Oh, Monkey, I can't believe that I haven't found this before. Haunting and beautifully enigmatic - how can the older Gene come to the real world to save Alex from Layton, and how can she apparently be in two places at once? Yet we accept everything, as she does, with "I was needed, and I was there." He saves her, not only from being killed, but from the knowledge of how and why her parents died. I love the teasing recollections of his rescue of her as a child, in the smell of fags and aftershave and in "Bye, little lady". And I also love the teasing possibility that he might return for his jacket and warrant card... Wonderful, as all your work is.

I'm not crying. There's just a tsunami in my eye.

Oh how sweet. After all the time that pasted gene waited for time to catch up with itself save di drake and then eventually meet bolly in the pub. All in all a happy ending.

Lovely stuff, Monkey. It's sad yet hopeful at the same time. Bit of a head-wrecking time conundrum to try and figure out how, if Gene saved Alex from getting shot by Layton, how could he have even met her in the first place. But who says time travel has to be logical; he's got Bolls waiting in the pub and it's time he was off. Awww.

Wonderful story giving great insight into Alex's psyche and her supposed last minutes on earth. Nice shock of Gene appearing and saving her - few words of dialogue here but then he didn't really need them. The nice touch of him going to the pub to meet Bolls was enough.

A keeper.

This is just beautifully written, true to Alex's voice and personal story. It's healing as well, yet strangely unsettling because it re-explores stories we thought we knew.

I'll also confess right here to being something of a dissident on the whole question about whether Alex ought to have taken Molly home or sent her with Evan. I regard the latter act as having possibly saved her life, because, after all, Layton was waiting in the car. I tend to think of Alex as quite a good parent, or the best she could be under the circumstances.

Getting back to your story, I really liked Gene in this - so understated, so totally in character.

It's also a unique story in that it explores Alex's reality a bit - the multiple tragedies, the stress she was under, the push-pull of career and parenting. Believe it or not, the reference to the book still breaks my heart - so many broken plans!

But you give a hint that there will be healing, and I assume we can read the story as showing events happening on several levels.