I'm truly amazed by the huge amount of reviews I received for chapter 6. Thank you so much for all the lovely and encouraging messages. They mean a lot to me!


Ruth shuffled back slightly awkwardly after greeting Harry in a very enthusiastic manner. Harry, however, was still smiling.

"I should disappear more often, if it means I'll be greeted like this every time I come back." He joked.

Ruth shot him a serious look. "That's not funny Harry. I was out of my mind with worry because I couldn't reach you."

"No you're right, and I'm sorry. I'll try and make sure it never happens again." He said, and kissed her briefly.

He walked into the hallway and Ruth closed the door behind him. It was then that she noticed the bottle he carried in his right hand.

"Why the champagne?" she asked. "Are we celebrating something?"

"We certainly are," he replied. "But let me put this in the fridge first."

Harry made his way into the kitchen, put the bottle into the fridge, and then returned and lead Ruth into the sitting room. They sat down closely together on the sofa. Suddenly Harry felt something jump up against his leg. It was Scarlet.

"Hello old girl," he cooed as he scratched her behind her ears. "Has Ruth been taking good care of you? I'm sure she has."

"You still haven't told me what it is we're supposed to be celebrating," Ruth said, trying to draw Harry's attention away from the dog and back to her.

"Oh yes, sorry. I got distracted for a moment there." He took her hands in his. "The inquiry is over," he said.

Ruth's eyes widened. "What? But how? Are you serious?" she stuttered.

Harry nodded. "They would have had more than enough evidence to charge me, that's for sure. But there's one big problem: I know far too much. I know every sordid little detail, every affair from Thames House to Whitehall and back again. So whatever they do, whatever they charge me with, I'll always have something up my sleeve to create an even bigger scandal. They know I could bring down the government within a couple of hours if I open my mouth. They're afraid I'll do something that could harm the image of the current government, which, to be honest, isn't that great to begin with. So they inquiry has ended before it's even properly begun." He explained.

"So what happens now?" Ruth asked. She still couldn't quite believe what she had just heard.

"It's a slapped wrist, nothing more." Harry answered. "I am to be reinstated as Section Head on full pay. I even get to keep my Knighthood, even though I couldn't care less about that. Only I need to give the Home Secretary daily briefings of all that goes on in Section D, and every important decision I make has to be approved by the DG himself."

Ruth nodded, still trying to process everything Harry had just told her. "So basically you get to do your job, only you're not really doing your job because you have to ask others for permission all the time?"

Harry smiled, his eyes sparkling mischievously. "Ah, but that's just it. I'm going to do exactly as I've been told to do. I'll report any detail I can lay my hands on, no matter how insignificant. I'll consult the DG on every minor decision I need to make, until it drives them round the bend. Trust me, within a month they'll be telling me to bugger off, do my job like I always have done and leave them in peace."

By now Ruth was smiling. The plan was so typically Harry and she was sure it was going to work.

"When are you coming back to the Grid?" she asked enthusiastically.

"Officially next week, but I think tomorrow will do just fine." He answered. "I need to check if my office and single malt are still intact."

"That's good," Ruth said. "The Grid hasn't been the same without you there."

"Luckily you were still there to keep an eye on things," he said, grinning "or else Dimitri and Tariq would surely have blown up the place by now."

He leaned forward and kissed her softly. Ruth sighed into the kiss and moved closer to Harry. After they finally broke apart she lay her head against his chest, feeling the faint thump of his heart, and sighed contently.

"I was so worried when I couldn't reach you," she murmured, her face half buried in his chest.

"I know, and I'm so sorry about that," he whispered, kissing the top of her head. "When CO19 came to whisk me away the first thing they did was take away my phone. I wasn't allowed a phone call either, so I had no means of contacting you."

"It's ok, you don't have to explain it to me Harry. I know the procedures, and I'm not mad at you. I was just frightened," she said. "I went to your house this morning to look for you and I noticed Scarlet had been left behind without food or drink. That's when I knew something was wrong."

"Poor little dog," Harry mumbled. "They wouldn't even listen to me when I tried to tell them she needed to be looked after. She must've felt so alone."

"Luckily it wasn't for long," Ruth reassured him. "I took her home with me immediately. But not before I had phoned the Home Secretary."

Harry looked surprised. "You phoned Towers?"

"Well yes," she said. "I figured he would know where you were. But it turned out he didn't, only that it had to do with the inquiry. He had no idea how long they would keep you in for. He said it could be hours, but it could easily be days or even weeks. And that's when I got really frightened." By now she had started rambling in a very Ruth-like manner. "I mean, imagine if they'd kept you locked up for weeks without telling me anything. I wouldn't have known how to cope, especially right now…" she abruptly stopped talking, silently cursing herself for slipping up.

He raised a questioning eyebrow. "What do you mean 'especially right now'?"

Ruth bit her bottom lip and tried to avoid Harry's gaze. "Nothing. It can wait. Right now we're celebrating your good news."

Harry sighed. "Ruth, I couldn't possibly open that bottle and celebrate, all the while knowing that there was something bothering you."

Ruth shook her head and moved away slightly. "Please Harry, not now. We'll talk tomorrow."

"No, we talk right here and right now," he said, looking sternly.

"In your absence I found out something." Ruth said. " Remember my flu?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Yes of course, you were sick as a dog."

"Well, it turns out it wasn't the flu." She said.

Harry looked shocked. A million different scenarios shot through his mind, each of them just as horrible as the next.

"You're not sick are you? Please tell me it's nothing serious." He sounded frightened.

"It's very serious, but I'm not sick." She reassured him.

By now Harry was running out of ideas about what could be the matter with Ruth. "What is it then?" he asked.

Ruth fell silent. She didn't know how to say it. It was stupid really. She who spoke countless languages, but she couldn't find a way to say those two very simple words to the man she loved. Just two words, but they would change both their lives forever.

Harry took her hands in his and squeezed them lightly, encouraging her to continue.

This is ridiculous, Ruth thought to herself. Just say it. Quickly, like ripping off a band-aid.

She took a deep breath. "I'm pregnant."

Now it was Harry's turn to be speechless. It really was the last thing he had expected her to say. In fact, the thought had never even crossed his mind. He wasn't sure what to think. So far he had treasured their time spent together, but it had only been a matter of weeks, little more than a month. Oddly enough, the thought of having a baby with Ruth was something that filled him with immense joy. It wasn't as if he had never thought about it, because he had, frequently.

He snapped out of his daydream when he realised he hadn't said anything since Ruth's revelation, who, in turn, was now looking at him with pleading eyes. "Harry, please say something, anything." She half-whispered.

He cleared his throat. "Well, it seems this day is full of surprises."

His words didn't have the desired effect on her. Ruth looked as if she was about to cry.

Harry quickly rephrased his sentence. "I mean, this day is full of pleasant surprises." He said, and he smiled.

"Really?" she asked, still sounding unsure. "You don't think it's far too soon, or that it's a terrible idea altogether?"

"It might be a bit soon," he said, "but to me it doesn't feel like we've only been together for such a short time. Let's face it, in a way we've been an old married couple for years. It's only recently that we became a couple in every sense of the word."

Ruth nodded in agreement. He was absolutely right, and she felt the same way.

Harry continued. "Perhaps the timing isn't so bad after all. I'm certainly not getting any younger, and I'm sorry to say this my dear, but neither are you."

"That's true," she said. "I'll be 41 next year. I never thought that if I ever had a child, that it would be this late in life. So I figured that if I felt a little old to be doing this, you probably wouldn't want this at all. And that's what frightened me, that it could tear us apart."

Harry cupped her face with both hands and kissed her, brushing away a solitary tear with his thumb as it rolled down her cheek. "Nothing could tear us apart, ever," he whispered. "You are my second chance at love and happiness, and I would be bloody stupid to let it slip away."

He outstretched his hand, then let it hover in midair as he sought out her eyes, silently asking her for permission. She nodded her consent, and he placed his right hand on her lower abdomen. "And this baby, our baby, is my second chance at fatherhood. I'm not sure I deserve it, because I was a bad husband and a lousy father the first time round. But you're giving me a second chance, an opportunity to do it right this time." He said, and she was sure she could see a few tears gather in his eyes as well.

"Harry I'm scared," she said, her bottom lip trembling, desperately trying to stop her tears from falling.

"I know you are, I'm scared too." He said. "But are you happy?" he asked.

Ruth nodded. "I am."

"Then we'll be alright," he said and took her in his arms, smiling contentedly. "We'll be just fine."

They sat like that for a while, just enjoying the feeling of being snuggled up closely against each other.

Suddenly Harry looked up. "Oh, so no champagne then?"

Ruth shook her head. "No champagne."

He kissed the top of her head and got up. "In that case I'll go and put the kettle on."


More to come. Please review :) xx