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1. The Things We Keep by essence_existence

   Fandoms: Broadchurch  

   • Explicit
   • Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
   • F/M
   • Work in Progress

   14 Sep 2026

   Tags

   • Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
   • Alec Hardy/Ellie Miller
   • Alec Hardy & Ellie Miller
   • Alec Hardy & Daisy Hardy
   • Daisy Hardy & Ellie Miller
   • Alec Hardy & Original Female Character(s)
   • Alec Hardy
   • Ellie Miller (Broadchurch)
   • Daisy Hardy
   • Original Characters
   • Fred Miller (Broadchurch)
   • Post-Canon
   • Canon Divergence
   • Established Relationship
   • Domesticity
   • Family Dynamics
   • Complicated Parent-Child Relationships
   • Grief/Mourning
   • Estranged Families
   • Complicated Grief
   • Childhood Trauma
   • Childhood Emotional Neglect

   Summary

   When his estranged father dies, Alec Hardy is certain there is nothing to grieve. He wants no inheritance, no funeral, no half-sister, and no new version of a past he settled more than thirty years ago.

   But the dead leave things behind. Returning to the town he fled at seventeen forces Alec to confront what he remembers, what he never knew, and the child he still believes should have done more. With Ellie and Daisy beside him, he must learn that grief is not forgiveness and that love does not always disappear simply because it failed us.

   Series

   • Part 5 of The Practice of Staying

   Language:

   English

   Words:

   24,308

   Chapters:

   5/8

   Comments:

   2

   Kudos:

   8

   Hits:

   140