A/N Alec's marriage was already on the rocks after he found out his wife was having an affair with a male DS in the department he worked in.
Lunch over, the delegates made their way back to the conference room but Rose and Alec were oblivious to the fact nearly everyone else had left even though they weren't actually doing much talking, more like eyeing each other and taunting each other. Alec would ask a simple question and Rose would laugh and say nothing, Alec was clearly getting no answers but they both seemed to be enjoying it until Pete came over and reminded them to go back to the conference.
"Rose, we'll be starting again in a few minutes, can you manage to tear yourself away do you think?" Pete smiled, looking at Rose then at the detective.
"I'm sorry Mr Tyler, it was my fault, I was keeping her talking." He turned to Rose and got up, standing behind her chair to allow her to get up.
Rose accepted his help and they both followed Pete back into the conference room and got a few stares from some of the older officers and a few grins from the younger ones who had seen the two of them talking at lunch and wished they'd had the nerve to go talk to Peter Tyler's step-daughter. This Alec Hardy obviously didn't know who she was according to them. If he did, he was either brave or foolish to tangle with the head of Vitex for daring to even sit with her let alone talk to her.
Rose was smiling the rest of the afternoon. Answering questions about what she knew about Lumic along with Pete and wishing the afternoon was over. It seemed to go slowly, Alec was asking questions and Rose was trying not to laugh as she knew he was doing it on purpose, sneaking in subtle questions about various aspects of how Lumic had got away with it and in the end was forced to stop before he was barred from the next two days of the conference as his superiors were clearly making him realise he was being over-zealous with the questions.
The conference ended shortly after four and not a minute too soon for Rose and Alec alike as the room cleared, officers were shaking hands with Pete and Rose was just sat at the table, waiting for everyone to leave. Pete was seeing the last of the delegates off in the doorway as one of the senior officers was keeping him talking. Rose saw her opportunity to go over and talk to Alec.
"So Detective Inspector Hardy, did you get the answers you were seeking?" she asked cheekily, hoping he would take the bait.
They had both been openly flirting with each other all day although Alec didn't count it as 'flirting' so much, he was too old to be flirting with a woman who was clearly only in her early twenties and he had no business doing such things. No, he was trying to get her attention and had clearly got it by her responses. She was the one flirting with him he had convinced himself and it would be rude not to return the sentiment. Besides, he needed something to take his mind off his return home to face his cheating wife and now he was contemplating cheating on her, with Rose Tyler.
No, he couldn't get involved with her, no matter how tempting it was. Flirting was one thing but actually doing something about it was another thing entirely and getting her involved with his own marital problems would bring the wrath of Peter Tyler down on him he would probably end up pounding the beat on the worst housing estate in Glasgow where officers normally went around in pairs and he would be alone. He had to get her out of his head but seeing her for the next two days was not going to make that easy since she was watching him constantly and was now getting up and making her way towards him. He pretended he was studying the next day's agenda and scribbling notes in the margin, most of them said simply 'Rose Tyler'.
He quickly pulled the file closed as she approached. "Miss Tyler, I ask people questions all day, it's what I do. I was merely trying to get all the facts to report back with. What are you trying to suggest?"
Rose smiled, he thought how her whole face lit up when she did and it was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen.
"Well, you've been asking me some really funny questions all afternoon, most of them were hardly anything to do with the topic of the conversation but they were cleverly disguised, I'm sure no-one hardly noticed."
She was sitting in front of him having pulled a chair around and Alec could hardly keep his eyes in his head as she sat back on the chair and his mind was a million miles away.
"Well in my line of work, it's quite common to ask all kinds of questions, some can be quite personal. I hope I didn't embarrass you too much but we need all the facts to understand what went on."
"Yeah? I'm surprised you didn't get thrown out," Rose laughed.
She was right, he should have got thrown out, he had hardly got away with it. "Well, I'm still here. Can I take you out for a drink later perhaps or maybe dinner? Then I can ask you even more questions and maybe you have some for me."
"You're so sure of yourself, DI Hardy," she laughed.
Just then, Pete turned around and asked, "Are you ready to leave Rose?" He saw the look on her face and guessed she wasn't. He had seen the same look on her face as she'd had the first time he had seen her look at The Doctor. She was taken with this Alec Hardy and knew she wouldn't be leaving any time soon.
Rose looked up at Pete. "Well, not just yet, Detective Inspector Hardy was just asking me out for a drink later, weren't you?" she asked, looking at her nails and pretending not to care.
She had him cornered, now he just had to seal the deal. "How about I pick you at seven? I'm staying at a hotel in central London, why don't you tell me where you live?"
Pete was very strict about Rose giving out where she lived to just anyone so she looked at him to ask if she could tell the detective. Pete shook his head, he wasn't sure exactly about Hardy although he did have a nerve about him, most men since Rose's arrival wouldn't have dared to even talk to her and Hardy was being as bold as brass but he needed to know more about him first. One thing in his favour though was that he had made Rose laugh and smile and that was good. It was the first time since she had been here Rose had really smiled, even at the wedding she had forced herself to join in and then just a few weeks ago, she'd had the worst day of her life saying goodbye to the man she had loved.
"Maybe I could meet you somewhere? In town perhaps?"
Alec thought about it, he could tell she wanted to reveal where she lived, he could easily find out if she lived with Peter Tyler but he knew his limits and he wasn't about to spoil his chances. He knew that Tyler would certainly look him up and warn Rose about him but he was willing to take the chance if it meant having a date with her.
"OK, meet me outside the coffee house in Leicester Square at seven then we'll have dinner and maybe see a film. That's near my hotel."
Rose agreed, hoping she could get a lift or maybe get a taxi there and get him to take her back after she had persuaded Pete to let her. Rose was just about to follow Pete out of the conference room when Alec got up and stopped her.
Taking her hand, he kissed the back of it and said, "Seven then?"
Rose blushed and nodded.
All the way back home, Rose was smiling at the thought of having an actual date. Just that morning she had not wanted to even attend the stupid meeting but she had got a date out of it. That was if Pete didn't go spoiling it and tell her mother that this Alec Hardy looked like The Doctor but she was sure her secret was safe for now since so far it was only one date. She had to get Pete to agree to let her bring Alec back with her at some point, even if it wasn't tonight. She could get him to drop her off around the corner or get a taxi back if needed but she had the feeling that Alec Hardy was persistent, if all the questions were anything to go by.
Jackie Tyler was waiting for her daughter to arrive back at what was now her new home. She was worried all the talk about the Cybermen would upset her and set her off pining for The Doctor again. She couldn't get worried herself though, she had the baby to think about so when she heard her husband come in, talking to Rose about her impending date, she was all ears.
"What? You've got a date? After all you said after our little trip to Norway, you're going out on a date?"
"Leave it Mum, it's nothing, it's just one date, with one of the conference delegates, no big deal." Rose was hoping her mother would drop the subject but there was no chance.
Jackie was not satisfied. "I thought you were hiding yourself away?"
Pete joined in, since the cat was apparently out of the bag. "You should have seen her Jaks, all smiles when this Police detective was talking to her during lunch, then when he was asking her questions all afternoon," he laughed, hoping he wouldn't blurt out who the man reminded him of, it wouldn't do to let Jackie know about it just yet.
"And just who was she talking to Pete? You're supposed to be protecting her from all that, you said you would," Jackie frowned.
"And I will look after her, he is in the Police, I can't stop her talking to everyone can I?"
Rose decided to speak up. "I can make my own decisions you know, Mum, it's ok really, it's just one date."
With that, Rose retreated to the safety of her room while Pete shrugged his shoulders and went to his study to look up Alec Hardy. He was not happy with the results when he found out the man was married and asking out a twenty year old woman, well technically she was twenty and still under his care until she was twenty one in her own universe. He thought about warning his step-daughter but he knew she wouldn't listen and she would be heart broken again when she found out but it would be better if Hardy himself told her, what did her step-father know? He and Jackie would have to pick up the pieces again so soon after Rose's heartbreak in Norway. Maybe Rose wouldn't care, it wasn't like the man was staying, he would be going back to Glasgow in two days and Rose would probably never see him again.
Rose was in her room, trying to reason with herself. It was just one date but they had been flirting all day and she shouldn't have encouraged him but had been unable to stop herself. It had been too easy, he had flirted back in front of his fellow officers and he had dared to ask her such questions and then had the nerve to ask her out when she had seen at least a dozen more men in the room dying to do the same but the babbling, that had really made her determined to flirt with him but it would all end either when he found out how old she was or when he went home.
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Alec made his way back to the hotel he was being put up in, smiling to himself he had been lucky to get a date with Rose Tyler. He'd show his wife she wasn't the only one who get take a younger lover, there was nothing wrong with him, he'd just proved that after Rose had agreed to a date. His wife was trying to make him feel inadequate and no longer capable of keeping her satisfied when she had fled to a younger man and he'd suspected it had been going on long before he found out. They had a daughter to think about, eleven years old and wondering why her mother and father were always out at different times and never at home at the same time and most of all, wondering why she was always packed off to her aunt's house after school and during the holidays. Of course, his wife's sister had taken her side in it all and was barely civil to him in front of the girl whenever he was the one to go collect her.
Well if she wanted to play it that way, then so was he, he'd show her he wasn't past it, he was thirty eight, he was still young enough to start over if his wife wanted to end it all, she had started it. He was thinking about Rose and where he could take her on a date. He parked his car in the hotel car park just off Leicester Square and walked back into the main area, remembering where the coffee house was he'd seen on his way in where he was meeting her. Just across the square was a cinema and he walked across to see what they were showing and there were a number of films she might possibly like then he noticed a nice restaurant and went inside and made a booking for seven fifteen. He walked back to his hotel feeling quite pleased with himself and went up to his room to get a shower and get changed and decided to shave off his beard. He didn't know what Rose's reaction was going to be when he met her later or he wouldn't have bothered. He was trying to impress her but he was going to get more than he bargained for.
Alec wandered out of his hotel ten minutes before he was due to meet Rose. Rose was nervous, it had been a long time since she had been on a date, having up until she had met The Doctor, only one boyfriend, Mickey and then she had known him all her life so they had never actually had to go out on a date to get to know each other. Pete had got someone to drive her into town and told Rose to call if she needed picking up. He had relented and told Rose that Alec could bring her back if the date went well and decided against warning her about him, she would have to find out the hard way, she would have gone anyway even if he had told her.
Rose had just got out of the car when Alec spotted her. He greeted her with a kiss on her cheek and led the way to the restaurant he had booked a table at. They waited in the bar area and Alec ordered drinks. Over dinner, Alec continued to question her and Rose didn't seem to mind. It was mostly about where she grew up, it was common knowledge Peter Tyler had adopted her upon his marriage to her mother and he seemed genuinely interested in the events that had led to her being in Peter Tyler's home when the Cybermen had invaded but Rose didn't want to talk about it.
"I really think we should leave that for the conference tomorrow, don't you?" Rose asked as she took a sip of her drink. "I really don't want to go through it twice, once is bad enough. You weren't there, you don't know what it was like, to be face to face with them and to run away from them." She went quiet and finished the last of her meal.
Alec reached over the table and took her hand and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't realise it was so painful for you."
Rose just looked at his hand over hers. It had been a total shock when she had got out of the car and been greeted by the man she knew was Alec Hardy but he had shaved and she hadn't been quite prepared to led away by The Doctor's twin. She knew he resembled the man she had lost but not by this much. Over dinner she had tried not to think about it and just accept it and thought in some bizarre way, The Doctor was making sure she was happy.
She relaxed a bit more as their dessert arrived. Rose was awed by the different desserts in this world, they were so much better than they were in her own and she had grown fond of one in particular. Alec had let go of her hand, kicking himself for upsetting her. Of course she would be upset you idiot, he had told himself.
They made their way across the square and stood in front of the cinema, debating what to go and see. Rose wanted to see 'The Time Traveller's Wife' but thought she had best keep quiet about that one but Alec said he might enjoy it so they decided to go. Rose really wished she hadn't, halfway through it brought back painful reminders of her past and Alec could tell there was something wrong so he took her hand and squeezed it. After the film had finished, he took her over to the coffee shop where they had met outside and he put a latte in front of her.
"Tell me why you got upset during the film Rose."
"It's a long story Alec and you'll hear some of it during the conference," she replied, taking a sip.
"I want to know now because you'll not tell the whole story to the delegates and I want to know it all."
She knew he was only trying to help but with the combination of the film and him looking the way he did, she was about to break her promise to Pete about not telling anyone who she really was and where she really came from.
"Not here Alec, I can't tell you here."
"Then come back to my hotel, it's just around the corner and it's getting late. When you've told me I'll take you home."
TBC