A/N: The next two chapters are a little bit of a weepy so get your tissues out!
Alec drove them back to the chalet, he was feeling a bit tense, not wanting to let on to Rose he was actually feeling a bit off. He wasn't sure if it was the glass of wine he had drunk with his meal or the press conference earlier. Press conferences always got him, especially after the Sandbrook fiasco and his subsequent failure to solve it and letting the killer get away, it had all added to his illness but he had Rose now, she would help him feel better.
Rose had noticed on the way back he was quiet and after snogging in Ellie Miller's front room, she was surprised.
"You ok Alec? You seem a bit off."
"Mmm? Oh I'm fine, just the press conference earlier, don't worry."
"You did take your pills didn't you? Before we set off?"
"Yes, maybe I shouldn't have had that wine though, it will soon wear off."
They arrived back at the chalet and he leaned on Rose, pretending he was supporting her but he knew that was a lie. He should warn her what to do when he felt like this.
"You go inside Rose, I'm going to sit out here for a while, get some air."
"I can stay with you."
He put his arms around her and kissed her neck. "I like that perfume Rose, it smells like roses. Is that your favourite?"
"No actually, I got it for you, I thought you'd like it. My favourite one, I can't get here. Maybe I should make my own and sell it?"
"Maybe, that could be your new vocation, now you can't go dimension hopping any longer."
"Yeah, if I could remember what was in it."
Alec smiled and sat on the garden chair outside the chalet, watching the coloured lights strung across the harbour that were reflecting in the river.
"It's lovely out here Alec but don't stay out too long will you? I'll just go to the bathroom then I'll come back out and drag you to bed, we have some more of that brilliant snogging to do."
She leaned down and kissed him then went inside. Alec closed his eyes for a few seconds but when he opened them again a few minutes he must have passed as he found himself lying on the deck. Quickly getting up, he brushed himself off, thankful he still had his jacket on and sat back on the chair. He was also thankful he wasn't driving, with or with Rose in the car. He would have to hand the car back now, he knew it. Before Rose had shown up, his symptoms had been getting worse but the murder investigation was the only thing preventing him and maybe Rose was right, was it worth it even after Sandbrook?
They had been getting on without him the last few days while he had been looking after Rose, they could still solve it and now she was here, he didn't want it to be the death of him. Rose had given him more determination to get himself sorted, case solved or not. It just may take the rest of them a bit longer to solve the case but they would get there eventually and what good would it do them if he didn't take care of himself and get some proper treatment?
He got up, feeling a bit light headed but better just as Rose came back out.
"Time for bed Alec and I did have more wine than you so you can take advantage of me."
Alec smiled and grabbed her by the waist. "You can bet on that Rose."
Once inside, he went to the bathroom and felt dizzy again, propping himself up against the wall. He should call out to Rose, tell her to get him into bed, he'd be ok once he got in beside her. Now he had someone to rely on, someone who could get him help in the middle of the night instead of him waking in panic most of the time like he had been doing prior to her arrival. He had used her bad dreams as an excuse to be in her bed, he hadn't needed to stay with her for her sake, he'd stayed because he didn't want to be alone and he knew it. He should come clean with her and he would, in the morning and he would call the hospital and get an appointment. He'd already ignored one letter after his last episode and he'd only been in the town a few days at the time.
He wandered into the bedroom he now shared with Rose, she had taken over his wardrobe and he used the one in the spare room because his was the largest but he hadn't minded. He expected her to go on another shopping spree in the next few days now she had some money. He should tease her about paying him back and ask her where she intended putting it all if she was staying.
As he lay above her, kissing her exposed skin and refusing to take off his shorts, saying he was going to take his time and torment her but the truth was, he was frightened if he started something now, he wasn't going to finish it.
"Alec, are you sure you're ok? Maybe we should leave this tonight, get you a doctor's appointment tomorrow. Are you even registered here?"
Alec looked up. "No, not exactly, I'm still with my old one, I can get him to pay me a visit at the weekend but I'm sort of under the local hospital, I was there last week."
"What? Why didn't you tell me?"
"Well not last week, just after I arrived, I fell in the bathroom of the hotel, the owner found me and called an ambulance."
"Alec, you should have said and you moved in here, on your own where no-one could find you? Are you completely mad or do you have a death wish?"
"Rose, don't go on about it, I'm fine and I have you now. Nothing has happened since." He hated lying to her but he didn't want to worry her, she had enough with her family still being missing.
"Alec, go get a t-shirt on and some joggers or something, just in case, I'm worried about you now."
"Rose, it makes no difference and I will put something on, when I'm finished with you. Now stop fussing and come and lay on me."
After carefully showing each other their feelings, Alec went to do as Rose had asked and Rose put a vest and some pyjama bottoms on and Alec agreed that was what they would do before they went to sleep until he got a hospital appointment, which he was going to arrange in the morning but when he woke up the following morning at just after six, he didn't feel so good.
Rose was still asleep, the early morning sunlight peeking through the blinds shone on her hair and she looked so beautiful and peaceful, like she didn't have a care in the world but she had, her family still hadn't turned up and now she was worried about him. He slipped out of bed to go to the bathroom then as he turned to go back to the bedroom, he felt dizzy again but before he could call out for Rose, he felt himself slip to the floor with a thud.
Luckily, Rose heard it and went rushing out, seeing him in a heap on the floor.
"Alec, talk to me!"
She knew better than to move him so she hastily felt his pulse, it was barely there. This time he wasn't getting up after a few minutes. She grabbed her phone and dialled for an ambulance, telling the operator where they were and to come down the field behind the chalet and through the gate at the end. She also gave his name and that he had been in the hospital before but they were going to take him to Dorchester and have a heart unit waiting when she told them what was wrong with him. She quickly threw on a pair of trousers and a t-shirt, got her jacket and put Alec's mobile into the pocket with her own, grabbed her purse and the key and looked out of the back window to see the ambulance making its way down. She unlocked the door as they pulled to a stop.
The medics came in and put a breathing mask on him, asking her a few questions about him, Rose explaining she hadn't known him that long but the ambulance crew told her not to worry, they had stabilised him and carefully picked him up and carried him to where they had left the trolley. Rose locked up and followed, climbing in the ambulance after them, grabbing hold of his hand.
"Will he be ok?"
The paramedic smiled at her. "We've got him hooked up to the monitor, we have a team ready when we get to the hospital. We picked him up the last time, he discharged himself the following morning, he's stubborn that one. Is he your husband only I swear he was with another woman last time."
Rose had some explaining to do. "Oh, we were staying at the hotel and I was out, she was the hotel owner, thought it would save an explanation. She told me about it. It was a bit confusing. I went crazy with him when he came back."
The rest of the journey was quiet apart from the machines keeping him alive and the siren and soon they were getting out of the back of the ambulance, a team waiting for him as they wheeled him inside. Rose was prevented from going into the emergency room despite her protests and saying who she was.
"I'm sorry Miss Tyler but even if you were his wife we couldn't let you in. Please, just take a seat and the doctor who's attending to him will be out to let you know what's happening," a friendly nurse told her.
It was now just after seven and Rose couldn't sit down. Alec's work phone would be ringing soon, it would be Ellie wanting to know where the hell he was. She thought about turning it off but decided not to, her parents could be ringing. She heard shouting and saw a lot of movement inside the room they had taken him in and she heard beeping and then there was nothing. She tried to look through the glass partition but there was a crowd around him but she could see there was nothing on the monitor. She froze, feeling sick. She couldn't lose him, he was all she had.
Just as suddenly, there was a beep again and the lines began to move again with a call of "He's got a pulse" from someone.
Rose sank down on the nearest chair. Alec's work mobile rang, the display said 'Miller'.
She got up and walked to the opposite wall so she could see what was going on, pressing the call button. "Hello Ellie."
"Rose, where's Hardy, we have a lead."
Rose remained silent, watching through a gap in the crowd of nurses around Alec, watching the monitor. "He's in hospital Ellie."
"What? Which hospital, what happened?"
"Dorchester I think, I'm with him, I wasn't taking much notice. He collapsed in the bathroom just after six so I called the ambulance."
"What's wrong with him?"
"I can't tell you Ellie, he made me promise."
"Rose, don't hold out on me, he's my partner and even though we don't get on and probably hate each other's guts, you have to tell me."
"I can't, he's in the emergency room and when he comes out and he finds out I told you, he'll be mad and he's all I've got Ellie, I can't lose him."
"I understand that. So he won't be in today?"
"Guess not, I'll call you back when I know more, it may be just concussion."
"So what am I going to tell the chief?"
"Can't you just cover for him? Blame it on me, I'll take full responsibility for it."
"Be it on your own head then, I'll try and stall. Call me back when you know more."
"I will."
Rose had just put the phone away when one of the doctors came out. "Are you with Alec Hardy?"
"Yeah, is he going to be ok?"
"You knew he had a heart problem?"
"He told me what it was."
"He needs an operation now or we won't be able to bring him back next time. He died for a few minutes, we were only just able to revive him. I've sent for a specialist but he's having to come from Exeter, it will be about an hour before he gets here. Did you know how bad he was?"
"He didn't tell me much but he was going to ring this morning to get an appointment."
"You're Rose Tyler aren't you? I saw you on the news yesterday, DI Hardy was with you. I'll be honest with you, he should have made that appointment eighteen months ago and normally we would refer patients back to their GP but in these cases, we have to keep sending reminders. It seems he was too stubborn to do anything about it. If he has a pacemaker fitted now, he only has a 10% chance of surviving, well he did have, he's got even less now he just had another major attack. Did he have any other symptoms?"
"Last night, he seemed a bit off but we'd just been to that press conference so he put it down to that, then this morning he collapsed in the bathroom and before you say anything, yes, I'm staying with him, it was just better that the press didn't learn that."
"I'm not here to judge you Miss Tyler, that's between you and him but you need to be aware he might not make it. If he had gone for the operation when he was first diagnosed, he would have had a better chance. If there's anyone you need to contact, you should do it now."
"I'll look through his phone and I should contact his boss. I don't know if he had made any preparations for this, he never said. Can I see him?"
"We'll just move him into a side room until the surgeon arrives, you can have a few minutes with him, he'll be in and out of it, he may not wake up fully or not at all."
"Will he know I'm there?"
"Maybe, he may be just on the verge but may not be able to speak, he might be able to squeeze your hand. All you can do is be there and hope he knows. I'm sorry but we've done everything we can do, it's down to the surgeon, he's one of the best, we alerted him when the ambulance crew informed us, we have Mr Hardy's records and it's down to him to fight back but if he knows you're there, it will give him the strength to do so. I'll have a nurse take you to him."
Rose was stunned. No family, no friends and maybe no Alec, how could this be happening to her? Torn away from her own time through a freak accident after being brought to another universe she never felt at home in, she had finally found someone who she could fall in love with and he was about to be taken from her. What was it with this universe? Was it payback because she shouldn't be here and the world knew it? She remembered the Reapers, how they 'cleansed' the world after she saved her dad from being knocked down by a car, was this what was happening since she didn't belong here, they were removing everyone who mattered to her? She felt hopeless but the Doctor had always taught her never to give up and she was not giving up on Alec Hardy.
She sat back on the chair, waiting to be taken to see Alec and got his phone out. She scrolled through the numbers and found one of 'Tess' and wondered if it was his ex. She should know if it was going to be bad news but she didn't know just how badly they had separated and he might be really annoyed if he survived and found out she had been told. She decided to wait until it actually happened, the woman couldn't do anything anyway and the last thing she wanted was his ex wife pacing the corridor with her.
A nurse came out and told her to follow and Rose was led into a small room with various monitors, Alec hooked up to all of them.
"Don't take any notice of the machines, they look worse than they actually are, he's holding on. You can stay until we take him to the operating theatre, we'll be alerted if we're needed."
"Thanks."
Rose sat down, noting his things were under the trolley, not that there was much, he'd not got dressed properly, only wearing what she had made him put on last night. She took his hand and squeezed it and he opened his eyes.
"Rose, what happened?"
"Shush Alec, you need to rest. They're going to have to fit that pacemaker so no arguments. You'll be as right as rain."
"Don't lie to me Rose, I won't survive it."
"Yes you will or you'll answer to me Alec Hardy so stop talking like that. What chance do you have if they don't fit it? I need you, you're all I've got. Do you want me to call anyone?"
"No and don't call Tess, unless I don't make it, then you'll have to but don't take any crap from her either, tell her who you are, that you were my girlfriend. There's a number to ring in my phone, it says 'Bambles' and it's my solicitors but they're not called that, it was to stop prying eyes. They'll take care of everything. Don't worry Rose, I'm going to fight this."
He closed his eyes as Rose let out the tears she had been holding back. "I love you Alec."
He didn't reply but the monitors were still beeping away, he had just drifted off again. She would look up the name he had given her while she waited outside the operating theatre because she was not leaving. She had turned off the phone before going into the room and now she was going to have to call Ellie because she deserved to know now, it wouldn't make any difference. If he survived, he would be off work and if he didn't, well everyone would know plus, her mother could still call and she might miss it.
About forty minutes later, Rose not letting go of his hand, he had twitched a few times, Rose wishing she herself would wake up from this bad dream, it was ten times worse that having nightmares about the Cybermen. Some staff came in to prepare to take Alec for surgery and a nurse handed Alec's clothes to her. Everything else was back at the chalet.
"We have to take him now, the surgeon has arrived. You can follow us down to the theatre, you can wait outside."
Rose followed them silently, Alec's clothes had been put into a large carrier bag, she tried to get near enough to hold his hand but it was impossible. They stopped outside a double door and Rose took the chance to grab his hand. She didn't know what to say except "I love you Alec," then kissed his cheek.
As the nurse came back, he squeezed her hand and said "I know, I love you too Rose."
Then they wheeled him through the doors and Rose didn't know if she was going to see him again.
TBC
