TITLE: Somebody That I Used To Know

AUTHOR: bolly69

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or concept; they belong to the BBC/Ashley/Matthew, etc.

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This will eventually be an M rating, please do not read on if you're easily offended by sex and/or strong language.

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Chapter 4

She cried.

Sobbed, like a child, and trembled so much that he had to hold her, fearing that if he let go she would crumple to the pavement. He had seen her cry some in her time but not like this. Never like this. And so he just held her; breathing her in again, cherishing the closeness that he hadn't had for so long, remembering that last night, the dance, the almost kiss. Her tears seeped through his shirt and startled his skin but he didn't care; how could he with her heartbreaking sobs reverberating through his chest?

Eventually she calmed down enough for him to return to the restaurant to settle the bill and gather her bag from the table, explaining that she wasn't feeling well. She hadn't moved from the wall where he had left her; he gazed at her sitting there leaning against a gate post, looking more lost than he had ever seen, despite being back in her own time again.

Shakily she found her car keys in her bag and handed them to him, "I'm sorry Gene, I thought I was better… Could you take me home please?" He wouldn't refuse her anything and he couldn't leave her like this.

"'course I will. I shouldn't have come here. It's me who should be apologising…"

The tears welled in her eyes again, threatening to spill over, her voice was broken and quiet, "Please Gene not here, can we talk at home?"

"Okay love. Come on" he held on to her and guided her to the car, helping her into the passenger seat. He climbed behind the wheel and gunned the engine into life, following her directions. He glanced over at her, staring out of the side window into nothing silently sobbing, and wondered what was going through her head; what, if anything did she remember? She looked small and defeated, he hated that he'd caused this.

Her apartment wasn't far away, only a short drive into docklands, and she instructed him to drive into an underground parking area, the modern apartment building above overlooking a small waterway.

As they got out of the car he handed the keys back to Alex, their hands brushed together and their eyes met again; seeing so much pain there in her eyes tore at his heart, "Look I should go love, I can get a taxi, you don't need me around now…"

"No, please stay, I need to know more. Please?"

They rode the small lift in silence and she showed him in to her apartment; certainly a step up from Luigi's. She left him in the living room and he stood at the large windows staring out from on high; it was almost dark and the glinting lights of the city on one side and Docklands towering structures on the other only highlighted how out of place he was here; is this what it had felt like for her when she arrived in 1981? Except he had asked to come here, she had been thrust into his kingdom against her will, cast adrift, afraid and alone. Had he made a difference to her, or just treated her like a nutcase? He hadn't been considerate of her needs or her insecurities; hell he'd caused most of them. But they had had a connection, an unspoken bond; he knew that for sure. And she'd wanted to stay with him, although God knows why; but he'd made her leave, to take a leap of faith and return to her daughter and her own time. And he'd missed her. So much so it hurt, actually physically hurt; sometimes when he lay awake at night thinking of her he thought he was having a heart attack the pain was so great. But that was his burden, to bide his time until maybe one day they'd be reunited, maybe even in the pub.

She came back into the room with her face cleansed of tears and make-up streaks, carrying two crystal glasses and a bottle; Whisky. He frowned. If all her actions were remnants from their time together, why didn't she remember? She placed the glasses on the small table and sat on the sofa, looking over to him, pleading with him to do the same.

Sitting down at the opposite end to her he took a glass, "Whisky eh? My tipple…"

"I've had a liking for it ever since my incident. I probably shouldn't drink at all but just one glass in the evening while I'm sitting looking out over the city, it just somehow feels right"

Christ, he had to stop this madness. She hadn't returned home at all, she was in as much limbo here as she was then, she just didn't know it.

"How do I know you Gene?" she looked at him square on.

Fuck. "We met. A long time ago. You won't remember…"

"But you remember me?"

"Of course I do Bolls… Alex"

"You did it again, called me that name. You said it was a name for a colleague. Is that what I was Gene? How can I have been a colleague when I don't remember working with you?" she was trembling again, and her eyes had become glassy once more.

He stood, "I should go, this is upsetting you…"

The tears came then, her voice no more than a whisper, "No, please… stay… please? I need to know, please tell me. I feel as though I'm walking around with my head full of cotton wool instead of brains, knowing I'm here but feeling I should be somewhere else, with someone else. Does that make any sense at all?"

"Yeah. Sort of" he sat down again, closer to her this time, "Look love, I don't know where to start. You worked with Sam Tyler following his accident and time in a coma. Do you remember that much?"

"Yes, that much I know"

"Well, when Tyler came round out of his coma, he said he had been in another world, in 1973 Manchester although it felt like he'd landed on Mars. He worked with a team of Detectives and he helped them to solve crimes. He became part of that team and they became his friends. He also fell in love"

Alex sat upright, her eyes bright, "And that was his subconscious keeping him alive, working things out so he didn't die… I remember that now! I was going to write a book all about him. And that's what they said I had done too, constructed a fantasy world to keep my brain functions working" then she turned sad, "but Sam died, he committed suicide… poor tormented soul"

"Ah, but he said he could always hear them calling him back. So the only way he knew how to get back was to die, somehow time in this world and that world works differently, a second here could be months there. So in the few seconds that his brain would take to die, he could live years there. He went back to them Alex."

She laughed sadly, "Oh you talk as though it were real! But that doesn't explain how I know you"

He dropped his head and stared at the floor, "You went there too Alex, only time had moved on, you went to 1981"

"No! No, that's not true" a mirror image of herself flashed in her mind, short red dress, white fur coat, ridiculous permed hair, "Oh God, it's not true," that damned red car again screeching to a halt, "No, no, it's not…" the Audi rings on the grill, "No!", the boots stepping out again, "You… you were there…Gene… Guv…" her head swam, dizziness again,

He caught her just before she flopped onto the sofa.

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"…Bolls… Alex… wake up love… come on…" she slowly opened her eyes to see his intense pools of blue staring down at her. She was stretched out on her sofa and he was holding her hand and stroking her face. Why was she laid down? Tyler. They were talking about Sam Tyler, and his coma world. The 70's. No, the 80's. The Quattro. The team. The Guv.

No, that was… her coma world. She sat up and immediately her head spun again, "No!" She grabbed out for him, gripping a handful of his shirt, eyes flashing wildly.

"Alex, it's okay, I'm here. Please love, take deep breaths and calm down"

"Gene… was it you? In my dreams and those flashbacks? How could it be? That was a fantasy world, not real"

"Do I seem real to you Alex?"

She released his shirt but left her hand on his chest, over his thumping heart, "Oh God yes, so very real"

"You survived Alex. We were all in limbo, waiting to move on, but you made it back. You lived Alex"

She hesitated, "And the others?"

"I saw them all to the pub. Ray, Chris, Shaz. Sam and Annie before them"

She nodded sadly, "And you? What about you Gene?"

He shrugged, "Oh my time came. And I went. Too weary to carry on, too lonely…" he trailed off, not continuing.

"And?"

"And bloody Nelson made me an offer I couldn't refuse" again he paused.

"Go on"

"To come here. To have… closure"

She eased herself into a sitting position, pulling her knees up to her chest to find comfort, trying to take this new information in. Her head hurt and she brought both hands up to press into her forehead. "It's not possible, not logical. A fantasy world full of constructs can't be real…"

"That's what you always called us, constructs, figments. Used to waggle your bloody fingers whenever you said…"

"Your name" She finished his sentence and started to cry again. She reached out a hand to his face, he leant his head into it, closing his eyes and feeling the warm but trembling fingers against his skin.

Her voice was a mere whisper, "Why? Why did you come here? Instead of going in? Give up eternity for what? He gave you a choice and you chose here. Why?" The look in his eyes told her everything she needed to know, "For me?…"

"Yes"

She sobbed and shook and he took her in his arms, rocking her and gently kissing her hair.

"Why? Tell me why you would do that" she sobbed.

"Oh, just to see you Bolls, to look into your eyes and see your face just once more. I didn't want to hurt you though and I have. I'll leave tomorrow, find Nelson and ask to move on. I'll leave you be now"

"No! You can't! Not now you've found me… I need you to help me piece things together… please Gene… stay"

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Thanks for reading! ;-)

Thanks to Ash & Matt for giving us fantastic characters to play with, to whatever ends…

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