Backfire
Sometimes things don't work out the way you want them to.
"Well" said Danny sidling up to Fiona "It looks as though Operation Keep Harry Sweet needs some work"
Fiona looked up from her desk and the spread sheets that she couldn't make head nor tail of and raised an eyebrow in silent question.
"Well" ploughed on Danny not in the least put off
"Harry came back from his meeting in such a foul mood you could almost taste it in the air. I made some teas and suggested that Ruth take one into him. It was all going so well, you know she barges in, he looks up as though he's going to kill someone, sees it's Ruth, smiles and she ends up sat across from him chatting. He calms down. Win win situation. And I swear that I saw him smiling at her!"
"So there must be a point to all this somewhere" said Adam as he sat himself on Fiona's desk, his arm draped around her shoulder.
"Well"
"Can you not start a sentence without the word well Danny? Go on give it a try"interjected Fiona.
"Well" said Danny sticking his tongue out "It was all looking good but Ruth must have said something that he didn't like because she left the office smiling but after she closed the door he snapped a pencil in half and I swear he was going to throw something across his office. And he's been screaming down his phone at some poor sod for the last seven minutes. Mark my words it will be us next. We need to find out what she said and get her to put it right".
"And where is Ruth?" asked Adam.
"Gone over to Whitehall to deliver some papers and pick a few brains. Oh, and she said that she'd bring cake back with her." supplied Danny.
"Interesting" said Fiona "That means that she was quite content when she left his office...so she must have told him, asked him something that he didn't like."
As if to illustrate the point the man himself swept out of his office at that moment.
"Well what a cosy little scene this is" he sneered "Just like a nice little get together of the W.I. I am sure that the British taxpayer would be most gratified to see how seriously we take their safety. No Mr. Hunter don't get up. Far be it for me to disturb your little tete-a tête."
And with that he entered the nearest pod and disappeared from view still muttering under his breath.
The heavy silence was broken by Malcolm emerging from his little cubby hole to enquire
"What have you done to upset him now?"
"It wasn't us" the trio protested looking for all the world like naughty school children.
"If anyone's upset him it's Ruth, she was the last one to speak to him."
Malcolm sighed and looked at them as though he wanted to bash their heads together.
"When will you ever learn to leave well alone? This is not a game, just stop using Ruth to placate Harry...No good can come of it. It will all backfire on you in a spectacular fashion, mark my words! Just, just get on with some work. All of you!"
Meanwhile one of the objects of their speculation was lowering himself onto a bench situated on the Embankment. As far as he was concerned it was a good bench, it offered excellent views to the right and left and was not overlooked so it was possible to keep watch for anything unusual without it being too obvious. It was a place where he could gather his thoughts and calm himself.
As he settled himself against the backrest he played over in his mind his last conversation with his analyst. He had been in a foul mood when he'd returned from the latest unnecessary JIC meeting and was fantasising about the various methods that he could employ to do away with certain members of the committee. Ways that were inventive, painful but ultimately untraceable when Ruth had come unannounced through his door bearing a mug of tea. Looking up he said...
"You can go on courses you know."
"Courses? What courses are they Harry?"
"Oh quite simple ones really Miss Evershed. They teach you the ancient and noble art of knocking on doors. Shouldn't take you more than a couple of days to master it!"
She had smiled at him and placed the mug on his desk then made to leave and he found that he didn't want her to go. He wanted, no needed her company. He asked her to join him and she'd become flustered, explaining that she was busy with a file that she needed to understand before she headed off to Whitehall later that morning. He hadn't stopped to think but suggested she bring her tea and the file into his office and that they look at it together.
"Two heads are better than one Ruth. To coin a phrase."
She had smiled even wider then and he hoped that he saw pleasure at his suggestion in her eyes. Or maybe his inner voice said Kidding yourself you old fool, kidding yourself!
He'd been aware that he was attracted to her for a while. He had noticed her from the very first day when she had stumbled late and flustered into the meeting. He was going to say something to her that was cutting and sarcastic when he'd remembered the conversation he'd had about her with the head of H.R.
"Right Harry, I've managed to find you yet another analyst. It's bloody difficult because of your refusal to take part in the interview process but I think, no I am convinced that we've struck gold with this one. Just please try not to traumatise this one too much. Try to hang onto her long enough for her to find her feet and remember where her bloody desk is!"
He had been about to protest his innocence, to say that he had no idea what the man was talking about when Parsons carried on …...
"Don't even attempt to play the innocent with me Harry Pearce. You know damn well what I'm talking about. The last one lasted what forty eight hours? And the one before three weeks!. You can't keep doing this Harry: give this one a chance and I guarantee that you'll not be disappointed."
"Heard that one before" was all that he managed to say before the man carried on...
"She's brilliant Harry, she will be a great asset to your team if you give her a chance. She's a bit ditsy, but don't let that fool you. Just try and curb your temper and your tongue and see how it goes? Good man."
And so he'd found himself making some inane joke instead of giving her the ear bashing that would have been his normal reaction to her tardiness and clumsiness. And then she had had spoken the immortal words "Bugger the Home Office." And he'd decided that maybe it might be worth giving her a chance. As he got to know her better, began to see how well she fitted into his team, how her flashes of brilliance and insight contributed so much to their work he began to relax and allow her into the carefully constructed private space that he had built around himself.
And after a couple of months he started to realise that his interest in her was not purely professional, that he wanted more than a professional relationship with her. He tried to kid himself that he only wanted her friendship but he knew that was a lie.
She was very different from the women that usually piqued his interest and he had found it very hard to put his finger on just what it was that made him want her so much. She was beautiful, beautiful in an understated classy way made even more appealing because she didn't realise just how stunning she was. She had a brilliant mind and wasn't afraid to use it nor was she afraid to go toe to toe with him when she thought that he was wrong. She was a hard worker and was often the first one in in the morning and the last one to leave at night. Above all she was kind and loyal and it was obvious that she liked the people that she worked with, was willing to go the extra mile for them. Willing to put herself on the line for them.
He found the combination heady and exhilarating and for the first time in years he felt the need to fully possess a woman.
Of course he could have set about seducing her, she was young and he surmised quite naïve. He could have turned on the full force of the famous Pearce charm and although he knew that it might have taken him some time he would have got her into his bed eventually. Then he could have shagged her senseless and got her out of his system. Would have scratched the itch so to speak. But the more he thought about it the more sure he was that that was not what he wanted to do.
Ruth Evershed was worth so much more than that. They were worth so much more than that. He remembered quite forcefully the first time that he had thought of them as an us. He 'd been attending a formal meet and greet at No 10 for the new German Ambassador when he'd been approached by a woman. In a moment he had taken her in. Tall, blonde, attractive, mid forties, just the sort of women that usually ignited his interest and the look in her eyes said that she wanted him. It would have been oh so easy to take her to bed. To indulge in just another meaningless fuck. He liked sex he always had and God willing he always would but he found that he no longer wanted the act of sex to be just worthless gratification. He wanted to make love and he wanted to make love to Ruth. He still remembered the look of bewilderment and confusion on the woman's face when he walked away from her.
Between them they had made short work of the file and had soon moved on to discussing other topics some work related some not when Ruth had asked
"Can I ask you for some advice Harry. It's work related but not entirely."
And she had blushed in that wonderful way she had and he found himself wondering not for the first time if the whole of her body blushed and if she blushed during orgasm. If he could make her blush as he brought her to orgasm. Trying not to stare too closely at her he had nodded and she'd taken a deep breath before saying
"How far into a relationship do you think you should be before you fill in a S 24form Harry? It all seems so cold and clinical to me and as I think you know I'm a private person and it really irks me to think of someone looking at my private life."
He felt as though someone had stabbed him. Of course he should have seen it coming. She was young, she was clever, she was attractive it was inevitable that he would not be the only man in the world who noticed her.
He managed to pull himself together and calmly ask
"So Ruth a new man in your life? Where did you meet him?"
She had raised her eyebrows at the questions and he had quickly explained that he was trying to ascertain if the form needed to be filled in yet. After that she had been much more forth coming explaining that she had in fact re-meet him the last time she went home to Exeter. That she had bumped into some old school friends who'd invited her to a dinner party and rather than spend another uncomfortable evening in with her mother and step-father she had agreed to join them.
"And there he was Harry. Hugh Logan the object of many a school girl crush, including mine." she'd blushed again at that statement.
"He was two years above me. Tall, dark and just well, just gorgeous and of course very clever. The complete package in fact. No wonder he didn't notice little me. But like a lot of girls I worshipped him from afar. Silly really. Anyway he left to travel the world for a couple of years and by the time he came back to Exeter I'd finished sixth form and was at Oxford. He went on to study medicine at Edinburgh and now he's Senior Accident and Emergency Consultant at The Royal London. That's it in a nutshell really."
"And you're seeing him, dating I mean?"
God how old fashioned that question had sounded to him. Just emphasising how much older than her he was.
"Well, we exchanged phone numbers as you do. I never thought that I'd hear from him again but he rang me a couple of days later to invite me to dinner. And it was lovely. We've been out about half a dozen times now. You know the pictures, meals, a couple of social functions at the hospital. It's been fun Harry. It's been fun to be myself, not to worry about anything other than what I should wear."
"You like him?" he had asked knowing the answer but dreading the reply.
"Yes, yes I do Harry. It's nice, restful to be in the company of someone who doesn't inhabit our crazy, stressful world. It's good to be, well to be normal I suppose."
His stomach had clenched and he was positive that he felt his heart constrict as he looked at her upturned smiling face as she spoke about this man. She should have been looking like that when she was talking about him. He should have been the one who was able to give her so much pleasure. Breathing deeply and slipping his mask in place he replied
"Well Ruth, I think you and I both know that you are past the time when you needed to file an S24 don't we? Just fill it in, give it to me and I'll see to it that it is processed."
She had smiled at him then as though he had given her the most precious gift in the world. And to add insult to injury she had lightly touched his hand mumbling grateful thanks as she picked up their empty mugs and left his office.
And Harry Pearce man of action had just sat in his chair the touch of her hand burning on his and wondered what the bloody hell he was going to do about the whole sorry mess!
t.b.c.