I've been struggling with this story and the fun seems to have drained out of this one for me, so I'm going to make this the last chapter. Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, and I hope to work on something else soon. :-)

"Stop it," Ruth said quietly. Harry hadn't even been aware that she was awake. He didn't reply and she shifted slightly on his chest so she could look at him. "You're thinking about my empty desk on the grid," she added. "I know you are."

"Alright," he conceded. "I am. Partly, at any rate. I haven't had to interview analysts for eight years. I am not looking forward to it."

"As long as you don't sleep with this one, it'll be fine."

"I have never slept with any of my intelligence analysts," Harry said firmly. "You were a special exception." She chuckled into his chest as he held her close.

"I'm so comfy here with you," she said quietly. "I don't want to move."

"What a wonderful impression you'd make on your first day," Harry said. "Turning up late simply because you didn't want to leave the bed where your former boss is letting his hands do very inappropriate things to you." She laughed again.

"I never used to hate Mondays you know?" Ruth said, her fingers lightly tracing some of the scars on his chest. "Now it means leaving our little piece of heaven. I enjoy my weekends with you. And Lucy of course."

"You're wonderful with her," Harry said.

"I'm curious," she said. "Are you purposefully avoiding learning how to plait her hair so I have to do it instead?"

"Yes," he said sincerely. "You get a wonderful look of concentration on your face. I love watching you, especially when you're like that." She blushed slightly, still unused to compliments from him. She sighed as the alarm went off and knew that their time in bed was now limited. Harry reached across and switched it off, his hand returning to drift over her bare back.

"We have to move."

"I know."

Ruth arrived at the Home Office to see a very empty looking desk awaiting her arrival. She smiled and sat down when something else became apparent. A small envelope was stuck to the top corner of her computer screen bearing her name in wonderfully familiar handwriting. A broader smile on her face this time, she opened it.

Ruth. Look in your top desk draw. Good luck today. I love you, H.

She put the note back in the envelope and tucked it in her purse. She didn't want anyone else finding it. Then she opened her draw and smiled. A single perfect white rose was sitting there. She had previously told him that red roses were too tacky and cheesy. A bouquet of blood red roses was far too obvious. Love should be a single white rose, because they are special and rarer. She hadn't mentioned that no one had ever bought her a white rose before, but it looked like she hadn't needed to. She picked up the flower, being careful of the thorns and gently touched the petals. There was not one flaw on the rose, it was the perfect bloom. She gently put it back in the draw, not wanting to advertise it but she felt honestly touched. Making sure no one was watching she got her phone out and text him.

"Thank you, its perfect. Love you too. R x." Once she'd put her phone away, she saw Towers arrive.

"Ah, Ruth. Good, you're here," he said, rubbing his hands together, rather like an overgrown schoolboy who'd just been given his favourite toy. "Ready for a day of disaster?"

"Well, I hope not, but we'll see," Ruth said with half a smile. Towers nodded and walked through to his office as she switched her computer on. Time to get to work.

"How was your first day?" Harry asked later that night once Lucy had been put to bed, and they were both in the kitchen, Ruth silently admiring her rose, already in a vase by the windowsill.

"It was a good day," she said. "I definitely made the right choice, as much as you might not agree with me."

"Ruth, I want to ask you something and I want you to not panic or say no straight away, I want you to think about it." Ruth's only reaction was to nod and pour a little more wine into her glass. She didn't like the sound of this. "Move in with me. With us, I should say. I want to spend as much time as possible with you, and that's difficult when you live somewhere else. I just… I want to be with you," he said simply. "Its what I want more than anything. I don't have an eloquent way to say it." He sighed, as if expecting her to say no already. She got up from her chair and approached him. Harry was looking at the floor and she pressed her palm to his cheek gently, and his eyes were drawn to hers as if magnetised.

"Do you want me to answer? Or do you want to assume you already know what I'm going to say?"

"Go on then," he said quietly, his lips turning up in a tiny smile at the corner due to her closeness, which never failed to make his heart race.

"I would love to," she said with a smile, her eyes glittering. "I know its soon but its not like I don't know you after all, is it? I want to come home to you everyday. Be normal. Have you waiting for me. Or the other way around, I really don't mind which. I lo…" she was cut off by his lips against hers. After a second of surprise she reacted passionately, and eventually found herself pinned against the kitchen wall, her skirt hitched up around her thighs and her hands under Harry's shirt, feeling his heart rate speed up significantly.

"I can't tell you how often I've dreamed about having you pinned up against a wall," he growled at her.

"Mm," she said. "While I love that idea in theory, can we do it in a locked room where there's minimal chance of Lucy walking in?"

"Absolutely," he said, connecting their lips again. She let out a squeal of surprise and laughter that reverberated through him as he picked her up, hands clasping her to him. Her legs wrapped around his waist of their own accord, making her skirt hitch even higher, and his eyes focused on her legs for a moment, before he carried her upstairs for a long and eventful night.

Thanks again for reading and reviewing!