Without You

62. He's Different

A/N - And another chapter has landed. Please tell me if you feel the pace is too slow with this story or if I'm boring you to death. In all honesty, I'm pretty sure the pace *is* too slow, but...🤷‍♀️😂🤦‍♀️ Keep staying safe out there, and thank you all for reading! Your kind comments really do mean the world to me! ❤ -H. x

"Hey, mate, how you doin'? Look, I just wanted to bring you up to speed on the current situation...Not sure if you've been keeping up with your emails lately...?"

Immediately wide awake as soon as he'd seen the caller ID, Dec cleared his throat awkwardly, throwing Ali a bit of a desperate glance but getting a shrug and shake of the head in response. "Erm...I-I've..."

"No? Well, I know you've got a lot going on. Listen, I know we always debrief about these things, but with everything that's happened..."

"Just tell me what's up," Dec demanded sharply, straightening up on the couch and handing Rocky off to Ali, running a nervous hand through his mussed up hair, "It can't be worse than anything that's already happened this year."

"Right. Well, you know how we like to keep you guys, erm, y-you," the man stuttered, suddenly sounding very uncomfortable, "informed on Ofcom complaints..."

"Yeah?" Dec's brows furrowed. "They've not been too bad this year, I didn't think? I don't think anyone really debriefed me the last couple of episodes of Takeaway, so..."

"What, really? Why-?"

"I think they figured I didn't bloody care with everything else I had on me plate, that's why," Dec snapped, "Now tell me what the hell's going on!"

"Hang on..." the sound of typing came through the phone speaker as Dec rolled his eyes and huffed out an annoyed breath. "Right, well, there weren't really too many complaints the last couple of episodes, um...Let me see here. Oh, right..."

The man gave an apologetic cough, "There were only a few complaints, and, um, most of them were about Ant's appearances in Saturday Knight Takeaway, so th-"

"And I bloody well didn't need to know that, did I!" Dec's voice cracked despite his heated tone and Ali lay a calming hand on his arm. She was alarmed to find he was trembling underneath her touch, his eyes suspiciously glassy and full of pain. "Now if there's a reason you're calling me...!"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, Dec. Um, you may not remember, but there was an Ofcom complaint after the show on 10 March. Some guy said that he wasn't allowed to complete registration for 'Sofawatch' that week...?"

Dec sighed. "Yeah, I remember. He got there too late, innit?"

"Yes, that's right. That's what our people are saying. Well, Ofcom have launched an official investigation. They're saying it may have breached their broadcast competition rules. We, um-"

"S***!" Dec muttered, raising his eyes to the ceiling and shaking his head. "D'you think there's any chance it'll go against our favor?"

"Well, we can't say for certain, but we really did nothing wrong on our end from what we can tell, and it's clearly stated in the rules that registration isn't guaranteed. We've gotten statements from everyone involved on our team, and it's pretty obvious the guy just didn't arrive in time to get through the whole registration process before the deadline."