Some months before:
'The trouble with being Alice Harvey,' she said to her reflection, 'is that you make everyone think you have no feelings.'
She took her makeup off and stared at the woman she really was. Plain, ordinary Alice. A workaholic, a lonely workaholic, regular habits, unemotional. She slipped into the warm bath and closed her eyes, soaking away the visions of the day, cleansing herself of the horrors that had lain before her on the mortuary table. Sometimes, after a day like today, it would be so easy to slip under the water and never come up. Nobody would care, nobody would miss her.
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'Dr Blake!' Alice called into the station office, 'I thought you were going to help me with these autopsies.' Honestly, that man, why was he never where he should be. How, on God's good earth, did Jean keep up with him, was she psychic?!
'Coming Dr Harvey!' He appeared at her side.
'I want those reports as soon as you've done, Blake. Just your initial findings will do.' Lucien waved his hand at Matthew as he accompanied Alice out of the office and over to the morgue.
'What've we got, Alice?' He asked as he put his lab coat on.
'Two men, one older, one youngish.' She picked up the clipboard, 'Which one do you want to start with?'
'This old chap, I think.' He proceeded to examine the body as it was, voicing his thoughts and findings, which Alice duly noted on the forms. They worked through the routine of examining, dissecting, weighing organs, peering at bits of evidence under the microscope and finally putting the bodies back together again and covering them with clean white sheets before sliding them into the mortuary fridges.
'Well, Alice,' Lucien dropped his coat into the hospital laundry skip, 'I'll drop these reports off with Matthew, then I'm off home.'
'Right, I'll see you tomorrow, then.' Alice finished putting away the equipment.
Lucien left the morgue and smiled. Life was good, he enjoyed working with Alice, Matthew was back at the helm after his accident, he had a lovely wife and a beautiful newborn son.
Alice smiled as he left. Coming to Ballarat had been the best thing she could have done. After her initial doubts about working with the renegade that was Dr Lucien Blake, she had found him a dedicated and thorough police surgeon, intelligent and intuitive. He had become a good friend and supportive in the face of the bureaucracy and misogyny that she encountered in the course of her duties.
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She took off her makeup and looked in the mirror. The reflection smiled back at her, 'You're looking happier, Alice.' It said.
She slipped into the warm bath and closed her eyes. Cleansing herself of the images from the days cases. Two idiots who had fought over something, no one knew what, and in the course of the fight the younger one had been killed, stabbed through the heart and the older one had died of a heart attack. No further investigating to be done, not by her and Lucien, anyway. Not worth slipping under the water and staying there now. Lucien would have to do her autopsy and someone would mourn her now.
She got out of the bath as the water began to cool, dried herself off and dressed in a pair of clean satin pyjamas and matching robe. She cared more what she wore to bed these days.
Alice sat in her living room, reading and thinking about pouring herself her evening whisky when there was a knock at the door. She put down her book and went to answer it, hoping she wasn't expected to go out on a case, it was her turn.
'Matthew.' She stood aside to let him in, a slight smile on her face.
'Wondered if you'd join me in a drink, Alice.' He indicated the bottle in his hand.
'Well, funnily enough I was just thinking of pouring one.' She preceded him into the living room and picked up two glasses. Matthew poured them each a drink and they sat together on the couch.
The two glasses remained untouched on the coffee table, Alice however didn't.
As they drew apart from a deep, intense kiss, Matthew slipped his hand inside her robe and under her pyjama top. Finding what he was searching for, he gently stroked her breast feeling her raised nipple. Alice drew him down into a kiss again and let him move his hands down her body until he slipped his hand inside her pyjama bottoms, expertly sliding them down and off.
She was breathless now and wanted him more than ever. He felt her need, she was undoing his shirt, his trousers, finding what she was searching for she let him take her, there, on the sofa, biting her lip as she tried not to cry out in release. Her satisfied groan made him smile, he liked to make her groan, it was a sultry sound that made him want her all the more.
'The trouble,' he kissed her neck, 'with you,' he kissed her collarbone, 'Alice Harvey,' he opened her top and kissed each breast, 'is' now her belly button, you're just,' back up to her breasts, 'too' her collarbone, 'delicious.'
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She woke at daybreak. When did they actually make it to the bed? Matthew was lying next to her, his arm across her, just like he always did, when he stopped by for a nightcap.
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Just a short Alice story while I think about the other one I need to finish. Hope you like it. Reviews and comments always welcome.