"Rose?" Alec was looking at her.
"What? Sorry. Alec's right Mum but I can't decide now and when I can, you'll be the first to know Alec. Mum, I have to accept Jamie may not come back," Rose admitted.
"Ya have to give him a chance Rose," her mother told her, still eyeing Alec. "As for you," she pointed to him. "Don't you go upsetting her by going back to that seaside town and forgetting her and not being there if she needs ya again."
"I have no intentions of going back and forgetting about her," Alec replied, facing up to Jackie. "You are right, Rose has enough to deal with at present and Jamie may come back on his own but I will try and make a few discreet enquiries and see if he has been spotted anywhere."
Rose remembered she'd told Jamie about going to Norway and how she'd said goodbye to The Doctor there but what would make Jamie go there? Jamie knew very little about the friend she had said goodbye to there.
"Rose, can you think of anywhere he may have gone?" Alec asked her again.
"I told ya Alec. We went loads of places when we were working for Torchwood, he could have gone to any of them or somewhere completely different. Call Torchwood, they'll be able to give ya all names of the place we went. Tell them I said for them to co-operate with ya."
"I will," Alec agreed, hoping she was right and Torchwood didn't hang up on him. "I will call you if they can't help me. I should be getting ready to leave."
Jackie gave another glance at Alec as if to say she knew the pair of them were up to something, then she went off. Alec took Rose's hands and she leaned on his shoulder.
"Promise me you will come down to Broadchurch if things get too much," Alec reminded her.
"Yeah, when I sort myself out," Rose promised, looking up at him. "Last night was really special, no-one has ever treated me like that before."
"Then I am glad it was me who made you feel like that," Alec replied, kissing her forehead. "Rose, when I see you again, tell me more about this mysterious man Jamie and I look like, I promise I will not run away."
He thought if Jamie had already been the jealous type, knowing Rose had probably loved this other man, it wouldn't have helped. Jamie obviously got worse when he himself had come along to their wedding. That had been purely by chance when Daisy had been chosen out of all the entries to be a bridesmaid and they had all been invited to stay.
"I will just go get my bag," Alec broke the silence, disturbing Rose.
"Yeah, then I'll walk ya out," Rose replied, Alec letting go of her and glad no-one had yet come in to clear up.
He thought he had best go back upstairs on his own, before they were tempted to have a repeat of last night and this morning. He leaned down to kiss her, knowing they could have some explaining to do if Jackie caught them or the staff told her. At this present moment, he wasn't really bothered. When he'd told Jackie he and Rose were just friends, until Rose said otherwise, that was all they were.
"Don't wait too long before you visit eh?" he reminded her. "May I call you, even if I have no news for you?"
"Yeah, 'course ya can," Rose smiled, looking up at him again. "I'll let ya know if I hear anything but ya know I can't go down there yet Alec, not until ya get that case over with. We don't want to attract any attention, the press should concentrate on that poor boy, not me."
"I understand Rose but I can keep the press away from you, when you do come and see me," he promised.
Rose watched him walk upstairs and was tempted to run after him but she would have some explaining to do if her mother saw her. Alec had gone to his room and sat on the bed. He had not come here to see Rose with the intention to have sex with her but it had been out of the control of both of them as nature had taken over. He had never been with a woman who had not had her first time before and it had made the occasion all the more exciting.
When Rose had fallen asleep in his arms, he had thought he was indeed lucky that Rose had allowed him to show her how it really felt after she had admitted Jamie had always backed away. He had smiled at her giggling when he had moved away from her, like she had never experienced anything like it before and now, he wished he could stay longer but he did have a case to solve.
The quicker he found Danny's killer, hopefully Rose would agree to visit but he really hoped it would be sooner. He wondered what Rose had felt like when she had woken up earlier and they'd had a repeat of the night before, after she had been worried about her mother catching him leaving.
He couldn't remember feeling like he had done after he'd made love to Rose and now he didn't want to feel that way with anyone else but her. Rose had been the only one who had made him feel like it was about her and not himself, he couldn't really explain it. There was a knock on the door and his heart skipped a beat, hoping Rose had followed him and he could say goodbye the way he really wanted to.
He opened the door but found one of the male staff standing there. Was Jackie making sure he left, he wondered.
"Excuse me Sir but I was asked to see if you needed any help with your bags?" the man asked him.
So Jackie had sent the man then, Alec mused.
"No, I can manage, thank you," Alec insisted but saw the look on the man's face that told him Jackie was insisting. "Well you can take that bag there," he pointed to his large holdall at the side of the door.
"Very good Sir, I will wait with it downstairs, when you are ready," the man replied, going for the handles.
He had never thought Jackie would let him get away with it, she must suspect something by now but she was being tactful at making sure he left. Was it so Rose could concentrate on the matters at hand, like finding her husband and having a reconciliation?
He just had to be prepared to let her go if she decided to go back to Jamie, if he came back that was. In his mind, the man didn't deserve someone like Rose. He checked he'd got everything and picked up his jacket from the bed. Then he followed the servant downstairs, he didn't know if Jackie referred to the staff as servants or not, he expected she spent most of the day in the kitchen chatting to the cook and drinking tea.
All Rose's family were down to earth, from what he'd learned, this Jackie Tyler was completely opposite to Pete's first wife but he had a feeling it was no coincidence the Vitex chairman had met both Jackie and Rose and had adopted Rose even though she was an adult. He expected it assured her the title of the Vitex heiress. He knew Rose had been out of the press until she had taken up with Jamie. Now, he was going to have to keep her out of the news, which would be no easy task once the press found out Jamie was missing.
Rose was sat in the reception area, waiting for Alec coming down. She had been the one to send someone to help Alec, though she hadn't known why she'd done it. She had caught Colin, the head of staff as he had passed the dining room.
"Would ya do me a favour Colin?" Rose had asked the tall man in a suit.
Rose knew her mother had never been one for formality but Pete had insisted on some sort of dress code for the senior staff.
"Certainly, Miss Tyler. What is it?"
"Can ya make sure my guest is helped with his belonging?" Rose had replied, not knowing if Alec wanted help or not and he'd think her mother had decided to make sure he left.
Rose didn't want him to leave and was trying to delay his departure.
"I will see to it personally," Colin had told her, a slight smile on his face.
He wondered if she had taken a shine to the detective who looked exactly like her husband, who seemed to be no longer around, according to the gossip from the kitchen staff, who he thought was a reliable source of information as Mrs Tyler spent all her time drinking tea with the cook.
Rose looked up as she saw Colin with Alec's bag.
"Is he on his way down?" Rose asked anxiously.
"Yes Miss Tyler, I believe he is following me," was the reply as Colin put the bag down on the floor by the bottom step.
Rose had to smile at the fancy wooden holder at the end of the staircase where she tended to leave a wet umbrella when she'd dashed in from the rain, leaving Jamie to park the car. She had known he could run faster than her but he still complained it spoilt his hair. She was sure she'd seen a bunch of flowers there when she had gate-crashed the other Jackie Tyler's party on that fateful night, something she didn't want to remember. Alec would be sure to ask questions, would she be able to tell him more than they had told Jamie? She had agreed with Pete that if Jamie showed more interest, he would be the one to explain things to Jamie.
She looked up and saw Alec at the top of the stairs, his jacket slung over his right shoulder and his shirt sleeves rolled up. Why did he have to look so hot, she thought to herself. What was it about Alec that she'd never seen in Jamie? Jamie had reminded her too much of The Doctor and although she had loved the Timelord, had she wanted an exact double of him, a sort of clone who did exactly the same things?
Alec was so different, the beard to start with and the Scottish accent, better than the one The Doctor had put on when they had met Queen Victoria. She had thought it a shame they had been vanquished from the land but they had got away with it and now, royalty took second place after the president and was just for show.
After she had seen the then president killed, she had never really taken much notice. When she had come back, Harriet Jones was in charge but it wasn't the one she remembered averting world war three with and running from the Slitheen with.
"Alec, where did ya get to?" Rose greeted him with a smile and put her arm in his left one.
"I was on my way down when your man came to offer to carry my bag," Alec smiled back. "Ah, it was you who sent him?" he asked as her smile widened and she had that look on her face.
"Did ya think my mum was makin' sure ya left?" Rose teased him.
"The thought crossed my mind," Alec replied, moving his jacket and now holding it in his hand.
"She'll be cross she didn't think of it," Rose laughed as Colin had now disappeared.
Colin thought now, he could join in the gossip that Miss Tyler and the detective were being coy around each other, which meant something was certainly going on between them.
"See me out?" Alec suggested before they were caught by her mother, or even worse, Tony.
"Best say bye to everyone first," Rose insisted, leading him to the family room.
"Alec!" Tony rushed towards him. "Will you come back and see us again? Will you bring Daisy with you? Please."
"Whoa," Alec warned the boy as he caught Tony. "Let your sister invite Daisy to visit eh?"
"Will you Rose?" Tony turned to her. "She's fun."
"I'll try Tony, now say bye to Alec," Rose told him.
Pete had got up and went up to shake Alec's hand.
"Thanks for taking time to visit," Pete told Alec. "I know you must be busy."
"Yes but I did promise Rose that if there was anything I could do for her, she only had to call me," Alec replied.
Rose tried to recall when he said that but she was sure he would have done, even in front of Jamie as it was clear they were never going to get on no matter how they both tried. Now she thought about it, Alec did seem to get the better of Jamie to the point she thought Jamie would start a fight like he had done with Mickey that time.
"Yeah, thanks again Alec," Rose nudged him.
"I will do my best to try to locate Jamie, I promise. Jackie, a pleasure to have seen you again," Alec replied as Tony went to her.
He went to pick up his bag and Rose grabbed his other arm again, having put his jacket on.
"I hope I will see you soon," he told her as he neared his car.
He wondered if she would dare to kiss him before he got in the car.
"Yeah, I promise Alec, when everything's died down a bit," Rose replied.
He had to settle for a kiss on the cheek but Rose went to do the same, only half getting his mouth instead. He really hoped her mother wasn't looking out of the window.
"Call me," Rose added as he put his jacket in the back of the car, wanting to kiss him properly but anyone could have seen them.
"I will be sure to," he promised. "Think about what I said Rose, if you have anything you want to tell me, I can assure you I will listen. I have plenty of questions for you, about this place," he nodded towards the house. "I know something happened here, years ago when the Cybermen were let loose upon the population. Something tells me you were somehow involved?"
"Yeah, I was but Pete should tell ya, ya'd never believe me," Rose smiled as he got in the car and opened the window.
"Then I look forward to it," he smiled back. "Bye for now Rose."
After Alec had left, Rose went to join her mother since Tony and Pete were playing in the garden.
"Ya'd better be careful Rose," her mother warned her. "Ya lettin' Alec get too close to ya. No wonder Jamie got jealous when Alec got himself in the news again."
"Jamie should've trusted me," Rose complained. "He made something out of nothing."
"Did he?" Jackie wondered.
"He was the one who kept going on about it Mum, not me," Rose defended herself.
"Are ya sure ya weren't payin' too much attention to what the papers were sayin'?" Rose was then asked. "I was worried about Alec being here last night."
Rose thought she herself had been worried her mother had sent Pete to spy on her. Pete had been more tactful than her mother would have been as she and Alec talked outside her room. Her mother would have warned Alec in no uncertain terms. Before he had left, he had got away with it lightly.
"You had no need to be Mum," Rose replied, picking up the puzzle supplement of a Sunday newspaper her mother still insisted on being delivered even though Pete shook his head in despair.
Old habits still died hard even after all the time that had passed of Rose and her mother being in this world. Jackie still had to watch different versions of the soaps she had watched before and got one of the staff to record them if they were going out, even though there was a catch-up service.
Alec got back to Broadchurch but stopped off by the harbour, having thought about getting a place of his own and leaving the hotel. He had no privacy there, the place would be swarming with reporters as the hotel owner had rooms to fill now holidaymakers were few and far between.
He'd had an idea as he'd approached the harbour area, that of the caravan park being almost next to the police station and it may be faster to take one for a few weeks until the HR department could sort something out for him. He parked up just by the park's reception and hoped they were still open.
After negotiating a two bedroom model, extra wide, he felt pleased with himself as he was told to just let the HR department contact the office the following morning and he could collect the keys after 4pm. He could then call Rose and maybe persuade her to join him. That was going to be harder than he'd thought.
When he'd been to the HR office the next morning and they said they'd let him know, Alec arguing it was going to be less expensive than the hotel, his DS was waiting for him as he entered the CID department.
"Sir, I tried to contact you earlier," Ellie Miller told him. "You told me to always keep my phone on."
"What are you getting at Miller? I had something to attend to," he replied as he saw his work phone was off. "Nothing you couldn't handle?"
"Well I could have done but it needed a senior officer and you took my job – Sir," she replied sarcastically.
Alec was not in the mood for her. He wondered if he admitted he was involved with someone and had left them behind, which was now true, if his annoying DS would leave him alone. Then he thought better of it.
"Well, what was so urgent?" he replied instead of hoping she'd think he was Human after all.
Another three weeks went by. Nothing was happening over the death of Danny Latimer, the case was drying up and so were the extra resources they had been given.
"Sir, are you coming to the pub with us, for Finlay's leaving do?" Ellie Miller had knocked on the door and asked him.
"What? No, you all go ahead, I have a call to make," Alec insisted, going in his jacket pocket for his wallet.
He fished a few notes out but she insisted it would cost more.
"Alright?" Ellie then asked him as he went to get some coins out of his pocket.
"Yep. I just have something to sort out Miller."
"Phoning your daughter?" Ellie managed a bit of a smile, after he had admitted he didn't see much of Daisy when he'd been invited to dinner one night.
"Ah, no, someone else," he replied, handing her the one pound coins.
"Did I take all your money – Sir?" Ellie then wanted to know.
"No, just didn't get to the cash machine," Alec admitted, not wanting to say he'd forgotten the last of the extra staff was leaving that day.
"Funny thing, Sir. I came across an old magazine in the dentist's the other day when I had to take Tom. A Daisy Hardy was on the cover of a supplement as being head bridesmaid at Rose Tyler's wedding last year," she told him, hoping he'd take the bait. "Is that your daughter?"
Alec sat back in his chair, observing her and the others outside sat on various desks waiting for her.
"Yes, it was her Miller, it was a long time ago, before her mother and I divorced. She was over the moon at winning that silly contest that was held," he admitted.
"She was really lucky Sir, I bet she won't ever forget it? Rose Tyler has gone very quiet lately, not like her to miss the chance of being in the society columns," Ellie grinned.
"They're waiting for you out there," Alec reminded her before she asked what he thought of Rose Tyler, her wedding and in particular, why Rose had fallen off the radar lately.
He had promised Rose in his last call to her that no-one would learn from him the reason why she had chosen to take time off work and more importantly, stay out of the news. He wasn't about to break that promise for anything.
When Alec had last called Rose, she had been unsure as to tell him she suspected something had come of their night together. She was sure she'd told him she wasn't taking any precautions because she'd been trying to get Jamie round to her way of thinking about starting a family but after being with Alec, she now knew that was never going to happen, unless Jamie got over his jealousy.
She also knew that Alec hadn't been the cause of Jamie holding back before they'd met so she had wondered what had caused it initially. A few weeks later though, she knew for certain something had happened with being with Alec as she sneaked out to visit the nearby clinic.
Who should she tell first, Alec or her mother? Then, one morning, Pete brought the post into the kitchen and handed Rose an official looking large envelope. He'd glanced at it and saw it was from the local court.
"Sorry Rose," Pete whispered in her ear and patting her shoulder as she took the envelope.
"Well open it then," her mother seemed to sense why Rose was being hesitant. "Ya have to face it sooner or later."