Chapter 1

(Setting: Pre-pacemaker surgery, but Sandbrook case and the trial both succeeded.)

Ellie Miller leant back on her elbows as the soft ripples of the waves kissed her bare ankles as whilst watching the burning red sun sink lower and lower into the cerulean waters. Tonight would be an amazing night, she just knew it would be. Peace finally came. The storm moved on.

Life had dealt her a very good hand at one time in her early days, but as with a new round in the game so came a new hand, a very bad hand. Being married to a paedophile murderer certainly was filed in the "bad hand" group, but that round had finished. She played her final cards, hoping they were enough to win. They were: A royal flush. The highest value in poker. She won, but though it came with much sacrifice.

The miserable, pitiful, hated creature who was at the epicentre of this ghastly mayhem was finally brought to justice. He would spend the rest of his days cowering behind bars for his horrific actions. No one would cry for him, no one would pity him, and most of all- no one would visit him in that dismal little white box.

Before Ellie could lose herself in reminiscence of what was, another figure joined her.

Alec Hardy.

The man whom she absolutely detested from the very moment Chief Super uttered his name as having taken over her job whilst she was away, and only grew to barely tolerate as time went on, but now she found his presence welcoming and enjoyable. Well, almost welcoming, there were countless times when his brooding fiery temper could rival his ancestors' fierce war-like spirit.

"Sir," she greeted out of habit and patted the sand next to her.

"Don't call me that Miller, I haven't been your boss for such a long time," he purred in that unmistakable Scottish burr and sat in the same manner she did.

"Drop the Miller and we'll call it a draw." She smirked and inched close to lean her head on his bony shoulder. Neither one interpreted touch as a romantic gesture, merely a show of appreciation for each other's company. No words were needed betwixt them, companionable silence satisfied them very much.

Their relationship was too outlandish for the conventional labels of either: friends, work mates, or family-friend. At times they fought, bickered, and threw the sharpest barbs at each other with those stinging insults; however, there were sweet moments, moments of complete and utter devotion to the one and only. Only a thin wavering line stood between them as either friend or family, it was a mutual unspoken agreement to never cross it. Never was forever, right?

"Beautiful out here, isn't it? Lovely weather too," she murmured after a long while passed.

"Nay, too much sky, too much water, too much of the sea all around. I hate it." The words rolled off his tongue just like for waves rolled into the sand bed, soft and soothing.

"I knew you'd say that, but I know it's not true either," she punched his arm gently, "Admit it. You do like it here. No more of that penance stuff to drag around, eh?"

Only nodding his head in response, Alec cupped his arm around Miller and wrapped the two of them together.

Silence encompass the them as the sun's final rays danced in and out of the gentle waves. Nothing made a sound except the small ripples of water washing the sand bed and one other sound...

Thummmp-thump….Thump-thump-thump-thump...thump…..

It was music to her ears.

Those irregular beats pounded painfully hard against Hardy's rib cage, but he skilfully hid its constant great discomfort. Well, perhaps he needed to sharpen those skills because he knew Ellie had noticed his distress when she snuggled tighter in his arms. His poor, worn down, and over-stressed heart was a time bomb waiting to set off, only it wouldn't set off an explosion- it would just end.

Silence screams loudest and that is exactly what his strained ticker would do.

Just. Stop. Ticking. Silence.

Hardy wouldn't burden her with that knowledge though. It wasn't fair. Things had finally started to turn for the better, it didn't needed to be soured again. Of course she knew about the pacemaker surgery, but she didn't know why he refused it so adamantly.

"Sir," she faltered, "Are you alright?" Placing a palm above his arrhythmia, she felt the violent jumps.

Ellie knew him far too long for his deceit to fool her. Alec didn't respond, merely stared aimlessly at the black waters riding up and down the jagged rocks just to their left. Once again, Silence screamed the unspoken.

He was not fine at all. He was a far cry from being anywhere remotely termed as "okay". Ellie shuddered at the dark possibility always looming in the back of her worries.

What if he...? No. Don't think about it. Don't think like that.

There's the surgery. The doctors said it would help...but it would only help if he survived. Surely Hardy would survive, wouldn't he? Pacemaker procedures aren't experimental, there have been many success stories.

"Ithink we should go inside. It's turned chilly and this winds isn't helping at all. Come." She stood and held out a hand for him to grasp.

Drawing himself back to the present reality, Alec look up at Ellie with a dazed expression. Noting her offer, he took it and pulled against her to right himself. Surprisingly, Ellie didn't topple when he threw his weight into her resistance helping him stand. A sharp breath told the younger DS just how much effort it pained him to stand.

I don't see why he goes on like this, the surgery will help this. He must be reasoned with.

"Dizzy?" Not trusting his own judgement to stand firm, she didn't loosening her grip on his arm.

"Fine," he huffed and pulled the overcoat tighter around his scrawny tooth-pick frame. She feared a strong gust of wind would topple him.

Slowly, the two lumbered off the beach and back to Alec's. His little blue abode was only two miles away, but even walking at a very slow shuffling pace took its toll on his breathing. His pride kept him from taking moments recomposed his laboured breaths, Ellie knew that so kept his dignity and didn't ask to stop once. It took the better part of the hour to reach the small wooden gate enclosing his blue haven.

Relying solely on the fence pickets to support his weight, Hardy didn't even bother trying to get the latch open. His fingers and mind were too discombobulated to function, not to mention the tremors had stated up again when the body was pushed past its threshold. How they managed to three steps up to the small sitting room was a bit of a blur for both Ellie and Alec.

Finally, the former DI and his former DS were each settled in their respective chairs.

The uneasy tension of the room could easily have set a tuning fork vibrating loudly.

Not able to endure it any longer, Ellie blurted out in a string of thought, "Alec, the surgery you told me about before. I really think you need to consider it again. Your heart need it. Just look at today. If I had any say, I'd call this your worst so far. Since when did two miles do you in so much? It wasn't even on a slope. Please? You dearly need it. Just look at yourself, so pale. Those clothes are too baggy for you, practically skin and bones are all I see on you."

"Enough Ellie," he reprimanded gently whilst unconsciously massaging his chest, "You've had your say. No surgery for me. I won't have it. Today was exceptionally taxing because I forgot my noon medications and didn't have any of those white tablets to supplement with. Before you go ballistic on me and missing my dose, it wasn't my fault." She sat straight and eyed him critically, challenging what he dare say next. "

"As you know, Chief Super reinstated my status as part of the force, but now stuck as a paper-pusher and only in the supervising role restricted to solely the building. Anyway, I was called away to a last minute meeting for something I can't remember now, must have been terribly dull, so that's why I didn't take them."

"How dare you miss a dose! Alec! You can't just completely forget something like that! Just look what it did to you today. Did you even eat anything for lunch? No medication for a whole afternoon, then you have the nerve to come sit by me at the beach fully aware you still hadn't taken anything! How did you even make it to the beach in one piece?"

"Oi! Give me some credit at least! I'm not dead, I can still walk just fine," he crossed his arms in a huff and whispered a faint no to her question about eating.

"Alec Hardy!" Miller's mothering tone and towering presence came suddenly and he knew he wasn't going to be let off it any time soon, "What are you doing to yourself? Are you trying to kill yourself?" The look of shock and hurt on his face only fuelled her on, "Is that really it, why you're refusing the surgery? Why you're not taking care of yourself? Why can't you... How come you can't be... Can you at least try to be... When will you learn that..."

By the end of Ellie's venting tirade, she slumped back in her seat out of breath and out of energy.

"I am sorry Ellie."

It was only four short words, but Hardy said them clearly in the sincerest voice possible. He really did feel sorry for putting Miller through all that. It wasn't just her anger with him for not taking care of himself, it was also her unsaid fear passionate concern for his future health status that struck him hard.

"Alec please, " she moved to sit on the small coffee table directly in front of him, "Tell me why you refuse the surgery? You're withholding information, it's not helping anything at all."

"No Ellie. No surgery. That's that." He averted his gave to the space just over her head.

"Tell me why then."

"No."

"Alec," she cautioned, "say something."

"Fine, I'll tell you." A sigh of regret escaped his breath as he contemplated how to begin the long explanation.

A-N: Thank you for reading. I hope you liked it. This is a multi-chapter story. Please leave a thought. Thank you!