It's three days after her thirty-somethingth birthday and Ruth finds herself in possibly the worst MI-5 safehouse in history. She's trying to keep herself together as she tries to make some tea. The kettle looks like it would just as likely burn the place down as heat water, so she keeps an eye on it as she picks out the beaker with the least amount of chips in it. She jumps when she hears the door below.

"Ruth, it's me." Zaf's voice drifts up the stairs. She's disappointed it's not him, but then immediately berates herself for being ungrateful. Everyone is risking a great deal for her right now and she has no right to be so churlish. He's brought groceries, a radio, some magazines, and a book. It's Jane Austen's Persuasion.

"Harry picked that out."

She smiled a bit. It was the book she had been reading when Harry found her on the bus that time he was suspended; he was pretty good at remembering without remembering.

"How is he?"

"I think Malcolm and Adam have managed to convince him to not murder Mace, at least not just yet. He's doing all he can."

"I know. Tell him…" Here she couldn't hold back a tear, and Zaf gave her a big hug.

"It's going to be OK, you know. Just a bit of time to get things sorted."

"I know."

"I need to get going."

"Alright. Zaf, tell him there is no way he was at that meeting. If you have to remind him every five minutes, do it."

She tried to read for awhile, but her heart wasn't in it. Her analyst brain was picking apart all that had happened in the last few hours (although it seemed like days) to put her in her current situation. She had witnessed a man commit suicide by jumping in front of train. It couldn't be a coincidence that that stranger turned out to be Mik Maudlsley, Head of Security for Southeast Prisons who decided to kill himself the day the report was issued about the deadly fire at Cotterdam prison. She had followed her instincts, picked at the threads until the knot had unraveled, but not before catching her up in those threads as well. She and Adam had found the document Maudsley had meant for her to find, but not before she found herself with a murder charge hanging over her head and Harry aglow with fury.

She kept replaying the scene in her head: everyone in the section, bundled against the cold in the middle of a car park. Harry had ordered "doghouse" so they could regroup away from the prying eyes and ears of the JIC. Luckily, the fact that she had slipped her house arrest had not been detected yet. She and Adam told the team about the memo they had found; Harry wouldn't meet her eye.

"So someone from this section sanctioned this torture?" Malcolm bristled.

"No, that was just put in there to prevent us from going public." Adam answered.

The look on Harry's face was making Ruth more and more nervous.

"Harry," Ruth said, "you were not at that meeting."

It suddenly occurred to the rest of them that while they could take for granted that Harry wasn't there, but because of his amnesia he didn't have that luxury.

"How do you know?"

"I know. There is no way that you would be there, and let this happen."

"What do we do then?"

"Surely we have to release this and damn the consequences." Jo answered.

"And have Ruth thrown to the wolves?" Harry snapped.

"We can sort that out later, but in the meantime, we have to put this forward." Ruth said.

"We put this forward, and there is no later for you." It was as if no one else was present.

"We can't let them get away with this, Harry. We both know that."

He wasn't shying away from her gaze now.

"This memo gets released. I'll say I was at the meeting. I may have been, anyway…"

"No, you weren't."

"Prove it…I'll say I'm Fox, and I'll take down as many of those bastards as I can."

"You can't do that, Harry. If anyone needs to stick around and fight against this it's you. If you are gone, who will be able to prevent this from happening all the time? I'll say I'm Fox, and…"

"I'm your boss. You killed Maudsley, but I told you to…"

"Harry…" She's on the verge of tears.

"May I make a suggestion?" Malcolm interrupted. He continued,

"Whatever Mace has cooked up to frame Ruth, we can undo it, with enough time."

"We don't have time!" Harry's patience was wearing very thin, to Malcolm's peril.

"We would if Ruth were to disappear for a few days…"

Harry considered. She could tell that he was still troubled about the meeting and the possibility that he was part of this plan to torture prisoners. He looked at Ruth, then Malcolm, then back to Ruth again. He sighed, and put his hands deep in his overcoat pockets.

Within minutes, Adam had whisked her away to this safehouse, and the last image she had of Harry was of him giving lengthy orders to Jo and Zaf, head bowed and eyes fixed on the ground.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

It was dark now, and she was getting hungry. She was about to find the switch that belonged to the bare bulb hanging from the ceiling when a sound from downstairs stopped her in her tracks. She thought she heard the door; but there was no friendly greeting from Adam or Zaf that surely should have followed. Earlier, she had found a gun in a drawer and was glad she thought to keep it nearby. She tensed as she heard slow footsteps approaching. She pointed the weapon in the general direction of the stairs, her heart pounding in her ears.

"Ruth?"

"Christ, Harry! I could have shot you!"

"I don't think so if that's the gun from the kitchen…no firing pin."

He flicked on the light, and whatever resolve he had dissolved the instant he saw her blinking and trembling in the middle of that tatty room, panic and sadness and relief all rolled into one. A few long strides, and he was across the room, kissing her senseless.

Author's note: Thanks to all who are sticking with this! I hadn't originally intended to bring in 5.5, but I couldn't in all conscience mention Cotterdam and then leave it hanging…I hope you enjoyed this chapter (reviews are greatly appreciated!). Next chapter definitely more fluffy…