Work Text:
It had been a tough day and Hardy knew the worst was yet to come.
With the suspect in handcuffs and waiting for them in the station, the team had only spared a couple minutes celebrating before buying vast amounts of coffee and arranging babysitters. It was going to be a long night.
Hardy knew from experience that the interrogation would be a difficult one. There wasn’t enough physical evidence to convict the bastard so a solid confession was their best bet. Getting the confession, however, was going to be easier said than done.
When they’d finished going over the case details and finalising their battle plan, Miller had suggested sitting outside on the station steps for a few minutes.
“It’s probably the last chance we’ll have for some fresh air for a while,” she had pointed out to him before he eventually agreed.
Sitting on the hard step, paper cup cradled in his hands, he knew she had been right. The calm before the storm could only last so long. They needed to take advantage to avoid burning out. Getting over-tired and emotional could ruin their chances.
It was a clear night. The streets were mostly empty and he hadn’t seen a car drive by since they’d sat down. Hardy took a moment to forget about the case as much as he could, and focussed on sitting quietly with Miller, trying to catch the scent of her shampoo on the breeze.
Hardy used to relish moments like this, when it was just the two of them. Since Reg’s retirement party though, there was a level of unspoken tension that made it hard to think about anything else.
As drunk as he had been, Hardy had promised himself that he wouldn’t run away from what had happened that night as he fell asleep. Not for the first time, he had gone to bed with Ellie Miller next to him. This time, however, it had been his bed, she had been wearing his clothes and she had kissed him. More than once.
But then he had woken in the middle of the night to see Miller sneaking out of his room. Their eyes had met in the dark as she paused at his bedroom door. She left without a word.
That morning in his kitchen, as they made weak jokes about never drinking again through their headaches, Hardy knew they would always pretend she spent the whole night on his sofa.
Missing a golden opportunity had been a constant thorn in Hardy’s side since, but he knew it was for the best. If she still wasn’t sure or ready, then he wouldn’t push the subject.
He still hadn’t decided if this decision was out of chivalry or cowardice.
It had been two weeks and they hadn’t discussed the confessions he nearly made or the kisses she initiated. Nothing else had happened, but Hardy knew a line had been crossed. It was only a matter of time before they had to confront it. He wondered sometimes if she was waiting for them to close the case.
Remembering the case, brought Hardy back to the present. It could all be over that night.
“Do you ever wonder what it’d be like having a normal job?” Miller asked out of the blue.
Hardy didn’t even have to think about his reply. “Shite.”
“Normal hours,” Miller said wistfully, sipping her coffee. “Less stress. More sleep.”
“I don’t think I’m built for anything else.”
Miller frowned at him. “You’re more than your job, Hardy.”
Being contradicted by Miller was something Hardy was used to. In fact, being openly disagreed with and insulted by Miller was something he was used to. This time, however, was different. Rather than pissed off, she sounded insulted, almost hurt, by his words.
“You’re a father,” she explained, a gentle tone to her expression he couldn’t look away from. “A friend.”
“Friend?”
Miller bristled. “Colleague, then.”
She looked at her shoes and offered no explanation. Hardy wished she would just tell him what she was thinking. He had been so sure by now that they were friends, if not something more. He hadn’t expected hearing her describe him as such to get to him like it had. After everything they had been through together, after everything they had shared, lost and achieved, it should have been obvious.
But Miller still called them colleagues.
Then again, since Joe’s confession and the destruction of her world, Hardy had noticed that, while still warm, Miller had emotionally closed herself off from most of the outside world. Over time he’d realised she didn’t make friends as easily as she once had, let alone trust them, but she kept him around. He could so easily have been part of a horrific memory, but she showed him how vulnerable she could be. She trusted him completely.
He hadn’t asked, but he had heard nothing about her seeing anybody since he left after the trial. Trusting someone else with her heart could have been the last hurdle she was yet to face.
Considering this, Hardy analysed his own behaviour. He’d been reaching out as much as he felt he could for a few weeks now. It clearly hadn’t been enough. Still, the way she had kissed him, as blurry as his recollection of it was, couldn’t have come from nowhere. However, with how much she had been hurt, there was no way she was going to jump without being certain someone would be there to catch her.
Hardy remembered the agony of losing Tess. He couldn’t say he didn’t understand her caution.
He watched Miller pick apart the lid of her cup out of the corner of his eye. Did he trust her to not break his still fragile heart? Was she worth the potential rejection?
Yes , Hardy thought. Without a doubt.
For the first time since Tess had came clean about her affair, Hardy was filled with enough confidence to show someone else he needed them. That he was worthy of them.
“You wanna get a drink after this?” he asked as casually as he could. He hoped Miller didn’t see how tightly he was holding his cup.
She chuckled but didn’t look at him. “Probably going to need one.”
After his personal revelation, Miller’s reaction was a bit of a let down. He needed to make his intentions clearer. It was too much to realistically expect her to see what he was doing after one unplanned and vague question.
“So,” he said, wracking his brains for something that could set this apart from every other interaction they’d had, “there’s that pub down on the highstreet?”
It was well-known that there was a pub just around the corner as well, the same one Reg’s retirement do and every other station night out was held. There was no need for them to go to the slightly nicer one a mile away. Unless, of course, they didn’t want their colleagues to spot them.
“Could go there for a change, yeah.” Miller smiled at him and his heart raced. “Gary and Beth would be up for it as well. I know they were planning on working late.”
Hardy’s heart stalled. “Right.”
Miller looked back out to the coast and Hardy took a deep breath. It was naive to expect her to cotton on that quickly. The idea of making gradually more obvious attempts to take her on a casual date without explicitly asking was terrifying, but he knew he had to. For her, he would do it.
He checked his watch and stood up. Miller joined him, straightening her clothes out. Together, they glanced at the station then back at each other. It was time to put everything behind them and be DI Miller and DS Hardy again.
“Ready?” Miller asked.
Hardy nodded. It was years overdue, but - finally - he was. “Let’s go.”