Okay, so it's Christmas Eve Eve so probably a bad time to start writing a Christmas Spooks fic to have it all written by Christmas day… but if you'll forgive a possible post Christmas post for some of this story then here you go!

Chapter One

Ruth was hovering over his desk as she did so often, waiting for him to scribble his signature on the reports she had meticulously prepared for him.

"Here?" His finger jabbed at the dotted line and his face remained bent low over the paper.

She inched closer and twisted slightly to check if his signature was required. In doing so accidently brushed her chest against his upper arm, causing him to look up suddenly, as if just registering her close proximity. Their eyes met and her breath caught. "Yes" she stammered, not even looking at the page in question.

There was a heavy pause, in which it appeared both had forgotten how to implement the necessity of breathing.

"Right" he whispered eventually, his voice laden with quiet desire. They stayed, motionless, for a moment more. A moment in which the rest of the Grid seemed to melt away. A moment in which neither saw anything else but the other's intense gaze. A moment in which she thought, she hoped, he might finally lose his self control…

A loud knock made her jump so violently that she inadvertently knocked the entire report from the desk to the floor. "Buggar!" she cursed and fell to her knees to gather all the loose paper back into the report. Harry shot her a bemused smile, before turning his attention to the rather untimely interruption.

"Yes?" he called out, as a means of invitation, just as Ruth reached for the final piece of paper and scrambled to her feet.

"Erm… Harry?" A rather sheepish Jo appeared slowly around the doorway. Her wide eyes darted quickly between Harry and Ruth and then back to the floor. "Sorry to erm… interrupt."

With one last wistful look at his analyst, Harry turned a forced, yet sweet smile to his junior officer. "How may I help you, Miss Porter?"

Jo blushed profusely under his gaze and began fumbling with the hem of her jumper. Harry raised an inconspicuous eyebrow at how much she reminded him of another officer who would often stand in his doorway in a similar manner. He also noticed that while Jo's presence was not irritating to him, her nervous and undecided stance did not have the same alluring effect of that of the other officer. Of his other officer. Of his Ruth.

"Erm… well… we were just wondering if… well, what with today being…" Jo sighed heavily, desperately trying to gather her thoughts. As she did so, Ruth glanced curiously out of the office window, only to have her suspicions confirmed. With a sympathetic smile at Jo, Ruth leant forward and attempted to assist her fellow colleague.

"Harry?" She spoke softly and placed a hand lightly on his shoulder. It took every inch of his self control not to reach up and entwine her warm fingers in his own. "I've got a feeling that Jo, along with the spectators out there," she cocked her head in their direction and Adam and Zaf hurriedly tried to busy themselves as Harry gazed out across the Grid, "were wondering if they may be excused early today."

"Early?" Harry turned an honestly bemused face to hers.

"Yes" she smiled kindly down at him. "You know, since it's Christmas Eve?"

"It's Christmas Eve?"

"Yes. You'd forgotten, hadn't you?"

"No, I hadn't forgotten, I just… hadn't remembered."

"You've had too much on Harry. You need to slow down."

"I do?"

"Yes. It's important that we all have a break away from this place, from all of this. We need a life outside these walls."

"We do?"

"Yes Harry, we do."

"Right. Good."

A heavy silence settled over the office again. Harry continued to gaze into her deep pools of blue, mesmerised by the sudden promise that shone in them. Ruth's fingers squeezed his shoulder gently, relishing the feel of his sturdy form under her touch. Jo, on the other hand, now found herself shuffling from foot to foot, desperately eager to escape the suddenly suffocating office.

Slowly, she began to inch towards the door, inwardly cursing the hopelessness of her boss and her friend and conceding that if Adam and Zaf wanted to go to the pub so badly than they could sodding well ask Harry themselves. "I'll… erm… just…"

"…go." Harry's voice rang loud and clear through the tension causing Jo to stop in her tracks.

"I'm sorry?"

Reluctantly, Harry tore his gaze from Ruth's and she allowed her hand to fall limply to her side at the break in their connection.

"Go" Harry smiled wearily. "As Ruth said, we all need a life outside these four walls. You can tell and Mr. Younis that they can call it an early Christmas present."

Jo grinned broadly at her boss. "Thanks Harry. Merry Christmas." And she was gone from his office and practically sprinting across the Grid to tell the others the good news.

Ruth on the other hand, remained where she was stood. "That was rather good of you."

Slowly he turned his chair so that she could see the honesty and unsaid elements in his eyes. "I'm a good man, Ruth."

Her answer was immediate which amused both of them. "I never said you weren't." The understanding that passed between them in that moment was undeniable and the heat of their words and desires was enough to make her leave the office and hastily make her way across the Grid.

Harry could not help but smile as he watched her settle herself behind her desk. Slowly, he rose to his feet. Leaning around the doorframe, he shouted, "All of you. Pub. Now. That's an order." Before he had even opened his mouth, Adam, Zaf and Jo were already heading towards the pods. Ruth, however, having recovered slightly, simply met his determined eyes.

"And what about you, Harry? Where's your coat?" she asked with a forced naivety.

He smiled warmly at her and she couldn't stop the twitch of her own lips as she noted the twinkle in his dark eyes. "I'll just finish off here and I'll catch you up."

She held his gaze, reading him as blatantly as she did any book, before sighing in defeat and standing to gather her things. "Fine, Harry. But don't work too late."

Next chapter up really soon hopefully… but let me know if you would like some more Christmassy fluff