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A rose in New York - Part 1

This story is published in two parts due to an error in Blogger

A Broadchurch / Doctor Who / Castle / Jessica Jones/Gracepoint crossover where Rose Tyler is kidnapped in New York by Kilgrave's men and Pete Tyler enlists the help of his friend, Richard Castle who ropes in the NYPD but after a week, Pete gets Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller over from Broadchurch sent over to help find her.  Once safely home, Rose goes to Broadchurch to recover from her ordeal.
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A/N: The Kilgrave in this story will be slightly different, his powers have been extended for numerous reasons that will become apparent.
Rose Tyler is on a diplomatic mission for Torchwood in New York when she is kidnapped after getting out of a taxi in front of her hotel. 

Pete Tyler enlists the help of his old friend, the famous novelist Richard Castle, who drags his wife, NYPD Detective Kate Beckett into it, much to her dismay as she is a homicide detective but Castle wants to help his old friend.  A week later, they have no clues as to where Rose is and Pete asks his friend, the police commissioner for the south of England to send one of his best detectives to help find his stepdaughter and since Alec Hardy has just survived a heart operation, he is it.  Alec wants some help and drags his long-suffering DS with him and the pair of them clash with Kate, Castle being left to keep the peace between the English and Scottish detectives and his wife.  What they don't know is that Rose is being held by the evil Kilgrave who is intrigued he has hardly any effect on Rose as he can get anyone to do as he wishes.  No spoilers for Jessica Jones. 

Chapter 1

Kilgrave paced the room of the apartment he'd 'acquired' from a businessman whom he'd told to take an around the world cruise since he was in a generous mood and not ordered the man to jump off the nearest tall building.  He'd thrown the newspaper down and was running his hands over his face.  The newspaper article he'd just read, about the English beauty and Vitex heiress Rose Tyler stuck in his mind.  How had he never heard of her before her arrival here and more importantly why had he never met her before he'd met Jessica Jones, whom had tried to kill him and failed because he was still here and she was lying low somewhere in the meanest parts of the city.

He'd find Jessica one of these days because she had broken free of his hold and no-one did that unless he'd had enough of them and he'd just got bored with Hope and she'd gone running back to her parents, after he told her to forget him to which she'd just looked at him and asked what she was doing there.  No, Rose Tyler was much more interesting to him, he'd learned she was a top Torchwood agent and the things he could do, being in charge of Torchwood were astounding.
So he had sent two of his best men when this latest article said she was in New York, attending a conference with business leaders about Torchwood operating in the 'Big Apple' and was trying to gather support.  She was there with her stepfather, Pete Tyler but all his men had to do was wait for her to be alone, maybe on her way back to her hotel.  The latest reports said she was on her third and final day so it was today or risk her leaving.

Across the city, Rose was preparing to leave the conference to go get ready for a dinner in their honour, held by her stepfather's friend, the famous novelist Richard Castle, whom Rose had never met before but she had all his novels since she'd become a fan of his on her arrival in this universe and she was looking forward to meeting him and his new wife, well his latest one, New York police detective Kate Beckett.

Kate was sat at her desk inside the 12th precinct, her husband sat facing her at the side.

"Aren't you going home to get changed for our dinner party tonight?" Castle asked her.

"Yeah, it won't take me that long.  So that Pete Tyler is an old friend of yours then?"

"Yeah, me and Pete go back, he's a great golfing partner.  I remember once, him and his first wife came to The Hamptons one weekend and she complained she was a golf widow.  I never liked her that much but his second wife, funny how she looks exactly the same but she's totally different."

"Well I'm just glad I don't look like either of your ex wives Castle."

"So am I," he muttered under his breath as Kate answered her cell phone.

Rose was just getting out of the taxi, she'd left Pete to finish up and they were meeting when he called for her later to go to a fancy restaurant downtown somewhere, Pete had ordered a car to take them there at seven thirty so she had plenty of time to get ready.  She didn't know much about Richard Castle and his new wife, except she was a homicide detective, a rather good one and they'd only recently got married after he'd disappeared for three months.  She only knew this because Pete had been concerned for his old friend.

Pete had never said how the two of them had met but it was before the Cyberman invasion, that much she did know.  As she was paying the cab driver, seeing the doorman of the hotel was busy talking to someone, a black car pulled up behind the taxi and taking no notice, Rose turned around only to find two men getting out and approaching her but thinking they were just heading to the hotel entrance, she wasn't too concerned but one of the men accidentally knocked her arm and she suddenly felt faint.

The man had a small needle in his hand and had injected a sedative into Rose's arm and had innocently hooked his own arm around her and the other man had gone to open the back door of the car, no-one taking any notice of what had just happened, the cab driver pulling off and only barely registering the blonde woman who had got out was with two men.

When Rose woke up, she was lying on a bed and she was aware someone was watching her and it wasn't Pete.

"Where am I?"

"Hush, it's ok, you're safe enough, for now.  So, the famous Rose Tyler eh?  What am I going to do with you then?"

Rose would know that voice anywhere, in any universe.

"Doctor?" she asked, trying to stop feeling dizzy when she tried to sit up.  She thought she was somehow still drugged, it couldn't possibly be him.

She could vaguely make out the shape of a man, wearing a black jumper and purple trousers who was now hovering over her and getting her to lie back down.

"Don't try to get up yet, let the effects wear off.  You don't need a doctor do you?"

Rose thought better of it, she knew not to say anything about the Timelord, until his actual presence had been established.  Things were now slowly coming into focus and she knew she was seeing the impossible – an unshaven Doctor was looking at her and smiling.

"No, I don't think so.  What happened?  I was just getting out of a cab."

"Did my men get over-enthusiastic?  If they did, I'll see they don't do it again.  So Rose, I bet you're wondering what all this is about?"

Rose thought that was a bit of an understatement.  This was not the Doctor, that was for certain.  She'd seen a double of him on TV a while back, some Scottish detective who'd solved a young boy's murder in a small coastal town, plus of course her favourite actor but this man, now sitting on the bed in front of her and stroking her arm was definitely not any of them.

"Well if you call knocking me out being enthusiastic then yeah.  What was all that about?  So who are you then?" she asked, pulling her arm away and managing to remain sitting up this time as she'd just flopped down again.

"You can call me Kilgrave.  So, well, you're in my apartment, well your apartment, you're my guest."

"Really?  Well sorry but I have a dinner date tonight, I can't stay."

"Yes you can," he replied, wondering why his suggestion hadn't just worked.

"No, I really can't so if you'll call another cab for me, I'll be getting back to my hotel before my stepfather gets the whole NYPD out looking for me."

"Now, now Rose, you're not in that much of a hurry to leave my company, are you?" he asked, trying again.

Rose looked at him, he was obviously trying to get her to stay for some reason then she realised he thought he could control her mind.  Her Torchwood training had been very intense and she could resist mind control easily but if this man thought she wasn't under some of his influence, he may try and harm her.  She thought she would play along.

"Well, now you come to mention it, I was only going for a boring dinner with my stepfather and some novelist he knows."

"Good, that's more like it.  I'll have some dinner brought in for you, we can dine by candlelight.  I've also taken the liberty of having some clothes sent for you, you'll find an assortment in the wardrobe, why don't you choose something nice to wear?"

"Ok but I'd like to take a bath first."

"Sure, anything you want my Rose, I'll leave you to it.  Oh, all the doors and windows are locked, for your safety but you can go out on the balcony, there's quite a spectacular view, that's why I chose the place.  Do make yourself at home my dear."

With that, he got up, taking the back of her hand and kissing it.

"I hope you like the perfume on your dressing table, I look forward to smelling it on you at dinner."

He left the room, Rose hearing it lock from the outside.  What the hell had she just got herself into?  He was like the Doctor's evil twin or something but he was alarmingly charming with it and he was trying to make her do what he wanted.  She had so far managed to resist him but he'd know sooner or later she was faking her submission, well part submission, she had to make it look good.  She got up, still feeling a little unsteady on her feet and went to the double wardrobe, surprised to see what he'd said was there, dresses for all occasions, trousers, jeans, jumpers and tops plus a large rack with an assortment of shoes, in her size.

She crossed to the dresser, seeing underwear in her size and a jewellery box in the top drawer.  She looked for her purse, on the chair and scrambled around inside but her cell phone was gone, of course it was.  It was still light outside, maybe Pete wouldn't even think she was missing yet, that she was still getting ready and he'd only miss her when she didn't meet him and he'd got someone to call her room and then to knock on the door.

Who the hell was this Kilgrave and why had Torchwood not known about him?  He was English and he talked like the Doctor had done, with that cute London accent she'd fallen in love with but that was were the similarities ended, this was not the Doctor.  Had she fallen down a rabbit hole?  She decided she'd shake some of the dizziness off by having a soak in the bathtub so finding some sweet smelling bath oil, she ran the water and poured in the oil, hoping this Kilgrave bloke would not be a pervert and come and watch her.

Whoever he was, he'd been planning all this, unless someone exactly her dress and shoe size had resided here before.  She would just have to go along with whatever he planned, she could do it, she'd had plenty of experience, trapping men into thinking she was on their side then exposing them over something or other, this was no different and once it was discovered she was missing, Pete would call the NYPD.

Rose finally got out of the bath, got dried and went to the wardrobe, choosing a blue clingy jersey wool dress and some flat black shoes, then she sprayed some of the perfume on and chose a pearl necklace from the jewellery box.  Well if she wasn't going out to dinner with her stepfather and Rick Castle and his wife, she wasn't going to starve herself.

While Rose had been in the bath, Kilgrave had phoned one of the finest restaurants in town, told them what he wanted and that the best waiters were to attend for the evening and told them to send the bill to Mickey Mouse so as Rose was getting dressed, an entourage of waiters were arriving and setting up the dinner table just as it was getting dark outside and the candles on the table were lit.  It was just seven thirty and Rose was waiting for the door to be unlocked, hoping he wouldn't always lock her in.

He went to the bedroom door, knocked and then unlocked it, seeing Rose standing there.

"You look beautiful Rose.  Dinner is being served."

He'd changed into a purple three piece suit, Rose thought a lot of men wouldn't get away with that colour but he did.

Meanwhile, back at the hotel, Pete had been on the phone to Jackie when he'd got back from the conference, even though it was late back in London, Jackie had waited up the few nights he and Rose had been gone.

"Hi Jackie, how's things?  How's Tony?"

"He's fine, he misses you both.  You coming home tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, we're having dinner with Castle and his new wife tonight, she's a homicide detective, should be interesting."

"Are you with Rose?" Jackie asked him.

"No, she'll be getting ready to go out.  Has she not rung you today?"

"No and for the last two nights, she's rung me when she got back."

"Maybe she just wanted a rest before we go out eh?  Don't worry too much, she said she wanted a nice hot bath and she's probably dozed off.  I'll tell her off for not calling you."

"No, she doesn't usually miss calling me but never mind.  See you when you get back then."

Two hours later, Pete was downstairs, looking at the time and was watching the lift indicator, seeing if the lift was on their floor since Rose had not answered when he'd knocked and he thought she'd come down early for some reason.  He could see the car outside, the doorman had been over to it twice so Pete had nipped out to say the car was waiting for him.  He went over to the desk.

"Have you seen my stepdaughter, Rose Tyler in the last ten minutes?"

The woman looked at him so Pete got his phone out and showed her Rose's photo, he couldn't get used to Rose not being famous here like she was back home.

"No Sir, I've not see here since she went out with you this morning."

"Did she not call for her key earlier then?" Pete asked, trying not to panic.

"Not that I recall but she may have asked for it when I was on my break, I'll ask for you."

She went in the back, bringing out a male clerk, who was followed by the night manager, who was concerned she was asking if they had seen one of the guests.

"Is there something wrong Mr Tyler?" Kyle, the night manager asked.

"Well, I don't know but if no-one recalls my stepdaughter collecting her key earlier, I know she handed it in this morning when we left.  Can you check if her key is here?"

The woman went to check, returning to say it was still on the hook.

"By any chance, would the cleaning staff have let her in her room, if she got upstairs before realising she didn't have it?" Pete asked.

"I'll call the head of the cleaning staff right away Mr Tyler.  Sally, call Miss Tyler's room and you, Sam, go and knock on the door 815 if there's no answer."

"I'll go let my driver know and tell him to cancel, if she doesn't turn up in ten minutes," Pete said, going towards the door before the driver got a parking ticket.
His cell phone rang, he was hoping it was Rose but it was Castle, who had been waiting at the restaurant for them.

"Pete, where are you?  I had to use my name to get these reservations and you know I hate doing that," he joked.

Pete would normally laugh back.  "Rick, I can't find Rose."

Chapter 2
Pete briefly told castle that Rose had left the conference at another hotel and had got a taxi to get changed for their evening out, saying they'd agreed to meet but her key was still on the hook in reception and no-one had seen her since they'd gone out that morning.

"So Pete, do you think she was meeting with anyone?" Rick asked him, turning to his wife at the bar.

Kate knew there was going to be trouble, he attracted it like a magnet.

"No Rick, she doesn't know anyone here, no-one at the conference had asked her out or anything and she would have told me anyway. I'm letting the limo driver go, I should call the police and report her missing."

"Pete, they don't take missing persons reports when someone's only been gone for less than an hour," his friend reminded him.

"They will when I say who she is."

"Pete, you're not at home now, Rose isn't as well known here and neither are you. Look, stay there and Kate and I will come over, where are you staying again?"

Pete gave him the name of the hotel and said he'd wait downstairs for him, there was nothing else he could do and he didn't want to worry Jackie just yet.

Castle put his phone away and turned to Kate.  "Sorry but Rose has gone missing. Pete's worried and he can't report her yet, I said we'd go over."

"What are we supposed to do?  I'm in homicide, not kidnapping.  I can make some calls though, call in a few favours.  Let's go."

Castle knew she wouldn't be able to resist it so they cancelled the reservation and went to wait for his car.

Meanwhile, across town, Rose was just finishing a rather large meal and was still trying to figure out what the Doctor's twin wanted with her.  She knew she'd just have to go along with whatever it was and hope she could escape if he didn't lock her in the bedroom again.  The waiting staff would have to leave so maybe he'd be that busy, he wouldn't notice.

"I hope you enjoyed your meal Rose?"

"Yeah, it was good, thanks.  Can I ask why I'm here though?"

"Really?  Oh well, you're here as my house guest so I want you to feel at home.   Why don't you go back to your room and I'll get rid of the waiters?"

She knew she couldn't argue with him, he looked like he intended keeping her away from any outer doors.

"Maybe I can go look out over the balcony?  I'd love to see New York all lit up."

"Fine, if you wish."

He called to one of the men who had kidnapped her.

"You, what's your name?  Go out onto the balcony with her and if she tries to get out of the door while the staff are leaving, you are to go to the edge and jump off – got it?"

"Yes Sir.  This way Miss."

Rose thought that was way overboard, who the hell was he?  He obviously had some kind of power of suggestion that everyone else was compelled to go along with but it didn't work so well on her so she'd have to be very careful.  If he'd just told this man something like that, she'd be responsible for killing someone and she wouldn't ever do that.  This was going to be tough, she'd just have to give in a little, just enough to see what he wanted with her.

Rose went out onto the balcony after going to get a jacket from the bedroom, Kilgrave wasn't letting anyone out until he knew where she was.  He smiled to himself, he was quite fascinated she had to be told twice to do something but pleased that even though she was a top Torchwood agent, she couldn't resist him completely.  He was also pleased that since his unfortunate accident when he'd lost an argument with a bus, his powers were becoming more pronounced.  He'd been practising it over the phone and it seemed to be working on simple things but now he'd got everything he wanted, clothes for his guest and a dinner to impress her, he had no real need of taking it further, well not yet anyway.

The view was quite spectacular Rose thought, a shame she was being held against her will.  She thought back to when she and the Doctor had been in new New York and it would have been much better with him there and not his crazy double.  The man of course would never know who he looked like, she would hardly be likely to inform him and when she got away, which she would, eventually, the man would be locked up where he couldn't make people do whatever he wanted.

She was outside maybe twenty minutes when Kilgrave joined her, waving the man watching her away.

"So, quite a view eh?  Have you been to New York before?"

"No, never.  So am I free to do as I wish, well except go outside?"

"You can go outside Rose, you're not a prisoner, I'll even take you out myself or one of my men can go with you but I will put safeguards in place, where necessary. You wouldn't want to see them come to any harm, would you?"

"No, of course not, I'll do as you say.  Do I have to keep calling you Kilgrave?"

He laughed and stood beside her.  "Not if you don't want to.  Call me whatever you like, within reason."

She could think of a few names but he wouldn't like any of them.

"Can I have a drink?"

"Sure, help yourself or get one of them to pour it for you.  Tomorrow, I'll get a housekeeper and cook in but you're free to roam the apartment and use the kitchen."

"Then what do you want with me?"

"Rose, there is no rush, just ask for anything you want and tomorrow, well if you want to go out, we'll go out.  I'll have a car waiting for us to take you anywhere you want as long as you don't try to get away from me.  Think of it as me rescuing you from your boring work."

"You know what I do then?"

"It's my business to know and I also know your stepfather will be looking for you but he'll never find you, I can handle anyone who comes looking for you."

Rose thought he didn't know that much then, did he?

Pete was pacing the hotel lobby when Beckett and Castle walked in, Kate going up to him to greet him with a hug, even though they hadn't met properly, she felt sorry for him.

"What can we do to help?"

"I'm going to get a team out here, to help look for her, she can't be far away.  Can you call the right department Kate?"

"Sure, I'll do it now.  Maybe you should back off calling for outside help and let the NYPD do their job?"

"Ok but I'll still let them know, I've been holding off telling them, thinking she'll walk through the front door and ask what the fuss is about.  Someone is going to let me in her room, are you coming?"

Pete nodded to the night manager and they rode up in the lift to their floor and he opened the door.  Kate instinctively took over, checking through Rose's things for any signs of a struggle.

"What was she wearing?" Kate asked Pete.

"What she was wearing earlier, since it's not here and no-one saw her come back in. I thought maybe one of the cleaners had let her in but she had a black velvet jacket and a white blouse with a pair of black trousers and black ankle boots.  I have photos of her on my phone."

"Good, choose the clearest most recent one of her, I'll get someone round here," Kate told him.

Rick patted Pete on the shoulder.  "We'll find her Pete, don't worry."

Pete was worried, Castle did not have to tell Rose's mother in the morning.  He thought of calling Jackie now but it was the early hours of the morning back home and while she may go crazy for waking her up, he didn't want to worry her if Rose had just met someone in a bar on the way back to the hotel and came back a few hours later with a man on her arm, not that Rose actually did that but there was a first time for everything and it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility she would stop mourning the Doctor and date someone.

Kate was on the phone to the 12th precinct, some other detective she knew in another department, trying to persuade them that Rose was a very important person back in England but she was getting nowhere fast.

"Sorry Beckett," she was being told by Detective Ralph Myers.  "You know it's 24 hours before we can act, she might just be playing hookey from all that glitter and glamour you claim she's used to.  Look, if she doesn't turn up by midday tomorrow, give me another call, ok?"

Kate pulled a face down the phone, making Rick smile at his wife.

"No luck?"

"Moron, anything could have happened to Rose and he's following protocol.  I tried telling him she's a guest in our city and she's connected to Torchwood but all he said was 'What's Torchwood?'  Really?"

"Thanks Kate but I'm gonna call Jake and Mickey, get them on the next flight out here and have them get a load of missing persons flyers printed," Pete told her.

"We're not giving up Pete, as soon as I get to the precinct in the morning, I'll go see my captain, explain it to her how important it is we find Rose and if we have no luck with Myers, we might call in the FBI."

"Will they get involved with Rose being a foreign national?"

"We can try, she's a VIP.  Castle, maybe you can call the mayor in the morning? Light a rocket under Myer's department?"

"Sure, of course.  Go get something to eat or you'll make yourself ill Pete," Rick suggested.

"I'll try but I'm really worried now, she wouldn't just go off like that."

He knew his stepdaughter, she wasn't interested in men unless they had some resemblance to the Doctor and the only two he'd ever heard about were that actor she liked who was married and the detective who had solved that boy's murder a while back in that seaside town but Rose hadn't liked the fact the man had a beard back then and when she'd seen him at the trial of the man accused of the crime, he'd grown it even thicker and had put her off completely plus she wasn't too happy with the thought he'd maybe had an affair with the accused's wife.

Rose had gone back to her room and put the TV on, not that there would be any news bulletins about her yet, she'd only been gone a few hours but Pete would have contacted his friend and also maybe Jake and Mickey.  There was a knock at her door so she shouted for Kilgrave to come in.

"Comfortable?" he asked, looking around.

"Yeah thanks.  I think that stuff your clowns gave me is wearing off now."

It had worn off a good while back but she had to keep up the pretence of why she wasn't completely complying with his wishes.

"They must have given you the full dose, I'll have to let them go then."

Rose knew he'd make them do something to themselves, he hadn't been kidding earlier, that much she knew about him.  Why had Torchwood never heard of such a dangerous man before, let alone his looks.

"Maybe I just reacted differently to the drugs?"

Kilgrave thought about it.  Maybe if he started killing off everyone around her, he'd never get her to fully comply with his wishes and get him into Torchwood eventually.  All he needed to do was gather all their top people in New York and give them an ultimatum – Torchwood's compliance for the safe return of Rose Tyler.  His plan was just so simple and even their top minds wouldn't be able to resist him despite all their so-called training against mind control, Rose had already partly given in.

He'd had time to think about it.  Maybe the drug at first was still having some effects on her not fully complying with him but now, he had some control over her, even she wasn't that good at fooling him.

"Oh very well then, I'd just got used to them.  Join me for breakfast on the balcony at nine in the morning."

"Yeah, I'll join you for breakfast at nine but I'll need a wake-up call."

"Use the alarm on the radio then."

Rose smiled.  "Oh yeah, never thought of that, my head's still scrambled."

It was worth a try she told herself, maybe she'd be able to persuade one of his men to help her but he might retaliate anyway and she'd be responsible.  She'd taken a lot on since coming to this universe, come a long way in Torchwood and the first thing she'd learned was her responsibilities to everyone on the planet.  This mind controller, if left to walk around the city could put everyone in New York in danger and she was the only one who could stop him by complying with his wishes to a certain extent but he'd surely know she wasn't fully under his influence?

"I'll let you off then, this once.  Now come here and kiss me goodnight."

Rose got up and faced him, kissing his cheek.  This was so creepy, another man who looked like the Doctor only the other two she knew of weren't wanting to control her mind.

"Not like that," he said annoyingly.

Rose smiled again and gave him a quick peck on his lips, she wasn't going to wallow in regret that both his men would go jump off the balcony.

"Goodnight then, see you in the morning."

"That's better but I'm not going to hurt you Rose and since you just got here, I'll let it go but I expect better from you from tomorrow my dear or your friends out there may have an unfortunate accident, beyond my control.  You see Rose, their safety and everyone in the city's safety is now dependant on you, including your stepfather's.  I know who you are, Rose Tyler, don't think that I chose you at random but I'll keep my little plan a secret for a bit longer, until we get to know each other better."

Rose wanted to scream but it wouldn't do her any good, it would just make him mad.  What was it with 'friendly' kidnappers?  She'd had training in this but the training had never included semi-friendly megalomaniac and charming Doctor look-a likes and it was creepy to say the very least, looking at him.  He gave her a peck on the lips back and turned around again, not locking the door this time which meant the main door out of the apartment was secure and she'd nothing to pick the lock with.

She so wanted to slap his face and tell him to get lost.  If she could just get to a phone, to warn Pete, he could get a team over to look for her but she'd seen no fixed telephones and Kilgrave would have made sure the two men didn't have mobiles on them either but he must have a phone in his room or a mobile on him somewhere, to have arranged the dinner and the vast wardrobe she'd been presented with.

She went into the bathroom and decided she'd just have to see the whole situation as yet another diplomatic mission only this time, everyone's lives depended on her co-operating with this man because he could potentially kill anyone at random on a whim if she didn't go along with him and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it because she wouldn't know who he'd picked to die or worse, torment and if he got really angry, he could hurt her or make her stay here very unpleasant.

So it was all down to how she played this, to go along to a certain extent.  It was clear he was going to try to take over Torchwood, without any bloodshed and without leaving New York because he'd never travel outside the city and he could run the whole thing from here.  It had been Pete and Jake's idea to take the organisation to the USA and expend their operations and the dinner with Castle tonight was supposed to ensure he would talk to his friend, the mayor of the city and pave the way.  A lot of local businessmen had been very interested in backing the idea and they'd intended coming back in a few weeks after the mayor had thought about it and meet with several police chiefs across the city.

It had been quite an exciting prospect because Rose was going to volunteer to start things off with Mickey's help and she'd been looking forward to seeing the sights instead of being in meetings all day and just seeing them from a cab window. Now, Pete would be really worried about her not returning to the hotel and Rick Castle would surely have got his wife involved by now.  She didn't know much about either of them but Pete had said how fine a homicide detective she was and the two of them had met while he was writing a novel and had based some on her.

Rose got into the rather luxuriously sheeted bed and felt a shiver run down her spine.  This was going to be the most dangerous of all the missions and assignments she'd ever conducted.  She'd faced worse enemies but compared to the Cybermen and Daleks, Kilgrave really scared her because of what he was capable of and it was down to her to make him eventually sorry for ever kidnapping her but until then, she had to play happy families with him.  She wished she could find him repulsive but looking how he did, she couldn't even though she should hate him with everything within her, constantly looking at that face and hearing that voice was not going to make things easy.

Chapter 3
The first thing Pete did when he woke up the next morning was go knock on Rose's room door in case he'd dreamt the whole thing last night and she would be waiting to go for breakfast and it was the day before again and she was safe and sound.  It wasn't like Rose to just go off like that though he recalled all the times she used to go off and scare her poor mother to death by running away with the Doctor.

He got dressed and went to knock on her door but of course got no answer.  His phone rang, it was Castle.

"Hey Pete, any news yet?"

"No but Mickey and Jake are on their way here, they're Rose's two best friends and Jake is head of Torchwood security, they couldn't get here fast enough.  I've not told her mother yet, I was hoping for some news."

"Kate's got a murder to investigate, she just got a call, sorry but it's not Rose, trust me.  Someone stepped under a bus but witnesses say some guy in a purple suit talked to him right before he stepped out so she's launched a full-scale search of the area.  It happened just after eight this morning so it was busy."

"Where was that then?"

"Nowhere near your hotel, Kate's not linked it to Rose's disappearance.  Have you called your wife yet?"

"No, I was about to, I was just trying Rose's room, see if she came back during the night, I don't want to believe this Rick."

"I know you don't Pete but when Kate gets back to the precinct, she'll talk to Captain Gates about it.  As soon as the mayor is in his office, I'll call him myself, get him to call Myer's department and get it made a priority.  As soon as Kate's free, she'll join in."

"Thanks Rick. I know Kate has her own job to do as well.  Right, I'd best face up to Jackie and if you think the other one was bad enough, she had nothing on this one, she and Rose are very close."

"Well good luck with that Pete.  I have to go now, Ryan's calling me, Kate's going nuts, other witnesses are saying this guy in the purple suit was arguing with someone else, a news vendor and the man poured coffee onto his leg.  We get all the strange ones."

Pete tried to smile but his heart wasn't in it.  Now to face Jackie.

He waited to get a word in when he said Rose hadn't returned to the hotel after the conference.  He'd already called the airline and cancelled their flights and spoken to the day manager, who had been told an important guest had not returned last night and their rooms were being held.

"Tell me this isn't happening Pete."

"I'm sorry love but it's true.  Castle is getting onto the mayor himself to get her treated as a missing person sooner than they normally start investigating.  It's usually 24 hours but Rose is lost and alone in a big city and though she can take care of herself, she could be anywhere.  We don't even know what cab company she used to come back to the hotel in so when Jake and Mickey get here, I'll have them speak to the doorman there and see if he happened to notice anything, like if anyone was with her or what cab company it was."

"So you told Jake and Mickey but not me?"

"Jackie, it was gone midnight where you are love and I thought she'd come back during the night.  I'll call you back as soon as I hear something but don't tell Tony. Just tell him we're staying a bit longer on business and I'll bring him something extra back."

"Ok but I'm not happy, I should come over."

"There's nothing you can do but look after Tony."

"I should be used to her disappearing like that, all the times she used to go off after the Doctor."

"I know but if anything had happened to her, we'd know by now and there's been nothing reported, she had ID on her."

Kilgrave hadn't been able to sleep.  He was out of the apartment before eight, gone to a news stand where the vendor had been rude and wanted him to put the paper down before he'd paid for it so he'd made him spill his coffee then when he'd gone to cross the road to the coffee shop to collect some breakfast items for Rose, a man had stepped on his foot and he'd got annoyed and told him to go step under a bus, which conveniently, there was one passing.

He was back before Rose was even up and the two men he'd used were standing outside the door waiting for him.

"You, go down to a staff agency and get me a housekeeper who can cook a decent meal and tell them I'll take one on a month's trial."

"Yes sir, right away."

"And you, inside and make yourself useful, carry these for me and take a table onto the balcony and have it all ready for when my guest joins me."

"Yes Sir."

Rose had woken just after eight, having figured out the night before how to set the alarm on the clock radio.  She'd stepped under the shower and chosen a top and trousers and a flat pair of shoes in case she could make a run for it but they were quite a few floors up, she'd probably not even make it down to the lobby even if she took the lift.  She walked out of the bedroom just before nine to see Kilgrave in his purple trousers and purple waistcoat and a table set up with assorted croissants and other breakfast pastries and a carton of coffee, he'd obviously been out or got one of the men to bring them in but one of them was missing.

"Ah, good morning my sweet Rose, I trust you slept well?"

"Yeah, thanks.  Are you going to tell me why I'm here?"

"All in good time, like I said, there's no rush.  Would you like to go out?"

"Yeah, later maybe, I'd like to go to the top of the Empire State Building and see the Statue of Liberty, you know, all the tourist spots."

"We'll see shall we?  It's not going to be all sightseeing Rose, we also have work to do."

"What kind of work?"

"No more questions, eat your breakfast."

Rose knew that wasn't a suggestion, judging by the look on his face.

Castle and Beckett had just got back to the precinct, Kate was getting Ryan and Esposito to look up the description of the man in the purple suit after talking to the news vendor who fortunately wasn't serious scolded and Lanie was trying to ID the man who had walked under the 8.10 bus to Times Square.

"Hey, Beckett, you'll never believe who the witnesses say the guy in the purple suit looks like," Ryan joked.

"Go on, surprise me."

"That actor, you know, that Scottish one, he was in that cop show last year, awful American accent."

Castle looked up. "Yeah, I know the one but I thought his accent was quite good, considering.  It must have been difficult for him, give the man a break.  How's your Scottish accent?"

"Whatever castle.  Not much else to go on really, they all say the same thing, they argued and the deceased stepped in front of the bus, the driver's a bit shaken up, so are half the passengers who got slammed into the seats in front of them.  Luckily there was no-one standing, most people had just got off."

"Keep me posted.  Castle, have you spoken to Pete this morning?"

"Yeah, he had to tell her mother, I don't envy him on that point.  I'm going to call the mayor, he should have had his morning coffee by now.  Have you spoken to Myer's yet?"

"No, not yet, I will do.  I was waiting for a photo of Rose."

"Who's Rose?" Espo asked as he put a report on her desk.

"Rose Tyler.  She went missing last night, her stepfather is a friend of Castle's."

"So who is she then?"

"Ever heard of Vitex?" Castle answered him.

"Oh, she's one of those Tylers?  She went missing?  Sure she's not just sightseeing?"

"We're sure Espo, now can you get back to work?" Kate asked him, looking at her husband.

"I'll send Pete a message, get him to send me a recent photo of Rose," Castle offered.

Mickey and Jake were just getting off the plane, they'd been lucky as still not many people liked to fly long distance via that method of transportation and it was quite expensive but where Rose was concerned, Jake put it on his unlimited Torchwood expense account's credit card.   They got a taxi to Pete's hotel, he'd managed to get them a twin room as with him staying on, there was only a free twin and a double and he didn't think they'd want to share that way.

Jake knocked on Pete's door.

"Jake, Mickey, come in.  Did you get your room key?"

"Yeah, we just threw our baggage in.  Any news?" Jake asked him.

Pete rang for room service to bring a pot of coffee and told them what he'd already said last night and gave them the name of the hotel the conference had taken place in.  Jake said they'd head over and see if anyone remembered anything, even the slightest detail.  He'd had a message from Castle and forwarded a photo of Rose and been told not to bother with the flyers just yet, when Myer's department took over, which they would he'd been assured, they would issue a missing person's report and notices would be sent to every officer in the district and beyond.

It didn't put his mind at ease though, she could be anywhere in the city but this report he'd heard of a man stepping in front of a bus after an argument, that was strange indeed but since the bus would have been moved and the passengers already interviewed, there wasn't much Torchwood could do and he didn't know exactly where it had taken place.  He'd have to ask Castle for more details once the search for Rose started and there had already been over twelve hours of doing nothing.

All that would change now Jake and Mickey were here, they wouldn't give up until she was found safe and well.  They went out to the hotel the conference had taken place in, the doorman vaguely remembered her leaving and thought the cab she got in was called East Side Cabs so all they had to do was locate the base and ask if a driver dropped her off outside her hotel.  They were in luck.

"Yeah, I remember her, English dame, blonde hair, she gave me a large tip when she got out.  I saw in the mirror that two guys were walking towards her, one took her arm, then they were out of view."

"Did you see any cars pull up behind you?" Mickey asked as the cab driver seemed to be having trouble understanding Jake's accent.

"Yeah, come to think of it, a black SUV pulled up as she was paying me."

"Thanks mate," Mickey told him.

"Something wrong?" the driver asked him as they turned to leave.

"We don't know yet."

"I don't want no trouble."

"No trouble, she never got into the hotel, that's all."

At least that was something, Mickey thought as they got a cab back to the hotel to tell Pete.

Meanwhile, Kate had been to see her captain.

"Detective Beckett, the missing woman's stepfather may be very important where they come from but this is the homicide division, not kidnapping.  Go see Myers."

"I called him last night, he said to call him back after midday if she didn't turn up but she's been missing over twelve hours, in our city and we have a responsibility to find her."

"Have you got any evidence she's missing?  Anything that ties her to what happened this morning?"

Kate remained quiet.

"No, I didn't think so detective.  Call Myers again if it makes you feel better but this isn't your case so maybe you can find out why that man stepped in front of that bus earlier?"

"Yes Sir."

"Detective, I understand your concern and you're right, she is in our city but Myer's team are the specialists, leave it to them."

Castle had got the photo of Rose and had downloaded it to Kate's computer, ready to send to missing persons.  He was waiting for the mayor to call him back, he'd had an early meeting.  His phone rang.

"Mr Mayor, thanks for calling me back."

He always called him that except at their weekly poker games.  He quickly explained how Pete Tyler was a very important person back in England and how Rose had been missing for over twelve hours.

"So Rick, what do you want me to do about it?"

"Get Myers and his team, here at the 12th to start looking for her before the 24hr deadline.  Pete Tyler is expanding his operation here in New York, have you heard of Torchwood?"

"You mentioned it before, some English secret organisation."

"Not so secret now, they used to be.  Well, he's been trying to get backers interested in setting up over here, to help other government agencies in strategic operations, undercover work and suchlike, he's got a lot of interest so far.  I was going to speak to you later but since it's come up – he wants your permission to get the city's police chiefs interested in working with them."

"I see.  Well, I'd need to know more but for now, the missing woman is more important and we would expect the English police to go all out if a U.S citizen was lost in their country.  I'll call Myer's chief and tell him to get started looking for her, we want to give Mr Tyler a good impression as we are responsible for their safety while they are guests in our country."

"Thanks, I'll let him know.  See you at the poker game on Friday?"

"You bet Castle, I'm gonna bust your ass."

Castle decided to give his friend that piece of good news.  Pete was slightly relieved and told him what Mickey and Jake had learned.

Rose had decided to delay going out until after lunch since Kilgrave informed her a housekeeper would be arriving shortly, one of the other men had returned from his mission.  She got first-hand experience of how he treated his staff as the poor woman appeared totally under his control as he gave her instructions to go get groceries and then prepare dinner for two, telling one of the men she never heard the name of to give her some cash.

Rose had no idea what Kilgrave did for a living, probably nothing much by the looks of it.  He told the woman to hurry back and sent one of his men to the nearby deli to fetch a late lunch, asking Rose what she wanted.  What she wanted was to get out as fast as she could but instead, went onto the balcony without him telling her as the woman prepared to go back out.

Kilgrave smiled, she was getting the idea and didn't think she would pose much of a problem, she obviously wouldn't want to see anyone come to any harm.  Shame she hadn't been with him earlier then.  He went to join her out on the balcony and going up behind her, put his arms around her waist, kissing her hair.

"Still enjoying the view?"

"Yeah, it's amazing, I can see why you chose the place."

"Yes but you don't want to know how I got the place, do you?"

"No."

She just hoped it wasn't anything bad.  He saw her concern.

"Don't worry, the previous occupier went on a round the world cruise.  I'm not that bad Rose, really."

Rose seriously doubted that.

"It's not my fault people tend to do as I suggest, they just do but you, you're very reluctant.  I hope you're not putting on an act, are you Rose?"

"No, you know I have training, to resist things like that if you really know about me but I'm not that good, I feel compelled to do as you say.  I can't help but try and fight it though."

"I wouldn't expect anything less, that's why I put certain safeguards in place with people who don't have any resistance.  Now why don't you turn around and give me a kiss?"

Rose thought he was rather trying his luck.  Still, it was one thing threatening that someone would jump off the roof if she tried to escape and another doing a simple thing like get romantic with him, he must think he was irresistible to women or something and he might not be so nice to her if she failed to comply on that point. She'd had to kiss worse on her undercover missions, this was no different.  She turned to face him as he moved his arms around her neck and kissed her cheek, then put his finger on her lips.

Back at the 12th precinct, Kate had a call from Myers about Rose.

"Really Beckett, have you got the mayor on speed-dial?"

"No but Castle has.  I did try to tell you Rose Tyler was someone very important in her country.  I'll send you her photo shall I?"

Myers huffed down the phone at her as Rose's picture came up in an email link she'd just sent him.

"You keep out of this for now Beckett, I'm warning you, let me do my job."

"Fine but if you don't turn up anything by the weekend, Mr Tyler will bring his own people in."

"Is that a threat?"

"Oh, you don't need me threatening you Myers, trust me, when Torchwood come to town, you'll know about it."

Castle was watching his wife, then had a brilliant idea.

"Kate, why didn't I think of it before?"

"Think of what?"

"What I became recently, a PI.  I get Pete to hire me, it's what I do."

"Great idea, why don't you call him?"

"Yeah and what do I usually do when I get stuck on something?"

Kate shook her head.  "Forget it Castle, the captain says we can't get involved.  We don't know anything, she could be perfectly OK and shacked up with a good looking guy."

"That's not her style according to Pete and his two men learned something this morning."

"What?"

"That two men approached her when she'd paid the taxi driver, he saw one of them take her by the arm and they'd just pulled up in a car behind the cab."

She stopped what she was doing.

"Seriously Castle?  Why didn't you say something?"

"Because you said this wasn't your case and to let Myers and his team get on with it, so I did."

She picked her desk phone up to call Myers, then decided against it, they'd work that out for themselves, wouldn't they?  Still, the sooner Rose was found the better so she reluctantly passed the information on to one of his team.  Pete had been contacted by a detective called Kirsch and he'd given a description of Rose and what she'd been wearing and was told her picture would go out to patrol officers shortly.  He was also asked if it was likely she would be with anyone, to which Pete had repeated what he'd already said, she didn't know anyone.

Castle was quite pleased with himself on his idea, it had been a while since he'd been to his office so he made his way there, a short distance from the precinct and thought he'd gone through the wrong door.  He heard a noise coming from what he thought was his private office, to see his daughter, Alexis in a business dress just about to come out.

"Dad?  What are you doing here?  I thought you were helping Beckett again?"

"Never mind what I'm doing here, why are you here, dressed like that and what have you done to the place?"

"I had nothing to do and I was bored so I got your keys and made a few alterations."

"Alexis, you can't operate without a PI licence."

"I don't need to Dad, I don't actually do any investigating, I just take petty cases like missing cats.  Joking.  I've not actually had any paying clients, I was just wanting something to do.  Can I be your secretary?   If I'd got a case, I would have called you but I wanted to surprise you."

"Ok, you can help for now but no missing cats, OK?  We have a real case anyway, well not yet, I have a call to make."

"Oh good, what kind of case?"

"A missing person."

"Really?  I get a missing person on my first proper day?  Who is it?"

"Pete Tyler's stepdaughter, Rose."

Chapter 4

Castle made the call to Pete Tyler, who hadn't even been aware his old friend had a PI licence.

"Yeah Pete, I got it a while back when I got banned from working with the 12th.  So, do you want to hire me then?"

"If it means finding Rose then I'm all for it Rick.  Someone called me about an hour ago, did Kate get them moving?"

"More like the mayor since they wouldn't have done anything until later and we're wasting time.  Right, I have that photo you sent me of Rose and your boys have seen the taxi driver, I'll come and have a word with the doorman at your hotel."

"I've already seen him, he never even saw her get out of the taxi let alone two men with her.  It makes me wonder if his attention was diverted on purpose but it could have been taken advantage of, if the two men in the car noticed he wasn't looking in their direction.  The cab driver didn't see a lot and they would have known that as well."

"I don't have much to go on then but if I concentrate around the area of the hotel, the word should have gone out now for all patrol officers to be on the lookout for her.  I have a few contacts who may know men who take on jobs like abducting people, leave it with me."

Pete had no choice, it was all he could do stopping Jackie getting on the next plane over.  Kate was getting no nearer solving who the man in the purple suit was except he looked like an actor she'd never heard of despite Castle's defence of the man but Ryan thought they could use that to their advantage.

"Just think about it Beckett, the witnesses said he had a scruffy beard, just find some photos of the guy with a scruffy beard and get patrols to ask around the area the incident took place, it may get people thinking."

"Yeah Ryan and it may just happen the actor is in town filming something and we arrest the wrong guy.  Just run photos through the database with his general description and eliminate the actor, whatever his name is."

"Right, I'll get on it.  Any news from Myers about the missing woman?"

"No, not yet, Castle got this crazy idea of getting involved as a PI, he's gone to his office."

"Maybe he'll have more luck than Myers then?" Ryan smiled.

Kate was hoping so, she was worried for the woman, lost in a big city probably twice the size of her home town.  Who would want to kidnap her though and why here in New York, why not at home?  Still, this wasn't her case but it wouldn't rest with her, if she could just find a connection, she could help her husband find Rose.

An hour later, Ryan stood in front of her desk.  "I've got good news and bad news."

"Go on, get it over with.  Has that actor been spotted in town?"

"No, no-one has applied for permission to make a film or a TV series but here's something very interesting, I've found another look-alike.   Seems there's a British or rather Scottish detective in a small town on the south coast of England who solved a young boy's murder a while back, he was in the news again when the killer walked free from court."

"So what has he got to do with it?" Kate asked wearily.

"Nothing but it's another person we can rule out, at least he has an alibi," Ryan grinned.  "How many double does that actor have?"

"How do I know Ryan?  Just see what else you can find."

Kevin Ryan did a mock salute and went back to the desk he shared with his partner.

"Draw a blank Ryan?" Espo asked him teasingly.

"No, not as such, you?"

"You're wasting your time bro, that actor could have a dozen doubles and we know it's not him, Castle's daughter has a crush on him, she'd know if he was in town."

Alexis did indeed keep track of her favourite actor, after being disappointed her father had not allowed her to go to a Canadian island to watch him filming a cop series.  As soon as Castle had mentioned some witnesses had said who the man in the purple suit looked like, she was jumping up and down.

"But Dad, it can't be him, I'd know if he was here filming or making any appearances, it has to be someone else."

"I knew it wouldn't be that easy," Castle told her.  "That can be your job then, see how many men there are that look like him."

Pleased with himself, he called Pete to see how things were with him.

After lunch, Rose had asked Kilgrave if they could go out, thinking by now her stepfather would have had 'Missing Persons' onto the fact she'd not returned to the hotel last night and some keen eagle-eyed officer would spot her and challenge him but there was no telling what Kilgrave would do.

"You," Kilgrave turned to one of the men sitting by the door after telling them to wait for further instructions, "Go shopping with her and get her whatever she wants but if she's not in the car in two hours and back here, your friend will slam his head into the door."

"Yes Sir."

Rose wondered if he'd actually do it but didn't want to even chance it.   She'd had other missions where people around her were in danger but nothing like this, anyone could suffer if she didn't comply with his instructions.

"Well, what are you waiting for Rose?  Go do what women do so well, go shopping but remember what I just said?"

"Ok, I'll be back in two hours then."

"If anyone's looking for you, if they approach you, you tell them you're fine and you'll go back to your hotel on your own when you've finished shopping or this man here will step into traffic.  Got it?"

"Yeah, I get it.  I thought you were coming with me?"

"I have other things to do and shopping's not my 'thing' anyway, have fun at your new friend's expense, I expect to see lots of shopping bags with 'Macy's' on them."

She thought that was a suggestion, not an option.  She decided she had no real choice but to go along with this maniac, he wasn't out to hurt her but plainly he wouldn't think twice about getting someone else to hurt themselves if she didn't comply.  She went to get a jacket and her purse, well her empty purse since her mobile and wallet were both missing.  She was about to leave when he came up behind her and spun her around.

"You weren't going to leave without giving me a kiss were you honey?"

"No, of course not babe, I haven't gone anywhere yet."

Rose felt embarrassed as Kilgrave insisted on kissing her properly in front of the two men.  She had definitely kissed worse than this man who thought he looked good in purple and was a bit of a ladies man, well in his opinion but none of her other assignments had been as dangerous.

"Don't forget, two hours and it's now 1.55."

Rose hated being on a shopping deadline.  If she was spotted, she'd have to insist she was perfectly ok and convince the officer concerned she was out on her own free will though she doubted Pete would believe that.

The next day they were getting nowhere in the missing persons department, Castle's contacts had drawn a blank and neither Alexis or Ryan had uncovered any more actor look-a likes except Alexis had found the Scottish detective interesting.

"Dad, this detective, over in England, he could be the one they based that cop series on."

"Really?  What was his name then?"

"He's called Alec Hardy and he had something wrong with his heart but he got a pacemaker fitted last year.  It says he fooled his superiors in two different places before being caught out when he collapsed, chasing a suspect."

"Sneaky, sounds like my kind of detective.  I wonder if Pete has any contacts in the British police?"

"What are you thinking Dad?"

"Well, if Myers and his team are getting nowhere and Beckett's not allowed to get involved in Rose's disappearance unless she finds a connection to that man's death, poor Rose is still out there somewhere, on her own."

Rose had been out again with one of the men going with her and being back on time but Kilgrave remained elusive, she didn't know if he went out or stayed in but he was there when she got back, greeting her with another kiss, which Rose thought was rather taking liberties at her expense.  That night though, things were about to change for her when she went to get ready for bed.

Kilgrave knocked on the door but walked right in without her calling.  Fortunately, Rose wasn't quite undressed and she pretended she was heading for the bathroom anyway, grabbing her nightdress and dressing gown.

"You're not going to be shy in front on me are you Rose?" he asked as the door closed behind her.

Was he planning on staying? she asked herself as she washed her face and looked in the mirror, reaching for her toothbrush.  She hoped not but when she ran out of things to delay her going back into the bedroom, she saw he was already in her bed, propped up on the pillows, his arms behind his head, a purple t-shirt showing, thankfully, Rose was relieved to see and grinning at her in her dressing gown.

"I think it's time to step up our new relationship Rose, I'm tired of sleeping on my own.  Nothing to say?  Good."

What could she say?  She'd had assignments where she'd had to kiss a bloke and pretend she was his girlfriend but she'd managed to fend them off and either go back home or to a hotel and not spend the night with them but she was in dangerous territory here.  She took off her robe, thankful she'd grabbed one of the more modest nightdresses and got into bed though he'd got in the side she preferred.  He'd so far only kissed her but she had a feeling that was about to change.

She'd not really put up much of a resistance but what could she do?  He knew he couldn't completely control her mind but she had to give the impression to him that she was willing to comply to some degree and that she couldn't completely resist doing what he asked.  From the looks of things, he seemed to assume that include going to bed with him.

She wondered how many other women he'd managed to trap who weren't as resistant as she was.  He turned out the bedside lamp with his outstretch arm then took his t-shirt off, turning towards her as she lay on her back, she dare not turn away from him.  Why was she still a little scared of him though?  He wasn't likely to hurt her physically but he may turn nasty and force her to have sex with him, which she certainly didn't want so maybe if she played his game and got him to take it slowly, making it seem she was interested in him, she may just be able to fend him off long enough to get out of his grip and get him arrested for kidnapping her.

That was it though, he'd got someone else to do the kidnapping, two men she could only describe since Kilgrave never mentioned their names, very carefully and he'd ordered them to do the kidnapping, they were completely under his control.  So if she got away, he'd get off on a technicality since Kilgrave may not even be his real name.  She felt him running his finger up and down her arm, probably initiating he wanted some response from her.

"Rose, turn around love?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something.  I have a young stepbrother, I've not seen him for almost a week."

"I had no-one when I was being dragged up.  My parents ran experiments on me."

Was he trying to make her feel sorry for him?

"Sorry.  Is that your real name, Kilgrave?"

"Does it matter?  That's who I am now Rose.  Are you really Rose Tyler?  Is anyone who they say they are?"

"I'm a Tyler by adoption, I don't think about my past."

"Exactly my point Rose, we both have pasts we'd rather forget.  You don't hate me do you?"

"No, I don't hate you."  She knew better than to bring up the subject of how he treated other people though.

He leaned over, putting a finger on her cheek.  "Please Rose, turn around."

She turned onto her side and he kissed her cheek, making Rose shiver and not because she welcomed it, she had to do this to ensure she'd be returned where she belonged when he got what he wanted, which was probably control of Torchwood, that could be the only reason she was here.  He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her into a kiss.   Before she knew what was happening, he pulled her onto him and continued the kiss.

The search for Rose was scaled down over the weekend though patrols still had her photo.  Saturday morning, Jake and Mickey were visiting Castle in his office, impressed with what his daughter had done to the place.

"So Castle, anything new?" Mickey asked him.

Alexis was eyeing Jake, thinking he was cute.  Castle knew his daughter was barking up the wrong tree but he didn't want to spoil her fun.

"No but I've been thinking, about what Alexis discovered about this detective over in England."

"Yeah, Pete mentioned something, he's going to call his friend, the police commissioner on Monday, if you think he could be of use."

"Well, you know I said about that guy in the purple suit?  No-one's seen him since so why was he arguing with that man the other morning?   How can someone who wears outlandish clothes become invisible?"

"So what's this Alec Hardy got to do with it?" Mickey asked.

"He solved an old case that got away from him and found a girl who'd been missing for a few years."

"Alive?" Jake asked, amused that Castle's daughter was making eyes at him.

"No, not exactly but that's not the point.  If I can get some connection between this purple man and Rose's disappearance, I can get Beckett involved."

"How are we gonna do that Castle?" Mickey asked him.

"He has to be somewhere, I wanted to suggest this weekend, you kept a lookout for him around the area that accident took place, maybe the guy was out to get coffee or something?  Witnesses say he did cross the road when the traffic stopped."

"OK then, give us the name of the street and we'll head over.  How come your wife's not on the case?" Mickey asked him.

"She's a homicide detective, let's hope we don't need her involved?"

"Yeah, I get your point but she's supposed to be a good detective according to Pete, maybe if he made a personal plea to her captain?"

"Good luck with that, you don't know Captain Gates.  She's in charge of homicide and like I said, we don't want to get them involved.  Come to think of it, the department is robbery and homicide though."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jake asked him, wishing the red-head would stop looking at him.

"Nothing.  We need a connection to get her involved."

Pete was feeling helpless sitting in his hotel room after trying again to stop his wife worrying.  Jackie had argued again that she should join him and he'd promised if after a week Rose had not been found, he'd consider it.

Rose had woken up alone, thankfully but heard movement in the bathroom. "Cheek," she thought, "he could have gone to the other bathroom."

"Good morning Rose, rise and shine," he greeted her before she could get out of bed and making her move over.

He suddenly hovered over her, pinning her down and going for her neck that made Rose want to scream but she just lay where she was, trying to smile.  He had been satisfied last night with the kissing though she'd had to lay on him and there was more than kissing on his mind, that she knew for a fact.  She'd had to lay on his bare chest though there was only the dim light from outside but now, it was daylight, she could see the hairs on his chest he was now pressing into her.

He continued kissing her neck then moved one of the straps down her arm, kissing her shoulder and revealing more as he made his way down, pulling her nightdress lower and kissing the top part of her breast.  Rose just wanted to throw him off her but if this stopped him doing anything else or at least delayed it, she had to make the sacrifice because she'd never given in to a man before, not even when she'd gone out with Mickey and she certainly didn't want to give in to him.

Kilgrave looked up for a second, seeing the smile she was putting on and proceeded to move to the other side and repeating what he'd just done.

"Now, that's what I call a start to the morning.  I hope you slept well?"

"Yeah, I did, thanks."

She wanted to add when he'd stopped snogging her but kept quiet.

"I thought we could go out later, would you like that?"

"Yeah, thanks.  Where are you taking me?"

"Oh, where there are lots of people.  How about Central Park?  We could take a boat ride and then go on the carousel."

"Sounds great.  Can we get breakfast now?"

"In a little while, there's no hurry, the housekeeper will keep it warm for us.  I've given the two men the weekend off, we've got the place to ourselves and the cupboards are all stocked up, I'll send the housekeeper away until Monday.  Do you like to cook Rose?"

"Sometimes, I'd like to cook for you."

Could she sabotage his food?  He wouldn't be that stupid to have something in the apartment for her to do that, would he?

"I know you would my fair Rose but don't get any ideas because we're on our own, I've put precautions in place if you go wandering off when we take our trip."

Rose shouldn't have expected anything else.  Suddenly, he rolled onto his back, pulling her with him.

"Oh, where are my manners?  Your turn sweetheart, come and lay on me."

Rose was balancing on one arm when he pulled her nightdress even lower, exposing even more of her breasts and smiling at her.  As he pulled her onto him, skin touched skin and one of his hands was on the back of her leg and the other on the small of her back as he went to kiss her again.   She knew she was letting him do too much but how did she stop him?  The whole sensation wasn't unpleasant, it was just the man she was with.  She should be still trying to struggle with him but he'd hurt her and she knew it.

Did he indeed think she was really enjoying this?  If he thought she wasn't enjoying it, he could slap her or worse and force himself on her.  She'd never been in this kind of situation before despite her training and other assignments but this time she was being held against her will and this was totally different.

With his arms around her, she began to kiss her way across his slightly hairy chest as he lay back, enjoying the feeling that here was a woman who was not under his full control and was willing to go along with him without him threatening her or forcing her.  He knew of course he would never get her under his full control but by continuing to use the people around her, he could assure she would keep him satisfied, not like that Hope he'd just let go, she had been useless in bed and he'd soon got tired of her, constantly having to tell her what to do, Rose seemed to have more of an idea.

He moved her back onto the pillow.

"That was very enjoyable Rose though we should go get breakfast I suppose? Tonight, you can make something nice for dinner and we can open a bottle of wine then, you can get into one of the other nightdresses I had brought in for you and we can lay on the sofa.  Oh, don't be so shy getting dressed in front of me will you?"

"Of course not, I won't be shy in front of you tonight.  I need the bathroom."

"Don't let me stop you then but why don't you make a start?"

Rose got out of bed, volunteering to give him another kiss then went to her drawer and took out her underwear.  Kilgrave smiled – at least it was a start he supposed, seeing her in her underwear.

Chapter 5

Rose was trying to delay as much as she could, maybe he'd get out of bed, get dressed and be out of the bedroom with any luck.  He'd expect her to get undressed in front of him tonight so she had to be sneaky without him getting suspicious she was trying to avoid doing so, how long could she keep doing that though?  He was just putting on his jacket as she came out of the bathroom, he'd been waiting for her but at least she had her underwear on.

As promised, he sent the new housekeeper off, telling her to be back at seven thirty on Monday morning and have breakfast ready for eight thirty and she was to tell no-one where she'd been working or for who or she'd meet with an unfortunate accident and when she got outside, she was to act normally.  Rose wondered if anyone acted 'normally' after being under his control but she had to hope there would be an end to all this and soon.  At least it was Saturday, no men to watch over her and Kilgrave was taking her out but he'd already warned her about trying to get away and he'd surely do something drastic if she did.

They were on their way to Central park after getting into a cab just after eleven as Jake, Mickey and Castle finished their meeting, Castle having given the other two the name of the street where the man stepped under a bus.  They missed Rose coming out of the apartment block and into a taxi by twenty minutes.

Rose walked hand in hand with Kilgrave through the park, she was surprised he knew how to handle a rowing boat and they spent a while on the water, stopping only when he decided his arms were getting tired and then going for some lunch, which surprisingly, he paid for, much to Rose's amusement.  Then they made their way to the carousel and he actually waited for it to stop and waited his turn, helping Rose on then getting on behind her, holding her around the waist, well as high as he dare without risking getting arrested Rose thought.

Kate had checked in with Castle and he decided to risk asking her to have another word with the captain.

"You want me to do what Castle?  Seriously?  She won't get involved, you know that."

"Then just ask her to meet with Pete then, let him explain how important this is and he wants the NYPD's best detective on the case – you.  It's not exclusively the homicide division, is it?  You cover robbery as well."

"What are you getting at Castle?"

"Well, Pete's been robbed of his stepdaughter."

Kate laughed.  "You won't get away with that but I'll try and talk to her before she leaves for the weekend."

"Thanks Kate, I've just met with Pete's men, Jake and Mickey.  You should have seen Alexis, she thought Jake was cute but she's on the wrong bus."

That made Kate smile.  "The captain's about to leave, I'd best catch her now.  So what's your crazy idea?"

"That we get a British detective over to help look for Rose."

"Oh, you mean the Scottish one?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"She won't go for it Castle, I'm telling you."

"Well you won't know until you ask."

"Why can't the detective work with you?"

"I'm only a PI, he won't work with me."

Kate hung up and knocked on Captain Gate's door as she was getting her jacket.

"What is it detective?  I have to go meet my mother-in-law who has just come to town and wants to have lunch."

Kate thought her boss would be glad to get out of it.

"Sir, about Castle's friend's missing daughter."

"Have you found a connection to that man stepping in front of a bus?"

"Well, not exactly but maybe to the man seen with him, the man in the purple suit."

She hoped she would get away with this crazy theory that three unconnected men looked alike.  She'd learned from another witness that the man who had been arguing with the deceased had an English accent, so much so, Ryan wanted to arrest the actor they'd been talking about, if he hadn't been elsewhere.

"Sir, the man had a British accent, Rose Tyler is British."

"That's all you got?" the captain asked her, picking up her purse and putting it on her shoulder.

"No, well he looks like that Scottish actor and stranger still, there's a Scottish detective, working in England who looks like both of them."

Victoria Gates stared at Kate, reaching for her chair.  She was going to miss her lunch date but she hadn't been that keen on the prospect.

"Don't tell me, Castle put you onto this, didn't he?"

"Well partly, he thinks it's a strange coincidence.  Can I ask Rose Tyler's stepfather to come and see you on Monday morning?  He has connections with the British police, he may be able to get the detective to come over, he might know who the man in the purple suit is."

There, she'd done it, she'd connected Rose Tyler to the man in the purple suit and without any help from Castle!

"Oh, very well then detective, have Mr Tyler come and see me on Monday morning and if he can call the British police and get their co-operation then all well and good but he's not to do anything about it until I've spoken to him.  Why would a man with a British accent be arguing with someone who was about to step under a bus?"

"We still have units canvassing the area at the intersection where the incident took place, maybe the man came from one of the apartment buildings?"

"Has the victim been identified?"

"Yes, his name was Justin Hall, 35, single, no convictions and he lived in Queens, so what he was doing there, we don't know, maybe he was going to work."

"Have officers canvas the businesses then, see if anyone there has seen a man in a purple suit."

"Yes Sir."  Kate was quite pleased with herself.

Jake and Mickey were looking around the area by the intersection, ready to show their Torchwood ID to any officer who challenged them but with it being a Saturday, there weren't that many of them around.   Jake had enough and suggested they went into a coffee shop across the road and they ordered, Mickey lingering at the counter.

"Hey, I don't suppose there's a man comes in here wearing a purple suit by any chance?"

The woman behind the counter looked at him like he had two heads.  Then a young girl came out of the back with their order.

"Yeah, I saw a man in a purple suit the other morning, just after that accident."

"Really?  Was he English, like me?"

"Well his accent was funny, a bit like yours.  He ordered two coffees to go and some breakfast pastries."

"Had you seen him before or since?" Mickey asked her, sitting down.

"No but there was something odd about him, like when he was looking at you, it was weird."

"Thanks."

"So Mickey, are you thinking the same as me?" Jake asked him.

"Yeah, that he was buying for two people, Rose maybe?"

"We have to call Pete, when we finished eating, I'm starving.  Why would Rose be with him though?"

"Come on Jake, Doctor look-alike, actor look-alike, what do you think?"

"Yeah but Alexis said the actor's not in town, well not that she knows and trust me, she'd know.  Did you see the way she was looking at me?"

Mickey grinned, knowing his friend had been uncomfortable with the redhead watching his every move.

"So, the actor's not in town, we know where the Doctor is and that detective's in a small town called Broadchurch.  Are we sure there are no more of them?  We have to get back to the hotel and look deeper in the Torchwood files since there's nothing in the police database but there wouldn't be would there, if he was English?"

They got back to the hotel and told Pete what they'd discovered, thinking now, they maybe had their connection but no nearer discovering the man's identity.

"Right, I'll call Castle and get him up to date, see if Kate's got anywhere while you two do a deep search of the Torchwood files for anyone who looks like the Doctor. Why did we never know there was another one?"

"We weren't looking, remember?  Rose was satisfied she'd never meet either of them though that actor narrowly missed out, shame Rose got here a year after he started dating his now wife," Jake smirked.   "Plus, she only heard of the detective after that murder case and he was on the news, before that, we never bothered because Rose wasn't."

"True I suppose but we have to start looking now so you two make a start."

"Right boss," Mickey grinned.

"What's so funny?" Pete asked him.

"Ask Castle's daughter."

Pete intended to.  He got through to his friend, who had some good news for him.

"Hey Pete, Kate talked her captain into meeting with you on Monday morning.  You might want to have your police contact's number over there handy."

"Good, I'll be there and Jake and Mickey turned something up."

"Oh, you mean the man in the purple suit had an English accent?" Castle asked him, thinking he'd beaten them to it.

"Well yeah but they tracked down a coffee shop, he was in there shortly after that accident, buying coffee and pastries for two."

"Was he now, that's interesting."

"Mickey and Jake reckon it was no coincidence and think the other person he was buying for was Rose."

"Really?  What makes them think that?"

"Because he's that actor's double, Rose had a crush on him until he got married and if this purple guy looks like him, she would be easily swayed to go with him."

"Is that the only reason Pete?  Does she know that detective?"

"No but she used to know someone else who looked like him, a long time ago and I swear Rick, I can't tell you who that was no matter how much I want to, the file is sealed by Torchwood.  She still misses him and since the actor in unobtainable, if she met this other bloke that looked like him, she could have got carried away with it."

"For a few days?  Do you think he's holding her against her will?"

"I doubt it, he wouldn't have met with much resistance but why hasn't she contacted me?  She must know I'd worry about her, all she had to do was pick up the phone and tell me, her mother and I make allowances for her, she was pretty distraught when she lost her friend."

"Did he die Pete?" Castle asked him.

"No, he went away, they got separated and Rose didn't take it well, we had to send her somewhere quiet, to a health resort to calm her down.  She said she kept hearing his voice everywhere, even had us trail all the way up to Norway, saying his voice told her to go and when we got there, to a deserted beach, nothing.  We stayed for two days then we had to practically drag her home, it didn't end well."

It was the story he and Jake had come up with to explain Rose being a recluse after she'd said goodbye to the Doctor at Bad Wolf Bay.

"I'm sorry Pete, I had no idea, she seems to be doing well now though."

"She does her best Rick, for her younger brother's sake, it helped when he came along.  Anything else I need to know?"

"No, that's about it, I think they'll tone it down until Monday and I'll have Kate pass that information to the detective in charge but with a bit of luck, she'll be able to take over from Monday and having a British detective here may help speed things along.  It has to be connected Pete.  It sounds like one of my plots, a young heiress goes off with her boyfriend's double when she can't accept he's gone."

"He wasn't exactly her boyfriend Rick, they were very close though, they went everywhere together and she still misses him, maybe enough to get holed up in an apartment or a hotel with his twin.  That's a thought, have the police shown Rose's photo to hotels near to the accident?"

"I'll ask Kate and it not, I'll have her get on to it on Monday.  I think the captain will have no choice now but to insist Kate takes this over, which is what we wanted, though not the fact we had to get homicide involved."

"I know Rick but we have some clues now, more than we did a few days ago.  I have to call her mother now, she'll not be pleased Rose went off with her friend's double."

Pete wasn't wrong about that.

"What?  You mean there's another version of himself out there?  Poor Rose will be having a breakdown.  How could you not know about it Pete?"

"Calm down love.  I've got Jake and Mickey searching the Torchwood files for any signs of another man who looks like the Doctor, we thought there were only two but now, we know there's a third and now we know he's English, we can rule out the Americans and use our databases, not the NYPD's."

"So, you think Rose is with this other man?  Why would she do that?"

"Jackie, you know what she was like when we got back from Norway.  Then when the dimension cannon failed as she was preparing to go back to find him, well, I suspect she never got over it.  Maybe she met him outside the hotel, maybe he was in that car when those two men grabbed her the other day?  She might have gone willingly, she's been in the papers, he may have wanted to meet her and she got so caught up in it, she never realised."

"Or maybe he was the one who kidnapped her Pete."

"We've already considered that.  Now we know more, well, I'm hoping they'll put Kate on the case from Monday."

"I thought she was in homicide?"

"Well she is but this man, he's been connected to a man who was killed a few days ago, we think now it's all connected."

"She'll be ok, won't she Pete?  If she was kidnapped, why have there been no demands?"

"That's a good point Jackie, Detective Myers and his team asked me the same thing but I think whoever has her is waiting for something, what, we don't know.  If he's after getting control of Torchwood, he's in for a very big shock, he's got no idea what he's up against."

Rose and Kilgrave had got back from their day out in central park, Kilgrave keeping a tight gri p on her the whole time and if he got a glimpse of a uniform, they'd stop and kiss or he would pull her close and hold her tight.  She knew she couldn't call out, Kilgrave was totally unstable in her opinion, she'd no idea what he was fully capable of, she'd only seen a small demonstration with a few people but central park was packed with families, he could do anything to any of them, even an innocent child.  She just dare not do anything to anger him.

Then it struck her, he was using her fear of angering him into doing something to others to get her to comply, he'd never harm her personally, she was too valuable an asset to him, it was plain he wanted Torchwood and was banking on the fact Pete would do anything to get her back but Kilgrave didn't know how powerful the organisation really was.  They may be away from home but all it would take was one call to the mayor of the city with some story the cover-up department came up with and they could just walk in and Pete would do it.

That was partly why they'd been here in the first place, to establish a base of operations and help the police and security services without any fuss and bother and it had gone well so far – well until she'd got herself kidnapped.  Yeah, well done for that Rose, she told herself.

Rose was preparing a simple meal of pasta and making the sauce when Kilgrave came up behind her and taking the stirring spoon from her, put his finger on it and tasted it.

"A bit more Rose?" he commented.

Rose picked up the jar and indicated she wanted the spoon back.  Kilgrave just grinned.  It reminded her of the Doctor with his fingers in the marmalade jar.  She turned and smiled at him.

"That's better," he told her as she scooped more sauce in and tasting it again.   "Why don't I stir this for you and you go choose something nice to wear?  Then I'll light the candles on the table shall I?"

"OK, I'll find something nice to wear for you."

"You do that and nothing underneath, well you can wear your underwear of course, for now," he grinned.  He saw the look on her face.  "Relax Rose, I'm joking love, I wouldn't do that to you, degrade you like that, I know you're a person, not a sex object.  I just want you to look nice and appreciate you while I eat dinner.  Can you do that for me?"

"Yes, I can do that for you if it pleases you.  I'd really like to know what to call you, instead of Kilgrave or 'babe'?"

"You can call me Kevin, that was the name I was given though goodness knows how I hate it but if it makes you feel better, I'll make an exception but don't call me 'Kev' it makes me sound like a footballer."

"OK Kevin, I'll go get changed for you then."

"Something nice and low-cut eh?"

Rose kissed his cheek and handed him the spoon.  She could feel herself losing more of the self-control she'd had a few days ago but being out with him today, wondering what he'd do if she stepped one foot out of place, he'd even waited at the entrance to the ladies room for her and had told her she had five minutes or he'd send someone in after her and she'd been scared he'd make that someone pay for her delay so she'd been out in four.

He was getting to her, making her afraid of what he'd do if she ever said no to him and she hated it, hated him for making her this way, her, Rose Tyler - defender of the earth and Doctor's companion who had fought off Daleks and Cybermen without batting an eyelid, who'd defeated Slitheen and seen off werewolves and zombies.  She'd been reduced to this, giving in to his every whim and she had to make it look like she was doing it freely and also enjoying it.

She went off to get changed, wondering if she put a very low bra on she'd get away with it but doubted it, unless she got to the bathroom first and got changed into the nightdress he wanted her to wear to lay on the sofa with him later but he may not even want her to go get changed right away.  She took it off and tossed it in the laundry basket and changed her underwear then went to the wardrobe, looking at herself in the mirror.   She liked to keep herself in good shape and he surely wouldn't be complaining about her figure.  She chose a light blue figure hugging dress with a low v-neck and stepped into it, struggling with the zip and wondered if 'Kevin' wanted to help her with it but decided to struggle instead, he'd surely be keen to unfasten it later though.   She heard a tap on the door and it opened slightly.

"Rose, honey, dinner is ready, I've served it up on the plates.  You weren't trying to hide from me again, were you?"

She turned around.  How did he guess?  "No Kevin, I was having trouble with the zip."

"Oh, you should have said then, here, let me take a look."

He went up behind her, looking at her in the mirror and liking what he saw so far. He pulled the zip slightly until it was right at the top, well where it stopped, halfway down her back.

"You look very nice Rose, blue is definitely your colour love.  Why don't you find a nice necklace and I'll fasten it for you?"

"OK, I'll find a pearl necklace then shall I?"

"You do that then join me at the table before the food goes cold."

What she really wanted to do was pull a pearl off and drop it in his food but he'd more than likely spot it though if she put it in the pasta?  She stored the idea away for future reference and decided she'd have to come up with a few more ideas before she lost the will to fight him and just gave in, which she would if she wasn't extremely careful.  She grabbed the necklace and went out to him as he was pouring some red wine.  He put the bottle down and took the necklace, standing behind her and kissing her neck.

After their meal was finished, he told her to leave the dishes and lie on the sofa with him and sure enough, he pulled the zip down but didn't pull the dress away at the front right away.  Rose thought he was saving that for later and was glad she'd opted to do as he asked and not defy him.

Chapter 6

Nothing was ever going to be the same for Rose.  She was trying her best to resist Kilgrave but his grip on her was getting stronger and she knew it.  Despite having her training from Torchwood plus the remains of the 'Bad Wolf' virus, he was getting to her.  She couldn't explain it, it was more like she feared what he would do, it was a simple enough technique, not hurting or threatening her but the people around her.  Anything could have happened in the park which was why she'd complied with his every wish so far but now, the time had come he'd want things to get physical and she wasn't sure how long she could pretend she was shy or prevent herself from lashing out at him.

That wouldn't do her any good though, he may resort to actually harming her or tell her to choose someone to hurt and she couldn't bring herself to do that. Kilgrave still hadn't pulled her dress away at the front as they continued kissing though Rose had somehow managed to unfasten all his shirt buttons without realising she'd done it and without him telling her to, which surprised him as much as it did her.

"Rose, this is very pleasant I must say but I think you should go change into that nightdress now and don't be long will you?"

"OK Kevin, I'll go and change, I'll be back before you know it."

"Good, I'll wait here and pour us some more wine shall I?"

"Yeah, I'd like some more wine."

She really wanted to get totalled so at least she could say she didn't know what she was doing but he wouldn't let her do that.  He'd want her fully aware of what he was doing to her, he must have done the same to other women but she had some advantage over them – she wasn't completely under his control just yet and that was probably what was stopping him.  He'd soon realise she was putting some of this on but if he already knew, he wouldn't be too worried yet as she'd done everything he'd said so far.

She went to get changed, not daring to linger for too long, she'd got away with the dress zip by purposely not pulling it all the way up.  As he waited, Kilgrave poured some more wine and put it on the glass coffee table and then took off his shirt, since Rose had already saved him time by undoing the buttons, without him asking.

He knew she was still trying to resist him but she was weakening, he could tell.  He thought back to Jessica, how she'd resisted him towards the end so he'd have to watch out for signs Rose was doing the same.  He hadn't figured out just how Jessica had broken free but he'd heard nothing about her since his 'accident' and he'd been about to look her up and torment her but Rose Tyler had come to his attention, along with details a while back on how she would be coming to the city for a series of meetings, though the dates and times had been kept quiet until they'd actually arrived last week and the meetings had been split up for some reason or another.

He lay back against the cushions, taking a sip of wine then putting the glass back and unzipped his suit trousers, he meant business tonight and he was going to show her.  It had been pleasant enough fooling around but he missed female company and he would have normally gone and picked a woman up in a bar or somewhere and dumped her the next morning but with Rose here, well he'd give her a choice – be with him or watch as he had sex with whomever he picked up and she wouldn't want that.

He didn't think it would come to that though, she was already showing signs of giving in to him by being the one to take the lead.  Rose had just got the lowest cut nightdress she could find in the drawer and put it on, looking in the mirror.  It didn't leave much to Kilgrave's imagination.  She rather thought that was point in his telling her to put it on.  As she went back into the living room, ideas of getting out of there were going through her head such as where he kept the keys to get out, where her mobile and wallet were and how far she could get and since his staff wouldn't be back until Monday, tomorrow was her best chance.

Then as she approached him, she noticed she could see his shorts as he'd unzipped his trousers and expected some kind of physical contact before taking her to bed. He held out his hand and she took it, kneeling on the edge of the sofa.

"Do you want your wine Kevin?"

"Yes, the one on the right, I had a sip while I was waiting for you, you took your time."

"I wanted to freshen myself up for you, I thought it would please you?"

"Well don't take so long next time or I'll have to start watching you all the time although I could go for that.  I understand you want to do some things in private Rose so for now, you can undress down to your lingerie in front on me can't you?"

"Yes Kevin, I can do that."

She passed his glass to him, wishing she could have an 'accident' and spill it on him but he had her so fearful of what he'd do, she couldn't bear to think what it would be.  She was knelt on the edge of the sofa, her breasts showing over the top of the black nightdress, she wished there had been a negligee' to go with it and she'd looked, hence the delay.

"You look lovely Rose, perhaps the next time you go shopping, maybe you could pick one up in red?"

"Yeah, I'll look for one in red, do you think it's my colour?"

He passed the glass to her and she put them both down and he reached his hand out, running a finger down from her cleavage to her tummy.  The nightdress was split on one side, showing her leg and her hip, he'd probably intended to make sure she wasn't wearing anything underneath but she'd slipped on a pair of very skimpy briefs, he'd said he didn't want her to be a sex object.

"Come here my love, don't be shy, I won't hurt you, I could never hurt you."

"I know that Kevin, I'm just a little shy."

"Then don't be, you want to be with me, don't you Rose?"

"Yes Kevin, I want to be with you.  It's just, well I've had a few boyfriends but never seriously."

"Oh, you've nothing to worry about, I can show you what it's like to be with a real man.  Believe me Rose, I can do things to you even your wildest imagination couldn't come up with but first, let me show you how much pleasure I can give you.  Lay back Rose but first, take my trousers off for me."

Rose found herself doing exactly that, first looking at him, he was very well toned and he knew it and Rose bet he didn't have to really work at it.  She tugged on his trousers, trying not to pull his shorts along with them and pulled them off, tossing them over his shirt where he'd left it. She wondered where the keys were, his bedroom door must be locked, along with the balcony glass sliding door at night and the front door key, he must have them hidden somewhere.

Maybe she could sneak to the kitchen later, saying she needed a drink and look for them but how far would she actually get?  Would she make it downstairs?  She would be in her nightwear anyway, it wouldn't do her any good unless she could slip her robe on but what would she say to anyone on duty in the doorway?  They'd seen her go out with three different men, she'd gone out with Kilgrave earlier, arm in arm so no-one would believe she was being held against her will, they would think she'd had a row with him and laugh at her.

Pete must have alerted the police by now, even if it was only Castle's wife Kate, whom she'd never met and had been looking forward to it until she'd been rudely kidnapped.  Kilgrave was running his fingers on her leg that was exposed, pausing at the thin waistband of her knickers.

"Mmm Rose, I hope there's not much to these?"

"No Kevin, they were the skimpiest I could find, you did say I could wear some?"

"Yes my love, it's allowed – for now.  Now lay back and enjoy the show while I teach you what it's like to be with a real man."

Rose thought she could hardly contain herself – not but as she lay there, his fingers under the waistband and pulling them down on one side then the other, she could feel herself wanting to respond to his rather delicate touch.  She told herself to close her eyes and pretend it was the Doctor who had now pulled both sides down and was about to move his fingers to her rather delicate parts.

Kilgrave had a wicked smile on his face, he could see her reaction and was quite pleased with himself that with Rose, he didn't have to fully control her to see she wanted him to do more as he was tempted to slide the offending article down her legs but decided to torment her and his fingers reached under the material, making her shiver.

"Oh Rose, you do want me to do this, don't you kitten?"

"Yes Kevin, please."

Rose thought she could just pretend to go along with this but as he proceeded, she let out an involuntary moan of pleasure as his fingers moved on her.  Kilgrave smiled at her and leaned down to kiss the top of her breasts and without realising, Rose put her hands on his shoulders to pull him down.

"Tell me what you want Rose."

"I want you Kevin, touch me, please?"

"Oh yes Rose, it will be my pleasure."

Rose thought she was going to come apart as he carried on, lying slightly to one side so he could continue kissing her top half and still reach under the material, her nightdress now raised as the silky material rode up with their movements, then suddenly, she felt him move as he tugged at his shorts and she knew she should try to resist but he had her pinned down with his other hand.

"Rose, sweetheart, you can help if you want?" he asked as he tried to lower the waistband of his shorts with one hand.

"Yes Kevin, here, let me help you."

She tugged on the back and then pulled them down, touching him and making him smile as they came down the other side but he stopped halfway and grinned, meaning to tease her as he went to lay on her, making her squirm, Kilgrave thinking it was with delight and Rose not knowing what it meant.  He was good, she had to give him that and he wasn't forcing himself on her, well not yet but she felt his hand reaching for the gap in his shorts and her heart began to pound.

He reached under the material of her underwear and whispered in her ear.   "Here Rose, shush, let me give you a taste of what I have planned later, when we go to bed."

"I can't wait Kevin, please, show me."

He'd never recently had a woman squirming under him that could actually talk back to him, he'd told the others, including Hope to stay quiet and let him do as he wanted but not now, not with Rose, she was something else.

"Oh, I'll show you Rose, trust me, now here, guide me exactly where you want me my love and tell me you love me."

Rose found herself doing as he asked as first she took his hand and placed it right where she wanted, feeling herself burning and wanting him to touch her.  How could she even think about this?  He was the enemy, her kidnapper and tormentor and was capable of anything, he was so unhinged but as she heard herself then Kilgrave moaning, any thoughts of resisting him going any further went out of her mind as she whispered to him.

"I want you Kevin, please, I want you now."

Kilgrave took her hand and together, they reached for his shorts.

When Rose had come down from her high, Kilgrave moved and pulled his shorts back up and indicated he wanted her to put her arms around his neck, lifting her as she did so and carrying her to the bedroom.

"Stay there my love, I'll be right back."

"Kevin, I need the bathroom first."

"Go ahead, I won't be long."

Rose went into the bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror, her cheeks wet, she couldn't decide if it was what he'd just done to her or if it was she was upset or even annoyed with herself she'd gone along with this.  When she got away from him, which she would eventually, she could only blame herself for participating in his attempt to get her in this state.  If she could rationalise it, convince herself she had no other choice than to go along with it, he had been leading up to it and had given her fair warning.

"Rose," he shouted, laying back with his arms behind his head.  "I'm getting very lonely out here my love.  Hurry up or I may have to come in and get you."

That was it, she thought, that was what he did to make her comply, made her fear what he'd do and it was working, he knew it and she knew what it implied.  He'd not do anything to her but when his so-called 'staff' came back, he could do something to them or simply go outside and pick on another innocent bystander.

"I'll be right out Kevin," she called, hating herself for quickly cleaning herself up and stepping out of her damp underwear, thanks to him making it damp.

Kilgrave heard the bathroom door opening and the light switch being pulled and seeing her standing there, he was daring her to go change her underwear as she looked towards her dresser drawer but instead, she crossed to the bed as he pulled back the bedclothes and patted the side where he'd just moved over.

Rose was getting worried, she should have been to the clinic to get her monthly shot before getting on the plane but she'd seen no need for it, she'd had no intentions of taking up with a man while she was here, she would have been home by now and taken care of it.  She'd not had time to go for her monthly appointment before setting off, she'd been busy at work clearing her appointments and winding up her projects.

She didn't think asking him to be the one to take precautions was an option but she thought she should be safe enough for now and nothing may happen anyway, he might only tease her and get her worked up again like he'd done on the sofa and he'd clearly enjoyed that by the wicked grin on his face.

"Turn the light out love, unless you want me to watch your lovely face as I turn you on again?"

"You can watch me Kevin, if that's what you want?"

"I would very much like to watch you, you looked so relaxed and content when you came back to earth.  I don't think I've ever seen a lovelier sight in my life, you looked like an angel, your face all lit up.  Did you enjoy the sensations I gave you?"

"Yes Kevin, the sensations were wonderful, I've never felt like that before.  Is that what it's like, to be with a real man?"

"Yes Rose but that was only a small taste of what I want to do to you, shall I whisper in your ear and tell you what's in store?" he asked as she lay on her side and put her hand on his shoulder.

Rose didn't think she wanted to know but he would tell her anyway.

"Yes Kevin, tell me what you want to do to me but kiss me first?"

"Oh yes my love, we can kiss first, come here and lay on me."

He pulled her towards him, Rose hoping the nightdress wouldn't have a mind of it's own as she could tell he'd ditched his shorts.  As they kissed, the kisses got deeper than before, lasting much longer as she felt herself sinking her lips into his.  As a man in general, he was very good-looking, very attentive, charming towards her and very fit in more ways than one but she knew deep down he was holding her captive and he'd do anything to get her to give in to him.

Whose fault would it be if she gave him what he wanted, albeit she'd do it out of fear but if she complied with his sexual advances, she would be ultimately responsible for her own actions, she couldn't claim he'd taken her against her will, there was no easy way out of this and he probably knew it as well.  However many women he'd taken to his bed before her, probably against their will while he had them under his control, none of them would have been given the option but she still had some control though not much, not now as they broke the kiss and he lay her on her back, reaching for the hem of her black silky nightdress and she could feel his finger run up the slit and onto her hip then reaching around.

She gasped at his touch, making him smile.  While he'd been waiting for her emerging from the bathroom, he'd gone over in his mind how he wanted to touch her and make her come undone under him and watch her face light up again.  He'd never met anyone like her before, her arms were around his neck as he kissed her cleavage, whispering in her ear now all the things he wanted to do.

"Yes Kevin, please, do all those things to me."

"I will Rose but first, I want to take my time with you my love and I will expect something in return."

Rose got the message and lowered her arms, running her finger down his torso and stopping at his navel, licking her lips.

"Be my guest Rose.  You don't have to ask love."

She pulled him close, indicating she want him to turn onto his back, which he did then she hovered over him, kissing her way across his sparsely hairy chest as she felt his hands on her rear, thankfully her nightdress was still covering her, well just about. As Rose kissed her way across then ventured lower, Kilgrave's fingers were still creeping under the hem of her nightdress and wouldn't take him that much longer, like he was doing it on purpose as if to say he could just do it if he really wanted to but was taking his time.

Rose looked up and smiled then moved down to his belly and began kissing her way across, trying not to think he wasn't wearing any shorts and hoping her nightdress wouldn't decide to crawl up at the front.

"Had enough love?  My turn I think."

"Yes Kevin, that was really nice."

"Yes it was, now it's time that nightdress came off, don't you think?"

He lifted the hem, touching her hips as she tried to sit up, her legs either side of his and letting go of his shoulders, he pulled the garment up in one swift movement as he whistled.

"Wow, you are amazing Rose.  I am really going to enjoy every second of this my love.  Now, lie down for me kitten, I want to kiss you all over."

Rose could do nothing else but do as he said as the nightdress lay across the headboard, his hands on her hips and she could now feel him as he gently moved her onto her back and began kissing her.  She placed her hands on his back as he shuffled around, kissing her as promised and moving himself so her hands were on his rear.

"Tell me you want me Rose then tell me you love me."

"I want you Kevin, I love you, babe."

"Then I'm all yours my love but tell me something first."

"What Kevin?  What do you want to know?"

She moved one of her hands and touched his cheek.

He looked up and wondered how this woman was making him feel this way.   All the others had meant nothing to him, he'd used them and tossed them out, well except for Hope whom he'd kept around at the last apartment he'd made himself at home in anyway for a week or so but Rose, she was something else.  He wanted to take his time over her, not just do the act with her then tell her to take a hike, no, that wasn't enough for him.

"Then tell me Rose, have you never really been with a man before?"

"No, not like this, I've had sex before but it was nothing like you make me feel."

That much was true, Mickey had been tame and Jimmy Stone had been drunk the majority of the time and hit her because he couldn't get it right, which was hardly her fault.  Maybe he'd got the wrong meaning but it was true, she'd never really given herself fully to a man.  She'd had a few casual relationships since being here, to keep her mother from nagging her about dating but nothing serious, just to relieve the tension she'd told herself.

"Good because when I make you feel so good again, I promise you Rose, you'll feel very special."

"Then make me feel special Kevin."

Chapter 7

Rose couldn't believe how she felt to say this man making her lie under him was holding her captive and now, he had her so far gone there was no holding back as she thought she was going to explode.  Kilgrave's mind was completely blank at this amazing woman and if Rose had known that, she could have broken free of his hold on her.  It changed nothing though, he was determined he was still going to use her to gain control of Torchwood at the first chance he got, after he got her to gain him access to all their secrets, she would be powerless to resist getting him into their database and that would give him the bargaining chip he needed.

His plan was slowly coming together, to get Rose so far gone she would do anything for him without having to threaten anyone, well maybe he'd still have to keep his 'staff' under control but he wouldn't need to threaten her, she was moaning the name he'd hated so much, telling him she wanted more and not to stop as they moved together under the bedclothes.

Rose had been determined she wasn't going to enjoy this, she was going to pretend it was finally the Doctor making love to her but she was calling Kevin's name over and over, he'd got her so worked up, she would be coming back for more without him asking her.  He hadn't expected her to fully give herself to him, it was a pleasant bonus that she was doing so, he knew it was too late now to stop and so did Rose, she was already knew there was no going back if she didn't yell for him to stop but part of her didn't want him to - she was too far under his spell now.

As Kilgrave gave his all, Rose collapsed and called his name again, perhaps it wasn't so bad hearing it after all, he thought, though he'd hated it since his parents conducted the experiments on him when he was younger.  He flopped over onto his back, trying to catch his breath and knew instantly all the others he'd taken to bed had been nothing compared to Rose, she was his and he knew it.

Rose was slowly becoming aware of her surroundings, never in her life feeling like that before.  She'd not resisted him, there had been no point in doing so and now she would never break free of him, she would be addicted to him and do whatever he asked, the little resistance she'd had was all but gone now, some Torchwood agent she was when she couldn't fight off a man.

Kilgrave got out of bed, reaching for his shorts, throwing Rose her nightdress, like he was giving her a reward.

"That was exceptional Rose, outstanding."

"You were pleased?"

"Oh yes, I was pleased," he told her, sitting on the edge of the bed and pulling his shorts up as Rose put on the nightdress, he'd not offered to let her wear any underwear she noted.

While Rose had given herself to Kilgrave, Pete, Jake and Mickey had been talking about what Pete wanted to talk to Kate's captain about.

"So do you think the chief constable will agree to sending someone over, to help look for Rose?" Mickey asked him.

"I hope so Mickey, that's if I get the agreement of that Captain Gates, Kate says she's fair but tough.  I still don't know if we can seriously associate Rose's disappearance with this man dressed in purple.  What do you think Mickey?  Has she talked about the Doctor lately?  Is she likely to have gone off with one of his look-a likes?"

"She never got over him Pete, we all know how she could be easily convinced if she saw someone who looked exactly like him but thankfully, all files concerning the Doctor are sealed, no-one except us and a select few know about him, so it's safe to assume she's not been led to think it is him.  The question is though, is she being held against her will or is she complying?"

"We're not likely to find that out until we get her back.  We'll have to hold back tomorrow, you've been around the area that man was last seen, if only we could find out his name, it would help a lot, putting out a wanted poster for him or something.  I guess the NYPD will want to know that as much as we do, who he actually is.  Did you get anywhere searching our database?"

"No, nothing, it's like he doesn't really exist," Jake told him.

"How can he have remained hidden all this time?" Pete asked.

"What if he's been here in New York for some time but he's managed to escape the attention of the police?" Mickey asked.

"How so?" Pete wanted to know.

"Well, that news vendor said the bloke told him to toss his coffee over him so he did do, what if he'd argued with that other man and told him to go jump under a bus and there just happened to be one passing?" Mickey replied.

"I think I know what you're getting at Mickey," Jake butted in.  "You're saying he has some sort of hypnotic effect over people?"

"Well that or mind control but it's a wild guess."

"Maybe not so wild, if he makes people forget they've met him, that would explain why he's not been spotted before.  If anyone had asked him to give his name, he would have told them to forget it and they would have done.  Mickey, tomorrow, I want a wider search, including the U.S for unusual occurrences, such as people doing strange or even silly things that they had no idea they were doing until afterwards."

"Right boss, you got it, we may be on to something.  You should tell the captain that on Monday during your meeting."

"Let's leave that out for now, until we have something, we could be wrong."

"I don't think we are wrong," Jake mused.  "If it means finding Rose, we'll split the searches Mickey, I'll do the U.S, you do our database."

They broke off for the night, each of them feeling more optimistic than they'd been the last few days, that along with the news the man they wanted was English, which had narrowed things down somewhat, Pete thought.  He was still blaming himself for letting her come back to the hotel on her own, she should have been safe enough, there was a doorman but he must have been looking elsewhere when she was getting out of the taxi but the question was if this man was in the car while she was being kidnapped or had he been waiting wherever he'd stashed her?

The next morning, he phoned Jackie to tell her what they'd discovered so far and to check on Tony.

"He's missing her Pete, he wants to know when you're coming home?"

"Just tell him we'll be back when we can, no need in upsetting him.  I'm going to insist we keep this out of the news as much as we can, I'm meeting with Kate's boss in the morning, see what she thinks about it but I think it would do more harm than good since she's not very well known over here."

"Yeah, maybe you're right Pete, it could bring out all the loonies I suppose.  What are Jake and Mickey doing?"

"Searching for who we think may be holding her, it's a very loose connection, we may have jumped to the wrong conclusion though, it may not be connected to the case Kate is working on.  You remember that case in Broadchurch, that boy who was killed and we kept Rose away from the news because that detective looked like the Doctor?"

"I remember, she would have gone mad if she'd been taking any notice.  How many more are there?"

"Hopefully only the four of them though we thought there we only three until we found this one.  I'm going to try to get that detective over here to help, we know whoever may have Rose is English, this Alec Hardy may be able to help."

"I hope so.  Pete, let me come over if you don't find her by Wednesday, please?"

"You can't do anything Jackie, you'd be stuck in the hotel with me, I'm going nuts in here, trust me.  Let's see what happens eh?  If I get any solid leads, I'll think about it but I promise you, we will bring her home."

"I know you will Pete, it's just really hard being so far away."

Rose had woken up to find Kilgrave gone and he wasn't in the bathroom, since the door was open.  She got up and went to get a quick shower, half wishing he would join her then got a pair of black trousers and a floral top and went into the living room but there was still no sign of him.   She looked in the kitchen and saw a note, saying he'd gone to fetch breakfast and wouldn't be long.  She wondered why he'd not made anything or expected her to do it.

She quickly tried the other bedroom door but it was locked, of course it was and there was no point in trying the front door.  She knew he'd never leave that open and even the patio door was closed and probably locked but she felt different today, not only after having the night of her life but because she had felt all the fight go out of her after she'd given into him.  It wasn't like she'd planned it or anything, he'd been very gentle and he'd really meant it, no-one could have faked it like he'd done, he'd not forced her which she could only imagine had been part of his plan, so he could ultimately gain control of Torchwood through her but at least he wasn't gross and he'd been really good.

He was still the enemy though and if he tried to gain access to Torchwood, she'd have to try and alert them somehow, Jake had set a system whereby if any member was compromised, following certain procedures ensured he was alerted and anyone trying to get into the files would be diverted to a fake website and could be traced providing they were fooled and stayed on long enough.

Kilgrave had got up, seeing Rose was still asleep and decided he'd go find some breakfast, not where he went the other morning in case anyone had been asking about him since that man he'd been arguing with over standing on his foot had met with an unfortunate demise, how was he to know a bus would be passing at that moment, just behind a van?

He walked down the street and found another delicatessen's and went in to wait for his order, staying out of the way and sitting outside until he was called.  He went back up to the apartment, hoping Rose was already awake and dressed, though he'd really love to go wake her up, perhaps tomorrow they could linger in bed for a while though but he had to start work, gathering all the information that remained about Torchwood that didn't need an access code, which would come from Rose in a few days time.

His plan had been altered slightly, he'd not intended on her resisting him a bit but last night, she had not been faking that, he had left her in ruins and knew it had been for real.

"Rose, come and help me honey," he called as he struggled to hold the coffee cups on a cardboard holder and the paper carrier with the breakfast sandwiches.

Rose got up and took the coffee from him as he kicked the door shut, Rose wondering if it was locked but somehow it didn't seem as important to her now, he'd slip up and want access to her Torchwood account and he'd get caught, sooner or later, what was the point in angering him by trying to sneak out when he wasn't looking?

He was making her feel this way now, struggling against him would do her no good, she already knew that much and she'd given in to him last night, he'd take that as a sign he could trust her and go out a bit more but he would still take precautions so that she wouldn't turn the staff against him.

They took the things into the kitchen and Rose went to get some plates, Kilgrave smiling at her.

"How are you feeling this morning love?"

"Great, last night was amazing Kevin, you did make me feel special."

"I keep my promises Rose, eat your breakfast before it goes cold.  You were fast asleep when I left, did you wonder where I was?"

"Yes Kevin, I didn't get a morning kiss."

"Oh, then we'll have to remedy that, won't we, after breakfast."

"Are we going out today?"

"Where would you like to go?"

"Can we go on that tramway? I've heard about it, my stepfather was going to take me before we left."

"I don't see why not, we'll get a cab to the tram station, it's in Manhattan somewhere."

"Where are we anyway?"

Yeah, like he was going to tell her that.  She could make a note of the journey, he'd been careful yesterday though, holding her back while he leaned over to the driver outside central park and when they'd arrived back, they could have been in any street in the city.

"Really Rose?  Does it matter?"

"No Kevin, of course not.  You could tell me and I would be no wiser.  Am I allowed to ask questions?"

"What do you want to ask me?"

"How long do you want me to stay here?"

"As long as you want, you're my guest.  I will expect something in return though."

She'd been waiting for that.  It would have come sooner or later, he'd had his fun and let her off so far but he meant to get down to business.   Now though, things were going to get complicated, she would need all her wits about her to keep from giving him real access and she wondered if he'd be fooled at the plan they had in place for such attempts at breaking into the sealed Torchwood files that were not meant for public viewing, she only had to fool him once though and when he thought he had gained access, it wouldn't take long for Jake to find out who and where that access had been from and hopefully, he'd stay on long enough.

Kilgrave had already told her he was using someone's apartment though but it wouldn't really matter as long as he wasn't using shared internet access, Jake could easily narrow it down to the building and it would only take a brief search but would Kilgrave retaliate?  She hoped not, Pete would sent trained agents who were much more resistant than she was, Jake for one and Kilgrave would have no power over them even if he threatened the staff.

She was half tempted to get him to do it today as they were alone but he would think she was too keen and get suspicious.

"Of course Kevin, what was it you wanted?"

"All in good time my love, after breakfast, we'll go finish what we missed out on earlier, since you were asleep."

Rose smiled, even though she knew the more he did those things to her he'd done last night, the less resistance she had and it was fading fast.

"Anything you want, I missed you when I woke up."

He told her to leave the breakfast dishes and took her hand, leading her to the bedroom they'd been sharing, letting her get in front and putting his arms around her waist, kissing her neck and shoulder.

"Let me help you undress Rose, then you can pull my jumper off, see, no shirt today."

"Yeah, I can see that Kevin, though I like to unfasten your shirt buttons, it all adds to the excitement.  Last night, I never believed it was possible to feel the way you made me feel, it was the most exciting time of my life."

Kilgrave smiled.  He'd felt it too, even Jessica had never made him feel like that and he was glad now he'd not gone to seek her out and torment her like he'd planned, he would make her suffer for putting him through all that pain and suffering after he'd somehow survived that incident with the bus, unlike that other women, the name he couldn't remember who had found a link to his past.  Now Jessica probably had the contents of the box he'd made her dig up, unless they were lost, he could worry about that later.

What he wanted now was a repeat of last night and if she'd been awake earlier, he would have already have done so, he had her so hooked on him now, he didn't even need to control her fully.  As Rose reached for his jumper, he pulled it over his head and laid her down, she was reaching her arms to pull him closer.  He hovered over her as she put her hands on his shoulders, he leaned down to kiss her exposed skin and she moved her hands around his neck.

"Kevin, make me feel like I did last night."

"Oh, I will my love but first, I want to take my time and get a good look at you."

Before they knew it, they had changed places and Rose was astride him, his hands all over her and then he flipped her over one final time and lay on her after he made her quiver once again.

Pete had left Jake and Mickey going over more information, Jake had just got into the NYPD and was running photos of every known foreign national in the country, hoping that if the man they were seeking had an English accent, he would have been noticed when he'd entered the country even if he'd not come directly from England.  It was going to take some time so Pete decided he needed to relax and went down to the spa after calling Castle.

Castle and Kate were trying not to think about his friend's missing daughter and were going over what this mysterious man dressed in purple had to do with things.

"I hope the captain sees things Pete's way when he meets her tomorrow," Castle said as they ate a late breakfast.

"So do I, the sooner we find her the better.  What do you think of Pete's theory, that she's gone willingly?"

"I don't know much about her past, I know Pete adopted her when he married her mother but he said she'd been unstable since losing someone she was close to and that this man we're seeking looks like him."

"Yeah, imagine that, who would have thought there could be four identical men? He thinks she never got over the man she lost?"

"He says he and Jackie have to make allowances for her, he told me what happened to her a few years ago, she never really got over it."

"Poor Rose, maybe she thought he'd come back for her?"

"Yeah, that's what Pete thinks as well.  First thing tomorrow, I'll come with you and find out more about this Scottish detective Pete wants to bring over and hope Captain Gates agrees to some outside help."

Kate thought some fresh ideas on the case would be a good thing but she'd read about this Alec Hardy, he would certainly be a challenge.

Chapter 8

When Rose woke up the next morning, she heard Kilgrave in the bathroom and sat up, wondering if he'd left his keys anywhere but if he came out and caught her, she would be in trouble.  They had been out the previous day, taking the tramway and Kilgrave being very careful she took no notice of the route back to the apartment by keeping her head on his shoulder and his arm around her, restricting her view until they arrived back.

Even then, he'd ushered her into the building, never even acknowledging the man on the door although he was tempted to tell the man to go take a walk and not come back for giving them a funny look as they waited for the lift.  He was wondering why of late he'd been fairly lenient with people who annoyed him or got in his way, Rose must be having an effect on him somehow and he wasn't sure he liked it, he was getting soft and he needed to know he could still control people as the time approached to take on the top people who ran Torchwood.

His plan was fairly simple really, though with Rose not being fully under his control, he'd have to do some bluffing but he'd keep her involvement to a minimum whilst speaking to her stepfather and he would know no different.  The man would think his stepdaughter was in danger of doing something drastic if Pete Tyler didn't hand over control almost immediately, he'd be none the wiser and if he did find out, it would be too late to do anything about it, Torchwood would already be his to do with as he pleased.

Rose had just put her robe on when Kilgrave came back into the bedroom, wearing just a towel, only just fastened Rose noted.

"The housekeeper will be here soon and so will the other two.  Do you want to go out today?"

"I'd like to go shopping but can't I have more than two hours Kevin?"

"Now then Rose, you weren't thinking of trying to leave me were you?"

Rose went up to him, the towel was slung dangerously low on him and she was sorely tempted to just pull it off but while it would please him no end, it would do her cause no good, that of getting away from him.   Instead, she licked her lips and ran her finger over the edge of the towel, smiling at him.

"I have no reason to leave you Kevin, you're all I need right now.  Why would I want to go back to my boring job?"

"Exactly my love and by the way, you were sensational last night, it was very satisfying and I'd really love a repeat, maybe after I've let the staff in?"

Rose pulled on the edge of the towel, almost getting a better view than she'd bargained for.  He was very fit, in all the right places, she loved his slightly hair chest and had told him he had a 'squidgy' belly, to which he'd laughed as she had kissed her way across his middle and he'd squirmed as she stopped in the centre. She knew she couldn't last much longer, if she wasn't very careful, she would lose the remainder of her self control and stop resisting him.

Kilgrave grabbed her hand suddenly, making her yelp as he plunged it down the towel and he was surprised when she didn't pull it away just as suddenly, making him gasp and putting a big smile on his face.

"Later kitten, why don't you go get your shower and wait for me before getting dressed?"

"OK Kevin, I'll do that, will we have time before breakfast?"

"Oh yes my love, I'll tell her to take her time shall I?"

"Yes Kevin, tell her to take her time."

She pulled her hand away, almost pulling the towel undone as he grabbed hold of it.

"Can't wait kitten?"

Rose smiled.  "No Kevin, you know I can't, you have me in a daze, all I want is for you to make love to me again."

"I know kitten, just be patient eh?  After breakfast, I have work to do that I've been putting off and you can help me."

"I will Kevin, I'll do anything for you."

She put her hands around his neck and he leaned down to kiss her, his hands reaching for the tie of her robe and noticing she only had the knickers on from last night, he'd offered her the nightdress but she'd opted for a silky vest top that he could feel her through and she'd taken that off as he parted the robe and pressed up against her.  They continued kissing as his towel came undone and he reached for her underwear, lifting her up and letting her wrap her legs around his.

Just as he thought they were going to have sex right there and then, the doorbell sounded and he put her down and gathering the towel from the floor, held it around his lower half, after Rose got a rather good look at him as he reached into the drawer and put on his shorts then grabbed a t-shirt.

"I am going to kill whoever just interrupted us."

"It's ok Kevin, just come back, I'll go get my shower and I'll wait for you but hurry back, won't you?"

"I will my love, try not to miss me."

While Kilgrave tried to calm down and let his staff in, Rose stepped under the hot shower, wondering why she had just almost had sex with him again standing up, had he got her so worked up she could hardly bear to be away from him?  She shook the thought out of her mind and tried to focus on her mother and Tony, she so wanted to see them again, it had been over a week and now, tomorrow night, it would be a week since she was taken from in front of the hotel and forced to live with Kilgrave.

She thought back over the last few days, from him just kissing her to having given herself to him, to stop him doing her any harm or harming anyone else but now, she would never get that back and she just hoped to get away with it.  It was too late now to worry about that, she would have been back home and got her monthly injection and now, it was safe enough but the sooner she got away, the better.

She stepped out of the shower, towelled herself dry and wrapped the towel around her and went to see if Kilgrave was waiting.  He was, standing just in his shorts as he heard the bathroom door opening and as he walked towards her, he held out his arms and she rushed into them.  They picked up where they'd left off before they'd been interrupted and Rose was amazed just how good it was.

After breakfast though, Kilgrave decided the fun was over for the day and as he accessed the public Torchwood files, he made Rose sit beside him and began asking her questions, which would ultimately lead to him getting into the sealed files.  He could almost feel it, the power in running Torchwood, the organisation being at his mercy to do what he wanted.

Pete was preparing for his meeting with Kate's boss, Captain Gates and was given a visitor's badge downstairs and escorted to the homicide division.  Kate and Castle greeted him as he stepped towards her desk and she introduced him to her two colleagues, Ryan and Esposito.

"So, are you ready for this Pete?" Castle asked him as Kate went in first.

"We have to do something Rick, I'm going crazy with all this waiting around.  I hope those new clues we got will help find her, I can't even imagine what she's going through if this man has some kind of mind control over her.  Her Torchwood training will lessen the effects but she's not a strong as Jake and I'm really worried about the long term effects."

"Well Pete, you know her better than anyone here and I'm sure now we'll get things moving once Kate establishes the links between that accident last week and the man we think may be holding her."

"Let's hope so Rick."

Kate and her captain were discussing the events over the weekend, how Pete's associates had discovered the man in the purple suit had been in a deli not far from where the incident had taken place a few days before and how they believed this man could make people do as he wished.  The captain though was having her doubts.

"So detective, you expect me to believe whoever is responsible for that man's death simply told him to go step under a bus and he did?"

"How else can you explain it Sir?  It was just unfortunate there was one passing by and if they'd been arguing and he was making the other man annoyed, he may have just said it casually, not expecting there to be one passing.  We can't rule out that and the fact he'd told the news vendor to throw coffee at himself.  Mr Tyler's here and his assistants have been trying to find other incidents involving unusual occurrences and they've had a few results, including a couple that took place a few years ago, all including instances with passing buses."

"That's very interesting detective but there are an awful lot of accidents involving public transport, what makes those stand out?"

"They were all occurrences where the drivers claimed the victims came from nowhere or as one driver said, a woman more or less flew in front of him."

"Well, have Ryan and Esposito follow up the leads and have uniforms canvas the area around the accident but get them to expand the search, including businesses and apartment blocks, the man in the purple suit may live close by if he was in placing an order for two people and he seemed to be alone, the items would have gone cold if he had too far to travel.   We have to step up identifying him so if you say he looks like these two other men, have a sketch artist make a composite of the two of them and let's hope no-one who is shown it thinks the actor's in town making a TV series."

Kate smiled at the thought, Alexis would be happy if he really was in town.

Pete was introduced to the captain and they got down to business, the captain felt sorry for the man who felt responsible for his stepdaughter's disappearance since he allowed her to travel on her own in a strange city but she tried to assure him it was not his fault.

"Look Mr Tyler, this is our city, you were guests here and I apologise the other detectives got nowhere with their enquiries but Detective Beckett has convinced me it's all related to that bus incident so I'll have all the files sent up.  Detective Beckett will liaise and she mentioned about a detective over in England who may be able to help."

"Yes, I think I know of someone who actually resembles the man we're looking for slightly though he had a beard but if he's seen around the area, it may jog people's memories."

"Well that and people think he's the actor I suppose but it may alert the man we're looking for if he's holding your stepdaughter in the area."

"So far we've had no luck finding out who he is, maybe the detective will draw him out?"

"We'll fill him in on all the details and if he doesn't know this man, then we'll have him going around and see if anyone remembers."

They talked for a while longer, Pete telling her of some of the other unusual incidents Mickey and Jake had learned about and she asked him to set up a meeting between her detectives on the case and they would follow up on them. Beckett and Castle were talking about the prospects of a Scottish detective joining them.

"I heard he had a partner on that murdered boy's case, someone called Miller and she also helped him solved an old case as well, one where two cousins went missing."

"Well it sounds like they're a team then, maybe he'll have her come with him?" Kate mused.  "I read somewhere about that case, the suspect walked free initially and then around the same time as the one in that coastal town, there was a similar case in a town called Gracepoint."

"Really? That's a lot of coincidences don't you think?  No, don't go telling me, the detective there looked the same?"

"Don't ask me, ask your daughter."

Castle smiled at the thought, there were already four of them, one more wouldn't make much difference but Pete was more interested getting this Scottish one over though why he'd know who the purple man was, he'd no idea but he was already planning his next best seller – 'A heiress in New York' where the plot would be she's kidnapped by her lost lover's twin and discovers he's looking for her after a detective is brought in to help with the case then another one arrives from a small town in California.  Yes, this would make a great plot and one actor could play all the parts in the TV series!

Maybe he should warn Pete there may yet be another in what was now a long line of look-a likes who were not even related in any way.  There was no point yet, if the one they were looking for was English, there was nothing to link another one to the case so far.

Pete thanked the captain for her help and she promised to get Detective Ryan to make the arrangements to get Alec Hardy to New York but Pete had already mentioned he may want to bring his partner with him.

"Well, I'll leave that to you Mr Tyler, since you've so generously offered to pay the expenses."

"Well it was my idea after all, I'll do anything to get her back Captain.  I'd best call my contact in the police over there, I play golf with the commissioner for the south of England."

He said goodbye to the captain and Kate said he could use the less formal interview room to make his call and pass the details on to Ryan.

The commissioner was surprised to learn Pete was out of the country.

"So Pete, you're not calling for a rematch then?"

"No John, I'm in New York and Rose has gone missing."

"What are the police over there doing about it?"

Pete quickly explained to his friend who was only too happy to help.

"I'm sure we can send someone over to assist, if this man you're seeking is British, you say he's not in any databases?  Not even yours?"

"I'm sorry to say no, it may be because he's changed his name or something I suppose but someone from the same country may have come across him at some point."

"You say you believe the man can manipulate people into doing what he wants? That sounds dangerous Pete."

"That's why we have to get Rose away from him, before he does her any permanent damage, she's trained but she's not had a lot of experience, given she's not been with us for long, not compared to other agents."

"Then I'll get one of the chiefs to volunteer someone, I take it you want whoever it is over as soon as possible?"

"Yes and I already have someone in mind.  His name's Alec Hardy."

"You want Hardy?  Whatever for, albeit he redeemed himself solving the Sandbrook case, with some help and unofficially, I should have fired him for that but his ex wife stuck up for him.  He's back in Broadchurch I believe and he's probably finding it boring.  Alright then, I'll have his chief make the arrangements, just tell me the name of the precinct, as they call it and who's in charge."

Pete gave his friend the details and left him to get on with it, telling Ryan to expect a call from the chief over in Broadchurch.  CS Jenkinson was sat in her office, enjoying her afternoon cup of tea when the call came through from the police commissioner.

"I'm sorry Sir but did I hear you correctly?  You want me to send Alec Hardy over to New York?  What have they done to deserve his attention?"

She had to put on a tough act to her boss, she quite liked Alec despite him going behind her back over solving the Sandbrook case, being aided and abetted by his old DS, whom he hadn't got along with, not that he actually got along with anyone for that matter.

"Never mind that Elaine, just get him to agree to go over, he leaves in the morning. Pete Tyler's stepdaughter has gone missing over there and they think she's been abducted by an English man but they can't identify him.  He had something to do with a fatal accident the morning after Rose Tyler was taken from in front of her hotel."

"I see Sir, well what's Hardy got to do with it all?"

"Apparently, the man who took her resembles Hardy, plus that Scottish actor and Miss Tyler's friend whom she lost rather suddenly at the hands of those Cybermen by all accounts."

"Well even if Hardy looks like this man who's wanted, what good will his being there do?"

"He may know who the man is, if you had a double or whatever, you'd want to know who they were and he must already know about the actor.  Miss Tyler's friend though, the files are sealed so he wouldn't know about him."

"Well if I can get him to agree to go at such short notice, he will probably insist he takes his partner with him, they're inseparable these days and lord knows they used to hate each other but since they solved the old Sandbrook case, well Hardy went off and two weeks later he asked to come back and since we still needed a DI, I had no choice when he was declared fit for duty."

"Don't worry, Mr Tyler is picking up all expenses, I'll call the precinct in New York and have someone call you to make the arrangements."

Elaine was wondering how to break the news to Hardy, his first big case since he came back though she suspected he was trying to keep out of trouble despite his recovery.  She picked up her desk phone and pressed his extension number.

Alec was going through some old cases, trying to stave off the boredom and longing to have a real case to pursue, well anything except another child's murder that was.  The most exciting thing lately was a group of older teenage girls picking the pockets and purses of unsuspecting tourists on the beach and he'd just locked four of them up after he got Miller's sister to act as a decoy.  So when his desk phone rang and the chief's name came up, he hoped she had something interesting to offer him or he'd be annoyed if she was just calling to see how he was.

"Ah, Alec, come to my office when you have a moment will you?"

She was being mysterious, he thought.

"Can't you tell me what it's about?" he asked, seeing Miller with her back to him and knowing she was just as bored as he was lately.

It was a far cry from the Latimer case when he had an illness to battle against, which had kept him focused and then the double trouble of the court case and Sandbrook.

"How do you fancy a little trip abroad?"

"Seriously?  If you mean by abroad getting aboard a zeppelin and spending several hours floating in the clouds, forget it."

"I doubt it will be by zeppelin, I have a case for you and it's of the utmost urgency that you'll be going by plane."

Alec sat up straight and loosened his tie a bit more.  "Really?  Why would you want to send me somewhere by plane?"

"Because it's a lot further than France or Spain Alec and we're not paying."

"A private job?  OK then, I'll be right there.  Will I need to bring Miller with me?"

"I don't know yet, it depends if you think you can handle this on your own.  You can bring her along if you want.  Are you sure there's nothing going on between you two?" Elaine mused, hoping he'd take the bait.

"Come off it Elaine, there's nothing going on between us, we're not each other's type and she's not got her divorce yet but that's none of my business."

"I'm just joking with you Alec, she already told me she'd quit if you made a move on her."

"Really?  That's a relief then."

He hung up and put his jacket on and walked up behind Ellie.  "Come on Miller, the chief wants to see us."

"Well I don't know if I can spare the time, I'm rather busy here."

"Don't be so sarcastic Miller, you're just as bored as I am."

"Yes, well I might be but unlike some people, I don't go around looking for trouble and plough my way through old cases."

"Sandbrook paid off," he retorted as Ellie got up.

"You got lucky, you had me," she grinned as he opened the door and went through first.  "Some manners he has," she thought out loud.

Alec knocked on the chief's door and they were told to enter.

"So, how do you two fancy a trip to New York?"

"What?" Ellie asked, glancing at Hardy.  "With him?"

"Stop it Miller, it won't be for pleasure and don't worry, you can have your own room," Alec replied.

Chapter 9

That was a dig at the mistake the motel just outside Sandbrook had made that one time when they'd not got Ellie's booking and there was only one double room available.  He'd been ill at the time anyway and she'd made it perfectly clear she was not going to tolerate any nonsense from him, not that he could have even tried.  If he'd been going to even contemplate on making a play for her, it had long since passed and the defence team's accusations had made it impossible now anyway.

"Yes Ellie, with DI Hardy, he's been specifically asked by Peter Tyler to get involved with a case the 12th Precinct of the NYPD are investigating.  His stepdaughter, Rose, has been abducted whilst visiting the city and the main suspect is thought to be English.  Non of the detectives on the case have a clue who the man is, just a description and he's also wanted in connection with the death of a man who stepped under a bus."

Alec looked at his boss.  "So, let me get this right, she goes missing, well abducted by a man who may have caused another man to step under a bus?  Why do they want us to go over?"

"Because they can't find this man in any database, I expect Mr Tyler has already got his people working on it, I take it you have both been briefed on Torchwood?"

They both nodded as Elaine continued to outline what had happened so far.

"So, if you both accept the assignment, you leave in the morning, someone will be in touch with you to make the arrangements but from what I can gather, Mr Tyler is paying all expenses and hotel rooms will be reserved for you and tickets for the flight to New York will be waiting at London airport.  Someone from the NYPD will meet you on your arrival."

"Can I ask a question?" Ellie wanted to know.  "How long will we be there for and how come no-one knows who this man is, if they have a description?"

"You'll have to ask the detective in charge, Detective Beckett.  Have either of you heard of the novelist Richard Castle?"

Ellie's face lit up.  "Oh, he's my favourite author.  Why do you ask?"

Alec shook his head, he might have known Miller was a big fan of the self-assured best selling author.

"He's a friend of Mr Tyler's and he consults on cases with the NYPD.  He's also married to the lead detective, Kate Beckett."

Alec thought he might have also known the lead detective would be female, just his luck after working with Tess and then Miller.

"Just one more thing," Alec stated as he got up.  "Why did he ask for me?  You said I was requested."

"Ah, well, this is the odd thing Alec and you'll both find out when you get there anyway.  This mysterious man whom they think has taken Miss Tyler, he's been described as having an English accent, it's also been established he may have the power of suggestion as witnesses all say shortly before the other man stepped under a bus, the two of them were arguing and they think she went willingly with him because he resembles a man she used to know."

"I should have known," Alec mumbled.  "So how do they know she's been abducted and not just shacked up with this man somewhere?"

"Well for one thing, the man seems to favour wearing purple clothes, he told a news vendor to pour hot coffee on himself and he's been seen in a takeaway buying enough breakfast items for two people the day after Miss Tyler went missing. Another fact is, the man she lost, his files are sealed by Torchwood which would suggest he's never coming back so if you think she believes it is actually him, then that's not the case."

"So, is she a bit unhinged then, if this man looks like her friend?" Ellie asked.

"There has been some concern it could cause her some distress, yes."

"That still does not answer my question though, why did he ask for me?" Alec still wanted to know.

"Truthfully?  Because not only does this man look like her friend, he looks like that famous Scottish actor and I'm sure you're already aware of that Alec but they all look like you or you look like them, whichever way you want to put it."

Alec didn't know what to say as Ellie started to smile.  Who had he upset enough to bring this to him?  He knew about the actor and just about tolerated it and no-one in the town so far had mentioned the comparison to him but a possible psycho loose in New York who'd taken to kidnapping one of the famous Tylers?

"This can't be happening," he thought out loud.

"Well I'm certainly willing to go, if it helps get her back," Ellie declared.  "What about you Sir?  Does the fact you now have two others who look like you put you off?"

Alec was not going to let his pain of a DS get the better of him.

"Yes, I suppose so, if it means I get away from cold cases and there's nothing else to do.  Are the police over there arranging everything through Mr Tyler?  I've not travelled abroad though since I had the pacemaker fitted, I can't go through any metal detectors."

"Then just declare yourself as a police officer Alec, I'm sure the airports will sort you out, you can't be the only one.  I'll tell the commissioner to go ahead and let them know you'll be going.  You'd both best go home and pack and Ellie, will your boys be ok with your sister?"

"Yes Ma-am, she's managed with them before and Olly will be around.  I'll make it worth her while."

"Right, I'll get someone to call you both once the arrangements are made, I'll have a driver pick you both up as soon as I know the time of your flight and the name of those meeting you on your arrival.  I expect you'll meet Mr Tyler at the hotel and he'll brief you as to what they've discovered so far."

Once out of the chief's office, Alec stopped Ellie in the corridor.

"I can go on my own you know Miller, if you don't want to leave your boys."

"No, it's fine and besides, who'd turn down the chance to meet Richard Castle?"

"Is that the only reason you're going Miller?"

"No, she is quite famous, her mother does a lot of charity work, you should read up on her before we go.  I'm going to clear my desk and go home, I have to explain things to Tom and get them to Lucy's, since she's nothing else to do now."

"I thought she worked for The Echo?"

"Seriously?  My sister next door to the amusement arcade?"

"I suppose it was only a matter of time, given her fondness for online casinos," he remarked, remembering her statement to the court at Joe Miller's trial.  He also remembered Miller remarking her sister had mentioned she quite liked him so he'd stayed well away so she wouldn't get the wrong idea.

He went back to his office and looked up Rose Tyler and was quite impressed.  She was a team leader at Torchwood, was interested in her mother's charity works and often attended benefits and she like to be seen and not hide herself away.  It also said she had several interests including keep-fit, running and liked to go to the cinema.

Then he read the reason why she and her stepfather had been in New York – to establish Torchwood in the U.S but surely that would be in doubt now she had disappeared in the city?  He made his mind up he was going to find her one way or another and if he had yet two more who looked like him, it was going to be interesting to say the very least.

Over at the 12th precinct, Detective Ryan was putting the last minute arrangements into play by informing Kate.

"Fine then, have the detectives been briefed?"

"Yeah, by their chief though we've learned something else about Hardy – he's got a pacemaker."

"Wow, isn't he a bit young for one of those?" Kate wondered.

"Well he must have been bad, he was invalided out of the force apparently and he's not been back that long from what I read about him," Castle informed them.  "You should find out if he's got any problems getting through airport security, make them aware of him."

"Yeah, will do, me and Espo will go pick them up then tomorrow.  Do you want to see them when they arrive?"

"No, take them to the hotel and we'll meet on Wednesday morning although it will be a week since Rose went missing.  Her mother must be going frantic, 1000's of miles away.  I think her stepfather will have to give in and let her come over, she must feel left out of things."

"Yeah," Castle agreed.  "Her younger stepbrother will be wondering why they've not returned home yet, I expect Mrs Tyler is caught between her older daughter and the youngster, he may be upset if both of them are away."

"Well that's down to them, our job is to return Rose safely to her family and that's exactly what we're going to do, right?"

They all agreed and went back to work.  Jake and Mickey were going through various databases and Pete was looking on news sites at home and in New York for any mentions of similar incidents, no-one would be resting until they had more clues as to who was holding Rose.

Kilgrave had stopped for lunch, having familiarised himself with Torchwood cases involving the unknown and unusual and wondered if they'd had anything to do with the experiments his parents had conducted when he was younger, back in Manchester.  He'd only just been aware of where he used to live before being locked in a room and it was still a mystery to him as to why his own family could do such a thing to him but since he'd got away, he'd become aware of the results and as soon as was possible, he would hunt them down and make them pay for what they'd done to him.

Once he had control of Torchwood, it would be easy to locate them and then, his ultimate goal was finding Jessica Jones and once he'd found where she was, he would play a little game of cat and mouse with her and she was the mouse.  He would take his time though, Rose was growing on him, mainly because she still had some free will and she was rather good in bed and now apparently standing up as he'd found out to his surprise earlier when she had been the willing instigator of the activities.

After lunch, he got back to work and allowed Rose to go shopping, telling her to buy some more sexy underwear and surprise him later.  Once she had left, telling her the usual urgency of being back on time, he used the time to look up his parents, not knowing where they were nowadays, they may even be in the same city.

He did though see several reports of people he'd met recently and was surprised to see the news vendor he'd told to pour coffee on himself who had made the most of it and got himself some attention but he took no notice since it never mentioned the other incident with the bus.  Unknown to Kilgrave though, Captain Gates was withholding information from the press after the commissioner agreed it would do more harm than good releasing details of Rose's disappearance.

It was of no interest to the media anyway, not that many people in New York would want to read about a missing English heiress who had been attending a conference so it had been easy to get them to agree so far but the captain prepared a statement in case Pete wanted to take things further and get the public involved though it had been agreed they kept the man in purple out of it for now since when Alec Hardy arrived, they would discuss how to proceed.

When Rose got back with ten minutes to spare, Kilgrave insisted she showed him the items she had bought and Rose giggled when she tossed the underwear in his direction and he caught it, a smile on his face even though he'd been studying something at the time.  He closed the laptop and pulled her down for a kiss, despite the two men standing by the door.  He turned to one of them.

"You, go down to the store and get a bottle of red wine and a dozen red roses."

"Yes Sir."

"Are we out of wine Kevin?" Rose asked him.

He went over to the door and let the man out.  "Don't be long or your friend here will come after you and you know what that means?"

The man just nodded and Kilgrave turned back to Rose.  "No my love but I wanted something special for you and every day, I'm going to give you a dozen red roses but none of them will be as lovely as you.  Come here kitten."

"Aw Kevin, you're so sweet to me."

She pulled him down for a kiss as he approached her, picking up the item of underwear with two fingers as he put his arms around her.

He whispered in her ear, "Can't wait to see you in these my love."

"Mmm, I can't wait to show you, why don't you come and help me?"

"Later love, we have to get back to work, you do want to help me don't you Rose?"

"Yeah, of course I want to help you Kevin but why are you so interested in Torchwood?"

"No questions, remember?"

"Yes Kevin, whatever you say.  Tell me what I can do."

"All in good time, maybe I can take a break eh?"

"I'd like that Kevin, you've been working too hard."

He tossed the underwear towards her and dipped down to kiss her then when they stopped, he scooped her into his arms and walked towards the bedroom door, Rose holding on while he fumbled with the handle.  She giggled as she held onto his neck with both arms and rested her head on his shoulder.  The door opened and he stepped in, kicking it closed behind him.

"Kevin, what about the man who went for wine and roses?"

"Oh, he'll wait, you're far more important than he is my love."

Alec was packing for his trip to New York, wondering why apart from the main suspect looking like him Mr Tyler had thought about him.  He'd found out as much as he could about Rose, her mother's marriage and her adoption and it was truly a rags to riches story but she never seemed to exploit it by being a spoilt brat and reportedly hadn't taken to money like her mother had done.

He picked up his phone to call his daughter to tell her he was going away for a while.  They had been talking again properly for some time now after his successful pacemaker surgery and she was even debating coming down for the long school holidays in the summer and getting a part time job while he was working.  If she did that, he'd have to move out of the chalet, there wasn't much in the way of privacy with having a teenage girl around since he could barely close his bedroom door.

"Daisy, hi.  Listen, I have to go away for a while so we may not be able to meet on Saturday."

"Oh, is it work again?  I thought you'd said you would cut down?"

"Well I did but I have to go to New York."

"Really?  Wow, how come?"

"The NYPD need help on a case concerning two British citizens, one has been abducted by who they think is responsible for a fatal accident last week."

"So why does that involve you?  I know I said I'd forgiven you, over Sandbrook when I found out about your health but are you going to keep running off again?"

"No, it's just one case, it involves the Vitex chairman, Pete Tyler's stepdaughter, she was abducted outside her hotel last week and they've tried everything to get her back.  They think the man who took her is English and that she's been somehow coerced into going with him willingly, it's a bit of a mystery as to there being no demands so far."

He couldn't tell her that the chief had added the fact the man who had Rose Tyler may be planning on the takeover of Torchwood even though the public were aware of the organisation, they had a public façade and a covert one.

"So why you?"

"Promise not to laugh?"  He got no answer so he continued hoping she wouldn't break out into a fit of giggles.  "The man who they think took her, well he looks a bit like me."

"Oh come on Dad, I know you look a bit like that actor but another one, seriously?"

He thought he'd best not tell her there was yet another one, though nothing had been said about the man who had disappeared a long time ago.   Why was it being kept so secret?  So Rose Tyler had a boyfriend who had disappeared around the time those students or whatever had the population in such a frenzy that everyone believed they'd been invaded by metal monsters who wanted to convert everyone.  It had all been covered up anyway and the old Torchwood had been partly responsible for letting it get out of hand and as for that John Lumic and his inventions, the man had also disappeared overnight along with Cybus Industries and a lot of businessmen had got their companies back including Pete Tyler.

"Well, I feel I should go if it gets her back to her family, I let Lisa Newberry's family down, I was too late to save her."

"Yeah, sorry Dad, I know that almost killed you now and I didn't help but neither did mum either, I think she still regrets that really.  I asked her, if she'd get back with you but she said it was far too late now."

"Yes, it is so forget it Daisy, don't go dragging that up again, I asked her once and she laughed at the idea, maybe we just left it too long eh?"

He had been back to Sandbrook for the verdict of those responsible for the two cousin's deaths and Tess had shown no signs she had fully forgiven him although she had mellowed somewhat since her frosty behaviour towards him when he and Miller had reopened the case last year.

"So are you going on your own then?"

"No, I'm taking DS Miller with me, the chief doesn't trust me to go on my own," he chuckled.

"Are you sure there's nothing going on Dad?" she asked cheekily, knowing it got him going.

"Don't you start, I had enough already with the chief.  Miller reportedly told her she'd quit if I ever tried anything, so it's safe to say neither of us are interested in going down that particular road anytime soon."

"Does that mean never Dad?  I'm old enough now to accept it's over between you and mum so if you ever did find anyone, I won't make a fuss over it, well providing she's not my age or anything."

"Very amusing Daisy, like anyone your age would be interested in me?"

"Well if you find Rose Tyler, she might be grateful for the rescue," she teased.

"Rose Tyler is way out of my league and you know it and besides that, if her abductor looks like me and we both look like her lost boyfriend, goodness knows how she'll react when she sees me, she will probably go running in the opposite direction without even thanking me."

Daisy laughed, not wanting to let such a good thing go, she could keep this going for ages if she wanted, her dad was such an easy target for teenage mischief.

"Well, she's at least ten years older than me and she might strangely take to you if you rescue her?"

"I seriously doubt it but we have to find her first before she's tipped over the edge, goodness knows how such a thing is affecting her mentally.  I'm going to find her Daisy, wish me luck."

"Yeah, good luck Dad and you can bring me a 'I love New York' t-shirt back or an NYPD one if you can get one.  Who will you be working with?"

"You've heard of the novelist Richard Castle?"

"No way Dad!  What's he got to do with the police?"

"His new wife is a detective, she's going to be in charge.  She's a homicide detective but since a man has died, it's all been connected and Pete Tyler wants her to remain in charge and Miller is a fan of his."

He said goodbye to his daughter and thought about the prospect of working with two female detectives – as if working with the infuriating Miller wasn't bad enough, now he had another independent woman to contend with, he might have survived a pacemaker operation but he was never going to survive this and when he found Rose Tyler, alive and well, she wouldn't be able to get away from him fast enough after her ordeal.  Well so he thought anyway.

Chapter 10

Ellie had successfully talked her sister into taking the boys but couldn't tell her why she had to go off to New York with Alec Hardy.

"Lucky you then, he avoids me like I was the plague or something, did you tell him I fancied him?"

"I think you put him off Luce, when you showed off in the witness box at Joe's trial."

"You just want him for yourself Ell."

"Don't be ridiculous, we are way over that now and if he tries anything, I'll open the plane door and toss him out over the Atlantic Ocean."

"Yeah, you'll soon change your tune, in New York with him.  Why are you even going?  What's so secret about it?"

"It's all hushed up, I swear I can't tell you but we'll be working with the NYPD."

She was dying to tell her sister she was actually going to be meeting Richard Castle but that would just make things even worse.  She said goodbye to Lucy and left some cash to cover expenses then took Tom on one side.

"I don't know how long I'll be away but I'll come back as soon as I can.  I know we've only just nicely settled down again but this is important.  Promise me you won't tell your aunt?" Tom nodded, tears in his eyes.   "Someone very important has gone missing over there, she's lost in a big city and the police there need our help to try to identify the man who took her, who is also English."

"But Mum, why can't the police over there find them?"

"They've tried but they think having us there will help.  Don't laugh but the man they think took her looks like DI Hardy and having him there could be an advantage."

Tom managed a smile.

Back in New York, Beckett and Castle were preparing to go meet up with Pete, Jake and Mickey when Pete called to say he'd found a few more interesting facts plus a possible name for the man who may be holding Rose.

"We think his name is Kilgrave and he's gone to great lengths to keep himself hidden.  There are no photos of him but the description fits and all the reports say people did things then didn't remember doing them.  There are also several reports of women going missing then on their return, could not account for where they had been and some had been pregnant."

That had particularly concerned him since Rose missed the Doctor and had never got over him.  He just hoped she was sensible and took precautions because if her mother ever found out, Jackie Tyler would hunt the man down herself, she wouldn't need the assistance of the NYPD.

"So Pete, the two detectives from Great Britain will be here tomorrow, all the arrangements have been made then we'll meet up the day after.  I know this is taking some time but we'll get her back," Castle told him.

"The captain is up-scaling the search for this man and now we may have a name, it all helps close in on him.  Let me have the names of those involved with those incidents, especially the women, they may be able to remember something."

"Kate, if these woman have got pregnant by Kilgrave, I'm really worried for Rose, especially in her current frame of mind, goodness knows what he'll do to her."

"I don't think he'll hurt her Pete, he needs her for something, that's why he chose her," Castle told him.

"Yeah, he wants Torchwood."

"How do you know that?" Castle asked his friend, patting him on the shoulder as he got up.

"Why else have there been no ransom demands?  He must have Rose's phone or she would have called so he could have contacted me.  No, he's gathering as much information as he can then he'll make his move and hopefully, we'll have him."

"Are you planning on handing Torchwood over to him then?" Kate asked.

"I won't need to, Rose is a trained agent, in the case of being compromised for information, she'll log into a fake website, he'll get nothing useful, some of Jake's best work, eh Jake?"

Jake smirked proudly.  "Yeah, it will look real to anyone who has the ego enough to think they've got into our deepest, darkest secrets but it's all fake, he'll be none the wiser.  When he's got what he wants, he'll use Rose's phone to contact Pete and make his demands.  Hopefully, Rose will still have some resistance to him, if she uses her training correctly, we know that but she's also got a weak spot and he may or may not know about the Doctor, that it's the reason she's complying with him so far.  If he didn't look like him, Rose wouldn't still be being held captive, she would have marched him into the nearest precinct and demanded he was locked up."

Pete smiled at the thought but Rose was weakened, she was being held by the Doctor's double and it wouldn't take her much to cave in to him, since she'd been desperate to find a way back home and have her love for the Timelord returned. They had been so close a few years back, getting signs something was going on but by the time agents had got there, it was all over and there was no sign of the Doctor or his ship.

"So that's your plan then?  To trap this Kilgrave?  What about Rose, won't he retaliate?" Kate wanted to know.

"I don't think he'd hurt her, she should be able to convince him she's mostly under his control although he'll have figured out by now she's not completely under it but I think he'll see that as a challenge and respect that.  Jake, explain to them what happens if someone is sent to the fake website."

Jake was only too happy to explain how he would be able to track anyone who had been sent there, since it had never actually been used before, something Torchwood was proud of but a full team would be put into action upon receiving an alert it had been accessed and Rose at present was the only one who was likely to put in the unique password to fool the person who thought they had found the secret to taking over the organisation.  It would be easy, within a block radius to locate the computer's IP address, depending how many other users of the same internet provider were in the same building.

"Won't he get suspicious if more uniforms are patrolling the area, showing a photo-fit of him?" Mickey wanted to know.

"Unless he gets stopped himself, he won't know we're looking for him, we're not releasing details of Rose's abduction yet, let him think we're after him for the traffic fatality if he gets curious and asks someone.   He'll be more careful if he sees Rose's picture on posters and in the media. He won't think no-one's looking for her, he'll think he's got away with it, since she can't communicate with anyone, he'll have her under threat if she goes out anywhere."

"I hope you're right Kate."

"We think it's the best way and Rose isn't that well known over here," Castle assured Mickey.  "We know you're all worried about her but angering Kilgrave won't do her any good and if she's on the news and in the papers, it will do more harm than good, he may bring his plan forward and Rose may not have the chance to get him into the fake site."

"She knows what to do Rick, she won't let him in the real site, she'll be convincing enough," Pete told him.

"I don't know Pete, she's under a lot of pressure," Mickey replied, finding his trainers interesting all of a sudden and wishing Pete had never decided to leave him behind when they had come here, she would never have been on her own.

"Well, we'll be off then," Kate told him, "We'll talk again when the other two detectives get here though now we know who may have Rose, Hardy and Miller might have heard of him."

"It depends how long he's been here," Pete added.

"That's down to them, if they know his name, it may ring some bells and they can call their chief to run another check."

"We're already doing that back at Torchwood Kate," Pete told her.  "We could still use their help, especially Hardy's, if people see him around, they may come forward and report something."

"Good idea Pete.  Come on Kate, let's leave them to it, we'll see you on Wednesday."

Rose had got her flowers after Kilgrave kept the man he'd sent for them waiting over twenty minutes and then he'd let him in and told him to put them in water and leave them on the table on the balcony and open the wine.

"Kevin," Rose called from the bedroom.  "Are you coming back, sexy?"

"We still have work to do Rose, get dressed."

"Yes Kevin, I'll get dressed then, I'll put my new underwear on shall I?"

"If you must, hurry up and get out here or I'll get lonely."

"Oh, I can't let you get lonely, can I?"

"Well hurry up and get your cute ass out here love or I may have to get our friend out here to start pulling the thorns out of your roses."

Rose believed he would as well so she hurriedly threw on a dress, tying her hair back with a band and sat beside him.

"You'd know I had a cute ass Kevin, you groped it enough just now."

"You can get your payback later kitten, if you want?"

Rose smiled at him.  What a pity he was so intent on keeping her prisoner and wanted to take over Torchwood, well that and intentionally getting people ready to do themselves harm.  Since the other morning when she knew she'd given herself to him the night before, she worried she wasn't going to get away with it and was annoyed with herself for not making time to get herself protected, trip or no trip.

"Yes Kevin, I'd like payback, when you get out of bed, I love staring at you."

"Yes, I just bet you do love, now help me with this eh?"

He made her explain a few things then decided to stop for dinner although they'd already had two glasses of wine, he poured more out as they sat at the dinner table.  He was hoping he would get Rose in a playful mood because in the next few days, it would be leading up to his big moment – that of confronting her stepfather and having the pleasure of telling the man he had his stepdaughter and all of Torchwood's secrets and give him the ultimatum.  He would trade Rose for taking Torchwood over or he would tell the world exactly their true nature which they went to great lengths to keep from the public.  After he sent the staff away, Kilgrave laid her on the sofa, unzipping the dress she'd been to change into, under his watchful eye and began nipping at her delicate skin.

"Mm, Kevin, can I come and lay on you?"

"Of course my love, when I've given you my full attention, I wouldn't want you to think I was neglecting you."

"You wouldn't do that, you're always so attentive, that's what I love about you.  I love you Kevin."

She pulled him towards her for another kiss, touching his chest then running her finger to the fastener of his trousers.  He gripped her hand and unclasped it for her, pulling down the zipper then placing her hand there.

"Show me what you want Rose."

She had no problem showing him as she tugged on his trousers to pull them down, Kilgrave moving to help her and calling her name.

"You're really excelling yourself kitten," he growled as she pulled his trousers down his legs and he crawled on top of her.  "I might just have to take you right here my love, it seems you can't wait.  Can you Rose?  Can you wait?"

"No Kevin, you know I can't wait for you, I want you right now."

Rose was now beneath him as he fumbled to take her dress off for her, pulling it down over her hips then gave up and she wriggled the rest of way and before long, they were totally lost in each other despite Rose having made a resolution she was going to limit their activities as he'd got her in the bedroom earlier.

When Kilgrave had finished, he got up, retrieved his shorts and scooped Rose off the sofa.

"Playtime's over Rose, tomorrow, I want something in return."

"Yes Kevin, whatever you want, just say."

"Oh I will kitten, you can depend on that, tomorrow, you show me more of what you want."

Rose was relieved he'd not made any more of her going for his zipper, it had got him going and he'd been in too much of a hurry to have her start things off but she didn't know how much longer she could delay it.  It was plain he wanted to be a lot more intimate and if things weren't already bad enough, he wanted her to start it off.  As he carried her to the bedroom, she clung onto him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I will Kevin, I'll show you but I'm a bit shy in that department."

"Well, now's the time to come out of your shell, there's no need to be shy with me love."

"I'll try not to be, I'll try not to let you down Kevin."

"I'm sure you won't, if you put your mind to it.  Go do what you need to in the bathroom, I'll go turn out the lights and in the morning, we'll get up early and take a shower together.  Would you like that?"

"Yes, I'd really like that, the last time was really good."

"Yes, wasn't it?  Next time it will be better, since you appear to like having sex with your legs wrapped around my ass."

"It was really thrilling Kevin, it's the first time I've ever done that and I want to do it again, with you."

"In the morning love, I'm tired so maybe you can relax me when we get into bed?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

She went into the bathroom and splashed some water on her face after putting on her robe.  He was getting that he wasn't satisfied with having sex just at night, they'd come really close earlier, Kilgrave teasing her until she'd begged him not to leave her like that but he had done, after she'd tumbled over the edge of a deep pit and he'd come away from her and grinned at leaving her in such a state but she didn't know if he'd been doing it on purpose and he'd shown no signs until now he wanted her to do the same to him.

Kilgrave went back into the bedroom after hanging up his suit trousers and hiding his keys where Rose would never find them, there was no way she as getting out, not when in another few days, he would have learned all he needed to know and get Rose to unlock the secrets Torchwood held.  His next job was to gain access to the side of the website meant for officials such as police chiefs, Rose would have the password for that and would be more than willing to get him in when they had sex in the shower in the morning, if she thought standing up last time was good, she'd seen nothing yet, she'd never forget it.  Forget things getting steamy in the shower, he thought as he waited in bed for her.

Ellie and Alec were both awake at five thirty the next morning, all dressed and packed and waiting for a car to pick them up, Alec pacing up and down and waiting for the call to walk across the footbridge to the pub car park to save the driver driving all the way down the field.  It hadn't been long since he'd left once before, only to come back after failing to reconnect with his teenage daughter but he didn't want to dwell on it, she'd seemed impressed he'd finally got himself fixed and back at work again, until he'd called her last night and he'd heard the disappointment in her voice that he was going on a rescue mission.  She should have been impressed he was still around to do such a stupid thing.

Who was he kidding?  He'd been bored out of his mind for over a year and this was the most exciting thing that had happened since the Sandbrook court cases.  His phone rang twice then stopped, the driver seemingly thinking there was no need to actually call him.  They picked up Ellie, Alec having elected to sit in the front, to avoid having to talk to her for the next few hours, Ellie assumed as the driver put her things in the back and she got in, managing a 'Morning Sir' and Alec grunting one back as he was hoping she wasn't going to spend the entire trip calling him 'Sir'.

Beckett and Castle were preparing for a long day as Alec and Ellie made their way across the ocean towards New York, Ellie electing to catch up on some sleep while Alec produced a book he'd been meaning to get around to reading since he bought it last year.  He wondered if they had got any closer to discovering who the mysterious man in the purple suit was and hoped it would be widely revealed he was not the suspect, he was still worried he could be mistaken for whoever was holding Rose Tyler.

Rose had been woken early by Kilgrave kissing his way across her top half as she had gone to sleep in a vest top and as she turned to kiss him, he pulled at the top, indicating he wanted her to remove it.

"Good morning Rose, I trust you are ready for your morning shower?"

"Yeah, I'm more than ready Kevin.  Will you carry me to the bathroom?"

"With pleasure love, just as soon as I come back.  Go put your robe on kitten, I won't be long."

He went to get his t-shirt and slipped on his black jeans then went to wait for the staff turning up, then he went back to the bedroom, Rose was sat up in just her robe with her legs crossed and looking to Kilgrave very sexy.  He knelt on the edge of the bed and wagged his finger at her as she bent her legs so he could lift her up. He purposely lifted her robe up to get his hands underneath, running his finger down the back of her leg.

"Come on then, you can undress me in the bathroom."

"I'd like that Kevin, kiss me first though."

He picked her up and kissed her as she put her arms around his neck.  She was getting to like this far too much and if he intended for them to have sex in the shower, it was going to become more difficult to get away from him, she was becoming addicted to him and he was going to be a hard habit to break.  She knew she wasn't his first, he must have been able to take his pick of women, all he'd have to do was command them, then when he'd finished with them, he would toss them out with the trash.

As he carried her to the bathroom after untying her robe, he put her in front of the shower and wagged his finger again, pointing to the zip of his jeans.

"Your turn kitten, you take them off for me."

"Ah, let me take your t-shirt of first?"

"Have it your way then but take your robe off first," he replied, pulling on the belt to bring her nearer.

She dropped the robe to the floor and reached over to pull the white t-shirt up, he helped her as she couldn't quite reach, then he tossed it on top of her robe on the floor, then positioned himself to indicate for her to unzip his jeans and before Rose knew it, he was grabbing her hand as she hesitated at the waistband of his shorts.

"Don't mess around kitten, I'm getting impatient, just take them off."

"I will Kevin, I just want to see you for the first time."

"You've been close to me many times."

"I know but I've only seen your ass so far, I just want to be pleasantly surprised when I pull your shorts down, you always get out of bed without me seeing you turn around."

"Then I'll have to correct that mistake, won't I?  From now on, you can watch me put my shorts on, you'd like that?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Then get on with it Rose, before I have to spank that cute ass of yours or would you like that as well?"

"No Kevin, I'm not taking my time to annoy you, I really do want to see how impressive you are."

She had run out of time and she knew it so she took his hand and together, she pulled his shorts down slowly, wishing she could close her eyes but he was watching with a smile on his face as he took his hand away, leaving her to pull them the rest of the way.  As they fell to the floor and he stepped out of them, he grabbed her hand again, Rose letting out a gasp.

"So, are you suitably impressed?" he asked as his other hand went behind her and he pulled her close, making her move her hand quickly.

"I want you Kevin, I want you to run the shower and make love to me standing under the water."

"Stand right there kitten, don't move."

"I'm not going anywhere Kevin, turn the water on."

"I am doing kitten, just stay right there, I'm coming to pick you up and then show you the time of your life."

That was what Rose was afraid of, he was making her want more of him and making her want to stay but she had a job to do, to get out of here with no casualties and keep him from doing what he was trying to achieve – control of Torchwood and if it meant letting him do these things to her, she had to comply and hope when she was finally free she could get over him.  He was unlike any other man she'd had to deal with on her missions, she'd never fallen under anyone's influence before and especially a man who look like the Doctor, whom she'd wanted to be with just like she was with Kilgrave.

Chapter 11

As Alec and Ellie landed at the airport in New York, Ryan and Esposito were double-parked outside and debating what Hardy's partner looked like, since they knew who Hardy looked liked.

"We're not gonna have any trouble recognising him Ryan," his partner was saying as they looked at the arrivals board and saw the flight from London landed a few minutes ago.

"Yeah, wonder what she's like though?  If they worked together, maybe they're like Beckett and Castle used to be?" Ryan grinned and looked towards the arrivals gate.

"No-one could be like those two used to be, be thankful they finally got their acts together.  We take them to the hotel and then collect them in the morning, they'll have what's commonly known as jet-lag though I've never travelled by plane so I don't know.  Something to do with timezones and travelling too quickly between them, I'm no expert."

"Yeah, you reckon Einstein?" Ryan grinned and caught sight of a woman wearing a bright orange waterproof coat and thinking that had to be Miller.

He nudged his partner as she struggled with a case and a shoulder bag and the man behind her, wearing a dark overcoat and calmly carrying a large holdall and shaking his head followed her, looking around.

"That's them," Ryan told the other detective.

He moved forward towards Ellie and took her by surprise.

"Detectives Ryan and Esposito, you must be Ellie Miller?"

Alec stepped forward.  "Hardy, so you've been sent to meet us?  Do you know where we're staying then?"

"Yeah, Pete Tyler got you in the same hotel he's staying in, across town.  Let me help you with that Ellie?" Espo asked her.

Ellie was not going to pass an offer like that and unlike Hardy, he was using her first name.

"Thanks, which one are you?"

"You can call me Harvey, that's Kevin Ryan.  Detective Beckett said we'd to pick you up in the morning from your hotel, we've had some leads on the case so she'll fill you in then."

"Do we get to meet Richard Castle then as well?" she hoped as they walked to the car, a traffic cop backing away as Ryan flashed his badge at him.

"Is that all you're worried about Miller?" Alec asked her as he put his holdall in the trunk of the car.

Ryan was smiling to himself – this was just like watching how Beckett and Castle used to be.  He and Espo looked at each other as the two guests got into the car, Alec checking himself and getting reluctantly into the back with Ellie.

"Ever been here before?" Ryan asked.

"No, this is all new to me, I couldn't believe I got an all expenses trip paid for," Ellie told him.

"It's not a sight-seeing trip Miller," Alec informed her and trying to fasten the seatbelt as Ryan drove off.

Ryan and Espo were smiling to themselves – this was going to be amusing.

"I never said it was, I was just saying, Pete Tyler must be desperate to get his stepdaughter back after almost a week, having us come over to help."

Alec still didn't know why he'd been singled out, well apart from apparently looking like the prime suspect in a homicide and a kidnapping.

"You probably were not interested until you heard Richard Castle's name," Alec mused, watching the tall buildings as they passed by towards the hotel.

"That was just a bonus," Ellie grinned.  "Tom would have loved it here."

"Who's Tom?" Espo asked her.

"My eldest son, any chance I can get him an NYPD t-shirt or a baseball cap?"

Alec shook his head at her again, noticing the detective who had told Miller to call him 'Harvey' was looking through the mirror at him.

"You only just arrived Miller," Alec told her.

"I don't want to forget, Tom will never forgive me."

"Has he forgiven you though?"

"He moved back with me, didn't he?  Can't you just leave that alone Hardy?  I'm sure our hosts don't want to hear about my living arrangements.  Anyway, you've some room to talk, Daisy talking to you is she?"

"I think that's a bit different Miller, don't you?"

Ellie pulled a face and turned to the window, trying to get used to being on the wrong side of the road to what she was used to.

"Don't mind us," Ryan told them grinning.  "So you two, you just solved an old case then?"

"Yes, I hope we are going to be back for the retrial, one of them made an appeal.  So what are these new leads you have then?" Hardy asked them.

He might have known Claire wouldn't go down without a fight, despite being found guilty of attempted murder, aiding and abetting her husband in the death of a minor and stealing evidence, amongst other charges he and Tess had come up with along the way, mainly giving him the run-around.

"Well, there have been a lot of similar unexplained incidents, involving public transport plus, we believe we have a name for our purple friend.  We think he's called Kilgrave, though no first name as yet, we're tracking down those that claim they were held somewhere and don't remember much about it."

"Kilgrave?  Don't think I've ever heard of anyone with that name, have you Alec?" Ellie asked him.

Alec wished she wouldn't use his first name, she could still call him Hardy, like she did when she was annoyed with him, which was most of the time these days since he'd been back to try and get Daisy on his side again.  Apparently, not enough time had passed and it was all still fresh in the teenager's mind but how much longer did she need?

"No, I've never come across the name before, it could be he's concealing his real name and telling people that and if they don't remember him afterwards, he probably thinks he's well hidden.  We may know more when you have located his past victims.  You are treating them as victims?"

"Yeah, none of them have committed any felonies that we know of anyway and if they have, they probably did them under his influence, the DA will have to take that into consideration but we need to establish a pattern, that's what Beckett's working on, she'll fill you in on it tomorrow.   Here we are, your hotel."

Alec looked up, it seemed a decent enough place, better than The traders in Broadchurch and hopefully, there would be no flirty owner.  Pete was waiting downstairs for their arrival, wanting to thank the two detective for travelling all that way, Mickey and Jake were joining in the canvassing of the area the accident had taken place last week.  It had been a week now and they were progressing very slowly, too slow for his liking and had she been kidnapped at home, she maybe would have been found by now but at home, it would never have happened, he had contacts and the media on his side there.

While Ryan waited in the car, Espo helped take Ellie's case to the entrance and said he would see them in the morning.

"Thanks for the ride," Ellie told him.

"No problem Ellie, see you tomorrow."

Espo turned to go back to the car, Ellie taking the case handle.

"Stop flirting with him Miller."

"What?  I was not flirting with him for your information.  My sister was right about you Hardy."

Alec was thinking she'd gone back to his surname, he must annoy her more often then.  Pete saw them and got up from his table in the lounge.

"DI Hardy, DS Miller?  Pete Tyler, welcome to New York. I'll let you both get settled then my associates will be back later and we'll all meet for dinner.  Did you have a good flight?"

"Nice to meet you Mr Tyler, call me Ellie."  She wanted to add "And call him grumpy" but changed her mind.

"Right Ellie, call me Pete, we're all here for the same thing, to get my stepdaughter back.  Her two friends are out canvassing the area Kilgrave was last seen but it's almost a week, people will have forgotten by now.   DI Hardy, we hope you can help us with that?  How do you feel about looking like our suspect?"

"It's very un-nerving to say the least. Still, if it gets your stepdaughter back, that's all that counts in the end.  Do you know how Detective Beckett is getting on with other victims of Kilgrave's mind control?"

"No, I've not spoken to her today, she'll let us know when we meet her at the precinct tomorrow.  Don't let me keep you, we'll all talk later."

Ellie and Alec went to complete their check-in and were shown to two double rooms that Pete had only just managed to secure for them, Mickey and Jake were still sharing a twin.  Alec was a little annoyed they had adjoining rooms but thankfully there was no door between them.  He wondered what Miller had meant by saying her sister was right about him, he barely spoke to the woman for fear she would say something  to her reporter son.

It had been three months since the trial of Joe Miller, a long three months and how they had got those responsible for the Sandbrook murders to trial faster, he couldn't work out but he was glad it was nearly over and he hoped Daisy was still going to visit him, after he finally got back from this trip.

Ellie got unpacked and rang her sister to let her know she'd arrived safely.

"You're right about Hardy, he's still not loosened up, what's wrong with me Luce?"

"Nothing Ell, it's just him, maybe seeing his ex when he visits his daughter makes him want to get back with her?"

"You did not see the two of them together Lucy, trust me, he's well over her and no loss there either.  No, I think it's either just me or the fact we work together, once bitten and all that?"

"Yeah maybe Ell but that doesn't account for me, does it?"

"No but you're my sister."

"So I've got no chance either?  Thanks sis.  Anyway, I'd better go, Fred's just woken from his nap and he'll be cranky and want you."

Ellie hung up and went to unpack, trying to work out why she'd seen the need to bring a suitcase and Hardy had brought a holdall, just typical of him.

Alec unpacked his few shirts, t-shirts and his shorts then got his phone out, wondering if Daisy was in class then put the phone away again.  He'd leave it until later and let her know he'd arrived safely and then ask her if she'd told her mother he was going away.  If Tess had known though, she would have called to let him know of her annoyance.   He'd had very little contact with her after the Sandbrook case was finally laid to rest, then it had been business and not pleasure, as always where Tess was concerned these days.

Jake and Mickey had been out yet again, showing Kilgrave's photo to passers-by, each of them shaking their heads and Mickey thinking it was now a waste of time.

"Come on, let's go back to the hotel and see if Hardy and Miller have arrived," he suggested as he tugged on Jake's arm as he got another shoulder shrug from a woman with a small child.

"Yeah, it's too late now, people have forgotten about it, there's probably been dozens of such arguments in the last week or so but this isn't helping find her.  You know that café we went in earlier?  That girl looked scared when I showed her Kilgrave's picture."

"Well you never took it any further, it was probably nothing.  We'll go to the precinct with Pete tomorrow, see if there's still any point in doing this now, we may as well bring Hardy here, someone might point him out, a real person beats showing a composite.  I wonder how Jackie's taking it, we should call her."

"Rather you than me Mickey, she'll be mad Pete's not let her come over, I think if nothing happens tomorrow, he'll have to give in and let her, she must be going crazy and then she'll be trying to tell Tony nothing's wrong."

"He'll know there's something wrong Jake, he's a smart kid."

They all met for dinner, Pete introducing everyone and Jake saying about the girl in the café.

"When was that then?" Alec wanted to know.

"Sunday morning, the owner said she thought a man sitting outside wore a purple suit but when I showed the picture, she said she never saw his face, just him going out and she wasn't there went he collected his order.  The girl looked at the photo and shook her head saying she wasn't sure either but you could tell she just didn't want to get involved."

"Maybe I should pay her a visit tomorrow?" Alec mused.

"Yeah but she might run off.  It will give us some idea though, we might get something else out of her, maybe he tried to suggest something to her?"

"Such as?" Ellie wondered out loud.

"Who knows?  He's a bloke, she's a young blonde, maybe that's really why he took Rose, for no other reason?" Mickey added.

"No," Pete insisted.  "He wants her for a reason, she was in the newspapers saying she was accompanying me on a business trip and I should have left her out of it and I never should have let her out of my sight."

"Don't blame yourself Mr Tyler, she should have been safe enough getting out of a taxi.  I take it you interviewed the doorman?" Alec wanted to know.

"I did though the detectives also questioned him," Pete answered him.

"Well no harm in asking again and I want to know why he was busy talking instead of helping Miss Tyler out of the cab.  If it was the same doorman as was there earlier, he was talking to someone again, what's he getting paid for eh?"

Pete thought he rather had a point.  If the doorman had been paying attention, the men would not have made a move on her.

"They must have been watching us return before then, how did they know she was going to be alone that day though?"

"Maybe they followed her from the meeting?" Ellie suggested.

"Well that's rather obvious Miller.  What about you Mr Tyler?  Did you notice anything the other times you got out of a cab?  Anyone in a parked car or anyone standing around?  This Kilgrave for instance?"

It was the first time someone had actually asked him if he'd seen anything suspicious after their arrival.

"Please, call me Pete.  Well we arrived on the Thursday afternoon, our first meeting was Friday morning, we used different cab companies, the doorman hailing the cabs for us at both hotels so it was whoever was passing at the time.  We stayed in the hotel on Saturday but Rose wanted to go sightseeing on Sunday so I hired a car and driver and we drove around for a while before having lunch then we went to some department store, Sears I think.  Rose wanted to go on that tramway but I said we'd do that before we left."

"So you don't recall seeing anyone hanging around?" Ellie asked him.

"No, I don't and I should have been taking more notice but no-one knows us here, I had no reason to think we were being followed.  The papers may have reported on it, maybe Kilgrave saw it was announced we were arriving for talks and if he'd been keeping up with news from England, he'd know about me being the head of Torchwood.  He would have seen it as an ideal opportunity.  Sorry Ellie but he knew what he was after – taking Rose to gain control of the organisation."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to imply he was after Rose for any other reason.  Do you know if he's been trying to get into your website?"

"Only the public one and we don't monitor who accesses that, no password is needed and he's probably done a general search and got other bits of information such as any the public have reported.  He may try and get Rose to let him into the website meant for the police and other officials, we limit that as much as we can and each time, there's a log kept."

"Then maybe if he does use it, Rose will try and alert you?" Ellie asked.

"No, she can't do it that way, there's only one password, if it's wrong, it just asks you to try again and after three attempts, it tells you to refer to the Torchwood operative it came from, which would be Rose herself so that's no help.  Our only hope is when Kilgrave gets down to business and wants the real thing, then we'll have him, he'll get into a fake website, set up by Jake and we can trace the user. Rose knows all she has to do is make it look good and enter the password without hesitation and he'll be none the wiser."

"What if she can't?" Alec wanted to know.  "What if he has her so far under his control, she'll do anything he wants?"

"That won't happen Alec, she's well trained," Mickey replied, a bit annoyed Hardy could even suggest such a thing.

"I'm sure what Hardy means is that she's maybe been worn down, it's been a week now," Ellie assured him.

"I know what he means," Mickey huffed, sitting back and crossing his arms, like he always did.

Pete managed a smile.  "Mickey, I'm sure Alec meant nothing by it but we have to look at it from his point of view, he doesn't know Rose like we do.   No Alec, she may have been weakened but she won't stop fighting.  Let me tell you something about her and this goes no further, understood?"

Ellie and Alec both nodded, Alec relieved Miller was still calling him Hardy.

"You may have been told, she had a friend, a very close friend who looked almost like you Alec and she lost him but she never gave up looking for him."

Pete looked around to see the dining room empty apart from staff clearing away over the other side.

"This is highly confidential, his files are sealed but I'm trusting you here.  Rose and her mother plus Mickey here, they are not from this world, they come from a parallel one, this friend of Rose's, The Doctor, he's still there, they all got trapped here after the Cybermen left.  I'm not going into details, you both know what happened but after she got trapped here, we had these devices, to cross to other worlds and every time someone used them, she hoped they'd found him again. She's broken down several times over it, she's very delicate and Kilgrave, well he's not helping."

"Poor Rose, so you think she went willingly then?" Ellie asked.

"Well maybe if some men took her she had no choice but when she came round and if she saw Kilgrave and thought it was the Doctor?  She would soon realise it wasn't him though, for several reasons but looking like the Doctor would have taken some of the fight out of her and she may be doing some of the things he wants, mainly to save anyone getting hurt.  If he's using people to make her comply, he'd only have to suggest he'd make then do as he said and she would give in."

"Do you think he's abusing her, sexually?" Alec asked, hoping it wasn't a taboo subject.

Pete had known this question was coming but it didn't make answering it any easier.

"I sincerely hope not Alec but we've had several reports that women have gone back home and claimed Kilgrave used them and some were pregnant, Detective Beckett's following up on those few women, see how long ago it was as there were only brief reports.  The women's mothers have said their daughters didn't want to be subjected to any further distress so they'll have to be contacted and see if they are still willing to talk but to answer your question Alec, I am afraid something like that will happen and she may not fight it, looking like he does and despite her knowing she should fight it."

Alec hated this kind of case, this was going to be very difficult and it could go against him, looking like Kilgrave could make her even worse when this was over or she could cling to him like her life depended on it if she got herself so worked up that she believed her abductor was this Doctor.

"Maybe she thinks somehow that Kilgrave really is her friend?" Ellie suggested.

"That's what we're afraid of Ellie, she'll have enough awareness to fight him some of the way but hers and the Doctor's relationship was an awkward one, everyone who saw them together knew they loved each other but he never got the chance to tell her, he left it too late."

"I see.  So it will be a dilemma for her, having someone who looks like him show her some affection?" Alec asked.

"Come on Hardy, the poor woman won't know which way to turn, how will she be able to resist him?" Ellie wanted to know.

"We don't know if she will be able to, especially after a week.  If Kilgrave has taken a fancy to her and he's used other women, he'll take advantage of the fact she's part willing, he'll know she's not completely under his control and he'll take it she's aware of what's going on and she wants to be part of it," Pete said sadly, cringing at the thought.

"So when she's found, it could affect her like it may have affected those other women?" Ellie asked Pete.

"We'll have to see what Detective Beckett can get out of them, they may not be willing to talk about it, they may still be traumatised or angry.  They may not have been willing to seek help getting over it or been able to afford therapy.  The detectives will also be looking at other people who may have come under his influence, there are several reports he used drivers, housekeepers, taken over people's apartments and locked them in one room while he's made himself at home."

"That may help then, if they can give us a picture of what he's likely to do.  We still don't know the long term effects on her or the other women.  Like Hardy just said though, if she's found someone who looks like her friend, she may not want to leave him.  You'd best watch out Hardy, she may take a shine to you," Ellie smirked.

"Just what I need Miller, to take the place of her abductor and her old boyfriend."

The others managed a smile.

"Ah, don't worry so much Hardy, when she sees you she may slap your face or worse."

"Rose takes after her mother and she's very good at face slapping, so I've been told, eh Mickey?" Pete smiled.

"Trust me, I've had experience," Mickey smiled.  "Jackie Tyler slapped the Doctor and he wasn't even her boyfriend."

He wasn't going to add that was before the Doctor had changed though.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind then but to be serious, having me around may cause more harm, I'd best stay away once she is returned to you."

"Oh I don't know Alec, she may think you are the Doctor?" Ellie laughed.
Just what he needed indeed.

Chapter 12

Rose was just getting changed after her dinner with Kilgrave and dare not take her time even though he'd already hustled the staff out quickly so they could be alone, he would surely find something or someone to take it out on, he didn't seem to like being on his own too much.

"Kevin, will you come and help me with this zip?" she called from the bedroom.

She didn't really need any help but he did seem to enjoy pulling her dress zip down even when there was no real need and it kept him occupied.

"Anything for my rosebud.  Maybe tomorrow night we can go out to dinner, would you like that?"

"Oh, yes Kevin, I would love to go out for dinner, I can show off my handsome lover."

"Yes, you can, can't you?  You'd like to show me off wouldn't you?" he asked her, pulling the zip down slowly then sneaking his hand under her breast since he'd told her not to wear a bra as she'd gone to change for dinner.

Rose hated how many times a day he made her get changed and making her rush, he'd told her in the evenings to wear a low-cut dress for dinner, he didn't allow her to wear a bra underneath and she only just got away with a pair of skimpy knickers because he said he didn't want to see them showing underneath her dress and wanted to stare at her over their evening meal.  If he took her out tomorrow night, she'd have to at least wear a strapless bra thankfully.

He let her go, picking up yet another revealing nightdress and held it out to her.

"I'm happy you see things my way Rose, that bitch I had before you came along was such a whiner, she used to run away from me into the bathroom and I'd have to go drag her out.  You like getting undressed for me, don't you Rose?"

Rose was trying her best not to break into tears at the thought of the other women who had been subjected to his sadistic whims but instead she smiled, taking the nightdress from him.

"I love getting undressed to please you Kevin.  Can I undress you later?"

"No need to ask that kitten, I'm all for that and I'm happy to let you undress me any time.  Since you asked so nicely, you can take my shirt off for me but perhaps from now on you don't have to be so formal and seek my permission eh?  Feel free to relieve me of my shirt any time and my trousers if you want?" he winked, taking her other hand that wasn't clutching the thin nightdress and pulling on her finger, ran it down the front of his shirt.

"Mind you, if you want to take my shirt off, do it now before you put that on."

Rose knew there would have to be a catch.

"Mm, I'd be only too happy to do that Kevin," she told him, tossing the nightdress on the bed and using both hands, began unbuttoning his shirt and running her finger on his chest as one by one the buttons revealed more chest hair.

Then she leaned down and began kissing where her finger had been as the last button came undone, sending a shiver down Kilgrave she noticed.  She wondered if the other woman only did as they were told out of fear he would hurt them and never actually given anything back to him.  She could use this to her advantage and cursed herself for not picking up on this earlier.  Maybe she could turn the tables on him, he might only be seeking some attention in that respect, if other woman had laid under him and he'd had to make all the moves and tell them what to do.

If she could show him she was more than willing to do things to him without asking, he would let his guard down but little did she know that would be her undoing.  She knew she was weakening and it was going to be a great risk, her taking a more active role in their sexual activities but if it got her away from him, she would just have to hope for the best.  She went for the zip on his trousers and held her finger on the fastener.

"Oh, you want to play with fire then kitten?"

"Yes Kevin, do I have to ask you about that as well?"

"No, not at all, be my guest but you have to finish anything you start, kitten."

Rose swore when she got away that if anyone called her kitten ever again, they would land themselves in the trauma unit of the nearest hospital.

Rose put a wicked grin on her face, unfastened the clasp and pulled the zip down, resting her hand for a moment until he clutched it and pressed it into him, grinning back at her.

"That means from now Rose, finish what you started."

"Yes Kevin, I will finish it but I was going to pull them down first."

"No need to wait is there?" he queried, raising his eyebrows like the Doctor used to do.

"No Kevin right now is a really good time to finish."

As she took hold of him through his cotton shorts, she could feel him melt at being touched but she couldn't feel sorry for him, she couldn't afford to let his emotions cloud her judgement, she had a duty to get away from him and turn him over to be dealt with by Torchwood, the police wouldn't be trained to avoid his mind control.

Kilgrave pressed her hand tighter, he was melting and he knew it, how could she be doing this to him?  He was the one who was in control, not her but one real touch by her had reduced him to this.  He released her hand and pulled his trousers down, hopping on one leg then the other to get them off after he toed off his shoes then Rose reached for the back of his shorts, yanking then down and taking a look at him.

Kilgrave saw the look in her eyes and grabbed hold of her, picking her up and holding her to him as she wrapped her legs around him and taking only a few seconds to feel him wanting to take her right there as he yanked on her skimpy underwear.  As they each moaned and groaned, Rose knew she was getting far too comfortable with having sex where and whenever he felt like it but she had started this, she had started it before but didn't want to admit it.  As he held onto her, she was holding on with one arm around his neck, trying desperately to reach his ass with her other hand and kissing at the same time in short bursts as their moans continued until he finally let her down.

"That was exceptional Rose, what are you doing to me?"

Rose wondered much the same, what was she doing, initiating having sex standing up, more than once now, how would she ever be free of him at this rate?

"Yeah, that was something else, what are you doing to me Kevin?  You make me feel special, no-one has ever made me feel the way you do and I've never felt the same about any man the way I feel about you.  I love you Kevin."

She reached up to kiss him again, he was still holding onto his shirt, it was hanging off his shoulders so she pulled it down over his arms.

"Come on Rose, we'll go lay on the couch and have some more wine, we both deserve it after that."

Rose let go as he pulled his shirt back on and bent down to pick up his shorts, which he was still standing in, they were around his feet.

"I'll put my nightdress on shall I Kevin?"

"Yes, if you must."

He tapped her behind lightly and moved back towards the door.  "Don't be long."

"Oh no Kevin, I'll be right there, I just need the bathroom.  I'll be there when you've poured out the wine."

She retreated into the bathroom, her back to the door after she had thrown the nightdress over her head and looked at herself in the mirror.  What was happening to her?  The fight was going out of her with each passing day and she had been reduced to instigating sex with him, standing up and it was totally out of character of her, she had never done these things before and worst of all, she was starting to enjoy it, even look forward to it and she had to stop but how?

He was getting her addicted to him and she knew it, he was so different to the men she'd had to pretend to be interested in, she knew it was him trying to break the last of her free will, he knew she still had some but that was maybe encouraging him, he enjoyed the challenge.

Kilgrave had poured some wine and was laid on the couch, counting how long it should take her.  He really didn't want to go in and drag her out, especially after she had started things off again, none of the others had done that, he'd had to give them a step by step guide what he wanted but Rose, she was something else.  He had almost given in to her, letting his emotions run riot after he had carefully bottled them up for so long and he wasn't sure he liked it, not being in control but the way she carefully asked him things and the way she took the lead, it was something new to him and it was fascinating.

If he wasn't very careful, he would loose the control he did have over her and he'd meant to harness his powers, not lessen them but Rose was reducing him to this, what was it about her?  He had no idea it was that she still had a little power herself, the remains of 'Bad Wolf' that her first Doctor had thought he'd removed from her but a very tiny part of it had remained dormant until her training at Torchwood had resurfaced it and had been enhanced, which was why she was a top agent and chosen for special missions when everyone else thought she was taking advantage of being related to Pete Tyler.

He heard the bedroom door open and saw Rose in the knee length silky pale green nightdress that showed her shape and made her breasts swell through the v-shaped neckline.

"You look stunning kitten, come and lie on me."

Rose crossed to the couch and picked up both glasses of wine, handing him one and taking a sip from her own.

"You always pay me such lovely compliments Kevin and getting to look at you is more than adequate, you are very fit."

No woman had ever told him that, it was a first.  Maybe he'd gone about this in the wrong way previously, maybe women would want to be with him without bringing them under his control.  Here was Rose, half willingly giving herself to him and even wanting to start things off but he couldn't let down his guard even for a second, she was a trained Torchwood agent, one of their best and she could be playing him at his own game.

He would have to be very, very careful with her and if for one second he thought she was putting all this on, Torchwood or no Torchwood, he would kill her or rather have her kill herself, maybe even get one of his men to do it but he wouldn't be played for a fool, no-one would do that any more.  He'd had enough of that when his own parents had done those things to him and he swore no-one else would ever use him like that and Rose Tyler was not going to be the one who did, even Jessica hadn't been able to.

He thought he had loved Jessica Jones and she had loved him but she had played him and when he gained control of Torchwood, he would go after her for leaving him in front of that bus and if she thought she'd got rid of him, she was in for a big, very unpleasant surprise.   In the meanwhile, he'd had various women to keep him reasonably satisfied and Hope had seemed promising but she'd been too weak, too emotional and always cried after they'd had sex even though she had been fully under his control but if he got tired of Rose, he may get her back until he located Jessica purely due to the fact she had been fully compliant, unlike Rose who still had some free will, even though she was cleverly hiding it.

The next morning, Pete, Alec and Ellie were waiting for the two New York detectives to pick them up for their meeting with Captain Gates.  Mickey and Jake had headed out earlier on their last day of searching for any signs of Kilgrave, Pete saying from tomorrow, Alec would be prepared to go with other officers and see if he jogged anyone's memory.

They had been talking while they waited and Ellie was still a little curious about Rose and the Doctor.

"So you say he wasn't really her boyfriend then?" she asked Pete as they drank coffee whilst waiting.

"What has that to do with anything Miller?" Alec asked her, being the odd one out and drinking tea since he still had to avoid some things.

"It's ok Alec," Pete answered him.  "They had something special, I saw it the first time they were here, the way they looked at each other but she regretted not telling him how she really felt about him.  This Kilgrave looking like him will stir up all her emotions again and I'm afraid she will give in to him.  The Doctor got a message to her through the void, we travelled to Norway where she got to say goodbye to him but she broke down when we got back and we had no choice but to send her to a health resort to calm her down."

"Did she ever get over it?" Alec asked him, thinking it was a reasonable question to ask.

After dinner last night, he'd done some more research on Rose and found himself fascinated with her after he'd called Pete and asked to be let into her official Torchwood profile, the one the public never got to see.  He was getting out of his comfort zone over her, she was the stepdaughter of a very influential man who had put his trust in his and Miller's hands to get her back.  If he let the man down, he would be letting Rose down and leaving her in this Kilgrave's clutches and goodness knew what the man was doing to her, he shuddered to think.

If Kilgrave had her even partly under his control, she would need a lot of time and patience to get over it especially if she had not got over loosing this Doctor Pete had told them about last night and who he actually was, which had taken some believing and convincing on Pete's part but Mickey had told them every word of it was true and if they didn't believe him, they were welcome to try their luck asking Rose's mother, who was a notorious face-slapper who Alec didn't want to have to test first hand.

"To answer your question Alec, she told us she was over it but none of us know if that's true or not, only she knows but this incident, well even if she was over it, it will set her back and even the best therapists will have their work cut out for them. None of what you were told last night is to be repeated in front of the NYPD, understood?"

Alec and Ellie both nodded as they saw Esposito walking towards them.

"That goes without saying," Alec assured him as he got up.

"Ready for your meeting?" they were asked.

Alec was not looking forward to being bundled up in the back of the car with Miller, he'd been very uncomfortable around her since the trip to Sandbrook and they had been forced to share a motel room, which was why he was unhappy about even being in the next bedroom.

Beckett and Castle had both been busy the previous day, Castle had gone back to his office to try to make some sense out of finding the kidnapper's identity and if that was his real name, who was actually called Kilgrave, he wondered.  Kate had talked to the captain and now they were discussing how much lee-way they would extend to the two visiting detectives.

"I want it made clear that you are to remain in charge, Detective Beckett," the captain was telling her after the other two detectives had gone to collect them and Pete.

"Yes Sir, I fully intend to make that perfectly clear, Detective Inspector Hardy may think he has a senior rank over me where he comes from but this is my town and he'll have to remember and respect that."

"Good, we have a lot to get through when they get here.  Is it such a good idea to have Hardy out in the field though?" the captain queried.

"We think it's the best way to proceed, get Hardy out to the place the accident happened, if someone remembers anything else, they'll be more likely to respond to seeing someone who looks like him."

"Yes but Hardy has a beard doesn't he?"

"Well he might be persuaded to get rid of some it for the purpose of finding Rose Tyler's abductor.  We'll have to see how open he is to the idea, to play the part.  It's been a week now, we have no idea how this is affecting her and her mother must be frantic."

"You've not dealt with many abductions have you, Detective Beckett?  We were treating this as a murder investigation and that's how we proceed, let's hope it doesn't turn into a double one.  We need to find out from Mr Tyler if his stepdaughter is likely to anger Kilgrave or if she will comply."

"Sir, she's a trained Torchwood agent, she'll know not to anger him."

"Well I hope you are right detective."

On the way to the 12th precinct, Pete was asking Ryan and Esposito if they had made any other progress.

"We're still trying, since we're getting nowhere with asking around the area Kilgrave was last seen, it's like he's hiding himself away on purpose," Ryan told them.

"Either that or he does not want to leave her alone," Alec suggested.

"Maybe he doesn't fully trust her?" Ellie wondered.

"That's obvious Miller," Alec said sarcastically.  "Mr Tyler, you mentioned about Rose, being trained to resist Kilgrave, he will know if she is trying to fool him and he may be reluctant to go out with her."

"Yeah, you're probably right Alec.  I can't imagine Rose being caged in a hotel room or an apartment for a week, it's not her."

"Maybe he lets her out to go shopping?" Ellie smiled, thinking if it were her in Rose's place, she would go crazy as well.

"That's all you women think about Miller, I have experience."

Pete didn't know how to take that remark but let it go.  Everyone was getting tense over the upcoming meeting, he hoped he hadn't been expecting too much of Alec Hardy but when he'd been asked to give the Scottish detective access to Rose's personal file at Torchwood, he guessed Hardy was still feeling some guilt over Sandbrook and not being able to save Lisa Newberry.  He'd read up on the case and it's conclusion, some time after the events and how Alec had battled an illness, solved a boy's murder and then six months or so later, putting three more killers behind bars.

He'd also read one of those found guilty was making an appeal and he hoped she wouldn't get away and he would be following the events closely.  As they approached the precinct, Ellie looked up, it was a far cry from their station in Broadchurch, with it's odd shape that made it look tiny from the outside and was bigger on the inside, the rest of the building obscured from view.  They were given visitor passes at the desk downstairs and went up to homicide, Ryan leading the way once they arrived.

Kate and Castle were at her desk as they rounded the corner, Castle getting up to greet his friend and seeing Ellie and Alec looking around.  Captain Gates was sitting at her desk, looking over the rim of her glasses and noticing out of the corner of her eye there was a crowd around Detective Beckett's desk all of a sudden, indicating their guests had arrived.

Castle was doing the introductions and Ellie was trying not to stare, he was more handsome in real life than on the covers of his novels and she was determined to get his autograph before she left, well that and some item of clothing for Tom.  The captain interrupted them as Ellie was shaking hands a bit too enthusiastically with Castle, under his wife's watchful eye.

"Detective Beckett, if you've all finished?" she called out from the doorway of her office.

They all crammed inside, Pete thinking it was just as well Mickey and Jake hadn't come along as well, they would need a Tardis, not an office.

After much discussion, Alec had frowned at Castle several times, thinking there was no way he'd helped on numerous cases and the only real reason he was here at all was because he was now married to the lead detective.   He knew it would never last, working together was a disaster in his experience.

"You are going about this in the wrong way entirely," Alec informed them as they were trying to persuade him to trim his beard to make him look more like Kilgrave.

"Oh, how's that then?" the captain wanted to know when everyone stopped talking about Alec going out the next day with Ryan and Esposito and see if anyone pointed him out.

"You are concentrating on this Kilgrave, has anyone put out Rose Tyler's description?  Has anyone even been asking passers-by if they have seen her in the area this last week?"

"We were trying to keep her out of it," Kate insisted.  "We thought if we showed her photo around, it could get back to Kilgrave that we're in the area."

"You should be trying to flush him out Detective Beckett.  A week has gone by, he will be expecting someone to be out looking for her by now, I say get out there tomorrow, show her photo around to pedestrians, shopkeepers, doormen, taxi drivers, see if she has been out, like Mr Tyler said, she would be going crazy being caged in if Kilgrave is just using her to gain control of Torchwood."

"So that's what he's after?" the captain asked.  "You'd better fill me in on your theory then Detective Inspector Hardy."

Alec nodded to Pete.  "Torchwood is yours Mr Tyler."

Pete told them his theory why Kilgrave wanted his stepdaughter and that he didn't believe she would come to any physical harm but also his worries of the psychological damage it could do.

"Well Mr Tyler, let's concentrate on getting her back first shall we?" the captain concluded.

That they could all agree on but Pete knew it would take some doing, getting Rose over this.

"Detective Beckett, increase the number of units in the area and have them begin to show Miss Tyler's photo around and have the media on standby, we should now consider using them and tell them a missing VIP from England is somewhere in the city and for people to be on the lookout for her."

"Should I put up a reward for information leading to her safe return?" Pete asked her.

"That's not a good idea yet Mr Tyler, let's see if anything comes of showing her photo around.  Up until now, we've been concentrating on Kilgrave but now we should change our strategy, let Detective Inspector Hardy walk around the area and show Miss Tyler's photo instead."

Alec thought that was the first sensible thing he'd heard since he got there.

Chapter 13

A/N: Two new characters make an appearance!

When Rose had woken up, she knew if she didn't do something very soon, things would get impossible and she'd have no chance of getting away from him.  He wouldn't let her near a newspaper or listen to the news either on TV or the radio and he'd been careful to password protect the laptop he'd been working on even if he left it for only a few minutes.

She also knew by now, Pete would have at least got Jake and Mickey over when she'd not returned to the hotel that evening and he would have got his friend Castle involved since his new wife was a detective but what she couldn't understand was why no-one had picked up on the fact Kilgrave was doing searches on Torchwood and he would have also been looking her up, that should have triggered something unless he'd kept to the news sites and not actually typed her name in a search-engine.

It seemed a reasonable assumption, he'd want to avoid being detected before he'd even captured her but he was an unconventional captor, treating her the way he did but she was being held against her will, even when he let her out, he was very careful.  She heard the bedroom door open and he came back in, his shirt still open.

"Oh, so you're awake then?  Honestly Rose, you could sleep and win a gold medal for it love, I tried to wake you, did I wear you out last night?"

He took his shirt off and laid on top of the bed, unzipping his dark blue jeans.  Rose thought it was a pity he was so egotistical, he could be charming when he wanted to be and he was more than good in bed.  She wondered why he felt a need to keep people under his control, surely he could get a real girlfriend if he wanted but that wasn't why he wanted her, the sex had been a bonus to him.  Things would progress within the next few days, he was close to his goal which she was certain was taking over Torchwood in exchange for her safe return.

Would he let her go that easily though?  He was going to take some getting over, she was hanging on by a thread and he'd not even let her out yesterday.  He'd said he would take her out tonight though but would he keep his word?  They'd never been out at night, was it because he feared someone would see him?  He'd not been out on his own either since Sunday morning, was he fearful he would be spotted but why would he think anyone was looking for him?  He had no idea who he looked like, the Doctor was kept under wraps, Pete had made sure of that, he couldn't have read about him anywhere but once he got access to the secrets of Torchwood, it would all be freely accessible to him and he would start with her file, to have more to use against Pete.

"Rose, I'm waiting love, come and take my jeans off?  You were keen enough last night, weren't you eh?"

"Yeah, of course Kevin, I was just wondering, you said you'd take me out tonight."

"Yes and I will, after you give me access to the side of Torchwood meant for officials.  You do know where this is leading don't you?"

"You want to see what Torchwood actually does, apart from the public side of it?"

"Well that's a start, I do want more but I want to learn everything I can."

"I can get you in Kevin, if you want to know more but you could just ask me some of it."

"I will kitten, once I've read for myself, you can fill me in on the rest.  Now come over here or there'll be no going out tonight."

Rose leaned over and went for his jeans, Kilgrave clasping her hand.

"Do what you did last night Rose, it was really enjoyable.  You're so much more fun than any of the others."

"I just want to please you Kevin, I hope I do."

"Yes though I think you're holding back on me.  You're not, are you?"

"No Kevin, I told you I'm just shy like that.  You can teach me a lot, will you?"

"Well now's the time for your first lesson love, I hope you'll pay full attention, there will be a test later."

"I'm willing to learn everything you can show me Kevin, can we start now?"

"Oh yes love, we can start now."

Rose gasped as she felt him through the gap and he parted his shorts.

"Don't be shy with me Rose, you knew it would lead to this, last night.  I wanted to give you chance to get used to me, time's up."

She had never been this intimate with a man before, she had longed to be with the Doctor but that had never happened, Mickey was just a boyfriend and they'd only messed around but the other night, with Kilgrave had been the real thing and now she feared with being with him all the time, something would come of it.  This wasn't how she'd wanted it to be, she wanted her first time with a man she loved freely, not with one who was forcing her but now, he wasn't forcing her, she was doing it to survive and it could have been a lot worse, she could have no say in it at all.

After Kilgrave seemed satisfied, he pulled the covers back and wriggled out of his jeans and shorts, his wet shorts since she had made him squirm like a schoolboy having his first sexual encounter, he thought she had rather excelled herself, to say she'd not done it before, well so she'd said.  He was soon on top of her, finding the rhythm and hearing her moans underneath him.

"Yes, Rose, yes, come on baby, come on, moan for me, do you want me to go faster?"

Rose was already lost, how was he even doing that?  Making her want more of him? Her mind was still somewhat free, well just about but her desire and body weren't.

"Kevin, yes, please, please, go faster, I want you so much, make me moan Kevin."

"I will Rose, tell me what you want me to do to you."

"Kevin, I want all of you, please, don't stop, don't leave me like this."

"Well since you asked me nicely, I won't then, scream my name Rose, scream it loud!"

As he hit the spot, she shrieked his name, the staff outside hearing and being able to do nothing as he'd told them he was going in the bedroom to have sex with his girlfriend and no-one was to interrupt him, he needn't remind them of what he could do to them, should he choose to hurt them.  He'd already sent one of them out to get more flowers and chocolates and the stores weren't even open yet, he'd told the man to wait until they did then wait outside the apartment until he went to unlock the door.

That had left one man and the housekeeper, who had been told to watch the clock on the wall and when it got to eight thirty, to have breakfast ready as he would be out on the dot and it had better be on the table.  As Rose was coming apart under him, Kilgrave was grinning like the cat who'd got the cream and was tumbling over the edge himself, what was this woman doing to him?  He'd thought Jessica was quite good but Rose excelled herself under his careful tuition.

Just when Rose couldn't contain herself any more and was feeling she was going to burst, he slowly came away from her as they both shivered from the excitement.

"Rose, baby, you are amazing love, stay where you are, I want to watch you."

Rose could do nothing as the aftermath hit her.  Eventually, just before eight thirty, Kilgrave got dressed and told her breakfast would be ready.  She got up and put her robe on and excused herself to the bathroom to recover.

"Kevin, have we time for a shower?"

"Now you ask me.  Ok but just a quick one, not had enough kitten?"

"I just want to see you Kevin, for you to stand next to me and rub my back."

"I can do that, just for you, go wait for me while I tell the cook to keep breakfast warm for us.  Then we go to work, no more playing around."

"Yes Kevin, whatever you say, I'll go wait in the shower for you, you won't be long will you?"

"No love, I won't be long, go on, go get under the shower, I'll join you."

"I can't wait."

As soon as he left, she headed for the bathroom and turned on the shower, wishing she could shower alone for a change but she was getting to like having company far too much.  She knew what he wanted when he'd finished having breakfast, all her secrets would be revealed, he'd know all about the Doctor, who he was and where he came from and she could never allow that.  There was only one way to stall him, she would have to distract him as soon as he accessed her file, if he let her sit next to him.

She couldn't let him directly into the fake site that Jake had set up to fool anyone who had got access by means of submission or even torture, Kilgrave would get suspicious if she seemed too keen to let him in and bypassed the other less secure site.  He'd want to know everything before going into what he believed was the real thing and she knew she couldn't hesitate for a second, she had to make it look good and make him think it was for real.

He joined her for a quick shower but it hadn't been like the last one they had taken, he seemed in a hurry to get back into getting access to Torchwood and after breakfast went back to work, Rose sitting by his side.

"Kevin, can I go out today?"

"What for?"

"To get a nice dress to wear if you're taking me out tonight."

Kilgrave considered her request.  "I haven't decided if we're going out tonight yet, it all depends of you, if you keep disturbing me or not."

"Sorry Kevin, I didn't mean to disturb you, I just thought you'd want me to look nice for you."

"You have plenty of dresses I've never seen you wear anyway.  Now come here, I'm ready for you to get me into the side of Torchwood the public never see."

Rose tried not to panic, if she hesitated, he'd know.

"Yes Kevin, I can do that.  Do you want me to tell you more about myself?"

"Later Rose, I'm not interested in knowing more about you just yet, there are other more important things I need to learn first."

That came as somewhat of a relief to Rose as he pushed the laptop over to her to type in the password.  She thought it was a shame Jake hadn't set up a fake website for that but a log was kept at least but it was hard to trace unlike the fake website, she would be the only one using that, there could be hundreds of users online at any given time using this one.

She passed the laptop back to Kilgrave, who squinted at the screen, reluctant to let Rose know he needed his specs but all this reading was giving him a headache.  He gave in and fished in his jacket top pocket, bringing out a pair of silver rimmed glasses.  Rose tried to show no emotion as he put them on but he noticed her looking.  She was praying someone back at Torchwood would have been told to watch out for all activity on this part of the website but the chances were slim it would stand out from other users.

Pete and the others had concluded their meeting and Ellie was talking with Kate.

"Have you met Rose Tyler Kate?" Ellie asked her in the break room as everyone else piled in for a break.

"No, we were meant to meet the night she went missing, that was the first time I met Pete."

Alec was looking for tea but was out of luck so he passed on the drinks though he could now drink coffee should he wish to but he'd not yet got used to the idea of being able to do so.

"What are you going to do about distributing her photo?" Alec asked Kate and eyeing Castle help himself to coffee, unaware he'd actually bought the machine a while back.

"Her photo is already out to officers, we'll have missing person's leaflets distributed to patrols so they can hand them to businesses and hotels in that area."

"What about apartment blocks?" Ellie asked her.

"Those too and we'll have officers show them around the intersection where the accident took place, just in case."

"When are you starting that?" Alec wanted to know, thinking they'd already wasted a week in not putting her photo out already and concentrating on this Kilgrave.

He wasn't looking forward to being a real live composite of the man wanted in connection to her disappearance after he'd reluctantly agreed to trim his beard the next morning but had refused to completely get rid of it.  He'd got accustomed to it and that was that, he was shaving it off for no-one, not even Rose Tyler herself, should the need arise.

He was unaware Castle was standing behind him, copying his frown and Kate smiling at him.  Castle had wanted to know how good this Scottish detective was and had looked up a number of his old cases but he'd been impressed at Alec battling his illness to bring a killer to justice, even if the said killer had walked free.

"So, Alec, that case you wrapped up and the killer walked free from court?"

"Really Castle?  Why bring that up, it has nothing to do with Rose's disappearance," Alec huffed back at him.

Kate gave him one of her 'you've put your big feet in it now' looks.

"I just wondered, has anyone written a story about it by any chance?  Did you know there was a similar case at almost the same time in a small northern Californian town called Gracepoint?" he asked Alec, who wanted to be out of there and away from being asked stupid questions by a novelist.

"No, why would I Castle?"

"Oh, I read about that one, that boy was called Danny as well," Ellie chipped in brightly, too brightly for Alec's liking.  "Wasn't the killer the other detective's husband but it was an accident?"

"How do you know so much about it Miller?" Alec asked her, getting a look from the others, who had been calling her Ellie all morning.  "Is it the fact it was also a detective's husband?"

Ellie wanted the floor to swallow her but surely everyone knew about Joe?

"I thought it was a bit of a coincidence, that's all, she had the same name as me and her husband the same as my husband's.  The lead detective there looked like you."

"What? No-one told me. Are you sure about that? How many others look like me?"

As if an alien Doctor, an actor and a mind controller who abducted heiresses wasn't already enough, there was yet another one.

Castle sniggered, getting him a frown from Kate.

"Did anyone else know?" Alec demanded.

"Yeah, we knew Alec," Kate smiled.  "We didn't know how to tell you.  Now you know as much as we do.  I doubt he'll get involved with this, Rose isn't that well known over here."

~~~~{ silversurfer60 }~~~~

Across the other side of the U.S, Emmett Carver was looking through various reports, trying to relieve the boredom after rounding up a gang of fraudsters who had been cashing in on the death of Danny Solano a while back.  He called to his partner, Ellie Miller to come into his office.

"Have you seen this Miller?" he asked as he turned the screen.

"A missing VIP in New York?  Why are you so interested Emmett, is she blonde?"

"Sheesh Miller, is that all you have to say? She's been missing for a week and two detectives from outside the NYPD have been called in because it's Rose Tyler. Honestly, VIP's go missing all the time."

"Did you say Rose Tyler?"

"Yes, so, who is she then?"

"You've never heard of Rose Tyler?  Have you been hiding under a rock?  She's only Pete Tyler's stepdaughter."

"Who's Pete Tyler?"

"Seriously?  Vitex?  You said that's all you daughter drinks when she comes to visit you and the drinks machine is full of bottles of the stuff, I like the cherry flavour the best."

"I might have known Miller but we're not discussing yours or my daughter's drinking habits here.  So, she's heiress to the Vitex corporation then?"   He'd heard the name but knew nothing about her, why should he?

"Amongst other things such as she's a top Torchwood agent.  Look, it says on the report she came over for a conference to set up Torchwood in the U.S and she went missing a week ago, abducted."  She looked until she got to the bottom of the page and Kilgrave's likeness.  "Oh, you have to be kidding me, have you seen this Emmett?"

He hated the fact she'd taken advantage of being allowed back to work after they'd made peace with each other after he figured out who really killed Danny Solano and had immediately decided to use his first name, who called their kids Emmett?

She turned the screen back to show him the composite.

"Is this someone's idea of a joke Miller?"

Ellie couldn't help but laugh.  "No, I don't think so, it says the man's called Kilgrave and he's English, bit of a coincidence.  It says two English detectives have been brought in by the NYPD at Pete Tyler's request."

Emmett hadn't got to that bit yet though he wasn't going to let on to her.   "So, Mr Tyler's going all out to get his stepdaughter back?  Still Miller, it doesn't concern us, does it?"

Ellie had got the screen back and was reading about the two detectives.

"Talk about coincidences Emmett, the female detective has my name."

"Now that's amusing Miller, what's the other one called, Emmett Carver?" he asked dryly.

Ellie was typing the other Ellie Miller's name into a search box, getting a picture of her, then typed the other name, Alec Hardy and burst out laughing, getting her a look from Emmett.

"No, he's called Alec Hardy and he looks just like you, down to the beard."

"What?" he asked loudly, snatching the monitor back.  "Now someone is definitely having a joke, at my expense."

"Oh come on, it's kinda funny Emmett, what are the chances of that?  It's not like you're gonna meet him, is it?"

"I sincerely hope not Miller, they had better not call me to New York to consult on the case."

"It says here they already have a consultant on the case, a friend of Pete Tyler's. Hey, it's the novelist, Richard Castle."

"This just keeps getting better and better Miller, I'm not sure I can stand all the excitement."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much, what are the actual chances they even know about us over in New York?"

"I hope not Miller, that's all I need, that Renee Clemens will be in her element if she gets to know about this."

~~~~{ silversurfer60 }~~~~

Rose and Kilgrave were taking time out after lunch.  Kilgrave had told all the staff to go into the kitchen and not come out until he let them out then he'd relieved Rose of her underwear and they'd had sex on the couch, leaving Rose breathless again.  He'd started it this time and never even bothered about her touching him but at least it was delaying him from reaching her file.  She dreaded to think he'd find out about the Doctor even though he was safe enough back in the other universe but if he ever came back here, his life would be in even more danger as she believed Kilgrave would try and use him or if not, expose him.

She decided there was only one thing to do, not distract him and hope she was indeed sitting next to him to prevent him going too deeply into her file, some things were ok but when it came to the part of how she came to this world, well she wished Pete hadn't wanted to be so open about it, did high-up officials really need to know about how she and her mother had got here?

She could always offer again to tell him about herself and hope he didn't bother accessing her file, she could spin him the tale of how they had been rescued when the Cybermen had taken over their version of Torchwood, that she and Jackie had been caught up innocently in it all and avoid telling him of the first time she'd been here but she'd leave Mickey out of it.

"Shall I go get ready to go out later Kevin?" she asked him as he got up and held out his hand to help her up, something he'd never bothered doing with any of the others.

"I'll think about it, back to work."

He would be getting suspicious, Rose thought, if she asked him one more time about going out but if they only went out on a Sunday and in the evening, there wouldn't be as many police around who might be looking for her.  She smiled at him and went to retrieve her underwear, gabbing it from the back of the couch as Kilgrave zipped up his jeans.

"Come here kitten," he told her as he stopped what he was doing.  "Come and pull the zip the rest of the way eh?"

"I'd be happy to do that for you, I was feeling left out of things."

"You should have said so love, I can't have you being left out, can I now?"

He grasped her hand as she took the zipper into her fingers, pressing her hand onto him and putting a smile on his face.

"I don't know about going out later, I think we could do more of what we did earlier, don't you?"

"If that's what you want to do Kevin, then it's what I want to do.  Maybe though we could do that when we come back?  I'd love to be seen out having dinner with you."

"Well maybe then, when we come back.  Go sort yourself out then come back and help me, I'm just getting to the interesting bits."

Rose dreaded to think what they were, how many aliens were taking refuge from warring planets, how many had been stranded and integrated into society, some humanoid and some more alien looking who had been found a job and a home in the circus or the travelling fair as sideshow attractions and had been only too grateful to be accepted, never complaining since the alternative was being locked up in the vaults beneath Torchwood's Cardiff branch.

Ellie, Pete and Alec were being driven back to the hotel to meet up with Mickey and Jake after Pete treated them all to lunch at a nearby outdoor café, Ellie taking in their surroundings.

Ryan got the task of driving them back, leaving Alec free to sit in the front seat, still not being used to being on the wrong side of the road and finding it strange.

"Good meeting?" Ryan asked casually.

"I think we made some progress," Pete told him.  "Mind you, the detective inspector here's not too happy about a few things."

Alec shook his head.  Kevin Ryan just grinned at him, maybe it had something to do with the other detective's beard and the shaving or trimming of.

"I can't get used to your different ranks Ellie," Ryan addressed her, glancing through the mirror.

"Oh.  Well he's more senior in rank than I am, like Detective Beckett is sort of your boss.  It's a bit confusing for us as well, maybe you could explain it in more detail?"

"We won't be here that long for you to get used to it Miller," Alec told her.

"How come you never call her Ellie?" Ryan asked him.

"Why do you call Detective Beckett just Beckett when she's married?  Even Castle calls her that."

"Ah, old habits die hard," Ryan answered him, amused at the Scottish detective's dry sense of humour or rather the lack of it, was he always that serious he wondered.

"Well I think we're getting somewhere, if they start showing Rose's photo around from tomorrow, let's hope someone has seen her," Ellie said as they approached the hotel.

"That's if he even lets her go out," Alec muttered as they got out and thanked Detective Ryan for the ride.

"I'll pick you two up in the morning, Ellie, we'll drop you at the precinct and Hardy can come with us to the scene, minus the beard."

"I am not shaving off my beard," Alec insisted to anyone who was listening, getting out of the car, very carefully as he was on what he considered to be on the wrong side of the street and remembering not to call it a road.

Chapter 14

Kilgrave decided he would risk taking Rose out after all, since he'd already instigated their sexual activities after lunch and there would be no-one looking for him and if someone was looking for her, there would be less police around at night.

"Go on then, go get changed and I'll take you out."

She kissed his cheek and got up from the chair next to him, pleased he'd not got to her file as yet.

"Thanks Kevin, I'll go make myself look nice for you then."

Kilgrave got up and went to the kitchen where the housekeeper was staring at the clock.

"You can go now, be back for breakfast in the morning."

The woman couldn't get out fast enough.  Then he turned to the two men, standing either side of the door, unlocking it to let the housekeeper out.

"One of you can go, I don't care which one.  Wait outside for me to let you in tomorrow morning and one of you bring roses and chocolates for my girlfriend."

Rose was getting changed when Kilgrave entered the bedroom, Rose standing in her underwear in front of the mirror, a dress held up to her.  It reminded her of when she had been in that house in Scotland, trying dresses before finding out there was a werewolf in the cellar.

"That one looks good Rose, don't take all night to choose."

"No Kevin, I won't take long.  If you like this one, then I'll wear it."

It wasn't really her colour but she wasn't going to argue with him.  She just hoped by now, someone would have been showing her photo around and wherever he was taking her, the staff would recognise her and discreetly call he police.  She dreaded to think though what he'd do if they actually showed up.

He could take it one of two ways, give her up and try and bluff his way out or take her with him after pulling a Jedi mind trick on them by saying she wasn't the one they wanted.  If only Pete knew he looked like the Doctor, it would be so much easier to find her.

Over dinner at Pete's hotel, everyone had got together, Mickey laughing at Alec's predicament of having to part with some of his beard before joining in the hunt for Rose.

"So, still no luck?" Pete asked them, Mickey shaking his head.

"Because it's now getting stale," Alec told them.  "People are not going to remember him over a week after the incident, if he's not been out again."

"How do you know he's not been out?" Mickey asked.

"Because there have been no unusual reports, have there?" Alec huffed, a bit annoyed no-one was keeping up with him, even he'd figured that one out.  No reports since Kilgrave was spotted on Sunday morning meant he'd gone back to being a recluse and had only been going out those two mornings to get breakfast for Rose.  That gave him an idea.

He suddenly reached for his phone to call Kate, not wanting to explain things twice.

"Detective Beckett, have there been any new missing persons reports?"

Everyone looked at him as he explained.

"So since he's only been seen those times, he's either been making breakfast or someone has done it for him and what about those two men who abducted her? What about other meals?  He must have got a cook or a housekeeper, see if anyone has reported a wife or a mother going missing."

"That's a good idea Alec," Kate told him.

Alec was wondering why he was having to do all the thinking around here.

"Yes, well since no-one has reported throwing hot drinks on themselves lately, he must be holed up somewhere with her.  How about in the evening?"

"What about evenings?" Ellie asked him.

"Well he may stick to going out in the evenings so tomorrow, have her photo put out to all the restaurants in the same area."

Castle was listening, wondering who Alec Hardy thought he was, bossing his wife around.

Kate thought he did have a point, it was her investigation but Alec Hardy was clearly in charge here and she had no way of stopping him.

"Ok then, we'll do that and the captain will put her photo out to the newspapers the day after, you know the worse it is the longer it's left."

"You don't have to remind me of that, Detective Beckett."

He thought she was having a go at him over Sandbrook and taking three days to find Pippa and a lot longer to find poor Lisa's body, not that Tess had said you could tell it was her after all that time apart from her clothes and forensic evidence, well that and Ricky Gillespie finally admitting that was where he had taken her after he declined to answer any of his questions.

Rose and Kilgrave got a taxi down-town to a fancy restaurant and enjoyed an evening out, Kilgrave even opting to pay, Rose noted.  She was the one who had to pay though when they got back, Kilgrave making her take the lead again.  She tried to delay him by taking her time unbuttoning his shirt, which he seemed to enjoy as she kissed his bare chest every button that came undone but he knew she was stalling.

"Come on Rose, playtime's over, you know what I want?"

"Yes Kevin, I know what you want and I'm gonna give it to you, I was just making it interesting."

"You're stalling kitten, get on with it."

Rose ran out of buttons anyway so she went for his trousers, a wicked grin on her face, well the best one she could muster anyway, she just hoped she was fooling him but it she wasn't rescued soon, she would get too dependant and the longer it would take her to get over him, if she ever did.  She had been wishing Pete had never talked her into coming here now but she'd never been to New York, well only to new New York and that didn't count.

The next morning, Kilgrave kept the staff waiting while trying to get Rose interested in rubbing more than his back in the shower and Rose pretending she was still somewhat shy in that department but he wasn't interested in her excuses.

"I expect certain things Rose, you know that?" he asked her as he unwrapped her robe.

"I know Kevin, can you just give me a little more time? I mean touching you is one thing but what you're asking?"

"Come on, you mean you've never had a man wanting you to do that before?" he asked, only half believing this woman was so shy.

"I don't know what you've read about me Kevin but I'm not with a new man every week, I've barely met half of those who claim to have been out with me, I probably just passed them in the supermarket or at a charity event."

"I find that hard to believe Rose, a woman like you?"

"It's true Kevin, I'm not someone who plays around."

"That makes a change then, where have you been hiding yourself?"

She wanted to say in another universe and then trying her hardest to get back and narrowly missing finding the Doctor again but she knew she couldn't let on about any of it, what Kilgrave wouldn't do to get control of two universes, she dreaded to think of the consequences and if he really got into the Torchwood site, both universes would be in danger.

"Nowhere Kevin.  Are we taking a shower?"

"I've changed my mind, you go first."

"But I wanted you to lather me in shower gel."

"Another time Rose, quit stalling and get your shower, after breakfast, I want into your file."

She knew she was on dangerous ground here and had to tread very carefully.

"Kevin, you're not mad at me are you?"

"I don't know Rose, should I be?  I'll let you off this morning but tomorrow, you won't be so lucky so you'd better get used to it.  Don't take long either or I won't take you out any more."

"Sorry Kevin.  I won't be long."

Kilgrave let the staff in, one of the men had been to an all night store and was waiting with chocolates and roses, Kilgrave debating whether to just throw them away but left them on the table since they had run out of vases. He was just a little annoyed Rose hadn't wanted to share his fantasy of her doing things to him, Hope hadn't had a problem but there again, she had been completely under his control and now, he couldn't figure out how Rose was resisting this long, she must be very highly trained in mind-control.

The moment Rose had been dreading arrived but she didn't know Jake had intervened last night and had set up an extra layer of security on her personal file by asking for another password.  Rose stared at the screen when she put her password in, without hesitation.

"What's this Rose?  Why are you delaying, are you hiding something from me?"

"I offered to tell you about myself Kevin.  No, it's just someone has put another password screen on since I last logged in, I can't get past it."

Kilgrave thought he should have known Pete Tyler had an idea why his stepdaughter had been taken.

"How perceptive of them then, very clever, your stepfather has anticipated why you disappeared but never mind, I have enough for now until you get me into the main site.  Why are they separate anyway?"

"Not everything is on the side of the site meant for officials, not everything about me is in there anyway, do you want me to access the main site for you?"

"Won't they have done the same to that?"

"I don't think so, there are too many employees and they won't be expecting me to give in and get you into the files. I don't know why they put an extra password on this."

"Tomorrow then, get me in tomorrow."

Rose could only agree she would.  While all that had been going on, Ellie had been dropped at the 12th precinct and Alec, having shaved off enough of his beard that he felt he'd not given in altogether and that was what Kilgrave would look like after two days of going without, he was out with Ryan and Esposito in the area where the accident took place.

They were just approaching the same news vendor whom Kilgrave had told to pour a hot drink on himself when the man was going to run until Ryan stopped him.

"Hey pal, it's ok, he's with us.  Is this the man who told you to harm yourself?"

The other man nodded.  "Yeah, that's him except the other guy wore purple, like I already told the officers.  Who's he then?"

"A detective, we're with the NYPD," Esposito told him, flashing his badge and nudging Alec to do the same, was that how they did things in Britain?

"Do you remember anything else about the man?" Alec asked him, getting him a look from the news vendor at his accent.

The man shook his head, looking at his hand that was still bandaged from last week.

"Keep him away from me," he told Ryan, looking uncomfortable at Alec's presence. "The other guy though, he didn't sound like him.  Looks like him though, apart from the suit," he repeated.

"That's because I am not him."  Alec got his phone out with Rose's photo on it, he'd been staring at it before leaving his hotel room.

"Was this woman with him?"

"No, I'd remember a dame like that.  He was on his own then when I told him to put the magazine down, he told me to pour coffee on myself and I felt like I had to."

Alec was interested in knowing just how Kilgrave managed to do that.

"So, what happened after that?"

"I called my pal over to watch the stand while I went to the free clinic on 4th street to get my hand bandaged."

"So you did not see him argue with another man by the intersection then?"

The man shook his head, thinking how many customers he'd just lost with three detectives just standing there as only passers-by with the correct change were using the box to throw money into for the morning paper.

"Thanks for your help pal," Ryan told him.

"Always happy to help the NYPD," was the reply, although he was half-hearted about it, since he'd lost money.

The three detectives walked away, each with Rose's photo and asking people passing by if they had seen her in the last few days.  Mickey and Jake were back in the hotel, going over news sites for any reported incidents that hadn't reached the police and getting nowhere.

"We should be out there," Mickey was telling Jake.  "Why can't she just log into that fake site and we can go find her?"

"Calm down mate, it won't do her any good if she rushes him.  She'll know what he's after and she'll know seeming too keen will make him suspicious, she'll just go at his pace.  We'll find her."

"Yeah, it's just getting to me Jake, I should have come over with them, then this would never have happened."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, no-one knew this was gonna happen.  She could have still gone off on her own."

"No she wouldn't.  I wonder how Pete's getting on?"

Pete was facing his wife again, this time via video conference and it wasn't going too well.

"Let me come over Pete, I'm going crazy on my own."

"I know Jackie. I'll arrange a flight for you on Saturday if we don't find her by Friday."

"Well I'll have to settle for that then, wont I?  I almost lost her before Pete, when she went back for the Doctor but you brought her back to me."

"Yeah and I'll do it again Jackie, I promise I'll bring her home, almost the entire police department are on the lookout for her now, Mickey and Jake are searching news and social media sites and Castle is following leads on his own from people who won't talk to the police."

"What about those two English detectives you got sent over?"

"Well DS Miller is at the precinct and Hardy is out with two detectives, seeing if he jogs anyone's memory."

"I still can't believe he looks like you know who, imagine that?"

"Yeah, well her abductor looking like him isn't helping her either.  I'll call you tonight love and don't worry, get ready to pack a bag just in case."

He didn't really want his wife to travel all that way on her own and to leave Tony with the staff but she wouldn't be put off any longer.   Jackie and Rose were very close and he knew it.

Alec and the two other detectives had moved to the two places Kilgrave had been to buy food and only got what Jake and Mickey had although the girl who had served Kilgrave ran into the back when Alec walked in.   Once outside, Alec remarked about it.

"She seemed spooked, maybe we should get Miller down to talk to her?"

"Yeah, I'll arrange for it," Ryan replied.

Back at the precinct, Kate and Ellie were talking.  "You must be missing your sons Ellie?"

"Yeah but at least they're with my sister though until lately, my youngest spent more time with his childminder than with me and Tom went to live with her after my husband got arrested."

"I read about that but you seemed to have coped well with it."

"I had no choice really.  Hardy kept me going through the trial, I would have fallen apart and he knew it, he gave me something else to focus on than my own misery."

It was the first time she'd admitted that to herself, let alone a stranger and she'd certainly never tell Hardy himself.

Rose's photo was all over the place now as officers left leaflets in every store in the area and Kate had insisted they left them in the area near the hotel, in case she wasn't that far away from where she was taken from.  By the end of the day, everyone was back in the precinct, Ellie had been to the café but got nothing out of the young woman, Kate believing she was too scared he would go back in, after her reaction to Alec.

"Don't you think Rose is going to have the same reaction to Hardy?" Castle asked innocently.

Alec looked at him.  "I think with her, it will be a different reaction.   He will have got close to her, got her to trust him and when she's taken away from him, that may do the most harm."

Pete had been afraid of that.  "Well I'll have the best therapists on standby, to help her get over her ordeal."

"Hardy will probably be the one she reacts to most of all, even over therapists," Ellie stated, amused why anyone would take to him, even her own sister.

"Then if that's what it takes, I will be only too happy to help, if she does not run away from me.  What about the media?" he asked Kate.

"We're gonna keep it to a minimum, once we find her and not give too many details.  We'll just get Rose to issue a short statement, which will be read out for her, have a few photo taken and that will be it.  The captain will give the go-ahead in the morning and it will go out in the second edition and on the radio and TV bulletins.  If Kilgrave is watching or listening, we'll just have to take the risk."

In Alec's mind, they were running a week late and it wasn't before time they concentrated on Rose, not Kilgrave.  He just hoped she wouldn't be too traumatised by her ordeal that she would go for him with a vengeance.

Castle was watching with amusement at Alec squirming, the guy looked totally different with his hair combed back and hardly two days growth of beard.  The resemblance to the composite sketch was remarkable.

"So Alec, how did people react to you then?"

"Does it really matter Castle?"

Ryan and Esposito were grinning.

"Aw, he made everyone run a mile, didn't he Espo?" Ryan asked his partner.

"Yeah, the girl in the café dived for cover."

"I know, I went back to see her, remember?" Ellie laughed.  "Seriously though, she's scared about something.  Maybe when she hears it on TV and radio, she might come forward."

"That was the idea, people coming forward," Alec stated, still watching Castle with interest.

He wasn't used to having civilians around while he was working and certainly not one who was a writer.  Alec thought he would be more than happy once this all went public but was hoping Pete Tyler wouldn't have to either pay a reward for her safe return or tell her mother he had failed.  That was unthinkable to him now, Lisa being found all that time after her disappearance had changed him.

Ellie saw the look on his face, it was telling on him after Sandbrook finally being resolved.  She just hoped Rose wouldn't take to him, for her own sake, Alec Hardy was damaged but there again, so would Rose by the time they found her.

"Are you going to offer a reward for information?" Ellie asked Pete.

"No, let's see how it goes tomorrow first before mentioning any rewards."

"I agree with Mr Tyler," Alec told them.  "It will just bring everyone out of the woodwork with false sightings, let's wait for a while."

"I agree with you," Kate told them.  "Let's see what comes of the press statement, Captain Gates has already prepared what we want to release, along with her photo, we're not putting Kilgrave's name in it just yet, in case he sees it and he makes his move against Torchwood."

"We're already prepared for that Kate, Jake has put an extra password on Rose's file within the site meant for officials but just in case Rose is forced to get him into the real site, Kilgrave won't get too deep, we have someone monitoring it constantly and it will shut down the entire system, which we hope it won't come to but Kilgrave will know we're onto him and we may force his hand."

"It may be more dangerous for Rose, if Kilgrave is forced into something Pete," Castle offered.

Alec felt like saying they already knew that, it was a dangerous game they were playing and he didn't like it one bit.  Alec really wished they had tea in the break room and looked around.  Castle got up and offered him a cup of coffee, which he accepted with half a smile.

"Sorry we have no tea Alec," Castle apologised, everyone looking at him.

"We'll all meet back here in the morning then.  Alec, are you still prepared to go back out tomorrow?" Kate asked him.

Alec was trying not to pull a face at the coffee, which he was not enjoying.

"Yes, whatever it takes to find her, even if it means people running away from me. We have to double our efforts now.  What are your two associates doing Mr Tyler?"

"Jake and Mickey are monitoring news and social media sites, as are operatives back in London, for anything regarding Kilgrave and who he may really be, we're almost certain that's not his real name though how long he's been in New York, we have no idea or how he got here.   If we were back in London, someone may have recognised his accent."

"Well I got some funny looks today," Alec told him.  "Everyone seemed to know I was not English so if Kilgrave has spoken to anyone, we know he is definitely English so the online search can be narrowed down somewhat.  What about immigration?"

"We're already onto that Alec," Kate answered him.  "It depends if he's here on a visa and if indeed he's changed his name, it's making it really difficult."

Everyone left the precinct after Ryan said he'd pick them up in the morning and Alec had said he would go out with them again but it was all down to the media now.  A city-wide broadcast would be made tomorrow morning on all radio and TV Channels plus all the newspapers and it that didn't catch Kilgrave's attention the police meant business and force him to make his move against Torchwood or at least make an attempt, then nothing would.

As the rode back to the hotel, Alec was wondering why indeed Kilgrave had not already made an attempt at the takeover, was it because he wanted Rose's company so badly now or was there another reason, like getting both the public and private side of Torchwood but why would he bother with trivial matters involving the public when he could have all their secrets?  Could it be Kilgrave thought the public didn't report things and posted them online and they were much more interesting?

As they entered the hotel, Alec was still puzzled as to why the doorman had seen nothing of Rose's abduction.  This was getting to him now as much as when Lisa was missing, it was getting personal and he was more determined than ever Rose was going to be found alive and reasonably well as opposed to all the speculation he and Ellie Miller had come up with whilst trying to end the Sandbrook investigation, he did not want to tell another mother that her daughter had been lost forever.

He thought he was over blaming himself for what happened in Sandbrook, perhaps now he had to admit he still felt some failure and finding Rose Tyler would finally give him some peace.

Chapter 15

The next morning, Kilgrave was keen to make an early start, getting Rose up early as soon as breakfast was ready and coming out of the shower before she was even out of bed.  Rose was wanting to delay him as much as possible by going for his towel as he dried his hair, standing in just her vest top and underwear.

"Mm, Kevin, you started without me?"

"Stop it Rose, you weren't interested yesterday morning, were you?"

"You said I had to get used to it, I want to.  You said you'd teach me."

"I will, I want to get into the files today so no messing about Rose, we get down to business."

Rose couldn't let on how relieved she was, not having to give him more attention in the shower, having sex with him was one thing but what he'd implied yesterday morning was above and beyond her obligations as his captive girlfriend.  Maybe if she had chosen to be with him, it may have reached that stage at some point in their relationship with some encouragement but since she had been forced to go along with it and it would all come to an end when she got him into what he thought was the real Torchwood site, it would be over in a matter of hours, once Jake and his team back in London traced where she was.  Why was she delaying though?

She knew of the plan, that if any Torchwood member was coerced into getting someone into the most confidential files, a special password had been set up and the user would be diverted seamlessly to another site that looked exactly like the real thing.  If they had been in London, a full team would have been sent but in New York, there would only be the NYPD and by now, Mickey and Jake would be there and would be able to defend themselves but the police didn't stand a chance against Kilgrave.

After breakfast though, Kilgrave took Rose out onto the balcony.

"I expect you to co-operate with me now Rose, you will won't you?"

Rose knew playtime was over.

"Yes Kevin, whatever you want, I'll do it for you."

"Good because let me show you what will happen if I suspect for one second you are trying to fool me but first, let me ask you something.  You keep telling me you love me, is that true?"

"Yes Kevin, in the time I've been with you, you have been wonderful to me and taught me what it's like to be with a real man, I've never been with anyone like you before and I have fallen in love with you.  Do you love me?"

"Come on Rose, I'm the one asking the questions around here.  You're different from all the rest of them, they were all fully under my control but you, you're something new, aren't you?  Where do you come from?"

"Kevin, I'm just a girl from a London council estate, my mum got lucky, met Pete Tyler and they got married, that's all."

"No, that's not it Rose, why did they change to an extra password on your file?"

"I don't know Kevin, really I don't.  I should have been able to get in but my stepfather's security expert would have been alerted I'd not returned to the hotel and they would maybe think I'd gone off with someone who wanted to know more about me."

"So not the fact someone would be trying to get into their secrets?"

"They have safeguards in place but I know nothing about that side of things, if someone puts in the wrong password, it's blocked."

She just hoped he didn't think she was lying but he seemed to let it go.

"You had better be telling me the truth Rose."  He turned to the two men behind him.  "You two, come here."

The two men walked out onto the balcony and Kilgrave pointed to one of them.

"You, stand on that ledge behind those plants and stay there until I tell you to jump."

Rose's heart leapt, he would do it as well from what she had learned about Kilgrave.  The man got up and he was towering over the railings.  Then Kilgrave turned to the other man.

"You, stand behind him and if I say so, you push him over then follow him.  Rose, these two men, their lives are in your hands so when we go back inside, you had better get me into the closed Torchwood files and the first thing I want you to access is your own file, in case someone has laid a trap."

He went back inside and switched on the laptop, opening up the webcam and turning if off.  Then he passed it over to Rose, who had sat beside him.

"Now Rose but before that, tell me where you really come from."

"I'm not lying to you Kevin, I come from a London council estate in Peckham, my mum brought me up on her own when my dad died when I was a baby.  She was called Tyler before, it was just a coincidence she met Pete Tyler, he was no relation to my real father.  He adopted me after their marriage but to keep us private, it's only in our official files, he only told the press certain facts about us."

She just hoped all the trouble Jake had gone to would stand up to close scrutiny.

"What was your first job, when you left school?"

That was an easy one.

"At a department store, it got blown up when some students began messing about in the basement, they were dressed up as shop window dummies, it's well reported."

Kilgrave had heard of that, it was possible Rose had worked there.  Rose was just glad the same thing had happened in this world but without her and the Doctor being there.

"So how did your mother meet Pete Tyler then?"

"After I lost my job, I went doing temp jobs, one was at Pete Tyler's first wife's party, the night the Cybermen invaded.  I barely got out and if it wasn't for one of the waiters, I would have got made into one of them, we got Pete out too but his wife must have run off somewhere, he said he'd never seen her again.  Then years later, I met him again and my mum was with me, he said he'd tried to find me but he didn't know my surname and he wanted to thank me, for saving him and trying to find his wife when they'd all gone.  He and my mum just hit it off."

Kilgrave was weighing things up.  "So what about this waiter who got you both out?"

Rose smiled.  "We got together and we went travelling for a while, until he left me in Norway with just enough money to get home, jerk."

It was Kilgrave's turn to smile.

"Who would want to leave you?"

"He did.  I never got over him."

At least that was true, she hadn't, which was why she had let herself get carried away with him, she would have kicked his ass otherwise but he did have a certain hold over her and there was nothing she could do about it, not now.

"So, you're just an ordinary woman eh?  Don't you want to know about me, why I can make people do as I want?"

"You would have told me, if you'd wanted me to know.  You said your parents had done something to you."

"I never talk about it, you're the first one but this isn't about me, you know what I want?"

"You want Torchwood."

"Very clever Rose.  Yes, that's exactly what I want and in my hands, well think what I can do, can you really blame me?"

"No Kevin, I can't blame you, it's a powerful organisation that my stepfather had no choice but to take over, after what it did and let the Cybermen take over, they stood back.  It was abandoned so Pete and a small group took control, made it good for everyone."

"They still keep secrets though, locked away from the public eye and that's what I want Rose, I want those secrets.  All that technology, all those inventions to amplify my abilities.  Tell me Rose, have they developed inter-dimensional travel?"

"They don't tell me things like that Kevin, I'm just an agent, dealing with the diplomatic side of things, that's why I was in New York, trying to get the backing to start here then go to other states."

"I doubt that's the only thing you do but no matter, I'll soon find out.   Now, get me in kitten or your two friends out there will jump twelve storeys to the street below and I hate making a mess then I'll tell the cook to make use of those kitchen knives and just to round things off, well you think I've been giving you my full attention? Think again Rose, I will take you like never before and you won't enjoy it this time."

Rose gulped, this was all riding on how good a job Jake had done on the fake site.  If Kilgrave thought there was one thing out of place, one thing he suspected wasn't right or didn't tally with what she had just told him about herself that she, Pete and Jake had come up with, then three people would die and he would show her what he was really capable of and she definitely wouldn't like it and she had a really bad feeling something had happened that first time he'd got her to submit to him though it was far too early to tell.

Rose looked at the screen and typed in the web address to the protected Torchwood site and put her faith in Jake and that he would be alerted the second she got into the fake site and prayed Kilgrave would see what he wanted to see and not what Torchwood wanted uninvited visitors to see.

At the hotel, everyone was sitting around after an early breakfast to wait for Ryan to pick them up.  Mickey was going out with them today, they were going to visit some of the restaurants nearby and others where Kilgrave might take Rose if he wanted to show off to her.  Jake was going back to the room he shared with Mickey and checking in with London.

Ellie and Alec had both been calling back home, Ellie to her sister and Alec to Daisy, since she'd sent him a message asking how things were going and she had the day off.

"Hi, Daisy, just checking in with you, how's school?"

"Ok I suppose, I've got a week off next week, will you be back?"

"I have no idea, there are a lot of things going on out here, the NYPD have stepped things up a notch or two and not before time either."

"You bossing them about then?" Daisy laughed, just imagining her father bossing the New York police around.

"Aye, they'd be lost without me, I'm the one coming up with all the ideas.  I mean they never even put Rose Tyler's photo out until yesterday, she's been missing for over a week and it's only just going in the papers today."

"Yeah, you get them told Dad.  I was thinking maybe I could come down for a few days, see how I like it then I'll have a better idea if I want to stay for the six weeks holiday."

He had been looking forward to that and regretted not being there for her the last few years but circumstances and Tess had conspired against him.

"Aye, that's a good idea, let me call you when I get back then eh?"

He had hung up and sat for a few minutes, wondering if today was going to be their lucky day and they would find a not too damaged Rose Tyler.  The more he thought about it, the more he was determined to do anything he could to make sure she was sent home to her mother safely.  All those years of not knowing what had happened to Lisa had got to him and he'd not even been the one to tell her mother but if the worst happened with Rose, he would go tell Jackie Tyler he'd tried his hardest to get her back, at least he could look her in the eye and tell her everyone involved was giving 100 percent.

Ellie had been talking to her sister, Lucy.

"When you coming home Ell?  Fred's missing you."

"I know, I miss both of them but all I'm doing is going over reports, Hardy's the one getting all the action, I'm stuck in the precinct all day though it gets interesting sometimes.  I can't tell you much about it but tell Tom I'll try and call him before he goes to bed, I'm not used to the time difference yet."

"Well I'll tell him then.  How you getting on with Hardy?"

"He's still a pain in the ass, how do you think he is Lucy?  He seems to have taken over and the lead detective here is finding it difficult to stop him since he's a guest and the captain just wants the case finished with, whatever it takes to find her."

"What's so important about her then?"

"Are you telling me you've never heard of Rose Tyler?"

"Well of course I have but not that much is known about her, it was all hushed up when her mother married that Vitex chairman.  They seem to keep out of the news as much as possible, well apart from Rose, men are claiming they've been out with her every week, I doubt any of it's true."

"Well what man wouldn't want to chase her for her money?"

"Watch out for Hardy when you find her," Lucy laughed.

"Ha, Ha Lucy, like she'd be interested in Alec Hardy."

Ellie and Pete were dropped off at the precinct, Ellie was going over more reports from people who said they had been compelled by a man in a purple suit to either work for him or he'd forced women to sleep with him but Ellie didn't believe half of the claims, word was getting out and some were just cashing in on it with false claims of pregnancy and having someone to blame it on, especially when she saw half of them.   Pete was having another meeting with the captain and the assistant chief of police wanted a full report as to why most of his department were now involved in some form and Victoria Gates was hoping she could justify it and not have to get Castle to talk to his friend the mayor.

Ellie and Kate were interviewing a young woman with blonde hair who had claimed Kilgrave held her for over a week.

"Your name is Hope Schlottman and you're from Omaha?" Kate asked the young woman.

"Yes, I was held by this man, wearing purple all the time until a few weeks ago.  I don't remember much, it was like I had no will, he made me stay in my room when he didn't want me around but I remember one thing.  He kept looking at the papers at some British woman."

That was all Kate needed to hear and got the sketch of Kilgrave and passed it across the table.  Hope jumped up and ran for the door, Ellie getting up and catching her.

"It's ok, you're safe now.  Where did you last see him Hope?  Can you remember?"

Hope was trembling at the shock of seeing Kilgrave's likeness sketched on a piece of paper and Kate had gone to get her a glass of water.

"Hope, we really need your help in catching him, he's kidnapped a very important woman from England and she's been gone for over a week.  If you can just remember where he held you, it may give us a clue if he's still there or moved on elsewhere."

"Is the missing woman a friend of yours?"

"No, I'm here with another detective, the missing woman is called Rose Tyler and her stepfather asked us to come over and help the police here to find her. Anything you can tell us Hope may save her."

Kate came back in with the water and Hope took it, looking at the two female detectives.

"I'll tell you everything I can remember but you have to promise you'll find him and don't let him do to other women that he did to me."

Kate nodded as Ellie sat beside the young woman, trying to make her feel more at ease.

Back where the accident had taken place, Mickey was still showing Rose's photo with Esposito and Alec and Ryan were trying nearby restaurants with two other uniformed officers.  As they drove further into the heart of the city, Alec asked Ryan how long they would be prepared to keep doing this.

"As long as it takes now Alec, the assistant chief was having a meeting with Pete Tyler this morning and the captain will make a good case for keeping the investigation open, even if it's only to established better relations with the British authorities.  If all else fails, Castle will call his friend, the mayor."

"I might have known Castle would be friends with the mayor," Alec replied, rolling his eyes and looking at the restaurant they were approaching.  Who could afford to dine here or even want to?

They met the two officers who had been following them and went inside though the place was closed to diners. Ryan and Alec flashed their ID and asked to see the manager, getting Rose's photo out and Ryan asking passing waiters while the head waiter was summoned.

"Yeah, I remember her," one of the waiters told Alec.

"You do?  When was she here?"

"Night before last, you should know, she was with you."

Alec and Ryan looked at each other.

"Do you remember anything else?  This man wasn't the one who was here," Ryan explained with a grin, thinking never in a million years would any detective be able to afford a glass of water in a place like this.

"The woman in the photo, she was clinging hold of him, like she was scared to let go and when they were seated, he made a fuss over her."

"Did he pay his bill?" Alec wanted to know.

"Yeah, flashed a wad of notes and left a tip.  If he'd not paid, we would have called the police."

Alec imagined they didn't get that many people trying to skip out without paying but if Kilgrave paid cash, he hadn't been using his mind control, he probably didn't want to draw attention to himself with Rose being missing for so long.  He wondered how the impact of Rose's photo being all over the media this morning was faring, from newspapers to radio and TV news bulletins plus they'd seen reporters as Miller and Pete Tyler had got out of the car outside the precinct earlier.

Ryan's phone rang and he excused himself while Alec had some more questions for the head waiter when he walked towards them.

"Hey Beckett, I was gonna call you," Ryan told her.  "A waiter at 'Gusto's' down-town saw Rose Tyler the night before last."

"That's good, she's still got some freedom then.  We have a young woman with us, she's still with Ellie and it seems she was Kilgrave's last victim until just before Rose was taken and get this, she says he was obsessed with reading reports Rose was coming to town."

Ryan ended the call and went to tell Alec.

"We should go back and interview her then."

"Nah, Beckett said the woman freaked out just looking at the sketch, if she sees you, she'll have a heart attack.  Beckett told me to keep you away from her and she's arranging for someone to go in and counsel the girl.   Let's go back and see how Mickey and Espo are getting on."

Back at the precinct, the meeting between Captain Gates, the assistant chief of police and Pete Tyler had gone fairly well.  Pete had convinced the chief that he was good friends with high-ranking police officials back home and that he'd been assured that if any New York police officer ever came to England looking for someone, they would receive the same co-operation.

A counsellor had taken Hope away, she'd been living on the streets until she'd seen the morning paper about Rose and for anyone who had been the victim of a man who had been holding women against their will to come forward.  The newspapers of course had been syndicated and the report of Rose's disappearance had reached as far as The San Francisco Globe and the desk of Renee Clemens.  She was digging deeper into the story and came across the fact two English detectives had been flown in to help and discovered Alec Hardy was the double of one Emmett Carver.

She picked up her desk phone and called the Gracepoint police department, asking for Emmett, who was just reading the front page that his Ellie Miller had brought in and put on his desk.

"Carver," he answered, not even asking who wanted him.  When he heard the reporter's voice, he sat up and laid the newspaper on the desk.

"What do you want?  Have you been talking to that Owen Burke again?" he asked wryly, looking at his partner as if she was to blame, which he knew she was in some way, she had to be.

"Good morning to you too Detective Carver.  Have you see the late edition?"

He could always deny he had. " So what if I have?  What's your point Renee?"

Ellie gave him half a smile and retreated to safety before he blew up, which wouldn't do his recently mended heart any good.

"Don't you find it strange that detective from England looks like you?"

"What detective?" he tried to argue.

"Come on Carver, even I worked that one out, you must have heard about what's been going on over in New York?  That British heiress going missing and two detectives being brought in by the NYPD to help find her.  The other detective even has the same name as your partner."

"Tell me something I don't already know.  So, what do you want?"

"Aren't you going to fly over to help?" Renee laughed.

"What do they need my help for?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because they suspect the man who took her also looks like you?"

He knew she would find out sooner or later.

"My being there is not going to help so if there's nothing else, I have other things to do.  You're not thinking of going there are you?"

"No, my editor won't let me, I got into enough trouble going to follow the Solano case, thanks to you."

"I'm not the one who incited a riot and caused an innocent man to take his own life."

"Ouch!  Ok, I take part responsibility for that but the police didn't give him enough protection, not the night he died anyway."

"I'm not getting into this with you, it's over.  A young woman is missing in case you'd forgotten and while you may think I don't care, I do, it's too much like that other case as you keep reminding me I failed on but what good can I do?  Having me there will only complicate matters and now it's all over the media, she'll be found, hopefully safe and well.  She'll be traumatised enough seeing this other detective, I don't need to add to her confusion, do I?"

Emmett hung up and went back to reading the paper.  How had she got to know about the Scottish double he had?

Chapter 16

As the morning went on back in New York, Jake was on a conference call with his team in London when his phone rang, Mickey telling him Rose had been seen in a restaurant with Kilgrave a few nights before.

"That's good Mickey, she's still ok then."

They were all very worried about how it was affecting her mentally but she'd appeared normal when she'd been out.

"Yeah.  Any more luck?  Has she got Kilgrave into Torchwood yet?"

"No, I have people monitoring it constantly.  How did Pete's meeting go?"

"I'm still out with Esposito, Hardy and Ryan went off but we're heading back to the precinct soon.  Rose's picture's all over the news now, someone may come forward.  Have you heard from Ellie?"

"No, I was hoping you might have done.  I found something interesting though, about that other detective out in California."

"You mean besides him looking like the others?"

"Yeah, seems he's not so much liked amongst the press either, there's a reporter in San Francisco been keeping an eye on him, since a case in a town call Rosemont.  I bet she's dying for him to get involved in Rose's disappearance."

Mickey laughed.  It was all they needed, another one to get involved with finding Rose and wondered how this Carver would get on with Hardy, not to mention Beckett and Castle.

Richard had been doing some digging of his own into those who may have come across Kilgrave at some stage and had been to see a man who claimed he had driven their suspect around for a week.  Then he came across the driver of a bus who said he'd run a man over who in the few minutes he had seen him then been struck looked like Kilgrave so he called Kate to tell her.

"That's interesting Castle, if Kilgrave got run over by a bus, maybe that's why he told our victim last week to step under one?"

"Yeah, seems a reasonable assumption, I'll see if I can find out where he was taken and how bad it was though since he's still with us, we know it wasn't fatal."

"We had a young woman in earlier, she'd terrified Kilgrave will find her again.  She only got away from him a few days before he took Rose."

"He must have ditched her when he discovered who Rose was and she was going to be in town."

"Yeah, she said Kilgrave was obsessed with reading reports about Rose so that's when he told Hope to get lost and moved.  I sent someone to where she thought she had been held but there was just a family living there but they said they had been locked in a room for about a week and were only allowed out for the basics, then some big guy had let them in and out.  Pete's still here, I think his meeting went well, since we're all still working on it."

Pete and the captain were still talking in her office after Mickey called Pete to say they were all heading back.

"Well Mr Tyler, it's fortunate that the chief agrees to let us continue but he could pull the plug at any time."

"Well, let's hope something happens and soon, my wife wants to come over tomorrow and I've run out of excuses not to let her."

Rose had been presented with the logon screen for the official Torchwood site just after ten when Kilgrave had been interrupted by noises from outside.  He'd locked the laptop screen and gone out to see the two men still standing there and he went to look over the railings to find two taxi drivers arguing over one bumping into the other's cab and two uniformed officers were trying to sort it out but traffic was getting impatient and horns were blasting.

Kilgrave was watching with amusement then realised if anyone were to look up, they would see the other man next to him was considerable taller since he was standing on top of a planter.

"You, get down from there and stand by your friend and if I say, you grab each other and leap over the railing."

Rose could hear what he was saying as she ventured out onto the balcony.

"Is there something wrong Kevin?"

He didn't want her too near the railings.

"Nothing Rose, go back inside and put that password in, this is getting me nowhere."

Going back inside, he went to the kitchen and poured himself some coffee, his mind getting suspicious of all the delay tactics that morning.  Rose had been trying to get him in the shower, their conversations and her not being able to get in her other file then as he'd passed the laptop to her earlier, she had tried to stall again by explaining she could just tell him about herself if he really wanted to know about her and now, two cab drivers were arguing that had brought the police around.

Rose had been doing her best to delay him as she'd typed in the web address earlier but why?  Didn't she want this over with?  She did but she was scared for the two men outside, the housekeeper and what he would do to her.  All the nights she'd spent with him, all the mornings and other times, something was bound to come of it and if he really showed her what he was capable of, well if she had got away with it so far, she wouldn't for much longer.

Now he had made her more scared of him than she had been of the Emperor of the Daleks so she had tried to talk to him, then she'd been relieved when he'd got up to see what all the noise was outside and when she'd walked onto the balcony and he'd met her halfway, it meant something was going on down in the street and he didn't want her to be seen.

At the precinct, Kate had just got off the phone.

"Ellie, missing persons just got a report that someone's mother has been disappearing every morning and when she gets home, she won't say where she's been so the young woman followed her this morning and guess where she lost her?"

"Near the scene of the accident?"

"Yeah, she lost her but it's safe to say the older woman went into one of the apartment blocks, maybe Kilgrave is using her as a cook or housekeeper?"

"We should call Hardy and Ryan if they've not already left the area?"

"I'm already on it Ellie," Kate smiled as she pressed Ryan's number.

Ryan put his hand over the phone as he listened to Kate, he and Alec were just sitting in the car ready to go pick up Esposito and Mickey.

"Seems we've had some luck.  A woman who's been disappearing was followed earlier by her worried daughter and guess where she went?"

Alec hated guessing games but he was now willing to make an exception.  They were one step closer to finding her but were they already too late?  Would she even want to leave her captor and what would be her reaction at seeing him?

One of the uniformed officers who had been with them tapped on the window and spoke to Ryan.

"Sir, we have to go to a traffic accident, two taxi cabs not far from where Detective Esposito is."

"Lead the way Officer Tate, I'll call him."

Alec did not like the way the NYPD allowed their detectives to use their mobile phones when driving.

"I'll call him, you drive," Alec told him, Ryan smiling and shaking his head as he let the marked police car pull out first then followed it.

Alec informed Mickey and Esposito, who made their way on foot around the corner, leaving several officers still questioning people as they stopped to look at Rose's photo.  Mickey thought they were getting somewhere at last and called Jake back to tell him as Espo, as he preferred to be called let Kate know they were on their way to the scene.

As Alec and Ryan made the short journey back, Alec really hoped something was going to come of this or was it merely a coincidence?  Even so, the woman who had been disappearing had gone not that far away and if she was under Kilgrave's influence, maybe she had stepped under a cab?

Mickey and Espo saw the two taxi drivers arguing and other drivers trying to avoid them, Espo saying they'd best stay out of it until uniformed officers arrived, which they did a few minutes later, followed by Alec and Ryan.

Ryan got out of the car but Alec remained, Mickey got into the back.

"So, some good positive leads at last," Mickey remarked to Alec as he closed the door.

"Then lets hope they get us somewhere.  What do you make of this?" Alec indicated to where the two cab drivers were still arguing, walking around their cabs and accessing the damage.

"Coincidence?  I would have said that if that woman hadn't come in this direction."

Alec was looking across the street at the tall apartment buildings, some with balconies and thought he saw a man towering over the railings but he was gone the next second and Alec's attention was caught by something else, so he missed Kilgrave stepping closer for a look.  It stuck in his mind though and meant to point it out to the other detectives when they returned.

Ryan and Espo had got into the heated discussion.

"So pal," Ryan asked one of the cab drivers.  "How did this happen?"

"I already told the officer, this clown here ran into the back of me."

"Yeah but why had you stopped?"

"I was letting out a fare, why do ya think I'd stopped?"

Ryan got Kilgrave's sketch out and Espo got Rose's picture out.

"Have either of you two seen this man or this woman?  Were they your fare?"

One driver shook his head, he was already losing rides.  The other one though pointed to Kilgrave's sketch.

"Yeah, I've dropped him a few times, last Sunday, he got out, with her."

Ryan waved for Alec and Mickey to join them.

"Did you see where they went?"

"Nah, I dropped them a few doors down, across the street."

Espo quickly told Alec and Mickey.

"Right then, we concentrate on the buildings around this area, get some units to start asking doormen and have them go door to door."

He turned to the cab driver, asking him to point which direction Rose and Kilgrave had gone.  One of the buildings was the one where he had just seen the man on the balcony though now he looked again, there were two identical ones and it had only been for a few seconds.

"Have officers knock on every door in those two buildings over there," he pointed.

Ryan called Kate to let her know they may have located the building where Rose was being held and Kate turned to Ellie.

"Get your coat, they may have found something."

"At last, I thought all I was going to see of New York was the hotel and the precinct."

Kilgrave had gone back to where Rose was sitting, the screen still locked so he put his password in and there was the Torchwood logo, a password field in the centre.

"Now Rose, enough distractions and if I think there is something wrong, I deal with you first because there are police down in the street dealing with two idiotic cab drivers.  I promise you, it's not something you are going to like."

"Please Kevin, you don't have to threaten me, I love you, if you want to have sex, then we'll go to the bedroom right now."

"No, the way I feel right now, I don't want your compliance in anything but getting me into Torchwood so stop stalling or I will carry out my threats."

In a split second, Rose knew this was her only chance, to make it look good so she typed the arranged password, getting her into the fake site.  Kilgrave snatched the laptop and stared at the screen, looking pleased with himself.  He almost didn't hear more sirens down in the street, Alec frowning because they were making too much noise for his liking and told Ryan to get them to approach silently, Ryan on the radio to the officer at the end of the street.  He was hoping it would sound like they had gone past but would it fool Kilgrave if he was really in one of those apartments?

Kilgrave tried to ignore the fact he'd heard more sirens, maybe those two clowns had resisted arrest, why should he care but something didn't seem right about it, he'd never heard so many sirens in the short time he'd been there.  As Rose had hit the 'Enter' key, Jake had been alerted and was on the phone to Pete.

"Kilgrave's in, Rose entered the fake password."

"Did Mickey tell you where he and Alec were?"

"Yeah, I've got someone tracing the IP address right now.  What do you bet it's where they are?"

He hung up and called Mickey.

"Where are you?"

"In one of the buildings, Alec's in the other one and Kate and Ellie have just arrived, Ellie's gone to join Alec.  There was no doorman on duty so they're having to knock on doors."

Kilgrave was tempted to carry on further but he was still troubled.  He knew someone had been alerted the moment Rose had got him in and he wouldn't have time to carry out his threats.  He had nothing in the apartment of value but he would still keep the bedroom door locked, Rose's mobile was in there and the clothes he'd acquired but he could easily get more.  It would only take a short time to reach this floor, there was a service elevator at the far end of the hall leading to the back of the building, they would have no reason to think he'd been alerted and he could easily deal with any officer who had been put there.

He got up and put his jacket on.

"I need some air."

"Do you want me to come with you Kevin?"

"No, I'll be back soon and don't think I've forgotten, I could have those men jump right now but the police may still be down there.  Don't think of shouting down to them or when I come back, you'll regret it."

"I won't put anyone in danger Kevin.  When will you be back?"

"You'll know soon enough."

He opened the door and stepped out, no-one had reached this floor yet so he locked the door behind him and went to the far end of the corridor.  The moment he'd gone, Rose tried the door but it was locked and so was the other bedroom door.  She went to the balcony, the two men facing the railing but she dare not approach them, she had no idea if Kilgrave had told them to do anything should they be approached.

Kilgrave got downstairs and out the back door, surprised no-one was waiting.  He'd had two choices, risk being caught or get out while he could, the site Rose had got him into would be fake, he should have known Torchwood would have laid a trap for anyone who had taken their lead operative.  She had tried to tell him she was a diplomat but there was no way she was just that.  His only choice now was to find somewhere to lie low for a while, she would leave the country soon but the police would still be after him, she could describe him.

Alec and Ryan had reached the twelfth floor, Ellie just behind them, it had been decided that she would stay with them and Kate with the other team, it would be easier on Rose when she was found.  Two uniformed officers were with them on the other side of the corridor, they had to be getting close now, there were only three more floors to cover and Alec had a feeling twelve was their lucky number.  As they got to the second door, Alec was the one to knock.

Rose was in the bedroom, she knew Kilgrave was not coming back, he'd been spooked since he heard those sirens earlier and the delays.  She heard knocking on the door so she rushed out, the housekeeper staring at the clock.

"Who is it?"

"Detective Ryan, NYPD.  We're looking for someone, can you open the door please?"

Rose heaved a huge sigh of relief.

"I can't, I don't have the key.  I'm Rose Tyler, have you been looking for me?"

"Miss Tyler, is there a man called Kilgrave in there with you?" Alec asked.

Rose was wondering why someone with a Scottish accent was with the NYPD.

"He left not long ago, he took the keys with him."

"Ryan, have someone go back downstairs and get a spare set of keys, take them if no-one is there," Alec told him.

They had left other officers to go through the other apartments, to search if anyone was hiding Rose, just in case.

Word had got to Kate and Espo that Rose had been found but they hadn't been able to gain entry to the apartment.  Kate was on the phone to Pete.

"Thank goodness."

"We can't get in the apartment, Kilgrave locked the door when he left."

"So he skipped out?  He must have got spooked."

"There was some trouble earlier outside, maybe it worried him police were in the area.  Wait there Pete, we'll bring her back."

The doorman was located and the key for apartment 1203 was on it's way up, the doorman insisting he went up with it.  He was now being escorted by Mickey, Espo and Kate, Kate showing him Kilgrave's and Rose's pictures.

"Yeah, that's they guy but I've seen her more than I have him, she was being escorted by another man."

Ryan was trying to keep Alec from busting the door down, giving him a warning look as he watched the other officers who had arrived from the floors below once word got out.  Rose was at the other side of the door, Alec assuring her someone was on the way up with another key.

"Is my stepfather there?"

"No, he's at the precinct Miss Tyler, please, just stay calm. Is anyone else in there with you?" Ryan asked her.

"Yeah, two men and a housekeeper but Kilgrave had them under his control, the men are out on the balcony."

Alec knew he had seen one of them.  "Rose, I want you to remain calm, can you do that?"

"Yeah but who are you?"

"Detective Inspector Alec Hardy, your stepfather had myself and a colleague brought in to help find you."

"I've heard of you, you found that boy's killer in Broadchurch.  You look like Kilgrave."

Alec thought that would lessen the impact once they got inside - or not.

"I think you'd better stand back Alec," Kate told him as she approached the door.

"She knows who I look like."

"Even so, let me and Ellie do this."

The doorman stepped forward and Kate identified herself.

"Rose, it's Kate Beckett, we were supposed to meet, remember?"

"Yeah, you're Richard Castle's wife."

"Right.  We're opening the door now so stand back, ok?"

"Yeah, I'm away from the door," Rose shouted, wishing they would just get on with it but they had to make sure Kilgrave had not laid any traps.

Kate put her gun away and opened the door carefully, Ellie behind her.

"Rose, it's ok, you're safe now.  This is Ellie Miller, she's here looking for you from the British police."

"Hi, I heard of you as well.  Where's Alec Hardy?"

Ellie was surprised the poor woman hadn't yelled for them to keep him away from her.

"He's outside.  Who else is here with you Rose?" Ellie asked her, looking around and motioning for Ryan and Esposito to enter, Alec keeping back for now.

"The housekeeper, in the kitchen and two men on the balcony but he told them to do things earlier."

"What things Rose?" Kate asked.

"To jump off the balcony if he told them to but I don't know what else he told them, he went out there just before he left."

"Ryan, approach the two men, carefully and have the fire department alerted, get some ladders up here and a safety net, just in case.  Don't go too near them or speak to them until everything's in place.   Ellie, go see the housekeeper but be careful.  Rose, we're going to take you to your stepfather now, come with us. Where are your things?" Kate asked her.

"Locked in the other bedroom I think, I searched everywhere else.  Did you find Kilgrave?  Did you see him going out?"

"No, he must have used the rear exit but we have officers all over New York looking for him, just like we had with you.  You, have you got a key for the bedroom?" she asked the puzzled doorman.

The doorman shook his head.  "The other tenant must have had the lock fitted, it's not standard."

"Espo, kick the door down, we don't have time for this."

Espo nodded for two officers to go ahead and force the door open.  He went inside and saw Rose's purse and phone on the dressing table and picked them up, wearing his gloves.

"We'll have to keep these for now, run fingerprints but you'll get them back."

Rose nodded, looking beyond Kate at Ellie, who was leading the housekeeper out.

"Kate, be careful with her, won't you?  I don't know what Kilgrave told her, he was in the kitchen earlier."

"It's ok Rose, we have trained people ready to help her, her daughter reported it earlier, that she was going missing every day."

"Tell her I'm so sorry Kate, there was nothing I could do."

"We know Rose, this isn't your fault.  We'll take care of everything, just come with us now."

"Where's Alec Hardy?" she asked again, looking past Kate.

Alec was outside with Mickey.

"He's just outside, with a friend of yours who's been worried about you."

"Mickey's here?"

Mickey heard her call his name but Alec held him back.

"Give her time Mickey, she's been through a lot, let them do their jobs eh?"

Mickey knew he was right, crowding her wouldn't do any good.

"Alec, can you come in here?" Kate called as Rose insisted he was there.  "Meet Rose Tyler."

"Hi Alec, thanks for rescuing me, all you of you but how did you find me?  Was it the fake website?"

"Amongst other things which led us here.  Let's get you out of here, are those your own clothes?" Kate asked her.

"Yeah, I got changed when he left, I knew he wasn't coming back, I spooked him."

"Don't blame yourself for him leaving Rose, he never intended getting caught," Alec told her.

Kate led her out, leaving officers watching the two men on the balcony who thankfully hadn't yet jumped over the railing.  All Rose could do was let them get on with it, she had complied with Kilgrave's every wish to keep them safe and her part had ended but would she ever recover?

When Mickey saw her, he moved forward to hug her.  As they rode down in the lift, Rose was looking at Alec, she knew he wasn't Kilgrave or the Doctor but she felt calm with his presence, what had Kilgrave done to her?  Once outside, the press had somehow got hold of the story Rose had been found and officers were trying to hold them back.

Kate was holding the back door of her car open for Rose, trying to shield her from the cameras.

"I want Alec to come with us, please?"

Ellie got in at the side of her, Mickey in the other side as Rose sat in the middle and Alec got in the front next to Ryan.  Alec felt a little uncomfortable as they drove back to the precinct with an escort, he could feel Rose's eyes watching him and he knew what was going to happen but she was damaged and probably abused by Kilgrave and if he ever got his hands on the man, well he didn't want to think of the outcome, mind control or not, Kilgrave would pay for whatever he'd done to her.

This was personal now, whether Rose had taken to him or not, he knew he was going to be the one to help her adjust back but once they got home, what then?  She would be staying in London and he and Miller going back to their boring lives in Broadchurch and he would probably never see her again and he didn't like the thought, not after everything he'd learned about her and what she had been through.

Right now, she needed time to get over this and he had to give her it but once back in Britain, they would part company so there was no point in letting her get too close to him.  He had no idea how difficult it was going to be to forget her that easily.

Chapter 17

Pete had been straight on the phone to stop Jackie packing her suitcase to catch the first flight over.

"Pete, tell me she's ok?"

"I don't know the details yet, she's on her way here to the precinct, she's with three detectives and an escort, he won't go after her again."

"Call me again when you've talked to her, yeah?"

"Of course I will and I'll get her to call you later, when she's had chance to come round, I'm sure she'll be a bit overwhelmed."

Jake had thanked his team in London though he hadn't needed that much help really, he'd heard that Alec had spotted someone on a balcony and it had been a simple process of elimination so he had put his laptop away and gone downstairs to inform the hotel manager she was returning and was just getting into a cab to go meet everyone at the precinct.

Word had got around and reporters were already gathering outside the 12th, Kate and Espo arriving first and Kate getting uniformed officers to clear them back for Rose's arrival.  The TV and radio stations were already proclaiming Rose's imminent arrival after being found safe and well and it had reached the precinct over in Gracepoint.

"Sir, Rose Tyler's been found, she's on her way to the 12th precinct back in New York."

"That's good then Miller, I'm sure her family are relieved.  Did it give any more details?"

"No, not yet, there are reporters waiting for her, it's caused a stir considering no-one had heard of her before this morning."

"Did they catch the man who took her?"

"I don't know, shall I call the 12th and find out?"

Emmett shook his head and nodded in the direction of her desk.

"Then go find out from that detective, Beckett is it?"

She got through to the homicide division just as Kate reached her desk, Castle and Pete waiting in the break room, the captain thought it was best Rose was taken directly there.

"Beckett," Kate answered, looking for any sign of Rose's arrival with her friend, Ryan and the two British detectives.

"Detective Beckett? This is Detective Miller from Gracepoint PD.  We've been following the events of Rose Tyler's abduction.  Detective Carver here wants to ask you a few questions."

"Another Detective Miller?" Kate mused.  "Alright, put him on but how did you get to hear about it so soon?  We only put it to the media this morning."

"Detective Carver took an interest in it the first day or so she went missing, he's the one who's been following it.  In case he doesn't admit it, he looks like the man who held her and the Scottish detective."

Kate had to smile, she already knew that.

Ellie Miller had passed the phone to Carver.

"Detective Beckett.  Have you spoken with her yet?"

"Yes, we were the ones to find her but I'm curious as to your interest."

"It's personal, since the man who took her and one of the detectives looks like me. I've been doing some digging, about this man you call Kilgrave."

"Really?  We've tried everything.  Have you heard of Torchwood?"

"Yes and I'm not surprised because Kilgrave is not his real name."

"We did suspect that."

"His name is Kevin Thompson and his parents left him to fend for himself when he became dangerous, after they conducted experiments on him as a child."

"No wonder we couldn't find anything on him."

"I'm sending you everything I found out but I need something in return."

Kate thought of course he did.

"I'm getting the next flight to New York, can you arrange a meeting for me, with Rose Tyler?"

From the way Rose had looked at Alec Hardy in the apartment, would she be able to cope with yet another doppelgänger?

"I'll try, she's very traumatised, she did take to Alec Hardy though, you heard about him?"

"Yeah, I read about him.  If she accepted him, she'll accept me.  I leave to catch my flight shortly, I'll have Miller give you the details, can someone meet me?"

"I'll send two detectives, they won't have any trouble spotting you."

Castle was now listening with amusement as Kate spoke once more with the Ellie Miller in Gracepoint, Kate thinking it was a good thing she wasn't coming over as well.

The car containing Rose had arrived outside the precinct, the officers still trying to keep the crowds and the press back as cameras flashed and TV and radio reporters held up their microphones.  Rose just wanted to get inside to see her stepfather again and hopefully Jake would also be there.  Mickey was the first out, followed by Alec and Ellie got out carefully on the driver's side as Ryan got out at the same time, leaving Rose to move to the kerbside door, Alec holding out his hand to help her.  Mickey was too busy looking around, as usual Rose thought as she accepted Alec's help.

"Thanks Alec.  Are all these people here for me?  I thought no-one here knew who I was?"

"Not until this morning when the news bulletins went out and your photo was all over the papers," Mickey commented as he noticed Rose was still holding Alec's arm to steady herself though it didn't look like that to Mickey.

"Let's get you inside," Ellie told her, going to the other side of Rose to try to shield her although it was far too late for that as her name was being shouted for her to give a statement.

Alec stopped for a moment.  "Miss Tyler will be issuing a statement shortly and she asks for some privacy at this time – thank you."

Mickey thought a fat lot of good that would do.

Kate was talking to Castle as the desk called her to say there was now an even bigger crowd of press and bystanders watching Rose's arrival so persuading Pete and the newly arrived Jake to stay where they were, she went back downstairs as officers greeted them when Ryan told them to keep the press from following.

"Wait here Miss Tyler, Detective Beckett's on her way down." Ryan told her.

Rose just nodded, still holding onto Alec's arm and now Ellie held her other arm. Upstairs, Kate was waiting for the elevator with Castle.

"So what did that Carver want?" Castle asked her as they got in to go meet Rose.

"He's coming over, he has information about Kilgrave, it has to be worth a look."

"Why can't he just email it?"

"Come on Castle, it's not the sort of information we'd want just anyone to get a hold of.  He'll be here in a few hours, we can wait for him then we get Rose back in tomorrow morning to meet with him, she may be able to tell him and us more."

"Well go easy on her today, she must have been through hell, being held by Kilgrave."

"Do you think I don't know that Castle?  From what Ryan just told me, she won't let go of Alec Hardy."

Castle just smiled – who would have known?

As everyone went back upstairs, Rose remained quiet although by now she had let go of Alec, just muttering a 'sorry' as she realised.  Alec had just smiled back, Ellie thinking he should smile more often, he'd been such a grump until a few weeks ago when he'd finally got himself sorted.  Jake and Pete were waiting by the elevator as everyone arrived at the floor housing the homicide division.

"I wonder how she got on with Alec?" Jake asked Pete before she arrived, watching the indicator.

"I heard Kate saying Rose won't let go of him," Pete smiled as the lift was one floor away.

"Typical of Rose, she just can't stay away from Doctor duplicates," Jake grinned as the elevator 'pinged' and the doors opened.

Rose was at the back with Alec and Ellie but as Kate, Castle and Ryan exited, Rose rushed forward into Pete's outstretched arms.

"Dad," was all she said as he hugged her close, Jake standing back to let Alec and Ellie out.

Pete led her slowly to the break room as everyone on that floor watched and clapped at her safe return and Captain Gates stood in her office doorway then stepping forward to greet Rose.

"Welcome back Miss Tyler, I trust you sustained no injuries during your capture?"

"No, I'm fine thanks, I'm just glad to get away.  How are those two men who were working for Kilgrave and the housekeeper, is she ok?"

"They are being helped, please, don't worry about them.  Come into the break room and get a drink then we'll talk."

Rose nodded and let Pete lead the way, Castle already making her a coffee, remembering the British took cream in theirs.  Rose took the offered cup and thanked him.

"Sorry we didn't get to meet that night we were meant to go out to dinner," Rose smiled at him.

"That's quite alright, under the circumstances, we're all just happy to see you."

Rose realised Jake had gone to the back of the room and made her way over.

"It worked Jake, I got him into the fake site but he got suspicious because you put that extra password on my file."

"Yeah, I gathered that," Jake replied, giving her one of his famous hugs that was almost as bad as the Doctor's had been.

"That was my idea Rose," Pete told her.  "We were worried he'd find out about the Doctor and we couldn't allow him to use that against you."

"I got that, I was worried too, I did everything I could to delay him getting in, I even tried to tell him about myself but he wanted to read everything first.  Has anyone spotted him since he got away?"

"No, we've got everyone on the lookout for him, if he's gone into hiding, he'll come out sooner or later," Kate told her.  "Just relax a while, I'll talk with you when you go see the captain.  Come on Castle, Ryan, Espo, let's leave them to talk."

Alec put his cup down, not that he still enjoyed drinking coffee but it was growing on him.

"Come on Miller, we should also leave."

"No, please stay Alec," Rose pleaded with him.  "You too if you want Ellie?"

"I have to call our CS back in Broadchurch, to let her know we've found you," Ellie told her, glancing at Alec, who just nodded.

"Oh, are you two leaving?" Rose asked.

"We're all going back together Rose, tomorrow night, I've just been arranging a private jet since I couldn't get us all on the same flight back to London and I doubt anyone wants to go back by zeppelin?" Pete smiled.

"I need to call mum," Rose told him, accepting Alec's offer to take her cup as she leaned against the glass partition, the blinds having been pulled down.

"She knows you've been found love, you can call her later.  Now, how do you really feel?"

Rose lurched towards a chair and Mickey caught her arm, guiding her to sit down. Alec was watching with interest, her mind was clearly still clouded from the effects Kilgrave had over her.

"I'll be fine, I just need to get used to not having to ask things all the time."

"What kind of things Rose?" Alec asked her.

"What I could do, what I could wear and if I could go out."

"He let you go out?"

"Yeah, with one of his men, he gave me two hours to go shopping and told me if I wasn't back in time, he'd get the other man or the housekeeper to harm themselves."

"You went out with him, a few nights ago," Alec stated, getting his notebook out.

"Alec, we should leave all this until Rose sees the captain," Pete interrupted him.

Alec put his notebook away and looked at Rose as if to say 'sorry' but she just smiled at him.

"It's ok Dad, he'd just doing his job but I'd rather not say anything twice Alec."

Kate had been talking with the captain, telling her of Emmett Carver's visit.

"So, he's been following our reports has he?" Captain Gates asked.

"Yeah though it's rather unusual, with him being so far away."

"Maybe he had heard of Miss Tyler before then?"

"I doubt it Sir, she's not that famous outside her own country and she normally keeps herself out of the news.  I can think of one reason, well two, he looks like Kilgrave and Hardy plus his partner is also called Ellie Miller."

The captain shook her head in disbelief.

Kate continued.  "He's on his way here, to New York, he has information about Kilgrave."

"Has he now?  You mean information that even Torchwood couldn't get?"

"Yes, that's because Kilgrave isn't his real name though we did suspect that but we have no idea where Carver got his information from."

"I doubt he'll want to reveal his sources Detective Beckett.  Have him report to me when he gets here."

"It won't be until late afternoon, he's coming from Northern California so Castle and I will wait for him, he wants to meet with Rose, that's the only reason he's agreed to share what he has on Kilgrave."

"You should ask Miss Tyler if she knows him then."

"I don't want to spring another Kilgrave look-alike on her just yet.  Shall I go get her?"

"Yes, she'll be wanting to get back to the hotel and get some rest, she's been through a lot.  Just ask Mr Tyler and DI Hardy in, I don't want her to feel crowded and that includes Mr Castle, I know what he's like."

Kate smiled. "Yes Sir."

An hour later, Rose was being led out of the captain's office by Pete after telling them everything she'd been through but missing out the most personal parts.  Alec knew she was holding back but the others seemed to let it go.  While she had been explaining about Kilgrave threatening the staff if she didn't comply with him, Rose knew she couldn't tell anyone she had complied with his sexual demands, for fear of what they would think of her.

Kate though had asked her if she had been abused.

"I tried to resist him, I've had training against mind control but it was very difficult, I had no idea what he would do if I didn't give in to his demands."

"Did they include sexual demands?" Alec had insisted on asking.

"Yes but I'm not ready to talk about it, I'd rather talk to a counsellor, it was extremely personal and I don't think I should talk about it here.   Captain, I'll comply with anything during the rest of your investigation and once I get back home, I'll have the reports sent over to you, I'd just rather not go through everything on that subject just yet."

The captain had nodded her agreement and thanked Rose for her co-operation.

"Detective Inspector Hardy, I trust you will keep me up to date with any further developments?  Miss Tyler, just have your therapist send the reports to the Broadchurch police, he can have them sent on.  Before you leave, Detective Beckett has an unusual request."

Alec hadn't really been surprised the detective from Gracepoint wanted in on this but if he knew things that could help find Kilgrave, he was all for the meeting. Stopping by the elevator, Castle asked if they could all get together later but Pete made excuses for Rose, saying they should delay it until the following evening before they departed for the airport.

"Sorry Rick, I think Rose has had enough but our flight isn't until ten tomorrow night, it was the only time I could book the plane for.  I think she just needs a quiet night in the hotel tonight."

"Sure Pete, we'll see you in the morning, for the meeting with Carver."

"Pete, there are cars downstairs waiting to take you all back to the hotel, unless you two are staying?" Kate asked Ellie and Alec.

Ellie half put her hand up, getting her a glare from Alec.  "Oh, I'd like to stay for a while, you promised me that t-shirt for Tom."

"Sure Ellie, I'll make sure you're back at the hotel in time for dinner, you can meet Detective Carver, he's got a partner who has the same name as you."

Ellie grinned and Alec just rolled his eyes as he got into the elevator after Mickey. Downstairs, there were two unmarked cars waiting for them as promised, Mickey and Jake heading for one while Pete and Rose got into the back of the other, Alec getting in the front.  Pete thought it was a shame Alec had decided he wasn't going to let Rose out of his sight, what was he playing at?   More importantly, what was Rose doing?  She hadn't been more than a few inches away from the Scottish detective since she'd arrived at the precinct and Mickey had taken him on one side and expressed his concerns that Rose didn't want to let go of him when she got out of the car earlier and Alec seemed content to let her.

When they got back to the hotel he would get Rose in her room he'd had held for her and ask her why she was clinging hold of Alec Hardy and he just hoped it wasn't because she thought somehow he was either Kilgrave or the Doctor.  What would she make of Emmett Carver once he arrived?  He wondered like Jake had said to him earlier, what was it with Rose and her Doctor look-a likes that she couldn't get by without one nearby?

He and Jackie had tried their best with her, from the long journey up to Norway for her to say goodbye to just his image on the beach to trying their best to make the dimension cannon workable but she'd missed out anyway, which had set her off again resulting in another health resort visit and if he'd not engaged the services of the best psychiatric doctors, she would have been admitted to a state or private facility.   Only his wealth and position had prevented her being taken for treatment and now, she was half staring out of the window and half at Alec Hardy and Pete knew where this was leading.

If Kilgrave had found out about the Doctor, she would have been a lot worse off because he would have eventually persuaded her he was the Doctor and she would have talked about all their adventures together, the time they had spent here before Rose had got trapped here and all about the other universe and once he'd got her to tell him everything and he'd taken over Torchwood, both universes would have been in danger.

Thankfully, she had been found in time and Jake putting the extra password on her file had been a big risk had paid off without her having to pay the price for it.  As they approached the hotel, Alec turned around.

"There are no press here, they can't have got to know where you are staying."

"I'm surprised the doorman hasn't told everyone," Pete mused.

"He did not even know who Rose was when I asked him a few questions."

"So how did you know I was missing then?" Rose asked as the car stopped and Alec got out, opening the door for Rose.

She took his hand again and keeping hold of him, headed for the entrance, catching up with Jake and Mickey as they arrived a minute earlier.  Jake was nudging Mickey as Alec had helped her out of the car.

"I'm telling you Mickey, she thinks he's the Doctor."

"Rubbish Jake, that Kilgrave messed with her mind, she thinks Hardy is him."

"Bet ya 50 quid she starts calling him Doctor," Jake smirked.

Mickey held his hand out and took the bet that she'd keep calling him Kilgrave or whatever his name was.

Rose was greeted by the day manager of the hotel, who had said they were pleased to have her back safely and asked them to wait in the bar area as he had ordered refreshments for them since they had missed lunch, with compliments of the management.  Pete thought it was just as well, since he was paying for Rose's room to be kept for her.

As Rose took a seat at one of the dining tables, Mickey got a scowl from Pete when he was going to sit next to her as she looked to see where Alec was.  Mickey huffed and went to sit on the next table with Jake, who just grinned and nudged his best friend.

"Told ya," Jake hissed as Mickey sat opposite him, his back to Rose as Alec sat next to her since Pete had purposely sat on the outside.

"Why don't you go relax in the hotel spa after you've eaten Rose?" Pete asked her.

"Yeah, I think I will, after I call mum.  How's Tony taken it?"

"I just told him we'd had to stay longer than expected, I didn't tell him anything else.  Your mum says he keeps asking for you."

"How old is he?" Alec asked, pouring water for Rose then himself and then offering to fill Pete's, who just took the jug from him.

He'd read about the Tylers but Mr Tyler kept very quiet about his young son.

"He's nearly six, I've missed him," Rose said sadly, taking a sip of water.  Dad, did you tell Alec everything?"

"I told him and Ellie what they needed to know Rose, you can talk in front of him."

"Good, I hate keeping secrets and I've done enough of that for the last week or so. So, what about you Alec, are you over that trial and finding that missing girl?"

"You read about that?"

"Yeah, ever since the two of them went missing.  Did dad tell you about the Doctor?"

Pete nodded.

"I just thought it was sad that Lisa was never found and the man they thought responsible got away.  Then when I read about Danny last year and it was you who was in charge I followed the case."

Alec thought that despite her own problems, she still cared enough about others. Something had drawn him to her, she was a lost soul who had only wanted her friend the Doctor back and she was seeing him everywhere she went and he wasn't helping but he couldn't help but get involved.   She was reaching out to him in particular despite her friends being there and Miller trying to make friends with her so what could he do?

Shunning her would do more harm than good at this stage even though she was clinging to him like he was a life-line and when they got to London, she would go off to spend a week or two in another health spa and he would go back to work and that would be the end of it, wouldn't it?   That was if Miller didn't do something stupid like invite her to stay with them for a few weeks since she had recently redecorated and thrown everything her jailbird husband had in the loft out and done it out as a guest room.

She had told him on the way over she was going to rent it out to bring in some extra cash and already offered it to him, which he had profusely turned down before she'd even finished asking him, he was not going down that particular road, looking after her youngest son had been his limit then he'd done it reluctantly while she had been helping him with the Sandbrook case.

He realised Rose was looking at him again as her plate was passed to her by the waitress.  She was smiling at him and probably thought he was as bad as she was in the car, staring into space.

"Earth to Alec," she grinned as he accepted his food, not bad to say it was free, not that they'd had to pay for anything other than the odd drink while they were out looking for her.

Chapter 18

"So, you got any family then?" Rose tried to ask him again, he'd apparently missed it the first time.

"A daughter, sixteen now almost, she lives with her mum back near Sandbrook."

"That's sad, don't you get to see her?"

"More since my surgery a while back, she's coming to stay with me this spring bank holiday and if that works out, she's coming down for the six week holiday before she goes off to college."

"That's good then, what surgery did you have?  I read you had a bad heart."

Alec thought nothing got past a member of the Tyler family, he'd been warned by Mickey about Mrs Tyler, a force to be reckoned with by all accounts.

"I took the plunge so to speak and stopped being stubborn.  I had a pacemaker fitted."

"Wow, that's some surgery then.  You look ok or are you hiding something?"

"Rose, leave him be love," Pete told her.

"No, it's fine Mr Tyler.  I have to admit I surprised myself by surviving it, I was ready to face the worse when I went in.  I told no-one but my ex about it and then I only told her the day before."

"You never even told Ellie?"

"She was the last person I would have told, I sent her a message an hour before I went down to the operating room."

Rose smiled.  "I bet she was a bit mad about that."

"Aye, she was but she drove over when she got out of court though she would not take me home, luckily Tess was in the area and she took me back."

"They didn't want to keep you in?"

"Well they tried but Tess convinced them she would take responsibility for me, which surprised me more than surviving the operation did," he mused, putting his cutlery down across the plate.

Rose saw the funny side.  She felt at ease with him, he wasn't the Doctor or Kilgrave, that she was sure of but why was she feeling so at home with him?

"So, you went back to Broadchurch?"

"Aye, it was as close to being home as anywhere else has been.  I got my job back after I got Sandbrook closed though I will have to go back for the hearing, one of them is protesting her innocence and fancies her chances with a jury."

"You'd better hope she doesn't get the same defence as the last time," Pete joined in.

"I'm not worried about that, I doubt it will be.  The problem last time was that both sides were enemies outside the courtroom and it became personal.  The defence was determined not to let her old boss and adversary win, she didn't care about Joe Miller being innocent or guilty, she was only interested in knocking down the wall the prosecution had built and did not care who got in the way."

"Including you and Ellie," Rose smiled as she sat back, bumping into Mickey and not bothering to apologise, that was how they were with each other.

Jake and Mickey had been having a staring contest and Jake was winning, having the advantage he could see Pete's face as Rose and Alec had talked, it was worth more than the words Mickey could hear.

"That was completely untrue, the facts got twisted to the defence's own end, she wanted to take the credibility of the conviction away and she succeeded."

"Hey, you don't have to convince me, I'm on your side," Rose laughed.  "I think I'll go get my things and go relax in the spa if you'll all excuse me.  Why did Ellie not come back with us?" she asked Alec.

"She was trying to impress Detective Becket plus I believe she has a crush on Castle."

Pete had to smile – Ellie Miller was not the only one to have a crush on someone as Rose had been openly flirting with Alec, well to his mind she was.  He had half expected a very shy and broken Rose but she had taken to Alec instantly, just like Jackie had told him she had taken to the Doctor all those years ago back in their own world.  He didn't know what to do about it, Alec would be going back to Broadchurch but it wouldn't surprise him in the least if she didn't join him after her compulsory counselling sessions required by Torchwood and the chances of her completing them were slim to none, not the way she was letting Alec get up and then taking his hand as he helped her.

Mickey was beginning to be grateful he'd not been sitting where Jake was or he'd throw up, having heard most of the conversation when Jake wasn't making faces at him to indicate how cosy the two of them were getting.

"Rose, before you go to the spa, I'd like to talk to you – alone," Pete told her as they reached the dining room door.

"Sure Dad, I'd best call mum first anyway.  Alec, are you on our floor?" she asked as the elevator arrived.

"No, we're on the floor below I believe, I will join you for dinner."

"Yeah, I'll look forward to that, you'll be wanting to call your daughter and your boss.  Can I get your mobile number?"

"I'll give it you Rose," Pete told her as Alec prepared to get out, taking Rose's hand and kissing the back of it.

"Feel free to call if you need anything, Rose," he said as she smiled back at him, withdrawing her hand, reluctantly it appeared to Pete as Alec got out and the door closed.

"Rose, we really have to talk love, I was going to ask how you're coping now you've got away from Kilgrave but I think there's something more urgent than that, don't you?"

They got out on the next floor and stopped outside Rose's room, the one she'd not been in for over a week.

"Don't know what you mean Dad," she smiled as she opened the door and they went inside.

"You know full well what I mean Rose.  You've just got away from a psychopath who held you against your will for over a week and instead of running in the opposite direction away from yet another Doctor look-alike, you're flirting with Alec Hardy.  Would you care to explain it to me or would you rather I get your mother to deal with it?"

"Dad, just leave it, I know he's not the Doctor and he's definitely not Kilgrave.  I know you think I don't know what I'm doing but trust me, right now all I want to do is get back to normal."

"By flirting with Alec Hardy?"

"I was not 'flirting' with him, I'm trying to forget Kilgrave by convincing myself that anyone who looks like him is not as bad as him.  Do you know how hard it was not to let on to Kilgrave about how he looked like the Doctor?"

"I know love and I'm sorry.  We told Alec and Ellie what they needed to know so they would understand why you would go along with what Kilgrave wanted."

"I tried to convince myself that doing as he asked was far better than resisting him, I've had worse missions where I had to pretend to be someone's girlfriend."

"Yes, I know and do you know how Mickey hated every one you went on?  He's as concerned about this as I am, I don't think it's such a good idea to get so close to Alec."

"Sorry, I think he's exactly what I need right now but I know when we get back, he's going back to Broadchurch."

"Good, he is going back to Broadchurch.  Now call your mother and if you're going down to the spa, I want Jake or Mickey with you.  You are not to be alone until we get on that plane tomorrow night."

"Fine, I'd rather have Jake, Mickey looks a bit mad with me."

"Yes, he is and he's also mad at me for letting you get in that taxi and come back to the hotel on your own and he's right to be, I should never have allowed it."

"How were you supposed to know that creep was having me followed?"

"Kate and Ellie interviewed a young woman who was Kilgrave's victim before you."

"Was her name Hope?"

"Yeah, she told them he was obsessed with you and you coming to New York."

"He mentioned her, she was completely under his control but I know why he was fascinated with me, not just to get control of Torchwood but because of my training, he knew I'd be able to resist him to some degree so he didn't threaten me, well not until this morning, he threatened those around me, that's what made it so challenging for him, he said the others had been nothing because they did everything he told them to.  I questioned him but I couldn't resist him completely, he scared me Dad, I could see what he was capable of."

Rose went up to him, he knew she was putting on a brave face and deep down she was hurting, he was able to do anything he wanted but nothing would ever change this.  If Alec Hardy was what she needed right now, he'd best not stand in her way or this time, nothing would be able to stop her being admitted to an institution, she had to get over this in her own way.  Maybe he should arrange with Alec's boss for him to spend some time with her, to help her get over it?

Alec had gone back to his room to call his boss, who was happy to hear via Ellie that Rose was safe and well though she wasn't happy at his request.

"You want to what Alec?  You want to stay in London, why?"

"Because she is going to need help, without sending her away.  This is confidential and I trust it will go no further?"

"Naturally Alec."

"Mr Tyler told us Rose has almost been admitted to rest homes several times, she never got over losing someone close to her and she was seeing him everywhere and now, Kilgrave and myself are adding to that but if she has someone constant in her life at this time, someone who will not use her or leave her, I believe it may help her get over not only her abduction but maybe finally to get over her loss."

"I see Alec, this person she lost, who looked like you, did he die?"

"No but he is a very, very long way away from her and she will never see him again.  I can't tell you any more Elaine, not without Mr Tyler's permission but he told us what happened to him and how it affected her.  I would like to see this through, I was going to put it to Mr Tyler, offer to help but he may not take very kindly to it so if you permitted me, I could tell him I have cleared it with you.  I believe I have accumulated several weeks leave as my sick leave did not count."

Elaine had to smile to herself, she should have known he'd get caught up with the Vitex heiress.

"Very well then Alec, if you want to request leave, I will push it through for you. Will you be coming back first?"

"I will see how things go first, she may not still want me around and her staying in London may be a bad idea, I'd like for her to want to visit Broadchurch though if I suggest it, she may take it the wrong way."

"Then get Ellie to invite her down."

"I don't think that will be too difficult though I had not intended letting Miller in on my plan."

Elaine let out a laugh, since he insisted on calling her Elaine and Ellie just Miller and she was his boss.

"I'll leave you to make the arrangements then, just say when you want to begin your leave."

Satisfied for now, he had to somehow convince Rose to go to Broadchurch after she had seen the therapist her stepfather was insisting she visited but would she be willing?  She had been flirting with him earlier, he wasn't so out of practice he didn't know what she had been doing and she'd hardly let him out of her sight since they had found her.

Jake had knocked on Rose's door and escorted her to the spa, saying he would sit just outside where he could see her and the door and he would watch very carefully for anyone who didn't look like they belonged there.  In his mind, the sooner they got on the plane to go home, the better, non of them would relax until they were safely in London.

Before they all met for dinner, Ellie got back in time and knocked on Alec's door to see how Rose was, him not telling her Rose seemed taken with him although she may have worked that one out for herself earlier.

"So, how is she then?" Ellie asked, leaning on his room door, waiting for an invitation to go in but Alec had learned his lesson after the last time and there was no way she was getting in his room again, cameras or no cameras.

If he ever got to know how the defence team had got hold of the footage from the night Joe Miller was arrested, he'd arrest Becca Fisher, she wasn't supposed to have been on the defence's side.

"She was going to the spa with either Jake or Mickey, she seems ok for someone who has been held captive for over a week.  She knew about that woman you talked to who had been Kilgrave's last victim."

"She didn't say much earlier but since we're meeting again in the morning, she might be more willing to talk."

"Yes, in front of yet another version of Kilgrave."

"I'm looking forward to meeting him, Ryan and Espo had just gone to meet Detective Carver."

"That should be interesting then don't you think?"

"Poor Rose seems confused as it is, I saw Mickey downstairs, he's not too happy about something."

"That would be me then, I could feel him wanting to turn around earlier when we had lunch and he wasn't even looking at me."

Ellie let out a laugh.  She knew why he wasn't letting her in his room and she couldn't really blame him after what happened in the courtroom, as if that was ever going to happen, they barely communicated with each other even though she was settling back down in her old house and done it out from top to bottom.  No wonder he'd cringed when she had suggested he took her spare loft.

Rose was waiting for someone to escort her down to dinner since Jake had said Pete insisted she didn't go down alone, which had caused Rose to think Pete was being a bit paranoid, Kilgrave wouldn't be stupid enough to go after her again, now that Torchwood was on to him.  As they had gone back up in the lift earlier, Rose had expressed she still felt she was being held captive.

"Pete wants to make sure you're safe, that's all Rose.  Come on, we're best mates, right?" Jake had asked her.

"Yeah I know Jake it's just over the last week or so, I've had someone with me all the time, I'd love to just be on my own."

"When we get home, you can take all the time you want."

"Huh, Pete will have me going non-stop to therapists again."

"It's for your own good and you know it, if you want to go back to work."

"I think I'll take some time off first, mum will insist Pete doesn't let me go back to work right away."

"Come on Rose, you're not fooling me, how are you really feeling?"

"I don't want to talk about it Jake," she told him as they reached her room door.

"You'll have to sooner or later Rose."

"I know that Jake. See ya at dinner?"

So now, an hour or so later, she was waiting for someone knocking on her door. She wasn't expecting it to be Alec, who had just gone up to the next floor to see Pete coming out of his room.

"Did you want something Alec?"

"I thought I would escort Rose to dinner, with your permission of course?"

"How did you know what room she was in?"

"I saw Jake come back to his room earlier, I asked him.  He seems to find it amusing that Rose seems to have taken a liking to me."

"Oh, he would, trust me.  You know the score Alec, you know how vulnerable Rose is right now and if you're what she needs, then I'm all for it but you break her heart, it won't be me you have to worry about, capisce?"

"I get it, I have no intentions of letting this go too far but Rose seems calmer than anyone thought she would be."

"She's hiding what she really feels and even when I get her to a therapist on Monday, she won't talk to them."

"Mr Tyler, I've spoken to my CS, about taking some time off if I need to, I would like to help Rose, if I possibly can."

"There's no need Alec, she'll come round in her own time, she has done before."

"How many times is that now though?"

Pete shook his head.  "Too many times now Alec, I can't discuss it with you, unless Rose wants to tell you herself but if you're suggesting Rose spends some time in Broadchurch then I'm all for it.  I suppose it's as good a place as a health resort. Now, go call for her, I'll see you both in the dining room though how you convinced Jake to let you take his place is beyond me, he and Mickey are very protective of her."

"So I noticed earlier, I could feel Mickey staring at me."

Pete patted Alec's shoulder and headed for the lift as Alec knocked on Rose's door.

Back at the 12th precinct, Emmett Carver had finished his initial meeting with Kate and Castle, whom Emmett didn't find amusing when he remarked how many other 'clones' there were and he wondered what he meant since he only knew of Kilgrave, the Scottish detective and the actor. Kate had given her husband a funny look.

"So, we all meet in the morning and thanks for the information, I'll read through it to brief the captain before everyone arrives."

"Yeah, it was a long flight and I hate planes, rather go by zeppelin but it would have taken too long.  So Miss Tyler is settling down?"

"I think so, she seemed calm enough considering what she's been through though it may hit her later."

"How's she coping with what's his name, Hardy?"

Castle was about to say she was clinging to him like she was attached to him but thought better of it.

"It's too early to say, we're going on the assumption she sees him as someone familiar, a constant.  There's something you should know, she had a friend who she lost a few years back and she never got over it."

"What has that to do with anything?" Emmett wanted to know, seeing the smirk on Castle's face.

"He looked like you, Kilgrave and Hardy, not to mention the actor."

Emmett just rolled his eyes.  Just what he needed – no wonder Castle thought it was amusing.  He was now looking forward to meeting his Scottish counterpart as well as Rose but if she had already taken to the other detective, there would be very little anyone could do about it.  He'd read all about her but there was nothing mentioned of anyone close to her passing away.

"So this other friend, did he die?"

"No but he's never coming back, she won't talk about it," Castle told him as they walked to the elevator to go down where the driver was waiting to take Emmett to his hotel, not the same one everyone else was staying in, he'd had to arrange one at short notice when he'd made his mind up that morning he should make a personal appearance with his findings.

Kate thanked him for the files he'd brought with him and throwing his overnight bag in the back of the car, was driven off, thinking that it should be a very interesting meeting the next morning and wondered if Rose had been warned of his arrival.  He knew he shouldn't make things worse for her, if she had taken to Hardy, he would have little or no chance with her and that hadn't been his intention anyway but now he'd read that Hardy had recently put three culprits away for a case that had been haunting him, it was time to face his own demons of Rosemont.

Now he would go back and get the files from his old case and this time it would be different, he had his daughter on his side since she had stayed with him after his surgery last year and he'd rented a two bedroom house not far from the Solanos and she was in the local college though he was disappointed she had a crush on the local reporter.  He had surprised her with a text earlier and she'd called him back while he was waiting for his flight to New York.

Rose had opened her room door to find Alec standing there, his arms folded, his top two shirt buttons undone as he'd been told it was an informal dinner though when he looked at Rose, who was wearing a blue clingy jersey dress that fitted in all the right places, he felt like he was scruffy, which Miller had already told him, only too readily.

"Alec.  I was expecting Jake or Mickey, this is a nice surprise.  I think I feel just as safe with you as I would with them."

"Then may I escort you to dinner?  I feel I should now be wearing a tie."

Rose smiled.  "Aw, don't worry about that, Mickey will be wearing his favourite t-shirt, we don't stand on ceremony."

"You mean the one with the old cassette tape, the brown one?"

"Yeah, you've seen it then?" she giggled as she picked up her purse and key then locked the door behind her.

Alec offered his arm, which she took without hesitation and he was getting to like it far too much.  It would make things much more difficult when they arrived back in London.  Everyone was waiting for them, tables had been put together so everyone could be accommodated and Rose just wished it was the two of them. She'd had time to think and she wanted to explain to Alec the reason why she'd not let go of him since she had been found earlier.

She hadn't wanted him to get the wrong idea but it was probably too late, he already would have the wrong idea by now and so would everyone else who were now looking at her and two seats at the end had been left for them facing each other despite Pete telling Mickey he should let them sit together.

Mickey though had shrugged his shoulders.  "She's getting too dependant on him."

"Mickey, mate, what do you expect?" Jake had asked him.

"What's she gonna do when he goes back to Broadchurch, huh?" he asked, pouring some water and wishing it was lager.

"You think he's getting too close to her then?" Ellie asked, sitting across from Jake and next to Pete.

She could have fancied Jake were it not for the fact he was younger and obviously not interested in women.

"He's your partner Ellie, you know him better than anyone else here, what do you think?" Pete asked her.

"I think Rose is still traumatised and it will hit her all of a sudden and she'll fall apart.  As much as I hate to admit it, Hardy may be the one who has to hold her together."

"You may be right Ellie but I have to insist he goes back to Broadchurch for now, she needs time away from Kilgrave and Doctor look-a likes and therapy is mandatory within the organisation before she can resume work.  Ah, here they are. Mickey, you should really move."

So Mickey had made no attempt to comply with Pete's request as Alec held Rose's chair out for her as she sat next to Pete, glaring at Mickey and knowing he was doing this on purpose, just like he'd tried to do at lunch time.  Alec nodded to everyone and took his seat next to Mickey and offered to fill Rose's glass with water as Mickey glared at him sideways.  He knew her old boyfriend was still jealous of anyone who got close to her and he was just thankful it was only for a while longer but what if Rose wanted to visit Broadchurch or she wanted him to stay in London with her?

Would Mickey try to interfere?  Well he wouldn't let her ex's jealousy stand in her way, if she felt comfortable with him but so far, he'd convinced himself that she was trying to get over Kilgrave by using him as a buffer but how did he actually feel about that?  It was like weaning a baby from a bottle, slowly without taking it away altogether but how would she react when they parted at London airport?

Would she still want him there as comfort or would she throw the bottle out of the cot and no longer want him?  A lot had happened that day and her messed up feelings were getting the better of her but so were his.  What had started out as a simple case of finding the missing heiress had got personal and now he needed to know how she really felt about him because if Mickey's jealousy was anything to go by, he was in line to be her next boyfriend, whether he was close by or it was long distance.

Chapter 19

Alec felt he was under scrutiny as he ate his meal, Mickey glancing sideways at him, Pete keeping one eye on Rose and one on him.

Rose was smiling and trying not to scowl at Mickey for being such an obvious jerk with Alec.  Pete suggested they all retired to the bar but Rose just wanted to go to her room.

"Come and have a drink Rose," Mickey insisted.

"You heard her Mickey, leave her alone," Alec told him.

"It's ok Alec, Mickey never knows when to quit.  Will you see me to my room?"

"Sure, if you are ready to leave?"

"Yeah, I think I've had enough for one day, I can't wait to have a room to myself."

Ellie could only imagine what it had been like for her, being forced to sleep with Kilgrave, well not just sleep.  Rose hadn't said how he had treated her but she could put two and two together.  Why was she still clinging to Hardy though?  Both Beckett and Castle had remarked about it after they had all left, none of them being able to comprehend what was going through Rose's mind.  Castle of course had wanted all the details and when she'd left, Kate was still trying to explain it to him. She wished she could have stayed to talk to Carver, he was exactly like Hardy but he didn't seem quite as grumpy.

Carver had remarked to her about her name, saying she was more agreeable than his partner and expressed his regret that her circumstances were the same as his Ellie Miller's, well almost.

While Alec and Rose were in the lift, Rose turned to him.

"Are you going back to join the others?"

"I don't think so, your friend Mickey does not seem to like me much."

"You'll get used to him but lucky you gets to go back to Broadchurch and I get stuck in therapy for a week."

They arrived at her floor and got out, Rose getting her key out and offering it to him.  He smiled and took it, unlocking the door and opening it for her.  Rose leaned against the door frame.

"My stepfather thought I was flirting with you earlier."

"Your stepfather was right, you were flirting with me but since you just got away from being held captive, I will let you off."

"Don't you want to know why I didn't run away from you?"

"I assume because I not only look like Kilgrave, I look like the friend you lost."

"That's part of it, I told Pete I wanted to assure myself not everyone who looks like the Doctor wants to abduct me, or leave me."

"Well I am not either of them.  You should get some rest now, you have a lot more questions tomorrow and then a long flight back to London."

"Yeah, I'll be glad to get home.  I wonder what that Detective Carver is like?"

"Miller said he is more polite than I am."

Rose smiled.  "Aw, you've not been rude to me, don't you two get on?"

"Not exactly, I took her job when I arrived in Broadchurch."

"No wonder then but you've been through a lot, that last trial, getting Sandbrook closed and her husband getting away.  Does he bother her?"

"No, he's in the north of England as far as anyone knows, it was all arranged.  The jury may have decided he was not guilty but they did not have to live with the consequences."

"That's the trouble, they didn't know him like the people of the town did.  Well, I'll go try and get some sleep, you should go back and join the others."

"I'll give it a miss, I'm sure they don't need me there."

"You can stay and talk to me?"

"You need your rest and some peace and quiet."

"No-one knows what I want Alec, they've hardly mentioned what happened, my stepfather's leaving that for the experts."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"How long have you got?" she replied sadly, crossing to the bed.

Alec assumed she wanted him to follow her so he closed the door behind him and took the chair by the window, Rose curling up on the bed.  It was after midnight before either of them realised the time and Alec had moved to sit next to her, all thoughts of Ellie Miller being in his room then having to share on a trip to Sandbrook gone from his mind.

"You need not have told me everything Rose, you will have nothing left to tell your therapist."

"There's plenty, trust me. I'm surprised no-one has been to check on me."

"They may assume you went to sleep, after what has happened.  So until Detective Beckett told you how the search for you got her team involved, you had no idea he had caused someone to step under a bus?"

"No, I feel awful, he was out getting breakfast for me.  What else did he do?"

"We can discuss this tomorrow, I should really go now Rose.  I hope no-one is wandering around downstairs, especially your friend Mickey?"

Rose smiled.  "Aw, he'll have got Jake to bug your room by now."

"Don't joke about it Rose."

"Lighten up Alec.  If I don't joke right now, I'll fall to pieces, trust me."

"So it was all an act?  You are very good at hiding your feelings."

"I have to be, I've done undercover assignments before you know, where I've had to pretend to be someone's girlfriend but never where I've had to battle to keep my mind."

"Well, there is no need to pretend with me, or your friends, they will understand."

"You don't get it Alec, I was good at my job, I was a team leader, I led dozens of missions, I've been to parallel worlds and I've faced foes you can't even imagine when I travelled with the Doctor and Kilgrave, he took all that away from me because I couldn't let my guard down for a second.  It was so hard Alec, not giving in and telling him about my life, I had to lie to him but do you know what was the worse?"

She buried her head in her knees and Alec moved closer, putting his hand on hers.

"I can't begin to understand what you went through Rose but I want to help you. Tell me."

Rose looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

"I wanted to give in, I never argued with him or denied him anything because of what he would have done to me and the others.  I had to believe I was the one stopping him making them do terrible things to themselves like throwing themselves off the balcony or harming themselves.  They had no control, I did, I was responsible for them."

She suddenly moved onto her knees as he moved closer and he held out his arms.

"It's fine Rose, shush, come here.  You saved their lives and many others because if Kilgrave had gone out in a bad mood after that first morning, who knows what he could have done, without hesitation.  You were very brave."

"No I wasn't," she sobbed into his shoulder, he'd taken his jacket off a good while ago, his shirt buttons still undone at the top.

"I took the easy way out, I gave in to him without a fight."

He let her cry and pushed her hair back.

"Look at me Rose, no-one will blame you for that, you did what you had to do, to get out of there.  You were the one that got him into that fake website, what would have happened if he had got into the real one eh?"

"You can't imagine what he would have done with that information Alec," she sobbed.

"Yes I can.  Your stepfather told us some of it and you kept Kilgrave away from it, you risked what he would do to you to protect Torchwood and your friend, the Doctor.  If Kilgrave had discovered there was a time-traveller in another universe, he would have done anything to get there."

"I know that Alec, I've always protected the Doctor's secret both here and back home, I'll never give him up to the likes of Kilgrave but that's not all."

"What then?" he asked quietly as Rose slowly began to relax.  He knew he should leave, if anyone caught him, he'd have some explaining to do, especially if it was Miller or Mickey, Jake seemed like he'd won a bet.

"Why I never tried to fight him off, I found I couldn't, that was the only part of me that didn't want to fight him."

"You mean he did not abuse you?"

"No, I was with him willingly though at times, I was in over my head, he began to insist I took the lead but I put that off until I no longer could."

"Listen to me Rose, no-one will judge you, you did what you had to, what would you have done if he had forced you?  He could have hurt you, physically and you may never have recovered from it, never have healed mentally as well as physically.  You were fortunate he took a liking to you, think what he had done to that young woman before you and all the others.  They won't remember half of what he did to them but they will have the scars."

"I know, he kept telling me they were nothing to him.  I should let you go, it's late."

"Yes, it is late and if your friend is snooping around, I'll arrest him."

Rose moved to look at him as he put his thumb on her cheek to wipe the tears away.

"I'd love to see you try.  When I disappeared with the Doctor the first time, he accidentally kept me away for a whole year and my mum had Mickey arrested for my murder, several times."

Alec smiled and let go with one arm, looking at her.

"I can well believe that.  Get some sleep, I will see you in the morning."

"Will you come and escort me to breakfast?"

"If you insist on keeping pushing Mickey's nose out.  You are not using me to avoid him, are you?" he asked as Rose let go and tried to sit up on the edge of the bed.

"What makes you think that?" she smiled, poking her tongue out of the side of her mouth.

Alec thought it was very charming, the way she was trying to put a smile back on her face.

"Nothing in particular, just a hunch."

"You're a trained detective Alec, you're naturally suspicious."

"Yes I am and I know you are still holding back what you feel but never mind. Goodnight Rose."

He got up and took the latch off the door, Rose just behind him.  She tried to reach up to kiss his cheek but having kicked off her shoes, didn't quite make it but he instinctively leaned down and she hit the mark.

"Goodnight Alec, that's for being here for me."

"My pleasure, I will see you in the morning, you have my number, if you need me."

Before he could stop her, she reached for him again, kissing the side of his mouth as he turned.  He saw how she was looking at him though.

"Rose, I really have to go, you are still upset, this cannot go anywhere.  We go back tomorrow night, you to London, I go to Broadchurch but, if after you have come to terms with what happened to you, you could come down for a visit."

"Yeah, sorry, I'm making you uncomfortable.  I'd like to visit Broadchurch, thanks for the invite."

He leaned down and kissed her cheek.  "I meant it though don't let Miller invite you to stay with her."

Rose smiled as he opened the door, checking Pete wasn't standing there with half a dozen armed Torchwood operatives, or Mickey, he didn't know which was the lesser of the two evils.  As he took the stairs to the floor below, he wasn't sure why he'd not just come out and told her he could take some leave if he wanted.  He also wasn't sure how he felt about what almost happened back there, she was just reacting to being free from Kilgrave, like withdrawal symptoms but after what she had just told him, he wasn't sure he was what she needed right now.   If she still felt the same way after a week, he was willing to put her experience down to necessity, he was no angel after all.

After Alec had left, Rose was cursing herself, what had she almost done?   She had been flirting with him earlier and she had genuinely wanted the chance to talk to him, get rid of some of the guilt she felt for being so friendly with her almost charming captor and Alec seemed to understand why she had gone along with it but trying to kiss him so soon after regaining her freedom was a bit more than he would have expected and he'd been quite right to back away from her though not permanently she hoped.

The next morning, Alec was woken by a knock on the door just after seven thirty and he wondered if it was Rose as he called out he was coming and felt like telling whoever it was to quit knocking but he didn't want it to sound rude, if it did turn out to be Rose.  After struggling into his suit trousers and putting on a white t-shirt, he opened the door slightly.  He was disappointed it was Ellie.

"What do you want at this time Miller?"

"To know where you got to last night.  Are we going to talk out here?"

"Yes, if you insist.  Can't this wait?  I don't answer to you, in case you thought I did."

"I called for you when I came back up, there was no answer."

"How do you know I was not asleep eh?"

"Because if I'd woken you up, you would have yelled at me."

"Then consider yourself yelled at for last night.  Anything else?"

"Mickey thinks you're getting too involved with Rose."

"Shush Miller, why don't you tell the entire hotel?"

"Then invite me in."

He stepped aside and closed the door behind her, knowing he would regret this and wished he had a witness as he remained standing, leaning on the door.  He wasn't quite sure about Ellie Miller these days, ever since they had solved Sandbrook and both testified at the trial of all three culprits and now she had redecorated her house, she was after him moving in, one way or another and he knew it would never work out – she would get the wrong idea.

"What did he say then?" Alec asked her as Ellie sat on the chair.

"Just that and the fact she's barely got over her capture.  He told me about lunchtime."

"It was just lunch Miller, Rose was just glad to be free to eat without being watched every second.  Did he expect me to ignore her?"

"He never said that.  Can I offer you some advice?"

Alec shook his head.  "If you must."

"Back off, she needs some space."

"Excuse me, I am giving her space, she wanted to sit with me and she asked me to escort her to her room last night.  If she asks me to back off then I will otherwise you and Mickey can stay out of it.  Now if you'll excuse me, I promised to take her down to breakfast, Mr Tyler does not want her to go around on her own."

"I know that, Mickey's just upset it's not him that's doing the escorting, they did go out together."

"Yes, a long time ago on another world Miller, maybe it's time he backed off, not me?"

"Fine, have it your way then, her therapists will have to pick up the pieces."

Ellie got up and crossed to the door, Alec moving out of the way.

"You don't subscribe to the theory she may be trying to get over it in her own way?"

"With you around?"

"She could do worse, she could have Mickey following her around."

He let Ellie out and went to get his last clean shirt, he'd not reckoned on staying this long but hopefully, his laundry would be waiting for him before his departure later.  Ellie had delayed him although he had not said what time he would go collect Rose, breakfast was from eight until nine but they were being picked up to be taken to the precinct before ten, it was an allowance Kate had suggested for Rose's benefit.

It was seven forty five and Alec hoped neither Jake or Mickey would venture out of their room, Mickey would just glare at him again.  A few minutes later, he was about to knock on Rose's door when Pete came out of his room.

"Morning Alec, you might have trouble waking Rose up, she's always a bit slow in the mornings, just ask her mother," he smiled, locking his door.

"Good morning Mr Tyler, I should have told her what time I would be calling for her but in light of our meeting at the precinct, I thought she would not want to rush around after breakfast.  I half expected Mickey or Jake here."

"Call me Pete and I told them last night you'd made yourself responsible for the safety of my stepdaughter until we are on that plane tonight."

"Fine, I accept it though I have to admit, we did talk for a fair while last night.  I never mentioned that I was able to take some time off work, I think we should leave Rose to decide on that score, I never intended to make her feel she has to spend time with me."

Rose was already awake, dressed and waiting for Alec to call for her and was getting anxious.  Was it because it was the first time in almost two weeks there was no Kilgrave getting her in the shower with him, having roses and chocolates waiting for her or asking him what she should wear amongst other things.

She thought she heard voices outside and opened her door to see Alec talking with Pete.

"You were saying?" Alec asked as he heard her door opening, Rose smiling at both of them.

"Alec, can you come in for a minute?"

Pete waved and went towards the elevator.

"Yes Rose, what is it?" Alec asked as she beckoned for him to go inside.  "We should go to breakfast, we have a meeting."

"Yeah I know, I just wanted to ask you, you're not mad with me are you?"

"For what?"

"Because I was flirting with you last night."

"No Rose, I am not mad at you for any reason, I just think you should slow down and get back to normal again eh?  You have been through quite a lot.  After you finish seeing your therapist, we can talk again."

"I won't survive a week talking with my therapist, trust me, I just need to go home or maybe go to the health resort again."

"Then why don't you come and visit Broadchurch instead?"

There, he'd actually asked her without it sounding too obvious he wanted her to visit, well properly this time.

"That's a great idea Alec, thanks.  My stepfather can't disagree with that.  Would you like to stay in London with us for a few days?"

"I can't Rose, I have my reports to make out when I get back, as much as I would like to, I have to go back to work."

He didn't think he wanted to make it too easy for her, she had to want him to stay for other reasons.  She looked disappointed though.

"Oh, I didn't mean right away, not if you're busy.  Maybe you could visit next weekend and I could go back with you?"

"Would you not want to take your car with you?"

"No, I think I need to avoid driving for a while.  So will you come and collect me?"

"If your stepfather agrees.  Now, we should go or we will miss breakfast and Mickey will be looking for us."

Rose smiled, Alec thinking her whole face lit up when she did.  He had to admit it, if she was not in such a delicate state, he would make a play for her.

"Yeah, knowing Mickey he's probably on his way up.  So, you come visit us, next Friday and spend the weekend, yeah?"

"Yes, now may I escort you downstairs?"

Rose moved away from the chair and picked up her jacket and her shoulder bag, shoving her mobile and key inside and caught Alec off guard as she leapt forward and kissed his cheek and he knew he should put a stop to it but maybe it would have the opposite effect.  It was only until they landed in London so what was the harm in it?

Alec opened the door and gestured for her to go first but she waited until the door had locked behind him and put her arm through his.  Was she intending to enter the dining room like that?

"So, are you looking forward to going home then?" Rose asked him as they got into the lift.

"Apart from the paperwork, yes."

"Better than a week in therapy, swap ya!"

"I don't think so, thanks all the same."

They were almost on the ground floor when she touched where his beard was beginning to grow back some more.  She was about to kiss his cheek again when he turned and she brushed the side of his mouth again, this time he turned into it and their lips met briefly, Alec expecting her to back off but the lift had reached it's destination with a jerk and they broke apart as the lift bell 'pinged'.

Alec was sincerely hoping he didn't have a stupid look on his face and there were no cameras, it would be just his luck after Miller got caught leaving his hotel room that time but Rose had a smile on hers as they got out and headed for the dining room to join the others, Rose still hanging onto his arm though Alec wondered if she was just wanting to reassure herself he wasn't going anywhere.

"Hope we're not late?" Rose asked as the others were all sat together and she led Alec to the next table as they were already eating.

Ellie just stared as the two of them walked in, arm in arm and Mickey shook his head, now he was never going to get them apart.  They seemed oblivious to everyone as Rose ordered a full breakfast and Alec wondered if she'd not eaten properly for the last week or so.  Just after half past nine, Mickey and Jake had gone off for the day as they weren't needed at the precinct, Pete was talking to Ellie about their respective sons and Rose and Alec were sat at the next table in the lounge.

"Are you sure you want to meet with Detective Carver?" Alec asked her, wishing she would let go of him, well for now anyway.

"Yeah, I can cope with it, what's another Doctor look-alike?"

"Yes, well I hope that in the lift was not me being another one?"

Rose felt flushed.  "No, what makes you think that?"

"Just testing, sorry, don't mind me but to meet my double?"

"Yeah, I can imagine.  The first time I came here, I found out I was never born here and Pete was my dad's twin, my mum freaked out when he went across to our world to help us defeat the Cybermen."

"You had them there as well?"

"Yeah, that's how we got here, long story."

"Well maybe you can tell me sometime eh?"

"I'd love to, looks like our ride is here."

Over at the precinct, Emmett had just arrived for his meeting and was talking to Kate and Captain Gates.

"Do you think Miss Tyler will be up to answering some more questions?" the captain was asking Kate.

"I think so, she's had time to adjust.  Do you have any questions for her Detective Carver?"

"A few but let's see how she is first.  You mentioned her stepfather is insisting she seeks counselling, will you be getting the reports?"

"Yes, Broadchurch police will send copies, I'll make sure you receive them.  Mr Tyler will need to give his consent though and there are other things you need to know."

Emmett couldn't wait to find out what they were.  The captain was looking through the information he had brought with him.

"This is quite a report Detective Carver but why the interest?"

"It was unusual, what were the chances of Rose Tyler coming to New York to be abducted by someone from her own country and no-one knew who he was?"

"You've managed to find out quite a bit about it, it will make it easier to find him now, after our meeting I'll get my best detectives on it but Detective Beckett here thinks he will have gone into hiding."

"What about the woman before Kilgrave took Miss Tyler?"

"She's being taken care of, we've contacted her family, they're on their way here to take her home.  She should get over it with their help but we don't know how long Kilgrave has an effect on anyone.  He may not have been able to control Rose but anyone else would have been easy for him," Kate told him.

"I'd like to know how she managed to resist him."

"Well she only partly resisted him and how she did that, Mr Tyler will need to explain."

"Well from what I was able to find out, only people within a certain distance are affected by him, for around 10 – 12 hours which explains why the people he just had working for him kept going back, before it had a chance to wear off.  If he told them to do something at a certain time, they had to, he wouldn't want the effects to wear off."

"Well we got a clue yesterday morning when a woman who was working for him was followed by her worried daughter, that led us to the right area but it was Hardy that spotted the man on the balcony and narrowed down the search."

Emmett thought that it would have to be him.  Since the other detective also looked like him, he'd done some research on his Scottish counterpart and the similarities were uncanny, what were the chances they had both led similar lives? Still, at least he wasn't similar to Kilgrave, thankfully.

Chapter 20


It was all Alec could do to get Rose to let him sit in front, much to Esposito's amusement as it was his turn to ferry them to and from the precinct today but Alec convinced her he was going nowhere without her and his legs were too long to sit in the back plus, he wasn't keen on sitting next to Miller if she chose to let Rose in first.

Pete had been waiting to get in, Rose still trying to be coaxed next to Ellie, who had got tired of waiting.

"Come on Rose, Alec's not going without you, just get in love."

"Well ok but maybe on the way back we can get in a bigger car, yeah?"

Ellie just shook her head, how big a car did she want?  Pete wondered what exactly they had been talking about to delay them getting down to breakfast but if sitting around afterwards was any indication, something was already going on between the two of them and that had happened fast, overnight fast but at least Alec hadn't come out of her room earlier, he'd come from downstairs with a clean shirt on so that was a good sign unless he'd cheated and gone down earlier to fool everyone but Rose wouldn't have wanted him to stay all night, would she?

It wasn't even 24 hrs since she had been 'rescued' so what was she playing at?  Her mother would have plenty to say about it.  When they reached the precinct, Kate was waiting for them and thankfully, Rose had managed to walk at the side of Alec without holding his arm or his hand, since Pete was watching her very closely. They were led into the captain's office, Emmett getting up to shake hands first with Alec and Pete, then Rose, kissing the back of her hand.

"Miss Tyler, pleased to meet you and we are all relieved you are safe and well. Please, take my seat."

"Nice to meet you too Emmett, you do look like Alec, are you sure you're not cousins or something?"

"Not that I am aware of.  Shall we proceed?  Hardy, you may want to read my files I brought, about Kilgrave while I ask Mr Tyler to fill me in on Rose's background.  I was curious as to why she could partially resist Kilgrave."

"Well, so am I," the captain agreed.  "Mr Tyler, would you be willing to tell us?"

Pete quickly told them how her training at Torchwood had enhanced her abilities left over from having travelled between universes when she came here, he wasn't going to divulge the same information he'd given Ellie and Alec, that had been confidential and for the purpose of helping them understand how vulnerable she had been at Kilgrave's hands but that was all over now.

"So, you're from another world then?" Emmett mused, looking at Rose then at Alec. "You already knew?"

"We were told, in order to understand how important it was to find her before Kilgrave discovered the facts.  In the wrong hands, the knowledge there were actually parallel worlds out there would be devastating to say the very least."

Rose nodded in agreement.  "Yeah, I couldn't let him discover I'm not from around here, so to speak."

"Interesting, I always knew when I was younger I was right about it, my teachers used to despair at my ideas," Emmett divulged.  "What about you two?" he asked Ellie and Alec.

"My son Tom still reads comics, he says we'll get there one day and I can't even tell him it's all true," Ellie admitted.

Rose smiled, perhaps if she got to Broadchurch, she may meet him and tell him a few stories.  She glanced across at Alec, who was near the window.  He got up and put the report he'd been reading on the captain's desk.

"Interesting Carver, you could be right about Kilgrave, it makes sense."

"What does it say?" Rose wanted to know as Ellie picked it up, knowing Alec wouldn't tell her.

"That he had a genetic disorder when he was a boy and his parents, both scientists experimented on him.  They caused him to be like he is today," Ellie read out after a few minutes.

"He told me some of it, I think he wanted me to understand why he was using people against me and he knew I'd work out he wanted Torchwood."

Ellie finished reading the report and handed it to Pete, Rose feeling left out but Alec would tell her later.  She'd felt happy earlier when he'd almost kissed her back in the lift and she hoped before they left for the airport they might finish it but was he only doing it to appease her, to make her feel like someone did care about her? It was a fine time to try to kiss someone, when you'd just escaped from a man who'd been intent on using you and the one you really felt cared about you was going to be over a hundred miles away.

After a few more questions from the captain about her capture, they took a break and Emmett noticed how she went straight to Alec rather than her stepfather and he took her hand and led her to the break room.   Castle was already there as he'd seen Alec get up and stand behind Rose's chair, who did he think he was fooling, the crush Rose had on the Scottish detective was mutual.

Emmett watched them both leave and allowed Ellie to go in front of him, hanging back to talk to Pete.

"She's taken a liking to Hardy then?"

Pete thought it was a bit of an obvious question, for a detective.

"Yeah, tell me about it Emmett.  She had this friend, one who got caught up with the Cybermen with her, you read about him?"

"I heard he also looked like the three of us.  She must be really confused, does she think Hardy is her lost friend?"

"I've no idea but he's holding her together and I daren't try and split them up in case she falls apart, he may be all that's preventing it and if he is, I'm all for it, within reason."

Emmett thought it was a shame Hardy had beaten him to it but he was based in California, she lived in London, it was doomed before he'd even toyed with the idea and she was in no fit state for a one night stand, even if she wasn't going home tonight, with Hardy.  Castle had made Rose some coffee and she was leaning against the blind next to Alec, Ellie was talking with Emmett so Castle took Kate to one side.

"Looks like we were right about Hardy and Rose."

"So what Castle?  It's better than her being in tears, like everyone thought she'd be. They go back home tonight and Rose has weeks of therapy ahead of her."

"What do you bet she won't complete it?" Castle asked her, nodding in their direction and looking at them through the slats in the window blind.

Rose was smiling at something Alec had said and had taken his hand.

"So, how do you think your mother will react to me?" Alec had asked her as he looked at her fingers that were starting to thread their way inbetween his despite other people being in the room.

"Aw, she'll be fine, she got used to the Doctor, eventually."

"Yes and Mickey warned me about her.  She won't slap me, will she?"

"You could always threaten to lock her up if she attempted it," Rose smiled back.

"Maybe I'm not that brave eh?"

"Neither was the Doctor, he was more scared of her than all his enemies put together."

"He had a lot of them did he?"

"You've no idea Alec, you never had them here, except the Cybermen."

"Lucky us then, you still have to tell me what happened, how they got to your world."

"I will, when I come to visit you in Broadchurch."

"Next weekend, you can tell me then.  You get through your therapy first though."

Kate came back in and said they should get back to their meeting.  As they were leaving, Rose held back.

"I think talking to you would do me more good than a week in therapy Alec."

"Maybe but I don't think your stepfather would accept that."

They went through a few more things, the captain had said anything more to do with Kilgrave could be discussed when Rose had left, she'd told them all she could about it and it was decided anything they discovered and if they found him, would be shared with the other detectives.  Emmett still wanted in, he was eager to find out a few things of his own as the meeting came to it's conclusion just after midday.

"So, just a few things Rose.  You said you went along with Kilgrave, to save the people he had working for him, how far did that extend?"

Alec stood up and faced Emmett, which was a bit disconcerting since it was like looking into an invisible mirror.

"I don't think anyone else needs to know that right now, you'll get her therapists report, if that's one of the subjects of their discussions that needs reporting."

"I'm just trying to get the facts Hardy but has she already told you?"

"No, she hasn't, have you Rose?  Not all of it and you can't really blame her.  She did what she had to do to get out of there and not see anyone come to any harm."

Rose was enjoying having Alec come to her defence again but needed to speak for herself.

"It's ok Alec, some of what I tell my therapist will be confidential, I'm sure Emmett means nothing by it.  I did what I had to Emmett, I'm not particularly proud of what I had to do, it got out of hand, I never expected to be with Kilgrave so long but I will say that I was found before it got too bad, it could have been a lot worse, had I not complied with Kilgrave's demands."

"No-one is blaming you Rose, they don't understand but I do," Ellie reassured her.

"I quite agreed Detective Sergeant Miller," Captain Gates stated.  "Rose has been through enough, this is a matter for discussion with whoever provides her treatment for what she endured, not for us, we should leave it for the experts.  I think that's all we need to know Miss Tyler, if we need any more information, Detective Beckett will contact your stepfather.  We'll of course let you know if we find Kilgrave or we get any reports of unusual events he may have caused.  He'll be angry right now so we've got extra people looking for him.  He'll be angry you got away from him amongst other things."

"I agree Captain, the sooner you're out of New York, the safer you'll be Rose, when do you leave?" Kate asked her.

Pete spoke up.  "Tonight but Alec here has made her his personal responsibility and Rose trusts him, as do I plus there's Jake and Mickey close by, Kilgrave or anyone he sends after her won't get anywhere near her."

"I'm glad to hear that Mr Tyler," Emmett told him, jealous of Hardy to start off with and then the confirmation in the break room that there already something clearly going on between the two of them – lucky Hardy.

They all got up, Pete thanking Captain Gates again for her precinct's assistance in getting Rose back and Rose went to shake her hand and also thanked her.

"It was my pleasure Miss Tyler, Detective Beckett and her team never gave up on you and neither did DI Hardy or DS Miller."

"Will you thank your chief for allowing you to continue looking for me?"

"I will and if you ever come back to New York, I trust you will have a full security detail with you and you'll inform the police?"

Rose smiled as she took Alec's arm as he led her out.

"I don't think I'll be coming back until you've caught Kilgrave."

Alec was about to say he'd see to that be maybe he was being too presumptuous at this stage, she may still ditch him when they landed back in London but something told him that was not going to be the last he saw of her if she meant for him to still pay her a visit and she went back with him.  There again, she could break down once home and never want to see him again, it was a gamble.

They'd just come out of the captain's office and Rose wanted to talk to Ryan and Esposito.

"Hey, thanks for not giving up on me and for picking everyone up."

"Think nothing of it Miss Tyler," Ryan told her as they all shook hands.

"Take care of her Alec," Espo grinned, having told his partner of her hesitation to get in the car and he'd sat in the front.

"Pete, I hope you'll all have an early dinner with us tonight?" Castle asked him.  "Say at six, I'll send a limo for all of you."

"Fine Rick though we leave for the airport around nine so everyone will have to get packed before then."

"Yeah, Kate and I wanted to make up for not going out the last time, everyone's invited.  What about you Emmett?  When are you going back?"

"My flight's at six, sorry."

"Aw, can't you get a later one Emmett?" Rose asked him, now with her arm in Alec's and not caring.

"Why don't we all have lunch instead?" Emmett offered, since he wouldn't be able to pry Rose away from Hardy.

"Good idea Emmett, my treat," Pete told them.  "Know anywhere nearby Castle?"

They all went downstairs and walked a block or so to a nearby restaurant that was open all day and getting a large table together, Emmett noticing Rose wasn't letting anyone other than Hardy sit next to her, was she afraid he'd disappear on her? Hardy didn't look uncomfortable with the situation, that of being her temporary protector and probably a whole lot more.

Once they had finished eating, Emmett was going back to his hotel to pack and report in and he was saying goodbye to everyone.

"It was very nice to meet you Rose, maybe you'll come to Gracepoint sometime?"

"It sounds nice, Alec says it's a lot like Broadchurch, I'm going there after my mandatory therapy sessions, maybe I can take a trip to visit your town as well?"

Emmett doubted it but if she ever got tired of Hardy, he'd be more than willing to give her a tour of the town.  He saw the look in Alec's eye that told him that was never going to happen, the Scottish detective had already laid claim to her, that was for sure.  Rose reached up to kiss Emmett's cheek.

"Bye Emmett and thanks for being so concerned about me to come all this way."

"My pleasure Rose.  Take care of her Hardy."

"Aye, that I will, bye Carver, you've been a great help, they may stand a chance of finding Kilgrave now, thanks to your information."

"Yes Emmett, I'll have Detective Beckett send copies to my team, we know who we're looking for now and if he ventures back home, we'll be ready for him," Pete told him, shaking Emmett's hand.

"Tell me one thing Rose?"

Rose nodded, Emmett noticing the two of them were now holding hands.

"Your training wasn't the only thing keeping you from giving in totally, was it?"

"No, like we told you, there was another factor but it's up to my stepfather, I can't tell you."

Pete looked at her then at Emmett. "Tell you what Emmett, when we get back home, I'll have one of my associates contact you, by secure video conferencing and we'll fill you in."

"Thanks Mr Tyler, I look forward to that, if Rose is present?"

Rose blushed, she knew Emmett was probably sore Alec had beaten him to her or had she made that choice for Alec?  She'd hardly thought about it all morning, the meeting taking longer than she thought it would, she still had to go back and pack her things and she'd been hoping to get to the spa for an hour or so and persuade Ellie, who'd never stopped for a minute by what she could gather to go with her and if Alec were to keep watch, well that would be a bonus.

It was almost two by the time they got a cab back to the hotel, collecting their keys and both Alec and Pete asking about their laundry, the receptionist saying she'd have it sent up shortly.

"Ellie, come to the spa with me?" Rose asked as they waited for the lift.

"Yeah, I'd like that, may as well get something out of our stay.  I'll meet you down here in half an hour?  I have to phone my sister and see how Fred is."

"You must miss him?  I miss Tony, I can't wait to see him tomorrow.  Alec, will you come down with us?"

"Don't you think you'll be safe?" he asked, nodding towards Ellie as they got in the lift when it had emptied and he pressed for his then Rose's floor.

"You volunteered to look after me, I'm safer with two, you don't have to come into the spa."

"Good, then I will sit outside and get a decent pot of tea."

He was glad she wasn't insisting he went in with them though Rose, he wouldn't mind watching but as for Miller?  Forget it.  He now only had eyes for Rose and he knew it and if she attempted to kiss him again, he was not going to turn it down and he'd kiss her back.

"I have to go call your mother Rose so go down and enjoy yourself," Pete told her as Ellie got out at her floor and Alec held the 'Hold' button.

"I'll be up in half an hour Rose, I have to wait for my laundry and I'll do some packing."

"Yeah, ok, I'll wait for you."

"I can call for you Rose," Ellie volunteered, then thought twice about it when she saw Alec's face.

"Thanks Ellie but I don't want to do Alec out of his duties," Rose smiled as the door finally closed.

When it had, Ellie turned to Alec.

"You just had to, didn't you?  Have you already slept with her?"

"Mind your own business Miller but no, what do you take me for?  She just got away from Kilgrave, she needs time to recover but when she is over him, I'm here for her, if she wants."

"I can see she does want you," Ellie answered as she got to her room door.  "I know you care about her, just don't go upsetting her."

"Why would I do that?  She already invited me to spend next weekend in London."

"You said yes?"

"What do you think?" he asked as she opened her door.

Ellie went inside and stood for a moment before calling her sister, what had Hardy set himself up for?

Alec went to his room and while waiting for his laundry, packed what he could then when it arrived, he left a clean shirt out for later and he just had time to go to the bathroom and take a little off his beard that was already growing back, which Rose had pointed out to him earlier.  Maybe now, he had a reason to keep it at a reasonable length and maybe a haircut was due when he got back before his weekend visit to London, which he was now looking forward to immensely, even if it did mean he had to pass Mrs Tyler's scrutiny.

Pete and Rose had arrived at the next floor and Rose said she was going to pack what she could then wait for Alec.

"Rose, just take it slow love eh?  Don't rush into anything with Alec, he's a nice enough bloke but you need to get over your captivity first."

"I know, Alec's helping me and I'm not going to rush.  I invited him to come and stay with us next weekend, so mum can meet him."

"Your mother will have a fit Rose," Pete smiled, "You're asking for trouble, just be careful."

"The Doctor used to say trouble's just the bits inbetween.  Don't worry, I'm not gonna rush into anything with Alec, he's more wary about it than you are and he's not wanting to rush either, he told me to think about it carefully over the next week and I think when he visits, I'll have a better idea of what I want."

"Good, you're seeing sense.  Oh, here comes my laundry, I'd best go pack, you and Ellie enjoy yourselves in the spa."

"I'd have enjoyed it better with Alec," she smiled as she went into her room.

She quickly got changed and grabbed her robe and threw her things onto the holdall she was going to use for last minutes things when she got back after their late dinner invitation.  She had just put on her t-shirt and jeans when there was knock on the door, which already she could identify as Alec.

Ellie had been on the phone to her sister and knowing she would tell Olly if Hardy was mentioned in the same sentence as Rose Tyler again, she avoided relaying her dismay at the thought something was already going on which judging by his reaction, she was halfway right.

"So are you coming home Ell?" Lucy asked as she tried to stop Fred throwing his breakfast on the floor again.

"Yeah, we leave at ten, New York time, in a private jet can you believe?"

"Lucky old you, how come?"

"Mr Tyler couldn't get us all on the same flight and I don't think he wanted Rose on a commercial flight, she's still a bit of a wreck."

"Poor woman, it must have been awful for her.  So, how's Hardy?"

"Forget it Luce, Rose has her eyes on him already."

"Just my luck, she's got everything going for her, who can blame him? I'd only want him just to say I'd caught him," Lucy laughed.

Ellie knew her sister only too well although having the responsibility of looking after Tom for those few months had made her get her act together and she no longer gambled like it was going out of fashion nor drinking like there was no tomorrow, not now she had a part time job, which Maggie had let her have a few days off from to take care of her nephews.

As Alec knocked on Rose's door, he just hoped he'd not gape at her if he were to see her in the spa in just a short robe or whatever they wore in there, he wasn't bothered about Miller, he'd seen her in her pyjamas and he'd had enough.  If only Joe Miller's defence barrister had done her research, she would have discovered how much he and Miller had despised each other up until the day her husband had been arrested, now if he'd been accused with Rose, he wouldn't have minded so much.

Was he ready to take her on though?  As she opened the door and she was smiling at him, pulling him inside, he had his mind made up for him, it was the least he could do for her, seeing her smiling when he knew deep down the shock hadn't hit her yet.

"Hi, did you get your laundry back then?" she asked Alec, who was leaning on the door.

"Yes, I've packed most of my things, did you make a start?"

He looked around and saw clothes hanging out of a holdall and the empty case on the stand.

"I'll take that as a no then.  You should start when you get back from your spa session."

"Yes Sir.  Sure you don't want to join us?" she smiled, picking up her room key and handing it to him.  "Will you look after this for me?"

"Sure, ready to go?"

"Lead the way Alec.  Will you help me pack when I've finished in the spa?"

"I would be more of a hindrance."

"Aw, no you wouldn't," she told him, putting her arm in his as he was about to open the door but instead, put it around his waist and her other on his almost smooth face.

"Nice Alec, what's the special occasion?"

"Dinner with your friends tonight."

"Is that the only reason?"

"Maybe not, I was trying to impress you, did it work?" he smiled, grabbing the hand around his waist but she wouldn't budge as he tried to move it.

"Yeah, it worked, I'd best not keep Ellie waiting.  Is she the reason you don't want to go to the spa with me?"

"Partly, Miller and I have history."

"Really?  Do tell?"

"On the way down before she calls you to see where you are, she might think you've been kidnapped – by me."

"I've left my phone in my bag, she'll have to call you."

He suddenly realised her other arm was now around his waist, leaving him holding her arms.

"Rose, you need to stop and think about this, you are walking a very fine line."

"I know, help me Alec?"

He slipped his hands down around her waist as hers went up his back and she leaned into him.

"It's ok Rose, I know you're still trying to come to terms with what happened to you but this is not going to help."

"Yes it will, I meant what I said, I need to know someone cares about me and isn't gonna leave me."

"I have to go back to Broadchurch."

"I know and I have to face what happened to me but if I know you're coming back for me?"

"Yes Rose, I'll come back for you.  Now we really should be going downstairs before Miller does call me, yes?"

"Yeah, thanks Alec, you've been really good to me."

"Well I guess I'll have to just prove to you not everyone uses you or leaves you, wont I?  Get your therapy over with and I'll take you back to Broadchurch with me after next weekend, deal?"

"Do you think I'll change my mind?"

He never answered as he leaned down and looked at her.  What was he thinking?  It would take her a good while to get over what happened to her, was he the right person to help her?  She had no-one else, her family could only do so much and now he'd promised her in not so many words he meant to stick around.  Before he knew it, he was reaching down as Rose pulled him towards her and they shared a brief kiss.  They were interrupted by Alec's phone ringing in his pocket.

He fished it out and looked at the screen.

"See, I told you."  Answering, he just said, "What Miller?  No, she has not got kidnapped again, we are on our way down, we got delayed."

As Ellie hung up, she could guess what the delay was – Hardy himself taking advantage of Rose.

Chapter 21

Alec persuaded Rose to let go of him.

"We will discuss this when you get back, Miller is already getting suspicious."

"Aw, so what?  Can't you call her Ellie anyway?"

"Not when we are still working together, no.  Are you finally ready to go?" he asked as she remembered to pick up her robe or she'd have to borrow one.

She reached up to kiss his cheek again.

"I suppose you'll want me to shave again?" he asked as she rubbed his now growing beard.

"No, don't, it will freak me out if you do, you need to keep some of it.  I have to know the difference."

"Don't worry, you will."

They got into the lift, holding hands and Alec knew he should regret this, she was still extremely vulnerable but who else was equipped to deal with this?  It wasn't going to be Mickey by the looks of things earlier even if they did used to go out back in their own world.  Ellie was pacing up and down having booked the two of them in and she'd begun to think Rose had bailed out and when she'd called Hardy to see where they were, she could have sworn she heard Rose giggling in the background.  She'd tried Rose's phone, having been given her number but had got no answer.

Well if he wanted to be responsible for her safety until they got on the plane later on, then good luck to him, she would probably go off once they got back and he should know better than to get involved.  Alec left Rose with Ellie and went to the bar to order a pot of tea and a pastry and having found a table facing the spa, picked up a newspaper from the stand and sat down.

Rose of course was on the front page with the headline 'British heiress found safe and well after kidnapping ordeal' and the story ran with the one they had discussed in Captain Gates's office.  When he thought back though, it would have been easy for Kilgrave to get to know where Rose was, it had probably been reported where she was staying and where the meetings were taking place, she wasn't well known over here and her stepfather would have had no reason to believe she was in any danger otherwise he would have brought a security team with him.

After this episode though, he doubted Rose would ever be allowed out on her own again away from home.  He didn't regret inviting her to Broadchurch but where would she stay?  There was a pub that had rooms just by his chalet, she'd probably just go there, his chalet wasn't exactly The Ritz and since Daisy was due to visit in a few weeks time, Rose could hardly stay in his spare room, if you could even call it that.  Daisy would probably turn her nose up at it anyway and he might have to give in and go rent a caravan for the weekend, if they weren't all booked up.

That was a point though, if Rose intended staying beyond that weekend, Daisy was arriving on the Saturday lunchtime and leaving Monday night, he dare not ask her to stay any longer just yet, they were only just starting to talk again and he didn't want to scare her away but would Rose want to meet her if she was still trying to recover and expected his undivided attention?  He would have to tread very carefully.

Rose was having a scented back-rub, hoping Alec wouldn't get the wrong idea but there was little time for other than kisses before they went off to dinner and when they got back, they would be waiting for their luggage to be collected and meeting back downstairs, they were leaving around eight forty five Pete had said.

"I bet you'll be glad to get home Rose," Ellie was saying as she could just about see Hardy from where she and Rose were laid.

"Yeah, I miss my little brother, I bet you're missing your boys?"

"They see more of my sister than they do me these days."

"Does Alec keep you busy?"

"Not as much as when we were getting those responsible for Sandbrook but Tom was staying with her then anyway, I was working in Exeter.  I moved over there for a while but I'm back in Broadchurch now."

"Can I ask you something Ellie?"

"Sure, is it about Hardy?"

"Well yeah, it's just I like him and I don't even know if he left anyone back there.  I know there's his daughter but did he get back with his ex?"

"No way, she's well out of it, she's a piece of work that one, I met her a few times. No, as far as I know, there's no-one else but his daughter, I think they're on shaky ground, she's just started talking to him again.  So you followed the cases?"

"Well yeah, being part of you know what, we keep up with events and it interested me so when I saw it in the papers that Lee Ashworth was in Broadchurch, I wanted to know more.  I'm glad you finally found the missing girl."

"Yeah, after so long, they rushed it through the court but one of them is protesting her innocence."

"Alec told me he has to go back."

"So do I, I thought it was over but the thing was, it was my idea to get involved with it.  Hardy didn't want me to but I'd lost everything Rose, I had to prove myself."

"So has he changed?  I read how one reporter branded him the worst cop in Britain, didn't he do anything about it?"

"Yeah, gave her warning he was about to arrest someone because he gave his story to the local paper.  What are you going to do now?  Are you going back to work?"

"I'll take some time off first, when Alec visits next weekend, I'm going back to Broadchurch with him."

"Oh, I thought you'd be going down on your own later, won't your stepfather want you to get some help first?"

Their session was over as the attendants indicated for them to get up and move to get their facials, Ellie relieved Hardy wouldn't be able to see but knowing him, he'd probably move if he couldn't see Rose, he'd got very protective all of a sudden.  She thought it had been a shame she and Hardy had never stood a chance after working on Sandbrook but the insinuations had put paid to that though she thought they'd at least become friends.  What had she been thinking when she'd implied he moved into her newly refurbished loft?  He wouldn't want to stick around with two boys in the house though he'd looked after Fred a few times and even pushed him around.

Now he'd invited Rose to stay, probably in his riverside shack though he'd mentioned Daisy was coming to stay over the holidays, that should be fun.  Alec noticed the two of them had moved and could just about see Rose with something over her face and assumed it was something women did when have a spa treatment.  It was almost four when they both came out, Alec getting up to greet Rose.

"You should go finish your packing Rose and get changed for going out," he told her as she put her arms around him and kissed his cheek.  "You smell very nice by the way."

Ellie just smiled, the poor girl had it bad for her boss and it would end in tears on Rose's part if Hardy didn't keep his word or he decided he'd got himself in too deep with this if Rose freaked out suddenly.  Ellie was surprised Rose hadn't already freaked out.  Ellie got out on her floor, Alec remaining.

"Have you finished your packing then?" Ellie had asked him on the way up.

"Yes, mostly, I'll escort Rose to her room then go finish, I have her key."

Ellie just smiled as she exited, seeing Rose holding his hand and reaching over to rub his arm with the other.  Once at the next floor, they arrived at Rose's room to see Mickey coming out of Pete's.

"Hey Rose, you all packed yet?" Mickey asked her as Alec opened the door, waiting for her to go first.

"Just gonna finish, don't fuss Mickey, Alec will help me when he's finished his, won't you Alec?"

That's what Mickey had been afraid of while he and Jake had been out.  He'd bought a few New York t-shirts since he couldn't get them back home and picked one up for Rose, since he thought Kilgrave would have had her buying fancy dresses and lacy underwear.

"I fully intend to but I must go and finish my own, we won't have a lot of time when we get back later.  Did Mr Tyler tell you we were all going out before we leave?" Alec asked Mickey as Rose went inside and tossed her robe into the holdall.

"Yeah, he just told me though I've nothing much to wear, we came in a bit of a hurry.  We weren't expecting to go anywhere fancy."

Alec thought Mickey probably never went anywhere fancy, he didn't seem the type other than to frequent the local pubs.  Alec closed the door and stood behind it as Rose busied herself emptying drawers and leaving some items on top, presumably to wear under whatever dress she chose to go out in as she then crossed to the wardrobe, opening the door and debating what to pick.

She picked up two dresses, one in each hand and asked him to choose between a blue floral and a plain red jersey one.

"Why don't you try them on for me?"

Rose stood still for a moment, blinking rapidly and dropping both dresses, ran to the bathroom.  Alec knew he must have said something wrong, was that what Kilgrave used to say to her?  Rose had locked the bathroom door, sat on the side of the bath and began to sob.  She knew it hadn't hit her yet but it had now and Alec wouldn't even know what he'd said.  She heard him knocking on the door.

"Rose, open the door please and talk to me.  Did I say something wrong?"

She picked up a towel and tried to dry her eyes as he continued to knock on the door.  What was it with men who couldn't give you five minutes alone but she had instigated this with Alec, like she'd ended up doing with Kilgrave in the hope she'd keep him happy.  She didn't have to please Alec though like her life depended on it and it finally hit home – she was still scared and was clinging to Alec like a life-line. Did he even realise what she was doing, that she was just using him?  He didn't seem to mind judging by the kiss as they were going downstairs earlier or did he know and was trying to make it easier for her?

"Just a minute," she called out, getting up and looking at her red face in the mirror.

Alec breathed a sigh of relief when she answered, he knew he should have been more careful what he said.  He heard the door unlock and Rose opened it a crack.

"I'm sorry I ran off Alec, Kilgrave used to make me try everything on when I came back from shopping or if he wanted me to dress up for him.  It won't happen again."

"Are you coming out by any chance?  You choose Rose and I am sorry I said that, I should have known."

"How were you?  I'm sorry Alec, I've been using you to cushion the effects Kilgrave had on me."

She came out and he opened his arms, Rose hesitating.

"Do you think I don't know that eh?  I was letting you, you needed someone and it may as well be me but I still meant it when I invited you to Broadchurch."

"You're still invited to London and you'd best go do your packing and I'll get changed and finish packing, we only have about an hour or so before we meet downstairs."

She let him hold her close as he kissed he forehead.

"I will leave you to it then shall I?  I'll be back in half an hour and help you finish your packing."

"Thanks Alec, I'm really sorry, I never intended for us to kiss earlier."

"I'm not sorry, it was bound to happen, you are still feeling vulnerable and quite right and if you want to back down, then that's fine, I will still keep my word next weekend and take you back to Broadchurch with me."

"Thanks Alec.  I don't know if I want to back down, the kiss was far more pleasant than I've had recently, having to pretend I enjoyed it just to be safe."

"When did you realise what he was like?"

"The first morning when he ordered those men around but forget it.  So you didn't mind that kiss then?"

"No, it was very pleasant."

"So, you don't mind if I do it again?"

A while later, Alec was trying to fasten her case for her after he'd gone back to finish doing his own packing and gone back up.  Rose was all changed, choosing the red one and leaving out her jeans and t-shirt to travel back home in and was now throwing her toiletries into a small carry case.

"Are you sure you didn't bring anything back from that other wardrobe Rose?"

"Please don't start that again Alec."

"Sorry, just checking.  How did you get here with so much luggage?"

"First-class?"

Alec smiled.  "Well be thankful you're going home on a private jet.  Are you ready to go downstairs?" he asked as he put the combination lock through the zip fasteners and Rose put her holdall beside it on the bed, leaving it open.

"We still have twenty minutes or so and we have to talk.  I never asked you, are you ok with all this?"

"You mean looking like your friend and Kilgrave, not to mention the other two?  It's taking some getting used to but since I only really have one to seriously contend with, I'll live."

"I didn't really mean it earlier, that I was using you, not in that way.   It's just having my freedom again is a little un-nerving and you were there for me."

"I still am Rose, you said though you did not want to back out?"

"I don't, do you?"

"I said not but let's have that week for you to be certain eh?"

"Yeah but could we just stretch that a little?" she asked as she put her arms around him.

"Just how much?" he asked, kissing her neck.

"When we get back, you stay at least until Sunday night?"

"Rose, I have reports to make out, on my own time since it was not anything to do with official police business, we were requested by your stepfather.  I have to go into my office on Sunday and file reports for being away so Miller and I still get paid without putting it down as leave."

"Can't you just stay overnight?  My mother will want to thank you for rescuing me."

"I was not the only one who was there."

"I know.  Please Alec, someone will take you back on Sunday afternoon."

"I have to say no and you know why.  This is not going to help you come to terms with what happened to you, you need that time to think about where this is going. I stand by what I told you before, if you still feel the same way when I come to visit and you go back with me, then I'm all for it.  I would have made a move on you after your therapy you know, I just thought it was too soon."

"It's not too soon and I'll still feel the same way.  Come on then, we'd best go downstairs before Mickey comes to find us."

"Yes, or Miller calls me again, why did she not call you?"

"Maybe because my phone was on silent?" she smiled as Alec moved her arms that were around his neck.

"I should have known.  Ready?"

They joined the others in the lobby and Rose felt a little conscious she'd got dressed up but Alec whispered she looked really nice to reassure her.

"Never mind Rose, the others were not prepared to go out on the town," he told her as they sat down to wait for their limo.

"No, they came to look for me not to socialise.  I shouldn't have got dressed up."

"Too late now, the car will be here shortly.  Don't feel too bad about showing anyone up."

Rose smiled at Mickey in a New York T-shirt and jeans and Jake with his best chequered shirt and jeans.  Ellie had managed to cram a black dress into her small case and thought she'd never get to wear it.

The car arrived, Alec letting Ellie go first, then Rose as Pete, Jake and Mickey got in the other side opposite.  Alec got in last, the driver closing the door.  Pete assumed the driver knew where they were going as the car headed off.

"I wish I'd had more time to look around," Ellie commented.

Rose sighed and took Alec's arm.  "Me too, I wasn't allowed to see where I was going most of the time.  He did take me to central park though and a ride on the tramway but he never let me out of his sight."

Ellie felt sorry for her, even though she'd not been physically harmed, she would be mentally scarred for a long time.

When they arrived at the restaurant, Kate and Castle were waiting for them, Castle's mother and Alexis were waiting inside as they walked in.   Alexis had to stare at Alec as he walked in, arm in arm with Rose, Castle had warned his daughter that Rose had taken a liking to the Scottish detective and he was not to be confused with the actor.

"Martha Rogers!" Ellie exclaimed.

"You know who I am?" Castle's mother replied, looking slightly flustered that someone from Britain knew who she was.

"Yeah, my mum was a big fan of yours in that TV series you were in."

"Which one dear?  Oh never mind. Rose, how lovely to finally meet you, I was so happy you had been returned safely, we were all so worried about you.   Who is this handsome man then?"

Rose was about to say hands off he was hers but remembered her manners.

"Nice to meet you Martha.  This is Alec Hardy, the detective who came over to help find me.  That's Ellie Miller, also a detective.  Hello Alexis, I've heard a lot about you."

"Hi Rose, I helped Dad while he was trying to find who may have taken you.  Nice to meet you too, Alec, Ellie."

Castle introduced everyone else and they went to their reserved table, Mickey feeling a bit out as most men wore suits but he'd had no time for choosing his wardrobe before flying out to find Rose, not that he had much in the latest style of suits.

Castle decided to get up when they had almost finished their second course and raised his glass, getting everyone's attention, except Rose who was glancing at Alec every two minutes and dying to grab hold of him and snog him again if she could find an excuse for them to leave the table.

"Rose, may I propose a toast to your safe return to us?  I may even turn your story into a best seller."

Rose blushed bright red at the thought.

Everyone except Rose raised their glasses and repeated her name, Alec squeezing her hand and smiling at her.

"Oh for goodness sake Alec," Martha interrupted, putting her glass on the table. "Kiss the girl already, you've both been making eyes at each other although you could have made it less obvious."

Rose smiled as Alec put his glass down, leaned over and did as asked, getting a round of applause from everyone except Mickey, who only made the motion of putting his hands together.  Pete wasn't the least bit surprised Alec had dared to kiss his stepdaughter in front of him.  By seven fifteen, Pete declared they should be getting back to the hotel to get ready for their departure.

"Surely you're not going by zeppelin Pete?" Martha asked him.  "Although that may suit our too lovebirds here."

"No Martha, I have a jet waiting at the airport, so we could all go back together and it's slightly faster than a commercial flight.  I dare say Rose is disappointed now though," he smiled.

He wondered how he was going to explain this to her mother.  As much as he loved this new Jackie, she was very protective of her daughter and Alec would have his work cut out for him when they met.  He'd heard about the Doctor and Jackie Tyler being left in the same room together, Mickey had told him of a few incidents when Jackie had got the huff for him whisking her daughter away in his blue box. Thankfully, Alec didn't have a blue box but he had invited her to Broadchurch, was it any different?  Jackie wouldn't think so, the few men Rose had dated had never dared to cross her mother's path.

They all said goodbye and Kate took Rose to one side.

"Take care Rose, Alec really likes you but don't do it for the wrong reasons."

"I'm not Kate, I'm going to think carefully about it but it's not easy, he's so different.  Thanks again for not giving up on me, my stepfather told me you insisted on finding a way to keep on looking for me when you were meant to hand it over."

"I don't give up that easily, ask Castle."

Castle and Pete were saying goodbye.

"Thanks for all your help Rick, we might have taken a lot longer to find Rose had you and Kate not been so persistent."

"Yeah Pete but it's Alec that made the discovery of that man on the balcony.  How is Rose coping, really?"

"It's hard to tell Rick, she just needs some time at home and to talk it out with professionals but I think she'll spend less time than I want doing that, she'll want to go be with Alec."

"Well you've no chance of keeping them apart by the looks of it," Castle nodded in their direction as they said goodbye to Alexis and Martha.

"Look after her Alec," Martha was just saying to him as Rose slid her arm into Alec's.

"I think she means to look after me.  I've just got over a difficult case that was finally solved so Rose is just the person to help me get back to normal."

"I'm sure you'll both help each other."

They all got into the limo and headed back to the hotel, Pete telling everyone to leave their luggage outside their rooms when they got to them and they were all meeting downstairs for eight thirty or thereabouts, him looking at Rose, who had been late on several occasions since her return but he made allowances for her, like he'd always done.  On the way back, Rose and Alec were arm in arm, Jake grinning at them like he'd just won another bet with Mickey though Rose wondered what that could be about.

They got their keys and Alec said he'd be up in ten minutes to Rose's room after he double checked he had everything and advised Rose to do the same.  As he and Ellie headed for their rooms, she stopped him, which he wasn't happy about because he'd wanted to spend just a little more time with Rose before their departure, it would be the last time they'd be alone before getting on the plane and he wasn't entirely sure he liked the idea of not seeing her for a week.  Perhaps he could stay until Sunday night but it wouldn't do Rose any good.

She would think he was easy to persuade and it would give her the impression he was keen to pursue her, which he was and he wouldn't have been so reluctant to do so under different circumstances but she needed to come to terms on her own with what had happened and if she got through the next week, he was only too happy to take things further.  It was the chance of a lifetime, meeting someone like Rose who was actually interested in him despite who he looked like.

"Why are you in such a rush?" Ellie was asking him as he carried on to his room.

"I promised Rose I would help her with her luggage."

"Can't she put her own case out?"

"Stop it Miller.  She is bound to be apprehensive about going home."

"Then she needs her stepfather, not you."

"Mr Tyler entrusted her to my care, I don't intend breaking that trust Miller.  I'll see you downstairs at eight thirty."

He went inside, checked the bathroom then put his holdall outside, locking the room door behind him and carrying his overcoat across his arm, wishing he had room in his holdall for it but Rose may have room in hers though it would mean messing around when they landed.  Maybe it would give him the excuse to accept her offer.  He waited for the lift, there were about thirty minutes before they had to be downstairs, just time for a few kisses before they left.

Rose was waiting for Alec after putting her case outside when she'd quickly changed back into her jeans and t-shirt and just managed to zip her holdall up and put a lock on it. She heard tapping on the door and knew it was Alec's.  He was standing with the coat over his arm, grinning at her.

Looking at the holdall balanced on the case he said, "I was hoping there may be room for my coat in there?"

"Sorry, I only just closed it.  Why did you bring your coat?"

"I thought it would be colder here than back home, it is only the beginning of May. All ready to go home?"

Suddenly, Rose rushed to him and he held his arms out.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked as he knew she was crying again.

"I'm going home Alec.  When I was being held, I didn't think I'd be going home for a while, that he'd keep me there even when he got what he wanted from my stepfather, just because he could."

"It's ok Rose, you are free from him and you will never see him again.  If he enters Great Britain, he'll be dealt with, trust me, your stepfather will see to that and so will I.  I promise I will look after you, if you want to go ahead after your treatment and come and stay with me for a while, well not with me, at a nearby hotel."

Rose managed to look up and smile at him.  "Then why can't I stay with you Alec?"

"Lots of reasons.  My teenage daughter will be staying the weekend after next, I live in a chalet by the river where there is only just room for me and Daisy will stick her nose up when she sees it, her mother did.  Trust me Rose, you'd be better off in a hotel or somewhere, there's a pub almost next door and you can sleep there.  One thing though, if you intend staying longer than a week, you'll need to meet Daisy."

"I'd love to meet her Alec," she told him, trying to wipe her eyes with a tissue from her jeans pocket with one hand.

He took it from her and dabbed around her tear swollen eyes and thought how vulnerable she really looked but she was still beautiful, with her shoulder length blonde hair pushed to one side over her forehead.

"I'm sure you will both get on but how am I going to explain you eh?  She will never believe you are with me voluntarily you know?" he smiled.  "This is my chance to have her get used to me again, she forgave me for leaving, she's old enough now to know I only left because of her mother's affair but I will need to spend some time with her."

"I know that Alec, I won't get in your way, I'll just go back home for the weekend."

"You don't have to do that if you don't want Rose, I want you both to meet, if you intend staying around?"

"Yeah, guess you're stuck with me then?"

"Aye, I don't mind being stuck with you, Rose Tyler.  Now, we just have time for a few of those brilliant kisses before we go down to meet the others so what do you say?"

"Shut up and kiss me?"

Chapter 22

All too soon, Alec was checking Rose's hotel bathroom to make sure she had everything after he'd checked the wardrobe and drawers, Rose watching him.

"Don't you trust me Alec?"

"Yes but you have been through a lot, I just wanted to make sure, it's a long way to come back if you forgot your lip-gloss."

"Very funny Alec, do you like it that much?"

"Aye, you taste of strawberries.  Right, we had better go or they will leave without us and assume we decided to stay."

"Oh, I don't want to stay that much, I think I've had quite enough of New York, thanks very much.  Did I tell you about when we went to new New York?"

"I think you may have tried, you can tell me once I have you safely on that plane."

He ushered Rose out and locked the door, his overcoat over his arm and hoping he didn't leave it in the lobby or in whatever Pete Tyler had arranged to get them to the airport in, he liked that coat.

Mickey was pacing up and down watching for the lift, Jake was trying to stop him as Ellie watched with amusement and Pete was making sure two taxis would pull up outside in five minutes, not wanting to leave it to chance the night doorman would be able to lure two from the same company, he wanted nothing to go wrong in getting Rose on that plane and back home though prising her from Alec Hardy was going to be a little more difficult, it was like she was glued to him.

"Mickey, sit down man you're driving me nuts," Jake chastised his best friend.

"Where are they?"

"Relax, they'll be down, she does want to go home.  You go with Pete and Ellie and I'll go with Rose and Alec, Pete gave me some money to pay the cab driver.  If you go with them Alec will glare at you all the way there."

Ellie had to laugh at Rose's two best friends.  Jake was taking it all a lot better than Mickey was but Jake had not been Rose's boyfriend in another world.

Mickey saw one of the lifts coming down and tried not to bounce over the moment it arrived in the lobby.  Rose and Alec had been sharing a last minute kiss on the way down.

"This is it Rose, you are going home.  How does it feel?"

"I'll tell you when I get on that plane, I have a thing about getting out of a taxi and not arriving at my destination."

"No worries when you are with me, I won't let anything happen to you Rose, you know that."

"Yeah and who's to say that if Pete or Mickey had been with me they would have been able to stop those two men?  Kilgrave will have ordered them to stop at nothing to get me, they could have been threatened and they may have hurt Pete and had a good go at Mickey."

"Well there you are then, if Kilgrave was determined to get you, you cannot blame yourself for being captured.  Here we are then," Alec declared as the lift bell signalled they were in the lobby.

Mickey thought at last, what had taken them so long?  Was it that Rose didn't want to hang around waiting for the taxi or had she been snogging Hardy in the lift? Hardy had made no qualms about kissing Rose in front of them and the whole restaurant earlier, had he?

A porter had been watching for two cabs pulling up outside the hotel as the doorman had enquired they were there for the Tyler party and had signalled him to take Rose, Alec's and Jake's luggage to one while the other porter got the rest. Jake allowed Rose then Alec in and got in himself, confirming they were going to the airport and the terminal they wanted, which was where the VIP lounge was where they would be transferred without the usual delays to the private jet.

Pete was taking no chances with Rose's safety despite her being in the more than capable hands of Jake and Alec. He'd purposely put Jake with them after Mickey had been to see him earlier, expressing his concerns once more about how the two of them had got up close and personal in such a short space of time.

Rose held onto Alec's arm as they journeyed through the brightly lit streets of New York, Rose wishing she could have seen more of it.  They were just passing the Empire State Building as Rose spoke up.

"I wanted to up there, I never got the chance."

"Never mind Rosie, another time when Kilgrave's been caught," Jake reassured her.

Alec wasn't that sure the man would be stupid enough to get caught, it would take more than the police to do that or Torchwood agents, no matter how highly trained they were, he'd got to Rose.  Both cabs arrived together at the airport that doubled as a zeppelin port though Alec thought these days, there seemed to be less and less and the drivers got out to put the luggage on the pavement, Jake paying their driver then looking around for a large trolley since he agreed with Alec that she'd brought her whole wardrobe with her, getting him a smack on the arm when he said it.

"Right, let's go find the VIP lounge," Pete announced as Mickey took their trolley and followed Jake.

Once inside and Pete went up to the VIP desk, they were relieved of their trolleys and taken into the lounge to await their plane, Pete had it all arranged.  Ellie was watching as Rose and Alec sat hand in hand on the seat opposite, Rose playing with Alec's fingers.

"What Miller?" Alec asked as he got tired of seeing her watch their every move.

Ellie shook her head.  "I don't know about anyone else but I'm going to get some sleep when we take off.  What time do we arrive back?"

"Middle of the bloomin' night," Mickey complained, trying to avoid Alec's glare.

What was it about Doctor doubles who glared at him?

"It's like time travel," Rose mused.  "We go back in time five or so hours and since it takes about five hours to get there, we arrive at the same time we set off."

Ellie and Alec smiled at her.  Rose nudged Alec.

"What?  It's true, we're all time travellers in one way or another once we step on a plane or a zeppelin or even drive to the other side of a continent."

"Yes but we don't all brag about it," Mickey told her.

Rose pulled a face at him, making Jake and Ellie laugh.  Ellie thought she would be sad to say goodbye to Rose once they arrived home but it would be more difficult for her to part with Hardy, even though they had both said she was going to go visit him.  She doubted the young heiress would last a week away from him as she now had her head in his shoulder, his coat now on the seat beside him.

They were all soon called forward by an airport official and once they had showed their passports were ushered though a door out onto the tarmac, a brightly lit small jet waiting for them and their luggage being taken into the small cargo hold. A hostess was there to greet them and was amused to see that they all insisted the young blonde woman went first, none of them were going to risk Kilgrave had someone watching her and would make a last-ditch attempt to get to her though Alec thought maybe they were all being paranoid.

Alec followed her up the steps into the comfortable cabin that had eight normal reclining seats and the rest of the seats were around the side, Jake and Mickey putting their jackets into the overhead compartments and Ellie doing the same as Alec put his overcoat in one and helped Rose with her jacket.  Rose then went to the furthest seat, pulling Alec with her as she got in by the window, daring Mickey to sit opposite her.  He didn't as he sat next to Jake in the one in front, Ellie taking the one in front of Rose and Pete opposite them until after take-off.

While the pilot was making his checks, the hostess offered tea and coffee from flasks as she said they were waiting for confirmation they had clearance to leave, the jet having to fit in with commercial flights and one had been delayed slightly. Rose took some coffee and sipped from it while they waited but Alec was showing signs of being nervous at the delay.  Pete noticed as he moved to the outer seat.

"What's wrong Alec?"

"Nothing, I don't like unnecessary delays, it makes me suspicious."

"It's just a commercial flight, waiting for a late passenger, they only give them so much time, we'll get clearance soon."

"I hope so."

He didn't want to alarm Rose, who was smiling at him but he had a dreadful feeling Kilgrave was playing games with them, causing the delay and that he was the passenger who was keeping the commercial flight waiting.   He called the hostess over.

"Excuse me, can you find out where the flight that's delayed is bound for?"

Pete raised his eyebrows and both Mickey and Jake unfastened their seatbelts and turned around as the hostess nodded and went to the flight deck.

"What's wrong Alec?" Rose asked.

"Nothing, the detective in me is taking over.  I'm sure it's nothing Rose, just relax, you have the best people looking out for you."

"You think Kilgrave's causing our delay?" she asked nervously as he tangled with the seatbelt fastener.

Alec unfastened his belt and went to the window in front of Jake and Mickey, who both followed him.  There were three large planes, all in front of their respective gates but only one had steps leading to it and he could see two hostesses waiting at the top.

"How long do they wait for someone?" Mickey asked.

"Depends how important you are," Jake mused.

"I don't like this one bit. Why can't they let us go?" Mickey asked, shifting position as he kneeled on the beige leather seat and thinking he might stretch out once they finally got in the air.

Alec turned back to see Pete had gone to sit next to Rose and thought he'd better not think he was staying there.

"Maybe because that's bigger than us," Jake offered, seeing the nervous look on Alec's face.

Their hostess came back out and approached Alec.

"The flight that's been delayed is going to Toronto, the passenger is a doctor who got delayed with an emergency but he's arrived in the terminal and will be on board shortly.  The pilot is ready to leave as soon as the other plane has taken off."

As Alec looked back, someone was being ushered on board the waiting plane and from the outline, looked nothing like Kilgrave.  He wouldn't have been at all surprised to find it had been Carver's plane back to California, wherever he was going.

The three men got up and took their seats, Pete getting up to go back to his as Alec waited as patiently as he could then got back in beside Rose, who waited for him to fasten the belt as the engines began to warm up.  They could see the bigger plane being towed out then take it's place on the runway and after a short delay, began to taxi and gather speed as it took it's final position.  Once it was in the air, their pilot announced they were commencing their approach to the runway and there would be no further delays.

The hostess gave the safety information and asked them to remain where they were until they had reached their cruising altitude then they were free to move to the other seating area and further refreshments would be served.  Rose grasped Alec's hand as they stopped on the runway ready to take off, Alec thinking she had quite a grip for a woman.

The seatbelt sign finally went off and Jake and Mickey got up to move to the other seats, Ellie turning around.  They had all been quiet until they saw the ground beneath them and the lights of New York fading and passing over The Statue of Liberty.  Alec unfastened his belt then helped Rose, smiling at her.

"It's over Rose, you can breathe again."

"We can all breathe again Alec," Pete assured him as he got up and patted Alec's shoulder.  "Before anything else, I have a few words to say to everyone.  I want to thank each of you personally on behalf of myself, my wife and Rose for looking after her so well, especially you Alec, you've all done an excellent job in getting Rose safely on board, despite the delay.  Mickey, Jake, I know it was part of your job and part friendship but you both excelled yourselves, you'll be getting a nice bonus.  Ellie, you gave up spending time with your family to help find Rose and I'm going to recommend a commendation to your chief for the part you played and the first DI job to come up in your area, you'll get first refusal."

"Thank you but I was only doing my job," Ellie protested, getting up to stretch her legs and sitting opposite Jake next to Mickey.

"You could have said no to my request, it was optional, Alec said you would probably want to take it.  I expect he thought you'd be missing out," Pete smiled.

"No, he couldn't bear the thought of leaving me behind and not having anyone to moan about," Ellie laughed.

"Watch it Miller," Alec joked as he helped Rose from her seat and she went to sit next to Jake, who moved over then gave her a big brotherly hug.

Alec went to sit next to her but Pete remained standing, the hostess behind him.

"I've not done yet.  Alec, I know Rose has invited you to London next weekend and my wife is looking forward to meeting you though I dare say she might not like the fact you two are more than friendly.   Anyway, when you come to visit, I may have something to ask you, about where you are going with your career.  We could use someone like you in our organisation."

"I appreciate that but I'm not looking to leave the police.  Rose expressed interest in visiting Broadchurch and I was hoping she would maybe like to stay?"

"Well, if that's what she wants, I won't stop her, once she's completed her counselling sessions.  I dare say it can be arranged she can work from there, being a diplomat was never her strong point, eh Rose?"

"Do I get a say in it?" Rose smiled at Alec then at Pete.  "Yeah, I want to go visit Broadchurch and if I like it, I might stay but Dad, I don't want to just go around getting officials and businesses interested in joining forces with us, I'd rather go back to what I was good at, solving problems.  First though I want to take some time off and I may spend that in Broadchurch."

"I hope you will Rose and I thank you for the offer Pete but if Rose wants to visit, then I'll have to turn you down, at least for the time being."

"I understand Alec and there was another matter I wanted to talk to you about but that can wait until your visit, unless you are coming back with us when we arrive?"

"I have paperwork to fill out but thank you all the same, Rose had already asked me."

Rose was hoping he would change his mind now Pete had asked him.

"Nonsense Alec, I'll see you are both well compensated for your time, there will be no loss of pay for either of you.  Ellie, you're invited as well although I expect you'll be anxious to get back to your boys."

"Thanks but yeah, Fred was getting a bit fretful when I last called my sister, what with Joe and everything although Alec looked after him a few times during the trial and re-opening Sandbrook."

"Yes, I read about that, the woman is trying to protest her innocence?" Pete asked.

"That's what she thinks," Alec informed him. "There is no way she is getting out of it although she will play on the jury, if the judge decides to let her appeal."

"I can have my legal team make sure she doesn't get that chance," Pete told him.

"No, I won't be responsible for interfering with the legal system, even though it can be foolish and lean towards letting the guilty walk free, that's the defence doing too good a job.  No-one is going to plead guilty when they can get off so easily these days, even when you think you have a solid case."

"Well it wasn't as solid as we thought, was it?" Ellie grumbled.

"Not now, this is not the time to be discussing this.  Mr Tyler, I would like nothing better than to spend the day at your home but I have to decline, Rose needs time with her mother and stepbrother and I will only distract her, we've already discussed it."

Rose knew they had but it was worth another try.  She was bitterly disappointed he would be going off once the plane landed.

"Not changed your mind then?" Rose asked, squeezing his hand.

"We can talk about this later, maybe you should try and get a few hours sleep?"

An hour later after another drink and some rather 'posh' sandwiches Alec thought, they had reclined their seats and Rose was resting in his arms, a blanket around her shoulders and him with his eyes closed, just enjoying her closeness.  Apart from the kisses they had shared and her crying into his shoulder several times over the short time she had been free, this was his first experience with her and she was asleep.  He knew he was tempted to go with her when the plane landed but she did need the time, her mother would be waiting up and would be all over her, demanding to know why he'd gone with her and probably would put him in another part of the house and he would only see her for breakfast.

Three hours or so later, Ellie had reclined her seat as had Jake and Pete, Mickey had sprawled out on the lounge area seating, getting told by Pete to take his trainers off.  The hostess approached Pete quietly and informed him they were about an hour from landing as they had made good time.  He accepted the coffee she had brought him and after taking a sip, put the cup in the holder and tapped Alec's shoulder so he didn't disturb the still sleeping Rose.

Pete looked at his stepdaughter, she looked peaceful as she was huddled into Alec's side and shoulder and thought this was the best she'd slept since her capture.  He admired the way Alec was handling this but what was he really making of the situation, being singled out by Rose almost immediately according to Ellie and Mickey but was it all going to come to an end once she was in therapy and it all came flooding back to her?

If it did, she wouldn't be the only one affected by it, Alec seemed to be allowing himself to get roped into being her friend and protector and maybe something more judging by the way he'd dared to kiss her in the restaurant.  Alec would be just as disappointed if after Rose's treatment she never wanted to see him again, he had plans for Alec Hardy, he was wasted as a detective after he'd proved himself and battled an illness.

"Alec, you should wake Rose, we're about an hour out, the hostess just told me."

"Sure, that's if I can get my arm back.  I hope you are not taking this the wrong way, with Rose and myself?"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about but it will wait.  I can see you have good intentions towards her but it will be her mother you have to get past, not me."

"Mickey already warned me, I'm ready to face Mrs Tyler whenever the need arises."

"Good luck with that Alec, she even scares me and I married her," Pete smiled, going back to his seat.

Alec tried to move his arm but Rose moved with it.

"Hey, Rose, come on, we will be landing soon."

"What?  Where are we?"

"On a plane," he smiled, managing to wriggle his arm around and being able to kiss her forehead.

"Funny.  Do you want you arm back?" she asked, not making a move.

"It could be rather useful to put my seatbelt on before we land.  Did you enjoy your nap?"

"I'll be glad to get back to my own bed.  You said we'd talk, about you coming with us?"

She moved and tried to sit up, stretching her legs to make the recliner move back to the sitting position as Alec did the same but Rose seemed reluctant and put her arm in his as soon as he was level with her.  He did however take it back out for her when the hostess stood at the side of them with their drinks.

"I said why I should not come with you Rose, you need your mother, not me.  You have been through a lot and she knows you better than I do."

Rose tried to hide her bitter disappointment once more.

"Then you'll come for me on Friday afternoon, promise?"

"I promise, if you don't get someone to call me and say you never want to see me again," he added, drinking his tea.

After Castle's coffee, he might never drink that beverage again.

"Don't say that Alec, you think I'm still under the illusion you're Kilgrave or the Doctor, well I'm not, I know who you are."

She drunk her coffee and put the empty cup down, eyeing him.

"You're the man who saved me Alec."

"I know you are aware of who I am but you also need time with your mother, I won't be the one to get in the way.  Take my daughter for example, she always went to her mother even when she was younger, she only came to me when her mother wouldn't let her do something.  Nothing could come between them though and that still goes, even though now she does at least talk to me.  I stand by what I said Rose, if you still feel the same way on Friday, then we will see what happens."

"Ok, I'll do it, just for you but you won't come between me and my mum, you've not met her yet," Rose smiled, leaning over to kiss him before she was told to put the seatbelt on.

Forty minutes later, having gathered their personal belongings, Rose and Alec were the last ones to leave the plane.  Ellie was saying goodbye, a driver waiting next to the plane to take her and Alec back to Broadchurch though Ellie thought he'd change his mind and jump out of the car and go chasing after Rose.  Well it was too late, his holdall and her case were already stowed away.

"This isn't goodbye Alec," Rose was saying, her arms around his neck, not wanting to kiss him goodbye in front of the others, this was more private.

"No, it's not Rose, the week will go quickly for you."

"Yeah, between my mother and my therapist, they'll drive me even more loopy. Looking forward to seeing you on Friday will keep me from going crazy, I'll miss you though."

She reached up to kiss him, making the most of it.

"I will miss you as well, I will call you tomorrow, at a decent hour.  I may go looking for more suitable accommodation next week, you won't like my 'shack' as Miller calls it, you should have seen my ex wife's face when she took me back from the hospital.  I will look at some houses to rent or failing that, maybe a caravan until Daisy has gone home but for now, you could always stay in the pub next door."

"As long as it's only to sleep?  We'd better go, Pete's paying for this jet by the hour, I'm surprised he's not dragged me off yet," Rose smiled.

After one more kiss, which Alec somehow didn't think would be the last before they drove off in separate cars, in opposite directions.  He retrieved his coat and Rose's jacket from the seat and helped her on with hers, then put his own on, well it was late and they were back in London.  As he let her go first, Pete still waiting by their car, he wondered if she would still actually feel the same way next Friday or not, he was no expert in psychological matters after all.  An agonising week lay ahead for both of them and it would be make or break for their new relationship but would it get off the ground so to speak?

He walked her over to where Pete was standing, the driver taking Rose's hand luggage.

"Bye Alec, take care of yourself and we'll see you next Friday, hopefully," Pete told him, shaking Alec's hand.  "Rose, don't be long love, your mother is pacing up and down at home and she can't get Tony to go to bed."

"I'll just be a minute Dad."

Pete got the hint as Alec led her behind the car, out of sight of prying eyes.

"Bye Alec, I think the next week won't go fast enough for me."

"Nor me.  Just get yourself through this eh and when I come back, we can make some plans for you to come and stay with me."

"Yeah, even if it is in your riverside shack, I don't care where it is as long as it's with you."

After one more longer lasting kiss that Alec thought was the best one they'd shared so far, he had to take her arms from around his neck.

"Bye Rose and I hope we can take this further when I do come back?  I know you won't be ready for anything else but I want you to know that I will wait, for however long it takes."

"Thanks, just knowing that is a big relief, after what Kilgrave put me through, I'm not ready to rush into anything just yet.  I'd better get home if my brother won't go to bed.  I just want you to know, it meant a lot to me, just having you there."

"It was my pleasure Rose, now don't keep your mum and brother waiting."

Rose let go then kissed his cheek.  "Don't go growing that beard too much, will you?"

"No, just for you I'll not let it get too wild."

With that she walked off towards Pete and Alec walked to the front passenger seat of the car Ellie was waiting in.  He was in no mood for her chatter on the way back nor her inane questions about his and Rose's new relationship, if there was going to be one after she had time to think about it.  As she was driven off, with Jake at one side and Pete at the other, Alec found himself waving and Rose shuffled around just in time to see him, a tear in her eyes.

 Continued here

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