Matthew had nodded off with Alice sleeping in his arms. He woke with a slight creek in his neck and his right leg had gone a bit numb. That was probably because Alice had moved when she was sleeping , and was now leaning against his gammy leg. He thought about what she had said. What the man who had threatened her had said and something struck him: he was that "police boyfriend with the gammy leg" and in a really shitty situation, he laughed at that. He had to move and when he did, he roused Alice with him. "Come on Alice, we should go to bed. We can't lie on the sofa all night or the pair of us will have bad backs and creeks in our necks. Won't help us when we have to do our jobs tomorrow!" he tried to sound none too serious and lifted Alice's chin as he said it. He smiled at her sleepy face and said "let's get us both to bed". Alice wearily got up from the sofa but as she did so, she noticed that it was quarter to midnight. Alice helped pull Matthew up from the sofa and when he made a harrumph noise when he eventually stood, Alice turned to see a look of pain on his face. "Are you ok Matthew?"
"Just fine" he said but bent down to rub his gammy leg.
"Oh no! Did I do that? Did I fall asleep on your leg?" Matthew took her hand and said
"no Alice. You did not fall asleep on my leg. It's just stiff from the day and sitting in the same spot for so long. Come on. I'll find you a pair of my pyjamas and you can get into bed. I'm ashamed to say, I haven't changed the spare bed since the last time you stayed. Do you want to change them or can you survive another night in there?" he joked. Alice looked at his face. She wanted to ask if she could sleep in with him but she knew how improper it was. She would never dare ask him such a bold question. Matthew went to his closet and removed the freshly laundered pyjamas he had loaned her last time. As she went to take them from his hand, he kissed the back of her knuckles and passed her the pyjamas. "we'll sort this out first thing. I know it's easy to say but you're safe here with me. I won't let anything happen to you. Do you trust me?" Alice looked him squarely in the eye and with all honestly she said "yes. Of course I trust you. I trust you more than anyone else in the world." Alice covered her mouth with her hand, suddenly realising what she had just said. She was sure it was the tiredness that allowed that one to slip out but as Mathew took her hand from her mouth and kissed her knuckles again, she didn't feel all that bad at all. They said their goodnights, got washed and dressed and went to their separate beds
Alice lay there thinking about what had happened that night. She felt so much better but at the same time, she felt overwhelming guilt at having placed him in danger. She lay there thinking about lying in Matthew's arm, with him telling her to close her eyes and he called her sweetheart. No one had ever called Alice sweetheart and Alice eventually fell asleep, thinking about that word…sweetheart.
There was a loud crash in the kitchen and the noise woke both Matthew and Alice. Matthew grabbed his dressing gown and walking stick and made his way into the kitchen. Alice ran down the stairs and met Matthew at the entrance to the kitchen. As they looked in, they both saw a brick that had clearly been thrown through the kitchen window. Matthew picked up the phone and called the station and asked Charlie to come over and check the area on his way. Matthew looked at the broken glass on the floor and asked Alice to sit in the living room, while he tidied up the broken glass. He didn't want Alice getting broken glass up her bare feet.
By the time Charlie and a few other men arrived, whoever had thrown the brick was long gone and so Charlie helped Matthew clear up the mess and board up the broken window. Charlie took notes to make his report but left, saying nothing about the fact that Dr Harvey was sitting in the Blake's living room wearing the Boss's pjs.
Matthew walked into the living room and poured two glasses of whisky, he sat down next to Alice on the sofa and handed her one of the glasses. "Drink up, Alice. I think we need it." He smiled at her as she took the proffered glass and sat there looking at the amber liquid in the glass. "Alice? Drink up and we can go back to bed". Alice took a sip of the whisky and let the liquid slowly slip down her throat, feeling the burn on the way. She finished the whisky and as Matthew went to take the glass from her, Alice looked at him and decided that she couldn't go back to her room alone.
"Matthew?" she said very quietly. "I don't want to be alone." She looked at her hands that were clasped in her lap. Matthew thought for a minute about what she had said. He went through the impropriety of the situation, he thought about how brave Alice had been to ask such a thing and with that, he decided to throw caution to the wind and said to Hell with it. Matthew got up from the sofa, taking Alice's hand and pulling her up with him. He never said a word, as he guided her out of the living room, switched the lights off and headed for his bedroom. Matthew never let her hand go as he pulled the other side of the covers down and helped her into his bed. Matthew placed his walking stick at the side of his bed and got into bed on the opposite side. Matthew leaned over to switch of the bedside lamp and as they both lay there in the darkness, Matthew broke the silence. "Are you ok, Alice?"
"I feel better than I did." She said. "Matthew? Do you think it was him? The thug from earlier?"
"I don't know" he said "but let's get some sleep and we can deal with it all later this morning." Matthew turned around in the dark and leaned his right hand over and touched Alice's opposite arm to turn her towards him. They eventually fell asleep with Alice lying on Matthew's chest, his heart beating under her ear.