Just so you know, I'm completely aware that this is shameless fluff. I'm okay with that if you are.

I do have a bit of plot that I'm going to try and crowbar in when I've satisfied my need for general Hal/Alex happiness.

Thanks for the lovely reviews

xx

The next morning, Alex awoke to a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach. It had started the night before when Tom came in and interrupted her and Hal, though she'd managed to push it down and ignore it. Now though, in the dim grey of her bedroom, with only the sporadic sound of seagulls to distract her, she couldn't ignore it any longer. She and Hal still needed to talk.

Three weeks ago she hadn't really wanted to. She just wanted to sit with her boys, watch Antiques Road Show and drink more tea that is medically advisable.

Then the next day, she knew she needed to go home. She told Hal and Tom over breakfast, and since the pair of them flatly refused to let her go alone, they'd all piled into Hal's car and spent the day driving up to Edinburgh. The journey was quiet, and by the time they passed into Scotland even Tom had stopped piping up optimistically from the back seat. Alex's eyes kept suddenly welling up with unexpected tears, and the one time one actually did manage to fall, Hal noticed and passed her his handkerchief discreetly. Alex laughed, gratefully. Of course Hal carried a handkerchief.

They stopped eventually, at the top of the street where Alex's family still lived. Suddenly she panicked, she'd been hoping that by the time they got there she'd have worked out a way of telling them without giving her dad a heart attack, but nothing sprung to mind. In the end, she turned to Hal.

'I think I need to phone him,' she said. 'If I just show up on the doorstep he'll have a stroke or something. And he'll just kill you two.'

Tom said nothing, but quickly rooted his mobile phone out of his pocket and passed it to her, since she didn't have a new one yet. Alex took it with a smile, proceeded to dial all but one of the numbers, and then stared at the phone for a good five minutes.

'Er - Alex, I think you're missing a number,' Tom said, trying to be helpful. Hal shot him a look and shook his head minutely, and Tom sat back in his seat with a sigh.

Carefully, Hal took the phone out of Alex's hands, looking at her intently to check if she minded. She released it like a hot coal, and Hal's thumb hovered over the keyboard.

'Nine,' Alex said, quietly, and Hal pressed his thumb down, and held the phone up to his ear.

Alex tensed when she heard the ringing, and squeezed her eyes shut when she heard a voice answer the phone - her father.

'Hello, am I speaking with Mr Millar?' Hal asked, politeness overshadowing awkwardness. He noticed Alex beginning to shake and he reached out his free hand to grab hers and hold them steady. 'Mr Millar, my name is Hal Yorke. I'm a friend of your daughter, Alex.' There was silence down the other end of the line. Alex could actually hear her own heart beating. 'There's no easy way to say this,' Hal continued, 'but Alex isn't dead. In fact, she's very much alive.'

After that, there certainly was not silence from the other end of the line. Hal had to hold the phone away from his ear for a moment.

'I assure you, I wouldn't joke about this,' he said, still calm but gripping Alex's hand all the more tightly. 'Alex will explain everything when she sees you, but you're going to have to try and suspend your disbelief and trust what you see in front of you. She is alive and well, and on her way to see you. We just thought it might be safer to call first rather than risk any unfortunate accidents...'

Alex grabbed the phone from Hal just as her father had launched into a rant at him. Hearing his voice in her ear almost stopped her heart again, but only for a second.

'Dad - dad it's me,' she said, and he stopped yelling at once. 'Look, it's true alright? I'm not dead, I'm okay. It's a really really long story but I'm okay. And we're just around the corner so we're coming to see you now. Don't freak out.'

Alex spoke to her father, tears streaming mercilessly down her cheeks, while Hal started the car again and turned them down the road toward the Millar's house. As they pulled up, Alex's dad came rushing out of the house, white as a sheet, and stopped in his tracks when his daughter - his actual living, breathing daughter - climbed out of the passenger side and ran at him. The pair embraced, Alex's arms wrapped as tightly around him as they had been in Hatch's dream, and her dad's knees gave way and sent them both crumpling to the ground. Tom and Hal got out of the car but remained standing by it, unwilling to intrude on the moment, but just as unwilling to leave their former ghost to deal with this on her own.

Hal was the one to notice the boys hovering by the door way. The youngest looked on, his jaw hanging open in a combination of disbelief and horror. The elder boys looked uncomfortable, and unable to deal with the open display of emotions taking place on the damp lawn in front of them.

'Alex,' Hal called softly, and her head snapped up immediately. He nodded to her brothers and their predicament, and she let out an undignified wail and scrambled to her feet, hurrying over to them.

'Oh boys,' she exclaimed, wrapping the youngest - Decky, Tom and Hal remembered - up in an enormous hug and reaching for the other two, who stepped awkwardly into her embrace. All three boys appeared to be in shock, but when their dad joined them, trying to gather all four of his children into his arms, Alex's brothers broke down too, and the little family clung to each other.

'Hal,' Tom said, nudging his friend. 'I think we should be off really, don't you?'

Hal frowned, torn between his two friends. He wanted to be there for Alex, but Tom was right, it wasn't really their place to interfere. Hal found himself wondering if Alex was really going to tell her father EVERYTHING, because if she did he'd probably want to get as far away from there as he possibly could, seeing as he was the reason she'd been killed in the first place.

'Yes, of course,' Hal reluctantly agreed, wondering if they should say anything or just leave Alex to it. He wasn't a fan of this new uncertainty that came with being human. Just then, Alex extracted herself from her family and turned back to them.

'Guys - dad, boys, this is Hal and Tom. I'd say they've looked after me but...'

'I think it's been rather more the other way around,' Hal said with a smile. Tom nodded.

Alex's dad shook both Hal and Tom's hands, thanking them over and over for bringing his daughter back safely to him. Hal caught Alex's eye at his, and she squeezed his arm reassuringly. If she was going to tell her father what really happened, she wasn't going to add that particular detail.

'Will you stay for dinner?' Alex's dad was asking them.

'Actually, we were just saying we should probably be getting back,' Hal said, glancing at Alex to gauge her reaction. He tried not to be too pleased that she looked disappointed.

'Yes, Hal and I are manager and assistant manager of a hotel,' Tom said. 'We have responsibilities to the tourism industry you see.'

'The tourists in Barry are mostly busy being dead right at the moment,' Alex pointed out. 'But you know, go if you want. Whatever.' But she said this with a grin she couldn't help, and hugged Tom tightly. 'I'll see you soon, promise,' she whispered.

When she turned to Hal, the farewell wasn't so simple. Tom chose that moment to become fascinated with something on the bottom of his shoe, and Alex's dad ushered her brothers back inside to make some tea and hurriedly clear up the kitchen, which was all kinds of messy that he knew his daughter wouldn't appreciate, recently risen from the dead or not.

Always the initiator, Alex stepped forward and Hal raised his arms to envelope her in a warm hug, that went on far longer than the one with Tom, and was much harder to break.

'If you really want us to stay, we can,' Hal said quietly.

'No, Tom's right,' Alex replied, her voice slightly muffled by his jacket. 'I need to talk to them, properly, and you two need to get back to the hotel after... everything. But I'll ring you, or text you or something. When I get a real phone again.'

'Alright. Well then, good luck,' Hal said, and pressed a kiss to her forehead before stepping back and letting her go. Alex looked at them both for a long moment, and then took a breath and turned to skip back to the house. Her dad held the door open for her, and gave Hal and Tom a nod before closing it behind them.

Tom went back to the car, but Hal remained frozen for a moment.

'Come on mate,' Tom said, opening the car door. 'She'll come back in a couple of weeks, she said so.'

'She might,' Hal agreed, finally turning back to the car.

'Course she will, she's sound is Alex. Now come on.'

Alex watched them go through the kitchen window, and despite the emotional reunion with her family, she felt her stomach churn even more at the site of their car driving away, leaving her behind. She looked around herself, at the messy living room and her fussing dad, and she knew then that her return was only temporary. She didn't belong in Edinburgh, she wasn't sure if she belonged in Barry, but she belonged with Tom and Hal - especially Hal - wherever they may be.