A/N: This is an M-rated chapter, so be warned. (Moths to a flame, right?)

"Spit it out, Harry. That's the best way. Whatever it is you want to say, say it."

He took another deep breath, and then continued, afraid to look at her.

"I know how independent you are, Ruth. I know you value having your own place, and I understand that. It's just that you've been living here with me now for eleven days, and I don't think I could bear it were you to go home …... that's if you're thinking of going home. I thought you would, seeing that you're now a lot better, and -"

"Harry …."

"... you can fend for yourself without relying on me, and -"

"Harry …..."

"... you have every right to live wherever you want. After all, you're -"

"... an independent woman, yes I know all that. Harry, stop rambling, and say what you want to say."

Harry turned to face her, and in so doing they moved a little apart.

"Ruth," he said, barely able to look her in the eye. "Ruth, I would be very happy were you to move in with me. Here. Together. But of course, I understand it if -"

"Harry …... yes."

"What?"

"I'm saying yes. I thought you'd never ask. We've been almost living together for over two months now, and we've lived here together for eleven days …... not long, I know, but long enough to know we're compatible. I've packed my things in a bag, but that's because I thought I might move into your bedroom …... if that's alright with you. I slept in your bed last night, and it's very comfortable."

"You slept in my bed?"

Ruth nodded.

"Without me in it?"

"Yes, but that's only because you were in that safe house. Had you been home, I suppose we would have slept together. I think it's time we took that step, and it might be difficult were I to be in my flat with you here …... and commuting between your place and mine is all very well in the early stages of a relationship, but we're …... further on now. We're -"

"... a couple."

"Yes we are …. but we always have been, Harry. We were together even before we knew we were.

Everyone other than us knew we belonged together. I think it's about time we took the plunge. If we need space from one another, there are other bedrooms in the house that we can use, and the lease on my flat has another three months to run, so I'll keep it until then. I feel a commitment to you, and you've demonstrated how you feel about me. I'm not saying it will be easy."

"We'll no doubt fight."

"I prefer the word, `disagree'."

"And our disagreements have the habit of developing into full scale war."

"Harry, they don't have to. We have to talk to one another, rather than bottling things up."

"I know we do. I'm not terribly good at …... talking. I can talk at work, but when it's personal, I …..."

"Then you'll have to learn, Harry. You're not too old to learn a new skill. We have to talk before the emotion gets too high and overwhelms us."

"And we have to leave work at work," he said.

"That will be difficult, but necessary …... if we're to make it."

"We'll make it, Ruth. We love one another too much to allow what we have to die."

"Do you think all those thousands of people in those thousands of marriages which end in divorce didn't love one another? We need more than love to keep us together."

"But there's that song which says: Love will keep us together."

"Lots of songs lie. We need love, but we also require commitment, persistence, tolerance, compassion, communication -"

"This sounds like an large-scale operation, Ruth."

"It is an operation. It's our operation. The principles are the same. For you and me this is life and death."

Harry had been watching her face as she spoke, her whole face animated, her passion high. He reached down and kissed her, lightly at first, and then harder, mouths open, tongues busily inquisitive, passion heightened. Ruth leaned back against the cushions, but not before she'd lifted her jumper over her head, and tossed it on to the floor, mumbling something about feeling `really hot'. As she adjusted her back against the cushions, he took off his own jumper, as well as the t-shirt he wore underneath. When he leaned back towards Ruth, his hands slipped under her camisole, and his fingers found her breasts, where he teased her nipples, eliciting a moan from her, as she arched her back, exposing her neck to his mouth. This time they would not be stopping before things went too far. This time was for them.

The sofa on which they now lay - she on her back, and he partly on top of her, but with the bulk of his weight positioned beside her – had seen a lot of action between Harry and Ruth. During the previous two months, they had conducted the bulk of their snogging on top of it, only very occasionally allowing themselves to lie beside one another, exploring the body of the other. They had always remained clothed, even if only partly, and they had never had intercourse, although in the days prior to Ruth being shot, they had had one very late night session on the couch in which Harry had brought her to orgasm with his fingers. Ruth had wanted to return the favour for him, but he had pushed her hand away before she'd had a chance to touch him.

"I don't want you to be doing that for me, Ruth."

"Why not? You did it for me? I want to."

"And I want to wait until we're ready to go all the way with one another. Until then, I can wait."

"You're a rare man, Harry Pearce," Ruth had said.

They had agreed to take things slowly, but within their agreement to live together had been an unspoken pact that the time for `taking things slowly' was over. Ruth was relieved. Harry was relieved. By the time they had realised where this snogging session was headed, they were each almost naked, and their passion for one another was on a trajectory of its own. Things were on the cusp of being out of their control. Ruth still wore her knickers, although Harry had slipped his fingers under the leg elastic, and was stimulating her with his fingers while he kissed her mouth soundly. Her first orgasm was only seconds away. Harry had pressed his body against Ruth, his erection resting against the outside of her thigh. Her hand slipped down and he felt her fingers brushed along the front of his trunks where his erection stretched the fabric. Yes, there is quite a lot of him there, she thought. He groaned into her mouth.

Ruth tumbled into her first orgasm with Harry's fingers inside her, and his mouth covering one of her nipples. As she began to stabilise, she became aware that Harry had removed his trunks, and was about to position himself between her legs, when he realised that first he needed to remove her underwear. He lay that way, across one of her legs, his penis hard against her inner thigh, his breathing shallow, his eyes on her face for a minute or two. When Ruth at last opened her eyes, she saw him looking at her, and she knew he was having difficulty maintaining his normal steely control over his body. We'd never have made it up the stairs, she thought. At least the sofa is familiar to us, and it's more comfortable than the floor …... or the stairs. Ruth positioned her thumb under the waistband of her knickers, reminding Harry that the next step they took would be awkward were she still wearing them. He gave her a slight smile, and then lifted himself off her so that he could slide her last piece of clothing from her body.

Having removed her knickers and thrown them on the floor, he parted her legs with one hand, and climbed between them, settling his body over her. She had a heightened awareness of his penis resting hotly against her entrance, and then she smiled, feeling his belly resting against her, and his chest gently touching her breasts. Their bodies breathed as one. This was who they were …... Harry and Ruth, together, as one.

"Is this okay with you, Ruth?" He breathed the words, barely capable of speech.

"What do you think?" Her voice was lazy with satisfaction.

"I think you're fine with this. I had plans for us to maybe do this in bed tonight, but …... it seems …."

"We can't wait, Harry. Let's …..."

Ruth was unable to finish her sentence. Harry had pushed himself into her, and she'd gasped with the sensation of him being inside her at last. He was magnificent. He filled her. Why have we waited so long for this, she asked herself. This is bloody marvellous.

He began to move slowly, pushing her back against the cushions as he did so. She opened her eyes at last and saw his looking at her with lust, gratitude, amazement, and love. His face was so close to her own, that she could feel his breath on her face, hear a strangled sound from his throat each time he breathed out. She sensed he was trying hard to control his movements inside her, and his response. Harry was very close to climax, but was waiting for her.

"Here, Harry," she said, touching herself on her right breast. Your mouth."

Her breaths were so shallow she could barely speak, but he got the message loud and clear, and took her nipple in his mouth, and rolled his tongue around it, in between drawing it deeper into his mouth. It was when he heard her gasps, and felt her pelvic muscles contracting around him that he let go, thrusting deeper inside her, where his full release took place. He gasped her name, burying himself as deeply as he could reach. He took his weight on his elbows, but he allowed his head to rest on Ruth's shoulder, while she cradled his head with her hands, running her fingers through the sweaty curls at the back of his head.

Once their breathing was slow enough for them to speak, Harry lifted his head to look at her, and asked, "Was that …...?"

"Good? Satisfactory?" Harry nodded, his insecurity evident in his expression. "Harry, despite us being on the sofa, with your pet dog only a few feet away, no doubt watching us the whole time, that was …... bloody fantastic!"

Harry grinned widely, and dipped his head to kiss her mouth. "Glad to hear it," he said quietly. "I was afraid I might have forgotten how to do it."

"Isn't sex like riding a bicycle? Once you do it, you never lose the knack."

"I'm not sure I could ride a bicycle any more, Ruth."

"I know it's been a long time for you, but you were …... wonderful. Couldn't you tell?"

"You seemed to be enjoying yourself, but …... I thought I might have been imagining it." He waited a moment before he continued. "I know I promised you a hotel room in Paris, or at the very least, a bed. I'm sorry -"

"Harry, don't you dare apologise for what we've just done. I loved it. It was perfect. Spontaneous, passionate …... it was us doing what we do best …... loving one another."

"You're right," he conceded quietly.

Harry pulled out of her, and rolled off her body so that he could lay on his side beside her, his arms around her, while Ruth's hand rested at the back of his neck, her fingers caressing the ends of his hair. Their faces were still close, and Harry couldn't take his eyes from her.

Suddenly it hit him. He and Ruth had just made love. They had done it. He had contemplated this, thought about it, fantasised about it, pulled himself off in the shower imagining how it might feel to be inside her, and nothing that had taken place in his imagination had come anywhere close to the reality. Apart, they were awkward, uncomfortable, two halves of a whole who had difficulty in determining how they fit together, while together they were perfection. Everyone with a pulse craves what he and Ruth already had. He was a lucky man, far luckier than he deserved, and he was sure that he didn't deserve her.

They went to bed early, snuggled up to one another, their arms wrapped around each other. Ruth thought it remarkable that throughout their lovemaking, she had not once thought about her wounded left shoulder. They lay naked beneath the duvet in Harry's bed – remarkably now their bed – and talked quietly until Ruth fell asleep. Harry left the bed, and first putting on his bathrobe, he tidied the kitchen, stacked the dishwasher, and then watched a bit of TV until he, too, felt tired enough to join Ruth under the duvet. The truth was that his head was spinning with what they'd done that night, and he'd needed to step away for a moment and occupy himself with the mundane.

Despite it being Sunday, Harry woke early, and coaxed Ruth awake by running his fingertips across her cheek, around her jaw, and then down her throat, and across her chest and abdomen to her belly button. He was about to explore her skin further when she stretched her body in a way that had him hard before she'd even opened her eyes. Is this the way it will always be for us? he thought. How can we work together with memories of this intimacy so fresh in our minds? How can we look at one another across the Grid without wanting to continue what we did the night before? They would have to. Either that, or he'd have to retire, and allow her to support them both, not that he'd be poor when he retired. That would have to be a discussion for another time. Ruth had curved her body against his, and was kissing his throat and neck, while running her fingers over his belly. When her fingers slid over his erection, he groaned, searching for her mouth, so that he could kiss her. Their kiss was long and slow and deep, with Ruth's hand all the while moving up and down on his cock, and he was sure he was as hard as it was possible for a human male to be. If he didn't find his way inside her soon, it would be all over.

"Ruth," he said into her mouth, trying to pull his body away from her – and not succeeding. "Stop." The word was said with urgency this time, as he pulled his lower body away, and pushed her hand off him. He slid down the bed, parted Ruth's legs, and buried his face in her sweetness. He brought her to orgasm with just his mouth, and then as he shifted himself up to lie beside her, he felt her hand on him again. This time she was guiding him into her, with her leg resting over his hip to bring their bodies closer.

"Now, Harry," she said breathlessly. "I want you inside me now."

Despite his panic from minutes earlier, he moved slowly inside her, giving them both time to enjoy the act, without worrying about the response of the other. Harry was able to last a long time, slowly gliding in and out of her, his eyes on hers. He was not as anxious for release as he had been the night before, but their first coupling had been for him the ending of a very long period of sexual abstinence. He had been saving himself for Ruth, and now he is glad he had. Putting off their shared moment of most intense pleasure was easier this time, but he knew they couldn't last forever. Eventually be felt Ruth's internal muscles tightening around him, and he knew he could no longer hold off his own climax. He felt her hands either side of his face as he pushed himself into her. He opened his eyes for a moment, seeing joy and gratitude and bliss in her own eyes, as his orgasm pulled him into her as deeply as he could reach.

They lay in one another's arms exhausted, spent, until a slight movement of the mattress, followed by the clicking of claws on the floorboards told them that Scarlet had had enough, and was leaving.

"Did you know she was on the bed?" Harry asked Ruth.

"Yes. She was next to me, keeping her eyes on me."

"Do you think there might be something wrong with her?"

"No, Harry, I think Scarlet is just lonely. I've been monopolising you, so she has to be here when we make love, otherwise she'd never see you."

"You're a wise woman, Ruth."

"I know."

"Are you hungry?"

"Starving."

A/N: Epilogue up next.