Alec slammed his office door behind Ellie. He was getting worse and he knew it. He had called Owen, who had assured him he would take care of his hospital visit and urged him to reconsider taking medical leave, he may not be so lucky the next time. He was going to make sure there wasn't a next time. He needed to confide in someone, someone closer. Should he risk trusting Rose? She had obviously been shocked at his disclosure, he had seen the disappointment in her eyes but was it fair to burden her with his problem?
Over the next few weeks, it was quiet, nothing much happening apart from the locals hounding an innocent man to death. He had seen Rose at the funeral, he had sat just behind her that he could have touched her but she was sitting with Becca Fisher and he had avoided her at the hotel bar afterwards. She had left after about twenty minutes. He should have gone after her but what for? To beg her to listen to his problem? To make her feel sorry for him? No, he had chosen this life, it was his and his alone's problem. Pete Tyler wouldn't thank him for upsetting his stepdaughter.
Instead, his own GP came to visit him, a friendly face. He asked Alec if he had someone who he could confide in and said he had, another medical expert in London and who was going to help him when the case was solved. Alec was warned not to leave it too long. What was it with the medical profession?
Resources at the station were cut back, he was running out of time with the budget and his health. He didn't see anything of Rose, he avoided going anywhere near her shop, he shouted at Ellie when she asked if he had seen her so she had given up. She had talked to Rose, who had laughed it off but she could tell her friend fancied him and was playing it down. Ellie had attempted to get them together, showing up at the café next door with him and hoping Rose saw him but she never came out.
Rose had employed a part-timer called Sarah, who she showed how to take the orders and print off copies of the drawings when needed and left her a few afternoons to go take more photos. Once or twice, she had ventured past the police station but had never seen him. She had been tempted to call him when he was declared the worst cop in Britain but she may have just made it worse.
Rose had talked to her mother and Pete, neither of them mentioned Alec to her nor she about him to them, what was the point? She knew she had to deal with this herself, her mother would just come down and fuss over her and she didn't need that. Nearly two months passed by, the case was going nowhere apart from the missing skateboard turning up and the arrest of a woman from the caravan site. By this time, Owen had been on the phone to Alec nearly every day, piece after piece of alien technology had been explored and still nothing except a few items that were marked as possibilities because they didn't know exactly what they did and Alec promised as soon as he had solved the case, he would go up to London and see if he could figure them out.
If he had thought about it, he could have used his Timelord brain to go through the pile of alien artefact in five minutes flat if he had been there and he could have solved this murder in an equal amount of time if he had been well but he wasn't. He wasn't thinking straight half of the time, he was dragging his heels like he was punishing himself. He had laughed at the local psychic, twice, almost set himself up for another blackout when he had got annoyed with the man for pestering the dead boy's mother and had been avoiding a certain reporter like the plague.
If his twin had Rose to get him though all the bad times, why didn't he just give in and admit he needed her too? She was just a phone call away. Miller never gave up fighting with him over her, casually mentioning her name over this and that, hoping he would take the hint but he never did. He had accepted this life and that was the way it had to be.
Things were about to get a whole lot worse for him though and he was going to have to finally give in or risk never telling her she was getting to him. He was working late one night with Miller when she got a phone call.
"Sir, someone just saw lights up at the hut where the murder occurred, if we go now we might still catch whoever it is."
Alec didn't waste any time. He grabbed his coat. "Come on Miller, don't just stand there."
Ellie alerted the control room, telling them to send for backup but to approach the hut silently and let her and Hardy go in first and for a unit to wait down by the boatyard in case whoever it was tried to make their escape in that direction. She wasn't quite prepared for what was about to take place.
After they arrived, she took the front of the hut, Hardy took the back but was surprised when the door opened and hit her. She quickly recovered, shouting for Hardy and they both ran down the path after the intruder. Ellie looked ahead, no sign of any backup yet, Hardy was right, they could be a bit slack around here, no wonder he got so annoyed with them. She was approaching a wire fence and gate, the suspect leaped up and over the fence but as she approached, she heard a loud thud behind her and turned around to see Hardy lying on the ground, clutching his chest.
She called out to him, then to the intruder. "You can't get away, we have the yard surrounded. Come out."
Of course no-one replied. Just then, three Police cars were pulling up and Hardy was barely conscious. "Sir, what happened?"
He never answered but the look on his face told her what she needed to know – that he was dying. "You, get after the intruder and get an ambulance – quickly." Then she turned back to Hardy. "Don't you dare make me give you the kiss of life, I'll never forgive you."
Two minutes later, ambulance responders arrived and put a breathing mask on him and began resuscitation and took him into the back of the vehicle. Ellie got in with him, throwing her car keys to an officer and telling them to take her car to the station.
He was out for hours it seemed. Ellie was pacing the corridor, it was after midnight and she couldn't decide whether to call Rose or not but in the back of the ambulance, he had drifted in and out and each time he had said just one word – Rose. What was she to him? An unrequited lover? An ex girlfriend or the ex girlfriend of a close friend? Did he even have any friends? Probably not, he was unbearable at times.
Nurses went in and out of his room, a doctor came to tell her they had revived him but he badly needed an operation but they had orders to contact some other doctor in London before they could do anything. Ellie thought that was just typical. She made the decision – to call Rose because whoever she was to him, she deserved to know he may die and how could she face her friend if he did and she hadn't told her?
"Rose," Ellie said as her friend sleepily answered.
"Ellie? It's nearly 1am, what's wrong?"
"It's Alec Hardy, he collapsed, he's in hospital. I don't know who he is to you but if you really do know him, I suggest you get to the emergency department at Broadchurch hospital as soon as you can get here, I think he's dying. Something about his heart."
Rose almost dropped the phone. How could this possibly be? She had been so stupid and pig-headed, avoiding him for two months, mainly to get back at him for leaving her here for seven years on her own but he was dying and he wasn't the Doctor, he was part human and only had one heart.
"I'm on my way, will you still be there?"
"Yes but who is he to you Rose, you've been dancing around each other for two months."
"I'll tell you when I get there, I have to get dressed."
Ten minutes later, Rose was pulling up outside the emergency entrance and asking for Alec Hardy but she saw Ellie down the corridor and Ellie went back up and showed her badge to get Rose in.
"How is he Ellie? Is he going to be ok?"
"They've stabilized him for now but he needs an operation and he won't have it, apparently, says he has his own specialist in London who will take care of him but why hasn't he done something about it before if he knew he was this bad? He almost died Rose and he still could."
Before Rose had chance to say anything, a nurse came out of the room they were treating Alec in. "Are either of you two called Rose?"
Rose nodded. "He's asking for you but you can't stay long, just a few minutes. Are you a relative, his wife perhaps?"
"No, I just know him, that's all. Can I go in now?"
The nurse held the door open and she walked in to see him bare chested and various wires attached to him. He opened his eyes and saw her.
"Rose. You have to call Pete now and get him to call Owen Harper, he'll know what it's about. Tell him I said now and tell Miller, I know who it was and I know who killed Danny and she has to wait for the phone being switched on and follow the signal, it will lead her right to them but she will get a shock when she finds them. Please Rose, promise me you'll do it now and then come back in and tell me you've done as I asked."
"I'll do that Alec, I'll be right back, just don't you go dying on me before I do. You have some explaining to do mister."
Alec would have smiled if he had been able to. All he could do was hold on and hope Owen could get him to Torchwood – pronto. He had almost left it too late this time and for once, he should have taken advice.
Out in the corridor, Rose scampered away to call Pete despite the time. Alec obviously knew it was imperative for him to be told and to contact Owen. She hadn't seen him in years but if anyone knew about aliens, other than herself, he was the person. Pete wasn't a bit annoyed she had called him and said he would take care of it and would explain everything to her. He said Owen would contact the hospital and when Alec had stabilised, they would get an ambulance to take him to the nearest zeppelin port and get him to Torchwood where a surgeon was on standby when Alec was fit enough to undergo the operation – for a pacemaker fitting.
Rose was horrified. Why hadn't someone told her he was a time bomb waiting to explode? Someone was going to suffer for this, who decided if she was to be kept in the dark? It was bad enough Alec telling her he was the Doctor's clone but him being so ill? She was furious with everyone – including herself for pushing him away when he needed her. What would her Doctor think of her? She had changed during the last seven years, seemingly for the worse. The old Rose Tyler would have marched in and taken control over him and he would never have got himself into this state.
She thanked Pete, who said for her to call in the morning with any news about Alec and that the ambulance would come for him as soon as the hospital said he could travel and she would be informed – if she wanted to go with him.
She went back to Ellie.
"What was all that about Rose? What haven't you been telling me? Were you and Hardy together?"
"No, nothing like that. I used to be friends with his…" she stopped before she said twin brother.
"With who Rose? Has he got a brother or something? He never talks about himself."
Rose saw that as a way out and hated herself for lying to her friend. "Yes, not his real brother, someone who was like a brother to him and looked exactly like him. When I first saw him, I thought he was him but he told me he wasn't, I didn't know Alec before that." That bit was true at least. "I didn't know what to think Ellie, I knew it wasn't my friend but I wanted him to be, that was why I stayed away but I had no idea he was ill. You should go home, I'll stay with him, my dad's taking care of everything. You'll have to tell your chief in the morning, tell her she'll get the paperwork for his medical leave."
"Why is your stepfather involved if you don't know Alec?"
Rose could only guess Alec had gone to Pete for help and since he was the Doctor's clone, had taken him under his wing and promised to help him. "Because my dad owed him for something years ago."
Rose left her and went back into Alec's room, despite a look from the nurse who had just stepped away from him, having being told Rose was to have full access to his room and no questions. The nurse knew of Alec's reputation and was half afraid he would get up and walk out on her.
Rose walked up to his bed and took his hand. "I'm sorry Alec, I should have been there for you." There were tears falling down her face.
Alec squeezed her hand. "It's ok Rose, I understand. There's no need to say anything. Just do one thing for me?"
Rose wiped her eyes. "I think I owe you that much. I was stupid to push you away, you're his twin brother no matter what. I shouldn't have pushed you away."
Alec tried to smile. "I was just as bad, I didn't think you'd want me if I wasn't him."
Rose let out a laugh. "Guess nothing's changed much then. I promise I'll do anything you ask. Do you want me to go with you, to London?"
"You'd do that?"
"Yeah. I just have to do a few things, close down my internet sales and get my assistant to look after the shop while I'm away."
"You don't have to do that. I take it your shop is doing well?"
"Yeah, mostly internet sales but it's doing ok."
"There's just one thing though Rose. You might be coming back on your own."
