About two months later, 20th May, 9 am
"So," Lucas is saying, "we know that they're-"
A gasp from Ruth interrupts his speech and everyone turns to look at her. She's sitting next to Harry as usual, and ignoring his concerned, "What's wrong?" she grabs his hand and places it on her protruding stomach. To say he's surprised by the contact would be an understatement, but seconds later he forgets all about it when he feels it; the baby kicks his hand.
"Did you feel it?" she asks eagerly, her eyes sparkling in excitement.
He nods and smiles into her eyes while the rest of the team look on at the happy couple before them, unable once more to understand why they can't put aside all their differences and see what's so obvious to all of them - that they're perfect together.
About two weeks later, 6th June, 10:30 pm
The pod swings open and Harry enters the grid and walks towards his office, looking exhausted. He glances towards Ruth's table expecting it to be empty, but a pair of familiar, blue eyes are watching him with concern. He tilts his head slightly in invitation, and she immediately gets up and follows him into his office. He goes straight to his decanter and pours himself a generous measure of whisky.
"Ruth, why are you still here?"
She frowns at him and chooses to ignore the question. "Any more news, Harry?"
"No," he sighs, "but in this case, no news is bad news."
She nods and moves to stand next to him, her eyes over bright and filled with sadness and concern for him as she scans his face. "I'm sorry, Harry."
He seeks her eyes out with his own, taking the comfort and strength that they always give him so willingly. He nods, and without conscious thought, he reaches up and pushes a stray strand of her hair behind her ear. She gives him a small smile and he murmurs, "Go home, Ruth. Get some rest." She opens her mouth to protest, but he doesn't let her. "Please, Ruth. I need to know that you're taking care of yourself and our child. It's late."
She looks at him carefully for a moment, seeing the strain of the last few hours written clearly across his features and realising that he needs her to do this for him, so that he has one less thing to worry about. She nods and reaches up to place a kiss on his cheek, taking him by surprise. "I'll go home. I hope you get some rest soon too, Harry."
She turns and makes her way out of his office, pausing at the door to look at him once more before she leaves to get her things. She makes her way home, but once she's eaten and got into bed, she feels so alone and so very sad. She wants Harry here with her right now and she wishes, now more than ever, that they'd worked things out between them, that they'd managed to get their timing right, that they were on the same page for once in their life. But then she realises how futile such a wish is because, even if they'd managed to do all that, Harry wouldn't have been home tonight. His place is still at work, sorting through the nightmare that Nightingale has created through all their recent actions which culminated in today's blowing up of the hotel. So no matter how much she needs him here to comfort her, to share the burden of her grief, he wouldn't have been able to be here for her even if he'd wanted to.
They'd lost Ros today. From Harry's manner, she'd understood that there's no hope, that she's gone. Ros, their strong, almost fearless leader, is no more. She hugs herself tightly and soon the tears start to fall, and she sobs against her pillow in grief, crying herself to sleep.
About two weeks earlier, 23rd May, 2:30 pm
Ruth feels the baby kick again and smiles. The excitement she feels every time this happens isn't wearing off though the midwife has assured her that it will, especially when it begins to happen a lot at night. Reaching out to her right, she grabs the hand of the person next to her and places it on her stomach saying, "Do you feel it?" She looks up to find Ros staring at her and immediately releases her hand and murmurs an apology, but to her surprise, Ros smiles and leaves her hand on her protruding stomach.
"Those are strong kicks," she says. "It must be a girl. It'll be up to you to bring her up as strong as the all women of Section D, Ruth."
"I'll do my best, Ros, but I'm sure I could use some help with that. If it's a girl, she'll need good, strong, female role models and I can't think of a better one than you. Would you like to be her godmother?"
Ros stares at her for a moment, her eyes betraying for a split second the surprise and pleasure Ruth's words bring to her, before replying in her usual, mildly sarcastic tones, "As long as I don't have to be a fairy godmother. I'm afraid my magical powers are not what they used to be."
"I don't know, Ros," a passing Lucas comments with a smile. "Your magical powers certainly did the trick the last time you tested them out."
Ruth looks at Ros quizzically, but she just shrugs and returns to her work.