I'm FINALLY updating this story after such a long time. The end of series 3 left me with no inclination to write tbh and I kinda gave up for a while. Decided to try and carry on again now and see what happens.
Once again a huge thank-you to anyone who reviewed – it does mean a lot and I can't thank-you enough for sticking with this story.
A/N – Series 3 will have NO bearing whatsoever on this story and just a reminder that it takes place after 2.8.
I know I said I would introduce more plot to this story and that will be coming up in a couple of chapter's time, once the characters have sorted themselves out somewhat!
The next few days felt like several years to Alex. She alternated between pacing around Gene's hospital room, sleeping fitfully on the chair by his bedside and pleading with him to wake up. The latter she only partook in when the hospital around her was quiet of course and she believed no-one was around to hear her pleas.
The nurses had suggested several times that she should go home to shower and get some proper rest but Alex had flatly refused each time. With a lack of advanced mobile-phone technology in 1982 their promises to contact her as soon as there was any change fell on deaf ears. What if I miss the call? I need to be here when he wakes up.
The rest of the team had been fantastic; Ray even stepping in on an argument between Alex and a particularly persistent nurse who hadn't wanted to accept his DI's refusals to go home. Nurse Carol had been exceptionally keen to inform them all of the hospital visiting hours and a tired, worried and sore Alex had been in no mood for niceties.
Eventually satisfied that she would prove no trouble, the doctors had finally relented and agreed Alex could stay with Gene. Officially she was there as police protection after the revelation that Gene's shooter had escaped the scene in the haste to get Gene medical attention. However, it was clear to anyone that visited that Alex was in no fit state, emotionally or physically, to provide protection for anyone. No-one mentioned this to Alex herself of course.
"Nice for some innit?" Ray had commented on the way home from the hospital one night. "Swanning off work to sit around and do nothing all day?"
"Shut up Ray", Shaz had admonished immediately. "Even if Ma'am was fit enough to come back to work, which she's not, the Guv's in a bad way. Do you really want him to be alone in that dingy little hospital room all the time?"
Ray's face contorted in thought. He flicked away the cigarette he'd been dangling from his mouth since they exited the hospital and went to open the car door. "Maybe not", he agreed. "But it shouldn't be Drake. They hate each other."
"What?" Shaz's surprise was evident in her voice.
"They are always fighting Shazza", Chris joined in the conversation leaning on the roof of Ray's car. "And he did... ya know..."
"Threaten to kill her, shot her in the stomach and put her in a coma", Ray finished for him.
"That was an accident!" Shad all but screamed. Seeing two pairs of downcast eyes she huffed as she opened the opposite car door and climbed into the back seat. "You two really have no idea do you?"
Ray scrunched his eyes up at Chris in confusion while Chris shrugged his shoulders in silent agreement.
Ray had been to the hospital a couple of times since that first night. He hadn't stayed too long on any occasion; Alex recognising his need to see the Guv but at the same time not wanting to appear too 'sissy'.
Shaz on the other hand had stopped by every night after work, fetching decent food and clothes for Alex from her flat. She'd even offered to stay with Gene while Alex went home but never really expected Alex to take her up on her offer. Instead, Shaz simply sat with her senior officer making small talk and trying her best to provide some distraction from the silence of the room, broken only by the occasional beeps from of the several machines Gene was currently hooked up to.
Alex was grateful for those brief respites from her fears and worries; Shaz was pretty much her closest friend in this world apart from Gene. A friend.
Alex had had a lot of time to think over the last few days – more time than she wanted to really think about her unique situation and where she stood in this world she had once again found herself immersed in.
She'd made the decision when she'd woken up again in 1982 a week earlier that she had to start living, rather than simply existing, in this place. Whether it was indeed the construction of a fictitious world by her damaged brain or some kind of weird time travel she had learnt the hard way her total lack of control over what happened there and her continued presence. She had to carry on with the belief that an opportunity for her to return to Molly would one day present itself.
One other thing she was certain of was that Gene Hunt was no longer just a friend to her. The lust he had sparked within her body with just the touch of his hands had not come as a shock to Alex on that fateful morning; she had long since recognised her physical attraction to her DCI. No, what had come as a surprise to Alex had been the sense of loss she had felt as he walked away from her. It had been irrationally overwhelming. Something she had felt not too long ago as she watched her parent's car blown up in front of her eyes for the second time. But Gene had been there, taking care of both herself and the younger version of herself so effortlessly.
He made her feel safe all those years ago when her world was falling apart and now he was doing it again; making her feel safe in an unfamiliar place where she was completely separated from her daughter.
Whether she had always wanted it or not, Gene was inside her head and she could no longer imagine her life without him. Nor did she want to. If the time came she would choose Molly of course; she was her own flesh and blood and she knew only too well how it felt to grow up without your mother.
No matter what she felt for Gene she could not intentionally enforce that pain and loneliness on Molly. But Alex dreaded the day she had to make that choice. For a fleeting moment, Alex almost wished Gene never woke up from his coma, saving her the pain of that choice. Almost. Very Briefly.
That awful admission sent a fresh wave of tears streaming down her cheeks. Forget that, you have to wake up Gene, please don't leave me here on my own. I've lost my Molly for the foreseeable future and I can't lose you too. She leant forward resting her forehead on the edge of the bed and allowing the tears to fall freely.
This is how Molly must feel Alex thought, waiting for me to wake up from my coma. My beautiful Molly...
Alex's sombre thoughts were interrupted as she became vaguely aware of movement around her. She felt her heart jump as her ears registered the low Mancunian rumble.
"These sheets on 'ere look like a giant hankie to ya do they Bolls?"
Alex's head snapped up, blinking her eyes furiously to try and clear the tears. "Gene?" she whispered, afraid she'd fallen asleep on the bed and was now dreaming. She noticed his eyes were still closed but he continued to tease.
"I have a reputation to uphold ya know and the nurses are hardly gonna be impressed by the Gene Genie if they think I've wet the bed now are they Bolly?"
Alex burst into tears yet again. She couldn't stop it, the relief she felt overriding the desire not to look like an emotional teenager in front of Gene. He's seen you stretched out on your floor screaming like some kind of banshee with mussed up hair and smudged make-up, she tried to reason with herself.
Gene's eyes were now firmly open and Alex could feel his gaze burning into her as she focused on straightening out a non-existent crease in his bed sheet.
"Sorry", she mumbled, fighting to get her sobs under control. "Not really slept that much lately..." she tried to come up with an excuse for her emotional state.
"Bolls..."
Alex cut him off. "A good night's sleep and I'll be a new woman", she tried to lighten the mood a little with a forced smile but Gene's steady expression remained in place.
"Hope not Bolls."
Alex was still trying to get her breath back after the sincerity she had heard dripping from those three little words when a nurse bustled into the room, closely followed by a doctor.
How do they do that? Alex let her mind wander for the first time in days after the worry that has taken root in her mind since the shooting began to ebb away now Gene was awake. Nurses always seem to show up when the patient is waking up or just after they've regained consciousness. She could understand years in the future with the aid of computerised monitors and CCTV but in 1982? Alex wasn't so sure.
The activity going on in the room and previously maintaining a steady hum of noise ceased and Alex realised she had become the centre of attention while her mind had been wandering.
"Sorry what?"
"You should go home Miss", the doctor told her.
"If I had a pound for every time someone said that to me in the past week..." Alex mumbled without thinking.
"He's right Bolly, you look like crap." She was taken aback at his words but the expression on his face showed genuine concern.
"Mr Hunt is now out of any immediate danger but he still needs a couple of days rest. And so do you. You are still recovering from a serious injury yourself DI Drake and I do not want to have to clear out the old woman in the next room suffering from a heart condition because you've been neglecting your own health and upon your readmission to this hospital, insist on being close to your DCI here."
Alex felt her cheeks flame at the doctor's comment and continued to blush as she noticed Gene's unwavering stare.
"Ok, ok, I know where I'm not wanted", she feigned annoyance. "You'll call if there's any change?"
"You'll be the first to know Inspector."
She nodded her thanks to him. Slipping on her jacket and slinging her bag over her shoulder, Alex made to leave, resisting the urge to kiss Gene on the forehead before she went."
"I'll be back in the morning Hunt."
Hoping to get the next chapter up before the end of the week. In the meantime, please let me know what you think :) xx