Rose was pacing up and down outside Pete's study, wondering what on earth, well this earth he was telling Alec. Maybe this had not been such a good idea after all, she should have just come home and forget about him, he would never go for what she had done in the past. Jackie had tried unsuccessfully to take her mind off it, saying she owed an explanation to Tony and she had promised to take him out the next day.
"Mum, I will take him out, if Alec's still talking to me when he gets out of there. I promised someone would take him home if he can't accept it all. I've only known him a few days, it might be too much but I can't get involved with him if he doesn't know."
"Maybe you're doing the right thing Sweetheart. Pete will put it to him so it's easy for him to accept it. If he cares about you, he'll take it in his stride. It's not like Torchwood's a secret or anything, to the police. Just how involved are you anyway? You want him to share your room, I'm not keen on that Rose."
"He's sick Mum, he shouldn't be on his own at night, he needs someone with him. No-one else knows or his boss would take him off the case."
"If he's sick love, he needs to come off it, he shouldn't be working, can't he do something?"
"He will, I'll make sure but if he walks away from this, from me, then he's on his own."
Almost an hour had gone past, Alec had not stormed out, Pete had not come out to tell her Alec had collapsed and needed his pills so maybe that was a good sign. She was just about to give in and go make herself a coffee when the door opened and Pete had his hand on Alec's shoulder, Alec walking out under his own steam. Pete grinned at her.
"He's all yours Rose, you need to fill him in on a few minor details about the Doctor but he's good, aren't you Alec?"
"Rose, you and I have some talking to do but I'm good, I accept most of it though I have plenty of questions. Pete wants you to tell me the rest. He's also contacting one of the Torchwood doctors to see if they can help me but I may have to wait."
Rose went up to him. "So what do you want to know Alec?"
"Everything but it can wait, there's no rush. Where's that brother of yours? Did you promise to take him out?"
"Well it's a bit late now but we can take him out in the morning. I can do my packing this afternoon then we'll have some free time tomorrow. Unless you can get Monday off, to come to Torchwood with me?"
"No, I have to get back, you know that. Besides, I have to contact my own GP again about some more medication."
"Maybe we can help you Alec, I'll get on to it on Monday morning. Please, make yourself at home, you're family now and if you have any trouble over getting put on medical leave if your boss finds out, just let me know. Now you have to go talk to Rose's mother so you'd best get that over with now. You still have her test to pass."
Alec grimaced at the thought. If he thought his ex wife's mother was bad enough at asking him him intentions, she had nothing on Jackie Tyler. Rose said she would be in her room, someone would show him where it was when he got out of her mother's clutches. He found her in the kitchen. The staff made themselves scarce.
"So Alec, Rose thinks a lot of you and you seem to accept her past, you're still here. You should know, Pete has never had that conversation with any of the male friends she's brought home with her, not that there have been that many. I know she only dates to keep me from nagging her about it. She never got over him."
"So I gathered but she has me now, I'll help her as much as she helps me. Now she knows she can talk to me about it without thinking I'm going to run a mile. It must be a relief for her."
"You've no idea Alec but you hurt her, mark my words, I'll let you know about it."
"I'm sure you will. May I call you Jackie?"
"Of course you can you plum now come here."
Jackie gave him one of her famous hugs, the ones the Doctor used to try to squirm out of a every time he took Rose back home. Why did her daughter have to meet a man that looked like that old alien boyfriend of hers? She just hoped Rose wasn't doing this for the wrong reasons.
Alec found her room and saw Tony in with her, Rose was tickling him, clothes all over the bed and the floor.
"Having fun you two?"
"Yep," Tony replied, giggling as Rose let him go.
"Can I talk to your sister for a minute? Why don't you decide where you want to go tomorrow and Rose and I will take you?"
"But I thought Mickey was going? I want Mickey to take me as well," the boy sulked, crossing his arms, something he had got from his mother.
"Tony, don't be awkward. Alec and I will take you, Mickey can take you out another time."
"Where are you going Rose, you just came back?"
"I'm gonna stay with Alec for a while, I'll be back soon. Ok?"
"Don't be away a long time, will you Rose?"
She looked at Alec. If he didn't get through his illness, she would be back sooner than she thought.
Rose closed the bedroom door and Alec helped her pick up her clothes. "So you're planning on staying a while then?"
"Yeah, a girl can never have enough clothes. I was thinking of asking Pete about working down there, like I said but maybe I should get a place of my own, not stay in the hotel. What do you think?"
"Then how are you going to keep an eye on me?"
"Don't be daft Alec, I mean for you to come with me."
"Oh. We get to share a penthouse somewhere then?"
"Well maybe not a penthouse exactly but maybe one of those nice apartments near the harbour, then you won't have far to walk."
"Yes and everyone at the station will make fun of me, being kept by the Vitex heiress." He put his arms around her and kissed her neck.
"Not if Pete pays for it. Whenever I work away, Torchwood pays for it. What if I get involved, with your murder investigation?"
"Officially? I don't know what my boss would say about that, us working together."
"Who says a Torchwood agent and the senior investigating officer can't shack up together?"
She went to straighten his shirt collar. She really must get him into t-shirts and jeans, he would look so sexy in a pair of tight jeans and a figure hugging t-shirt but she didn't want him to have another attack like last night.
"You could officially request Torchwood's help or I can get Pete to phone your chief and offer our services. So what do you think?"
"I think you'll be the end of me Agent Tyler.'' He leaned down to kiss her.
"We'll make a great team and we won't work together all the time, I can do my other Torchwood work as well. I can get people to talk to me where they won't talk to the police. I'll ask Pete before dinner. Now let me finish packing and then we can do some serious snogging for a while."
"Well who am I to argue with a Torchwood agent?"
Eventually, they went to find Tony to see where he wanted to go the next morning – the zoo. Rose asked Pete before dinner and he was all for the idea.
"Well it beats you doing nothing down there and if it helps Alec solve his case. You can monitor for any anomalies down there and report back so find yourself a nice place to stay and charge it to me. What about Alec's medication? Is he going to get more?"
"Yeah, he'll see to it when we get back, I won't let him forget."
Tony went to bed, insisting Alec read him a story and never once mentioning Mickey's name thankfully. When they got to bed, Rose insisted they went easy in view of the night before.
"I never thought I would be bringing you home with me so soon Alec, you are ok with all this?"
"I'm ok with it, you have a great family though your mother keeps staring at me like I've got too heads or something."
Rose was going to say more like two hearts but thought better of it, Pete had not revealed who Alec actually looked a lot like or what he was, leaving that for Rose to break the news to him when the time was right but if he had accepted her past life, he would probably accept that too. So after half a day at the zoo with young Tony, they had a late lunch and the staff helped Rose pack her car, wishing she had a Tardis and only just getting everything in.
They arrived back at the hotel just after seven in the evening and Alec went to get most of his stuff.
"If you leave me your key, I can move everything into my room while you're at work," she offered when he came back.
"Well if you're going to look for somewhere, since the police are paying for my room, I may as well keep it for now. Save packing twice."
"Yeah. It shouldn't take long to find somewhere, I'll look online first thing, somewhere in the harbour area so you don't have too far to go of course and don't take any notice of what people say. Pete's gonna phone your boss in the morning, put it to her tactfully that she could use the benefit of Torchwood's expertise and offer their best agent – me."
"Don't get too big-headed Rose."
"Huh? Cheek. Right, you're gonna suffer for that Alec Hardy, just you wait."
Getting into bed, Rose went on top and allowed him to use protection again, telling him he had nothing to prove to her, the precautions were just that and Rose knew she was going to have to do something so she would find the family planning clinic and take some of the responsibility herself in the morning and see what her options were.
Monday morning, Alec got called into the chief's office.
"Ah, Alec, I've had a most unusual call from Peter Tyler again. He says since his stepdaughter is in town and she's one of Torchwood's top agents, he's offering her services as a liaison between them and us, specifically asking she works alongside you."
"Right. So you want that to happen?"
"Well yes Alec, it's an ideal situation, we can certainly benefit from Agent Tyler's experience. He's asked her to come in at ten this morning, I want DS Miller on this as well, no point in hiding it from her but it will be mainly you who deals with her. I take it you have no objections?"
"None."
"Just how well did you get on with her last week Alec? Did you turn the charm on during her stay to make her want to volunteer to remain here?"
"You could say that. Are there any rules against it Elaine?"
"No, she works for Torchwood, not the police, her personal life is non on my concern but if you have got involved with her, make sure it doesn't interfere with the investigation."
"I can promise it won't though DS Miller might object."
"Good. Ask Ellie to join us in an hour then, I'll talk to Miss Tyler first."
Alec left, hoping Rose wouldn't tell the chief too much about how they had become involved. He knew what women were like, he hoped they won't discuss their love life, sometimes they liked to brag.
Rose had quickly looked online for furnished rental apartments and found three in the same block, just behind the police station by the look on the map, two empty modern ones right at the side of the station, which Alec may be a bit reluctant to occupy and one right on the harbour. She made a note of the numbers and prepared herself for a meeting with Alec's boss, not sure it was a good idea to say the two of them were involved with each other.
"Ah, Agent Tyler, please have a seat. Your stepfather filled me in on most things and why he thought you could help our investigation though I don't know how it came to his attention. We don't normally ask for help from Torchwood."
"Well I became interested last week when I arrived, I had no idea I would end up working on it. Anything I can do to help, you only have to ask. I will also be working for Torchwood but I'll be your liaison more than anything. I've already met DI Hardy, he was very charming during my last week here and I took him with me when I went back home to get the rest of my stuff, my stepfather wanted to meet him."
"I should have guessed, it was my idea he kept an eye on you while you were here but I never expected him to take it personally. Still, as long as it doesn't get in the way of work, I don't need to know all the details but his DS might have something to say about it, they don't exactly get along."
"So I heard. Well I'll get set up, I'm off to look at some places to rent while I'm here, I need my privacy and if more press are going to show up, I don't need my name in all the tabloids and I don't want the focus to shift to what I'm doing here when they should be concentrating on the boy's family. I'd like to meet them, tell them I'm here to help but the public don't tend to know what we do so I'll just say I'm a consultant been brought in by the police, that usually covers it. I'll ask DI Hardy to take me or perhaps DS Miller, if you prefer I don't work directly with him." . ?docid=51896765
"Like I said, I don't need to know if the two of you are involved. We just want this case solved as quickly as possible."
"Well, I'll get to work in the next few days."
Alec and Ellie Miller came to join them, Alec not being too coy and admitting to Miller he knew Rose though not as to the extent of their involvement. Rose was setting off back to the hotel after cornering Alec on the way out and telling him she was off to look at a few places.
"Do you want to come with me or will you leave it to me?" she asked, smirking after she gave him a good snogging.
"I'll leave it to you Poppet, I'm sure you'll pick somewhere nice though maybe not right next door, I'll have no excuse not to get called out urgently when I'm in bed with you."
"Right, well that rules that out then, I'm not having you going out in the middle of something and before you get any more ideas about a repeat of the other night, you need to get on about getting something done."
"Yes ma'am, you're the boss." He gave her a quick peck on the lips. "I have to go now but I'll arrange for you to meet the Latimers."
Rose left and wandered back towards the hotel since she had decided to walk down, passing by the block of apartments and stopped to have a look. There was a parking area around the back and a few had balconies, one she had looked at had one and she got her phone out to call the agents, telling them who she was. The female agent could hardly believe her luck when Rose said she may want to rent one for an indefinite period of time and promised someone would be round in less than half an hour so Rose said she would go get a coffee and come back.
She went to the café next to the police station and had asked for the agent to call if they arrived before she came back so she sent a message to Alec asking if he was free in half an hour. He said he was just going out but to give him the address and Rose said it was just behind the station. So forty minutes later, she had been let in by the agent and there was a knock on the door since Rose had said which one she was interested in and the agent faced Alec.
"Oh, I'm here to view the apartment with my girlfriend."
The woman knew who he was, didn't everyone in the town? What was Rose Tyler doing with the worst cop in Britain?