Promise

Disclaimer: I'm only using characters from the BBC's Ashes to Ashes for fun. I don't own them and didn't invent them.

Author's note: This is a short fic about a possible resolution to the events at the end of the second series. Only a two parter and this is the last bit. Thanks to Louella for being a sterling beta.

CHAPTER 2

"I'm not letting you go, so, bollocks to it." He'd been staring at the unopened letter for the better part of an hour and now, he crumpled it tightly in his fist and tossed it into the ashtray, watching as his smouldering cigarette ignited the paper. He had to throw the remains of his pint into it as the flame was bigger than he thought it would be. We'll say goodbye properly, Bolly, if we have to. I don't want a letter to do the job and I'm giving you this back. He tucked her warrant card into the breast pocket of his jacket.

Later, just as he was about to fling the entire soggy mess from the ashtray into the bin beside him, he saw that a scorched fragment of paper remained. He held it between his thumb and forefinger and squinted at it, the writing just about visible.

love you,

Alex

Appalled at the tears that welled up and sniffing them back with determination, Gene took out his own warrant card and tucked the fragment of paper in behind his picture. He wanted to keep it where he knew it would be safe and with him every day. "You great, soft, pillocking nancy," he berated himself aloud as he stared out at the empty street and returned to his thoughts. Not saying goodbye, Bolls. You an' me are not saying goodbye like this. He got up and reached for the phone.

"CID?"

"Ray - it's me. I'm in The Ship in the Isle of Dogs. Come and get me."

"But, Guv-"

"Just come and get me, Ray. I can't do this. I didn't shoot her deliberately - I couldn't. I'm innocent and innocent men don't run."

"Okay, Guv. Sit tight."

"I'll be here."

x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Everything hurt. Every conceivable body part ached. She was so cold too and could feel her teeth chattering, no matter how hard she tried to stop them.

"Here, love," said a kind voice, and a straw was placed between her lips. Alex sucked on some delicious water for an all too brief moment before the straw was removed.

She tried to talk but she couldn't think of what she wanted to say. It was something important.

"Can you hear me, Alex?"

Cold. Now her legs were shaking. And her hands. A cool, kind hand was placed against her cheek. Hot. Too hot.

"Alex?"

"S-s-s..."

"That's it. Try again, Alex. Can you hear me?"

"Y-y's."

"Good. Alex, don't panic and listen to me. You're in hospital. You've been very seriously wounded but you've come through the operation. The bullet didn't penetrate-"

"Hel... h'lp... me... Ge...n... nne..."

"Shush, shush." The hand gently stoked her hair. "Alex, the bullet didn't penetrate any major organs but it did rupture the small intestine. We've patched you up and all things considering, you've been one very lucky lady."

"H-h-head," she chattered. Her head - she'd been shot in the head! It was a very important thing! She had to tell someone.

"Is your head sore?"

Bloody questions. Of course it's fucking sore! I've a bullet in my... side? She blinked. "Whuh?"

"Alex, you're in hospital. You were shot in your abdomen, lower left, you've been patched up and now you're going to be fine." The voice was calm, kind, and over explanatory as if talking to a half-wit.

I'm not a half-wit.

"You must be very confused but you're not awake properly yet. You developed an infection and as a result of the shooting and you're suffering from a high temperature. You've either been unconscious or delirious for five days but today is a good day, I think."

The trembles were easing off and Alex blinked again and tried to focus.

"Hello." A woman smiled at her.

Alex tried to reply.

"Are you too hot or cold?"

"Hot," she managed to croak. "Cold."

The nurse fussed about, explaining again about infections and temperature and blah, blah, blah. Alex just wanted her to go so she could think. Eventually, she was left in peace and she tried to marshal her thoughts into order but she kept drifting off, waking every few hours in confusion and disorientation. It took a day or so but gradually, she could stay awake for longer and longer periods of time. She saw the nurse pass her bed.

"Mary," she called, her voice almost back to normal again.

The nurse stopped and came over to her. "What is it?" she asked kindly.

"Mary, can you please see if my Guv can visit me today? Please? I so want to see him."

But to Alex's dismay and disappointment, Gene wasn't allowed to see her. Shaz, Ray, Chris, the inquiry team; they'd all come in but the one person she wanted the most was kept away. Every single time the door opened, Mary saw Alex look hopefully towards the end of her cubicle, and one day, as a hospital orderly bustled past with fresh laundry, the disappointment was too much for Alex to handle.

"He'll be here, Alex," soothed the nurse, patting Alex's hand. "Don't be upset."

"No, you don't understand," she choked around a sob. "Please, please, tell them how much I want to see him. I need to talk to him. Please."

"You know I can't resist it if a woman begs for me, Bolly," came the beloved voice from the end of her bed.

Alex started and then began to cry in earnest, reaching out for him. The nurse made a discreet exit, closed the curtains around Alex's bed and left them to it. No words were necessary as Gene held her tightly, determined that nothing or nobody would take her from him again, especially not himself. Alex clung to him, as relief, joy and sadness poured from her.

Eventually, Gene fished in his pocket for a tissue. "Here, Bolls," he said, his voice gravelly. "There's only so much water my coat can absorb." He dabbed at her deathly pale cheeks and Alex took the tissue with a smile. Calmer now, he helped arrange her pillows comfortably, took the chair beside her bed and scooted close so he could keep her hand in his.

"How are you feeling, Bolls?"

Everyone had kept him up-to-date on her condition once he had turned himself in. There was no point in running, not when Alex's life hung in the balance. He wanted to be near her, to know how she was doing, to be able to see her and he couldn't do any of that if he was on the run. Anyway, he realised he had nowhere to go - all the people he trusted were in Fenchurch. Or in hospital. Alex wouldn't have run out on him so the very least he could do was stay for her. He didn't know how he managed to spot the tiny bit of paper that finally made up his mind for him; love you, Alex. If she really did, then he was going to find out. Gene Hunt was many things but a coward wasn't one of them.

He could take it even if she had written, "I don't, and will never, love you. Alex". One way or another, he had to know and to do that, he had to stop being a sad sack of shit and be a man. Fuck the inquiry team - it was an accident and he would make them see it was. Having given his version of events for what seemed like the umpteenth time, Ray had triumphantly returned to Fenchurch this evening. The scene of crime people had found Jenette's bullet lodged in a pillar directly behind where Gene had been standing. As soon as he'd been free to leave, Gene tore home, cleaned himself up in record time and sped back to the hospital. Seeing her awake - he didn't deserve the relief that washed over him. Everything that had happened could be put right now that she was back with him.

"Still a bit woozy but I'm here," she replied, her eyes tracing over every inch of his face. It felt like she hadn't seen him for years.

"Wanted to come in and see you earlier but the inquiry team thought it best if I didn't. Better if you told them what happened without my influence." He grasped her hand a little bit tighter.

"Couldn't tell them much, Gene," she said sadly, moving her thumb over his. "I can only remember up to the night before it- you- er..."

"Before I shot you."

She nodded sadly. "If I could, I'd give you a well deserved kick in the arse for that."

"Fair's fair," he said, his voice hollow. "It was an accident, Bolls. Was aiming for Jenette," he whispered. "I would never hurt you like that."

"I know," she whispered back, feeling her eyes well up again. "I know you wouldn't."

He caressed her cheek briefly with the back of his finger. "I know what I said to you, Bolly, when we argued but... I didn't mean it. Any of it. I was livid but I thought you hated me - that I'd been deluding myself about us. Worse, when I asked you for the truth, I thought you were taking the piss."

"Wasn't, though," she muttered. "I believed it. I wouldn't lie to you, Guv. I couldn't. I couldn't hate you either. Please, Gene, please believe me-"

"Shush, Bolly, don't upset yourself, love," he said kindly, hearing the desperation in her voice. "You have nothing to be sorry over. Can't say I believe you're from the future but I do know that you thought you were and that's enough for me."

"But it can't be," she protested, eyes full of uncertainty. "I don't understand why I believed it either. I'm so confused and... and I'm so scared. What's happening to me?"

"I don't know, Bolls," he said honestly.

She had to ask the dreaded question, the one thing she knew Gene would give her an honest answer to. "Gene, am I mad? I mean, really insane?" She couldn't hold the threatened tears back and one trickled down her face before she could swipe it away - crying would only make this harder.

"No, love," he replied with certainty. "You're not insane."

"How do you know?" she said, sniffling. "Maybe I am. I must be."

He took both of her hands in his and looked straight at her. "DI Alexandra Drake, you are as sane as I am. I may not have a degree in psycho-nutters but I do know that when someone is insane, they sure as shit don't question it. No, they're quite happy living in their little la la land and scaring the snot out of the rest of us. I don't know what happened to you, Bolls, but we'll find out if we can."

"So... I'm not crazy?" Her hopeful eyes met his.

"No. I mean, you may be mad as a hatter from time to time, but it's the good sort of crazy. Not the bad kind."

She gave a watery smile. "There's a good and bad crazy, then?"

"Of course there is, and here was me thinking you were the psychoanalyst." He saw her little smile and he continued, "I think, as coppers, we're all a little bit of the good sort of crazy. You'd have to be to do our job, right? Your particular type of crazy drives me up the wall but I wouldn't be without it."

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Daft girl," he whispered back. "Is this why you've been so upset? Thinking that I wouldn't believe you and that you were nuts?"

She gave a small, forlorn nod.

He shook his head. The fact that he shot her, that he put her in this miserable place, that she was obviously in pain, all of that seemed to have escaped her notice. Instead, she was worried about his reaction? It was true - he had it so damn lucky, he didn't know he was born. He reached into his pocket and withdrew her warrant card, placing it into her hand with a searching look - begging for forgiveness, for understanding, and hating it that he couldn't say the words. You're such a gutless wonder, Hunt, you fucking coward. Trust you to bottle it when you have everything you want. You got your second chance, a miracle, now talk to her. Talk, you stupid, stupid bastard. Talk or you'll regret it for the rest of your life.

So he took a deep breath and went for it. "Bolly, I never should've taken this from you. Am so sorry, love. Am so sorry about all of it."

She took the card and clenched it tightly in her hand, glad to be reunited with it again. "I know you are, Gene. It was an accident." She brushed her fingers lightly over his forehead and smoothed some hair back from his eyes.

"You're far too good to me," he replied, turning his cheek into her palm. "It scared the shit out of me, seeing you lying there like that after I'd shot you. All too clear."

She tilted his head gently so she could look directly at him. "What was clear?"

"You. Me... us. I thought, well, I thought we had a connection - that we were unbreakable, you know? But we're not. In the end, it didn't take much to break us apart."

"A young, pretty woman threw herself at you, Gene. You wouldn't be a man if you didn't notice her and she appealed to you as the only decent sheriff in Dodge City. Set us up against each other - wounded where it would hurt the most."

Gene froze and then gave her a rueful smile. "And do you know what the really pathetic thing is? I knew it. I knew exactly what she was doing and I still played along because..."

"Because why?" she prompted softly, with a sleepy smile.

"Because I knew it would piss you right off."

"It worked."

He traced his thumb over the back of her hand in little circles as he gathered his thoughts.

"It just snowballed out of control, Bolly. You an' me... I can hardly remember the last time I was that angry with anyone and then... then I almost finished the job and broke us apart forever. Over what?"

"It was an accident, Gene," she repeated, her eyes beginning to drift shut. "A stupid row and a stupid accident and we do have a connection; we always will. We'll be okay now."

"I hope we'll be more than okay," he whispered, feeling her grip on his hand loosen a bit. "And you do know that I didn't mean what I said to you-"

She gave him a sleepy smile. "Will you stop, please? If you keep going there'll be nothing left of you for me to beat up. I won't even get one decent arse kick."

He chuckled and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. "It's true, I do need punishing and as I said, fair is fair. I've been a very bad boy, Madam Fruitcake. I'll need a good thrashing."

"Perv," she whispered, her eyes fluttering closed but her smile was still evident.

He watched as she gradually nodded off. "Sleep well, Bolls."

"Stay wi' me," she mumbled. "Jus' need five minutes..."

"I'll be here," he reassured and settled back into the chair. He started to read yesterday's paper and smiled to himself as Alex snored. Not delicate, ladylike little puffs either.

He liked the sound, liked it that she was comfortable, out of pain and was relaxed enough to sleep with him beside her.

When the nurse peeked in, she saw a sprawled Gene, fast asleep in the comfortable chair with the newspaper spread across his chest, Alex's hand in his, and her patient out for the count for her first proper sleep in a week. Visiting hours may be over but sometimes a visitor was exactly what the doctor ordered.

x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x

Alex woke a few hours later to with her usual pains and aches and bewildered confusion, although those bouts didn't last that long any more. Very quickly she remembered what had happened, where she was and more importantly, who was with her. Gene was still out of it and the newspaper had slipped to a crumpled heap on the floor.

"Gene," she croaked. "Gene, wake up."

He jerked awake. "Bolly!" He sat bolt upright and stared at her. "Are you okay, Bolls?"

"Bit sore," she said, trying not to sound wimpy. "Could you hand me those pills, please?"

He picked up the little plastic cup from her locker that contained about four tablets and poured her a glass of water. Alex gasped in pain as she attempted to sit forward and he could see that she was in some serious discomfort.

"Let me help you sit up," he whispered, conscious of the late hour and other sleeping patients.

"I can do it," she replied and struggled to sit forward again. "God helps those who help themselves, right?"

He grinned at her. "You've got it arseways again, silly tart. It's the Copper's Code; May God help those caught helping themselves, remember?"

Alex snickered softly and he gently slipped an arm underneath her shoulders and carefully moved her a bit more upright. Then holding her in that position, he gave her the pills and water. Once she'd swallowed them all he helped her settle back against the pillows and tucked her blankets up around her.

She saw him looking at her in grave concern. "I'll be okay in about 20 minutes."

"You're in a lot of pain." All sorts of pain. Caused by me.

"It's just everything knitting back together, or so I'm told," she explained, "but I haven't got a temperature any more and I'm not even sore around the wound so the infection's gone. You'll see, 20 minutes will make all the difference."

"You look-"

"Don't tell me," she said, smiling wanly. "I'm better off thinking I look great."

He rolled his eyes in pretend exasperation. "I was about to say you look like Rita Hayworth or what's-her-name, Wonder Woman... Lynda Carter."

Alex snorted. "I'm sure I've got the costume on underneath this gown too."

He waggled his eyebrows at her. "Want me to take a peek?"

That extracted a chuckle from her and he playfully lifted the corner of the sheet, making a grab for her warrant card at the same time. "I asked, remember? Don't want you arresting me for lewd behaviour-"

She grasped his hand and looked at him strangely.

"What, Bolls?"

"I... just had the weirdest..."

Alarmed, he stood up. "Should I call th-"

"No, no... sit." She looked at him again and at the warrant card on her locker. "Show me yours."

He did a double take. "Blimey, Pervy Knickers. That's a bit forward."

She grinned and slapped his arm playfully. "You're the perv. I meant show me your warrant card."

Mystified, he withdrew the card from his pocket and handed it to her. Alex stared at it for a long moment.

"Bolls, what-"

"Shush," she whispered. "Gene... you burnt my letter - the one I wrote to say goodbye. You never read it and you burnt it... but not all of it."

His eyes met hers in astonishment. Alex flipped the card open and, heart in his mouth, he watched as she carefully put a finger behind his photo, shook the card and watched in amazement as a fragment of scorched paper fluttered out into her hand. Both of them were stunned.

"How could you possibly have known about that?" he whispered.

She touched a finger to the fragile paper. "I don't know how... it's... you told me about it."

"I bloody well did not," he protested, still gobsmacked.

She was certain he'd told her; whispered it in her ear. "Gene, I could swear you told me about it... you kept me with you... I don't know..."

Gene didn't know what to think. "Bolls, what is going on here? All of your future talk and now this? I knew all along you were psychic and you kept correcting me."

She laughed and tears fell at the same time. "It's psychology!"

"It's insane, is what it is," he replied, smiling as he handed her another tissue. "But... Christ, I've missed your good sort of crazy... and you."

Carefully, Alex placed the paper fragment on her knee and took the tissue, wiping her eyes and blowing her nose again. "I'm going to be dehydrated at this rate," she said with a smile. "Gene, I can't explain-"

He shook his head and then carefully sat beside her on the bed, replacing the treasured fragment back in his warrant card. "I don't want explanations, Bolly. You an' me... we don't need everything explained 'cause sometimes... sometimes words don't quite say what we want them to say."

She threaded her fingers through his and squeezed. "Don't be a gutless wonder, Gene."

He snorted in bewildered confusion. "Will you always be able to read my mind or will this be the end of it?"

"I hope it's the start of it."

"We're not talking about the same thing here, are we?"

She shook her head with a shy, warm smile.

"Just so you know... I'm not ever letting you go, Lady Bolls." His smile matched hers. "Tell you what, when you're back on your feet again, how's about a holiday?"

"What kind of a holiday?" she asked, her eyes sparkling.

"A real pervy one, I hope. Just you an' me," he said, smiling at her. He didn't know where the courage to talk to her like this came from but he figured that if he didn't take his chances, then who knew what sort of regrets he would have. He'd done the hard part - faced his fears and actually spoke honestly to her. The very worst thing she could say would be no but, on the other hand, she could say yes.

"We'll need plenty of sunshine because it can be a bit nippy if you're not wearing any clothes."

"Bloody hell, Bolly!" He mock-protested at her forthrightness. "Well, I wasn't exactly planning on the South Pole, love. The cold can do all sorts of things to a bloke, just when he least expects it."

Alex snorted and squeezed his hand. "Well, some place a bit further south than England would be good."

"I'm not going to ruddy France." He couldn't resist teasing her a little.

"Spain then."

"Filled with ex-pats, ex-men, ex-coppers and ex-cons."

"There's more to Spain than Alicante, Gene."

He started down at their intertwined hands and wanted to be serious for a moment. "I suppose we could find a little town where tourists never go. Some place nice and… peaceful."

"Portbou."

"Never heard of it."

"Exactly," she beamed and then blinked in confusion, a frown creasing her forehead. "Er, me neither."

He laughed and kissed her knuckles. "Oh, my Bolly, you complete fruitcake. Right, if it exists, unheard of Portbou it is. You an' me, Bolls - fighting over the suncream together."

"Can't wait," she replied, feeling sleep beginning to tug at her again. "Want to be with you."

"Want you to be there," he said, softly. "I won't ever let you go, Bolly."

Alex tightened her grip on his hand. "I promise that if you don't let go then neither will I. Promise?"

Gene pulled back for a moment and saw the look in her eyes, his answer. Love. Alex loved him. Then he leaned down and kissed her gently; their first kiss of many. "Promise."

x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x THE END x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x