Thanks once again to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I really do appreciate you taking the time to tell me what you think.
A/N: Just a reminder that Chris and Shaz are still together in this story. Also un-beta'd so any mistakes are my own.
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
"DI Drake, I need to see DCI Hunt now", Alex flashed her badge at the nurse at the front desk of St Guy's hospital. Everything seemed surreal to her. Every since her phone call to Shaz, Alex had felt almost as if she were in a dream. She could see and hear things around her but she felt disconnected from her surroundings emotionally. Numb inside.
"I'm sorry but that won't be possible", the burly-looking nurse, identifies as Cath on her name badge, told her in no uncertain terms.
"Why not?" Alex was acting on auto-pilot. "I'm a senior police officer and a serious crime-"
"Calm down Inspector", Cath interrupted. "The reason you cannot see Mr Hunt is because he is still in theatre. The surgeon will be down to speak to you when the operation is complete."
"Theatre?" Alex forced the word out.
Cath nodded. "Yes, the bullet lodged in the top of your gentleman's thigh. The surgeons are working to remove it now."
"Bullet?" Alex realised she sounded ridiculous but it was suddenly all she could do to repeat what the nurse was telling her. Hearing the words said out loud by a woman in a uniform made the situation a hundred times more real and she tried to swallow down the lump in her throat.
"Yes..." Cath hesitated, suddenly unsure of herself. "You do know Mr Hunt was shot?"
Alex tried to force her brain into action but the numbness she felt seemed to be spreading to her vocal cords, the panic finally setting in and she could no longer form the words she wanted to say.
Cath was still eyeing her in confusion when Alex was saved by Shaz. "Ma'am, is that you?" she turned towards her voice. Shaz was walking towards her, balancing three plastic cups of coffee in her hands. "I came as soon as I got off the phone with you. We've been keeping an eye out for you, didn't think you'd be here just yet." She nodded her head in the direction of a long corridor to the side of the desk. "Come on, Chris and Ray are in the waiting room."
Upon walking into the surprisingly spacious but dingy waiting room, Alex saw Ray stood pacing in the far corner. Chain smoking if the fag in his mouth and the crushed pile of cigarette butts are anything to go by. Chris was sat hunched forward on one of the uncomfortable-looking plastic chairs on the opposite side of the room. Elbows resting on his knees and his hands fiddling with an empty coffee cup similar to the ones in Shaz's grasp, Alex could practically feel the nervous energy waving off him in waves.
"Ray?" she offered a cup and he took one with a small nod of thanks.
Chris looked up as Shaz approached and replaced the empty cup in his hand with one full of coffee. "Thanks Shaz."
She kissed him on the cheek. "No prob."
"Here you go Ma'am", Shaz offered the final cup, which had presumably been for herself, to the currently mute Alex. "Why don't you take a seat?" After guiding her senior officer to a chair Shaz slid into the one beside her. "I'm sure it won't be long now, the bullet only hit the fleshy part of the leg and I'm sure he'll be back to shouting at us at work in no time."
Alex didn't miss the irony that although she was the youngest and most inexperienced officer in the room, WPC Sharon Granger was currently acting like a mother hen, looking after her little baby chickens.
She wanted to believe her friend so much but something at the back of her mind was telling the more experienced police officer that something was wrong. A harmless bullet to the flesh doesn't take so long to remove. Something must have gone wrong.
Two hours later a surgeon still in his scrubs appeared at the door of the still solemn waiting room. Alex practically leapt from her seat as Ray, now sat on the other side of Chris, and nudged the DC who had long-since fallen asleep holding Shaz close to him.
"You're colleagues of Mr Hunt?"
Alex nodded as Ray answered "Yeah", and Chris muttered sleepily "Is he ok?"
"I'm afraid there were some complications during the procedure but Mr Hunt is stable for the moment."
Alex heard his words and felt the panic sweep over her again as her worst fears was being confirmed.
"Complications?" Ray asked the question Alex wanted to ask but couldn't even begin to form the words for.
"Due to the serious nature of the injury and the fact Mr Hunt has no next of kin listed in his medical files, we had to take him into theatre as quickly as possible to remove the bullet. Unfortunately, during the operation he had an allergic reaction to the general anaesthesia administered to him and consequently suffered anaphylactic shock. We've managed to stabilise his heart and blood pressure for the time being and successfully remove the bullet but he hasn't regained consciousness yet. I'm afraid he's in a coma and it's up to Mr Hunt to wake up now, there's nothing more we can do for him except monitor his condition and ensure he doesn't deteriorate."
Ray didn't miss a beat. "He's a tough bastard, he'll be fine."
Alex was a loss. She had listened to the doctor's explanation but now there was only one word resonating around in her mind. Coma. Gene's in a coma. It was just all too much to take in. She heard Shaz speak for the first time since the doctor had appeared and tuned back in.
"Can we see him?"
"I don't see why not", the doctor replied. "But only one visitor at a time for the moment please, at least until we see an improvement in his condition."
Turning round to face the others Alex was trying to put together what she wanted to ask when Shaz spoke again. "Why don't you go first Ma'am?"
Alex could have kissed her. She followed the doctor through the corridors of the hospital focusing all her concentration solely on successfully placing one foot in front of the other. To anyone else who happened to be walking around the wards Alex would have appeared perfectly relaxed and composed. Of course, they couldn't hear her heart beating furiously in her chest.
The doctor stopped slightly ahead of her outside a room she presumed must be Gene's. She smiled in thanks at him as he held open the door for her to pass into the room.
The scene in front of her knocked the breath from Alex's lungs. Gene was laid on his back, blankets pulled up over his lower torso, hands resting by his sides, skin pale and tubes and wires protruding from his body hooking him up to various machines that were helping to keep him alive.
The Manc Lion was officially de-clawed for the time being and the sight of it was enough to send all the emotion she'd been bottling up back through her body and she gasped with the force of it. Tears sprang to life and rolled uncontrollably down her cheeks as all the worry and fear she's been successfully pushing to the back of her mind fought its way to the surface.
Alex felt unsteady on her feet and moved to sit in the chair, placed beside the bed, before her knees could buckle from underneath her. She only hesitated for a moment before she picked up Gene's hand, shocked by the coolness of his skin. She quickly pushed away the unwelcome thought of how similar he looked to so many of the victims she had seen throughout her career, laid out on the autopsy table just as Gene was laid out on the hospital bed in front of her. Subconsciously, she began massaging his hand between both of hers, trying to rub some warmth back into his seemingly lifeless body.
"Gene..." she whispered between sobs. "Gene, I only just got back here. You can't... leave me. You have to wake up. I need you to wake up."
Despite the sombre situation she currently found herself in, Alex felt a little grin spread across her face as she thought about what Gene would say if he could see her now. Sat here by his bedside in old worn-out clothes, no make-up, red puffy eyes, clinging onto his hand practically begging him to wake up. She could almost hear that rough Northern accent of his as she played the words in her head. Come on Bolly, stop being such a soft, Southern nancy. Never mind all this touchy-feely bollocks, go and get some real police work done. People in a coma can't bloody hear ya anyway so what's the point? Go and catch the bastard that did this t'me.
"I will Gene, I promise." Realising she had no idea what the circumstances were surrounding Gene's shooting, she made a mental note to ask either Ray or Chris the first opportunity she got. "But first you have to wake up."
Alex decided on a different, manlier, approach. "Come on Gene, who's gonna keep Ray in line and insult Chris while teaching him about the finer things in life? And who's Shaz gonna make tea for and keep sugar importers globally in business?"
Her attempt to lighten the mood slightly failed as fresh tears streamed down her face. She brought his hand up to her forehead as she steadied her elbows on the bed. "And who's gonna rescue me Gene? Who's gonna pull me out of Chas Cale's freezer and rescue me from crazed lunatic officers from the future and ... who's gonna keep me fighting in this world Gene? I may have lost my daughter again for God knows how long and I need you Gene. I need my constant."
I realised whilst writing this chapter that there's no real plot going in the story so far is there, except my own little Galex musings, so I promise I'll try to include some criminals or something into the next chapter and also try and move on a little from all this angst xx