The following day Harry stepped onto the Grid, having finally had a good night's sleep he was uncharacteristically chirpy for so early in the morning. Sliding through the pods he noted everyone was in the office early "Good morning all, meeting room in ten minutes for the daily briefing." He caught Ruth's glance and issued his come-hither look to her, turning to his right and heading towards his office. After a momentary delay Ruth tottered in after him with a stack of files in her hands in preparation for the briefing. He took the files from her and placed them on the desk as she closed the office door shut.
"Harry…" she looked at him questioningly.
"Morning Ruth. Sorry for the early meeting but we need to talk." He sat down on the edge of his desk, motioning for Ruth to sit at the chair opposite him. Ruth looked at his face as she sat down and her heart melted inside. She could tell by the genuine smile he carried and the warmness radiating from his eyes that he had been successful to some degree in his conversation with Juliet.
"I spoke to Juliet last night" Ruth nodded in agreement quickly, eager for the outcome of the conversation. "She guarantees me she will do everything in her power to ensure your place on the Grid is maintained for the immediate future, whilst I aim to keep you here for the distant future. Although everything is still on a knife edge, I sincerely believe we are finally on the winning track."
Ruth jumped up from her chair and hugged him without a moment's thought. Perhaps if she had allowed herself to take a moment she would have noticed the blinds had remained open, and across the Grid there were several sets of eyes gazing in keenly at her and Harry. Indeed Zaf had actually moved forward for a closer look.
"Thank you Harry, thank you so much. I know things aren't finalized yet but I feel much better now." Still she did not release him from their tight embrace, nor did he try to remove himself from it wilfully. Coming to his senses he looked out of the office window and noted with distain the staring eyes. He quickly pulled back and Ruth looked at him hurt, her beautiful eyes glazing over. He flicked his eyes towards the window and immediately she understood. She quickly sat back down in the chair, feeling the eyes boring into the back of her head as she tried to compose herself. No one but Harry could see her blush crimson and fidget with her bracelet yet again.
"To continue Ruth, Juliet gave me some advice. For our part she suggested we place you on an important operation, and if you were moved to GCHQ it would be detrimental to that operation." He paused… "she also suggested we tell the team." He noted the concern on Ruth's faceIf the rest of the team were told it would all seem so much more real to her, and that scared her. "I have to agree with Juliet on this one. If we can draft in the rest of the team I am sure they will be willing to help us search for another Ruth" he chuckled, "I mean someone to take your place. I know such a search would be difficult between you and I alone. You have so many admirable qualities and we would have to trawl through numerous personnel files, we quite simply might not have the time to find a suitable candidate. This was the one thing Juliet requested directly, a replacement be sought and agreeable to taking the position. With the team on board we may find it easier trekking through files."
Ruth nodded, she knew it made sense; he always made sense after all. "Will you tell them… I don't think I can… it's just it makes it much more real and I just well I can't bear the thought of it."
Harry nodded slowly. "I'm going to tell them now in the daily meeting, if that's ok with you of course." Again she nodded. "Right well then, shall we go?" Picking up her files he carried them to the door opening it for her, and walking her to the meeting room.
Taking it as a signal to follow, the rest of the team jumped to attention and made their way to the meeting room. All, save Adam, were intrigued by the office embrace and hoped for answers in the daily briefing. Usually the most boring part of the day, this one promised to be particularly interesting.
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The meeting passed without a hiccup, though Zaf kept shifting his glance between Ruth and Harry, trying to note any type of change in their general attitude and demeanour, but he found nothing. Everything for the most part seemed natural. Ruth had snapped her pen in two whilst Harry had talked, and although everyone turned to her momentarily their focus was quickly shifted back to Harry. Everyone knew Ruth was a "fidgeter"; she had even named her cat Fidget, so the distraction although unexpected was not seen as abnormal.
As the meeting drew to a close, the team started to get up from their seats, but a stern glance from Harry drew them back down again. Could this be it they thought eagerly… Harry at last admitting to the team his and Ruth's true relationship? Jo and Zaf threw each other eager looks before turning their attention to Ruth, who appeared to have turned as red as her jumper, and was now fidgeting even more profusely than before. What Harry said next was so unexpected to the team it came as an even bigger blow and shock.
"Sorry everyone there is one more piece of business we must attend to before we get back to work." He looked at Ruth slowly before continuing. "About a week ago, a member of GCHQ came into my office, Jennifer Marx." He paused. "Well she was here to inform me we would soon be losing a member of our brotherhood to a special taskforce she was forming." At his intake of breath he noticed the panic on Jo, Zaf, and Ros' faces. Malcolm sat motionless; his life was this department he knew Harry couldn't be talking about him. The other three were exchanging glances and joint panicked expressions. "Miss Evershed has been the target of this approach." In a moment their individual anxieties all shifted to concern for Ruth, and one question lingered in their mind, why did Harry not try and stop this? Yet the earlier embrace seemed not quite so sordid as their minds had previously suggested.
As if understanding their chain of thought Harry answered, "efforts have been made to keep Ruth here, although this has proved a more difficult task than was originally anticipated. Miss Marx is apparently a bit of a rottweiler and quite simply doesn't take no for an answer."
"Yes Harry, but surely there is something we can do?" Zaf interrupted, giving Harry a questioning look. "I mean if we truly are well a brotherhood aren't we supposed to stick up for our own and all that?" Ruth smiled at him, another figure she would dearly miss if her move was finalized.
"Yes, Mr Younis, I was in fact coming to that. I have spoken to Juliet and she assures me that to every degree of her power she will try to ensure Ruth remains within the section. However, she also requires a replacement be found. I know this task will be particularly difficult as Ruth is very talented at what she does, but it is our task to find a suitable candidate, one who carries as many of Ruth's skills and qualities as possible." The room murmured in agreement, this sounded like one of Harry's plans, and really how often did one of those go wrong?
"So… I have requested the relevant personnel files to be brought up by registry, and have them distributed throughout the team. Your input although not mandatory is well really crucial to helping me secure Ruth's future within the department…" Harry continued, explaining further the ins and outs of the plan.
Throughout most of the discussion Ruth remained silent, head down, yet smiling. Individually the team members glanced at her, concerned and willing to help, Ruth felt proud to be a member of this so called brotherhood, and as her head lifted finally, despite all her inner turmoil she was beaming. The meeting drew to a close and everyone hurried out. No one was quite sure what to say to Ruth… what honestly could you say? In their line of work, actions spoke louder than words, so each rushed off to their own devices, each determined to find the suitable replacement Harry had described in-depthly to them. Adam closed the door slowly on his way out, winking at Ruth before he left Harry and Ruth alone again.
"That wasn't so bad now was it Ruth" said Harry drawing up the chair beside her.
"No, Harry but I couldn't have told them myself, for one thing Zaf's constant interrupting would have had me on edge." She reached over for his hand and squeezed it. "Thank you, you have been so… so…"
"Resilient in wanting to keep you within my section? Yes I would like to think so Ruth, like I said before you are quite simply too valuable to lose." They both smiled, and neither let go of the other's hand. For a moment they sat in silence. Both started to speak at once. "Harry I'm sorry…." "Ruth I need…" Harry motioned to her that she should continue.
"Harry I'm sorry I pushed you away. I didn't really mean to, it's just my control mechanism. You know me, never sure about anything apart from the classics, the cat and how to hack into any system available."
"Yes I know, we do guard our personal lives in the way we guard our work, it's to be expected I suppose" replied Harry truthfully.
"What I mean to say is… I'm sorry I turned down well turned down you know your offer of a second date. I was naive in being affected by what the other team thought of us and our relationship. I'm sorry."
Harry pulled his face closer to hers "that's ok Ruth, you weren't being naïve, you were showing self control, and putting others before yourself, one of the things I respect most about you."
"So what I mean to say is that…um … I mean what were you going to say when I interrupted you before?"
"I was just going to say I needed you to stay here for me as much as for you. The thought of you not being here morning, noon and night, right before me well it's difficult to think about."
"I know, I would miss you too you know."
"Well we have the best team in efforts to finding a suitable replacement, and I trust Juliet explicitly. I feel the tides are turning Ruth." He let go of her hand at last, and stood up, pacing back and forth in front of her chair for a moment or two. "Will you perhaps think about maybe going to dinner with me again sometime?"
Ruth smiled, "think. I don't need to think Harry, especially after what you have just done for me. I would love to go to dinner again." She stood up, ready to conquer the files on her desk with an increasing eagerness.
"Well I'll book a table somewhere and let you know when and where then." He looked out of the meeting room window, everyone seemed to be busy at their desks, typing or turning pages furiously. He moved swiftly and kissed her on the cheek before pulling back, afraid of the reaction such an action would produce. Quickly she kissed him in reply but on the lips as before, and she exited the room yet again before Harry could move or speak, this was getting to be a habit he thought cheerfully.
As he stood in a daze in the meeting room, she walked to her desk with a glazed expression. Unbeknown to either, the rest of the team had been fully aware of their actions, they were spies after all. Each smiled, and carried on with the task at hand, leaving Harry and Ruth to their own thoughts and day dreams.