All the reviews were very eager so I am typing as quick as I can and hope it doesn't disappoint anyone. First draft so I apologise for any mistakes.
Ruth got to work while Christopher Miller was in Harry's office. She dearly wished she could have been a fly on the wall to eavesdrop on that conversation. Or more likely, interpreting Harry's long and angry silences. She looked up when Chris returned to the grid and approached her. Making sure she was focused on her work, she didn't look up at him until he started speaking.
"So Harry Pearce doesn't like me already." Ruth locked her computer automatically and looked up at him, standing just a little too close to her desk for comfort. Beth had been right, she thought to herself. Early forties and ruggedly handsome, with soft grey eyes and pictures didn't do him justice either. She brought herself back to the matter in hand with a mental shake.
"You've been sent to watch us and report back to your superiors," Ruth said. "Did you expect the red carpet treatment from the man you're spying on?"
"No, but a little civility would be nice," Chris said. She raised her eyebrows politely and internally sighed as he sat down next to her. "I didn't ask for this you know?" Ruth turned to him studying him closely.
"So what did you do to get stuck here with people who hate you on principle?" she asked, very interested in the answer.
"Are you included in the group of people who hate me?" Chris asked, equally interested.
"I think I'll reserve judgement for now," she replied a hint of a smile playing at her lips.
"Fair enough," he said. He rolled his chair away from her and turned on the computer that had been assigned to him. "I was a little too loud in my critical judgement of the way the anti terrorism wing had been acting within MI5 recently. I mentioned it to the wrong people. To answer your question, that's why I'm here."
Ruth watched him type and saw his screen light up with multiple windows following each individuals computer and the information they were currently dealing with. "So you're just going to keep watching whatever any of us do?" she asked bewildered that he had turned silent and didn't seem to want more information from her.
"Among other things," he said enigmatically. The silence spread between them but Ruth had a feeling the conversation wasn't over as she typed quickly, checking the French security for the Channel Tunnel. "Can I ask you something personal?"
"You can ask," Ruth said keeping her eyes fixed on the computer screen.
"I see you don't wear a wedding ring." Ruth felt her left hand curl into a fist without her willing it and the heat flood into her face.
"That isn't a question."
"Okay," he countered. "How is it that a beautiful woman like yourself is still single? That's a question."
"I'm not answering that because it isn't any of your business," she said after a moments silence in what she hoped was a cold and detached voice. She glanced at him and hated the confident smile he wore on his, admittedly, rather handsome face. But she hated it even more when an answering smile reluctantly formed on her own lips before she even realised it. Determined not to speak to him unless it was positively necessary she got on with working. Her usual glance to Harry's office was missed, and Harry noticed.
He had been watching out of a crack in his blinds to start with because he wanted to see what Christopher would do. This stranger in the midst of their tightly knit group. But as he started having a conversation with Ruth, Harry couldn't tear his eyes away. She was smiling at Chris. Actually smiling in a way she hadn't done in years. And it wasn't a ploy to get him to trust her, Harry could tell because the smile reached her eyes, sparkling in her gorgeously blue, honest and beautiful eyes. When the conversation finished Harry watched for a minute more before it became clear nothing else was going to happen. Sadly, he thought to himself, it was too early for whisky.
He let the blinds spring back into place and knew that Ruth hadn't thrown his office a single glance, and he hated that. She had always looked at his office window much more often than she should do, and he loved it that way. Because even if she didn't put it into words, her actions showed him that he meant more than just her employer. When she had said no to his proposal a few weeks before he was hurt beyond description, but he had somehow assumed that they would eventually muddle through and end up together, no matter how long it took. But the way she had glanced at this stranger made his blood boil in fury. And what was worse, she had every right to look at another man if she wished to. He knew that Ruth didn't show her emotions, she never had, so he knew that to her, a simple glance meant a lot more than it would have done with other women.
Harry had known, or guessed that this new worm on the grid would spend a lot of his time with Ruth. She was the most senior member of the team apart from himself, and the main analyst. All of the information went through her, so that didn't surprise him. It also didn't surprise him that she was being friendly. It would help them in the long run if he could be trusted not to leak vital information. What hurt him like daggers twisting in the flesh of his back was the fact her behaviour was genuine. Her smile was real. And the worst thing? He hadn't been the one to make her look like that. He looked at his watch again. Too early for whisky, but he was going to have one anyway. A large one.