Sorry it's been quite a while, but this has been fighting since the moment I typed the first word :( Hope you like it, 'cause it was seriously hard to write...
Disclaimer: ?Yhw

Vince quickly snatched his hand away as soon as he'd knocked. His palms became clammy and his throat seemed to have constricted as soon as he'd touched the door. He looked behind to see Howard still stood there, with a sympathetic smile on his face, and gently stroked the smaller man's hand before nodding towards the door, which had just started to open.

Swallowing, Vince turned around, and slowly raised his glance from off the floor and into the eyes of the gentle looking old woman who answered. Her eyes widened as both she and Vince stared at each other,

"V…Vince? This is… what?" Vince bit his lip, in all honesty not expecting Hannah to answer to the door. Howard looked extremely confused, so Vince quickly said,

"Howard, Hannah. Hannah, this is Howard, remember when I told you about him?" He didn't expect her to remember; it was over 30 years ago, but to his great surprise she nodded, her mouth gaping open. Vince was about to say more when he heard a shout from inside the house,

"Who is it?" Vince could pick out the guv's voice easily, and looked up into Hannah's eyes, to see what she would do.

"In a minute!" She shouted through, and pulled the door so it was slightly ajar. She looked Vince up and down,

"Can you actually remember me?" Vince asked, his voice shaking. He slid his hand into Howard's, who squeezed back, tightly. The fact that all of what Vince had been saying was true was unbelievable. He'd have to ask Naboo later.

"Hannah, listen. When I met you, I was in a coma. I know it's hard to believe, but I'm from this time now. I only just got out of the coma now, so that must be when I 'died'. Do you believe me?" The woman looked at him with awe flowing from her eyes.

"I do" Vince and Howard's eyes both bulged impressively. How had she accepted that so easily?

"You… you do?" Vince asked hesitantly,

"Oh yes," She replied, simply," I mean, it's a shock, but I definitely met you back then, and you look no different. And you did tell Annie you were in a coma"

"Annie?" Howard questioned, but it was unheard over the squeal Vince gave,

"Annie! You talked to her? Is she ok? Where is she?" Hannah patted his arm and said,

"Maybe you should come in, Gene will be so happy" Vince raised his eyebrows.

"I really don't think so. He didn't really like me all that much" Hannah tapped him on the nose gently,

"Don't be silly. He adored you. Who couldn't? You were adorable," Howard nodded in agreement, "He went to pieces when you died, it took all of my strength not to stop the marriage falling apart" Vince looked down at his feet, a small blush covering his face,

"Sorry" He muttered. All he got was a tut and Hannah's hand grasped his arm, pulling him inside. He quickly glanced back and saw Howard, still holding his hand, following with a scared look on his face. From all that Vince had said or written down, Gene sounded like a frightening person. And what if he had a heart attack or something?

Vince had similar thoughts rushing through his head. What if he killed the guv? Or what if he had a stroke because Vince was engaged to a man? He squeezed Howard's hand tighter and walked behind Hannah through to the living room,

"Gene, there's a visitor for you" Hannah announced, pulling Vince through, releasing his hold on Howard as he stumbled in.

The guv looked up from the paper he had been reading and his mouth dropped open. He glanced from Vince to his wife and back again. His eyes were so wide they challenged the size of Vince's, who stuttered nervously,

"I... hi, Gene, I... erm, sorry about not visiting earlier... I..." He stopped as Gene got up and walked towards him slowly. Then it suddenly all went black.

--

"...had to hit him? What was the point? He just came out of a coma and you punch him!" Vince came round to a sea of voices. It was quite blurry for a while, and no one noticed he was awake until he coughed a bit and heaved himself up. Immediately he was pushed back down to where he had lying on the sofa by Howard's gentle hands, who muttered,

"Just relax little man. You alright?" Vince nodded but persevered until he was sat up, and glared over at Gene, who looked rather bashful. He was prodded in the side by Hannah, so he jumped slightly and said,

"Sorry about that Noir... so er... you were in a coma?" Vince looked over at Howard, who just shrugged, and glanced back, shrugging also, with a slightly apologetic face. Gene let out a long, slow breath and said shakily,

"That's... I. Fuckin' unbelievable. So, you didn't die?"

"Do I look dead?" He asked, grinning slightly, trying to skip the whole 'I don't believe you and I'm going to punch you' thing again. Gene seemed to know what he was doing and turned slightly red,

"I had every right to hit you Noir, you 'die' on me, then you come to my house, 30 years later, and don't expect a beating? What even possessed you to come here?" Vince pointed at Howard, who blushed and said, rather quietly,

"I didn't really believe him, I thought it was just an over-active imagination" Gene cocked a thumb in his direction,

"So who's this tosser?" Hannah rolled her eyes and did nothing to stop Vince kicking her husband as hard as possible,

"Don't you dare insult him! He's been behind me every step of the way, and I..." He hesitated, knowing precisely the guv's reaction. He glanced over guiltily at Howard, who seemed mildly hurt that Vince wouldn't admit to loving him. This seemed to make his mind up and he took a deep breathing, saying,

"I love him. And... we're getting married" He added the end bit quickly, killing two birds with one stone. Gene turned an odd purple colour, and muttered,

"I guessed. Don't look so surprised," He grumbled, at seeing Vince's face, "The way you waltzed in every morning with bizarre clothes on, talking to the women about how much your shoes cost and where to buy the best hairspray..." He tailed off, rolling his eyes. Vince shrugged, but decided not to pursue it and changed the conversation,

"Y'know, I keep wanting to call you 'guv', but you're not my boss anymore, so I'm gonna have to come up with a better nickname..."

"Don't you even think about it you girl," Gene growled, "I don't bloody well care if you call me guv, 'cause I am not trusting you to come up with a good one" Everyone there rolled their eyes, and Howard took a quick glance at his watch,

"Erm Vince, I told Naboo we'd be in soon, and he wanted to come and see how you were... and I can tell by your face you've got a headache, so we should go" Vince smiled tiredly, loving how Howard could tell instantly if something was bothering him. However, he wasn't finished,

"Can we just have another couple of minutes? I need to know more! What happened after I died? Did I have a nice funeral? Did anyone even go? Hows Annie? Who replaced me? I..." He stopped at the sight of Gene's face.

"How did you actually die Vince?" Howard asked, having not been told,

"He got shot," Gene grumbled, "By..."

"My dad," Vince interrupted glumly. Everyone stared, which made him automatically put up defence, "I did go back in time, remember?" Everyone just seemed to accept this and nodded. "Anyway, what happened after?" He asked, eager to know.

"We got your funeral arranged," Gene explained, "Tried to contact any relatives, but obviously we couldn't find any But everyone at the station came, and Annie said that she was going to get your funeral outfit sorted, so you ended up being buried in some weird looking boots that cowboys wear and a weird green top she found in the back of your wardrobe with white lightning strikes down it," He rolled his eyes, showing too clearly what he thought of the outfit,

"Then everyone just sorta... moved on I suppose"

"'Cept you," Vince whispered. Gene blanched but quickly recovered and said,

"I was right as rain after a couple of weeks!" He retorted, "Anyway, we never got another DI. Never got any offers and no one volunteered to be promoted. 'S'like they respected that it was still your position"

Vince was quiet for a couple of minutes before Howard nudged him slightly,

"You need some rest" He said forcefully, before standing up and saying,

"I don't really know what to say. You've kind of convinced Vince hasn't gone mad," He shot a quick smile at Vince, who eagerly returned it and stood up as well,

"I don't know what to say either. I... is it wrong to say I'm glad you missed me?" To his surprise, Gene shook his head, as Hannah said,

"Goodbye then Vince, please keep in touch" He smiled widely and said,

"How about you come to the wedding?" He asked hopefully, looking from both Gene to Hannah. The latter squealed happily and flung her arms round him,

"We'd love to, just send the invite and we'll be there" Vince grinned and hugged her back. Finally, he turned to Gene and, knowing what would happen if he tired to do anything else, stuck out his hand to shake the guv's. However, Gene stepped forward and gave him a rough hug before quickly disappearing into the kitchen and saying,

"Look after yourself Vince"

--

When they were out of the house and driving back home, Vince gave Howard a watery smile,

"I can't believe they remember me" Howard glanced sideways, whilst still keeping his attention on the road,

"Gene punched you" He reminded the smaller man, who shrugged and said,

"They still remembered me though," Before shutting up and and asking, "D'you think Gene'll come? To the wedding I mean"

"Of course he will. I can always tell how other people feel about you, and I could tell that he looked at you like a son or something. And, I could tell how proud he was of you". Vince nodded, before twisting in his seat, so that he could lean against Howard, without his legs complaining. However, the throbbing of his head made a bizarre lullaby, and was soon sleeping, a soft grin on his face.

Review? Pleasem? And I need help with the wedding song :( Y'know how a couple always has a first dance, like a slowdance? I got two I'm thinking about, but maybe you have any suggestions? xx