You may have to suspend your belief a bit with some of the medical details in this chapter. It's not intended that it make complete sense. (In my defence, a Spooks plot never made a lot of sense at the best of times...)

oOo

They again had their lunch delivered to their room, and so they ate it at the table under the window.

"Harry, why did you run away before?"

"Run away? When I went for a shower?"

"Yes, you had all morning to have a shower. You seemed …... upset."

Harry was again surprised by Ruth's forthright approach. The `old' Ruth would have assumed something – the worst, probably – and then acted on her assumptions. This `new' Ruth was refreshing, but also confronting. "I wasn't upset, Ruth. The truth is that I was beginning to experience …... arousal. I had to put some distance between us for a while."

"Harry, I quite like it that you're becoming aroused around me. I'm not used to that, and I'm certainly not offended by it."

"That's good to hear, at least, but the truth is it's not easy for me to deal with. I don't wish to act …... badly around you. I'd rather be in control of my body."

"I understand your not wanting to make love until we're ready. I agree with that. But if you're getting …. aroused, I could help you out. You know -"

Harry was temporarily shocked by what she was suggesting, so much so that he stared at her for longer than he meant to. "Do you mean a - ?"

Ruth looked up at him and smiled, lifting her hands and displaying them in front of him. "I have these for a reason, you know."

Harry could feel his jaw drop open, as he stared at her. "Jesus, Ruth, I'm not an invalid," was all he managed to say.

She put her hands back on the table. "Harry, I'm a little shocked. I read your file – years ago, when I first became ….. interested in you. Celibacy is hardly your natural state. I don't expect you to continue to hold back."

"There hasn't been anyone since …... you. What I mean is, since I fell in love with you I haven't been with a woman. I had a couple of near misses when you were in Cyprus, but my heart just wasn't in it."

"Harry, are you saying that you've been ….. celibate for …... how long?"

"A long time. Around six years."

"We can't let that continue. It's no surprise you're aroused all the time."

"Not all the time, just …... most of the time."

"Why don't we, you know, imagine we're fifteen again, and we just do everything but the full sex. It might be fun."

Harry stared at her. His hesitant, wary, gun-shy Ruth had just suggested they do everything but the penetration part. He reached a hand across to hers, smiled and nodded. What could be the harm?

.

When the two doctors and a nurse arrived, Harry was sent packing.

"We'll call you in after we've conducted a full examination of Ms Evershed," said the female doctor, while the male doctor and the nurse busily and efficiently set up a makeshift examination bay.

Harry went looking for Geoff, the owner, and found him in his office watching the TV news.

"Come and join me," called Geoff through the doorway, beckoning Harry inside. "Your lot have caused quite a stink, it seems," he said, pointing at the TV screen. "Have the security services really uncovered a laboratory for making a genetic weapon?"

"Not exactly," Harry replied, sitting on the sofa just inside the door. "You know how it is. Someone plants a lie, and we rely on the media to perpetuate it."

"There's something going on, though. You wouldn't he hiding out here were things normal."

"No, you're right, but I'm not about to say more. All I can say is that someone messed up. This time they chose the wrong people to mess with."

"The woman you're with – Ruth – she seems lovely. Not your usual type, though."

"She is lovely, and yes, she's not my usual type, which is what makes her special." If Geoff wanted more information about Ruth, he was not about to get it. Harry briefly wondered how Geoff would react were he to tell him that a little over 3 months ago, he had held Ruth while she died, and that he'd been mourning her loss ever since. On the other hand, there was no requirement that Geoff know any more than the basic information he already had.

After a long silence, Harry continued. "There'll be a government visitor turning up some time in the next 24 hours. It's the Home Secretary. Keep it quiet, won't you, Geoff?"

"My lips are sealed," replied Geoff, removing his glasses, and cleaning them with the hem of his shirt. "Perhaps you need to retire, Harry. It's not such a bad life. I've never been more content. I actually get to see my wife every day, and other than the occasional belligerent drunk, she no longer fears for my life."

"I'm giving it some serious thought," Harry replied.

.

Back in their hotel room, Harry and Ruth sat side by side on the bed while the chief medical officer gave an overview of Ruth's examination.

"All things considered, Ruth shows few signs of her ordeal. All her vitals are normal, and we'll fax through the results of the blood tests to the Home Secretary. We've asked you to sit in on this as Ruth's – er - consort, Sir Harry." Harry was temporarily taken aback. Who in the twenty-first century still uses a term like `consort'? Did this doctor imagine that because he had a `Sir' in front of his name that he had to resort to Regency speech in his presence? The CMO continued. "We know little about the long term effects of having Genesis 1197 administered. The fact that you were only given very small doses over the first month is a good thing. Earlier trials with the drug – completely illegal, of course - showed that higher doses worked, but did not result in long term survival of the patient. Your doses were high enough to be effective, but not so high that the body's systems were put under stress. There is one possible negative outcome, however, and you both need to know about this. Due to the possible effects of Genesis 1197 on mitochondrial DNA, it is recommended that you not have children. The possibility for DNA anomalies is high, and this will be passed on to the next generation. What you also need to know is that the next generation inherit their mitochondrial DNA from the mother, and not from the father. We are passing on this advice to all the women of childbearing ago who received Genesis 1197. The men will not be similarly affected. I am sorry to have to tell you this."

Harry looked across at Ruth, and took her hand. He was simply happy to have her in his life again. He hadn't given any thought to the next generation.

"For this reason," the doctor continued, "we would suggest that you continue to use contraception whenever you have sex for the remainder of your fertile years. If, for any reason, you become pregnant, Ruth, you will need to decide on either an abortion, or undergoing extensive DNA testing of the foetus should you wish the pregnancy to continue." He looked at Harry as he spoke. "We've fitted Ruth with a coil, so there should be no problems with an unwanted pregnancy."

The doctor hesitated before he continued. "There is one more thing. This isn't a medical thing as such, but nor is your medical profile something which stands alone. Ruth, you should consider taking legal action, and holding the security services accountable for allowing this situation to even happen."

Ruth began shaking her head, her eyes on the doctor.

Harry spoke for them both. "The Home Secretary is visiting us either tonight or tomorrow. I intend taking the issue of compensation up with him. I have some arguments which I feel will – er – persuade him to make some funds available to the eight survivors of this debacle."

"Good. Let me know how you get on," the doctor continued, "and if you require any medical backup, then I'll be happy to provide it. We still have another three people to see, so we'd better get on."

"How are those you've already seen?" asked Ruth.

"Everyone we've seen is in good health and good spirits. You can expect to hear from us every 3 months for the next 2 years. It's not every day people come back from the dead."

.

"I'm sorry about your prospects for having children, Ruth," Harry said quietly after the medical team had left. "I'd been prepared to have children with you had that been your wish, but this news removes the luxury of choice."

"I've always been somewhat ambivalent about children, Harry. I quite liked the idea of having a child or two with you, but sadly, that's not to be." She looked up at him, and he touched her cheek, his face showing genuine sadness and regret.

"You know, Harry," Ruth, looking down at her hands, "they asked me about the time I was dead, and my awareness of it once I woke up. I can understand the question, but the first time I woke up was when I was in the helicopter on our way to the hospital."

"What?" exclaimed Harry. "That soon? How come none of us knew about that?"

"I was told afterwards that I had to be taken to a special unit in the hospital, and that I couldn't be seen by you or anyone else I knew. They took me to Bristol, and put me in an induced coma for a few days. I realise now that the team in the helicopter were all part of the Genesis research team. Apart maybe for the pilot, although he may have been also or worked with. They said there was too high a risk if infection, which didn't make sense to me then, and it still doesn't. But I was only technically dead for less than 10 minutes."

Harry had bent forward and put his head in his hands. He privately wondered what would have been the outcome had he not given Felicity Sharma the go ahead to use the Grid's computer system to investigate her encryption system. Ruth put her hand on Harry's shoulder and rubbed
her palm over his back in a circular motion.

Harry lifted his head to look at her. "As awful as this whole episode has been," he said, "it could have been a a lot worse. If Felicity hadn't come to work for me. If she hadn't noticed her encryption being used, and if she hadn't been as persistent as she was in chasing up those who had used it. God, Ruth, you could have been stuck in that twilight zone for another ten years. Maybe more."

Ruth leaned across to him and put both her arms around his shoulders, and he responded by putting his arms around her waist. They sat on the end of the bed and held each other for a long time.

.

That evening they were eating dinner in the dining room with Geoff and his wife, Corinne, when Harry's phone rang.

'Yes," he answered, standing and walking away from the table.

"Harry, it's Towers."

"Home Secretary."

"Look, I'd intended getting there tonight, but that poses all sorts of logistical difficulties where beds and sleeping is concerned, and on top of that I have a 9 pm appointment with the PM which I'd best not postpone. The earliest I can be there is 11am tomorrow. I may be as late as midday, but I hope not. I'm having to cancel all my appointments between 9 am and 4 pm as it is. I'm intrigued by this whole kerfuffle, Harry. I await the details with relish."

.

Back in their room, Harry told Ruth about Towers' proposed visit.

"I haven't told him any of the details," Harry said, "and I haven't told him about you being here. But if he reads the reports I asked Felicity to send him, then he'll know all about it. As of tonight when he rang me, I'm assuming he hadn't yet read Felicity's paperwork."

"I hope he reads it well before he gets here," Ruth said. "He looks like heart attack material to me, and if he sees me before he reads that report, he may be adding to the corpse count."

Harry noted to himself that he'd not yet heard Ruth use the term `corpse count'. He was learning new things about her all the time.

.

They crawled into bed, each with a book. Early mornings meant early to bed.

"Listen to this, Ruth," Harry said, before he read out a passage from his crime novel. Meeting her silence, he looked across to find her asleep, her book resting open on her chest. He carefully took the book from her hands, bookmarked it, and put it on the table next to her side of the bed. He then slipped down into the bed after turning off the lamps either side of the bed. He turned towards her, and put his arm around her, finding comfort in her nearness. If Ruth's unexpected resurrection had had a positive outcome, other than her continued presence on the earth, it was the immediate closeness which existed between the two of them. They had instantly navigated all the awkwardness that had often made their previous relationship so painful and frustrating. Harry hoped that they could continue in this way. He had already decided that he wasn't prepared to accept any stalling or sidestepping on her part. Times had changed, and so had he.