Ruth stretched out on her sofa, wine glass in hand as she took a deep drink of merlot. She was tired. Not just physically exhausted, she was tired of the lies, the secrecy and most especially tired of her non relationship with Harry. It was so exhausting, not knowing what he meant or how he thought of her. What was wrong with the two of them that they couldn't just talk in plain English?

He'd given up a state secret to ensure that she kept her life, in the process throwing his career away. The inquiry had cleared him for the time being, but it was only going to be a matter of time before the third strike would fall and he would be out. Everyone in the entire body of the security services knew that. It wasn't just Albany though. He'd been around too long and knew too much. Too many secrets and lies.

Something else which wasn't improving her mood was the fact she had a tail on her. As soon as she left the grid she'd noticed two men following her, and there was probably a third that she couldn't see. That little prickle on the back of her neck had told her, even before she spotted the six foot man in his late twenties following her. She had no reason to suspect Harry had set people on her, but if he had, she'd kill him. Or maybe she was holding onto the possibility that it was Harry, because the alternative was rather alarming and frightening. But they weren't being subtle about it, or then again, maybe she'd become paranoid while being on the run. A tail was too easy to spot. She'd be furious, but she hoped Harry was having her watched. Maybe he was worried about her? That was the flattering version. The unflattering one was that he thought she was incapable or untrustworthy. No, surely not.

As she was mulling this over she realised she needed to talk to Harry. An honest heart to heart. But if someone was watching her, they would almost certainly be watching him. Harry Pearce was far more important than his senior analyst who was almost always behind a desk. One of the most important MI5 assets in the country, of course he was being watched.

Ruth bit her lip for a moment, thinking. She was sure if she left the house, she'd be followed, bringing them right to Harry's door. Taking a moment to think, she made her mind up. She finished her glass of wine and then picked up a non registered pay as you go phone that she kept for emergencies and called the grid, dialling in her agent code.

"Dimitri, good, I need your help. And Natalie Cordon's too."

"Natalie?"

"The brunette in registry," Ruth explained. "She does have a passing similarity to me, yes?"

"Er… yes," Dimitri said confused. "What… what do you want?"

"I'm being watched. So there's a high chance Harry is too, and I need to talk to him without anyone knowing. So I need Natalie to come to my house and pretend to be me for an hour or two." She didn't pause to think about the implications of her wanting to visit Harry late at night and the fact that she was confiding in Dimitri and asking his help. She couldn't be embarrassed by that right now. "Oh, and I need a distraction for thirty seconds or so, so I can get into his house without being seen."

"Whoa, slow down Ruth. What makes you think you're being watched?"

She almost snorted with derision. Instead she laughed. "I spent three years on the run in a foreign country and manage not to get either caught or shot. Then you come to me and ask how I notice a tail? Please."

"Okay, so how do you know Harry's being watched?"

"I don't, I'm guessing," she said bluntly. "The men… they didn't feel like 5. Why would anyone bother following me, if not for him? After Albany… well… it's become rather public that I'm not simply his employee." She felt her face burn with this, because she didn't enjoy talking about her relationship with Harry with anyone else, let alone someone who she worked with. "I'm a desk analyst. And while I'm damn good, I'm not worth three agents tailing me Dimitri, you know I'm not."

"Let me check the CCTV outside his house and I'll call you back," Dimitri said.

"Call Natalie too," Ruth suggested. "She's been dying for a way to move up to section D, and all she has to do is sit in my house and watch TV. It's a simple task."

"Right." Dimitri put the phone down and Ruth waited for the call back. It would take him maybe five minutes to track down the footage that he needed to, but Ruth could almost visualise what he'd find. An unmarked van sitting outside across the street, surveillance measures going on inside it. When Dimitri called back, it gave her no pleasure that she was right.

"Yes you're right," he said. "Harry hasn't called it in though. He must know they're there."

"Oh he knows," Ruth said with certainty. Why hadn't he called the grid to let them know then? It didn't make sense. "Can you get me out?"

"Unless you have a fondness for broken glass, unlatch your kitchen window. Natalie will be there in ten minutes."

"Perfect," she said.

"Go through Harry's back door, there's only eyes on the front of his house."

"Thank you Dimitri," she said sincerely. She let out her breath in a sigh, feeling some of the tension leave her. Though she knew she wouldn't feel completely relaxed until she'd talked to Harry. He seemed to have that effect on her, as well as revving up her heart rate at the same time. A stupid, illogical and irrational combination. "I'd appreciate this not to be… public knowledge around the grid." Who was she kidding? Everyone would know as soon as Dimitri could call around. Oh well, it couldn't be helped.

"No problem Ruth," he said, without a trace of humour in his voice for which she was grateful. "Bye."

Harry twitched the curtain, irritated. The Russian surveillance van was hardly discreet and he didn't care for being watched by a foreign power. It was bad enough that certain members of his own country's security services didn't trust him. But he hadn't called for back up because it felt... personal. He knew they were FSB, he'd found a Russian bug in the kitchen, and he'd since scanned the house, finding almost a dozen more, much to his annoyance. They'd broken into his house. He needed to call Malcolm for a favour to upgrade his security system. He felt sure Tariq was capable, but he'd worked with Malcolm for more than fifteen years, and was sure that if Malcolm upgraded his house, no one could get in without his permission.

He turned at the thought, hearing his back door lock being picked. He grabbed his nearest handgun, hidden behind the bookcase and took the safety off and headed towards the kitchen, very slowly. He held the gun steady, aiming at the shadow through the glass. The door lock clicked and then opened, revealing Ruth, much to his surprise. So shocked was he that he just stood stock still, gun still pointed at her. She raised her eyebrows at the weapon and he put the safety back on and dropped it onto the kitchen table. He hadn't meant to point a handgun at Ruth.

"Why are you here?"

"I need to talk to you," she said. "Away from work. I'm being followed." Harry frowned in confusion.

"By whom?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me," she said quietly.

Harry looked in her blue eyes and knew a simple lie wasn't going to cut it. He'd have to go into the complicated truth. Which, to be brutally honest was everything that she deserved. Even if it meant she'd never want to see him again. "Come up to my study," he said. "Do you have time?"

"Mm," she said, a smile hovering at the corners of her lips, now that she could sense that she was close to getting Harry to open up. Or at least partly. Harry smiled but it didn't meet his eyes. He had no idea how long she'd stay once she'd heard about all his past mixed up with the Russians. And the Gavriks. He led the way upstairs and she followed in silence.

I had meant to post this later, but I really had fun writing this so I just had to post it! By the way, I'm imagining Ruth's house as series 5, rather than later.