Set in the latter stages of 5-5, when instead of Ruth having to leave the country, Harry decides to hide her away until her innocence can be proven. I have a romantic notion of the two of them trapped in a cottage away from everyone else, which is how this story came about.
Ruth awoke in an unfamiliar room, an incredibly bad throbbing pain going through her right forearm. So bad that she couldn't even move it. Looking down she knew her arm had to be broken. It was lying at a wrong angle and it looked completely unnatural. She didn't even try to move it, instead she tried to focus on where she was to take her off the pain. She seemed to be lying on a bed in a dark room of a house. There wasn't a window anywhere but there were wooden beams running across the ceiling. The room seemed more than sparse. There was an empty bookcase across one wall but nothing else. In spite of the pain she was about to get up and find out where she was and how she'd got there when she heard two male voices coming nearer the room. She froze, fear filling her with fear. Which faded a little when she recognised Harry's voice. Where on earth was she?
The door opened and Harry came in, smiling at her. "I didn't think you'd wake," he said quietly as another man followed him into the room.
"Where am I? What happened?" she said, looking at the other man who she didn't recognise. He was short, had tiny glasses perched on his nose and seemed to be in his forties.
"Don't worry," Harry said calmly. "We're safe here. No one will find you."
"What happened?" she repeated.
"Adam got me out of prison as you were trying to intimidate that witness."
"Oh," Ruth said as it came back to her. "That stupid violent cow."
"Yes," Harry said, his lips twitching. "She rather didn't like having a gun held to her head…"
"So the bitch broke my arm," Ruth said as she remembered. "No one told me before I went in there that she studied karate in her free time."
Harry chuckled. "Look, if I'm not here in the morning I'll be on my way back." Ruth frowned at him. "I have to identify a body as yours," he said quietly. "Until we can sort this out you have to be dead. Or in prison, and it gets a lot harder to prove if you're already locked away. They'll just assume you're guilty."
"I understand," Ruth said. "Can we do something about my arm please?"
"Yes, I've brought you a doctor who doesn't ask questions," Harry said, nodding at the man behind her. Ruth nodded and let him have a look at her arm. She hissed as he touched her, making a shot of pain go through her.
"Careful!" Harry said. One look at this man and Ruth knew he'd been bought off.
"Sorry," the doctor said in what sounded like a Polish accent. "When was broken?"
"Er… three hours ago," Ruth said looking at her watch. She couldn't have been asleep very long at all.
"Right. Need to send you to sleep. So I can put the bone right."
"Okay," Ruth said confidently. She didn't feel that confident when he brought out of his doctors bag a small box with needles in it.
"If you hurt her, I'll kill you," Harry said menacingly after seeing Ruth's face.
"She needs to sleep while I fix," the man said. "Otherwise big ouch."
"Yes Harry," Ruth said, a ghost of a smile. "I don't want a big ouch do I?"
"No." Ruth said nothing but let the doctor cut her shirt off of her arm (there was no way she could lift her arm to remove it) and then he injected her. The world went black. Harry felt a tiny bit of worry when he saw her fall into unconsciousness so quickly. It faded when he saw how much care the doctor was taking over her. Touching her gently and examining the break. Harry winced when a loud crack echoed through the room as her bone was put right. It was clear that the best thing for her was to be knocked out while that was set. Harry watched as the doctor started to put her arm in a cast with fibreglass cloths. It took a while but Harry didn't want to leave her alone with a stranger. When he was done he looked at Harry expectantly.
"How long until its healed?" Harry asked, not taking the hint for payment quite yet.
"With no x ray I am not sure," the doctor said. "I do my best and it looked a clean break so… should be okay in… sześć weeks." Harry frowned. The doctor held up six fingers. "I come again to check."
"No," Harry said firmly. He had no idea what the state of things would be in six weeks time, and having a stranger turn up here would not be a good thing. "I'll come to you."
"Makes no difference," he said with a shrug. "Now. My money." Harry obligingly gave him an envelope from his inside jacket pocket. Before handing it over he said firmly, "You cannot talk. We were never here."
"I no talk," he said shaking his head. "I was with my wife tonight. Never seen this house before. No talk."
"Good," Harry said handing the envelope of taxpayers money over. The doctor flicked through the envelope and then left without another word. Harry waited and then heard the engine start up and leave. For the first time he felt like he could breathe properly. Ruth was okay, even if she was unconscious. No matter how much he didn't like it, he had to leave her. It had been a risk going here with her in the first place, even knowing that Adam and Zaf were throwing up smokescreens all over London to buy him some time. He hurriedly wrote her a note for when she woke up. Then he looked at her for a moment, he couldn't help it. She was so beautiful. Even with a broken arm and being set up by Mace and his cronies.
Now he had to go and identify a dead body as Ruth's. Which wouldn't be easy, even knowing she was safely sleeping in a house which didn't officially exist. After a moments thought he decided to do what he wanted to. He brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her forehead lightly. He knew she would never remember but he needed to do it all the same. Then he left the house and locked it firmly. He knew it was a risk leaving her here, but it was the safest place he could find at such short notice. So he just hoped and prayed she'd be all right. Malcolm was surveying all sorts of CCTV as a precaution too. But as much as he hated it, he needed to be back in London. "I'll be back soon Ruth. I promise." He left and made sure that he'd locked all of the different locks on the front door. Just in case.
I think this has potential but I'd love to know what you think!
