Disclaimer: 'Spooks' belongs to Kudos and the BBC. The song 'Atlantic' belongs to Keane and/or anyone else who owns it...

A/N: I have only just discovered this song - I know, I am very behind the times. It, along with 5.5 recaps and the lovely Mr Firth's comments on the S5 DVDs inspired this fic.

Though all the World is Broken

'Atlantic' by Keane

I hope all my days

Will be lit by your face

I hope all the years

Will hold tight our promises

I don't wanna be old and sleep alone

An empty house is not a home

I don't wanna be old and feel afraid

I don't wanna be old and sleep alone

An empty house is not a home

I don't wanna be old and feel afraid

And if I need anything at all

I need a place

That's hidden in the deep

Where lonely angels sing you to your sleep

Though all the world is broken

I need a place

Where I can make my bed

A lover's lap where I can lay my head

Cos now the room is spinning

The day's beginning

The wind blowing in from the water was unrelenting and she shivered, pulling her woollen coat more tightly round her. She'd been there an hour; any sensible person would have given up after a few minutes but she knew why she was still waiting. She moved towards one of the warehouses to try and gain some relief from the cold. She didn't go inside, choosing instead to huddle against the dirty corrugated metal wall. The wind didn't seem quite so biting here and she could observe most of the quayside. She'd be able to see him approaching and he would see her. Suppressed memories from another dockside meeting pushed their way back into her consciousness. She remembered every heartrending second. His skin had felt warm under her fingers and she could still recall every line and detail of his face. Sometimes she could taste him and, if she closed her eyes, she could almost believe he was there, holding her and kissing her; his unspoken words of love resonating in her head.

The tears made her eyes sting and burnt her face. She scrubbed them away with a gloved hand, determined he wouldn't see her like this. Their parting had been agonising; their reunion would be ecstatic.

-----

He signalled to the taxi driver to stop and pushed a handful of notes at him as he left the cab. The traffic had ground to a halt and he knew it wasn't much further. Despite the freezing temperature, he was sweating and his heart was racing. Would she be there? Had she given up? What if she had never intended to meet him? Agonisingly painful thoughts that he banished. Too much organisation had gone into this for it not to happen. He hung onto that positive notion as he hurried towards the docks.

It was a dark, ominous place; unwelcoming in daylight let alone now. What little winter sun there had been long since faded away and the weak sodium lighting cast a sickly orange glow over the damp road. An icy current of air blew something cold into his face; it had started to snow. A new fear took hold of him – what if something had happened to her whilst she'd been waiting? He slowed his pace as he got closer to the first of the warehouses. A floodlight snapped on; the brightness was painful and his eyes watered. He ought to be annoyed at having been caught by a common security precaution but he felt only relief. At least she would have had some warning if anyone else had been in the vicinity.

He kept walking, using the unexpected illumination to assist him. There was something, someone, in the shadows. He felt afraid, not for his own safety, but in case his imagination was deceiving him. The small figure moved towards him just as the security light switched off, plunging the area into darkness again. He didn't stop though; the brief movement he had seen was enough; it was her.

She knew he would turn up; he had always been a man of his word. Even though she felt numb from the cold and half-dead from loneliness, her legs propelled her towards him. She couldn't stop herself from crying as she buried her face in his neck. He held her tightly, as if his life depended on it - maybe it did. Maybe her life depended on it, too.

"Ruth."

She turned her tear-stained face up to him, pressing herself into his hand as he caressed her cheek. It was fitting, she thought, that the last person who had used her real name should be the first person to use it again.

"Harry, I-I…"

"We need to get out of the cold."

He didn't wait for an answer as he half-carried, half-walked her away from the docks. The snow was heavier now, swirling round them, swallowing them up.

-----

The journey to the hotel took two trams and a taxi ride but her overriding memory was of being wrapped up in Harry's arms, absorbing his warmth. Once inside the room, she sat on the end of the bed, still huddled in her coat. His solicitous enquiries as to whether she was hungry or thirsty were met with a shake of her head. He sat beside her and she leant against him.

"Please hold me."

It was a request he would never refuse.

"I knew you'd come." Her voice was muffled.

"I made you a promise; a promise I've kept."

She looked up at him, blue-grey eyes red-rimmed from crying but still beautiful.

"You've sorted everything out?" Her fingers curled into the thick material of his shirt.

"Yes. It's time for Ruth Evershed to be reborn."

She smiled at him; a smile he hadn't seen for over a year but had never forgotten.

They celebrated with hot chocolate and toasted bacon sandwiches, obtained from the café next door. The few minutes it took Harry to get them were agony for Ruth. She paced around, working herself into a frenzy as she thought of various nightmarish fates that could befall him in the short distance between their room and the café. When he returned, safe and well, she launched herself at him, clinging tightly to his neck until he persuaded her she needed to let go so they could eat.

He watched her as she tried to keep her eyes open. "You should get some sleep."

"So should you."

"You haven't lost that stubborn streak, have you?" The bed dipped as he sat on the mattress.

"No." Her hands were warm now and she slid them round his neck, pulling him into a kiss that promised an eternity of love and devotion.

Her eyelids fluttered briefly as his lips left hers.

"Sleep now, my love."

She curled up in his arms, secure in the knowledge that he would hold her and keep her safe, now and forever more.

Outside, the snow fell, wrapping the world in its silent embrace whilst Harry watched his world, his reason for being, sleep soundly.

The End

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