Taverna Klopa - Belgrade, Serbia – 4.04am:

They had been shown their room, a small, tidy bedroom above a Greek restaurant not far from the military airport where they had landed. They had been driven there by Kostas, one of the military men who had shared their flight from Cyprus. Rather than being taciturn, once in the car, Kostas had become chatty, sharing stories of his family – his noisy wife and his two small sons. "The little one," he says proudly, "likes to fight. He'll be soldier, like me." Harry and Ruth had shared a glance at one another.

Harry is embarrassed that he and Ruth are expected to share a room, but at least they won't have to share a bed. Kostas had stood in the doorway to their room, pointing out the twin beds, and the doorway to the bathroom, with shower, and toilet facilities. "No hanky panky," he had said. "Beds much too narrow. Someone fall on floor."

In his peripheral vision Harry had caught Ruth dropping her gaze to the garish carpet. He hadn't known which way to look, so he'd thanked Kostas, reaching out to shake the man's hand.

"I come back at eleven," he had said, "in the morning. We get to airport at 12.30. You fly to Amsterdam. Then home."

Harry had smiled at the man, thankful to have an idea about what was to happen next. His worst nightmare is having to rely on the organisational skills of others – other than when the person doing the organising is Ruth.

Once Kostas had left them alone together in their room, Harry had suggested Ruth have first use of the bathroom. "I'll take a walk outside," he'd said, "to stretch my legs."

They were both aware that his reasons for leaving her alone were much more personal than his need for exercise. Ruth knew full well that he was avoiding temptation. What a contrary couple they are, but then, they have always been that way with one another.


London – The Grid – the same morning – 8.32am:

Whilst she was not scheduled to be back on the Grid until the following week, Ros Myers had chosen to return to work. Not only does she enjoy her work, but idleness is not a state in which she thrives. She is at her best when active, and especially when faced with a challenge. Nor does danger faze her; it keeps her alert.

"Couldn't stay away." Ros turns to see Jo Portman, her large eyes heavily made up, a half smile on her face. "You missed us, right?"

"Hardly," Ros replies, not bothering to return the smile. "I got bored. Sun and sand is over-rated, and idleness dulls the mind."

"So," Jo says, continuing to her desk, while Ros ambles along beside her, on the way to her own desk, "you didn't meet Mr Right at this beach resort."

"I wasn't looking for a man. In fact, I wasn't looking for anything in particular. Harry ordered me to take leave, and so I spent a dull week-and-a-bit in Cyprus."

Jo stops beside her desk, dumping her bag on the desktop. "Cyprus? What's wrong with Marbella?"

Ros stops suddenly. "You can't be serious, Jo. I'm no longer a twenty-something on the pull, intent on pouring half my body weight in wine down my throat."

"You don't know what you're missing," Jo adds, looking away, a dreamy expression on her face.

Ros contemplates for a moment that maybe Harry should have sent Jo on leave.

"I know exactly what I missed. I was young once."

"So the rumour has it."

"Harry has a surprise up his sleeve," Ros says, deciding that a change of subject is in order.

"Unless it's a trip to Spain, paid for by the Service, then I'm not interested in any surprise Harry has for us," Jo replies, fussing with some papers on her desktop.

Ros leans closer to her younger colleague, her voice lower. "I think just this time his surprise will be welcomed … by us all."

Jo turns to face Ros. "I guess you're not about to divulge the nature of this surprise."

Ros acts shocked. "And steal Harry's thunder? Not if I value my life." And then she straightens, turns, and heads to her desk. When she is seated at her desk, she chances a look in Jo's direction. The younger woman looks annoyed, but Ros also detects interest.

As Ros had predicted Jo's curiosity has been piqued. It is not long before she feels the younger woman's eyes on her. "Spit it out, Jo," she says, without looking up from her monitor.

"I've just figured out what Harry's surprise might be," Jo shares gleefully. Ros lifts her eyes, staring across the space to where Jo sits, her eyes gleaming. "He's getting married."

"Who?"

"Harry, of course. That's his surprise."

"And who might the lucky woman be?" Ros replies, not bothering to hide her sarcasm.

"I have no idea, but wouldn't it be great if he did?"

"Yes," Ros purrs. "Just great." Clearly Jo has the memory of a goldfish. "Although were Ruth ever to return to the fold, things could get a bit ..."

Ros's words wipe the smile from Jo's face. "Yeah, you're right. Were Ruth to turn up from wherever-she-is there'd be the cat fight to end all cat fights."

"Although I'm sure Ruth could get rid of any competition with a few well-chosen insults," Ros says, wondering why she'd thought to mention Ruth at all. So much for her return being a surprise. She is saved from further interaction with Jo by the ringing of her desk phone. She answers, and then listens. Mmmm, interesting. When her call ends, she hangs up, then turns towards Jo, who it appears had been attempting to eavesdrop on her call. "Good news," she says.

Jo sits up straight, her eyes on Ros. "Do tell, Ros."

"That was Harry. He's on his way home."

Jo frowns. "From where? I thought he was just taking a couple of days off."

"He didn't tell me, but I sensed something in his voice. I predict he'll greet us with some kind of news."

Jo is still frowning, still unsure where Harry had gone. "Like maybe he's planning to retire."

"Something like that, yes," and Ros turns back to her monitor. For her the subject is closed.


Amsterdam – the same day – 5.33pm:

Luckily for them, Kostas had flown with them from Belgrade, although he has opted out of their final leg to London.

"My wife, she gets crazy if I'm away overnight," he'd told them before he'd boarded a private plane back to Cyprus. "She's jealous. Sees things that will never happen. I'm loyal. I do whatever keeps her happy." Then he'd shaken their hands, turned, and headed to his plane.

Ruth and Harry are fortunate to have been offered a private lounge for the hour or so until the flight to London leaves. Kostas had arranged it all from Cyprus. "Intelligence and military get special treatment," he'd told them by way of explanation.

This then leaves them alone … together .. for a whole hour. Harry is nervously aware that during this hour he needs to make a good impression on Ruth. Not only does he need her on the Grid, but he needs her in his life. Negotiating both those needs requires a careful balance of honesty, and respect, plus he needs to change the habit of a lifetime by listening to what she has to say.

They sit opposite one another in the private lounge, each with a cup of coffee in the table in front of them.

"Are you hungry?" he asks, beginning with the mundane.

Ruth had been focusing on her own cup of coffee when he speaks. She lifts her eyes to his before shaking her head. "Were I to eat another thing I'll burst," she says quietly.

Harry waits, wondering whether this is the right time to be planning ahead, mapping out a possible future. "I made a quick call to Ed Merriweather at Six. He looks after their safe houses. They have two which might suit you. I hope you don't mind, but I chose the one closest to Thames House. It's in Cricklewood."

"I can't afford Cricklewood," Ruth protests.

"It's alright, Ruth. All the Six safe houses, no matter where they are, have the same rent attached to them. I looked at Six first, because all their houses are fully secured, all handled by the same company." He smiles across the table to her, where she seems to have relaxed. "You'll be safe there."

"And you'll honour my request that I not go into the field .."

"Of course."

"And my request for set hours."

Harry nods.

Ruth's face relaxes in a shy smile. "Thank you," she says quietly. "I'll keep you to that."

"I'd expect nothing less," he replies. "And there's something I needed to say to you." Harry doesn't especially wish to discuss the subject, but he knows he must. "Overnight .. when we were shown our room above the restaurant, I ..." and there he hesitates, not sure how best to explain himself.

"You were giving me space," she says, noting his discomfort.

"I left you on your own, for almost two hours, in an unlocked room. That was hardly .."

Ruth lifts her hand in a gesture for him to stop. "It's alright, Harry. Kostas had already told me that the manager of the restaurant was keeping an eye on the public entrance."

"He was asleep when we arrived."

"Kostas paid him to stay awake," she reassures him.

"But, Ruth, he could have attacked you. The bedroom had no lock."

"You must have seen his wife when we arrived from our flight. She looked like she wears the pants in that relationship."

"All the same," Harry continues, "I left you alone in a strange room in a strange city ..."

"And I know why you did that," she says gently. "For me it was proof that you're not perfect, but then, neither am I. While in Cyprus I lived with a man I didn't love. In my need to have somewhere safe to live, I used him."

"What was his name?" Harry asks gently.

"Do you really want to know?"

Harry shakes his head. "Not especially."

"Telling you his name makes him real to you. After six months I left him. He's part of my past, just as you surely have a past."

Harry nods. She is being careful with him, protecting him from his own insecurities. "I left you alone last night because I ..." and he can't continue. He can't tell her the truth. Whatever would she think of him?

"You left me alone because you still desire me," Ruth finishes for him. This woman is a long way from the nervous, hesitant creature who had left London two years earlier.

Using all the self control he can muster in the moment, Harry lifts his eyes to hers, holding her gaze. "I left you alone overnight because I couldn't trust myself not to …"

"Lose control?"

He shakes his head. "Control is something I have mastered over time. I wanted to protect you, Ruth, but for my own reasons, and those may not have been in your best interest."

Ruth drops her eyes, formulating her reply. "I'm not sure what you mean by that," she says quietly, not giving him eye contact.

Harry sighs heavily. He'd hoped she'd be able to interpret his words. "I still care for you. I've never stopped … caring for you, hoping you'd return to London. I hadn't wanted to blurt all that out to you, but it seems I have anyway." His voice fades. He has done the very thing he'd promised himself that he wouldn't. He has just lain his heart open for her to see .. and to judge. He has never felt more vulnerable, or more exposed.

"And I still care for you," Ruth replies, "but in order to protect myself while I was away, I have had to push down thoughts of you. I couldn't afford to be weakened in any way by what I had lost."

Harry nods. "I understand," he says. And so, where do they go from here?

"Thank you," says the new Ruth, the more mature Ruth. "I feel that we have said enough on the subject of our .. attraction to one another. Confessing such truths can leave one feeling too defenceless, and in our job ..."

"In our job we need to protect ourselves from our weaknesses."

Ruth nods. "How sad it is that loving someone is seen as a weakness."

For a moment, Harry is shocked into silence. She had mentioned `loving someone', where that someone is him. For another long moment he holds that truth close to him, savouring it, rolling it around inside his belly. For the first time in over two years he feels happy. He smiles across the table to her, but Ruth doesn't smile. Her gaze is intense as her eyes wander over his face, his hair, and his shoulders, before settling on his hands. It is as though she is remembering him, what she loved about him, and what it is she still desires in him.

"We have time, Harry," she says at last. "There's no rush."

He nods, hoping she is right.


The Grid, Thames House – the next day – 8.51am:

Harry enters the Grid, quickly looking around to see who might be there to greet him, and Ruth when she arrives. Jo is clearly at work, judging by the state of her desk, but the woman herself is nowhere to be seen. In his right peripheral vision, Ros strides on to the Grid from the corridor. She nods to him, but says nothing. Less than a minute later Jo enters from the direction of the stationery supply cupboard. Harry suspects that she has been raiding it.

"Good to see you," Jo says with a cheeky smile. "I hear you have news."

Harry looks around until his gaze settles on Ros. He gives her a threatening look, but all she does in reply is shrug, giving him a `what, me?' look of innocence.

He walks to her desk, leaning close to her. "If you've said anything about Ruth," he says quietly, his voice hard, "then you'll be doing surveillance for the next six months straight."

"Your secret is safe," is all she says. "I almost said something, but I think I got away with it."

"How is it possible to almost say something?"

"You're clearly not a woman," Ros says before turning to her monitor.

"Thankfully, no," he says, before heading to his office.


It is not until a little after ten-thirty that the doors to the Grid open, and Ruth arrives. Ros is the only member of Harry's team present on the Grid when she slips silently into Harry's office. He had been expecting her, so he stands and meets her just inside the doorway. Glancing quickly through the window to see Ros occupied, he then reaches out to grasp Ruth's hands. "Welcome home," he says to her, drawing her closer. "You're back where you belong."

Ruth allows them a brief moment of what for them is intimacy before she gently withdraws her hands, glancing through the large office window to ensure they have not been observed. "I was hoping to see Jo today," she says, scanning the vast space of the Grid.

"I think she's on the roof balcony," he says quietly.

Ruth frowns, looking at Harry, her unspoken question being `why?' It's not as though Jo has the responsibility of the whole section, and requires time alone to shuffle through her many thoughts.

"Go," he says, flicking his eyes to the doorway. "She'll be happy to see you."


Ruth hesitates outside the door to the roof balcony. It's been two years since she's seen or spoken to Jo. She takes a deep breath, and then pushes open the door, allowing it to silently close behind her. Jo stands at the balustrade, having just exhaled a lung full of cigarette smoke.

"I know, I know," she says without turning. "Harry's been timing me, and I'm ninety seconds past the end of my break."

"I'm sure Harry doesn't much care how long you spend up here," Ruth says quietly, slowly covering the distance between them.

Jo spins around, cigarette still dangling between the first two fingers of her left hand. Her eyes and mouth are wide, her shock clear, but silent. In a matter of seconds Ruth finds herself surrounded by Jo's arms. "Christ, I've missed you so much," Jo says close to Ruth's ear.

Ruth allows Jo to hug her for some time before she begins to draw away from her. Ruth has been out in the world for two long years. Hugging has been a liberty, an indulgence she has had to forego for much of that time. "I'm not used to this," she says, a little embarrassed. "It's so good to at last be among friends."

"So …" Jo says, closely examining Ruth, "Harry went to Cyprus at Ros's insistence for the express purpose of bringing you back home. Am I right?"

"Something like that, although I'm sure Ros hadn't exactly insisted I come home. I'm hardly Ros's favourite person in the world."

In the excitement of greeting Ruth, Jo had dropped her cigarette, so she reaches out with one foot and grinds the butt into the concrete, before turning her attention back to Ruth. "Don't worry too much about Ros. She holds the whole world in contempt."

"I think she likes Harry," Ruth says, in an attempt to partially allow Ros off the hook.

"But not in a personal way, Ruth. She's not into him, if you know what I mean."

Ruth does know what Jo means.

But Jo continues her train of thought. "I suspect Harry views Ros as a daughter, but not in a creepy way, or anything."

"I know," Ruth says, wishing Jo would shut up.

Jo suddenly has a flash of insight. Without warning she gives her forehead a slap. "Don't listen to me. I'm an idiot. Harry went all the way to Cyprus to see you. I'd say he still loves you. Wouldn't you say?"

Ruth considers Jo to have just crossed that invisible line into far-too-personal territory. She hesitates, not sure how to best answer her. Ignoring her seems harsh, but she is struggling to find an answer which won't give too much away. "Harry doesn't share his most private thoughts with anyone," she says vaguely.

"He doesn't have to. It's written on his face." Jo has always been observant of others.

Ruth shrugs. "And you? How are you, Jo?"

"Relieved you're back on the team," she replies. "You are back, aren't you? You're not just paying us all a flying visit."

"I'm back, and living in a safe house in Cricklewood."

"Oo-oo, look at you. You've moved up in the world."

"Not really. I live in a row house on a long street of row houses. The house is lovely inside, but uninspiring from the street."

"It sounds perfect," Jo says, and Ruth knows that she means it. She is back home, and she's happy to be there .. among the people who care for her.

"Let me tell you about Lucas," Jo says conspiratorially. "He's new on the team - a bit of an odd one."


As Jo and Ruth are catching up, Ros Myers sidles into Harry's office. "Do you have a minute?" she asks.

"I have several," Harry replies drily. "You can take your pick."

Ros hesitates, dropping her eyes for a moment. When she again looks up, she is still not certain about the wisdom of what she is about to suggest. "I'm about to break the habit of a lifetime by suggesting something which benefits another."

Harry had been watching her struggling with her thoughts, and so is not altogether surprised by her words. "Go on," he says.

"It appears to me that we should celebrate Ruth's return, and I feel that I owe her some kind of .. reparation, so … why don't we all get together somewhere on Friday after work, and … you know .."

"You're suggesting we welcome Ruth back into the fold."

Ros nods. "What do you think?"

"I think it's a lovely idea, Ros, although I'm not sure Ruth will welcome so much attention being on her."

Ros shrugs. "Then we just all get together, but don't tell her why."

Harry nods. "That might work."


Three days later, Friday evening – 7.25pm:

"This is posh," Jo says, taking a seat at a large table, where so far only Ros, Lucas North, and four of the admin staff are seated, the temporary analyst, Gabbi, having chosen to not attend.

Soon after, the new technical officer, Tariq Masood enters the restaurant with his 2IC, Gareth. Both men are young, quiet, and uncomfortable in company. Ros has noticed that Gareth has the annoying habit of pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, even when the gesture is unnecessary. Quirks such as this are regular reminders of why it is she shuns the company of others.

"OK if we sit here?" Tariq asks, indicating two chairs next to Lucas.

"Grab `em while you can," Ros says, before lifting her glass of vodka on the rocks in a `cheers' motion.

It is well past seven-thirty when the guest of honour arrives, accompanied by their section head.

"Is this … some kind of special occasion?" Ruth asks Harry, turning her face in case anyone at their table can lip read.

"We have a number of new members on the team, so Ros thought it a good idea to … have a get-together in a setting other than the Grid."

Ruth stops in her tracks so that Harry almost runs into her. "You're as transparent as a pane of glass," she says, turning to glare at him. "This was your idea to … welcome me back .. wasn't it?"

Harry takes another step closer to her, so that were the venue different, and were the lights dimmer, he could have leaned down to plant a quick kiss on the lips that are at that moment forming a pout.

"Not my idea, no. For this you have to thank Ros."

"I don't believe that for a minute," she says.

"Check with her, then," he says, glancing over her head to see the subject of the discussion watching them.

Ruth turns, but Ros has already turned her attention back to Lucas.

"I suppose we have to be seen to be enjoying ourselves, then," she says, lifting her face to Harry, her features beginning to relax.

"It's not that hard, you know," he says, taking her arm, and guiding her towards two spare chairs across the table from Ros and Lucas. "Sorry we're late," he says, while pulling out a chair for Ruth. "Heavy traffic."

"Yeah, pull the other one," Lucas says, a little too loudly, before Ros digs an elbow into his side.


The same night – 10.46pm:

"Well," Harry says, once they are seated in his car, "that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"It was .. illuminating," Ruth replies, smiling at him across the darkened cabin. "I'm sorry I was grumpy earlier. I'm not happy being the centre of attention."

Harry has turned to face her, leaning towards her. Outside the car, the restaurant carpark is almost empty, the remainder of the team having moved on to a club.

"I know you're not," he replies gently. "I warned Ros, but she insisted. I suspect she needed to make the gesture more than you needed to receive it."

Ruth nods, taking in his words, and allowing them the find a comfortable place within her.

They are leaning close to one another, and Harry is about to lean in closer to kiss her when she reaches out with one hand, and cups his cheek. What happens next is so natural, so easy that Harry wonders why they had put off this moment until now. It is Ruth who initiates their first kiss in over two years, a kiss which is gentle, careful, while at the same time intoxicating. It is he who draws away first.

"That's very .. bold of you, Ruth," he says, smiling down at her.

"Someone had to be," she says. "Had I waited for you to kiss me, we'd both be too old to enjoy it."

Harry's frown turns slowly into a smile. "I have a suggestion," he says carefully, watching. "Why don't we continue this at your place?"

Ruth smiles into his eyes. "That's the best idea you've had in … a day or so," she says.

Harry relaxes before leaning forward to plant a quick kiss on her lips. "Ready?" he says, before starting the car.

"More than ready," she says.