Mistaken Identity
Disclaimer: Harry Pearce and Ruth Evershed of Spooks belong to Kudos and the BBC. Ruth Galloway and Harry Nelson belong to Elly Griffiths and her series of books.
A/N: I'd say this is set sometime in late S5, in an alternate world of Spooks where Ruth was happily riding the bus when Mik Maudsley jumped in front of a train.
Over at 3 Words, 8 Letters we acknowledge that we're a little (perhaps even more than a little) obsessed with Harry and Ruth from Spooks, but now many of us have become fans of another Harry and Ruth – those of the Elly Griffiths novels. This little piece came to me as I was furiously reading her novels over the past week. It does contain a spoiler for the first book, The Crossing Places, though it's about the relationship between Ruth and Harry and not the primary mystery plot. The Crossing Places and Kindle readers weren't out for another couple of years at the time this story is set, but I hope you'll overlook that little detail.
This one is for r4ven3 who originally told me I should read the Elly Griffiths books and who celebrated a birthday this week. Thank you for everything. :-)
Ruth was in the last stall when she heard the voices of two women entering the loo.
"Can you believe she's pregnant?" Voice One said not so quietly.
"I know! I was totally not expecting that. I hope it's a boy though. Can you picture Ruth raising a girl?" Voice Two responded in loud whisper.
"Not at all. Plus Harry probably wants a son. What guy doesn't?"
Ruth was stunned into silence. The voices were familiar and a second later one of the names came to her. Jade Mason, an administrative assistant in HR was the first voice. Ruth had spoken with her on the phone last week when Jade called about some paperwork that needed updating in her file.
"Besides, it's not like they can really go public with their relationship, or whatever you want to call it," Voice Two said.
"Exactly. Besides, who would believe that a guy like Harry would give Ruth a second glance anyway, right Serena?"
The women must have come in to check something in the mirror because Ruth heard the door open and the voices trail away. Serena Ahmed, who worked in the Registry must have been the other woman. Ruth had seen the two together regularly in the canteen at lunch.
She sat in the stall, still stunned that the information she had worked so hard to protect was public information. And how exactly did Jade and Serena hear anyway?
Ruth walked out of the stall, pausing to wash her hands and check her appearance in the mirror. She had been vomiting regularly for the past few months and her excuse of having the flu wasn't really passing muster any longer. Who had the flu for three months? It was better and this was the first time she'd thrown up in three days, so she hoped it was almost over now that she was 18 weeks pregnant.
Thankfully it was winter; mid-January was a perfect time to wear layers and bulky jumpers, making it easier for Ruth to hide to her expanding waistline. She knew she was lucky to have hidden it thus far, but it would soon be obvious that she was indeed pregnant.
Ruth slowly made her way back to her desk, still distracted at having overheard Jade and Serena. She couldn't just confront them about where they heard the information without her confirming it was true. She briefly wondered if something from her medical records had made its way to HR where Jade could have seen, but she couldn't think of a reason that Five would have for accessing her obstetrics records.
Ruth was jolted back to reality by the ringing of her phone. She quickly answered since she wasn't sure how many times it had rung before she noticed.
"Are you alright? You had a strange look on your face when you came back to your desk and now you've just sat there and stared across the room for a few minutes," Harry asked.
Ruth shifted her eyes to look into his office. "I'm fine. I just overheard something unexpected when I was in the loo and I'm not really sure what to make of it," she admitted.
"What was it? Is it something I need to be aware of?" he asked, still unsure of the situation.
"Yes and no, but I can't discuss it here. It can wait until later, okay? I have to get back to work." Not waiting for a response she hung up the handset and turned to her computer. She knew Harry wouldn't just drop it but she needed time to figure out what to do next.
Several hours passed while Ruth worked on the translation of a journal found in the hands of a suspected terrorist the day before. It wasn't until she realized that someone was standing at her desk that she looked up from her work to see Jo waiting patiently.
"Sorry, I didn't want to startle you."
"That's alright. Can I help you with something?"
"I'm headed down to the canteen for quick break and I thought I'd see if you wanted anything," Jo responded.
Ruth looked at Jo critically, wondering if she knew the truth. Jo's words replayed in Ruth's head and something clicked, causing Ruth to make a split-second decision.
"Now that you ask, Jo, I do want something." Ruth stood from her desk. "Come with me for a minute."
Once the pair was safely tucked into a back corridor that was a blind spot on the CCTV, Ruth started to speak.
"Jo, I'd like to ask a favour of you, which will also involve the keeping of a secret, one which is very personal for me. I wouldn't ask if I didn't think I could trust you. Will you help me?"
Jo nodded, quickly realizing this was about more than whether Ruth wanted a bag of crisps from the canteen. "Of course I'll help. What do you need?"
Ruth took a deep breath. In for a penny, in for a pound as her father used to say. "I'm pregnant," she said and watched Jo's eyes widen. Before Jo could say anything, Ruth continued. "I was going to come clean about it next week after my scan but I think somehow, someone has found out about it. I heard two women talking about it in the loo this morning."
"Ruth, congratulations!" Jo quickly hugged her friend, who accepted the embrace willingly. "That's fantastic! Can I ask who's the father?"
Ruth glanced around, to ensure no one was nearby. "Harry."
She expected Jo to be shocked but instead saw the smile on Jo's face grow even bigger. "You knew?"
"That you were pregnant? No, though I suspected you and Harry have been together for a while. You both just seem, I don't know, more settled."
Ruth looked a bit panicked at the thought of people talking about her and Harry as a couple, and Jo could see this.
"Ruth, I've not heard any gossip from those on the Grid about you and Harry, and I've never engaged in gossip about anyone from the Grid with others here at Five. I need to be able to trust my co-workers with my life and gossiping doesn't help with that." She watched the expression on Ruth's face relax a bit. "Now what can I do to help?"
Ruth recounted what she heard in the loo earlier and explained what she wanted Jo to do. She hoped Jo could accomplish the task today, and Jo felt confident that she could do so. They agreed to meet before they left for the day for an update.
Two hours later, Ruth received a message from Jo, asking to meet on the roof in five minutes time. Ruth nodded her assent when Jo glanced in her direction. Wrapping up the translation work on the journal, Ruth saved everything to its proper location before picking up her coat and heading upstairs. A minute later Jo joined her.
"You're lucky that Jade and Serena are such gossips that they didn't even question why I was suddenly willing to talk about my co-workers," Jo started.
"Did they tell you how they found out?" Ruth asked anxiously.
Jo chuckled before she spoke. "I hate to tell you this, Ruth, but for once in your life you were wrong."
"What?"
"Jade and Serena weren't talking about you, though I can understand why you thought so. It's quite funny actually."
"I'm not laughing, Jo. What do you mean they weren't talking about me? Pregnant Ruth, Harry's the father, of course they were!"
"Ruth, calm down. Jade and Serena, surprising as this may seem, had just read a book called 'The Crossing Places' by Elly Griffiths. The main character, Dr. Ruth Galloway, finds herself pregnant at the end of the first book and the only person she slept with was a guy named Harry Nelson," Jo said.
Ruth seemed to not quite believe the story, so Jo continued. "It's set over in Norwich. Ruth is a forensic anthropologist at the local university that's called in by DCI Harry Nelson to examine a body found near a beach. Apparently he thinks it could be a young girl that went missing recently. The body turns out to be quite old but before long a set of bones turns up and they do belong to the missing girl. Harry – or Nelson as he's known to everyone in the story – is devastated. See, he's married with two daughters himself. Anyway, he was at Ruth's house, and next thing you know, it's the next morning and they woke up in bed together. Thus, at the end of the book, Ruth is pregnant with Harry's baby." Jo takes a breath and waits for Ruth to take it all in.
"So, you're sure they were talking about this book?" Ruth asked.
"They both had copies of the next book in the series. I skimmed through a few pages, enough to see that Ruth and Harry are the characters and that Ruth is pregnant. I fed them some story about wishing there was someone pregnant around Thames House that I could buy cute baby stuff for but they said they didn't know anyone. Ruth, I think they were telling the truth."
Ruth looked at Jo, trusting that her friend would be honest with her, then burst out laughing.
Jo was caught off guard with the laughter but quickly joined in.
"I can't believe it. I mean, what are the chances? I was so sure that someone had accessed my medical records or something. Harry and I are meeting with DG next week; we submitted our paperwork to him ages ago but he's kept everything quiet. We agreed it was the best course of action, to show that we could work together without it being a problem on the Grid and then revisit the issue in a year, thus the meeting. We plan to tell him about the baby, and then everyone in Section D afterwards. I just didn't want anyone to know, especially since we've made it this far."
"Well, your secret is safe so far and I promise that I won't tell a soul. Do you mind if we head back inside? I'm freezing out here."
Ruth nodded. "Yes, lets." Ruth shook her head. "I still can't believe the coincidence," she said as they headed back into the warmth of Thames House.
Ruth was sitting with her feet up on the sofa enjoying a cup of hot tea and reading on her Kindle while Harry cooked dinner. Even though she didn't spend a lot of time on her feet at work, Harry encouraged her to take it easy in the evenings, especially when they were spending that time together.
"Are you going to tell me what was bothering you earlier today?" called Harry from the kitchen. "I saw you and Jo come back from the roof and you were both in a good mood. Did you tell her about the baby?"
"I did tell her and I know she won't say anything. Actually, she did a little investigative work for me, so I needed to tell her the truth." Ruth knew this would pique Harry's interest and sure enough, she heard the cooker click off and Harry appeared from around the corner.
"Investigative work? Just what was going on today?" Ruth smiled at the concern in his voice, knowing that it was all for naught.
"I'll tell you the whole story, but it will go faster if you let me talk." Harry nodded his head in assent. "It started this morning when I overheard two women in the loo discussing a pregnant Ruth and the father of her baby, Harry."
Harry almost forgot his agreement to let her speak, so she silenced him with a look and quickly continued.
"I couldn't understand how they knew and my mind kept going over all the possibilities. Jo asked me if I wanted anything from the canteen, so I confessed everything to her and asked her to approach the women in question to see what she could discover."
Ruth continued with the story and enjoyed watching the expressions change on Harry's face as he listened to the story.
"So it was all just a coincidence. Thankfully I didn't confront them about the rumour or I'd have given away our news for no reason."
Harry smiled at the thought of Ruth confronting these women in the loo. "Oh I don't know, Jade and Serena aren't exactly known for their sharp minds. I'm still stuck on the fact that they were reading a book. Maybe it's one of those trashy romance novels, despite what Jo said." Harry stood from his seat near the sofa and moved in the direction of the kitchen.
"Doesn't seem that way to me," Ruth murmured.
"Why?" Harry said, stopping to turn and look at her, glued once again to her Kindle. "You've downloaded the book and are reading it, aren't you?"
"I thought it sounded interesting, though in this book Harry is married to a woman named Michelle. I don't need to check your records to ensure that you are divorced from Jane, do I? After all, you have two children together…"
"Ha, ha. There's a copy of my divorce decree somewhere in the house. I was tempted at one point to frame it and hang it up in my office, but decided that might be taking things a bit far." Walking back over to Ruth, he leaned over the back of the sofa to plant a kiss on her forehead while rubbing a hand appreciatively over her belly. "I'm all yours; no need to share me with anyone else."
Ruth smiled in response and raised her head to meet him for a kiss. "Mmm. Lucky me."