Oddly enough I had this dream a couple of nights ago about how series ten would kick off. You know you've been writing too much Harry and Ruth fan fiction when it slips into your dreams! But I thought I'd share it anyway.
Alec was lying in a pile, last night's binge drinking giving him a headache he wished could vanish when his mobile rang.
"This had better be good," he said, moving his head briefly from the pillow.
"It's Harry," came a horribly familiar voice.
"I thought you'd been suspended so I was going to be spared anymore phone calls from you?" Alec said.
"I've been reinstated," Harry said shortly in a smug voice.
"Great," Alec said sarcastically. Any early morning call from Harry Pearce wasn't going to be good news for him. "So what do you want with me from your shiny office in Thames House?"
"I seem to be short of staff these days," Harry said. "Come back. We need someone like you on the grid."
"Someone like me? Or me?" Alec asked sitting up, knowing his sleep was far behind him for the night.
"Whatever gets you here," Harry said firmly. "You were a massive help with the John Bateman fiasco, even though I am not a fan of how it turned out. Everyone else hasn't been here long enough to have any sort of realistic perspective. You have."
"Okay," Alec said, able to see the advantages of going back to work rather than sitting in an empty flat in a booze filled haze. "When do you want me to start?"
"Today?" Harry asked. "We have a situation which I am not going to discuss over the phone."
"Fine," Alec replied. "Give me an hour and I'll be in."
"Good," he said, pleased and hanging up the phone. Harry looked around the grid watching it slowly fill up with people for the day. It felt good to be back here where he belonged. Beyond good. Beth and Dimitri came through the pods within seconds of each other, Tariq following closely behind. Ruth had been sitting at her desk for a while as usual. Harry left his office to approach the team.
"We have a problem," Harry said.
"And I haven't even had my coffee yet," Dimitri said trying to stifle a yawn.
"The Home Secretary has been taken by a bunch of French techno geniuses," Harry said. "We don't know what they want and we won't know until we can decrypt the incredibly complicated electronic information they have put onto their website." At his words everyone's eyes turned to Tariq who began to type with fervour and a furrowed brow.
"Beth, if you can go to this address," Harry continued passing her a slip of paper. "That is where the group were staying which they told us when they kidnapped Towers. But I daresay there's a reason they want us to know that so make sure you have back up with you."
"Yeah," Beth said heading for the pods straight away, picking up her mobile to make arrangements to cover herself.
"That's it until we get more information," Harry said simply. "If you really want to make yourselves useful you can trawl through CCTV to try and identify our kidnappers."
Dimitri sighed, flicking his computer on as Harry returned to his office. Ruth was not in the mood to go through grainy CCTV images and try and match people up with face recognition software so she tried to distract herself. Luckily Tariq chose that moment to talk to her.
"Ruth, could you do me a favour?" he asked without taking his eyes off of his computer screen.
"Sure," she replied, unable to understand even half of the things that were flashing past on his screen.
"I'm meant to be picking up information on an asset today,," he said. "Suffers from severe OCD so he won't change the time of the dead drop. It's been at the same time every fortnight for six months now, but he's a wickedly brilliant computer genius."
"Your point?" Ruth asked.
"I'm meant to be picking up his latest intel," Tariq continued. "Could you go to St James's park for me?"
"Of course I can," Ruth said glad it was something so simple. "There's nothing for me to do here anyway. Nothing for me to analyse until you crack your code is there?"
"Thanks Ruth," Tariq said and gave her directions to collect the information.
"I'll just tell Harry," Ruth said walking towards his office. She walked in to see Harry leaning against his desk with his face in his hands.
"Towers will never forgive me if I don't get him out of this with at least a shred of dignity intact," he told her.
"I think he can stand to be taken down a peg or two," Ruth replied biting her lip. She had never liked Towers and if his ego could shrink from this little kidnapping, so much the better.
"Not exactly the best news for my first week back though," he said grimly.
"I have to go and pick up some intel from one of Tariq's assets," Ruth said after a moment of silence. "He's busy and I can't do anything until he cracks the French encryption anyway."
"Okay," Harry said feeling his heart drop. He worried when Ruth was away from the grid, even for something mundane. "Be careful," he said reaching a hand for hers lightly.
"I will," she replied. Ruth leant forward and brushed her lips against his briefly, the parting gesture she always gave him, no matter how short a time she would be gone from him. Ruth left his office and he watched her pick her coat up and then leave the grid, passing Alec on the way out.
I love this idea. The team all discussing their plans to fight the latest threats and then Ruth kissing Harry like it's a habit, because she does it all the time. If this story didn't work blame my subconscious dreaming state. Review if you have the time please!