Disclaimer: BBC, Monastic and Kudos own Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes and all the characters.

OK, as some of you may have guessed, I'm one of those who treacherously hopes that Alex will stay with Gene at the end of Ashes to Ashes. This story is my way of assuaging the guilt pangs by thinking up a situation in which it would actually be better for Alex to stay with Gene than to go back to Molly.

Many thanks to everyone who's stuck with this story despite all the angst, and especially to my faithful reviewers. I know I've put us all through the emotional mangle. Some fluff mingling with the angst in this final chapter - I think Alex, Gene and we all deserve it!

Please continue to review, I do appreciate it so much - I'm about to go away for a few days, but I promise to reply to all reviewers when I get back.

With thanks to Katie Duggan's Niece for suggesting that Gene should be allowed to interfere with Alex's oxygen supply!

It seemed to Gene as though he had been waiting for untold hours. He was later to discover that it was only about fifty minutes before a white-clad doctor came down the corridor towards him. He jumped to his feet.

"Mr Hunt." The doctor shook his hand. "Doctor Yeo-Thomas. You don't know me. Some of my colleagues have been dealing with Ms Drake's case. I just had the luck to be on night call when she came round."

"H - how is she?" Gene croaked.

"Well, I really don't know what to make of it. I haven't come across anything like it in the whole of my medical career."

"What?"

"Well, you'll be aware that my colleagues have been very uncertain about Ms Drake's long term prognosis. They didn't know if she'd regain consciousness, and if she did, they feared brain damage, possibly quite extensive. But now she's fully conscious, the injury is far less serious than any of us had supposed. None of her cognitive functions appear to have been affected. All her faculties seem to be in perfect order, and all her reflexes are working well. We'll have to do more tests over the next few days, of course, but at present there seems to be every reason to suppose that she will make a complete recovery."

"Oh, thank God," Gene whispered. "I mean it - thank God."

"Amen to that. She'll need to convalesce for some time, of course. You won't have her back on your team for six months at the inside, probably a lot longer."

"Never mind that now," Gene muttered, blinking back the tears that would come. "If she's goin' to be okay, that's the only thing that matters."

"I don't mind telling you that I'm very glad to have been here to witness this. We in the medical profession usually deal in cold, hard facts, not all of them pleasant. Just occasionally, maybe once in a doctor's career, we come across something like this which can't be explained. A miracle."

"Thanks, Doc," Gene gulped, wringing his hand. "You don't know what this means to me."

Doctor Yeo-Thomas smiled. "Oh, I rather think I do."

"Will you still let me stay with 'er? Even now she's awake?"

The doctor smiled again. "Mr Hunt, I believe that only a fool would try to separate the two of you now, and my colleagues will tell you that I'm no fool. Go to her. She's been asking for you. She's a very determined lady, that one. What she wants, she's going to get, present company included. But try not to keep her awake for too long. She needs to rest. So do you."

"Sure thing, Doc. An' thanks again. I owe you a beer. No, I owe you a crate."

He shook the doctor's hand and turned away a moment to wipe his eyes. When he looked up, the corridor was empty. Gene squared his shoulders and walked back to Alex's room, straight and tall, his head held high, his stride long and proud.

Alex lay waiting for him. For fifty frustrating minutes the medical staff had shone lights into her eyes, asked endless questions, and prodded and poked her around like a side of meat, when all she wanted was to see Gene again. She dreaded that, if he was kept waiting too long, he would lose the courage to say to her face, what she had heard him say while he thought she was unconscious.

She smiled as she saw him come into the room. He looked as though he hadn't shaved or slept in days, but he had never seemed more handsome to her. Never more welcome nor more dear. Nor nor real.

This will work. We'll make it work.

The oxygen mask had been removed, and her lips shaped his name as he sat down beside her and gently took her hand in his.

"Welcome back to the land of the livin', Bolly," he said huskily. "Can't tell you what it feels like to see you awake again. Longest six days of me life."

"Is that how long I've been here?" Her voice was stronger, but still too quiet for him to catch.

"Can't 'ear. Just a minute - " He stood up, pushed the chair aside, and got down on his knees beside the bed, so that his ear was level with her mouth. "Try now."

"Is that how long I've been here? They didn't say."

"That's right. Six Godawful, bloody endless days of waitin' for you to pay me some attention."

"There wasn't any sense of time where I've been. But where I've been, what I saw - that's something I can never tell you."

"You daft tart," he rumbled fondly. Still a fruitcake. Can't expect that to change. Don't know I'd want it to. "Never mind all that. You're back 'ere now. Listen, Bols - the Doc says you'll need more tests, but 'e expects you to make a complete recovery. Might take a while, but you're gonna be okay."

"I know." She knew because Sam had told her that she would make a full recovery in whichever life she chose, but Gene naturally assumed that the doctor must have told her too. "Which doctor told you?" If his name is Frank Morgan I shall scream.

"The one who was 'ere tonight. Doctor Yeo-Thomas."

"The White Rabbit?" Alex smiled again. "Maybe I really am in Wonderland."

"Come again?"

"I'll explain later. They told me - you've been here all the time, talking to me."

"That's right. Sam always said you should talk to coma patients, so I did."

"I interrupted you."

"Eh?"

"When I woke up. I interrupted you. Won't you finish what you were going to say?"

He looked wary. " 'Ow much did you 'ear?"

She smiled again. "A lot. Enough to send you down."

He shifted uncomfortably and looked away. "Oh, 'ell. Oh, bloody 'ell."

"Condemned out of your own mouth, DCI Hunt. You can't deny it now."

"But you didn't 'ear all of it?"

"No. I came in after the start."

"You'll 'ave missed the important bit, then." He took a deep breath and looked straight at her. "I love you." He looked away again, but not before she had seen the fear in his eyes as he braced himself for rejection.

"I love you too."

"EH?" His eyes snapped back to her, wide with astonishment. Her voice had been so quiet that he thought he must have misheard.

"I love you too, you argumentative swine. You misogynist. You dinosaur. You Neanderthal. You Bonapartist. I love you."

He could only gaze at her, silent for once, as an unaccustomed smile slowly dawned across his face. Alex remembered camping in Scotland, as a teenager, in her other life, staying up with friends to watch the sun creep slowly above the horizon. Gene's smile was like that. Spellbound, she reached out to brush the errant lock of hair from his brow. That lock which had fascinated her for months. So many times she had longed to touch it but never dared. But I can now. He's mine. She shivered with delight, and her hand moved down to caress his face, as she had done when he saved her from the cold store. She smiled back at him as she felt the rough stubble.

"Don't you ever shave?"

"You know I do," he retorted with mock indignation. " Ray brought me in a razor. But shavin' 'asn't been 'igh on me list of priorities while the woman I love's been 'angin' between life an' death."

"You're forgiven. But tomorrow, do me a favour and shave properly. I don't like men with beards."

It was a measure of his exhaustion that it took him a second or so to pick up on the significance of that. "What about White?"

"Evan has never been more than a friend. It's taken you a long time to work that out."

"Oh. Good."

I may never get him with his guard down like this again. Sam told me, it's up to me.

She continued to stroke his cheek. "While I've got you on your knees, you chauvinist, isn't there something you wanted to ask me?"

"Er - "

"Go on. I did hear that bit. Go for broke."

A look of pure panic flitted across his face and was gone. "Oh, that - "

"Well?"

"Are you sure?"

"Oh, but Gene, I heard you. Make the world a better place."

"I, er, I was goin' to wait until you were feelin' better - "

"Say it, you unutterable bastard."

"Okay, 'ere goes. Will you marry me?"

She laid her hand over his. "Yes, Gene. I will."

He looked like a man who had won the pools without having returned his coupon. "Err - why?"

"Because I love you," she said softly. "Because I know now how much you love me. Because I know now that we were meant for each other. Because I believe that, in this nasty, vicious, messed up world, you and I have a chance together. A chance of something special. Something that will last."

"But you've always talked about leavin'. To go to your daughter."

Much to his consternation, her eyes filled with tears. "Don't ask me about that. Please. I'll tell you someday. Not now."

She must have had bad news just before the shooting and didn't tell me. "Oh, love, I'm sorry. I didn't know. Don't cry. Doc might 'ave me thrown out if 'e knew I've upset you."

She resolutely blinked back her tears and he gently wiped the rest away. Her every fibre quivered at the feel of his fingers on her cheek. Yes. I've lost Molly, but I still have this. Him. "No, please. You mustn't go. You're all I have now. I need you."

He gently stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, sending further glorious sensations coursing through her, and looked at her with so much tenderness and concern that it caught at her heart. "Not goin' anywhere."

She managed to smile. "I've come home, Gene. Home is where you are, now. Where I'm meant to be. Always."

"Oh, sweetheart." He could not reach to kiss her lips, but he bowed his head to kiss the hand he held.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Sir - "

Both looked up. Shaz stood in the doorway, twisting her hands nervously. Alex grinned, realising that it must look to the younger girl as though Gene had been kneeling in prayer beside the bed.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but I was halfway home in the cab before I realised that I'd left my bag under the bed. My keys are in it, and I can't get into my flat without them. I had to ask the driver to bring me back here." Her eyes met Alex's. "Oh, Ma'am!"

"Hello, Shaz," Alex smiled.

"Yes, Shaz." Gene was clearly embarrassed and tried to sound like his usual stern self, but, with that sunrise smile plastered across his face, failed dismally. "You can inform the team tomorrow that our DI is once again in the land of the livin', an' that she 'as demonstrated 'er complete lack of mental capacity by agreein' to become the second Mrs Hunt." He reached under the bed with one hand, the other still holding firmly onto Alex's. "'Ere's your bag. Now be off wi' you, my girl."

"Oh, Sir - oh, Ma'am - congratulations!" Shaz's face was one huge beam as she took the bag and looked from one to the other before she turned and fled.

The world seems full of smiling people. Everyone so happy to have me back. And now I know I'm staying here, there's so much more I can do with this life. So much to learn, so much to discover. Just for a start, I must get Gene to give Shaz more responsibility. I'll develop her career. I've blazed a trail for women in the Met, but she's younger than me. Maybe, in time, she'll go even further than I do. We can look to develop other women officers. She'll help me drag Fenchurch East kicking and screaming into the 1980s. Oh, so much to do. And Gene... He and I have the rest of our lives to learn about each other. I'll never want to stop learning about Gene.

"Didn't mind me tellin' 'er?" he said awkwardly as he turned back to Alex.

She laughed. "It's one painless way of announcing the news to the whole of CID."

"Yeah, an' Shaz has been a proper little guardian angel since you came in 'ere. Been 'ere for hours talkin' to you to give me a rest. The whole team's been takin' it in turns to come an' talk to you. Luigi's been comin' regularly, an' White dropped in this morning. Been playin' all your favourite music for you, too. Glad you woke up when I was 'ere, though," he added almost shyly.

"I heard your voice, Gene. I came back to you," she said softly.

"We can thank Luigi for that, then. It was 'e who told me I should tell you 'ow I feel. Thought it might wake you up. Turns out 'e was right."

"Yes. But I was coming back to you anyway. From a very long way away," she murmured sleepily. "Further than you can know. An old friend of ours showed me what to do. You're why I'm here. I know that now."

His face wore its usual expression of having lost the plot once Alex started talking. "Bloody 'ell, you've only been awake a couple of hours an' already you're doin' my 'ead in. To think I've just signed up for a lifetime of this. Listen, love, we've a lot to say to each other, but thank God we've got time for that now. The Doc told me you need to rest. I promised 'im I wouldn't keep you awake very long. You should get some sleep now."

"Yes." She yawned. "So should you. You look as if you haven't slept for a week."

"I 'aven't, very much."

"Will you stay with me?"

"'Course I will. Try stoppin' me."

He released her hand, leaned on the edge of the bed, and heaved himself to his feet. His tie swung forward, tantalisingly tickling her face. She grabbed it and slowly hauled him in.

"Hey, careful, Bols, that's a very delicate appendage you've got there."

She grinned wickedly. "Come 'ere."

"Ah..."

Their lips met in a gentle, hesitant caress, his mouth tenderly brushing hers as though he was afraid that she might break. Her other hand reached up to entwine in his hair and pull him closer, and their kiss deepened until he pulled away.

"Sorry, love, any more an' I won't be answerable for me actions. Then the Doc'll 'ave me thrown out for ravishin' a helpless female patient."

"So gentle," she murmured, gazing up at him in wonder. "I never thought - "

"What?"

"That it would be like this. That - that you'd be like this."

"That's 'cos I want to look after you, Bols, as much as you'll let me. Never felt like this before about anyone. It was a miracle brought you back. That was what the Doc said. I never want to forget that, love. Never."

"Nor me..."

Her voice trailed away, and he saw that she was close to sleep. He pulled the chair as close as he could to the bed and gratefully sank into it. He laid his head on the mattress, where they would be able to see each other as soon as they woke up, and his left hand reached across to clasp her right hand. Her left hand reached out to caress the soft glory of his hair, something else that she had often dreamed of but never before dared to do, and she twined her arm around his neck.

"Nice," he mumbled sleepily. "Take it you don't mind me sharin' your bed, then?"

"It looks like the best we can do until I'm out of here. After that, it's up to the two of us. Good night, Gene, my love. Sleep well."

He closed his eyes. Hers stayed open a little longer as she watched him, thinking, remembering. She felt filled with a huge sense of the richness of life.

I've been given the chance of another life. I'll take all that it has to offer. Thanks again, Sam. For everything.

The pain of loss was still raw, but she knew that she would eventually be comforted by the knowledge that Molly was safe in her own time, and that by giving up all hope of seeing her again, Alex had saved all their lives. She and the man whom she held, whose destiny was so deeply linked to hers, would sustain one another through everything they had to face, and at his side she would experience everything in this world to the full. Life with him would never be easy, but she knew that it would always be supremely worthwhile. Her daughter was lost to her. But Gene, so strong, yet as vulnerable as any child, had been entrusted to her by a dead man, and she would not fail either of them.

Drifting off to sleep, Gene heard, or thought he heard, her murmuring words that he would hear her say again when she slept in his arms on their wedding night.

"Sam was right, Gene. Together, we can reach for the stars."

THE END

A/N: Wing-Commander F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, codenamed "The White Rabbit", was a prominent SOE agent in Occupied and Vichy France during World War II.