Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes Original Characters, Fenchurch East Police Station, the Railway Arms, Luigi's and Alex's flat are owned by Kudos Film and Television, Monastic Productions and the BBC. Everything else (including the new characters) are owned by me.

Chapter Nin

The team sat down in the white room and looked at the whiteboard that Alex had set up, she had written that Gene's name in the middle of the board with had drawn a big circle around it. Everybody looked uncomfortable, Sam kept glancing at the door.

Alex knew she would have to get the ball rolling, so she stood up and smiled at the team.

"Thank you all for showing up, that means a lot to me", she said sincerely.

Chris nodded "No problem, Ma'am, we would like to help".

Alex looked at the rest of the team, they did not seem that enthusiastic, she already felt defeated.

"Go on, Ma'am, tell them your idea", Shaz said, she did not want Alex to become even more defeated than she already was.

It made Shaz sad that Alex and the Guv were not together, it was kind of like Romeo and Juliet except they were both middle aged.

Alex pointed to the name on the whiteboard, she felt nervous, it felt like a long time since she had gathered a team together and prepared them for a job. All the team were looking at her and she realised she still had not said anything. She smiled and felt her bottom lip tremble, this was not meant to happen.

Sam stood up and walked towards her, "here drink this", he said kindly, pushing a glass of water into her hand.

Alex took the cup in trembling hands and felt the water flow through her dry mouth, she swallowed hard and looked at her team again. They seemed concerned and worried about her, she needed to pull her act together, everyone was depending on her.

She smiled genuinely "Sorry, it's been awhile since I have done this".

Everyone nodded, she realised that the understood and that they wanted to help her.

She pointed at the name on the whiteboard again, "This man connects us all. He may be even unwittingly, though I would not put it past him, made us a family".

"A family of misfits", Ray snorted, the rest of the team turned around and gave him a filthy look "Aaah I was only joking", he said good humouredly.

"Anyway, I need to get back to Gene", there it was finally out, she had admitted allowed to the team, she looked around at them, they did not look shocked.

"You want us to help you leave the Railway Arms?", Annie asked, she was slightly shocked, it was lovely here, why would anyone want to leave.

Alex nodded, she felt tears prick the back of her eyes.

"Maybe we could get the Guv to come here", Sam was thinking out loud, everyone turned to him.

"Well we have been here five years, we have never seen anyone go back out to limbo, if you leave it's to go somewhere else in heaven".

Annie nodded in agreement "That's right Alex, I don't think it can be done".

Alex smiled and played her trump card "Gene was picked for his job, he was our guardian".

That made sense but they still were not sure where Alex was going with this.

Sam was the first to speak "That's true but we don't know if the Guv came from the Railway Arms, he could have been somewhere else before he became the Guv".

Alex was excited, she knew she could rely on Sam to start the serious thinking "That's right, he was in heaven and then came back to help us, it was his job, he was the only one aware that he needed to keep us safe".

"Let me get this right", Ray said, "you want us to go back to CID and work with Gene".

"Yes, don't you want to go back, Ray? You loved working for Gene", Alex could feel herself pleading.

"Aye I did, but I love it here, there's no more guilt, no more worry about what my Dad thinks, and I like working behind the bar, I get to chat up more birds that way", Ray was trying to explain in his own misogynist way.

Chris interrupted "Excuse me Ma'am, maybe we could go back for a while, not for ever, for special assignments".

Alex nodded, she felt deflated, she had somehow got it into her head, that they would all want to go back with her, she did not want to leave them here, at least when she was here she could keep an eye on them and pretend that she was continuing Gene's job for him.

"You know what Ma'am, I think Sam was onto something there", said Shaz, "what if we got the Guv here, we could always set up a squad here if needed".

Alex was shocked, she had never thought of that "Do you think that would be possible Shaz?".

Shaz nodded "I asked Nelson before, and he said we could ask for anything we wanted in the Railway Arms and where it was possible it would be granted to us".

"Why did you ask Nelson that Shaz?", Ray was more interested now.

Shaz looked embarrassed and knew that everyone was looking at her, she looked up and met Alex's eyes, "I was worried about you Ma'am, and I knew, you were, you were ... missing the Guv, so I asked Nelson if there was anything we could do to help you and get the Guv here".

Alex walked over, bent down and enveloped Shaz in a hug, she felt the tears leave her eyes and slide down her cheek "Thanks Shaz you are really good friend".

Shaz hugged her back, "I just wanted to you to be happy, like we are, it's not fair that you don't have the Guv here with you".

Sam walked back up to where the board was and started writing, "What we need is a plan, we need to convince Gene Hunt, that he has to come to us, that his place is with us". Sam stopped for a moment, he was lost in thought, "Is there any way we can find out what cases Gene is working on at the moment".

"We could ask Nelson, he would want to help", Annie offered, getting up from her chair, "I am going to get him now".

"Good woman Annie", Sam said appreciatively as he watched her leave the room.

"There's no need, I have their current case here, they have dubbed it the Granny Basher", Alex held it up for the rest of the team to see.