Back in Town

Chapter 3: Many Talents

Previously in "Back in Town"

"Get 'em, Miller. I don't trust anyone else but you." With that he quickly turned and hopped into the back of the ambulance. The last view Ellie caught was Alec taking Liv's hand again and gently pressing a kiss to her knuckles before leaning down to whisper in her ear.

-*-*-

The ambulance ride to the hospital provided Alec with little comfort. Liv was unconscious, and her heart rate was faint, but present. Of primary concern, however, was that she was not breathing on her own, so they had a mask hooked up to her, pumping oxygen into her system at regular intervals until they got her to the hospital where she would be intubated.

She was barely recognizable, her face was beaten, bruised, and swollen. Her hair was soaked in what he presumed was her own blood. As he examined her body, he noticed scrapes on her knuckles and he froze for a moment before glaring up at one of the EMS workers.

"Do you have any plastic bags?" he barked.

"What? Sir, please just let us do our job—" the young man looked back to the monitor he had been examining.

"I said do you have any plastic bags? We need to wrap her hands to preserve any evidence that might be present. Do you understand? She might have scratched or hit her attackers in which case we could get DNA. Find me some bloody plastic bags!" he barked again, at the edge of his own emotional breaking point.

The young man stared a moment before he jumped into action, digging through one of the built-in cabinets on the ambulance wall and pulling out plastic bags. Hardy gently picked up her hands and slipped them into the clear plastic bags he had been given. He then pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and punched a speed dial button, propping it against his shoulder while he held onto Liv's now plastic covered hand.

"Miller, be sure SOCO gets to the hospital ASAP to collect evidence. No, we're still on our way. It appears she might have fought with her attacker. I wouldn't put it past her to have gotten a few swings in, at least a few good scratches. Yeah—yes—um, yes, they'll need to collect a rape kit too," he choked out, gasping for breath as he lost the last shred of his emotional steel. He grabbed the phone from his shoulder with one hand, ending the call quickly and knelt over Liv, sobbing. He started coughing hard, gagging, and the young man handed him a bowl in time for him to dry heave into it.

He tried to steady his breathing, though as he looked at her beaten and bruised face, he found himself closing his eyes to remember how she had appeared before as he had watched her so frequently—on stage, waiting tables, playing with Ellie's children, laughing with Daisy...

-*-*-

*Eight months earlier, a few days after the welcome home party*

It was lunch rush at the pub, and Liv MacDonald was still getting back into the swing of taking orders and manning the bar. She turned from the customers she had just taken the drink order for to the customers she had seen come in from the corner of her eye. "Oh, Hardy! Daisy! Hi!"

"Liv! You work here?" Daisy exclaimed in shock. "Dad, did you know that?"

Alec's left eyebrow raised as he looked over the woman. "No, no I didn't. Singer, writer, and bartender? Anything you don't do, Olivia?"

She grinned. "Haven't managed to be a cop yet. Think you can help me out with that?"

Daisy was in awe. "You're a singer, too?"

Liv waved her off. "Just for fun, my dear. I sing here at the pub occasionally on live music nights."

"Oh, Dad! Can we come sometime?" Daisy begged her father.

"Hmmm, perhaps." Alec glanced over the menu towards his daughter, who was looking up at Liv in admiration.

"I'll be on stage on Friday night. Ellie's bringing Tom for the early set. If you're interested. So, what can I get you to drink?"

-*-*-

Friday night, Tom sat next to Daisy at the table, telling her a few stories he remembered from when he was younger, and Liv MacDonald used to be around all the time. Liv came up to the table. "El, Tom, good to see you!" She leaned over and gave hugs and kisses on the cheek to the two, then turned to Alec and Daisy and smiled, letting her hand rest on Alec's shoulder while she spoke. "Hardy, I'm glad to see Daisy convinced you to come back out tonight. Hopefully it isn't too painful for you." She winked at him and walked away towards the stage.

-*-*-

The set that night:
"This is the Life" Amy Macdonald
"Dreams" The Corrs
"Torn" Natalie Imbruglia
"Another Life" Ingrid Michaelson
"Unwritten" Natasha Bedingfield
"Try" Colbie Caillat

-*-*-

That night, as Liv MacDonald sang, Alec found himself frequently unable to take his gaze from her. There was something about this woman, her tenacity, the story of her life. The passion with which she sang every song seemed to be the same passion with which she lived her life. All Alec had done for years was put any passion he had left in him into his job and for a moment, he wondered, as she let her glance linger on him at least once during each song, what it would be like to open up and allow himself to feel again?

-*-*-

"Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten"
"Unwritten" Natasha Bedingfield

-*-*-

*Present Day*

The ambulance arrived moments later at the hospital and he was practically shoved out of the back of the ambulance by the paramedics as they pulled the stretcher off the back, wheels hitting the ground. Doctors were waiting for them at the entrance and they ran her in. He kept up as long as he could, till they took her into a room where only medical personnel were allowed. He watched through the small window on the door as she was cut out of her clothing. He already saw bruises had formed on her ribs, chest, and legs. He was fairly certain that she had quite literally been beaten to within an inch of her life.

He found his way to the nearest waiting area and slumped into a seat, and as the quiet came over him, the emotions washed over him again as well and he began weeping. He had finally found love again, after so many years of tortured loneliness and the nightmare that was his relationship with Tess before that. Could he be losing it so soon? As he sobbed, he questioned himself—had he told her enough times that he loved her? Had he been good to her? Had she thought of him in her last awake moments? He was brought out of his downward spiral of thoughts by a throat clearing near him.

His head quickly jerked up to see Paul Coates standing there. "Ellie called me," was all the man said before sitting down in the chair next to Alec. "I came immediately. I know we haven't gotten along well in the past, DI Hardy, but I'd like to just sit here with you. You don't have to say anything. Just allow me to sit with you, and if you need anything, food, a drink, information, whatever, perhaps give me the chance to help." The reverend watched the detective inspector lean back into his chair and took that, as well as his silence, as enough of an acceptance of his offer. He leaned back as well, glancing at his watch.