So the first chapter was slightly depressing I know... So here is the final chap! Thanks to Rolephant for reading this to decide whether or not I should continue after the first chapter, and of course her amazing Euro of Doom.

Gene woke slowly, feeling extremely groggy. This wasn't right. He was supposed to be dead. He opened his eyes. He was lying outside the front of CID, in an empty street. There was still snow on the ground, and the merry Christmas decorations were still mocking him from the windows. Where had everyone gone? He remembered falling, seeing Ray's face over him, and the world going black. Where was he now?

Gene sat up experimentally. There was no pain in his abdomen at all. He looked down. He was dressed in the same jeans and blue button up shirt. His black overcoat covered his shoulders and his crocodile skin cowboy boots still graced his feet. He stood. What the hell was going on?

Gene decided to enter the station. They may arrest him, but at least he could figure this madness out. He opened the doors and entered.

The building was empty. Papers covered desks, but not a single person was there. He walked to where his office once was. CID was also deserted, the desks amazingly tidy. There was only one desk with papers on it. It was Alex's. Her name plate still sat on the desk.

Gene was extremely confused. What the hell was going on? Her desk should have been clean like the rest of them! Why were the rest of the desks clean? Gene looked at what was once his office. The desk in there was also covered in papers. His name plate sat on the desk. He looked down at the papers. There were many, all covered in his handwriting. Nothing made any sense. He opened his drawers. All his things were there, his whisky was full. The office looked exactly the same as it had the day before Operation Rose.

From the corner of his eye he saw movement. As he turned his head, he saw someone disappearing around the corner. He saw a familiar black boot and a leg wearing flares before the person disappeared completely.

"Hey!" he yelled, before running after the person. The person led him out of the station and down the street. They disappeared in front of Luigi's. Gene looked around, but could not find anyone. From behind him, a voice sounded.

"DCI Hunt." Gene stopped. He had not heard that voice in years. He turned around. Sam was standing in front of Luigi's. He looked the same he had the day he died. Same black jacket, jeans, necklace, bloody everything.

"Sam! What the bloody hell is going on?"

"Let's have a drink, yeah?" He followed Sam down the steps to Luigi's, which was also deserted. Sam helped himself to a scotch from behind the bar, and poured a generous measure for Gene as well. They sat at what used to be Gene's table.

"What's going on?" Gene asked again. "Why am I still alive?"

"You're not."

"What?"

"You died, Guv. Just like Alex." A wave of guilt washed over Gene. "Let me explain something to you, Gene. On November twelfth, you had a row. She explained that she was from the future."

"She really believed it."

"She was."

"That's not possible Sam! How could she be from the future?"

"She was shot in the head by Arthur Layton. No one's quite sure why."

Gene remembered back to the time he and Alex had rowed in his office. "I was shot, and I woke up here, with you. Just like Sam Tyler, only...only this is my reality."

"She said you were from the future too."

"She was right. I was from 2006, Gene. I was hit by a car."

"But how did you end up here?!"

"In this world? Or with you?"

"Both!"

"Neither of us is really sure how we ended up here. Alex thought she had assimilated my dreams as she entered her coma."

"Which is why she kept calling us her constructs."

"Exactly. And the reason why the three of us have ended up here is very simple. We are dead."

"But didn't you have your future lives?" Gene was still finding this all very difficult to understand, but he didn't get angry. Something was different here, he could feel it.

"No. I actually did go back, Guv. But life there was so... dull. I came back, to save you, to save the woman I loved. I died in 2006 by jumping off a building."

"Never thought you'd have the balls," Gene smiled. Sam grinned back.

"I didn't think I would either. But as I stood up there, I didn't have Annie to pull me away from the edge. I had to get back to Annie."

"But what about Alex?" he queried.

"She was fighting an infection. Hours lying on a rubbish barge with a bullet hole in your head is definitely not good sanitation wise." He smiled and then grew serious again.

"She was saying that Operation Rose was her way to get out. It wasn't. There is an opportunity for everyone, but her opportunity had not come up yet. If she had not participated in Operation Rose, she would not have died."

Gene felt another wave of guilt wash over him. "Cause I wouldn't have shot her," he said miserably.

"No, Guv. You shooting her was a result of her participating in Operation Rose. Operation Rose was the infection. She needed to stay away from it, which is why all the evidence came to point she was corrupt. The infection overtook her, just as Operation Rose overtook her. When she died in 1982, she died also in 2008."

"So what is this world? It's so bare and empty."

"It's a transition world. We're letting you learn, before you move on." Sam sat back in his chair thoughtfully. "You know, I guess that's what your world was for us. Alex found out her dad tried to kill her. I found out why my dad walked out."

"So what do I do now?"

Sam looked up at Gene. "Go where you need to be," he stated cryptically.

"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means Guv. You're needed. Go there." Sam got up and left the restaurant. Gene felt the overwhelming loneliness envelope him. He thought of Sam's last words. The only place he could think of would be Alex's flat. But why would he be needed up there?

Gene got up. He had to go up there, just to see if that was what Sam meant. He walked slowly up the stairs, and knocked on her door, not expecting anything.

Suddenly, it opened. Behind her the room was decorated for Christmas. There was a tree in the corner, and various trinkets were place around her flat. He noticed none of this however, too transfixed by the woman now standing in front of him. She was wearing the outfit she wore to Operation Rose. The only difference now was that no stain of blood covered her cream coloured shirt. She stared at him in disbelief.

"Gene?"

"Hello, Bolls," he said softly.

"What happened?"

The corners of his mouth twitched slightly. "I died, just like you. I was shot in the stomach by the DCI."

"You're not a DCI anymore?"

"I was on the run for murder. Couldn't really be a DCI then, could I?"

She looked down. He could smell her perfume. He wanted to run his hands through her hair. "No, I guess not."

"I didn't mean to shoot you. I didn't really want you dead."

She looked up at him, her hazel eyes full of pity and sorrow. "I know, Gene. I know all this now. Operation Rose wasn't my exit route. If I hadn't gone, I would still be alive, and so would you."

"I'm sorry Alex, for everything."

"I just, I miss Molly. I feel so bad. I can't ever see her again!" Alex started sobbing. Gene wrapped her in his arms, and held her close.

"It's not your fault. You thought it was your way out. If I thought it was my way out, I would have taken it too. Molly will have Evan, Alex. She'll grow up fine, and one day, hopefully a long ways into the future, you will see her again."

She smiled a watery smile. "Thanks." She grew quiet. "Would you look at that? I got what I wanted!"

"What are you talking about Alex?"

"It's Christmas. And when I was in 1982, if I had still been there, I would have wanted to spend it with you."

Alex smiled at him, a true smile he had not seen for what seemed like years. "Happy Christmas Gene."

"Happy Christmas, Alex."

They sat together for a while, before a knock at the door interrupted their thoughts. Alex stood to answer, and Sam entered once more.

"It's time for us to move on," he said. "Come on Gene."

Gene followed Sam out the door of the flat, holding Alex's hand. For the first time ever, Gene felt happy. They were together once more, this time for eternity.

Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated!