They all tried hard to enjoy their lunch but they just wanted to get out of there. They all planned to meet back at Rose and Alec's house since there were now two more cars, with Pete following Alec, Ellie driving Rose's car with the kiddie seat and taking all three boys with her and Rose driving Pete's car back with her mother. They all crammed into the house but Ellie said she'd take the boys back and settle them then come back round. By the time she did, Rose and Alec had disappeared and she was hoping they weren't having second thoughts after the events of the day.
They had retreated to their bedroom mainly for Alec to comfort Rose and assure her that nothing had changed and for him to show her so.
"Rosie, sweetheart, I'm really sorry about all this," Alec apologised as he held her closely and kissing her. "It's all my fault, I should have arrested him weeks ago when he was here, for harassing you."
"Alec, it's not your fault, it's me, he must have been so jealous that the ret-con didn't work properly and he thought that was the only way to get rid of you. He never would have done such a thing, he's not a violent person, it's completely out of character for him. The ret-con must have confused him, gave him scrambled messages about when he was here before trying to break us up. He must have completely lost it when he saw us together outside the pub. He must have remembered my car and followed us. Are you sure you're ok?"
"Yes, I'm ok, though I doubt ret-conning him again will be as effective as your mother, I don't think that anyone in any condition would forget that," he laughed. "Just what am I getting into, Miss Tyler?" he added as he started unzipping her dress and pulling it down slowly while unfastening her bra.
"Inspector, my mother is downstairs so keep the noise down," she replied "or it will be you that feels the sharp end of her tongue and her hand" she added as she unfastened his trousers and pulled them down with his shorts kissing him deeply and pulling him towards the bed.
Rose lay there, biting her tongue, trying not to make a sound as she felt him thrust into her, just quietly whimpering his name as he did the same, kissing into her neck to stop himself making a noise so no-one downstairs would here their most intimate moments together and trying not to bite her neck and leave a mark but failing.
They finally went downstairs and Alec went to make them both a drink since Jackie had helped herself, Ellie had gone back home since she didn't know how long the two of them would be but had an idea it wouldn't be any time soon and had taken Tony round to play at her house, telling Pete to call if they needed her and that she'd have a word with the two Officers who were at the pub to go easy on Alec at work. It had been embarrassing to say the very least.
Now it was Alec's turn to face Jackie but he wasn't going down without a fight, Rose was already in his corner for the fight of the year. Jackie looked slyly at Alec (who hadn't realised a purple mark had chosen to show itself on Rose's neck all of a sudden) with her best 'don't think I don't know what you were doing upstairs with my daughter, Alec Hardy' look. Jackie had been annoyed to say the very least that she had been kept mostly in the dark about Mickey stalking her daughter and was now demanding to know the entire story from start to finish.
Pete told her most of it, Jackie looking all the time at Rose asking why she hadn't told her about it. She demanded to know just what Alec had done to warrant such behaviour from Mickey, she had known him all his life, he and Rose had grown up together on the same estate in London and used to go out together, how Mickey used to mend stuff for her in the flat and then she suddenly stopped as she was about to mention a certain Timelord. She looked at Rose, then at Pete and Rose knew what she was going to say.
"It's ok Mum, Alec knows everything, even about us being from another universe and he's accepted everything, even about the Doctor so don't worry, he won't run away, not now. He knows I used to travel with him and how we got here. I trust him, Mum and he trusts me. Mickey was jealous because he lost me to the first Doctor then when he regenerated it got worse and well, coming down here, he got a shock when he saw Alec and it just sent him over the edge. Then when he started bothering us, Jake had someone wipe his memories and somehow he got most of them back but they were scrambled and he thought I was in danger from Alec and so he took drastic action. Mum, he could have killed or badly injured Alec and it's all my fault."
Rose started crying into Alec's shoulder, Jackie got up and pulled him away from her and took his place, putting her arms around her and rubbing her back, telling her everything was ok now. Alec had to be content with standing around the back of the sofa and touching her hair, one hand on the shoulder that Jackie's wasn't on, with Jackie glaring at him. That was when the fun started.
"How dare you put my daughter in this position, Alec Hardy, it's all your fault, looking like that Doctor, just when she was getting over him. You didn't have to stand with her when he faded away from her for the last time, listen to her crying herself to sleep every night and if that wasn't bad enough, you have to go and make her ex-boyfriend so jealous that he tries to kill you and set her off again and on top of that, she tells Pete you look like the Doctor but you have a beard and then you go shave it off and set her off even more and you nearly leave her a widow before she's even married and ." Her voice trailed off, probably to catch her breath, Alec was thinking and saw his chance to retaliate in his defence.
Alec stopped her at this point by putting his hand up, just as Pete got up to try to calm Jackie down who had finally let go of Rose and was about to get up and probably slap Alec's face for getting her daughter in such a state. Pete got Jackie successfully out of striking distance of Alec and he went to sit on the sofa with Rose burying her head in his shoulders again as he put his arms around her, holding her tightly. Pete managed to calm Jackie down telling her to leave them be, they needed to be together and couldn't she see that?
Jackie just looked at the two of them together on the sofa, Alec's arms draped around her shoulders as she was still sobbing, wiping the tears from the side of her face, rubbing her back and kissing her cheek where the tears fell and she held back, realising her daughter needed Alec now more than she needed her. She had seen how Rose reacted when she was with the Doctor and now she was doing the same with Alec and despite the very clear difference between the two men, she could see that they were meant to be together no matter which universe they were in. Even she couldn't argue with that, she supposed. So she left them alone and went into the kitchen and came back with more tea. That was Jackie's solution to everything. The planet could be falling apart and Jackie Tyler would still make tea.
Rose finally managed to stop sobbing, her eyes blackened by her mascara but Alec didn't care. He'd told her she didn't really need to wear any makeup and she didn't often do so but it had been their engagement party and she wanted to look her best for him. No-one said much apart from Jackie mumbling on about it still being Alec's fault and just because he was in the Police didn't excuse him from getting a slap. Alec put up with it just for Rose's sake despite him planning to maybe give her a warning but thought better of it. He'd seen a demonstration of Jackie in battle mode and planned instead to steer well clear of her. He was still sat next to Rose, she had told her mother in no uncertain terms to leave Alec alone and it should be Mickey she was slapping for starting all this in the first place.
No-one had thought about getting anything else to eat, it was early evening by now and several hours since their disastrous lunch. Alec was feeling it though and said he'd go down to the Chinese takeaway and rang Ellie to see if she wanted anything but she had fed the boys and she was ok and asked what time Tony went to bed. Alec set off for the food, only just squeezing into the car as Jake's was now parked next to Pete's in the other driveway and Mickey's squashed at the side of their car (Rose had put Alec on her car insurance since he seemed to drive it more than she did these days anyway.)
While he was gone, Jackie took the opportunity to grill Rose more about what had been going on but she didn't want to talk about it. She was still a bit upset and had only just realised she could have lost Alec permanently today through Mickey's stupidity. While Jackie went to make even more tea, she asked Pete what would happen to Mickey now.
"Jake will have Evan take him back to Leeds and give him a stronger dose before he goes and hope it works this time, sweetheart. I know it's not nice but it's for the best. It will just go on and it will get worse and something more serious may happen. They might do something more drastic like re-locate him somewhere remote but someone will keep a very close eye on him from now on. They'll keep him at headquarters and make him comfortable and Jake will send someone back to collect Mickey's car tomorrow. I could do one thing for him though, with your approval of course."
"Anything dad, I sort of feel responsible for all this still, for bringing it upon Alec and dragging him into this sorry mess,"said Rose. "I'm surprised he didn't just get into the car and drive off after it was over. I wouldn't have blamed him, I wanted to."
"He didn't run sweetheart because he loves you and I know he'll stick by you no matter what. Anyway, there was this one new young female doctor who I spotted who sort of kept looking at Mickey when he was around but Mickey never seemed to notice her, well I'm fairly certain I could get her to re-locate to Leeds, get her a job and everything and she could accidentally bump into Mickey. Then she could keep a very close eye on him and he might not want to try and remember his past. I think somehow, he knew he was trying to forget his past and that's what triggered it and he got mixed messages. If he has someone and not on his own, he'll get through it this time. He doesn't deserve it really after what he tried to do but it probably wasn't his fault and he really didn't know what he was doing."
"Will you ask Jake to do that then when he comes down tomorrow, ask him to keep him in London until you can speak to that woman?"
"Of course I will Rose, I'll take care of everything."
Pete got up and went to sit next to her, taking her hand with the ring on it and looked at her. "I'm so proud of you Rose, we never thought you'd get over loosing the Doctor and here you are, engaged to a senior Police Officer. I never did have the chance to raise you, watch you grow but when you then your mother came into my life, then Tony, you made me the happiest man alive and now I can see you're doing the same for Alec and I've no doubt whatsoever he's the right man for you." He kissed on her forehead and got up.
Jackie had been listening from the kitchen to the final part of their conversation. She hadn't known what an impact she and Rose had on the life of Pete Tyler. That he'd been lonely even when he'd been married to an alternate version of her and just exactly how different he had found her to be. The other Jackie had grown bitter and selfish and he'd found himself falling in love with her, the alternate Jackie within minutes of meeting her at Torchwood Tower in the alternate universe.
Jackie finally realised that her daughter was grown up, had got over her worse nightmare and was getting married but she vowed if that Alec Hardy ever upset her in the slightest, she'd make sure he knew about it.
After Alec got back, deciding it better to leave the car on the street or he'd drop all the food, they ate up, trying to forget the events of the day and Jackie declaring that she supposed that Alec wasn't all that bad if he could cope with all that had transpired today and that at least she knew where Rose was now.
Jackie and Pete went back to pick Tony up from Ellie's and Alec said goodbye to them as they were leaving in the morning and he had to go to work, something he wasn't really looking forward to if the two Officers got there before him. Jackie even gave him a hug and a kiss on both cheeks, something rare for her with Rose's friends and something Alec was not expecting. Rose remembered when she had finally warmed to the Doctor and smiled, knowing her mother had made her peace with the Inspector.
When Rose and Alec finally got to bed, they just wanted to comfort each other after the harrowing events of the day. Rose wondered if seeing their picture together in the paper triggered some memory for Mickey and sparked him off like that. Alec agreed so they decided they wouldn't publicise their wedding plans and keep it quiet and maybe they could just slip away somewhere and get married without telling anyone. Rose said they could try but then Jackie would really get mad at him.
So they made a compromise, they would go sneak away somewhere and get married then have a big wedding reception at the Mansion and invite Ellie and the boys down when they got back. Rose said that sounded like a plan so they both agreed to go ahead with it.
Thanks for reading! I would appreciate any feedback. The last two chapters were my faves to write, hope they had you laughing too.
Be sure to read 'Rose and Alec's first night' which fills in the gaps in chapter 9
Now continued in 'Married life with Rose and Alec' which you can read on AO3 under the same name.