Title: A Transition In Time

Author: finkpishnets

Fandom: Life On Mars

Rating: T

Pairing: Gene/Sam

A/N: Written for the Life On Mars Ficathon 2007, for echovoice.

A Transition In Time

snapshots of the present as it swiftly turns to past

i.

The antique clock on the mantelpiece struck three; the low, dull chime echoing superfluously through the house and succeeding only in making an unperceived shadow jump as it straightened itself out next to the window frame. The moon hazily shrouded the room in enough light to see by; a haunting element to the already eerie atmosphere. The shadow moved forward, watching its steps in an effort to keep the floorboards from entertaining their predictable creak, and ran a finger over an old wooden chest of drawers, looking at the large streak of dust with casual observation and something close to sadness. The entire place sang of memories lost in age; another of Time's victims.

There was a bed in the centre of the room, back against the wall, still made up with sheets of deep red and more pillows than could ever be necessary. It was untouched, still perfect. A testament to the past.

Footsteps, familiar but unheard in so long began to echo along the hallway outside. A pause and then the opening of the door, slowly as if with anticipation. A sharp intake of breath mixed with relief and then the voice, his voice that was oh so very welcome.

"Sam."

The shadow moved forwards, into the sharper light that now peeked through the door frame and as it did so morphed with ease into the more defined appearance of the man. A thin but steady frame with the features of someone that had seen to much

"I didn't know if you'd remember." The door was opened fully now, drenching the room in a yellow hue that exposed it's true countenance and should have made it less mysterious and thrilling but did no such thing. "You look the same. A little older, but pretty much the same. How?" Not said with surprise or shock, no, they were long passed that. Just curiosity; a desire to understand completely.

"I couldn't tell you," Sam replied, a small shrug of the shoulder, wanting to make eye contact but not quite ready. Almost, but not quite. "There's theories, lots of them. All ridiculous of course. But I guess I just...am."

A teasing quirk of the lips, a smile in the eyes. "Trust you to make life complicated."

"I can't help it, guv, I am by nature a mystery." The casual familiarity of a simple word and suddenly everything is easier. A private joke.

ii.

"I had them leave everything exactly the same. Managed to pull a few strings. Wasn't that hard." They were standing closer together now, perhaps unconsciously nearer the bed. Their natural habitat. "Not like there was anything else to do with the place; can't knock it down cos the government won't let 'em, and can't sell it off cos of the contracts." An unnecessary explanation, Sam could have guessed that, but calming all the same. Just the sound of Gene's voice seemed to have that effect on him, despite it's rough intonation and it's ability to reverberate off any and all surfaces.

"I'm glad."

"I haven't been back here since. Didn't feel it was right. Figured that waiting was the only possible way to go about things, which wasn't easy for me as I bet you can imagine, and that it would all either result in you being bonkers and me standing here alone, or in everything you said actually being true. I thought it would be harder to accept the latter but I'm not a bloody good detective for nothing; I reckon I could see, even before, that the pieces didn't quite fit into the puzzle."

"Trust me, even now I have moments when I'm convinced that I'm actually insane. I lived through parts of the 1970's twice as an adult and the millennium three times. It's been a decade for me since I left you, only ten years...it feels so much longer."

"It was for me." Sadness and a undisguised edge of bitterness that Gene was obviously trying to hold back.

"I'm sorry. Maybe it would have been better for me not to have told you anything, to just disappear again and let you get on with your life. But I knew it was coming then; I could feel it and I had to tell you."

"I never really understood why it was me you chose to tell. Annie told me once, after you'd gone, about the stories you used to tell her when you first arrived. I think she believed you too, in the end. She'd never say that aloud, much too smart, but she did believe you."

"Annie was too innocent. Untainted, I suppose. She may have believed me in some sci-fi, philosophical way but she could never have understood the real implications behind such a secret. It's the sort of thing that can drive you mad for as long as you try and work out the how's. Besides, I loved you more." He threw a grin in the other mans direction hoping that he understood. When Gene gave a short chuckle, he knew he did.

iii.

The feel of lips on lips and hands exploring what had never been forgotten but had been just out of reach flooded both men with memories of more carefree times; of rickety single beds and office fumblings up against the trusty old filing cabinet in Gene's office. There was no need for anymore conversation, not right now, just for the feel of skin on skin and the understanding that, time be damned, this was how they belonged. Together they were a team, they were perfectly synchronised in everything they did, just as it had always been.

The bed that had been left so flawlessly just for them hardly made a sound as they clutched at their past.

iiii.

"What now?" The question broke into their pleasurable haze with a jolting shudder. Sam twisted onto his side, taking in every detail of the man by his side.

"Now I attempt it one more time. I'm going to try and go back." He watched Gene's face, registering the lack of surprise. This had been anticipated. "If I succeed then I shouldn't miss any time at all; I'll end up right back here."

"On our first anniversary. Only you would choose to sneak into an old manor house to celebrate, especially one which was known to host frequent visitors when we were supposed to be keeping our relationship a secret," Gene grinned in memory, looking for a moment exactly the way Sam remembered him. "If you manage it though, then right now will never happen. It will only have happened in your memory. So, why?"

"Because if I don't manage it then I wanted to have this one last time."

An understand seemed to shadow Gene's face then, an unfamiliar look in his eyes that could be mistaken so easily for fear.

"Sam, what do you have to do to go back?"

The look in Sam's eyes told him all he needed to know. Yes, it was exactly what he thought. No, he couldn't stop him. Yes, he had to try for the both of them.

And so Gene Hunt let him go.

And he prayed that, for him, tomorrow would not exist.