Title: Under the Surface
Author: MelWil
Fandom: Spooks
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Set during 4.10. Please don't spoil past 5.2 in the comments
Summary: Adam watched as they build it up and tear it down again.
The words echoed and reverberated around the room, before hanging from the ceiling like a thick fog. Harry and Ruth just stood there, too still, staring at each other with an intensity that seemed almost unreal.
Adam didn't want to be there. He knew there was something there, something unspoken going on between them. It had been there for months now, of course, bubbling under the surface. But now it seemed that the tension had risen to new levels, that it was threatening to explode.
Part of him (the part he hoped would stay hidden) wanted to laugh. They were so obvious, despite their particular, silent ways. But another part of him wanted to leave, to get out, to let them at it. They both knew too much about each other for this to be easy.
He coughed and they both moved, suddenly, as if set off by some sort of trigger. Ruth looked at the floor, her arms tightening around herself. Adam realised she was shaking slightly, and was surprised for a moment. Then he remembered that this wasn't what she had been trained for. This wasn't her thing.
He wondered, for a moment, why she stayed. Why did she allow her heart to be twisted like that – again and again. She could request a transfer, move out, move on. But still, she remained.
They moved away from each other, quickly and without a sound. That was how they always did it. They built their emotions up with a speed that scared them, then they dashed them, broke them, scattered the pieces to the wind.
He watched them go and wondered how much longer it could last. How much longer before they really did explode.
How much time before it all fell apart.