but it is a LOM story.

A/N3 I should warn you this contains a kind of spoiler for A2A finale... although it doesn't really end this way... Only in my head.

Ok I'll shut up. Ta daaaaa!

"I can't go in there Gene." Alex said. She was trying not to cry. Ray, Shaz and Chris had already gone into the Railway Arms. It stood behind them, despite herself Drake felt it calling to her. She knew what this meant, it was time to go... she didn't want to go.

Keats had revealed everything to the others, he'd popped the bubble that the Guv had wound around them all, ripped open the office to reveal the stars beyond and now there was nothing left.

He looked at her sadly

"I can help you, you need me…" She tried.

"It's time."

"What about Annie? She went with Keats!" Alex said suddenly. "I can help you find her, her and Alice?"

Gene shook his head and pointed towards the pub.

It was a tableau, a reflection, a vision of the past like a grainy home movie. Another Gene stood in front of them his hands in the pockets of his Camel coat. From the shadows emerged a couple, the man carrying a little girl. Alex recognised them as Sam and Annie. Stopping Sam kissed his daughter.

"You be a good girl" He said as he handed her to his wife and pointed to Gene. "Never take any shit from this man."

"Shit." Alice said happily.

Taking off his jacket, Sam held it out to the Guv.

"What's this?" Gene asked looking at it.

"It's evidence."

"I don't want it!"

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"Take it."

"I don't want it."

"Just take the bloody thing or someone is gonna be asking for it, it's procedure!"

The Guv rolled his eyes before accepting the battered leather jacket. "You never bloody give up do you?"

Sam smiled. He held out his hand.

"Gene… it's been… insane."

The Guv took his hand and shook it, suddenly pulling the younger man forward into a bear hug.

"Don't come over all bloody Dorothy on me now." Sam said laughing as he returned the gesture.

"Piss off Tyler." Gene retorted as they separated.

Sam gave a crooked smile, there was sadness in it. "Alright then… I will."

Annie held on to her daughter as if her life depended on it. Alice on the other hand was reaching out for Gene.

"Cartwright?" The Guv said holding out his arms for the squirming child.

Annie glanced at Sam uncertainly.

"It's got to be this way. You know that." He said quietly. "You can feel it the same way I can, it's time to go."

She took a deep breath and handed the little girl into the care of DCI Hunt.

"You promised…" She started.

Hunt nodded. "With my life Annie luv."

Reaching up Annie kissed Gene on the cheek. "Thank you. I have this… for safe keeping…" She handed Gene a buff envelope which he slipped into his pocket. Finally she turned to Alice and kissing her said. "Remember we love you sweetheart." Alice gurgled happily.

"You ready?" Sam asked his wife.

She nodded, there were tears in her eyes. He took her hand as they turned and walked towards the bright lights of the Railway Arms. For one brief moment they stood in the glow and glanced back. Sam gave a single wave which the Guv returned. And then they were gone.

Alex blinked back her own tears. "You took Alice?"

"She couldn't go with them, not where they were going. She had a life to live. They knew that, they had to let her go."

"But how... if it was impossible...?"

"I don't know. Tyler liked to do the bloody impossible, smug bastard." Hunt said gruffly.

"Guv?"

Gene looked at his shoes before meeting her gaze. "Sometimes when there is that much love between two souls, the impossible happens."

Looking slightly awkward he reached into his pocket and handed her an envelope. It was battered and crinkled but she recognised it as the one given to Hunt for safe keeping.

"You may as well finish the story." He said.

Greedily ripping open the end Alex pulled out a bundle of papers. She recognised them as the missing pages from Annies diary. The date had been altered from 3rd January to the 2nd, it was written shakily, as if the author had been trying to write in a car.

2nd January 1980.

My heart was pounding like a base drum as I got into Keats' car.

"Ready?" he asked, there was almost something gleeful about it.

He smiled at Alice. "That's a nice bear. What's his name?"

My daughter just glared back at the DCI.

"This is Bo-bo isn't he Alice? We never go anywhere without Bo-bo." I said brightly.

"DI Tyler is a very lucky man to have such a family."

I smiled bashfully. "Where are we going?"

"To my office."

"We're going to London?" I asked unable to keep the uncertainty out of my voice.

He smiled, neither confirming or denying. "It won't take too long, and then everything will be as it should be."

I mentally tried to work out the route. "If we go along Parsons' lane we'll get to the motorway quicker." I said helpfully.

"Then that is the way we'll go." He started the car and pulled out.

I tried to make conversation, giving directions, telling Keats about various landmarks along the route, gabbling about places Sam and I had been as we passed them, or bits of history about this factory or that building. I just had to keep talking.

As we turned into Parsons' lane I squeezed Alice tighter. She had been glaring at the DCI over the top of Bo-bo ever since we got into the car. She looked up at me as if questioning the extra pressure. I was bracing myself.

Parsons' lane is dark, flanked either side by dense trees, it's also reasonably bendy so building up any kind of speed is difficult. Keats took his time. It was just as well because the car suddenly hit something in the road, it skidded sideways before coming to a juddering halt.

"What the…? Stay here." Keats got out of the car, I followed.

"I said stay in the car!" He almost screamed at me. He was panicked. "We don't know what it is… It could be Hunt..."

The figure was silhouetted against the street lamps as it bent to drag something out of the road.

"Stringer." I said automatically.

"Stinger." Sam corrected me as he walked slowly towards us, his face finally visible in the light. His jaw was set in grim determination.

All I wanted to do was run to him, throw my arms around him and never ever ever let him out of my sight again. But that wasn't part of the plan.

Sam knew that Keats would never give up until Gene Hunts' world was completely destroyed, he also knew that the DCI would use any means possible to manipulate Sam to that end. Because we knew... we knew what had happened to us, we couldn't stay, it was too dangerous, the time had come to move on.

"Annie was in on it?" Alex said in surprise.

"She was very good at undercover." Hunt replied. "Something very unsettling about a bird who can lie that well."

"But Sam had known, he had been here, he stayed here knowing all along..."

"He forgot, they all forget. As soon as the truth is revealed it's pub time."

Alex returned to the page.

"Tyler…?" Keats was dumfounded. "Sam…" Thinking fast he tried to turn it around.

"We found out that Hunt had failed, I was just taking Annie and the little girl into protective custody… until you were ready to bring Hunt down…"

"I will never be ready for that." Sam said beckoning to me. I edged my way around Keats, Alice tucked on my hip, Sams' jacket in the other hand.

"You read the file… you know what he's done… he lied to you, he lied to you all…"

Sam shrugged and made a face which could only be described as 'whatever'. "He never lied to me."

Sam was almost in my reach. Keats suddenly noticed my movement and lunged sideways grabbing my hair and pulling me towards him. Still holding Alice I could hardly fight back.

"Think of your family Tyler." Keats' other hand gripped Alices' arm. "This little girl, the little girl who was never meant to be. Hunt will take all of that away from you; he didn't want you to be a father…"

"But I am… I will always be her daddy." Sam replied just as Alice bit hard into Keats finger, he screamed in pain and let go of us both. "That's my girl." Sam smirked as I ran to him.

"You both ok?" He asked me. I nodded.

"You can't throw it all away…" Keats was desperate. "He's got to you Tyler, I understand… but we can make it better, you can still join us, we can still destroy this… abomination."

Keats almost staggered towards us, Sam stepped forward blocking his path, protecting us. The taller man was hunched, holding onto his hand. There was blood seeping through his fingers.

"I don't think so." Sam said as his fist connected with Keats face. The DCI crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

Sam turned to us, flexing his hand. "Let's get out of here."

Sam had parked the car a way along the lane. It wasn't a vehicle I recognised.

"Where did this come from?" I asked.

"I borrowed it." He said simply opening the door so I could put Alice inside.

"Borrowed it?"

"It was sitting there with the keys in… I borrowed it."

"Sam Tyler, you stole it!" I laughed. I felt giddy, we were together again. I was almost afraid to touch him in case he disappeared.

He came towards me placing his hands either side of my face, his thumb caressing my cheek. I trembled at his touch. "Are you really just going to stand there and lecture me?" He whispered.

I stared into his eyes for what seemed like an eternity, I wanted to memorise every part of him. Pulling me forward his nose rubbed against mine. By habit my arms snaked around his back as our lips met in a long, passionate kiss.

"God I've missed you." He nuzzled into my neck.

"I've missed you too."

"Gaddy." Said Alices' voice from Sam's pocket. He retrieved the transmitter and waved it.

"I loved the blow by blow account of the journey by the way, very Judith Chalmers."

It made me giggle, but then at that point anything would have done. I was so happy.

The conversations I'd had with that bear. Before Sam left he moved the transmitter inside Bo-bo so that he could stay in touch with what was going on. It was too dangerous to contact me, we couldn't be sure who was watching or listening, but knowing he could at least hear me was a comfort. To the outside world it would just be the ramblings of a grief stricken widow. In the car, I had wanted to make sure he knew exactly where we were going so he could intercept, hence the blow by blow account.

Sam shrugged on his jacket, grinning happily. "That's better; I feel more like me now."

Stroking the scuffed lapel I smiled. Another one of Sams' ideas. When Gene came to tell me the news, if he gave me Sams' jacket then I would know that he was ok, even 'this' leather jackets could not survive a car fire.

"What did you feel like before?" I asked.

"Without you… a lost soul." He kissed my nose. "Ready?"

I took a deep breath. "Not really, but as ready as I'm going to get."

Alex flipped over the paper. "That's it… there's no more!"

"You've already seen the end Bolly, now it's your turn."

Resigned, Drake turned to walk away and stopped. "It wasn't your fault you know." She said quietly.

"What wasn't?"

"You couldn't prevent me being shot... in 2008, there was nothing you could have done." She turned back and looked him in the eye.

Hunt sighed and shook his head. "Age caught up with me."

"The Gene Genie? Never!"

He gave a slight smile.

"You brought me here. So you could protect me, and you did. Thank you."

"Would have been a sight bloody easier if you'd become a soddin' hairdresser or something." Gene sniped.

Alex placed her hands either side of his head and kissed him gently. "Goodbye Guv."

Gene Hunt watched her walk towards the Railway arms as he had watched so many others. He still had a job to do, but sometimes it was bloody hard.

She stopped and waved before opening the door.

"Goodbye Alice." He said, before sighing and turning back into the night.

A/N Finally. Thank you for reading. Your thoughts would be appreciated, it helps to improve my writing. So love it or hate it? Thanks.