Disclaimer: Once again, Spooks belongs to Kudos. If it belonged to me it would probably turn into the Harry and Ruth show, (with a few minor terrorist interruptions.)
"Oh, there's one last thing." Harry said, turning to the other members of section D. They were sitting in the briefing room around the table, discussing the potential threats to a conference that was to be held in London. "My phone has gone missing. It's very important that I get it back before the conference. If anyone sees it, please could you give it to me. Thank you."
It was the night before the conference. The phone rang, making Ruth jump. It was ten o clock, and she was getting ready to go to bed. She ran down the stairs, but was too late to pick up the phone. Deciding not to bother checking who had called, she started up the stairs. She wouldn't have wanted to talk to anyone anyway. Except of course... No. Harry would certainly not be calling her in the evening.
Halfway up the stairs, she stopped, realising with dread that the phone that had rang was not her own. It was a slightly different tone to her own phone, and a bit louder. Someone else's phone had just rang inside her house. Someone was in her house. Trying not to panic, Ruth stood still on the stairs. She couldn't hear anything. Ruth carefully stepped down each stair at a time.
Trying to be as quiet as possible, she picked up the can of mace that she kept by the door, in case of emergencies like this one. Ruth checked the whole ground floor of her house for the intruder, but found no one. Fidget, curled up peacefully on the sofa, began to purr as Ruth entered the living room. There, under the cat's paw, was a mobile. Harry's mobile.
Harry had dropped round to her house with some files, and had agreed to come in for a cup of tea on Sunday morning. He must have dropped his phone on her sofa. Ruth picked up the phone carefully, and sat down next to Fidget. Should she ring Harry? After all, he did say that he wanted the phone back before the conference, which was tomorrow. But on the other hand, it was a quarter past ten. What was it he had said about late night tete a tetes? Fidget meowed softly, and she made her decision. She dialled the number into her own mobile, then waited.
The home phone rang, making Harry jump. Scarlett barked, and ran around the living room excitedly. Should he answer it? After all, there was only one person he would want to talk to. Could it possibly be her? No. He asked Ruth specifically not to call too late at night. It could be a matter of national security though. The conference? He picked up the phone.
"Harry, it's me."
"I thought I told you not to call me at night." Ruth was relieved, he didn't sound cross at all. In fact, although it was probably just her imagination, he sounded quite pleased to hear her voice.
"Sorry. It's just, I've found your mobile phone. It was on my sofa. You must have dropped it last Sunday."
"Have you? Wonderful. If it isn't too inconvenient, could I just pop round and get it?"
"Yes, of course." She replied, stroking Fidget, who was resting her furry head on Ruth's lap.
"Goodbye then. See you in about half an hour."
"Goodbye." Ruth put down the phone.
It was eleven o clock, and the sky was dark and clear, sprinkled with a few stars. The doorbell rang, startling Ruth. She opened the door, and let Harry in.
"Now, where did I put that phone?" she asked herself, anxiously checking the sofa. It wasn't there. Nor was it on the footstool, the coffee table or the mantlepiece.
"Do you need some help?" asked Harry, helping her lift cushions and books, and look under things. The phone was nowhere to be found.
Eleven thirty and they had searched everywhere. Harry was beginning to wonder if the phone had been accidentally thrown away.
"I know I had it in here." Ruth said, collapsing onto the sofa. Harry sat beside her, and poured two glasses of red wine from the bottle they had unearthed from under the bookshelves. During the search, Ruth had also found her old copy of Frankenstein, and a couple of DVDs that she had lost months ago.
"I'm really sorry, Harry." She said, "But I'm sure I put it down right here. I was sitting here when I rang you, and Fidget was next to me. Then I put down the phone, and went to get a glass of water."
"There's one place we haven't looked." exclaimed Harry, walking to the armchair where Fidget was curled up. Ruth followed, and lifting up the cat's paw, she saw the black mobile.
The next day, Section D was very busy with making sure there were no threats to the conference. Harry's phone rang constantly, and Ruth spent the morning monitoring CCTV footage. She was just getting up to make a cup of tea when the phone on her desk started to ring.
"Hello." Ruth said, wondering what else she would be asked to do.
"Hello Ruth. Would you like a cup of tea in my office? As a thank you for finding my phone. I think we both deserve a break." She looked over, and saw Harry watching her through the glass of his office walls. How did he always know exactly what she wanted?
"I'd love a break and some tea, thank you." She put the phone down, and walked over to join Harry in his office.