Hardy wondered if she had a point. He shook his head. "For what reason? No, I believe her. She was talking about her mother and she didn't know how to use a smartphone, I lent her mine for now so she could call if she needed anything."

"Sir, don't you think we have enough with Danny's case? You can't follow her around everywhere."

"Miller, she's a very important person, she's been missing for over four years, we can't just leave her to fend for herself until she gets some answers. As soon as her ID is established and she feels more confident then she'll go her own way but until then, it's up to us to look after her and make sure she's well treated. What do you think Pete Tyler would say if he left it to us in the event she turned up that we had just abandoned her in some hotel room until the chief gets back on Monday?"

"We can't just leave Danny's killer out their either. Let someone else keep an eye on her, one of the WPC's can do it."

Hardy raised an eyebrow. "The chief told us to look after her so fine, I'll do it on my own. Get Frank to help you with any enquires when I'm not around and I'll take her shopping tomorrow."

Miller laughed. She could just imagine him taking a woman to a dress shop. "Oh don't be stupid. I'll take her but I'm putting the receipts in and I'm not taking her anywhere fancy. I've been short of cash since we came back from holiday, Joe took money out of our spending cash without telling me, for household things he said and he's not even finished painting the bedroom yet, I've no idea what he spent it on."

"How much?"

"None of your business – Sir."

Hardy was now wondering - £500 had just been found under Danny Latimer's mattress. No. Miller left his office and he picked up his work phone, hoping no-one had been trying to call him on the one he left with Rose, it could be embarrassing if his daughter actually did call him or his ex decided Daisy needed something she thought he should pay for.

While he had been debating the topic of Rose Tyler with Miller, Rose watched some TV then went to sit outside, watching the birds land on the water and watching the odd rowing boat go past. There was a boat hire platform a few yards away and she thought it would be nice to take a ride, if she was going to be stuck here for a while.

She was appalled at herself for imposing on Alec Hardy but he had offered and she really didn't want to be shut inside a stuffy hotel room with loads of diners sat around her, staring at her. He had shown her a single room at the back of the chalet and left her a pair of shorts, a pair of grey joggers and an olive green t-shirt and told her he would wash her clothes and leave them to dry later on. She looked at what he had left her but the clothes he had lent her looked too big but she had little choice. Although she had only been gone a few hours, she felt she had been gone for four years.

The mobile he had left her had rung twice but no names had come up and she decided not to answer them, he had said his work number would come up. There was also a text message but she hadn't opened it, probably from one of the missed calls. She sat outside with her eyes closed, enjoying the sunshine. She had got nowhere on the internet but it was very difficult to use with it being such a small screen, it was best she left it until tomorrow and hopefully, her ID would be established and she would be able to go buy a laptop and a mobile internet device and start her search. They had to be somewhere.

Just after six, Alec came back and had caught her napping on the sofa after tapping on the door. At least she had locked the door he had thought.

"Hi, you have some missed calls," she greeted him, waving his phone as she picked it up from the coffee table.

"Had a nice nap? I thought you were looking for your friends?"

"You can hardly find anything on that phone, how do you manage to use them?"

Hardy smiled. "You'll get used to it. Do you want something to eat? We could go out or I could go out to one of the takeaways or I can make us a ham salad?"

"Mmn, ham salad sounds good, since I had those fish and chips earlier then maybe we could go for a drink next door? I think I need one."

He thought there would be no harm in it, he didn't think there would be anyone he knew there. He didn't know it was one of the drinking holes of the town's trainee plumber and his cronies. They walked across the bridge and into the pub and Rose went into a side room since she could hear a lot of noise coming from the bar. Alec walked up and since he had only met Nigel Carter, didn't think anything of it. After all, what was wrong with a detective going into a bar for a drink?

Alec ordered a non-alcoholic lager and a white wine with lemonade and Nigel turned around on his bar stool, expecting to see him with Ellie Miller.

"You with someone then?" Nigel asked, grinning.

Alec just paid for his drinks and shook his head. He heard someone say that he thought he was too good to talk to them. He thought he probably was, since he had hauled Nigel in after he failed miserably to provide his boss with an alibi for the night of his son's death. After a couple of drinks, Rose was feeling better and began telling him a bit more about herself and where she came from. She was trained not to give secrets about Torchwood even when she had been drinking.

They walked back across the bridge, it was lit by the reflection of the street lamps in the river but Alec let her go first. It was after nine thirty and Rose was feeling tired.

"Alec, is it ok if I get a bath or a shower? Only I'll probably sleep better after a good soak. It's been rather a stressful day."

"Go ahead, I'll get you some towels and I'll make you some tea when you've finished. DS Miller will take you shopping tomorrow and get you some new clothes, until you get your bank sorted. If you leave your things out, I'll put them on a quick wash, I have my own things to do."

"Thanks Alec." She passed by him and stopped, kissing his cheek. Then she disappeared into her bedroom and picked up the change of clothes. "I'll throw my stuff out, ok?"

Rose relaxed in the bath, pleased there was some bath salts there. There was a overhead shower so she picked up some shampoo after a good long soak and washed her hair. Feeling much better, she planted the towel on her hair and walked into the kitchen, in time for Alec making some tea.

"Better now?"

"Much, thanks. So you're all alone then? No wife, girlfriend? Only it wouldn't look good if they walked in right now."

Alec smiled and handed her a mug of steaming hot tea.

"No, I guess not. Did you leave anyone behind?"

"No, not when I made a jump this morning and came back four years later. I used to have someone but he's gone now, that was who I was trying to find."

"So what exactly were you doing and don't give me the official version because you know it's long past that now. You don't disappear for four years going on a normal mission, someone would have seen you."

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"Have you got anyone else you can trust?"

"No, I don't suppose so, well not any more."

"Look, I'll tell you my secret and you tell me yours. Deal?"

"Ok, deal. You go first."

Alec sat at the table by the window, looking out of the window at the lights reflected in the river. Why exactly he had chosen a riverside chalet when he hated the water so much? He didn't know but it was the nearest place he could get within easy walking distance of the station and he had to get over his fear of the water which stemmed back to his last case.

"My bosses don't know I have a health problem. I took this job to stay out of the way after my last case went wrong and instead, I ended up with another murder on my hands. Your turn."

"Wow, I don't think I can top that. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. What's wrong with you anyway?"

"Heart problem that's not going to go away, well not unless I change and this isn't helping."

Rose frowned. "Yeah and I'm not helping either, sorry. I'm taking you away from what you should be doing, finding a killer."

"Don't worry about it. Now tell me what exactly you were doing."

Rose got the device from her jacket pocket. "We were using these to cross dimensions, going to other universes looking for someone. It must have thrown me into the future because it's designed to bring us back within a few hours of when we left. It must have corresponded with the main device being powered down somehow, forcing me into the future. It's designed to bring us back even if the main device is shut down. Pete must have ordered it to be closed down after we disappeared.

"Yes, he told us a device you had been using was closed down and if you ever returned, a plan was to be put into place, my chief will explain it to you when she comes back. Until then, you should stay out of the way of the media. If word gets out you're back, they won't leave you alone and believe me, the place is crawling with them."

"Right but it's going to be difficult. Can't I go out at all? I was sitting outside earlier."

"That's fine, they won't be looking for you but if word gets out, you could find yourself being photographed or even have reporters following you and you need to avoid that, until you adjust."

While they had been talking, Nigel Carter had seen them leave together and thought he recognised the blonde woman Hardy was with and meant to look her up. He called Mark Latimer though to tell him he had seen Hardy out with a woman and he told his wife, Beth. Beth meant to ask Ellie Miller the next day if the detective had a new girlfriend he had not told anyone about or if she was his ex-wife.

Rose finished her drink and checked her hair was almost dry. Alec had put her clothes on a quick wash and on the airer her trousers and underwear were drying, the tumble dryer just finishing its cycle. "Your things will be ready for morning so get some sleep Rose and tomorrow, you can start searching for any signs of your family and your friends."

"Thanks Alec and I owe you an apology, for barging in on you like this, I was being silly. You can take me to a hotel tomorrow if you want, I won't make a fuss over it."

"No, it's fine, Miller keeps thinking I spend too much time on my own anyway, I'm glad of the company. You're no bother, just don't tell her you're sharing with me, ok?"

Rose smiled. "Don't worry, I'll tell her I'm staying next door, she won't know if it's one of the pubs or the caravan park."

Alec was beginning to like her, she was just as devious as he was. "Goodnight Rose."

Rose got up and turned to him, kissing his cheek again, he was the only friend she had on this world and she wished now she had made more friends when she had arrived here but she had been so busy trying to get back, she had thrown herself into the project. If only she could remember some of the names of people in the lab, just to let them know she was safe.

Alec was starting to like how friendly she was, that was the second time she had done that but he knew as soon as her parents turned up, she would be gone. Rose got into bed, disposing of the joggers and curled up under the duvet, the distant lights shining through the slits of the blinds. She thought it was rather a nice chalet, probably quite old and she had loved the model boat in the front window. She drifted off to sleep and began to dream of her family, how she had said goodbye to them that very morning, her mother and Tony at breakfast and Pete shortly before she left.

Had she known what was going to happen, she would have said goodbye properly or not gone at all. It had been a freak accident, the device had malfunctioned and thrown her ahead but four years? She couldn't think what her family had gone through in that time and Mickey and Jake also being missing, they had been just as much Pete's responsibility as she was but sending them both on the same mission to find her?

Alec was woken just after 1am. He could hear Rose calling out something, he couldn't make it out but her voice became louder, like she was saying no to something. He got up and opened her bedroom door to see her thrashing around, saying something about 'The Void' and Cybermen. He knew of those deadly menaces from years ago and thought they had all escaped somewhere only to be set loose on another unsuspecting planet.

Rose was tossing and turning and it was doing her no good. He sat beside her on the bed and caught her arm. "Rose, it's ok, hey, wake up."

Rose woke with a start, grabbing his hand. "Alec?"

She clambered towards him as he moved to sit on her pillow. "You were having a nightmare about the Cybermen and something about The Void."

He found himself holding her as she clung to him, the remnants of her nightmare still in her mind. She put her arms around him and rested her head on his chest. "It's ok Rose, you're safe." Then he realised, the Cybermen to everyone else were seven years ago but to Rose, it was only three. No wonder she was having bad nightmares about them, they were still fresh in her mind.

He put his arms around her as she kept hold of him, making no attempt to move away. He kissed her hair and ran his hands over her back and he noticed she had ditched the joggers. She looked up at him.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you Alec."

"It's ok. At least you weren't on your own. Do you want to talk about it? It must have all be recent to you, everyone else has tried to forget. What's The Void Rose?"

"I don't want to talk about it now. I'm ok, really."

"Well ok, can I trust you not to think about them again only I've been told I need my beauty sleep."

Rose smiled. She doubted that. He tried to move but she kept hold of him. "Alec, please stay, I don't want to be on my own. I'll tell you about The Void tomorrow but please, don't leave me on my own."