Based on Ellie telling Claire she met her husband when they were attending a traffic accident.

Rose is faced with giving evidence when her work partner turns out to be a child killer but she falls out with her friend when Ellie finds out Rose is being called as a witness for the prosecution.

Jackie Tyler was proud of her daughter, who after going back to college to finish her education, had taken an interest in joining the ambulance service and trained to be a paramedic. After six months of training, she had accepted a move to the coastal town of Broadchurch though when she arrived, she had no idea what she was walking into.

She had been there a year, being partnered with a man with a short fuse called Joe Miller but she liked his wife and their young son Tom though she never told Ellie Miller about the incidents where her husband had embarrassed her when on duty and when he offered her a ride home to her flat.

Then one day, he had some news for her.

"Hey Rose, Ellie said come over one night, she has something to tell you," Joe told her, Rose thinking he was in a better mood than usual for that time of day.

"Yeah, sounds interesting," Rose grinned as they approached the depot, glad he'd not been in one of his moods and wondered how his wife put up with him sometimes.

He'd never exactly been 'off' with her, probably because he'd thought she'd complain to Ellie about him so after checking everything was in order for the next shift, he offered her a lift but she said she was going shopping.

"That's okay Rose, I can go that way," he offered.

"Well okay then but I'll get a taxi home, thanks," she agreed, since it was a bit of a walk anyway.

Just as they turned left into the supermarket car park, the lights were about to change but he went through anyway just as a car was turning right and Joe sounded his horn at the driver, Rose clinging onto her seat as he applied the brakes.

"Moron," Joe shouted as he opened the window and the other car continued, leaving Joe stuck in the middle.

Then he realised as since nothing else was waiting to turn, continued.

"Sorry Rose, you okay?" he asked as he looked for a parking space.

"Yeah but the lights were changing Joe," she pointed out as he saw a few parking spots. "Maybe the lights at that side have a filter on them?"

"Don't think they have," he disagreed as he pulled in next to the trolley park.

"You could have dropped me by the door," Rose grinned as she picked up her shoulder bag from the floor.

"You can walk can't you?" Joe just grinned back.

Rose thought he was like Jekyll and Hyde sometimes, he could turn as fast as you could flip a coin.

"Well thanks for the ride and the scare," Rose replied, getting out.

"Don't blame me Rose," Joe told her. "Blame that moron, I was on the right side of the road, he was turning."

"Yeah, maybe? See ya on Thursday then?" she asked, trying to sound cheerful since it was her day off. "Ask Ellie when she wants me to come round."

"Yeah, I'll get her to call you. Have fun shopping, I can wait if you want?" he asked.

"Nah, I could be ages at this time, Ellie will wonder where you are," Rose smiled as she went to close the door.

Joe waved and checked behind him to reverse out, then he saw the car of the driver who had cut in front of him five minutes ago, Rose wondering why he was waiting. He stayed where he was and turned the engine off and as Rose was about to ask what he was doing, he got out.

"Go do your shopping Rose, I'm just going to leave a note on that moron's car windscreen," Joe told her.

"Aw come on, leave it Joe, he'll have learned his lesson," Rose replied.

"Maybe not but how many more drivers will he cut off eh?" he asked, leaning over and hunting for some paper in the glove box and not finding any.

He looked at Rose. "I haven't got any paper, I'm off," Rose laughed, leaving him to it.

"Thanks for your support Rose. Go on, I'll leave it, promise," he told her, closing the compartment.

So Rose went off into the store after getting a trolley, thinking nothing else about it and wondering what Ellie had to tell her. She could only think that her friend might be expecting but there would be a big gap between a new baby and their son Tom, whom she couldn't remember exactly how old he was but his friend Danny was the same age, though she'd only met him a few times.

She went round the store and half an hour later, she was just about to call for a taxi when something outside caught her eye as a few people were standing around looking to the car park at the side of the store. She was about to ask someone what was going on when two men ran across to where she was sure Joe had pulled into earlier but he'd told her he was leaving.

The next thing she knew, they were pulling two men apart and she was sure one of them was Joe Miller. Thinking she'd best stay out of it, she stood back and watched with everyone else, praying the police wouldn't be called as it would get back to Ellie, her being a detective, even if she was off duty. She heard some shouting as the men moved to one side and Joe was shrugging them off and getting into his car.

She knew she couldn't ask him about it the next time they were on duty, if he knew she'd seen some of it but she wondered if he'd waited for the driver of the other car coming out and get into the car and had either gone after him or shouted across to the other row of cars. She went back in the store and called a taxi and tried to forget about it.

When she got home, she got a call from Ellie.

"Hey Rose, were you late finishing today?" Ellie asked her.

"Not exactly, why? I went shopping afterwards though," she replied, wondering if Joe hadn't got back yet.

"Oh, it's okay, he just came in. Did he give you a lift there?" Ellie asked her.

"Yeah, sorry, he offered though, I didn't mean to worry ya if he was late back," Rose replied, hoping her friend asked no more awkward questions.

"Where have you been?" she heard Ellie ask her husband.

"I waited for Rose, I dropped her at the supermarket and offered to wait. How could she resist not paying for a taxi?" Joe was asking. "I know how long you women take at shopping."

"Sorry Ellie," Rose butted in. "It was entirely my fault, blame me. He said you had something to tell me."

"Yeah, come over tomorrow night, I'll make something nice. Get a cab though," Ellie joked.

"Yeah, 'course I will, I expect he was just doing me a favour?" Rose suggested.

Well if her covering for him meant he owed her a favour all well and good. She just hoped he appreciated her covering him for getting in a argument over something that was partly his fault to begin with but she supposed both drivers were to blame. She didn't know how the lights worked from the other side, she didn't drive.

After the news her friend was expecting a baby, she found out Joe had decided to be the one to stay at home and look after what turned out to be a boy, Rose playing the part of the doting 'Auntie Rose' when she visited. She was still a bit mad with Joe for not even thanking her for covering for him the time he'd been late home after the supermarket incident but she was relieved nothing had come of it.

Now though, she'd been partnered with another man who had a boyfriend called Jason and he couldn't wait to leave every night and she'd taken driving lessons and had qualified to drive the response vehicle, since she never actually referred to it as an ambulance.

It was now July 2013, Rose was one of the youngest serving paramedics in the county and she reckoned she deserved no more praise than any of her colleagues but something was about to happen one Friday morning that she would never forget and would change her life in more ways than one.

They were on one of their early shifts, the first week of July and Rose had elected to let Stephen drive since he'd sulk if she insisted every shift and they were called to a minor accident on the main A35 where a woman driving a small car had a bump with a 4x4 and Rose was checking her out.

"I called the police after you," the woman was telling Rose as they'd sat her in the back of the ambulance.

Stephen looked like he was about to ask what for when the other driver had gone off after they'd exchanged insurance details, which Rose only just saw as she got out at the scene.

"You did the right thing Mrs Peters," Rose had to agree, remembering other accidents she'd attended. "He should have waited for them."

Stephen looked like he wanted to say the police had better things to do, since he'd heard they'd got a new DI in the town and Rose had said her friend was away and expecting the job on her return. He expected Rose to take her friend's side when that happened and the new DI would be sorry he'd heard of the town.

She saw a patrol car pull up behind them, having seen it going up the other carriageway a few minutes earlier to turn around and Bob got out.

"Hello Rose, your turn again then?" Bob joked as he put his hat on. "I'm just showing the new DI around," he indicated to a tall man wearing a suit and a raincoat, which Rose thought was a bit odd for the beginning of the summer and who was getting out and already looked like he didn't want to be there.

Rose thought if he was Ellie's new boss, he'd have his work cut out when she came back from holiday.

"What's happened here then?" the new DI asked half-heartedly.

"Best tell us Rose," Bob encouraged her but the woman who Rose had just checked out proceeded to relay the events for her.

"So is she badly hurt then?" the new DI asked Rose as she helped the woman to her feet. "Is her car drivable?" he turned to ask Bob and without giving Rose chance to answer. "What happened, did she drive into the back of someone?" he continued as he went to look at the damage, since the car was just in front of the ambulance. "Why did the other driver leave the scene?"

Since he'd gone off to take a look, Rose just grinned at Bob.

"Blimey, is he always like that?" she asked him. "Just wait here Mrs Peters while they see if your car's okay to drive," she told the woman who wanted to be off, a plaster on her forehead where Rose had placed it and assumed she'd hit her head on the steering wheel but it didn't look like the airbag had deployed.

"How would I know?" Bob grinned back, "He only started yesterday but it seems like he's been here for a week already. I pity poor Ellie when she comes back."

"So do I," Rose agreed as she took the woman's arm and Stephen was trying to get a good look at the new DI, Rose scowling at him that he had a boyfriend already.

Bob went off to join the new DI, Rose and the woman following. The woman was allowed to drive off but Bob advised her to get the car checked out before she went anywhere else and Bob and the new DI walked back to where Rose and Stephen were closing the ambulance door.

"Is she okay to drive?" Bob asked Rose again.

"Yeah, I checked for concussion, she seems fine, just a bit shaken. She said the car in front slowed down suddenly and she tried to do the same, she said there had been no warning."

"Yes, she told me that and gave me the other registration number," Bob replied, putting his notebook away as the new DI was doing the same. "I'll follow up on it since she reported it."

Stephen had already got back in the driver's seat and was waiting for Rose.

"Come on Rose, we have another call," he shouted out of the window.

"Right, duty calls," Rose smiled as the new DI passed her to get back in the squad car. "So, who is he then?" she asked, thinking the man was a bit rude and did nothing but ask questions and gave no-one chance to answer.

"Oh, he's called Hardy, he just got a transfer, don't know from where," Bob replied, taking his hat off.

Rose waved to them both, a bit shocked the DI gave a little wave back then she got into the cab.

"Stephen, I'll tell Jason if you're not careful," she teased him, putting her seatbelt on and Stephen switching on the lights and siren while checking the road, the police car letting them go first.

"Rose Tyler, I don't know what you mean," he laughed. "You were the one who was watching him," he teased back.

"Was not," Rose denied. "Anyway, he won't last five minutes when Ellie gets back from holiday, he'll be on the first bus out of here."

"He might have a car Rose," Stephen replied as cars moved to let them through the roundabout.

"Do I look like I'm bothered?" Rose replied, checking where they were going, which was just at the other side and thankfully not the harbour.

"Yeah, not much," Stephen laughed as he turned off to where they wanted.

As Bob had driven off with the new DI and turned off to the harbour, he was asked if he knew all the ambulance crews.

"Yeah, pretty much Sir, they cover the harbour and the town and halfway to Lyme then down towards Axhampton, just before you get to Dorchester," Bob replied. "You had enough or are you staying with me a bit longer?"

"Just do what you'd normally be doing, if that includes going back to the station but if not, you can patrol around for a bit," was the reply.

"Right then Sir, I'll turn off on the coastal road then, the scenic route," Bob replied, seeing the new DI didn't look amused though he'd cracked half a smile and waved at Rose as she got back in the ambulance.

"I'm not here for the scenery, the sun or the sea," the DI informed him as they turned right before the harbour, him seeing a white cottage halfway up a cliff and wondered who the hell had thought of building it there and who would be stupid enough to live there.

He thought as if passing a blue chalet that stuck out by the side of the river wasn't bad enough, no-one would catch him living in either of them. While it was true he wasn't in the town for a holiday, he was there to keep his head down, stay out of trouble and hope he'd get away with his medical file being kept up to date by his friend and hoping no-one would find out about his heart condition.

Now he wasn't so sure he could keep out of the spotlight if he kept bumping into a certain female paramedic at call-outs, not because she may spot there was something wrong with him but because she was young and blonde – a deadly combination if ever there was one and she'd do nothing to help. As they drove to the next village and Bob turned left to go join the main road, he just hoped the ambulance she'd gone off in had finished wherever they'd gone and he wouldn't have to pass her again.

The chances of not bumping into her again were very slim in the fact there couldn't be all that many ambulances in the area and their paths would cross again sooner or later – he just hoped he could survive without it being her that was called if he didn't get his illness sorted out. His plan had been to get out of the spotlight and let Sandbrook die down then the coming bank holiday, he'd check into the hospital in Dorchester on the Friday afternoon, get his surgery then he'd have until Tuesday to recover – well that was his plan.

Little did he know events were leading up to him getting worse and having to put it off yet again after his friend had assured him now he was off a high profile case and moved to a quiet town, his chances had improved somewhat so he'd made his mind up to get it over with, spend six months here then go somewhere else. That was going to be easier said than done as they took the road back to the harbour and less than a week later, his plans would be spoiled and he'd have had several more encounters with whom the sergeant driving him had called Rose.

He knew he was already doomed, not that he fancied the blonde or anything, so he tried to tell himself.