Revelations and Feelings
Rose hurriedly put her dress in the wardrobe and put her new underwear away and took another painkiller. Really, she shouldn't be feeling so bad after nearly two weeks. She had been resting as much as she could, she couldn't lay in bed all day, it was something she couldn't do, it had been bad enough when she had caught the 'flu a few years back, her mother had practically had to tie her to the bed when she had started to come round. She was going to have to be more careful taking her medication around Emmett though, he might want to know exactly what she had done and it would take some explaining. Getting flung across a room after a machine had blown up was not an everyday occurrence.
She went back down to join Emmett and noticed he was sitting in a shiny new SUV, looking at all the gadgets on the dashboard, trying to decide what did what.
Cars were getting too complicated for his liking, he preferred them the old way when you actually needed less to make a car function correctly, all this electronic stuff was way over his head. He had forgone the customary going over at the rental place, he had picked up the car before going to the precinct and was sure he wouldn't even use half of the things the car was equipped with but it was all they had at short notice. Still, he could claim half of the cost back when he started work officially, they were paying half his hotel bill, that had been part of the agreement when he had gone there.
Rose was not used to sitting in the other side of the car as a passenger and it felt strange that the wheel was not in front of her. She got in even though the place she had chosen for lunch was only a few blocks away. She gave him directions and they set off, pulling up outside the diner a few minutes later. After lunch, over which they had chatted in general, still not giving each other any clues as to what they actually did, they set off up the coast and came to a quiet spot near the sea and they got out. Emmett asked if she was ok to walk on the beach and they made their way down the path.
He decided he was going to have a good talk with her, away from everything and find out a few things such as if she was a reporter and what had caused her the pain she was suffering. Even now he could see it was almost an effort for her walking. She may not be his proper girlfriend – yet but he was concerned about her.
He sat her down on a large rock and sat beside her, looking out to sea. He took her hand and turned towards her. "Are you going to tell me how you injured yourself Rose?"
She didn't want to tell him what really happened, the first mention of 'Torchwood and Vitex' would send him running.
"I told you, it was an accident at work. Why does it bother you?"
She'd had enough with her mother fussing over her and now someone else was, someone very hot and looking indecently sexy in his sunglasses, his jacket and his tie left behind in the car and his shirtsleeves rolled up, the top two buttons of his light grey shirt unfastened. How did he have the nerve to present himself like that when she could do very little about it? It was just her luck.
"Because it does, it bothers me when I see you in pain and taking medication every two hours. What exactly did you do?"
"I pulled a rib muscle – satisfied?" she snapped back.
She hadn't meant to but she wanted him to drop the subject. Her injury was not something she wanted to discuss with a major over-sexy bloke like him. Why was he so interested in what was wrong with her? She wasn't there to get the sympathy vote.
If he was going to take offence at her harsh words he would but it wasn't going to deter him. He could ask people questions all day, it was what he did to get to the truth and Rose Tyler was a person of interest and he wasn't about to let her put him off.
"Which side Rose?" was all he said.
He could see she didn't want to share that information and she was bottling it all up.
"My right side. I did something stupid and pulled it. I'm supposed to rest but my stepfather sent me here to recuperate because I wanted to go back to work. He figured if it took two planes and a bus to get here I wouldn't get back so easily."
She was regretting snapping at him now as he smiled at her.
"Anyway, what's with the interrogation?"
He smiled some more. He would have got his ID badge out if he hadn't left it in his jacket pocket, he was off duty until Monday.
"It's what I do Rose, I spend all day interrogating people and I've not even got started yet. Who are you Rose, to get injured at work? Do you do something dangerous for a living?"
Rose supposed you could say that, what they did was more often than not dangerous in one way or another.
"It's embarrassing, I did something really stupid. Can we leave it now?"
Emmett was determined to get to the bottom of it so he thought he would lighten the mood. He was good at putting people off and getting them to talk by making them feel at ease.
"What, like having sex or something?"
Not a good idea, was he implying something? Rose let go of his hand and got up.
"I think it's time you took me back Emmett, don't you? You don't have to take me out tonight if you don't want to."
She started walking back towards the car.
Emmett was up a second after her, taking hold of her arm. Why was he always opening his big mouth before engaging his brain?
"I didn't mean anything Rose, I was just trying to cheer you up."
Rose wriggled free and continued walking, with difficulty over the rocky beach. He soon caught up with her.
"Rose, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I still want to take you out tonight. I just want to help you," he pleaded with her.
Rose stopped. "What were you trying to say? I said I was injured at work, are you implying my line of work is…?" she stopped and began laughing.
"You thought I had sex for money?" She was laughing and it hurt.
"No, I didn't mean anything of the sort," he denied, looking a bit puzzled as to why one minute she was walking away and the next she was laughing. "Come and sit back down and tell me what you do actually do for a living then?" he smiled, taking her hand and leading her back to where they had just been sitting before he had put his size ten shoe in his size six mouth.
He sat her back down and put his arm around her. "I really am sorry Rose, it's just difficult to understand why you don't want to talk about it. I was interrogating you, sort of, it's what I do."
"You interrogate people all day? Do you always upset people or is it just pick on Rose day?"
He pulled her closer and she leaned her head on his shoulder. He kissed her forehead.
"Am I forgiven then? Are you still my pretend girlfriend? Only if you are, can we make up later?"
Rose turned to him and smiled. He thought how her whole face lit up when she smiled. She was beautiful and way out of his league.
"I'm sorry, I over-reacted. We'll see about the making up later bit. You're a bit out of practice with women. You said you'd been married, must have been a while ago. It definitely shows, you should brush up on your skills."
"Are you offering to help me practice?" he asked hopefully.
Rose lifted her head and regarded him, still in his sunglasses. She reached over, took them off him and put them on. They were too big for her so he pushed them back on her nose. As he did so he took a really big chance, one that might either get him a slap on the face and risk upsetting her again or one that just might change the game for both of them. He leaned in to kiss her. He took her by surprise but she kissed him back, with fervour and deepened the kiss. He took the glasses off her, put them in his shirt pocket with one hand and the other under her chin so she wouldn't move, then he moved closer and kissed her again. Rose put her arms around his slim waist, trying not to let the pain bother her, it was worth it to kiss him.
Emmett pulled away. "Seriously Rose, I meant what I said, I just want to help you. I don't just interrogate people all day, I help them too. I'm a police detective. You can tell me. I am concerned about the way you seem to take painkillers every two hours, prescribed or not. Tell me what happened."
Rose put her head back on him, this time just above his chest. He kissed her forehead again and put his arms around her. Her side was really hurting now and she had neglected to bring any water with her but was almost afraid to take anything now so she had no choice but to explain. She had taken one before she went out but that was hours ago, she daren't take one while at lunch, she didn't want him to see she took them so often but he was a police officer, she had to cut down on them or explain. So she did.
She told him how she had to space them out every two hours or they knocked her out and she only took one at a time or the pain got bad, like now. She also told him half the truth, there had been an explosion where she worked and she had got flung across the floor, she just didn't tell him where it was she worked. He asked him to show where it hurt and what she had done about it, apart from seeing a doctor.
"I went to the hospital, they can't put a bandage on it because it makes it worse. I just have to take it easy and not overdo it. Emmett, I don't take the tablets for the fun of it, I take them to ease the pain off so I can get on with things. I can't lay on a bed all day, that's not me."
He listened to her, he believed her and said if she needed to take them then he wouldn't question her.
"Come on then, let's go get you some water if you need to take them. I'm going to keep a very close eye on you Miss Tyler, it's my duty as a Police Officer. Oh and about making up later, I'll take you somewhere really nice and no alcohol if you're on medication and don't forget, you're going to help me practice my talking to women skills, which I hope includes lots more kissing."
He leaned down and lifted her head towards him and kissed her again. He helped her up and led her back to the car. They drove back towards the town and he stopped at a store and bought her a bottle of water for which she was grateful and tried not to make it look to obvious as she took the pain relief.
"We need to talk Rose, when we get back to the hotel. I hadn't planned on kissing you back on the beach, I took a risk."
"Paid off though didn't it? It was nice, that first kiss. First kisses are always the best."
"Yes they are, then they get even better."
He parked the car and escorted Rose into the hotel, his arm around her and hers around him and if looks could kill then Gemma was committing a double homicide as the two of then walked up the stairs.
They stopped at Rose's door.
"I'll go get changed and get ready for tonight, if that's ok," she said, needing some time to think about this.
The kiss had been more than just nice, unexpected and not unwelcome but now she had to think about if she wanted this, to be his real girlfriend for however long he was here. Was he just visiting or was he going to be working here? She had to know.
They kissed again and he let her go. "You need time to think about this, I understand. I did kind of just spring it on you. I'll call for you at seven then? If you're ready earlier, call for me."
He gave her one more kiss just as he heard someone coming up the stairs. It was Gemma and she had caught sight of them. "Good," he thought, "This might finally convince her."
Rose hadn't seen though, she still had her eyes closed, savouring the kiss. Emmett just held onto Rose until Gemma had gone past. Gemma tried to ignore them but she had seen enough. She may not like it but Miss Tyler had won this round. Still, she would be gone in a month and then she would try her luck with Carver again. She went on her way not bothering to acknowledge either of them. Emmett thought she had followed he and Rose on purpose, to see if they really were together and now he was glad that what had started out as a pretence had turned into reality because he really did like Rose Tyler.
Rose went into her room feeling kind of flushed. She had not expected Emmett to just kiss her like that but she had to admit she had liked it but being his pretend girlfriend and his real one were two entirely different things. Did she want to get involved with him? There was something about him now she had looked at him, something familiar but she had shaken it off as she had observed him in his sunglasses earlier. He had looked very sexy in them, she had decided since he had revealed exactly who he was she was going to call him her sexy detective but he didn't seem to recognize her, he really didn't know who she was and she suspected that was why Pete had sent her all the way out here so no-one knew who she was. Perhaps Emmett was not Pete's spy after all, he wouldn't get caught out by kissing her, he would keep as much distance as possible and kept her as his pretend girlfriend.
She had to contact Pete and tell him this was turning into something else before her mother got to know and she had to tell Emmett who she was but not what she did, not yet but Pete needed to be alerted she may tell her secrets. It was four in the afternoon, she could call him now but it was only a few hours since she last spoke to him, he would think there was something wrong if she called again. She didn't know if Emmett planned on spending the day with her tomorrow or if he was going to work, he hadn't said. Maybe he had been on leave and was just going back or maybe he was just transferred here. There was still a feeling though that he seemed familiar or maybe she didn't want to admit he looked like someone she had lost.
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Emmett entered his room. He hadn't meant to kiss her like that but he wanted to help her if he could, to find out what had caused her injury and he now believed there was something more to it, she was hiding something. He should look her up and find out who she was, the cop side of him getting more than curious but he should really give her time to talk, he had just dragged her into this whole thing only a few hours ago after all. He should give her some time to think things over, he had been asking a lot this morning by getting her to pose as his girlfriend because he was afraid of getting involved with the hotel owner and he had rather liked Rose when he saw her at the airport. Maybe he was overestimating Gemma's attempt to corner him. Maybe he had made too much of it and was using it as an excuse to get to know Rose and Gemma had been merely welcoming him to the hotel – or not.
His paranoia had given him the courage to kiss Rose and it had been more than pleasant and hoped she wouldn't change her mind because women like her didn't come along every day especially when they kissed you back. He just hoped he wouldn't do something stupid and scare her off. He accessed the internet on his phone and looked up restaurants and found one just outside town where he could take Rose out for dinner, then he went out down the street to a florists shop he had noticed and bought her a bunch of assorted flowers wrapped in pink cellophane with a pink bow and made his way back to the hotel, getting a funny look from Gemma so he had more or less been right about her and she was now jealous. He just hoped the jealousy wouldn't reach a point where she would ask him or Rose to leave.
Just after six thirty, a knock came on his door. He had just got out of the shower and only had his shorts on and was drying his hair and he was praying it was Rose, not that she would be impressed seeing him this way. He called for whoever it was to wait a moment and pulled on his shirt. It was Rose. He let her in, not bothering to fasten the buttons on his shirt as she looked at him, scrambling to gather his trousers and head for the bathroom without her seeing too much, not that he didn't mind but maybe it was too soon. It was too late as Rose had already enjoyed the view.
"Don't mind me," she called after him as he disappeared through the bathroom door. Then under her breath she said, "Just getting my own back for this morning."
He came out five minutes later, going to the drawer and pulling out a pair of socks then sitting on the chair. Rose had to smile, her sexy detective was human after all.