I know I had promised to update more regularly, but as it turns out I write a lot faster throughout the year when I'm procrastinating than I do during the summer holidays. Only a short update this time, but I hope you'll like it anyway.
Ruth woke up suddenly and shot up in bed. The bedroom was engulfed by darkness, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light. She looked to her left, expecting to find an alarm clock on her bedside table, but there was nothing there. Trying again, she looked to her right, and found a digital clock there. The digits, casting an odd-looking green glow over the room, showed that it had just gone 3 am.
Ruth slipped out of bed as quietly as possible, and started feeling around on the floor looking for her clothes. But before she had managed to find anything, a slightly sleepy voice stopped her in her tracks.
"Not trying to slip off quietly into the night, are you?"
She stopped what she was doing, walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down on it. "I didn't want to wake you," she said softly. "And besides, I thought slipping off without being seen is what the people in our profession do best."
He grinned, and reached out to switch on the lamp on his bedside table. "It is," he said, "but you're supposed to do that with the enemy and not with your own people."
In the faint light of the solitary lamp Ruth could only just make out his features. His hair was messy, and curled even more than it normally did, which made him look adorable. She had often wondered what he looked like after he had just woken up. Now she knew, and she certainly hadn't been disappointed.
"I should go though," she said.
"No, don't run off like that. Please stay for the rest of the night," he pleaded, picking up her hand and planting a soft kiss on it.
"I'm not running off," she protested. "But I do really have to go."
"Not if you don't want to," he contradicted her, not willing to let her go just like that.
"Harry," she tried to make her intonation sound stern or reprimanding, but didn't succeed. "I need to be at work first thing in the morning, and I can't show up on the Grid wearing the same clothes as the day before. Besides, by the time I have to leave for work your surveillance team will be up and running again, and I can't be seen leaving your house."
Harry sighed. "You're right, of course you're right. But it doesn't mean I like it."
Ruth shifted closer and bend down to kiss him. "Believe me, the last thing I want to do now is leave you and go off into the cold night, back to my cold apartment, and go to work in the morning where the temperature has definitely dropped below zero since the arrival of our new colleagues."
"Well, I'm flattered that you'd prefer to stay here," Harry said.
"There's no place I'd rather be," Ruth replied earnestly.
"So you don't regret this, any of this? You know, us?"
Ruth didn't think she had ever heard him sound so insecure before. She sought out his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Absolutely not. This wasn't some spur of the moment thing, nor do I believe that it is just the one time. It's taken us long enough to get to this point, so you'd think we would've had plenty of time to think it all through. And there's no room for regrets, at least not on my part," she said.
"You don't regret it, do you?" she asked hesitantly when he didn't respond for a while.
He breathed in deeply and shook his head. "I cherish every moment I get to spend with you, no matter how short or insignificant. I couldn't possibly regret any of it, ever."
Harry drew her down to him for another kiss, to which she responded eagerly. She didn't want to leave. In fact, she wanted to stay so badly with every fibre of her being. But she knew that she shouldn't, that she couldn't possibly stay. After a few minutes she finally managed to muster up enough strength to disentangle herself from his embrace. "I need to go now, I have to be on the Grid by 7."
Harry sighed in resignation. "I know you do. Would you like me to call you a taxi?"
She shook her head. "No, I brought my car. It's only just around the corner."
"I'll walk with you to the back door then," he said as he motioned to get up, but Ruth stopped him.
"No it's okay, I'll find my own way out. You just get some sleep alright?"
She kissed him one last time, whispering "I'll see you soon, promise."
"I'm going to miss you," he replied, holding her close for one last moment before he let her go.
She turned away, picked up her clothes and made her way to the door. Just before closing it behind her she turned around one more. "I love you," she said, barely audible. But he had managed to hear it anyway, and soon drifted off into a contented sleep.
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