Maureen had only been in his office once and seen a photo of Alec and a blonde woman and one of a young girl on his desk, surmising the girl was from a previous relationship but she wasn't going to let that put her off, she could take her time with the new arrival, he'd be there at least six months, that was as standard. She had noticed the ginger-haired DC he'd been assigned had given him a few looks and it didn't seem he was giving her any back so maybe he wasn't in the market to swap girlfriends any time soon. She'd only get worried if the woman in the photo actually walked into the station and laid claim to him but in the meantime, she'd stay back and wait to see if he noticed her. He did look a little younger than herself but the blonde in the photo looked ten years Hardy's junior.

By Wednesday, a nationwide appeal had been made, DCI Chambers deciding she should maybe take a bit more notice and be seen to actually be doing something instead of leaving it to the even more appealing Hardy, since he'd grown his beard a bit more and his hair kept getting in his right eye and made him squint and when he'd got his rimless specs out of his top pocket, she almost collided with the door. So later that afternoon, after Alec had sneaked over to see Rose during his lunch break, remembering his own accent and combing his hair back, pulling the blinds down and have a quick snogging session before Rose made coffee and they ate the sandwiches he'd stopped off for on the way, he was back in his office and Amy was filling him in on the latest reports from the search in the woods.

She had just finished when Maureen entered the office without knocking, something he wished she would stop doing even though she was his superior officer.

''Right Pond, keep me informed. DCI Chambers, what can I do for you?'' he asked, trying not to sound too grumpy in view he'd had a thorough snogging from his girlfriend just over an hour ago and they had almost got his shirt off until they remembered the rest of the staff at the other side of the office partition.

Maureen crossed to his desk and picked up the photo of the young girl. ''Your daughter Alec?''

He wondered if she was making some kind of point or if she was just out to annoy him or find out his marital status.

''She lives with her mother down south and before you ask, I see her twice a year. She's a teenager, that's apparently what they do when their parents are divorced, so I've been told. Are you here about the latest reports?''

''Yes and no Alec. I know we've not had much time to talk, I come back to a full-scale missing child search and thought it best to leave you to get on with it but now, I think we should work together closely on this, don't you think?''

He hated being called by the first name he'd chosen but if Rose were to begin calling him that, he wouldn't mind in the least but was his new boss trying to say something?

''I prefer to work on my own, no disrespect DCI Chambers, I have Pond to work with, she's quite capable.''

Maureen put the photo down and looked at the one of him and his fake girlfriend. ''Like younger women do you? Don't you prefer women with more experience?''

He was out of his depth here, Rose was the only woman he had known, well this version of him and he wasn't sure where this was leading.

''Oh not at all, I prefer to take the lead.'' He just hoped that would be enough to put her off. It wasn't.

''Well if we're going to have to work together, we should get to know each other. Why don't we go for a drink after work?''

''I think my girlfriend might object if I'm late home.''

''You live together?''

''Well yes and she's the possessive type and besides, I learned my lesson after my last marriage never to work with someone I'm involved with, my ex wife cheated on me with another male officer.''

Maureen sat on the edge of his desk, she preferred to wear skirts at work, especially when there was a new male senior officer around.

''That's ok Alec, I just dumped my boyfriend for cheating on me while we were on holiday.''

He could now see exactly where this was going, warning bells were already ringing in his head and the incident with Martha sprang to mind again.

''Yes, well, sorry to hear that but I love my girlfriend, it will take something to make me leave her. Now, is there anything else, I'm rather busy.''

Maureen thought he was going to be a tough nut to crack but she could maybe wear him down eventually, only time would tell. John thought he'd had a close call as she got up off the corner of his desk and pulled her skirt straight. He just wished Rose would come in and do that but then she'd find out where he was working and the game would be over.

''Well I'll let you get on then. Maybe we can have lunch instead, bring your girlfriend if you like. What's her name?''

John stared at her, he'd never mentioned her name to anyone, no-one had asked who she was, he never gave them the chance.

''She works across the other side of the city so it's doubtful and I'd hate to go without her, maybe another time?''

Maureen was sure the detective was trying to avoid answering her question but let it go. Maybe the others in the office were right and the photo was a fake one but the woman looked vaguely like Rose Tyler, if she didn't know any better and what would she be doing with someone like Alec Hardy? She'd heard rumours the Vitex heiress was working in the city but she'd also heard Miss Tyler already had a boyfriend, some Police/Torchwood liaison so Hardy was out of luck if he thought anyone was going to believe it was her and he could get away with it.

Once on his own, John breathed a sigh of relief she seemed to let it go. He wanted to keep the two of them as far away from each other as possible until he was ready for trying to get Rose interested in Alec Hardy and it was early days but she had given him the idea of people confusing the two of them so maybe he should start to work on his other job and try explaining his absence. He'd talked to Pete the previous morning, Pete had laughed and wished him luck with getting Rose to go off with his new persona and said he wouldn't give the game away but if Rose rang her mother, he might be out of luck.

So before he left for the day, he decided to ring the police headquarters and say he was going to be absent from the Torchwood liaison job for a while since it was quiet and the director had thought his talents may fit in better helping the enquiry over in west Glasgow of the missing six year old boy. Once he'd done that, it would be easy to fool any officers at the scene, still concentrating around the wooded area, that he wasn't Hardy but a police consultant, just as long as Chambers or Pond weren't around at the time.

He was quite pleased with himself on his way home that things were beginning to go according to his plan, that of getting Rose to open up to the idea that being with him wasn't like being with his twin and that he could be very different when he wanted to be, a whole new person in fact. If Rose were to ask him again though, he'd have to be careful not to admit anything just yet then all he had to do was as Alec to start dropping hints that Torchwood may want to get involved, he would pretend he'd called the Torchwood liaison at headquarters and Rose and her team would be called in – then the fun would begin.

Rose had been shopping and had stopped by the women's department, having an internal debate as to get some new underwear and let John catch her in it. She had been thinking about it since Monday night when they'd ended up on the sofa having a late snogging session and he'd taken his t-shirt off, something he didn't normally do until they got to bed. It had been around six weeks now and she should be able to move on but she was finding it difficult so maybe if she bought some sexy underwear and the next time John started distracting her from watching the latest series of CSI, she'd give him something to think about and purposely wear a button down shirt and conveniently leave a few buttons undone and see if he took advantage and try to undo some more or peek down as she lay back on him.

Well at least she could start making more of an effort she supposed, it wasn't like she'd not paraded in front of Mickey in her underwear and John was just as deserving after six weeks to see her in something less than her nightdress although they were getting skimpier since she used to sleep in pyjama shorts not that long ago. So she had picked out a black bra and knickers set, the very lacy type and an almost see-through white blouse that should be worn with a top underneath and raced home to get changed before John got back.

She just made it and was coming out of the bedroom when she heard John come in, having put dinner on the stove and the groceries away then put her new underwear on and the new blouse, glancing at herself in the mirror and thinking something might actually happen tonight and if it didn't, then it wouldn't be anything on her part that had prevented it, she had to get over this. She had to admit since John grew the beard and styled his hair differently, he was even more attractive than when he'd first regenerated but after all that time of being apart, when she'd finally seen him on that deserted street and had run towards him, her heart had leapt at the sight of him and she knew she loved him so why was being with John any different?

He never noticed her coming out of the bedroom and going to check on dinner as he put his mobile phones and keys down and put his jacket on the back of the chair.

''Rose, I was thinking love, maybe we can go off next weekend, would you like that?''

Rose stopped what she was doing and stood in the doorway, waiting for him to turn. He did and whistled.

''Wow, you look great Rose, new look?''

She had bunched her hair back, leaving some strands hanging loose and apart from the almost sheer white blouse, was wearing a short black skirt and no stockings and just flat black shoes. John walked slowly towards her, holding out his arms.

''Very nice Rose, special occasion?''

She leaned into him and put her arms around his neck, reaching up to be the first to initiate a kiss, surprising him.

''No, does it have to be a special occasion to dress nicely for my boyfriend?'' she queried, since he'd said almost the same thing about kissing her in the kitchen the other evening.

''Well no, I don't suppose so. Well this is nice, maybe we can do this every night when I get home then?''

He leaned down to kiss her again, waiting for her rely.

''I don't see why not, do you? Unless we have company of course. I was thinking maybe we should have people over from work, you could invite some from where you work and I can have Ewan and his girlfriend over then Grace and Mary with their boyfriends, not at the same time though.''

''Yes, well, I haven't exactly made any friends Rose, I'm getting out more to stop myself climbing the walls but you invite your work colleagues though, don't let that stop you.''

''Ok, maybe once a week then from next week. Did you mean it, about going off? We can go Friday night, maybe out into the countryside, find a little inn or something for a couple of nights?''

''Yeah, sounds great, shall I organise it then?''

She reached up to kiss him again, John noticing when she did her skirt went with her as he glanced over her shoulder. Maybe he should stop leaning down and let her do all the reaching then in that case, it could be interesting. He kissed her neck, making her shiver slightly as he breathed into it before kissing it. John thought if something didn't give soon, he was going to go crazy. He so wanted her but didn't know how she felt about it. Maybe for the time being he should just let things progress on their own, she was showing more signs than she was six weeks ago that she was willing to try to get over her reluctance, maybe he should be just grateful for that and not spoil it, it could set them back if he tried to rush her.

She looked up at him, her arms still around his neck. ''Yeah, I'll leave it to you so don't forget. I'd best go rescue dinner. Did you see about going out with the police then?''

''Yeah, just the odd call or so, it's quite interesting but I've pretended to be the police before Rose, you already know that.''

''Yeah, I know, a few times and look where that used to get us?''

John laughed, remembering it had got them into a whole heap of trouble at times. ''Remind me to tell you about when me and Donna met Agatha Christie.'' He gave her neck one last kiss and moved her arms from around his neck.

While Rose went to start getting dinner out onto the plates, he went to get changed, choosing his casual white shirt with black stripes that Rose liked and left the top few buttons undone, sincerely hoping Rose might start the neck kissing off when they settled on the sofa after dinner to try to watch TV and be tempted to kiss his chest as well. The way she was looking five minutes ago gave him the hope she might want to up their relationship slightly in this very slow game they seemed to be playing.

Maybe it was time to try to open the watch again and become Alec Hardy full time.