Arriving at the hospital's emergency ward, a doctor and several nurses had immediately descended on Harry. They checked his blood pressure, and took a blood sample which was rushed away for testing. That was followed in quick succession by a chest x-ray and an injection of painkillers. Then he was hooked up to another ECG machine.

Ruth assumed that Harry's position in MI5 must have been made known to the powers that be. Either that or his condition was … was … she didn't really want to think about what else it could mean. It was enough that he warranted special treatment. For that she was very grateful.

In the ambulance, she had seen Harry begin to panic. He'd been hooked up to a small monitor and was conscious of the fluctuation in his heart rate which he could hear beeping dramatically, and which was visible to Ruth in the leaping lines on the monitor. She had reached out and taken hold of his hand again, and he had calmed somewhat.

Now in the hospital, where he'd been transferred from the stretcher to a bed, Harry lay with his shirt open, a series of wires stuck to his chest and connecting him to the much larger and louder hospital-strength ECG machine. The special treatment appeared to have entitled him to a private room, where he was now alone with Ruth who was sitting in a chair by his side.

He hadn't tried to speak, mostly on account of the mask over his mouth, pumping oxygen into him, regulating his breathing. What had been a shallow, shuddering sound earlier was now quieter and steady, and after a while, Ruth realised Harry had fallen asleep. At first she was worried something might be wrong, but was reassured by the rhythm of his breathing and his face having regained some colour.

Satisfied that Harry was alright for the time being, Ruth stepped into the corridor to phone the grid. Tariq answered promptly and listened quietly as Ruth updated him on Harry's condition. He was subdued, and she promised to ring him again in the morning, or earlier if anything changed. Then he passed the phone to Lucas, and Ruth repeated what she had told Tariq.

Lucas urged Ruth to stay with Harry for the time being. "He needs someone, Ruth. He needs you. And we need someone to keep us in the loop. We'll cope without you for a while. And if not, then we'll call you. Okay?"

"Okay." She nodded, despite knowing he was unable to see her, and watched a nurse approaching from the other end of the corridor. "Thanks Lucas. I … I'd better go, they don't much like phone calls around here."

"We'll see you tomorrow. Bye, Ruth."

"Bye, Lucas."

Every ten minutes or so, a nurse appeared and checked the monitor. Then finally, after about an hour, the doctor materialised and addressed Ruth. "Mrs Pearce?"

"Er, no." Ruth shook her head. "I'm a colleague. And friend. Good friend."

"What about next of kin?"

"I, er … his daughter. But she's overseas, unable to be contacted." Ruth was unsure what she should say, what she could say, so decided to call upon her spook sense, act confident, and wing it. It's what Harry would do. "I think you'll find that I'm authorised to make decisions on Harry's behalf. So if you tell me what needs to happen, I'll take care of it." Please. Just tell me and help Harry.

The doctor opened the file he held, and read for a moment, weighing up his options. Then, giving a little sniffle, he looked at her warily. "Very well … put simply, Mr Pearce, er, Sir Harry, has had a heart attack. There are varying degrees of severity with these situations, and in this case it is quite serious. Has he been under a lot of stress lately?"

Ruth's head spun for a moment as she processed what he'd said. A serious heart attack ... Has he been under a lot of stress? … Yes of course he has! Stress would be an understatement. She realised the doctor was waiting for an answer. "Yes. You could say that. His job is … rather specialised. And he's had a lot of … issues to deal with lately, especially this week."

"Right, well, that's probably been a major contributing factor. Aside from that though, there are other signs too, things like high cholesterol, and he is in a susceptible age group. All of which adds up to a heart attack waiting to happen."

"So, a heart attack. What can you do now?"

"Each case is different. We need to run a few more tests, but it looks like Sir Harry's going to need a bypass. We'll finish the tests tonight, just to be sure, but the operation's been scheduled for first thing in the morning. And we'll need some forms signed. The nurse will speak to you about that."

Ruth felt the need to know exactly what they were going to do to Harry. So in answer to her questions, the doctor described how they would harvest an artery or vein, probably from Harry's leg, and graft it to his heart so it would pump blood around the blockage. "He'll be in intensive care for a day or so, and then he'll need another few days on a ward before he can go home and rest."

Ruth blanched a little at the explanation, and dreaded the thought of anyone trying to make Harry take a break. Even after being been shot by Tom, he'd checked himself out of hospital and returned to work before he should have. "What about afterward? What happens then?"

"It'll take him a little while to recuperate, and even then he's going to have take it easy, make some changes to his lifestyle. There are plenty of things he can do to help … maintain a good diet, get regular exercise, eliminate or restrict caffeine and alcohol consumption. And he needs to learn to manage the stress, and find ways to relax. Stress is mostly caused by bottling up emotions, particularly anger and frustration, and it sounds like he has plenty of that."

"Ruth? … Ruth?"

Ruth jerked awake at the sound of Harry's voice. He was sitting up and smiled at her as she turned in the chair where she had been dozing. "Harry. You're awake."

"I am. What time is it?"

"It's getting late," said Ruth, looking at her watch. "After ten."

"You should be at home, getting some proper sleep."

She looked at him pointedly. "I'm fine, Harry. How are you feeling?"

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, as if steadying himself, then reopened them, his mouth turning up at the edges. "I've been better. So, what did they say?"

Taking a deep breath, Ruth started in, repeating to Harry what the doctor had explained to her earlier. Harry wasn't in any condition to argue, but that didn't mean he had to like it, and he let out a sigh. "I don't know, Ruth. Are they certain there's no alternative?"

"You need the operation, Harry. If there was another way, they would have said so. Now you just need to let them help you."

"I know." He nodded. "You should go home Ruth, get some sleep."

"I'm staying here, Harry. Please don't try to stop me. I can sleep just as well here." Her look was daring him to challenge her, but he didn't. Instead, he lay back with an intense look focused on her, and an indecipherable expression in his eyes. She dragged the chair closer and reached for his hand. "Go back to sleep, Harry. You need to rest. We'll talk tomorrow."

"The team … "

"Go to sleep, Harry."

More to come :)

NB: All the heart attack signs and treatment you read about in chapters 1 and 2 are based on fact. In reality Ruth would not have been the one in charge of explaining to Harry what was going to happen operation-wise - the doctor would have done that - but then we wouldn't get the Ruth and Harry conversation the way it is, and hey, this is make-believe.