I sort of forgot to update this for a while. So yeah, sorry about that. Hope you enjoy this chapter though!

4

Purdey looked up and took in her surroundings for the first time since she'd left Thames House. Unintentionally she had walked in the direction of the Embankment, and now found herself staring at the Houses of Parliament across the river. This at least gave her a sense of familiarity and would've made her feel a bit calmer, hadn't it been for the London Eye that she could just spot out of the corner of her eye on the right.

She sat herself down on one of the many benches, and just looked on as the world around her continued to move at a steady pace. She looked at the many couples who strolled past, just enjoying the view and each other's company, and it reminded her of one late afternoon a few weeks back when she'd taken that same stroll here with Gambit. Not that she thought of them as a couple, because they certainly weren't, but it had made her feel happy and content. It had been a relatively warm day and they hadn't had much work to do at the Ministry, so Gambit had suggested they'd go for a walk. She'd hooked her arm in his and together they'd just walked and chatted away happily and laughed at each other's jokes. All in all it had been a pretty perfect day.

Purdey snapped out of her daydream as she noticed two familiar figures approaching her. It was Harry and Ruth, who were holding hands whilst they casually strolled along the Embankment. This took her by surprise. She had noticed the quick glanced that passed between them from across the room, but Purdey had thought it to be just that. She wondered if the rest of the team knew about this personal involvement of their Section Head and Intelligence Analyst. Realising that the two were sharing a private moment, Purdey figured that it was best if they didn't see her and she quickly disappeared from view.

She found it difficult to suppress the pang of sadness she'd felt in her chest as she quickly started walking back. After Larry she'd gone on various casual dates with other men, but none of them had ever resulted in anything more substantial. And she was fine with that; in fact, for a long time she hadn't been able to bear the thought of being in a relationship with any man. She'd been far too emotionally damaged for that. But she had to admit to herself that lately she had started to feel as though something was missing, although she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

Companionship maybe? That special someone with whom she could share her hopes, fears, mind boggling thoughts and ideas. Though she already had someone, a friend to share these things with. Gambit. She quickly pushed the thought to the back of her mind again. This was getting ridiculous now. She didn't even fancy Gambit, or did she? No, she was probably just clinging to any spark of familiarity in this world where she felt so utterly lost and alone. And besides, Gambit didn't even exist in this world. She'd give this some more thought when she returned, from wherever this place was that she was in now.

The chilly October wind was getting to her now, and she wrapped her coat more tightly around herself. Knowing that she probably wouldn't sleep tonight anyway after all of today's revelations, she decided to return to Thames House and catch up on some surveillance on the Russians.

Purdey entered the Grid through the pods, expecting to be the only one there at this late hour. She instantly noticed the solitary desk lamp that was switched on somewhere to her left, with Ruth still engulfed in one of her reports.

"I guess I'm not the only working late" Purdey said by means of greeting, and smiled at the other woman.

"I do this quite often" Ruth replied. "I find it the best time of day to work when I've got complicated matters to work through. The silence helps me to keep a clear head and makes me able to focus on what I'm doing."

Purdey grabbed a chair and placed it on the other side of Ruth's desk before sitting herself down on it. "Ruth, can I be very bold with you for a moment?"

The brunette looked up. "I don't see why not" she replied, mildly surprised.

"Are you and Harry together?" she asked, no longer able to constrain her curiosity.

Ruth looked down at her hands and started fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, something she always did when she felt nervous or embarrassed.

Finally she answered. "Yes, well more or less. We're getting there slowly but surely."

Before she knew it she started telling Purdey her whole life story. She told her of her history with MI5, and Harry. About the Cotterdam case, and how she took the blame in order for Harry to remain where he was. About their bittersweet goodbye kiss on the docks, and how she thought she'd never see him again.

Ruth was really on a roll now. She started talking about how she went to France and Italy first, but decided she didn't like it there and got on a boat to Cyprus. She started working at the local hospital in Polis, where she met George. She instantly felt a connection, though she didn't call it love. It was more of a bond build on close friendship and mutual respect, though she suspected that George was in fact in love with her. Feeling the urge to really belong somewhere and seeking stability in her life, she almost immediately accepted when George had asked her to move in with him and his young son, Nico. She'd been fairly happy with the way her life had turned out, though she had to admit that there was something missing. A hole in her heart that could only be filled by one person: Harry.

Then she told Purdey about the whole incident involving Baghdad and the uranium, and how they narrowly escaped Mani's men and fled to England. She talked about how George had been killed, tears gathering behind her eyelids now, and how poor Nico had almost been killed in the process as well.

By the time Ruth had finished her story, Purdey almost didn't know what to say.

"My, you've been through a lot haven't you?" she said.

Ruth nodded. "I can't say it was easy, but I feel like I'm finally getting my life back on track."

"Well at least you had Harry to turn to" she said, reaching out and squeezing Ruth's hand lightly by means of comforting her.

"Not exactly" Ruth said. "I didn't just go running to him afterwards. Too much had happened, and I suppose it was too painful for both of us. I made a few hesitant moves towards him, but he hardly responded to them. I thought he had stopped caring, but in fact he was just doing it to protect me. He didn't want to seem too eager. But then a few months ago he finally mustered up the courage to ask me out to dinner, and things have only been going upwards from then on. But like I said, we're taking things very slowly."

"That's beautiful" Purdey sighed. "Almost like one of those love stories you see in movies."

"Well not quite like that" Ruth grinned. "Oh and I've told you all this in strict confidence. I don't think anybody on the Grid knows about us, and we'd like to keep it that way for just a little while longer."

"Don't worry Ruth, your secret's safe with me", Purdey reassured her with a smile.

The two women worked well into the night, cross-referencing data they had gathered from various sources. Purdey was finally getting into the swing of things, and was even starting to enjoy the work she was doing. But most of all she was amazed by Ruth's capabilities as an analyst. She had a unique way of looking at things from different perspectives, so it wasn't hard to imagine why Section D had employed her.

Around 3 am it seemed as though they had finally made a breakthrough. The increased traffic of Russians entering and leaving the country was just a decoy to cover up a much bigger operation that was being carried out in and around London. What kind of operation it was exactly they didn't know yet, but they hoped they would find out the next day during the morning briefing. Both women decided they'd done all they could for today and that they should go home and get at least a few hours of sleep.

By the time Purdey arrived home it was nearly 4 in the morning, and although she was exhausted she found she couldn't sleep. So much had happened to her today and she no longer knew which way was up. The revelation that Gambit and Steed didn't seem to exist in this world had shocked and frightened her beyond belief, but at the same time she found she started to enjoy her work and that she liked her colleagues very much.

Had she been in her own, 'normal' world, she would've praised herself lucky for working with a team such as this one. All of this only added to her confusion about what this world really was, and if these people were real or not. Eventually she managed to fall into a restless slumber of which she awoke 3 hours later, just in time for work.

TBC