Thank you all very much for making this fic pass 100 reviews! It means so much to me. I think the previous chapter is the end of the fic if you were after angsty and upset HR. I like how their marriage has got to and I don't want to spoil that. If you want happy and fluffy HR read ahead, as this fic has taken on a life of its own. Hope you enjoy. Also warning of swear words in this chapter...
A few days later Ruth was sleeping when she woke to the bedsprings moving. "Hmm?" she moaned as she heard Harry moving around their bedroom.
"Go to sleep," he murmured, walking around the bed and stroking her hair.
"Why are you up?" she asked blearily. "Its early."
"My morning meeting with the PM," he said.
"Oh." She settled back in bed. He had told her about this meeting but her brain was so fogged with sleep she couldn't remember the particulars. Not that it was very important to her anyway. "I'll see you on the grid later?"
"Yes," he said firmly. She leaned on her side and watched with concentration as he got dressed for the day. He smirked slightly, knowing his wife was watching and absently wondering why she found him attractive. He had been a handsome young man but he knew that life in general and middle age in particular hadn't exactly leant itself to help his physical appearance. Why would a beautiful young and (when she chose to be) incredibly sexy woman ever want him? But he supposed the most important thing was the fact that she did find him attractive. And the way her eyes lingered over his figure made that perfectly clear as well as making his heart race in a way he didn't really have time for. He fastened his belt and noticed how her eyes moved over him appreciatively.
"You don't have time for a quickie do you?" she asked without even a blush.
"No, I really don't," he said leaning over and kissed her lips softly. "I doubt very much that the PM would accept the excuse that I'm late because I was busy bringing my wife to orgasm."
"I'd like to see his face if you said that though," Ruth replied with a laugh.
"We'll return to this discussion tonight," Harry said as her hands caressed his face lovingly. "Count on it."
"Good," she said eyes bright. "Wear the blue tie today," she added as he slipped his jacket on and picked up a red tie. "I like you in a blue tie." He smiled and swapped the tie in question. "That's better. I'll see you later."
"I love you," he whispered in her ear, brushing her hair gently aside.
"Love you too," she whispered. "Now let me sleep." He laughed and picked up his keys before leaving the house, happy with his life for once, and especially happy that himself and Ruth seemed to have worked over the bumps in their relationship.
Ruth groaned quietly as her alarm went off. She switched it off and looked at the time. Quarter to eight in the morning. She'd had a good long sleep and felt properly rested for the first time in ages. She wasn't due onto the grid until nine so she had time to really wake up properly. Getting up she walked into the bathroom and smiled at herself in the mirror. She was happy and that was no small thing for her. She was married to a man she loved and who clearly adored her. It felt wonderful. Opening the bathroom cupboard she got a glass and filled it, needing a drink. However she paused, the glass halfway to her lips. "Oh God." The glass made a loud bang as it hit the sink, luckily not cracking as Ruth picked up her birth control pills almost in slow motion. Being so worried about meeting the Gavrik's last week, she'd forgotten to take two pills. It was only now occurring to her, seeing the packet and counting backwards. And her period was late. "Shit." Ruth slammed the bathroom cupboard shut cursing her stupidity. Never in her life had she forgotten even one pill, and to forget two in one week? But she couldn't be pregnant. She was forty, her age was against her. She simply couldn't be pregnant, the chances were so small. But the possibility was there and she knew it.
Unable to bear standing in silent contemplation any longer she hurried to get dressed and picked up her bag. She needed a pregnancy test and she couldn't wait a moment longer.
Half an hour later she found herself locked in her bathroom and counting down the seconds on her watch until she could look at the test and see the result. 30 seconds left to go. She hoped it was negative. Harry was too old to want another child. She herself had given up on motherhood years before as she had been single for a long time. It had just never seemed a realistic possibility for her. And the timing of this phantom child could be a bit better than discovering herself pregnant when they'd so recently got over the problems in their relationship. 15 seconds. What was she going to do if it was positive? How on earth was she going to tell Harry that he would be a father again at fifty seven? Would he want to leave her? Would he demand her to have an abortion? No, that didn't sound like Harry somehow. 5 seconds. "Come on," Ruth said to her watch, willing the second hand to move faster. 3 seconds left. Now two. Then one. Ruth held her breath as she looked at the pregnancy test. She needn't have bothered. The double blue line was clear from across the room without her even picking up the stick. "Oh fuck!" And before she knew what was happening she had burst into tears. She cried and cried until she felt completely exhausted and emotionally drained. Rubbing her face she had only one thought in her head. How on earth was she going to tell Harry?
