DCI Gene Hunt (manc_lion) wrote in commonalities, @ 2016-06-23 22:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | alex drake, gene hunt, the doctor (12) |
Who: Alex Drake, Gene Hunt, and the Doctor
What: Alex is starting to get memories and freaks out
When: Tuesday, 14 June
Where: CID, then John's office at Cambridge
Status: Closed/ Complete
The file in front of her wasn’t moving. The only reason for the type to be getting blurry was because Alex hadn’t been sleeping well lately. The last few days had been… Interesting wasn’t the right word. Alex had never been one for nightmares, yes as a child, but as she’d come to grips with everything that had happened they’d lessened. Never gone away fully, but they’d become manageable. Nothing like what she’d been having the last few days.
Alex had been getting flashes. Shot in the head. A boat where she woke up. But she was asleep. Admittedly, dream interpretation had never been something she had taken much stock in, but it was more than that. She woke up feeling like she had had these conversations, could feel the words on her tongue, but more importantly, and more horrifying, she could feel the bullet. She could feel the horror at Molly being held captive… These were the sorts of dreams that cops had. She knew that but this…
She looked at the file for a sixth time, trying her best to get through it. It probably didn’t help that the file in front of her was about another shooting. High profile. Needed to be solved and closed… And then there was that damned Gene Hunt… Not related to the nightmares… not really? None of this made sense! She wasn’t stressed. Not really. There had to be an answer! But she just kept going back to that bullet, that gun and that man…
Gene strode into the office wearing his new black Crombie coat and boots, and carrying a cup of tea from Costa. They’d just appeared in his flat this morning and after the new memories that had been flooding into his brain the past couple of days, it just felt right to wear them to work. He’d just finished up with an interdepartmental meeting and was glad to be back in his own kingdom. As he walked deeper into the office and glanced at each of his officer to see what they were working on, he paused in front of Drake’s desk. She was staring at a file with drooping eyes and looked ready to drop off at any moment. “Bolly, you alright? You look rough as a badger’s arse.”
It was somewhat cold in the office today and she was wearing the white leather jacket that had appeared in her closet, hoping that maybe it would help her keep warmer. Seriously, someone needed to turn the air conditioner down. The moment someone talked to her she looked up, her head jerking upward. The someone was Gene and she shook her head. “I’m fine,” she assured, but she didn’t look fine. She looked exhausted. “Just haven’t had my tea yet today.” She blinked a few times. Was she awake? That name. She knew it. And suddenly the look on her face went from tired to confused. “Wait… what did you just call me?”
“Called you Drake. And you don’t look fine, you look exhausted,” he commented. Gene set his cup down in front of her, nodded towards it, and said, “Get that down your neck. Looks like you need it more than me.” He stared for a moment at the coat she was wearing and then it hit him: he’d seen that coat before in his memories. “Where’d you get that jacket from?” he asked her curiously.
Given how tired she was and how much these dreams were taking out of her, she must have been hearing things. Alex shook her head and gave Gene a grateful smile and took the tea from him. She took a sip of it and felt warmer thanks to it. “Right. Sorry. Bad few nights,” she said almost through the cup. She’d been able to get Molly out in the morning and get to work so that was a good thing. “What... this thing?” she asked. “Found it in my closet. Not sure when I got it. Figured it was probably something my Uncle gifted me and I forgot about.”
Gene quietly tapped a finger on the corner of her desk as he debated whether or not to bring up what he was thinking about. Finally, he frowned and jerked his head towards his office. “I think we need to talk. My office if you please, Lady Bols.” Gene intentionally used the nickname this time and watched to see how Drake was going to react. As he walked towards his office, Gene casually remarked, “Shaz gave you that jacket… not your uncle.”
That nickname! Her eyes met his and she looked at him in shock. She hadn’t been hearing things! He had said that. “How did you- THAT!” she exclaimed with an intense look. How could he possibly have known that name!? She got up and marched after him, closing the door after her. She looked at him extremely carefully and her eyes widened as he said it because she knew that name it was the dark haired woman from the dream. “I don’t know how you know those names but you’d better start talking or get the HELL out of my head!”
“I know that name because of the memories I’ve been gettin’, Bols. Sit.” He pointed at the chair in front of his desk and waited patiently. Ever fiber of his being was itching to roar back at her, but this time he held his temper in check. If this was the first time she was getting memories, he needed to take the softly-softly approach. “Started about 3 months ago. I was ‘avin’ these dreams about Manchester, but it was the 70’s and my life was different than ‘ere. Sam Tyler… name ring a bell?”
Despite the office rules, Gene lit a cigarillo and took a long drag from it. “Better question… You ‘ad any dreams lately involvin’ me, Shaz, Ray, and Chris? Or what about traipsin’ around dressed like a prossie in a short red dress and actin’ like a complete fruitcake?”
Memories? She sat down in the chair, her eyes still stony and confused. These weren’t memories. They couldn’t be. None of this made any sense. Clearly her boss was crazy. But what he was saying…. “I’m acting like a fruitcake?! Have you heard yourself?!” She didn’t want answers anymore. She literally hadn’t told anyone about this! But the names, she knew those names. “These aren’t memories,” she said with a frown. “Nothing like this has ever happened to me.”
“They are,” Gene said in a firm tone of voice. “You lived in a flat above a trattoria called Luigi’s. We drank ‘ouse rubbish together every night until we were both pissed. You always wore that jacket and off the shoulder tops.” He took another drag from his cigarillo and pointed at her. “Now stop arguin’ with me, Bollinger-Knickers. I know it sounds mental, but just shut up and think. You’re the psychiatrist.”
All of these things had been showing up in her dreams. But dreams weren’t shared. Alex shook her head. The fact that this man had not only been showing up in her dreams but now seemed to know what she’d been seeing?! She wasn’t certain why, but it made her rather angry. Probably because of the other part, the one part that he wasn’t mentioning. At all, really. “Dreams have lots of explanations,” she said seriously. “But fine! If this is what you say, then what happened to me after I got shot?!” she demanded.
“Shot? You didn’t get shot, Bolly. We’ve thought about shootin’ you a couple of times,” he joked. But now that she mentioned it… “ ‘ang on… Back when we first met you, you were goin’ on about bein’ shot. Thought it was just a blow to your ‘ead though.”
These dreams were more like blurs. She didn’t have a lot of clear memories yet but the more he spoke about them the more clear they got. “I can feel the wind and the gun and I can hear her yelling for me and the bullet right here!” she pointed to the middle of her head. “He shoots me and tells me to give his regards to…” She trailed off there, she didn’t want to think about it. Any of this. If these were memories and not dreams that meant this happened. But that didn’t make sense. You couldn’t have memories of something that hadn’t happened!
“Alex, listen to me,” Gene said quietly as he moved around to the front of his desk. He crouched down in front of her and placed his hands on the arms of the chair on either side of her. “No one’s shot you,” he promised. “I need you to focus and put that ‘ead full of brains or yours to work. We don’t know what causes this, but they are memories. Sometimes more than one person ends up with the same ones. Two of my mates both ‘ave memories of some of the same things, even though one’s from Scotland and the other from Blackpool. John can probably explain it better than I can, but that’ll ‘ave to keep until later. Now… who was yellin’ for you?”
She didn’t even KNOW this man! Gene Hunt was her boss. But yet somehow she felt like she’d known him for longer. It made her feel extremely uneasy because thus far in her first few weeks she didn’t even particularly like the man and now things were changing? Because of dreams?! None of this made sense. Either logically or psychologically! “John?” Who the hell was John!? She didn’t want to calm down! She had gotten shot in the fucking head!!! “Um…” She closed her eyes and tried to remember. “Layton. Arthur Layton.”
“John Smith… mate of mine who teaches over at Cambridge. As for Layton, that little bastard was our first case, along with Markham. We arrested ‘em, Bols.” Gene paused for a moment as something occurred to him. He’d been getting memories for a while, but what if she wasn’t as far along in remembering as he was? “Right. I know you think I’m mental, but I need you to talk to me. What’s the last new memory you got?”
“He shoots me,” she said, the tone in her voice was deathly serious. She was not kidding around. She didn’t know why she was taking this seriously. She had to be having a mental breakdown. But there was no reason why! She went through the symptoms. She had had none! “Molly is screaming for me and he shoots me in the head. And then everything goes black and
everyone is wearing old clothing!” She exclaimed. Red. It was a red dress and then there had been that car… and she’d known who the people in it were. Why? How did she know that? The name Tyler
“Molly?” Gene stared blankly at her as she started rambling. Who the bloody hell was Molly? Oh… that’s right, Bolly’s kid. “Alex, Molly’s at school. She’s your kid, right? That was just a nightmare, Bols. I swear you’ve never been shot in the ‘ead. Trust the Gene Genie.” He reached out and lightly traced the tip of his finger across her forehead and smiled warmly. “Not even a scratch.”
She tensed but remembered that Molly was listed in her file, it had to be because she’d never mentioned who Molly was to her superior officer before! When he reached out and touched her she winced ever so slightly, but it wasn’t because of him… was it? There was a vault and some flasks that flashed into her head and he was there. But the area where he’d touched was right where the bullet had gone in. “She’s a teenager,” Alex said after a prolonged silence. “This job… It’s dangerous but she can’t grow up without me. I won’t have her grow up like I did…” Why was she opening up to him? She BARELY knew him!
“Like you did?” Gene looked confused at the comment and frowned, his lips forming a pout. “Believe me Bolly, I understand that you’re worried about somethin’ goin’ wrong. I’ve got a little one of me own. I know you think I’ve gone mental. But just come for a drive with me, meet my mate John, and then I promise I’ll drop it. I’ll even treat you to curry and a pint.”
“You don’t have a child,” the words slipped out before she could let them. But she didn’t know that where the hell was all of this coming from. “This is a mental break,” she said more to herself than to him. “I’m having a mental break.” she started going for her phone as if she hadn’t heard anything he’d said. Her training was telling her that this had to be medical! She needed help. She couldn’t go home like this!
“Do too. Got a four year old named Emma. Lives up in Manchester with ‘er Mum.” Gene clamped a hand on top of hers, forcing Alex to put the phone down. “Not a mental break, or we’re both havin’ it. C’mon, Madame Fruitcake. Give me an ‘our and talk to John. Please.”
What was the first rule? If you couldn’t trust yourself, trust someone else that you could? This whole thing sounded CRAZY! Hell she felt she was going crazy. None of this had happened but if these were memories… there was no way she could have survived that sort of wound! But she was here. She wasn’t sure if she nodded first or got to her feet first. Her head was killing her right now and she felt a bit dizzy. “Since when do you have a kid?” She murmured. Shaking her head was not the right move and she blinked a few times. “I hate it when you call me that…”
“Since she was born four years ago? Try and keep up, Bols.” Gene helped Alex to her feet when he noticed her wobbling a bit. “Hate when I call you what? Right… Let’s fire up the Quattro and ‘ead out to Cambridge.” They walked down to the parking garage and he led her over to the gleaming red car. “I thought your daughter was with ‘er godfather or somethin’?” He commented as he got into the car.
She saw the car and a spark of recognition flipped in her head. But she’d never seen this car before. She was hesitant to get in but he opened the door and she stepped inside. Not slamming the door behind her. Where the hell had she learned that?! “Fruitcake!” Again her lips moved without her brain telling them to, but when he mentioned her godfather she got really quiet. She had put it together before. Layton… But why was this happening now? “He’s dead.” she said after a few moments. She was looking out the window. Layton. But if these were memories then he’d murdered both of them?!
“Sorry… Not even sure why I said that.” It was something he remembered from his memories.. Whenever Alex would get in his nerves or start talking crazy, he’s tease her and call her a fruitcake. As they drove, Gene couldn't help but think about how normal this felt. It was like they’d done this for ages driving around together on the streets of London in this very car. “I know this all seems strange, and I felt the same way when it started for me. But it’s true, Bolly… All of it. Ask me a question that only someone who really knows you would be able to answer. I’ll prove it.”
“I don’t want to ask you questions!” she exclaimed. “I want this to make sense!” Alex rubbed her temples and tried to get her head back on straight. Yes this felt familiar. Yes there was some of this that was… oddly reminiscent of arguments and nights with wine and Italian food? Where the hell had that come from? But he wanted a question? “Why did me and my ex split up?” That wasn’t anywhere in her file. That wasn’t something he should know the answer to. Why was she even playing along?! Was this his delusion or hers?!
Shit... she would ask something that he didn’t have any bloody clue about. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “You never talked to me much about your daughter or your ex.” Gene frowned and shot her a glare. “Ask me somethin’ else!” he demanded.
“This isn’t a game of what questions can Gene Bloody Hunt answer!” She exclaimed turning her head around so she was looking at him, clearly pissed. “This is my bloody life!” What was she even doing in this car?! He was just as crazy as she was. But shared delusions among people who were not related, or anyone really, were rare. It took time for those sorts of things to develop! She’d been in the office for less than a month!
“I know it’s your life!” he roared back at her in frustration. “Christ in a bike… Why do you have to always make everythin’ so difficult, you bloody woman? Things ‘ere were goin’ just fine until you turned up with your la-dee-da psychiatry bollocks and holier than thou attitude! I don't need a posh mouthy tart with a head full of brains and the common sense of a grain weevil makin’ things more difficult! I am tryin’ to help you, Bolly. So for once just stop arguin’ with me about everythin’!”
“Because you’re having the same bloody delusions as I do!” she exclaimed loudly. “I should be calling a damn ambulance, not sitting in the front seat of a car from the 80s!” She was seething. “And it’s PSYCHOLOGY! You’re just as crazy as I am.” She seemed to realize something. “Molly has no one else, her father isn’t worth shite…”
“Same thing!” he shouted back in response. Gene had the strangest sense of déjà vu as they argued and felt his pulse racing from the thrill of it. “She has you, Alex. She doesn’t need a father who doesn't care about ‘er.”
“If I get locked up because of this I will have to!” She tried to get herself to calm down. This was very out of character for her but then there was nothing characteristic about any of this! She put her head into her hands and tried to calm down. This wasn’t her. She didn’t panic about things like this. Moreover this… man, her boss- no this wouldn’t be a prank. That was too cruel besides she didn’t know him that well but… why did she feel like she did?!
Gene parked the car and turned off the ignition. “Follow me,” he said, not even waiting for a response from Alex. Something told him that despite how angry she was, she’d follow and he was right. When they reached John’s office, Gene smiled and banged on the door with a fist. “Police! Open up!”
The unexpected knock was so loud and violent that it jarred John from out of his seat. He’d been eating lunch in his office, Chinese take-out, straight from the box, taking a break from grading the last of the final exams. When he got over his initial fright, he recognized the voice, and set his lunch aside, wiped his mouth with a paper napkin, and responded, “You’ll never take me alive, you dirty pig!” He unlocked and opened the door and grinned at Gene. “Hey! What’s up with the house call? “ A sudden, worrisome thought sobered him up and he asked, “Is something the matter?” Over Gene’s shoulder he spotted a familiar face from the police department, and he nodded to acknowledge her there.
“Watch it or I’ll arrest you for shaggin’ sheep! I need your ‘elp, John. Remember I mentioned about Alex to you on the network? She’s startin’ to get memories too, but is convinced they’re delusions. Told ‘er that you can explain this better than I can.” Gene stepped into the office and nodded towards Alex. “DI Alex Drake, meet Professor John Smith… Likes to be called the Doctor.”
The moment the door opened, Alex was a bit surprised. Him? He was her boss’ friend?! Alex glanced from Gene and back to the man standing there. “Yes, I’m familiar with Professor Smith. I had to evaluate him. He was one of my last assignments before I transferred.” She still didn’t really get why he liked that moniker, but she had other things to deal with today! “He’s your ‘friend John’?”
“I know, right?” John said with mock astonishment. “Gene has a friend? But seriously, come in.” He stepped aside to let the pair through, and closed the door. “Please, take a seat.” He gestured to the sofa, while he sat at his desk chair. “This memory business is tricky, Alex, and it doesn’t help my case if you think I’m bonkers to begin with. Actually, I thought I was having a nervous breakdown, myself, when mine started. Even went to a psychiatrist and was put on medication. But my teacher’s assistant, Clara, she shared the same batch of memories as I, and so does our good friend, Jack.” John looked over at Gene to confirm, just a friend. “And we’re not the only ones. If you go online, there’s a number of people talking about what’s happening to them. It helps to substantiate the claim that these memories are real. I mean, among other things. What has Gene told you, so far?”
Gene shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers and walked over to look at some of the books on the shelves. “Wait… so you were the one who evaluated John the night they brought ‘im in. And yes, that’s my friend John that I mentioned.”
Alex nodded. “I was the one on call that night. We had a very nice discussion.” She wouldn’t discuss any further details, client doctor confidentiality and all that. She smirked slightly, for some reason getting a kick out of knowing something that Gene didn’t. Where had THAT come from? Stepping inside she looked around and saw that his office was rather nice. She sat down on the sofa and tried to get herself to relax. “I’ll be honest. I thought that this network was insane from the moment I first saw it,” she admitted. “These things don’t just happen.” She took a breath, she’d deal with this mental break calmly… she had to. “That these are memories. That he knows some things but not others. Names, where I got this,” she indicated her jacket. “That he doesn’t know who the hell shot me.”
“They don’t happen,” John acknowledged. “But they are. If it were only the memories, we could chalk it up to mass hysteria, maybe the government drugging the water. But when more than one person has the same memories? When things from your memories appear in real life, like your jacket? You’ve just begun your memory journey. The evidence is overwhelming. Gene here,” he nodded in the direction of the other man, “He’s had a head start, so he’ll naturally remember things before you, but he wouldn’t be all-knowing. Unless, of course, that’s what he’s like in your memory-world. You both work for the police department in your memory world? ” John remembered what Gene had told him before. “Nice jacket, by the way. Now, you say you were shot?”
“She’s my DI in the memories, just like she is here now,” Gene explained. “From everything I can remember, she turned up in ‘81 dressed like a prozzie while workin’ undercover. And was tellin’ everyone back then that she’s been shot, but there was no injury. Spent nearly a year callin’ us imaginary constructs, wagglin’ ‘er fingers whenever she said my name, and actin’ like a complete fruitcake.” Gene glanced down at his coat, smiled, then nodded to John. “Ta… I like it. Suits me.”
“So, basically, she’s doing there what she’s doing now,” was the witty observation John made, then looked over at Alex for her response.
“Right, but not actin’ like a tart. At least, not as far as I know. So far, she’s just been posh and mouthy,” Gene replied with just a hint of a smirk.
Oh that was it! Alex turned and punched Gene in the shoulder. She’d had enough. He wasn’t taking this seriously and it was taking all of her self control to keep her from either doing something worse and stay on this couch when she knew, she knew, she should be in a hospital getting help! She couldn’t go home like this!
“What the bloody hell was that for?!?” Gene roared at her, glaring at Alex and rubbing his shoulder.
“This is difficult enough without you insulting me! Forgive me if this is all fun and games for you! But I will walk out this bloody door and check myself in if I have to. I am bloody well humoring you and sitting here instead of getting proper psychological help! So how about shutting up!” she exclaimed. She was not calm. She’d been trying to stay calm but the sound of the shot, the smell of the powder, Molly screaming. The vault, the flask, the car… this hadn’t happened to her. She leaned forward and rested her head in her hands. Why had she ever liked this man. Wait not her?
“No, it’s not fun and games! I thought I was losin’ my fucking mind when it ‘appened to me, which is why I’m tryin’ to ‘elp you from going through the same thing! Now stop yappin’ like a demented chihuahua, stay put on the bloody couch, and listen to the man!” Gene demanded as he pointed a finger in John’s direction.
In between the two, John threaded his hands together and rested them upon his lap, patiently listening to them having their domestic, wondering whether or not if this was how a marriage counselor felt.
“Then let me talk!” She snapped, her voice raising. She practically snarled the words through her teeth because right now she didn’t feel like she was holding it together. If he’d been through it the very least the man could do was shut his mouth and let her get some semblance of help! Because his saying whatever the hell he wanted was not helping right now. Smith had asked her a question! “The man who killed my godfather, he has my daughter. He shoots me. I can feel it. I can smell it. And there are flashes of other things but none of this has happened!” She looked up, moving her head from her hands. Her head was killing her now.
Gene pulled a pack of cigarillos out of the inner pocket of his coat. “I’ll be back in a few. Gonna ‘ave a smoke and it’ll give you two a chance to talk.” He reached out and lightly brushed the backs of his fingers against Alex’s cheek. “Just listen, okay Bols? Be back shortly.” He closed the door behind him as he left for a much needed smoke break.
Frankly John was relieved that Gene stepped out. It might reduce Alex’s stress. “Well, no wonder you’re distraught,” John said, sympathetically. “It’s the same thing I went through, the night when we first met and you did your evaluation, although on a less planetary scale. You’ve remembered a traumatic event, which of course is going to be disturbing. Did you just remember it? Or was it like you were actually there?”
Alex looked up, still leaning forward, meeting John’s eyes. “I was there. We were in a car, she was looking at a file… someone I was working on a report for. Um... “ She stopped and closed her eyes. “Tyler. The Tyler file. We got a call, hostage situation. I told her to wait in the car. Things happened she didn’t stay put. He took her then let her go and then he caught me and he started rambling about my parents and Evan. But he killed Evan. But I can see his face, every line. The gun, the powder. Molly screaming.” She closed her eyes. “The pain…” her voice was quieter then.
John nodded his head slowly, sympathetically, leaning forward, mirroring her body language. He’d heard Gene talk about Tyler before. “It happens. Being immersed in a memory. Being right there. It’s horrible, isn’t it? I’ve experienced it too. It feels so real, because it is real. In another dimension. . Another life. As far as I can tell, those memories are as much a part of us as this life. Even more real. And that the two lives are merging, that we’re becoming the people we forgot.”
There were so many parts of this that Alex just couldn’t wrap her mind around. “But that never happened! He didn’t kill me, he killed my uncle. It’s the reason I joined CID,” she said seriously. “This has never happened to me! Molly was never there. I was never there. I’ve never been in the 80s. I’ve never met him!” she pointed towards the door, “and I never wound up trapped in a vault with him, overheating and drinking from flasks! How is ANY of this possible?”
Throwing up his hands in surrender, he honestly told her, “I wish I knew. A lot of details about why and how are still cloudy. Actually…” he scratched his ear, “... all those details are unknown. But they’re happening, and it’s real. Just as real as you and I sitting here. For example, in my memories, I’m not even from Earth. I’m an alien from a distant planet, who travels through time and space.”
At that Alex’s eyebrow rose. Had she misjudged him during her analysis? Of course that was where her mind went? “Time and space?” She was skeptical. But she was actually thankful for the tiny distraction. “So what? I’m someone who got shot and then got sent back to the 80s for no apparent reason?! Did I even survive getting shot? What happened to my daughter if this was real?!” She didn’t want to face it. She didn’t want to think about that. Besides that made NO SENSE!
“Your memories have just begun to unfold,” the Doctor said, sounding wiser beyond his years. “Not everything is going to make sense, right away. But eventually, the pieces of the puzzle fit together. Wait, let me show you something that might help you believe…” He turned to open his desk drawer, where he pulled out a stethoscope. “Nicked this from the medical school,” he admitted, handing it over to her. “Put it on and listen.” He waited for her to put the earpieces in, then placed the other end upon the left side of his chest, letting her listen for a few moments. “Wait for it.” He then transferred the tip to the right side of his chest, where she undoubtedly could hear a second heart, beating slightly out of time with the first.
“What if I don’t want them?” The question was the one underlying. She liked her life. How was this going to change things? She’d never gotten shot. But had she gotten shot? Was that her or was that another her. Her head hurt! Hesitantly, Alex reached out and took the stethoscope. She put the top into her ears and looked at him for a moment like he was crazy. He wasn’t an alien. There was no such thing. Still, she did as he suggested. She could hear his heart beating, it was rhythmic and steady. But when he moved it at first she thought she was hearing things. And her face said as much. “This… this isn’t…” She stared at him. “Two hearts? I mean it’s happened. Medically speaking I’ve read about it but…” she trailed off. There had to be a reason for this. All of it.
“I didn’t start out that way,” the Doctor explained, reaching over to collect the stethoscope from Alex, tossing it upon his desk. “Like I said, I’m an alien from another planet, and my body is changing to reflect my memories. I also acquired a number of unique skills, which would’ve been impossible for me to learn, ones that likewise, first revealed itself in my memories.” He grimaced, knowing Alex wasn’t going to like hearing this part. “I don’t think we have a choice, when it comes to this. I know somebody who’s had some pretty nightmarish memories, too. Probably the only thing we can do is accept it, and take it as it comes.”
Alex sat back and spent a few moments just looking at him. This was a lot to wrap her mind around. “So we don’t know how or why. It just happens? How different are these… memories from the lives we have already?” It was a dumb question. “I take it you weren’t bicardial before this?” She sighed. “Is what happened in the dream going to happen to me now that I have them?” Of that she was terrified.
“I can’t say whether or not it will happen, but my guess is since you’ve already had a vision of being shot, it’s not going to occur in regular life.” John wasn’t confident about his answer, but given his own experience, he made an educated guess. Plus, if it helped settle Alex’s fears, then a little speculation was a good thing. “But you have Gene. He has memories of you. And if there’s one thing I know, these memories come in chronological order. So if Gene is remembering you, then he’s got a hold of your future, which proves you’ll be alright.”
“But my godfather was shot by the same man, several years ago,” she said pursing her lips. Alex didn’t believe in coincidence. She couldn’t. There was a reason, generally a psychological reason for everything… So if she’d been shot in the dream, what did that mean for Evan? Alex forced herself to take another breath, trying to get herself to calm down. “I’d never met him before I transferred here.” She paused. “So I somehow met him after I got shot?” She looked at John, still rather skeptical. If she accepted the basic premise and these weren’t just some kind of construct that helped her deal with Evan’s death - which she thought she’d been over but she was still looking for his killer, so how could she be - “Am I supposed to wait and hope this makes sense in time?”
John bobbed his head up and down in a nod. “I’m afraid so. Your story has just started to unfold. I don’t know what to tell you. It’s possible you’re a time traveler, like myself. That’s how you’re able to remember meeting Gene after you were shot? I can’t say for sure. But one thing for certain, I know. It’ll all become clearer, eventually. Just let the memories come.. And don’t fight them. Embrace them, as you would your own self.”
He was a time traveler now? On this just kept getting better and better. Was it possible there was a mass outbreak of mental illness in London and no one had managed to diagnose it yet? “So just sit tight and wait.” she summed the advice up rather bluntly. “Don’t do anything and just let this happen because apparently it’s already part of me that I somehow forgot.” Alex sighed and rubbed her temples again. “Not sure what’s worse, him knowing more and being able to hold that over my head or me having to get these memories back that I don’t remember.” This was just frustrating and she worried. What about Molly. Did she have two sets? What if she did!?
“There’s not much you can do, otherwise. The memories are going to come, whether you want them to or not, you can’t prevent it. I was on anti-psychotic meds at the start, and the memories still came. I even had one of those realistic, immersive visions, like you did. The only thing you can do is change your attitude toward what’s happening to you.” The Doctor reached over for a rumpled, brown paper sack from off his desk, shook it so its contents rattled around inside, and then offered to Alex, “Jelly baby?”
Gene rapped on the door with his knuckles before opening it and stepping inside. He was carrying a takeaway tray with cups of tea and handed one to John and Alex. “Didn't know ‘ow you took yours,” he said to John. He sat down and sipped his, then nodded towards the cup Alex was holding. “Milk, two sugars, and a pack of biscuits. Just ‘ow you like it, Bolly.” Gene pulled the biscuits out of his coat pocket and handed them over as he sat down.
“Guess I have a lot to think about.” Alex blinked and stared at the bag in front of her. She wasn’t sure what was more absurd, the fact that they were having this conversation so openly or the fact that he’d just offered her one of her favorite candies completely out of the blue. She didn’t say anything, just nodded and stuck her hand in the bag, taking a few out and popping a red one into her mouth. She didn’t keep them in the house often because then Molly got cavities. When Gene came back in, she took the tea, gratefully and sat back on the couch again. She opened the biscuits and started dunking them in her tea, stirring it like it was a spoon. “Well I’m not screaming anymore,” she said blandly. “John’s helped a bit. But I have a lot to think about. None of this is normal. But if I’m not the only one getting them...maybe this isn’t a mental break.”
“Sugar,” the Doctor told Gene. “No, that’s not a term of endearment, that’s how I take my tea. With loads and loads of sugar. Luckily, I have my own stash.” And he did, in a shaker jar he kept beside his computer monitor, next to his mug: the amount he poured into this drink was obscene. He thanked Gene for the drink with a nod of his head, and told him, “She’s alright. I tried explaining the best I could, the rest is up to her.”
“And this one always made cracks about the fact I take mine with milk and five sugars,” Gene commented with a smile. He sipped his tea and leaned forward, looking carefully at Alex. “I’ve never lied to you, Bols. Not in our memories and not ‘ere since you started workin’ for me.”
Alex sighed and dropped two of the jelly babies from her hand into the tea as well. “I don’t have enough memories to know that for sure, but....” she trailed off slightly. “I have to admit this is odd because I’ve never told you how I like my tea.” she pulled the biscuit out and took a bite. Yes, the tea was just as she liked it. “It’s going to take some time for me to sort through everything. Somehow I get the feeling that you might have part of the answer but I have another bit you don’t. Because if you don’t remember me getting shot, and I do… It’s like two different perspectives from witnesses.” She offered Gene a small, rather weak smile. This was a lot to take in. “John was very helpful.”
A woman after my own heart, thought the Doctor, watching Alex place the candies into her drink. “Did you two have lunch yet? The canteen’s closed, but there’s a number of restaurants and fast food places in town. Do you want to take a jab at what Alex’s favorite food is, Gene?” He smiled and sipped his tea.
“Veal scallopini, “ Gene answered without hesitation. “I’ve got a years worth of memories of us workin’ together. Granger made tea for CID everyday and contrary to popular belief, I did pay attention to ‘ow you like a brew.” Gene tapped the side of his head with his finger.
Alex pressed her lips together before nodding finally. “He’s right,” she finally admitted. “About all of it.” She raised the cup and took a sip, the jelly baby was melting in the cup and she was happy about it. Something she’d picked up by a friend in her former unit. “I’ll be honest, I honestly thought the only thing you were paying attention to were instances in which you could call me a fruitcake.” She froze for a moment. She did remember that. She looked around. “And that actually happened…”
John’s eyebrows rose and he looked between Alex and Gene, knowingly, then grinned and said to Alex, “Isn’t it freaky?”
“Oh believe me, Bolly. I paid attention to that too!” Gene replied with a mischievous grin. He sipped his tea, then snapped his fingers and pointed at Alex. “She let me stamp her arse in front of the entirety of CID.”
“Let is a bit of an overstatement. I wasn’t given much of a choice. And then the Super walked in…” She blinked again. Where was all of this coming from. “And I’ll thank you not to be spreading that around. Technically that hasn’t really happened yet. Or it did but hasn’t happened here… Bloody hell it’s a whole new vocabulary!”
“Welcome to my world.” John sat, gleefully eating jelly babies.
“Wasn’t the Super… it was Caroline Price,” Gene corrected. “This is the first time I’ve mentioned it actually. But if you’d like me to institute that particular welcome into CID ‘ere, I’ll be more than ‘appy to oblige you.”
It had been her mother?! That part of the memory hadn’t come up yet. Everyone had just jumped to attention so she’d assumed it was the super. “My Mum? My mum walked in on you stamping my arse.” She murmured the words more to herself. “No thank you. I can do without a repeat of that particular memory. Besides, I doubt most of the unit would show me theirs.”
“Not your mam, Caroline Price. Pay attention, you dozy mare.” Gene sipped his tea and rolled his eyes. “Show me yours and I’ll show you mine,” he offered.
As the pair of them went back and forth, the Doctor looked between the two the same way one might watch a tennis game. Finally, “Are you finished with me?” He flashed an apologetic smile. “Because I actually have some work to finish here…”
Alex’s eyes moved to Gene again and her face was blank. He didn’t know. That plus her getting shot made her think there was more going on because she remembered Molly. She remembered London. She remembered Evan. She remembered waking up in the 80s with no explanation. “Clearly you don’t know everything, Gene.” She was about to say more when John asked if they were done. “We might be,” she admitted. “Probably as good as it is going to get right now.”
“I never said I knew everything!” Gene stood up and walked over to the door, holding it open and motioning for Alex to follow. “John, thanks for your ‘elp. First round’s on me tonight.”
“Ta,” the Doctor replied, standing up and patting Alex on the shoulder. “It’s going to be alright. You’ll see. If you ever need somebody to talk to, who isn’t this numpty, give me a call.” He looked over to his desk and found one of his business cards, which he handed to her.