Disclaimer: I own no part of Spooks, its characters, or its plots. The initial idea for this fic came from Strawberry on SICF who asked for a sledging fic. Thanks also go to TygerBright on SF for her snippets and ideas, and the story title came from the song by 'The Get-Up Kids'.

Author's note: The wallowing in snow actually worked? 0_o Had a hard time digging myself out of the hole from last chapter that came from being ill, dosed up on hot chocolate and throat sweets, and having just seen the Friends episode 'The One Where Everyone Finds Out' (the episode with Chandler and Phoebe's flirt-off...) Still, hopefully the end result (this is the last chapter by the way) is worth it all!

Chapter 8

Truth be told, Adam was sure that Harry and Ruth would be gone by the time he returned. Given how long it had taken to navigate around a group of youths determined to snowball him, he thought Harry would have been sure to have offered Ruth a lift home by the time he returned. Needless to say, he was very surprised to find them both there, still in exactly the same position he had left them in.

The pair did a fantastic job of hiding the fact that they were completely at ease with each other right now. As Adam approached them, and as Zaf and Jo observed them from across the road, the situation looked rather platonic – uncomfortable even. Only Harry and Ruth were to know that his thumb was gently brushing over her palm as their fingers entwined beneath her scarf.

When Adam reached the bench, Ruth eyed the sledge behind him warily. Though it didn't look bad for its thirty-odd years, it didn't, in her eyes, look one-hundred percent snow-worthy. Adam noticed her dubious look.

"It's perfectly safe, I promise," he assured her, helping her up from the bench. She nodded, unconvinced, but made sure to keep hold of his hand just that little bit longer than was strictly necessary. Harry and Adam both noticed this with surprise – Adam at the act itself, Harry with just how much such a tiny gesture made his heart constrict, even though he knew perfectly well it was all pretence.

As Adam explained the basics of sledging to Ruth, she made sure to embellish every possible moment with little actions to perplex him: casual touches, coy smiles, occasional comments and flattery that surprised even Harry, who watched her intently, noticing ever little detail. A touch here, a gentle caress or stroke there... If this had been an operation she would have ensnared the target in seconds - she really was a born spook. Ruth was amused to note the confusion and alarm in Adam's eyes every time she did any such thing, although to his credit he gave back as good as he got, probing her with teasing questions, then ruining his feigned innocence with the odd sly wink, running his fingers over her knuckles as he sat her down on the sledge, and caressing the inside of her ankle as he slid her foot into the correct position.

It was the coquettish smile she shot at him as she brushed her hand over his thigh that was the final straw. Though Ruth had done a highly respectable performance, the other three simply knew Ruth far too well to be duped into belief, especially not when Harry didn't even appear to be pretending to be nonchalant. Taking pity on Ruth, Adam stayed her hand and leant into her, whispering that whatever game she and Harry had planned was up. Almost immediately, the fierce blush that she had managed to subdue throughout all her antics burst out, and she ducked her face into her scarf in embarrassment.

Adam chuckled lightly. "Don't worry," he whispered gently. "I won't tell anyone." He winked at her again, this time genuine and friendly, and then, before she could say anything, launched the sledge they were on down the snow-slope of a road, laughing at her shriek of surprise and desperately trying to avoid a lamppost.

Surprisingly, watching Ruth enjoying herself so much made Harry's heart constrict way more than her supposed flirting with Adam had. Though her mirth and the glimmer in her eyes every time she trudged back up to the top of the hill was wonderful, and her laughter truly infectious, there was a tiny part of him that felt disproportionately jealous by the fact that she was laughing with Adam, not him.

Zaf noticed the envious frowns Harry was shooting at Adam's back as the sledge slid off down the hill yet again, leaving Harry behind at the top, and elbowed Jo sharply, nodding at the forlorn figure left standing alone. Had the situation been altogether different, Harry's vulnerable position in the middle of the empty road would have been just calling for Zaf to throw a snowball at him, but he had learned from Jo's mistake earlier and anyway, look of caution in her eyes was enough to send any man into meekness.

"You dare," she warned, glaring at him fiercely, "and I swear to God that when you wake up tomorrow, it won't be in bed with me, but hanging upside down by your toes, as Mossad target practice."

He looked at her quickly, an expression of sheer terror on his face. "You wouldn't..." he challenged slowly, dangerously.

She smirked up at him. "Oh, wouldn't I?" She revelled in his horror for a few more seconds, then slid her arms under his heavy coat, and around his waist, and they stood like that, completely oblivious to anything or anyone but themselves.

::::

As Harry was rejoined by Adam and Ruth yet again, he noticed that his Section Chief appeared to be guiding her up the hill with his hand at the small of her back. No matter how innocently the gesture was intended, it was one thing too much for Harry to stand, and he stepped forward firmly. "I can take over from here," he told Adam, taking hold of the sledge's string with one hand, and unconsciously mimicking Adam's action placing his hand at the small of Ruth's back with the other.

They mounted the sledge – she in front of him – in a silence that was neither uncomfortable nor overtly companionable. When he reached around her to arrange the string so he could steer she stiffened at first, but then, as if adjusting to the idea, turned and smiled softly at him before leaning back slightly against his body.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked, surprised, knowing full well what this would look like to the others. "We can still brush this off if you'd like..."

She sat up again, straight. "Is that what you want me to do?" she asked, slightly hurt. He didn't reply, and she misinterpreted his silence, both her dismay and her fear evident in her eyes. "But if you're saying... if you think we should stop... what we... what we have... I mean..."

His cry was insistent, determined. "No! No! No, that's not what I mean at all!" She exhaled sharply with relief. "No, I thought you... that you wanted to keep it all a secret still... avoid the gossip."

She cut him off by pressing her index finger to his lips, silencing him, and this time it was her turn to be silent for a while, with the other three – Zaf and Jo having finally extricated themselves from each other – observing in befuddlement. Even when she did finally speak again, she still fumbled over her words, completely exposed in this entirely new territory.

"I don't want to... to have to hide... this... anymore," she managed to say, her blush creeping back. "Whatever 'this' is, I don't want to have to creep around." She looked at Harry, difficult though it was to do when she was sitting in front of him, her back to him, and was reassured to see him breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness for that," he murmured. "Because I've been thinking the same thing."

"You have?"

"Oh yes, Ruth. So many times I have wanted to be able to do things that secrecy would not allow me to do. So many times, Ruth."

"What kind of things are we talking about here?" she asked, the wicked glint back in her eyes. Perfectly matched to her, he lowered his voice and whispered in her ear, his breath tickling.

"Wouldn't you like to find out..." Shivers rippled through her body, this time nothing to do with the cold air, but due to the intensity in his eyes and the deep murmur of his voice. He snaked his arms around his waist and held her tightly to him. "You will think me a fool, Ruth, there have been so many times I have wished the world knew about our relationship, just so that I could kiss you or put my arms around you without having to worry about who might turn the corner and see us..."

"Well well, Mr. Pearce," she hummed in reply, "you do have a spirit of romance after all." And with that, completely disregarding any tiny amount secrecy that remained, she twisted her body around in his arms, and pressed her lips to his.

::::

It took several more hours for the traffic to finally clear enough for the spooks to even consider getting in their respective cars, which was plenty of time, in Jo's eyes, for a sufficient quota of snow-related activities. Having abandoned her and Zaf's igloo, she managed to entice the entire group – including Harry and Ruth, who had barely let go of each other's hands – into building a snowman. This enterprise was far more successful that the last, although Harry did find himself thinking perhaps he himself had been the model for the surprisingly familiar-looking figure.

"I don't know what you mean, Harry," insisted Jo innocently, as Ruth surreptitiously unwound Harry's scarf from around his neck by distracting him with a couple of not-so-innocent kisses, and arranged it on the snowman.

::::

Eventually the cars lining the main roads dispersed, and the group followed suit. Somehow it had wordlessly been arranged that Adam would no longer be taking Ruth home, and instead she found herself being escorted to Harry's car by the man himself. But despite the fact that they could have easily still made their dinner reservation on time, they didn't go to the restaurant. Worn out from the day, they instead had migrated back to Ruth's house, stopping on the way at a supermarket. Somehow between sly kisses and wandering hands they threw together a simple but decent dinner concoction of lasagne, before finally popping open a bottle of wine and digging out the remaining mince pies. Together they managed to clear Ruth's Christmas tree out of the way enough to light the fire, and then settled down onto the sofa, the enticing flicker of the flames their television.

Ruth sighed deeply, her eyes closing of their own accord as the warmth of the roaring fire overcame her. She snuggled back into Harry's arms and mumbled with satisfaction, turning her head briefly to kiss him gently on the cheek. He held her closer against him, failing to conceal his contented beam, and let her rest her head against his chest, gently pressing kisses to her hair. He could get used to this, he mused.

They hadn't had the most fabulous of Christmases – neither of them able to spend the joyous day with the person they really wanted to – but now, curled up together on the sofa, this certainly made up for it. As they both slowly drifted into jubilant sleep, neither of them noticed the lens of a camera peeking around the window-frame, nor heard the whisper of a click of the shutter. Zaf crept back down the garden path as quickly as he had tiptoed up, and handed the camera triumphantly back to Adam and Jo.

::::

It wasn't for nearly two years that the two subjects even saw the photo. When it flashed up on the screen, they both looked completely astounded, and then simultaneously their surprise turned to wonder and delight. Somehow, in spite of their own maddening restraint and frustrating timidity, and all kinds of national emergencies, they had reached this point from the days of dancing breadsticks and shy conversations, and Harry secretly made a note to thank each and every one of their meddling colleagues who had helped them on their way.

The pair ignored the wolf-whistles and cheers of said colleagues as they watched the slideshow of photos. "At least they don't feel the need to get evidence of us still," mumbled Ruth, her distinctive blush once again adorning her face.

Harry took her left hand in his and lifted it to his lips, pressing a light kiss on her knuckles just next to the shiny new ring that graced her third finger. "What, you don't think the novelty has worn off, do you?" he asked his wife, still unable to hide his grin at being able to call her that.

She laughed at him and leant forwards, her head ducking down shyly before she lifted it back up in order to kiss him again. "Not for me it hasn't," she responded when she drew back, their noses still touching. "Most definitely not for me..."

-END-

And that's all folks! (My goodness! I've actually finished a fic? =P)

If it's not too much trouble, please let me know what you thought? (Might help me get through the next three weeks, which will be mostly taken up by intensive exam preparation / panicking... ;D)