"You weren't going to tell me?" Daisy asked as the waiter went off empty handed.
"Calm down," Alec tried to tell her. "I will be fine."
"You don't sound very confident," Tess then noticed.
"Yes, thanks for that Tess," he replied sarcastically. "I suppose you'll be checking up on me then?"
"I will now," Tess told him. "Just for Daisy's sake."
"Don't blame me Mum," Daisy objected. "How can you do this to me Dad?"
"I am doing it for you," he reminded her. "I never wanted to leave you."
"Yes Alec, tell her that now," Tess hissed at him as they finally left, much to the waiter's relief.
He saw Ellie's car parked a bit further down and after saying goodbye to Daisy, giving a few notes to buy something she wanted, he got in beside Ellie.
"Are you going to stick to twenty miles an hour all the way back?" he complained as he put his seat belt on.
"Shut up Hardy or walk," Ellie told him as she indicated to pull out. "Don't get us lost leaving the town centre, I'm not staying in another hotel room with you."
Alec didn't reply, wishing again he'd been sharing with Rose Tyler last night. Was he ever going to stop thinking about her? He had to do something about it but what? Go up to London to find her and bring her back with him? Yes, that would surely get in all the papers and Rose wouldn't thank him if it was implied she was in the middle of a love triangle.
He still couldn't be sure she'd even talk to him if she'd believed the reports. The journey back to Broadchurch was uneventful enough, Ellie was going to drop him home then go to her sister's.
"Why are you so late back?" Lucy wanted to know when she let Ellie in just after midnight.
"Disturbed you playing online poker?" Ellie huffed back, since she was tired.
"If I hadn't been that night, I wouldn't have seen Joe put that black bag in the bin down the street," Lucy reminded her.
"You can't prove it was him Lucy, for goodness sake don't say that at the trial," Ellie warned her.
"What if they ask me if I recognized the person?" Lucy wanted to know.
"Tell them it was too dark," Ellie suggested, just wanting to go to sleep, since she'd not slept much the night before in case Hardy did snore.
If he'd got tangled up with the famous Rose Tyler, that was his problem, not hers. She had enough to think about like trying to get Tom back. She thought maybe she should be a bit firmer with him but it had always been Joe who had kept the teenager in line.
There had been times when she'd regretted going back to work instead of letting her husband stay at home. Maybe he wouldn't have gone after Danny if he'd been working instead of hanging around young boys all day?
"So, there wasn't any truth to what came out in court then?" Lucy laughed.
"You know there isn't," Ellie insisted as she put the duvet Lucy had got her over the sofa. "I don't understand why he's even trying to get off."
"If you ask me, he's had too much time to think about it," Lucy suggested.
Alec had put the heating on when he got home and made himself a hot drink while he waited. He knew he should maybe move if the outcome of his surgery went his way and somewhere suitable to have visitors. Would Rose ever think about coming back though?
Being in the news all the time wasn't for him, Rose and her fiancé were always in glossy magazines he'd seen in newsagents' racks. He had seen those with headlines of them calling off their wedding but he wasn't going to tell Ellie Miller any more than he needed to, such as would Rose leave her life behind to come and live down here?
If she ever did come back she would need to be completely over her engagement, he couldn't accept anything less. Why had he let her get so close to him while she had been here? Had Tess suspected anything or had she just been having a go at him for the sake of it?
The next morning, he took a bag with him again and pre-booked a cab to pick him up from the court and take him to the hospital. He wondered if he should send Rose a message before he went in or not? If he didn't and he didn't make it, she would never know she was the last person he would think about after Daisy.
During the morning break at the court, he kept to himself, hoping Claire wouldn't turn up again. He had noticed Beth Latimer looked a lot thinner when she'd entered the courtroom and he saw Chloe holding a baby in her arms. He also noticed Ellie looked like she wanted to go over but she daren't.
The way things had been going that morning it wasn't looking good for the prosecution although they had pulled a neat trick in getting a character witness to tell the court how Joe Miller had lost his temper quite often. Then the defence had made the mistake of calling the woman who had cleaned in the cottage where Danny had been murdered, who proved to be not so reliable and the prosecution scored a few points.
As soon as they broke for lunch, Ellie went to talk to her sister and Olly so Alec went off to collect his bag and to find the cab he'd booked.
"Where to Sir?" he was asked.
"The university hospital," Alec told him, hoping the driver wasn't the chatty type.
He decided to remind Tess where he was going but unless she was already on her way, it was doubtful she'd do anything but text him back saying she was busy. He sent one to Ellie, knowing she wouldn't get it until the next break and finally he carefully composed one to send to Rose.
It started with, 'Hello Rose, remember I said I would text you when I was having my surgery?' he started off. 'Well I am on my way to have it this afternoon. Should I make it, I will try and let you know but it may be tomorrow. I can't ask my ex wife to let you know and DS Miller doesn't believe we were only friends while you were here. Should things not go my way, it will make me either more ill, they may not be able to bring me back.'
He paused as the driver asked which entrance Alec wanted.
"Ah, the heart unit," Alec replied, hoping he'd not been recognised, given what had happed.
He retrieved his bag and paid the driver. He had decided that if he didn't make it, he'd put everything of importance in the bag and placed his chalet key in a zipped pocket, hoping Tess would look for it. He'd also written a letter to Rose, telling how he felt about her and how he regretted he'd not let himself get closer to her but he hadn't wanted to have a guilty conscious over having a sexual relationship with a woman who had been engaged to be married at the time.
He had written at length that had she come back after breaking her wedding off, he would have welcomed her but he understood she needed her privacy and time to think things over. His thoughts were interrupted as it was his turn to check himself in. He answered a few personal questions and went to wait to be called, getting his phone out again to finish the text to Rose, wondering if he should call her or not before going into the operating theatre but she was probably working.
Instead he finished the text, saying the letter for her would be with her shortly as he couldn't say what he wanted to say to her in a text. He signed it off and hoped she'd read it.
Rose was trying to concentrate but was getting nowhere and it showed as Pete sent for her.
"Come on Rose, you've been like this since you went off the other week," Pete reminded her.
"Sorry Dad. It's just that John doesn't seem to care about calling off the wedding. It's like he's just relieved," she admitted.
"I see then?" Pete pondered, tapping his pen on the desk while twirling it in his fingers. "Rose, I know your mother went on at the two of you about getting married. Maybe it was never meant to be even though he found his way here?"
"I realised that Dad. We were fine as we were but he seems like he's not bothered at all now. I know he's trying to get the cannon working, he asked me to go with him if it worked."
"Did he?" Pete wanted to know. "What did you tell him?"
"That I couldn't leave now. I know I was upset when I left the other him back there but there's Tony now. I can't have him growing up on his own like I did."
"That's very commendable of you Rose," Pete told her, getting up for some coffee. "I know how much he means to you. You have no idea how much your mother cried she wanted me to go get you when you went back."
"I know, she never talks about it," Rose agreed as she heard her phone tell her she had a message.
"Want to get that?" Pete asked as he poured two coffees.
"It's probably John or mum," Rose shook her head, having no idea it was Alec saying he was at the hospital.
"What do you want Rose? Some more time off?" Pete offered as he placed the coffee on his desk.
"That won't do any good Dad. I keep trying to talk to John but he avoids the subject. He thinks everything should be as it was before but he doesn't say it. He doesn't need to."
"I'm sorry Rose," Pete sympathised. "I know how long you waited to get him back."
"When I saw him on that deserted street," Rose recalled.
"I can imagine," Pete agreed. "Are you going to do anything about it? You don't wear your ring any more."
"Ya know we called it off Dad," Rose reminded him.
"Sorry love. We were hoping that was just for the sake of the press," Pete replied. "Why now though? I mean you came back from that place, Broadchurch was it? What really happened there that you don't want us to know about?"
"I don't want to talk about it Dad," Rose insisted, knowing he would tell her mother, who wouldn't understand.
"Do you want to work some place else, away from John?" Pete then wondered.
"It won't help Dad, nothing will. Promise not to tell mum something?" she risked asking.
"You said you met Alec Hardy, that detective," Pete remembered.
"I spent the week with him, mainly in the evenings and no, I didn't exactly cheat on John," Rose confessed. "He helped me realise I did want the other him but despite Alec looking like them both, he was fully human and seemed to understand me."
"So you decided before you came back to end your engagement?" Pete guessed.
"I think I knew it before I got there Dad," Rose replied. "Alec just happened to still be there and he was still sick. He said he needed a pacemaker and he might not make it," Rose told Pete sadly.
"Get Jake to check up on him then, discreetly," Pete suggested.
"Alec said he'd text me when he was going," Rose remembered, getting her phone out and covering her mouth. "Geez, it was from him, that message," she saw Alec's name.
"Go ahead and read it then?" Pete suggested. "It might be what you were waiting for?"
"No Dad, I just want to know that he survived," Rose replied.
"I understand that Rose, really I do," Pete told her. "Take some time off and go see him."
"I can't Dad. I haven't split from John, I spent too much time tryin' to get back to him, I can't just go off," Rose replied.
"You have to decide Rose," Pete reminded her. "Does he think it's not him you want?"
"He never says Dad. What am I supposed to do? I thought having someone to talk to while I was away would help but it turned into more," she admitted. "Don't take it the wrong way, it wasn't like that," Rose added as she saw his face.
Pete held his hands up in defence.
"I'm not judging you Rose but after you spent all that time trying to get back, were you satisfied when John stayed behind?"
"I was, well I thought I was but he's exactly the same Dad and I'm all confused now. I wanted to help Alec but we were only friends. I should read his message."
"Take your time Rose. Why don't you go home early eh?" Pete suggested.
"Mum will grill me," Rose smiled back. "How can I explain it to her?"
"Sorry love. She was all for you two getting together though. I expect she was a bit put out after you called things off?" Pete wondered.
"She took it better than I thought," Rose recalled. "Mind you, so did John."
"Did he now?" Pete wondered. "So he never thought you wanted the other version of him?"
"He never said. Dad, do ya think that's what he really thinks?" Rose asked worriedly.
Pete had already had his suspicions when Rose had brought John back home with her. Then there was the fact John was really interested in getting the dimension cannon working again, telling the experts he'd gathered where he thought they were going wrong. What was John's plan, Pete wondered. Was Rose going to let John go so easily if it started working and he wanted to be the first to try it?
Rose went off to read the text from Alec, just as he was about to be wheeled into the operating theatre.
"Sorry Mr Hardy, the phone will have to be switched off," he was being told as the nurse held out her hand for it.
"I was waiting for someone to reply," Alec had to admit. "Can you give me a few more minutes?"
"Sorry, not really, we need to get you prepared for the surgery," the nurse replied, wondering what was so important about people hanging onto their phones at the last minute.
"It's important," Alec pleaded with her. "I may never know what they had to say if I don't make it."
The nurse studied him for a moment, seeing the look on his face.
"Someone important?" she asked him. "Two minutes until the orderlies get here," she relented. "I hope she's worth it," she added with a smile.
"I am grateful," Alec replied, hoping Rose would reply.
Rose had sat outside Pete's office and seen what Alec's message had said. She quickly composed one back, knowing how scared he was.
'Hi Alec, sorry I was in a meeting. I really hope everything goes well with your surgery and that you see this message. Have someone contact me if you can't reply, won't you? Those few days I was in Broadchurch, you made me feel like my old self again and I can't thank you enough. I wish I could have been with you today but I won't forget you. Love, Rose'
She sent it before she had chance to change her mind and got up to call for the elevator back to her office, praying Alec would see the message and be able to reply himself. If he didn't, then she knew the worst had happened and it would make her sad thinking that she had got closer to him in those few days than she had to John since he came here with her.