On the run

Chapter 17

Rose had butterflies as Pete held the door open for her and Alec got up. He looked just like the Doctor when he'd been having a lazy day or they'd been holed up somewhere overnight and just like the photos she'd seen in the papers or on TV.

She held back, letting Pete go first.

"Alec, nice to see you again."

"Pete, good of you to bring her. Hello Rose, glad you decided to take up my offer?" Alec greeted her, going to put his arm around her and kissing her cheek since there was hardly anyone in apart from the far corner.

"Hi Alec, how could I resist the offer of a few days by the sea?" Rose replied, having been told to go along with whatever he had planned.

"Here, sit down, I will go get you a drink," Alec offered.

"I'll go Alec, you and Rose catch up."

Rose wondered what they were going to catch up about and thought of leaving him to take the lead.

Alec sat next to her, pushing the tray to one side. "Good journey?"

"Yeah, not too much traffic. So, how have you been then?" Rose asked, trying to play along even though no-one was taking any notice.

"Fine, now you are finally here," he smiled. If only she knew. "Hope you don't mind staying in a caravan, it was all I could find, once you had accepted my invitation."

"Fine, no I don't mind, you should be avoiding the stairs. You're going back to work?"

"Yes, just part time, it will give you chance to look around on your own."

Then he leaned over and kissed her cheek whispering, "Just go with it, I'll explain later."

His beard felt soft on her cheek and she tried not to blush, since they had supposedly been an item back in Sandbrook. If he was going to keep taking liberties, he'd have a lot of explaining to do but something about him made her think he was going to be easy to get to like despite her saying she was off men.

Pete came back, looking at the two of them. "We'll have this drink then you can show us where you're staying."

He couldn't let on he already knew. The assistant came over with a tray of drinks but Alec refused any more when Pete offered.

"I've been here a while," Alec explained. "I was nervous about your arrival Rose, since we only had a few days last week. I thought you would change your mind, about coming down."

"I thought it was worth the risk Alec," Rose assured him. "It was great bumping into you while I was there but you did surprise me by asking me."

"Not much of a surprise eh Rose?" Pete asked her. "You've done nothing but talk about him all week." Rose was so going to get him back when they were alone.

"Has she now?" Alec asked, raising his eyebrows and Rose hoping he wouldn't continue to do that.

"Oh yes, trust me, when she got back home she was really happy she'd bumped into you again."

"Well, it was unfortunate how we ended things, still, that's the past, eh Rose?" Alec asked, putting his hand on hers.

Rose thought his hand seemed warm, unlike when she and the Doctor would walk or run hand in hand but she had no right to compare Alec with the Doctor, that was unfair and she had to stop right now.

Rose decided to play along. "Yeah, let's just forget it, I'm here and if I didn't want to give things another go, I'd have stayed at home."

"Believe me Alec, she would have done," Pete agreed.