Pete gave his version of events, revealing the execution of their plan when they first discovered what had happened and sending someone to keep an eye on things, that being Mickey of course and although he had to omit the part about the Daleks as Rose had explained exactly what they were, he didn't want to scare this world as to their existence and afterwards began taking questions.
Rose was staring at Alec, waiting for him to ask some but he didn't. She knew he was saving them for when they were alone, he would want to ask her about The Doctor in private. The way she had talked about him, had gone back to help him and almost didn't make it, he would certainly want to know about that although she hadn't told the whole story, just that she had stayed behind and got back at the last minute but she would have to tell Alec, he deserved that much.
The conference was winding down, people were being handed copies of the statements Pete had promised, including Alec and one by one they all left, shaking hands with Pete on the way out. Rose didn't want to be part of it, she wasn't expected to take part. Alec remained at his table, gathering up his files and skimming through one of the statements. He would have to share this information with his equals and his superiors but thankfully not with his future ex-wife and her boyfriend, they were only DS's but now he had to break the news to her he was filing for divorce and explain to their eleven year old daughter it was not her fault.
How was he going to do that? It was not Daisy's fault her mother was seeking comfort with another man, he didn't even think the girl was aware her mother was seeing someone else unless his wife had introduced her to him. What would the other man make of suddenly being presented with a young girl? She was going to have to do her share and look after her until Sunday then there were going to be some changes, he was not going to do all the running around, she was going to have to pull her weight. He had let her get away with it for two years and all that was going to come to an end. He couldn't bring himself to tell her by phone he was going to divorce her even though she had played him for a fool all this time but as soon as he got back and Daisy was in bed, he was going to tell her.
He would get all his belongings and go find a cheap hotel while he found a place big enough to have Daisy stay with him. If he was careful, he could manage a few weeks, maybe even go to a B&B and just get a room and eat in the station canteen, it was cheaper there and use his money to pay for a good solicitor who would take his case. He had good grounds for the split and she couldn't deny it, she was never home. He was roused from his wanderings when Rose stood in front of him.
"You looked miles away Alec, is there something wrong?"
She noticed he'd not shaved that morning and was glad he was growing his beard back, it was disconcerting staring at The Doctor's double.
He was about to answer when Pete came up to them.
"Rose, I'm getting off now, are you staying out?"
"Yeah, I'll see you in the morning. Alec, have you planned where you're going to stay since you were expecting to go back tomorrow?"
She doubted he had thought about it.
"No, I hadn't, I was just going to see if I could find a cheap hotel for the next few nights, that's if you want me to stay? I need to phone my station and get a days leave, I'd best do it now. I was allowed a day's travelling time but I was supposed to report back on Friday."
"Well, you can come and stay with us if you want, there's plenty of room and I can leave you to make your phone call if you want, you can come and pick me up later, I know you have things to do."
"I don't want to be any trouble Rose, I can find somewhere and I don't need privacy to ring and ask for the time off, I'm only asking for Friday."
"Don't be silly, you're not any trouble. We can get you settled in the morning then we can go sight-seeing and on Friday, we can spend the whole day looking around and deciding what we're going to do. There are a few more things you need to know. Anyway, I already asked dad, didn't I?"
She turned to Pete who shrugged his shoulders meaning he had been conned into it but decided it was worth it to see Rose happy again.
"Well, if you're sure it won't be any bother. I have some explaining to do Mr Tyler," Alec admitted.
"That's between you and Rose, just be sure you both know what you want Alec, I know you're married and Rose mentioned you were getting a divorce. Just make sure you don't drag Rose's name into it, she may not have been important where she came from but she's my step-daughter now. I have a responsibility to her and she has the responsibility to keep herself out of the news, well not so favourable news and that includes getting caught up in someone's divorce and no sharing a room yet."
"I know that Mr Tyler, I intend to keep her name out of it and I'll accept the invitation and I respect your wishes of having a room of my own, you have my word."
Rose looked disappointed but there were ways around that and at least he would have a roof over his head for the next few nights. She had plenty of questions for Alec Hardy.
"Well, if you two are staying out, I'd best go warn your mother Rose and you'd better warn Alec how she might react when she meets him. You know what I mean by that and not the fact he's married, that will be the least of his problems once she sees him."
Poor Alec was wondering what he was letting himself in for. He already had one mother-in-law that took his wife's side and now he was going to have to face Rose's mother and wondered what Tyler had been talking about. He hoped Rose would explain. Now that was settled, it would save him some money and he would get to know the rest of her secrets which he was sure she had. He would think about how to tell his wife and daughter he was leaving once he got back, he just wanted to spend the next few days with Rose without the conference getting in the way.
They drove back to Alec's hotel, deciding just to go have dinner and maybe a drink and then do some talking as they both had plenty of questions to ask each other but before they went out, there was plenty of kissing to do and apologising on both parts.
Alec went first. "I'm sorry Rose, I shouldn't have reacted like I did, it's not your fault, you're just a victim after all. You found yourself on a strange world and had to make a life here and you did. It can't have been easy for you." He put his arms around her and held her tightly, nuzzling his head in her neck. "I still love you Rose and I know you're not really an alien." He looked straight at her and smiled. "Now have you got anything else you might want to tell me?"
Rose nodded. "If you're sure you want to hear it though. You never asked me how old I was and you might not want to know. I know the law here is different to where I come from but I am over eighteen, that's not the problem but all my records have been altered to suit this world and I know I shouldn't tell you this with you being in the Police but you need to know. I'll be twenty one in a few weeks but time goes faster here than on my world, here I'll be twenty four so take your pick. I don't feel like I'll be twenty four and officially I won't be celebrating my 21st but I think my mum's planning something, that's if she's not in hospital, she's expecting a baby soon and she's hoping it will be born on my birthday or near enough."
"So what was that all about, your mother reacting to me and it not being due to my being married? I'm a little puzzled on that point."
"It's because you look like someone she used to know, that we all knew. That Doctor we talked about, the one who was with us both times when we defeated the Cybermen, you could be his twin brother."
She knew now that would make or break their new relationship.
"Let me get this right, this man, this Doctor, the one you stayed behind with to put the Cybermen into this space between universes, I look like him? Just by how much Rose?"
He had let go of her and was holding her at arms length, watching her. Just when he thought he had heard the worst, she dropped that on him. Was he a substitute for this man she had left behind? Why had she stayed with him when she could have been safe here in the first place, had she loved him? If she had, was she just using him as a reminder? She really knew how to drop things on a man. Maybe her life was a little too complicated for him, would he be able to cope with it? Did he want to? She was young, rich and had a position to maintain as a member of the Tyler family and if he pursued her, he would be under scrutiny, he would have to keep her secrets.
He looked at her, he couldn't deny he had been drawn to her and she to him but was it because he looked like someone else? She had made him realise he could have another chance if he wanted but now, could he live knowing he was a constant reminder to her of someone she had lost?
Rose saw the look on his face. "Alec, you've got nothing to worry about. Yes, you look like him but you are so different to him in many ways. He's gone Alec, he's in the other universe and it's sealed off - permanently and before you ask, yes I did love him but I did nothing about it, I never told him face to face, not like I told you."
That was true, she hadn't told him to his face, she had told his image and she wasn't lying to Alec. She realised at that moment there were some things she was going to have to keep secret from him and she hated the fact she had to do it but she would have to if she wanted to keep him.
"So, you won't ever see him again?"
"No and even if by some remote chance the walls between the universes open up again, which would probably bring the Cybermen back, I would never go back Alec. My family is here, I've made friends here, I've got my dad back, my own dad died when I was six months old, I never knew him. Do you think I could go and leave all that? I'm going to have a younger brother or sister, something I thought would never be possible. Most importantly I have you Alec, I love you."
She shortened the gap that was between them and put her arms around him, waiting to see if he was going to do the same. Alec thought he was a good judge of people, he could see if she was genuine or not. Did it really matter if she had been in love with another man who was a universe away? She was with him now and he had some room to talk he had once been in love with his wife, had a child with her and she had left him, not the other way around. He could give Rose a chance.
"I love you too Rose, I'm sorry." He put his arms around her and kissed her. "Let's not talk about this again, it's over with now. We need to talk about the future and especially what I'm in for when I meet your mother. Do you have to tell her I'm married? Can't you just wait until I get my divorce?" he smiled, kissing her neck.
"Well that depends if dad says anything to her. Let me call him and tell him not to say anything and if he hasn't already, she won't be any wiser."
She picked up her phone and called Pete. "Dad, have you spoken to mum yet?"
"Not yet, she was talking about what colour the nursery was going to be, she changed her mind again. Now she wants it a neutral colour so I'm going to have to get it redecorated. Are you sure you're going to be showing Alec around London this weekend? You could decorate instead, ask him if he's any good with a paintbrush will you," Pete laughed.
Rose laughed too, imagining Alec and herself painting a nursery then realised he probably already had done.
"Well if you haven't spoken to her, can you do me a huge favour? Please don't tell her that Alec is married, it's complicated enough as it is and he knows he looks like The Doctor and he's not happy about it but has accepted it. I love him Dad, please don't tell mum, we'll tell her when he gets his divorce, I don't want her to get all upset with the baby nearly due."
"Alright then Rose but if she finds out, they'll be trouble, you do know that?"
"I know, thanks, I'll see you both in the morning. Alec and I are going out for dinner then we have some plans to make."
"Well don't forget your exams are due next week, have you told him yet?"
"I was about to but I wanted to make sure you didn't tell mum about him first. I think everything will go downhill from here, we've got the worst out of the way."
Just then she heard her mother's voice on the other end of the phone.
"Has who told what to who yet?" Jackie asked Pete.
Just what either of them needed, Jackie hearing part of a conversation. Rose heard her step father answer her.
"Jackie, I'll tell you later love, Rose is bringing her new boyfriend over in the morning, he'll be staying with us for a few days."
Jackie snatched the phone from him.
"Rose, I thought you were only going out to dinner with him the other night? When did he suddenly become your boyfriend?"
"Mum, we went out last night as well and he's only staying a few days, he's going back to Glasgow on Sunday. We'll still see each other, we just have to work it out. Anyway, you'll get chance to meet him in the morning and no doing what you usually do when you meet someone I'm going out with or he might arrest you," Rose laughed.
"Just let him try young lady," Jackie laughed back.
"Oh and dad has something to tell you about him. Bye, see you in the morning."
She hung up before her mother had chance to ask what it was.
While she had been on the phone, Alec went into the bathroom and called his station to book Friday off, giving them the excuse that he needed more time to get back and they owed him anyway for sending him to a boring conference. Boring would have been the correct term if Rose hadn't been there. It had been more than he could ever expected, meeting her and falling in love with her in three days. He had gone out with his wife for months before even taking her to bed, which had resulted in their daughter and he'd done the decent thing and got married. Maybe that was where he had gone wrong, maybe she had never really loved him and was the reason she had gone off in the first place.
Now he thought about it, he'd only put up with the last two years for Daisy's sake. He had a lot of things to plan but he had to include Rose in his plans now, keep her close but not close enough to get her involved in what he now had to do. He heard Rose in the other room, presumably talking to her mother and he went back out, creeping up behind her and grabbing her, making her jump.
"Alec, don't do that," she laughed, spinning around into his arms.
"Everything okay? Did you catch him in time?"
"Oh, yeah. How do you feel about doing some decorating this weekend?"
Alec frowned. Rose thought he looked cute when he did that and even more so now his beard was showing again slightly. She ran her fingers over his chin.
"You should keep that, it suits you. Don't shave it off for me Alec, I think the scruffy look is just you," she teased.
"Scruffy. You think I look scruffy? Thanks Rose, you really know how to flatter a bloke you know," he laughed, going to tickle her which resulted in her falling onto the bed and her pulling him down with her.
He continued to try and tickle her, Rose was giggling and trying to get him by turning him around so she was on top and they both gave up and began kissing again.
"I love you Alec," she whispered.