"She's breathing… I've got a pulse…"

Alex thought for a second that she was back in 1982, hearing the voices of paramedics when they found her. Then she remembered the last few seconds for which she had been conscious and what had happened.

"We crashed…" she whispered, the realisation dawning on her. She struggled to sit up, opening her eyes and seeing the face of a paramedic above her and the sides of the crashed Quattro around her.

"Gene…" she murmured, turning her head as one of the paramedics started talking to her. "Gene… is he OK?"

"Sorry, madam?"

"Gene- where is he? Is he alright?"

"The driver of the car's been taken into the ambulance, madam. He'll be fine as soon as we've got him to the hospital."

Alex lay still while they were getting her out, letting them strap her onto a spinal board in case she had any back injuries and turning to see the other ambulance as she was taken to hers. Gene was lying in the back, still and silent, also on a spinal board, with blood trickling down his forehead and oozing into his hair. Someone was holding a cloth to the cut and someone else injected Gene's wrist as Alex was taken away from him, into the back of the ambulance.

The ride was hell, and not only because Alex's arm was sore and cut from the crash, although that seemed to be the only thing that was wrong with her. It was mainly because she was worried about Gene, and worried about the person who had driven them off the road- where were they now? Did they know that Gene and Alex had survived? Did they know where they were and what was happening to them? So many questions, and no answers… Alex had no idea where to start on his identity, either. He might be someone from 1983, such as the infamous Jim Keats, or he might be someone else, but he was definitely male and he was definitely not friendly. She struggled to think who might have decided to do this to them, and who might want to make Gene pay, but came up with a blank and settled back into thinking about Gene and hoping he was OK.

"'O would yer like to see, madam?"

The young Scottish girl at the main desk in the Royal London Hospital squinted at Alex as she typed into a computer furiously, taking in Alex's bandaged arm in its sling and her pale face under her rumpled hair.

"Gene Hunt, he was admitted with me. We were travelling together when we crashed."

"Is 'e family, love?"

"No, he's- he's my partner."

Alex had no idea if he would say the same, but she needed to see him so she said it anyway. The Scottish girl nodded.

"OK. Yer go down the corridor there, and follo' the signs for Distinction Ward. Go in and inter the third room, then yer ask for him again, OK?"

"Yes. OK. Thank you."

Alex turned away quickly, giving the girl a tremulous smile and not letting her see the moisture that had formed in her eyes.

The walk helped Alex clear her mind a little, and she wondered if she was still in a coma in her world, in a hospital just like this, maybe her world's equivalent of this very hospital. She shuddered at the beep of machines all round, and wondered if Gene would have machines monitoring him, and if he would be awake now.

"Gene Hunt," she said to the young man who greeted her in the room she'd been told to go into, and he nodded and directed her through.

Gene didn't have any machines on him; he was lying in a slight sitting position on a stark white hospital bed, an IV drip in his right arm and his left in a splint. His head was bandaged where it had been bleeding, and his skin was almost as white as the bandage over it; Alex shuddered again when she saw him, her hand travelling to her face and smudging her lipstick as she gently covered her mouth with shock. To see the Manc Lion lying motionless and bandaged on a hospital bed was beyond anything she had thought would happen. It was all her nightmares rolled into one, losing Gene, and she had come so close today; she could only thank her lucky stars he hadn't died.

"Gene?" she whispered, walking over softly and sitting down next to him, half on the bed and half on the chair next to it. He murmured something and made to open his eyes.

"Ssh, it's OK. Don't strain yourself."

He whispered something that sounded suspiciously like "don't patronise me, Bolls" and opened his eyes properly, slivers of his vivid blue meeting her worried green.

"Oh, Gene…"

Alex suddenly dissolved into sobbing, letting her hair fall into her eyes and reaching down to hug him. She felt his right hand gently pat her back and his harsh intake of breath when she squeezed him too hard and quickly sat back up, putting her hand on his warm cheek and stroking it tenderly, certain that she had never dreamed of anything like this. He closed his eyes again at her touch and she saw a tear collect at the side of his eye before he hurriedly blinked it back.

"Are you in pain?"

He shook his head, but when she put her hand on his chest he sucked his breath in hard. The Lion had been mauled and it was all too obvious in the pain in his eyes.

"Gene…"

"That's my name, don't bloody wear it out, woman," Gene muttered, looking away so that she wouldn't see the pain he was feeling keenly in his expression and his stormy blue irises. Alex called through and asked a nurse for some morphine.

"This'll help," she told him as the nurse injected his arm with the morphine. It made the already drowsy Gene sleepier yet, but it took the pain away as well and meant that Alex could relay her news about his injuries and the Quattro's state to him. The car could be repaired by a decent mechanic, although it would take a while to be roadworthy again, and Alex had no qualms about footing the bill; it was Gene who would be harder to repair.

"You've got injuries to your left arm, it's not broken but it's not good either so it's in a splint for the time being, and they said your torso was crushed, so you have a couple of broken ribs from that. Your head was cut by some glass from the windscreen. Apart from that, you're OK; it's remarkable, really, the paramedics at the scene said it was a wonder you weren't killed."

"And you, Bolls?" he asked, motioning briefly to her bandaged arm. She shrugged with her opposite shoulder.

"It's fine. Just a cut and a bit of soreness, it'll be OK in a couple of days."

"How long do I have to stay here? I don't need to stay for long."

"They said about a week, Guv. You're still in a lot of pain, and they need to keep you in to check for any after-effects of your injuries and to make sure they didn't miss anything. Oh come on Gene, it's not that bad; would you rather die of internal bleeding because they missed it or spend a couple more days in hospital? I know which one I'd choose."

"Can I die here?" Gene murmured, looking up at her. She shrugged again.

"You seem pretty mortal to me," she replied, pointing to his injuries. He nodded in agreement and turned as a nurse walked in and told Alex she had to leave.

"Visiting time's over, I'm sorry madam," she said quietly, directing Alex to the door and closing the curtains around Gene's bed. Alex crept back and smiled as she saw that as soon as she had left his sight, Gene had fallen asleep, his right hand resting gently on his stomach and his head tilted to one side, looking peaceful once again, like he had been that morning. It seemed so long ago now, to Alex, that she had woken up with a hangover and a furry mouth and seen Gene Hunt asleep on the chair next to her bed, watching over her, as always, and looking more tranquil than she had ever seen him.

"I'll come back this evening, Guv," she murmured, putting her hand on his and smiling as he moved it away slightly, trying to keep up the tough man façade but not moving it again as she tucked her hand into his. She moved her head closer still to his and whispered into his ear.

"I love you, Gene. I love you, so please get better for me."

He didn't reply, but his mouth crinkled into a rare smile and she knew he had heard and liked what he had heard.

Alex collapsed through her front door and rushed through into the lounge, falling straight onto the sofa and gasping for breath as she buried her head in the cushions, trying to get the image of Gene's pain-filled eyes out of her head and instead focusing on his smile when she had told him she loved him. It had been faint, but it had been there and it had been genuine.

Alex played on the computer, something she hadn't done for years, to distract herself for the rest of the night. She figured out how to boot up the computer (she hadn't done it for a while now, so took a while to re-adjust to the technology) and started up The Sims 2 to create a little family, herself and Gene and Molly, and used the code she remembered Molly using to give them more money to move into a huge house with fancy furnishing. It seemed fake, unreal, as she did it, so instead she created her flat back in 1983 as closely as she could, and moved them in there, adding a little bedroom for Molly. She smiled as the Sim Gene turned on the TV and started cheering on the wrestling or football or whatever sport it was that was on, remembering him cheering on football tournaments back in CID, although his version of "cheering on" had actually been remarks such as "Get the ball, for God's sake, you nancy poofter!" and "You could easily have scored then, you French bloody bender!" Making a mental note to tell him that homophobia was not tolerated in 2000's Britain, Alex shut the computer down and made herself a snack.

Time seemed to pass in slow motion until Alex was calling a taxi to take her to the hospital for evening visiting time. The journey seemed to take longer than usual as well, but it wasn't as unbearable as being at home alone had been; at least she was getting closer to Gene, and that helped.

"How is he?" Alex asked a nurse as she headed in. The nurse smiled.

"Apart from being a little deprived of nicotine, he's fine. For a smoker, his lungs are remarkably stable and clean; has he only taken it up recently?"

"He's been smoking for thirty plus years," Alex replied, her eyebrows rising. The nurse looked impressed.

"You tell him he's one lucky bastard, then. The number of people who come in here with lungs clogged with filth from smoking and die because of that awful habit… it's almost beyond belief."

Alex smiled.

"There are a lot of things about Gene Hunt that are beyond belief."

With those words, she headed in to see Gene.

A/N: I hope those people who were hanging on since the last cliffhanger aren't too annoyed with me about it… and I hope you like me again for saving the Quattro... and I hope you enjoyed this as well! Thanks to my awesome beta happyeverafter72 :) Jazzola :)