Created to return a favor
I don't own Spooks, I'm only doing this to my own (and hopefully your) enjoyment
No beta was done
Monday
Ruth was sitting at her desk, she was working late as usual, the last one left on the Grid. Even Harry had left 30 minutes ago, she smiled as she imagined him standing in his kitchen cooking them dinner.
It's been 3 months since she came back, and they mutually decided that although they both still felt the same, they should take things slowly, get to know each other again and let their relationship develop at its own pace. Tonight was the third time they had dinner at Harry's house instead of going out, and she decided that unlike the previous times, tonight she was going to take his offer and stay.
Ruth was so absorbed in her thoughts and plans that she hardly noticed the mail cart as it made its final rounds for the day, startled when it passed her desk she looked up and smiled at the woman pushing it.
Only after the mail cart was out of the Grid Ruth noticed that the woman had dropped something. She went over and picked it up, looking in amazement at the DVD box and the title that was on it: Casablanca. There was no recipient or address on the box, and when she opened it she saw that it was empty.
Ruth looked at her watch and saw that it was time for her to leave as well. She put the box on her desk, deciding that she could look into the matter tomorrow.
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Tuesday
Ruth had been on a cloud the entire day, she kept replaying last night's events in her head, and she still couldn't believe that this time it was real, not some dream. Harry has been busy all day, only coming to the Grid for short periods between meetings, but every time he passed her desk he took the time to stop and smile at her, and every time he did that her heart melted.
Being in somewhat of a euphoric mood the Casablanca DVD completely slipped her mind and so it stayed on her desk the entire day. When she came back to the Grid after a short trip to GCHQ she was surprised to find a copy of The Odyssey on her desk next to the DVD. She asked around about it but no one knew where it came from. She made a mental note to ask Harry about it later and got back to work, leaving the two peculiar items on her desk.
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Wednesday
Ruth was sitting at her desk staring down at the items that accumulated on it; next to Casablanca and The Odyssey there was now a third item – a VHS tape of Cabaret.
She was now sure that there was someone behind all these mysterious gifts. Harry being her prime suspect she confronted him over lunch, but he denied all knowledge of the gifts and looked as puzzled over them as she was.
Of course she still suspected that Harry was only acting innocent, but decided to play along and follow his advice to try and find a link between the items. Something was nagging at her mind, a distant conversation with Harry that lurked on the edge of her memory, but the constant phone calls regarding their latest operation kept distracting her and by the end of the day she was too exhausted and decided to wait and see what gift tomorrow will bring.
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Thursday
She would never admit it out loud, but Ruth was somewhat disappointed to find no new gift on her table the next morning. Even though she tried to ask Harry about them the previous night he very skillfully distracted her from the subject, and frankly she really didn't mind those distractions.
It was almost the end of the day when a strange voice woke Ruth from her daydreams, "Excuse me?"
Ruth looked up to see a young woman standing besides her desk looking a bit out of place.
"Hi," Ruth smiled at her, "Can I help you with something?"
"Yes, I'm the temp analy…"
The woman didn't get to finish her sentence when a very breathless Harry appeared next to her, looking as if he practically dashed out of his office.
"You must be Nicole, "He said briskly, not looking at Ruth, "Please come with me."
"Harry?" Ruth asked hesitantly
"It's alright Ruth, nothing to worry about," Harry still didn't look at her and before she had a chance to respond he pushed Lisa to his office and closed the door behind them.
Ruth was still staring at Harry's office when Jo approached her. "Hey, this was put on my desk by mistake this morning, it's addressed to you, I think it's something about the Telford operation," she handed Ruth a thick brown envelope.
Ruth opened the envelope, still looking occasionally at Harry's office, and found inside it a copy of Don Quixote. She stared at it for a few moments that lost conversation with Harry trying yet again to resurface from her subconscious.
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Friday
It was right after lunch when Ruth finally solved the mystery behind the gifts. She was sitting at her desk, the gifts laid in order in front of her: Casablanca was Paris; The Odyssey represented Rome, Cabaret Berlin and Don Quixote Madrid. She now reprimanded herself for forgetting their conversation about The Grand Tour on their first dinner together, so many years ago.
She still didn't understand why Harry wanted her to remember, but her attempts to ask him about it were futile since he'd been busy all day, apparently preparing for some big and secret operation and was never by himself when he was at his office.
She was getting ready to leave, deciding to ask him about it later that night when she heard the silent beep that notified her she had a new mail message. She sighed and sat back at her desk. To her surprise the message was from Harry, all it contained was a URL and the simple message: "Click me".
The link got her to a music video, playing a quiet song:
Run with me baby, let your hair down
through every station, through every town
run with me baby, let's take a chance
from Heathrow to Hounslow, from the Eastern Block to France
Europe is our playground, London is our town
so run with me baby now
Ruth was so absorbed in the song she was startled when Harry came behind her, putting two plane tickets on her desk. He smiled softly at her confused look and explained: "I made arrangements for both of us to go on a month long vacation, just the two of us, no backup or surveillance. I hope I wasn't being too presumptuous in hoping that you'd join me on the Grand Tour?"
Ruth's only response was to stand up and gently kiss Harry, "Of course I'd join you," She whispered in his ear.
The song is "Europe is our playground" by Suede
I'm starting to get addicted to writing these short fluffy fics :)
Don't forget to let me know what you think