Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Beth Latimer

Beth was hurting. Her son was brutally murdered and the killer was never going to face any kind of consequences. It felt like her heart had fallen out of her chest onto the floor in a fleshy pile. She just felt empty. Chloe was older now and by September would be off to Uni. Mark was throwing himself into his work, again. Beth just needed something for herself. Before all the chaos she used to frequent the gym, she found that exercise gave her some clarity. Plus it was a goal to strive towards, do x many press ups, run a 10k in this many minutes. She liked it. There was even a little gym on the outskirts Broadchurch, it wasn't overrun by 'fitness influencers' and was usually empty. 

This however ended up to not be entirely true though as Beth had not been in a while. When she opened the doors she had been submerged by a wave of self-consciousness, the gym was still mostly empty but unfortunately for her there were two 20 somethings on the bikes. They had matching leggings and sports bras that probably cost more than Beth's monthly salary, the kind with brand names plastered all over them. It made her white tank top and thin leggings feel somehow underdressed. 

Beth was by no means unhealthy, she still looked like she was early 20s despite hitting 30 last month but she couldn't see that, all she could see were the wrinkles when she smiled, and the stretch marks that two children had left her with. She was half considering just leaving on the spot but the two woman had already seen her and frankly she was worried that if she ran away now she'd never come back again. It felt silly to be scared of being judged, but people were judgy, always have been. She set her bag down on a bench and started her warmup pulling on her self confidence that had slowly been stamped down by everything that had happened in the past two years. She stretched and began her running on the treadmill, increasing the speed, increasing the incline. Just trying to get through her planned workout. The silliest thing of all was the Beth knew in her heart the girls probably had barely even acknowledged her presence and were likely to wrapped up in their chatting to judge her, but she still felt that tingling in her spine.

By the time Beth had finished her run someone else in the gym had left just leaving her and the two girls along with someone by the weights stand. Her confidence was creeping back into her limbs and she started doing some drills with the handheld weights. She wasn't doing as many reps as usual but that was fine, she hadn't been in a while and she was easing herself in.

She'd just finished her sets and was going to move on to bench press when the two women walked over, grabbing weights that were significantly heavier than Beth's heaviest set. The woman giggled as she drank some of her water, she could feel the sweat forming on her skin whilst the two barely looked out of breath. It was still fine though. The two kept whispering and Beth was grabbing her stuff to bring over to the bench, she heard the odd word or two, fat and old, she ignored them, probably wasn't about her. They kept giggling and looking at her but averting their gaze when she met it and smiling at each other. 'Can I help you with something?' She'd eventually gotten fed up with the giggles, maybe they were laughing about something else. That would make sense right? 

'Hey, so like just to let you know, there's blood on your leggings' They just kept smirking as Beth spun around to see the spot on her leggings. So much for 'period positivity' 

'I'm surprised you'd still get a period, after all you look like 50 or something' Beth looked up to her reflection in the mirror, her eyes felt more lined and she felt her skin sag with age. She looked like a 20 something, she was a good looking woman, she knew it. But those comments just hurt her. The two woman were giggling more as the man on the other side of the room came over, probably to comment on how disgusting she was. 'Hey Beth, do you mind if I borrow you for a second, I need someone to spot me' She heard a familiar Scottish accent and turned around to see DI Hardy standing there. He wasn't in the usual suit paired with a frown. He was wearing a white t-shirt and some joggers, he looked happy. More youthful even.

'I can help you with that Alec' One of the woman chimed in, she stood up but before she continued Hardy had cut over her. 'That's fine Anderson, Beth you coming?' Nodding slightly she walked over with him, why had she even come to the gym in the first place, now the DI was probably going to make some comment about the blood and how- 'Here, Daisy used my gym bag last week and left some tampons in it. She also left these leggings if you want to borrow them, should fit your about the same size'

She paused. They were now around the corner at the other end of the gym to the giggling woman. She looked up in confusion to find the usual hard stare engrained into the DI's face was replied with a soft look, he didn't look happy or sad, he just looked nonchalant if anything, like this was a normal thing to do. 'Um- thanks, yea, this is- really nice.' She started an awkward walk to the bathroom which was thankfully in the section for the gym they were in. The whole town seemed to have made up their minds that DI Hardy was some paper pushing idiot that couldn't be competent at his job even on a good day. The towns paper ripped into him at least once a fortnight about something he'd done and yet here he was helping Beth with her period of all things. Most men just avoided it like it was some kind of deep dark secret.

Unfortunately, her phone was still inside her workout bag by the bench press, and so she couldn't just jump out the bathroom window. Also this isn't a cartoon, nobody actually jumps out bathroom windows.

Taking a breath she pushed the door back into the main room. Hardy was in a corner putting some weights back on the rack and although she really wanted to just sneak out the back but even the worlds worst cop deserved a thankyou. 'Uhm- hey thanks for the uh leggings, and stuff.'

His face looked slightly blank. 'It was the decent thing to do. And those two were being assholes anyways, their new recruits for the police department and they keep making comments about all the other officers. I'm surprised HR haven't fired them yet.'

'Thanks, being honest though I haven't really been working out lately and it shows, should probably come here more often' Beth felt as if she'd deflated, it hurt to hear herself say that but it was true wasn't it?

'Beth you are a good looking person already, who cares what those two decided to say, their caked in pounds of makeup not as a form of self expression but because their scared of people thinking their not beautiful and there reflecting onto you. Don't let them.' This man who the whole town seemingly hated was more kind and understanding than most people she'd ever met. She knew in her heart that they weren't right but hearing someone else say it made her confidence creep back inside her. 'Thanks, most people would've just made a comment about the stain and laughed, your not as bad as the media says'

'ai, thanks for that but it's just the right thing to do, I had Daisy's stuff and you needed it. But thanks about the media, wee bastards are determined to tear apart my life anyway they know how'

That evening Mark questioned the new leggings, Beth said they were borrowed from a friend. A new article came out from the echo 'Alec's latest affair' it was her and Alec shot from an outside window of the gym. Her back was to the camera and all that was visible was the back of her head. For once she didn't scoff at the article thinking about how the man just couldn't keep his life under control. Instead she felt slightly mad, the media just didn't care that he was a person, just that they could use him for a reliable income.

Alec Hardy wasn't as bad as people said he was. At least Beth knew that, and she would convince the rest of her family of that.

Alec found a parcel on his desk one morning a few days after the gym incident, inside was a pair of freshly washed leggings, a thankyou note, and a new t-shirt. It was plain black but a nice breathable fabric that would be nice to workout it. For the first time in a few days, Alec smiled. The whole office spent the rest of day pestering about his affair when he was already divorced from Tess so it wasn't an affair in the first place? he didn't care though. The snide comments felt slightly less painful that day. The whole police force might hate him, but the whole town didn't still hate him. He'd made a friend in this miserable place and that was good enough for him.

Chapter Text

Laila Acherley 

She hadn't realised that not everyone felt uncomfortable in their own skin. When she was little she didn't want to play a knight at breaktimes in nursery. She wanted to be a princess with the other girls who ran away from the dragon. It took her thirteen years to realise that she was a she. that Leo Acherley was Laila Acherley. Her parents weren't super impressed, they thought it was some kind of phase brought on by growing up online, that she'd seen the idea online and convinced herself she was secretly a girl. But it was fine. School had let her change her pronouns and all the teachers referred to her as Laila. But she couldn't officially transition without parental consent until she was 16.

By the time she was 15 Laila had begun to suspect that her parents knew it wasn't a phase. They had laid of on the idea of it being some idea she'd picked up online and had gone to stamping it out of her with little comments, they never actually hurt her. But their words did. She'd go to school to avoid them and although the staff were supportive, Broadchurch as a town was a little bit behind the times and so many children there didn't quite agree with the concept of transgender. That was also fine. But it still hurt. They'd cut up her school skirt during pe meaning she had to wear some stained trousers from lost property, she was allowed to do pe with the girls but still had to change with the boys. Constant comments about her body and degrading insults were drowning her. But it was okay, the girls didn't massively love hanging out with her but they weren't actively transphobic to her. They just didn't want to get dragged into the bullying she faced and unfortunately she understood it. This was the best she was going to get.

Walking home she was often interrupted by those boys that didn't agree with her. She usually took their abuse but on one particular day she'd just had enough. It was an own clothes day and she'd come in wearing a new skirt she absolutely loved. She paired it with a cute t-shirt and spent a while in the morning doing some makeup. She looked beautiful. The boys hadn't quite agreed.

So here she was trudging home, new skirt stained with mud, and her carefully done eyeliner smudged around her eyes. the mantra 'it could be worse' repeating in her head but in truth she just didn't care anymore, it really hurt. She tried to keep her head down as she walked the muddy pack paths to her street but someone was quickly approaching. She tried to just slip past them but they stopped her. 'Ai Lass, you okay?'

Her head whipped up but then she forced it back down. It was the police inspector of all people. The one man that the entire town came together to hate on. The news kept dragging his name through the mud and frankly he seemed like the biggest bigot the town had to offer. 'Ya must be cold in that muddy skirt of yours, whatever happened to cause this' She looked up once more too see his face not angry, but worried, it was almost like he cared. 'Look your makeups been smudged and I know you've been crying, I have a daughter your age y'know' He pulled out some wet wipes from his bag. 'If she was here right now she'd probably manage to cheer you up better than I can'

He handed her the wet wipes and carefully she began to clean off her smudged up makeup. Her mother still couldn't accept her as a daughter but just this once she had let her wear some of her makeup. Laila knew in her heart that her mother understood she was a girl, she really hoped one day though that she could admit it out in the open though. 'Thankyou for the wet wipes sir, I- need to go now- um' she trailed off not knowing how to end the conversation. 'Take care lass alright. And maybe invest in some waterproof mascara, Daisy my daughter won't stop raving about it.' She almost smiled.

A few weeks later she was taking the path back home again. Her parents had bought her a girls uniform recently and were finally starting to come around, until someone thought it a bright idea to dump a pot of blue paint on her during breaktime. She knew they'd just make her wear the old ones she had, school uniform was so expensive and why should they buy a new set when she had a perfect set of boys uniform wating for her at home. She knew it wasn't like that really. She knew it was impractical to keep buying new uniform when the kids at school kept ruining it. But it still hurt.

Walking home she felt so stupid, like a bright blue idiot. The people walking the path giggled as she walked by and she'd never been more glad in her life that the path wasn't used by that many people, she couldn't bear the idea of walking like that on the actual street. As she was about 3/4 of the way there though she ran into the police inspector again. His face painted with a scowl was washed away when he saw her though. Instead he calmly offered her a wet wipe for the paint on her face. She was still covered in blue but getting it off of her eyes and hands made her feel like slightly less than an idiot. She still looked like a smurf though with her blue stained uniform. 'Ai Lass, take this coat will you, it's too cold to be walking without one okay, besides school uniforms are always too thin, Daisy once started a riot at her school trying to get it changed. Quite funny that call to the head teachers office. 'Your daughters started a riot in the cafeteria and we need you to collect her!' He laughed slightly and so did Laila. 'But anyways take this coat okay lass' he put it around her shoulders. 'What ever happened to you anyways that ended with so much blue paint.' She felt slightly lighter but that last sentence had brought her back down. 'The boys at school aren't exactly my biggest fans, not huge on Tr*nnys'

'Hey don't call yourself that okay, and there stuck in the past they are'. he paused 'I didn't exactly have the easiest time in school either'

'You don't know what it's like!' She shouted out on impulse. It looked like it really stung the police inspector and she was sorry as soon as she said it.

'You know I'm trans too. . .haven't said that in a while oof' She froze. 'This town isn't necessarily the most supportive, I don't know a single person here part of LGBTQ+' She wanted to say something but instead hugged the coat around herself tighter. 'What do your parent's think about it, I assume they know'

'They- I think they know in their hearts that I'm a girl, it's- they just don't quite get it yet'

'Well- if you want lass, I can- talk to them- if you want? only if you want' She contemplated 'It would be nice to have someone in my corner I guess- but my parents- they uh, aren't the biggest fans of you- they believe the news papers, a little too much'

he looked almost crestfallen 'Well if you ever need someone in your corner. I'm here okay' And for the first time that day she smiled

They kept meeting on that path, she took it one way to get back home from school, and he took it the other way to get home from work.

A few weeks after meeting randomly on the path something had happened at school again. Only this time it was worse. One of them had come to school with a knife. They'd held her down and cut words in her arms. This time it really wasn't fine. She was walking home stuck in a boys uniform stained with blood and tears. Her hair was matted and dysphoria was washing over her like a tsunami.

she really didn't want to see anyone on the path back but as fate would have it, there was DI Hardy. She hadn't really stopped thinking about the fact that he was trans, she'd never know by looking which she supposed was the point. 

'Lass what happened1' He seemed scared. She guessed anyone who happened to see a teenage girl walking home covered in blood would be freaked out. 'Please tell me what happened' she started to form the words but they just wouldn't leave her throat, tears forming at her eyes again. 'It's okay if you don't want to say alright, look. I have a first aid kit and some of Daisy's spare clothes back at my house. I'll patch you up and if you want to talk you can.'

Now on paper this was a bad idea, A teenage girl goes with a middle aged man back to his house? but she trusted him, he actually gave two shits about her. So she took the chance. They walked back quietly to his house and once again he put his coat around her shoulders to hide the blood. Reaching the top of the hill he opened the doors and inside they went.

The cuts on her legs had crusted up slightly making Laila want to throw up but Alec just got an antiseptic wipe to clean the wounds. She flinched slightly at the stinging and every time he flinched slightly as well, he didn't want to hurt her. Slowly but surely the cuts were cleaned and covered with plasters, some were plain skin tone and others were hello kitty themed. Laila was suspicious that Daisy had something to do that. 

'What's your favourite colour?' Picking at the plasters on her shins she looked up 'Uhm- purple I guess? why'

'Daisy has so many clothes that she has a full wardrobe of them here and at her mothers, she won't be sad if a few of the purple ones go missing.' She smiled slightly 'Thanks, for the clothes, and the coat- again. And helping with the plasters.'

'Ai it's just what any decent person would do lass, what do you think about this?' it was a purple off the shoulder jumper with lilac stars. She smiled. The man was sifting through various skirts and jeans to find something in her size. She was still caught up in his previous comment though 'it's just what any decent person would do' most 'decent' people would just treat her like shit. 'Do these jeans match the jumper' She laughed. The jeans had little patches on them with smiley faces and checkers, and yes they did match the jumper.

That night her parents were concerned when she arrived home late wearing different clothes. She told them she was at a friends.

The next day Alec Hardy received another mysterious parcel, this time it contained his 2 coats and a thankyou note along with a little handmade pin, it was a star with the different points being the different trans flag colours. He smiled.

A week or so later Laila's school received a talk on LGBTQ+ breaking down different genders and sexual orientations, the next week a pride club started and it had 3 members. The next week 4.

Laila still walked that pathway home everyday, and most she would see Alec, on his blazer was the little star pin. He wasn't quite as bad as everyone thought. He asked about her day and after a brief chat they both walked their respective ways. But not much further down the line Olly Stevens the local report interrupted her. 'Do you mind telling me what your conversation with Hardy was about? looked awfully friendly'

and for once in her life Laila decided to stand up for yourself 'Yes it was, I am a trans woman and DI Hardy organised a talk about LGBTQ+ in my school and set up a pride club so that for once in my life I had a safe space to talk. He encouraged me to embrace who I am. He's a good role model and one of the only adults in my life that I can actually look up to and respect, so you can go write that in your little newspaper, that he's a good person and frankly you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking otherwise' She smiled as she walked away. Everything for once, was actually fine.

And the next week there was no Hardy shaming in the press.