(Untitled)

[unbreakablelion]

How long had it been since Gene’s team had left? He’d lost count. The days all seemed to blend together now. His life had become one big blur. Sure, he still had his job; he still had to protect people and keep the scum and filth off the streets - but aside from that, he really didn’t have much

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[godsinthedetail]

Sam blinked a few times, licked his lips and slumped down in his seat. Christ, Gene was either pulling his leg or dead serious... or he'd cracked. He didn't like the idea of either.

"Right. Nineteen. I'm sorry but you don't-- its-- how?"

Gene didn't look it, he was a DCI. This all just seemed impossible. Was he still unconscious or something?

[unbreakablelion]

"This isn't easy for me, yer know? I forgot for a long time. And knowing the truth, it's tearing me apart." Why was he even opening up about all this? He could just keep quiet. Only him and Jim need ever know.

"It was Coronation Day. I was just a lad. Still green around the gills. I was left alone, the man who was supposed to be watching over me - PC Morris, his name was. Him and the other lads, they all joined in with the locals, celebrating down the pub. All 'ad a bit much to drink, like. I stayed behind. We'd been celebrating in this desolate house - out in Farringfield Green."

He sighed. This was so ard for him. Harder than it had been telling Alex. "I heard a noise from one of the other rooms. Thought it were kids messing about and so I went in. All male bravado and cockiness. Only, it wasn't kids, it was a bloke with a shotgun..."

[godsinthedetail]

It seemed like a joke at first but the emotion and that look on Gene's face said it all. This was serious. This was who Gene Hunt was. Biting his lip, Sam listened carefully, feeling something in the pit of his stomach just sink. He wasn't sure what to do or say, he just watched with a slightly opened mouth.

"I'm sorry," Sam offered, not sure if he wanted to hear the rest of this story. He knew the ending, he guessed now. He didn't want to hear it. Whatever that shot gun had done, it wasn't a picnic.

[unbreakablelion]

"Still, I have a job to do. This place. I have people to help. Coppers come to me. The broken coppers who faced terrible trauma. They come here and I help them move on to where they're supposed to be."

He paused, and got up to pour himself another drink. "You, Ray, Chris. Everyone."

[godsinthedetail]

Ah. Now that was making sense, everything suddenly did. Why he was here for so long, what happened after the coma and pretty much all the weird flash back stuff. He was meant to of moved on? And Ray and Chris were in the same boat. This was all a little mad.

He sat silent for a few moments before giving Gene a look of disbelief. "You're going to drink more? Gene, for God sake, you need to sleep. We can't discuss this properly when you're half drunk."

[unbreakablelion]

"Don't start, Sam. Drink is about the only thing keeping me sane." Even so, he set the empty glass and the bottle back down and returned to his seat. "'Sides, how am I supposed to sleep when my supposed dead best friend waltzing back into my life as if nothing's happened?!"

Why couldn't things be easy, like they used to be?

[godsinthedetail]

"I'm surprised you haven't passed out," Which was impressive. Sam wasn't sure what to say, he felt too lost and yet oddly clear on the issue, he wasn't exactly sure where he stood. He had no proof, no logic and simply the tale of a drunk DCI. For all he knew, this could be an overactive imagination, he had no idea. But considering this world and how it was, he had his doubts.

"I'm dead. Never had to admit that aloud before, what do you even know about it?"

[unbreakablelion]

"You're different to the others, Sam. They were dead when they came to me - and I don't think you were. You chose to stay here."

He reached for his cigerettes and lit one up, exhaling smoke. "Ah, what's dead anyway? We're breathing. Our hearts beat. Living enough for me." And that was Gene's attempt to backpeddle out of an uncomfortable situation that was a little too close to a heart to heart. Real men did not do heart to hearts.

[godsinthedetail]

He did chose, he made that definitive step and leapt of the building happily. Because he wanted to be here and he had been very happy here. He didn't care about his death at the time, he had eight years of being happy with Annie and the Guv. He couldn't even begin to fathom their move to London, he felt oddly left out. How much had he missed?

"You know when you're alive because you can feel and you know when you're not because you don’t feel anything," Sam recited before scrubbing at his eyes, sensing Gene's awkward feelings. Yep, definitely awkward.

[unbreakablelion]

"Get that off a greeting card?" Gene joked, leaning back in his chair with his feet propped up on the desk. He took another drag of his cigarette.

"It was weird moving down 'ere without you. Still, I had Ray an' Chris, so it wasn't so bad. Got joined by a posh mouthy tart too, Alex Drake, you'd've got on well. Both giant pains in my arse."

[godsinthedetail]

"Nelson, actually. Smart blokes, I owe him one still," Sam lifted one leg up and rested his chin on it, watching Gene was a critical gaze. He could always see through Gene, he knew the other man was hurting. But luckily, Gene was very good at pulling himself together. He had always seemed like a lonely man, perhaps a bit pig headed and arrogant but then, so was Sam. Perhaps it was true that the things you hated in someone else, you hated in yourself.

"Alex Drake... I met someone by that name, she interviewed me about my mental status. Christ, bet she thought I was utterly mad. Not exactly a brilliant start."

[unbreakablelion]

"Nelson? Oh. Should've known he'd be involved." He didn't go into further detail. He didn't mention just who or what Nelson really was.

"Aye, Drake thought you were a nut. Though to be honest she was nuttier than a fruitcake 'erself. Made you look sane by comparison." He missed her. He missed her a lot. And it showed. He didn't give his heart away easily, but whne he did, he fell hard.

[godsinthedetail]

Sam was no fool, sure he failed hard at being one of the lads but was that lamenting he saw from Gene. He liked this Alex. Really? He found her a bit-- well, critical. But then she had been assessing his sanity so naturally, he was going to.

Smiling slightly, he felt another pang in his stomach. He'd missed a lot, way too much. He felt completely out the loop, which was something Sam always hated. He was an control freak at heart. "You've lived a whole 'nother life, Guv. Its mad."

[unbreakablelion]

To be fair Gene had wanted to run her over a few times with the Quattro at first. It had taken a long time for him to fall. Well, to fall deeper than the obvious sexual tension. What could he say? She was pretty.

"I'm like a cat, me. Nine lives." Joking aside. "Lot of people thought I killed you. Suppose I can't blame them, covering up a fake death makes you look a bit suspicious, I guess."

[ Sleep for me ♥ night Monkie-o ]

[godsinthedetail]

"I can see why people would think you'd kill me, you tried enough times," Sam joked with a small amused smile, knowing that Gene never would actually try to kill him. They had been close, he played deputy to Gene's sheriff, even if he wanted to be on top himself. He supposed he didn't mind it so much when it came to Gene, he was unique.

"Sounds like a crazy few years, sorry I miss them," he would of fitted right in with the insanity. After all, Sam Tyler was still a bit of a mad bastard at times, perhaps that was why he was simply accepting Gene's truthes. They simply seemed logical here.

[unbreakablelion]

"It's not all been bad. I've had some good times down 'ere. Some terrible times too. Corruption ran right through this place, Sam. Even Chris fell in with the wrong folk. But all in all, it's not been bad. I mean, it's no Manchester and the drive is a bit of a sod to watch the footy, but that's life."