Hi! :) So, this story is a pretty dark one. In fact I think it's the darkest I've ever written, but this show is just gold for angsty writing! It's taking place before the events of season 3 but with the difference that Alec returned to Broadchurch without his daughter Daisy.
Here's a warning about swearing and description of suicidal thoughts happening in this story. If you're sensitive to that proceed with caution. Also, just let me say that just because you think you're alone doesn't mean you are! I hope that everyone has a person like Ellie in their lives.
Okay, we start slow, people. Here it goes...
Chapter 1:
Ellie didn't understand.
She watched him from her desk. One of her poor colleagues was in there with him. Yes, he'd made a mistake; PC Sullivan shouldn't have nodded off during an observation. Their target was a troublesome, young man; a notorious liar and a petty thief. Everyone knew him around here and it wasn't like they wouldn't know where to find him at the end of the day.
It wasn't the end of the world.
And yet, here was her boss, yelling at Sullivan so loud that the whole floor of the CID could hear him through the closed glass door of his office.
It didn't make any sense to Ellie. Why did Hardy come back when he still hated it so much?
"Now go, piss off!" she heard him snarl. PC Sullivan retreated hastily. Ellie could hear his voice clearer as the door opened. "And send me someone who can be bloody professional!"
Something moved through the station as the pale-faced PC Sullivan turned. A kind of invisible wave of discomfort. Everyone cowered just a little bit lower in fear of getting picked next to suffer under DI Hardy's colossal bad mood.
Almost simultaneously they suddenly all turned their heads towards Ellie. Her shoulders dropped. "Oh, come on." she complained, but PC Sullivan had already set off towards her direction.
"Please, Ellie," he said meekly. "You're the only one who can deal with him."
She sighed in annoyance, rolling her eyes. "Alright. But you all owe me a giant basket of goodies for this." she said, jabbing a finger at various people in the room who all nodded thankfully. The tension melted away.
Ellie shook her head to herself, straightened her suit jacket and walked towards her boss's door. She saw him at his desk, his face like a thunderstorm. Dark, angry and unrelenting.
This isn't a healthy workspace anymore, Ellie realized suddenly.
Alec Hardy had only been back for a couple of weeks and he'd already managed to annoy everyone so much that they avoided crossing his path, stopped talking whenever he was around and pulled their heads between their shoulders when he was addressing them. Only Brian from SOCO still dared to call him 'Shitface' behind his back. Everyone else was too afraid.
It's worse than it ever was before, Ellie noticed.
She and her colleagues were always annoyed but never truly scared of him. Hardy was, most of his time, a grumpy, rude bastard and he could be intimidating as hell, but he appreciated good work and he let his people know when they did good. He was fair and he managed to keep the station in order. Everyone knew his place.
Whereas now he barely talked to anyone. All he did was complain, grunt and yell. Even with her. Especially with her, she noticed.
Ellie had tried to be friendly as always; she welcomed him back after two years of absence, sure that they could pick up their tough but mutually respected relationship right where they left off. They had been a great team, after all.
But he was different this time. More abrasive, impatient and... sad, maybe?
She had asked what brought him back to Broadchurch, ignored his unsatisfactory grumble of an answer and tried again another time. He didn't crack yet. Surely, he just needed to get back into their old groove.
He will come around, was what Ellie had thought.
But now as she stood in front of his office and she saw him angrily muttering and cursing at his computer before he shoved his keyboard away and leaned over a stack of paperwork, Ellie knew that it was time to get to the bottom of this all-consuming black hole of bitterness that threatened to drag everyone down with him.
She'll do it for his own sake, she told herself before entering. Hardy looked up with his trademark frown and rolled his eyes. "Of course they send you."
"Your own fault, sir. If you want to talk to someone else, I suggest you be less of a knob to everyone."
Apparently, he didn't want to dignify that with an answer as he just focused back on his paperwork. Ellie waited for a heartbeat, clenching her hands in front of her. Not because she was nervous or anxious, but to remind herself to stay calm. "You wanted something?"
He looked confused for a second, then he remembered. "That bloke, shop burglar... that numbskull, PC Whatshisname, lost him last night! Shop manager called earlier to complain because his store was broken into again. He was yelling at me for my incompetent bunch of sluggards and you know what, he isn't wrong! Falling asleep on the job," Hardy muttered. "I should sack him."
"Come now, don't overreact." Ellie jumped in. "Sullivan has a new baby at home. He was probably just sleep-deprived."
"I don't care! He has a bloody job to do, for god's sake!" Hardy cursed.
"Alright, that's quite enough!" Ellie yelled back. "I'll take care of the shop manager myself and I see that someone else is put in charge for the observation. Preferably one without kids or other private commitments. Happy now?"
"Delighted." he growled, turning away from her without another word.
Ellie stood there, steaming angrily. She would've liked nothing more than to storm out and leave him and his incurable grumpiness be, but she stayed. She thought she knew his moods pretty well by now, but this was something she hadn't dealt with yet.
It was something darker.
"Actually, sir, it's not my job to assign tasks like that. It's yours." He looked up very slowly. The glare on his face would've made a lesser person cower, but Ellie raised her chin defiantly. "It's your job to talk to your people, get to know them and then assign them suitably." she clarified.
He continued to stare her down but Ellie didn't budge. "Miller, I have work to do. I'd advise you to leave now if there's nothing else you want to lecture me on."
"You know what, there is!" Ellie spoke up fiercely and he groaned, dragging his hands down his face. "You come in here every day without a good morning or a goodbye, you don't even know the bloody names of the people you work with and then you expect them to do a decent job! You're scaring the shit out of them; have you noticed they're too intimidated to even speak when you're around?!"
"Not my problem."
"Oh, for fuck's sake, it is your problem! It's your police station! If the Super finds out about this, she'll find someone else for the job."
Hardy nodded challengingly at her. "Go on then, file an official complaint!"
"I bloody will if you don't change your sodding attitude!"
"Fine! Do 't and leave me alone!"
Ellie threw up her arms, scoffing. "I can't believe you. What is going on? What's your problem, Hardy?"
"You! You're my problem! Sticking your nose into things that are none of your damn business!"
"It is my business if you're treating people I care about like shit!"
"Ugh, you and your stupid small town people." he growled.
"If we're so fucking stupid, why the bloody hell did you come back here?!"
Suddenly, he shot up from his chair. "Because there's nowhere else I belong either!"
Ellie stared at him taken aback.
This last shout had definitely rattled his windows. She observed him closely, noticing shame and despair behind this outcry and trying to grasp the reasons behind it. When he moved suddenly, she involuntarily flinched back.
"If you don't go, I go." he muttered and before Ellie could open her mouth to respond he had already breezed past her, out of his office and out of the station.
His chair was still rotating as she looked back.
What the fuck just happened?
Just a short introduction chapter. The next one will be much longer and heavier...
Please let me know what you think! :)
