Hardy had been thinking while he was waiting for Rose, mainly, what was he doing? He was more than contemplating letting her move in with him in a holiday chalet by the river, of all the places he would have chosen, had he even remotely been considering getting a place of his own to rent, by the river would have been the last place. What was she thinking of?

The fact that he might only be in it for two days scared him, why had he let her talk him into having that pacemaker fitted? He could have struggled on for a bit longer, fumbled his way through this investigation and maybe caught the killer this time instead of letting Tyler boss him around into going through with it. If he didn't make it, at least she could take the blame.

Then he stopped – if he didn't make it, how would it make her feel? She would accept the responsibility was hers for making him do it but he had agreed to it, reluctantly. He was just glad he had recently got his affairs in order. No, he had to get through this sooner or later and it appeared it was going to be sooner because now, he wanted Rose Tyler so badly he physically hurt at not been able to have her. Now he had a reason to get through it because he wasn't going to let her get the better of him.

She had challenged him to get her underwear off but what then? He couldn't do anything about it, not yet and that was where she had him, tormenting him but letting him watch her enjoy herself last night, not being able to join in. She was taunting him, making him have a life-saving operation just so he could finally have his way with her. Well he was going to make her suffer, once he recovered sufficiently and she might just regret encouraging him.

There was a knock on his door and he was just about to open it when he made a split second decision – to demolish the wall he had built up and actually be nice to her, well in private. In public, they would still appear as the worst of enemies because he didn't want to ruin either of their reputations. Still, if Tyler, sorry Rose wanted to still go with the banter, he would play along.

Rose had quickly changed and was just wearing a vest top, skirt and was now bare-legged with just a pair of soft black shoes on her feet.

"Hi, I'm not late for the party am I?" she grinned, putting her shoulder bag on the chair.

Hardy stepped up to her and put his arms around her waist. "You took your time, did you stop by someone else's room on the way here?"

He leaned down and kissed her neck as she put her arms around his. "Very funny, I'm next door and I don't think there's anyone else on this floor now anyway. I thought I'd give you time to get rid of anyone else you'd invited to your room. You did say you might find something better to do than watch me."

"I changed my mind."

He moved his hands and ran them up her back, feeling there was nothing underneath. Did she always dress like that? He pulled the thin straps of her vest top down and began kissing her shoulders as her hands made their way under his t-shirt and up his back. Then he stepped back and Rose pulled his t-shirt up, taking a good look at him. She thought he looked very fit, considering he was supposed to be ill. Hardy pulled down the zip of her skirt and it dropped to the floor, Rose stepped out of it, leaving her in just her skimpy underwear that she had challenged him to take off her.

He thought it wasn't going to be that much of a challenge. She helped him take off his t-shirt then unfastened his trousers but he lifted her off her feet, placing her on the bed.

"Ah, ah, if you're challenging me, I'm challenging you tonight. We need to get one thing straight Tyler, this stays in the bedroom, no kissing and touching in public, I don't want people thinking I've gone soft."

Rose looked at him. "You didn't object earlier when you were touching my leg, did you? We had an audience too, a man sat on a barstool."

"I wasn't looking at anyone else in the bar, I was looking down your top, you had a black bra on that you seem to have lost. Are you trying to deprive me of the pleasure of taking it off? You didn't have one on last night either, you're taking all the fun out of it."

"Well we can't have that can we? I'm getting to know more about you detective." She reached for his trousers again.

He pushed her from her kneeling position and hovered over her. "You first."

Eventually, he had met her challenge and she his, both getting beneath the covers but she still had to fight him to get his shorts off.

"If you don't give in soon, I might get tired and give up detective."

"Why don't you call me Alec?"

"Why don't you call me Rose?"

"Point taken. It's just since I worked with my ex, I find it awkward to use first names and I never really liked mine."

"Well when you're in hospital, I can hardly sit there holding your hand and calling you detective so I'll just have to get used to calling you Alec then unless I think of something better to call you. When you wake up from your operation, just don't call me Tess."

He smiled. "Why would I do that? While we're on the subject, there are things you need to know, if it doesn't work out."

Rose pushed him away, holding him at arms length. "Don't you go talking like that, do you hear? Don't you dare think you're getting out of me looking after you. How do you think it will make me feel, since I pushed you into it if you don't get through it. You're not pinning your demise on me Alec Hardy, so forget it."

"Don't you want the credit for getting rid of me Rose?"

"What? Oh no you don't. Just because you wouldn't make your own mind up to go get yourself fixed, don't blame it on me because you finally got pushed into it. You're only thinking like that to get out of having sex with me and to make me feel like if I'd left you alone, you wouldn't have the guts to go get it done. How long do you think you've got, if you don't have the pacemaker fitted? Huh? A month, six months, a year if you're lucky?"

He stared at her. "You think this is all about you? You think I'm having it done, getting myself sorted just so I can have sex with you? Has it occurred to you this is my punishment Rose? My punishment for letting a killer get away and having Lisa still missing? It is, I know it is and I'm here now, trying to make up for it by finding Danny's killer, hoping that will make it right. I might get through to the end of it without the operation. After that, I'm done, it doesn't matter any more."

He let go of her and laid on the pillow, staring at the ceiling.

"Alec Hardy, you don't get to give up, not when there are people who depend on you, care for you. Admit it, you wouldn't have bothered if I'd not come back to kick your butt, to remind you there are two families back in Sandbrook and one here, in Broadchurch who are depending on you to get them some justice. They want some closure."

"And what do you want Rose Tyler?"

Rose moved and leaned over him, taking his hand that was laid on his chest. "I want you, you plum. I've always wanted you and now you're talking about quitting before I get you, before we've even hardly got started. Don't quit on me Alec, don't quit on Pippa or Lisa and now Danny."

"I still might not make it Rose. Let me put the operation off, until at least I catch Danny's killer. I can do it, if you help me or is that more than your signed on for? Let me catch the killer then I'll get the operation."

"It might be too late to cancel it now."

"It won't. You can call them, tell them I've got the flu or something and I can't go in for it, ask for another date."

"How long Alec? How long are you going to put this off?"

"As long as it takes. Tell them I'll call when I get better. I can't go in now, I have to get this done. You're right, I can't quit on them now but it may be all over on Monday for me and I can't do that Rose, I'm scared. I'm scared of losing you, now I have you and not giving that closure to yet another family. You understand don't you?"

Rose shook her head. "No, I don't understand why you ever got like this Alec."

"It's not like I planned it. Ok maybe if I'd gone to the hospital that day when they pulled me out of the river, I may not have got as bad but I could have had the heart problem before that and not known about it, there's no way of knowing. I promise you, I will go as soon as this case is solved and if I make it, I'll get the Sandbrook case re-opened, somehow. Just not by telling Tess I'm sleeping with you."

Rose smiled. "Why should she care? She's the one who left you and if I'd known that, I would have made a play for you earlier."

"Would you? Maybe you were best staying away from me."

"Yeah? We were both miserable, we could have come to our senses."

"Is that what we've done now Rose? Finally come to our senses?"

He pulled her closer. "Just how miserable were you? More miserable with or without me?"

"What kind of question is that? Ok, maybe I was more miserable without you but only because I couldn't stop thinking about you and how miserable you made me every time we met."

"Oh, that was nothing compared to how I felt Rose Tyler. Do you know what you did to me? I yelled at everyone, I couldn't concentrate. You may be the whole reason why after it all collapsed on me that I gave up, because you left town."

"You could have called me, you knew where I worked."

"And admit everything to you? Oh, you would have just loved that, wouldn't you? Me admitting I can't live without you yet when we're together, we pretend we hate each other. Do you know how much I hate you right now?"

"About as much as I hate you for not saying anything to me. You let me leave, you could have asked me to stay."

"I knew I was going to be faced with getting a divorce, I didn't want you around to give Tess the grounds to cite you in the proceedings. It was better it was one-sided, she couldn't hold anything against me so it was quick. It would have got messy if you'd been involved in it, if she had named you."

"So you were doing it to protect me? You could have asked me if I wanted to get involved or not."

"Would you? Would you have stuck around and been called as the other woman? I didn't want to give her the satisfaction. I let her have it her way."

"What about when it was over?"

"You'd gone back to London. I knew you'd be back as soon as I hit the headlines again."

Rose smiled. "You could have told me."

"And spoil the fun? Come on Rose, we kept each other going, you know that."

"Yeah but we could have had so much fun together and we needn't have both been on our own."

"What about your job? We couldn't have stayed in Sandbrook and I wouldn't have survived in London."

"Why not? It's not that bad."

"No, we needed to keep our distance, I knew we'd meet again, eventually, it's only been a few months."

"Eight months Alec, almost nine."

"You kept count. Rose, it would have been no good, you thought we were already miserable, it would have been worse if you'd gone through what I did."

"But I could have made it easier for you. Why are you so stubborn?"

He couldn't answer her. "Let's just drop this shall we? It's over, I'm divorced, you're here and we might get friendly in the bedroom but we can't let this get in the way of our jobs, until it's all over."

"It's still no reason for you to suffer with your health."

"That's why I have you, to keep me out of trouble. You wanted the job, it's yours. You're not backing out are you?"

"No way Alec Hardy, you're not getting away this time. As for your operation, I hate the fact you're backing out of it but I know why you're doing it, I was pushing you. Have it when you're ready, I'll keep you out of trouble."

He pulled her closer and they kissed. "I was going to go through with it so I could have sex with you but that's beside the point."

Rose giggled and went to lay on him. "I'm going to find it difficult to keep you out of trouble, aren't I detective?"

"You have no idea Tyler," he replied as he felt her slide his shorts down.

The next morning, waking to only one alarm and a less bad-tempered Alec Hardy, Rose smiled across the pillow at him as he lay back down and slid over to him, settling on him.

"Morning detective, you seem in a better mood this morning."

"I'd be better if you turned the alarm off since you ended up on that side of the bed. How did you even get over there? You went to sleep on me."

"I guess I moved, not that you weren't comfortable. Maybe you should try keeping hold of me to stop me moving?"

Alec smiled. "Are you joking? I was out like a light. You do know I feel better already. I'll leave you that number today for the hospital."

"Alec, they won't take it from me that you're not going through with it. Look, it's only Wednesday, think about it. Why don't you talk to the consultant first, ask if they recommend putting it off to improve your chances? I can drive you over there if you want?"

"Alright, I'll try, if I can find out who it is."

"Did they say they would actually do it on Monday or is it just an appointment to see about having it done?"

"No Rose, it's the real thing, I already got the 'we don't know if you'll survive if you have it but you won't survive if you don't' speech. Sorry Rose, I didn't mean to be so hard on you, I just didn't want to get involved with you after I found out."

Rose looked at him. "That's not fair Alec, you should have still told me. What am I supposed to do now? Look after you until this case is done and watch you get worse, because you will. This case could finish you, at least with the operation, you have more of a chance."

"Do I? I'd say I had about the same any way you look at it."

He put both his arms around her as she nuzzled his neck.

"I could put a big red mark there Alec, if I wanted."

"Don't you dare, you'll get one twice as big. We're still enemies outside this hotel."

They had both put their underwear back on before going to sleep, Alec put his hand up the back of her vest, kissing her neck.

"Come on Rose, I still have to go to work."

Rose moved slightly, looking at him and smoothing her hand on his chin.

"Are you going to get rid of that?"

"I wasn't planning on it though I could give it a trim, if it pleases you. Now are you going to let me get out of bed?"

Ten minutes later, Rose finally let him go. "Please, talk to the hospital before you put your operation off. Maybe you can go on Monday and talk to them first and if you're not happy, put it off then but don't put it off altogether, please Alec."

"Ok, I'll go and talk to them but don't you threaten to tie me to the bed to get me to go through with it, right?"

Rose smiled as he got out of bed. At least he wasn't refusing to go.

Alec went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. The red that had been around his eyes was fading, he was getting some sleep and he wasn't waking in terror, remembering the day he found Pippa. She had been around the same age as his daughter when she went missing and every night since he had found her, it terrorised him. Now Rose was helping him, he could come to terms with it. He wasn't going to give up now.

ooooooooo{silversurfer60}ooooooooo

Rose made some more enquiries over the next few days, Alec did battle with DS Miller but since he had Rose to go back to in the evenings, he got through it. Friday night, Rose was packing when Alec knocked on her door.

"Hi, come in. I was going to bring my case and my laptop bag to your room. I gave you the letting agent's address, didn't I?"

"Yes, you've told me, three times. I'll take care of it. Now come here and snog me before we go for dinner. Are you sure you have to go?"

Rose giggled. "You were trying to get rid of me a few days ago if I remember correctly. You soon changed your mind."

"Yes, well, you could say I had a change of heart, with some help. You made me see I shouldn't give up. After talking with the hospital, I can still back out on Monday but you're not going to let me are you?"

Rose put her arms around his waist. "Alec, I know you're scared, so am I, I don't want to lose you but if it can make you well again, then you have to take a chance with it."

"I can take a chance after I've solved this case Rose, a few days or weeks is not going to make any difference. I promise I'll take care of myself and you'll be watching me, what can I do? I have to finish this Rose, I have to get justice for Danny. Will you help me?"

"You mean work together? Is that even allowed?"

Alec smiled. "Not officially. You help me by doing what you do best, talk, no matter how small. You help me and you can have the exclusive, how we solved the case and the truth about Sandbrook but you know most of that. You talk to the families, tell them I haven't give up yet."

"I will, leave it to me. Will you be ok tomorrow?"

"I'll be fine, why don't I wait for you coming back before I move out of here? It will already cost another day anyway. I can go get a few hours in at the station since I'm off on Monday."

"Yeah, I suppose it makes sense. Come to the railway station in the morning with me?"

"Why not. Don't you get all soppy on me when you're getting on that train though."

"I'll try not to so don't you either. I'll call you when I get home."

"Just call me when you're on your way back."

After dinner and a few drinks, Rose took everything to Alec's room.

"I'll still have to pretend I hate you or my editor will pull the plug and make me go back. I can't tell anyone until this is all over."

"You're not the only one you know. If my boss finds out I'm sleeping with a big city reporter, well, it won't be good."

There was no pretending that night, Alec was tempted to give in and try and make something of it but Rose said they had waited the last few nights, a bit longer wouldn't make any difference. She fell asleep on him, Alec smiling to himself as he held her in his arms but she wormed her way out again when he woke up and he made a point of waking her.

"Come on, you have a train to catch. The sooner you get there, the sooner you can get back. Is anyone meeting you at the other end?"

"Yeah, James said he would pick me up, since he left me here. It wasn't his idea to come down with me, the editor is his sister. She thought it would be a good idea, make me forget about you."

"So everyone knew about me?"

"Only how much you infuriated me."

"Do I still get to you?" he asked, kissing her neck.

"You know you do."

"Good, just you remember that."

They had ten minutes to wait for the train to London, there were a few people on the platform but they managed to walk to the end of the platform for a little privacy in a corner. Rose reached up to kiss him as he propped her against the wall.

"Be careful Alec, don't you go chasing any suspects while I'm gone."

"I won't, just don't take too long coming back."

"Aw, you won't have time to miss me, detective."

Alec saw the train approaching in the distance and steered her back up the platform. Then he whispered in her ear, "I love you Rose."

They just had time for one kiss as the train pulled in and the doors opened. She stepped on board then turned around, sneaking a quick kiss to the amusement of the train guard. As the doors were closing she just said, "I love you too Alec."

She smiled all the way to London.