A/N: The inspiration for my one shot is from kailin, who wrote a hilarious fic called "Like Father, Like Daughter" in the Harry Potter fandom, HGSS pairing. It's good to be back in the Spooks fandom, I must say. I've missed all of you terribly!

A/N #2: This is set several years after s8. AU, clearly, as RH are married and have a kid.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


She was dicing tomatoes and onions in the kitchen when she heard his frantic footsteps pattering down the hall. Alarmed, she set down the knife on the wooden cutting board as he burst in through the swinging door. His eyes were glowing strangely and she raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

"Something the matter?"

"You have to see this. Come upstairs with me, now." He said in a hushed voice.

Genuinely puzzled, she wiped her hands in her apron and followed him out of the kitchen and quietly up the stairs. When they reached the top of the staircase, Harry paused again and turned to her with a finger placed in front of his lips, emphatically shushing her. Ruth rolled her eyes exasperatedly and stood with him in the threshold of their office.

Ruth's eyes widened drastically when she caught sight of their daughter sitting at their mahogany desk, the juxtaposition of the desk's austerity and their daughter's fanciful behavior brought a smile to her face. She glanced at Harry, who was equally enchanted by the scene.

Their four year old daughter was tapping on the computer keyboard in no particular pattern with one hand as she clutched the home phone to her ear and chattered nonsensically into the mouthpiece. She was playing 'intelligence analyst,' her parents both realized as they watched her frown and tap on the keyboard some more. She then shuffled the files and papers on the desk, muttering under her breath as she had seen her mum doing so many times before whenever she brought work home with her.

Ruth was beaming at Jacqueline with unconcealed pride and Harry took the opportunity to wrap an arm around her waist. He pulled her close and whispered, "She looks just like you." Ruth could only exhale softly in amusement and lean her head on his shoulder. They stood there, unobserved, for a moment longer until Jacqueline decidedly wiped the smiles from both of her parent's faces.

With all the aplomb of an MI-5 section head, Jacqueline banged her fist on the table in anger. She tossed the thankfully unimportant papers in the air and shouted, "That bloody damn bugger shite!" Harry looked choked up and Ruth's face had gone completely white. This was when Jacqueline took notice of her mum and dad's presence. She leapt off the chair and toddled over to them, latching onto Harry's leg with a sunny smile. Harry ruffled her dark brown hair affectionately as Ruth spluttered, "She must have heard me when I was talking to someone from the Registry the other day…I was in a rather bad mood and the computer was lagging."

Harry gave her a look of utter hilarity and allowed himself to be pulled by little Jackie to her room to see the drawings she'd spent the afternoon working on. Ruth stood stock still in the office, still understandably mortified by the words that her daughter had picked up from her. Perhaps when the shock wore off she'd be able to laugh about it with her husband, but, as she heard a high pitched, "Mummy!" from the other room, she already knew that Harry would never let her live this down.

Fin~