"I know it's you Alec, don't think I don't."
"Oh no, it's not DI Hardy, this is DS Ellie Miller, Broadchurch police. I assume you're Claire then?"
"What did you want?"
"I need to speak with you, can you meet me during your lunch break, across from the police station?"
"I have better things to do in my lunch break, is it compulsory?"
"If you want to make it so but at the moment, it's just an informal chat, me, you and Rose Tyler."
"I'm not meeting with her, she stole Alec away from me did he tell you that?"
"I'm neutral in all this, I'm just trying to keep the peace. So, I'll be waiting across from the station after twelve thirty, don't make me have someone fetch you."
"You said it was voluntary."
"It is, I'm letting you make your own way there. I'll be honest with you Claire, the only reason I'm getting involved is because in case you haven't been following the news, the town is at the centre of a murder investigation and you getting Hardy caught up with your personal grudge against his new girlfriend is not helping so, we talk it out and see if we can resolve it."
"Then tell his new girlfriend it's her own fault and I'm not dragging Alec into it, she is."
Ellie didn't have time for this right now, her youngest son was throwing a tantrum and she had to set off for work.
Rose was kissing Alec goodbye outside her apartment.
"So, you will meet with Miller?" he asked her.
"Yeah I'll give it a go just for you."
"Then I will see you on Wednesday evening, come round to my place and we'll make dinner."
"How about lunch tomorrow? I did agree to the odd lunch date."
Alec smiled and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Aye, you did. Until tomorrow then?" he asked, kissing the back of her hand. "I love you Rose, last night was the best time we've had."
"Yeah, it was kinda special. Don't you want me to come to the hospital with you?"
"Oh, yes I almost forgot. I will have to say I have some leads to follow. Meet me at my place at one?"
"Sure Alec, I hope you get some good news."
"So do I love, now, I had best go, I have to tell Miller about Claire's latest attempt."
Claire was not happy as she got off the bus in the High Street and seeing Rose cross the road and heading for the salon. It had seemed longer than a week since her so-called friend had betrayed her, just because she'd made a mistake and invited Rose to her cottage after forgetting Alec had said he may call in. Now she was paying for it in more ways than one and so would Rose. She had no intention of going willingly to this 'informal' chat with Alec's DS, she had better things to do at lunchtime.
Rose had gone into the staffroom and tried to ignore Claire as she more or less followed her in but Maureen saw Claire and called her over.
"Claire, I take it you're well enough to work?"
"Yeah, ate something on my way home on Friday night, it must have been off."
"Yes, well, I already spoke to Rose on Saturday so I'm telling you now, whatever is going on between the two of you with this falling out, it has to stop. The girls are getting tired of it and I've heard both sides of the story. To me, it seems you just can't accept that Rose is seeing someone you claim you used to go out with but I've seen no real evidence that was the case, Rose says you and Alec Hardy were just friends."
"Yeah, well she would say that, wouldn't she? Fine, I'll keep it out of the salon then."
"Good, now you'd better get ready and I know you called me but try not to get ill on a Saturday, everyone has to cover if someone is off. You're lucky we're not as busy as we normally are during the summer, with this murder investigation going on."
Alec had beaten Ellie to the station and motioned her into his office as she arrived.
"Have you spoken to Claire?" he asked her as she sat down.
"Yeah, just before I set off, she didn't seem very happy. I don't think she'll show up, even if Rose does."
"Well Rose is willing to meet with you though things changed since I told you to go ahead. Claire found out where I live, more or less but not which number, thankfully. She was sitting on the wall at the end of the street as we got back yesterday."
"She doesn't give up, does she? Did she follow you or Rose?"
Alec raised his eyebrows. "Who do you think Miller? She must have got lucky and seen Rose walk the other way to my place and followed her."
"I'll say that was lucky for her then. So, do you want me to pick them up?"
"Just Claire, I see no point in getting them both to meet with you, I'll leave Rose a message and tell her not to bother."
"Suit yourself but I'm making it my personal mission to make Claire see sense, you need to concentrate on this investigation, Sir."
"Yes, I agree with you but it's not doing Rose any good either, she's already messed up as it is."
"That's your department, I've only agreed to deal with Claire on the condition you take your mind off it and catch Danny's killer."
Alec almost had a mind to say he had someone at the top of his list of suspects. Instead, he let Ellie get to work and sent a text for Rose not to bother meeting Ellie and said for her not to show any interest when she left the salon if Claire was being picked up, preferably in a squad car.
Rose had to smile at break time, pouring hot water into the cup and then adding milk to the coffee. Amber had her break at the same time.
"From your boyfriend?"
"Yeah. I owe you all an apology for getting you caught up in our squabbles."
"Nah, it's quite amusing but Maureen isn't so pleased."
"I know, she told me before I left on Saturday. Claire shouldn't bring it to work with her, it's between me and her though why she's acting like that, I've no idea."
"Well if it's any consolation, we don't believe what she's coming out with, we all saw how you and Alec Hardy behaved around each other last Tuesday, we all thought you were gonna snog his face off when you were trimming his beard."
Rose laughed as she got up to rinse her cup. "So did I, it was very tempting, I'd best not ask him in again."
Just before Rose was due to go to lunch, she could see Claire was getting edgy and knew she was getting nervous about meeting with Ellie. She had been prepared to go along but if Alec thought there was no longer any need, she would stay away though after what had happened last night, she was tempted to have lunch with him and a repeat tonight but it wouldn't solve any of her problems.
She thought about just going with her instincts, that somehow it had been arranged she would meet Alec, he needed her and she needed him, that much was apparent but it wasn't that simple, she had left her family behind, left James in a fit of temper for breaking his promise but she had only done what he had gone off to find the other Doctor to get an explanation and was no nearer finding out.
Should she just call him and tell him she wanted to see him tonight? No, she would give herself a bit more time to think about it, providing Ellie could successfully get Claire off their backs and give her a chance.
Ellie had decided to go personally to meet Claire, having been given a description and being told Claire had a strong Welsh accent. Since Alec had said there was very little chance Claire would go voluntarily and Ellie wanted to get this over and done with, she was prepared to make the extra effort so just before twelve thirty, she had parked outside the newspaper office and walked the short distance to the salon.
As Claire came out, she had no idea the woman in the bright orange coat was waiting for her but as Ellie approached, she had an idea it was the detective sergeant whom had called her earlier.
"Are you Claire Ripley?" Ellie asked, seeing Rose come out behind her but not showing her any sign of recognition, which was fine with Rose.
"Don't tell me, you didn't trust me to make my own way down to meet you then?"
Ellie thought it was more like Hardy who didn't trust her to make her own way down and after meeting her, couldn't really blame him.
"Shall we go to the caf a few doors down instead?" Ellie asked her.
"Suit yourself, I don't have a lot of money for eating in posh caf 's though."
Ellie thought that was really her own fault, Alec had told her he'd stopped paying towards Claire's rent and she'd skipped work last Saturday.
"Fine, we'll go down to one of the food stalls then."
She indicated for Claire to get in the car and Rose crossed the road, going down to her usual place and seeing if Alec was standing on the balcony, which she half hoped he was but he'd take it the wrong way and think she was on her way to making her mind up about him.
Ellie parked in the car park outside the pub and she and Claire walked over to one of the food stalls, Claire just ordering a bottle of Coke and some chips and they sat at one of the tables, Claire deciding she was going to let Ellie do all the talking.
"So Claire, what's all this about then? I've heard Alec Hardy's and Rose's versions so what's your story?"
"Did he tell you he's hiding me from my husband?"
"Yes, he also told me there has never been anything between the two of you and up until you introduced him to Rose, things were somewhat different. Did you introduce them on purpose or did you never intend for them to meet and it backfired on you?"
Claire sipped from her bottle. "I forgot Alec was coming to visit the day Rose was at my place, now I'm paying for it. He's cut me off Ellie, I can call you that?"
"Yeah, it's fine, better than he calls me, by my surname all the time. He told me he got you that cottage but all these problems you've been causing him, you can't blame him for wanting to distance himself from you. Have you thought how it's affecting him and Rose? What don't you get Claire?"
"Huh? I get everything, that he brought me to that awful cottage and just dumped me down there and left me to get on with it."
"Most people would do that Claire, just get on with it."
"I lost everything, gave up my husband because Alec told me he knew he was guilty. Now he's after me, for turning on him and Alec promised to look after me."
"That's not my concern Claire and it's no excuse for starting all this with Rose, she has nothing to do with it."
"She has everything to do with it, I never see Alec now."
"Yes and you know why, stalking his girlfriend. Look Claire, if you weren't interested in him before, why wait until he starts seeing Rose?"
Claire couldn't answer.
"Take my advice Claire, apologise to both of them and I'm sure they will still want to be friends with you."
Claire didn't want that, not any more, she had tried to get Alec interested in her at one point but had failed and had to be content with him being her friend but the green-eyed monster had emerged through one simple mistake and now she couldn't let it go. She had to try and fool Ellie though.
"OK, I get it, I won't keep trying to break them up but I'm still not happy. When Alec brought me here and I got that job, I thought I had a friend in Rose and she left me to go with Alec."
"They don't see each other every day, you could still be friends with Rose, if you wanted? Just stop following her and making her nervous and making up stories about you and Alec Hardy."
"How do you know they're stories?"
"Come on Claire, they were just for Rose's benefit and they have to stop."
"OK, you win, I'll back off."
Ellie just hoped she would keep her word.
As Rose had ordered her lunch, Alec had been standing at the door leading onto the balcony so he could see her but he didn't think she would be able to see him over the top of the panel from where she was. He was having second thoughts about just going down and joining her, they were having lunch tomorrow anyway and despite them spending most of the last week together, he knew in a normal relationship there were some days they wouldn't see each other but what was normal about theirs?
He went back inside and was about to sneak out of the rear exit when he got a message: 'Bet you're standing on the balcony watching me?'
Alec had to smile. He just replied with 'Lucky guess, I'll be over in five'
After he had greeted Rose with a kiss on the cheek, having lunch and not mentioning Claire, he walked to the path where she walked back to work, Alec thinking she didn't have a long enough lunch break for his liking, since twenty minutes were spent with her walking up and down but she refused a ride in case Claire had got back.
"So, I will see you tomorrow lunchtime or did we meet today instead?"
"That was spur of the moment, I'm entitled to be spontaneous," Rose smiled, reaching to kiss his cheek. "Your beard's growing back."
"Yes, well after you left this morning, I did not have time for a shave and I did not expect to be seeing you."
"I'll let you off then and yes, I'll meet you tomorrow at the same time. Bye Alec."
"Bye love, take care and don't let Claire in if she happens to call at your place on her way home and pull the curtains over."
"I will, don't worry. Now I'll be late back if I don't go now."
"Go on then, you can always blame me. I love you Rose."
Rose smiled and let go of his hand. How much longer would he wait and keep telling her that? How long would he be prepared to let her decide how she felt about him? Claire had gone back to work and was sulking in the staffroom when Rose walked in with a minute to spare. It wasn't easy rushing up that path by the hotel even though she was reasonably fit.
Claire got up and brushed past her.
"Thanks for that mate," Claire hissed, bumping Rose's elbow.
Amber was just approaching them and saw what had happened as Claire rushed past her.
"Are you ok Rose? What was that about?"
Rose just shook her head. "Don't get involved Amber, it's nothing, something else must have disagreed with her."
When it came to home-time, Rose decided she would walk the long way home and cut along the back road to her apartment, she didn't fancy a confrontation with Claire on the path down to the esplanade but as she reached Claire's bus stop, she heard her behind calling her name.
"Don't think you got away with that," Claire called as her bus approached.
Rose didn't deem to answer, Alec had already told her at lunchtime not to get into a provoked confrontation with Claire, he'd said it wasn't worth it and Rose knew he was right, she was already upset and things wouldn't improve until she started to ignore all the snide remarks that would be thrown in her direction. As the bus passed, she saw Claire staring out of the window at her, which didn't help so she went into a caf that was still open and ordered a latte, in case Claire decided to get off when the bus reached the harbour.
Alec had been worried all afternoon as he felt Ellie had failed in her mission. She had gone into his office on her return from her meeting with Claire and told him what had happened.
"So you think she will take no notice then?" Alec had asked Ellie.
"Personally, no, she's a real piece of work and I don't want to seem rude but why the hell have you been helping her?"
"It was a long time ago Miller and it seemed like a good idea at the time. I wanted her to confess her part in the youngest girl's murder and turn in her husband in return for leniency."
"So you think she played a major part, not an innocent bystander?"
"Oh yes Miller but not at first but over time, she had to be more involved than she claimed, which was first she was out all night then she'd returned home and found Ashworth cleaning the house. I need you to something else for me."
"No way Sir, I'm not getting involved in your little love triangle, thanks very much. If she still follows Rose, I'll warn her again but that's it, the rest is up to you."
"Shush Miller, it's not a love triangle, there is and never was a me and Claire Ripley, she's deluded on that score. No, I want you to ask her, if you see her again what really happened that night."
"She won't talk to me over that, not after I warned her to leave Rose alone."
"That's exactly why she will talk to you, she will trip herself up and when she does, I want you there to catch her. Look Miller, you have no interest in Sandbrook and she knows it, she will make more mistakes, trust me."
"Well if she goes after Rose again, I'll give her a formal warning or do you want me to caution her?"
"That's up to you to decide, do whatever is necessary to keep her away from Rose. I met her for lunch today and we had agreed we would leave it as it was."
"That's good then, do you think she's starting to come around?"
"Maybe but it was just lunch. I thought she would call tomorrow off but she still wants to meet."
"Well then, you'd best not blow it Sir," Ellie smiled, getting up.
"No, I'd best not, had I? By the way, I have somewhere to go on Wednesday afternoon."
"Sir, we still have loads to go through."
"You think I don't know that? It's something that can't wait and it is partly concerning the investigation."
Well it wasn't far from the truth, without the consultation and a date for the surgery, he had little chance of surviving until he brought in the killer. He hadn't wanted to alarm Rose to the fact he felt the pills were not doing a good enough job, especially after last night but on that score, there was no going back for either of them even though she couldn't tell him she loved him in return, that would come all in good time but did he have the time to wait for her to say it?
Nothing much had happened, he'd not felt any pains again, not like before he'd come to the town and met Rose then had come to his senses and taken the medication when he was supposed to, not when he felt like it. Rose had made a big difference in his life and he knew it and now it was down to him to get himself sorted and risk the surgery but he was still afraid the odds were not going to be in his favour but what was the alternative?
A few more months if he was lucky and that depended how calm he kept himself and between his feelings for Rose and the investigation which of them would finish him off first? He didn't want to think about it, he wanted Rose so badly now and he also wanted the killer and he was now so close to having both that he wouldn't let his failing heart get in the way. So if it meant sneaking off to the appointment with the specialist and then not long after for the surgery, then that was what he would do and hopefully, he'd achieve both and if Miller didn't find out who he thought the killer was or the fact he was having life-saving surgery the next time he sneaked off then all the better.
As long as he didn't do anything stupid and Rose was gentle with him, knowing what his limit was, then he could survive a bit longer. Rose wouldn't let him do anything stupid and he had Miller to do all the chasing if it became necessary, he could claim he was out of condition but she wouldn't believe that now he was pursuing Rose.
Rose had reached home, going behind the police station to her apartment and wishing now she'd just gone the other way after she'd seen Claire on the bus instead but there was no sign of Alec's car anywhere so she reached the steps and looked around to make sure Claire hadn't changed her mind and got off the bus at the harbour.
The rest of the evening, Rose was beginning to regret not seeing Alec but she did need this time, she'd given in that lunchtime and Friday night, spent the weekend with him so if this was going to work, she had to keep to her resolve and also not mess him around. Why was he putting up with her? The times they had spent together were special, she wasn't hesitating so what was really holding her back from committing herself to Alec?
Then it slowly dawned on her the reason wasn't she missed her family, which she did and it wasn't even the fact she'd been with James for over three years and had thought they were happy but they never would have been truly happy. She knew that now and so had James because they had been thrown together out of a misguided sense of the Doctor giving him to her to make up for leaving her in the first place and thinking that was what she wanted.
She had to find the Doctor again and get the real answer she wanted but he wasn't the same any more, he'd changed so much this time. He'd wanted to get her to leave the moment he saw her in the Tardis and they had both known it so maybe his latest attempt to make it up to her was Alec because although he looked like her Doctor and James, he was nowhere near as alike as those two had been and now her Doctor was gone for good, well except for James in the other universe, he was trying to make it up to her again by making sure Alec came to Broadchurch.
Was she going to just accept it this time? That was what she now had to work out because she couldn't go back to James now, she knew that, it was well and truly over. She had done her part, tried to keep her love for the Doctor alive and well and had accepted James without question because she thought she had been truly destined to spend forever with him and she should have loved him the way she had the original but Alec, he was truly different in so many ways yet so much like them.
She had found herself in a dilemma that only she could get out of settle for Alec or go back to James, when her device started working again, if it ever did. She could go find Mickey, see if his device, if he still had one was working or get him to repair hers but then what? Would she even get back to the right time or even the right universe? She could be years off and she had said she may not go back for a long time and right now, she was completely cut off anyway, no-one could even come after her until the two universes were back in alignment with each other. She had two choices, be on her own again or tell Alec how she felt about him then find the Doctor for some answers and this time, he wouldn't fob her off because she would take Alec with her.