I've wanted to write this chapter for a while, but it was harder than I thought it would be. I had to re-watch the first episode of Life On Mars - not that I'm complaining about that!

O Tell Me The Truth About Love: Chapter Sixteen – Manchester

The first time Gene drove past he didn't even slow down to look at the individual doors. He didn't need to; he knew this road too well. How could he forget?

The second time he did reduce his speed but continued on the none the less. So much time had past and Gene knew better than to believe that the world had just stood still through all the years he'd missed. But what if…

On the third pass he stopped the car. Somehow he knew that time had frozen over that house. He just knew.

A brisk walk. A confident knock. And then the door was opened.

The colour drained from her face and her lips parted slightly in surprise.

"You goin' to invite me in Tyler?"

Her face went a shade paler, and Gene was anxious for a moment about what effect the shock might have on her. But he needn't have worried. "Guv?" Annie took a step towards Gene and looked him straight in the eye. She raised a trembling hand to his chest and held it there for a moment, felling the steady pounding of his heart. "DCI Hunt." She shook her head, a weak smile curving up the corners of her lips, "I should have known." Annie stepped aside and gestured for him to come in.

He followed her through to the small sitting room at the front of the house. Unsure what to say, he said nothing. He had been prepared for any reaction, he had thought, but he'd not anticipated this calm acceptance.

They sat and Annie stared openly at him. "You survived Gene. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but…" she sighed, "It's been so long."

This was too much. "But Annie, your not, I mean, I'm not…" he stuttered, but she just smiled.

"It doesn't matter how you're here Gene. It's that you're alive that matters. You've been missed."

"But Annie, I'm not just alive! I haven't changed, I haven't aged, aren't you-"

"Neither had Sam," she said simply and Gene had no answer to that. "It's Cartwright by the way, Gene. My name I mean." Annie told him calmly, "I change it back a few years ago. It was my Mum's idea, before she died, said it might help me get over him. I thought I had. But then I had to lose him all over again." She fell silent and Gene waited, though the questions exploded inside his head.

Annie got up and looked straight at Gene, "There's someone you should see while you're here. Come with me?" She asked. Gene hesitated as he digested her words. He nodded. Of course he'd go with her. Sam had trusted her, he trusted her. She was the only one now.

There was no wind as the unlikely pair made their way through the cemetery, but although the air was still, it was painfully cold. Gene was thankful for his coat and gloves. He looked across at Annie out of the corner of his eye. He hadn't expected her to look so thin; the years had not been kind.

"Where we goin' Annie?" he asked, though he was almost sure he had guessed.

"Still just as impatient, I see," she said and laughed quietly to herself, there had been a time when she would not have dared to speak to her DCI that way, but times had changed. Gene smiled too, Sam would be proud of her.

Annie stopped beside one of the newer looking graves, turned to him and spoke in a quiet voice, "Meet the Sam you never met."

Gene looked down at the name on the simple black gravestone. Sam Tyler. He had seen it coming but the reality of seeing Sam's grave was no easier. The dates did nothing to help the unsettled feeling in his gut either. 1969-2006. He had considered visiting this graveyard as he had driven up to Manchester but not to see this, "What happened to the memorial plaque from when he, you know, after the accident in the Cortina?"

"It's still there, but I don't visit it as often as I used to. He's not there Gene, he's here. We never had a body to burry and now I think I understand why. It was hard not having somewhere to visit him, I needed to feel close to him, I still do sometimes, and those are the times when I'm grateful for this." They stood quietly for a moment, before Annie added, "I think he would have like this. Us being here, now. He would have wanted us to understand his choice."

Gene fidgeted uncomfortably. "But-" he paused, searching for the words to describe how he felt, "but this Sam didn't know us."

"Oh yes he did Gene." She said turning quickly to face him, taking hold of his hands in hers. "He did, and that's why he jumped." She smiled sadly, "he came out of the coma in 2006, he got 'home' but he had to leave us to do it. He left us that day on the train, don't you remember? But he came back, Gene, he came back to save us."

Gene nodded, remembering Alex telling him something similar when he'd asked her. Still, Gene had difficulty seeing this Sam and the one he had know as one person, but Annie's certainty was helping him to believe. Alex was still Alex in 2008 so why shouldn't Sam be too? It was easier to accept with Alex, he had known her in both times. He wished he'd had the chance to meet this Sam.

Annie saw the pain in Gene's eyes as he considered all that had happened. They stood side by side and time stood still beside them.

"You'd better drive me home, Gene. Time for a cup of tea."

He nodded, giving one last look at the engraved stone. He reached out and gently touched the cold surface for a moment, then he turned away.

Annie passed him a steaming mug but did not sit down, "There's something I want you to see, I'll just be a moment." She disappeared up the stairs and returned a few minutes later with a worn blue covered notebook, lose pages where sticking out at the sides. She handed it to him and Gene stared down at the blank cover, unsure whether to open it or not.

"What is it Annie?"

"Have a look," she prompted.

He opened the book. Inside were pages and pages of Sam's neat handwriting, each page started with a different heading. There were pages labelled: films, music, sport, wars. It went on and on. "What am I looking at?"

"Sam gave it to me, the first week I knew him. The detail is amazing, he talks about things that he couldn't have know. He predicted things that didn't happen until after he died. I kept it hidden away for ages, even forgot I had it for a while, but a few years after I lost him I found it again and I read it all." She shook her head, smiling, "Over the next few years every time something big happen I'd check Sam's notes, and every time it was there. So I started thinking about what he'd said when he'd arrived, about his accident, and I started wondering: What if?"

She lifted her head to meet his eyes and Gene held his breath as he listened, his hands gripping the blue notebook tightly.

"I looked him up Gene - he was a DCI, here at GMP. I waited a couple of months and then finally one day I saw him. That's when I knew for sure. Here was our Sam, just as I remembered him. Full of life..."

Her voice died away, Gene reached over and gave Annie's hand a gentle squeeze.

"I'll always remember the day of his accident, it was on the news, on the radio, in the papers. Everywhere I went there he was. By the time he came out of the coma I'd worked it all out. The notebook entries stop in 2006, you see, so I knew that his life here was coming to an end. The day he jumped my heart broke all over again, but it had to be, don't you see Gene. He had to jump so he could live with us."

"Didn't you go an' see him, after he woke up?"

She shook her head, "And say what?"

Gene said nothing.

"I needed him in1973 more than I needed him here, I had to let him go Gene."

He nodded. The old friends slipped into a comfortable silence, each remembering the man who had tied them together.

"So what about you, Gene? Last I heard you were missing presumed dead along with your DI." She watched him expectantly, and so Gene told her. He told her about Alex, about her parents, about Layton, about the boat, and finally about waking up here in a world where he was always out of step.

"And what about DI Drake?" Annie asked.

"What about her? She got home, she got what she wanted, end of story."

"Is it Gene?" She knew she was pushing her luck but Annie knew Gene well enough to see he was holding back, "You must have cared about her, the papers in '82 said you followed her onto the boat even though you knew there was a bomb."

"She was my DI, part of the team. I couldn't just let her die."

Annie nodded, Gene had always looked out for his team, no denying it, but she sensed there was more. "And now? She knows you're here?"

"She knows I woke up in 2008 if that's what you mean."

"And how does she feel about that?"

"How would I know!? Look, I didn't come here to talk about DI Bloody Drake!"

Annie raised her eyebrows at his outburst but made no comment. DCI Hunt had been able to frighten her once but so much had happened since then, she would no longer be intimidated but his shouting.

"Sorry Annie," he apologised a minute later. Talking about Alex was too raw, the pain was too fresh.

"I'm sorry too Gene. I shouldn't have pushed it, old habits die-hard."

"You interviewing me Cartwright? Using your psychiatry on me?"

"Psychology, Guv."

"I know it is, Alex." He looked up sharply, "Annie, I meant Annie." He sighed, "That was Alex's way too, she could see things in people that I never noticed, could find patterns even when there was obvious link." He looked down at his tightly clenched hands. "We were a good team. More than a team, for a while… But she's got her ex back now, and she's got her daughter. She doesn't need me."

Annie watched him sadly. "So what will you do now?"

"I need to get back, I don't belong here. If Sam could get back then so can I."

"What about the man who shot Alex? Arthur Layton?"

Gene sat back, stunned. "Bloody hell. I hadn't even thought-" Gene got up, unable to sit still as his mind raced. "He's got to know something. He has to be part of this." He turned to Annie and grinned, "You're brilliant Cartwright, I'll find Layton and I'll get back to the 80's."

She returned his smile but it quickly faded, "You'll be leaving now, won't you Gene?"

He looked back at her, his smile disappearing too, "I have to know Annie," he said, feeling guilty at leaving so soon.

"It's ok Gene. I understand." She paused. "In case I don't see you again Gene, good luck with everything."

"You'll see me Annie. I'll visit you when I get back. I should have been better at staying in contact when I had the chance."

"How can that work Gene?" She asked shaking her head, "You'll visit me in the past?"

"I don't know," he admitted, with half a smile. "But I'll manage it somehow." His eye caught on the blue covered notebook and a deep sense of regret washed over him at not having the time to read it, "Annie? Could I borrow Sam's book?"

A flash of panic crossed her aged face and Gene instantly wished he hadn't asked.

"Oh Gene-"

"Forget it. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's all I have left of him. I know I have some of his clothes and books and most of his records, but he wrote that, and when I read it I can still hear his voice. I'm sorry Gene," she looked away, ashamed.

"It's alright Annie, I shouldn't have mentioned it." An unpleasant silence filled the room as Gene edged away.

Annie followed him to the front door where she pulled the reluctant Gene into her for a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around him. Gene awkwardly returned the hug; she was still Sam's missus even though he was long gone now, and he could tell that he had upset her.

"It was good to see you Gene."

"Yeah, well. It was good to see you an' all."

Annie smiled, "Look after yourself Gene. You've been given a second chance, I know you don't see it like that but it's true." He managed half a smile before he turned away, heading to his car. "Gene?" He looked back towards the house. Annie paused for a moment, struggling to find the right words, "I learnt something important from my time with Sam. I learnt that being happy is the most important thing, it doesn't matter where, or when, you find it, but when you've found it you've got to grab it with both hands and not let it slip away from you. I want you to be happy Gene, you deserve it."

She hesitated but Gene knew she had more to say, " I know you want to find Layton, you're on your own personal mission now and you're just like Sam – once you've got an idea into your head there nothing I can do to change your mind. But please Gene, remember this: Sam was only happy once he'd accepted where he was and stopped fighting to get away."