Fluff! Short and hopefully sweet.
Another day, another funeral.
"How many's this, Harry?" Alec asks.
"Too many, far too many."
It feels strange to mourn Lucas. He was closer to him than any other officer under his charge, well, apart from one, but that was different. A traitor, a confused soul, he doesn't truly know how he feels about him and wonders if he ever will.
The team wander away, leaving him to his own thoughts, they sense he needs the space.
Apart from one.
He looks at her, sad, tired, lost.
"Marry me, Harry."
"What?"
"Marry me."
She looks incredibly serious, intense even. He thinks he has misheard her first time, but no.
"What just like that?" he asks.
"Well, it's hardly just like that, is it?"
"Ruth, you can't just walk up to someone at a funeral and randomly propose."
"Oh, really, that's a bit rich, Harry."
"Where's the romance, Ruth?"
"I thought you liked straightforward questions."
"No, I'd like to think I'm worth a bit more that that."
"Such as, Harry?"
"Well, aren't you supposed to get down on one knee, or something? Come on Ruth, at least enter into the spirit of the thing."
"It looks like one of us is going to have to then, doesn't it?"
They stand and look at each other.
Impasse.
Ruth sighs.
"Harry Pearce, will you please agree to marry me because I can't stand another five years of this?"
"Is that it? Is that the best you've got?"
"Yep. Not sure you can do any better, judging by past efforts."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, really."
Impasse.
"Ok, Ruth, but I warn you I may not be able to get back up after this." He sinks to one knee.
"Ruth Evershed, who never knocks, who's instincts are never wrong, apart from saying 'no' to me, whom I love more than my very soul, will you please say 'yes' this time and marry me?"
"That's more like it, Harry."
"Good, I'm glad. Now answer the bloody question!"
"Oh, okay then, if I must."
"Is that the best answer you've got?"
She pulls him to his feet.
"Harry Pearce, I have probably driven you to distraction and I am sorry for that, but there is no one else in this world that I could want, or love more than you. So yes, it's a yes."
He leans forward to kiss her, she smiles and pulls delicately away as their lips are about to touch.
"Not yet, Harry"
He looks intensely disappointed.
"What, have I got to wait for that, too?"
"No. Well, yes. Just till it's legal anyway."
"What? What are you….."
"Oh, come on Harry, hurry up, the vicar's waiting."
"Now?"
"Yes, let's just do this before either of us manages to mess it all up again."
"Good idea." He says and grabbing her hand practically runs back into the church.