Chapter Text
16th October
It was just gone 8:15am when Miller barged into his office with two mugs of tea and a peculiar grin.
“Morning,” she said, placing one mug down on the table. “Sleep well?” She reached her now free hand under her arm to retrieve a rectangular box in shiny blue wrapping paper and put it on top of the file he was staring at.
Hardy didn’t answer her question. Instead, he grimaced at the box as if it had said something offensive. “Oh god, what’s that?” he asked gruffly.
”A present.” Ellie was still smiling in a way that seemed more eerie every time Hardy glanced at her.
”Why?”
”Sixteenth of October. Your birthday. It’s a birthday present.” Still with the weird smile.
Hardy frowned. “How did you know it’s my birthday?” He knew he hadn’t told her. He never told anyone. He didn’t understand why everybody made such a fuss about them once they turned eight.
Ellie continued to grin at him. “I’m a detective,” she said haughtily. “I detected.”
”Daisy told you,” Hardy said, flatly.
Ellie’s face dropped into her usual, vaguely exasperated expression. “Daisy told me. Don’t be a twat about it.” She nodded her head towards the package. “It’s nothing to shout about, just thought it would be a nice gesture, is all.”
Hardy considered her for a moment. Ellie was very opinionated, strong willed and constantly harassing or berating him about one thing or another. But she never went overboard. She complained about him not eating but she never tried to force him. She offered to share almost everything, but never insisted he accept. She was pushy and obstinate, but she wasn’t overbearing. She wouldn’t have done anything… embarrassing.
He let out a sigh and picked up the box, casually pulling at the paper until he had revealed the contents. Inside was a clear-fronted box with three ties in it. All three were the same deep, rich navy colour, similar to what he always wore, but they all had designs on. One had small burgundy embroidered spots, one a diagonal burgundy pinstripe and the third was a sort of navy and burgundy plaid with a very thin line of bright red criss-crossing it. They were dark, tasteful and, unless you were up close, you couldn’t really see the patterns. He raised his eyebrows questioningly.
Ellie shrugged. “Well you’ve been adding some warmer colours to your home, thought maybe a little foray into fashion might be in order. You already have one in the same colours, these are just different patterns. And one of them is tartan, look.” She smiled at him. Not the manic grin from before but a smaller, slightly nervous one that betrayed her. She was worried he wouldn’t like her gift.
Hardy nodded, resisting the urge to explain the difference between a Clan tartan and regular plaid. “They’re very nice,” he said genuinely. He actually did like them and might have chosen them himself had it ever occurred to him to expand his wardrobe.
Ellie looked somewhat relieved but her voice indicated she was still a little worried. “Really?” she asked.
Hardy nodded again. “Yeah. Very thoughtful of you. Thanks, Miller.”
Ellie finally gave him one of her fully relaxed, megawatt smiles, her cheeks and eyes bunching up over her mug as she drank some of her tea. “Good, I’m glad you like them. Happy birthday.”
Hardy gave her a small smile and picked up the box, placing it in his desk drawer. Best if the rest of CID didn’t see him receiving gifts from his DS and think his birthday was fair game for everyone to get involved.
——-
“Go on then, open it,” urged Daisy, pushing the rather large box towards her dad.
Hardy frowned, giving her a dubious look. “I hope you’ve not been spending your money on me, Dais,” he said, eyeing the box as if it was about to snap at him.
Daisy rolled her eyes and huffed, mirroring his frown. “Da-ad! It’s my money. I earned it! If I want to get you something for your birthday, that’s up to me.” She stuck her chin out and pouted in a way that almost made him smile. It reminded him of when she was little and put her foot down about something her mum wanted her to do, that Daisy didn’t.
“But you’re supposed to be working for Becca to save money for when you go to University, not spending it on me.” Hardy gave her a hard look he tended to reserve for suspects in the interrogation room. Daisy wasn’t going to let it bother her.
”Seriously, Dad. Stop it. I’ll get you something small for Christmas, so it evens out, okay? I earn plenty from working at Traders, I don’t pay tax or anything, remember? Student perks. I’ve already saved over five hundred quid. I can afford to treat you to something nice.” Her demeanour softened slightly and she added, quietly. “Besides, it’s the first time I’ve been able to get you something Mum didn’t choose and pay for.” She shrugged as if it was an offhand comment, but Hardy realised that being able to do something for him for once, meant something to the teen.
He held her gaze for a moment, then nodded slowly. “Alright, thank you,” he said, picking up a butter knife and wiping it on a tea towel to slice the tape.
Daisy perked up, sitting up in her seat and wriggling a little, excited to see what he thought.
Hardy looked surprised as he pulled away the paper to reveal an air fryer. He’d been looking at them online and thought they were good, but a bit expensive, and he was about to say something about it when Daisy cut him off.
”Before you say it was too expensive, I got it at a massive discount. Becca ordered it for me on her business account, so it worked out about one third of the price it should have been, plus I didn’t have to pay for delivery or anything.”
”Oh, well that’s good,” he said, barely hiding his snark. He still thought it was ridiculous she had spent what was obviously a chunk of money on him for no good reason, but he couldn’t hide the fact that he was rather pleased with her choice.
He opened the box to pull out the instructions and found there was an accompanying recipe book, which he flicked through briefly then handed to Daisy. She was the one who liked to follow a recipe. Hardy preferred to wing it and just figure out his own thing as he went along. It was like puzzle solving, getting all the flavours to work together and everything ready at the same time.
“I think we should give it a test run Dad,” Daisy said, turning the booklet to reveal a photograph of some steaming, cheesy baked potatoes - Hardy’s favourite. “Ten minutes in the microwave, eight in this. That’s less than one third of the time in the oven!” She gave him an excited look and he couldn’t help but react with interest.
“Well then, that’s dinner sorted. Let’s get this thing washed and figure it out together, eh?”
Daisy gave him a grin and stood up to go to the kitchen, but Hardy caught her as she went past and pulled her in for a hug. She hugged him back, kissing his cheek briefly.
“Did you get anything else? Anything from work?” The innocence of her tone betrayed her.
”You know I did, Daisy,” he said, raising an eyebrow at her. “You told Ellie it was my birthday.”
”I might have mentioned it in passing, yeah.”
”Hmm.”
”Well?”
”Well what?”
Daisy huffed in exasperation. “What did she get you?’
”Oh,” Hardy turned to his laptop case beside him and pulled out the box, still half in the wrapping paper, and handed it over to his daughter, who immediately removed the rest of it.
”Ties?” she looked at him questioningly. Hardy couldn’t tell from her tone whether she approved or not.
”What do you think?” he asked, warily. He wasn’t worried about what Daisy would think of Miller’s gift, so much as what she might think it signified.
Daisy shrugged. “Doesn’t matter what I think, although I do think she understands your taste way better than Mum ever did. The question is, what do you think?”
Hardy frowned. “I like them, they’re nice.”
”Not what I meant, Dad,” she said, shaking her head as she handed them back, and moving off into the kitchen.
Hardy frowned after her for a moment, trying to work out what she had meant.
Late November
Hardy wondered when it had become a habit that anytime he was shopping in Asda, Miller came to mind. He barely thought of her the rest of the time, mostly because on the rare occasions she wasn’t with him, his mind was preoccupied with Daisy, and navigating the perilous and ever changing tide of single-parenthood. He had trained his mind not to consider cases or other things pertaining to work when he was shopping for groceries, with some effort. Partly due to the number of times over the years he’d made a breakthrough in a case and abandoned his mission to go back to work. Tess had always shouted at him and started a fight, which he weathered just fine. But Daisy? No, Daisy gave him the sort of look a puppy being abandoned to its fate on the side of the road would give its owners. Daisy made him feel guilty. So, still trying to be a better father, alongside working at home when he could, he tried his best to keep weekends free and do a twice monthly grocery shop.
Sometime around the end of summer, in the absence of anything else to think about while he selected items to restock their kitchen cupboards, he had started brooding on the endless array of troublesome puzzles that made up Ellie Miller, and, more specifically, the relationship they had built between them. At first it had been work colleagues, then friends, then best friends, eventually supportive co-parents. Now it seemed it had morphed into some odd type of platonic life-partnership where they were, for all intents and purposes, acting like a couple but without any of the hassle of sex and sharing a bathroom.
Hardy snorted mirthlessly at a packet of Cheddar Biscuits as he put them into the trolley. If he was being honest that sounded an awful lot like the end of his marriage to Tess, when he had essentially lived at work and she had been shagging someone else. He added a few more snacks to the basket, knowing Daisy would want to have things on hand for when she had friends over to the house, which she did more and more now the nights on the coast were long, dark and bitterly cold.
What he had with Miller worked though, unlike his relationship with his ex-wife. There was no resentment, no expectation of more, no demands for something that neither of them could give. There was love between them, he knew that. Not the romantic sort of love most people thought of between a man and woman, nor was it a sibling-like relationship, but something else. Something born of mutual respect, trauma and trust. Something unique to them. They took care of each other and each other’s families, and allowed themselves to be taken care of in return. Sometimes.
A few times now they had even been physically affectionate, which also came as no surprise. Given the number of times they woke up after a long work night, snuggled together on top of one of their beds, it was only natural that the occasional hug or touch seeped out into the daytime. He had even kissed her on the cheek once, in an attempt to comfort her after a particularly harrowing argument with her dad. But he didn’t feel any need for anything more than that, and he was one hundred percent sure Ellie would have said something if she had any inclinations in that direction.
So he had stopped analysing what they were to each other and just done whatever felt natural. They were what they were, and it was something they each liked, wanted and needed. Their families accepted them as they were too - even Lucy had stopped making lewd suggestions about them - and the people around them just accepted them as partners. They were often introduced as such, both at work and out of it. DI Hardy and his partner, DS Miller; Ellie Miller and her partner, Alec Hardy. It seemed that Hardy and Miller had de facto come to be seen as a unit by Broadchurch as a whole. They were together, somehow. That was enough.
However, along with that came a few other things that he hadn’t accounted for. Right now, as he tried to work out which flavour of soups to get - he usually made them from scratch but it was nice to have a tin of something in on nights he didn’t want to cook - he had a new problem to chew over. It was late November and much to his disdain, Christmas had already assaulted the quiet seaside town. Decorations were up, parties were being booked and Mariah bloody Carey was everywhere at once.
It wasn’t that he disliked Christmas per se, it was just that he missed his quiet, childhood Yuletides in Scotland. For him the season was about connection and family, about honouring those who meant something to you and being grateful for having them in your life. He scowled pointedly at a box of tacky plastic Santa ornaments that someone had abandoned in the rice aisle. It was not, for him at least, about parties and expensive presents and binge eating until you needed a Christmas miracle to fit back into your work clothes in January.
Miller had similar ideas about Christmas being for family, though she also enjoyed the get together in the local pubs considerably more than he ever would. Mercifully, although she had ‘told’ him he was going to go with the rest of CID to the pub for a Christmas drink whether he liked it or not, he knew she didn’t actually expect him to do so. He would say no, he had work to finish or he needed to get back to Daisy and she would tell him that he was boring and then he’d give her money for a round and she would huff and ask if he was sure and he would say he was and that would be the end of it. Miller would have a great time, so would their colleagues and he would sit at home with his daughter reading or cooking or watching her paint. Christmas itself however, Ellie was not allowing him to weasel out of in any way, shape or form. David Barrett would be going up to London to spend the holidays with Lucy and Ollie, so Ellie had decided that Hardy and Daisy would be staying at her place from Christmas Eve onwards. Daisy would have the spare room, where Ellie’s dad normally stayed, and Hardy would either stay in Miller’s room as usual or they would figure out some sort of way for him to sleep on the sofa, she had told him.
Hardy was under no illusions. That discussion would inevitably lead to Ellie telling him not to be a knob, and that he’d end up sharing a bed with her, like always. In full acceptance of the inevitable, he had even picked up a new set of flannel pyjamas, so he wouldn’t have to wear his customary t-shirt and joggers. Somehow, a new, fresh set of pyjamas with a matching robe seemed less intimate than taking whatever he normally grabbed from his dresser. To make it look less ridiculous and obvious - though of course, Ellie would figure it out in seconds - he had found Daisy a similar set, also with a matching robe, vaguely justifying it as a special occasion. As a bonus, she would have something she wouldn’t feel awkward wearing around a teen boy on Christmas morning.
With that sorted out, the matter of presents had come up next. He had no trouble buying something for Daisy or Fred, extended family could generally be covered by food or alcohol. Ellie and Tom, however, were a different matter entirely. Mercifully, Daisy had suggested they pool resources and she had pre-ordered Miller’s eldest a game she knew he wanted for his PlayStation. Ellie would not have been able to afford it, but as a joint present from Hardy and Daisy, it worked perfectly.
Which meant he was left to figure out the enigma that was buying a present for someone he cared for deeply, without it looking romantic, overtly expensive or like any kind of bribe. He huffed as he selected a variety of frozen veg - again for convenience on tinned soup days - and dropped them into the cart. What on earth did you buy a woman that said ‘I love you dearly and you mean everything to me, but not like that?’
He was still pondering this question when a deep voice rumbled to life beside him.
“Evenin’ Sir.”
He turned, recognising the voice, but was startled by the sight of Sergeant Bob Daniels not in his customary uniform, but in blue jeans and a bright green hand-knitted sweater, with a large, slightly drunk looking reindeer on the front.
“Daniels.” Hardy nodded towards the reindeer. “Getting into the Christmas spirit early I see.”
Bob looked around then lowered his voice in a conspiratorial tone, leaning towards Hardy as he spoke. “The missus has started earlier than usual. You know how they are.” The man gave Hardy a wink, which Hardy assumed was meant to indicate some sort of understanding between them. Hardy did not understand though. Despite having a daughter, he and Tess had always been more devoted to their careers than honouring the annual traditions of Christmas, with Hardy working Christmas Day so Tess could be at home with Daisy, and her covering New Year’s Eve so he could take his turn. Family Christmases had never been something they had done and he couldn’t even begin to imagine Tess making handmade gifts. She usually went with something expensive or alcoholic.
”Right, of course,” he mumbled vaguely, just as a homely looking fair haired woman and a young girl rounded the corner and dumped a pile of things into the cart Bob was pushing. Hardy vaguely recognised the girl from a few evenings at his house when Daisy had had friends over and nodded at her.
”Sir, this is my wife, Sandra, and I believe you know my eldest, Lara.” Bob indicated the two, then turned to his wife. “This is the Boss, Detective Inspector Alec Hardy.” Sandra raised her eyebrows curiously and then turned to Hardy.
”Detective Inspector,” she said, holding her hand out.
Hardy shook it. “Just ‘Hardy’ is fine, please” he said automatically. “You too Daniels. No need for all the ‘Sir’ business when we’re off duty.”
Bob beamed at him as if they’d just become best mates. “Well, that’s settled then. Hardy it is.”
There was an awkward silence as the natural flow of the conversation stalled and Hardy wracked his brain for something to say that wouldn't make him look like an idiot. He was still floundering when a voice behind him flooded him with relief.
”Nobody told me there was a staff meeting in the frozen desserts aisle.”
Hardy turned to see Ellie pushing a fully laden trolley, Fred hanging off one side and Tom strolling along on the other, focussed on his phone.
“Alright, El? Tom, Fred.” Bob was already grinning at the trio and Sandra was giving Ellie a friendly smile, while Lara and Tom said ‘hi’ at the same time in the mildly disinterested, monosyllabic tones of teens everywhere.
”Hiya Bob, Sandra.” Ellie smiled at Lara, parking her trolley beside Hardy’s to avoid blocking the aisle and standing so close to him that their arms touched.
Hardy gave Ellie an affectionate smile, then schooled his face into something more neutral. Ellie smiled back and bumped his arm with her shoulder.
”Wait a sec, if we’re all here doing the shopping, who’s running the station?” asked Ellie, pretending to be horrified.
“Nick and Dom are on tonight. We should be okay, Tuesdays tend to be quiet,” Bob chuckled and Ellie laughed. Hardy knew Dom from CID but had no idea who Nick was.
”Nick?” He questioned.
”Big lad, blond crew cut, does the Desk Shift at night when Bob’s off,” Ellie rattled off as if she’d been expecting the question and Hardy made an ‘Oh’ expression as if he understood who she was talking about.
Neither noticed the glances Bob and Sandra threw at each other.
Hardy eyed Ellie’s purchases. “What the hell size freezer do you have at home, Miller?” he asked, eyeing the assortment of frozen ready meals, pizzas, chips and other cook-from-frozen options.
”Chest freezer in the shed. Tall one in the kitchen. Why?” Ellie seemed oblivious to the reason for Hardy’s question.
Hardy looked from the junk food mountain to his own, fresh veg laden cart but said nothing. Ellie picked up on his meaning and rolled her eyes.
“Not everyone has a teenager who eats like a forty year old housewife on a diet. If I tried to serve up any of that green stuff you two eat to my boys, I’d have a hunger strike on my hands.”
Hardy shrugged. “So they go hungry. In my experience that only lasts about three hours before they decide they’ll eat pretty much anything.”
“Yeah well, not everyone can cook either, can they? I certainly can’t. Soup and stew. And anything with instructions on the box. That’s about my limit.”
Hardy had a sudden idea regarding his earlier thoughts about what to get Miller for Christmas and made a mental note.
“Right well,” he said, looking at his watch. “I’ve to pick Daisy up from Beth’s in thirty minutes so I best be off.” He nodded again to Bob and Sandra, then touched Ellie’s arm briefly, giving her another half smile, before edging his trolley out of their corner and towards the checkouts.
”See you both tomorrow,” Ellie added, already turning her trolley back in the direction she had been going earlier. “Come on Fred.” She caught the hood of Fred’s coat just as he threatened to get too far from her reach and nudged Tom to get him to take his brother.
Sandra watched them both walk off in opposite directions for a moment, then elbowed Bob, imitating Hardy’s accent. “Nick? Do we know a ‘Nick’?”
Bob laughed. “See? Didn’t I tell you? They’re like an old married couple, aren’t they?”
Sandra nodded. “Oh yeah. They’re definitely an item,” she said, pulling at the corner of the trolley to steer Bob towards the next aisle. “Let’s go check out the drinks and see if we need to stock up on anything, yeah?”
Bob pushed the trolley obediently behind her. “I like the sound of that.”