This started out as a light-hearted one-shot to marry my love of Spooks with my love of cricket. Given the Ashes only likely has a day left to play (I had the idea for this during the first test at Cardiff) I wanted to get at least the start up while the Ashes series was still underway... despite the series being won at Trent Bridge (oh Stuart Broad and Joe Root I bow down before you). No love or understanding of cricket is needed to read this, but for anyone not aware, The Ashes is a series of 5 Test matches with each Test Match lasting up to 5 days held every other year between England and Australia and is the marquee series for both teams, with the small trophy of an urn being fiercely contested. Anyway, that's enough from me, I hope you enjoy reading and any thoughts/reviews will be gratefully received and I hope to have part two up next weekend.
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"Blast and botheration?"
Ruth looked up slightly bemused at the unlikely outburst from Malcolm, the only other person still in the main part of the office at that time of night. "Sorry?"
Malcolm looked up from his screen, "I'm sorry Ruth, I didn't mean to interrupt you."
Ruth sighed heavily, "you're not really interrupting anything," she said with a look of disgust at her computer. They were working their way through a facial recognition programme, trying to track down two suspected terrorists who allegedly had entered the UK illegally through Felixstowe in the back of a lorry a couple of days previously. It was the type of thing that if it was in a film or TV show would be solved in mere seconds, while in reality it had so far taken 6 hours of her time and even with Malcolm taking a batch, she expected to be here for another hour or so. "What's wrong?"
"I've just had an email come through from my Great Aunt," he said, slowly shaking his head to and fro in a disappointed manner.
Ruth's eyebrows lifted in surprise."Your Great Aunt emails?" She asked curiously, from what she'd heard of Malcolm's Great Aunt in the past, she was 80 if she was a day.
"Yes, she was one of the original 'silver surfers'." Malcolm explained, "she jumped on board in the late nineties and hasn't looked back."
"So what did she want that caused that reaction from you?" Ruth said good humouredly, "help on how to hack into the SAGA database?"
"Very droll," Malcolm replied, "No, I've been trying to arrange a weekend to take my Mum up for a visit, she lives in North Lincolnshire you see so we'd need to go for a couple of days to make it worthwhile, but the weekend she's suggested is the one before the bank holiday weekend in August."
"And what's wrong with that?"
"It's the one weekend I had firm plans for, Harry and I have tickets for the fourth day of the Fifth Test at the Oval." He looked morose, "we bought them months ago."
"Cricket? Is that all?" Ruth was aware that the games were going on, how could she not be, but it hadn't really permeated her psyche.
"Is that all?" Malcolm said agitatedly, "is that all," he repeated. "This will be the decider, the crunch match. Whoever wins this, wins the Ashes. With the series balanced at two games a piece, it's all to play for."
"Oh," said Ruth quietly, feeling she was missing exactly why Malcolm was getting quite so worked up about it all.
"Oh indeed," Malcolm thumped a pile of papers down on his desk, "what a waste of money and I was so looking forward to it."
"Isn't there someone else who could take your mum up there? Or can't she go some other time."
"I wish it was that easy," Malcolm answered, having seemingly calmed down slightly. "I've been trying to plan this excursion for a while, Great Aunt Violet has a hectic social life and it's only due to a friend of hers having to have an emergency hip replacement that she's free at such short notice. It'd be selfish for me to stand in the way."
"That's as maybe, but surely there's someone else who could take her up there?"
Malcolm looked aghast at the suggestion though not for the reasons Ruth first thought. "I couldn't inflict mother on anyone else," he confessed as he smiled wryly, "she's an absolutely awful back seat driver. She's only just been allowed back on the over sixties coach trips after being given a 'cooling off period' for harassing the driver... plus she now has to sit at the back of the bus!"
Ruth laughed, "so Harry will just have to go with someone else, I'm sure he won't mind."
"Hmmm," Malcolm replied, the cogs in his brain obviously whirring for a minute or two, before he turned to her with a sparkle in his eye. "What about you?"
"What about me?" Ruth had turned back to her computer to check on the progression of their search and her mind had already half moved on from their conversation.
"Why don't you go with Harry to the cricket?" he answered, with a big smile on his face.
"Me?... Oh no," Ruth countered quickly when she saw his expression, "stop doing this Malcolm."
"Doing what?"
"Harry and I are colleagues, friends that's all." Ruth murmured, the colour in her cheeks starting to rise as she turned her head back to her computer to hide the blush she could feel taking over her neck and face. "I've told you this before."
"What?" Malcolm suddenly looked aghast, "oh no, that's not what I meant. I just thought you'd enjoy the day out, and lets face it, there aren't many people Harry could tolerate spending that amount of time with." He looked over at her as she refused to meet his gaze, "honestly Ruth," he added gently, "I didn't mean anything by it. I only mentioned you going because when you'd overheard me listening to Test Match Special a few weeks ago, you'd said that you'd enjoyed listening to it yourself in the past with your father."
"That was more the general conversations they'd have rather than the cricket." Ruth smiled at the memory, her father spending hours listening to the radio as England's cricket matches were broadcast from all over the world and him trying to explain the finer points of the game to her. "I never got caught up in all the runs and wickets, it was more the quiet times when not much was happening and they chatted about this and that that I loved the most." 'As well at the valuable time spent with her father, just the two of them,' she added quietly to herself.
"Well the offer still stands..."
Ruth shook her head, "no I'm sorry Malcolm, it's a lovely gesture, but I really don't think so."
She turned back to her work and that looked to be the end of the conversation with silence once again taking over the office. Malcolm sighed quietly to himself, it looked like he'd stepped right in it again with his size 9's, he really was going to have to work on being slightly more subtle. Ten minutes passed quietly with both of them staring at the screens on their respective desks before Ruth broke the silence, "Adam or Zaf may go with him," she said quietly, "they both enjoy cricket."
It took a moment for Malcolm to catch up, she'd obviously been mulling it over sine they'd ended the conversation. "They're both already going," he replied calmly, "they've seats in a different stand and they're taking Wes, apparently he loves the game and this will be the first time he's actually been to watch an international."
"Oh... well, what about Matthews or Clarke?" She said referring to the respective Heads of Sections A and E, "they're both fans I believe."
"Can you honestly imagine Harry spending any more time that he has to with either of those tow?" Malcolm laughed, "they're both so politically motivated that they'd probably only agree if they knew the DG was likely to be accompanying them!"
"There must be someone?"
"Ruth," Malcolm chided her softly, "don't worry about it. Harry will be more than fine with going along by himself, he's done it plenty of times before."
It was this that tipped Ruth over the edge; imagining him spending the day in a huge crowd all alone with no one to speak to, caused a lurch in her stomach which even she was afraid to put a name too. "If there really is no one else then I suppose I could go, as friends obviously," she muttered, half to herself and half to Malcolm.
"Obviously." Malcolm smiled and mirrored her response back to her. Seeing the look of slight panic on her face, he added quickly, "and I won't mention this to a soul Ruth, not that there's anything to really say anyway." He mimicked pulling a zip across his lips, "mums the word."
Ruth suddenly looked at him, suspicion writ across her face "do you promise that this really isn't some silly kind of set up?"
"Ruth what do you take me for?" Malcolm sighed sadly, "these tickets aren't cheap by any stretch of the imagination and given the current state of the series, tickets will be like gold dust. I really wouldn't be that generous." He added, "If there was anyway at all that I could go, then I would be, I guess I'll have to settle for listening to it on Radio 4 instead."
Convinced of his sincerity, Ruth looked over at him. "Well you must at least let me pay you for the ticket."
Malcolm was already shaking his head, "Ruth you're doing me a favour, I'd have felt awful telling Harry that he had to go alone, so the ticket's on me. Just get me a copy of the match programme and we'll call it evens."
Ruth nodded, "thankyou," she said quietly as she turned back to her screen with a small smile on her face which Malcolm couldn't fail to miss.
XXXX
"Bad news I'm afraid." Malcolm said, popping his head around Harry's office door, while knocking at the same time, the day after his conversation with Ruth.
"Oh God, what is it this time?" Harry thundered, he'd just returned from a Heads of Department meeting and had another meeting with the Home Secretary coming up within the hour. More bad news was something he really didn't feel able to face at this precise moment. He looked over to his decanter pointedly, it really was far too early in the day to be thinking about having a drink just yet, but by jove, he needed one.
"The cricket next Sunday," Malcolm paused as Harry looked up at him, "I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to make it, I've got to take my mother up to Lincolnshire, somethings just popped up and we can't get out of going."
Harry sighed heavily, that had been the one bright spot on his horizon, it really did seem that someone upstairs had it in for him. "Fine, fine... thanks for letting me know Malcolm." He rubbed his hand over his forehead in disappointment. "Maybe I shouldn't go as well, it'll be easier to get rid of two tickets rather than just the one and I don't know that I fancy it by myself..." That whisky really was becoming more and more tempting by the minute.
"No need old chap," Malcolm said breezily, "I've already given the ticket to someone, I'm sure you'll enjoy the company."
Harry's chin slumped into his chest, he feared his idea and Malcolm's idea of a person to spend time with watching cricket outside of work could differ massively. "Who is it?" He asked weakly, half not wanting to hear the answer.
"Ruth," was Malcolm's cheery response as Harry's head jerked back in surprise.
"Ruth?" Harry's mouth opened and closed a couple of times without him actually saying anything, "does she realise she going with me?" He eventually managed to spit out.
Malcolm nodded with a wry smile, "she does indeed. I'll let the two of you make the arrangements of where and when to meet up," he said, as he slowly backed out of the door.
"But we've hardly spoken about anything but work since we went out to dinner a few weeks ago." Harry said in bemusement, giving away a lot more than he normally would in the circumstances, even to a friend like Malcolm , such was his surprise.
"Turns out Ruth's got a bit of a soft spot for cricket," Malcolm said, "and you," he added a lot more softly so that Harry wouldn't hear him.
"Sorry, what did you just say?" Harry looked up at him questioningly.
"Nothing." Malcolm went to close the door, leaving Harry to prepare for his meeting, but added just as the door closed with a wink of the eye that Harry only just caught, "don't say I never do anything for you."
TBC
