The alarm Harry had set on his mobile went off far earlier than he wanted it to. He'd not slept well at all. He was exhausted, but his mind and body did not seem to want to rest. Ruth had fallen asleep in his arms, and Harry had dozed slightly after recovering from the rather wonderful sex they'd shared. But he wanted to hold her, to feel her body nestled against him, to watch her breathe slow and deep. No matter how much he tried to remind himself that they would have countless opportunities to be together like this, his heart still did not quite believe it. He did not want to waste a second of his time with her being asleep.

Dawn came too soon, but Harry could not delay what needed to be done. The incessant beeping of the alarm woke Ruth, causing her to grumble in annoyance. Harry would never say it out loud, but he found her sleepy protests rather adorable. She rolled away from him, trying to claim a little more sleep for herself. He didn't want to get out of the warm comfort of her bed, but he knew he must.

"Ruth, I've got to get home," he told her softly. His voice was gravelly from lack of use.

She let out another little noise, but this time she pushed herself up to look at him. Despite still being half-asleep, her eyes were bright in the dim morning light. "We need to…" She trailed off, chewing her lip with furrowed brow.

"We need to what?" he asked.

"Talk," she said.

Now Harry furrowed his brow. "What about?" It was first thing in the morning and they were both naked and exhausted, but clearly there was something on Ruth's mind, and Harry didn't quite like the idea of it.

"I don't think we should tell people about us. Yet. There's so much going on, and we've got a major operation today. We don't need any distractions," she told him.

Harry didn't like it, but he had to agree with her. They had just put Ros to rest. Lucas was in Morocco with Dimitri who would be on his first operation with Section D. Having Tariq on the Grid with Ruth in the midst of that and asking her questions about their engagement could be detrimental. "Alright," he answered. "What are you going to do with your ring?" That would not be missed by anyone, Ruth walking about with a giant diamond on her left hand.

"I've thought about that," she said.

He almost laughed. Of course she had thought about it.

Harry watched as Ruth got out of bed. She was naked and beautiful, and Harry was in awe of seeing her like that, but she quickly put her shirt on which covered her to just below her gorgeous bum. Still, her shapely legs remained on display to him. That certainly would not be something he'd get used to any time soon, getting to see her body. Getting to touch her and kiss her and, now, after last night, make love to her.

Ruth made her way over to her dresser and picked up something from the top of it before returning back to the bed. She sat down beside Harry, curling her legs underneath her.

She held a long, delicate silver chain in her hand. "I bought this yesterday while you were…busy."

An interesting way to put it, but not incorrect. But it meant that she had been thinking about this for longer than just now. Though again, Harry was not surprised. Ruth thought of everything.

He watched her take the engagement ring off her finger and slip it onto the end of the chain. "Could you…?" she asked, handing the necklace to him.

"Move your hair," he instructed. Harry took the chain and put in around her neck as she faced away from him so he could fasten it for her. With her hair swept aside, he did the task easily and leaned in to gently kiss her exposed neck.

Ruth turned back to him, smiling. The ring was now resting atop her shirt just between her breasts. Long enough to be able to hide. She fingered the diamond ring, sliding it up and down the chain. "It won't be for long," she assured him. "And I'll look forward to having you put it back in my finger again soon."

"You're right," he told her. "This will be for the best until we can figure out our way forward. And today won't be the day for that. I'm going to meet with the new HS this morning. I already informed him that we're raising the threat level, and he asked for me to come to Whitehall to discuss it."

She nodded. "Tariq and I will handle things with Lucas until you get back."

"I have no doubt you will. But I've got to shower and shave and get dressed before I can go to Whitehall."

"Make sure you have some breakfast."

He gave her a small smile. "I'll have my driver stop off somewhere for coffee and a croissant."

"You shouldn't have those buttery pastries every morning," she warned.

"No?"

"No," she said. She sat up on her knees and crawled closer to him, taking his face in her hands, caressing his cheeks with her thumbs. "I don't want to start married life with a husband who's got high cholesterol."

Harry felt his heart flutter in his chest. He was going to be her husband. They were going to be married. He grinned and kissed her happily. "Don't worry. I intend to be married to you for a very long time."

Her beautiful smile beamed back at him. "Alright, now go before we get distracted. You really do need to shave," she said, her fingers rasping over his unshaven face.

They both got out of bed, and Harry used the bathroom and got dressed. He kissed her once more as she walked him to the door.

He drove himself back home in silence. He could listen to the news when his driver came to pick him up. Just now, he was content to be alone with his thoughts. For the first time in longer than he could remember, Harry Peace was looking forward to something. He had his duties, which would be addressed soon enough. But he had every intention on making good on his promise to Ruth that they would be married for a long time. And hopefully they could get married as soon as possible. There was a lot to figure out, of course. Where would they live? How would they deal with things at Five? There were rules for disclosing personal relationships, but would the DG allow Ruth to continue to be the Section D analyst if Harry was her Section Head? At this point, he hardly knew how to do his job without her. And Section D needed her. She was a brilliant analyst.

But really, if he and Ruth were going to have their life together, how could they manage it with everything else that Five threw their way? Harry had told Ruth that in the beginning, when he'd proposed to her. Ros had given her life and soul in service to the realm, and six people came to her funeral. Harry was not a field officer anymore, but he was not immune to the things that threatened them all. Sugarhorse, Davie King, Yalta, all of it had very directly threatened his life. Threatened the future that he now planned with Ruth. He couldn't have that if he died in the line of duty. He'd never really expected any kind of retirement; he'd not thought about it much, but Harry supposed he did think he'd eventually leave Thames House in a body bag. He couldn't allow that to happen now.

By the time Harry parked the Range Rover in front of his house, he had made a decision. He would shower quickly and get everything sorted.

Less than two hours later, he was being shown to the new Home Secretary's office by a polite and professional PA. The door was opened for him, and a man fixing up office furniture was dismissed.

"Sir Harry," the HS greeted, smiling and shaking Harry's hand.

Harry pasted a smile on his face as he always did when interacting with politicians.

"The man, the myth, the legend."

It was meant in jest and reverence, Harry knew, but the words made his skin crawl nonetheless. "Home Secretary," he greeted simply in return.

"Please," he gestured, inviting Harry to sit in the guest chair across from the imposing heavy wood desk.

This office was different than Blake's had been. There was a slow but steady trend of modernizing the aesthetics of government offices. Harry himself had always been keen to have things be cleaner. Simpler. But this office looked like it would have been a good fit for Winston Churchill. And for that reason, Harry did not like it. Oh the old architecture and decoration of the government office of old were a nice nod to tradition of their very old and noble country. But while Winston Churchill might have been an amusing drinking partner, Harry rather thought he'd have not been able to resist punching the man in the nose if he'd ever had to work for him. He'd had similar feelings about Margaret Thatcher, which made him question every instinct he had as a man about violence towards women.

"Lumbar support," the Home Secretary said, indicating the adjustments that had been made to his chair. "My only vice. Amongst others."

"I trust you can provide a receipt," Harry teased lightly, earning a small chuckle in return.

"Yes, does make one nostalgic for the days of lining one's office with mink at the taxpayers' expense."

Within these ten seconds in the man's presence, Harry had a good sense of who William Towers was. He knew him by reputation, once he'd been announced by the PM as Blake's replacement. He was well-liked in government circles, and Harry could see why. A friendly, forthcoming sort of man. Harry often did not have patience for such things, but as an initial impression, he thought that William Towers was genuine in his kind demeanor, and not as slimy as most politicians. Though, of course, Harry had thought Nicholas Blake was genuine, too. He had learned better than to put too much stock in his own initial opinions.

"Still. Knife crime down two percent," Towers said, picking up a newspaper and moving it to the side of the desk. "Probably just the honeymoon period, sadly."

"Well, make the most of it. Reintroduce slavery and invade Belgium," Harry quipped.

Towers turned serious. The jesting was done. Harry was glad for it. There was an operation on the Grid he wanted to get back for, even though he had all the confidence in the world that Ruth and Tariq could handle things. He nevertheless liked to be available and kept informed when his people were in the field. After losing Ros, perhaps, he was a bit sensitive to the issue.

And, of course, he wanted to get down to the business of the purpose for his appointment with the Home Secretary. Towers wanted to meet him, and he had. They were to talk about the threat level. And Harry had something of his own to bring up.

"I do hope we're going to get on, Sir Harry," Towers said. "Despite your links to the ancien régime."

"I have no political affiliations, Home Secretary. I have greater matters in hand." It was a line he had used many times before. Harry Pearce had not kept his job through four different Prime Ministers by being too concerned with whose party was doing what.

"Yes, well, the ship has been righted at long last, our noble coalition at the helm. Now, why do we have to raise the threat level?"

At last, getting to things that mattered. Harry leaned forward to hand over the file he'd prepared. "Hussein Abib," he began. "Al-Qaeda star, former Somali warlord. He's well resourced and enjoys a reputation for brutality. And we have intel that he's now planning an attack in the U.K. His martyrdom video states that he wants to 'strike at the heart of British power.' But we think we've found him, on a ship sailing out of Morocco. We've decided to take a preemptive stance," Harry said meaningfully. "And nip it in the bud. I'm talking about a kill order." In case there was any confusion.

"Well, good luck," Towers said.

He didn't ask questions, took Harry's opinion and judgment as presented. That would certainly make things more efficient, if that carried on.

Towers added, "Of course, you'll keep all of this well away from U.K. territory."

Harry nodded. He knew what he was doing. His people were well aware of what they were expected to do and how.

"Anything else?"

"Just this," Harry said, standing and taking the envelope from his pocket. "It's my resignation."

Tower's frowned, looking down at the envelope and then back at Harry. "I know you were close to Ros Myers."

"Her death is just one of many reasons, Home Secretary. Of course, your appointment has no bearing on my decision. Feels like the appropriate moment." And it was. Things were changing. Ros was gone, Blake was dead, Towers was now in the job, and Ruth had agreed to marry him. If he was going to get out, he felt like now was his chance. True, he would not be able to hand the reins to Ros as he'd envisioned he might one day do. Lucas was in Morocco, and he'd have to talk to him about the possible changes as soon as he got back. But Harry's replacement would be the DG's problem. Harry had an opportunity for a life outside all of this, and he could not allow it to slip away.

"Listen, Harry, as I ease into my dotage, I've realized that everything in life is about timing. From sex to a golf swing."

Ruth's words flooded back to Harry's mind, how she's nearly said no because of the timing, but also how she'd reminded him that the timing for happiness was never going to work out, so they had to take advantage of the time they had. That, more than anything, was the reason for his decision now.

Clearly Towers saw things differently. "So I'm not going to pick up that envelope yet. We'll just let it percolate for a few days."

"As you wish, Home Secretary," Harry answered. William Towers was certainly a shrewd character, which Harry respected a great deal.

With that, Harry walked out of the room. He had to get back to the Grid.