Chapter Text
Disclaimer:
Broadchurch and its characters belong to Chris Chibnall and ITV/Kudos. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
This fanfic is dedicated to all the Alec/Ellie shippers out there, who like me, think the two characters belong together. :-)
ELLIE
This is the spot. This is where she first met Hardy.
A pleasant shiver runs down Ellie Miller’s spine and she doesn’t think it’s due to the cold breeze blowing off the sea. She’s dismayed to realise that this spot signifies more to her than the place her husband chose to dump the body of their eleven year-old neighbour, after brutally murdering him.
She doesn’t understand it! It’s not as if her first encounter with Hardy was a pleasant one. Even if they hadn’t of met under the grimmest circumstances possible, the fact remains that the big city knob had just swooped in and stolen her job. Maybe it’s because she’s gotten over losing the promotion a long time ago. Too much shit has happened to her since, for it to even register. Deep down she knows she wasn’t qualified for the DI job, knows that it was Hardy’s skills and experience that forced Joe into a corner.
She cannot fathom how things might’ve turned out if Hardy hadn’t shown up in Broadchurch. Would she have caught Joe on her own? Or would she still be married to him, sleeping next to him, unaware of his true nature? The thought of him still having access to Tom and Fred sickens her.
Don’t... Don’t think about it! Squeezing her eyes shut, she breathes in the fresh, salty air, listening to the sound of the waves lapping against the shore, until the nausea recedes. Opening them, her gaze wanders to Mark and Tom, sprawled in the sand, deep in conversation. Her heart melts as Tom throws back his head and laughs at something Mark says; the sound of his laughter music to Ellie’s ears.
Next to them, Fred is speeding a blue matchbox car – a lucky find from her jacket pocket – along the sand. Beth and Chloe look on, smiling at Fred’s antics, Danny’s flowers between them, Lizzie cuddled securely on Chloe’s lap. The baby fixates on Fred as he utters a loud motor sound and crashes the car into Tom’s leg.
Hearing her phone chime, she rifles through the contents of her handbag in a frantic bid to locate it. Her initial thought is that it’s Hardy, and she’s annoyed at herself for hoping he’ll call. He’s made his decision – he’s chosen to leave, that’s the end of it! But she feels let down by him; abandoned at her most vulnerable, left to deal with the aftermath of Joe alone. He’s lucky she initiated a handshake; she should’ve kicked him in the bloody balls. Yet she still feels a pang of disappointment when she sees that it’s just a text from Lucy.
‘Ell. I need to talk to you. It’s important. Bring the boys.’
Her face falls as she processes the words. Urgent summonses from Lucy are never a good sign. She just doesn’t have the energy to deal with her sister’s numerous issues – not today! But being the dutiful sister that she is she replies saying that she’ll stop by after dinner.
Beth crosses the sand to join her, “Everything okay, Ell? You’ve been standing over here by yourself for ages.”
Ellie holds up her mobile. A frown crosses her friend’s face as she reads the text. “You think she’s after more money, don’t you?”
“I wish I had more faith in her,” Ellie sighs, shoving the phone back in her bag.
“She’s never given you much reason to.”
“She’s been better lately... since everything with Joe. Or maybe I’ve just been too caught up in my own problems to notice? Maybe I should just give her money as payment for all the times I’ve asked her to babysit?”
“You’ve already paid her, Ell. Have you forgotten all the money you’ve given her over the years?”
“I know, I know.” She covers her face with her hands. “I can’t help it! She’s my sister, even if she is more trouble than she’s worth a lot of the time.” She reaches for Beth’s hand, “We shouldn’t be talking about Lucy. She can wait! How are you holding up, sweetheart, being back at this spot?”
Beth takes a deep breath, “I can feel Danny’s presence so strongly here. Not a day goes by I don’t wish he was here with me, but I take comfort from the fact that at least he’s with my mum and dad.” She gazes off into the distance, “I know Mum will be taking care of him, fussing over him.”
“I’m so sorry, Beth... so sorry about Liz. She was such a lovely woman. When I heard the news I felt like my own mother had died all over again. You don’t know how badly I wanted to make contact with you at the time.”
Beth’s eyes mist over, “I got the flowers you sent, and I’m embarrassed to say I chucked them in the bin. I’ve been so awful to you, Ellie, and you didn’t deserve any of it.”
“It’s, okay, Beth.”
“No, it isn’t. That day Mark stood up there on the stand and told the court he was gonna leave me; it was like... like a light bulb went off in my head. I couldn’t believe I was so clueless about what was going on right under my nose. I always thought Mark and I were happy. We had our problems of course, but who doesn’t? Afterwards, when you followed me, and comforted me, even after everything I’d done to you, I felt like such a hypocrite. How could I blame you for not knowing what was going on in your own marriage when I had no idea what was going on in my own?”
Still holding Beth’s hand, Ellie gives it a squeeze, “Mark’s not Joe. He’s not. He’s made mistakes, yes, but he’s sorry and he loves you. I know he does.”
“I will never understand how none of us saw Joe for who he really was. How could he come across as such a normal person for so long?”
Ellie feels her lower lip start to tremble. She clenches her hands into tight fists. She won’t cry. She won’t! “He was an expert at hiding his true self,” she says. “Even Hardy liked Joe – the night he came to dinner at my house – and Hardy doesn’t get on with most people.”
Beth looks over at her husband, who’s in the process of shoving a handful of crisps into his mouth. “Mark and I want to put on a barbecue this Saturday to thank everyone who stuck by us throughout the trial and helped out today with the Joe situation.”
Ellie smiles, “I think that’s a brilliant idea.” Inwardly she’s a little nervous at the thought of attending her first group social outing since Joe’s arrest.
“So, we were thinking, you, Tom, and Fred, Nige, Jocelyn, Ben, Maggie, Olly, Lucy, Paul... Oh god, I don’t have to invite Becca Fisher do I?”
“I wouldn’t think so. Surely she wouldn’t expect to be included?”
Beth considers, “She did help us out today.”
“Yes, she did.”
“Oh, and DI Hardy,” Beth says. “Do you think he’d mind if I call him Alec? I can’t keep calling him DI Hardy forever!”
Ellie shakes her head, “He hates his name... and mine.” She digs the toe of her trainer into the sand. “It doesn’t matter anyway. He can’t make it... cos he left.”
“He left? When?”
Checking her watch, Ellie tries to keep her face neutral. “His taxi should be leaving about now.”
“He didn’t waste any time?”
She feels a lump forming in her throat. “I know.”
“Are you okay? I know the two of you were...” Beth hesitates, “friends.”
Ellie’s saved from answering when Fred runs by Chloe, upending an open packet of crisps. Sour cream-and-chives snacks sail through the air to land haphazardly on the sand.
“Oh Fred!” says Ellie.
Both adults scramble to clean up the mess, while Chloe brushes crisp crumbs from herself and Lizzie. No help at all, Mark and Tom barely glance up from their conversation.
Fred thinks it’s a hell of a funny game, and long after the crisps have been cleared away, he is still determinedly brushing aside sand searching for stray pieces, his dedication to his task rivalling that of a miner panning for gold.
Watching him with a mixture of amusement and exasperation, Ellie painstakingly holds out a plastic bag for what feels like the one hundredth time, to accept his latest offering, a crisp sliver mixed with grains of sands. “I see SOCO in your future,” she sighs. Even though she knows the baby won’t comprehend her meaning, she leans closer and whispers, “Oh, and thanks for the well-timed distraction. I’m really not up to answering questions about Uncle Alec today.”
Fred grins at her as if to say that he planned it that way all along.
Lucy opens her front door, “Thanks for coming, Ell. Hiya Tom, Fred.”
“Fred, Fred, shoes. Come here, darling.” Ellie grabs hold of him before he can traipse half the beach through Lucy’s house. He gives a squeal of delight as she captures his right foot and wrestles with his shoe. She’s brushing sand from his socks when Fred decides he’s been patient long enough. Breaking free, he utters an excited giggle, and races past Lucy’s legs. From inside, Ellie hears Olly greeting him in that high-pitched, over enthusiastic way adults often adopt when speaking to young children.
“We’ve been at the beach with the Latimers,” Ellie says, as she toes off her trainers. “Then we all stopped off for fish ‘n’ chips. It was lovely.”
Lucy hasn’t stopped smiling since she opened the door. Her odd behaviour fills Ellie with dread. She’s definitely jumpy about something!
Tom, engrossed in his smartphone, grunts a hello at his aunt, and shuffles inside.
Ellie trails after Lucy to join Olly and Fred in the kitchen. Tom’s already disappeared, presumably upstairs to play his game in peace.
Olly crouches down to his young cousin’s level. “Freddy, do you want to watch, Kipper?” Fred jumps up and down. Like Tom when he was his age, he adores the animated orange and white dog, who loves biscuits. Ellie recalls Joe having to replace a couple of the DVD’s because they were so badly scratched they were unplayable.
“C’mon then, mate,” Olly grins. He guides Fred towards the sitting room, closing the door as he goes, but not before giving his mum a look of what Ellie can only describe as pride. What the hell is going on?
“Cuppa tea, Ell?”
Ellie shakes her head. She doesn’t bother removing her coat. She just wants to find out what Lucy wants, and leave as quickly as possible. “So, what’s so urgent? I’ve had a hell of day, Luce. I can’t take much more.”
“Okay... then I’ll get straight to the point then, shall I?” She doesn’t sound happy, but Ellie’s beyond caring. Lucy takes her time, staring down at her perfectly manicured nails for what seems like forever. “I’ve booked a place in a rehab centre,” she finally blurts. “Olly’s driving me to London first thing tomorrow.”
It takes a while for the words to sink in, and for a beat all Ellie can do is stare. Then she’s clutching her sister and throwing her arms around her. “Are you serious? I’m so proud of you.” Ellie can’t quite believe that something is finally going right in her shitty life!
They embrace for a long time, and when they finally step back from one another there are tears in both their eyes.
Lucy grabs a tissue, and then hands the box to Ellie. “I know it’s partly my fault that Joe got off.” Her breath catches. “I’m ashamed that my actions led to you being compromised both professionally and morally. The way that bitch, barrister spoke to you on the stand... I don’t think I’ve ever felt guiltier. It should’ve been me up there getting torn apart... not you. I’m finally ready to admit I have a problem. I’ve been gambling for years, but it wasn’t until John ran off with that twenty five year-old slag from the King’s Arms, that things got really bad.”
“We don’t have much luck with husbands, do we Luce? Well not one’s starting with ‘J’ anyway.”
“That’s your solution!” laughs Lucy. “To stay away from men whose name’s start with that letter of the alphabet?”
“Dunno... maybe. Or just stay away from men altogether.”
“Wow, Ell, I’ve never taken you for a cynical person before.”
“That was the old, naive me, who always saw the best in people.”
Reaching over, Lucy tucks a stray strand of hair behind Ellie’s ear, and smoothes it down. “I like the old you.” She screws up her face, her gaze raking over Ellie’s bright orange anorak, “Even though you do have appalling fashion sense and are so bloody perfect most of the time you make the rest of us look like shit by comparison.”
“Luce,” Ellie hesitates. “Do you have enough money to pay for the treatment?”
Lucy’s face flushes. She nods, “I had a bit of a windfall on my last trip to Bournemouth.”
“Oh, right, good. So you’re paying for treatment for your addiction with money you made cos of that addiction.”
“Yeah, I’ll have to admit that in my counselling sessions. Being open and honest about everything is the only way the programme will work.”
“That makes sense. How long will you be gone?”
“Not sure at this stage. Six to eight weeks, maybe. It’s not just gambling I have a problem with, it’s alcohol as well... and then there’s the shagging.”
Ellie’s eyes widen, “You’re addicted to sex as well?” She looks behind her to make sure the door to the hall is definitely shut. Last thing she wants is for Tom to walk downstairs and overhear their conversation.
“Sort of. The three kind of go hand in hand. You know what it’s like when you consume large amounts of alcohol on a regular basis, you’re bound to pick up a lot of random blokes along the way?” Lucy slaps a hand against her forehead, “Look who I’m talking to – of course you don’t know what it’s like.”
Ellie’s tempted to mention the drunken one night stand she had last month – the worse sex of her life with an almost-stranger – but she can’t bear to say the words out loud. She looks down at the floor, “No, you’re right, I have no idea.”
“Speaking of promiscuity, do me a favour, Ell, keep an eye on Olly. Make sure he doesn’t turn my house into a bachelor pad while I’m gone.”
Ellie snorts, “I’ll watch him like a hawk.”
“Hope I’m not leaving you in the lurch. I know you rely on me to look after Tom and Fred.”
“No, it’s fine. The trials over and the Sandbrook case is done and dusted.”
Lucy winks, “What will you and Hardy do together now that you don’t have a case to crack?”
What is it with everyone bringing up Alec Hardy all of a sudden? For the second time that day she explains that Hardy has left.
Her sisters teasing turns to sympathy, “I’m sorry, Ell. I thought he might stay here? Maybe you’re right about men after all. Maybe they do always let you down.”
Ellie feels the need to defend Hardy, which confuses her because she’s still furious at him. “He has a teenage daughter. They’ve been apart for long enough.”
“Oh, didn’t know that.”
There’s a knock on the door, and Olly pokes his head in, “Everything, all right, Mum?”
“Yes, it’s okay to come in. We were just talking about Hardy. He left town today.”
Olly’s mouth flies open, “For good?” He looks thrown by the news, which surprises Ellie as she didn’t think he even liked Hardy. “He promised me an interview about Sandbrook.”
“What?” Ellie shakes his head, “He wouldn’t have agreed to that. You’re so full of shit, Oliver!”
Olly’s insistent, “He did. I rang him earlier.” The penny drops, as he realises he’s been duped. “Oh, I get it. He knew he was leaving, and was just trying to fob me off.” A sly smile crosses his face. “I’ll show him. I’m gonna be his phone stalker until he talks to me.”
Ellie juts a finger at her nephew, “Oi, leave Hardy alone, Olly. I mean it!”
Just after nine, Ellie leaves Lucy’s house and heads to her car. It’s fully dark, and the temperature has dropped significantly. She shoves her hands into the pocket of her coat to warm them up Lucy’s decided she wants to keep Tom and Fred overnight since she won’t see them for a while. Ellie feels like she’s always saying goodbye to them but is reassured by the fact that she’ll have them all to herself for the next six to eight weeks.
She’s just climbed into the driver’s seat when she hears her name being called.
“Auntie Ellie,” Olly’s running up the garden path. She reluctantly powers down her window to speak to him.
“Olly, it’s late, I’m dead tired, and not in the mood for you to grill me about Sandbrook!” she grumbles.
The Broadchurch Echo journalist shuffles his feet. “No, it’s not about that. I wanted to know whether you think Mum’s serious about getting help this time.”
Ellie’s tone softens, “I think so. Lucy has more incentive than ever to change. And she sounds more determined this time.”
Olly nods, “I’ll miss her.”
“Me too,” she muses. “But she’ll be back before we know it. Now push off, will you.”
Olly steps back as she starts the car, “See you.”
On the drive home, she’s beyond exhausted, running on empty. She’s not sure she should even be operating a motor vehicle, and is grateful Lucy only lives a couple of streets away. The stress of the past few days has caught up to her majorly, and she can’t wait to climb into her bed. She’s been up for over thirty six hours, courtesy of Claire, Lee, and Ricky. But the all night interrogations paid off – like she told Hardy, they got them in the end! She wonders whether she has any sleeping pills left in her bedside cabinet. She really needs a decent night’s sleep. Thoughts of prescription medication remind her of the last time she took them, the night of Danny’s murder. She wonders if every past memory she has will forever be tainted by Joe! She hopes not!
Pulling into her driveway she’s grateful to be home. Grabbing her handbag from the passenger seat she exits the car.
She’s about to walk around the corner of her house when she hears movement on her front porch. She freezes in her tracks her heart racing. Is it Joe? Has he, in spite of their dire warnings, turned the taxi around and returned to town?
The hedge separating the house from the road obscures her view, so, staying in the shadows, she peers around the corner prepared to run for the hills if necessary. She’s going to feel stupid if it’s just the neighbour’s cat! Thankfully, the security light is on so she’s able to see the person clearly. Her relief is instantaneous when she realises who it is but her heart rate doesn’t slow one bit.
Suddenly she’s more wide awake than ever...
Alec Hardy is on her doorstep!