Something's Brewing

Chapter 1: He Cares Too

If there was one thing that Ellie Miller had realized over the past two years of working with Alec Hardy, it was that he cared too. Sure, he had different ways of showing his care and concern for people. It was what made him a great cop, if not also difficult to deal with. It was a very different way than Ellie, which she figured is what made them great partners. They each showed care for their job and the people involved in the crimes they investigated, just in different ways, and it meant they saw things from different perspectives and sometimes found things the other would not have noticed.

Sometimes Alec internalized his concern and care about the cases he worked, to the detriment of his own health. It's why he was tortured by nightmares of Pippa drowning after Sandbrook, and why his heart almost totally gave out on him.

But, since he got the pacemaker, and Sandbrook was solved, he had seemed to soften a bit. The nightmares had gone, he was eating better, and was easier to deal with—at least for Ellie. The rest of the department weren't convinced, the changes were imperceptible to them. But, Ellie could see it.

She saw it in the way he spoke to Trish when they helped her into the car that night she had finally come forward. The care with which he questioned her later that evening about the attack. And when they took Trish home and found out it had been days before she came forward, she was waiting for him to let his annoyance show. But he had kept his cool and calm when speaking with Trish. Some would say it was police training in cases of attack and possible rape, but for someone who normally wore his anger and annoyance on his sleeve, the skill with which he concealed all his frustration and instead turned it into further concern—it had impressed her.

She especially saw the change when he had asked about her dad that night after she had come in from her phone call with him. It had all started because they had spent so much time together at his place going over the Sandbrook case. After solving Sandbrook, it had become a regular weekly occurrence for him to come over to her place with a pile case files, have dinner, then after the boys were in bed, they'd go over their current caseload. After her mum passed, her dad came to stay for an extended time. After that, the first time Alec came over, things got awkward quickly and it was clear her dad was not happy about them discussing work in her home. After a brief discussion privately, they decided their weekly visits would have to stop, for now. Alec had made a few mild complaints later at work, but he tried to not show his disappointment. At first she had convinced herself it was because he wanted the time to go over work and get ahead of the game.

-*-*-

"How's your dad?"

"Infuriating."

"How long's he going to stay?"

"We haven't discussed it. Still free childcare though, eh? She still in there?" She nodded towards the door that led to the toilet where Trish currently was providing a sample.

-*-*-

There was that disappointment, in his tone, and the look he gave at her answer. At that moment, she wondered, was there something more to his disappointment? He wasn't acting annoyed like she would expect, just disappointed.

If she was honest, she missed it as well. It had done great things for their relationship as colleagues – and as friends. Between the time they had spent solving Sandbrook, and then their weekly meetings at her home, they had learned how to handle each other's personalities, and Hardy had learned how to not be such a knob all the time. They had learned how to take each other's cues, when to push back, and when not to. Not that they didn't still argue, didn't get on each other's nerves, and that he still couldn't be detestable to deal with at times, but no one's perfect, and if too much changed, they wouldn't be Hardy and Miller, she supposed.

She had worked hard to accept the ways he showed he cared, and not criticize them when he attempted it. So when he nailed her for her own choices of how to show compassion, she got particularly upset when he gave her a hard time about the way that she showed her care. She knew he would have a fit if he found out she had given her phone number to Trish, she had only hoped he wouldn't find out. And she could see the look he was giving her as she spoke over the speaker phone. When she hung up the phone from that call with Trish, she knew that the shoe was going to drop.

"You gave her your personal number!" The argument ensued, back and forth, like usual.

"If I'm so annoying, why did you come back?" she threw at him—they kept going.

Sometimes, it felt like one step forward, times like this, they were taking two steps back. The argument ended with her shouting, "She's been raped!"

-*-*-

Miller spouted off the internet description of Axehampton House as she read it from her mobile phone. Alec stepped away from the window he had been peeking through and they took a few minutes to consider the property. A little while later they walked in quiet towards the river.

He considered his words for a moment, and as they stopped atop a bridge that went over the water, he turned to her and broke the silence, "Miller, you know why I came back."

"I'm the only person who would put up with you as a partner?" she shot back at him with a smirk.

He huffed and smirked back, the closest thing to a laugh she thought she might get from him. "Besides that."

"Well-," she started to continue, but he interrupted her.

"I came back because you are a good partner. The best cop in Britain as far as I'm concerned, and the only one I'd want to be partnered with." He looked at her sincerely.

"You sure you really think that, even after I gave out my personal number to Trish Winterman?" she shot back at him, letting the bitterness that still hung on seep through. She immediately regretted it, however. "Sorry, I—"

"No, I'm sorry. Miller." He paused for a moment to let his apology sink in before continuing, "That's precisely why you're a good cop. I may not agree with your practices, and it is a breach of protocol, but your concern for the victims of the crimes we investigate is part of what makes you a good cop. And watching you has made me a better investigator."

They started to move again, coming closer to where they heard a waterfall. "I'm not sure what to say, sir."

As they looked down at the water below, he shifted and turned towards her. "How about that you will come over for dinner tonight?"

"What!?" Her face immediately went into shock.

"To go over the case," He immediately threw in, seeing her reaction. "We obviously can't do it at your house anymore. I've cleaned up and made quite a few improvements since Sandbrook. There's more room now. Come over, have dinner, and we'll discuss the case."

"Oh." Her heart rate slowed back down a tick. "Okay, I'll see what I can do. I'll let you know."

He nodded and then looked back down.

"I'll take a look down there." She nodded towards the left side of the waterfall, so he took towards the other direction.

He glanced around a bit, then turned to see Miller closely examining the ground around her. He stopped and watched her for a few moments quietly, observing her without her knowledge meant seeing her a bit more relaxed, and getting to see her natural investigative skills at work. Why does she have to be so bloody attractive without even trying? He sighed heavily before he called out to her, "Anything?"

-*-*-