Glad everyone appreciated the direction I went in. I just let this write itself so I hope it came out okay. (P.S, I'd have had this up this morning but one of our guinea pigs escaped in our (very large) garden and we thought we'd lost him permanently. Three hours later he came squeaking out of the hedge and is now safe in his cage, never being let out again)


The next morning Ruth was having her final fitting for her wedding dress, as well as her veil and shoes being delivered with her seamstress. This left Harry quite contentedly watching the cricket and talking to the TV when Graham came in. "Dad can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Go on, catch it!" he hissed at the TV. "Oh bloody useless English fielders. They dropped it! Even I could have caught that! Sorry Graham what did you say?"

"I need to talk to you." Something in his tone caught Harry's attention and he instantly muted the TV, even though it was the last day of the test match he'd been following all week.

"Tell me you're not on drugs again," Harry said urgently. "Please, they'll end up killing you! We'll get you to a rehab centre."

"No, no. I'm not on drugs," Graham said quickly. "Its nothing like that. But I do need to tell you something."

"I'm listening," Harry said apprehensively.

"This isn't easy for me to say, and I don't really know how to do this." Graham took a deep breath and Harry had sense enough to stay quiet. "I'm gay."

Harry closed his eyes and sighed a long heartfelt sigh as Graham felt his heart drop. "That's it?" Harry asked.

"What do you mean, is that it?"

"Well, in that brief moment I had visions you were going to tell me that you'd killed someone and were on the run from the police. That you wanted me to hack into the police system and delete some of their files and evidence so you wouldn't be put away for murder, or something horribly drastic like that. But if you're… gay, I at least won't have to ask Ruth to do some expert hacking because she's much better at it than me. And she's a moral woman so I'd have to talk her into it."

"Er… no," Graham said. "I haven't done anything illegal in quite a few years now."

"I didn't exactly expect that to come out of your mouth either though," he said slowly. "Are you happy?"

"Very," Graham said. "Please tell me you're alright with it. I know we've had our problems but I really need you to accept this. Please," he added in a small voice.

Harry smiled tightly at his son. Then he hugged him, much to Graham's surprise. "Do you… Are you okay with this?"

"Well, I'm surprised," Harry said. "I'm not going to lie, I'm a bit shocked but thank you. For telling me."

"I would like to bring someone to your wedding. If the offers still… good?"

"Oh yes," Harry said. "I meant it. I'll tell Ruth to call the caterer."

"Thank you," Graham said. "By the way, England have bowled Australia out," he added pointing at the TV. Harry whipped around, a grin on his face.

"Shame its too early for a whisky," he said as the volume returned. When Harry was alone he frowned trying to wrap his head around this new development.


That night when he was alone with Ruth in their bedroom, he was still trying to come to terms with Graham's news.

"I can't believe I didn't know," Harry said. "I'm the last one to know? You worked it out last night, Catherine knows and I bet he told his mother first."

"Oh yes, that's what's important," Ruth said sarcastically. "Getting one up on your ex wife. Not that your son confided in you. Albeit eventually. Its not an easy thing to tell a parent."

"How did I not see it?" He sounded merely confused, not angry, upset or disappointed. "I don't understand. I missed it for so many years?"

"You don't have to understand it," Ruth said softly. "You just have to accept it. It must have been incredibly difficult for him to tell you that."

"I know," he agreed fervently. "I'm not exactly an easy man to talk to." Ruth raised her eyebrow in agreement but didn't otherwise confirm it.

"I just…"

"Harry, you have to let it go," Ruth said quietly. "All Graham wants to know is that you love him, regardless of anything else."

"I do love him," Harry said. "Of course I do."

"Then tell him that," Ruth said firmly. "God Harry, your son being gay is no reflection on you, and you're so critical of everyone."

"I'm not critical," he said indignantly.

"Yes you are," she said, smiling. "If people don't fit in their neat little boxes you can't cope."

"I've never criticised you," he said, determined not to let it go.

"Yes you have," Ruth said surely.

"When?!"

"My first annual report," she replied swiftly.

"Ah. That was marked top secret, eyes only. You shouldn't have read it."

"I was your senior analyst for the best part of ten years, with people treating me like your secretary for at least three of them. I read it anyway."

"I couldn't make it sound like you were brilliant, they'd have taken you away to a different section. So I… toned my admiration down a bit," he said sheepishly.

"Miss Evershed is an adequate addition to the team," Ruth repeated parrot fashion even as Harry's fingers trailed up her bare spine. "However she has a tendency to drop files and mix papers up because of lack of attention. Her knowledge of ancient and English literature is second to none and has been instrumental in several cases…"

"See I said some nice things!" Harry interrupted.

"But," Ruth continued, ignoring him. "Her knowledge of the inner workings of the security services is severely lacking and limited. I would like to keep her on for another "trial period" of a year, to see if experience helps in her deficiencies." She glared at him for a moment.

"I can't believe you read that," Harry said in a whisper. "You were never meant to read that."

"I did."

"And remembered it word for word I'm horrified to discover," he said with a raised eyebrow. "I liked you," he said, knowing he had some explaining to do. "I wanted you more than I should have done. You worked for me, it was unprofessional. I was trying to make you sound worse than you were, but keep you on at the same time. I was… attempting to put my feelings out of the equation. Because you were good, and everyone knew it. Little did I know I'd end up married to you."

"No one in my entire professional career has ever called me adequate lacking or limited, let alone all three!" Ruth said loudly. "And I liked you then too," she added. "Rather disappointing though to have all my illusions and fantasies about you crashed in one simple paragraph."

"You fantasised about me?"

"Don't change the subject," Ruth replied, blushing.

"Oh God if I'd have known that, I'd have pinned you against my office wall and never let you go," he said in a low voice.

"Oh no, you're not going to get around me that easily," Ruth said, even as that voice turned her insides to mush. "You have to make this up to me. Adequate and lacking, I ask you."

"I'll make it up to you," he promised, his hand gliding to inappropriate places as she laughed.

Outside their bedroom Graham had been eavesdropping. Somehow knowing that his father was more worried about making up with his soon to be wife about some trivial insults years ago, rather than being disappointed in his son for being gay was extremely comforting. If Harry had been really concerned, there was no way on earth he'd be teasing Ruth right now. That told him all he really needed to know. His dad might find it difficult, but he was going to be accepted. So Graham tried to block his ears as he slept that night, a smile on his face.


It might be the wedding next, I'm not sure. Please leave a review and let me know whether you liked or hated this! Thanks.