"Where's Ruth?"
"I told her to come in a little late, after the events of yesterday." Harry is most definitely thinking about different events to Beth.
"Not given her the day off then?" asks Dimitri, tongue in cheek.
"What do you think this is, Christmas?" and with that Harry crosses to his office thinking that for him, yes, all his Christmases have come at once.
Ruth comes onto the grid, it should be just another day, but it isn't.
Her eyes, seek out Harry's office. His chair sits empty and she immediately misses him.
"Hey, Evershed, what's all this about a lie in this morning?"
She feels startled, she does her best not to blush.
"Dimitri, this is the first time I've come in late in three years. And you, what's your excuse?"
"Laziness," suggests Beth, dryly.
Dimitri throws a ball of paper at her and Ruth uses the distraction to cross to her desk and wonders when she will see Harry again.
"Meeting room," says Harry, as he strides back on to the grid.
Dimitri thinks he seems particularly full of energy today.
Beth thinks that kidnapping and imprisonment seem to suit his mood.
Ruth thinks she loves him.
No.
Ruth knows she loves him.
They walk into the meeting room and sit down. Ruth places herself near Harry. They are trying hard not to look at each other. They are failing.
Harry is explaining the current situation with a splinter group of Iranians. Alec takes over the briefing with the intel he has received. Ruth is paying some attention but she feels Harry's knee against hers under the table and she loses concentration.
And then the lights go out.
The grid descends into silence and darkness.
"What's going on?" says Dimitri.
"Either a lockdown, or a power failure," purr Harry's melodious tones in the dark. If it's a lockdown then the emergency lights will be on momentarily".
No lights come on.
"We'll give it a minute," says Alec in the dark.
Ruth feels fingers reaching out for hers.
'Kiss me' say the fingers.
'No', her index finger replies.
'Please' he taps back.
'No'
And then she feels his other hand groping in the dark, finding her shoulder, her neck and the next moment he is pulling her towards him and she feels lips colliding with her cheek in the dark and she is seeking them and she is overwhelmed with the taste of him.
This man in the darkness.
And then the lights come back on.