*A/N Potential trigger warning. Read at own discretion.

The next morning, Emma was again rolling up in front of the Echo. Unlike the prior morning, she didn't park properly and she left the ignition on as she strode into the office.

"Oh, here she is again." Karen muttered. Her whole posture was tense, already braced for whatever accusations Emma was here to throw at her today. But she was surprised. Emma didn't stop or say a single word as she came up and just slapped the other woman, hard, right across the face.

"You heartless b*tch." Emma hissed.

And then, without another word, Emma turned on her heel and strode out again leaving behind a stunned Olly and Karen and a slightly more impressed Maggie. Not that she saw. Instead, Emma got back into her car and drove off quickly - although still beneath the speed limit - until she pulled up at Jack's shop. She scowled at the reporters who were just a hair's breadth away from beating down the windows as they yelled into the small shop while their cameramen snapped their cameras with bright flashes.

Emma shoved her way through the reporters, only to be stopped by a pair of police officers who were by the door, apparently keeping the mob back for the moment.

"I'm not here to harass, please, let me in." Emma explained. Recognizing her, the officers let her pass and Emma hurried inside while reporters crowded around, hoping to get a picture as Emma slipped inside. Emma was quick to shut the door behind her before she turned to where Jack was standing in the middle of his shop and staring at the shrieking reporters with evident anger.

"Jack, are you all right?"

"Does this look all right to you?! These damned parasites!" Jack snapped as he gestured toward the reporters furiously.

At that moment, the door opened again behind Emma and Alec and Ellie stepped in, basically being ushered in through the reporters. They shut the door firmly behind them to avoid being seen any more by the reporters, both wearing professional masks. But when he saw Emma, Alec's natural frown deepened.

"What are you doing here?" Alec half-sighed. Emma just folded her arms defiantly while Jack strode up to Alec.

"How is this allowed to happen?" The old man demanded fiercely. "I need police protection. I'm under siege."

"Has anyone threatened you? Physically intimidated you?" Ellie asked politely while Alec gave a cursory look around although he couldn't quite hide his suspicion of the elderly gentleman in his gaze.

Jack scowled in response to Ellie's questions. "Did you not see that lot? I'm under siege!"

"Just stay inside. Bit of luck, it'll all abate, soon enough." Alec shrugged.

Emma shot Alec an incredulous look while Jack demanded, "Stay inside? That's it? You get 'em away from here. I've a shop to run!"

"Well, not today."

Jack's eyes narrowed and he accused Alec, "You're doing this deliberately. Seeing if I'll crack. You've got me marked and nothing will make any difference."

"We don't work like that." Alec denied before he leveled a stern gaze at Jack. "But you have kept things back from us."

There was a heavy silence following his pointed words. Ellie looked a little uncomfortable but she couldn't deny Alec was right. Jack apparently felt the same way, at least to a certain degree, because his breathing became heavier but his posture straightened just slightly as though he were preparing himself. Noticing this, Emma suggested softly, "Jack, I can leave."

Alec looked like he was about to agree but Jack beat him to it as the elderly gentleman shook his head.

"No. Stay." He looked at Emma resolutely. "You've always been kind to me and to the town. I've seen you with the children, and you're the only person who's come to see me since this lot. You may as well hear."

Emma nodded and backed off, staying in the background as Jack turned back to the two police detectives.

"I… I was a music teacher. She was a pupil. No boys involved. A girl. I'm… sure you can fill in the gaps." He nodded at his audience.

Emma's lips had parted slightly in shock. Ellie was equally stunned dumb but Alec wasn't.

"You had sex with a pupil?" He asked, his brow only slightly raised in reaction to Jack's shocking news.

"I had a relationship." Jack corrected at once, but Alec was clearly skeptical of that answer.

"Who made the first move?"

Emma shot Alec a somewhat incredulous look that he ignored while Jack answered sternly, "It was a mutual attraction."

"And you had sex how many times?" Alec asked blandly.

That made Emma's jaw drop; she whirled on him incredulously. "Alec!"

"You think I put notches on my bedpost?" Jack was just as appalled as Emma, and he scowled fiercely at Alec in disgust.

"Emma, if you can't stay silent, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Alec warned calmly before he returned to questioning Jack without any inflection in his tone. "Who told the police?"

Jack let out a deep breath. "Her father. I was made an example of. Served a year. I was lucky to make it out alive."

Jack paused before adding wryly, "She was 15 years and 11 months. Another four weeks and one day and nothing would have been amiss."

He nodded at the detectives shortly. "I served my time."

"For God's sake." Alec sighed. "You should have told us this when we first asked."

"It was nobody's business but mine." Jack retorted.

Alec folded his arms while Ellie questioned softly, "Did you have any contact with the girl after you were released?"

Jack's eyes misted over. "I married her, the week after I was released. She was seventeen. I was forty."

Emma's brows had puckered by this point as she gazed at Jack. The elderly man shook himself brusquely and he waved toward his shop windows.

"Get this pack away from me." He demanded.

Alec sighed and shook his head. "Just… stay inside. We'll keep an officer at the door for protection."

Jack looked ready to protest but Alec had already turned to leave. Ellie meanwhile motioned to Emma.

"Em, you should probably come with us." She murmured as she eyed the reporters outside warily, but Emma had another question on her mind.

"What happened to her, Jack?" She asked quietly. At Jack's puzzled response, she elaborated, "Your wife."

Jack's countenance grew infinitely sadder. "We had a son together."

Emma's eyes filled with sympathy, already knowing this wasn't going anywhere good. Jack told her anyway in a throaty voice.

"He died in a car accident. Six years old. She was driving. The grief… tore us apart. I came here after that. New start." He turned his head away as he spoke, unable to maintain eye contact with any of them anymore.

"Jack..." Emma reached out; she didn't know whether to touch Jack's hand or to give him a hug.

But Ellie pulled her back, shaking her head as she gestured to the reporters outside. Jack noticed and he also shook his head at Emma.

"You go on, Emma. You're a good girl."

Emma didn't know how to answer him so she just nodded tightly as she allowed Ellie to lead her out of the shop. Alec was waiting by the door and he herded them out, away from the reporters who were trying to get a shot of them and shouting questions on why the police were getting involved and whether they had any statements.

Ellie knocked them back as Alec opened Emma's car door for her.

"Go home today, get some rest."

"Right, like Jack's going to get?" Emma asked bitterly and Alec sighed. He knew a large part of her anger was currently directed towards him too.

"He slowed us down on Danny." Alec replied.

"That's your problem, your job."

She turned to glare at him, tears threatening to fall.

"I'm not you and I don't have to be. I choose to believe what I see: a scared man backed into a corner with nowhere to go, helpless against a wave of hate that's not deserved. Maybe he's not completely innocent but nothing he did warrants what he's having to face, alone. Just like I once did."

She got into her car and slammed the door. Alec sighed again as he backed away while Emma drove off without another look his way. She made it as far as the main road before she began to cry and she had to pull over because she couldn't drive any further. Flashes popped in her mind's eye, faceless people crowded around her and threatened to suffocate her while voices shouted, trying to make themselves heard over each other as they asked her for lies that would satisfy the public. Emma buried her face into her hands as her entire body shook and she gasped through the sobs that threatened to choke her.

Meanwhile, Ellie was tired as she drove herself and Alec away from Jack's shop after Emma left but she was startled when she spotted Emma's car pulled over without the lights on.

"What-?"

Ellie started to slow down in concern but Alec ordered, "Keep driving."

"What? No! She's my friend, what if-"

"She'll want to be alone right now, Miller. Just keep driving." Alec replied heavily. It was his tone and not his words that convinced Ellie to, reluctantly, do as he said. She continued on past Emma's car while Alec avoided looking anywhere near the car where Emma was crying her heart out at the injustice of the world.

Alec sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. It had been a very long day.

After what had happened with Jack, whom Alec still couldn't actually rule out as a suspect, they'd been accosted by Paul Coates. The young vicar, another suspect without an alibi, had been insistent on getting protection for Jack as if it were his right to make that demand. And to add to his headache, SOCO had debriefed them on four cigarette butts that had been found near Danny's body either when it was dumped on the beach or shortly after. But what kind of murderer moved the body and then stood around it smoking?

Movement at his office door made him look up and Alec frowned at Ellie, who was loitering in his doorway.

"Sorry," she apologized at his annoyed expression. "Just, the burnt boat. Bit weird. The boat itself was my ex-brother-in-law's."

Alec squinted at Ellie incredulously and she agreed, "Yeah, I know, bit of a surprise. Olly's dad. He's been gone a while. Left my sister a couple years ago, now."

Alec stared at Ellie and he repeated to make sure he was hearing his DS correctly, "The boat that was burnt, that has Danny's DNA on it, was your brother's?"

"Yeah." Ellie confirmed. "It was just left, just off the beach, with the motor chained to it. I mean, anyone could have taken it, just use bolt cutters."

Alec settled back in his chair, his mind turning with this new information, "Who knew it was there?"

"Well, everyone did, it wasn't a secret." Ellie answered with a slight shrug.

"Your son, Tom, did he know?" Alec demanded and Ellie stared at him.

"Yeah, why?" She asked but Alec ignored her question as he pressed, "Did Danny?"

"I don't know." Ellie answered, shrugging again in confusion.

Alec examined his DS for another second before he sighed and said, "All right, well, see if forensics can get any other prints or DNA off the shards, match them against all the elimination prints."

Ellie nodded and started to turn away when she turned back suddenly.

"Oh, and, funny thing." She hedged a little bit before admitting in a rush, "I had to tell someone now. Um… SOCO Brian just asked me out."

"Brian?" Alec repeated incredulously. "Why would he do that?"

"Oh, thanks a lot." Ellie said dryly but Alec pointed out in confusion, "You're married."

"Well, that's what I told him, but it didn't seem to faze him!" Ellie explained.

Alec stared at her as she waited expectantly for him to say something so he suggested confusedly, "Flattering?"

"Well, sort of." Ellie shrugged before adding in a whisper, "But it's SOCO, they've had their hands everywhere."

"Dirty Brian." Alec murmured, pulling a slight face. Ellie chuckled.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Emma wasn't very impressed with him, either."

"Emma?" Alec repeated at once and Ellie paused.

"Oh," she grimaced as she realized she'd put her foot in her mouth. "Right, she went out with him once, a few years ago. I think she felt she owed it to me to say yes, you know, since Brian and I work together."

"Oh." Alec thought about it then shrugged; clearly, Brian had not succeeded and from what he could tell there were few men in Broadchurch Emma had not gone on a date with at one point or another. And, he had also come to find out, most did not get more than one date. Besides, it wasn't like he was in any position to be jealous.

"Um, have you called Emma today?" Ellie asked and Alec glanced at her. "It's just… we both saw how upset she was. I think you should call-"

"Thank you, Miller."

"Look, sir," Ellie added hastily when Alec started giving her the evil eye. "Emma's my best friend. I know something's going on between you two, and I'm happy for her. But I don't want to see her hurt."

"Are you done?" Alec asked pointedly. Ellie sighed and backed away… only to turn back to Alec.

He waited expectantly and a little impatiently, but he was surprised when Ellie asked softly, "Sir, do you think we'll get them? The killer?"

"We will." Alec didn't hesitate, but Ellie bit her lip.

"You didn't on Sandbrook."

Alec's brow slowly rose to his hairline and he peered at his DS from over his glasses. "How long have you been waiting to bring that up?"

"I haven't." Ellie denied although it fell a little flat. Alec sighed but he answered her; kind of.

"Sandbrook was different."

"Did you get it wrong?" Ellie asked, her tone careful but no less demanding. Alec whistled.

"Wow, you really have been bottling this up." He leant back to meet Ellie's gaze head-on. "You think you've been lumbered with a senior officer not fit for purpose?"

Ellie shrugged awkwardly. "I don't know, it all got hushed up. That's what everyone said."

"I didn't want that." Alec answered instantly. As Ellie continued to look at him expectantly, he sighed and admitted, "A mistake was made. A big mistake."

"By you?" Elli asked, but Alec was done.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Ellie bit her lip again. "Sir, these are my friends, people I've known all my life. We can't let them down."

He just stared back at her with a measured look. "We won't."

"What? Brian did?" Emma repeated incredulously into the phone as she wrapped her wet hair into a towel. "But you're happily married."

"Yeah, that's what I told him." Ellie agreed and Emma sniffed.

"I always knew he wasn't my type."

"And my boss is?"

Emma instantly clammed up and Ellie seemed to sense it. The older woman sighed.

"Don't stay angry with him, Em. Lord knows he drives me up the wall but I think he genuinely cares about you."

Emma scoffed. "He's got a really funny way of showing it."

There was a knock on her front door and Emma looked up.

"Gotta go, Elle. Looks like someone's here."

"Okay, well, just think about what I said, okay?"

"Sure." Emma mumbled before she hung up and shoved her mobile into her pocket as she moved to her door. She opened it, not really sure what to expect, and then almost immediately made to shut it.

"Wait, Emma, please." Alec stopped her with a hand between her door and the frame, but he paused slightly and he eyed her incredulously. "You open the door without even checking who it is first?"

"This isn't usually that kind of town." Emma snapped, her irritation heightening with his nagging.

"It's still not safe. Don't do that from now on." Alec said, concerned.

"Don't tell me what to do, now go away!" Emma said in frustration but Alec held his ground.

"No."

The pair faced off against each other, Alec still holding the door before she could shut him out.

"Can I come in? Or we can argue out here." He added pointedly.

Emma's jaw locked but she jerked her door open and stepped aside for him.

"Thanks."

Emma slammed the door after him and crossed her flat to face Alec while he leant against her kitchen counter. The sight of him there brought back memories she didn't presently want and it made her even snappier.

"What do you want?"

"I know you're angry with me," she made a derisive noise at that, "but I don't think you're being entirely fair."

"No, I think I am. I don't care if you think he's a suspect for Danny's death, Jack deserves more protection and not to be dismissed like some annoying flea!"

"I'm not dismissing him but I have to prioritize-"

"He's scared!"

"He's a potential child murderer."

"And he's also potentially an innocent and terrified man that doesn't deserve this! I thought people were innocent until proven guilty?"

"Isn't that the ideology that almost set your father's killer loose?"

Emma inhaled sharply, her glower darkening. But Alec didn't budge.

"You can't have it both ways just because you sympathize with Jack Marshall or because you like him. And you can't just use your hatred for the press to demand protection for Jack, he's not actually being harassed, they have the right to be outside his shop."

"If you're just here to lecture me, please leave. I don't need to have to listen to this in my own flat." Emma snapped. Alec shook his head.

"I'm not going."

"Why not?!" Emma's voice rose and Alec groaned.

"Because I don't understand why you're so angry with me for this-"

"Because I know how Jack feels!" Emma yelled. "All right? I know how it feels to be on the receiving end of that kind of mob, to have my windows pounded as though they have a right to ask me to say what they want me to say! And I don't understand why you can't feel a grain of sympathy for him!"

"I'm investigating a murder-"

"So if I was a suspect and they were harassing me, you'd just sit by and watch?"

There was a long silence following Emma's words. She was breathing heavily, her cheeks flushed not just from anger but from embarrassment. She hadn't meant to blurt out the words, the fear that had developed after she'd witnessed Alec's less-than-sympathetic interview with Jack earlier that day. Seeing him that cold, like the reporters who had looked at her after her mother was convicted, like the neighbours who had whispered that she was a murderous adulterer's daughter, never mind that it had been her father who was killed, Emma had wondered if she could trust this man after all. If he was always going to be a detective first and a person second, could she handle that?

"No." Alec finally answered so abruptly that Emma wasn't sure she heard him right.

"What?"

"I said, no. I wouldn't be able to just sit by." He repeated and she frowned.

"Yes, you would. You'd do it for your job." Emma pointed out but Alec shook his head.

"No, I'd ask for the case to be reassigned because I would be a liability. I wouldn't be able to look at it objectively."

Emma stared at him, taken aback by his blunt honesty. Alec just waited for her to say something, even if it was to yell at him again. Finally, Emma sighed and she tentatively walked up to Alec to take his hand in hers.

"Why won't you help Jack?" Emma asked as she drew a circle on his hand while he used the opportunity to draw her even closer to him. Alec sighed.

"I can't. He's a suspect, until I can clear him and with no actual threat, there's not much I can do. I'm sorry."

Emma wasn't exactly enthused by that response but she answered softly, "I'm sorry too. For being angry when it's not your fault."

"No, it's not." He agreed and she barely refrained from rolling her eyes at him. "But I know why you did it. This isn't easy for you and you can't exactly take it out on the reporters."

Emma paused at that and she admitted sheepishly, "I slapped Karen White this morning."

"Really?" His brow shot up and Emma nodded.

"Yeah."

"Did it help?" He asked and Emma smiled a little sadly.

"A little bit. Wish I could have punched her and knocked her teeth out, to tell the truth, but I figured that might get me in trouble."

Alec chuckled despite himself. "Yeah, probably best not. I'd hate to have to arrest you."

Emma let out a watery laugh with him, when her phone rang.

"Oh, hang on." She fumbled to pull her phone from her pocket. "Hello?"

"Emma?"

"Jack?"

Alec looked up sharply but Emma ignored him, alarmed by the way Jack was breathing erratically. As though he were panicking… or crying.

"Jack, what's wrong? Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"No, no." He croaked. "I… I just wanted to say, thank you."

He was definitely crying.

"Jack?" Emma asked.

"Thank you… for listening. For being kind. You… you really are a good girl."

"Jack, you're scaring me."

Alec's face quickly turned dark at that but it just as quickly turned to worry when Emma continued in a concerned tone, "Did something happen? Where are you?"

The only answer was the sound of a click and silence as the call was ended.

"Jack? Jack!"

Emma checked to make sure she hadn't lost reception, her hair tumbling out of the towel with her frantic movements, while Alec watched her concernedly.

"What is it?" He asked and Emma turned to him fearfully.

"I don't know, but something's very wrong. He thanked me for listening and for being kind - it makes no sense. Alec," her voice cracked, "I think Jack's thinking something terrible."

"Stay here." He ordered immediately, understanding instantly what she was implying. What she feared. "I'll get someone to trace the call-"

"No, I can't stay here." Emma interrupted. "I'll take you to the station, you can't drive anyway."

When he started to protest, she begged, "Please, I'll stay in the waiting area, I won't bother, but I can't sit here and just wait, please I need to know he's all right."

Alec hesitated but finally he nodded. "Okay. But let me drive, you're in less fit state than I am at the moment."

If she had been in a saner state of mind, Emma might have argued. But she wasn't and so Emma just followed numbly as Alec led her to her car and drove them to the station. He was also on the phone with Ellie, which normally would have earned him a lecture from Emma. But she barely noticed nor did she hear anything as she just kept muttering under her breath while wringing her hands, "Oh, God. Oh, God, oh God, oh God."

They soon arrived at the station where Alec led Emma just inside before he pointed her to the visitors' waiting room.

"Stay here. Don't move."

She nodded and Alec left, striding quickly up to his office. Sitting in the station alone, Emma hunched in on herself. Flashes from her past kept playing in her mind: the feeling of being completely trapped and completely alone. Fingering the kitchen knives before snatching her hand away in horror at herself. Finding herself wondering if falling from a building was less painful. Searching for a place she might hang a rope before she realized what she was thinking and reprimanded herself for being so weak. There was always another escape, she'd told herself: but Emma knew now that wasn't always true. Sometimes, there was no escape. And if Jack thought that...

"Emma?"

Emma snapped her head over at Alec's voice and she hurried to meet him as he and Ellie walked quickly out. If her friend was surprised to see her, Ellie did a good job masking the surprise as Emma gasped, "Please tell me you found him."

"We've located the payphone he called from, CCTV tracked him toward the cliffs." Alec informed her while Ellie excused herself to get the car. Emma thought her heart stopped at Alec's words.

"Briar Hill?" Emma asked faintly.

"No." He answered grimly. Emma went white.

"Suicide spot?"

Alec's expression didn't change and Emma registered the sorrow, the regret. The apology.

"No, no, no, no-"

She began to shake like a leaf and Alec wrapped his arm around her as he stated grimly, "Let's not jump to conclusions. We're going looking for him now."

"Please, let me come, I can't stay here not knowing, please, please, Alec, please-"

This time Alec hesitated longer, but like earlier, he eventually nodded. He led her out to where Ellie was bringing the car and climbed in the back with her. Ellie didn't say anything about Emma's presence nor did she ask any questions as she drove them swiftly away while another car with officers followed. Alec sat in the passenger seat, glancing back occasionally to where Emma sat with her hands clasped tightly together as she begged Jack in her mind to be strong for just another minute.

But they were too late.

Emma sobbed as she got out of the car almost before it even fully stopped moving, staring out to where she could clearly see a body sprawled on the beach, not unlike how Danny had been. Ellie wrapped the younger woman into her arms and hugged her tightly while Alec went grimly to check with some officers. But Emma already knew.

Jack was gone.

And it was all their fault.