Alec stood at his wardrobe, wearing only navy blue loose cotton pajama bottoms, examining the contents. Ninety percent of it was suits, dress shirts, and ties. Normally he wasn't bothered by this, but something about his new budding relationship with Ellie made him feel more self-conscious than usual about what he should wear. He stared at the clothes like he stared at a suspect in interrogation, as if somehow the clothes would give him the answer to what he should wear if he glared hard enough. After another few moments, he huffed and grabbed two hangers.

A while later he came out of his bedroom into the living room where Daisy, who was already dressed and ready for the beach, sat with her legs propped up on the couch. She looked up from her phone and smiled. Her father was wearing khaki trousers, a white dress shirt with the top few buttons undone, and he had the new sunglasses she had just bought for him last week atop his head. "Wow, Dad. I'm actually going to give you an A for effort, you must really like her." She hopped up off the couch and came over to him, adjusting his collar a bit.

He grumbled, "I don't look like an idiot?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, Dad. You look fine. Nice, even. C'mon, the party starts at eleven and we need to stop by the shops and pick up the drinks and crisps. You've got the present, right?"

Alec held up the gift bag and she smiled. As they headed out the door she picked up a oversized beach bag that was stuffed full. "How can you possibly need all that?" he asked.

Daisy ignored his grumbling as she walked ahead of her dad out the door. "You'll thank me later when I have a blanket for you to sit on while you complain about sand getting everywhere. And sunscreen so you don't turn into one big freckle, Dad."

An hour later, Ellie and Beth were setting food out out a blanket when Beth looked up and gasped. "Oh. My. God. I thought all he owned were suits. Bloody hell, the man actually looks attractive—you know, without a tie, and not on the verge of death."

"What!?" Ellie looked at her friend who she had thankfully made amends with after her ex-husband's trial, and saw her staring off towards the end of the beach. She looked in the same direction and almost choked on air when she saw Alec Hardy walking towards them, beach bag in tow. "Oh."

Beth turned to watch Ellie, deciding her best friend's reaction was even better. She chuckled. "El, you may want to close your mouth before the sand blows in."

Alec had his sunglasses on now, the reflective yellowish-orange shade of the aviator shaped glasses hiding his eyes, which were examining the scene in front of him. Fred and Tom, along with Chloe and Lizzie, were down at the water, looking at the sand for what he assumed were seashells or small creatures. Mark was helping Ellie's father set out several beach blankets. His eyes lingered when he reached Ellie, who had stopped setting out food on the blanket in front of her and stood up straight, watching them approach. She was wearing a white cover-up top over a swimsuit, and a wrap-around skirt that was a mix of various shades of orange. Alec wondered how she managed to continue to look more gorgeous every day, and was glad he had time to take a deep breath before they got closer.

"Fred, look who's here!" Ellie shouted towards the group of kids and Fred turned around quickly.

"Awec!" Fred squealed and came barreling towards the man.

Alec dropped the bag down and knelt just in time to grab Fred in his arms and pick him up. "There's the birthday boy! I don't know if I'm going to be able to call you 'wee' Fred anymore! Getting to be such a big boy!"

"Yes! It's my birthday! Awec come and look at shells with me?" the young boy pleaded as he rubbed the scruff on Alec's cheeks between his hands.

Alec gently set the boy back down on the sand. "Give me a few minutes, to see if I'm needed to help, then I'll come and look at shells. Okay?"

"Okay!" Fred went running back towards his brother. Chloe had come up after Fred and was helping Daisy put the Hardy's blanket down near the others.

Alec turned and grabbed Fred's gift bag and a bouquet of flowers that had been set into the beach bag after their trip to the shops. "We've brought a gift for Fred, and for the new DI." He smiled and held both them out to Ellie.

She took the bag and paid special attention to the bright orange colored flowers, smirking as she spoke. "My favorite color. How did you ever know?"

Beth chuckled at that. "Perhaps it was the jacket that can be spotted when you're approaching from several miles away." She then turned her attention to Alec. "DI Hardy, glad you and Daisy could join us today."

"Just Hardy is fine, Beth," Alec said.

"What," Ellie said, grinning at him. "Not 'Alec'?"

Alec's left eyebrow raised. Was Ellie really going to push this in front of the Latimer's after their private conversation just a night before? She knew social situations were not his forte. He knew she was just teasing him, but he was already feeling out of his element enough for the moment. He was thankful when Beth Latimer stepped in in his defense.

"Baby steps, El." She smiled up at the man from where she sat. "The man is out of his suit and tie, let's not push it."

"You're right, of course." Ellie smiled and ran her hand down his arm as she apologized, "Sorry. Thank you for coming."

"Of course, wouldn't have missed wee Fred's birthday."

"Hardy!" Mark approached. "Good to see you."

"Thank you, Mark. Anything I can do to help? If not, I've got a birthday boy anxiously awaiting my presence," Alec said as he looked towards the water where his daughter and Chloe had rejoined the boys to run around and play.

"We're all set here. You go on, he's been asking about you all morning." Dave Barnett had come up to the rest of the group to greet Alec.

Alec nodded in greeting to the older man and held out his hand for a handshake. "Mr. Barnett. Pleasure to see you again, sir."

Ellie's father accepted the handshake, having decided that he might have misjudged his daughter's partner. "And you."

"Awec!" Fred yelled.

"Coming, wee Fred! Let me get my shoes off!" Alec sat down on the blanket his daughter had brought to take his socks and shoes off.

Ellie sat down next to him. "Sorry about earlier. I'm glad you came, I know these sort of things aren't easy for you."

"They seem to be getting a bit easier. Maybe you're rubbing off on me, Miller." He finished pulling his shoes and socks off and began rolling up his trouser legs.

"Still Miller?" she questioned.

He shrugged. "Old habits die hard."

She looked over him one more time before turning her attention towards the children playing, but still spoke to him, "You look good."

"Hmm, so do you." He let a smile quirk the edge of his mouth as he unbuttoned and rolled up his sleeves. "Alright, off I go into the fray. Wish me luck."

She grinned as he hopped up and quickly made his way down to Fred. "Good luck!" she shouted. She couldn't believe how much healthier and vibrant Alec Hardy behaved sometimes since having the pacemaker. The weak, feeble, and haunted man she had originally met almost four and a half years before seemed a faint memory now. She smiled wider as Daisy Hardy came back up and sat down next to her. "Hello Daisy, thanks for coming with your dad today, I'm sure it made it easier for him."

"Hi Mrs. Miller. Yes, he's doing rather well though, isn't he?" Daisy let out a snort of laughter. "I'm surprised he hasn't done something terribly socially awkward yet."

"Oh please, Daisy, tell me you don't have the hang up your father does about names? Please, call me Ellie."

Daisy grinned. "Oh! Of course—Ellie. Thanks for inviting me to come along. Chloe has become a good friend recently and I'm glad to be here." The two sat in silence for a bit. "Fred has Dad wrapped around his finger just like I used to. He's a sweet boy."

"Thanks, both my boys are hard work, but they are good. Did your dad mention I asked him about you minding them for me sometimes?" Ellie asked.

"Oh yes, in fact, Chloe and I were talking earlier—would you like us to watch Fred tonight, and make sure Tom doesn't do anything stupid? We thought you and my dad might want to go out later to properly celebrate your promotion—and that way Chloe can help me get to know Fred since she's watched him before."

Ellie was partially amused, and partially embarrassed. "Are you trying to set me up on a date with your father, Daisy?"

Daisy felt a bit embarrassed. "Well, um—I mean—I'm okay with it, and would be happy to help with the boys while you go, if you want to. Dad doesn't know I'm offering, in case you're wondering. He didn't put me up to this or anything."

"No, he didn't—" Beth interjected with a chuckle. "Because he had already asked me about watching the boys tonight. But that's fine, you girls should do it, give you more experience."

"He did what?" Ellie really couldn't believe her ears now. Alec was setting up babysitting for her so they could go out on a date he hadn't even asked her on yet.

"Sorry, El. I'm sure he's planning on saying something later. But I heard you two talking and had to tell," Beth said.

Ellie shook her head a bit as she watched Alec pick up and swing her youngest boy just above the water, letting his toes splash in. As he turned he caught her watching and smiled at her as he set Fred back down. He kept her gaze a moment till Tom called to him from down the beach and he turned, putting his arms up as the teenage boy threw a ball towards him. He caught the ball and threw it back, then went back to shell hunting with Fred. Daisy had gone back out and started throwing the ball with Chloe and Tom.

"He certainly is good with the boys, isn't he, El?" Mark sat down next to his wife on their blanket.

Later, after the children (and Alec) were called back in from playing to have lunch, a cake was brought out of hiding and Fred blew out his five candles. There was also a toast given in honor of Ellie on her promotion. When they were all seated again, Ellie sat next to Alec and decided while they ate cake to bring up the evening. "So, are you supposed to be asking me something about tonight?"

Alec frowned. "Beth told you?"

"Only because your daughter was in cahoots with Chloe to watch the boys so we could go out. Beth had to admit she had already been asked—by you—to look after them,"she responded.

"I only asked her if she was available—in case you said yes—if I asked you to go out for dinner—and drinks—on a date." The more he talked, the more flustered he got.

She thought it was cute. Perhaps now was the time to rescue him. "Yes."

"Yes?" he questioned her.

"I'll go out with you. Tonight. For dinner. And drinks. On a date." She grinned and he mirrored it. It always amazed her when he smiled. It was as if the pacemaker had unstuck the emotional part of his brain that had been stuck on grumpy for years.

"Okay then. I'll pick you up, at 6pm? Will it be the girls or Beth—watching the boys?" he asked. He was sure asking Ellie on their first date could have gone smoother, but he'd take what he could get.

"The girls. It'll be good experience." She nodded.

"Then I'll bring Daisy along when I come to pick you up," he said.

An hour later, Alec was pleased to be laying on his stomach on the blanket across from Fred as he played with the trains he and Daisy had purchased him for his birthday gift. Alec had caught sight of quite a Thomas the Tank Engine collection in the boy's room one night when he had carried him up to bed for Ellie after dinner. It was then he hedged his bets that a few more trains would be welcomed by the boy and decided it would be the perfect birthday present. Now he was making train noises and rolling one of Thomas' friends across the blanket, pretending to get stuck. Thomas came along, run by Fred, to "unstick" him as the boy said.

The Latimer's had left a while earlier, and took Daisy with them so she and Chloe could spend the afternoon together before babysitting. Ellie's father had been picked up by one of his friends earlier, as soon as cake and presents were done, for an afternoon and evening out.

He was once again keeping the young boy occupied, this time while Ellie and Tom were cleaning up after the party. After a while, it was time to leave. "Okay, wee Fred. Looks like it's just the blankets to be put away now, we need to get up so your Mum can pick it up. Shall we go back to the car?"

Ellie watched as her son and the grown man got up off the blanket and dusted themselves off, each grabbing the train they had been playing with. Fred grabbed Alec's free hand and they started walking away towards the car park, Tom falling in with them, carrying the leftover food bag. She folded the blanket mindlessly and stuffed it into the beach bag as she watched the boys who held her heart, and the man who was quickly taking up permanent residence there.