Another fic from me, and the updates are going to be slower for this one, as it isn't already written. Also the plot is paper thin, and really this is going to be an excuse to have Harry and Ruth locked in a room together. Set roughly in S8.

"So, tell me," Harry said to the meeting room at large. Ros turned on the screen and began talking about the drugs runner that was using the UK as a stopping point from South America, before shipping the drugs to Malawi, to be swapped for guns, which would later find their way back into the UK. Technically it was six's remit, but their home terrorists had been unusually quiet, so Harry had agreed to take on some of their case load, as long as it meant his officers didn't need to leave the country.

"So, this is Frank Chambers. Sixty one, retired and rumoured to be at the centre of the drugs ring," Ros said, bringing his picture up on screen. "He made a lot of money working in the corporate sector, but his wife, and his two mistresses have expensive tastes. It seems that he's doing this for the money rather than any ideological reasons. But we need to catch him in the act, and we need to know who his contacts are, who deals with the other end in Malawi."

"Great," Harry said. "So we're going to have to go in aren't we?" It was the obvious solution.

"Yes," Lucas said, taking over. "Six had a cover already set up before they became swamped. This is Jonathan Golding, a business man who wants a piece of the action and is meeting with Chambers to discuss adding heroine to the drugs run. For a slice of the profit of course." Harry looked at the man in question and sighed. It would be him, and he knew it. He was closest to the mans age and stature. Harry was going to have to go undercover. He sighed deeply, just realising that Lucas was still speaking. "Now, the two have never met but Chambers has invited Golding to his mansion in Bedfordshire for a week to discuss business."

"A week?" Harry asked. "That seems like an awfully long time."

"Well," Lucas said darkly with a shrug. "It seems like it's going to involve some r and r, as Golding's mistress was invited too and Chambers' wife is in the south of France for the next month."

"Perfect," Harry said, and the sarcasm was very clear. "So this meeting is a mixture of business and pleasure?"

"Yes," Ros said succinctly. "Golding is in six's custody, but no one knows where he vanished to. People in Egypt think he's here in England, and his English friends think he's still in Egypt.

"So I'm taking his place," Harry said. Suddenly everyone found the wood grain of the table highly interesting and Harry knew he'd forgotten something. The mistress. "And I'm guessing I'm not going alone."

"Well…" Lucas said, looking uncomfortable. He didn't finish and Ros sighed with impatience.

"We think Ruth would be a very good suggestion," Ros said.

"Me?" Ruth asked blankly, speaking up for the first time. "Why me?"

"Well, Marianne is brunette…"

"Oh, so pick me of course," Ruth said sarcastically. "The one who isn't a field agent, just on the basis of the colour of my hair. That makes sense!"

"It's not just that," Ros said. "We need someone to send the information to while you're on site, and it'll be encrypted. We need someone who has your talent for digging."

"Oh that's a pathetic excuse," Ruth said. "I don't want to listen to this anymore." Ruth left the room, leaving everyone else highly uncomfortable.

"Ros I'd like a word," Harry said, his tone silkily threatening. She seemed unperturbed, but everyone else ran for the exit. "Did you have to spring that on both of us like that?"

"It's an operation Harry," Ros said simply. "Are things between you and Ruth anything other than professional?"

"Rosalind," he said warningly.

"It's a job," she said. "And honestly, you being with Ruth would be believable to Chambers. Because there is clearly something between the pair of you. It will be believable," Ros said gently.

Harry did nothing but glower. He didn't discuss his personal relationship with Ruth at the best of times. But it seemed Ros wasn't finished. "Ruth is intelligent, and we need someone like her in the house. You're a brilliant undercover officer Harry, but her brilliance in a different way is necessary. Look, you're more than welcome to have a look through the undercover operatives we have on the books, and take your pick. But be honest Harry, if you had to be stuck in a country mansion for a week, who would you rather be with you?"

Harry hated to admit it, but she had a point. "I wish you hadn't sprung it on both Ruth and myself. That was tasteless."

"Well, maybe," Ros said. "You need to talk to her. Someone with her talents does need to be with you, and we both know she's the best."

"Ros, keep your nose out of my relationship," Harry said firmly. "What happens between Ruth and myself is none of your business."

"Understood," Ros said. "Talk to her though. You never know." With that Ros flounced out of the room, leaving Harry alone. He did need to speak to Ruth, that much was clear.

Walking back onto the grid, he stopped behind her desk. "A word in my office," he said. Then realising that might be too harsh, he added. "Please."

She looked at him, realising he was actually asking her rather than demanding it of her and nodded. She followed him, feeling peoples eyes on her back until they walked through to his office and the door mercifully closed. "Harry?"

"I did not arrange that little floor show," Harry said, sitting down. He nodded at her to do the same and she did. "I had no idea what Ros and Lucas had cooked up, nor what they were suggesting."

"I know," she said quietly. "I could tell from the look on your face."

"I… well, I have to go to see Chambers," he said. "We need someone there, and I'm the best physical fit. I'd like you to accompany me, but if you don't want to, that's fine. I'll pilfer someone from section A."

She smiled at him, a tight forced smile and he knew she was thinking it through. Thinking over every angle. He stayed silent, knowing she was debating it, and he was pleased. It meant it wasn't a straight no. "Do you actually need me there?" she asked. "To do my job, to get the analysis done?"

"I need someone with me, and I need someone who is more competent with computers than I am," he said. "Would it require someone of your brilliance? Probably not. But I… I'd like you to come with me," he admitted. "I wouldn't want to share it with anyone else. It would feel less like a chore if I had the pleasure of your company."

She smiled, a soft genuine Ruth smile at him. "Okay," she said without pausing to examine the ramifications of that sentence. After all, it was exactly what she wanted to do. For once she was listening to her heart, not her brain. "I'll go with you then."

"Do you mean that?"

"Yes," she said. "I'll tell Tariq. Get him to prepare my legend."

"Okay," Harry said. "That'd be good, but you have to stick to Marianne… whatever her name is. The details have to work with that one."

"Of course," she said, all business now. "When do we leave?"

"Friday morning," he said.

"The day after tomorrow?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. "Golding is expected then. Is that… okay?"

"Yes," she said, privately thinking she had to buy some more clothes. If she was going undercover as Harry's mistress… Jonathan Golding's mistress, she reminded herself, she needed something more flattering than the dowdy and office related outfits she normally wore. Because no one would look at her and believe that Harry would be having an affair with her. New clothes were a must. She wasn't doing it to impress Harry, of course not. It was purely work related. And she might even be able to get it on her expense account. It was for an operation after all.

"Tariq, can you arrange a legend for me in the name of Marianne Glover please?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," he said, seeming flustered but hiding his surprise well. "It'll be ready with Harry's in an hour or two."

"Great." Ruth sat down behind her desk and she could feel Jo's eyes boring into the back of her head. "What?"

"So you're going to Chambers house then?"

"Yes," Ruth said. "It's work related," she added.

"Of course," Jo said, her lips twitching. "I never expected anything else." Ruth nodded, but she knew damn well what everyone would be saying. No Ruth, don't listen. Your own feelings are more important. And she wanted to go. Did it matter what anyone else said?

More soon. Thanks for reading.