Alec's family tried to be enthusiastic over Christmas but he noticed a sour mood amongst them when they had all been hoping earlier in the year that Rose might finally come back.
"See, I told you they didn't want us there," Tess was telling him when they got back earlier than planned after Christmas dinner.
"It was your imagination Tess," Alec insisted as he opened the door.
"Well my imagination isn't that good," Tess huffed.
"Well I expect the same treatment from your family then," he told her.
He hadn't really expected his family to welcome Tess with open arms when he'd stuffed things up with Rose by giving in to Tess instead. Why had he let Tess win? It was like all the fight had suddenly gone out of him. He should have insisted Rose come back with him and get married, he'd given Bob a warning, it should have been enough.
Had he been too late though? Maybe even at that stage, Rose had sought consolation with Donna's cousin James? As expected, he was greeted frostily by Tess's mother and sister but her stepfather took him to one side during their New Year's Eve party.
"Don't worry, they'll come round," Alec was being told and pointing towards the three of them.
"I expect the news was a surprise?" Alec had wondered.
"Well not really," her father admitted. "It's not up to me to say anything though."
"Well Tess thought we'd been together long enough," Alec admitted.
"I expect that was it then?" her father agreed.
Alec suspected it was something else though but he had no clues as to what it was except she'd left home to go live in Paisley for reasons other than the training opportunities. It didn't seem Tess was going to tell him any time soon and she'd warned her family not to say anything.
"Feeling like the odd one out?" her father then joked.
"Ah, you could say that," Alec had to admit.
"Well I'll say welcome to the family even if no-one else does," Alec was then told. "You'll get her mother's talk tomorrow no doubt?"
That was one thing he'd never had to face from Jackie, since he'd known her a long time. He couldn't imagine how she was feeling about him giving up on Rose. He expected she was bitterly disappointed in him. This would have been a difficult Christmas and new year for both of them but he expected they'd got through it better than he had.
When the party was over, they had been given separate rooms and it seemed Tess was going to stick to them.
"It's only for two nights," Tess was telling him outside the smaller bedroom.
"Fine, we'll do that then?" Alec had to agree.
"You're not going to fight about it then?" Tess looked disappointed.
"I'm not arguing with your mother," Alec had decided.
"You never argued with your ex girlfriend's mother then?" Tess changed the subject to Rose.
"I never needed to," he replied, going to give her a peck on the cheek.
He saw her watching him as he opened the bedroom door, like she couldn't believe he'd give in that easily for a change. He knew she'd been surprised her mother insisted they had separate rooms but he already knew the woman had been surprised at Tess's announcement.
Well no-one had been more surprised as he'd been that he'd actually agreed to it. He was also surprised he'd survived the visit and they were on their way back to Paisley. Sandbrook had been the nearest to London he'd been in months and was sorely tempted to just go off and find Rose but she was probably spending the holidays with her mother and James and he'd only spoil it all by just turning up on Jackie's doorstep and expecting Rose to forgive him.
He had to face the facts that it wouldn't be fair to expect Rose to give everything up after he'd not turned up that time.
Rose was getting ready to welcome the baby right after the holidays. They'd got almost everything she'd need, the nursery was finished and James was settling into his new job but had told the principal that he would need a few weeks off when the baby arrived. Luckily for him, his new boss was a family man himself and James and Rose had already decided no-one else was going to know the baby wasn't his.
Rose didn't know that Alec would actually get engaged to Tess though and that Alec was going to find himself in London over the coming months. He was called to the chief's office one Monday morning and given the task of following something up they'd been working on.
"Why me?" Alec was asking the chief.
"What's wrong Alec?" the chief wanted to know. "You would have jumped at the chance of going down there at one time. I can find someone else if you want?"
"No Sir, I will go," Alec finally agreed. "It would be better coming from you letting Tess know."
"I never expected you to give in to Tess," the chief had to smile. "Send her in if she doesn't believe I am sending you then."
Meanwhile, Jackie had gone to stay with Rose as the time was approaching that the baby was due any time and James hadn't wanted Rose to be on her own. So he'd picked Jackie up on the Sunday and she'd told him he'd done the right thing.
"I know Jackie," James had told her on the way back. "We talked about it, she still doesn't want anyone to know who the baby's real father is."
"Well you didn't have to agree to go along with it," Jackie had reminded him.
"It was my idea Jackie," James had let out a laugh.
"Rose never said that," Jackie had admitted. "Did she?"
James tried to remember but couldn't so he just went along with it.
"Well it's best she's not alone Jackie," he'd then told her. "It would take my aunt ten minutes to drive round, the ambulance would be there by then. Anyway, I'm sure Rose would rather you be there."
So the first thing Alec did after driving down the next day was book into his overnight hotel and having located the police station they'd been collaborating with then drive over to the Powell Estate. It had been too long, he thought as he parked on the main road just across from the precinct. Tess had argued with him the night before and had tried to stop him leaving again.
"This is business Tess," he'd told her before he'd gone to get a few hours sleep. "You might have stopped me before but not now. We're engaged, why are you so insecure?"
"You can't really blame me Alec," Tess had told him.
"Really? How do you think Rose felt when I let her down that time and stayed with you instead eh?" he had retaliated.
"That's not fair Alec, don't pull a guilt trip on me," Tess had objected.
"Well don't mention it again then," he'd just replied.
He walked across the precinct to the door he and Rose had gone through many a time even though he used to park around the back. He knew the code to get in but thought it a bit much just knocking on Jackie's door after all that time and leaving Rose. He pressed the number and hoped she'd be at home. He got no answer though and wondered if she was still somewhere doing a neighbour's hair.
He thought he might just go sit in his car for half an hour then try again. He was about to turn when an old woman was passing.
"Looking for someone dearie?" Alec was asked.
"Ah, yes. I was looking for Jackie Tyler," he replied.
The woman looked him up and down before answering.
"Didn't she go off with you yesterday?" the woman looked puzzled.
"Ah, no, that wasn't me," Alec replied, wondering what she meant and she must have been confused.
Then he remembered that she had probably mistaken him for Donna's cousin.
"That's funny, I could have sworn she went off with you. You're wasting your time calling for her then," he was told and with that, the woman went off.
He wondered what Jackie would be doing going off with Donna's cousin? That was still no reason for her not to be at home, maybe she was being collected to go to Donna's house for Sunday lunch? He thought he'd give her another half hour then try again. If there was still no-one at home, maybe the woman had been right and Jackie had gone off for another reason.
Should he wait and see if Rose got home first? He'd maybe see her get off the bus, if she got home at the same time as she used to. He sat in his car, wishing he'd got one of those car phones and thought he'd see about one when he got back. He was surprised the police weren't handing them out to senior officers but he doubted his rank would be amongst the first.
He didn't see Rose but got out of the car anyway, before someone reported him and tried Jackie's number again. Still no answer so maybe that was that? He walked off, looking disappointed and drove back to his hotel. He knew he wouldn't have time tomorrow, he had an appointment first thing, then he'd be making his way back.
Now he wished he could have done everything by phone and maybe one day, a video link would be more reliable and more commonplace. He couldn't keep coming back and hoping Rose would forgive him, especially if she was involved with James.
He didn't see Mickey was watching him but Mickey just pulled a face. As far as he was concerned, Jackie wouldn't take any notice of him when he couldn't decide if it was the same bloke or someone else looking for her.
Alec got back late the following night and went straight to bed, trying not to wake Tess.
"How did it go?" she asked him as he failed at not waking her.
"Fine, I'm tired Tess, go back to sleep," he just replied.
"Did you try to find Rose?" Tess yawned.
"Leave it Tess, I'm warning you," he replied as he turned onto his side away from her.
"Well don't tell me you weren't tempted?" Tess told him.
"Don't you trust me Tess?" he wanted to know as he turned out the lamp. "While we are on the subject, what are you hiding about you being up here?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about Alec. I thought you were tired?" she replied.
"I am, you started it," he reminded her. "We need to talk about that because I got a feeling when we were in Sandbrook you were trying to hide something."
"That's just your imagination," she insisted.
"Was it?" he asked.
While he'd been away, she had been driving her new work partner crazy by wondering what he was doing while he was away.
When Alec had been looking for Jackie or Rose on his visit to London, Jackie had settled into the smaller room at the back of the house overlooking the garden.
"Are ya gonna miss all the gossip on the estate," Rose had joked to her.
"You're more important than the gossip," Jackie replied. "Just think, only a week to go."
"Yeah, James was worried leaving me on my own," Rose admitted as the baby kicked again. "He thought of getting his aunt around but that would have meant I had three calls to make."
"Well yeah, ya only want to have one to make," Jackie had to agree.
So two days later, Rose was getting pains and Jackie was certain the baby was going to be a few days early. Rose had suspected the date may be wrong, she knew it could have happened the day Alec had arrived, since she'd not been expecting him until the following week.
Rose was in the back of the ambulance and since she showed all the signs, James had been alerted and was meeting them at the maternity unit attached to the hospital.
"Rose!" James called as she was being helped out of the ambulance.
"Hi. Well this is it," Rose told him as she sat in the chair and he tried to keep up with her as best he could.
She was wheeled into the delivery room and James was told to put a gown on if he wanted to be with her.
"Hey, ya can wait with my mum if ya want?" Rose told him as she was being helped into a gown herself.
James thought about it. This really wasn't his baby but he'd supported her all throughout her pregnancy and he'd felt like it was.
"No love, I'm staying," he told her as the curtain was pulled back once she was on the bed.
"It won't be long now," the midwife was telling Rose. "How long had you been getting pains?"
Rose got another one so the midwife decided not to wait for an answer as one of the doctors came into the room, asking if Rose wanted anything for the pain.
"Will it affect the delivery?" Rose wanted to know.
"That depends," the doctor evaded the question.
"Rose, don't be in pain," James advised her, wanting to make it easier for her.
"Yeah, okay then," Rose agreed.
"We'll try something fairly mild shall we?" the doctor told her as he put a tube in her arm.
Rose could feel she wanted to start pushing but was told to try and wait.
"Tell that to the baby," Rose replied to the nurse at the opposite side to James, who was slightly behind her.
After a lot of encouragement by James and the staff, she was finally getting cleaned up as was the baby, a healthy baby boy to be exact. The nurse had wrapped him up and handed him to Rose as James sat on the edge of the bed when he was allowed back in.
He'd been excitedly telling Jackie all about it and that the baby was okay.
"So are ya ever gonna tell Donna the truth?" Jackie had asked him again.
"Maybe one day?" he wondered. "We'll have to tell Jamie as well, when he's old enough."
"Why call him Jamie?" Jackie had then wanted to know.
"It was Rose's idea," James admitted. "She finally told me that Alec's middle name is James."
"Oh. Well she never told me," Jackie seemed surprised. "I wonder why she never mentioned it?"
"I suppose the same reason it took her a while to tell me her middle name?" James replied.
"Did she ever tell ya that Alec finally found out that his cousin was actually his half brother?" Jackie then asked him.
"Ah, no, I don't think so," James had to admit as the door opposite opened, since he really didn't want to know about the man who had deserted Rose.
"Tell my mum she can come in now," Rose turned to him to take the baby from him. "Did ya call Donna?"
"Yes love, I called Donna, she'll be here later with my aunt," James replied as he got up.
Donna had left work early after celebrating with those in the office who knew Rose and she'd been off to the baby department to get a suitable gift and then to the card department.
James took a break when Donna and his aunt arrived for the evening visiting hour, then he was allowed a few minutes since Rose had a private room at his insistence.
"I'll come early tomorrow," he told her as he watched over the sleeping baby. "Are you letting them take him to the nursery so you can get some sleep?"
"Yeah, just tonight though, I'll have to get used to seeing to him," Rose admitted.
In Paisley, Alec was totally unaware Rose had just had his baby. Tess had got him to agree to a date for their wedding and she was putting in for a promotion to detective sergeant, having also got him to help her with the questions but he'd only got her to memorise them, not given her the answers.
She had decided on a September wedding, just registry since neither of them were that religious and Alec didn't have a lot of people to invite. John was almost ready to move down to London and had hurriedly set a wedding date for March before they left.
Alec was invited to the wedding but wasn't sure Tess was invited but he supposed she'd tag along just to say she'd been but Alec knew John would rather have Rose there. Jackie eventually went home as James went back to work and Rose got used to being on her with the baby.
Thankfully, everyone thought Jamie was looking like James but unknown to him, that was because he actually looked like Alec. They had decided to tell Jamie on his fifteenth birthday and hoped they were doing the right thing, then they'd have to finally admit it to Donna. They had no idea how Donna would take the news but it would be slightly better than his aunt would take it.
Rose was unaware that John was going to settle not far from where she now lived. As the months went on, Alec got another opportunity to visit London when Tess wanted to go home for a while as they had saved some leave for their wedding and had some left over.
"What are you going to do?" Tess had wanted to know as she packed, since Alec wasn't invited.
"Catch up with things, see my aunt, she's not been well again. I think she misses John," Alec admitted.
So with Tess safely on her way to Sandbrook, he checked on his aunt and admitted he was going to try to see Rose again.
"Alec, if you're not sure getting married to Tess is a good idea, why are you doing it?" his aunt wanted to know.
"You don't know Tess that well," Alec told her.
"Well getting married for the sake of it?" she questioned him yet again. "Do you think Rose will want to see you after all this time?"
"I hope so, if someone is in this time? I will only try once, if not, I can't hang around in case someone tells her mother."
"You'd go all that way?" his aunt asked him.
"I have to try," he replied.
He was to be disappointed again as Jackie was visiting Rose the day he chose to try to find her. He'd even used the code, which hadn't been changed and knocked on the door, risking Jackie chasing him off with something for even daring to visit.
He looked away as he heard the door next to theirs opening.
"If you're looking for Jackie, she's out visiting Rose," the woman told him. "Oh, you'd know that though, wouldn't you?" she added.
"Well no, not really," he told the woman, who looked at him on hearing his Scottish accent.
"Sorry," she replied and went back inside, leaving Alec wondering what she meant by that.
Then he realised that his suspicion that James looked a bit like him was right. What was the point in trying any more? Rose had obviously moved in with James and he couldn't really blame her, it had been of his own making.
He made his way to his hotel and wondered if he dared call Jackie but decided it wasn't such a good idea. He'd wanted to see Rose, to decide if he should marry Tess or not but would Rose leave James for him after all this time? She'd missed his birthday, the first time since they'd known each other and he'd now miss hers but that was just how it had worked out.
Rose had known she'd missed Alec's birthday and had thought about sending him a card but had then thought maybe if Tess saw it, it would stir up trouble and the past for Alec. Then she had also thought she'd have to tell James if she did and he maybe wouldn't be all that happy about it.
They'd become a family over the last few months and that was all that mattered now, she had to try and put the past behind her even though Jamie was a constant reminder. She had finally got everything she'd ever got off Alec and put them in boxes and placed them at the back of her wardrobe cupboard.
A few months later, it was Tess and Alec's wedding day. John had travelled up from London to support him, his aunt couldn't attend but his dad was also there, along with some of his fellow officers he worked with.
"I hope you did the right thing Alec?" John was asking him at the reception.
"She got what she wanted," Alec nodded towards Tess, who was with her mother.
"Why didn't you go to where Tess lives?" John asked him.
"No idea, she made the arrangements," Alec admitted. "I think she wants to go back there though. I have to stay here a while longer, until I get my exam result."
"Imagine you, a DI," John laughed. "Rose always used to tease you about that."
"I know, don't remind me. If we move, I won't be able to catch Bob and keep my promise to her."
"Hey, you did your best," John reminded him. "Looks like it's time to cut the cake," he nodded to where Tess was approaching the table.
It turned out Alec was right, Tess did want to move and he was called into the chief's office again to be told if he'd get his promotion.
"Well done Alec, you deserve it," the chief was telling him. "I know Tess did well recently also. About you both moving though? It won't be easy."
"I was not expecting it to be," Alec admitted.
"I might be able to get you into separate stations in Sandbrook. Luckily they have two for some reason. It won't be until the new year though," the chief revealed.
"Fine, I'm in no hurry to move, I'm worried about my aunt," Alec told him. "She looked out for me when I lost my mother."
"Well leave it with me then, I'll see what I can do," the chief replied.
When they got home, he wanted the truth out of her.
"If you don't tell me then I am not moving," he warned her. "Why did you move up here Tess? Did you come up here looking for someone to marry?"
"What?" Tess seemed surprised. "Why do you think that?"
"You may as well admit it," Alec told her.
"Alec, you don't understand," she started to explain. "I had to leave that station. I was getting nowhere, it wasn't easy for women."
"It's not only that though, is it Tess?" he wanted to know.
"No. Someone offered to help me and it got complicated," she finally admitted. "I had to get out and I was determined not to remain an ordinary police constable. I got to know about the training up here and as part of an agreement, I accepted it."
"What sort of agreement?" Alec asked her.
"I didn't want to travel up here, I had no choice Alec," Tess told him. "Everyone almost found out what had happened so I just took some leave and then accepted the training up here and no, I didn't look up who was single, I was told there were several single officers here."
"Then why me, when I had Rose?" he now wanted to know.
"You seemed lonely, she was in London, you were here," she replied.
