I know I was mean leaving it there, sorry...

"Hi Harry," Adam said as he came on the grid. "You're late."

"I'm not late," he said. "I've been at work since seven a.m. Home Office meeting." Harry stifled a yawn. "Anything urgent?"

"No," Adam said. "I'm almost wishing for a terror attack things are so slow."

"Never say that Adam," Harry said. He scanned the grid and noticed that Ruth's desk was empty. "Ruth's not here yet?" he asked, a dart of worry going through him.

"Er no," he said. "I don't actually know where she is, I thought she was here, but actually I haven't seen her this morning. Jo?"

"What?" she said looking up from her screen.

"Have you seen Ruth?"

"No I haven't," she said. "I wondered if she had a scan or anything. We're not busy so I didn't think it'd matter."

Harry looked around before speaking, but Ruth wasn't appearing so he sighed, and went into his office. He switched on his mobile and checked his messages. He wasn't all that surprised to see one from Ruth. He smiled slightly and then listened to it.

"Hi Harry. Look, I can't come into work today. Or for the next couple of days," her recorded voice said. He noticed that her tone was down and really depressed. But nothing could prepare him for the next words. "I'm in St Mary's hospital and they want to keep me here for a few days. I'm okay, and… I'm sorry. I just I'm a bit of a mess right now. But I'm okay. Bye."

For a moment Harry was paralysed. Then he listened to the message again. "For God's sake Ruth! Why are you in the hospital? Is the baby okay? These are not unreasonable questions!" he hissed to himself. He dialled her number quickly, but it went straight through to answer phone. Cursing under his breath, he left the grid, needing to go to St Mary's hospital as soon as possible.

One hour earlier.

Ruth sat in a hospital bed, a doctor and two nurses around her checking the extent of her injuries. She'd only just arrived at hospital and Ruth didn't care about herself, she cared about her baby. They were getting an ultrasound machine at the moment for her, and she was waiting with impatience for it to arrive. "Miss Evershed, where does it hurt?"

"Look, can we deal with me later, I want to know if my baby's okay!"

"How far pregnant are you?"

"Six months," she said. "Please tell me that she's okay. I haven't felt her kick since I… regained consciousness."

"Right, get out of the way," a strange male doctor said. Ruth looked and saw the ultrasound machine and sighed with relief. Very quickly the doctor put the wand on her stomach and Ruth bit her lip, trying to keep her heart rate under control and her panic at bay. At least until she was told she needed to panic.

"Please," she said in the silence. "Please tell me she's okay. Nothing could have happened to my baby, please!" she begged.

"Be quiet!" the doctor said forcefully. "I can't hear a foetal heartbeat if you keep talking." Ruth shut her mouth and let the tears fall. After all this, everything that had happened in the last six months, she couldn't lose her baby now. She didn't know how she'd ever recover from that. "Yep, there we go," the doctor said as a heart beat filled the room. "regular and steady."

"She's okay?" Ruth asked desperately, so relieved to hear that regular quick little beat.

"I want to get a 3D ultrasound to check, but yes, she looks okay. The heartbeat is steady and regular which is a good sign." The doctor sighed. "I need you to stop worrying about your baby, because the best thing you can do for her right now is concentrate on yourself. Okay?"

"Yes," she said. "My back hurts," she added. "My ribs. When he hit me I curled up around the baby. He kicked me in the back." She didn't need to see to know that the nurses were sharing a significant look.

"I'm going to call and get the police down here." Ruth didn't argue because she wanted that bastard caught. He could have murdered her baby so she had absolutely no forgiveness for him. "We're going to get you to have an MRI to check for internal bleeding okay?"

"Right," Ruth said. "Will that be safe for the baby?"

"Yes," he said. "We would usually put you into CT to check for internal injuries, but that one poses a slight risk for the baby. But MRI is perfectly safe, I assure you."

"Good," Ruth said. "I need a phone. Before I go anywhere, or have any tests done. I have to call someone."

"Okay," the doctor said. "We'll get a 3D ultrasound to check as well." Ruth nodded as someone passed her a phone. She dialled Harry's number, glad he hadn't answered because she didn't know how to phrase the conversation and she left a message. With a sigh she put her head back on the pillow and sighed. She was still incredibly worried about her child, but then she felt it. A very firm and hard kick under her ribs and Ruth smiled. That more than anything else told her that her daughter was okay.

"Ruth Evershed please?" Harry said to the receptionist.

"Family?"

"I'm in a relationship with her," he lied instinctively.

"Okay, let me check," the receptionist said, clicking on her computer. "She's in room 228. Up on the second floor and on the right. Follow the numbers and you'll find her."

"How is she?" Harry dared to ask. "Is she okay? And the baby?"

"Er… she's had two successful ultrasounds, according to this. Regular heartbeat. Baby looks good." Harry let out a sigh of pure relief and smiled.

"That's good, thank you." The receptionist nodded and Harry went off to find her. It didn't take long and he opened the door. His jaw fell open as he saw a bruise across the left side of her face. Her eye was puffed up and she looked awful.

"God Ruth, you look… terrible."

"Jeez Harry, you know how to raise a girls self esteem," Ruth said, her face tilted up slightly in a smile. He closed the door behind him and sat next to her, grabbing her hand tightly before she could so much as say a word.

"How's the baby?" he asked.

"Fine," she said with a wide smile which belied the fact she was in hospital after taking a beating. "I was worried… more than worried before they scanned the baby, but over the past hour she's been kicking me on and off. Hard. I never thought I would like having something kicking my ribs. She's an exception."

"I'm very relieved," he said, a smile on his face. Ruth was surprised by the evident relief on his face. "Who did this to you Ruth?"

"Charles Taylor," Ruth said. "The police are coming down soon to take my statement."

"Who is he? I don't recognise the name."

"My one night stand in January," she said as she put her hand on her stomach. "Unfortunately this little one's dad."

"Why?! Why on earth would he do this to you? What the hell is wrong with him? I mean its pretty clear you're pregnant! He shouldn't have done anything to you in the first place."

"That's why," Ruth said. "He wanted to know why I hadn't had an abortion. Then he hit me. And he got angry and didn't stop hitting me and I… lost consciousness."

"I am going to kill him," Harry said with a growl in his voice. "Forget about the damn police, I'm going to murder him."

"No you're not," she said, putting her hand over his lips. "I cannot have you kill a man. Be charged with murder? No! Please leave it to the police. For me."

"Ruth," Harry said, his voice low. "I can't. He could have killed you."

"He didn't," she said. "No lasting damage. We're both fine."

Harry squeezed her hand but he looked very unhappy and Ruth knew she hadn't heard the last of this. "You realise you haven't asked me how I am yet," she said, a smile on her face. "You asked how the baby was. But you didn't ask me how I was."
He was silent as it dawned on him that she was right. He also knew from the look on her face that that was the best thing he could have done in the circumstances.

"Well, you're talking to me, and you look okay," he said. "I know for a fact that if you had broken bones you would deal with it and cope with it. If someone harmed your baby… if he'd hurt your child I know it would take you an awful lot to recover from that."

"Yeah," she said. "I guess you're right."

"How are you," he added, better late than never.

"My kidney's bleeding," she said. "Only a little though and they want to keep me in hospital to see if the bleeding stops on its own. Otherwise just bumps and bruises. I was lucky."

"You have not been lucky," he said fervently. "I'm going to kill him. He cannot get away with this."

"Harry…"

"I mean it," Harry said. "He could have…" Harry suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotion and found his eyes pricking with tears.

"Hey," she said lightly as she saw him crying. "I'm fine, don't cry."

"I can't lose you," he said. Very gently he put his hand on her stomach. "Either one of you." Before Ruth could say anything Harry felt a thump under his hand, as if the baby wanted her presence known. Harry smiled at her and reluctantly removed his hand, looking at Ruth's face.

"I'm sorry," he said. "For what I said months ago. I just…"

"Needed time," she said, feeling her heart leap. "I know."

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "I'm an idiot." Ruth reached for him and wiped his tears away. Her hand stayed on his face and she was very reluctant to pull away. Instead Harry reached for her hand and held it gently in his. Then, before he could think, he leaned over and kissed her softly. He very nearly murmured "I love you" against her lips, but he managed to refrain. Now was not the right time.

Before either of them could say anything the door opened and two female police officers came in.

"I should go," Harry said, noticing that they were glaring at him like he was scum of the earth. He realised that the police thought he'd done this to her and held in his irritation with difficulty.

"Remember what I said," Ruth said loudly.

"I know," he said. "Don't worry." He kissed the top of her head gently, then he turned to the officers. "Before you jump to conclusions, I would not hurt one hair on her head."

"Harry…"

"I see the way they're looking at me," he said, turning to Ruth.

"Harry, you have people to boss around and shout at," Ruth said firmly. "Go." Harry nodded and sidestepped the police officers, leaving the hospital.

"Should I have him arrested?"

"For what?" Ruth asked confused. She herself hadn't seen the way the officers had been looking at Harry.

"Miss Evershed, we've seen cases of domestic violence dozens of times," the officer said. "You were in your house when you were attacked."

"Harry didn't do this," she said firmly. "I am not going to defend someone who hurt me this badly and could have killed my baby, not for a second. But Harry didn't do this."

"Why don't we start at the beginning," the blonde officer said, sitting down. Ruth nodded and took a deep breath before she started to speak.

I apologise for any medical inaccuracies, but I hope this is okay :-)