A/N: Thanks for everyone who's still reading the story. Sorry for the delay. I had to figure out few things as the final act is drawing near. Also, sort of got sidetracked with writing "October Blues" and having fun with Duncan teasing Alec. It's Monday morning and Alec is not having a good start to the week…

CHAPTER 21

Brennan's pale face was watching Hardy struggle to pull Pippa's bloated body out of the water. The boy's screams echoed over the gushing river. When they turned into pitiful sobs, Hardy woke in the dark, crying. His body was drenched in sweat once again, but this time his heart was slow, way too slow to let him even sit up. He wiped his cheeks and curled around a pillow, drifting back into the blackness where the ghosts of the children of his past waited for him. By the time he finally woke to the first rays of sun filtering through the window, he was beaten.

He dragged his body through the morning routine, his heart never speeding up enough for him to move faster than at snail's pace. The pills didn't help and he called Emily's office twice to find out how early he could come in. The receptionist insisted on him going to A&E if he didn't feel well. He ignored her advice.

He was sitting at the kitchen table, contemplating his next move, when Daisy bounced into the room. She stopped when she saw him.

"Dad, you're still here. Mom thought you had already left."

He looked up and shook his head, feeling dizzy even with the slight movement. She tilted her head and squinted at him.

"You look like you did last night when you passed out on the sofa. Are you okay?" she inquired, stepping closer.

"I didn't exactly pass out, Daisy. I was lightheaded 'cause I got up too fast." It was a feeble attempt to explain away what she had witnessed. She chewed on her lower lip.

"Daisy, I'm fine. Please don't worry. I've just been tired that's all." He resisted the urge to drag his hands over his face.

"Yah, I got that. You fell asleep on me while I was talking to you. That has never happened before," she stated sulkily.

"I did?" Hardy replied, racking his brain about that part of the evening.

"You don't even remember. Jeez, Dad." She huffed and shook her head. "How can I not worry about you? You've been so different these past weeks and Mum too. Why do the two of you always have to argue?"

The question came out of nowhere and it was a low blow for Hardy. Uncomfortable memories of his own childhood flooded to the surface and took whatever little breath he had. A choking sound escaped his throat before he could hide it. He swallowed hard, desperately trying to pull himself together.

"'M sorry," he managed to get out.

She stood in the middle of the kitchen, tall and not a child at all any longer. The morning sun bathed her in a warm light, her reddish brown hair framing her beautiful face. Her hazel eyes that were so much like his rested on him for a long time. Then she suddenly moved and threw herself into his arms, hugged him tightly and before he could even react, she ran off. Closing the door, she hollered not to forget his lunch box and then she was gone.

Hardy sat stock-still. His ailing heart was overwhelmed by what had transpired. When he was able to move, he slowly gathered his things, not forgetting Daisy's lunch box. He let the sun warm him while he waited for the taxi cab to come, vowing never to fight in front of Daisy again.

Emily's nurse all but dragged her out of the room where she was seeing her first patient of the morning. She kept babbling on about calling an ambulance right away and why the hell this guy was so stubborn about refusing to go to A&E. Emily sighed, having a strong suspicion who the hard-headed patient was.

"We wouldn't be talking about Alec Hardy, would we?" she managed to ask before being shoved into the room.

The answer to her question was sitting slumped over in a chair, and when he looked up at her, she knew why her nurse was acting the way she had. His face was gaunt and ashen, and the dark circles around his orbits were making his wide eyes look more prominent than usual. Sweat was pooling on his forehead and his chest was heaving with labored breaths.

She quickly stepped up to him, placing her fingers on his neck and confirming what she was fearing.

"Christ, Alec. How did you even make it here?" She was upset enough to give up all professional pretense and hide it. Why he hadn't called for an ambulance himself was beyond her comprehension.

The corner of his mouth pulled up in a smirk. "I get the impression, people don't want me here."

He struggled for air and his eyelids drooped. For a moment she thought he was going to lose consciousness. Her hand didn't leave his neck, feeling his faint and way too slow pulse. At least there were distinct beats, better than the other variation of his deadly disease.

"Alec, did you take your medication?" Emily wasn't sure what she wanted to hear. If he hadn't, she'd have some options. And could give him a decent bollocking. If on the other hand he had taken them, this was a serious problem.

"Yup. Worked like a charm," he replied, sarcasm lacing his words. "Been like this all night," he added after sucking in a breath or two.

"Did you do anything to –"

"No. I didn't do shit. I had a good day with my family, that's what I did. I ate some cake and watched movies and when I got up from the fucking sofa my bloody heart gave out," he spat at her, surprisingly animated for a person whose heart was beating at half the pace it probably should.

There was a knock at the door and her nurse poked in her head. "I've called the ambulance, ma'am. Do you want me to get the defibrillator to hook him up for monitoring?"

Emily was nodding and thanking her, when Hardy tried to get up. His legs buckled and it took both women to hold him upright and put him back onto the chair.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Alec?" Emily asked, her voice certainly raised above acceptable professional level.

"'M leaving, not going to the hospital," he growled.

Emily lost it. It had never happened to her before but then she never had to treat someone as unreasonable as the person in front of her.

"Fine. If you can make it out this office, you don't need to come back. I'm done with your stubborn refusal of letting people help you. I can give you the name of one of my colleagues and you're welcome to ignore his advice instead of mine."

They stared at each other until Hardy's body finally won over his mind. He moaned, clutched his chest and fell off the chair.

Great. Just what she needed to make this a perfect Monday morning. She swiftly stooped down next to him, again feeling for his weak pulse. It was picking up speed and his eyes fluttered opened. By the time the nurse had wheeled in the defibrillator, Hardy's heart rate had returned to its normal irregular beat. He was still lying on the floor, not making any attempt at moving. His gaze didn't leave her.

"Are you really kicking me out?" His eyes were wide and fearful.

Against her better judgement, she held out her hand. She was sure if she'd transferred his care now that he wouldn't make it for another month as nobody would really question his poor decision making like she did. He gripped her hand, holding on tightly while he clambered to his feet. He fell heavily onto the chair, eyes still following her every move.

"You didn't answer," he said quietly.

She let out a sigh. "No, I'm not kicking you out. But we have to have a serious talk. You can't go on like this. You should be lying in a hospital bed, not on my floor. You should get your pacemaker placed and not chase murderers."

"You know I can't." His voice was soft, and the underlying sadness was clenching her heart. She pulled a chair next to him and sat down. Her hand came to rest on his arm, giving as much comfort as she could.

"Alec, when I'm going to walk out of this room I'm going to book the EP procedure for Thursday. I would even do it as soon as tomorrow but I'm afraid you wouldn't show. I'm giving you two days to get yourself figured out. I want to see you on Wednesday to discuss the details and to check on you. I expect you to call me tomorrow to let me know how you're doing. These are my terms. You can follow them or not, but I'm going to make myself perfectly clear that if you don't I will send you to a different cardiologist."

She hated having to threaten him, but she didn't have any other tricks left up her sleeve. He stayed mute, just staring ahead. His jacket was hanging loosely off of his frame, his bangs were covering his eyes and he hadn't shaved in at least a couple of days.

"Alec, please, look at yourself. I met you about a month or so ago, a successful police officer and a worried father, bringing his daughter to A&E. Since then you've had a cardiac arrest, several near misses, a concussion, and your arrhythmia is far from being controlled with medications. You've lost a lot of weight, you don't eat, you can't sleep and you're barely able to do your job. You almost killed yourself in the car and you're hiding your heart condition from your family and your work."

She watched him shrink while she was rattling off the salient points of his rapidly unravelling life. It made her profoundly uncomfortable but she felt she had no choice.

"This isn't sustainable. I worry about you, now and for what may come. You finally need to accept that your life has changed forever and then deal with it. Let's work on this together and make the best of it."

"The best?" he echoed her words. Then he looked up and said bleakly, "And what would that be?"

Emily frowned. There was an undertone she had not heard before and didn't like. She didn't recall any history of depression, at least not any that he had disclosed. She had noticed that he more often than not seemed rather emotional and sometimes she had wondered about that. She made a mental note to watch closely for any more concerning signs.

She leaned in. "Control, Alec. That's the best we can do. So that you a chance to live a fairly normal life with your family and to hopefully work a job you like. And the sooner we get things going the better the chance will be."

Hardy ran his hands over his face, sniffed and then nodded, his mouth open. "All right. Thursday it is."

Emily smiled, stood and squeezed his shoulder. "You feel well enough to leave? If not you can stay for a bit longer, but don't make me reconsider the hospital admission."

His lips curled up in a small smile. "'M fine." He slowly got to his feet, almost successfully hiding how weak he still was.

She watched him leave her office, wondering why he always made her feel so lonely.

By the time the taxi dropped him off at the station, Hardy's condition had only marginally improved. It was sufficient though to give him the needed energy to push his way through the crowd of journalists that had gathered on the steps leading up to the doors. He ducked under the flashing lights, ignoring everyone who was calling his name or shoving recording devices in his face. When PC Jensen came to his aid and helped holding the reporters back, he was relieved.

"Thanks, Jensen," Hardy mumbled once they were inside.

"Don't mention it, sir. Wish one of them would have been a bit more physical. Wouldn't have minded punching them in the face. It's disgusting, if you don't mind me saying," PC Jensen ranted on.

Hardy's eyes were downcast while the two waited for the elevator. He could feel others stare at him and he loathed being the center of attention. His ears were burning and all he wanted was to hide in his office.

"Did my wife get here okay?" he asked, for once not hiding behind formalities.

"Yes, sir. She came through the parking garage. One of the bastards found his way inside and we gladly booked him for trespassing. He was dumb enough to resist arrest." There was a pleased smirk on Jensen's face. Hardy groaned inwardly. He couldn't wait for the article about police brutality. He held back saying anything though as Jensen was acting out of loyalty to his own.

The elevator came and mercifully it was just Jensen and Hardy entering.

"The boss wants to see you when you get in. Sent me down to make sure you didn't get held up by those arseholes out there."

Ah, that explained the loyalty. Hardy had been wondering how he had earned the protectiveness of his PC. He nodded silently.

"Sir, can I say something?" Before Hardy could reply yes or no, Jensen continued, "I think it was really brave what you did back then, saving your wife and such. And going after that poor boy into the river…" Jensen shook his head. "Such a tragedy. Even down here we had heard of Carter. He was a total nut job, if you ask me."

Jensen shuffled his feet and a faint redness was creeping up his pudgy cheeks. Apparently he had more to say.

"You know, the lads and I, we don't think it's true what they wrote, sir. You're tough and sometimes an arse, but not reckless. You always got our backs with the boss and you work hard. You risked your own life to get that poor girl out of the water, not everyone would have done that. It wasn't a breach of procedure, it was human, that's what it was. If you need us to keep them away from you and your family, just give us a shout."

Jensen's face was bright red now, but he held Hardy's gaze who stood there mouth gaping open, unable to find the right words. They were saved by the elevator door opening and Jensen hurried to leave before Hardy even had a chance to recover. Hardy had been wrong about Jensen's sense of loyalty. It was more than obligation ordered from above. The elevator door was closing again and Hardy quickly stuck his hand out to hold it open. He stepped out into the hallway, still dumbfounded by this unexpected display of support. He slowly walked towards CID, noticing the smiles and nods of many of his colleagues.

When he entered the large room, the buzz stopped and all eyes turned to him. He froze. The awkward silence dragged on until Baxter stuck his head out of his office.

"What the hell is… oh, I see." Baxter's eyebrow went up and he stepped up to Hardy. He put a hand on Hardy's shoulder and turned to his staff.

"Get back to work. Enough with the staring, you're making this poor man lose his pale complexion," Baxter barked at the crowd.

Hardy noted Tess hiding in her corner of the room and their eyes locked. This was very reminiscent of what they had escaped from in Glasgow. When nobody moved, Baxter sighed.

"Listen everyone. We've all read the article. I can assure you that none of the opinions expressed in that shit piece of writing is in any way reflective of my own or that of my superiors. We fully stand behind DI Hardy and support his leadership of this investigation. Whatever was said about the past has no bearing on today."

There was some movement but people seemed hesitant. Then DC Swenson stepped forward. "Sir, I can't speak for everyone but I did want to say that I for my part feel the same way." Several others joined her, mumbling their agreement.

Baxter's face relaxed. "Good, then we are all on the same page. Go back to whatever it was that you were doing, and let's make sure we get those bastards behind bars."

Finally the crowd dispersed and the normal noises resumed. Hardy was rooted to the spot, unable to move. Baxter squeezed his shoulder and whispered into his ear, "Move your sorry arse into my office, now, or do I have to slap you?"

Hardy jumped at the sound of Baxter's voice and with a gentle push, he trudged over to his boss' desk.

Baxter closed the door behind them. Hardy didn't wait for an invitation and slumped down on a chair. Baxter perched on his desk, arms crossed over his chest. His grey eyes didn't miss a move that Hardy made. It left Hardy with an uncomfortable feeling and for once it was him who broke the silence.

"Can you stop doing that?" he demanded.

"Stop doing what? Sticking my neck out for you? Or is it bothering you that I give a shit about you?" Baxter was disgruntled.

Hardy's patience was wearing thin but he realized a peace offering might be in order.

"Thanks for making me take the weekend off," he said.

Baxter let out a sarcastic huff. "I guess it wasn't as restful as it could have been. How're you holding up?"

"I'm managing." Hardy paused and contemplated how much he should reveal. "Had a bit of a rough time after running away from the reporters. Was able to keep Daisy out of it though."

Baxter squinted at him. "Did you see your doctor this morning? You don't look so hot."

"'M fine, Ed. And yes, I did see her. We're planning the next steps." He left it at that, not yet ready to ask his boss for the day off.

Baxter didn't buy it. "Alec, you'll have to give me more than that. Why did Tess call around on Friday night, looking for you?"

Hardy's gaze whipped up. He had forgotten all about that. Bollocks. One look at Baxter's face made it clear that he wouldn't be easily satisfied.

"Erm... I came home late, my phone had died and she couldn't get a hold of me," he explained.

"And? Where were you? I know that Jensen had dropped you off at the Gillespie house. What happened?" Baxter's voice was stern.

"Are you questioning me? Since when do I have to account for my movements?" Hardy's exasperation grew.

"Ever since you've got a serious heart condition that you're trying to hide. I've talked more to my brother, the cardiologist, and I'm having a really hard time with this. So, you better come clean or that's it."

Baxter had started pacing and Hardy wished he could join him to walk off some of the frustration that was building up.

"Why is everyone threatening me today?" Hardy complained.

"Maybe because appealing to reason doesn't work with you," Baxter retorted. Then he planted himself right in front of Hardy. He poked his chest with his index finger, underscoring his words.

"What happened Friday night?"

Hardy swatted at Baxter's hand. "It's none of your business."

Baxter straightened up, crossed his arms and tapped his foot.

"Oh for God's sake, this is ridiculous." Hardy threw up his arms and gave up.

"Fine. I went to the river where I found Pippa and then...," Hardy trailed off.

"Then what?" Baxter barked.

"I passed out in the woods. Didn't come to until it was dark. Got a lift from some guy whose dog found me, I think," Hardy confessed.

"You think?" Baxter's face was bright red. "That's it, you're done. I'm pulling the plug on this. I can't believe I just publicly announced that I'm backing you as SIO while you're busying yourself collapsing in a field of bluebells," Baxter shouted mere inches away from Hardy's face.

"Ach, stop it, Ed. I feel bad enough that I was so moronic and went there. Dunno what I was thinking. It's not like I need a reminder, considering that I have nightmares about the girl every fucking night." His last words didn't even come close to reflecting his anguish.

Baxter plopped down behind his desk, running his hands through his hair.

"And how is that supposed to convince me to not put you on leave?" Baxter questioned him.

Hardy pinched the bridge of his nose, letting his fingers linger on his eyes. "I dunno, Ed. But maybe you could give me the benefit of the doubt. I pushed myself walking those three miles and that was dumb. I won't do that again, trust me. It wasn't exactly fun, wondering if I might die alone in those fucking woods." Hardy's voice broke with the eerie memory of his nightmare come true.

Baxter leaned forward, clasping his hands on the desk. The worry in his eyes was hard to take and Hardy trained his gaze on the clock on the wall instead.

"Alec, please look at me," Baxter requested gently. The harshness had disappeared from his voice and was replaced with kindness. Reluctantly, Hardy did as asked.

"I'm not here to hurt you, I want to help you, but you don't let me. What if nobody had found you?"

Hardy stared blankly ahead. He didn't have an answer to that. He slowly shook his head, shrugging his shoulders at the same time.

"Did you talk to Tess over the weekend?" Baxter already sounded doubtful before Hardy even had a chance to answer.

"No, not really. I tried, but she got so upset with me, never got anywhere. And then she was so scared. I couldn't tell her," Hardy admitted tonelessly.

"Oh, Alec. She's your wife, you shouldn't worry about scaring her. Not knowing might be worse."

"Easier said than done," Hardy sighed. The tugging in his chest was back and after a brief debate with himself he pulled his pills out of his pocket. Baxter already had seen him take them, so what difference would it make? Passing out in front of him would most likely be more detrimental to his career.

Baxter frowned, pushing over a bottle with water. "What did your doctor really tell you this morning?" It was a quiet question but Hardy knew that him being able to close the case would stand and fall with his answer.

"Erm… she wants me to undergo a cardiac cath procedure to determine if I need a pacemaker."

"I see," Baxter said, sucking in some air. He leaned back in his chair. "And when is that going to happen?"

Hardy's ears were burning. "She's working on the date."

"Alec, you better not be lying to me about this. I'm not only risking your arse here but also my own with keeping you on the case. I need you to be on top of your game, especially now with all those journalists sniffing around. No fuck ups, do you hear me?" Baxter was dead serious.

"I'm not planning on any," Hardy grumbled.

"Don't get smart with me," Baxter snapped. "So far you did well and I know how much it means to you to see this through. So I'm willing to let it go against my better judgement. Use your brain, not your body to solve this. And to be perfectly clear, the second this is over you're out."

Hardy kept his mouth shut. Anything he could have said might have shattered the thin ice his boss was willing to let him walk on. No need to bring up the fact that the procedure was planned for in two days. Maybe the spook would be over by then.

"Any news on the arrest warrant?" Hardy said, steering the conversation into safer waters.

"We should know by noon. You better spend your time coming up with something more compelling than what you have so far. CPS wasn't thrilled but they were willing to look it over."

Hardy took this as his way out. He clambered to his feet. "Right. Just let me know. I'll be in my office."

Baxter nodded, his concerned eyes resting on him. Hardy couldn't shake the feeling that they were still following him while he was walking slowly through CID up until he closed the door behind him. He leaned against it, letting out the breath he had been holding in since the moment he entered the building.

Hardy was staring at his computer screen, his chin resting on his hand. His eyelids were drooping shut and his head jerked when it slid off its support.

"You need to stop sleeping on the sofa, Alec," Tess chided him.

He lifted his gaze and made a humming sound in agreement. She was leaning against his door, cradling a few file folders.

"That was rather nice of Baxter to speak up in your behalf. It's good to know that your team stands behind you." There was an envious undertone in her voice that Hardy chose to ignore.

"Yup." His fingers rubbed the bridge of his nose, shoving his glasses up his forehead. He had no energy to rise to her bait and provoke another fight.

"Dave and I were going over the board to see what we've got in case we get the arrest warrant and where we might have missed something. Do you wanna come?" She invited him with a tilt of her head.

He frowned. Usually she would do this with him, but then Dave Thompson had been part of the investigation just as much as her or Hardy himself. He pushed away from the desk and got to his feet. The fatigue hadn't left him and he trudged slowly behind her towards the board. Thompson joined them from what apparently had been a coffee run. There were two cups, nothing for a third person. Not that he could drink coffee anyway. Thompson precariously balanced the cups at the edge of a desk in order to put his wallet away. In a moment of utter childishness, Hardy wondered how many steps it would take him to accidently bump his DS and make him spill the coffee. If he couldn't have any, then nobody should.

Right. Get a grip, Hardy.

Something must have shown on his face, because Thompson's cheeks turned red and he muttered an apology that he didn't think of bringing one for Hardy. Hardy ignored him and stepped up to the board.

Tess quickly summarized the facts they had from forensics, pathology and the various statements. It wasn't much.

They had Pippa's body but they didn't know where she was murdered or even exactly how. There was a pendant missing from Pippa's list of belongings that her mother swore she had been wearing that day. No trace of Lisa besides her phone triangulating to Portsmouth eighteen hours after the presumed time of Pippa's death. As far as they could tell, neither one of the families nor the Ashworths had been anywhere near there. There was the stalker that nobody really had seen and remained unidentified. Lisa's parents both had been out of town whereas Pippa's parents had been with each other the whole night. Ricky Gillespie was directing them towards the neighbors, Cate didn't seem to think it was possible.

Main suspect was Lee Ashworth. Close to the family, especially Pippa, possibly a love interest of Lisa. One of the few hard pieces of evidence they had was the DNA match of the hair that was found in Pippa's bed. A possible motive was unclear. The question if he had the opportunity was a crucial one. Claire Ripley's implication that she had not been with her husband that night could change everything, however she hadn't made an official statement.

"So, are you going to go after her, sir?" Thompson asked.

Hardy was pacing back and forth in front of the board. Somewhere during the recount his heart had decided to play ball and support his brain's need to walk around while thinking. Use your brain, not your body, Baxter had said. Hardy snorted. Easier said than done. Not getting enough blood flowing to his head wasn't really helpful with that concept.

"Sir?" Thompson prompted.

"What?" Hardy snapped at him, being jerked out of his train of thought. Thompson's puzzled face made Hardy painfully aware of the fact that he had been sourly lacking in attention.

"Claire Ripley, are you going to go after her? To make her change her statement?" Thompson repeated his question.

Hardy rubbed the back of his head. "I'll have to, if she doesn't come forward herself. She seemed scared of her husband."

"Ach, Alec, why can't you see that she's just playing the damsel in distress card with you?" Tess dismissed his concern.

Hardy raised an eyebrow. He already wasn't very happy when Tess talked to him like this at home but at work it wasn't acceptable at all. A quick glance around confirmed that Tess' loud comment had garnered some attention.

"Tess, I would appreciate it if you could keep your voice down," he said quietly, stepping close to her.

She rolled her eyes at him, but stayed quiet. He let it go and turned towards the board again. It was an infuriating sight as they still didn't have enough evidence. The pressure of needing to close the case before either Baxter would lose his patience with him or his body finally would give out was growing. It wasn't helping to control his temper. He stared at the markings of the whereabouts of the family and the Ashworths on the map. There was a smudge over Ricky's tracing. Hardy adjusted his glasses and squinted at it.

"A fucking coffee stain?" he exclaimed incredulously. He turned and shot a death stare at Thompson.

"Did you do this? Smudge the map with your coffee?" he barked at Thompson who ducked under Hardy's sudden outburst of anger.

"Alec! Leave him alone," Tess ordered him sharply. Hardy spun around to be greeted by her annoyed face that she usually reserved for his missteps at home. He tried for the briefest moment not to lose his temper, but when she raised her eyebrow at him, everything went out the window.

"Excuse me? Did you say something, DS Henchard? Because if you did, you should address me with 'sir'," he said, voice low and equally as sharp as Tess'. He ran his tongue over his teeth and lifted his eyebrows and chin. When she didn't reply, he continued, "Thought so."

He saw her turning red and he knew then she wasn't going down easily.

"Look at you, pulling rank. Feeling a bit inferior? Congratulations on your great leadership skills by the way, yelling at staff for no good reason is a proven way to success, sir." She spat the last word at him.

Hardy's mouth gaped open. She was a vicious fighter, but this was unusually venomous. He took in a deep breath, balling his hands into fists. For the second time that day, CID had grown quiet and Hardy was sure everyone was looking at them. If she didn't say anything else, he might be able to keep it together and not completely lose face in front of his whole team. She didn't.

"How fortunate for you that you have the unwavering support of your superiors. Because if you hadn't, someone might actually figure out that you let other people do the hard work and then take the credit for it. Like you've done for years with me," Tess threw at him.

He closed his eyes, willing her to stop. "Tess, enough," he growled.

"Oh, it's Tess now. Whatever happened to DS Henchard? Just using it when and for what it suits you. Dave and I did all the leg work and what have –"

"Enough!" He shouted so loudly that whatever chatter had still been going on abruptly stopped. "You have achieved exactly nothing. Whatever we've got for this case either came from forensics or from statements where I questioned the suspects. You haven't done shit besides chat up poor Cate Gillespie. Neither one of you could find the stalker, nor figure out what the hell happened to Lisa's phone. I don't know what you do all day, but it's not very productive."

There was a brief exchange of glances between Tess and Thompson but he was too angry to pay closer attention.

"I'm sick and tired of your insubordination. If you can't handle that I'm your boss and call the shots, then find a different position. And it's time that you stop accusing me of taking advantage of you or any other staff members. I don't do that, do you hear me? Ever." He was shouting by the end.

"You do it at home. With your daughter. I make sure everything is up and running and you take her and have all the fun with her. And I get left with being the bitch that spoils everything. Thanks for that, Alec."

Hardy was breathing hard. His eyes were boring through her and before he knew it, he was an inch away from her face.

"Don't you dare drag Daisy into this," he hissed at her between clenched teeth. She didn't flinch and stood her ground. Then her lips curled up to a smirk. She was getting ready for the final punch. It was hard and straight to the heart.

"No need to, you already did. Just like your parents. Oh and by the way, did you know she doesn't want to go to London with you? Looks like Daddy's little girl is finally coming around."

Hardy glared at her unable to speak, hands clenched tightly into fists. His breathing was more labored now and as the haze of the anger was being replaced with shock and hurt over what she had said, his brain registered the tugging in his chest that was travelling down his left arm. His heart was racing out of control, driven by his madness and her fury. What had they done?

She stepped around him and very deliberately took the cup of coffee from Thompson. She drank a big gulp. Some drops spilled. She wiped them up with her index finger and then smeared them on the map, all the while wearing a cold smile on her face.

"You should really ease up a bit, Alec. Wouldn't want to get too emotional, would you now? I hear some people have trouble with that," she said, derision dripping off of her voice.

Hardy looked up and crossed eyes with Baxter who had come out of his office. Baxter didn't make a move or say a word, just stared at him. Hardy shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling the strong need to hide. The pain in his chest was getting worse. His hand curled around the pill packet. The sharp prick from the edges jump started him and without saying a word or looking back he stormed out of CID, down the stairs and out the building. He made it to the nearby park, where he collapsed onto a bench, fighting for air and a grasp on the world alike. He pulled his knees up and hugged them tightly, hiding his head between his arms, desperately trying to find any comfort he could get.