Disclaimer: I do not own Harry, Ruth or anything related to Spooks.
Physical readiness CH 2
Two days later Ruth was deeply engrossed at her desk. She had come in early to try to finish translating and analyzing some audio before the morning meeting. Usually she had an inexplicable awareness of Harry's proximity, but this morning she didn't notice him until he gently lifted one earpiece of her headset and breathed "Ruth, a word? My office, now!" Startled, she paused the playback, pulled off the headset and stood up, feeling slightly disoriented at the sudden shift of focus. Harry announced broadly across the Grid, "Daily Status. Meeting room. 10 minutes." She looked at Harry in confusion, wondering if she had misheard. He looked at her impatiently and said "Ruth, has the word now suddenly lost its meaning?"
Collecting the files and notes she had already prepared for the meeting, she followed Harry into his office, wondering what was causing his brusque tone first thing in the morning. "Sit," he said, indicating the chair next to his desk. He handed her a file with a label reading
Ruth Evershed: Physical Examination results
"I'm afraid that your strength and stamina are not up to standard. Your chin-up and push-up counts were sub-par and your running speed and endurance were also below the acceptable thresholds. You have been assigned a physical trainer for remediation. Juliet has directly ordered that we give this top priority. Apparently our physical status is vital to national security," Harry said with a derisive curl to his lip.
"Our physical status?" asked Ruth. "Yes," sighed Harry. "I am too fat and decrepit to do my job, according to the sodding new physical standards, so I have to get shaped up, too. At least none of the others is on death's door – just you and I. We shall spend 2 hours each evening at the fitness center with the trainer, 5 nights a week until we can pass a retest."
"But Harry..." Ruth looked at him, confused. "You're neither fat nor decrepit! You're … just right! … er …. I think, anyway," Ruth said, fair skin coloring. "I mean, I know I couldn't keep up with the others on the track, and I have gotten alarmingly wimpy in the pushup department, but you…. And just how are we expected to find an extra 2 hours each evening to spend at the fitness center?" Ruth asked.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but this is top priority, straight from the Witch's maw." Harry muttered. "I think we'd best consider our schedules -- Would 7-9 each night work for you?" Harry asked, flipping through his diary, relieved to see no major conflicts for the upcoming week. Ruth went to her desk to consult her own diary and returned to agree that 7-9 would be OK for her, too.
"But, Harry, that means we'd have to leave the Grid by 6:30! How will we keep up on our work?" she protested. Harry assured her, "I'll just have to deal with Juliet when she comes to recognize the ramifications of setting us on a fitness regimen. I'll finalize the arrangements with the trainer and let you know when we start. One more thing, Ruth. I consider the particulars of this situation to be Need to Know. We'll have to let the others know that we'll be unavailable during that time, of course, but I'd prefer that my waistline and blood pressure not provide material for Zaf's book." Now we'd better get to the meeting room for the briefing," Harry said, standing up and following Ruth toward the door.
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