Okay, I'm really sorry about yesterday! I hope this will make up for it! Thank you to everyone who has read this! Also, thank you for all the wonderful reviews! XXXrantandrumourXXX

Alex woke slowly. She wasn't dead then? She opened her eyes. A doctor was standing at the foot of her bed. She looked around the room. Everything looked so modern. Did this mean...?

"You had us worried, Alex. But you pulled through, much to the delight of your little girl."

Molly appeared with Evan from around the corner.

"Mum!" she squealed.

Alex hugged Molly. She was back, but there was a slight edge of despair in the back of her mind.

"Gene's dead," she thought.

*

A month later, Alex and Molly were walking along the street. Alex had made a good recovery, but the doctors had said no driving, so she and Molly took a cab everywhere, or walked. Molly was walking backwards telling Alex about something that happened at school, when she ran into a man. He dropped the files he was holding, and papers flew everywhere.

Molly knelt down immediately and started picking up the papers, apologising profusely. Alex knelt and started helping. She looked at one of the labels on the files. DCI Gene Hunt, it read. The man was now squatting next to her, and grabbed the file before she could reach it. She looked up at him and stopped. He looked at her.

"Jesus Christ," he said.

"It can't be!" she exclaimed.

"Bolly?"

"Gene bloody Hunt," she whispered. "How?"

"I'm not entirely sure meself. In 2005, I flew through a windscreen in Manchester and ended up in a coma. I woke up in 1970, and thought I had to get back. I tried for a few years, but eventually this world went to the back of my mind. I was having too much fun being a DCI in the 70's. It wasn't too long until I'd forgotten all about this world. When we got shot, I thought I was going to die. Then I woke up here. Well, in a hospital, obviously. I was really confused, didn't know what was goin' on, but it all came back within a few hours. What I didn't get was that I was in a different hospital. I was transferred here to go into their long-term care." Gene raced through his explanation, like she would disappear any moment.

"But, you're a figment!"

"I thought it was in my head too, Bolls. That's why I stayed in London, to search. No family up in Manc anyway. But we existed, Bolly. See?"

He held out the files. They were labelled with his and her names.

"Guv, I just can't believe it's really you."

He leaned in closer to her.

"It really is, Alex."

"Tell me something that only you and I would know."

He leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"You still owe me a Christmas dinner."

She looked up at him, laughing. He stared straight into her eyes. Slowly, their faces drew together, and their lips met. Molly looked on happily, as if she actually understood everything that had just happened.

Alex and Gene pulled apart. They were both smiling happily. Gene had finally let his guard down, no longer having to be the "Manc Lion." Gene's hand slipped around Alex's. She looked at Molly.

"C'mon Molls. Let's go home."

And I know it's insane... Only, this is my reality... (Alex Drake)

*

"Molly! We'll blow the candles out together, okay?"

Her mum's final words to her rang in her head. Molly looked at the beeping heart monitor. Then it happened. The heart monitor went flat. A long beep sounded out in the room.

"Time of death, 11:04."

"Mum! No! Please, no!" She jumped up and grabbed Alex's hand.

"Molly." Evan grabbed her shoulder.

"Don't touch me! You as good as killed her! You took her off the life support!" Molly was sobbing.

"It's for the better Molly. She'll be a lot happier now."

Molly hugged her mother one last time, dropping something by her pillow.

"I'm so sorry, Mum."

Evan put his hand on her shoulder. She pulled away, but he grasped her elbow.

"C'mon Molls. Let's go home."

They left the room sadly. Molly stopped by the door and took one last look at her mum. Next to a handful of slightly melted candles, Alex lay motionless in the bed, a ghost of a smile etched on her face.

Thank you again for reading. Please let me know what you thought of the story as a whole! XXXrantandrumourXXX