Alec was laid on the bed with his eyes closed as Rose let herself in, locking the door behind her. He opened them as she kicked her shoes off and unfastened the button on her jeans.
"Tryin' to finish me off?" he asked, turning onto his side and pushing her hair back.
Rose turned to kiss him, putting her arm around him. "I hope it'll take more than that," she replied, going to kiss him.
"So do I Rose, I am more worried now than I was before, since you pointed out a few things to me. So, I used to dash around all over the place then did I?" he asked as he went under her pink and white striped top to unfasten her bra, letting it fall lose then moving his hand around to the front.
He lifted the top and pushed her onto her back then went to lean over to kiss her exposed skin, pulling the article of clothing away. Rose moaned softly as he gently kissed where her bra had been, ruffling his hair. The kisses felt soft on her skin and she wondered why they'd not done this before as he nipped gently then kissed where he'd nipped her, running his finger on her other breast.
Rose shivered slightly and reached out to unfasten his shirt, Alec moving slightly to let her awkwardly twist the small buttons while carrying on, moving over to her other breast. She twisted the last button and parted his shirt, then touched his bare shoulders to bring it down over his back. He got the message and she tried to undo the cuffs, sliding the shirt down his arms as he tried to lift the top over her head along with her bra.
His shirt off and her top and bra off, he unzipped her jeans as Rose tugged at his belt. She tried to scramble out of her jeans but he made no such attempt with his trousers, making Rose smile.
"Gonna tease me?" she asked as he grabbed her jeans and threw them off the bed.
"Maybe I used to do this?" he asked hopefully.
"I would have remembered, trust me. I'm not gonna tell ya any lies Alec, I wouldn't do that to ya. We were never like this but I wish we had been."
"I have a lot of making to do then. Just promise me you won't let me end up in hospital eh?"
Rose kept her promise as they laid together, Alec managing to retain his shorts and Rose her skimpy underwear after they had spent a few enjoyable hours until it was time to eat.
"Rose, we have to talk," Alec told her as he sat up to pull his trousers on, his shirt draped on his shoulders as Rose was behind him with her arms around his neck and he could feel her breasts on his back.
"Mmm, about us going a bit further I hope?" she teased him, kissing his neck.
"Amongst other subjects but I have to know certain things Rose, I have to be sure of the fact we did know each other."
"Why would I lie to you Alec?" she asked him, moving away to grab her bra and her top. "What reason do I have to lead you on?"
"I never said you were leading me on, not intentionally but what if you have made a mistake about me?"
"I haven't, I know it's you who ran away from me four years ago and I'm sorry I can't tell you why you would do that because I don't know. We were happy to see each other again but I guess it was too much to hope for, that you'd finally want to settle down with me despite you saying you only had one life and you wanted to spend it with me."
"I said that?" he asked as he stood up to face her and trying to fasten his buttons before Rose offered to help.
"It went back a long way Alec, you once told me you couldn't spend the rest of your life with me, then everything changed, well I thought it had anyway. Guess I was wrong?"
"Well if that was what I said, maybe now I can actually keep that promise?" he asked, thinking there was no harm in it and she was determined to prove who he'd supposed to have been.
Rose got off the bed to retrieve her jeans. "Can you Alec? I know you're different now in more ways than one and I wish I could tell you about your past but I can't. I promise though I'll tell you some things, that won't hurt but not the things that might trigger something and you run away again."
"Then tell me Rose, tell me the things we used to do together?" he asked her, thinking there couldn't be much harm in that either.
"Yeah, I can do that, including how my mum used to react to you, for when you meet her again, just in case you've really forgotten how her slap feels," Rose smiled as she turned for him to fasten her bra for her.
That he didn't object to as he obliged, leaning down to kiss just above it and thinking whether he could persuade her to have a rose tattoo there and wondered where that thought had come from.
"She used to slap me?" he asked, a bit amused her mother would dare to slap a police officer but he obviously hadn't been one when Rose claimed to have known him years ago. "I trust you don't take after her in that respect?"
"Lucky for you I don't, not that much. Let's go and eat then I'll finish my packing. Why don't you bring everything into my room in the morning and hand your key in? I can get everything into my car in one go and hand my key in."
"Good idea then you can come and join me at the station when you have contacted Connelly. I will go see the chief about you working with us."
"I think you'll find she'll be calling you in the morning to say I'm working with you. Pete will sort that out."
"Is there anything he can't do?" Alec smiled as she put her arm around him.
"Not much. I can tell ya how we first met him, if ya want?"
Alec thought it may help him understand things a little better if she did. Over dinner, Rose explained how Lumic had set the Cybermen loose on London and invaded Pete's mansion that night and how they had been there. She and Pete had long since come up with a believable story about her involvement with the events, now she just had to include Alec without mentioning they came from an alternate universe or the fact who he was and that they went back.
"So what were we doing at his house that night?" Alec asked her.
"Posing as the serving staff?" she smiled. "I wanted to see how they lived and you said the best way of getting in was to work in the kitchen, well that and to get to know what was going on. We didn't know about the Cybermen until they crashed the party his first wife was holding."
"So you got to meet him? What made you want to?"
"Yeah, we rescued him when the Cybermen deleted the president, his wife went running off. We joined this little group of freedom fighters, they'd followed the Cybermen there and eventually, we stopped them. Pete's first wife was taken though, we were too late. My dad died when I was a baby and I thought Pete looked like him."
"So what was your name before you were adopted? You introduced your mother to him later?" Alec wanted to know.
"You could say that. I can't tell you who I was before, it's complicated and you wouldn't believe me."
"I am sure I would, can't you trust me?"
"It's not that Alec, I can trust you it's just some things are best not spoken about until you start to remember. Pete's gonna come down and bring one of the Torchwood medical staff with him, about your condition, if you tell me what it is."
"I have heart arrhythmia, I need a pacemaker Rose, it's serious and I may not survive."
Rose sat back in her chair. "Wow, weren't you even gonna tell me it was so serious?"
"You would have found out. I already told you about the pacemaker, I never talk about it."
"I never knew it was that serious, Alec, how have you managed?"
"I had to, I told you someone was covering for me." He got up and held out his hand to help Rose. "Come for a walk with me."
They walked down by the side of the hotel and onto the esplanade, sitting on the wall. Rose took his hand.
"Pete wanted to be able to tell Doctor Harper, he's the head of medical. He can bring something with him to help but only if he knows what you're being treated for. All you have to do is agree that if it's experimental, that you'll at least try it," Rose told him as she leaned on his shoulder.
"I know they are trying to help Rose but there may not be anything. My own doctor would have prescribed the best medicine available."
"Yeah, that's on the health service Alec. Torchwood also does extensive medical research, with the help of what they discover from alien resources. You'd be surprised how some of them are keen to swap technology or medical knowledge in exchange for helping them stay here or get home."
"I had heard of Torchwood though I had no idea what they were involved in. Maybe this Doctor Harper and his alien technology can help me grow another heart eh?" Alec smiled, kissing her forehead.
Rose smiled back. If only he knew how close he'd come and that his counterpart did have two hearts. Maybe this was a good sign he might actually believe that was possible but not until he got his own fixed.
"Well I don't have anything to do with medical so who knows? Want to go walk a bit further or are you tired?"
"Not tired enough to show you what I want in bed later," he grinned. "Now I know I can relax with you and I don't have anything to prove, I feel better already. Back to reality tomorrow though, we have to keep it professional when we are working."
"I know, I've dated a few colleagues from work, nothing serious though. It was only to stop my mother going on about how I never went out, after Mickey left."
"Who's Mickey, an old boyfriend?" Alec asked as they got up and she put her arm in his.
"Aw, how could anyone forget Mickey?" Rose laughed. "Don't be jealous Alec, we stopped going out when I met you, well sort of only Mickey never quite got the message. He used to tag along sometimes, you used to call him Mickey the idiot, for reasons only you know but he wasn't keen you called him that. He saved us a few times though."
"Then what did we used to do?" he asked, thinking it was a fair question.
"Lots of things that would make you laugh, if you believed them. The Cybermen though, do you remember them? You never bothered when I mentioned them earlier."
"I have heard them being mentioned but they were mostly in the London area were they not?" he asked.
Rose knew she had to be careful and not get the events of the two universes mixed up.
"Yeah, they were stopped in time and eventually all rounded up but they escaped, using the old Torchwood," Rose explained, trying not to let him know where they actually went.
"Some say they went to another universe," he stated as they sat on the east pier with the cliffs behind them.
"Do you believe that Alec?"
"They had to go somewhere and they are not here so yes, I believe they used the old Torchwood as you call it, they will have had the means to aid their escape. You know where they went, don't you Rose?"
"What makes you say that?"
"I can tell since you don't want to talk about what we did and I was involved, wasn't I?"
Alec thought now, she had no choice but to tell him, it would help him understand about her past and who she thought he was. So if that involved believing those Cybermen went to another world then so be it. His friends had thought he was odd when he was younger for reading comics and making up stories about travelling to other dimensions. Maybe he'd been right after all?
"They escaped to another world like this one Alec, Pete had just taken over Torchwood but everything was a mess so he couldn't do anything from this end. A team followed them but it was too late, they were already rounding people up and since we couldn't send them back here or to another world, there was only one alternative."
"Trap them between the two?" Alec guessed. He knew he was right when he saw Rose's reaction. "It worked?"
"Yeah, it worked but Alec, can you take it if I tell you the rest?"
"Maybe not just yet eh? Now can I ask you questions though?"
Rose thought about it. "Okay, just a few but if I don't answer, don't get mad, will ya?"
"I will try not to. So, they were trapped between worlds and they are still there? Was that why we were parted the first time?"
She so wanted to tell him. "Yeah, we got separated Alec, you stayed behind to seal off the worlds."
"What? I did what?" he asked, wondering where this was leading. Who the hell did she think he was? Some sort of hero who went around saving worlds?
"Alec, calm down or you'll make yourself worse."
"That's why I went away? I got trapped there?" he wanted to know, getting some kind of understanding on how she'd been parted from the man she thought he was. "So when you said neither of us wanted it, that's what you meant. I stayed there while you got back? Then how did we meet again since I apparently went away again, four years ago? How long had we known each other?"
"Not long, well it seemed a lot longer and I suppose it was, all the things we used to do," she replied, trying not to say it was difficult to tell since he'd managed to make her miss a year that somehow had been made up.
"So what did you do, when I couldn't get back? How did I even get there, were you with me?"
"Yeah but you sent me back, that's how I got to know Pete better and he met my mum because she insisted on being there when we said we were gonna stop the Cybermen coming back."
"You said he reminded you of your father, is that why they got together?" he asked, thinking if he could find that out when no-one else could, he'd have to be very careful he never repeated it, Pete Tyler never revealed how he had met his new wife.
"We got there by using a dimension jumper, a smaller version of what the Cybermen used but it stopped working when you sealed the two worlds off. We worked on another version Alec and it finally started working and I went to find you."
"You found me and I ran away again? Well not again since there was no choice the first time but you must have been hurt to try to go after me? I have no knowledge of this Rose, I swear. So, how did you find me when you could get through?"
"I can't tell you Alec but something else was involved – far worse than the Cybermen but we defeated them and you came back here with me."
"Then why did I drive off and leave you on a beach Rose? Why would I do that unless I was frightened you would not want me to stay? What had I done when I was away?"
He really wanted to know because now, she was talking about this man she thought he was going to live in another universe so who was he and more importantly, what had he done while she was looking for him? No wonder she was so willing to take him back this time. To lose someone once through no fault of their own but twice and the second time he'd driven away when she'd gone to a lot of trouble to bring him back home.
"I don't know that Alec but at first you seemed to want to come back. We stood there and you told me you loved me and no, you didn't drive off, not exactly. The devices we used, well somehow, we arrived on that beach in Norway. My mother had come after me, with Mickey but he stayed because he'd tried to get me back while you were away and he knew when you were going back it would be no use for him to continue to try."
"So if I did not drive away, I walked away? That's not what you first said Rose."
"I know, I'm sorry Alec, I didn't want to confuse you."
"I'm more than confused Rose though I now have a better picture and I know why you can't tell me anything else. So, I went to another universe?"
Rose hated doing this, twisting it around. "Well, that's all you need to know for one day, let's go back and snuggle together in bed," Rose suggested.
"You are changing the subject Rose, do you know how suspicious that is?" he smiled. "What are you not telling me?"
"I can't tell ya any more Alec, I swear I can't. You have to let it come back."
"Sorry Rose but I can't accept that, not when I have just found out so much but we will discuss this further tomorrow. It's not enough now."
"I know Alec, it's the policeman in you, you've been one for four years, well probably four years. I can't imagine what you're thinking about all this. Come on, let's get a cab back to the hotel."
"I can walk back Rose, I am not that bad. Just maybe not back up that cliff path though eh?" he asked, getting up.
Once back in their room, Rose helped him finish his packing and moved his case into her room except what he needed for the next day. Getting into bed, Rose went to lie on him.
"Can we finish what we started earlier?" he asked hopefully.
"Yeah, we can do that. Alec, I know it's hard for you to accept you were in another world and I wish I knew what you did while you were there but knowing you, you'd have just accepted it and got on, blended in with everyone else."
That's what she and her mother had done, there was no reason for her to think he'd not done the same if he'd parted from his twin and been left here for four years or maybe longer, if the Doctor's timing was off. Then it hit her. What if it was off, by more than four years and he'd forgotten her, got married and had a teenage daughter for real? Did it make her feel any different about him? If he really didn't remember, had the Doctor done it on purpose and created a cover for him that included a wife and daughter?
Why would he do that unless the Doctor believed she really was mad because he'd delayed too long and allowed his twin time to get back in the Tardis. Now there was no way of knowing unless Alec remembered and now, she didn't think he ever would because the Doctor would have made sure he didn't, in case they ever did meet again because he would have known they would be bound to come across each other eventually and it was good enough that she remembered.
They were soon lost in giving each other sensations as Rose kept her underwear on while he took his shorts off but he sneakily pulled hers to one side and Rose has to stifle a scream as they touched.
"Rose, why did you not just take them off eh?" he asked as she moaned softly under him.
"Because I don't want you in hospital, that's why."
"I promise not to attempt anything life threatening," he replied. "You can trust me now Rose, I am not going anywhere."
"Well okay then but you can see my point, I have to keep you from getting worse until Doctor Harper's seen you and you are not helping yourself."
"Then come and lie on me to save me from overexerting myself."
Rose giggled as he freed himself from the gap he'd made and rolled onto his side. She went for her underwear and wriggled out of them, throwing them over the headboard and pushed him on his back. Then it hit them both like a tidal wave as they touched.
"Rose, whatever reason I ran away for the second time, I am truly sorry," he told her as the feeling subsided enough for him to speak.
"I know Alec and when you've been seen again and you can take something else, I'll tell you more."
"The truth? Rose, I'm a detective now, whatever I was before but I know you are holding something back. It was you, wasn't it?"
"What was me Alec?" Rose asked as she wanted to get the feeling back by moving against him.
"Rose, it was you who got trapped here, not the other way around. Your mother meeting Pete was covered up, no-one knows, it was kept quiet so it stands to reason that you both came here but where was I when it happened? Did I seal off the universes and trap you here?"