Thanks again to all my lovely reviewers :D It's thanks to you that I'm carrying on with this story so here is the next chapter and I really hope you like it!

"Mum?" Molly pushed open the door to Alex's room to see her mum sat up in bed, hugging the duvet around her legs, head resting on the tops of her knees. Molly could see the unspilled tears in her mum's eyes as Alex turned to face her, and the obvious pain on her face shocked her a little. "Mum?"

"Come here Mols", Alex whispered, throwing one arm out towards her and gesturing her daughter to join her on the bed. Molly let her mother gather her up in a tight hug, just glad to have her mum back, a dozen sarcastic comments about how she was far too old and mature to be seen hugging her mother dying on her lips as she felt Alex's body heave a little against her own with a sharp intake of breath.

He was wrong, Alex thought to herself as she clung onto Molly as tight as she dared. She was thinking back to one of the last mornings she had woken up in 1982, thinking of watching him on her telly, how she had moaned about him spoiling one of her childhood memories. He said I had been a fantastic mother, but I'm not. I've spent more than a year away from my daughter, my daughter who's father abandoned her, my daughter who needs me, and now I've got her back I can't stop thinking about what I've lost. I'm a terrible mum. A single tear ran down her cheek. "I love you Mols, you know that don't you?"

Molly pulled back from her mother's embrace, looking a little shocked. "What do you mean do I know you love me? Of course I know. What makes you say that?"

Alex felt an unexpected but familiar rush of love for her daughter and she placed a hand on the side of Molly's face, stroking her cheek with her thumb. I remember doing that to him once. When I was in that freezer and he rescued me. Like he always did. From that freezer, from Martin Summers, from . . . She turned her head to one side, unable to look her daughter in the eyes. I am a terrible mother.

"Mum? What is it? Please tell me what's wrong? You're starting to worry me?"

Alex couldn't help a little smile then. Her daughter was always so grown up. She used to joke with friends all the time that Molly had been born at about age 35. She forced the smile to stay in place a little longer as she shrugged. "Nothing's wrong Mols, I'm just tired." She knew she sounded lame and forced as she spoke but hoped her daughter wouldn't notice the sight quiver in her voice or the fresh batch of tears forming in her eyes. She should have known better.

"You always taught me not to lie," Molly admonished.

Alex sighed. I can't tell her the truth. She would hate me, and I wouldn't blame her. All the time she thought I was seconds away from death and facing the rest of her life without her parents, I was living a completely different life without her.

The tears did begin to fall now. "Molly, I really did miss you, you know?"

"I know mum, I know. I missed you too. So much. But you were only in a coma for two weeks, and while it was probably the worst time of my life, now you're back."

"Oh Mols, I was away for so much longer than that." Alex could see the confusion on her face.

"I don't understand."

Alex didn't know where to start but she knew she had to at least try and explain to her daughter. Not only did Molly deserve that, but Alex felt she had to tell someone. Someone who wasn't going to call for the men in the white van, lock her up and throw away the key.

She took a deep breath. "Do you remember Sam Tyler Mols?"

Molly nodded. "How could I forget? The nutter who killed himself and gave you loads of psychology stuff to put in your book."

"Yeah, well it turns out that I may just be a nutter in need of some therapy too." Molly still looked confused and Alex realised this was going to be harder than she thought. "Mols, after I was shot that day, I woke up."

"Yeah you did. Yesterday in the hospital."

"No Mols, that's not what I mean. I woke up before that."

"But . . ."

"I thought I was hallucinating at first", Alex continued, determined to carry on now that she had started. "You know, transferring my body and mind onto another spiritual plane while I was in a coma here." She paused. "But it felt so real Molly. I was in London, even in my station I think, but everything was so different. I was in the past."

"The past?" Molly interrupted.

Alex nodded. "1981."

"1981?"

"There's where I woke up yes, but I was there for over a year Mols. Over a year before I woke back up here. And I was so scared a lot of the time Molly. I tried so hard to get back to you but nothing I did worked. I even tried to . . ." The lump in her throat stopped her.

"What?"

"Your gran and granddad were there."

"You tried to save them?"

Alex just nodded. She doesn't need to know the whole story. Not yet anyway.

"You were a police officer?"

"Yes." She chuckled a little. "A Detective Inspector in 1981, any idea's how hard that was?"

"I suppose it must have been."

Alex couldn't tell if Molly thought she had actually lost her mind or if she was simply trying to take in everything she was saying.

Molly looked up to meet her mum's gaze again. "Did you meet anyone?"

It was the one question Alex neither wanted nor knew how to answer. She stuttered "Well yeah, of course I did Molly. There was a whole team of CID officers I worked with everyday."

Molly seemed hesitant but after a couple of beats she asked "Mum, who is Gene?"

Alex felt her mouth drop open and her breath leave her lungs. "He . . . he . . ."

"The doctors said that name was the only thing you said the whole time you were in the hospital. Who was he?"

Alex remembered what Martin Summers had said about her time in the hospital, how she had only muttered that mans name since she'd been shot. She was at a total loss. She didn't even know where to begin to explain.

"Mum?" Molly put a hand on her mums arm. "Please tell me."

Alex nodded. "He was my DCI." For a split second, Alex hoped that would be enough explanation for her daughter but she immediately realised there was no chance of that, looking at her expectant face. "He was in charge at the station." She smiled as she let herself think about the man she had come to admire and respect so much more than she'd ever have thought possible. "And . . . and he was horrible at first. All I wanted was to see you again Mols, and he showed up, all sexist and pig-headed and arrogant. The idea of spending more time with him than I had to was awful. I . . ."

Alex felt Molly give her arm a little squeeze. "Go on", she encouraged. "It's ok."

"It's not ok Mols, it's not. The longer I was there, the more time I spent with him, the better I got to know him. The way he uses sarcasm to cover up the fact he cares, the way he doesn't want to let anyone in not because he's cold or hard, but because he's scared of getting hurt and the way he does whatever it takes to catch a criminal, and even though his methods are quite often questionable his heart is most definitely in the right place."

"He sounds great", Molly told her. She had been watching the way her mum seemed to perk up since she had started talking about her DCI. The way her eyes had begun to shine and the etches of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth throughout her whole description.

"Yes, but that's not the point Molly." Her eyes darkened suddenly and Molly was surprised to see what looked like shame on her face. "I began to . . ." She couldn't say it. How do I tell my daughter I had begun to forget her. "I didn't know how to get home."

"Mum, you were in that place for over a year right?" At her mums nod, Molly continued. "It makes sense that you would begin to get attached to somewhere after being there for so long."

Alex looked up in surprise. "Attached?"

"You miss it don't you?"

The tears continued to flow down Alex's cheeks. "No Molly, I missed you."

"Mum, I know you did. That's not even in question but you spent a year there and you've been back here less than 24 hours."

Alex felt stupid now. Why am I being so ridiculous and pathetic? That world was an hallucination, it wasn't even real. Molly, my beautiful daughter, is sat right here in front of me and I'm talking about imaginary constructs like they're my life. "Molly, I'm so sorry. That world was an hallucination, a dream-state conjured up by my damaged mind. None of it matters now I'm back here. Now I've got my beautiful, intelligent, brave little girl back." She leant forward, enveloping Molly in another hug. "I'm so sorry. We'll never talk about it again, I promise."

"Mum, that's not what I want. I want to know all about it, what it was like."

"No, it's best we just forget Mols, trust me."

Molly decided to leave it for now. Pulling back from her mum and giving her her best smile, she asked "Breakfast?"

Pushing all thoughts of 1981/1982 to the back of her mind, she laughed at the expression on Molly's face and nodded, even though food was the last thing she thought she needed right now.

Ok, firstly I apologise for such a long chapter, but once I started I couldn't seem to stop lol :D

I know it's pretty boring at the moment, but please stick with it and I'll try to update soon!!

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