AN - Well this is my first and very possibly last story I'll write. I wanted to to say thank you for all the wonderful stories I've read over the years and all the writers that have kept the Spooks characters alive... particularly Harry and Ruth. I do hope you enjoy and any reviews would be very well received. Given that today is Sir Harry's birthday then what better time to post.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Harry sighed as he heard the knock at his front door; he'd been home for just 10 minutes after a hellish couple of days on the Grid where he'd managed to grab only a few uncomfortable hours sleep on what passed for a sofa in his office. His team, led by Adam and Zaf, had been keeping an eye on an Animal Rights faction that had threatened to break into zoo's and wildlife parks across the country in order to free the animals; fortunately their plot had been foiled by the team managing to round up the ringleaders in London, Manchester and Edinburgh, word had filtered through to the rest of the organisation and they'd given up quietly when the local police had shown up. What exactly they'd been hoping to achieve by setting free Elephants, Zebras and Penguins Harry wasn't sure, but he was fully aware that the sight of said animals walking down Regents Street in central London would raise the ire of both the press and the Government, he'd undoubtedly shoulder the blame and being cast as the whipping boy by the Daily Fail, sorry Mail, held very little appeal to him.

He opened the door slowly, it was 8.00pm on a Sunday and as far as he could remember he wasn't expecting anyone. He was greeted by the sight of Ruth Evershed holding an enormous bag and struggling with a very flimsy umbrella against the elements.

"Ruth", she was one of the last people he'd expected to see, they were finally back on an even keel at work following her rejection of a second dinner with him, but their relationship had remained on a strictly professional basis since then. Gone were the long chats late in the evening in his office and even the more innocuous conversations they'd shared about anything and everything had seemed to grind to a halt. "What are you doing here?"

Ruth looked at him and smiled briefly, "Uh, you left work before I'd realised and I had something I wanted to give you, it's just been so hectic today that there wasn't chance and then before I knew it I was the last one on the Grid and everyone had gone home. Can I come in for a minute?"

"Yes, yes of course." Harry opened the door as she stumbled through, "when did it start raining?"

"About 5 minutes ago, one minute it was fine and the next the heavens opened. Fortunately I had my brolly in my bag," Ruth looked down ruefully at her soaking coat and shoes, "not that it did me much good in the end."

Harry smiled, "Not that I'm not glad to see you Ruth, but I'm sure whatever it is you need to give me could have waited until tomorrow." He looked at her stricken for a moment. "I know I said I needed to have the Argent files on my desk before the end of play today, but that was before those idiots decided to try and turn the country into the Serengeti. You haven't been fretting about that?"

Ruth smiled at him, looking around her as she did. This was the first time she'd been in Harry's house, well his hallway if she was being accurate. "No, I wanted to give you something else." She looked at her feet suddenly unsure. "I know things have been difficult between us recently and that's mainly my fault." She started to rummage in her bag before bringing something out, "but I wanted to give you this today." Again she smiled at him nervously, butterflies resident in her stomach; this had seemed like such a good idea on the way over, now she wasn't as sure. "Happy Birthday Harry."

Harry looked at the wrapped box in her hand perplexed. "Good Lord, I'd completely forgotten." He smiled wryly, "When you get to my age you tend to forget... especially when there's no one there to remind you."

Ruth's stomach lurched as she heard this. He had two adult children, hundreds of acquaintances and yet no one had even thought to wish him happy birthday or send him a card.

She thrust the package towards him, "Well here you go, I had planned on hiding it and leaving you clues like you did for me, but then today happened and I just thought..." she trailed off as Harry took the package off her.

"Come in properly," he turned towards the back of the house , "leave your umbrella by the door." He turned back towards her to make she was following him through to the kitchen. "You'll join me for a drink?"

Ruth entered the kitchen glancing around her as she did. It was functional and surprisingly, to her mind, modern. "Nice kitchen."

"Hmmm..., the previous owners had just put it in when they decided to up and sell"

"Oh, how long have you been here now?"

"About 18 months. I moved into a rented flat after my old house was compromised in an operation a few years ago. This belonged to a friend of a friend who knew I was looking to buy again and they put me in touch with the previous owners." He smiled wryly, "It's not too far from work and is a manageable size for me, I seemed to rattle round in my old house..." He looked up at Ruth. "Tea?" he asked waggling the kettle at her, "or can I tempt you into something stronger?"

"I don't want to intrude. You probably have things you need to be doing." Ruth indicated to the still wrapped box which was now sitting on the kitchen table. "I just wanted to drop this off to you and now I'll leave you in peace."

Harry felt his face fall, was she being polite or did she really want to leave so quickly. "Please Ruth, you wouldn't be intruding at all." He smiled softly at her. "The only plans I had for this evening were to have some cheese on toast and an early night." He looked up quickly feeling the colour starting to creep up his neck... "I didn't mean anything by that, I just meant that it had been a long couple of days and I need to catch up on my sleep."

Ruth fought down the mirroring blush that was threatening her face. "I know Harry." she stifled a small yawn. "I have pretty much the same plans once I get home."

"Well stay then, I can probably even make the cheese on toast stretch to two if you'd like to join me?" Seeing that she was battling an internal war within herself, he hedged his bets, "Please... it is my birthday. You wouldn't want me to eat alone!"

Ruth glanced a humorous look at him, "You'd forgotten it was your birthday until 5 minutes ago" was her quick retort. She relented though, it was only cheese on toast. She moved to shrug her coat off, "Ok I'll stay." she said, "on one condition."

Harry looked up and thought he could read her like a book. "Ruth, I promise this will stay between us. I have no great desire to be the centre of office gossip either. This is just a bite to eat between two friends... you will give me that, I'd like to believe we are still friends?"

Ruth felt the heat rise in her face once again. "Uh, no, that's not what I meant Harry." Seeing his confused face she continued, "I mean yes, I still think of us as friends, I wouldn't have brought you a gift round if that wasn't the case." She indicated towards the parcel. "I just meant that if I was to stay, then you should at least open your present."

Harry nodded, suddenly smiling. "Ok, deal." He took her coat off her and disappeared into the hall to hang it up before reappearing in the kitchen. "You never answered my earlier question, tea or something stronger... and once we've got a drink, then I'll open the present."

Ruth smiled, "Tea please, I have to drive home and I think anything stronger will make me even more drowsy."

Harry switched the kettle on, "You don't mind if I have a whiskey?" he glanced over, "it's not everyday it's my birthday after all."

Ruth laughed softly, "Not at all, though I've never realised you needed an excuse to have a drink." She looked over feeling a sudden wave of affection for him. "How about I make the tea while you make the cheese on toast. I might even have a nip of whiskey in my tea... just to keep you company."

They both busied themselves, Ruth familiarising herself with his kitchen and Harry enjoying her bustling around while he tended to the grill. "Do you just like plain cheese?" he enquired as she sat down at the table with her mug of tea, "or do you prefer a splash of Worcestershire sauce as well."

"Let's live dangerously."

Harry placed the plates down on the table in front of them where Ruth had already laid out the cutlery."Dig in, I wouldn't want it to go cold."

"Is this a typical dinner for you." Ruth asked conversationally.

Harry looked up startled, "Ah yes, I forgot, you think I exist on tuna and crisps?" he smiled over at her warmly. "It's pretty standard, I try to eat a larger meal at work during the day, when I get home it's usually either a snack like this or a takeaway."

"Can you cook?" Looking over at Harry's face she couldn't work out if she'd offended him or not. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

Harry butted in with a laugh. "Ruth, It's fine. Stop worrying about offending or upsetting me and relax." He took a sip of his whiskey before continuing, "and in answer to your question, yes I can cook... well after a fashion anyway. I know the basics but to be honest I don't see the point in cooking for one and with the hours we work, well by the time I finish the last thing on my mind is whipping up a dish or even popping to the shops to pick something up. How about you, I know you can cook from those dishes you sent me earlier in the year when I was suspended, but do you enjoy it?"

"Yes and no; I enjoy it if I have the time to do it and I'm not just making myself something to eat, but I generally just heat up some soup or have a salad most evenings."

They both glanced down at their plates realising suddenly that they'd both seemingly admitted to something to each other and recognising how nice it was to eat something so simple with someone there to talk to.

Harry cleared throat, "well I suppose I should open this."

"Don't sound so enthusiastic," teased Ruth with a smile. "I hope you like it."

"You really didn't need to get me anything Ruth... although I'm glad you did." He paused in the unwrapping of the parcel and gave a small smile, "mainly because you came round to give it to me in person." He pulled the remainder of the paper away and his face broke into a broad smile. " A chess set, thank you. I used to love playing but lost my set in one of my house moves and haven't had the time or inclination to buy another one." He started to empty the packaging it had come in. "Ruth, this is exquisite" he was holding in his hands chess pieces that looked like they had been hand-crafted rather than mass produced. "You really shouldn't have, this must have cost a..."

"Harry, let me stop you right there!" Ruth interrupted him sharply. "It's a gift and I'm glad you like it, the cost is immaterial. If I hadn't wanted to buy it for you then I wouldn't have!"

"Like it... I love it!" He looked at her curiously, 'How did you know I played chess? I think I'd have remembered speaking to you about it if we'd discussed it before. I can recall most of our personal convers..." He cleared his throat, suddenly realising how much he'd nearly revealed of himself to her. He must have had more whiskey than he realised. "Was it just an educated guess."

Ruth tapped her forefinger against her nose and looked at him with a mischievous expression which hid how much his near confession had affected her; she'd long stored up each of their conversations in a part of her head which she'd then bring out to mull over and dissect late at night when she should have been sleeping. "That's for me to know and you to find out." She suddenly grinned. "I could tell you... but then I'd probably have to kill you."

Harry let out a shout of laughter, "Touché."

Ruth sobered suddenly, "I just wanted to do something for you... something nice. Ever since I said what I said about dinner again, things have been awkward between us." She looked down at the table, her hands playing with her now empty mug, "and I just wanted to try and... oh I don't know." she sighed.

"Ruth, I am sorry, I never wanted to make you feel uncomfortable." He leant further over the table and covered one of her hands with his holding it gently. "I do understand you know, I might not agree with you from a purely selfish perspective, but I do understand."

Ruth looked up at him. "It was a shock going into work and finding everyone talking about me... about us. I went into the kitchen and people would stop talking and I know I was, am, probably being paranoid but all I could see was people talking about me, about us and I panicked." She turned her hand over and met his squeezing it softly. "I am sorry Harry and I am trying to be a little braver..."

"Ruth... take as much or as little time as you like. I'm just more pleased than I can say that you're here with me now, eating cheese on toast and having a drink with me... even if it is tea!" Squeezing her hand once more before pulling away, "Speaking of which, you look like you could do with a top up?"

Ruth made as if to get up, "I really should go Harry, I only popped round on my way home to give you the chess set and it's getting late."

Harry's face fell, he'd felt they'd made progress however small over the last hour and once again it appeared to be a case of one step forward, two steps back. "Please Ruth, you can't bring me a chess set over and then not at least give me a game... And it's not that late, I'm turning 53 not 83!"

"Harry, you're exhausted, you've hardly slept over the last couple of days."

"Well that should make it a little easier for you to beat me if I'm not firing on all cylinder... you do play?"

Ruth sat back down at the table, "I do, my father taught me when I was six and we used to play every Sunday until he died."

"I'm sorry Ruth."

"Don't be." She smiled wistfully. "Those Sunday evenings sat in the kitchen like this, drinking tea and playing chess are some of my happiest memories."

"Well then, you set up then game and I'll replenish the drinks..."

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Thank you for this evening it's been lovely, Harry smiled down at her shyly, nerves suddenly getting the better of him. He opened the door to let her out "You're a mean opponent in chess".

Ruth smiled up at him, "I love playing" she glanced at her feet quickly before summoning up her inner courage, "and thanks you too. I've really enjoyed it as well." She swallowed quickly and before she lost her nerve she moved to kiss him quickly, it was only a short embrace somewhere between the cheek and the mouth and once done she stepped back again and made to move down the path before stopping and turning back. "Happy birthday again Harry."

Harry was still slightly stunned that she'd kissed him, innocuous though it was, if he'd been more prepared he'd have tried to at least meet her half way but the kiss had come and gone before he realised. "Thank you and be careful driving home." He watched her walk down the path to her car making sure she got there safely, when she turned back again.

"Would you like to do this again?" She smiled up at him again, "I mean if you'd like to of course." Again there was the quick look to the feet. " I just thought maybe you could come round for dinner on Friday night and we could have another game?"

Harry smiled broadly, this day was full of surprises. "I'd love to Ruth, it's a date." He looked up slightly horror-struck at his own choice of words which had just slipped out. Idiot Pearce he chastised himself, it had all being going so well and now he'd probably set them back another few steps. "I'm sorry Ruth, it just slipped out, it's just words, I meant..."

Ruth interrupted him softly. "Don't worry about it." She smiled at him, this time with confidence as she looked him in the eye. "It is a date." She opened the car door, "I'll see you tomorrow morning at work Harry. Sleep well."

Harry smiled broadly. "You too Ruth, I'll see you tomorrow." He stood at his door watching as she started the car and pulled away from the kerb with another smile and small wave before turning back inside and shutting the door. This had turned into one of his best birthdays yet and the promise of what was to come filled him with hope and elation as he walked back down the hall to the kitchen whistling.

The End... or just possibly the beginning