AN. This is my first Spooks fic, please be nice and tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: the characters belong to Kudos and BBC…I just stole them!
A late night at the grid
She watched the glass doors close behind him. She was always the last there and always the second to arrive in the morning. She always seemed to have so much more work than the others, so their jobs were more dangerous, more involved with the terrorists. They risked their lives everyday; she understood them not having the paperwork to go with it. But Malcolm; he was hardly ever in the field. She shook her head, no; she shouldn't feel bitter about it. She loved her job, she wouldn't have it any other way. Well, almost. She would rather that someone helped with the piles of papers she was left to deal with at the end of the day.
Putting one file into the 'finished' pile, she picked another up from the 'to do' pile, which never seemed to get any smaller until this time at night. She looked at the clock, 10pm. She had 2 hours until the last bus; she knew she had long enough. At least at this time there were no distractions.
An hour and a half later she only had one file left to finish "Finally" she muttered. Today had seemed to drag on forever, constantly tracking Adam and Zaf as they went out foiling plans that had been set for years when they had only been working on them for hours. That was one thing she enjoyed, the urgency to get things done. Any other job she'd have been bored stiff. Hearing the doors whoosh again she looked up, no-one was ever around at this time, why would they be?
"Ruth?" His voice cut through the darkness, over the humming of the computers "What are you still doing here?" He hadn't expected to find her still working, her face lit eerily by the computer screen the files next to her piled up under the desk lamp pointed to the keyboard.
"Oh, I had some things to finish up." She replied, smiling slightly at his silhouette, she didn't need any light to know who it was, who the voice belonged to. "What about you?" she asked, she knew he had gone home straight after the mission finished.
"I left my something in my office" he replied, folding his arms watching her. "You shouldn't be here" he said softly, making her blush.
"As I said, I had these files to finish" She replied defensively.
"Ruth…" he started as she stood up and shook her head, placing the file she had just finished on the pile, and then picked them up
"They have to be done." She said, taking them to be filed.
He watched her for a while, not saying anything before he went into his office and retrieved his forgotten item. Returning to the computer area he saw her back at her desk, typing furiously "Harry, go home" she said to him, not looking up.
"Ruth" he replied "Go home" She looked up, her expression netural, he hated that. Not hated, how could he hate anything about her? He more hated what it did to him, nodding slightly he agreed "Ok" before making his way to the pods.
Ruth mentally slapped herself, she hated the way things had been so awkward between them since she had broken up…no, they were never going out, not officially anyway. Many a time she had tried to lay the blame on Malcolm, but she knew it wasn't his fault. "I was stupid" she said out loud, just as he reached the door "Really stupid. They are my friends, they know everything about me." She continued as he turned to look at her. Her eyes staring directly at him "They know everything about me, they were only pleased for me, for us" she said the last part softly
"Ruth?" he asked, making his way over to her desk "What do you mean?"
"It, it was Malcolm…after we went out for that meal; he said he was pleased for us." Harry nodded, now understanding "I was stupid" Ruth said again.
Harry smiled slightly and shook his head "No Ruth, you weren't. You were following what you thought was best at the time. I meant what I said; I can cope with people talking about me."
Ruth smiled slightly then looked at the clock again "well, I had better, umm…the bus and everything" she said, standing up, putting her coat and scarf on.
"Ruth" Harry laughed slightly "I'll give you a lift. We can hardly part on that note can we?"
She shook her head "I guess not" she smiled slightly.
"Good" he said and took her hand before leading her through the pods. Leaving the computers humming behind them.