Alec Hardy extended his hand to shake hers and Rose swore her mouth was agape staring at him. Where had he been hiding? Why hadn't she met him before? Then she remembered that he was from out of town so that answered those questions she supposed. She managed to find her voice and suspected Ellie was going to be sour because she was going to have to pay for her own lunch and she probably knew it by now by the look on Rose's face as Rose managed a "Nice to meet you Alec" while managing not to go saying something completely idiotic like 'Ellie told me all about you' which she hadn't actually since she had withheld vital information from her such as he was tall, fit and very sexy and she wanted to pounce on him like an animal. It was now showing very plainly to Rose that she had not had boyfriend in far too long. Maybe she was making too much out of it. He might not be interested in her or might be married or have a girlfriend already but looking on the bright side was one of her best traits.
When he spoke, it reminded her of when they had been in Scotland, her and the Doctor and he'd put on that accent for Queen Victoria in fact it not only reminded her, it could have been him so easily, the way he spoke.
Rose snapped out of it as he said, "Nice to meet you Rose Tyler. Are you related to Peter Tyler by any chance?" Seeing her reaction answered his question. "Yes, I can see you are. I met him a few years ago, just remarried and had a young son, mentioned he'd adopted his new wife's daughter but I never realised..."
He Stopped. Both Rose and Ellie looked at him. He changed the subject. "So are we going to order or sit talking about old times for an hour?"
Rose could now see why Ellie had got so worked up about him earlier.
He had been going to say he'd never realised she was blonde, single and stunning but had thought better of it, not wanting to insult his new DS's friend and get on an even worse side of her. He supposed he should just be polite for now and not risk more of Miller's wrath after she was obviously really put out earlier as he made a cup of tea and didn't offer to make her one. Well why should he, he was her boss.
Rose got everyone's orders and went to the counter, Ellie slipping Rose some money under the table but Hardy got up and joined Rose at the counter saying he would pay for his own. They chatted over lunch and Ellie brought up a raw subject with Rose, the dreaded dance on Saturday night. Rose was more interested when and where the detective had met her stepfather and more importantly, why had she not known about it. Pete liked to keep her up to date with things but not always a meeting with the police. Pete Tyler played golf with lots of officials, police included but Alec Hardy did not look like he played golf.
Ellie repeated the question Rose had obviously not heard the first time around.
"Rose, I asked if you were going to the dance on Saturday night?"
"Oh, sorry Ellie, I was miles away. I suppose so but it's not fun on your own or getting chatted up by the local creeps all night and I swear if that Nigel asks me to dance I'm going to throw up," Rose replied, getting back to the real world.
Hardy looked up from picking over the remains of his meal.
"So, what dance is that then? Hope I'm not expected to attend. I don't go dancing, not anymore anyway. So who is this Nigel then?"
Ellie looked over to Rose. "Nigel's not a 'creep' he's just grossly misunderstood. You have too high a standard Rose, that's your problem," she laughed. Then she looked at her boss. "I think it would be an excellent idea for you to attend. Give you the chance to meet people and for them to get used to you being around. Trouble is, all tickets are sold out way in advance so you'll have to go in an official capacity."
She was smirking by this time, thinking it would be rather fun to see the detective squirm at the local dance.
Rose saw her opportunity to nab the detective and see if he could be conned into having a date with her. He just might be worth a try.
"Oh, that's okay, I've got a spare ticket, they always give me two, you can have one if you want. Ellie's right, you should get to know people around here. I can leave one at the door for you, you don't have to talk to me or anything, well actually, you can have the ticket in return for a favour."
Alec was intrigued as to why Peter Tyler's stepdaughter was going to a dance alone, not knowing this would be the second time she had done so.
"So, what's this favour then? I don't have to dance with you all night do I?" He saw the look on her face and changed his tune. "Not that I'd object to doing so if that's the requirement but I'm not very good at dancing, not these modern dances anyway."
Rose tried not to feel insulted as to why he would object to dancing with her all night.
"Well, not all night, just if that creep Nigel asks me to dance, that you agree to be my date for the evening? We could just sit at the same table, have a few dances to give him the idea, that's all." Rose was enjoying this and it was clear Ellie was also amused. "So, like Ellie said, it's that or go as a detective nosing around the local dance, show your badge to get in and they might take it the wrong way, I could leave you a ticket at the door and meet you inside."
Both Ellie and Rose were ganging up on him and he knew it.
"Just how exactly do you have two tickets anyway?" he asked. "Were you going to go alone?" This was unbelievable, Rose Tyler, no date to the local dance and being so desperate she was asking him. "Why not, okay then but only because I don't know anyone here and I don't want to show my badge to get it but it's not a date or anything so wipe that smirk off your face Miller."
Both Rose and Ellie were both thinking the same thing - that's what he thinks.