Title: Entanglements
Fandom: Spooks
Characters/Pairings: Harry/Ruth
Rating: T
Warnings: None
Summary: The outcome post 5x05 as if the events in my previous story, Havensworth: Behind the Scenes' had happened. A sequel if you will.
Disclaimer: I don't own Spooks or any of the characters or dialogue you may recognise. They all belong to Kudos/BBC.
A/N: This story is set post 5x05, after the events in my other story Havensworth: Behind the Scenes, although, it's not actually necessary to read that one as all will be explained within this fic (but I'd love it if you wanted to check it out).
Thanks to HR always live on for reading/checking/reassuring me about this, and for the idea for the title!
Chapter 1
Friday 5th October 2007, 4pm; Port-la-Nouvelle, France
Louisa Pearce locks the little bookshop she calls her workplace and makes her way down the street, eager to return home. It has been a busy day today, her boss was at a collectors fair so she was on her own with the delivery; the man who brings the books is lovely but he talks non-stop and is terribly disorganised. By the time he'd left at half past eleven Louisa felt like she had worked two full days on the trot with no sleep, so she is eager to get home. After dinner, perhaps she will stroll down onto the beach, and watch the waves for a while. It's a pastime she has grown increasingly fond of since arriving here in Port-la-Nouvelle 14 months ago. She had had to leave so much behind and the waves sooth her soul. Matthew likes them too, so they spend a lot of time there.
As she rounds the corner at the bottom of the hill, she spots her friend Gabrielle and her husband, Jérôme coming towards her, they wave and stop for a quick chat. Gabrielle was the first person she met after she moved here and they hit it off instantly. She has been very supportive and even helped Louisa get her job in the bookshop. She has not seen them for a few days; they own hotels; one here and one in nearby Béziers so they have been out of town, checking on their business. After about ten minutes, Louisa excuses herself; she must get home. Gabrielle nods understandingly and invited both her and Matthew for lunch tomorrow. She readily agrees and with a quick exchange of kisses, she is back on her way home.
As she nears her house, a sense of foreboding overcomes her and her pace quickens. She can't explain it, she just has the awful feeling that she needs to get home, now. She rounds the corner onto Rue Boileau and surveys the area. Her house is still standing proudly at the end of the road. Everything seems to be as it should; no unfamiliar faces or cars, nothing unusual. Until she approaches her front door that is. The house is quiet; eerily so and at this time of day it shouldn't be. Slowly, she opens the door and enters the house. Walking into the living room she sees, Matthew, asleep in his cot. She walks over to him and strokes his head, relief rushing through her that her son, only 6 months old, is safe. She wonders where Brigitte her child-minder is; if Matthew is asleep she is normally bustling about in the kitchen, baking or cooking whilst singing traditional French songs.
Leaving Matthew, she makes her way across the hallway towards the kitchen where she finds Brigitte. She is not cooking or singing. She is not doing anything. She is dead. Louisa lets out a scream and stares at the body in horror for a few seconds. Gunshot wound to the head; she has been executed. Panicked, Louisa runs back through the hall to the living room, one thought rushing around her head; she must get to Matthew. As soon as she is over the threshold, she is grabbed by two men waiting either side of the door. She screams and they gag her to muffle the sound. She struggles but stops as she hears footsteps on her wooden staircase, craning her neck to see who is there.
The men holding her turn her around and she is greeted by a tall man with a familiar air about him. She is sure she has seen him somewhere before but she cannot place him.
"Hello Louisa," he greets. "Or perhaps I should call you by your real name… Ruth?"
She is filled with a renewed sense of panic; this man knows her past; her real name. She frantically tries to get a look at Matthew; is he okay? Is he still sleeping? But she cannot see. In her distraction she doesn't notice the man coming towards her with a needle. The first she knows about it is when she feels the prick in her upper arm. As the man depresses the plunger, she feels her eyes begin to grow heavy. She cannot fight it and as the darkness overtakes her she shouts for her son… "Matthew!" She takes a breath and the blackness deepens. The name is a desperate whisper this time, "Harry…"