Mark and Chloe had left for their house, taking baby Lizzie with them. In all the time Ellie had been in his company she had not yet seen Mark relinquish his hold on his baby girl. It was clear that he adored her, and Ellie was glad that he did. After Danny's murder the Latimers needed what little happiness they could get, and by his own admission Mark had missed so much of Danny's growing up.
"I'm glad you're giving Mark a chance," she said now, coming out her kitchen with two cups of tea. Beth looked up at her and nodded her thanks when receiving her mug.
"You made me reconsider, Ell," she said quietly as Ellie sat beside her on the sofa. A fleeting smile flitted across her face, strained by the knowledge of the past. Of how strained and broken their own friendship had only recently been. "I could always count on you to keep me straight."
"Stop you from kicking Mark's arse whenever he ticked you off," Ellie smiled, taking a drink. The two of them sat in silence for a long moment, each wrapped up in their own thoughts; then finally Beth turned to look her old friend in the face.
"Look, I'm sorry for how I treated you, Ellie. It wasn't right, I should've looked at the facts before I pushed you away—"
"It's fine," Ellie interrupted flatly, having no wish to reopen wounds. They had barely even healed, after all. "We're okay now. That's all that matters."
Beth sighed, settling deeper into the cushions. Rain was beginning to patter softly against the roof, lulling and soothing. The signs of a cool late summer storm earlier in the evening had pushed the Latimers and Millers from the beach-side where they had reunited and remembered Danny. The case was done and Joe banished from the shores of Broadchurch—and if he had any sense at all he would stay away, being warned by both Beth and Ellie of the consequences if he didn't. Ellie would never allow a cowardly pedophile around her children and Beth would want the murderer of her child as far away as possible since jail was no longer an option. But they were prepared if he ever did set foot in the town again.
Tom and Fred were in bed now, thank goodness. After the past two days all of them had had Ellie was afraid her boys wouldn't be able to sleep; Tom in particular seemed perturbed that his father was still on the loose even if he had seen the taxi take Joe far from the town. But it was quiet now, and only the two women still sat awake in the house.
"How is it, sleeping in here?" Beth suddenly asked quietly in the silence, nursing her drink carefully.
"Hard," Ellie answered truthfully. "But I've repainted the old bedroom and I've moved down the hall. It was harder at Devon."
"You still work in Devon, don't you?" Beth frowned, looking over at her. She wondered how the drive between the two towns was going to work.
Ellie shook her head, a small grin playing on her face. "I've transferred back to the Broadchurch force."
Beth blinked, straightening in her seat as she sensed a story. "When did that happen?"
"Yesterday afternoon. After the trial ended."
"Why?"
Ellie hesitated. She realized that she had never told Beth about helping Hardy out with Sandbrook, so of course she had no idea that Ellie had been in the police station all day settling the old case. She hadn't told anyone, actually, come to think about it. Claire and Lee had confessed, however, and Ricky Gillipsie had admitted to his accidental killing of Lisa. After two years the case was finally solved.
"I had been helping him solve Sandbrook."
Beth stared at her, taken aback by the answer. Of all the things her friend could have said, that was not one she would have considered. "What?"
Ellie grimaced, rubbing her forehead wearily as she thought back to those several stressful weeks. "It had been right Joe had pleaded not guilty, and- I dunno, Hardy showed up where I was seeing a counselor and asked for my help him solve the case. He'd been hiding one of the suspects ever since the case first fell apart. I think he asked for my help to distract me from what was happening with Joe, actually."
"But it's been nearly a year since Sandbrook fell apart!"
Ellie shrugged. "Didn't stop him. He needed to get justice for those poor girls. And he did, Beth." She smiled: a wide, pleased smile that Beth had not seen in a very long time. "We got the bastards."
They both jumped then as, as if on cue, her phone suddenly buzzed. Jumping from the sound she reached into her pocket and drew it out, looking at the screen.
Beth frowned in confusion when seeing Ellie gape at the screen. "Ell—"
"That wanker," Ellie said angrily, suddenly standing. "Texting everything!" Just like that she had set her cup down and was hurrying out of the room, still clutching her phone. Beth straightened in her seat, astonished.
"Ell?"
The front door swinging open was her answer, and Ellie's voice rang out in irritation. "You know, it would really help if you would make up your mind about stuff. I thought you'd be halfway to—well, wherever your daughter is by now."
"I could just turn and leave, Miller," came the response, and Beth started. There was only one person she knew who spoke with that Scottish accent, and they had just been discussing him. But why would he be here?
"No, you don't! It's starting to pour out there, and you're soaked! What did you do, go walking out in this?" The door closed. "Get that coat off, and your shoes, and don't you dare track water on my floors!"
"I'm not here to stay, Miller—"
"Clearly you are, otherwise you wouldn't have come here," Ellie sharply replied. Beth stood and slowly made her way to the front door, looking around the doorway of the living room. Sure enough Ellie stood glaring at the familiar rumpled sight of Alec Hardy, hands on her hips as she glared up at him. It had been awhile since Beth had talked to the former DI, or even really seen him, and she wondered what he was doing visiting Ellie now at this time of the night. Rain glistened in his hair and beard and she could see water stains on his shirt where his coat had not covered it. "How long were you out there before you bloody texted me?"
"Minute or two; anyway would you give it up on the texting?"
"No, not since that stunt you pulled after your surgery. You'd probably even text me that you'd died or something. What, are you afraid of your own voice or something? Or can you not find the little green button on your phone that means 'call'?"
"As a matter of fact, Miller, I didn't even know if you'd be awake, so I decided a text wouldn't wake you up if you weren't."
That pulled Ellie up short. Beth didn't think her friend had considered Hardy would be so thoughtful; she certainly wouldn't have believed it. She rallied quickly, however. "Well, I'm awake, you're here, so what was it you missed your ride for?"
He was just opening his mouth to reply, looking suddenly uncomfortable, when a floorboard shifted beneath Beth's weight. Startled, both Ellie and Hardy turned to look and saw her looking at them. Caught, trying to hide the sudden flush that was spreading across her face, Beth cleared her throat awkwardly. She lifted her mug of cooling tea.
"Just- taking this to the sink," she offered weakly, trying to muster a grin. It was hard, especially with Hardy looking her up and down with a frown. Ellie was surprisingly trying to hide a blush of her own. Quickly Beth retreated, walking into the kitchen and setting her drink on the table.
"Sorted it out with them, then," she heard Hardy say quietly. She supposed 'them' could only mean the Latimers as a whole. She felt a flash of resentment, wondering what Ellie and Hardy had said behind their backs, but quickly pushed it aside. Ellie was never one to idly gossip about anyone.
"Yeah. Luckily." Ellie sniffed, gathering her thoughts. "So what are you doing back? You were leaving—going to your daughter."
"I am." His tone was only slightly softened. Beth placed the cup in the sink as softly as she could, feeling that making a sound would break the moment and the two detective's conversation. And she hated herself for it but her curiosity was too much to ignore, so she listened.
"So why are you here?" Ellie's voice was fully exasperated, and Beth found herself smiling to herself imagining the look on her friend's face. "You left. You packed up your bags and you left without a second look back." There was hurt in that sentence. Accusation.
And it took Hardy a very long time to reply. Unsure, careful of the squeaky floorboard, Beth peeked around the edge of the kitchen door. The Scot was still standing near the front door, looking down at Ellie uncomfortably, shifting his weight from foot to foot—and then, to both women's utter astonishment, he wordlessly grabbed Ellie's forearm and drew her into an embrace.
Ellie stiffened, too shocked to push him off. "Hardy!"
Beth caught a glimpse of a smirk half-hidden by his beard. "You only said you wouldn't hug me, Miller."
"Smart-arse," came the short retort, her voice muffled by his shirt. "Since when did you have a sense of humor, then?" She wasn't moving away from him, but she hadn't made to return the embrace either. "Or do I need to have you committed?"
He snorted, drawing back. His hands slipped into his pants pockets. "You'd've done that when all of this happened if you were going to."
Ellie gaped at him. "So you skip leaving town and meeting with your daughter just for the sole purpose of giving me a hug? What the hell kind of drug are you on?"
"Nothing." His accent dipped for a moment, deep and gravelly. Beth leaned a little farther out, watching them both. Something, within these past few weeks, had changed between them; Beth could remember very vividly the times when Ellie would sarcastically refer to Hardy with little love during Danny's murder case, and she herself had been almost put off by his clear stoicism and emotionless handling of news. But there was something there between the two detectives now that spoke of familiarity, even stability, in each other's presences. Perhaps not clear friends, or even colleagues, but 'equals'. The new thought was only compounded by Hardy's next words as he shifted again. "Miller, I- when I left earlier today, I let you walk away. And you don't want me thanking you, so I'm just going to say it: you solved Sandbrook. I pulled you into it but you solved it."
Ellie's mouth worked for a moment as if she wanted to make a joke but like Beth she sensed the tone in the air and realized to break it with humor now would be disrespectful. "And?"
He swallowed. "And I want to believe you're right that we're not all alone."
Beth felt a tightening in her throat at those soft words. The thought of Danny was still painful, the memory of tossing Ellie aside very raw and shameful. It seemed that all of them who had touched her boy's case was adrift in the same ocean, Broadchurch's ocean, and she straightened off the wall at the realization. The floorboard creaked again.
Both detectives looked at her. Normally Beth would have shrunk away in embarrassment at being found out snooping, but those last few words had rattled her and with a forwardness she didn't realize she had she strode up to Hardy and looked him in the eye. "The day that you and Ellie came to our house to tell us... that day, you looked at me from across Danny's room and I hoped you could solve the case. And you did. Both you and Ellie did. And the trial..." She trailed off again, shaking her head. The trial was still too sore a spot to talk about either. "Ellie just told me about Sandbrook. And I wanted to apologize because I thought that you and Ellie were having the affair that Sharon Bishop accused you of. I want you to know that if you decide to come back here, wherever you are, you'll be welcome."
He had, after all, a reason to come back again, and her gaze drifted to Ellie's gob-smacked expression. Her friend was looking at her as if it was Beth herself who had lost all sanity, but then as her words sank in (and she realized Beth's words for the odd blessing they were) her eyes softened and she closed her mouth. Quietly she nodded in agreement.
Hardy was looking even more taken aback than Ellie was, his dark eyes dancing between the two women as he processed what had been said. Then he blushed, clear to be seen even in the dim lighting of the hallway, and he swallowed again. "Thank you, Beth."
She didn't stay much longer than that, wanting to make sure that Lizzie was settled for the night and as she left she heard the two detectives quietly snarking back and forth, Ellie setting up a place for the wayward Scot to sleep for the night and Hardy protesting her doing so. Beth didn't stay to find out who would win the argument. As she walked across the wide expanse of field back to her own home and to her bed with Mark she felt a little better than she had before. Her friendship with Ellie was healing, but even better than that the surprise appearance of a certain former detective at the former's door showed Beth that, though all of them who had been touched by Danny still had a long ways to go before they were healed, it was possible to take the first few steps towards that goal.
No, none of them were quite so alone.
And maybe that realization could change everything.
Notes: