This chapter carries a warning: some of you might be ready to send ninjas my way to do me harm after reading this... If you suspect that you can't cope with a rather heart-wrenching plot twist, stop reading now - my days of fighting off fanfiction ninjas are long over! Cheers. :)

Chapter 2

Ruth's eyes flicked up to observe him through the glass as he leaned his forehead on his hand. A moment later he got up, filled a glass of water and took yet more paracetamol; it was at least the fourth time in the past six hours he had done so. Ruth thought about going to him, but no sooner had the thought flitted across her mind, he turned, caught her watching him and glared his worst at her. She shook her head and sighed, returning her attention to her work.

The buzzing of her cell phone a moment later, made her look down as a text message flashed across it; it was from Lucas, who was sitting not ten feet away. Her eyes flicked up to meet his across their computer screens, and she looked at the text message:

He looks like hell. What's wrong?

Ruth looked back up at him and shook her head, shrugging slightly. He looked down and a moment later her phone buzzed again.

Can't you talk to him?

Ruth looked back up at him and shook her head, then texted Lucas back:

I tried after the briefing; he brushed me off.

Lucas frowned and texted once more:

Keep your eye on him. If it gets worse, we're sending for an MD no matter how much he protests.

She looked up at him and nodded.

Three hours passed and Ruth was becoming frustrated with her lack of progress. If there was such an early-warning allied network in the Middle East, or a human timebomb counterpart in the UK, she sure as hell couldn't find them. Sighing she decided she needed a cup of tea. She stood and glanced in through the glass of Harry's office, and the sight of him sent her stomach to her knees. She wasted no time going to him.

"Harry, I'm done arguing with you… You look bloody awful, and I'm calling for a doctor."

"Ruth," he said, rubbing his left arm, "I'm okay."

She looked at him, jacket and tie gone, sleeves rolled up, shirt unbuttoned several from the top and perspiration on every inch of him that she could see.

She walked over and turned his chair around to face her behind his desk. "You are most certainly not okay." His eyes flicked away and he sighed heavily; it was the first sign of his capitulation, and she knew it. "Just let me call a doctor and have you checked over…"

"Ruth, honestly, I appreciate your concern, especially since… you know, we haven't been getting on that well, but we need to keep trying to unravel the players in this Middle Eastern nightmare. The clock is ticking and we need to stay on task." His voice turned soft, slightly sensual; the voice she knew so well from their past, "We don't have time for anything else right now, believe me."

She frowned at him. "What is going on, Harry? You're not telling me everything. You haven't turned on the charm for me since I turned you down in the churchyard. You can't think I'm so daft that I don't recognize it—"

His voice was immediately filled with ire, "Get off of it, Ruth. Every single time you and I have a tactical disagreement you have to reference what happened after Ros' funeral. Every time. This is not all about you, you know." He stood then, his anger taking over. "And not everything that goes on in my life is about you either—"

"—How dare you, Harry."

"How dare I?"

"Yes, how bloody dare you say such a thing to me. Not a day has gone by when you haven't punished me for saying no to you. Not one damned day."

The entire Grid had come to a halt as the two of them screamed at each other, and Lucas knew he had to put a stop to it. He stood and headed toward the office.

"I have not punished you for it, Ruth, not at all."

Her anger at his audacity overtook her. "The hell you haven't. You've frozen me out, ignored me, treated me with outright coldness, diminishing respect and at times contempt, and all because I don't love you!"

And that stopped him dead. He stared at her for a long moment before sitting down heavily in his chair.

"Because you don't love me," he echoed softly. His broken eyes looked painfully back up to hers. "You said it was because of everything that we'd seen together; because of the—" His voice broke as he choked on the words, "because of the choices we'd made." Tears filled his eyes as he continued to stare disbelieving into hers. "You never said it was because you don't love me…"

Ruth felt nauseous. She hadn't meant to say anything that cruel, nor that patently false. How had it escalated so fast and so far? Lucas chose that moment to barge in.

"Look you two," he said softly, "it's none of my business, but everything you're screaming at each other can be heard on the Grid. Need I remind the two of you that we are in the midst of a national crisis and you need to table your personal issues until after—"

"—Lucas…" Harry's voice was strained and he was breathing strangely. "You're right, of course…"

Harry grimaced in pain and grabbed his chest, "Damnit…"

"Harry?" Lucas was at his side quickly, holding his arms. "Harry, what is it?"

"My chest…" he breathed heavily, "feels like it's exploding…"

"Oh God, Harry," Ruth cried as she crossed to the other side of him.

Harry grimaced painfully. "Lucas," he hissed.

"Jesus Christ," Lucas exclaimed, "he's having a heart attack…" Lucas stood and screamed, "Beth! Beth, call an ambulance….hurry!"

Through the glass Beth looked terror stricken, but grabbed for a phone and did as Lucas bade her.

Harry leaned back in his desk chair, gasping for air, gripping his chest with his left hand, his skin a deathly color grey.

Tears fell quick and hot down Ruth's cheeks as she rubbed her hand along the right side of his chest. "Harry, please, please…not like this, Harry, not you, not like this," she sobbed. She leaned her forehead against his, her breath hot on his face as she gently kissed his cheek, her tears falling onto his face.

Harry cupped Ruth's cheek with his right hand, and her tearful eyes met his. "Ruth, I understand now how wrong it was of me to love you…" She sobbed harder, and gasped for air as he continued, "I'm sorry, so sorry to have burdened you like that all of these years." Ruth sobs were coming quicker, one after another. "Shhh, it's all right, it wasn't your fault. It was mine." His voice grew softer and weaker, "Four years ago on the dock, you didn't let me tell you how I felt, and now I understand why, Ruth." He paused, swallowing hard as the pain in his chest increased causing him to grimace in anguish. But he forced himself to press on. "And still, I don't regret it, Ruth. I don't regret loving you. I loved you more than I ever thought a man could love, and I became a better man because of it." He looked deeply into her eyes and swallowed down his pain. "I was a better man because of you, Ruth. I pray you can remember me as a good and dear friend…"

As he let go of her, Ruth collapsed onto his right thigh, sobbing. She couldn't bear to hear any more, and still, even now, as he was dying, she couldn't bring herself to say the truth…

Harry reached out for Lucas, who took his left hand. "Lucas…"

"Here," Lucas held onto Harry's hand tightly. "I'm right here. Just hold on, Harry, EMTs are on the way…"

Harry smiled gently, and stared hard into the young man's eyes. "Don't let them win, Lucas. Don't let them…"

And his eyes glazed over, his chest released one last breath, and the man they had known as Harry Pearce was gone in the blink of an eye.

TBC