Fingers crossed

Alec was stunned at the verdict as he got a ride back to the station. How was he going to tell Rose? Rose had been worried all day and it showed. As James got out first at home time, Rose wondering how he did it when Donna took her time, he was waiting.

"I hope it's all gone well," he managed to tell her as everyone buzzed past.

"Thanks James, sorry about lunchtime and being quiet," Rose apologised.

"Aw, it's okay Rose, it's understandable," James smiled, not seeing Donna approaching as he stubbed his Converse shoe on the pavement.

"Talking about the moment of truth?" Donna tried not to mention the trial verdict.

"Ah. Donna," James came back to Earth as he'd been staring at Rose and Donna had told him repeatedly it was rude to stare at her.

"Well fingers crossed," Donna turned to Rose.

Jackie was already home and hoping Alec had some good news, then Rose would finally get on a train up to Glasgow. She wasn't bothered about being left on her own, Rose had been away from where she wanted to be for far too long. So not long after Rose got home, the phone rang but Jackie beat Rose to it.

Alec had got home to find his apartment empty and prayed Tess hadn't gone back to her place to pack. He was not ready to have a flat-mate of any kind unless it was Rose and he certainly didn't want Tess as one. He found all the ingredients to make dinner on the kitchen counter with a note saying she'd be round later.

He just hoped she wouldn't let herself in while he was on the phone to Rose.

"Ah, Jackie," he greeted Rose's mother when he'd said hello. "Is Rose home yet?"

"She's here. Please tell me she can finally go back?" Jackie asked hopefully as Rose stood opposite.

"I need to speak to her, please Jackie," was all he would say to her.

Jackie thought that didn't sound so hopeful. She silently passed the phone to Rose then went to sit down, her soap operas on hold for the night but the video recorder going.

"Hi Alec," Rose greeted him.

Alec didn't know how to tell her Bob had just walked free, with a smirk on his face.

"Rose. I'm really sorry love but he got a suspended sentence. I think the judge saw no danger in letting him go, since you weren't up here."

Rose sat down, wishing she'd bought one of those portable phones that James's department had on offer.

"Are you still there?" Alec was asking.

Jackie took the phone from her.

"He got away?" she asked Alec.

"Sorry Jackie, he got five years but suspended for two, with conditions," Alec told her. "Is Rose still there?"

Jackie tried to give her the phone back so Rose took it, Jackie seeing a tear in Rose's eyes.

"Alec. Are you sure the judge knew that Bob's still a danger?" she asked.

"He didn't seem to think so, sorry. It was one of the conditions that he stayed away from you and anyone else he'd had contact with," Alec tried to console her.

"That's it? It's not enough Alec, he'd find a way around it," Rose replied.

"Rose, I can look after you, I promise," Alec tried to assure her.

"While you're at work? While I'm at work or shopping or even in the apartment on my own?" Rose almost cried. "He's still trying to keep me away Alec. He won't come down here, he'll wait and see if I go back."

"Rose, don't think like that," Alec replied, seeing what time it was and hoping Tess wouldn't keep her word. "I'll come down, I'll set off in the early hours of Saturday morning, can you take the day off?"

Rose remembered Donna had inferred for her to call in sick.

"Yeah, I suppose so? I warned Donna but she told me not to do it while she was there," Rose replied.

"Good, then wait for me, please Rose? I'll get a few hours sleep then I'll set off around midnight. Please don't give up love?"

"We'll talk about it," Rose relented. "How can I be sure of anything now though?"

"Rose, how will he know you're back?" Alec wanted to know.

"He'll be expecting me to. Either that or he'll know I've stayed away. He's still won Alec."

"Then don't let him Rose?" Alec replied wearily.

He was tired and drinking too much last night was taking its toll on him, especially waking up with Tess. The thing was, he didn't remember if Tess had got him to give in last night and have sex with her, he was still a bit hazy on that point. Knowing Tess, she would insinuate he'd given in whether they had or not. She'd almost tried when he'd woken up.

He was worried if he didn't go see Rose on Saturday that he would give in but he didn't love Tess. He said goodbye to Rose and went to change out of his shirt, gathered his laundry and had just put the washing machine on when he heard the door opening.

It was his worst nightmare when Tess had an overnight bag with her and she handed it to him.

"Thought I'd bring a few things," Tess smiled at him. "I heard what happened Alec, I'm sorry."

"No, you're not Tess and you can take those things back, I'm not in the mood," he told her bluntly.

"You don't mean that Alec. I'll get on with dinner, you still need to eat. Then you can tell me why the judge only gave that man a suspended sentence," she replied, not seeming bothered.

"How did you get to know?" he asked her. "Don't bother answering that. I talked to Rose, she's upset so I'm going down overnight tomorrow night. I did warn you."

"What's the point?" Tess wanted to know. "When you know she'll not come back with you?" she reminded him, trying to put her arms around his neck.

He tried to shrug her away but she persisted.

"Stop it Tess. Make dinner, if you insist then get a cab home. Where are my car keys?"

"I'd have picked you up from work if I'd known you were working until your normal time Alec," she replied, kissing the side of his mouth then going into the kitchen. "Your keys are on the hall stand."

He'd not noticed on his way in, he'd just been relieved she hadn't been there to greet him. He wondered how Rose was feeling and so did James as he'd dropped Donna home and gone in to see his aunt and find out how his uncle was.

"Is your dad feeling better?" James had asked on the way to Donna's.

"No, he might need to go to hospital again. Mum's getting really worried," Donna had told him. "Come in and see him or are ya worried about Rose?" she teased him.

"Stop it Donna. Yes, I'm worried about your dad and Rose," he admitted. "I hope she got some good news?"

"Well, ya can console her tomorrow, spaceman," Donna smiled as they reached her house. "I can call her for ya?"

"No, best not?" James debated whether to let her or not. "I don't want to seem pushy."

"You are pushy," Donna laughed as she let them in. "Looks like granddad's here," she added as she heard his voice.

"Hello Son," Wilfred greeted James after Donna. "You still chasing after Donna's friend? Rose was it?" the older man laughed.

"He won't learn his lesson Granddad," Donna laughed.

"I thought she had a Scottish boyfriend?" her mother interrupted as she came into the kitchen with a tray.

"Not for much longer," Donna replied. "James, go say hello to your uncle."

"Aw, that's a shame then," her granddad replied as James left.

"I know but James will console her," Donna smiled.

Alec was sat opposite Tess at the kitchen table. She wasn't a bad cook but Rose was better and she never made fancy dishes, unlike Tess had just showed off. Tess was hoping he would show his appreciation as she offered him more of the new bottle of red wine she'd bought.

"No Tess, I'm not drinking more than one glass tonight," Alec insisted.

"I thought you'd maybe had too much last night," Tess replied.

"Then you should have stopped me," he told her. "You never intended to though."

"I thought you needed it. Excuse me," Tess huffed. "I thought it may relax you more and I was right."

"In what way?" Alec then wanted to know, unsure as to what she meant.

Then he had a dreadful feeling and stopped eating.

"Don't be so naïve, you know in what way. You relaxed better than usual, you didn't fight me off when I went for your underwear, to start with," she recalled, seeing the look of horror on his face at the mere thought. "Do I have to spell it out Alec? We had sex and you don't remember?"

Alec remembered no such thing but his head had been fuzzy and it could have been she'd taken advantage of him and taken off his shorts and made him go through the act. He couldn't remember and if he'd actually enjoyed it, he would have remembered. Still, he'd done it, if Tess were to be believed but why would she lie?

"So are you still going to visit Rose, now?" she wanted to know.

How could he go down and see Rose now? How could he be with Rose when he had betrayed her, even when he didn't actually remember? He had no choice other than to believe Tess. She would tell all her friends at work and word would soon get around if he went off to try to get Rose to come back with him.

He still loved Rose, how could he not even after all this time of being apart?

"I have to think about it," he replied, leaving his drink.

Tess went to refill it but he put his hand over it.

"Come on Alec, you need to relax," she tried to encourage him.

"No, I need a clear head and I never had one today. What are you trying to do to me Tess?"

"Nothing Alec, except trying to make you see sense. You say you still love Rose but how long can you maintain a relationship with her?" Tess wanted to know.

"Until I pass the sergeant's exam, then I can apply for a job anywhere," he replied.

"You may have forgotten about her by then," Tess warned him.

"Why are you trying to make me forget her Tess?" he wanted to know since his head was beginning to clear slightly.

"You have to think about it Alec," she insisted. "You could be wasting your time, she may have already met someone else, did you even think about that?"

Alec sat back, a feeling of dread coming over him. He just realised Rose had talked about the cousin of her friend Donna, who worked at the same store. Had she mentioned a name? Surely she didn't know him that well?

"What's wrong Alec?" he was asked. "Oh, she does know someone then?" Tess smiled. "You think she won't wonder if she's ever going to get the courage to come back with the man she fears still on the loose? Think again Alec, carefully, when there's someone nearby to comfort her. How did she sound when you talked to her?"

Alec was thinking about it. Rose had seemed very quiet but it was understandable with the news he'd just given her. He could imagine Jackie was fuming right now and while he still blamed her for letting Rose almost get involved with what had been going on, he'd never have met Rose otherwise. The question now was, did he still set off to go see her and try to get her to come back with him?

If he didn't say he thought he'd had sex with Tess and Tess kept quiet about it, he could just about live with the fact he'd allowed Tess to take advantage of him but he'd have to be more careful in future. Tess though was about to drop a bombshell on him.

"By the way Alec, you were in that much of a hurry last night, I never had chance to insist you wore something."

"What?" Alec got up from the table and Tess trying to get him to sit down again. "I don't have anything, why should I?"

"Really Alec, that's being a little irresponsible of you," Tess replied. "Well it's just as well I recently went on the pill and should be covered, well you'd better hope so anyway. I went on it because I was hoping you'd forget about Rose."

"You shouldn't have done that Tess," he replied.

"One of us had to make the first move Alec," she told him. "What about you and Rose, when you were old enough?"

"That is none of your business Tess," he reminded her.

"Don't tell me you weren't taking any precautions Alec?" Tess replied.

"Yes, we were but I'm not discussing it with you Tess. I'll clear the dishes, you get a cab home," he suggested.

"Come Alec, you could at least show some appreciation for me making dinner for you? Don't you want a little consolation for not getting the verdict you wanted?"

"No Tess, I just want to be on my own and tomorrow night, I will want the same. I'm going to get a few hours sleep then I'm going to set off to see Rose."

He waited for Tess to get up and she did but she took some of the dishes into the kitchen. Alec just tried to put it down as her being helpful and hoped she'd call for a cab but she was already putting the dishes into some soapy water as the hot water tap was running.

"Leave them Tess," he suggested. Tess turned to take what he was carrying. "I'll leave them to soak."

"I'm glad you're seeing sense Alec," Tess turned away again.

Then she caught him by surprise as she went for the hand towel then going to put her arms around his neck. She began initiating kissing him, Alec trying to resist but she was persistent and he found himself kissing her back. He knew it felt nothing like when he was kissing Rose, Rose's lip gloss tasted like strawberries and she made him tingle as she would pull her lips away for a few moments until she changed angles.

Then Rose would give him short, sweet kisses as their lips got a little sore and she would begin kissing his neck. With Tess, it tasted nothing like his time kissing Rose but he felt like he couldn't break away from Tess, that she would get mad if he did and she'd carry on anyway. So he just kept on until she stopped.

"Alec, you said to leave the dishes," she reminded him, giving him a quick peck on the lips as he tried to turn towards the sink.

He was looking for any excuse to avoid anything else she was going to spring on him now she thought she'd got his attention. She hadn't really, it was just easier to comply than debate it.

"I don't want that sauce stuck to the dishes Tess," he replied, that being the only thing he could think of as a quick response.

Tess let out a laugh. He knew it was a feeble excuse and she would see through it.

"I don't think they'll come to any harm Alec. Let's go relax on the sofa?"

She got up and steered him towards the sofa and pulled him down with her.

"Tess, this is not a good idea," he still insisted, trying not to kiss her back.

"Come on Alec, you didn't resist before," Tess replied, trying to get his polo shirt buttons open.

"Tess, there's a chance I may get Rose to come back," he tried to convince her.

"You're only trying to fool yourself Alec. You know deep down that she won't, not now," Tess tried to convince him back. "She would have been back by now."

"She was waiting to see what happened," Alec told her. "I have to give her the choice."

"You keep saying that," Tess replied as the last button came undone. "How many chances are you going to give her? I'm right here."

Alec knew that, she had reminded him many a time lately. Tess slowly gathered the hem of his polo shirt and began pulling it over his head, stopping to put her hand on his sparsely haired chest. She had already seen what she liked in bed, though the having sex with him was a slight exaggeration on her part but he hadn't been in a position to deny it at the time.

"Why isn't that enough Alec?" she wanted to know. "How do you think I feel when you keep saying you want Rose to come back? It hurts my feelings Alec."

He did want Rose back but it was becoming more and more plain that she wouldn't. He'd loved Rose since they were both thirteen and although only being together for two years, they'd spent as much time as they could until he'd joined the police. That had been his downfall, he thought as his t-shirt came off and Tess was indicating she wanted him to return the gesture.

Could things ever be the same with Rose now he'd had sex with Tess, well if Tess could be believed but he couldn't take the chance Tess was bluffing. When he'd been down to see Rose, all he was guilty of was he and Tess had slept in the same bed and nothing had happened. If Rose did agree to come back with him, he'd have to hope Tess would stay quiet about it but he doubted she would.

The question was, would Rose understand that Tess was bluffing? He thought she would, they'd had a special bond since they were teenagers.

The following day, Rose was trying to come up with ideas for taking Saturday off without involving Donna, so that included not talking about it when they met up and not telling James either. James had taken some friendly advice from his grandfather the night before on how to handle Rose, whom Wilfred had been told by Donna that she was in a dilemma about Alec.

"Just be a friend to her then," Wilfred had advised James.

"I'm trying to be, Gramps," James tried to put on a smile.

"Well, that's all you can do then, apart from offer her some sympathy," Wilfred had told him.

So now, James had left Donna talking to someone and he'd gone to the break room to make a drink for Rose to try to impress her. He had wondered why she was still hanging onto a thread of hope she'd be able to face going back to Scotland. He knew she was scared to death of this man from her time there and from what he'd heard, she had a right to be scared.

He himself would love a piece of the man who had tried to get her involved with others of that age and abuse them and although Rose herself hadn't been abused physically, enough damage had been done. It seemed since then, Alec had been the only male she'd trusted so could he get her to trust him?

"Good morning Rose," James greeted her as she came through the door and he handed a drink to her.

"Hi James. Hey, thanks. Where's Donna?"

"Talking to someone, they went into the ladies room," James grinned. "So, what happened? I mean with the call you were waiting for?"

Rose went over to stand by the window so James followed.

"It's all over, the judge gave him a suspended sentence," Rose replied, trying to keep calm.

"I'm sorry Rose. So is that it?" he asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. Maybe it's because I wouldn't go up there and tell the court in person?" Rose wondered.

"Maybe you should have done?" James replied.

"Leave it James, it's done with," Rose had to admit, mainly to herself.

He wanted to put his hand on her shoulder but with a room full of people, he thought he'd best not.

"Hey, cheer up Rose. Why don't you come on the works trip with us?" he suggested. "It's only a few weeks away and Donna was saying it's not full up yet."

"I don't go on the works trips James," she replied, looking at the street below. "It reminds me too much of going off with Alec and his brother on trips when they used to visit."

James thought no matter what he tried to do, it would take drastic measures to get her out of her being low.

"Weeell," he pondered. "At least think about it then?"

"Okay, I'll think about it," she relented as James put his fingers through his hair.

He smiled back at her, seeing the smallest of smiles in return.

"Will you get mad at me, if I ask you to go to the cinema with me tomorrow night? You can choose the film," he suggested. "I mean if Alec doesn't come down? Well if he does come down, you won't be on your own, will you? I just didn't want you being on your own," he tried to explain.

He thought what an idiot he was, why would she choose to go out with him if Alec turned up?

"No, I wouldn't get mad at you James and thanks for offering. If Alec doesn't turn up, I won't feel like going out though."

"Maybe some other time then?" James asked hopefully.

He knew there would be no next time if Alec came to take her back to Scotland but if he left without her, she would be devastated and it may be up to him to make her feel better.