These chapters seem to be getting smaller and smaller, but I didn't want to leave you in suspense for too long... Enjoy!

Chris looked at Harry and wondered whether kissing Ruth had been the best idea on the planet. Harry had an expression which made Chris feel he was trapped with a caged lion. The look on his face alone made it clear how much he valued his head analyst, and not just professionally.

"Is there a problem?" Chris asked.

"What are you reporting back to your superiors?" Harry asked, staring at Chris with intense dislike.

"At the moment that things are running as they should be," Chris said honestly. "And that Tariq Masood has got one over on me, I can't see a thing he's working on, he's managed to block me out completely and I can't work out how he's doing it." Harry looked slightly amused at that but the smile didn't last long.

"I would appreciate it if you kept your personal life out of this building," Harry said slowly in a dangerous voice.

"I'm not doing anyone any harm," he said, wanting to see how far he could push Harry without an explosion happening.

"Leave her alone!" Harry shouted. He was breathing heavily and knew he shouldn't have snapped at him, but he just couldn't help it.

"Ruth?" Chris questioned. "She told me she was single, and she doesn't seem to mind my attentions."

"Well she isn't single," Harry said before he could think about it. "She's with me. We're keeping it quiet because we don't want others gossiping. Leave her alone before I start to get violent."

"I'm sorry," Chris said completely embarrassed. "I'd never have gone near her if I'd known she was taken. I'm sorry." Harry wanted to take it back, to say that it wasn't true but he didn't have it in him. He didn't have the energy. Chris kept apologising until he left Harry's office. Harry closed his eyes and drunk a small whisky. He wondered if he had just made a monumental mistake.

Ruth had just finished eating when there was a knock on her door. Getting up, she half hoped it would be Harry and when she opened the door she felt disappointed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked Chris who looked sheepish, which she had never seen on is face before. The last thing she wanted was to invite him in, but she had manners and she didn't want to discuss anything personal on her doorstep for all her neighbours to hear. "Do you want to come in?"

"No, I'll be quick," Chris said. "I wanted to apologise for the last coupe of days. I'd never have messed around with you if I'd known you were actually in a relationship with Harry. I thought it was more unrequited and unspoken between the two of you than it is, I'm really sorry.

"But…"

"He told me you're keeping it quiet. I won't say anything I promise. I just wanted to apologise. I may push my luck at times, but I don't go after women who are taken. I don't have affairs with anyone. I'm sorry."

"He told you this?" Ruth asked, keeping her voice level with difficulty.

"Yes," Chris replied honestly. "I'll go. Just wanted to let you know I won't be causing anymore problems." Ruth smiled without feeling it and then shut the door. She waited about sixty seconds to be sure he'd left the street and then she locked her house and got into her car. She was going straight to Thames House to have a word with Harry. He thought he could just tell anyone he wanted that they were in a relationship did he? He was going to get it into his thick head that what she did and who she did it with was none of his business, no matter how much he disliked it.