Last chapter I think...
Harry had only slept for four hours before heading back to the hospital. She would most likely be waking up anytime now. E walked into the hospital reception and saw a different nurse from the night before. "Ruth Evershed?" The nurse flipped through her clipboard quickly.
"When did she come in?" she asked with a frown.
"Last night."
"Oh yeah, found her. She's been discharged about an hour ago."
"That's impossible," Harry said shaking his head. "She was in a coma last night, she can't have left already."
"She was alert, focused and drug free. She wanted to go home and we had no medical reason to keep her here."
"I asked to be called if there was a change in her condition," Harry said menacingly.
"It says here that the patient said no call was necessary."
"Bloody stubborn woman," Harry cursed under his breath. The nurse raised her eyebrows but said nothing. "Thanks anyway." Harry left and drove straight to Ruth's. Even if he wasn't welcome, he had to see for himself that she was okay.
He rang her doorbell and waited for her to answer, feeling his nerves as he waited to see her. The last time he'd seen her had been unconscious on a hospital bed, and he'd like to replace that with a different image of her. He heard the door unlock and saw her pale but very alive face when the door swung open. She had a faint smile, which he was relieved to see. "I wondered how long it'd take for you to come around," she said quietly.
"Can I?" Harry asked. Ruth nodded and let him in, closing the door behind him.
"Beth called and filled me in on the basics of what I missed while unconscious," Ruth said, standing at the opposite end of the kitchen from Harry.
"You shouldn't have discharged yourself," Harry said. "What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that yesterday was a really bad day and I wanted to go home."
"But…"
"Oh relax Harry, I'm fine," she said impatiently.
"Have you eaten?" he asked ignoring her tone. She allowed herself a small smile at how much he cared about her.
"Yes."
"Good. You're not coming into work today," he added as the thought occurred to him.
"Harry, even my dedication doesn't go that far," she said. She sighed as they were still standing as far away from each other as her small kitchen allowed. It was so them somehow even after the last twenty four hours, so she closed a little distance and sat down on a kitchen chair. Harry followed her lead and sat opposite her. "I feel so useless."
"Why?" he asked.
"The weak woman kidnapped to get you to do something?"
"Ruth, many things you may be but weak is not one of them." Ruth took a moment and looked into his eyes, wanting to read his face. She felt a sudden jolt as Harry took her hand which had been resting on the table. His finger gently ran over her knuckles while she considered how to phrase her question.
"Would you really have let people die for me?"
"If it was just one or two, almost certainly. I'm sorry if its not what you want to hear, but I would have. Your value to me is worth so much more."
"My value?" she questioned. "Glad you think so," she said sarcastically pulling her hand away from his and standing up. "Look, if that's the only reason you're here, you can go now. I'm alive, I'm conscious and I'll be back at work tomorrow." Harry sighed, wondering why she always made him so inarticulate. No other woman managed to make him act like this. He was the head of the main anti terrorist wing of MI5, for Gods sake. He stood up and walked a few paces closer to her. She was backed up against the wall so she couldn't move away from him.
"I want you to be quiet, because I'm going to try and say something to you. When I went into that warehouse, knowing you'd be dead, that was the single most devastating moment of my entire life. Then through some twist of fate I discovered that Lucas still had a conscience. He hadn't given you a drug strong enough to kill you and I knew you'd live. The relief… its indescribable. You are the one thing, the one person I never want to lose. And I made a choice that could have killed you."
"You made the right choice," she said in a soft voice.
"Even though academically it was the right choice, emotionally I felt my mind screaming at me to just give him what he wanted. Because then you'd be safe.
"I am safe."
"Yes," he said a hand caressing her face softly. Her wonderfully warm and alive face. "Do you have any idea how grateful I am for that? I don't want to… I can't waste anymore time. I love you. I just… I love you. Its as simple as that." He didn't waste another second, he leaned towards her and kissed her lips. A soft brush against hers which was over in a second. He let his hand disappear from her face and was about to move away when he felt her hand slide down his arm and entwine with his fingers.
"Do that again," she quietly requested. He leaned in towards her, even slower this time and he saw the moment her eyes fluttered closed. He kissed her again, lips melding together. She let her tongue dart out and run over the seam of his lips, feeling them instantly open to her. She felt the kiss move gorgeously slowly from soft and sensual to deep and passionate. Eventually they both needed to come up for air. "That should have been our first kiss," she whispered, her hand cradling his face.
"Mm," he agreed quietly. "Although that one on the dock kept me going through three years without you."
"I love you too," she said realising she hadn't told him yet. "I always have."
"That's good to hear." He smiled and moved to kiss her again, neither caring that she was up against the wall.
"Tell me you don't have to go into work," she breathed as his lips moved from hers to tasting her neck slowly and delightfully.
"I don't have to go to the grid for a while."
"Good," she murmured, closing her eyes and concentrating on the fantastic way he was assaulting her senses. This went on for several long minutes until he kissed her lips softly for an instant.
"We should slow down," he whispered as a finger trailed over her collarbone.
"I know we should," Ruth said, her eyes sparkling for the first time since Lucas had kidnapped her. "Doesn't mean I want to."
"Oh Ruth…" he whispered, leaning in and breathing in her wonderful scent. He kissed her neck once more letting a hand curve its way around her waist. "I'm going to leave. My self restraint isn't infinite."
"Go then," she said with a smile. "Just make sure you come back later."
"I will," he said with such conviction that she knew he was telling the truth. He looked at her intently for another minute and then left without saying another word. Ruth closed her eyes and let out a breath. She had hoped something like that would happen the next time she saw him but to have her hopes sink into reality was something else entirely.
