In which both Liv and Alec have some healing and recovery to do after her attack.

A week after coming home from the hospital, she was wheeled up the pavement by Alec. They stopped in front of the pub. She took a deep breath and felt Alec's hand on her shoulder, gently stroking to help calm her.

"You don't have to go any further if you're not ready," Alec whispered to her, as he knelt down by her side, watching her face closely.

"But I do. I'll never be ready if I keep running away. I need to see this place again in the light of day. For what it was before. I won't let him keep taking away my happiness. This place was a part of my happiness and I won't keep running away from it." She took another deep breath and started to wheel herself towards the entrance.

In that moment, Alec Hardy marveled at her strength and determination. There was only one other person he knew that was that strong, and it was the woman they both considered their closest friend—Ellie Miller. "Ellie's father was right," he said aloud, and she stopped in her tracks, turning in confusion.

"Right about what?" she asked as she turned the chair slightly to face him.

"You and Miller—Ellie—you two are stronger than anyone else I've ever met.' He then smirked a bit, lightening the mood. "Also, the most stubborn, but in this case it's a good trait, I s'pose."

She grinned back. "Yes and aren't you lucky—very soon you'll have one of us at home and one of us at work to always keep you out of trouble." She then motioned to the door. "Now come on, you said you'd do this with me."

He quickly was in motion and by her side. "Absolutely."

Alec pushed the door open for her and she wheeled herself through. Upon hearing the door, Jack McEwen looked up from the cash register and gasped. "Bless my soul, Olivia MacDonald!" He ran around the corner of the bar and to her, bending down to gently hug her. After a moment he stood and shook Alec's hand. "And here's the hero, Detective Inspector Hardy! It's good to see you again."

Alec shook his head. "A real hero would have stopped it from happening, Mr. McEwen, but all the same, it's good to see you again too." Alec looked around the place a moment, sizing it up. He didn't see Liv's face quickly turn to him at his statement. "You seem to have put the place back together quite well."

"We've done our best. This week was our first week back open and the support from the community has been overwhelming." Jack turned to smile down at Liv. "Everyone's hoping to see you back soon, Liv. We'd love to hear that beautiful voice of yours again."

"Hopefully soon, Jack. But I've got to take things slow." Liv smiled up at the older man.

"Aye, that she does," Alec agreed

Later that night, Alec was kneeling by the sofa helping Liv get comfortable with a group of pillows behind her back. She still had casts on both legs and her right arm. She sat so that her left arm was free to move about and reach the water glass and crisps he had brought in for her. The room was dark, except for light coming from the muted TV across the room and a lamp on her desk.

She looked back to the man as he moved to put pillows under her legs, as he had seen the nurse do numerous times before when he was there while she was cared for. The man before her seemed so different than the man she had met that night at McEwen's Pub with Ellie. Almost nine months had passed for them and falling in love had done them both a lot of good. But the statement he had made today to Jack showed he still had a tendency to blame himself for other peoples hurts. In this case, hers.

"Alec," she said quietly.

"Hmm?"" he hummed as he fluffed another pillow and placed it under her left leg. He was down on his knees by the sofa, finding it more comfortable than bending over or squatting down.

"Alec, look at me," she quietly spoke again, and he looked up at her.

"Yes, love?" He smiled at her and moved to sit on the small amount of space left on the edge of the sofa by her hips, so that he could face her.

"Do you blame yourself for me getting hurt?" she asked, point blank, no beating around the bush. It wasn't their style after all.

"You mean attacked—saying you 'got hurt' makes it sound like you slipped and fell. That man viciously attacked you, beating you within an inch of your life—quite literally," his tone had quickly changed from the loving tone earlier to dripping with anger and disdain.

Her tone remained quiet and calm and she settled a hand on his face, cupping his cheek and rubbing at his beard with her thumb. "That's not the point—the point is, do you blame yourself?"

He sighed, his shoulders sagging visibly, his elbows moving to rest on his knees, hands wrung together. His dark blue tie hung in the space between his legs. "What makes you ask that?" he grumbled out.

"Earlier—what you said when Jack called you a hero. You are, you know—my hero." She tried to speak the truth into his soul but knew it would take more than a simple statement to get him to believe.

"How could you say that? He hurt you, Liv. He almost killed you," he was trembling as he spoke. She could see his hands shaking even though he grasped them together in attempt to still them. "I was supposed to protect you."

"No," she stated simply.

"No?" he said in confusion, voice still shaky.

"Do you love me, Alec Hardy?" she asked, as if it were an answer itself.

He choked out a rough half chuckle. "I think that's the point here."

"So, we've established that we love each other. So, I expect that from you—love. I expect you to love me. I expect you to occasionally not be an arse and do nice things for me and say nice things to me. I expect you to maybe forgive me when I'm being an arse. We're both quite stubborn and mule-headed, so I expect there to be quite a lot of forgiving between the two of us. I didn't ask you to protect me—" He started to cut her off and she stopped him with a finger on his lips. "I get it—you're a big strong man and you want to protect me. But I didn't hire you to be my bodyguard, I simply want you to love me. You weren't there that night, and my ex-husband went into a frenzy and attacked me."

Alec inhaled sharply thinking about it again.

"You weren't there for me. You know why?" She paused, and he just looked at her, confusion and sadness contorting his face in pain. She stroked his cheek again to try and bring him hope as she continued, "Because you were at home, sleeping. Right where I wanted you. You were resting after having spent several days working on a case, protecting the people of Broadchurch. You had been busy being the best damn cop in Britain, and that's exactly what I want you to be. You can't always be there with me, for me, protecting me."

She paused, and he took in deep ragged breaths, tears beginning to streak down his face. He quickly sniffed and moved to wipe the tears from his cheek. She continued, "What did you do as soon as you got the phone call from Ellie?"

He inhaled again, letting the breath out slowly. "I came."

She nodded. "Yes, you did. You came, and you stayed by my side every moment you were allowed for the next eight days. You talked to me. And when he showed up, you protected me, you chased him, and you caught him."

Alec shrugged. "Wasn't much of a chase. He practically turned himself in."

She raised an eyebrow. "Alec Hardy, how do you think that chase would have gone had you not had your pacemaker surgery?"

Alec's head went back down between his shoulders. "If I'd even had still been alive for it? Not well."

She nodded her head again. "Exactly. Alec, you could have died on that operating table. I thank God every day that you didn't. I thank God that you had the courage to have that surgery. If you hadn't, I may never have met you. Four months ago, when Jim Wright started harassing me again—it could have been much worse. But you saw to it that I was safe. And I'm still safe—Alec, I'm safe. I'm here, I'm alive. And you Alec Hardy are my hero."

Alec caught himself half way through a deep sob. "I almost lost you, Liv—" He leaned over, burying his face in her shoulder. She wrapped her left arm around him and used all her strength to scoot herself as far into the back of the sofa as she could, allowing him room. He twisted around and curled himself against her side, sobs wrenching from his body. She could hear him continuing to whisper as he cried. "Almost lost you—you were almost gone—almost lost you—"

"Ssshhh, I'm here. I'm alive. I'm here. I'm alive," she whispered back to him in response as she stroked his back. Even in a cast, her right arm went to his arm and stroked it. She continued till she realized his breathing had steadied and gone shallow. He had fallen asleep. She smiled and glanced at the clock on the wall. Not exactly how they had planned movie night to go, but she'd rather have his soul whole and healed than watch the daft romance she had planned on making him sit through.

After six weeks, Liv was finally out of the casts on her leg and wrist. She then began six weeks of rigorous therapy to bring her body back to some semblance of normal. She had insisted that she would not be wheeled down the church aisle in a wheelchair or walk down on crutches.

By week six of therapy, she and Alec had a standing date for a Saturday morning run. He had built himself up to long distances since he began exercising after his surgery, but because of her injuries she could only handle shorter runs, so far. Early every Saturday morning, he would drive to her flat, and from there they'd run around town a bit before coming back to her flat for a cup of tea and a light breakfast. He was quiet on their runs, ignoring anyone they passed by, and she loved driving him crazy by waving, smiling, and saying a bright 'Hello' to each and every person. Usually they'd circle back to her flat where she'd take a shower and prep a healthy breakfast for them both.

One Saturday morning, about three and a half months after leaving the hospital, they were just sitting down when her phone rang. She glanced at the number and her eyebrow raised. "Be right back, it's my physical therapist," she said to Alec before stepping away from the table and towards her desk. "Hello. Yes, hi Jill. Yes, we just got back. Three miles, yes. Every Saturday now." There was a longer pause before she spoke again, "Really? That's amazing—you think so? You're sure? Okay! Well I'll see you in a month then! Bye!"

She was practically bouncing as she came back to the table and sat in her seat with a grin, dishing out fresh cut fruit on each of their plates quietly. After a moment, he finally caved. "Well?"

Liv grinned even wider. "She's released me from our bi-weekly visits! I go back in a month for a check-up! She says my progress is amazing and to keep running and just don't push myself too hard too fast."

He smiled with her then. "That's wonderful, Liv."

She raised her glass of orange juice. "Here's to good health."

He raised his and clinked it against hers. "To good health."