Notes: This is my first real crossover story. I know there are a few Broadchurch crosses that bring Alec and Rose together, but most of them were written before we had season 2. This will probably be less fluffy than my usual stuff, it's just the nature of Broadchurch. I hope you like it, please review.

Chapter 1 – Same Face, New Man

They had been so happy together. In July of 2008, Rose and her new, new, new Doctor had returned to Pete's World. It didn't take long for Rose to realize that he was still the Doctor in every way that mattered. They had gotten married right away, not willing to waste another minute after all the time they had wasted before in denial of their feelings. And they were really, really happy.

The Doctor had decided to use her last name. She loved the sound of her name falling from his lips. He had always said those two words as if they were the most important words in the universe. So his new identity was John Tyler.

Both Rose and John Tyler worked at Torchwood. It was the best place for them, after all. Where else on Earth could they put their skills in dealing with alien threats to good use. It gave them the needed adrenaline rush, tested their limits, and allowed them to save the world together on a daily basis. That was what they had always done and what they wanted to do for their forever together.

All of that came crashing down only one month before their fifth wedding anniversary. On the fourth day of June, 2013, Rose scattered the ashes of her husband into the waters of Bad Wolf Bay. It was something that they had agreed upon, when the morbid subject came up. They wanted to be together at the end in the same place that they had started. His people burned their dead and she honoured that, both because of those traditions and because she didn't want anyone experimenting on his partially alien body.

She thought back to the accident again. Could she have saved him, if she had been just a little bit faster? The aliens had been a race that he had recognized and he was speaking to them in their native language. Their translation software wasn't working on the new species, but the Doctor could communicate with them. The Doctor had said they were trying to hide on Earth, begging for refugee status from their war torn planet, and they were afraid. One of the younger males had gotten fidgety and drew a weapon. Rose had tried to activate the portable forcefield that they had brought, but fumbled with the buttons for a few critical seconds before the alien had fired on her husband.

Everything happened so quickly after that. It was all such a blur in her mind. Crying over him as she begged him not to leave her again. His whispered words of love and adoration. It was only a few minutes before his single heart had stopped and she saw his beautiful, brown eyes go from their deep, ancient gaze to something hollow. And ever since that day, she felt just as hollow inside.

It was in September that Rose Tyler decided that she needed to get away from London and away from Torchwood. The memories and the people staring were drowning her. She had tried to bury herself in the lifestyle that they were so used to, but her reckless behaviour had forced Pete to order her off of active duty. Wandering the halls of Torchwood Tower had been agonizing. They had tried to put her in Research and Development, or Archives, but no matter where she went, Rose was haunted by memories of her husband. When she wasn't imagining him walking around the corner every minute, she was faced with constant looks of pity.

And so, on the twenty-third of September, she was to start a new job, in a new town, with hopes of starting again. Pete had arranged for her to help train newly recruited police officers. Rose had always excelled in diplomacy and it would be her task to teach the recruits what to do in difficult situations. She was not to be put on duty as a police officer or Torchwood agent, due to her behaviour since John's death, but it was something to keep her busy.

Rose opened the door to the little house that Pete had bought for her. It was Saturday and she had the weekend to get herself settled before she started work. She wasn't near the beach. She had specifically told Pete that despite being happy to live in a seaside town, she did not want to be faced with a beach everyday. So, she found herself in a cozy subdivision, with young families all around her and a sweet little house, all to herself.

It felt so empty. She and the Doctor had shared a lovely flat in London. They didn't need more than that, since they were almost never there. They discovered very quickly that his new physiology still wasn't human enough for them to be compatible to have children. It was slightly disappointing, but they decided that it didn't matter, and if they wanted to raise a family, down the road, there were always children that needed to be adopted. Now, she thought that it would have been nice to have a little piece of him. A child that was theirs. But then she would be on her own raising that child, and Rose decided that even the thought was terribly selfish.

Rose brought all of her things in from the car and dumped the bags unceremoniously by the stairs. Not feeling particularly motivated to unpack just yet, she grabbed the bags of groceries that she had picked up on the way and went to the kitchen to make tea.

It was early that evening, when Rose cried herself to sleep on the sofa in the living room. But having gone the past few months without eating regular meals had left her exhausted most of the time, so it wasn't surprising when she awoke screaming at 3 am on the living room floor. Her clothes were drenched with sweat and her heart was pounding, as she reminded herself that the images flashing through her dreams were long since over. She was safe now, but she wasn't sure that she wanted to be. Because her Doctor wasn't here.

##################

Monday morning arrived quickly and Rose arrived at the Police Training Centre bright and early. She had prepared her lectures based on the classes used at Torchwood, but edited them to be more suitable for dealing only with humans. She was making a cup of tea in the break room, when the friendly woman that had greeted her that morning entered.

"Hello again! It was Rose, right?" she asked.

"Yes. Rose Tyler. Just moved here," Rose answered.

"Oh my god! I thought you looked familiar. You're the daughter of Pete Tyler, aren't you?" she gasped.

"Yeah," Rose answered and her gaze immediately dropped to her tea. She really didn't want to start with the looks of pity on her very first day.

"I didn't mean to upset you. It's just... well, who you're going to be working with. We had all teased him about it for months. Alec Hardy looks just like your husband," she told her.

Rose gaped at her in shock for a moment. She had come here to get away from reminders of her husband. And she was assigned to work alongside someone who looked just like him? How much like him? Would this be like the identical Mickey/Ricky situation? Like her parallel mum and dad? It couldn't be. This wasn't a parallel Doctor, it was just some human who looked a lot like him, she was sure.

"I... thank you for warning me," Rose stammered and left to get ready for her lecture.

It was lunch time before the infamous Alec Hardy arrived. He was only teaching classes in the afternoon that day and Rose was sitting in the break room again when he entered. Rose nearly fell out of her chair at the sight of him. She had expected someone with similar features from the warning she had been given, but the man before her was exactly the same down to the positioning of his freckles.

When Rose began to hyperventilate, Alec immediately tried to help her. "Are you alright, Miss? Is there anything I can do?" he asked her urgently.

Rose shook her head and tried to wave him off. His proximity wasn't helping matters at all. "No. I'm sorry. They told me that you looked like him, I just... I didn't..." she stuttered through shaky breaths. It had been almost four months since her husband's death, but the sight of his doppelganger brought images of the accident crashing back through her mind. Tears started streaming down her cheeks as she tried to calm herself.

"Looked like who?" Alec questioned as he brought the distraught woman a glass of water.

"My... my husband," she told him.

Alec looked confusedly at her for a moment, then seemed to come to some kind of realization. "That John Tyler bloke from the tabloids?" he asked.

Rose nodded tensely. "He died a few months ago," she informed him, since it seemed like he might not know.

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. I can see how that might be a shock. Ever since he appeared in the papers with you, I've had people teasing me about how I looked so much like him. I didn't recognize you, I'm sorry," he said in an effort to calm her.

"It's alright. Not your fault. The different accent is helping me disassociate you from him. Well, that and the beard," she responded, finally managing a small smile.

"From what I've been told, I'm not nearly as personable as he seemed to be. You'll most likely learn to despise me just as much as the rest of them do in no time," Alec replied with a smirk.

"I can focus on differences. There are quite a lot of them that I've noticed already, but I don't think that I could despise anyone," Rose told him. "I'm here to start over again and I'm not going to let reminders hold me back anymore."

"That's a very good attitude, although I'm not sure that instructing new recruits fits most people's career aspirations," he said as he made himself a cup of tea.

"It's not, but they won't let me back in the field. I got a bit... reckless after John died. They said I was a danger to myself and my team. So, for now, I'm sharing my expertise in diplomacy," Rose explained.

"So, this is where they send everyone that is forced off of active duty? I was the DI for the local police force until a week ago. Medical reasons," Alec shared.

"S'pose so. I'm sorry that I reacted so poorly when you came in. Perhaps we can start over? I'm Rose Tyler," she said and extended her hand in greeting.

"Alec Hardy. A pleasure, Ms. Tyler," he responded and shook her hand firmly.

Rose noticed that his hand was warmer than any of her Doctors' had been. Part of his alien physiology had meant a lower body temperature than humans. This man was definitely human. His accent, his hair, even the way he carried himself was so different from the Doctor. Rose was sure that if she focussed on those differences, she could see this different man with the same face for the person that he was and not who he looked like. If she could accept that the Doctor with a new face was the same man as her Doctor in leather, then she could learn to accept this new man with the face of her Doctor was someone else entirely.

"Just Rose, please," she told him.

"I'll... try to remember that. But I do have a tendency towards just using surnames," he replied. "I've got to go give a lecture now. It was very nice meeting you."

When Alec had left, Rose looked down at the sandwich she had brought with her. She had barely eaten any of it, but couldn't seem to bring herself to having any more of it anyway. Her mother had been harping on her at home about the fact that she wasn't eating, but she didn't care. Nothing tasted right and she always felt nauseous when she tried to force something down.

She had one more class to teach before going home. Rose planned to go for a run after work and explore the area a bit. Ever since they had settled together in Pete's World, she and the Doctor had taken to running every day. Their jobs with Torchwood weren't nearly as active as life on the TARDIS and they loved the time spent together, just running, hand-in-hand.

Rose was jolted from her thoughts, as she collected her things from her locker, by one of the recruits. He was young and in good shape. Her first Doctor would have snorted at another 'pretty boy' following her around.

"Rose! How are you settling in?" he asked.

"Umm. Fine I guess, just got here a couple days ago. What was your name again?" she responded.

"Adam. I'm in all of your classes," he answered and Rose rolled her eyes inwardly at the thought of another boy named Adam following her around like a lost puppy. "Look, I'd be happy to show you around the town. I've lived here all my life, it'd be no trouble," he told her and leaned against the next locker.

"Thanks, but I've still got a lot of unpacking to do," she replied, hoping that he would take the hint.

"Right, well, maybe another time," he said with a toothy smile.

"Maybe," Rose waved him off on her way out of the building.

######################

Alec arrived at the Training Centre about an hour before his first lecture for the new recruits. There wasn't much else for him to do around Broadchurch now that he had been removed from active duty. If it weren't for Claire being here, he probably wouldn't be.

The receptionist that he couldn't remember the name of at the moment, looked at him a little oddly when he came in, but didn't say anything, so he just went on to drop off his coat in his locker. He hated this job, but he certainly couldn't retire in his early forties. He had to do something. At least until his heart condition killed him.

He decided to get a cup of tea and made his way to the break room. The woman had nearly had a panic attack upon seeing him, but the reason behind it was understandable. It was obvious that she was not faring well after the death of her husband. While she was an attractive woman, it was obvious that she wasn't eating or sleeping well, and her near breakdown at his appearance showed just how fragile she was emotionally.

Alec decided to keep an eye on her for the rest of the day, just to make sure that the poor girl was alright. What he saw was someone who was extremely capable in her job, able to put on the mask of normalcy very effectively, and deeply broken beneath the surface. It was very familiar, although he wasn't sure that he had ever been able to mask his pain half as well as she seemed to.

He had noticed many of the recruits leering at her throughout the day, but to see one of them hitting on her already was ridiculous. She had just lost her husband and already the vultures were circling in on her. Rose had handled the situation very well, so he realized that she must be used to that sort of behaviour. Still, Alec made it his personal mission to protect her from that kind of harassment while she was grieving.

He wasn't sure why he felt so strongly protective of her. Perhaps being a fellow 'incomer,' as the locals called them, made him relate to her. But he thought it might be more about misery loving company. It was obvious to him, that behind her practised smile, there was unspeakable pain.

The walk back to the little place he was renting on the water wasn't too far. He had been given orders not to drive with his condition and the exercise probably did him some good. Along the way, he saw Rose going for a run through town. Her exercise clothes showed her spectacular muscle tone, but also emphasized that she wasn't eating. The fact that she seemed to be a practiced runner meant that she must have taken much better care of herself at some point, which only reiterated the fact that she needed an intervention of some kind.

The problem he faced then was, how to try and befriend her enough to help, without coming across like another one of the kids that were trying to get into her knickers. He decided that the best course of action for now, was to talk to her at work and try to keep everyone else from upsetting her.