Disclaimer I do not own Spooks. No copyright infringment is intended or should be inferred.
The Road to Bagdad
Colin looked around the Grid, surprised for a moment that he was still there when the majority of the staff had headed off once the paramedics and police had cleaned up. He took his glasses off and immediately put them back on again when he realised he wasn't completely alone.
"Long day." He smiled as he walked across to Ruth, the only other soul left on the Grid. She nodded sadly as she thought about everything that had happened since Angela Wells had broken into her house.
"It is." She smiled slightly as Colin rested against Zaf's desk. "Getting held hostage by a rouge agent and watching a mate get shot is kind of exhausting. I have no idea how the field officers do it. Give me my gadgets any day."
Ruth smiled. The technical officer was really one of life's gentle types. She still wasn't quite sure how he had ended up working in counter terrorism.
"Zaf has taken Jo home. She was a bit shaken up."
"Malcolm left ten minutes ago. Any news on Adam?"
"Harry went to the hospital with him." Ruth stared at her desk as she spoke. Colin nodded. He was beginning to see what Zaf saw. It was obvious Ruth had feelings for their boss. He knew she would get upset if he mentioned it so he decided to keep on topic. Zaf's book was not exactly common knowledge anyway.
"I can't believe we dug that hole to escape." He shook his head as Ruth smirked.
"Internal Affairs are going to want to know how that happened."
"Mice." Colin deadpanned as Ruth shook her head smiling. "Really, really big mice."
"That just happen to be named Colin and Malcolm by any chance?" Ruth teased as Colin tried his best to look innocent.
"Maybe." He smiled back. "How's Wes? I mean first his Mum and now Adam. How old is he, anyway?"
"Seven."
"Shit." Colin was suddenly serious again. "Poor kid. You were brilliant today, by the way."
"A born spook." Ruth narrowed her eyes as she remembered Harry almost pinning her to the wall after she had told more lies than she had ever in her life. Sighing, she knew that the lies were only what people back home had thought of her. It wasn't even her lie, it was just what her mother and step father had hoped to be true. Rather than think the worst of their golden boy.
"Yeah."
"Did everyone hear?"
"I think so." Colin frowned. "It was a brilliant lie. Any of it true?"
"He was my step brother. I did run away but the rest was a fairy story. Angela was wrong, there was no conspiracy theory. Peter Robert Wells was a nasty man, a violent alcoholic that killed himself." Ruth played with the edge of her cardigan as she spoke. Colin watched her retreat into her shell as the Pod doors wooshed open.
"Adam is stable. His mum is on the way from Blackpool. Jo and Zaf have taken Wes for the night."
"Jo?"
"Yes Colin. Joanna Portman."
"Right." He picked up his jacket as he felt the atmosphere in the room change. Suddenly he felt surplus to requirements. He smiled at Ruth before slipping out of the Pods. Harry hadn't even noticed he had gone.
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"Ruth." Harry walked towards her. Ruth looked away as he approached. "Who ordered the kill shot?"
"Juliet." Ruth sighed. "I knew she had the codes so I called her."
"Juliet is in the UK? Now I am really worried."
Ruth smiled slightly as he came to stand in front of her. He fought to stop himself from touching her. "I thought you might need the back up."
"Thank you." Harry's voice was warmer than she had ever known. He had been softer with her recently, she had been beginning to see the man he was away from the Grid. Closing her eyes she tried not to think about how close they were, how she had argued with him in the corridor when all she really wanted him to do was hold her as she tried to force her lies away from her.
"Adam is going to be ok?"
"Yes."
"I thought she had shot you." Ruth almost whispered. "I saw it on the CCTV. I saw Adam hit the floor and then you. I was certain she had killed you both."
"Oh Ruth." She closed her eyes as she heard him say her name. No one ever said it quite the way Harry did. Before he knew what he had done he had pulled Ruth into his arms, holding her as if she was a china doll that could break at any second. The thought that she actually cared if he was killed made him happier than he thought imaginable. This quirky, intelligent woman who was a natural spook actually cared. He closed his eyes as he felt her rest her hands on his chest and push him away slightly.
"Harry."
"I have to appologise."
"Why?"
"If I had known about your history I never would have asked you to go head to head with Angela. I am so sorry."
"You read my file. What is in my file anyway?"
"Alot of things from GCHQ. Your educational history. There is your personal file but I don't read that as a rule. I should but I prefer to make my own opinions of the people I choose to join our team. If I read it I never would have put you in that position. I am so sorry."
"Harry Pearce appologising." She smiled slightly as she tried not to cry in front of her boss.
"It has been known." Harry smiled slightly as he found himself mesmerised by the entire situation. The dippy, clumsy analyst that fought with angle poise lamps had actually turned out to be one of the strongest people he had ever met. "I promise you, if I had realised what he had done. I read the file, I had already known about your dad dying and your mum remarrying."
"I do not broadcast my personal business Harry. And anyway if you had known, how would we had gotten Jo out of there? She's new. As green as grass."
"There would have been another way. I don't know what but I would have found it."
"Harry." Ruth stared at his tie as she realised he still had a hand on her waist.
"I am so sorry."
"What did you read?"
"I had it emailed to me when I was waiting for Adam to come out of surgery. I was worried because I had never seen you react the way you did earlier. It says about you going to boarding school, a teenage runaway with a violent, alcoholic step brother who was in the army. I read about a teenage pregnancy."
"Not what you were expecting."
"No." Harry sighed. "The baby?"
"My daughter." Ruth sighed as tears filled her eyes. "Was born two days after I turned sixteen. Perfect, but too early. She was 2lb 6 oz and had my hair. She died six hours later. Harry closed his eyes and swore. He could only guess who the baby's father had been. The thought made him sick. The thought of Ruth going through what she had almost killed him. The guilt at making her face Angela and lie as she had almost destroyed him on the spot.
"Ruth."
"Her name was Chloe Rose." Ruth smiled. "Harry, I."
"Ruth." He stepped back as she looked away. "No one will ever hear it from me. But to do what you did today was amazing. Even more so with what I read. Ruth, you are a born spook."
"Maybe." She smiled slightly at the genuine praise in his voice. He stepped back and held her gaze as the Pods opened once more. Colin blushed furiously as he almost ran to his desk to retrieve forgotten car keys. Ruth looked away and blushed as Colin jogged out of the Grid, trying to be as unnoticed as possible. He really had thought Zaf had a point. Digging in his wallet he wondered if it was too late to put a bet on.
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Harry cursed under his breath as Colin disappeared for a second time that night. He knew he had to ask Ruth, there was no one else he would trust to take with him. She was the only one that had the intelligence and the espionage skills to make the operation work. He kicked himself as he realised his timing. Adam was still on life support, Jo was traumatised and Colin was behaving very strangely.
"Ruth, say no if you want to."
"What?" Ruth sighed.
"I don't want to put you under any pressure. We had some intel about the uranium Six were chasing. The DG wants me to go to Iraq and locate it before Saddam's ill gotten gains get into the wrong hands. I need an analyst with me. Ruth, say no if you want to."
"When do we leave?" She held his gaze as he smiled.
"Tomorrow. But Ruth?"
"You need an analyst. I am an analyst. Today has been awful but we can move on from this. You said it yourself, you need me."
Harry nodded as he met her eyes. He knew in that instant, she was right. He did.
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A/N Please review. I never wrote anything with Colin in before so I wanted to see if I could. Please review.