Again, thanks to everyone who is reading and following this story! I hope you'll continue to enjoy it! :) This chapter is a bit short (had to break it up somewhere...) and there's a lot of police procedure in it which I'm not entirely sure about, but I still hope it's logical, haha...

Also: Happy Birthday to David Tennant who turns 50 today! :)

Chapter 6:

Alec wasn't able to shake this hug in her doorway out of his mind.

He kept remembering how good it had felt… to be hugged. To be held close. To feel… connected. As if warm, soothing hands had reached inside of him, closed around his cold heart and built a tent of warmness within him. He could think back and hide inside this comfortable tent when he felt like losing his mind.

And this happened more often now than he let anyone know.

Because the hug also scared him terribly. He suddenly felt the responsibility it thrust upon his shoulders. He had promised to keep her safe. With her hug, Jenna showed him that she was now relying on him, trusting him to make things better. To save her.

But what if he couldn't? He had failed in the past. Granted, he had also been successful more often than not, otherwise the position of Detective Inspector wouldn't have been given to him at a comparably young age, but that hasn't stopped the press from calling him 'The worst cop in Britain'.

Alec knew he should stand above such lies, but his gruff, cold walls of indifference were only looking solid from the outside. His inner being was much more vulnerable and small.

Ever since he allowed Jenna close to his heart the nightmares have started to become more frequent and vivid again. Nightmares of what would happen if he failed. Pictures of Jenna lying on the floor of her hallway, surrounded by piercing, gleaming shards of glass. Her whole body – not just her arms – covered in bleeding cuts, running red over her white skin. And she was looking up at him, eyes dull and full of anger and disappointment.

Why didn't you save me, she'd ask while pearly tears mixed with the blood on her face and dripped to the ground.

A ground that slowly became a wobbly surface of water. Muddy, dirty and cold. Sloshing around his ankles and then rising the more Jenna cried. He could feel the icy water clenching around his ribcage, not allowing him to take a breath. And, suddenly, he'd be in that fateful pond again and it was raining and the body of a little girl was drifting just out of his reach.

Alec flailed his arms, trying to stay above the surface of the still rising water. Trying desperately to reach the girl. He gasped for air, choking on water and finally, he reached one floating arm that he knew must be Pippa Gillespie's. He drew her close to him, treading his feet to stay above. But as Alec was able to look into her small, young face – her eyes closed forever and her lips a deadly blue – it happened again: The reoccurring dream he had ever since that day in the pond.

Pippa's dark-brown hair grew a few inches and then turned lighter until it was more of a dark-blonde and suddenly the girl he held in his arms was his own child. His darling Daisy, dead in the ice-cold, filthy water.

And Alec screamed; a broken, choked-up yell of despair. The water flowed away and he knelt at the dark, muddy bottom of the pond with his daughter clutched in his arms and he cried and cried over her. Mourning the loss of her, the only thing that kept him afloat, kept him sane. He could never live without her. And if he would let her any closer, maybe he would feel the same way about Jenna, too, eventually. And then he thought back to his little tent of warmness and he wondered if it was worth all of this pain and fear. Because he surely couldn't hide in her embrace forever, could he?

Alec woke up, wrapped up in the arms of his daughter.

She was hugging him, not the other way around like it was in his dream. His head rested in her lap, his hot tears drenched her nightwear. He wanted to push her away; she was never supposed to see him like this. So weak. But Daisy kept holding onto him, shushing him and stroking his messy hair.

This wasn't the first time she had found him after a nightmare. She'd learned how his mind coped with extensive stress when she moved to Broadchurch with him even though Alec tried his best to hide it. For Daisy it came as a shock, but only since then she truly recognized the extent of her dad's suffering during the case that ultimately split her parents up.

"It's gonna be okay, Dad." she then whispered to him. "It's gonna be okay."

And he cried and she held him until he calmed down and the next morning it would all be forgotten and never mentioned again until his cry of despair would cut through the night once more.

Ellie Miller did not know about his nightmares. At least not much, he believed. But Alec suspected that she could easily guess when and why he didn't sleep because of the way she was looking at him when he came in to work in the mornings.

There was the widening of her eyes and an almost nonchalant quip of just how awful and tired he looked, followed by the seriously concerned question if he was okay. He nodded every time and that was it. Miller knew there was more to it, but she didn't push for once and he was thankful. It seemed that she trusted him to tell her when he really needed her help and he trusted her to be there for him without judgement when that time came.

It was due to the calm days after Jenna's interview that Alec's mind indulged in fuelling his dreadful worries and fears so much. Jenna had been horrified by his change of demeanour, but he assured her that he was fine. That this was just how he gets when he was following a difficult case. He slept less. Nothing to be worried about.

Jenna didn't believe him, he could tell, but she didn't know him well enough to question his methods.

She had visited the station a few more times, giving an estimation of Jack Mason's state of mind back when she last saw him and handing over a photograph of him that Jenna kept for exactly this reason only: So the police knew who they were looking for.

They copied the photograph and Alec, Miller and a small group of DC's, he pulled from other cases, went out and about around town, questioning people and showing the picture. They checked guesthouses and hotels in the area, looking for Mason's possible hideout, but the bastard apparently came from money so a lot of options were possible. And every owner they encountered shook their head in apology.

"He's not stupid." Jenna had said with a hateful scoff. "I know that he often checks in under a different name so he can deny having been in the area if questioned or he simply sleeps in his car."

Since the picture didn't jog anyone's memory yet, they did check the car next. Jenna remembered that Mason had a dark-grey Land Rover once, so a statement to the press was released that they were looking for this type of car. They didn't disclose anything about the case this was connected to nor did they show Mason's picture in the news. If he saw it he might run and Alec sure as hell didn't want him to get away this time.

He wanted Jenna to feel save again.

Right now, all he could do to calm her nerves was having a nondescript police car patrol her neighbourhood at night. During the day Alec advised her – fiercely ordered her actually – to stay around people for as long as she possibly could and check in with him a couple of times.

And this was how it has been for the past days. Frustratingly long searches for that stupid, bloody shitface that turned up empty and little texts every now and then from Jenna, telling him that she was still fine. She was building her wall of strength again, smiling timidly and cloaking herself with an air of confidence whenever they met.

Alec knew that she was still terrified. He saw it in her eyes that she wasn't sleeping, either. That she just wished for this to be over and Mason to be caught.

But that sneaky weasel was damn good at hiding. Even in a bloody small town like Broadchurch.

Alec slammed the door of Miller's car, gripped his knees and closed his eyes, stewing in anger.

Miller entered the car on the driver's side, looking at him disapprovingly. "You didn't need to yell at the poor man. It's not his fault that he's not the one we're looking for."

For an answer, Alec just growled out some curses under his breath.

They had received a phone call from a concerned citizen who claimed that a car just like the one they were looking for had pulled up across from where she lived and she swore she had never seen it there before. When asked about the driver the elderly woman gave a pretty accurate description of Mason: Dirty blonde hair, tall and well-built.

Alec and Miller immediately rushed towards the address, showed the lady Mason's picture and when she claimed that it was indeed the man she saw, they pounded on every door along the street until they sought out the owner of the Land Rover.

He did show some resemblance to the picture. But it definitely wasn't Jack Mason.

"Bloody old hag." Alec grouched on. "Just wanted to feel important."

"That's enough now, sir!" Miller snapped and put her key into the ignition. "Be glad that she still wanted to help despite your bloody impatient attitude."

He grumbled something unintelligible and stared out the window as Miller pulled away from the kerb. Another dead end. How much longer until that arsehole makes a move?

His phone rang.

Could it be that his plea had been desperate enough to be heard? "It's Jenna." Alec mumbled upon Miller's questioning look and answered the phone; it was a little early for her check-in message. Jenna spoke before he could.

"Alec? I see him!"

He instantly straightened in his seat. "Where?" Miller looked at him again, sensing that something important just happened.

"Main Street, not far from where I work." Jenna answered rushed. Alec could hear her puffs of air through the speaker. She was either running or at least walking fast. "He's just on the other side of the street." she said. "He's following me!"

"Main Street! Go, go, go!" Alec snarled at Miller and she promptly made a U-turn and headed towards the heart of the town. Into the phone he said, "Jenna, you need to stay calm. We're already close by, okay? Where exactly are you?"

"Walking towards the book shop." Jenna said. Fear still gripped her voice, but she forced herself to even her breathing. "I was out to grab something to eat in my break, at that sandwich joint near the harbour?"

"Yes, I know the place."

"And, all of a sudden, he was just standing there, across the street." Her voice was getting thin and desperate. "Just watching me!"

"How long until you reach the book shop?" Alec questioned.

"Couple minutes." Jenna sounded like she was ready to cry. "Alec, he's just a few steps behind me on the other side. He never came this close before."

"Don't worry, we'll be there in two minutes." he promised and Miller threw him a bewildered look.

"How the hell am I supposed to do that?" she complained.

"Just drive!" Alec yelled and Miller stepped on the gas with a curse on her lips.

"I can see the book shop now." Jenna said through the phone. "He's still behind me."

"Get inside and keep watching him. Hold the line, tell me what he's doing and where he's going."

A little bell rang. "Okay… okay, I'm inside." Jenna said, her breath anxious and fast. "He's still there. He's standing in front of that laundrette across the street."

Jenna must have been able to hear the brakes screech as Miller's car came to a stop not far away from the book shop. "Jenna, I'm here." Alec said and threw the car door open, scanning the area. He knew the laundrette Jenna mentioned; he had used it once or twice. And it was located right… there.

Jack Mason hadn't even taken his eyes away from the front window of the book shop when the car stopped so abruptly. He was standing tall over most pedestrians walking by, a hungry smile on his angular face. His hair seemed a little lighter than on the picture but that may have been caused by age. There was still no doubt that this was him.

"I see him." Alec murmured into the phone and then dropped it as he strode around Miller's car and onto the street without looking. Much like Mason, Alec wasn't taking his eyes away from his prey.

"Hardy!" Miller called out behind him and almost at the same time car brakes were screeching again as an old green Ford came to a stuttering stop just inches away from him. Alec swiftly swerved around it and kept walking, but this time the commotion did attract Mason's attention and he turned his head to look directly at him.

His eyes were cold and blue and angry about being distracted from the subject of his obsession. As he met the determination in Alec's dark eyes, it didn't take long until it clicked in Mason's brain that Alec was coming for him.

A little startled and surprised Mason began to retreat and when Alec almost reached the other side of the street, he swiftly turned around and started running.

"Fuck." Alec muttered and started running, too.

A few years ago, a chase was a highly dangerous task for Alec. His heart wasn't quick enough to keep up with the energy he needed and in its haste to keep him going it would stutter and eventually it was almost a certainty that it would fail. Alec vividly recalled the last time he collapsed when he was chasing Danny's murderer. Miller had been hovering over him, shaking him, but he couldn't reply in any way. His chest had clenched terribly and the pain was too overwhelming to stay awake.

He nearly died that time. Miller had been furious.

Nowadays, Alec was in much better shape thanks to his pacemaker. Not great, but he had long legs and could run fast if needed. But Jack Mason was fast as a greyhound, too, and he was younger. Alec had some hope that Mason's heavier build would slow him down, but that unfortunately not became truth.

Alec followed him for quite some time. His heart was pumping rapidly – he was dreadfully aware of that – but it shouldn't be a problem. He was fine, he was healthy. He should be able to catch that bastard!

As Mason turned a corner Alec lost sight of him. He kept running a few more steps but then had to slow down as it became clear that there was a rising possibility of running right past him. "No, no, no!" Alec growled and spun around on the spot, trying to find him again. "For god's sake!" he yelled, sifting a hand through his hair in frustration.

Mason was gone. Sunken back into that unobservable hole where he came from and where he would most definitely stay now. Either until they forgot about him or until he was ready to strike again more aggressively.