She was irritating to say the least but she'd already seemed to think that about him and he thought Miller was bad enough. If Rose Tyler was there in the capacity of a Torchwood agent though, did he really want anything to do with her? Now though, he'd maybe given her ideas and if she hadn't been in town for that reason, she would go back and inform her stepfather, whom he knew was the director and talk him into sending a team down after all and muscle in.
Well that was not going to happen, under any circumstances, he was quite sure of that, even though the thought of working alongside her was somehow quite appealing as opposed to working alongside Miller, who clearly detested him, complained when he made himself a cup of tea and didn't make one for her and commented he should get his breakfast at the hotel and not leave crumbs of toast all over the break room. Then Miller had been trying to find out what the crank telephone engineer had meant about the pendant and there was no way he was going into details and sharing that with her.
Rose had got around the corner onto the rest of the esplanade, lifting Tony onto the wide stone wall and holding his hand as he walked, purposely bumping into Rose and laughing, Rose bumping him back. He suddenly stopped.
"Rose, I thought we were going onto the beach. Was that man really a policeman?"
"Yeah, so he said. He didn't hurt you when he bumped into you did he?"
"Nope, it would have been funny if I'd got icecream on his coat though, wouldn't it?"
"Well he wouldn't have thought so. Come on you, let's find a way onto the beach then but take off your trainers or mum will go nuts with you, you little terror."
"Aw but it's more fun if I go in the water in my trainers Rose. Did you like that man? I think he liked you."
"Rubbish, he was rude and doesn't look where he's going," Rose huffed.
"I saw him crossing the road, that car nearly got him and he shook his fist at the driver," Tony replied, shaking his fist and pulling a face.
"I don't need a demonstration thanks." Just then, her mobile rang.
"Oh hi Mum. How's the shopping going?"
"For a Sunday, the supermarket's packed. You two ok?"
"Yeah, take your time, we're just going on the beach, we got held up"
She wanted to say by a scruffy police detective but her mother would have asked too many questions.
"Rose, tell mum about that policeman," Tony interrupted, now sat on the wall swinging his legs again.
"What did Tony just say?" Jackie asked.
"Nothing, we were just talking to someone, that's all. I need to talk to dad when you get back. I know why all those police cars are over by the harbour."
"Rose, you know I banned you and Pete from watching the news, we're supposed to be on holiday. How do you know?"
"Because I just met a police detective, that's how. I'll tell you when you both get back."
Rose hung up and carried on walking, should she get her stepfather involved? Alec Hardy did not seem like the kind of man who would let Torchwood walk all over him and take over his investigation, he'd told her bluntly anyway that he wouldn't but the man did not look like he had much patience either, particularly for getting the case solved in the least amount of time.
She had noted he hadn't looked at his best, compared with the photo on his ID card. Maybe there was something wrong with him but he wouldn't tell her, even if she did sneak off later to go meet him instead of being shown up at bingo again by her mother. Settling Tony on the beach, after taking his trainers and socks off, she got her phone out to check up on one DI Alec Hardy, knowing full well her mother had banned her checking the news but not banning the internet altogether.
As Rose sat on the beach, watching out of one eye at her brother splashing up and down in the water, thankful she'd got him out of his jeans and her mother had put his swimming trunks on underneath and she'd stuffed a small towel in her shoulder bag, Alec was finishing the last of his tea before going back to the station and decided to get his phone out and look up one Rose Tyler, the irritating blonde whom he couldn't stop thinking about and the way she had scolded him, she'd looked really sexy whilst doing it.
He got the usual public profile of Miss Rose Tyler, how she had been adopted when her mother had married the chairman of the Vitex corporation and current director of Torchwood, well the new regime. Alec knew about the old one and to say he'd disapproved of them was a bit of an understatement, he'd detested them even before they had let the Cybermen vanish into thin air, which had taken three years so they'd really had no excuse in his book, it had been careless of them to say the very least.
He had thought at the time how could they have not noticed they had been infiltrated and been used to transport around five million Cybermen to wherever they'd gone, which according to the rumours, had been to a parallel world, not that anyone had actually believed that. Well maybe he had slightly but he was the product of being left to his own devices as a boy with a never-ending supply of comics about other worlds, all like their own. So now, he could actually believe it but even this new version of Torchwood, he couldn't get past the fact a lot of members had got their jobs back and this Rose Tyler he'd just met, maybe she had got her old job back as well.
Getting nothing new on Torchwood, he put his phone away and decided instead of going back to the station, to take a walk along the esplanade. Not because Rose Tyler and her brother had gone in that direction he'd almost convinced himself but because he could take a shortcut back to the hotel that way, despite it all being uphill and he really shouldn't be contemplating that in his current condition but if he walked through the streets, more gradually, it would save him walking all the way around. Not that he thought he would bump into the irritating blonde again.
He passed the icecream stand, smiling to himself that if Rose's young brother had got one from there, he would never have knocked into the boy and Rose would not have scolded him. Perhaps that would have been better, now he was never going to stop thinking about her and he was in no fit state to be doing anything about it, damn his heart condition. He convinced himself he wasn't looking for her in particular as he walked along, peering over the wall that he couldn't see anyone who was right under it because the wall was so wide but he could make out someone sitting at the water's edge just a bit further along, by a stone jetty and what looked like could be a small boy in the sea.
Now he would be obliged to walk past where he wanted to start making his way back to the hotel, find the way onto the beach and go talk to her again, if she would even talk to him again. He wasn't quite sure why he was actually doing this, she had yelled something terribly at him not that long ago, she might still be in a bad mood with him. He came up to the railings that the wall gave way to and saw the gap, debating whether or not to get the pebbles in his shoes or just to take them off or to just leave her be, she might still be mad at him.
He stood leaning on the railing, looking at his watch. If he went back to the hotel, there was nothing to do but sit and watch TV, pace his room or have Becca Fisher make a beeline for him but after she'd come in last night and admitted Mark Latimer was with her all Thursday night when he couldn't account for his whereabouts, well it was looking even less likely he'd allow her to continue to chat him up.
He knew he had to go out again later, to the press conference at the local school though the family were not going to be present, he told them there was no real need for them to be there and considering the dead boy's father had only just been released on suspicion he couldn't produce an alibi for the night of his son's death, it was a wise choice. Little did he know there was still going to be show-down, just not between the Latimers.
Tony was getting fed-up splashing on his own, Rose was playing on her phone so he sat beside her and grinned. For his years, Tony Tyler was growing up fast, never knowing his sister to tear into someone like she had done earlier, she must have really liked the man. As he got up, he turned around and saw Alec leaning on the railing as he put his phone away. Tony waved and Alec felt compelled to half wave back.
"Who ya waving to?" Rose asked warily, as it wasn't like her brother to wave to anyone he didn't know, Pete was very strict.
"The policeman from earlier," Tony grinned back.
"What? Where is he?"
Tony pointed in Alec's direction just as Alec decided he'd best move before he got yelled at again. So as Rose got up from fastening Tony's trainers, Alec had already turned back to where he'd wanted to be. Rose saw someone walking back along the footpath and shrugged her shoulders she must have really annoyed him earlier then, now he definitely wouldn't show up at the camp's bar later but she'd still go, to see if he'd chickened out.
As Alec took his time walking back, wishing now he'd opted to walk the long way around as this route just led him halfway up the road where he would have gone in a round-about way, he thought he could have at least waited for Rose Tyler and her brother to get to the footpath before retreating, she would surely think he was now trying to avoid her, which he wasn't, not really. He felt like a teenager again who had a crush on a girl who was way out of his league and if anyone was, it was her.
Over tea, Rose avoided telling her mother and Pete about her meeting with the detective who resembled her lost friend, not that it upset her any more, the sadness had passed, Tony had been the cause of that but she would never forget those times she had spent with both incarnations of the Doctor and if ever there came a day when she was told there was a way back, she would take it like a shot, even though the chances were he would have changed again, who knew how many times.
She had told Pete many times that she wouldn't give up and at one point, they thought they had found a way to her old world but before anyone had the chance to try, it was gone, the dimension cannon they had been testing had given up again though thankfully, no-one was lost. Rose would have gladly risked it but Pete had banned her as Jackie would never have forgiven him and he'd might as well have gone with her.
While Jackie was getting ready to go out and Tony was watching some cartoons, Rose decided to come clean about her meeting with Alec Hardy.
"I know why the police cars have been dashing around Rose, despite your mother banning me from watching the news, Jake called, he thought I needed to know."
"So are you taking Tony home?"
"No, we can protect him between us, he'll never be out of our sight for a second though I was debating sending for Mickey and Jake. What did you want to talk about?"
"I met who I think is the lead detective earlier on, well Tony did, he almost collided with the man when we'd been getting icecream. Somehow, we got round to him thinking Torchwood had already arrived in town and wanted to take over, I tried to tell him we weren't but I don't think he believed me though."
"I won't ask how you got around to the subject and your mother would divorce me if I even contemplated getting involved, she's been looking forward to this holiday. So what do you think?"
"I don't know, it's probably best to leave the local police to get on with it but he looked a bit out of his depth. I looked him up, it's the same detective from that case in Sandbrook a while ago, he doesn't look well either."
"Maybe he'd just been reminded of what happened there, he can't be pleased about it. Maybe you should make friends with him but I can't get involved, call Jake if you need anything on that score. I intend spending the rest of the two weeks here driving your mother and Tony to all the tourist spots here and across in Devon and that's exactly how it's going to be. It's up to you if you come with us but you said you wanted to go on that old tramway next Sunday."
Rose had been looking forward to that. "Yeah, well he said he might call in at the camp bar around eight, so I was going to go see if he was there, he said he'd sit outside but I sort of went off without saying anything, he may not even show up."
Pete smiled. "Any excuse for you to get out of playing bingo."
Jackie came out of her bedroom. "Who's tryin' to get out of playing bingo?"
"Rose is," Tony piped up. "She wants to go meet that bloke Rose has got a boyfriend," he laughed, doing the last bit in a sing-song voice.
"What bloke? The one you said you were talking to earlier? Who is he?"
"It's nothing more than meeting him outside the camp's bar, thanks for ratting on me Tony, you just wait, I'll chase you with a crab the next time we go to the beach."
"Great, then can I keep it?"
"No you can't Tony Tyler, I'm not letting any crabs in the car with me," Jackie scolded him. "Rose, don't make threats like that, you know what your brother's like. Well, who is he exactly?"
"He's the local detective inspector here, I told you, he almost bumped into Tony earlier."
"I hope you didn't get icecream on his coat," Jackie quizzed the boy as she tried to wipe his face before they went out but all Tony did was pull a face and then to Rose, he pretended to be kissing the air.
Rose knew better than to take any notice, Tony spent way too much time with Mickey Smith. While Tony was joining in the kids activities and Jackie was getting her bingo tickets, Rose connected to the camp's free wi-fi and sent an email to Jake, asking him to get more on Alec Hardy than the police website were willing to reveal about him and what happened in Sandbrook after the trial there collapsed.
Just as bingo was about to start, Rose made her excuses and walked through the bar next door and out onto the seating area. It was getting a bit cooler so she'd brought a jacket with her but it was still light so she sat near the edge so she could see if Alec Hardy was walking in any direction. Alec had just got out of the press conference and was in a foul mood Karen White had flown in on her broomstick to annoy him and had already unnerved him without even speaking to him. She had come in late, stopped to make sure he'd seen her and then just sat there having a staring contest with him, who'd won, Alec had no idea but he liked to think it was him.
He got dropped off at the other side of the harbour bridge and walked along the pavement and looked across to the seating area, already seeing Rose sitting there in a pale pink top and jeans, her legs crossed and looking extremely sexy. He made his way across the road, mindful to look both ways this time since now, she was going nowhere and there wasn't a rush like earlier though why he'd almost got run over to get to her, he'd no idea. It was one of those compulsive things he did from time to time, such as marrying Tess Henchard almost seventeen years ago and divorcing her eighteen months or so ago, the best idea he'd had to date.
Now here he was, the gruff lonely detective, no friends in a strange town that was getting stranger by the minute, walking towards a young twenty-something blonde who had more money than sense and who had already yelled at him and he was thinking seriously of inviting her back to his hotel, tell her what was wrong with him and seeing if she would spend the night with him. Yeah, like that was hardly going to happen, he thought as he reached the wall and approached her as she was looking the other way.
"Hello again Rose, I see you brought your own drink then?"
"Huh? It was you who said to bring my own drink, detective inspector, so are you going to join me or what?"
Alec huffed and went into the bar, getting a bottle of non-alcoholic lager and walking back to her, pulling out the chair next to her and making her move her legs.
"You want to know what happened, here in the town or have you already looked it up?"
"Some of it, my stepfather already knew, someone who works for him thought he needed to know, because of Tony. We're not leaving, we can keep him safe between us, he knows not to go wandering off, it's not easy being a Tyler since the press follow us almost everywhere we go, this seemed the best place to ditch them."
"I hate to spoil that theory but the press will be all over this, I've just been to a media briefing, they're gathering like vultures already."
"Yeah but they won't be interested in us now, besides, my mother has a full itinerary of places she wants to go, trust me, they'll never be able to keep up."
Alec almost cracked half a smile. "I've had time to think and I don't believe Torchwood are here to take over, so shall we call a truce?"
"I'm not so sure, after your insinuations earlier, DI Hardy, though I would be willing to accept an apology."
Alec almost swallowed his drink the wrong way. "You want me to apologise to you? What planet do you come from?"
Rose was about to say one parallel to this one but caught herself in time.
"Fine then, don't apologise but you can't have many friends around here, considering you're new in town and you've probably already hauled in half the residents and the rest are on your hit list."
Alec was thinking what a smartass she was, then considered she was almost as bad as he was and he wouldn't mind getting to see her ass up close if he played his cards right.
"I'm getting around to it and as for having any friends, I'm not here to make any. You're not offering to remedy that are you?"
Rose laughed. "Nope, not in a million years, you are so full of yourself Alec Hardy."
"Good then, I don't need one. Look Rose, go join your family, have a good time and forget about me, I have a murder investigation to get through."
"Yes, you do need someone, there's something wrong with you, isn't there?"
"How can you possibly know that? Are you going to report me then?"
"No, I want to help you."
"Not as a Torchwood agent I hope? I'll tell you now, I still don't approve of them even though they've changed. I lost someone during the attack all those years a go, a cousin down in London who had just joined, he never went home. His parents still don't know what happened to him, if he got turned into one of them or he was one of those who were just 'deleted'."
"I'm sorry Alec, my stepfather lost his first wife but you probably already know that but if you want, give me his name and I'll get someone to find out what happened to your cousin."
Alec laughed. "Torchwood did not want to know, they already issued an apology to his family but they never fully accepted responsibility for what happened since that was under the old regime. His parents were lucky they even got that."
"Well, now you know a senior Torchwood agent, I can get that information for you, all it takes is one phone call Alec, you can give closure to his family."
Alec considered it. Why shouldn't he use her to give his still grieving aunt and uncle some peace of mind? After all this time, they would finally know but was it better they thought he was still out there other than someone being turned into one of those metal monsters? Still, as a police officer, he was duty bound to pass any information about what happened back then, regardless of it being good or bad and whether he was related to any of the victims.
"Ok then, I'll give you his name, on one condition?"
Rose thought in for a penny, in for a pound and he was giving in, slowly. She could be his friend if he wanted - or more.
"Go on then, what's the condition?"
"Come back to my hotel room with me because you are right, I am ill and I need someone I can trust and as much as it pains me to admit it, I trust you and I'm lonely Rose, will you stay with me and relax a bit with me, tonight perhaps?"
