First off, I'd like to thank those that read and review. It means so much to see the notifications in my inbox! I know I don't thank you individually, because I'm amazingly awkward and have no idea how to reply, but I do appreciate them.

On an interesting side note, I had a review last time that asked me not to kill Alex, even though it is my favourite thing to do. I found this humorous and told my mate Rolephant, who then decided to tally all of the fics that Alex dies in. Surprisingly, she only ends up in about 1/3 of my fics! (The tally was 11 dead to 20 alive) As far as being injured (or having mental issues) we took out three fics which didn't really fit into a category and were left with 10 where she's fine and 18 injured or killed. Which I then cheered at, so I don't know what that says about me...

Anyway, onto chap 12!

Chapter 12

Cold. She was cold. It felt like she was covered in ice. No. No, cold was the wrong word. She was hot. Too hot. She was almost on fire now, burning hot.

She realised that there was a blanket on her and she kicked it off, desperate to escape the scorching fire she felt was on her body.

Suddenly there was a voice next to her, singing in her ear.

Temperature's rising. Fever is high. Can't see no future. Can't see no sky.

She knew the lyrics, but from where? Were they telling her what was going on? Did she have a fever? She didn't understand what was going on. Where were people? Why wasn't anyone telling her anything?

Suddenly her teeth started chattering. How was she this cold so soon? Something was wrong with her, she could feel it. Her side ached badly.

"Your fever's breaking," said a girl's voice that she recognised. It sounded far away, like it was coming from a different room. "You can fight this Mum. You're strong enough. You're almost through it."

Mum? Only one person had ever called her that. She thought for a while until the name came back to her.

"Mmmo...Mmmolls," she stuttered.

"She's awake!" Molly said excitedly. "Tom, she said my name!"

"C-c-cold," she managed to say.

"You kicked off your sheets earlier, that's why."

She felt the sheet reach back up to her shoulders again, but no warmth was gained. Her legs were shaking from the cold and she prayed to have the heat come back, to envelope her in the fire once more.

After what seemed an eternity, her body switching between raging heat and freezing cold, another voice entered the room. It seemed closer than before, when Molly was speaking.

"How's she doing?"

"She was awake earlier, didn't open her eyes, but managed to say my name and that she was cold."

"Good job, Bolls," the voice said. She realised that she knew that voice too. Slowly the name came back to her.

"Ge...n...nn...ne."

"Keep fighting, Bolly," he said, sounding like he was in the same room with her now, instead of down the hallway.

She heard a new pair of shoes enter the room, and a straw was placed to her lips. She gratefully sucked down the water. She didn't realise how thirsty she was.

"She's been awake," Molly said. "She said my name and Gene's."

"Good," said a woman's voice. "Alex?"

Alex made a hissing noise in acknowledgement.

"Alex, I'm Sophie. I'm your nurse. You're in a hospital," explained the woman's voice slowly and kindly.

"Hos...hosp'tal?"

"Poirot shot you," said Gene's voice angrily.

"The bullet perforated the small intestine and you got a bit of an infection," the nurse said kindly. "Your fever's breaking now."

Alex was getting confused. This was too much for her now. How come she didn't remember any of this?

"You need to get some more rest, Alex. It'll all make more sense when you're more awake."

Alex said nothing, continue to shiver against the cold. Eventually, the heat was less hot, the cold less frigid. Molly was there almost constantly, talking to her. Gene came in and out, something she had finally connected with him going to work. Sometimes, there was a third voice, someone she didn't know, but seemed to know her. Finally, when all three were in the room, she summoned the ability to open her eyes. She was quite comfortable, but she still wasn't quite sure how she had ended up in the hospital.

Alex blinked a few times, trying to get her bearings. Gene was sitting on one side of her bed, and Molly on the other, next to a boy she recognised from Luigi's. They seemed to be in a heated discussion about something.

"Sounds like a ponce to me," Gene was saying. "I saw one of those 'Dalek' things and it just looks like a pepper pot." He moved his fingers into air quotes around the word 'Dalek.' "How can a giant pepper pot be his worst enemy?"

"You know the giant eye stem that they have?" the boy asked.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"They shoot you anywhere with that thing, you're dead. And they don't care who they kill. It's almost impossible to defeat them."

"But they're just a giant pepper pot!"

Alex grinned. This was so typically Gene. As the two males continued their heated debate, she looked at Molly, who seemed bored and was drawing in a notebook. Molly had never really gotten into Doctor Who. She had always hated the companions.

"They're all too wishy-washy!" she had said. "Good God, he's a Time Lord! AN ALIEN who could be their twenty times great grandfather. And they're all supposed to be in love with him?"

After watching a few episodes with the blonde companion and then trying again when the blonde girl left, they had given up on trying to get into the show.

Alex reached towards her, putting her hand on her daughter's arm. Molly started slightly and looked over at the bed.

"Oh my God," she murmured. "Mum!" she shrieked.

Suddenly, Alex was enveloped in a hug she never expected to receive again. The two males had gone silent, Molly's shriek of delight ending any conversation. Finally, Molly let up and Gene gave a small smile.

"Welcome back, Bolly."

The boy said nothing, scratching his head awkwardly.

"What happened?" Alex asked.

"Do you remember being shot?" Gene asked.

Alex shook her head. "I remember walking out of the kitchen with some tea and then nothing until I woke up and was freezing. After that it's a bit hazy until now."

"The bloody great tosser Poirot shot you," Gene said. "There was a gun he found, didn't bother to check it for bullets, and started to play with it. You were in surgery for ten hours, and nearly died once. You made it through and they took you to recovery for the night, but you went into shock. They'd missed something. They found it and brought you back out, and you spent the next day with a tube in your mouth, helping you breathe, before they decided you could do it on your own. By the time the pulled the tube out, your temperature was going up."

Alex was stunned. "How long have I been here?"

"If you count the day of your surgery, this is day five."

A nurse bustled in from behind the curtain. "Oh you're awake!" she said. "Good. Do you know what happened?"

"It was just explained," Alex said softly. The nurse nodded, starting to take her vital signs as Alex started to grow sleepy. Gene noticed this and smiled.

"Go to sleep Bolls. We'll be back tomorrow."

Molly nodded. "I'll be back first thing."

"But..." Alex started to protest but Molly stopped her with a wave of her hand.

"Every day until you get out of here. Just like before."

Tears glistened in Molly's eyes for a moment before she blinked them away and Alex realised what Molly was talking about. She was talking about 2008.

Molly placed a kiss on her forehead. "See you tomorrow Mum," she said, grabbing hands with the boy.

"Bye, Alex," Gene muttered, his hand brushing against hers before the trio left together. Alex watched them leave, but soon, her eyes grew too heavy and she drifted to sleep.

~(*)~

A few days later, Alex was able to stay up for longer than five minutes at a time and was growing restless. Molly sat by her side, drawing idly. For once, Tom wasn't with her. They hadn't said much in the past few days, Alex only being able to get a few sentences out before she fell back asleep, and today she had been reading when Molly came in. They had said their hellos, but no serious conversation had gone on.

Growing too restless to read, Alex threw the book on her bedside table. Molly looked up at the thud.

"Bored?" she asked with a smirk.

"Completely," Alex replied sighing.

"They allowing you to move yet?"

Alex nodded. "They had me up and walking yesterday with a Zimmer frame. I felt like a pensioner."

Molly laughed. "I can push you about the hospital if you want to get out of here for a bit."

"Please," Alex said excitedly.

A few moments later Molly arrived with a wheelchair and Alex gingerly got in. Her side still hurt, even with the painkillers she'd been given.

"So where do you want to go, Mum?"

Alex shrugged. "You've been conscious around here longer than I have. Why don't you pick?"

"Do you want to go to the canteen and get a biscuit and some tea?"

Alex nodded. "That sounds perfect."

A few minutes later they were armed with Jammy Dodgers and tea, neither sure of what to say.

"Where's Tom today?" Alex asked.

"He's hanging out with the group. They need to see him too and he gets the feeling you don't care for him too much."

Alex looked down into her tea. "I don't really."

"Why not? He's a great guy."

"He kept you from me, he hid you from me, when I was so worried about you. I thought you were lost or kidnapped or worse."

"He didn't hide me, Mum," she replied. "I hid myself. He just made it easier. I didn't think you'd even bother to look for me."

Alex frowned at her. "Why on earth wouldn't I look for my own daughter? Especially when she leaves a drawing that's labelled like a suicide note?"

Molly frowned. "A suicide note?"

Alex nodded. "I think the paper is at my flat, but I can remember the words on there."

What Alex was talking about suddenly dawned on Molly. "Oh! The drawing! No! That wasn't a suicide note Mum! I paraphrased the lyrics!"

"Lyrics?"

"My favourite band, Avenged Sevenfold. I found this song a few months after your death, at it fit perfectly. That drawing, if I remember it right, you and Gene in one corner and me in another?"

Alex nodded.

"That was set before I came. I was so lonely before I came back, Mum. You were the only person I really cared about in that world since your friend Emily and her son died in 2005."

Molly watched as her Mum's brow furrowed, trying to remember who Emily was.

"Emily...Emily Dellucci?" Alex asked finally.

"Yeah. They hit a lorry. Her son was my best friend, even though he was a year older than me."

Alex's brow was still creased as memories trickled back. "Emily Dellucci. She ran into a lorry with both of her children and her brother."

Molly nodded. "Her son hung on for longer than any of them, but eventually, he passed away too."

"It wasn't right," she breathed. "He was only eleven."

"You took me to see him one day, but he was in a coma. You said to talk to him though."

"Always talk to people in comas. They can hear you."

"That's true. And I don't know if he heard me, but I do know that he still halfway remembers me."

Alex looked up. "What do you mean?"

"About a week after I got here, he told me that it had seemed like we had known each other forever."

"Her son is in this world?"

Molly nodded. "Think of her family's names."

"There was Emily. And then there was her little girl... it started with a K..."

"I'll just give you a hint, Mum. Emily's brother's name was Luigi."

"No," she said in disbelief.

"And her son's name is..."

"Tom," Alex whispered, cutting her off.

Molly nodded. "He was helping me, Mum, because that's what he needed to do. We were supposed to find each other again. I feel horrid for running away, but at the same time, I don't regret it, because if I didn't, I wouldn't have found Tom."

"Why did you run in the first place?"

"I was being selfish. You didn't recognise me, and I saw how you and Gene acted around each other. I figured if I ran, you'd give me the attention that I'd missed for so long. I thought that if I stayed there, I'd always play second fiddle to Gene."

Alex held out her arms to Molly. "Come here, Molly."

Molly wrapped her arms around Alex and they embraced each other in a huge, tight bear hug.

"You listen to me, Molly Caroline Drake. Gene Hunt never comes before you. We are in no way related, and at the end of the day, he is only my boss. You always come first."

"Except the first day."

"I was still trying to wrap my head around it. My mothering instinct wasn't back yet."

"Is it back now?"

"You bet."

They clung on to each other like the world would end if they parted, rejoicing in the newfound closeness of their relationship.

"Mum," Molly said finally.

"What is it?"

"I really, really missed you."

Alex smiled sadly, playing with a black lock of Molly's hair. "Me too, Molls. Me too."