He was now lying on top of her, Rose began moving her hips and moaning she wanted him as he reached up to kiss her lips.

"I want you too Rose but I can't," he said, raising his body slightly up and away from her then moving one of his legs to one side.

"Alec, why not, I want you, you want me, what's the problem? I do take precautions you know, if that's what's worrying you. I might not have a boyfriend, yet but I take the pill for other reasons. You're the first man I've wanted to go to bed with in a long time. I so want you right now."

He moved off her and lay on his back, Rose turned around on her side. "Why did you ask me to relax with you Alec if you didn't want to have sex with me? I'm not complaining, what just happened was more than pleasant, I've not felt like that for a long time and I get the feeling neither have you. Please tell me what's wrong and maybe I can help. You're not shy are you?"

He moved his arms from the back of his head and turned to face her, then reached over and kissed her. "Rose, it's not you and I so want to have sex with you, right now but I can't. Rose, I'm going to tell you something that you have to keep secret or I'll be kicked out of the police force. Promise me?" Rose nodded.

"Rose, I came here because of two reasons. One, I had a failed case in Scotland that I took the blame for because a member of my team screwed up and it was my responsibility but that doesn't matter. The other reason is and you have to swear on this you won't say a word. I have a heart problem, an irregular heartbeat to be precise and if anyone found out, I'd be forced to leave. I have to take medication for it but it's running low and I've not been to see any doctors since I got here, I've contacted someone and having them send me a prescription, someone who was helping me cover up my illness."

Rose reached over and put her arms around him. "Alec, I'm so sorry, I had no idea. I won't tell anyone, I'll help you. Tell me what I can do." She kissed him and settled her head on his shoulder.

"Just be here for me Rose, that's all I ask. Just be with me."

He pulled her close until she was lying on him and they fell asleep. The next morning, Rose woke up and panicked, she was on her own in Alec's hotel room and sat up, swung her legs out of the bed to put her underwear on then heard a noise coming from the bathroom. Alec opened the door two minutes later and smiled at her, a towel wrapped around his waist as she was sat on the bed.

"I was worried about you when I woke up and you were gone. We never got to finish talking last night. Tell me what I can do to help you. When are you getting more medication? Can't you go to a local doctor or the hospital?"

"Rose, I'll be fine, I have enough to last me another week, my friend will get me some more before I run out and if I don't do anything stupid, I'll stay fine. I just have to avoid strenuous activities and I really didn't intend to go so far last night, I'm sorry, I took advantage of you."

"No you didn't, I let you, there's a difference and I'd still have sex with you if you want. We can take it slowly and if you say your medication is keeping you from serious harm, we can try again, if you want. Isn't there something you can do about your condition? Isn't there an operation you can have?" Rose was sounding concerned.

"The medication will keep me stable until I have a better chance of surviving an operation for a pacemaker fitting. I've been under too much stress, that's why I came here, to get away from a big city police force to a quiet town. If I stay here a few months and take it easy, my doctor in Scotland says it will increase my chances. If I go for it now, I only have a slim chance of surviving. What can happen in a quiet little town like this? Plus I'll have a partner, when she comes back, so I can let her do all the hard work and take it easy. Three months at the most, Rose, I need you to keep this a secret for three months then I'll take some leave and get my operation. Will you help me?"

"Of course I will but don't go relying on DS Miller, she's not going to be friendly when she comes back and finds you've got the job she was promised, well she told us it was promised to her. The office is already taking bets as to how long it will take her to blow up when she finds out. I'm not in on that, by the way. I've been sticking up for you, I told them to give you a fair chance. She's ok really, it's just she was relying on the promotion. She has a young family, I babysit for her youngest sometimes and she'll try and find out all about you but she won't get anything from me, you don't have to worry about that. I'm just saying I'll have to keep the peace between the two of you, she might be a bit off with you but I won't say anything about your heart condition. I'll try and get her to go easy on you."

Alec went to sit on the bed beside her and suddenly laid her down, leaning over her. "Rose, I appreciate what you're doing, I'll try not to put you in an awkward situation but if you help me, let me worry about what people say. If they give you a hard time, tell me. We'll just have to avoid each other in the office. You can bring me tea though if you want," he smiled, running his finger along the top of her bra then leaning down and kissing her cleavage.

"You're beautiful Rose and I'm sorely disappointed I can't do anything about it other than what we did last night. I'll understand if you want to back off. You're young, you don't have to stick around me, I'm older than you, I'm 38, I must be about 10 years older than you. You should be out every night with your friends or chatting up men who are here on holiday, going out dancing and drinking. You don't have to spend all your time with me." He reached up and kissed her as she put her arms around him and teasingly tugged at this towel around his waist, untucking it so it came loose.

"Rose, are you trying to make me have a heart attack?" he laughed, as he reached to unfasten her bra then leaned on her so his chest was touching her, then going back to kissing her.

They gently fooled around on the bed, Rose being careful not to overexert him. "There are ways of having sex that don't involve a lot of physical exertion you know," she giggled. "We could find them together, if you want? For the record, you're only ten years older than I am and I don't care about any age difference. You don't look older. Let's see how many ways we can find, say tonight, at my place?"

"Your place it is then. I have to go to my office for a few hours, can we meet for lunch? That's if you want to be seen twice with me?" he asked, reaching down to kiss her again, not wanting to leave her but he had to catch up on what was going on in the town for when the DS came back, it was going to be difficult enough as it was.

He prised his way off her, kissing her tummy as he got up and Rose let out a 'wow' when his towel moved, giving her a good view of him as he hastily pulled the towel back. Rose had gone to sleep on him but hadn't actually experienced him or seen him yet. He was thinking that this Rose Tyler would be the death of him. She called him a spoilsport as he covered himself and crossed over to the dresser to retrieve some clean shorts, turning away from her to put them on.

"Erm, haven't you forgotten something? You unfastened my bra so you can fasten it again," she said, getting up and turning around while he obliged, kissing the back of her neck.

"So, I'll see you for lunch then, the café across from the station?" He spun her around for another kiss. "That's if I can manage to pry myself away from you."

Rose finally left his room with him, going down the other staircase so as not to give him a reputation for bringing women to his room and Rose walked in the opposite direction back to her flat, Alec towards his office. They met for lunch and spent the rest of the weekend together in her flat, going out for Sunday lunch and a walk on the beach. It was still early season so there weren't many people around and no-one knew who he was anyway, becoming the town's newest Police Detective wasn't exactly front page news. Little did he know that he was soon going to become the centre of the media's attention for all the wrong reasons and he was going to need Rose more than ever.

They arrived separately at the station on Monday morning, Alec had to go back to his hotel to change. They were playing at dodging each other, Alec had said it was best she didn't bring him drinks into his office but they somehow got away with Rose getting up to make a drink whenever he was in the kitchen area, just talking shop for a few minutes. For the next two nights they would meet up by Rose waiting outside his hotel for him, outside the newspaper office opposite then walk up to her flat, calling at the Chinese one night or Rose would cook for them. He would stay the night, gently getting closer to actually having sex but Rose didn't want him to overdo it, he was running out of his medication and had to urge his friend to get a move on and send him some more.

On Wednesday night, he got back to his hotel to find an envelope waiting for him with the prescription he had been waiting for giving him 3 month's supply of the tablets he needed. He went across to meet Rose and asked where a pharmacy would still be open. She said the supermarket had one so they got a taxi to the superstore just outside town and he got them there. He got a funny look though when his prescription was marked with a surgery's stamp from Glasgow but had to say he was down from there visiting his girlfriend, holding Rose's hand. He couldn't show his Police ID, even though no-one knew him, just in case. Small towns harboured a lot of gossip.

Rose was slightly relieved that he'd got his medication which would last him until he was strong enough to have his operation and she was going to make it her responsibility to make sure he got it and that his secret would be safe, no matter what. What she didn't know was that it wasn't going to be as easy as she thought, events were about to unfold that would threaten their relationship and Alec's health despite her best efforts.

It was fortunate that Alec got a call first thing to go investigate a break-in at a farm just outside the town, so he wasn't in his office when news reached the office staff, including Rose, that a body had been found at the bottom of a cliff and after that, all hell broke loose but not before Ellie Miller waltzed into the office bringing sunshine and smiles, handing out presents including one for Rose, her favourite perfume. Rose felt guilty about accepting it but didn't say anything, she was sleeping with who was about to become Ellie's number one enemy and Rose was about to get right in the middle of it, maybe forcing her to choose sides. She was in love with Alec Hardy so she would have to try to keep neutral.

DS Miller was called over to see the chief so Rose went back to work but everyone knew what was going to happen and that she wouldn't take it well and someone was due some money for guessing correctly what her reaction time would be. Then, the news got round, everyone was in shock that such a thing could happen in the town and DS Miller was taken to the scene, all thoughts of the betting pool forgotten as phones started ringing and people were wanting answers. Even Rose had to join in, no-one needed files now.

She guessed Alec would be at the scene, goodness knows how he was going to cope in his condition, he came here to rest, not solve a murder case and he was going to be in charge of the biggest case to hit the town. She knew she would have to be there for him more than ever and it meant his secret may come out along with the revelation of their relationship, which was now bound to spill over into the office environment. They had spent almost a week together and he was meant to move out of his hotel at the weekend but it might have to wait, he didn't want anyone to know about them.

As a full scale murder investigation was now under way, Alec and DS Miller were already fighting each other, starting at the scene and continuing until they got back, with Alec discovering someone had told a local newspaper reporter and Rose knew who he meant. Ellie admitted that it had been her nephew, Rose knew him because he'd asked her out several times when Ellie had tried to play matchmaker but Rose had found him too immature for her liking and turned him down every time. She knew now that he'd use that against Alec once the story took hold because he would dig up Alec's past and anyone he was involved with so she would have to warn Alec but maybe now, he was going to have to work late and they wouldn't see much of each other but she had to try to warn him anyway.

Luckily for Rose, new files were being created so she was finding extra room for them so she was going to have to work late as information was starting to pour in. Alec had told everyone they'd have to pull out all the stops and went to do a press interview, everyone left in the station was watching it as he said they would catch whoever had done this. Rose stayed behind after everyone left but Ellie was still there and she couldn't get into his office without her noticing.

"Rose, why are you still here? There's no reason why you have to stay, why don't you get off home?" Ellie said. "See you in the morning."

Rose glanced at Alec, dying to say something to him then, taking a chance she asked if she could get Ellie anything before she left. Ellie said she was fine so she pushed her luck and stood at Alec's door and asked him, "Can I get you anything Sir?"

He looked up from his computer screen. "Ah, Rose isn't it? If I remember correctly you make a decent cup of tea. Yes, thanks" and went back to what he was doing.

Ellie watched her as she stepped away from the door, closing it behind her. "You're making a rod for your own back if you start making him tea all the time you know. Don't let him walk all over you, not like our last leader did. I'm surprised you put up with that. I've been out most of the day with him." Ellie stopped and nodded towards his office. "He's a pain in the arse. He got my job Rose, I come back from extended leave to find he's pinched my job and then I find I've got to drive him around all day then my best friend's son is murdered. This day couldn't get any worse if it tried. Then he's telling me how to do my job."

Rose didn't know what else to say except she was sorry. Sorry that Ellie hadn't got her promotion but if she had, Alec would never have come here and she wouldn't have met him and fallen in love with him.

"Ellie, I'm sorry you didn't get the job, I really am but maybe you should just give him a chance. There might be a reason why he's come here."

"Rose, don't defend him, I've had enough today and I really just want to go home but I can't until he does. Make him a drink then he might go home, wherever that is, probably the hotel, anywhere as long as he's out of my way."

Rose just smiled at her and went to make Alec a drink. She took in into his office, making sure Ellie was occupied. She put the drink on his desk and asked if there was anything else she could do for him, hoping he'd catch her meaning. He did as she mouthed to him that she wanted him to go home with her. She was just getting her jacket and saying goodnight to Ellie as he came out of his office, putting his jacket and coat on.

"Go home Miller, it's late, get a fresh start in the morning." Then he passed Rose and said, "Thanks for the tea, that might just get you elevated to my personal drinks maker." He held the door open for her shouting, "Night Miller" after him.