This was supposed to be posted over the weekend but life got in the way, it was also only supposed to be short, but it seems I can't do short chapters, even if it's just an epilogue! Once again, thank you for all your support on this story, particularly to those who take the time out to review. Now this really is the end of this story and I hope you enjoy.

Ruth sat at her desk early Monday morning ostensibly already caught up in the days work. Her mind however was having difficulty focusing on prioritising the terror threats that had come in from GCHQ overnight and instead kept wandering back to the day she'd spent with Harry yesterday. The cricket had been followed by a taxi ride back to her house where she'd opened a bottle of wine while Harry had headed off to pick up the Indian takeaway. They'd spent the evening chatting away, taking care to steer clear of any talk of their relationship and instead had spent it getting to know each other slightly better. Harry had left just before ten and they'd shared a number of lingering kisses before being rudely interrupted by the taxi Harry had called, beeping its horn loudly to announce its arrival. She smiled softly to herself, before her thoughts were disturbed.

"You're looking particularly well this morning," Jo said, as she made her way over to Ruth's desk.

Ruth looked up slightly bemused, "sorry?"

Jo waved her hand around her face, "you caught the sun yesterday, you're glowing. Did you do something nice yesterday with your day off?"

Ruth hesitated, caught slightly off-guard by Jo's line of questioning, but decided to stick as close to the truth as she could. "I was out in the sun most of the day," she began hesitantly, "I tend to go brown quite easily."

"Nice," Jo grinned kindly, "what did you get up to, anything nice?"

Ruth focused intently on her desk, why today of all days? Jo's questions about her weekend usually lasted long enough that Ruth could say 'not much' when she asked her what she'd been up to, before she launched into describing her much busier day off. "I er, I had a picnic with a friend."

"Ooh, very nice," Jo smiled warmly, "a male friend?"

"I... I." Ruth looked down at her keyboard, furiously trying to stop the blush she felt rising. Jo couldn't know, there's no way she could know she'd spent the day with Harry.

"Oh don't mind me, I'm just teasing. I'd ask if it was anyone we know, but since the majority of people we work with seemed to have spent their day off watching paint dry."

Ruth looked confused, "paint dry?" she asked. The blush now seemingly having passed, she looked up at Jo.

Jo laughed, "sorry, it's better known as the cricket," she perched herself on the edge of Ruth's desk, "are you a fan?"

"Well...I."

"Hate the game myself," Jo continued on, "my brother used to play and half our weekends seemed to be spent ferrying him around to games and then huddling in draughty old pavilions trying to avoid the great British summer."

"Hmmm." Ruth murmured uncommittedly, wishing Jo would disappear back to her own desk or at least change the subject to something easier and less fraught, such as terrorists and the 100 different ways to build a bomb.

"Sorry, sorry, listen to me droning on," Jo made a face quickly, "it's just that Adam and Zaf were at the cricket yesterday and I think Harry and Malcolm were going too," she glanced down quickly to see if there was any reaction from Ruth.

"Oh, I don't know, sorry," Ruth smiled blandly up at her, "my knowledge of cricket is pretty limited, as is my knowledge of what people were doing yesterday. How was your Sunday?"

"Blissful.. well the afternoon was anyway, I was at work yesterday morning."

"That's a shame."

Jo shrugged, "it was my turn to cover the shift, first time I've been in on a Sunday morning though and Harry hasn't been here," she smiled broadly, "it felt a bit like it was at school and the teacher was away for the day and we had a supply teacher in who let us do what we wanted."

"He's not that bad," the words were out of her mouth defending Harry before she could stop them.

"Oh I know, he's a good boss most of the time." Jo leaned forward, "it's just that I think he lives here at times. He's here before I get here and he's here when I go home."

"His job is all consuming Jo, I think anyone in that position would work his hours."

"And he's always so formally dressed," Jo continued as if Ruth hadn't said anything, "even on a Sunday when he's just doing paperwork and has no meetings he still wears a tie."

"Well he can hardly just turn up in jeans and a tee-shirt!" Ruth replied defensively.

"I suppose so," Jo spoke as if she'd only just heard her. She gave a broad smile and a wink, "I wouldn't be surprised if he goes to bed in his suit and tie just in case," she joked.

"Well I wouldn't know," once again the words were out before she could think about what she was saying and Ruth grimaced to herself.

"Oh, that's not what I meant Ruth," she looked apologetic, "sorry, I know that you two aren't …. you know... "

"It's fine," Ruth fumbled in her desk drawer hoping Jo would get the hint and leave, "honestly, Jo, please..." 'the just leave it' was implied but not spoken.

Jo went quiet, casting her mind round for a way to apologise. She'd forgotten Ruth was quite so tetchy when it came to the subject of Harry, she really couldn't see what she saw in him, but given that Harry was a couple of years older than her parents, she reasoned that that was probably a very good thing. She continued slowly, "well I was lucky enough to get the flat to myself all afternoon and spent a very enjoyable time catching up on some sleep and watching DVD's without Zaf badgering me."

Ruth sat up in her chair, slowly collecting the files she'd need for that mornings briefing, "that's nice."

"It was," she winked at Ruth again, "though it would have been even nicer to be out on a picnic with a mystery man," with that, she stood up and made her way over to the meeting room leaving Ruth slumped at her desk with her face in her hands, wishing that all her colleagues put as much effort into interrogating criminals as they did interrogating her.

Adam looked around the office, it had been a quiet day so far. Harry was out at back to back meetings at Whitehall and hadn't yet made it into the office that day. He glanced over at where Ruth sat, her head buried in numerous files that were balanced haphazardly all over her desk. She was looking happy he was pleased to see and the small smile she'd been wearing when she first came in that morning was still visible on her face, despite the grilling he'd seen Jo giving her earlier before the meeting. She and Zaf were obviously flatmates made in heaven, given their fondness for gossiping about their colleagues; despite his warnings to Zaf yesterday, he'd already been directing jokey comments to Ruth about 'sticky wickets', 'bowling a maiden over' and 'balls just getting an inside edge.' So far Ruth hadn't reacted but he decided to give her a respite as he saw Zaf making his way over to her once again.

"Ruth, fancy a coffee?" he called out across the office.

She looked up at him, "I'm fine thanks," she said with a shy smile, "I've just made myself one in the kitchen."

"I meant a proper coffee," he made his way over to her desk just as Zaf reached it, "not that muck that comes from the kitchen."

"That sounds lovely, but," she indicated towards all the files on her desk, "I can't leave these. Sorry."

Adam smiled broadly, "no matter, Zaf was just going to pop out and get you one," he looked over at his colleague, "weren't you Zaf? His treat I believe."

"I err." Zaf caught Adam's eye and realised his light teasing of Ruth that morning hadn't gone unnoticed, "yes, my treat."

Ruth looked between the two of them suspiciously, "what's going on?"

"Nothing." Adam pulled a chair over to the other side of her desk, "he's also going to get me one, and I'm sure Malcolm and Ros would appreciate one as well," he indicated over to where Malcolm sat monitoring three computers simultaneously while Ros was in the depths of a phone call with one of the Home Secretary's Private Secretary's.

"And how am I supposed to carry them all?" Zaf asked wearily, deciding in future that teasing Ruth was off limits as his bank balance couldn't stand shouting the whole team coffee's each day.

"You're a spy, you can figure it out." Adam nodded towards Jo who was heading towards them, "in this case though, your partner in crime can help you out."

"Help you out with what?" Jo asked curiously.

Adam grinned broadly. "Zaf has just offered to buy coffee's for everyone, given that it's 11.00am and we could all do with a caffeine hit, and you're going to help him carry them."

Jo looked downcast. "But it's pouring down outside."

"Well put a coat on then," Adam glanced between the two of them. "You won't melt!"

"But.."

"No but's. And it's a latte for me and for you Ruth?"

"A cappuccino please."

Zaf sighed and made his way to the door collecting orders as he went, closely followed by Jo who was looking slightly bemused by the turn of events.

Adam waited until they'd exited the pods before he spoke, checking carefully that he couldn't be overheard. "They mean well you know."

"What?"

"Zaf and Jo. They don't mean to cause you any hassle with their teasing, they just see things in a different way."

Ruth pondered on how to answer him, it was obvious that he knew something and it was equally obvious that he was trying to protect her. Not wanting to give anything further away she went for the noncommittal approach. "Thank you."

He pushed his chair back to stand and smiled at her, "No problem." He leaned forward and whispered confidentially, "in all honesty, if I'd heard him making another bad cricket related pun then I'd have probably hit him for six myself... plus it means we all get a decent cup of coffee for once which is a result in itself." With that, he made his way back to his own desk tunelessly whistling Dreadlock Holiday.

Malcolm knocked on the door to Harry's office clutching the paperwork he'd accumulated over the day which now needed signing. It was pushing eight o'clock and the majority of people had already left for home with just Ruth and a couple of other Analysts still sat at their desks working. Harry however was just making his first appearance on the Grid after a day of lengthy meetings and he held his hand out wearily for the files as Malcolm handed them over. "Good day?"

"Long day," Harry grumbled, scrawling his signature after giving the contents of the document a cursory glance over. "How about here. Anything untoward happen that I haven't heard about?" He looked up and held Malcolm's gaze.

Malcolm met it and shook his head, "nothing, it's been mercifully quiet."

"And how was your trip over the weekend? To... Lincoln wasn't it?"

Malcolm swallowed, "North Lincolnshire, actually, and it was very nice." He put out his hand to take the file back off Harry, but Harry kept a vice like grip on it while continuing to look him in the eye.

"And your mother, she enjoyed it?"

"Yes," Malcolm nodded, "had a lovely time."

"It's a curious thing really," Harry kept hold of the file which was now being held by the two of them and smiled benignly, "I was watching the cricket highlights last night after I got home..."

Malcolm gulped nervously, "Oh?"

"I like to watch them, see the wickets in close up so to speak. Now imagine my surprise when I notice what must be your identical twin brother sitting about three rows back from the boundary as two of the Australian batsman cross."

"Ah, well, yes.." Malcolm cleared his throat, "I can expla..."

Harry continued to speak in the same soft firm tone that had an underlying edge of steel, "and I thought to myself, that can't be Malcolm, he's up North for the weekend, and even if he wasn't, he's a spy and wouldn't let himself be caught out in a lie quite so easily would he?"

"Well, it's a funny story actu..."

"That was a rhetorical question Malcolm." Harry finally let go of the file he was holding and Malcolm jerked back as the pressure released. "Please don't do anything like that again, do I make myself clear?"

Malcolm nodded, "Yes Harry."

Harry pursed his lips, "you can probably be quite thankful, that much as Ruth appeared to enjoy the cricket yesterday, she's not quite yet a rabid enough fan to watch the highlights or see footage on the news... but if she were ever to see it, then she would feel like she had been played for a fool... though I hope that's not what you intended."

"It wasn't!" Malcolm started to back out towards the door hoping to make a quick escape. "I wouldn't do anything deliberately to hurt Ruth, she's a friend as well as a colleague." He took a deep breath, "apologies Harry, I just wanted to make up for putting my foot in it the last time."

Harry nodded accepting the apology for what it was, and called out just as Malcolm disappeared through the doorway, "Oh and Malcolm...,"

He popped his head back through the opening, "yes Harry?"

A glimmer of a smile was on Harry's lips, "Thank you..." Malcolm smiled briefly and nodded at him knowing he'd got away with meddling this time. Harry waited until Malcolm had shut the door behind him before glancing over towards Ruth desk. She looked up and caught him looking at her and they both smiled, slightly self consciously, each caught out looking at the other. Harry looked down at his desk and sighed, he had at least another hour of work to do, but he made the decision then and there, to offer her a lift home when she looked like she was ready for leaving, whenever that was...

THE END – Definitely this time.

A/N - Dreadlock Holiday by 10CC has the famous line in it of "I don't like cricket, oh no, I love it."