Hello everyone!

Having guessed the ending to Series One correctly I decided that I would try and guess the ending of season three and came up with this theory 5 minutes into season 2 episode 1... From this theory I created this scene and I hope you enjoy it and I would love to know what you thought, if you have any theories of your own?

Some of you may notice similarities between this and the season finale of Life on Mars, but these are deliberate as there does seem to be many similarities between Ashes to Ashes and Life on Mars =D

Oh and I do not own Ashes to Ashes ... *looks sad*

Anyway, I hope you like it...

She couldn't breathe, not one breath.

Her lungs had failed her and the air that was always so willing had now deserted her.

Her mind screaming to her and yet she couldn't hear it.

She could do nothing.

Her eyes scanned the room, filled with chairs, tables, paperwork, rubbish, pencils, pens; everything down to the smallest paperclip and it was then that the true extent of what she had learnt finally hit her.

The tears began to fall, silently at first but soon the pressure within her chest became too much and a sound erupted from her, one like she had never heard.

It was almost as if past of her was dying.

That's what it felt like.

She covered her mouth over with one of her trembling hands, for fear of vomiting.

Her eyes spilt like waterfalls.

Then she heard him, his footsteps echoing through the corridors slowing growing louder and louder, but she had no energy to run, she tried to contain the tears but it was impossible and so all she could do was wait for him to find her. Which he did of course, who wouldn't find a hysterical woman shaking uncontrollably, but seeing him only reminded her of it all, which in turn caused her to sob harder.

He practically ran to her where she stood in the middle of his office. Grabbing her arms with his hands she felt his skin against her.

"And you are a bloody figment"

She looked into his eyes, just a glistening blue haze through her streaming brown ones, his hair windswept and his face half hidden in the darkness of the office. He was wearing that coat, the alcohol stained, smoke infested, black coat that while walking through the shadows of the streets of London gave him a kind of mystery that was so appealing.

She dropped her gaze onto his chest and a memory resurfaced.

She reached out until her hand rested on his heart, she felt it beating, racing in fact, roaring like the lion he was.

"Look at you; it's beating, that's incredible"

He looked at her as if she were mad, which maybe she was, she felt like she was.

She shakily inhaled and spoke through the tears.

"This must be what it feels like to be mad"

Her chest unable to gain a steady breath as the tears kept falling.

"Tell me what's hurting yer" his voice that was once so soothing only caused her more pain, because she knew now, she knew and she wished she didn't.

"It's..."

She couldn't even bring herself to say it, something she had said so often when she first arrived and now the thought alone caused her such a gut wrenching sadness she didn't think she would ever recover.

If she had worked this out from the start then it wouldn't have been this hard, in fact it would have been almost a victory on her part, but now it felt as if her wall were falling down around her, leaving with nothing and nobody.

"What if you're real?"

"It's not real, none of it" with this sentence her heart broke, shattered into a million pieces.

"Alex, what are yer talkin' about?"

She managed to control her raging emotions and steady her breathing, her eyes continued to leak tears though and she didn't think they would ever be dry again.

"I know now, I know how I can get home, but... but I..." Her chin began to quiver once more the soul shaking sobs were rising from her again.

Worried etched within his face while his eyes shone with fear, having spent so much time with him now she could understand and read him like nobody else.

His voice became fast and panicked, like it had been when he had found her in the warehouse, after Martin Summers had kidnapped her, did that mean... surely he was real, if nothing else?

"Alex... Alex! Look at me, tell me... tell me what's wrong"

But her mind was only thinking about Martin Summers, he had to be real, he knew everything that was happening in the other world, the real world.

Then it hit her.

"He knew" her voice barely audible.

"Knew what? Who is 'e ... Alex, talk to me Alex!"

"Clocks ticking. I've got until 50ml's to beat the infection that's killing me, that's you by the way"

"You think I'm the rut, that's Ironic"

"He was never the infection"

"Alex talk ter me" with his hand still clenched around her arms he shook her roughly and moved his face within inches of hers, so close she could smell him, feel his heat against her. Her sobs stopped as her eyes darted between his, the tension almost unbearable.

"Why can't this be real?"

He released his grip on her and his teeth clenched.

"You're taller than I imagined"

"Well he's tall, some may say handsome, some may say the devil made flesh"

Then the weight of it all feel onto her shoulders and she collapsed into a chair, staring at nothing because she couldn't bear to look at Gene now, she could feel his eyes on her and she knew he was looking at her in a way that would break what little strength she had left.

Silence over came the tiny office, the kind of silence that deafened whomever was near it. All the pain that she was feeling moments ago seemed to leave her, her body in a state of shock, yet she knew that when this blessed numbness left her, the pain that would follow may be too much to handle and so she decided she would tell him everything now, before she couldn't.

She still wouldn't look at him, not while he looked at her in that way.

"Sam had to destroy you to get home, you were the tumour in his head and now you're the infection Gene, what's keeping me here" her voice was almost low and quite.

"You're not going anywhere until I say so, and I don't say so"

He didn't respond, she didn't expect him too and so she continued.

"I've been thinking about it, all the little things because I forget one very important rule here; everything is significant. Everything down to the smallest of things and maybe if I hadn't had become so distracted with it all I could have seen it before now, what this place really is... what it isn't" she almost felt the atmosphere in the room change, become heavier.

"I should have seen it before now; I should have seen it after the dream months ago, why didn't I see it? I was falling in the dream and it was so cold... so cold, just like when I had been shot, why didn't I make the connections? How could I not have seen that dream for what it was; a message from my subconscious telling me that after being shot I landed in your world? Not mine and not even Sam Tyler's, but yours... You're in control of this Gene and you don't even realise it. All this time I was fighting to get home, fighting to save my parents, fighting the corruption, fighting Martin Summers and all along... all along it was you, my constant, my Gene Hunt"

She could feel the numbness begin to wear off and it felt as if her entire insides were being crushed, slowly and painfully. This was tearing her apart piece by piece.

"In your dreams"

"I certainly 'ope so"

"Now I don't know if you're dead or if you're in a coma like me"

"Why don't yer tell me another time like maybe when I'm in a coma or when I'm dead"

"But I think that you've been here so long you've forgotten, because I've already forgotten my own daughter's name. I can't picture her now no matter how hard I try" she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to picture her in that moment, but there was nothing but darkness.

"Sam's only way of getting home was to destroy you, what if it's the same for me?"

His silence said it all, he may of looked at her like she was mad, but she was certain that he was thinking it in this moment.

"You presence is required a little longer round here by me"

"So that yer plan was it, destroy me so's you can get ''ome'? Wake up from yer 'coma'" His almost spat the last sentence at her, his voice was stern and different from the concerned tone it was only moments ago.

She finally looked at him and instantly regretted it, his face was like that of the day when he formally suspended her, filled with disgust and despite how much he tried to hide it she could see the hurt in his eyes causing a painful shock to pulse through her.

"No, I've never had a plan and I would rather stay here then have to hurt you in that way"

"Oh well thank yer very much, do yer want a medal?"

"I need you to believe me"

"Y'know I thought we 'ad moved on from this shit"

"It's the truth"

"Don't use words you don't understand Drake" his voice sharp.

"Please don't be angry – "

"Don't you dare. Don't-you- dare." Her eyes broke from his for a moment and she saw that his hands were folded into tight fists "Yer know there was a time I thought we 'ad a connection but not anymore, this is one step too far. I used to think I knew scum on first site, but yer a whole new kind of scum"

It took all of her energy to stand as face him "No, you have to trust me when I say that I didn't expect this, didn't want this, any of it, but I'm here Gene and I need to get back, I just have to and only you can let me"

"You know I don't even think you know what the truth is anymore you've become so wrapped up in all yer lies. Yer not the woman I thought you were"

"Yes I am...You know me just like I know you"

"The woman I knew was Alex Drake... My Bolly, but I see now it was a lie, all of it"

"I'm here, I'm still me, still Bolly –"

"Don't you use that name" his voice so forceful.

"Dammit Gene why can't you just see that this is killing me as well, that part of me wishes I could just forget like you and live a life here, but I can't. Try to understand where I'm coming from..."

"You dare sit there like yer are the victim in this Drake and I swear to god that I cannot be 'eld accountable for my actions"

"I know that this sounds insane –"

" – Well isn't that the understatement of the century"

"But please, please you have to believe me... Sam... Sam he had an accident in 2006 and, like me, he woke here with you –"

Gene interrupted with a voice that would silence the hardest of criminals.

"Don't yer mention his name... now you can say what yer like about me, 'ell yer can even 'ate me but if yer compare yourself ter Sam one more time I will throw you out of this station personally and I won't look back"

She swallowed. She could see he was serious.

"I have never lied to you" her voice trembling.

Their eyes held she knew that he was holding back a fiery rage.

They just stared at one another, his cold blue burning with a true rage. She couldn't argue anymore, couldn't speak, she didn't have the strength anymore. The blessed numbness that she had felt had melted away leaving her feeling as if she were dying. She would give anything for things to go back to the way they were before, but she couldn't and she knew that they never would. Then a thought occurred, what if she never did get home? What if Gene never let her go? After what had been said tonight would he completely abandon her? Hand her over to the men with the white coats? She could feel them, the tears, burning their way through and soon they began to fall and yet he didn't take his eyes off her and she didn't take her eyes from him.

"Don't... Don't leave me on my own... You're all I have here"

"It 'urts don't it? That's because it's real... this is real" she knew what he was saying, that what they had between them, that connection was real and all what he had said tonight he didn't mean, not really, and he was giving her a chance, a chance to fix it, one final chance. She could see that he was laying his heart on the line...again, and it broke hers in the process because she knew she could never respond in the way either of them wanted too, no matter how much she wanted him or how much he wanted her, because she had a daughter, and she was waiting for her.

"I thought you n' me, we were the ones we 'ad a connection"

"The connection we have is real, it's very real, but this" she looked around room "This just isn't real and I know that now and Gene I need you... I need you to let me go" her heart protested at her statement.

"So that's it is it? I'm supposed to jus' 'let yer go'? Wave yer off at the magical door to the future?" his tone seemed too had quietened slightly and she knew that he was feeling the emotional exhaustion she was.

"I don't know"

"Then what Drake? What do yer want me ter do?"

"Let me go home"

"What the bloody 'ell is that supposed ter mean?"

"Part of you must still want me here or else I would be home... You just need... Just..." she didn't actually know herself, but for some reason it all make sense to her now, after two years of madness. "You have to want me to go"

"'fraid I can't do that"

"Why?" her voice desperate.

"'cause I want yer to stay" he broke eye contact with her and began to pace around the tiny office "and I shouldn't, I should want ter see the back of yer after what you've said 'ere tonight, but... we don't 'ave much; thankless job, shit pay, crappy apartments, but I thought I 'ad yer back and you 'ad mine. I thought I 'ad you..." he stopped pacing and stood very still "and now yer want to bugger off someplace else"

"I don't want to, I have to" she was finding it increasingly difficult to speak through the tears.

"Yer don't 'ave ter go" his voice then was so painfully honest, showing the true extent of his hurt.

"I know why yer 'ere bolls, yer only had ter ask"

She slowly made her way over to him where he stood by the side of his desk, only the distance of three steps and yet it seemed to take a lifetime to reach him. He didn't protest as she placed her hand on his chest once more, feeling his heartbeat, that incredible heartbeat if his.

"You knew from the moment I arrived here that I would leave, I always said that I was going home" both so exhausted that neither could bear to shout, they spoke in almost whispered tones.

"Yer but I didn't count on gettin' attached ter such a posh-mouthed tart now did I?"

"And who'd thought that I would have fallen for you, a border-line alcoholic with a superiority complex"

She stared up at him and fell into his eyes, feeling for the first time since finding the truth out about this place so safe and peaceful and part of her wished she could just stay with him here, in the moment forever.

Her eyes darted between his blue and feeling that her time was running short, she leaned in and felt his lips lightly press against hers. His lips rough against her soft ones, nicotine stained against her pink ones. It was not rough with the rage of passion and arousal nor was it soft with cautiousness. The kiss was nothing more than what it was, it was not an invitation for more, nor was it an denial, it wasn't the start of something nor was it the end, It was simply the expression of feelings, feelings that had such depth and that could never be said aloud. Yet despite never being uttered they were known and shared within that kiss. In that moment she wished that it would never end, because it was only then that she realised how strongly she felt for this man, how she needed him, but she knew it was too late because that kiss was her way of saying goodbye.

She knew it and he knew it.

She heard it, the beeping of her heart monitor and knew she was waking up, she was finally going home and she felt her heart tear down the centre one half belonging and begging her to stay with Gene while the other pushed her towards her daughter. The sounds grew louder and louder and soon all she could see was white.

"Bolly"

His voice sounded like an echo within her mind as she stretched her eyes apart finding herself in a white room with plenty of flowers and cards, welcoming her back to the world of 2008 where she had been lying in a coma for just under two weeks.

Pain weighed down her entire body and yet inside she felt empty. He was gone. All of it was gone.

None of it was real; she knew that from the start and yet now as she lay there waiting somebody to realise her all she wanted to do was be back in that kiss and feel safe with him once more.

Gene Hunt.

Just the thought of his name caused tears to fill her eyes.

"You've only said one word since you've been at the hospital. Just the one; Gene"

What would she do without him now? He had been her lifeline, her constant, her everything for over two years, she couldn't even think of a life without him. She didn't want to.

Then she saw her, her whole reason for being back, her reason for living; her daughter came walking into the room holding a cup of water which she dropped instantly upon seeing her mother's eyes open and on her.

"Mum?"

She couldn't breathe, not one breath.

Her lungs had failed her and the air that was always so willing had now deserted her.

Her mind screaming to her and yet she couldn't hear it.

She could do nothing.

She just stared at her daughter and felt the tears begin to fall, she was more beautiful then she could have ever remembered, just to see her face, to see her smile, everything she had ever forgotten seemed to flood her mind.

Before she knew it she was holding the sobbing girl in her arms and she fit so perfectly. She wanted to speak to tell her how much she had missed her, how she would never leave her again, how she loved her beyond everything else in this world, but she couldn't, she just held her until neither could cry anymore.

Doctors soon filled the room and the tests began with plenty of following bright lights and fingers, questions that a newborn baby would know the answer to and soon she was discharged.

Standing at the foot of her hospital bed, collecting up the last of her cards to take home she allowed herself to remember, which she had refused herself to do since waking up, but now she felt like she had to. She had to remember them; their faces, their voices, their smiles, because she knew that may not be real, but to her they were. They were more real than most the people walking around beyond the hospital walls because those "figments" had more life in them then she had ever owned and she promised herself that she wouldn't forget them, she would keep them alive in her memory.

Then she thought of Gene and her eyes burned once more and she wondered how long it would be before his name no longer caused her a gut wrenching pain. He was real, she was sure of it. He was in control of it, everything, it was never her world it had always been his. Surly then... surly he was real, in this world, maybe everything she had said to him had been right and he was in fact in a coma himself. If he was, if he really was real then she could find him, she could see him again –

Her thoughts were interrupted as Molly walked into the room.

"Mum? Evan is waiting in the car"

She pushed down the tears and forced on a smile.

"Okay Molls, I'll be right there"

She promised herself one more thing before leaving the hospital room; if Gene Hunt was real she would find him.

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So please let me know what you thought and depending on what you guys think I may write another chapter for this one ... Thanks so much for reading and I really hoped you enjoyed it!