SPOILERS for 10:6. My version of what should have happened when Sasha attacked Ruth. I've taken a bit of the script and mixed some of it around. Hope it reads ok.

"I can't breathe," she said in a harsh whisper as she collapsed onto the ground, but still somehow held in his arms

"I know," Harry replied quickly. He pressed his hand to her wound trying to ignore the blood staining his hands.

"That hurts," she whispered.

"I know," he murmured. "I have to keep the pressure on until medical help gets here."

"Its too late," she said in a harsh voice.

"Don't say that," Harry replied. "Help is on the way. This… its serious but it won't kill you." She closed her eyes, wanting the pain to drift away. "No!" Harry shouted. "You have to keep talking to me. You have to keep awake."

"I can't," she whispered. "It hurts."

"Air response is five minutes away," Erin said. Harry ignored her completely, focusing all his attention on Ruth.

"I know it hurts Ruth, I know it does," he repeated. "But keep talking. Tell me about your house. The one you're going to buy."

"Harry…"

"Just keep talking," Harry said. "So tell me about your house."

"Its… got a lovely green front door. The… paint's peeling and she said I'd want to change it. But I don't, I love it."

"Of course you do," Harry said, making sure she could see his smile. Her face was so pale and he was starting to panic. He kept one hand pressing the stab wound, the other caressed her face lightly. She was cold as well. Too cold. "Erin, how far away?"

"Three minutes," she said, unable to keep her eyes off of Ruth. How could this be happening?

"What else Ruth?" Harry said trying to keep her talking. "About your house. How many bedrooms does it have?"

Her breathing had become heavy. Very heavy. "Two…" she said in a quiet breath. "But one's very small. I thought… it could be your office."

"My office? What are you talking about Ruth?"

"You know I said I couldn't picture myself living there?" Harry nods, still holding her face. "Well, the truth is… I couldn't picture myself living there… without you." Harry paused before replying. He looked up as he heard the helicopter approaching.

"We will live there Ruth," he said. "Hold on. Helps coming."

"Harry… this really hurts," she murmured. He tightened his grip on her wound and she moaned as a fresh wave of pain hit her.

"I know. But you have to hold on. Not long now," Harry looked up and saw that the helicopter was landing. "Why did you do that Ruth? Sasha wanted me, so why did you do that?"

"I couldn't… let him hurt you," she said, a ghost of a smile on her face. "I just couldn't."

"That was really stupid," Harry said. She closed her eyes and didn't have the energy to open them again. "Ruth. Ruth! Look at me."

"I.. can't," she murmured. Harry leant over her and kissed her lips softly. When he let her go he saw her lips moving. He leant closer so he could hear over the helicopter. "Why… do you only kiss me… when one of us is leaving Harry?" He smiled before she continued. "You can… give a girl the wrong idea you know."

"I promise, the next time I kiss you will not be because one of us is leaving," he said into her ear. He turned and saw a stretcher making its way towards them. "Hold on."

As soon as she was in the helicopter she slipped into unconsciousness. A fact which worried Harry intensely but the medics assured him that her heart was still beating, and that after all was the most important thing. She was still here. It didn't take long for them to get to a hospital. Harry was ripped away from her. He sat in the hospital room for hours, sometimes with Erin or Dimitri, but mostly alone. Ruth was having God knows what done to her but he couldn't leave. He'd never forgive himself of Ruth died, but if she died and he wasn't there… That would be much worse.

Harry was staring into space when a doctor approached him. The doctor made Harry's heart soar with one simple sentence. "Miss Evershed wants to see you."

"She's alive?" Harry asked, feeling himself go weak with relief. The doctor nodded. "And awake? She'll be fine?"

"Yes, she's awake but no, she won't be fine," the doctor said slowly. Her left lung was severely compromised and there was only so much repair work we could do. She'll probably have trouble breathing for the rest of her life."

"But she's alive?" Harry asked holding onto that ray of hope.

"Yes," the doctor replied. "Follow me." Harry did and quickly opened the door to Ruth's hospital room. Her eyes found his briefly and she looked so very tired. Her eyes had black circles beneath them and her face still had that unhealthy pale white glow about it.

"You're here," he said sitting next to her.

"Apparently," she replied. He leant over her still form and kissed her softly.

"You had me worried."

"Harry, you look terrible, when's the last time you slept?"

"Just the greeting I was looking for," he said, relieved that Ruth, his Ruth seemed to be back, at least in spirit.

"I wanted to ask you something," Ruth said, the serious tone back in her voice. Harry nodded waiting for her to continue. "Did you mean what you said? About us living in that house? Or were you just saying it because you thought I was dying and you wanted to comfort me? We both thought I was dying." He could see how much energy talking had cost her so he put his fingers over her lips to quieten her. He waited until her breathing had hit some semblance of normality and then spoke, very carefully.

"I meant it Ruth," he said. "I really meant it. There's nothing I would want more but if you're brush with death has changed your mind…"

"No," she whispered. "It hasn't."

"Good," he replied. There seemed to be nothing else to say so he leaned over her and kissed her again. By the time he released her Ruth was shocked to see tears on his face. Tears he wasn't even trying to hide. "For a moment… I thought… Just a second or two and I feared…"

"I know," she replied, her hand gripping his tightly. It took several minutes for him to compose himself again. "So we're leaving the service? Together?"

The hint of a question almost broke his heart. Instead he replied the only way he could. And all of a sudden it seemed so simple. "Yes."

Ten years later

Harry woke to the birds singing outside their bedroom window. It was the height of summer and ideally he'd have liked to have slept for a few more hours, early in the morning as it was. He looked at Ruth who was lying next to him and in that moment he knew something was wrong. She looked like she always looked. Content and happy in sleep. But he knew something was wrong. Keeping one arm around her waist the other felt for her pulse in her neck. It wasn't there. He kept looking for several more minutes but it was useless. He moved his head to try and hear her breathing. Her soft gentle and comforting breath but that was no use either.

He swallowed uncomfortably and closed his eyes for a second. With his arms around her, he could feel that she was still warm. She hadn't been gone for very long and for a moment he wondered whether it really was the birds who had woken him. Maybe he sensed that something was wrong with the person lying next to him. He brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her lips gently. With one arm he pushed her shirt out of the way and had a look at the scar Sasha Gavrik had given her. The one that had never fully healed. Sure enough, it had started bleeding again.

Harry felt unbelievably grateful that she'd died in her sleep. There were so many more painful ways to go and he felt a sense of relief that she wouldn't have known what was happening. The peace in her face told him that much. He pulled her shirt back down and held her tightly, ignoring the wet blood that covered his hand. He felt glad that they had had this time together. They had spent ten whole years living together and loving each other. And he knew that they had both been happy. Happier than either of them had previously imagined possible. Of course it came with a price. Except in sleep, Ruth's breathing had always been heavy. Her body had never gotten over the stabbing. She didn't seem to have a great deal of energy and Harry knew this was another side affect. But it was a price worth paying if it meant she was alive.

But now her past, their past had caught up with her. He didn't want to leave the bed. So he pulled her close, kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes, waiting for oblivion to take him.

It was Erin who found them. She had tried to call Harry for help on a resurfaced terror group from the early nineties. But he hadn't answered. The phone just rang endlessly. Next Erin had tried Ruth. It had the same result and she knew that something had happened. So Erin drove to their house, all the while worrying. It was one o'clock by the time she got there and the house was far too quiet. She got her gun out, more out of instinct than anything else and kept it raised. She took a moment before kicking the door down and then she marched into the house. She checked downstairs first and everything was fine. Slowly she walked up the stairs, dreading what she was going to find. Keeping the gun steady with one hand she pushed open the bedroom door. What she saw made her lower the gun. There was no need anymore.

Harry and Ruth were lying quietly in bed, so wrapped together that you couldn't tell where one of them ended and the other began. There was no lust in their embrace, only love. The deep love that comes when you find your soul mate. Your other half and perfect fit. Erin knew they were dead. The stillness in the room was covered by a slight scent of death which she was very familiar with. She couldn't do this job and not know. Erin walked around them and pushed the curtains open slightly, letting the sunlight brighten the room. She threw one of the windows open and let the fresh air blow into the bedroom. Erin took one last look at her former colleagues and felt the tears fall down her face. They'd been together. Until the very end.

This is my last Spooks fanfic so a final review would mean the world to me. I hope you've enjoyed my writing that I've posted on the site.