Chapter Text
The next day was awful. Alec swore to himself that it had been the last time when Ellie took him to a pub. His head was aching and he nearly fell from the bed trying to get up. Sun was shining outside but Alec came to the curtains and drew them immediately. Fortunately, he woke up at a decent hour so he would have to explain himself before his colleagues for being late.
The best option for him was to take a shower. He took off his boxers and stepped in. A cool stream of water refreshed him and after a ten-minute shower he felt a lot better. He opened the wardrobe and took clean clothing. Nobody could really spotted that Alec changed clothes. His every suit look exactly the same. When Hardy was in a good mood he would say that he got inspired by Seth Brundle from The Fly. In fact, that had been the first time Alec mentioned something like a film in a conversation.
“You watch movies?” Ellie asked but Alec snapped something in response.
Well, he did enjoy something that teenagers would call ‘Netflix & chill’ but most of the time he would do it alone. What’s the best, with Daisy. But she went to collage and he was quite lonely in Broadchurch. Of course, he wouldn’t say it out loud. Frankly, if Ellie offered him to go out sometime again, he wouldn’t be very as opposite to that idea, despite his current state and previous swear.
A one good thing that day was that he didn’t have to go on foot to the station. Since his surgery he had been waiting to be finally able to drive. He remembered times when he used to be an excellent and daring driver. He had to chase a witness twice in his life and that kind of adrenaline was really tempting at times. When he was younger he dreamt of driving a Bentley which was his favourite car. Unfortunately, he hadn’t had a chance to even stand near that kind of vehicle.
On his way to the station he had time to think about the previous night. The stranger who Alec had talked to seemed nice. Under other circumstances, Hardy would be willing to meet him again but his obstinate manner didn’t let him admit that. And just then he remembered that Bill used his phone the other day. When he parked the car and got out, he took the phone out and examined it closely. It looked fine so he entered the history call and find the last number. Surprisingly, it hadn’t been deleted. The dial code showed everything and Alec knew that it was an American number. He didn’t even want to think how much would the call cost him. But it lasted only three seconds and it was far to short for even a quick chat. For a split second the detective wanted to call it but when he thought about the possible bill, he didn’t.
“Good morning, sir,” Ellie greeted him as soon as he entered the station. Some officers hoped that maybe that time their boss would also greet them with a smile but sadly it didn’t happen.
Alec mumbled something to Miller in response and asked her to follow him to his office. As soon as he sat on his chair, Ellie placed a paper bag before him.
“Take it. I assumed that you didn’t eat anything in the morning so I brought you a sandwich.”
“What is it?”
“Painkillers for your hangover.”
“I’m not hangover…” he said but unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite which caused a chuckle from Ellie.
There was a short silence between them and Hardy knew that Miller wanted to tell him something. She sat on the couch opposite to him and kept wiggling.
“Wat?” he asked with full mouth.
“Who was that guy in the pub yesterday? she said with too much interest if you asked Alec.
“Don’t know him, a stranger,” he disposed her and shrugged.
The detective could see a sparkle in Ellie’s eyes before she said:
“Well, you know, my friend has recently seen you on the TV and she’s visiting me in two days and would like to meet you, so I wanted to ask if you would like to-”
“No,” Alec cut her off because he didn’t want to pretend any more.
She took an irritated glance at him. “Come on, Hardy. You don’t even know her! Why do you have to be such a knob?!”
“No, no, Ellie, I’m sure that your friend is a wonderful lady but…”
“But what?”
Alec knew that he had to say it now. He exhaled loudly and whispered so that only Miller could hear him:
“I’m gay.”
The woman looked at him with wide eyes and shock. She couldn't say a word for a while and when she got over it, she felt so embarrassed.
“Shit, I’m so sorry. I should have asked beforehand.”
“No, it’s alright. You know now and I’m not mad at you,” he told her with a soothing half-smile.
Again neither of them said anything and the silence started to overwhelm them. Alec came back to eating his sandwich and suddenly he saw a cheeky smile forming on Ellie’s lips.
“So, that guy yesterday…”
“Shut up, Millah and back to work!” Ellie laughed and leave the office. But she didn’t miss that Alec’s corners of lips went up when she mentioned the mysterious stranger.
After taking the painkillers Alec felt a little better. His head stopped throbbing and he could again come back to the paperwork. Ellie told him that they got the recording from the CCTV near the entrance to the forest where the victim had been attacked. They studied them for a while until Jenkinson approached them.
“Ellie, Alec, the doctors have the results of Judi Wright examination.”
“I’ll open my mailbox in a while ma’am,” answered Alec and came back to watching the videos.
“Alec, you have to go the hospital and take it personally,” Jenkinson clarified. Hardy growled.
“Why? Can’t they just send it to me?”
“They had some changes in the staff and said that it would be easier for them if you get it on your own,” she said and turned around, not wanting to continue the conversation.
Alec rubbed his face and looked at Ellie with annoyance. She only took her jacket and left the station. Hardy groaned once more and followed her.
As soon as they entered the building, Alec felt sick. The smell of medicine, all those people in white coats conjured up bad memories. Even though, it had been four years since his surgery and everything had been quite fine so far, he still didn’t like being around doctors.
“Excuse me.” The detectives stopped by a reception. “DI Hardy and DS Miller. We are looking for Doctor Blair.”
“Oh, yes. You’re here to get the results of that poor lady.” Both of them nodded and the young girl checked something on her computer. She frowned a little but turned to the detectives.
“It seems that doctor Blair wasn’t the one who did the examination. It was our new doctor instead. I informed him that you want to see him. His office is in room 34. Straight forward and second doors on your left.”
Miller thanked the lady and caught up with Hardy. His face showed growing annoyance. He felt like the people around were constantly looking at him and knew about his depraving condition. Even after so many years, Alec was still embarrassed about the fact that he wasn’t THAT old and still had to have a pacemaker.
“Don’t scare away the doctor with your deadly look,” Ellie joked and knocked on the door. After a while they heard a polite ‘come in’.
“You must be the detectives,” said the man who looked too familiar for Alec but still he could see only his back because he was looking for a particular file. “I’m new here but I’ll try my best to help you.” He turned around. “My name is-”
“William Masters,” finished Alec who looked at the man with big eyes. Bill bit his lip in an anxious manner.
“Wait, aren’t you that guy from the pub?” asked Ellie who was a little amused by the situation. Masters only gave her a shy smile in response.
They would stay in that silence longer but suddenly Miller’s phone rang so she excused them and left the room. The two men were there alone and didn’t really know what to do. Alec avoided Bill’s look but didn’t know why. They were adults, right? And nothing really happened yesterday. So why he was so ashamed of him?
“So,” started Bill. “You came here for the files.” He gave Hardy the documentation and the detective felt shivers down his spine when his fingers accidentally brushed Masters’ hand. “I found pieces of DNA under her fingernails and I sent them to the lab. You should expect the results after two days. Also, she had scratches on her neck which proved her testimony that she didn’t see the predator.” Listening to the man, Hardy was only looking at him, not daring to interrupt. He seemed so different from the Bill in the pub. His hair was neatly set and he was clean shaved. He was so professional that Alec wondered if he looked similar while giving a speech.
“That’s probably all.” Those words woke Hardy up from his deep thoughts and he realized that he hadn’t listened to the other half of Masters report.
“Anything else?” Bill asked and he was so emotionless that it made Alec a little sad. Masters looked more interested in him the other day.
“Who did you call yesterday?” Hardy said and just after that it hit him that he had said it out loud.
Bill frowned. “What do you mean?”
Alec wanted to say ‘never mind’ but decided to carry on.
“When I lent you my phone, who did you call?”
“Why do you want to know?” The constant questions and postponing seemed suspicious to Alec but his detective curiosity couldn’t let him go of it.
“The call lasted only three seconds. I don’t know which conversation would last that short.”
Masters shrugged and smiled innocently at the other man. “Why don't you see for yourself?”
Alec thought for a while and took his phone, eyeing the doctor who didn’t show any signs of stress. He slowly chose the right number and placed the phone near his ear. For a while they didn't hear anything but then, Bill's phone rang.
"Could you pick up? I can't hear anything because of your-" And then it occurred to him. Masters kept smiling and didn't move.
"But you said that your phone was dead..."
"It was a white lie, I must admit," Bill explained and stepped a little closer. Even though, Alec was taller than him, he felt like he was the smaller one in that conversation. In a good way of course.
"Why?"
Bill exhaled. "I didn't know if you would give me your number if I asked you. So I decided to tricked you a little. You can always delete it if you want."
"But why would you like to have my number?" Alec kept asking which made Masters laugh. However, when he saw that it was a serious question, he stopped.
"Em, well, to keep it touch with you. I was actually thinking of inviting you for a dinner." Hardy blinked a couple of times to see if it wasn't a dream. It had been such a long time since somebody wanted to go with him anywhere (excluding Ellie). He didn't know if he should believe him or not.
"A dinner? With me?"
"Yes. I can send you the date and the adress. You would have to write yes or no, that's all. I won't force you but I will encourage you," he winked at Alec and he felt like in the pub again. He begged that he wasn't blushing.
"Sure, I can do that," Hardy whispered and turned to leave the room.
"If you need more information, DI Hardy, you have my number!" Alec only smiled politely and opened the door.
As soon as he closed it, he bumped into Ellie who was obviously ear-dropping.
"What are you doing, Miller?" he growled.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I didn't want to interrupt your conversation with doctor Masters," she smiled and Alec just shook his head and went towards the exit.
"So... a doctor."
"Shut up, Miller."
"And he's quite handsome I must say."
"I'm begging you, Miller."
"What? You would be just like Sherlock and Watson! You even remind me of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman!" she laughed again. Hardy groaned loudly when he heard about those stupid actors. He remembered when Ellie had started watching that crappy TV show and had been comparing him to Sherlock Holmes constantly.
Suddenly, during Ellie's chatter, Alec heard that he got a message from an unknown number.
11 Highfield Street, 7 pm, today's evening, sounds good?
Alec immediately shoved his phone in his pocket when he saw that Miller looked at the screen.
"Was it him?" she asked excited and grabbed him by his wrist when they stood in front of the hospital. "You should give him a chance."
"I barely know him," he answered and pulled his hand away from the woman.
"This is why people go on dates!"
"Don't call it a date." Alec started walking to the car and tried to ignored Ellie's encouragements.
However, when they were finally in the car, Hardy grabbed his mobile once more and change the name of the unknown number to 'William Masters' and sent a short text:
Sounds good.