I've recently rewatched series 4, and one particular quote stood out to me, so I decided to give myself a little challenge and write from a perspective other than Ruth's or Harry's for a change. Hope you like it.

'Look, when Harry gets back I was gonna have a word with him about making your stay here more permanent. You alright with that?'

'I've been shot at, tied up, accused of being a traitor. If you promise me a desk next to Ruth I might just think about it.'

Adam and Zaf, 4.02

He hadn't been lying when he said that, not really. If he were going to spend hours behind a desk working on tedious quantities of paperwork, he'd rather have said desk next to Ruth.

She had caught his eye the moment he had first set foot on the Grid. He remembered teasing Sam by asking her is she was Welsh, but all along he had kept an eye on the brunette sitting next to her. He wasn't even sure what exactly it was that made him notice her at first.

Frankly, she wasn't the type he usually went for. He had dated a fair share of women over the years, nearly all of them tall and with seemingly never-ending legs, the supermodel type. He knew he was fairly attractive and caught the eye of many a pretty girl, but often he found himself to be intimidated by these very same women. They were too cocky for his liking. They knew all too well how attractive they were, and made sure to let him know they could easily swap him for another man whenever they felt like it.

For a while he hadn't cared so much about this. Men are very visually oriented, and Zaf was no different. But after some time it started to bother him. The novelty had worn off and he was looking for something different, something real and meaningful.

Zaf felt intimidated by Ruth as well, but in a different way. Not that he didn't think her beautiful, because he did, but it was her intelligence which both intimidated and fascinated him immensely. It was the one important quality most of the women he had dated were missing; intellect. He wanted someone to talk to, really talk to, and not just about favourite films and which club to go to that night. He needed something more than that.

Most women he had been with had been younger than him. Ruth, on the other hand, was a couple of years his senior, but not that many. Perhaps that was just what he needed. Perhaps he needed someone wiser, a bit more mature, to balance out the fact that he still felt (and often acted) like a schoolboy.

This didn't mean he actually wanted to be with Ruth, not necessarily. It could easily be someone who was a bit like Ruth. Although, he wondered if there was anyone else quite like Ruth in this world. He regarded her as special, as one of a kind. It would be nice, though it probably wouldn't work.

Zaf sighed. It would never work, he was sure of that. Least of all because Ruth treated him like she'd treat a younger brother. But most importantly because she only had eyes for someone else. A certain Section Head, locked away in his glass cubicle across the Grid. Zaf often caught her staring at Harry, and he wondered if he was the only one who noticed. To him it was obvious that she was head over heels in love with her boss.

He supposed it only simplified things. He would never try and cross the line of friendship with Ruth, knowing that her heart belonged to someone else. At least it would save him the inevitable embarrassment and ultimately disappointment of being turned down. He would work with her, be her friend, and sometimes, just for a moment, he would admire her from afar.

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