When Rose got inside Alec's cottage, she threw her arms around him.
"Hey sweetheart, what was that for?"
"Sorry about the rushed lunch, it was mad in the salon. Tomorrow if we go out, I want you to take some photos of us for me to take to work."
"Won't that just add fuel to Claire's fire?"
"No, it's for the benefit of all the seventeen year old spotty kids who come in asking if I have a boyfriend, they may know who you are."
Alec smiled and kissed her forehead. "Aye, I should think so as well, they have a nerve, I hope you set them right?"
"Yeah, what do ya think?"
"I'll put dinner on then? It won't take long, I only got something quick then maybe we can go out?"
"Can we just stay in?"
"Sure love, whatever you want. Why don't you take your things upstairs?"
"Yeah, I brought a dress to change into and that nightdress I had on Thursday night."
"Good though you won't be needing it that much, will you?"
After kissing, Rose went upstairs and left Alec to stir the ingredients he'd bought then after they had eaten, Rose went to get a CD out that she'd brought with her but Alec had picked one up at the supermarket.
"When did you get that?" Rose asked him, looking at the playlist of sixties love songs. "You old romantic."
Alec grinned and went to put it in the CD player while Rose kicked off her shoes then went for Alec's shirt buttons, fingering them playfully.
"Don't stall Rose."
"I'm not, I just want to tease you, button by button."
Alec was lucky the first track was 'Put your head on my shoulder' so that Rose undid three buttons and left the rest, reaching up to kiss his exposed chest. By the fifth track, Rose was hanging off his neck, her dress zip undone, Alec's shirt had been tossed on the back of the sofa and she had unzipped the new black jeans he'd bought the other day. Alec's hands were on her back, he'd already unclasped her bra and she was pressing into him, her dress just about on her shoulders.
"I think we should take this to the sofa, don't you?" Alec asked her, nipping her neck.
She didn't need telling twice as she allowed him to half carry her the short distance then getting down first, Alec pulled her on top of him, pulling the dress off her shoulders and taking her bra with it. Rose smiled at him as he tried to pull down his jeans whilst retaining his shorts and she wriggled out of her dress.
"I like the fact you bought some jeans Alec."
"Aye, well maybe getting my suit trousers creased was a bit of an incentive eh?"
"I should think so," was all she could say as he took her bra and tossed it on top of his shirt and struggled so her dress fell on the floor, Rose thinking it was fortunate it wasn't the kind of material that would crease easily.
Alec was wasting no time, putting his hands down the back of her cotton underwear, making her gasp as she was trying to kiss his collarbone so she moved her hand and put it under him, doing the same.
"Rose, let's just forget everything tonight eh?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry about last night, really I am."
"Shush, it's ok, come here."
She turned her head to look at him and he pulled her for a kiss and as he did, moved one hand around the front, pulling her underwear down even more then reached for his shorts.
Rose thought it was the most wonderful feeling she'd ever had lately as they made contact without him wearing anything as she called his name and things became more intense as she battled his hand to make more room.
"Rose, I'm not wearing anything darlin'."
"I know, just go a bit further, can you?"
"My pleasure love, just tell me when to stop eh? How much longer before you can take those pills again?"
"Another week of torture then four or five days after that."
"Why not say two weeks love? It is torture, trust me but you are worth it Rose."
Rose was already lost in the sensations and couldn't say much back until things became apparent they couldn't settle for what they were doing at present.
"Alec, I don't want to move, do you?"
"Rose, I can't, you know, control these urges for much longer love."
"I know that, just, well just be careful, that's all."
"Oh I will love, you can trust me I won't let things go too far."
He kept his promise as he lowered his shorts awkwardly but Rose really didn't care as the waves crashed over her until he suddenly started to come away from her before it went too far. They both knew it was risky to carry on until they passed the point of no return but they had already done that once and Rose was wondering if anything was going to come of that.
Rose felt giddy as she felt him break contact, Alec smiling to himself he could still make a woman feel that way, knowing she was giggling because she was happy, not at his failure to complete the process.
"That was so much better, without you wearing anything," Rose sighed.
"Do you think I don't know that? Maybe we can compromise, until you go back on those pills?"
"I'm more than willing to negotiate terms with you Alec," she smiled.
"I knew you would see things my way. Shame you left it too late to start on them right away."
"I had no idea I was going to meet someone Alec, it was just with coming here, I thought it had thrown me out of balance but it hadn't and I didn't think about it. I used to get regular injections so I was completely covered but maybe they don't do them here?"
"Maybe you had to ask?"
"I never thought of that. I'll go to the clinic again on Monday, see what they say."
"Aye, you do that love and don't worry, nothing will have happened."
She didn't want to say something might have done last Saturday night before they had both thought about it and starting on anything now it would be too late anyway but there was no sense in worrying Alec or herself about it, only time would tell. They eventually put their underwear back on and helped each other not fall off the sofa, Rose giggling as she almost lost her balance whilst reaching for Alec's shirt to put on to get her upstairs.
Fastening just two buttons, the shirt being far too big for her, Alec stood up and pulling up his jeans, left the zip undone and fingered the shirt buttons.
"My turn Rose?"
Rose giggled again. "When we get upstairs, then you can claim your shirt back."
"I will love, you can safely bet on that. Now, about those terms we were going to negotiate?"
"Well, that depends on what I can get out of them at the clinic, doesn't it? We can talk about it after I go back but maybe when we get upstairs, you can wear something?"
"I really don't want to love, you know that. Anyway, have you not had enough excitement for one night eh?"
"Huh? It's you who can't handle the excitement, I hope you took your own pills earlier?"
"I'm not daft Rose, even after last night when all you wanted to do was lay in bed with me and I didn't really blame you for that, I made an agreement with you and I respect that. You letting me stay over was just a bonus."
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, it's just with everything else going on, then Claire going all psycho on me."
"I know love, forget about it. I was going to ask you about tomorrow. There is going to be a service for Danny Latimer, would you care to attend with me?"
"Our first official outing?"
"If you want? We don't have to go, though I would be expected to attend, being the senior officer on the case."
"Yeah, I'll go with you and hold your hand. I don't mind being seen with the town's grumpy detective."
"Less of the grumpy, Miss Scissorhands."
"Cheek, grumpy," she replied, breaking his hold on her and gathering the rest of her clothes and seeing the brand name of his shorts on the waistband.
"I'll tell Ellie Miller what brand of shorts you wear," she teased.
"Do you think she will care? Really Rose, is that the best you can do?"
"Nope, you have no idea what I can do."
"I just bet I don't. What have I just set myself up for?"
"Come upstairs and I'll tell you."
"I would rather have a demonstration."
"You need instructions?"
"No, I'm offended you should insinuate I need a diagram, Rose Tyler."
Rose giggled as Alec tried to grab his shirt that she was half wearing.
"I may have to insist you give me that back."
"You'll have to get it first, inspector."
"Oh I will, you can depend on that otherwise I may have to arrest you and hold you in my custody until Monday morning."
"Only until Monday morning?"
"Well, we have an agreement still, do we not?"
Rose had almost forgotten for the time being, she needed that distance between them. She was getting nowhere with sorting out her feelings for James, Claire was destroying any chance of that because keeping Alec had become her top priority, without him, she would be totally alone.
She never replied as she made her way upstairs, Alec following her and turning off the CD player that had stopped playing a while back and turning out the lights. After Rose came out of the bathroom and Alec went off, she got ready for bed, thinking he'd want an answer when he came back in but what could she say?
Alec walked into the bedroom in just his shorts, Rose had hung his shirt in the wardrobe.
"You spoiled my fun Rose, I was going to get my shirt back off you. Is something wrong?"
"No. Alec, I need those few days, you understand don't you?"
"I understand Rose but how much longer love, eh?"
"I don't know the answer to that Alec, just give me some time. All this with Claire is just making this more difficult, I can't think straight."
"I know love, it's not easy for me either you do know that?"
Rose nodded and turned to face him as he reached to switch the lamp off. He put his arm around her and pulled her closer, into his shoulder.
"What's holding you back Rose? You know how I feel about you, don't you?"
He felt her nodding her head though she remained silent.
"I love you Rose, can't you get over this?"
"I want to," she mumbled.
"Then what is it?"
"I'm scared of losing you Alec, you're all I have in this world, you know that. I'm scared of what Claire will do and I've not had time to even think about the rest."
"Rose, don't be scared of losing me, I've dealt with a lot worse than Claire Ripley, believe me. I will put an end to it, Miller wants to meet with her on Monday."
"Are you going to let her?"
"I have no choice, Miller offered to deal with Claire, to get her to back off and I have to let her, I can't deal with her objectively and I am not setting myself up for a visit to the hospital before my appointment on Wednesday. Miller said she would talk to both of you, if you agree?"
"I don't think it's a good idea, Claire will only tell Ellie a pack of lies."
"Miller knows, she's on your side, she just wants to help resolve the problem. Trust me, I think she's enjoying the challenge."
"Yeah but neither of you need this, not with a killer in the town. Alec, you don't think it was Claire's husband do you, who killed Danny?"
He hadn't thought of that.
"What? Are you being serious Rose? As far as I know, Ashworth is out of the country."
"Well, what if he found out that Claire had come down here, with you? Maybe he wanted you to know he was around and poor Danny just got in the way? You said Danny was killed in that hut we passed last Sunday so what if he was up there, Ashworth was hiding out inside and Danny surprised him?"
Alec suddenly sat up in bed, what Rose was saying was making sense.
"I can't do anything tonight but first thing tomorrow, I'll call my contact and make sure Ashworth is not back in the country then take it from there. Why did I never think of that?"
"Because I didn't just go dimension hopping where I came from Alec, that's what I used to do, look for things out of the ordinary and you would never have suspected him, would you? It's almost as impossible as suspecting Ellie's husband."
Alec just 'hmm'd' and settled back, snuggling up to Rose.
"Then we will see who is right because I did suspect Miller's husband."
"When were you going to tell me?"
"Not until I was sure but things are not adding up. I make a point of not bringing my work home Rose, not after what happened with Tess. You are not the only one scared of losing someone, I learned my lesson with Sandbrook."
"This isn't Sandbrook Alec," Rose told him, kissing his chest.
"There are people who keep reminding me of my failure there."
"Tell me who they are and I'll sort them out for you."
"I can fight my own battles Rose. Now since you deprived me of getting my shirt back, I am going to need some compensation. Your nightdress will do nicely."
"You'd look funny wearing my nightdress to work Alec."
"Very amusing, I was not going to wear it, was I?"
"How do I know what you get up to when I'm not here?" she giggled.
"Right, you are now in serious trouble, Rose Tyler."
"Hey," she protested as he went for the hem and began pulling it up. "I'm not wearing anything underneath."
"Good. Neither am I. Let's just risk it tonight eh? It's not like anything is really going to happen, with me under you, is it? I really hate wearing those things."
~~~~{ silversurfer60 }~~~~
While they had been dancing earlier then getting close to going over the line of actually having sex on the sofa, Claire had got her last coffee from a nearby stand before it closed then gone for a walk across the footbridge over the river and found herself behind the row of cottages Rose must have gone into but which one was Alec's she wondered? Walking back over the footbridge, she came upon a shed that was empty and the door slightly opened and thought she could sleep rough for one night, no-one knew her and she always woke early anyway.
Claire went back to the wall, Rose and Alec hadn't gone out, she thought. She went back to the boatyard where they kept the rowing boats that were for hire during the summer, looking at the row of cottages and wishing she had a clue which one she should be concentrating on. Just after ten, it had got dark and she was sitting on an upturned rowing boat, having nipped into the pub on the corner, being prepared to say she had been sitting outside with friends if she got caught going into the ladies room. She saw a few lights go on in what appeared to be the bathroom, since they all had frosted glass and she saw a light in one of the back bedrooms but since Alec and Rose used the front slightly bigger bedroom, unknown to Claire, she was still no closer discovering if it was theirs or not.
Fortunately, it was mild that night but Claire was glad she'd brought her thicker jacket with her and using the light from her phone, found a tarpaulin in the corner of the shed and sat down on it, trying to get comfortable and hoping in the morning, she would see them go out and then knock on a few doors pretending she was looking for them and if only one door wasn't answered before she got to the end, she had hit the jackpot but what was she going to do once she found out which one?
There was another row of cottages just across the way but someone would report her hanging around and she had been left alone all evening, Alec didn't have a clue she had been there all night since he'd not bothered going out. Come morning, she would go and sit on the wall again, since Alec's car was facing the other way and if she sat slightly out of line so she could see his car but neither he or Rose would see her, they would be none the wiser.
Then after a quick breakfast, she would try and find out where he lived and on Rose's days off next week, if she thought she was going to hide by leaving her apartment, she was in for a big surprise, even though it would give the game away, it would be worth it.
After breakfast the next morning, Alec made the call to DS Craig back in Sandbrook who had been keeping a check on where Lee Ashworth had got to after he'd walked free from court and reportedly, Claire's husband was somewhere in France and it was suspected Lisa had been hiding somewhere and gone with him.
"Right, OK Craig, you make sure you inform me if he does leave."
Alec turned back to Rose. "Sorry love, as far as my contact knows, Ashworth has never left France, the passport office have an alert for him if he tries to leave and come back here, I set that up before I left. I'm no longer bothered though, he can come back and get Claire if he wants, she'll get no protection from me."
"I'm sorry it came to this Alec, if you were just friends, what has she got against me?"
"She's just twisted Rose, I was fooled by her all this time and now, she is showing her true side. She had more to do with Pippa's death than she told me, I know she did. Well she can forget it, I'm no longer going to help her pay for the cottage and I'll get Miller to tell her tomorrow that I'm no longer going to assure her safety, she can fend for herself."
"It seems so cruel, leaving her to be found by him."
"She has been nothing but trouble since we met Rose and you are feeling sorry for her? You are too soft."
"Yeah, maybe I am but travelling with the Doctor, he always gave everyone a choice, no matter what it was."
"I did give her a choice Rose, she chose to go after you despite my warning her off. You think her being off work yesterday was because I embarrassed her? No, she will have spent the day plotting and I would bet anything she has been evading those two officers outside your apartment all night."
"She won't have seen any lights on, would she?"
"She wouldn't have known that until it got dark and got the last bus home."
"I hope so but she'll be back on the first one this morning."
"Then just be glad we are going out for the day. We'll go to the church first, so everyone can talk about the grumpy detective and the hairdresser, then we'll go somewhere quiet, have some lunch and get a few groceries on the way back."
"Maybe you can find somewhere out of town to solve our problem tonight?"
"Such as? I'm not up to date with all these modern ways of taking precautions, you were lucky I remembered how to use the other things."
"I could always have drawn you a diagram," Rose giggled as she got her jacket so they could set off for the church.
"Rose, I can't even follow the instruction to put up a wardrobe from Ikea, I'm more of a 'hands on' person, I need to be shown."
"Well I hope you learn things quickly then?"
"Oh aye, on most things but when it comes to that, well I may need a few lessons before I get the gist of it."
"I'm sure you do but there are a few things you don't need lessons on and I'm not telling you what they are, it's Sunday."
"I have a very good imagination I'll have you know," he smiled, picking up his mobile and car keys.
"Yeah, I'm sure you have. You can show me later."
"It's Sunday."
Alec pulled up by the church, just managing to find a spot because there were loads of cars belonging to reporters that Rose hadn't reckoned on being there and tried to shy away from them by grabbing Alec's arm and burying her face into it.
"Camera shy? I thought you wanted to be seen with the grumpy detective?"
"In case you had forgotten how I got here Alec, my old friends and relatives back in London will be a bit surprised to see me on the front page, won't they?"
"Sorry, I never thought about that," he replied as they walked up the steps into the churchyard, cameras clicking all around them until someone shouted "Mark, Beth" behind them and they all dashed off.
Ellie and her family were talking to Paul Coates.
"Ah, look who's here," Ellie greeted them. "Got through the horde of reporters?"
"Just about, Rose is camera shy aren't you love?"
Rose offered a weak smiled and held her hand out as Paul greeted her.
"Nice to meet you Rose, welcome to Broadchurch and St Bedes."
Ellie dashed off to warn the reporters to leave the Latimers alone. As Mark, Beth and Chloe approached them, another woman stepped out from behind Paul and joined them.
"Who's that?" Rose asked Alec as he ushered Rose towards the entrance.
"Beth Latimer's mother, Danny's grandmother. We should wait and let them go in first, their friends will already be inside."
Rose looked around and saw a tall man talking to Mark.
"That's Nigel Carter, he works with Mark," Paul informed her, looking at Alec as Nigel had also been singled out for Alec's interrogations.
Rose saw Ellie's youngest getting out of his pushchair and letting go of Alec, approached the youngster.
"Hello Fred you're awake today."
Fred looked at his dad and then at Tom.
"Hi again Tom. This must be sad for you?"
Tom could only nod, looking also at his dad while Alec observed them. Ellie had joined her family and the Latimers stopped as they passed by.
"Detective inspector, we weren't expecting you today," Beth told him.
Alec thought he hadn't expected himself to be here either but this was a test, to see if Rose was accepted into the community and maybe now, he would.
"Mrs Latimer, this is Rose Tyler, my girlfriend. She wanted to show her respects."
"Mrs Latimer, nice to finally meet you."
"I know you, you work in the hairdressers, I saw you there last week," Beth's mother interrupted.
"Yeah, I remember you, you're Mrs Roper."
"We should all go inside," Paul informed them.
Rose took Alec's arm and let him lead her inside, following the Latimers and Ellie's family and then choosing to sit at the back, Rose thinking he wanted to make a rather hasty retreat. While they had been talking, Alec had not seen Becca Fisher go past and had the misfortune to be spotted by the hotel owner helping Rose into a pew. Becca couldn't resist turning around.
"Hello, who's your friend then?"
"Not now Becca."
Rose nudged him. "Don't be rude Alec. Hi, I'm Rose, Alec's girlfriend."
Alec knew that was the end of any anonymity he hoped they might have, now the town's main source of gossip had seen them but then he saw the newspaper editor plus Miller's nosy nephew and so he resigned himself to being on the front page of the local paper after all.