WOW! 17 reviews for the first chapter, I'm amazed! Thank you all so much. I had no idea where to go from that last chapter so I was a bit stumped. I really hope this installment doesn't disappoint you.

"I'm sorry?" Harry said. Ruth closed her eyes, knowing that he knew exactly what she'd said. She repeated herself anyway.

"He's my husband."

"I heard you, I just can't believe what I'm hearing," he said in a low voice.

"I'm sorry," she said almost in a whisper, her face bowed low.

"You're sorry?" Harry said angrily. "So for two months I've been sleeping with another mans wife? I swore I'd never have another affair, because I see how much pain they cause, and all this time you've been married?"

"It isn't like that," she said quietly. "I haven't even seen him for ten years. Do you want to let me explain, or do you just want to rant and shout at me? Go on, I probably deserve it."

"Okay," Harry said with difficulty, sitting down and turning to her. "I'm listening."

"Would it change anything if I told you that I have tried to get a divorce?"

"Tried?"

"He wouldn't sign the papers and in the end I gave up asking."

"Ruth, you're the best analyst in the country, you can hack into any institution in the world and you're telling me you couldn't file the papers and add his signature to them?"

"Of course I could," she said shaking her head. "Probably in less than five minutes too. But what would that have proven? I'd know I was still married to him. I'd know that the divorce papers were fake and could come back to haunt me at any given moment. I just settled for burying it as deep as I possibly could, in the hopes that no one would find out."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Harry asked quietly.

"Because he isn't a nice man and I don't like thinking about him more than necessary."

"Then why did you marry him?"

"Because I was young and stupid," she said, a faint smile on her face. "And for a brief moment in time, I thought I was in love with him. In my entire life I'd always done exactly what was expected of me. Nothing more, nothing surprising in my life and I was tired of always being the boring one in life. So when he asked me to marry him I said yes without stopping to think about it, like I normally would have. We just eloped one day. And for that one day I was happy."

"Then?" Harry asked quietly as she stopped speaking.

"He didn't like how ambitious I was," Ruth said. "We argued constantly about it, just after I started working for GCHQ and started going up the career ladder. He was determined that no wife of his would ever earn more than him, and he said a lot of worse things than that too, things which I'm not going to repeat. I was good at my job and he knew it. And he hated it. We never had one peaceful day between us and he turned very nasty. I'm not saying I was perfect, far from it. But one day I looked around and found out that I was married to someone I didn't like or respect. I wondered how had I got here? How had that happened? That smart, sensible Ruth had run off and married someone so repellent to me. It came to a head one night when he'd had a drink after I'd been promoted again. He wanted me to quit. Of course I wasn't going to do that. And we argued for hours. It ended when he hit me."

Harry sighed and grabbed her hand tightly, while she continued. "It was the first time, but I wasn't going to hang around and wait for it to happen again. I'd had enough, so I packed a bag and I left, ignoring his apologies as I went. I've only seen him three times since then. Two times I went to see him, begging for him to sign the divorce papers. But he wouldn't do it. He knew I wasn't coming back and I don't know why he wouldn't just sign it. Stubbornness maybe? I don't know. I gave up and just decided to make it look like I'd never been married in the first place. It worked," she added with a smile. "I should have told you. Honestly, I am sorry."

"What does he want?" Harry asked.

"I have no idea," Ruth said quietly. "I didn't expect to see him again." Ruth bit her lip, filled with anxiety. She was distracted when Harry lightly kissed her. "What was that for?" she asked, her eyes gazing into his.

"Because I love you."

"Even though I lied to you?"

"Yes," he said simply. She looked at him amazed at this reaction so he elaborated. "Its your past. Not our future. I have a few skeletons in my closet too. I wouldn't like you to hold it against me."

"What did I do to deserve you?" she asked, feeling indescribably happy at this.

"You're far too good for me," Harry whispered, leaning over her hair and kissing her head. "Its that simple." He turned from her and looked at the clock. "But we really have to get to work." Ruth followed his eyes and saw that they were already late. She got up and was about to walk upstairs when Harry grabbed her waist. He kissed her neck and whispered gently into her ear. "I love you, don't forget that."

"I never do," she said with a tiny smile. "I love you too."

Which way do I go, plot in longer chapters or simplicity, shorter chapters, ending with HR fluff? What do you think?