I have reached the 'sod it' stage in the post-10.6 grieving process, which naturally means (now immensely AU) fluff happens. I wasn't really sure what to make of that ending – I thought the performances and direction were wonderful, but to me it felt as though the writing was a little bit off. It just seemed somewhat disjointed and a bit like 'oh, we've finished the plot. But it's the last episode. We must kill someone. Let's kill Ruth. That'll be sad and fill up the last ten minutes.' And yeah, it was sad (and I cried quite a lot), but… I dunno. It felt a bit separate and just… not entirely right, in my view. I guess, though, that this is why we have fanfiction. That said, I thought most of the rest of the series – including the final episode - was amazing (Elena's hair was particularly marvellous and should probably win some sort of Outstanding Contribution award).

Anyway, I shall shut up now. Not sure if people are after fluff right now, but it was massively fun to write! Set somewhere mid-S9. Utterly indulgent and a little bit saucy. Probably nonsense but I hope you enjoy :)

Ruth blinked and the lights went out.

"Was that planned?" she asked the darkness, knowing Harry was seated somewhere on the other side of the large hotel conference room they were currently working in.

There was a shuffling noise from his direction. "No."

"So you didn't accidentally…?"

There was silence for a moment. "No. And you didn't..?"

"Well, unless the electricity is controlled by blinking..."

"Right." Harry's chair scraped backwards and Ruth heard him scrabbling about. "The computers have gone off," he said.

She nodded and then realised he couldn't see her. It seemed that their 'sound-proofed, fire-proofed, secured' control centre was also thoroughly light-proofed. It was pitch black and windowless. Ruth turned to where she knew the door to be. "Can't see any light from the hallway, either."

"Shit." Harry sighed. A light thunk came from his direction and Ruth imagined him leaning his fists on the table, head hanging forwards and various strategies forming in his mind.

Then his phone rang, casting a tiny square of light in the otherwise dark room. Ruth watched the small illuminated device move as Harry picked it up and answered it.

"Dimitri," he said.

In the quiet of the room, Dimitri's muffled reply could be heard from Ruth's desk. "Harry. Have the lights gone off where you are?"

"Yes. I hope you're calling with good news about our unanticipated situation. No terrorists on the loose at the Ramada, are there?"

"No. No terrorists. Just…"

"What?"

"Okay, it's my fault. I tripped a switch when I was installing the surveillance measures and it's got a little bit… confusing. Are you in the control centre?"

"Yes."

Ruth smirked at the impatience in Harry's voice, suddenly glad of the dark to hide behind. She imagined his jaw grating as he tried not to lose his temper over the phone.

"Right. Good. Ruth with you?"

"Yes."

"Good. Stay there while I fix the thing. Don't leave the room until I call back or else you'll trigger the alarm in the corridor and blow the whole thing."

"We'll blow the whole thing?"

Dimitri had the sense to sound contrite. "Okay. Yeah. It's my fault. Sorry. But we're isolating that area to make sure there's been no foul play that might've caused the trip. Basically… don't move until the lights come back on."

"How long until our re-enlightenment?"

"Fifteen, twenty?"

Harry sighed heavily. "Right."

There was a beep as he hung up the phone. Ruth tracked its movements as he returned it to the desk before the screen went dark once more.

"Dimitri's fixing the thing," Harry said, sounding sullen and as though a glass of something strong wouldn't go amiss, his mood clearly grim.

Ruth shifted on her chair and wondered in the back of her mind whether tripping the alarm in the corridor would be the worst thing in the world.

They sat in silence for several minutes. Ruth took the opportunity to close her eyes, tired after the long day on the Grid followed by decamping to the hotel to prepare for tomorrow's summit – a day sure to be even longer now that things had gone ever so slightly arse-over-tit.

She wondered if she should say something to Harry, but then decided an awkward conversation in the dark where there were even fewer distractions than normal was not something she was currently up to. They hadn't spent much time alone together since he proposed to her rather badly at a funeral and she turned him down, also fairly badly. She wasn't entirely sure how to handle it anymore without making their situation even worse.

But she still couldn't help the slight sense of anticipation that was building in her, an odd sort of heightened awareness as they sat in the dark, on opposite sides of the room. She was just… very aware that Harry was sat not too far away from her, with nothing to do for the foreseeable future. She could hear him breathing, and it reminded her of all the times she'd wondered what it would be like to hear him breathe in the dark.

In a completely different situation, of course.

Ruth was aware her thoughts were wandering, but she didn't really have the will or the desire to bring them back into line. She knew she should be trying to stay sharp, ready for when Dimitri fixed the glitch and they had to get back down to work, but the opportunity to let her mind drift and dwell on things she didn't usually let herself indulge in was certainly very welcome.

A dry cough and the sound of a scraping chair from Harry's side of the room interrupted her. "Was the water cooler over by you?" he asked, voice a little husky.

She realised that it was quite warm in the room, and the combination of it and the darkness dulled her reactions slightly. "Um, yes."

Ruth listened as Harry stood up and started across the floor, only to bang into a table on the way. "Ouch."

"You okay?"

He grunted in response and the shuffling noise started up again, sounding louder than it should in the otherwise perfectly silent room. "Where are you?" he asked after a moment.

"Here. Not that that helps, particularly. Sorry." She stood up, not really knowing why. "You must be close now."

Harry tripped over a chair a few feet away and then stumbled right into her. He grabbed onto her as he staggered slightly, accidentally pushing her into the table and making them both swear in response. "So it would seem," he answered, still holding onto her hips, his fingers flexing in the material of her skirt.

She wondered if she should disentangle herself from him – probably – but really, it had been so long since she'd been this close to anyone (him, specifically), that Ruth was finding it hard to summon the willpower to move. She'd forgotten just how wonderful a single touch could be, however accidental it was. She stayed still, letting him call the shots for now.

"Water," he said, sounding rather reluctant to move away.

Ruth shut her eyes against the disappointment, as though it would make a difference in the dark. "Should be behind you," she stuttered out.

Harry took rather a long time letting go of her, his hand lingering on her waist before he finally located the water cooler and the sound of air bubbles glugging and pouring water filled the room.

Leaning against the table, Ruth shifted slightly and thought her clothes felt a little warmer where he'd touched her. She found herself wanting him to touch her again, craving the lingering heat and sure, steady pressure against her. Ridiculous, she told herself. You can't turn the man down and then get all moody over him. Oh God, though. She could hear him swallowing as he drank. Something in her stomach flipped as she imagined the cool water sliding down his throat and she felt irrationally jealous.

The crumpling of the plastic cup as Harry finished his drink broke into her thoughts. "Do you want a drink?" he asked her, his voice taking on the low burr she loved so much, the one that always made her have to suppress a shiver lest she give herself away.

Truth be told, she would like a drink, but she couldn't guarantee she'd be able to drink it without spilling it everywhere. What had Dimitri said on the phone? Fifteen or twenty minutes? She could wait.

"Ruth?" Harry prompted her.

"Um, no. Thank you. I'm… I'm fine."

They lapsed into quiet once more, with only the sound of breathing and the slight rustle of clothes to break the silence. Ruth toyed with the idea of reaching out to him; the oppressive dark was making her crave something solid and she couldn't think of anything better than his arms around her. She didn't think he'd deny her comfort if she asked.

Except it wouldn't just be comfort, would it?

Her eyes had finally adjusted to the lack of light and she could just about make out the shape of Harry in the gloom. She thought he was looking in her direction, but she couldn't be entirely sure. She couldn't even make out her own fingers when she held her hand in front of her face.

"Is there a chair around here?" Harry said, sounding as though he was talking to himself.

He took a step forward and Ruth could just about see him reaching out, clearly uncertain where he was going. She shut her eyes to block him out, pushing down the temptation to lift one hand and pull him to her.

She told herself to think about the operation they were currently working on, the delegates they were supposed to be protecting and the systems that needed to be set up tonight before everyone arrived first thing in the morning. She thought about how the lights could come back on at any moment. How long had it even been now?

Then Harry took another step forward and his chest brushed against hers as she stood against the desk. His breath hitched. So did hers.

"Sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all.

She sucked in a shaky breath. "S'okay."

"I was looking for a chair." Harry pulled in a breath and his chest expanded, bringing them into closer contact for a moment before he exhaled a shaky stream of air.

Ruth felt it on her face. Her fists clenched at her sides. She tried not to think the thoughts that threatened to crowd out everything else from her mind.

"Ruth," he whispered, a slight question in his tone.

She shifted against him but didn't move away. It would have been so easy to. It just wasn't an option.

Tentative hands found her hips and pulled her a half-step towards him, away from the table. Without its support behind her, Ruth felt slightly lost. She kept her eyes closed and focused on the feel of the hands moving cautiously up her body, seeking something. Harry skimmed her waist and her rib cage and then tactically moved to her arms, continuing over her shoulders and up her neck. The little moan that escaped her throat was entirely involuntary but, given the fact he rewarded her by gently sliding one leg alongside hers, also entirely welcome.

Finally, he found her face and suddenly the darkness surrounding them no longer mattered. His thumbs stroked her cheeks and she reciprocated by sliding her hands up his chest and around his neck. By unspoken agreement, their mouths met, hot and damp and eager to explore.

Ruth pushed herself closer to Harry and carefully pulled his bottom lip between both of hers, sucking for a long moment before releasing it and then kissing him all over again, drinking him in and completely disregarding any remaining rational thought that might have kept her away from him.

He didn't seem to mind, moving one hand down her back to band tightly around her waist as he coaxed her mouth open and slid his tongue against hers for the first time. They both jolted at the contact and then lost themselves again, hands growing ever bolder.

There was a moment when Harry stepped backwards and they stumbled together, but somehow their unwillingness to part kept them upright, and Ruth found herself with her back against the wall and Harry's chest and hips pressing insistently against hers. She could feel his response to her and felt an answering pull deep inside her.

"Harry," she gasped against his mouth, a slight seed of worry starting to enter her mind.

"Mm." He was too busy attaching his lips to her neck to answer properly.

"The lights." She ran one hand through his hair and busied the other with sliding under his shirt and up the skin of his back, tempted to give up caring about the practicalities completely. "How long have we got?"

Harry pulled away from her slightly and laid his forehead against hers. "Not long enough," he answered.

She sighed and stilled, wanting to feel him against her for a short while longer before they inevitably had to revert back to professionalism.

A hand cupped her breast deliberately and then Harry said, "We'll continue this later."

It was a statement.

"Okay." She was slightly surprised she didn't even hesitate, instead pressing into his touch and marvelling at how quickly change could happen once she had stopped denying it – denying them.

Harry's phone rang once more, the screen lighting up on the other side of the room; their cue to sort themselves out, clearly. With one final, brief kiss, he moved away from her and stumbled back over to the phone, knocking into another chair on the way.

Ruth stayed standing by the wall, surreptitiously adjusting her clothes and trying to calm her breathing.

By the time the lights flickered back on two minutes later, they were both the very image of professionalism, ready to get down to business and do the job they were paid for.

Just as well thoughts are hidden on the inside.

"All right?" Harry said as they settled back down to the task in hand, a knowing glint in his eye and anticipation written all over his face.

She was fairly certain her answer would be just as evident in her expression but, just to be sure, she nodded and said, pointedly, "Just looking forward to going home."

The smile he gave her in return was enough to power her through the rest of the night.

Err…yeah. Not wild about the ending but it had to stop somewhere!

Thanks for reading :)