Over the next few weeks it became apparent they were spending all their time together, in and out of each others' house alternatively, both having keys. Rose was having her house paid for by Torchwood so she was living rent free so she wondered how she could bring up the subject without ruining Alec's independence. A few weeks after they had made up after Alec's initial shock and spending a tortuous week apart, Rose found she wasn't the only one with the same idea. One Friday night, she went to Alec's after work and let herself in after getting changed, planning a nice dinner for him with candles and everything when her mobile rang. It was her mum wanting to know if things had settled down, was Rose still upset and did she want her to sort Alec out for her? One thing her mother could do was sort out her men for her, good and proper, usually resulting in them getting a slap on the face. She assured her mother things were going well both with the shop and with Alec.
"Well at least I know where you are now sweetheart," she said "and you're not travelling about all over the place and you're not with a 900 year old alien either," she added for good measure.
"Mum, don't bring that up again. I'm over the Doctor, I love Alec and it's not because he reminded me of him when we first met, he's nothing like him."
"Well it's about time we met him then, don't you think?" her mother said indignantly. "Or are you going to keep him tucked away?"
"I'll talk to him about it but I'm not promising anything. It's up to him." Then Rose added, "Why don't you and Tony come down for a few days, there's a holiday coming up soon and you could meet him then. Dad too, if he's not working."
Jackie thought about it. "I could get Jake to drive us down, we could stay with you."
Rose was horrified. How could she tell her Mum that Alec and her were sleeping together, he'd surely get more than a slap on the face then. "Well, there's only one spare room, not much room for the both of you, maybe you could stay at the same hotel I did when I first arrived?"
"Nonsense, Rose. Doesn't Alec live next door? Tony could stay there, he's old enough now."
Now Rose had really put her foot in it. Three days of her mum's royal visit would really put the mockers on her and Alec's love life. She told her mum she'd ask Alec about it and get back to her. That appeased Jackie for the time being.
Rose continued preparing dinner for Alec who soon came home. He had hardly got his jacket off when she pounced on him, nearly knocking him off balance. He didn't mind, he now looked forward to coming home to have his Rosie waiting for him and he for her on Saturdays. They always lingered in the entryway, getting touchy feely with each other and kissing long and hard though no clothing was yet shed at this point, that came later. They sat down for dinner, Alec lighting the candles after pulling the curtains. They didn't like sitting in the window in plain view whilst eating. Rose nearly always wore a very low necked dress or top, the shorter the better as Alec so kindly put it. He liked looking at her whilst they ate. Rose was wearing a short, low necked black dress with a white trim. After clearing up, Rose decided to leave the subject of her mother's call until later, catch him in a good mood after their sofa time.
Just as Alec was about to push her down over the arm of the sofa he stopped.
"Rosie, sweetheart, you know were are always in and out of each others houses all the time, well it's just, I don't want to rush you but maybe we should really think about if living next door to each other is really practical."
Rose took it the wrong way, she thought he was maybe getting cold feet over them spending time in each others houses all the time and needed some time to breathe. "Well, if you're thinking about moving, then where would you go? Do you need some time to be on your own because don't move just for the sake of that. You can have as much space as you want, I don't want to you think I'm smothering you."
She sat down on the sofa arm, Alec looking at her, puzzled. "Is that what you think? Rosie, you've got the wrong idea. You're not smothering me, I love spending all my time with you. When you're out all day Saturday and we're both at work, that's way too much time away from you. I didn't mean to move away from you, I meant for you to move in with me, or me with you, whichever, silly."
"Really Alec?" she laughed "and I was wondering how to tell you it was daft us both living next door to each other and taking it in turns. It seems great minds think alike, Inspector." They both laughed.
"Then, my sweet Rosie, we had better start making some plans," to which she let herself fall backwards onto the sofa, grabbing him on the way down until he was on top of her.
"Rosie, sweetheart, there's one other thing I wanted to talk to you about that's been worrying me. I didn't want to alarm you because it's maybe nothing but the last few nights, I've been woken with very vivid dreams, about the Police Box, dreams where I'm no longer a boy and last night, you were there."
Rose looked surprised to say the least. "What's happening Alec? Have we been talking about it too much that your mind is running away with you? That means there is something else at work here, something we don't understand yet. We have to find out what it all means. If you keep having these dreams Alec, you should wake me when you do, you need to talk about them right away, you can't bottle them up."
Alec took her hand in his. "I don't like to wake you, Rosie, I can handle them as long as I can talk to you later about them. This means that we are getting closer to the truth, maybe if I continue to have them now, I'll remember more about them, now I can actually talk to someone about them. It was because I hid them as a child that I forgot them, now I'll be able to make sense of them with your help because you've seen it all Rosie, you've been there."
She held on to him, he was stroking her back, her arm around his. "Alec, we'll find out together, I promise, we'll figure it out." Any thoughts about her mum's visit were pushed from her mind as they waited a while then went to bed before Rose fell asleep on the sofa. Alec wanted her to be very awake.
Rose went off to work the following morning, leaving Alec eating his breakfast once she had pried him out of bed. They made it a regular occurrence to go out on Saturday night, Alec was liking showing off Rose to anyone who dared to look at her. He hadn't noticed he'd been getting a bit possessive lately, not that he had to worry about her being distracted, he knew Rose wouldn't look at another man while she was out with him, they were quite sure of each other on that point. He was also sure she wouldn't look at another man full stop, or at least he liked to think so.
Before she went to work they agreed that before they went out, they would discuss their living arrangements and that Alec would bring her lunch. The Gallery was getting quite busy, the season just starting so the day went fast, brightened mainly by Alec's visit. Carly was getting quite used to being kicked out for half an hour so they could be relatively alone, she didn't mind, she got paid for it. She secretly admired the pair for being so coy that they didn't think she knew what was going on. She was sixteen and she knew about boys, she smiled on her way out. She also guessed what the two of them were up to in the kitchen upon her return.
It was almost closing time, Rose was getting ready to place her order on Monday morning when the doorbell rang. She wasn't taking much notice, Carly was there. Suddenly there was an "Hmm" and Rose knew it immediately, it was Mickey. She looked up to confirm it and there he was, larger than life.
"Rose, aren't you going to say hello?"
"Hello," she managed back. "What you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too. Thought I'd come down for the weekend and look you up since you never phone or text me."
Rose looked at Carly. "Carly, this is an old friend of mine from London, Mickey."
"Hi."
"Hi, Carly, nice to meet you."
"Why don't you get off, it's almost closing time?" as Rose handed her wages over to her in an envelope. "See you next week," then waved as Carly left the shop.
Mickey just looked at Rose. "Thought you'd be glad to see a friendly face around here. Did you miss me?" Waving his arms around.
Rose had begged her mum, Jake and Pete not to tell Mickey about Alec, she wasn't ready to tell him yet. All the time she had pined for the Doctor, Mickey had been silently wishing she would take him back but he never said anything. He thought she didn't know but she did. She couldn't bring herself to tell him she had fallen in love with Alec, the Doctor's double, she didn't want him to make a scene or worse. She didn't know how he'd react especially since she and Alec were practically living together and on the verge of doing so.
"You should have told me you were coming down, Mickey, I have already got plans for tonight. You can't come waltzing down here and expect me to...." She trailed off.
"What Rose? Expect you to welcome me with open arms? That's not me, I just expected you to be glad to see me, maybe spend the weekend together, cheer you up a bit. You must be lonely down here after all this time."
It had been almost two months and she hadn't realized, she'd been so wrapped up with Alec and his birthday was coming up and she was planning something really special for him. She had told Alec about Mickey but not the other way round. Now she was going to have to face the music with Mickey.
Mickey looked at her. "Is there something you're trying to tell me Rose? Have you got a boyfriend here or something?"
Rose looked at him sheepishly and managed a quiet "Yes."
"Oh, I suppose it never occurred to me really, you were in such a state when you left in a hurry. You never came back to say goodbye properly, you just got your stuff and had the rest sent down. I only knew you were staying because Jake told me. He said nothing about a boyfriend though. I thought you were still love sick over the Doctor?"
Rose decided it was best if she came clean, in part. "Yes, I've found someone, he's a police Detective Inspector and his name's Alec."
Mickey was surprised when she admitted it so quickly, thought she'd deny it. He wasn't quite prepared for it. He was going to be in for a bigger surprise when he met Alec.
There was no getting around it. He'd come all that way, Rose had to at least introduce him but wasn't ready to disclose the extent of her relationship with Alec with him. "We have dinner plans tonight, but you can follow me to my place and you can meet him, if you want."
That wasn't quite what Mickey was expecting when he'd come to visit. He expected a quiet, miserable Rose but had found the opposite. Rose called Alec to say she had a visitor and was bringing him to her house. Alec was already there but he had the sense to catch on and when they arrived, he'd gone home. He came round shortly after Rose got back and the fireworks erupted.
Not only was Mickey surprised when Rose said she lived next door to Alec but he suffered a shock when Alec knocked on the door, not using his key and Rose let him in.
"What the?" was all Mickey could manage, looking stunned. "How the hell did you get here and why did you change your name and what's with the beard?" he addressed Alec.
Alec and Rose laughed and she put him out of his misery. "Mickey, this is Detective Inspector Alec Hardy from Broadchurch Police. Alec, this is Mickey Smith."
Alec held out his hand, he'd heard all about Mickey, knew he used to be Rose's boyfriend a long time ago and not in this universe. Anyone from her past in the other universe was ancient history in his mind, her life now was all he was concerned with. "Nice to meet you at last, Mickey, Rose has told me so much about you."
Mickey stared in disbelief as if he was seeing things. Mickey could be like that, Rose remembered. Rose went to make coffee, leaving them alone and hoping they would play nicely.
Alec made the first move. "So, Mickey, not quite what you expected to find then, am I?"
Mickey still hadn't found his voice. Alec continued. "Rose thought exactly the same the first time we met, she thought I was him too. Before you look too surprised though, I know all about him, all about Rose's past and it's fine. I accept that she had a life before she came here, but her life is here now, with me."
Rose came back in, handed out the drinks and Alec put his arm around her, protectively, making it quite clear he had laid claim to her and though he was not jealous of Rose's past, he was telling Mickey in no uncertain terms that she was his now. Mickey seemed to be recovering slightly and looked Alec in the eye.
"I can see that, you're making it quite clear. For the record, I didn't come here to bring Rose back home, I came because I thought she was all alone and I can see I shouldn't have been worried. I'm sure she's in good hands, you being the Police."
Rose could see he was hiding his disappointment badly. She knew why he'd come. She was trying to make it easy on him by not telling him any more than he needed to know. Her life was indeed now with Alec, that she was sure of. She was over the Doctor, over Mickey and over with her old life. They talked for a while with Rose asking what was going on at Torchwood and did everyone miss her? Asking him if he'd got a girlfriend yet and how he should do after she had finally found someone. All the while, she and Alec were sat hand in hand on the sofa, he was stroking her arm then it was round her back and was looking quite at home and Alec was clearly marking his territory with one eye on Rose and the other on Mickey telling him silently that Rose was happy and he loved her.