Lucas and Ros came in, closely followed by Harry. All collapsed in the nearest chair, completely exhausted. Jo, Ben and Malcolm looked up, all content. A mission well done.
"Connie?" Ben finally asked delicately.
"Alive." Ros answered sharply. "She defused the bomb, and in appreciation we allowed her to visit her majesty's prison."
"Hopefully for a long time so she's unable to tell the Russians anything else," Lucas added, his tone even more bitter than normal as he opened with more force than normal. Everyone dropped their voices lower as they continued to talk.
"We've lost another analyst though," Jo noted. "We can't seem to keep them, can we?"
"And the ones we've managed to keep haven't been any good," said Ros. Harry suddenly stood up. "Where are you going?"
"Got some work to do," he told them, entering his office and closing the door firmly behind. Jo watched him discretely as he closed the blinds, then returned her focus back to her work.
Half an hour later, Harry left his office. "Come on, let's all go to the George." It took little persuasion to get everyone out, even Malcolm. Only a couple of minutes walk away, they all walked together in relative silence. Suddenly Jo froze as they neared the pub. Stood outside the pub was a familiar face, now walking towards them. Ros murmured something unintelligible, and Malcolm watched the figure coming towards them. The figure, walking towards them, was Ruth. Jo rushed ahead, pulling her into a tight hug, Malcolm joining in. After the awful year they'd had, maybe things were about to get better.