*/*/*/*/*
As they head to Broadchurch, Ellie isn't sure if she should apologize to Hardy, demand he get his head out of his arse and realize he hadn't needed to be quite so brutal with poor Ginger, or simply let him get his brooding out of his system.
She decides to do the latter and the drive is silent for several minutes until the third time she glances at Hardy only to find he's still staring out the window, his expression unchanged.
"Oh, for God's sake! Are you doing your dark, brooding bullshit again?"
He turns a puzzled, frowning face towards her but doesn't react. Instead he says, "Ginger knows exactly what happened that night, and I wouldn't be surprised if all the others do, too."
"I agree," she says, "but you didn't-and don't-need to bully that poor girl."
He blinks at her, surprised. "I'm not going to question Ginger again-at least not right away. I want to take another run at the others, especially Del."
"She's in Leeds!"
"I remember," he says drily.
"I don't want to leave Fred again right now," Ellie says.
"I know," he says. "I'll go myself. Maybe take another DS along."
She struggles to gape at him while keeping her eyes on the road. "Are you-what the bloody hell happened to the man who kept me at my desk till half-two every morning?"
"Still here," he says with a faint smile. "If you hadn't just spent more than a week away from home, I'd insist you come along, or if-" he stops and abruptly looks away.
Her hands tighten on the wheel. "Or if I was still married to Joe," she says flatly.
Hardy sighs and turns his head to meet her eyes. "Or if Joe was still in his sons' lives," he says.
Ellie gasps and glares. "If you're trying to say we should have welcomed that rotten shit back with open arms-" Her voice gets louder with every word.
"Don't be so bloody daft," Hardy snaps, his voice rising to match hers, "of course I'm not saying any such thing!"
"Well, that's not what it sounded like!" she shouts, and they yell at each other for a good five minutes before ending with "Good!" "Fine!" and sulky silence that lasts until Ellie finally says, in much gentler tones, "Why are we fighting?"
"God knows," Hardy snarls, but he's obviously pouting and it's all so ridiculous she laughs.
"Seriously, Hardy," she says with a sigh, "I'm not even sure I'm angry at you."
He rubs a hand over his face. "You've been angry with me since the day we met."
She's suddenly thrown back to the beach, seeing Danny's trainers, and this rumpled wanker trying to stop her from contaminating the scene, this rumpled wanker who had also stolen her job and would end up arresting her husband.
"Yah," she sighs, "but we've been through a lot since then. Opinions-feelings-have changed. Why do we still fight like this?"
He shrugs, not looking at her. "I suppose it's what happens when you're honest with each other."
The complete and utter truth of the words seem to make the world stop in its tracks.
"Joe and I seldom fought," Ellie says softly.
Hardy's silent for so long she thinks he's going to ignore her until he says, "Same with Tess."
Ellie ponders this for a few minutes then says, "So...if we ever stop fighting, we need to worry about our relationship?"
He turns and looks at her, his eyes soft and sad. "Yah, maybe."
She swallows, her hands flexing restlessly against the steering wheel. "Well," she says, overly bright, "no matter what else happens between us, Hardy, I know you'll never deliberately lie to me. You might withhold the truth, but you won't outright lie."
"Neither will you."
She swallows past a lump in her throat at the calm sincerity in his words and says, "What happened to 'don't trust'?"
"That has no place with you," he says and turns away.
*/*/*/*/*
Della is escorted in to the interrogation room the next day, and she's as restless as she was the first time they interviewed her in Leeds. Her plump, graceful hands flutter endlessly across the table as her eyes seek out every corner of the bare interrogation room and Ellie's not sure if she's looking for an escape route or sanctuary. From the look on Della's face, she may not know herself.
Hardy watches her carefully, then says briskly but not unkindly, "As I told you on the phone, we've reopened the Francesca Livingstone case."
She nods, gives him a fleeting glance and quickly looks away. "Why?" she asks.
"We've received new evidence that has caused us to believe Archie Reynolds didn't act alone. There's even the possibility that he's innocent."
Della's hands slow then stop and for the first time since they've met her, Della is completely still. She frowns, blinking, her head lowered.
"What does that mean?" she asks, her voice faint.
"It means we're re-investigating everything from the beginning," Ellie says as she pulls her notepad closer. "Now, tell us everything you remember about that day and evening and the next morning, no matter how silly it may seem."
Hardy leans forward, focused on Della's down-turned face. "Start with when you got up that morning."
Della barks a laugh as she lifts her head to look at them, but complies. She lays out the small routines of her day without embellishment and ends with the group in Chumley's, which is when everything goes foggy and her memory is only in flashes.
"Awright," Hardy says, "after Chumley's, what do you remember doing? What do you remember feeling?"
She shrugs. "I remember walking. Stumbling, really. I remember being in a place with dark wood and old men drinking at a table. It was...quiet, except for the row, of course, and Frankie shouting." She suddenly frowns. "I remember...no, I keep thinking we were in a car or something, but I was told it wasn't that night, that I was mixing things up with another time." She gives them a half-wistful, half-bitter smile. "We went drinking a lot in those days. I drank a lot in those days."
"Where did you wake up in the morning?" Ellie asks.
Colour rushes in to Della's cheeks. "Archie's place," she says.
Ellie's eyes widen. "Oh," she says. "You fancied him."
Della grimaces. "For all the good it did me. He only ever had eyes for Frankie."
"Were you jealous, Della?" Hardy asks. "Jealous enough to hit Frankie or push her? Did she fall and hit her head and suddenly you had a dead girl on your hands?"
Della stares, mouth sagging open as he speaks. She blinks twice then laughs, stares at him and laughs even harder, doubling over.
Hardy and Miller watch her with interest as she struggles to control herself.
"Oh, God-if you'd known Frankie, you'd know why that's so funny!" she finally says, calming and she leans back with a bitter smile. "There was no point in making play for Archie. He was Frankie's-and Frankie never gave up what was hers, at least never in one piece. She once cleared out her closet and took a knife to every single thing she was throwing away. She didn't want anyone else to be able to use them if they dug them out of the garbage." She grimaces. "Scared me, really. Reminded me too much of me dad." She shakes her head. "I fancied Archie, yes, and both of them knew it. Frankie didn't care so long as I never threatened her sovereignty over him."
"What would she have done if you had?"
She smiles bitterly, leans closer and says, "She took a knife to things she didn't even want anymore. What do you think she'd have done to protect what was hers?"
"If she was so dangerous, why were you friends with her?" Ellie asks.
She sighs and leans back in her chair. "She was exciting-they were all exciting! And they liked me, made me feel like I belonged somewhere...gave me places to hide when I had to get away from me dad. They even tried to protect me." She grimaces. "Didn't work, but nobody had ever even tried before. I had Frankie to thank for that. I owed her for that."
"Owed her enough to help her kill her mother?" Hardy asks brusquely.
Della gasps. "What? No! And what are you even talking about? Her mum's still alive, unless she died since the last time I saw you!"
"Dottie is fine," Hardy says, "but Frankie intended to have her killed the night Frankie disappeared."
"No!"
"Yes. If not you, then who would have been the most likely to agree to help her?"
She blows out a breath of air and shrugs helplessly. "Most likely? Archie, of course, followed by Elena or Ginger. Those two were the first ones, you know? They were almost as devoted as Archie."
"What about Bianca and Cora?"
"Oi, definitely not Binky! She hated when we did anything that could get us into trouble. As for Cora..." she frowns, considering. "It would be unusual for her to be involved in something that...bad. The occasional joy ride in a stolen car, the rare drug deal, but she had big plans and having a record wasn't part of them...but if Ginger was involved...well, maybe." She gives them a slight smile. "Archie loved Frankie into stupidity; Cora loved Ginger the same way. Cora was the last one to join us, and it was only because she was dating Ginger. Didn't last long, though. The dating, I mean."
"Why not?"
Della gives them a sad smile. "Frankie never gave up what was hers. Oh, she wasn't interested in either of them in that way, and she didn't care if they fucked liked rabbits-but any and all love and loyalty belonged only to Frankie."
"None of this was in the case file," Hardy says, his voice crisp with anger. "Why wasn't any of this shared with the investigating officers at the time?"
Della's restlessness returns and her hands flutter uselessly across the surface of the table as she shrugs. "We didn't think it was relevant," she says. "Cora and Ginger had been over for years by then, and me and Archie, well, that was all me and it wasn't like I was pining for him, you know? We didn't think it mattered."
"We?"
"The lot of us. We talked about things after Frankie's mum reported her missing and we just didn't think it mattered. And..." she hesitates, her hands searching and searching, "I can't speak for any of the others, but I honestly thought Frankie was just playing with us and she'd show back up in a couple days." She grimaces. "A part of me still thinks she's coming back."
*/*/*/*/*
It's late in the afternoon when Hardy finally has time to check his messages and returns a call from Isabella that had come in early that morning.
"About bloody time," Isabella says when she answers the phone.
"Working here, Isabella. Problems with the press release?"
"No, but there's something you didn't share with me yesterday."
He scowls and glances at Miller who's clearing off her desk so she can leave for the day.
"What are you wittering on about, Isabella?" he snaps and Miller shoots him a look and shakes her head in admonishment.
"I'm sending you and Ellie a link right now. I'm surprised you haven't heard about it already."
A cold knot curls in Hardy's stomach and he lowers the phone. "Miller," he says and she pauses, giving him a questioning look. "Isabella's sending something through to us."
Miller scowls as she comes round his desk to stand beside Hardy as he opens the e-mail and clicks the link.
Their eyes widen and their jaws drop as a celebrity gossip site fills the screen, with the headline 'Detectives in Love?' emblazoned above a picture of Hardy and Miller kissing on the street in Sandbrook.
"Aw, bloody hell!" Hardy shouts as Miller claps a hand over her mouth and backs away until she bumps into the wall a short distance behind his chair.
"Put me on speaker," Isabella says, and he does, slapping the phone down on the desk with a disgusted growl.
"For God's sake," Hardy snarls, "aren't they done with me yet?"
"Whether you like it or not, Hardy, you're a bit of a celebrity now, and celebrities need to be more careful, especially in public."
"Shit," Miller groans, "we haven't even said anything to the kids yet!"
Hardy buries his face in his hands. "Does this fuck us up for the Livingstone investigation?" he asks.
"Oh, hell, no," Isabella says. "If you look at the comments, they're almost overwhelmingly positive. Except for a couple of trolls, of course, claiming Joe Miller's lawyers were obviously right all along."
"We were not having an affair!" Ellie yelps.
"I believe you, Ellie, but nobody cares about truth when it comes to celebrity gossip. Now, I don't think this damages anything-except for not telling the kids, of course-or anybody in Broadchurch?"
"We haven't told anybody," Hardy mutters.
"Well..." Miller says and gives him an apologetic smile.
"Beth?" he says without surprise.
"Yah. And Luce."
He sighs. "Which means Ollie."
"Probably."
He sighs again. "You sure Tom doesn't know? Or the boy down at the news agent's?" His sarcasm is withering.
"Let me worry about Tom-you need to worry about Daisy!"
"Oh, shit," he groans.
They're startled by Isabella's laughter. "Compared to the loss of key evidence in a highly sensitive case, I think this is pretty small potatoes. Now, we should put out a formal statement, confirm your relationship has recently changed and request the media to respect your privacy...which absolutely no one will do, but we have to go through the motions."
Hardy sighs. "Fine, fine. We'll sign off on the press release."
"Good. I'll send a draft tonight. Now, when exactly did this romantic relationship start?"
Hardy looks over his shoulder at Miller and she moves closer, putting a soothing hand on his arm.
"Saturday," she says.
"What, not even a week?" Isabella says with a note of disappointment.
"No," Hardy says suspiciously, "why?"
"I'm pretty sure I lost the pool," Isabella says, and laughs as she hangs up the phone.
*/*/*/*/*
Hardy calls Daisy and asks her to meet him at the house before she goes for her usual Friday night sleepover with Chloe.
She hurries in, cheeks ruddy from the autumn air, and gives him an anxious smile. "What's going on, Dad?"
"I wanted to talk to you about something, Daisy."
Her eyes widen. "You're scaring me, Dad."
"You're not in trouble," he says quickly, "it's just..." He gestures for her to sit on sofa and she perches on the edge, watching him anxiously as he sits beside her and takes her hand. "A story broke today." Daisy pulls in her breath with a hiss and he grimaces. "Sorry, darlin', I'm going about this all wrong. It's not-I should have told you first."
"Dad…" Daisy groans, "just tell me!"
He takes a deep breath, then says in a rush, "A picture was posted on the Internet today of Miller and I...kissing."
He holds his breath.
Daisy blinks.
"That's it?" she asks.
He nods.
She grins. "Dad, that's, like, old news round here."
Now it's his turn to blink. "What?"
She rolls her eyes, then squeezes his hand that's still holding hers. "Dad. You kissed her good-bye."
He flushes. "Right," he mutters.
She grins. "Besides, I saw the two of you in the garden on Sunday."
His flush deepens.
"Na, na-you were just hugging. I came down for something to drink and heard your voices so I looked out a window. I went back to my room right away. Figured you needed your privacy."
He closes his eyes. "Daisy-"
"Are you feeling guilty because you didn't say anything before now? It hasn't been that long since you kissed her good-bye and one or the other of us has been gone for most of it!"
"But-there's a picture-"
"You're just kissing! And it's not, like, gross, get-a-room-kissing, either!"
"You've seen it."
She laughs. "I have an alert set up for your name-of course I've seen it! It's a nice picture, really." Her smile becomes wistful. "You looked...happy."
He ducks his head and gives her a small smile.
"Have you told her how much you love her?"
He looks stricken and struggles to determine what to say. He settles for, "She's not ready for that. She's not even sure she likes me all that much."
Daisy throws her arms round him. "Well, I love you, Dad." She pulls away and smiles.
Hardy says, "Why didn't you ask me about it, if you saw us on the weekend?"
"I knew you'd tell me when you were ready," she says calmly. "Mind if I go to Chloe's now? It's movie night."
He grimaces and nods.
She kisses his cheek and heads towards the door where she pauses. "So, when did this really start? Between you and Ellie?"
"Saturday."
"Ooh," Daisy says happily, "I think I won the pool!"
"What?" he sputters, but she's already gone, her laughter ringing through the house.
*/*/*/*/*
Ellie watches Tom, waiting for his reaction, and is grateful she thought to ask Lucy to take Fred for the night.
He's leaned over, elbows resting on his knees, hands clasped in front of him.
"Tom?" she asks anxiously. "Say something."
"It's only been a year," he whispers.
She closes her eyes. "I know."
"Do you love him?"
"I don't know."
"What about Dad?"
She blinks. "What about him?" she asks.
"Did you love him at all?" His voice cracks.
"Oh, Tom," she says and puts an arm round him, tugging him close, guiding his head to her shoulder. Tears spring to her eyes and she wonders what she can say. Tom may be thirteen now, and he may look much older than his years, but he is still just a child, a child struggling with understanding why the father he adored had done something so horrible. How? she wonders. How can she help him understand when she's nowhere near understanding it herself?
Tom mumbles something against her shoulder and she frowns.
"What was that?"
Tom sniffles then says, his voice thick with tears and fear, "How can you love us-me and Fred-if you never loved him or...or if you hate him now?"
Now her tears start to fall and she cups Tom's face and makes him look her in the eyes as she struggles to finds words.
Finally, she says, "I loved your father so, so much, Tom, more than I can ever tell you. But the Joe I loved wasn't real, and I honestly don't know what was real or not anymore when it comes to him. I can't deny he was a wonderful dad to you and Fred, but I also can't deny what he did with Danny...and to him. I'm the only one who can come to terms with my relationship with your dad, just like you're the only one who's going to be able to decide, some day, what was real and what wasn't in your relationship with him. Fred will have to do it, too, when he's old enough to understand what happened.
"A part of me will always love Joe-the Joe I thought he was-just like a part of you will always love your father. That's not wrong, Tom. But loving somebody doesn't mean you pretend their bad actions are okay. Actions have consequences. Do you understand that?"
Tom watches her carefully then gives a small nod.
"Now, I want you to understand this, too: I love you for you. Just like I love Fred for Fred. Awright? My feelings for you are not dependent upon who your father is or what he's done, just like I will judge you on your actions and not his." She gently runs a hand through his hair. "Do you understand that?"
He nods again, eyes wide and tear-filled.
Ellie pulls him in to a tight hug. "I love you, Tom," she says fiercely, "and I'll do whatever it takes to make you believe it."
It takes a few minutes for their tears to subside, then Ellie loosens her grip and says, "I'll tell Hardy that we can't do this right now, that we're not ready for this-as a family. He'll understand."
Tom stares at the floor. "Does he make you happy?" he asks.
Ellie pauses, thinking it odd that she hadn't really asked herself that question, and yet her answer is immediate. "Yes," she says. "In a strange, never-would-have-believed-it way, yes, he makes me happy." She smiles suddenly, her cheeks flushed pink, and says again, "Yes."
"Then...then..." He pauses, struggling to find words before he rather helplessly says, "I want you to be happy, and if he makes you happy..."
Ellie smiles. "That's sweet, Tom, but there's no rush. Who knows? If we wait for say, six months, everything we think we're feeling right now might change."
"No, Mum, I don't want you to wait on my account. I mean, if it isn't Hardy, it'd be some other bloke, right?"
She blinks, taken aback. "Well, I'm not sure how to take that."
"I just mean you would be going out on dates, yah?"
She concedes the point with a nod.
"So it may as well be Hardy. At least I kind of like him. Now. And Daisy's brilliant, so...I mean...it could be worse."
Ellie wonders if she looks as appalled as she feels. "Right," she says faintly.
He gives her a worried look. "I really do want you to be happy, Mum."
She smiles. "Thank you, Tom, and I won't break things off with Hardy. But I want you to promise me-promise me!-that you'll talk to me if you're having problems with it, yah? You and Fred are the most important people in my life. If you're unhappy, I'm unhappy. So if you find you need more time before I start dating somebody, tell me."
Tom nods and Ellie pulls him in to another bear hug.
"I love you more than chocolate," she whispers in his ear and his arms tighten round her.
They pull apart and he says, "What if Dad sees those pictures and the stories?"
Her eyes widen. "...hopefully he won't."
"But if he does?"
"Then I guess he sees it." She gives him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about your dad, Tom. Now," she says, slapping her knees, "what do you want to do tonight? Fred's at Aunt Lucy's, so it's just you and me."
Tom looks stricken. "Daisy and Chloe invited me for movie night at Chloe's. I was going to ask if I could go..."
"Oh. Oh! Of course. What movie are you watching?"
"That latest superhero movie is finally streaming. Are you sure I can go? I can always watch it tomorrow."
"No, no-it's lovely they've invited you."
"Thanks, Mum." He smiles as he gets to his feet. "Really, thanks."
She follows, feeling a little forlorn, and watches as he puts on his shoes and pulls on his jacket.
"Oh," Tom says, "when did all this...stuff start with Hardy?"
"Saturday," she says, a little surprised. "Why?"
He kisses her cheek, opens the door and steps outside with a thoughtful frown. "I think Daisy won the pool, then," he says.
"Tom!" Ellie yelps, but he's already gone.
*/*/*/*/*
Hardy opens his back door, eyes the plastic bag Ellie is carrying and steps aside to let her in with a raised eyebrow.
"Ice cream," she says glumly.
"Tom didn't take it well?" he says as he closes the door.
"More because he lost the pool," she says drily.
"Oi," he sighs. He gestures at the ice cream. "Bowls or just spoons?"
That surprises a grin out of her. "Spoons," she says, "and let's see if we can find some stupid movie to watch." She raises a finger in warning. "Not a romance!"
"God, no," he growls as he grabs two spoons and follows her to the living room.
*/*/*/*/*
A/N: The idea of everyone having a pool on when Hardy/Ellie would get their acts together was inspired by a comment made on Empty Spaces. I'll dig out who made the comment and do a proper shout-out to them later (because it's late and I want to post this before I go to sleep tonight. :) )