Then she'd gone to Alec before it had been too late after she'd planned on telling Lee she was pregnant, he'd helped her find a clinic and gone with her but now, it was like he'd forgotten her, going off with Rose when it could just as easily have been her, if she'd played her cards right and it could still be her if she could split them up. There was no reason why once Rose was out of the picture he wouldn't go back to being friendly with her again but did she only want to be friends with him?
Lee had gone to France and left her behind, Alec was free, she could easily get a divorce, she'd never taken Lee's name for professional reasons so there was no comeback if they were to get together. The more she thought about it, the more appealing the idea became to her, what she had told her colleagues was becoming true, she did want him back. She got to the bus shelter just as her bus was making its way to the square and went upstairs to think carefully of how she was going to turn the rest of the staff against Rose, she only had one day this week so she would have to work fast.
Rose and Alec had arrived outside the Miller house.
"Is there anything I need to know before we go in?" Rose asked him as they approached the house.
"Such as?" he replied as he got the wine and chocolates from the back seat and locked the doors.
"What have you told her about me then?"
"Just you were a friend and you are a trainee hairdresser."
"Not your girlfriend?"
"Well this morning, I was not so sure about that, was I eh?"
"Yeah, sorry, I shouldn't have gone off like that. Well now you can tell her, can't you?"
"Yes, I can."
He stopped and was about to ring the doorbell when he turned to kiss her.
Ellie opened the door, Rose looking slightly flustered as he'd rung the bell and she was still recovering, since they'd not really kissed that morning or last night, thanks to Claire.
"Oh, hello, you must be Rose," Ellie stated as Alec held out the wine and chocolates.
"Yeah, hi, thanks for inviting me. Alec got these for you."
Ellie was about to ask whose idea it was and if he'd really thought about it himself with no help from his 'friend'. To her, Rose looked slightly flustered, perhaps they'd just been snogging on her doorstep and she'd missed it, worst luck. It would have been worthwhile catching her boss snogging a young blonde, she wondered how old Rose was and if he knew how it looked.
"Thanks, come in, don't stand there all night. You got all poshed up as well, we didn't."
"I always wear this suit Miller," Alec stated, allowing Rose to enter first and closing the door behind him.
"Alec, don't call her that all night will you? Sorry, I suppose he calls you that at the station?"
"Yeah, tell me about it. Do I have to call you Sir or Hardy all night then?" Ellie smiled, going into the kitchen and them both following her.
"Is there any need to refer to each other by name? If I face you, you know I'm talking to you, right?"
Rose patted his arm. "Yeah, we get it. Hi, I'm Rose, Alec's girlfriend," she told Ellie's husband, Joe.
He had a tea towel over his shoulder, a pair of oven gloves in one hand and a pan in the other.
"Rose and Alec brought chocolates and wine," Ellie told him.
"Oh, you two can come again then, Ellie loves chocolates."
"Yeah so do I, he bought me some too," Rose told her as she looked around the kitchen.
"Where are my manners? Let me show you into the dining room." Ellie put the wine and chocolates down and squeezed past Rose, Alec standing to one side and Ellie spying her son sitting with his legs dangling through the banister.
"Tom, what are you doing? You may as well come and say hello then."
Tom got up and began walking downstairs.
"You know DI Hardy, this is his friend Rose."
"Are you his girlfriend?" he asked Rose.
"Yeah, hi Tom, nice to meet you. Were you a friend of Danny's?"
"Yeah, he was my best friend. Mum said they'll catch the person who killed him, won't you Mum?
"We will Tom, we're doing our best. Now off to your room and don't go waking Fred."
"Is he your other son?" Rose asked her, following Ellie into the dining room, feeling Alec's hand on her back.
"Yeah, he's 15 months, bit of a handful."
"I can imagine." She wanted to say she remembered Tony at that age but that was gone for now, since the device was still showing no signs of life.
"Have you any brothers or sisters?" Ellie asked her.
"No, I grew up on my own, I lost my dad when I was just six months, mum never remarried."
She had told Alec the truth but it went no further than him.
"I've got a sister, lives in the town. My nephew is the reporter around here."
"Don't we all know that?" Alec asked her, trying to decide if he should sit next to Rose or opposite her, it was either sit next to her or one of the Millers so he sat beside her after pushing her chair back as she sat down, smiling at him.
He just hoped Miller wouldn't sit opposite him, well one of them would he supposed, taking Rose's hand under the table as Ellie went out and squeezing it.
"Ok sweetheart?"
"Yeah, it was just Ellie asking if I had any brothers or sisters, I miss Tony."
"Sorry, you could hardly tell her about your family."
She reached over to touch his chin.
"I like your beard that way."
"My new look, remind me to thank my hairdresser."
"I will, don't you worry."
The dinner went well, Rose finding Ellie very easy to get on with, unlike Alec did and him trying to stop himself putting his hand on Rose's leg all the time.
"So where did you two meet then?" Joe Miller was asking them as Ellie got up to clear the dishes.
"Do you need any help Ellie?" Rose asked her, getting up and seeing the look on Alec's face as his hand moved away.
"No, you're a guest, it's fine."
Rose smiled. "That's what I told Alec the first time he came to my apartment, then the next time, he tidied up after himself and said I'd only told him the first time he was there he was a guest. Actually, we met through someone I work with but it's got a bit awkward, I don't think she actually meant for us to meet more than the once."
"Oh do tell Rose but when I come back, I love gossip."
Ellie went off and Joe insisted on pouring more wine into Rose's glass but Alec covered his with his hand.
"Oh go on, don't be a misery," Joe told him.
"He's driving," Rose told him in Alec's defence.
"I can tell him myself Rose. We should have got a taxi here I suppose."
"Well next time, you won't get away with it," Joe laughed.
"Oh. We're invited back then?" Rose smiled, taking a drink and noticing Alec had hardly touched his, thankfully since he would need his pills when they got back.
"Well you are, don't know about your boyfriend," Ellie joked, coming back in with desert.
"Thanks," Alec huffed as Rose rubbed her hand on his leg.
Ellie burst out laughing. "Do you want some tea instead?"
"That would be good if you are making some?"
"Why don't you take your desert into the front room and I'll make some for all of us? Joe, I hope you put all Fred's toys away?"
"Yes I did, did you think I'd leave them out with guests coming?"
Alec got up, reaching for Rose's hand.
"Don't mind us," Rose told them, taking the offered hand.
"Joe, come and help me," Ellie told her husband, Rose knowing he was about to get a lecture, she'd done the same with James but not over toys being left in the front room, obviously.
Alec led her to the front room, closing the door behind them and putting the plates on the coffee table, pulled her for another kiss, taking Rose by surprise.
"I missed you last night Rose, can we at least kiss tonight?"
"Yeah, I'm really sorry, I already told you that."
"I know, I was just making sure." He sat her on the sofa and was just leaning over to kiss her again when he heard voices in the hallway.
The door opened and they broke apart before either of their hosts could enter.
"Hope we weren't disturbing you two?" Ellie grinned.
"Not at all," Alec lied, putting his arm around the back of the sofa and half on Rose's shoulder.
Ellie and her husband asked Rose a few more questions, Rose thinking it was more like an interrogation as she told them how she'd found herself in the town and had been lucky getting a job but Ellie wanted to know more about Rose and Claire's fallout, Rose having to be careful how she worded it.
"So she's jealous then?" Ellie mused.
"There is nothing for her to be jealous of, Claire was just a witness who testified against her husband on a case I was working on. I told her I was putting in for a transfer and she asked if she could come with me and make a fresh start, end of story."
"So she lives in the town?"
"No, a few miles away and I hardly see her, I was hoping her husband would come back then she may tell me the truth."
"So she was involved with Sandbrook?" Ellie asked him. "It's not a secret, what happened there."
"No but I put it all behind me and moved on, that's why I can't let the Latimer's down."
"Yeah but coming along and taking jobs meant for others?" Joe asked, getting him a dig from Ellie.
"Well I was not aware of that at the time, I was never told someone else was in line for the job. Answer me this, could you have been in charge of a murder investigation on your first day back at work?" Alec addressed Ellie, Rose hoping he wasn't going to get worked up about it.
"I told you, this is my first murder involving a child, they would have just brought someone more senior in."
"Yeah, that could have been Alec," Rose suggested in his defence.
Alec glanced at his girlfriend again, why was she so quick to come to his defence? He didn't need anyone to speak up for him no-one ever had done before and he wasn't sure how to take it but seeing they were just about to make up after a tense couple of days, he thought he'd best leave it. Why couldn't she have been around during Sandbrook? He would have faired a lot better with someone like Rose by his side, he wouldn't have got so involved with Claire's problems for one but Tess had been suspicious of her even when there was nothing going on, what would she have made of Rose?
"It's ok Rose, I get that," Ellie told her. "It's just getting to everyone, that's all and I miss putting my kids to bed."
Joe looked like he was going to say something else but Ellie gave him a warning look telling him to leave it.
Rose saw her chance to find out just how late they had been working and if Claire had told the truth about that Monday night she claimed Alec had been to the cottage and forced himself on her but what Rose couldn't work out was if Alec was indeed forcing her, why was she so intent on breaking them up? Surely she should be glad he'd found someone else?
"Well, I'll have to see if I can get him to ease up, won't I?" Rose declared, taking his hand that was around her shoulder and rubbing it. "I'm sure you won't find the killer any quicker by working all hours, will you Alec? You can't interview suspects and follow leads late at night."
"Thank you Rose, talk some sense into him will you? Every night last week it was after ten when I got home and last night it was after nine, I'm sure he only finished early tonight because we'd invited you to dinner. Maybe we should invite you more often?"
"That won't be necessary, thanks all the same," Alec told her, kissing Rose's hand. "I'm sure Rose will make me see sense, won't you love?"
"Yeah, just leave him to me Ellie, I'll make sure he finishes at a reasonable time from now on."
"I knew I was going to like you Rose. At least I've got someone on my side, just because he had no-one to go home to."
"Well he has now, we just need to iron a few details out, this friend who introduced us, I'm having a bit of bother with her at work. She's under the illusion she and Alec were more than friends, if you get my drift and the claws have come out."
"Oh, that's interesting, do tell me more," Ellie smiled as both Joe and Alec rolled their eyes.
"I'm sure they don't want to hear about our problems Rose," Alec warned her.
"Speak for yourself," Ellie told him. "I want details Rose."
"Well why don't you two get together and chat amongst yourselves?" Alec asked her, feeling himself going a bit red and hot under his collar and he wasn't even wearing a tie.
"Spoilsport," Rose grinned. "I'll tell you another time then, I've got the next two days off, we can have lunch. I will say one thing though, she's making it very difficult for me at work, I dread to think what she'll tell them."
"You'll just have to tell your side, I'm sure Alec will back you up," Ellie told her sympathetically.
Alec kissed her hand again. "Sure I will, I told you, don't worry about it."
Rose thought that was easy for him to say when he didn't have to work with Claire.
"We should be going Rose," he told her, getting up and dropping her hand, reaching out to help her up.
"Yeah, thanks again for dinner. Ellie, can I take a quick peek at Fred before I go?"
Ellie smiled, she did like her boss's new girlfriend.
"Just a quick look, I should check on him, you can come with me."
Rose squeezed Alec's hand and followed Ellie upstairs. Joe turned to Alec.
"She seems to be doing you some good then," Joe remarked.
"Yes, she does, she's making me see it's not all about work and I apologise for keeping your wife away from her family but back at my old station, well that was how I worked, to get away from my ex and I neglected my daughter in the process. I'll make sure she finishes at a more reasonable time, no doubt Rose will drag me out if I carry on working late."
"I'm sure she will, she may want to be the boss."
"Aye, it seems that way and do you know something? If that's what she wants, who am I to argue with her?"
Joe managed a smile but something about him was making Alec nervous and he'd seen Rose look the same way.
"Yeah, you and me both mate."
"Does she like me? I mean as a boss?"
"She invited you for dinner, didn't she? She's worked with worse than you, trust me but this investigation has hit her hard, with knowing Danny so well, he was always around here playing with Tom, we all used to kick a football around on the field and I was always helping Danny fix his skateboard."
Alec filed that piece of information away for future reference.
"Yes, well all murders involving a child are especially difficult, I never got over my last case involving one and her cousin is still missing."
"Well I think Ellie may go easy on you now you've proved to her you're human, getting yourself a girlfriend," Joe laughed.
Alec saw the funny side, something he wouldn't have done when he first arrived in the town. He laughed back, just as Ellie and Rose were coming back downstairs.
The two women had been stood over Fred's cot.
"Aw, he's so cute, I wish I'd had someone when I was growing up, I just had some cousins but it wasn't the same really, I had no-one to look after and stick up for."
She was already missing Tony like crazy, one factor in her rush to get away from everything she'd not taken into account but she was going nowhere yet while her device was offline.
"So, you and Alec Hardy eh? I hardly believed it when I asked him to dinner and he said he wanted to bring someone with him. He's changed for the better just in the last few days but he seemed a bit off earlier on today."
"Yeah, well you can blame that so-called friend for that, she's trying to split us up but I don't know why when she told me at first she wasn't interested in him in that way."
"Would it have made any difference?"
"I don't know Ellie, I met him at her house then I didn't see him again until Friday lunchtime, he gave me his phone number because he was worried about me being friends with her. I don't know how much he wants you to know but she came down here with him and she seems to think she owns him."
"I'd watch out for her then, she may see you as a threat."
"Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of, she's getting to me Ellie and I don't know how to tell Alec."
"Well you can always talk to me Rose, what about your mother though?"
"She's gone to visit her cousin, I don't know when she'll be back and she's still so far away." Rose thought she'd best not mention just how far away her mother really was.
"I'll give you my number shall I? Call me, if you can't talk to him."
"Thanks Ellie, I thought Claire was my friend but I know she isn't now. The thing is, I think she invited Alec to her house that day on purpose, like she was trying to show him off to me and when it backfired on her, well it affected her and now she's out to get her revenge and she's being spiteful."
"Well I'd stay away from her outside work if I were you."
"It's not that easy Ellie, she knows where I live, she was waiting for me last night and she upset me and I took it out on Alec. He was so good about it though but I don't want to lose him because of it."
Ellie put her arm around Rose. "Listen Rose, I can tell he's sweet on you, you have to tell him if she upsets you, he's part of the problem and he knows it. I asked him if you were his girlfriend and he's scared he's moved too fast for you and you want to back off. Trust me, he cares about you, don't let this Claire make trouble and spilt you up."
"I wish it was that simple Ellie but it's complicated, there are things I can't tell you."
"You don't have to, I'm here for you even if you can't tell me everything. We'd best go back down, those two will have run out of things to say to each other by now. Feeling better?"
"Yeah, thanks Ellie, I'd like to be friends with you."
"Think nothing of it, I'll introduce you to Beth, Danny's mother as well, you need more friends than Alec."
As they walked downstairs, they could hear the two men laughing. Rose missed the last step and slung her arms around Alec's neck, kissing the back of it.
"You two been talking about us?"
Alec grabbed both her hands to steady her as her feet touched the ground, pulling him with her.
"No love, what makes you think that eh?"
Rose smiled at Ellie and Ellie knew those two belonged together, no matter what Claire was going to throw at them.
They said goodnight, Alec spoiling things by saying, "Thanks for dinner Miller" and Rose tapping him for it, chastising him when they got back in the car.
"You just had to do that Alec."
"What?"
"Calling her Miller, you daft thing. It was going so well, you never addressed either of them by name all night, just to prove your point that you didn't need to then you call her 'Miller' as we're leaving."
Alec took it the wrong way at first, then thought she may have a point and he didn't want another night like last night, of her ignoring him in bed again, he'd just got to like being with her.
"Sorry," he muttered as he turned the car around and headed back up the street.
"Muffin," Rose said quietly, putting her hand on his leg.
"Your place or mine?" he asked, stopping at the junction and looking both ways.
"Yours if you want, I'm off tomorrow. Did you mean it? That you wouldn't keep working late?"
"Yes, I meant it, I have something to go back to now, don't I? Rose?"
When she didn't answer, he started getting worried things were still not settled. Damn that Claire Ripley for sowing the seeds of doubt in Rose's mind, this was going to take some work on his part.
"Yeah but maybe we should cool off a bit?"
"Why? Is it because of Claire?"
"I'm so mixed up right now Alec, I love being with you but this has all happened so fast. When I came here, I wasn't quite over James and I wasn't expecting to find anyone I'd be even remotely interested in then you walked into Claire's cottage and I thought I was imaging things, that James had somehow followed me."
Alec knew where this was going, despite them already discussing he looked like her boyfriend from the other universe, she knew how to confuse a man. He never said anything as he turned into the street and stopped in front of the row of cottages. They got out and remained silent.
"Are we going to have a night like last night?" he asked, putting the lights on.
"No, I said I was sorry for treating you like that but after what Claire told me, I didn't know what to think."
"Then you had better give me all the details Rose, if she accused me of something. I get the part about you not being ready to get involved with anyone so soon after your split with James but you have no way back at the moment, isn't that a sign you should move on? You may never even get back if it stays offline then what will you do eh? Be on your own? I can't wait forever Rose, I may not even have much time at all, I'll have to call the hospital tomorrow, see what they say but I may still have a while to wait. I couldn't get through to them today, then with taking my time to get my hair cut, I was busy when I got back."
"Please don't keep putting it off Alec, I worry about you."
"Come here Rose, please?" Rose approached him and put her arms around his neck. "Please Rose, don't shut me out, tell me everything she said to you yesterday, I want you tonight."
"You might change your mind when I tell you and that I still don't know whether to believe her or not."
"Well we'll have to risk it, who should you believe? A woman who is deluded and hiding from her husband or a police detective who is crazy about you? I made the moves on you Rose, it wasn't because of any involvement with Claire and I have no idea why she is doing this to me, maybe in that crazy mind of hers she took the fact I went to that clinic with her and she twisted it around that much she thinks it's real. So tell me everything she said to you, please love?"
He nudged her and got her to kiss him. "You can use my t-shirt again and maybe tomorrow, you'll bring something around yes? I'll give you my spare key in the morning, maybe you can cook us something nice tomorrow night eh?"
"Alec, she said that Monday night, after I saw you at her cottage, you went back and you forced her against her will. You wouldn't do that, would you?"
Alec let go of her and sat down. At this rate, he'd be needing more pills. Why was Claire doing this to him after he'd helped her?
"Don't you know me better than that Rose? You trusted me with your secrets, why? Because I'm a detective or because I look like your old boyfriends?"