A/N1: A slightly shorter chapter here, but I wanted to post something for you as I'm being whisked away for the weekend tomorrow (birthday present from my fella) and won't be back til Tuesday.

A/N2: The events concerning what happened to Catherine and how Harry deals with it are taken from entries in the book, 'Harry's Diary' – although in there they took place after Ruth's departure. For the purposes of this story they are happening 7 months after the dates given in the book. (Also, a truce was called to the conflict in Lebanon in August 2006 but for this story, I'm altering that too. That's one of the benefits of it being fanfiction, right?)

Chapter 11

Friday 9th March 2007

Ruth drops the phone back into the cradle with a heavy sigh; Harry has been gone for five days now and she hasn't heard from him; she's sick with worry. After the news about Catherine had come through, he'd taken an immediate leave of absence and boarded the next available flight to Lebanon which was not a stable country at the moment; the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had been going on for nearly a month.

His last words to Ruth had been to take care of herself and that he would call her as soon as there was news. Malcolm had been tracking Harry but had lost him two days previously just outside Baalbek, the Hezbollah capital. Ever since, Ruth has been contacting every MI-6 officer and every asset who may have knowledge of their whereabouts. So far, nothing.

"No luck?" Ros queries as she perched on the edge of Jo's desk.

"Does it look like it?" Ruth snaps back. "Sorry," she immediately apologises, "No. Our man in Beirut hasn't seen Harry for three days; apparently he had rather a heated altercation with a journalist there, nearly causing a diplomatic crisis. Our guys' words were he was 'like a man possessed'."

"Hardly surprising, given that his daughter could be rotting away somewhere or bleeding to death under a pile of rubble."

"Thanks for that Ros; so much for staying positive," Ruth hisses, standing and almost running across to the pods.

"What was that all about?" asks Adam as he enters.

"No idea," lies Ros with a shrug. "Hormones probably."

Sunday 11th March 2007

Ruth is asleep when Harry finally calls the following night but she doesn't mind the disturbance. The line is bad, crackling every few seconds but she can hear his voice and it relieves her no end.

"I've found her," he reports. He sounds exhausted but at least he's safe.

"How is she?" Ruth enquires, concerned.

"Stable. She lost a lot of blood and supplies here are low, but they've let me donate so she's got a fighting chance now. They were worried about her legs, but they think they can save them. Her boyfriend Fabien is here too; he's un-injured thankfully."

"That's good. Where are you?"

"A hospital in Beirut, back where I started off. If people had been a bit more helpful along the way, I could have been with her sooner."

"You're talking about Helen Nicholls?" she clarifies, remembering the name of the journalist that the officer from Six had mentioned.

"Have you been spying on me Miss Evershed?" he teases, though she can tell his heart isn't in it.

"Well it is my job," she banters. "Seriously Harry, did you really think we were going to let our Section Head travel to a highly volatile Middle Eastern country and not keep an eye on him?"

"Well I suppose not," he concedes.

"Although you have been off our radar for the past 80 hours. I…I've been worried."

"I'm sorry, I should have called sooner, but I was just completely focussed on finding Catherine and then when I found her she needed my blood and-"

"Harry, you've no need to apologise."

"Maybe not to you, no. But I do have some apologies to make; to Helen Nicholls for one."

"I'm sure she's dealt with many irate people before Harry, it'll be like water off a ducks back to her." The silence on the other end tells Ruth there is more to come. "Harry? Harry what is it?"

"I did something Ruth, something I swore I would never do, and I assure you Ruth, I regret it terribly."

Ruth is worried by his words. "What Harry, what did you do?"

She hears him take a deep breath as he prepares to speak. "I slapped her Ruth. I raised my hand to a woman. I have never done that before and I feel so ashamed."

Ruth is taken aback by his confession; to hit a woman is almost certainly out of character for Harry, but she manages to hide her shock well. "You were scared," she warrants. "Your daughter was hurt and you had absolutely no idea where she was. It's understandable that you may have panicked and lost control."

"My actions were inexcusable," he argues.

"I'm not saying what you did was right, just that I can see how it might have happened." She doesn't agree with his actions but he needs her support right now, and she vows to give it to him; just as he has been her strength for the past four months, she will be his.

"There were other incidences too," he admits, thinking about how he'd behaved with the peacemakers; he'd shouted at everyone in a yellow t-shirt and how he'd disrespectfully ran into a mosque without removing his shoes. "I was-"

"Stop beating yourself up about this Harry. Concentrate on Catherine; we'll deal with the fallout later."

A smile graces Harry's face at her use of 'we'; glad that she's not revolted by his behaviour. "Thanks you Ruth. How are you and 'bump'?"

She chuckles at the nickname her baby has received and rubs her stomach gently. "We're both fine. I think 'bump' fancies himself as the next Johnny Wilkinson though; his kicks are getting stronger."

"You'd better be prepared for cold Sunday mornings standing on touchlines and lots of broken bones then."

"As long as 'bump' is happy in the end, it'll all be worth it."

"Yes it will." Their conversation is interrupted by a second voice at Harry's end. "I'm going to have to go Ruth; the doctor is here to see Catherine."

"Of course."

"I'll call again when I can."

That night, Ruth sleeps properly for the first time in almost a week, her hand resting lovingly over 'bump'.