Just shows how much I can get done when I have a weekend off! Hope you all enjoy this unexpected extra chapter today.

By the time Harry had completed the forms, some of the shock was wearing off. He was suffering more from fear about how to treat this unknown girl. His daughter, he reminded himself. He followed the nurse through to a private room and looked through the window of the door. A blonde girl was sitting on her bed with what looked like the entire contents of a toy box spread out beside her. Harry took a deep breath before opening the door. He was incredibly nervous. As soon as he walked in Lucy looked up at him, dropping her picture book quickly. Harry saw the white bandage on her left cheek vividly and swallowed. He ignored the fact that he was sharing the room with a social worker for the time being.

"Who are you?" Lucy said quickly.

"My name's Harry," he said quietly, sitting on the chair next to her bed. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Lucy," she said, still eyeing him warily. "Where's my mummy?"

"Your mum's had a bit of an accident," Harry said slowly, wondering how on earth to explain this to a child.

"It was the car wasn't it?"

"What do you remember?" Harry asked gently.

"Lots of noise," Lucy said. "Screeching and horns. Then it all went black. And I woke up here. My face hurts."

"I know," he said sadly. "Do you want me to go and get you some chocolate for being so brave?" Harry asked with a smile.

"Buttons!" Lucy said happily. "Chocy buttons please!"

"I can get you some chocolate buttons," Harry said, pleased to have distracted her from the cut on her face for the time being. "The doctors say you can leave the hospital soon. Your mum can't take you home so I wondered if you wanted to come with me?"

"I'm not allowed to go with strangers," Lucy said quickly. Harry smiled.

"Its okay Lucy," the social worker said from behind Harry. "Your mum trusted Harry, everything will be okay." Harry wondered for a moment whether that was true but then dismissed it from his mind. He could think about that later.

"Bring me the chocolate and I'll think about it," Lucy said, her hazel eyes watching Harry intensely.

"Okay," Harry replied. "By the way do you like dogs?"

"Ooh, yes!" she said happily.

"I've got a little one at home. She's called Scarlet. You can meet her later if you like."

"Scarlet's a colour," Lucy said simply. "Is your dog red?"

"No," Harry said with half a laugh. "She isn't red."

"That doesn't make any sense," Lucy said, her face creasing with concentration. Harry ruffled her hair slightly making her laugh.

"I'll see you later," Harry said. "Got a chocolate dash to make." She giggled again and Harry left, thinking hard. He had a lot of work to do today if he wanted to make his spare room habitable for a three year old.

It was half past eight in the evening and Harry had just managed to get Lucy to fall asleep. It seemed to have entered her head that her mum wasn't coming back anytime soon and she'd been very upset for a while. However, Scarlet had curled up on the bottom of her bed and calmed her down before she closed her eyes and slipped into sleep. Harry had just poured himself a whisky when the doorbell rang. Hoping it hadn't woke Lily he quickly answered it.

"Ruth," he said quietly. He should have known.

"You never came back to the grid," she said quietly, her blue eyes looking sadly at him as the breeze gently disturbed her hair. "What is it?"

"Come in," he said gently, moving aside as she went into his kitchen and he followed. He hadn't exactly planned how he was going to tell her, but he guessed that now was as good a time as any. The longer he put it off the worse it was going to be anyway.

"You're not telling me something," she said quietly. "I know its probably not my business but… I'd like to think you could confide in me Harry."

"Its not easy," he started slowly. "Do you want a drink?"

"Tea," she said quietly. "I drove over," she added as he indicated the whisky bottle. He switched the kettle on and neither said anything until she had her warm mug in her hands.

"I don't know where to start," he said sitting opposite her. "I don't want to hurt you," he admitted.

"Then don't lie to me," she said simply. "In the long run that will hurt worse than whatever the truth might be."

He nodded and sighed before continuing. He didn't think there was any easy way to say the next sentence. "I only found out today," he started. "I have a three year old daughter." The silence between them was the loudest he had ever experienced and that was saying a lot. She put her mug down on the table with a loud thump.

"I have to go," she said in almost a whisper

"Ruth, don't do this. Please talk to me. Shout at me. Anything but silence."

"I have to go," she repeated. He closed his eyes in disappointment waiting to hear her leave. After a full minute he still hadn't heard her chair move so he opened. "I just need to think," she said quietly once his eyes found hers. "I can't believe this."

"Think how I feel," Harry said fervently. She smiled slightly. "I'll see you tomorrow. If you want to leave."

"What's her name?" Ruth asked quietly.

"Lucy."

Ruth nodded but the question she wanted to ask was still burning inside her. She took a deep breath and managed to get her courage together to speak. "What about… her mother?"

"She's on life support. Its unlikely she'll make it to the morning. Car crash," he added at the unspoken question. "It's not what you're thinking."

"You don't know what I'm thinking," she said quietly, hoping her face wasn't transparent. Because what she was thinking was of Harry having a torrid affair with a beautiful blonde for months and already in the last few seconds, the images in her mind were torturing her. Although would affair be the right word? Probably not she admitted to herself. But it didn't make the images any easier for her to bear. Just in the last few moments she had suddenly realised what Harry had imagined when he had discovered her relationship with George, and she felt even more guilty for that than she had before. Even though it didn't stop the images of Harry with another woman running through her own mind.

"I think I can guess," Harry said shrewdly, interrupting her thoughts. "It was once."

"You don't have to explain yourself," she said quietly, taking a large gulp of her tea.

"I do," he said. "After everything that's happened in the last eight years between us… I at least owe you an explanation." She didn't say anything but allowed him to continue. Meanwhile, he was marvelling at the fact she was still sat here. "We had just found Zaf's body and by all accounts it was a bad day. I had to process the pictures of what they did to him. And by process I mean shred and burn them because I didn't want anyone to ever see them. So I stopped in a bar in Whitehall and had a drink. And then quite a few more. I was drowning my sorrows and this woman approached me. I was too far gone, and I gave her my real name shockingly enough. It's all a blur now. I don't remember much to be honest. That's it. I never heard from her again. Until the hospital called me telling me for some reason that I was the next of kin. I didn't understand, and then I found out about Lucy."

"She'd never told you?"

"No," Harry said sincerely.

"Must have been a shock," she said and he was amazed to see that she was smiling. Only a small one, and nervously, but she was still smiling.

"I think that might have taken first prize for the shock of my life, yes," he agreed.

"Thank you for the tea," she said when the silence became oppressive.

"Thank you for not judging me," he said, standing up with her.

"You don't know I'm not judging you," she said with a tiny smile.

"Thanks anyway. I can't imagine that was easy to hear."

"No Harry," she agreed, closing her eyes. "That was not easy to hear." Her eyes said goodbye to him without words and he nodded once as she left. Once the door closed behind her, he set the security code and poured himself another large whisky. All things considered that could have gone much worse.