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Ashes to Ashes Fic: "The Trick"
Title: The Trick
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hjea
Summary: Alex is using Gene to find out about Sam Tyler. She doesn't quite get the answers she was looking for.
Words: 757
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Alex, Gene; implied Sam/Annie
Spoilers/Timeline: Ashes to Ashes 1x01. General spoilers for Life on Mars.
Disclaimer: Credit is all due to the BBC and Kudos. Thanks, guys!
Author's Note: Happy (belated) Birthday toinara223! This might be a little shameless, but I really wanted to explore what might've happened to Annie in Alex's world, how that effects the intrepid Gene Hunt, and whether that is at all important to how she will get home. Clearly, this show left me with a LOT of questions. ;) Thanks to maidm for the read-through.
Gene was pissed, and talking about Sam again.
It might have been tiresome, if Alex hadn’t been the one refilling his wineglass all night and asking rather leading questions. Rather unsubtle ones, if she admitted it to herself, but she feels she needs to know as much of Sam’s story as possible to understand how she came to be here. And anyway, after a few months (seconds! Some part of her brain hastily tries to rationalize) she thinks she knows how to get Gene Hunt talking.
The problem is that now he won’t stop, and while Alex is desperate for any clue that might lead her home, Gene’s slurred speech is sounding less and less like a catalogue of the many faults and failings of DI Tyler’s mental state, and more like… grief.
“Bastard-“ Gene was saying as he waved one hand in the air and tipped precariously in his chair, “-jus’ disappeared. In my bleeding car! Always did drive like a nancy – I told him – so I didn’t think he’d be stupid enough to go and do something like that. Always going on ‘bout regulations. Waiting for backup. The tosser. No body. Not a proper funeral. And didn’t I have to go and tell Cartwright – “
Alex sat up a little straighter. She recognized the name from Sam’s file, but hadn’t heard Chris or Ray or the Guv actually make any mention of it so far.
“Is that - that’s DC Cartwright?” She asked carefully, trying not to sound too interested. The trick was to keep the attention off of herself, and keep Gene from asking why she wanted to know. The trick was to get home – as painlessly as possible.
Gene nodded sloppily. “Tha’s right. Annie. D’you know her?”
Alex shrugged nonchalantly. “Just by name.”
“She wasn’t on duty that day, so I had to go an’ tell her. Go and tell her like – they always seem to know, don’t they?”
He was interrupting himself now, eyes unfocused, mind scattered. In a sudden wave of shame, Alex felt she really shouldn’t have given him so much to drink.
“Something… in their eyes when they open the door. Like if they slam it in your face again quick, it won’t be true. But they seem to know, the wives.”
Alex knew. After a while, every police officer had that feeling. She started to tell him so, when something else Gene had said made her stop.
“Wives?” She put a hand on his waving arm. Tried to steady him. “Sam and Annie… were married?”
Gene snorted. “Kept her name. Told Sam people’d think he hadn’t made an honest woman of her, but he said he liked it. Modern.” He snorted again.
“And where is she now?”
Alex’s hand pressed tighter to his arm, and Gene stared at it for a moment, as if confused by the undisguised interest she was now showing. Alex held her breath.
“Still in Manchester.” Gene said after another moment, and Alex let her breath out. “She moved across town, though. Closer to her parents, so they could help with the kids.”
“Kids.” Alex repeated, dumbstruck. “Sam and Annie had kids?”
He had had a life here, more than she realized. A family, and love, in those few brief moments as he was really dying in another world. As if it were possible.
Gene was still talking. “Two. Surprised they didn’t have more, the way they always carried on. I did warn her.”
Alex swallowed. “Do you… do you see them?”
Gene’s forehead met together in sudden anger as he tried to focus on her. “What do I want to see them for!?” He exploded. “I’m not a bleeding uncle!” His anger disappeared as quickly as it had come on, and he shrugged lopsidedly. “And Cartwright won’ see me. Blames me.”
Alex was sure now she didn’t want this conversation. There was nothing to tell her of how Sam had come to be here, of how she could get home. There was only the pain of what he had left behind. She ached for Molly.
“You should see them, Gene.” She found herself saying softly. “It’s been a year. I’m sure Annie would see you.”
His head was down, hanging two inches above the tabletop. “Maybe.” He said gruffly, and was quiet.
“I’m going to call you a cab home.”
Alex stood, still pressing her hand to him, but he didn’t look up. She walked slowly to the counter, and brushed the tears out of her eyes.
End.
Author:
hjea Summary: Alex is using Gene to find out about Sam Tyler. She doesn't quite get the answers she was looking for.
Words: 757
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Alex, Gene; implied Sam/Annie
Spoilers/Timeline: Ashes to Ashes 1x01. General spoilers for Life on Mars.
Disclaimer: Credit is all due to the BBC and Kudos. Thanks, guys!
Author's Note: Happy (belated) Birthday to
inara223! This might be a little shameless, but I really wanted to explore what might've happened to Annie in Alex's world, how that effects the intrepid Gene Hunt, and whether that is at all important to how she will get home. Clearly, this show left me with a LOT of questions. ;) Thanks to maidm for the read-through. Gene was pissed, and talking about Sam again.
It might have been tiresome, if Alex hadn’t been the one refilling his wineglass all night and asking rather leading questions. Rather unsubtle ones, if she admitted it to herself, but she feels she needs to know as much of Sam’s story as possible to understand how she came to be here. And anyway, after a few months (seconds! Some part of her brain hastily tries to rationalize) she thinks she knows how to get Gene Hunt talking.
The problem is that now he won’t stop, and while Alex is desperate for any clue that might lead her home, Gene’s slurred speech is sounding less and less like a catalogue of the many faults and failings of DI Tyler’s mental state, and more like… grief.
“Bastard-“ Gene was saying as he waved one hand in the air and tipped precariously in his chair, “-jus’ disappeared. In my bleeding car! Always did drive like a nancy – I told him – so I didn’t think he’d be stupid enough to go and do something like that. Always going on ‘bout regulations. Waiting for backup. The tosser. No body. Not a proper funeral. And didn’t I have to go and tell Cartwright – “
Alex sat up a little straighter. She recognized the name from Sam’s file, but hadn’t heard Chris or Ray or the Guv actually make any mention of it so far.
“Is that - that’s DC Cartwright?” She asked carefully, trying not to sound too interested. The trick was to keep the attention off of herself, and keep Gene from asking why she wanted to know. The trick was to get home – as painlessly as possible.
Gene nodded sloppily. “Tha’s right. Annie. D’you know her?”
Alex shrugged nonchalantly. “Just by name.”
“She wasn’t on duty that day, so I had to go an’ tell her. Go and tell her like – they always seem to know, don’t they?”
He was interrupting himself now, eyes unfocused, mind scattered. In a sudden wave of shame, Alex felt she really shouldn’t have given him so much to drink.
“Something… in their eyes when they open the door. Like if they slam it in your face again quick, it won’t be true. But they seem to know, the wives.”
Alex knew. After a while, every police officer had that feeling. She started to tell him so, when something else Gene had said made her stop.
“Wives?” She put a hand on his waving arm. Tried to steady him. “Sam and Annie… were married?”
Gene snorted. “Kept her name. Told Sam people’d think he hadn’t made an honest woman of her, but he said he liked it. Modern.” He snorted again.
“And where is she now?”
Alex’s hand pressed tighter to his arm, and Gene stared at it for a moment, as if confused by the undisguised interest she was now showing. Alex held her breath.
“Still in Manchester.” Gene said after another moment, and Alex let her breath out. “She moved across town, though. Closer to her parents, so they could help with the kids.”
“Kids.” Alex repeated, dumbstruck. “Sam and Annie had kids?”
He had had a life here, more than she realized. A family, and love, in those few brief moments as he was really dying in another world. As if it were possible.
Gene was still talking. “Two. Surprised they didn’t have more, the way they always carried on. I did warn her.”
Alex swallowed. “Do you… do you see them?”
Gene’s forehead met together in sudden anger as he tried to focus on her. “What do I want to see them for!?” He exploded. “I’m not a bleeding uncle!” His anger disappeared as quickly as it had come on, and he shrugged lopsidedly. “And Cartwright won’ see me. Blames me.”
Alex was sure now she didn’t want this conversation. There was nothing to tell her of how Sam had come to be here, of how she could get home. There was only the pain of what he had left behind. She ached for Molly.
“You should see them, Gene.” She found herself saying softly. “It’s been a year. I’m sure Annie would see you.”
His head was down, hanging two inches above the tabletop. “Maybe.” He said gruffly, and was quiet.
“I’m going to call you a cab home.”
Alex stood, still pressing her hand to him, but he didn’t look up. She walked slowly to the counter, and brushed the tears out of her eyes.
End.
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WHAMMO
The ship hit me like a ton of bricks
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And I usually write in one-shots, but we'll see if I go ino more depth with this world.
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Thank you!
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So not fair.
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Oh lord! It wasn't still the Ford Cortina was it? Still, the way Gene bonds with his cars, that was a triple loss forcing him out of Manchester.
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But yeah, poor Gene. *snuggles him*
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And poor Gene, oh god. It's too sad. These two characters are so hard to write and you've done a great job with them here. So much love. *memories*
This was so bittersweet; I love Annie and Sam getting to have a good life together, even though a fleeting one. And I love Alex giving it to them (I love that the last bits of LoM that Alex doesn't know about are confirmed to us by Ray, but at the same time it's still Alex trying to put her own spin thing on/introducing the "eternal second," which will hopefully be v. important in the next series of A2A).
I really wish they wouldn't have cut that bit about Annie. But I think it would be something very similar to this. After those two series, if they weren't together and happy in the end, I would be one unhappy camper.
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I was definitely going for bittersweet with this. Obviously the end of LoM left me the flaily feeling of "OMG, ANNIE AND SAM ARE TOO CUTE. NOW THEY SHOULD HAVE BABIEZ!!1!!" Very mature. ;) But I wanted to make this from Alex's perspective, to at least... offset my initial fluffy reaction. Yeah, Sam and Annie get to live their life together, but at least in Alex's world that's not necessarily a happy ending. And it kinda makes sense to me, that Alex would make(?) Annie a single mum, considering she is one herself. I don't know, those are kinda just the ideas I was working with. ;)
I really wish they wouldn't have cut that bit about Annie. But I think it would be something very similar to this. After those two series, if they weren't together and happy in the end, I would be one unhappy camper.
Fo' shiz, yo. We're in the same camp about that.
THANK YOU FOR READING!
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And thank you! I'm really glad you liked it. I was really trying to go for having that sweetness of Sam and Annie filtered through Alex's spin on things (and Gene's grief), so I'm happy you saw that. Ashes to Ashes really does play with the optimism(ish) of LoM's ending, but I love it just the same. The end of the series especially, it really brings up SO many questions about this world.
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