Ruth was shattered but happy. She held her newborn daughter in her arms, watching her perfect face. Her baby girl was asleep and Ruth ran a finger down her cheek. Harry still hadn't arrived at the hospital and Ruth was worrying frantically. She kept calling Beth but she had no news and was clearly getting irritated by Ruth's constant calls. She decided to stop calling. Every time she did it raised her hopes, only to have them fall.

She laid down in bed, cuddling her daughter close, kissing her bald head. "I'm sure your daddy will be here soon," she said with a confidence she didn't feel.

Harry emerged onto the grid after an incredibly exhausting day. He had been bundled into a car boot, searched several times over before being taken to an unknown location which looked like an underground bunker. He had been eventually given some useful information on a memory stick and been released, after being punched in the jaw once for good measure.

As the pods whirred open Beth approached him looking very relieved. Harry passed the memory stick to Tariq to be decrypted.

"Harry, you need to go to the hospital," Beth said firmly. "Ruth…"

"Is she okay?" Harry asked, his face creasing with worry immediately.

"She went into labour hours ago," Beth said, knowing there was no good way to break this news to him. Harry stood stock still, his mind racing.

"I need to go," he said slowly. "Is she okay?"

"Yes," Beth said with a smile. "So is your daughter." Harry kept watching her carefully.

"She's had the baby?"

"Yes," Beth said.

"You didn't tell her what I was doing did you?" Harry asked. Beth's silence was incriminating. "Beth!"

"Well, what was I supposed to do!" Beth said loudly. "This is Ruth remember? She wanted to know why you weren't answering your phone and couldn't turn up at the hospital when she was giving birth to your baby. So instead of arguing with me, maybe you should leave and find your wife." Harry didn't reply and decided to follow her advice.

Harry quietly opened her hospital door and saw Ruth asleep on the bed. He smiled, loving how her face relaxed in the innocence of sleep. Then he saw the cot at the bottom of her bed. A cot which held a tiny baby asleep, her left fist curled into a ball. Harry felt his heart skip a beat as he watched his beautiful, newborn daughter. After a minute the door opened and a young nurse came in.

"Oh," she said surprised. "Should you be here?"

"That's my wife," Harry said calmly. "And my daughter." He looked down at the cot and felt incredibly shocked. The baby had opened her eyes. They were Ruth's blue grey eyes that were staring back at him.

"Do you want to hold her?" the nurse asked, seeing Harry awestruck at the sight of his daughter.

"I would like that very much," Harry said quietly. The nurse picked up the baby and slowly handed her to Harry. He smiled as his daughter looked at hiim with perfectly innocent blue eyes. The nurse quietly left the room and Harry couldn't believe how beautiful she was. Just like her mother. He sat down next to Ruth while cradling his daughter, the late afternoon sunlight shining on her face.

"Where were you?" Ruth said in a tired voice, turning her head to her family.

"Being kidnapped by an Al Qaeda asset and being manhandled until they thought I could be trusted with the memory stick they wanted to hand over," Harry said, his gaze flicking from Ruth to their daughter. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you."

"I know it wasn't your fault," Ruth said, watching her family. "I was worried about you though."

"I know," he said calmly. "Have we got a name for this little one yet?"

"No, not really," Ruth said. She fidgeted in bed and winced slightly as she turned over. "What do you think?"

"I think she's beautiful, just like you," Harry said.

"I meant about the name," Ruth replied.

"I have been thinking," Harry said. "Long hours in the office when my main cause of distraction has been on maternity leave."

"Do you really watch me that often?" Ruth asked blushing.

"Of course I do," Harry said. "Anyway, I liked Louisa. For her."

Ruth watched her daughters face carefully. "Yeah. Louisa sounds good."

Harry turned and faced her, immensely surprised. "You're not going to argue with me on something as important as our daughters name?"

"No," Ruth said simply. "I honestly hadn't thought of any names at all."

"Why?" Harry asked. It was so unlike Ruth to be unprepared for anything at all, let alone something this important.

"Because ever since the bomb in Paris I was terrified I was going to lose her," Ruth said simply. "I didn't allow myself to think about it, just in case the worst happened."

"Oh Ruth," he said sadly. "The worst didn't happen. And now we have a beautiful baby girl."

"Louisa sounds good," she repeated with a smile. "Can you hand her over? I want to hold her again." Harry nodded and passed the baby over carefully. Ruth looked into her daughters eyes and wondered that she had never known she could love someone so fiercely. "Louisa Pearce."

"She doesn't have to have my last name if you don't want," Harry said.

"Yes she does," Ruth said turning to Harry for a moment. "Of course she does."

"Louisa Pearce it is then," Harry said, tucking a strand of hair behind his wife's ear gently. He watched both the women in his life and remembered why he put his own life on the line for his job day in, day out. To protect the people he loved.

The End

Hope you enjoyed this story. A last review would make my day. xxx