First, as always, thank you to everyone who's reading and reviewing! This is unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine. I own nothing of Ashes, but characters I created and plot are mine.


Shaz, Chris, and Ray all stood around her bed. It was late at night, and visiting hours were well over, but Ray had a way of "persuading" the staff to let them see her. She was in the same position as she had been when they last visited. However, there were changes. An oxygen mask was strapped to her face, and her skin looked paler than usual.

"Ma'am, don't give up." Ray looked at her peaceful face and repeated his plea. "Please don't. We need you."

If she didn't wake, it would all be over for the Guv. And he would always blame himself. In his mind, it was all his fault.

_________________

He looked up. Something was different. He could sense it. Something was happening. He didn't get excited. He had forgotten how. 26 years of the shame had drained any other emotion out of him. He didn't have any feeling anymore except shame, and it was all his fault.

***

Alex woke a few mornings later when the phone rang. She looked at the clock. 8.30. Molly would be gone by now. The phone rang again. She picked it up.

"Hello," she said groggily.

"Bella?" said the voice on the other end.

Bella? Why did that name sound familiar? Then Alex realised, that was the name she'd given Ray a few days ago.

"Bella?" said the voice again.

"Yes," she managed.

"Hi, Bella, this is Ray Carling. You came over to visit me the other day?"

"Yes, right. What's up?"

"Chris and Shaz Skelton came down to London on holiday yesterday. They dropped by unannounced, but stayed the night last night and I told them about you. I hope you don't mind, but they'd love to meet you."

"Oh, of course. It's no problem at all Ray. I'll be over in a few hours if that's okay?"

"Yes, that's great. See you later."

Alex changed and got ready quickly. It was still strange for her to do her makeup in 2009. She found that she actually missed the heavy blue eye shadow that had framed her hazel eyes every day. Instead, she put on some natural looking eyeliner and mascara, and put her hair in her usual up do. She looked at herself in the mirror. It just didn't seem right. She put her hair back down and looked at herself again. She really needed a haircut. Maybe then she could actually do something with her hair. She moved her fringe so it covered the wound in her head. She reached her hand out for the clip again, and decided against it. Then Alex walked out the door.

She sped across London to Ray's house. When she rang the doorbell, Sam answered the door again.

"Bella!" he said. "It's nice to see you again! What brings you back?"

"Your dad called this morning. He said the Skelton's came over last night and wanted to meet me?"

"Oh, right! Let me show you in!" Alex was led into the same room she had met Ray in. As she expected, there was Ray, in his wheelchair, and two others accompanied him.

"Bella's here Dad."

The two others in the room, a man and a woman, turned from Ray and gasped. "Bloody hell Ray," said the man, "you were right."

"Chris," said the woman. "Where are your manners? Hello. I'm Sharon Skelton, but I go by Shaz. The rude one is my husband. His name is Chris." Shaz looked as good as ever; the years had put a few wrinkles on her face, but left her mostly unscathed.

Chris stood up and shook her hand. "Sorry, love. Its jus'… Ray was right. You are a spittin' image of yer mum." His hair was short, it seemed like he was trying to hide the fact that he was balding. He certainly hadn't escaped the past 26 years as well as Shaz had.

They talked for quite a while. Chris and Ray seemed quite content to talk about the old days in the Met, and while they talked about the days of Alex and Sam, they never mentioned the Guv. It didn't even seem like they were trying not to mention him. It was like his name had simply been forgotten over time. Shaz remained silent preferring to let the two men speak and occasionally putting in a detail or two. She spent most of her time staring at Alex, as if working out a complex puzzle.

Chris and Ray were talking about the eighties again. "Remember Chris, it was the time we 'ad to arrest Neary and we were making puff jokes and the boss walked in?" By now, they had already told Alex several times that the boss was DI Drake.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"D'ya remember what she said?"

"Yeah it was somethin' like, 'Let's focus on the case, and not whose cock he sucks?'"

"That was it! Yeh shoulda seen Chris' face after she said that. Yer mum was always on our case for stuff like that."

Alex decided that this was the time to bring up the forbidden topic. "Didn't your DCI try to stop you?"

The tension in the room suddenly increased. The other three stiffened. They looked at each other. It was finally Shaz who answered. "DCI Hunt was…not the DCI you'd expect. He differed in his beliefs on how policing should be done. He wasn't what you'd call 'politically correct.'"

Alex felt how uncomfortable it was for them to even think about him. She let the topic drop, and the tense moment was quickly forgotten while Chris and Ray started to talk about football. Shaz, however, kept staring at Alex. She got up quickly. Ray and Chris stared at her.

"Bella, you must be so tired of these old men only talking sports and the glory days. Come onto the porch with me, and we can talk about more interesting things."

With that she gestured to Alex, and left the room. Alex followed her out to the porch and sat. Shaz looked expectantly at Alex, and when she said nothing, Shaz started talking.

"Okay, you know more about Hunt than you're letting on. I can tell."

"It's difficult to explain, Shaz."

"Don't do that! You were always talking down to me, always talking down to the station. You said we weren't real. You acted like we didn't know anything. I know one thing though. You aren't who you say you are. You owe me an explanation ma'am." Shaz stopped, and looked shocked.

"Shaz."

"I'm sorry ma'am. I really am. I didn't mean it!"

"Shaz. How did you know?"

"How did I know what?" Shaz feigned ignorance, but the guilty look on her face said otherwise.

"That I'm not Bella."

With Alex's open acknowledgement of not being who she said she was, Shaz started in. "How you acted. First off, you look exactly the same ma'am. Your hair is different, so's your make-up, but your face is the same. In '82, you always were saying something about the future. Your mannerisms, the way you walk, everything about you is the same. Even your laugh is the same. How can it be that way, if you were Alex's daughter? Wouldn't you have some of her husband in you? Something would be different! Especially if you never knew her!

Also, in 1982, you would always talk about your daughter, but she had a different name. It was something like Molly. I don't know how, but I know you are Alex Drake."

Alex was amazed. "You would have made a great detective Shaz."

"My family was more important."

"Shaz, I need you to tell me what happened to the Guv. I need to know how he ended up where he is."

"I'll do that ma'am, but you've got to promise me something."

"What is it?"

"You have to tell me how you are, you know, the same."

"I will."

With that, Shaz settled in to tell the story.


TBC...