Two:
Before the Storm

Harry didn't go to work on Saturday or Sunday, and Ruth found herself more than slightly discomfited by the thought that he was grieving in a way she'd never thought him capable of. He was very quiet, playing with Jamie and Emma like normal, but not acknowledging Ruth, Malcolm, or Elizabeth – or the older children. For the first time in months, Ruth had called Catherine and canceled their Sunday family time – simply because Harry wasn't up to it.

Which is how, at six o'clock on Sunday afternoon, Ruth and Harry came to be sat on a bench in the park, Scarlett scampering around on her lead.

"Harry," she said very softly, "we need to talk."

"I don't want to talk."

"Then what do you want?" she asked.

He sighed and said, "They want to bring you in early, cut your leave short, with the summit on the horizon. My call with the Foreign Secretary this morning was full of ultimatums and threats." He ran his hand over his face and sighed again. "I've been trying to avoid having to put it on your plate like that."

She shrugged. "So I'll go back tomorrow, then. Doesn't matter. What does matter is that you're upset and unwell and –"

"I'm fine," Harry said. "Fine as I can be."

"And there you go, shutting me out again," she said softly. "Harry…"

He exhaled and said, "Not only did I not know that Julian is coming to this economic summit, we're apparently in the process of brokering a deal of some kind with the Russians. I'm being shunted on both accounts at the moment – and I need you back in a position to work an angle if needs must, Ruth."

She paused. "All right. Anything else you want to tell me?"

He glanced over at her and sighed. "I love you and I'm sorry for being a sullen bear."

She wrapped her arm around his waist and leaned against him. "You're acting like a child who's just had his toys taken away," Ruth murmured. "There are times when they will freeze you out, Harry. That's just the way it is. It's politics at its worst."

"Are you cross about having to go back earlier than planned?"

"No," she said, honestly. "There are only so many times I can clean the floors before I lose my mind."

"Nice to know you still had a mind to lose," Harry teased gently.

She squeezed his hand and said, "Do you need me in the catering meeting tomorrow?"

"No," he said, "we just have to go down a list and tick off what we want served at the wake."

Scarlett barked at another dog that passed by on another lead, and the much larger dog growled. Scarlett slunk back to them and rose up to paw at Harry's leg. "Are you all funned out?" Harry asked the dog. "Time to go home?"

"Harry, we're all worried about you," Ruth said softly.

"I'm fine," he answered automatically. "I'll be fine until the funeral. Then you can be concerned."


"I am so glad to see you, Ruth," Erin said, rising from the chair in what was now Ruth's office. "We've got the Russian delegation arriving today though the summit isn't until a week from today. The South Korean delegation will be arriving tomorrow, and the others will be trickling in over the next few days. All of them come with a list of known threats in the UK against persons on their team, and, quite frankly, we're up to our eyeballs. There was a credible threat of a bomb in Kensington this morning; Dimitri and Beth are out on that."

"Nothing like getting dumped right into the deep end," Ruth said with a tight smile.

"Like I said, I'm quite glad you're back – the Home Secretary wants you at Whitehall at ten, and the Foreign Secretary at noon," Erin said. "The details about the meetings are on your tablet."

"When did we get tablets?" Ruth asked, eyebrows rising.

"Hermione had them requisitioned for us last week, at Sir Harry's behest," Erin said. "Makes it much easier to transmit data outside the office. All my notes for your meetings are collated already, you just need to read them."

"Oh, good, another device to lose," Ruth sighed.

"How is he? Sir Harry, I mean," Erin asked.

Ruth swallowed and said, "He's… fine. It will be better after the funeral, I think, but for now, he's bucking up."

"It's hard to lose a parent," Erin said.

"Yes," Ruth agreed, "it is." She smiled a little, then said, "I'll be in for the briefing at nine. Make sure as many people are there as possible, please – and thank you."

Erin retreated and Ruth went to work reading files; she was glad of the note-taking software that was installed on the tablet, because she added even more salient details to the files. The phone rang and she grabbed for it. "Evershed," she said; for even in all the madness, she was still Ruth Evershed to HR.

"Good morning," Harry said. "I hear you're in for it this morning."

"I've just had a text that Beth and Dimitri are on their way back," Ruth said, "with two would-be-bombers apprehended. So there's one thing I don't have to worry about."

"I'll pick you up for Whitehall," Harry said. "We're in the same meetings."

"No, it's all right," she interjected.

"Ruth, don't argue. I'll come down to the Grid about nine-thirty."

"Fine," she said. "We'll be finishing the briefing then."

"You've heard about the Russians?" Harry asked.

"Arriving today? Yes," Ruth said softly, still tapping through the file, annotating. "Seems they're sending Ilya Gavrik and Anatoly Zbarov; that will make for some interesting conversation around the negotiating table."

There was silence. "Gavrik?" Harry echoed.

"Yes – wait, did you not get the Home Office communiqué number Alpha Gamma 743?" She said. "No, wait, Alpha Delta Gamma 743, I'm sorry – it's a list of attendees of the economic summit."

"No," Harry said in an annoyed tone, "I have not received that memo. And I will be having words with the Foreign Secretary later."

"Harry…"

"I am the Director General of MI-5, not some child whose hands need to be bound so he doesn't get into the sweeties," Harry snapped. "I need to be informed, even if I am not involved in the decisions being made, so that I can prepare my teams adequately –"

"Harry. Breathe," Ruth insisted. "Go take a moment and breathe. I'll see you later."

She hung up the phone and went back to work. It wasn't much longer when she heard a whoop and a holler from Dimitri; Ruth got up and stepped out of the office and laughed as he swooped her up off the floor and twirled her around. "Hello, Evershed!" he exclaimed. "Now we've got a proper lady in the hot seat who can keep the DG off our asses."

"Dimitri, put me down," Ruth laughed. He did as she requested, then she smacked him on the shoulder. "Be good; though, I am glad to see you all, as well. It's been rather boring at home."

"I shouldn't wonder," Dimitri replied. "I'll just go do my report up and when's the briefing?"

"Nine," Ruth replied, waving to Beth, who looked rather chuffed she was there.

Erin said, "Ruth, Harry just called to say he won't be able to make his meeting with Carole Thwaite at noon, and asks if you'll go instead."

"Yes, of course," Ruth said automatically. "Because it stacks with the meeting with the Foreign Secretary, and Harry needs to be in on that. Can you get the details and send them to my phone?"

"Yes," Erin replied.

A few moments later, Ruth felt a buzzing in her blazer pocket, and she glanced at the message from Erin before nodding. "I'll need a driver to pick me up from Whitehall," she said.

"And a security officer," Tariq added unhelpfully. "Can't believe they haven't saddled you with one, yet."

"Oi, cheeky boy, shut it," Calum said, tossing something across the way.

"When did we start resembling a circus rather than the Anti-Terrorism Unit?" Ruth inquired.

Erin cleared her throat. "I've been a bit lax in laying down the law."

"Briefing at nine," Ruth said loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Conference room. Bring in all the threat assessments for the week and where we are on researching them. Thank you."


The briefing ran over a few minutes, and as such, Harry burst into the conference room. "Ms. Evershed, the car is waiting," Harry said, his voice tinged with annoyance as he tapped the face of his watch.

"Bloody hell," Ruth muttered under her breath. Raising her voice, she said, "I expect your reports on my desk by the time I return. Tariq, liaise with Section B about coordinating surveillance on the Russian hotel, and Section C about the South Korean delegation's accommodations. If you need me, redflash me. I should be back no later than two."

She got her purse, tablet, and briefcase full of physical files from the office and met Harry near the pods. "Sorry, got a bit carried away in there," Ruth apologized.

Harry gave her a Look, and gestured for her to go through the pods first. They were met by two security officers on the far side of the door. "Ruth, this is Bruce – he'll be your security from here on out. And you know Peter already," he said. "And now we must away in a hurry to Whitehall before we both get our arses chewed out by Towers."

The short drive to Whitehall was tense, but Ruth and Harry found time (and quiet reserves of energy and strength) to gently tap out messages in Morse code onto the back of one another's hands. Messages that their security officers would never know had existed, as it just looked like a husband and wife holding hands and fidgeting in the back seat. Of course, now, they were the worst kept secret in the Security Services, and even HR was getting in on the 'please can we change your name now' train – as Ruth had already taken two calls about it that morning alone. Maybe it was good for publicity? Who knew. All she knew was that, within the span of two days, she would be answering to Lady Pearce within the corridors of Thames House and Whitehall, and it didn't upset her in the slightest.

Nor did it seem to disappoint Harry, who had a tiny smile on his lips once she'd told him in Morse. In fact, he looked quite smug about it. It was probably him, calling down to that dreadful Langham lady and making a fuss in the first place what had caused it!

They arrived and were bustled inside. She had been through the hallowed halls of the Home Office before, but never with the intent of a meeting with the Home Secretary. This was new, untouched ground.

"We must hurry," Harry said with a frown. "Towers doesn't like being kept waiting, even if he is the one that is late; which is ofttimes the case."

Ruth nodded her agreement and checked the wifi on her tablet as they walked, making sure she had the optimal signal strength; it wouldn't do for it to go down whilst in the middle of the meeting. Harry seemed to sense her slight case of nerves and reached down to squeeze her hand briefly. He smiled when she glanced up at him, and she returned the smile. "By the by, I've got a hard copy of the memo that you didn't receive," she murmured. "Read it, memorize it, and lose it."

"Have I mentioned yet this morning that I love you?" he whispered low and into her ear as she slipped the folded sheet of paper into his pocket under the pretext of a kiss. To anyone else, it would look like a very private moment between them between meetings; and it would block the view of the CCTV cameras for just a brief moment.

"No, but I could stand to hear it again this afternoon," she teased softly as they continued walking. They stopped at the door to the Home Secretary's office, and Harry knocked.

"Yes, yes, come in," Towers bellowed. When they stepped through the doors, he was on the phone and merely made a gesture for them to come closer. "Yes, Kent, it is quite a conundrum – one that I will be passing on to Five to sort. Yes. I've got Sir Harry and Ms. Evershed now, so… Thank you. Goodbye." He hung up the phone and sat down. "Bloody Six has had me up and pacing since I got here; please tell me that you're bringing decent news, Harry, or I'll be forced to take action."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "We don't even get the offer of a cup of tea, William?"

Ruth stifled a chuckle and sat down when Towers gestured at the guest chairs. Towers gave Harry a dirty look, then said, "Yes, of course, tea – how do you take it, Ms. Evershed?"

"Earl Grey, splash of milk," Ruth said, "no sugar, please."

"And you know mine," Harry said.

"Black assam, enough sugar the spoon supports itself," Towers said. He buzzed his assistant. "Nancy, I need Sir Harry's usual tea, my usual tea, and an Earl Grey with a splash of milk, please, for Ms. Evershed." He sat down and eyed them. "Now… on to business. Tell me about the bomb this morning."

Ruth launched into a cursory explanation of the operation, and how they were dealing with the suspected bombers. Towers watched her tick off all the little boxes on her report, and then smile. "And," she added, "we've got the apparatus intact, so we can add the dimensions and signature of this particular bombmaker to our database without loss of life."

"A successful morning, then," Towers said.

"We're going over the current threat assessments in order to sort the wheat from the chaff," Ruth said. "It's been kind of dumbed down since I was in charge of writing the assessments, so the intention is to not pad the numbers when we do have rather a lot of threats that do interconnect and supercede one another."

Towers smiled over at Harry and said, "I can see why you promoted her." He paused. "And why you married her."

"Rather less efficient at home, but endearing nonetheless," Harry commented dryly. "William," he added, "our home life is not up for discussion. We might be married, but as you can see, Ruth is a very able and capable head to Section D even after a few hours."

"I never said she wasn't," Towers muttered.

"Excuse me, but I am sitting right here," Ruth said, "and I'm feeling a bit miffed that my tea isn't here yet, seeing as how I have to run to another meeting soon."

"Always with the slow tea," Harry sighed. "You'll get used to it, Ruth."

"Bloody tea," Towers said. "Now, Harry, will you allow me to extend to you my condolences on your father's passing?"

"Thank you, William," Harry said, and that was that. The line of inquiry was done before it had even begun.

Ruth glanced at her watch and said, "Harry, I do need to leave."

"Yes, well… I will have our meeting for tomorrow arranged," Towers said.

"By phone, please," Ruth said. "I can't be jaunting off to Whitehall every morning when I'm needed on the Grid."

"Well, I'll give you this, Ms. Evershed –"

"Lady Pearce, if you please," Ruth contradicted sweetly.

"You have balls," Towers said.

Ruth paused. She glanced first at Harry, then back at the Home Secretary. "You have no idea, Home Secretary," she said, holding back a smug smile when Harry made a choking noise.

END PART TWO