Just a quick two parter (I hope) to get me back into the swing of writing again. Thanks to Tranmissionends64 for the nudge. It's a slightly belated seasonal fic! Please feel free to leave any comments/reviews/thoughts on this story.

xxx

"So if you could collate the details from the three different factions and have the report through to me by ten o'clock tomorrow?"

Ruth nodded her agreement as Adam leant back against the desk opposite her having finished briefing her on a ongoing covert operation. It had been a blessedly quiet day on the Grid and they were using the downtime to try and catch up with paperwork and other mundane tasks. She looked over at her colleague, noting the dark circles under his eyes and the haunted look within them, ever present since the death of his wife some months earlier. "Everything okay? Away from here I mean." She ventured softly, "how's Wes doing?"

Adam brightened slightly at the mention of his sons name. "He's good," he answered with a soft smile touching his lips. "Obviously he still misses his mum desperately, but he's coping remarkably well... probably better than me in a lot of ways." He folded his arms loosely as he further relaxed against the desk, "In fact I'm taking him to the..."

"Adam!" Whatever Adam was going to say was lost as Harry's voice came loudly from his office, closely followed by the man himself, "Adam, where the hell... ah there you are."

Adam and Ruth shared a wry look of amusement as their boss made his way over to them. "Where else would I be?" Adam answered evenly.

"Sometimes I wonder," Harry said evenly glancing between the two of them, wondering momentarily what they'd been talking about. Since the team had returned from the conference at Havensworth a couple of weeks ago he'd made a concerted effort to try and keep his distance emotionally from his team, from Ruth, hoping that by doing so he'd give her time to think and maybe make her own way back to him. But he'd also wondered if Adam and Ros would benefit more from a return to the Section Head persona he'd adopted when Tom Quinn had been his right hand man. When he'd acted more as a figurehead and less like a senior colleague.

"You wanted something?" Adam queried as Harry failed to follow up on his original comment and seemed to have completely lost his train of thought.

"Ah, yes," Harry looked up, suddenly remembering his original purpose in leaving his office. "The meeting with Six about the situation in Gibraltar has been pushed back to five o'clock tonight. I've asked the driver to pick us up fifteen minutes before then so we have plenty of time. We can go over strategy in the car, it shouldn't take long."

"That's two hours later than scheduled." Adam pinched the bridge of his nose internally working through his options before swearing softly to himself. "I'm sorry Harry, I just won't be able to make it then."

"You won't be able to make it then?" Harry's voice dropped to Arctic levels as he repeated Adam's words back to him, once again wondering when his team had stopped saying 'how high' back to him when he'd asked them to jump. "You not making it is not an option, Adam. " Harry displeasure was palpable as he used his fingers to make speech marks as he said 'making it'. "You know the reasons why. The car is picking us up at 4.45. I expect you to be there."

"Well it'll be going without me." Adam stood up and folded his arms, meeting Harry's flintily stare with an equally hard look. "I have other plans for this evening and I have no intention of cancelling them."

Ruth glanced between the two men in dismay, wondering how a simple conversation could have flared up so quickly. "Could I not go in Adam's place?" she blurted out quickly in an attempt to defuse the testosterone fuelled standoff taking place in front of her.

Harry started slightly as Ruth spoke as if for a moment he'd forgotten she was there. He glanced at her quickly, "that's very kind of you Ruth, thank you. I'm sure your colleague appreciates the offer, but it won't be necessary." He moved his gaze back to Adam, "Mr Carter will be joining me... won't you." It was a statement not a question.

Adam bit his lip, trying to tamp down on his anger. "But..."

Harry sighed heavily. "No buts Adam. You know very well why it's imperative that you're at this meeting, so unless you're heading off to stop imminent Armageddon happening, then you're at that meeting come hell or high water."

"Why don't you want to go?" Ruth interjected, directing the question at Adam and trying to bring back a sense of reason to the conversation. It was very unusual for Adam to react in this way, meetings were continuously moving and it was rare for Adam to leave the Grid much before seven most evenings, and often much later. Ever since Fiona's death, he'd buried himself in his work and she reasoned that it must be something important to make him act the way he was.

"It's bonfire night," Adam said quietly. "I promised Wes that I'd take him to the fireworks and bonfire on the Green. He's been really looking forward to it, it was all he spoke about last weekend."

"I'm sorry Adam," Harry's eyes had softened as his Section Chief revealed his reasons for not wanting to attend the meeting and guilt started churning in his stomach. "I really am, but you know as well as I do that we have no choice. You need to be there, you know that."

Adam nodded his consent at last, but looked anything but happy in doing so.

Ruth looked between the two of them slightly confused. She, like the rest of the team had been kept in the dark over this. "What's this all about?" She asked, "the meeting with Six." She clarified at Harry's look.

"I'm afraid I can't say at this stage," Harry spoke quietly as Adam gave him a knowing look. "It's classified, Level One clearance only. You'll no doubt find out about it soon enough."

Ruth nodded, it was often the case that things were on a need to know level... but Harry had often kept her abreast of what was going on in the wider intelligence community, had used her as someone to bounce ideas off and she suddenly realised that this had stopped in recent weeks and she missed it.

"Well I better go and let my son down gently," Adam said with a deep frown. It wasn't often he was overruled by Harry and it smarted when it happened; even though, deep down he concurred with Harry's decision.

"Well what if..." Ruth spoke up as an idea started to formulate in her mind.

"What if what?"

Ruth glanced over at Harry. "What time is the meeting likely to finish?" Without waiting for his answer she turned to look at Adam. "Couldn't you go afterwards?"

Harry was the first to speak. "It should be over by six thirty, seven at the absolute latest."

"That's too late, by the time I picked him up it'll all be over." Adam rubbed his hand over his stubble in frustration. "I'll give Fiona's parents a call, maybe they'll be able to come up. Though," he glanced at his watch quickly, "even that would be cutting it very fine."

"Or I could take him." Ruth said with a small smile on her face. "I'd hate for him to miss out and well... I've nothing else planned for tonight."

"You?" Adam looked at her gratefully, "you'd do that for me?"

Ruth nodded slowly, "if you didn't mind."

"Why would I mind. Wes would love to spend sometime with you. He's always asking when Auntie Ruth can babysit him again!"

Ruth felt a faint flush of pleasure creep up her neck realising that Wes had remembered her after she'd looked after him one evening when it was the nanny's night off and Adam's babysitter had fallen through at the last minute. They'd spent a couple of quiet hours together while waiting for Adam to arrive home one Saturday evening after an undercover operation had overrun and she'd enjoyed the time she'd spent with the young boy. "What time does it start?"

"I think the bonfire it lit at 6.30 and the firework display is at 7.30pm. I was going to pick Wes up at quarter past five."

Ruth looked down at the pile of work in front of her before brushing the thoughts of what needed to be done to one side. "I could do that. With any luck your meeting won't overrun and you'll have plenty of time to meet us there and see the display. It should only take you ten minutes or so to get there from Legoland." She looked between the two men in front of her, "I presume that that's where the meeting is."

Harry nodded slightly, he shouldn't even be telling her that, but...

"That's settled then," Adam smiled slightly, looking more at peace than he had five minutes previously. "I'll just go and give the school a call so they're expecting you and can let Wes know what's happening."

As he fished his phone out of his pocket and headed back over to his desk, Harry leant over Ruth's desk. "Was the invitation to join you and Wes later just for Adam," he asked softly, "or was it a wider offer?"

Ruth looked up, Harry was closer to her than he'd been at any time since their late night meeting at Havensworth and she saw a hint of uncertainty in his eyes as he spoke, despite the lightness of the question he'd asked. "It's a public display Harry, everyone is welcome." She ducked her head down as she spoke before adding softly, "you'd be welcome."

Harry smiled as he heard her words, maybe all was not lost after all and the space that he'd put between them had worked and given her the opportunity to think and reflect. "Then I shall see if I can dig a pair of wellies out of the kit room and I'll see you later."

Ruth glanced at his back as he made his way back to his office, Adam was still distractedly talking on the phone to the school and there was no one else within earshot so she called out the question that was on the tip of her tongue. "I wouldn't have thought Bonfire Night would be your cup of tea?"

Harry turned round, "what's not to like, fireworks, toffee apples, jacket potato's. Plus," he shrugged his shoulders quickly, "I have rather a soft spot for Guy Fawkes."

"Really? Why?"

He raised both his eyebrows as he answered her question. "Because, as far as I'm concerned, he was the last man to have entered parliament with honest intentions!" With that, he gave her a quick grin, the smile lighting up his face momentarily as he made his way back into his office, with an unexpected night out to look forward to.

TBC