Don't own Being Human. Just own a Being Human shaped hole in my heart.

xx

Alex stood on the doorstep of Honolulu Heights, half poised to knock, but for some reason she hesitated. It was as much her home as Hal and Tom's, but seeing as she'd always rentaghosted wherever she needed to in the past, she'd never actually had a key.

Eventually she ducked behind the house to the back door instead, where she knew Tom would have hidden a spare key. Sure enough, tucked inside an empty hanging basket, was the battered bright pink key to the back door that used to belong to George. Tom had told Alex that the girls had thought it was funny when they'd gotten it cut for him, even if George hadn't. It certainly wasn't inconspicuous, that was for sure.

Quietly, she let herself in - it was quite late after all and her boys were human again, they needed their beauty sleep now. The kitchen was dark, but a blueish light flickered at the end of the hall, and Alex crept into the living room to see which fool had left the telly on.

She stopped in the doorway, caught somewhere between bursting with laughter and bursting into tears. There, laid out on the couch with a book dangerously close to slipping from his grasp, was Hal, more dead to the world than Alex had ever seen him, and snoring quietly. Alex glanced at the TV and saw that Doctor Who was on, which made her chuckle softly. Hal must have fallen asleep a while ago, because she knew he wouldn't have chosen that himself.
A few options sprung to mind - throwing something at him might be therapeutic, leaving him be until morning would be kinder, but Alex found she couldn't bring herself to wake him, nor to leave him for that matter. Instead, she kicked off her boots and padded silently over to the couch to ease the half read book from his loose grasp, taking care to slip the bookmark inside as she did so, and as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she slotted herself in front of him on the couch and curled up on her side to perve on David Tennant for a bit until he woke up. She smiled when she felt him stir behind her, but he only draped a warm arm across her waist and pulled her closer, resting his forehead against her back. Alex closed her eyes in contentment, and seconds later she too had fallen asleep.

Hours later, Alex awoke from a dreamless sleep, vaguely aware of Hal's arm tightening around her as he blinked back into consciousness. She felt him tense, before he realised who she was, and then he pushed himself up on his elbow to look at her. She kept her eyes closed but she knew she was smiling, and the dig in the ribs he gave her proved he knew she was awake too.

'You're back,' he observed, their eyes locking as she finally shifted to look at him over her shoulder.

She nodded; 'Yep. Couple of hours ago. Train took forever.'

'You should have called, I would - Tom and I - would have come to get you.' Hal said, his arm still draped across her. His thumb had started absently rubbing little circles on her denim clad hip.

Alex smiled. 'I know you would've, but... well it was nice really, sitting on a train, watching the world, with time to think about... everything.' Hal's jaw tightened slightly at the mention of 'everything', something Alex knew she'd never have been able to notice when he was a vampire. She thought it best to try to lighten the mood. 'Besides, if you'd come to get me I'd have missed out on your little Sleepy Beauty performance, and that was pretty special. Human Hal snores, by the way.'

He smirked, and shifted back against the back of the sofa, drawing her with him so she lay on her back, her big eyes gazing warily up at him.

'I don't recall Sleeping Beauty ending with platonic sofa spooning, unless that came after,' he said thickly, his eyes dropping to her lips for a split second. Sexy But Sleepy Hal was rather reminiscent of Sexy But Evil Hal, a fact that did not escape Alex, and though she hated herself for it she couldn't help but tense up ever so slightly when he dipped his head toward hers.

Hal froze instantly when he noticed her sudden intake of breath, and went to sit back, unable to stop a frown of disappointment that he'd apparently misread the signs from the woman nestled cosily against him, but Alex reached out a hand and held him in place, her fingers slipping easily into his hair.

'Sorry,' she said, quietly. 'Just... bad memories.'

'No, I'm sorry,' Hal said, his eyes full of concern and now so like her favourite version of him that she barely remembered that there could be any other. 'I shouldn't have - it's just you're back and I'm glad, and I've missed you. But we should-'

Alex cut him off, reaching up and pressing her lips to his.

The kiss was chaste, all things considered, but it did the job and cleared the tension, and when Alex pulled back she couldn't help but laugh at the dazed look on his face.

'Oh wipe that sloppy grin of your face you muppet, you'd think you'd never been kissed before.' Alex said, stretching out on the sofa and appreciating every little twinge. It felt good to ache.

'It's been five hundred years since I've been a human man kissed by a human woman,' Hal pointed out, satisfied by Alex's raised eyebrow of realisation. She clearly hadn't thought about it that way. Then she clearly thought about it another way, and threaded her fingers into his hair again, more firmly this time, and pulled him down so his body fitted flush against hers.

'In which case, I think we can do a little better than that, don't you?' And he readily obliged.