Disclaimers and all that. Characters are Kudos's and other names made up.

Have no idea where this might be going but felt the need to write something!

There was a quiet corner of the Grid. Tariq sat by his monitor as the others gathered around. The enquiry had begun into the Albany case and the investigation into Harry Pearce along with it. There were many questions to be answered but all were behind closed doors in front of a select few, Section D were, most definitely not invited. The picture on the screen showed various members of the JIC, the DG and the Home Secretary but at it's centre and it's main focus was Harry himself, he sat facing them.

"Turn it up a bit, Tariq" said Dimitri.

"This is the best I can get, you want better, then next time you try getting a camera in there!"

"Sshhh," said Beth.

Only Ruth was quiet, focused on the screen.

"Thery're going to throw him to the wolves."

"Dimitri, shut up." Beth had had enough.

None of them were confident about what the results of the inquiry would be and in truth they were all unsure of their feelings about it. They had an incredible loyalty towards Harry but what he had done was wrong, very wrong. A genetic weapon in the hands of the Chinese and they'd let it go, well, Harry had let it go. They understood why but they couldn't truly forgive him for that. Especially Ruth. She felt it when they looked at her, felt them judging how she could be more important than thousands of lives. She bitterly felt the irony of it all, the irony of bad timing once more. She thought she had become hardened, had forgotten how to feel and then she was told that Harry was alive and it was Lucas who had fallen, in that moment she knew what it was to feel, she was overwhelmed with feeling. How, though, could she reconcile that with what he had done. How could she forgive him.

"So, Harry,'" the DG began, "perhaps you'd like to explain just why you deemed it necessary to give away a national secret to the Chinese?"

The team were hushed and though they didn't look at Ruth, she knew they were deeply aware that she was the answer to the question.

"I put the immediate interests of my officer first and gambled that I would be able to prevent Albany leaving the country once her safety was secured. I succeeded with one objective and sadly failed with the other."

"Sounds very simple" said the DG bitterly.

"It felt so at the time"

"Would you have taken the same action had it been any other officer?'

"I would like to think so."

"I bet you would" said Jason Graves, the head of 6, somewhat under his breath.

Harry ignored him.

The DG continued "Harry, are you in a relationship with Ruth Evershed?"

The team around the monitor tried hard not to look at Ruth and she tried hard to keep breathing.

"No". Harry's face was still and composed, it was true, sad and sorry and true.

"There have been rumours, rumours you've been sleeping together. Now's the time to tell us."

"No." said Harry, his composure slipping and his temper coming to the fore.

Graves was enjoying this, "Come on Harry, you gave away Albany for a cheap shag."

Harry's chair was flung back as he stood aggressively eyes tearing through Graves.

"Harry sit down." Said the DG firmly.

He sat, slowly trying to regain his composure but not losing the sense of fury he felt. They could assassinate his character but not Ruth's, they were not fit to speak her name. Slowly and deliberately he spoke, "I took a calculated risk and I lost. I put first the life of my most senior, most loyal, my best officer. I was not willing to let another member of my team die for a false secret, a fake."

This time all heads around Tariq's monitor did look away from the screen, they looked at each other.

"A Fake?" simply said Beth.

The DG continued, "Harry, it's a national secret, top security, it does not matter whether it works or not, the threat we have it is enough. Sorry, stupid me, the threat we had it, was enough."

"I was not prepared to have another life on my conscience for an empty threat that dated back to the cold war." Harry had regained his calm.

Ruth felt anything but calm. The team were smiling, their relief palpable, Harry was no traitor.

"Tariq, can you set off the fire alarm in their building?" Ruth asked.

"Course."

"Then do it."

"But, Ruth…?"

"Just do it" she said and walked towards the pods. "Dimitri, you're with me"

and the pod doors slid shut.