Rose woke up the following morning, she had moved slightly but Alec was still almost underneath her, he was warm and breathing steadily and she debated whether to disturb him or not. She could get used to this, waking up with him lying under her, their bodies close together. She gently moved her hand onto his chest, feeling his heart beat and wondered what it had been like for him to be so ill that he never knew if the next beat of his heart was going to be the last. She had felt horrified when he had told her, her step-dad had told her nothing of Alec's condition unless it hadn't developed until after the two men had met and then, would Alec have told Pete? He had told him about his divorce so maybe he would have confided in him but some things people just didn't want to talk about or maybe Pete didn't think Rose really needed to know, she had told him only that Alec was her date to the dance, not that she was going to sleep with him afterwards, not that she would tell him of such things anyway.

Alec moved slightly and she withdrew her hand quickly but he caught hold of it, placing it back and holding onto her hand. He didn't say anything, they just both lay there, neither wanting to spoil the tender moment. Rose felt so sorry for him, what he must have gone through and she should have mentioned she knew about his divorce but better to let him tell her really. She had never got the chance to tell her Doctor how she felt, to lie with him and feel both his hearts beating and here was Alec, one heart that had almost stopped beating and to make things even worse, he'd had no-one to take care of him. Well not any more, she cared about him, not because they were thrown together at a dance so she could show everyone she was capable of getting a date that wasn't on the top of the rich list, just an ordinary everyday detective who knew almost no-one in the town but because that was what she did, according to the Doctor, she made people better and not just ones that were scarred or defeated, ones with physical ailments too.

"Rose, don't be scared for me, I just want to be treated normally again, not like I'm about to break. I've had to go easy for a long time but now, I want to start living again, a fresh start and well, you can help me if you like?" He felt Rose nodding and freed his other arm from under her and pulled her closer. "Just tell me if I'm getting too possessive and I'll back off but I would like to get to know you better, if you'd like to that is, just remember, I'm not used to having a relationship with such a beautiful woman so you may have to give me a few pointers if I seem a little rusty."

He couldn't see her face but he knew she was smiling.

She looked up and she did smile. "Don't worry, I'm a little rusty at this too, I've not been in relationship for a long time either. We can rediscover what it's like together and as for you being over-possessive, I don't think I would go as far as to say there is no such thing but we might both want our own little private moments and you'll know when I want to have mine. Now snog the life out of me then I'll go get us some breakfast."

Alec did as she asked, smiling to himself he had got the hang of this so easily when he didn't think he would know exactly what to do.

After breakfast, Alec called at his hotel for a change of clothes while Rose waited in the car park for him, not wanting to start any more undue gossip by waiting for him inside and risk being quizzed, they still had things to talk about before they made another public appearance together. They drove up the coast where neither of them were known, across the counties into Devon and stopped at a small seaside town for some lunch, where Rose discovered they had an old fashioned tramway and persuaded a reluctant Alec to take a ride on it although there was not enough room for him inside with him being tall so they had to sit upstairs, then they took a walk around the small village and ended up having tea at the tram station before what Alec described as a tortuous ride back but put up with it for Rose's sake and couldn't get off fast enough. Rose was laughing as he stretched his legs when they finally got off. He had griped at paying for the car park and put his police sign on the dashboard and surprisingly had got away with it so he was determined to make the most of it everywhere he went from now on.

Driving back to Broadchurch, they got caught in a traffic jam, Rose turned up the radio and sang along to some tunes which made Alec smile when she knew all the words and people behind them were staring at her as she moved in her seat to the words she was singing. He wondered if he was going to be able to keep up with her, his ex had been around his own age when they had met sixteen years ago but she did not have the vitality Rose had and certainly not the figure and a youthfulness about her that Rose did. He didn't remember his ex sitting in a car and making people stare or have anyone stare at her the way they did at Rose. He just hoped that she wouldn't get tired of having to slow her pace for him to keep up with her or wouldn't get tired of having an older man in tow. She was smiling at him as the car edged its way forward, she put her hand on his knee and he smiled back, she certainly didn't make him feel his age now, he felt sixteen years younger.

He knew this wasn't going to easy, she had admitted how old she was, there was a big age gap but she had assured him she really didn't care if he was older, she had said her step-dad was older than her mother, one of her ex's was older and one was even older than he was, though he doubted it, she was probably just trying to make him feel better about it but if Rose didn't care, than neither should he, she would be good for him, make him feel young again. He wasn't exactly on the books of every dating agency around the area and had become aware of just how lonely he was last night when Rose had made him feel wanted again. He needed to be wanted again and Rose had needed him because although she talked about ex-boyfriends, she had admitted it had been a while since she had one and Rose Tyler could have any man in the country but she had chosen him and who was he to argue with her?

The traffic finally cleared up, when they got moving again they could see no reason for the hold-up in the first place and if he had been on his own he would have put the flashing blue lights and siren on his police vehicle but Rose wouldn't let him. The first sign of a relationship, he'd thought as he had waited not so patiently in the queue and he had not wanted his first argument with her so soon after their first date as to scare her away or to use his authority to get ahead of the traffic, he had only just got away without paying for parking and didn't want to overdo it.