Sorry it's taken a while. Getting into a new year at school, turning sixteen and dramatic girly fights do tend to take up ones time. Anyway here it is, I've got the first six chapters written but it may be a while before I can put up the next one. Thanks guys :) Also The return of the wolf will be updated really soon I promise! D: Oh and also 'Mary' is made up, I don't know anyone called Mary it was just the first name that popped into my head.
Alec Hardy woke up in his small flat, cradling his head in his hands. Cursing himself for never remembering to close the blinds the night before, he slowly made his way into the bathroom for a shower. As usual he had, had way too much to drink and could barely remember anything of the night before. The only thing he remembered was seeing the young woman in the café having her dinner. Did he talk to her? He really couldn't remember.
When he was finally dressed and ready for work he made his way along the street and into the same café as the night before for his morning coffee. As he stood waiting for his drink the door opened and revealed none other than the woman that his thoughts never seemed to leave. She didn't appear to have seen him and walked up to the counter and sat on one of the stools.
"Morning Mary" she smiled at the lady "What's the breakfast special today?"
Mary beamed at her, clearly pleasantly surprised that the woman had remembered her name "Well we've got the classic breakfast with bacon, eggs, sausages and tomatoes and optional toast and sides".
"Oh that sounds lovely thank you" the woman grinned.
"Coming right up then" Mary went to tell the cook, returning shortly afterwards to get the woman her orange juice "So what brings you to town Miss...?"
"Rose, call me Rose" the woman smiled "I just thought a change would be nice. I went online to find a quiet place away from London and I found this place" she shrugged "Only got here yesterday and everyone's been so nice".
Alec cringed slightly at that. He hadn't been particularly friendly to Rose. Rose. He let himself form the word on his tongue. He surprised himself at how much he really liked it and how much it suited her. He was sure he'd seen her before and now hearing her name made him even more curious.
"What about the murder?" Mary asked, glancing at him and successfully bringing his attention back to their conversation.
"Oh" Rose shrugged again "I didn't really look into it. I never really had a chance to watch the news back home in London, but I heard the DI did a really great job on the case. I wonder if I'll meet him while I'm here" she was clearing thinking aloud.
Mary looked up in his direction and he shook his head at her. Mary was one of the few people in the town that could actually stand him and he found it quite refreshing in some ways. Of course he didn't usually care what people thought of him, but it was nice to have someone not totally hate him.
"You might" Mary shrugged "He comes in here sometimes, nice enough bloke if you get on his good side".
"Good to hear" Rose chuckled "I'm not really the law-breaking type so I hope we can be friends".
Mary nodded and took a takeaway coffee cup from the young girl that worked with her. She walked over to Alec and gave him a warm smile "Sorry it took so long Alec, she's new and I don't want to fire her before she's had her chance".
"It's alright I understand" he pulled out his wallet and paid for his beverage "Have a nice day Mary".
"You too Sir" she smiled and gave him a mock-salute.
He wandered out of the shop without another glance at Rose. She didn't know who he was. He felt kind of relieved that there was someone who hadn't followed the case, living in town. It gave him a little more confidence to be nice to the woman, not that she'd probably ever want to talk to him again anyway.
When he entered the police station Ellie was already waiting for him "So..." she said leaning against the wall.
He looked up to see her staring at him and sighed "What did I do this time?"
"Oh nothing" she shrugged "Well you did get a little bit drunk last night and then this morning you didn't buy me a coffee".
"Sorry" he grumbled "I was a little bit distracted.
"Distracted by what?" she asked, frowning a little.
"New woman" he murmured between mouthfuls of his coffee.
"The one who bought the little cabin where...it happened" Ellie nodded sombrely.
"I didn't know she'd bought the cabin" Alec shrugged "I just assumed she'd bought a house somewhere".
"Well she has" Ellie nodded "Bit of an odd choice if I say so myself, thought that place was gonna have to be pulled down".
"She didn't follow the case" Alec let out a sigh "It's kind of nice really. She doesn't know who I am or you are or anything. I don't even know if she knows what happened in that house".
"So you met her then?"
"Aye" he nodded "Her bloody dog bowled me over when I was down at the beach yesterday. She helped me up and apologized".
"And I bet you were as rude as ever, weren't you?" Ellie gave him a disapproving look.
"Maybe" he shrugged "I'm not good with people like that".
"People like what?" Ellie asked curiously.
"Well..." he paused for a moment "Women".
"You can talk to me" she frowned.
"That's only because I work with you" he shrugged, still surprised at how open he was being with even Ellie "I can't talk to women like her ever since my ex-wife".
"Women like her?" Ellie asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well women that...that..."
"That you find attractive?" she finished for him.
"Aye" he hung his head slightly.
"Oh would you look at that" Ellie tutted "DI Alec Hardy is in love with the new girl".
"Oh snap out of it" he glared at her "I barely know the woman and I doubt she'd ever look at me that way anyway. In fact the first time she saw my face she looked almost haunted, like she'd seen a ghost or something".
"Oh but you actually do like her" Ellie grinned "Talk to her, be polite, ask her out. She might surprise you yet".
"Miller you know this is none of your business right?" he frowned at her.
"Yeah of course" she shrugged "but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna try to help you out a little bit".
"I don't need your kind of help" Alec growled.
Ellie just smiled "You need all the help you can get". With that she left the room, leaving him to his thoughts.
She was crazy right? He didn't want the attention of some twenty-something year old blonde who might not be worth his time anyway did he? The problem was that he did know the answer to that, even before Ellie told him "Oh boy" he muttered "Miller!" he yelled to call her back into his office.
Ellie grinned when she heard him and came rushing back into the room. The fact that he was even considering her help was astounding in itself and she was going to make the most of it.
Alrighty then. So the way I've written the first six chapters will go Rose, Alec, Rose, Alec...etc etc. Tell me if this works for you. Thanks for taking an interest in my stories and as always, you guys are fabulous :D