Everyone is really eager to learn about Ruth's past so I really hope I don't let anyone down. I think it'll come out in the next chapter or two. For now, enjoy!
Harry looked through his office window at the deserted grid. It was only five but because of the all-nighter he'd sent everyone home. However he wasn't following his own advice. He was rereading the scant detail on the period in Ruth's life she seemed so reluctant to remember, a time which hurt her so clearly. He wondered if it was betraying her trust, but then he thought he'd read it before overnight anyway.
Ruth's father had died when she was eleven, he'd known that. Her mother remarried when she was fifteen, he'd known that too. It was the next part that was vague and confusing, but he'd ashamedly played on earlier that morning. Tensions were fraught between the family and her mothers marriage was not a happy one by all accounts.
Both Ruth and Peter her stepbrother had disappeared for a couple of days. Nothing further had ever been discovered about that time but as soon as Ruth came home, she packed her things and left her mothers house and stayed with her Aunt for the handful of months left before she went to university. From what Harry could tell there had been a massive argument, one which Ruth had lost and she had never seen eye to eye with her mother since. They had a fractious relationship even now, Ruth never mentioned her mother willingly. Harry had never enquired as to why. He'd never bothered to find out. But then he wondered if he'd have had the courage to face her possibly freezing him out because of a question which wasn't really any of his business in the first place.
He shut her file with a snap and put it back in the pile from where it came. He picked up the heavy stack, deciding to return them all to the registry before going home.
The next morning Ruth was already sitting at her desk working by the time Harry appeared. He walked over to her desk and was relieved to see her smiling, even if her eyes still hadn't regained their usual sparkle.
"How are you?" he asked leaning over her desk.
"I'm okay," she said.
"Are you mad at me?"
"No, not anymore," she said looking deeply into his eyes. "I didn't want to be blown up either."
"Well at least we have that in common," Harry said. She smiled as he walked to his office. She still felt tired and emotionally drained but after a good nights sleep she didn't feel so devastated any longer. She concentrated on the paperwork she had to do, pushing her personal life to the back of her mind for the time being.
At the end of the day Harry came out to see Ruth the last person on the grid as usual. He smiled and then covered her hand which was on the mouse. "Stop working," he said quietly. She looked at where their hands were touching and reluctantly pulled away. Harry sighed with disappointment when she turned back to her screen. But then he saw that she was just shutting the computer down and his disappointment vanished. "Let me take you home."
She considered this for a moment, then nodded with acceptance. He felt his heart leap and he smiled as she got up and pulled her coat on. He wondered if it would be possible for them to ever bridge the gap between them. But he concentrated on how she brushed her hair off of her face absentmindedly and the way the light caught. Then he remembered that he was supposed to be taking her home. He gave his head a slight shake and then walked to the pods with Ruth at his side.
