Just a short chapter while I get my latest Christmas story done! Watch out for... 'I hate Christmas because...'

Tess wasn't happy when Alec said he'd advised Rose to stay off work and she had to phone Claire.

"What?" Claire asked when told, trying to sound surprised. "She's my best stylist, that's a bit short notice."

"Well we need her for our current investigation," Tess had been instructed by Alec to tell her. "She has become a key witness and it will save having to bring her out of work when she's needed. If she has any leave still to come, maybe she could use it?"

"Well, I'll have to check. I might have to get someone in to replace her," Claire replied, wondering if Lee knew they were using his ex girlfriend in such a way. "So, she's officially helping you then?" she wanted to make sure.

Tess knew that would get Claire interested enough though and that Lee Ashworth would get to know. Both she and Alec wanted the man to get too self-assured and start making mistakes.

Once Tess had done that, she went to Alec's office. Did he really think Claire had broken into her car? Meanwhile, Claire went into the break room to call Lee.

"Do ya think she's scared of you?" she asked Lee.

"I hope so," Lee joked as he eyed the woman who had just hired him to do some work. "Are you going to tell me where you hid that pendant?"

He'd seen her go off with it last night but she'd been very careful not to let him see where though.

"What do you think?" Claire laughed. "I told ya, it's my insurance. If Rose is off work and talking to the police though?"

"Don't worry about it," he told her. "She won't say much. They have no proof now that I was involved."

"Well, I want to know the whole story now Lee, I mean it," she warned him.

"I told you enough already," he insisted.

"We'll see," she replied confidently.

At the police station, Alec was sat thinking this had been going on long enough. They'd had a breakthrough finding the pendant then Tess had gone and lost it. Their only hope now was that Rose's testimony would be enough. Now was the time to get Ricky Gillespie back in for questioning and play him and Ashworth against each other. He got up and went to the chief's office.

"Maybe it's time?" the chief agreed, just wanting to get this over with. "Let's get enough to send them both for trial, if you're sure Ricky was involved."

"Rose does and that's good enough for me. It's up to you to sign it off," Alec replied.

**Six weeks later**

Rose was getting nervous. She'd been escorted by Tess to collect her wages, then Tess had found out for certain that Rose was staying with her almost ex husband and refused to help any more. Alec called round to see Daisy one evening and she confronted him.

"You talk about me losing the evidence Alec? You're the one who may lose us this case," Tess reminded him.

"We have Ricky Gillespie now," he defended himself.

"Yes, you're pleased with yourself aren't you Alec?" Tess asked him. "Just because Cate gave him up."

Alec was not pleased the way he had used Rose to get to Cate. He had persuaded his now girlfriend to go back and talk to Cate about what she'd seen and heard that night. He had sat there while Rose had spoken to Pippa's mother.

"You're sure?" Cate had asked Rose.

Rose nodded. "Yeah, I'm so sorry Cate but I told DI Hardy as soon as I could."

"Cate, we need the truth," Alec had told her. "If you lost sight of Ricky for more than an hour, we need to know so we can get him in for questioning. Lee Ashworth is still only giving his side of the story, we can't prove anything else yet. We know he did more."

"I may have lost sight of him but I always thought he'd gone off with that bridesmaid," Cate admitted.

That was all Alec had needed to place Ricky under caution and question him.

"We have Lee Ashworth in custody," Alec had told Ricky, Lee having been picked up again. "He will tell us more of what happened that night, he can't keep it to himself forever."

"Rose told you most of it, didn't she?" Ricky asked. "Did she tell you what that man did to my Pippa?"

"Yes and she is sorry but Ashworth had her under threat if she told anyone. Tell us what happened Ricky," Alec encouraged him.

So now, Alec had a very good picture of what had taken place but things were about to get ugly as Claire stormed into the police station one lunchtime.

"Where's that Alec Hardy?" Claire raised her voice at the front desk.

Tess had heard the commotion.

"What's going on?" she asked the desk sergeant.

"She wants to see DI Hardy," the sergeant replied.

"Is it about those two girls?" Tess asked, remembering Claire from the visit to the salon and when the woman had been questioned.

Claire still hadn't given up the pendant though and she was determined not to.

"No, it's about Lee Ashworth. Why have you arrested him again?" she wanted to know. "He was out on police bail."

"It was revoked when new evidence came to light," Tess told her.

"What new evidence?" Claire asked, knowing she had the pendant tucked away safely.

"We can't discuss that," Tess replied. "I'll tell DI Hardy of your concerns."

"You know Rose Tyler's involved with him?" Claire added as she was about to turn away.

Tess didn't want to be reminded.

"It has no bearing on the case," she replied. "The case is going ahead, the hearing will take place shortly."

Claire had a disappointed look on her face. If there was more new evidence, Rose had been doing more talking. If Lee wouldn't be let out, how could she tell him he was the father of the baby she'd just found out she was having? Now, she had to find someone to either manage or buy the salon. If he was going to be locked up though, maybe she should think about terminating the pregnancy before it was too late, did she want it growing only to be told what its father had done?

The day of the hearing soon arrived and both Lee and Ricky would be entering their pleas. They'd had time to talk in the detention centre, Ricky telling Lee he deserved to be there and Lee asking Ricky if he thought he deserved not to be. Ricky had set about Lee in a fit of temper and warned Lee to stay away from him.

"You started it all Ashworth," Ricky had growled at Lee as they'd been pulled apart by the guards.

Then Alec had been leaving the station one night and Tess had confronted him about him living with Rose.

"Don't you dare let that get in the way of any trial," she was telling him.

"How will it? Rose gave all her testimony before that," Alec argued. "That can't be altered Tess and you know it. Besides, that will never come up, the judge won't be interested."

"He'd better not be," Tess warned him. "Is that Claire Ripley over there?" Tess pointed across the yard. "She came to see you but you weren't around."

"You never said," Alec replied as Claire walked towards them.

Claire had managed to find someone to manage the salon for her – for now anyway and who might be interested in buying the business.

"Can I talk to you?" Claire asked Alec as she reached them. "It's important."

"Come back inside," Alec told her.

"It's nothing official. There's something I need help with. Rose trusted you," Claire replied.

"Go on then," Alec encouraged her as Tess left.

"You have Lee Ashworth locked up, I was with him until then," Claire began to tell him.

"I know," Alec replied. "Your point is?"

"I found out I was pregnant, it's his. Now, I don't know what to do about it. If he stays locked up, I don't want anything to do with it. I contacted a clinic, I have an appointment but it's in the next town. I need someone to take me. Please? I know I should never have got mixed up with him but I'd wanted him since before Rose met him, I just wanted to see what it was like."

"I'll call DS Henchard back, she'll go with you," Alec suggested, seeing Tess drive off.

"I don't trust her, she wouldn't go get you for me the last time I was here," Claire replied.

"Will you appear in court and tell the judge anything Lee told you?" Alec asked her, getting Rose's number up.

"I don't know much, he only told me some of it, then you re-arrested him," Claire admitted. "Don't call Rose, I know you're together."

"I'm only telling her I am going to be late back," he assured her as he waited for Rose to answer. "Hi darlin' I'm going to be a bit late tonight, I have some work to do on the case, to make sure nothing goes wrong," he told Rose.

"Yeah, don't worry about it, you just get it finished," Rose laughed. "They don't call me Tess."

"I am well aware of that love. I will try not to be too late but don't forget Daisy is coming round later."

"I know, we'll swap stories about ya," Rose teased him. "I'm just joking babe. Hey, I saw someone I used to work at the salon with, she said Claire's taking some time off."

"Maybe she is just hiding until all this is over eh?" Alec asked her as Claire looked at him. "I will see you later and maybe bring some food back with me?"

He ended the call and Claire got in the passenger seat.

"Here's the address," she told him, handing a piece of paper to him. "Don't worry, I won't tell your girlfriend what you're really doing."

"You are sure about this?" he asked as they drove off.

"I've thought about it. If Lee's in prison, I don't want him to know. Listen, I know what happened between him and the older cousin who died. She wasn't the first or the last of women who Lee cheated on Rose with. Did she tell you why he cheated on her?" Claire asked him.

"Yes, she did. She said she tried to warn you to stay away from him," he replied.

"I should have listened to her," Claire admitted as she looked out of the window. "She must hate me."

"No, she does not hate you but she was afraid of you and what you might have heard from Lee," Alec told her.

They rode in silence to the next town and Alec found the clinic, just on the outskirts. He parked and Claire was about to get out.

"You don't have to come in," she smiled as he took the keys out of the ignition.

"I'm not here as a police officer," he reminded her.

"Rose was lucky she got away when she did," Claire told him as they went inside. "He kept complaining about her not giving in to him and to be honest, I don't know why he never forced her. Was that what he threatened her with? If she talked to the police?"

"Yes," Alec admitted as they approached the desk. "She nearly refused to give him up. You should tell us what you know about him Claire."

What seemed like hours later, Alec was waiting for Claire to wake up.

"Lee, what are you doing here?" she asked groggily as her eyes opened.

"It's not Lee, it's Alec Hardy, remember?" he asked her.

"Yeah, sorry. Rose is so lucky to have you but I thought Lee couldn't be that bad. I mean she lived with him all that time."

"Which proves she did not really know him and what he was capable of," Alec replied as he sat on the bed next to her.

"Love isn't all it's made out to be," Claire admitted. "It's good when you're in it, then it just fades away without you even noticing. Do you love Rose?"

"Yes, I do and I like to think she loves me but we've not actually told each other yet," Alec smiled. "It will take her a long time to get over him and what he threatened her with."

"Who knows, you may be the one she gives in to," Claire smiled back. "Thank you for being here, I'll come in to the police station and give a voluntary statement about what Lee told me. I'm taking a big risk though."

"Not as big as Rose is doing," he reminded her as he got up.

"Tell her you love her when you get home," Claire encouraged him as he helped her up.

Claire got her discharge papers and was allowed to leave so Alec took her home then went to his and Rose's flat. Rose and Daisy were laughing over what Alec used to do when Daisy was younger and as they heard the door opening, Rose burst out laughing again.

"What are you laughing about?" Alec asked them both, Daisy with her arm in Rose's and pointing at him.

"Ha! Your face!" Rose spluttered. "Daisy was just telling me something about ya."

"Daisy?" he questioned his daughter.

"When you were building me that doll's house when I was five," Daisy laughed.

"What about it?" Alec wondered if they were going to stop laughing about him.

They both burst out laughing again and he knew he wasn't going to get an answer. He took Daisy home later but he decided to drop the subject, he could always get it out of Rose later.

"Do you like Rose?" he asked as they drove to what had been his home.

"Yeah, she's nice Dad. Are you two serious then?" Daisy smiled.

"Yes, I think we are. She's not been long out of a bad relationship Daisy, we are just taking it slowly."

"Well, I think she'll be good for you," Daisy assured him.

Please forgive any mistakes in my haste to publish! This chapter will be edited shortly.